Chapter 7

It seemed like it was break time; only Bobby was not finished with what he was doing, largely because Trish and Brenda were deliberately working him to a lather. Alonzo, Mark, and Tad settled in the main room where the TV was playing a porn flick. Randy sat up across Miriam's upper thighs and started rubbing and caressing her back and sides -- the next thing to Heaven for Miriam.

Candace came downstairs -- nude and masked -- to refresh the drink supply. Tad reached out and rubbed her ass as she bent to place more sodas in the cooler by the coffee table; Candace froze and gave him a look. Damian, who had been watching the show and letting the other guys get theirs, was watching and emitted a rumble. Tad turned around to eye him. "Problem?"

"Not with you," Damian replied. "You wanna feel her up, you go ahead -- right C?"

"Um, yeah. Sorry, Hon -- you just surprised me," Candace apologized.

"Okay." Tad put his hand back on Candace's ass and rubbed around. This woman was pretty hot for old stuff... "Got a minute?"

"As soon as I finish the cooler." She finished, stood, and turned to him. "What can I do for you, Hon?"

"I missed the older ladies last time," Tad muttered, "Are they all as hot as you?"

Candace dimpled. "We vary. There's quite a catalog, actually."

"So... what do you do?" Tad asked.

Candace thought about it, then licked her lips. Tad was cute, anyway... "I do everything, Honey. Absolutely everything."

"Woo hoo!" Alonzo clapped. "That's what I'M talking about!" Turning to Tad, he added, "There were two last time, a kinda narrow black woman and a heavyset white chick. They both knew EXACTLY what they were doing!"

"They'll be in later," Candace said, then looked up at Toby, "Won't they?"

"Yeah."

"I remember a kind of thick Chinese woman in the stocks last time," Mark muttered.

"She'll be bringing snacks in a little while," Candace replied. "Are you making a special request?"

"Ummm, no." Mark shook his head.

Tad had been rubbing Candace's thigh the entire time. Candace returned her attention to him. "I need to go upstairs and get some chips and stuff to bring down, but you can... feel free... to go with me..."

Tad licked his lower lip, eyeing her hotly. "Maybe I will. Maybe I just will."

Candace smiled and took his hand, pulling him to his feet, then putting the hand back on her ass. "Shall we?" She led him off; he leered over his shoulder at the others as she led him to the inside stair.

"Something about the way older women talk..." Alonzo mused.

"It's called innuendo," Toby supplied. "They manage to say things just by their tone of voice."

"Yeah, that's it." Alonzo nodded. "I may stay late again." Mark nodded, but he knew better than to bother.

Alyssa had been available and there was no current demand, so Damian had her backed against him while he played with her titties. It was a pleasant diversion, but he could stand a little more... "Give me a suck," he whispered in her ear. Alyssa smiled and went to her knees to go after his thoroughly familiar cock.

Alonzo turned his head to look at Bobby. "What are you still doin' over there?"

"Getting the shit teased out of me!" Bobby gasped. "They're playing me like a fish!" That brought a general chuckle. Then Trish jumped on his well-prepared cock for a half-dozen deep strokes and Bobby howled and squirted an HUGE volume of cum into her mouth!

"Omigawd!" Trish gurgled, trying to swallow.

Brenda laughed. "I guess you teased a load out of HIM..."

Trish choked a bit. "No kidding!"

Clint walked over to where Bobby stood recovering. "Let's get 'em out of there. We can always stick 'em back in, later."

"Sounds good," Bobby nodded, "although I won't be ready for a while."

"Just have her suck a little more -- it'll come back up," Clint grinned.

"Maybe." Bobby turned his attention to the hole. "Do you girls have masks?"

"Yes," Trish replied.

"Put them on and come out. Clint and I want you."

"Okay!" The pair got organized quickly and came out. Bobby and Clint brought them to the couch and the others moved or otherwise gave them room.

Alonzo eyed Brenda. "There's only one chick in school looks like that, Clint -- and you're dating her anyway -- why not dump the mask?"

"Well, we're trying not to get them reputations," Clint replied.

"I don't think there's any shitheads here," Alonzo allowed, looking around. "Any shitheads here?" He swung around to eye Damian. "How many of these chicks are really taken?"

