Alice and Queenie are technically the party's first guests, because they arrive almost as soon as Stella starts setting up. And wonder of wonders, they don't immediately head for the orgy chamber.

Queenie is wearing a gorgeous little black dress that is, on very close inspection, actually a dark dark red.

Golden doesn't bring all her guests at once; the first wave, though, includes Nathan -

- with a certain munchkin on his shoulders -

There they go and be!

"You both look like Mummy," says Kerron to Alice and Queenie. "Like how there are people who look like Her Majesty over there."

"There is," says Queenie, glancing between Kerron and his mummy, "probably a reason for that."

"Of course there's a reason," says Kerron reasonably. "Ooh - name tags - I can read a little bit -" He sounds out the tag stuck to Queenie's dress. "Hi - I'm - a -" He get stuck on Whistle and tries to sound it out, overpronouncing the silent letters.

"Whistle," supplies Alice. "She's Queenie, I'm Alice. Q, this one's the Joker."

"Is he now," says Queenie.

"Retired," says the Joker. "You?"

"Dead!" she says cheerfully. "Does short stuff have a name yet?"

"I'm Kerron," says Kerron. "But mummy calls me munchkin."

"I'll bet she does," laughs Queenie. "Can I hug ya, munchkin?"

"Sure," says Kerron, and he launches himself from Daddy's shoulders at Queenie.

Queenie catches him! And there are cuddles.

"Yes," says Kerron. "I know."

"You are so cute," the Joker says fondly.

"Everybody here: cute," says Nathan.

The Joker hugs him.

"Mine and the Joker's," says Nathan.

"He's adorable. You're adorable," he says to Kerron. "What's your name and can I hug you?"

"I'm Kerron. You can hug me."

Kerron doesn't touch her. But he does ask, "How come you don't want me to touch you?"

"It hurts us when people do that if we don't know them," Kas explains.

"Why?"

"Because I'm a daemon and that's how we work," says Petaal. "Most daemons can't hardly touch anybody who's not their person, but we're special and I can touch a lot of people. But I have to know them first, and even then I usually can't."

"Why doesn't everybody else have one?"

"Aw, but she doesn't want me to touch her either and she looks soft," complains Kerron.

"People being soft isn't anything to do with whether you can touch them, only to do with whether you want to take them up on it if they offer," says Nathan.

"Ooh," says Kerron, and he pets the fox-Kas, head to tail. He is reasonably good at being gentle about this.

The fox-Kas is pleased!

"Now that," Queenie says consideringly, "is adorable."

"Mummy, how come you're never a fox? You're magic! You could be a fox or a whatever. How come I never get to be a fox?"

"Never thought of it," she says cheerfully. "You wanna be a fox, munchkin?"

"Yeah! I wanna be a fox! I wanna be a blue fox!"

"Yay! I love you, mummy!" Kerron the blue fox gambols about. It is perhaps the most ludicrously adorable thing of all time.

"If I were not multiple kinds of immortal," says Nathan, "that would just about slay me with cuteness."

"That," the Joker says smugly, "is my kid. I made him." She pokes Nathan in the ribs. "He helped."

"I'm Kerron! I'm always cute and right now I'm also a blue fox!" says Kerron, propping himself up by his front paws on Micaiah's knee. "You look like Mummy too, how many Mummy-people are there?"

"I think I might be the last," he says, glancing around. "Can I snuggle you a little?"

"Yeah!"

"Wasn't there going to be another one?" asks Nathan, glancing around.

Micaiah snuggles Kerron the adorable fox.

"Hi, Ghosty," says Nathan.

...Giggling, he disassembles (the nametag disappears) and reassembles immediately in the same spot (it appears again).

Kerron attempts to clap his hands, but he doesn't have any right now, so he settles for saying, "Yay!"

Ghosty laughs and reaches down to give Kerron scritches.

Can Kerron still purr while he's a fox? Why yes, it turns out he can!

Kerron peers at the colorshapes that are flying through the air.

Nathan can't see the colorshapes, but he can see that quizzical look. "Hey, kiddo, let's go meet some other Her Majesties or something and let all the Mummies do Mummy things," he says briskly, scooping the fox out of Micaiah's arms.

"See ya, munchkin," says the Joker, and teleports away. The rest of them follow.