Aspidistra paused to retie the laces of her hiking boots. It felt good to take a moment away from the arduous climb. She pulled a bandana from an outside pocket of her backpack and wiped her forehead. The sweat had caused her tiara to slip down to the bridge of her nose.

"Time to move on," she thought to herself, as she adjusted her tutu. "Gotta go."

As she turned to resume her trek, she heard an odd noise. Somewhere off to her right. It seemed to come from behind a strange formation of wind-eroded rocks. It was like nothing she had ever heard before. She hesitated then decided to delay her journey for a few more moments
and investigate.

"What in the world could it be?" she muttered aloud.
[Maddog]

The leaves rustled and just as Aspie was about to scream, Stacy London and Clinton Kelly leapt from behind the trees! Along with her sister, Aubrieta (their mother had been a botanist specializing in garden plants of Asia, until a fatal encounter with an unusually large venus fly trap). "Aspidistra!" they cried. "The tutu and the hiking boots have GOT to go! You've won a shopping trip in New York!"

"Aub," Aspie exclaimed. "How could you do this to me? You know I suffer from panic attacks. New York City is the worst place I could go! I want to stay here in Vanuatu, not go with Stacy and Clinton..."

"Who are Stacy and Clinton?" Aubrieta replied. "Asp, are you hallucinating again?"

Then Aubrieta spotted it, beneath Aspie's crown, the telltale bite of the hallucenogenic spider...

[Gwen]