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Pierrette hadn't said anything when Giselle came in, or any of the others (even when Elke threw herself over the table). She brightened up when Tara was carried in, and even gave the girl a wave.

The reason Pierrette was so quiet was because of the girl sitting a few seats off. She hardly knew Hero Barrett, but the girl terrified her. It was almost what one called a phobia: an irrational fear. Some said that phobias came from experiences that one had in a past life.

If only those people knew how close that was to Pierrette's situation. Despite being afraid of Hero, there was also something fascinating about the woman. This fascination, too, was from fragments of memory floating around in Pierrette's head. Aries was the captain. Aries was Pisces' captain. Maybe the authority craved respect, and terror as well?

Either way, Pierrette was a lot more cheerful when Sue came in.

"Sue!! Thanks for ordering decaf, I don't like caffeinated coffee. It makes me feel like a big ball of nerves. Welcome to the Team Meeting!"

She grinned, before suddenly paling and glancing at Hero.

"I mean... welcome to the Team Meeting," she whispered.

Breakfast was something that Grayson rarely ate. Not because he didn't like it; just because it generally occurred far too early in the day for his tastes. This time, he had decided to make an exception, if only because it was a meeting and he knew he had to be at the meeting. Required, the e-mail said.

Required was an ugly word.

So ugly that when his alarm had gone off, he'd simply hit the snooze and rolled over.

Had it not been for Topher climbing in through his window, he would have stayed soundly asleep until the meeting was well and done with, and his Captain was possibly dragging him out of bed by his hair. (He imagined his Captain would do something like this if he missed the first meeting.) He was grateful, in a way, though he didn't show it. He certainly didn't show it when he grunted at Topher, threw his blankets back to reveal a very lean, mostly naked young man, staggered to his dresser to pull something on over his underwear. He didn't show it when he pulled his hair back into a ponytail, behind his head instead of on the side, and he didn't show it when he forgot to zip his pants. (He managed the button.)

Once they were on their way, he showed it with a thank you that was smothered by a yawn big enough that it nearly made his jaw pop. That seemed good enough for Topher; that was the kind of wonderful bromance they had.

Bromance, not romance, Jude.

They ran, because they were already late, and being later probably wasn't a good idea. Consequently, when they arrived at Denny's, it was flush-faced. Grayson's hair was a mess - he was trying to fix that - and his pants were still unzipped.

All in all, it didn't really look like they'd just run from Grayson's house to Denny's.

Well, maybe it did.

But it looked like they'd maybe done a little more before they left his house, all things considered.

The text message that started the chain of events that landed him at Denny's was almost a blur by now. All he remember was the feeling he got when he quickly flipped his phone closed. He hated Denny's. There wasn't anything about the place that made him want to go there. It looked depressing, felt depressing and smelled like they were frying up dead things in the back. This wasn't going to be fun in the slightest. They must have had better things to do like...not being at Denny's. But this was a meeting and he had to go. And he had to go fast considering that it was almost time for the thing to start. Topher had no idea what Hero would say if he was late but he sure as hell didn't want to find out.

The first thing Topher knew he needed to do was to wake up the one person he knew would miss the text. He loved Grayson to death, in a strictly bromantic way, but he hated that he couldn't get the boy out of bed for all the money in the world if he needed to. Today he'd just gotten lucky that his friend wasn't in a deep sleep at the time. Of course the constant "We gotta hurry! Come on! Let's go!" probably moved things along faster. Topher's persistence was a force to be reckoned with.

By the time they got there, it was obvious that he wasn't doing any better after the journey. The normal ruffled look to his hair was just plain messy by then, strands sticking out at all sides and the black shirt he was wearing under the unbuttoned winter jacket had the tag sticking out under his chin, obviously inside-out. Not to mention the fact that he was also flushed and panting from their healthy jog to make sure they weren't late.

Everyone, save for a few absent faces, was already there.

Perfect...

They were late and everyone saw their grand entrance...which was suspicious to say the least.