Damian looked at Toby, who shrugged. "Most of 'em," he replied. "That one is Terence's," he pointed out Bonita, who was sitting on the exam table next to Terence. "This one's mine." He pointed down to where Alyssa knelt, then waved at the couch. "Clint's..."

Toby picked it up, waving at Trish, "Bobby's..." Damian blinked in surprise; Randy looked up from his seat atop Miriam and grunted.

"Any really open?" Alonzo asked.

"A couple," Toby replied. "One's upstairs with Pete..."

"So why are you sharing?"

Toby shrugged. "It's complicated. Actually, a lot of the hookups happened AFTER we started sharing. In some cases it seems to improve things."

Alonzo pursed his lips. "The older stuff?"

"Generally available," Damian replied. "But because they're older they're not gonna be something you keep. That's okay with them, mostly -- it's just sex, you know? Older chicks get horny."

"Since they know all about it, they're great teachers," Toby added, "and the no-strings thing can be a pretty good deal for everybody."

Alonzo nodded. "What about that one?" He pointed at Miriam.

Randy had climbed off Miriam, who was asleep from a combination of sexual release and massage. He crossed quietly to the couch and whispered, "Sorry. Mine." A number of people in the room nodded, unsurprised -- including Alonzo.

"Next time we do this," Toby announced, "I think there's going to be some fresh stuff. We're just sort of consolidating right now. I've been hearing that there might be new volunteers; we're kind of testing the format. Let me ask you guys," he waved at Alonzo and Mark, "if we got volunteers in and had a couple of rules for their protection, would you be game?"

"What rules?" Mark asked.

"What girls do here stays here. If some girl who comes here gets a rep as a slut and we can trace it back to you, you're done -- no coming back, ever," Toby told him.

"That sounds fair," Mark mused.

"If you think about it, it lets a girl let her hair down," Toby explained. "She can do stuff here that she wouldn't be able to anywhere else -- fantasies, that kind of thing. Chicks that volunteer will be here to meet guys and have sex -- and you guys benefit. If we catch you trying to blackmail some chick because she let go and took on three guys at a time and at some point you figured out who she is, you're gone -- AND we'll be looking for ways to get even for her!" His eyes swept the group. "And we'll have ways. You guys have kind of been living off the fat of the land -- we had too many girls and not enough guys so we set up these meets to keep the girls busy. Things have shaken out, mostly, though, so we'll be wanting to do initiations..."

"What kind of initiations?" Mark asked warily.

"To be announced. Whatever it ends up being will be illegal, immoral, or both, though, to ensure your good behavior," Toby replied.

Mark pursed his lips. "I dunno..."

"That's fair," Toby told him. "Nobody wants you doing anything you can't handle. You volunteer to join. What we're doing is protecting the group -- I don't have to tell you that there are street gangs that do worse than anything we'll be up to."

"Can you give us an example?" Alonzo queried.

"Well, not robbing banks. Usually, it's sexually-oriented." Toby mused a moment. "Take the older ladies -- just having sex with us guys is illegal -- and given the recent focus on pedophiles, it's very dangerous for them. I don't think it's wrong, and I CERTAINLY don't think WE'RE being exploited -- but a prosecutor would love it."

Alonzo snorted. "Victimless crime."

"Stupid law, more like," Damian grunted. "It's total bullshit - but it keeps the women from blabbing all over about the group."

"We've been lax on the guys, in general -- but just about everybody in the group has a skeleton in his closet," Toby told them, "just like the girls. It isn't always easy to find something. There's an easy one -- and it isn't illegal -- but it's not something that guys leap at..."

Mark eyed him. "What is it?"

"Gay sex."

"Yuck!"

"Exactly," Toby chuckled. "NOBODY wants THAT on the street -- especially if someone could back up the charge with pictures and video -- so while it's legal, it isn't popular."

Alonzo grimaced. "Damned straight! So what else you got? What other rules?"

"Well, the second thing is kind of procedural," Toby told them. "It's the carrot for the girls. It goes like this: You hook up with a chick and you like what you're getting from her. You come to me. I check back with the chick. If it's mutual, THEN I tell you who she is -- BUT you pay for the information."

"How?" Mark asked.

"You have to take her out -- twice -- in public. She has to be seen with you. I don't care who she is -- if you get to see her face, you have to take her out," Toby explained.

"What if she's a nice fuck but I don't wanna stay hooked up?" Alonzo asked.

