Char nodded, and soothed his adorably horrifying monster with promises that he'd be home later and also to be good. (Probably Char's definition of "be good" included some amount of "if you leave a dead thing in Genny's sock drawer I won't be mad.") Once spiders had bid goodbye to the birthday boy and the door was shut and locked, they were off on their noble adventure.

"So, I gotta ask," Char announced before too long. "What's the story behind the neuron-forky-thing, anyway? It mean something, or is it just 'cause it looks cool?"