Abeline had been told by the doctors at the hospital that she was borderline anorexic. And that was bad because they weren't sure how she stayed standing, and yes, it was probably what was causing her mood swings (quoted from her mother, who apparently hadn't seen her in a whole year! So how was she to know...) and headaches and craving for uhm... animal meats. And she should eat more.

Of course, the caring frenzy had lasted a few days at home. Both parents, in the same house, doting on the young ballerina-- their princess. And then work had finally come back up for both of them, and she was a big girl, and shouldn't go out, they didn't want to loose her.... blah, blah, blah, blah... Abeline was just getting used to full on meals again (two at least, if not three) and she'd been hungry, aloud.

So breakfast at this Dennys had seemed like a great idea. Abeline had printed out a google-map and gone to bed early that night. She'd started out the next day, expecting to arrive on time, with no hitches. The thing was... Abeline FAILED at reading maps. Although, ask her, and it was google-maps that had obviously been hideously incorrect (yes it had street-view but that wasn't the point!) and so, arriving behind the frumpled pair of boys, came the crab. And she looked like she was about to grow pincers and snap at anyone who came too close. Her blue eyes were stormy and... THERE!

Abeline's expression turned.... well... odd. Hard to read. Perhaps she was fuming so much that she had simply lost the ability to look so angry. If you knew her, she was blushing. Froust, Icy b***h that she was, had heat race up her face in a space of seconds. As she'd come in, and, having some memory of Pierrette's face from before-- had also mentally supplied herself with a name.

She was blushing because looking at Pierrette had given her a little flash of things done on tabletops that would have made Aries skin them both because it was HIGHLY unsanitary. But no one had ever found out. And now Abeline Froust's mind could never be clean.

And then, as though she were too irritated to greet anyone. Abeline sat down as far from Pierrette as she could. Because they were NOT going to have a talk about the laws of physics. and she felt entirely too comfortable around all these people, who were only there to be friends to her. Or something.

She spied Serenade and her fingers clenched around the napkin on the table in front of her.

This day couldn't get any worse! She'd left the bubble-wrap on the bus!

Replying with 'lo, Pisces would be the wrong way to go about it, Sue was pretty damned sure. Much the same way he wasn't expecting anyone in this group to be trying to get his attention with a hey, Zue!

But the truth was... he didn't know who the hell she was. Who half these people were. Before he had cat ears, only a handful of them had been on his radar - and given that the "handful" was composed of Virgo and the Geminis, that wasn't even in a good manner.

So, leaving Pierette's greeting unanswered entirely (sorry, Pisces), Sue leaned forward, associating himself with the group at last, and questioned: "Can we get, like. Name tags or something?"

After all, when the day was done and over, Sue would be checking his class rosters very carefully to see if he had classes with any of the Zodiacs. And, depending on which Zodiacs those were, whether he should request a transfer.

“Only for you, Captain,” Andeon said with a wink. He took the closest chair and turned it around backwards before sitting down, folding his arms across the top like some 90210 poster found in the center of Seventeen magazine. It did not last long. A moment after Topher and Grayson arrived, once Hero had made her demands, Andeon toppled backwards out of the chair, howling with laughter. It was the full show. Fists pounding against the floor, face a shade of red to make his hair seem pale, Andeon laughed until his jaw hurt and there were tears running down his cheeks.

Tears. Multiple. Flowing as though he had just watched Uncle Buck a thousand times. Andeon, of course, had assumed the worst.

“Mackie, oh god Mackie I need a hand up. I think I- I-” Andeon was trying to climb to his feet, and was almost successful. Almost, because as soon as he opened his eyes and saw Topher's face, he was right back on his a**. “BAAAAAAHAHAHAHA!”

“I have to – oh god I can't breathe – I have to know, man.” He was reaching a hand out towards Mackenzie, his gaze focused on Grayson with a wide grin, “Did he ask you to keep the mask on?”

Back down he went, fists pounding the floor. It didn't matter if there was nobody laughing with him. Andeon thought he was very, very funny.