"That's all cool -- AFTER the two dates. You see, some of these chicks are never going to get their faces out there -- never going to be noticed. Most of the chicks in this room didn't have boyfriends before they joined the group -- and weren't happy about it. Even if you put her on the street after the two dates, she's been out with you -- and that makes her visible -- got it?"

"What if she's stone ugly?" Alonzo asked. "I have to hold up my head -- and I can't tell anybody she's a hot fuck because of the other rule, right?"

Toby shrugged. "It's the price you pay."

Alonzo pursed his lips. "I guess."

"How many stone ugly chicks have you seen around?" Toby asked.

"Heh. Guess you're right."

"This is just an idea we're working on -- nothing is set in concrete," Toby advised them. "It's all subject to change. And tonight goes on as usual."

"That's for DAMN sure," Damian muttered under his breath. This new stuff was gonna have to be the subject of some SERIOUS conversation...

Alonzo flicked a glance at Damian, smiled crookedly, and nodded. "Well, it looks like I ought to stay late..."

Upstairs, Pete was rounding third with his dick in some chunky little bitch, doggy-style. Toby had been right; say what you want about this one, she was All-Pro for pussy! She'd collected a hand before he got lost after closing the door, dragged him to the center of the room and got him out of his clothes, then proceeded to deliver a world-class blowjob. When he'd grunted that he wanted to finish up in pussy, she'd switched up without a quiver, leading him to the bed, crawling up on it, and whispering, "Is this okay?" Pete had fumbled his way behind her and she'd helped him get his cock pointed in the right direction and away they went! She was being quiet, but that didn't mean she wasn't making enough sounds for him to tell how he was doing -- and besides, her bubble butt was wiggling all over and her pussy was moving and it seemed like he was hitting a new place with every stroke! Grunts and groans and whines -- not to mention the way her pussy clamped down on him, then got wet -- told Pete that she'd gotten off twice - and was headed for three. Problem was, Pete was close, too!

Some things you just can't fix; Pete wasn't going to be able to hang around for her. "Gonna get a nut..." he gasped.

"Do it!" she hissed. "Cum! Fill me up!" The little bitch must've had some pussy control, because she started milking him -- and Pete lost it, right there!

"AWWWWWW SHIIIIIIT!" His dick let go and the top of his head just about came off -- and that pussy kept milking him while the little bitch crooned, "Yeah, Baby! That feels so good..."

Pete leaned on her for a few seconds, getting his breath back, then backed off -- but she swapped ends and wrapped some seriously hot lips around his sensitive shank. The aftermath suck was almost as good as getting the nut itself; his dick was seriously fucking sensitive and she had a hot mouth and a frisky tongue. In fact, he never REALLY went down -- she just eventually shifted to jacking him and licking his balls and he decided it was time to go again. "Hey, let's do it..."

"Want me on my back this time?"

"Sure." He crawled between her upraised legs and she helped him get his dick in her crack where it belonged, and he slid forward into that hot twat a second time -- and it was just as good as the first! Better, maybe, due to the different angle... Pete braced his hands on the back of the little bitch's thighs and hammered away at her twat -- and she managed somehow to move the thing, rocking it up and down and back and forth while grunting and panting and rubbing his arms and telling him in whispers how good it was for her. There was no question in Pete's mind that she was loving it, too!

Pete was right; Tabitha was having a ball! She wasn't sure who she'd gotten -- the sudden blast of light through the open door left her as blinded from dazzle as it left Pete from the darkness -- but he was doing just fine from her perspective! Tabitha got to feel Pete up as she undressed him, and THAT was fine. Cocksucking was something you did with other senses besides your eyes, anyway; whoever it was had a NICE dick! And the fucking? Omigawd! He'd pushed her through two orgasms from behind and hadn't even really gone down in her mouth, afterward -- and cleaning the cum off his cock turned into a fluff job when he told her he wanted to go again! This time -- well, something was up -- maybe he was hitting her G-spot; all she knew was that it was too good not to let go some, despite Toby's warnings that she needed to whisper so that whoever it was wouldn't recognize her voice. She needed to touch him -- needed to tell him how GOOD he was -- needed to express her pleasure more openly...

