"Nice bow, Francine."

Francine put her rotting hands on her hips and gave Nicole a look. Her pink bow drooped along with the rest of her figure. "You're just jealous because I have individuality," she snapped.

Nicole shrugged her bony shoulders. The dementors were on break, enjoying a cup of misery or a spot of devastation in the lounge. Some hovered near the old ceiling fan, snacking on cobwebs and dust. Others chatted by the draft, enjoying the chilling breeze. "I'm just sorry you're getting paired."

"I know," Francine complained. If she'd had eyes to roll, she would have. "All I want is to be lonely and miserable for the rest of my days. Is that too much to ask?"

"Humans think partnership equals happiness," Nicole stated.

Abruptly Francine jumped up (as best a dementor could, anyway) and exclaimed, "I've got it!"

"Got what?"

"Serena!" Francine said. "She's lonely, and she needs partnership to be happy!"

Nicole grimaced. Dementors are actually capable of many facial expressions, despite their lack of face. They also speak through breathing, so to a human, this entire conversation would sound like this:

*heavy breathing*

*small gasp*

*cough*

Etcetera…

Anyway, Nicole grimaced. "Why would she want to be happy?"

"Because she's human," explained Francine. She snapped her ugly fingers, and some of her skin peeled off. "I've got an idea."

Nicole listened intently as her fellow dementor told her the plan, and a grin formed on her lipless mouth. (But not really, because they're dementors.) She lifted her hooded head, swinging it around. "Hey Mike!" she called.

A dementor by the counter glanced up. He floated over, a smoking Dixie cup clutched in his rotting fingers. "What up, Nikki?"

"You're next on Frankie's list, right?" she asked.

Mike shrugged. He moved oddly fast for a dementor, his movements jerky and not the creepy slowness the others possessed. "Yeah, why?"

Francine smirked. "Well, here's the plan…"

*Aaaand dementors love Serena. Even though dementors hate love. In fact, they love to hate love. ...I'm going to make a chapter out of that.*