“My stomach rumbled. Like certain other portions of my anatomy, it had a tendency to become easily sidetracked, and to hell with little details like survival.”

“Butters," rumbled Skaldi Hair Ball. If he really had broken fingers, it didn't look like they were bothering him much. "When are you going to get in this ring and train like a man?""About five minutes after I get a functional lightsaber," Butters replied easily, much to Hair Ball's amusement.”

“The Senior Council--""Couldn't find its heart if it had a copy of Grey's Anatomy, X-ray vision, and a stethoscope.”

“Life can be confusing. Good God, and how. Sometimes it seems like the older I get, the more confused I become. That seems ass-backwards. I thought I was supposed to be getting wiser. Instead, I just keep getting hit over the head with my relative insignificance in the greater scheme of the universe. Confusing, life. But it beats the hell out of the alternative.”

“We had reached the doors to my suite, which still felt awkward to say, even in my own head. My suite. Guys like me don't have suites. We have lairs.”

“I heard someone walk out of the alley behind me, and my body went tense and tight, despite my weariness.  Then a young woman's voice said, in a passable British accent, "The Little People are easily startled, but they'll soon be back.  And in greater numbers."    I sagged in sudden, exhausted relief.  The bad guys hardly ever quote Star Wars.”

“I like to stay cozy with my paranoia, not pass her around to my friends and family.”