Pete noticed that she was spinning up, getting more vocal as he drove his cock down into her. She was wide open for him, and pushing her pussy up at him to give him everything he could get, and her whispered exclamations of excitement slowly graduated to low but impassioned tones as she gasped, "Oh, Baby! Drill me! There! Right there! Omigod! Fuck! Fuck!" and her pussy clamped down on him until, despite his fairly quick rhythm, he was being clutched by her inner lining along the whole available length of his cock all through his stroke!

Pleasure threatened to overwhelm him; gritting his teeth, he gasped, "Jeezus, Babe! What a fuck you are! Goddamn!"

Tabitha clutched her unknown lover as best she could, rubbing his arms with her hands and his hips with her feet, moaning, "You're all over my G-spot or something -- it's so good I could just die! Fuck! Fuck! Oh, God! Fuck!" She was in a continuous cycle where even the bottom end was incredible, and the peaks -- indescribable! She knew she was going to scream -- and couldn't stop it; her body was reaching for this one all on its own, "OH! OH!! OMIGAAAWDD!! AAAAIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!"

Pete was there, anyway, right on the edge -- but the little bitch made it impossible to delay anything by screaming bloody murder while she went ABSOLUTELY NUTS under him -- and trapped him, somehow, with her feet in the small of his back in the process! Her pussy squirted something hot and wet right dead on the top of his dick and it just blew his brains out! It felt like his dick swelled to three times its original size and he was pushing out baseball --sized globs of cum; it hurt some, but it felt incredible! He blasted out four big ones before his balls ran out of ammo, leaving his dick cycling dry in her swampy cunt, then he shifted his hands away from her thighs and flopped down atop her.

The very first thing she did was start chewing his ear, panting, "Oh, Baby!" while she wrapped her arms and legs around him.

"Yeah," he gasped, unable to find the resources to say anything too intelligent. "Goddamn!" Then he relaxed while she cuddled him and crooned in his ear, giving him goose-bumps.

In the kitchen, Tad was all over the woman referred to as 'C,' who managed to welcome his advances while preparing bowls of chips and pretzels and stuff to take back downstairs. Nothing appeared to be off-limits; Tad started out feeling her ass, but ended up rubbing everything he could get his hands on. Breasts got a lot of attention; Tad stood behind her and fondled and mauled them, more or less reverently. Candace moved slowly when she shifted positions, telegraphing her movements so the hands on her breasts weren't disturbed. It was sort of like dancing; Candace found Tad's eagerness and arousal pleasant and amusing. Tad's advances were more like Hank's than Damian's; he was a big, friendly puppy who wanted to experience it all...

When she had a tray gathered, Candace told Tad, "Okay, Hon -- let me take this stuff downstairs, and then we can get comfortable somewhere." Tad nodded and stepped back, and she headed downstairs with the tray.

Alonzo looked up. "Where's Tad? You lock him in a closet somewhere?"

Candace smiled. "He's impatiently awaiting my return so he can touch whatever tiny patches of my skin he's missed thus far."

Alonzo laughed. "Well, he's probably got the right idea. How's Pete doin'?"

"He hasn't come out of the bedroom," Candace related. "I think I heard a scream of joy a few minutes ago."

"Cool." Alonzo returned his attention to the video. "Dunno how much more of this I can take. I'm gonna need... something... soon."

"Me, too," Clint mumbled.

"Jeez, Baby," Brenda complained, "I'm right here on your lap..."

"Yeah, stupid me!" Clint grinned. "Get up so I can get out of these..." Brenda stood, and Clint got out of his pants. "How do you want it?"

"I'll sit on it." Brenda leaned in. "I'll blow Alonzo if you want..." she whispered.

Clint pursed his lips. "Okay."

"If the mask is a waste of time..."

"Take it off."

Alonzo, who had taken the couch arm when Clint and Brenda and Bobby and Trish arrived, watched as Brenda straddled Clint's legs and reached between hers to find Clint's cock, then slowly settled on it. He watched her smile, eyes closed, as she rose and fell on it a couple of times, then she reached into his lap and grasped his cock, too. "Can you stand up?" she asked.

"Hey..." Worried, Alonzo checked with Clint. But Clint waved it off, smiling a little crookedly, so Alonzo stood and delivered, and Brenda sucked him in. He hissed in pleasure, but Brenda backed off. "I can't promise a great job -- I'm fucking."

