"Ooooghhh."<br/><br/>He didn't feel well - Not at all. Worse, he couldn't remember what happened last night...Never mind how he'd got a hangover worse than the time he'd tried to brew his own fungus beer-! But his landlady wasn't going to tolerate excuses...At the very least, he'd have to listen to her rant him out before he wheedled (somehow) another extension out of her.<br/><br/>He'd been so busy with the ritual, he hadn't had time for anything else...Or did he? For some reason, he felt<em>different</em>- Subtly so. He definitely *looked* the same, at any rate: Still pudgy, still unappealing, but...There<em>had</em>been a change - If only he could put a name to it!<br/><br/>"Now, now," he said - His voice rusty from disuse, as he made to open the door. "-There's a perfectly reasonable explanation for all this..."<br/><br/>He just had to think of one-!