They hoped showing everyone how we had worked together to defeat the Vermin would cement their position within the Consensus.They were as good as thei... word and, as promised, increased the number of my companions to unlimited status. That wasn’t necessary, though. Everyone seemed pleased with the extermination of the Vermin, but most species weren’t as grateful as the Char originally predicted. I did manage to score a few more companions out of the deal, however, not nearly the amount the Char. That night I threw one of my parties. I let Seeks and the women know that I wanted to celebrate, and that I would provide the chemical enhancement. The entire extended family came out. I hung up a few of the white gas lanterns and lit them as dusk was falling. Then I broke out a couple of bottles of my vodka stash and mixed it up with some Kool-Aid packs from the MREs that I'd saved. I made the punch pretty weak because they were all used to drinking stuff that was lightly fermented, usually. When we broke I said, "Are they just glad to see me, or what?" You wouldn't believe the girl's customs," Susan said. "The older girl has a name something like 'desert sand', so Sandy is used for short. She was very upset at seeing the other girl almost die. Chris, of all people, used her hand to frig Sandy till an orgasm soothed her enough to relax her. This appears to be a very common practice." It is, in many places in the world," I said. "Mothers will lick or suck their young children to get. If he’s alive, then I know he’s coming back.”“You have that much faith in him?”The gargoyle nodded. “He’s different than the others. Since the beginning, he has treated us as equals. Even Sofia likes him, but she won’t say it out loud.”Yuki chuckled. Sofia was not one to like a human easily, that was for sure. “I need to run out back and unfreeze the others. They can help us.”“Can’t you do it from here?”“No.” Yuki tapped the side of her head. “Eye contact only.”“Is that the only way?”Yuki.