Alonzo waved it off. "It might be better if it wasn't -- I just need to take the edge off. I'm trying to save some for later."

"I'll just soak it, then..." Brenda held him in her mouth while she used her hands on his hips to give her leverage for her primary activity -- riding Clint's thick, hard pole.

Terence eyed Randy. "Want to swap?"

"What?"

"Tables."

Randy nodded. Miriam was awake again; he was just fooling around, rubbing her here and there. He tugged her arm and she got off the table. Terence waved to Bonita to get up on it on her back and she grinned from ear to ear as she complied. Meanwhile, Randy led Miriam to the exam table. "Climb up between the stirrups and lie back," he directed in a whisper. Miriam complied, and Randy proceeded to get out the bindings and bind her legs and feet into the stirrups and belt her torso down to the table top. As Terence slid into Bonita, Randy surfaced a vibrator from the drawer of the exam table and started wielding it on Miriam's vulva.

"Omigod!" Miriam croaked. She was tied down tight, helpless -- and he was teasing her... "Aaaaahhh!"

Mark let his focus move from couple to couple before announcing, "I think I'm gonna hit a booth... " He headed for Booth One.

Sally recognized the cock when he poked it through. "This guy comes a quart!" she whispered to Amy, who giggled, "but he's fast..."

Trish eyed Bobby, who shook his head. "Not for a while yet. I want to do a good job. I'll just play..." He rocked her back against the couch arm and pushed one leg out so he could get at her pussy. "Tell me what feels good." He started running three fingers along her labia.

"Mmmmmm..." Trish moaned.

"You teased me -- now I'm gonna tease you!" Bobby chuckled.

"Play with my breasts," Trish panted. "I LOVE that!" Bobby sucked in a nipple and Trish started to gently undulate.

Across the room, barely forty-five seconds after Randy got started with the vibrator, Miriam was humping and jittering her way through an orgasm. She would have been screaming her head off, but Randy had stuck the middle and ring fingers of his left hand in her mouth; as a result, all she could get out was a series of impassioned moans. Randy waited until it was clear that she was over the hump and let up with the vibrator, then went fishing in the drawer for his next toy -- a nice, fat butt plug!

Brenda was posting at the trot on Clint's blood sausage -- her mouth full of Alonzo's limiting her vocalizations to, "Mmph! Mmph! Mmph! Mmph!" at every impact of her ass with his lap...

... And Bonita was crooning happily as Terence's pubic bone bashed hers and his glans tapped her cervix every half-second.

Damian and Alyssa were nowhere in sight...

Amy knew where they were, though. Amy knew where every male on the premises was -- and just about all of them were wrapped in the pleasure of a woman. Sally was too busy to notice, but Amy was virtually catatonic -- there was just too much male pleasure too close! She knew every sensation Mark got from Sally's sucking mouth, and how Trish's nipple tasted and why Terence loved his little round woman and she could compare the effects of Brenda's suction of Alonzo with Sally's suction of Mark...

... and she knew what Randy was doing to Miriam -- and why -- and that he KNEW the girl was loving every second of it!

More distant was the feel of Pete starting to move again in Tabitha, and his thought process as he did detective work, trying to figure out who she was -- and she knew now, before he did, that he was going to ask Toby for her name. In the living room, on the couch, Tad was trying to suck in the entirety of one of Candace's breasts while she taught him the finer points of female masturbation -- and slowly jacked his rock-hard erection.

Damian had Alyssa on a lounger on the back deck, her knees up and spread while he stroked into her, rhythmically. Damian had been the only one of the boys to worry Amy, initially -- but now she was convinced that none of them were an issue -- even Lon, who was fuming a bit at spending his Friday evening in his room, alone, while Sally sucked dicks in the basement. Oh, he could go down there, but Sally needed the reminder that she was just meat -- especially since she wasn't... It was an odd game that pair played -- Damian did something akin to it with Alyssa, and Randy was enjoying another variation with Miriam. Amy realized that the urge to dominate wasn't bred out of the male -- and wasn't going to be, any time soon. And with that came the realization that submission was still a feminine component, too. Granted, there was a range for such things -- but in many cases, stimulation of one end of the equation caused a balancing surge. None of the males was in the business of sadistically damaging his playmate, and, clearly, all of the girls involved knew it.

