"How long has it been?" asked Cody.

"Almost an hour," said Blaspheme.

"How many sandwiches do you think she needs?" asked Cody.

"I don't know. Four? Two for each of them," said Blaspheme.

"And she'll probably want a backup," added Rafferty.

"Well, I think that's three, so she's almost done," Cody said hopefully.

Sheridan frowned at the sandwich she had just finished. Something about the diagonal cut seemed to be bothering her. She pushed it into the burgeoning reject pile.

"Nevermind," said Cody.

The three girls kept watching Sheridan construct the sandwiches. A piece of bread went down on the table. A slice of ham was next, neatly folded and pinched at the corners. Then another. Three slices of tomato followed, super thin. A few grains of grains of salt were agonizingly sprinkled over the top. Another slice of bread, next to the first. A thin layer of mustard was spread over that, from edge to edge, and it was placed on top.

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Somewhere along the way, something invariably went wrong. Sheridan would frown, and the reject pile would grow.

There was also the fact that Sheridan was going on a picnic, which seemed downright bizarre.

"I can't believe she's actually taking tomorrow off," said Cody.

"It's Defiance Day, we're supposed to take it off," said Blaspheme.

"Yeah, but remember last year? She wanted us to run timing drills all day," said Cody.

Tomorrow was Defiance Day. It was always one of the hottest days of the year, so the girls were happy to have it as a free day. After the sun set, citizens throughout the Ring would set off fireworks. The practice had started a long time ago, when things were really bad, to let everyone that you and your people were still alive. Gus said that before that, Defiance Day was a different holiday, and that the fireworks had something to do with a flag and a fort. Gus said that holidays changed like that.

When Sheridan informed her that she was planning on taking Jason out to the Meadows tomorrow, Rafferty had smiled, congratulated her, and immediately went off to tell Cody and Blaspheme. That bit of gossip had gone a ways toward smoothing over any of the lingering resentment Blaspheme still felt toward Rafferty.

"You know, he's not really going to care what the sandwiches taste like. Especially if you wear that red skirt like I told you," said Blaspheme.

Sheridan ignored her, and scrutinized the current level of mustard coverage.

"Oh, do you think they'll kiss?" asked Cody.

"Only if she diagrams it ahead of time," joked Blaspheme.

"And he's willing to practice it three times before the actual kiss," added Rafferty.

The trio giggled. Sheridan still said nothing, but Rafferty thought she saw the tips of her ears redden just a bit.

Some time later, Sheridan completed a fifth sandwich. She stepped back and surveyed her work. After a moment, she gave a little nod, and screwed the top back on the jar of mustard.

Blaspheme tapped Rafferty on the shoulder, her eyes full of mischief, walked up next to Sheridan, picked up the sandwich on the end, and took a big bite out of it.

Sheridan stiffened, and looked directly at Blaspheme. Blaspheme smirked, still chewing.

What happened next was very loud, and very Blue.