Rick was with Teela, his welter of emotions not as strong as the others since he wasn't being directly stimulated sexually. He was worried that Teela wasn't having her needs fulfilled by him -- and might set him aside as a result. He worried that his manhood wasn't adequate -- despite evidence to the contrary. And he worried that if he bent to Teela's wishes and started including Sonya in their sex play, the problem would come to a head.

Toby, of course, wasn't there...

Toby literally wasn't there -- he was picking up Jiang Yi. They were loading take-out into the car. "Where is Frank's dinner?" Toby asked.

"I... He doesn't expect me." Jiang Yi hung her head.

"I'll take you to Frank's right after we drop the food," Toby promised. "There is no need for you to stay." Jiang Yi's situation was readable from her face -- you didn't need to be inside her head. The blocky little Oriental woman was totally infatuated with her man...

"I don't think he wants me there," Jiang Yi choked. "Something about peace and quiet..."

"You be in bed when he gets there," Toby told her. "He'll probably get drunk or something. Keep him from puking in the bed and he'll be happy you're there." He eyed her. "Frank's done without for a long time -- he's used to it. He knows it isn't BETTER, but it's familiar. And guys need an occasional chunk of privacy, too. Just give him space when he wants it." Jiang Yi smiled and nodded and they finished and set off for Carpenter's without the cloud that had previously hung over her.

Amy sat in chair in the back of Booth One, rocking, her eyes glassy, as here and there in her vicinity some male erupted in orgasm. Damian was actually ahead of most of the others; he and Alyssa had been fucking for several minutes before Brenda lit off things. As he settled atop Alyssa, sucking her neck, his cock subsiding after flooding her pussy, Clint started jamming up into Brenda as his peak became urgent and inescapable. Alonzo backed off; Clint was rattling Brenda's teeth with his attack, and he didn't want his cock between them. Clint lunged up, literally picking his spindly girlfriend up under the knees and finishing by holding her in midair and jamming himself into her for several strokes before erupting inside her, then carefully reseating himself. After a moment, Brenda, exhausted, rolled her head up and asked Alonzo, "Do you want me to finish?"

"No, I'm good. Gonna wait for the late show. Thanks," Alonzo told her.

Bobby had teased Trish through three orgasms, until she begged him to stop -- but by then, he was too hot to just back off! They were on a mat on the pool table, and Bobby was sucking a nipple and pounding away almost silently between Trish's upraised knees while she whined and moaned and grunted her pleasure out.

Terence was the next to blow his wad, pushing deep into Bonita's plush pussy and splattering her cervix with his seed. Bonita cooed love words in Spanish; Clint chuckled, hearing them from across the room.

Randy was tearing Miriam up; he had the butt plug in her and was between the stirrups, pounding his cock in and out of her while holding the vibrator against her clit. Miriam was completely gone, overloaded; the past minute or so had been one long orgasm and it just kept going and going and going! "Omigod! Omigod! I can't stand it! No! No! Please! AAAIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!"

Randy grinned and tossed the vibrator; Miriam was trying to move the exam table purely by throwing her weight around! Her pussy was a clutching volcano -- he couldn't hold out in the face of her over-stimulated vagina's efforts to suck him inside her, so he let out a roar and blasted another load into her quaking cunt. Miriam gave a screech and passed out, right then and there!

Last, but not least, was Mark; Sally had deliberately teased him, backing off when she felt him getting close, extending his pleasure. She had successfully detected three separate imminent orgasms, bringing him close, but backing off at the critical moment. Mark was actually appreciative; his pleasure had been extended well beyond expectation and the delay had done wonders for his self-image -- but Sally was about to pay the price for her teasing and pleasing...

This time, things were under way before Sally caught them -- and Mark had charged up quite a bit and had been given plenty of time and stimulation to prepare a MASSIVE load; Sally got the flood before he could even grunt, properly. And flood it was! Mark filled her mouth twice! This was no teaspoonful -- it was more like a quarter cup! Sally swallowed and dribbled and choked and gasped -- and Mark whispered, "Sorry!" but he didn't go anywhere; he just waited for her to pull herself together and clean up the dribbles. This was going to be his last load of the evening, no doubt; he wanted to enjoy the aftermath...

When Toby and Jiang Yi got there, the place looked like a war zone -- exhausted bodies sprawled everywhere. And things were still happening upstairs...