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"So," Pierrette nervously giggled. "Does that fall into the 'fashionably late' window?" She didn't wince when Fallon kissed her on both cheeks. It wasn't because they were French as much as because it was Fallon. She was grateful, however, to find that Fallon's breath was scented with roses instead of human flesh. It sounded like nothing had changed, that nothing was remembered.

"Okay! I should have worn different shoes, after all. Ah well, they looked nice walking over here, so it was worth it." Pierrette shrugged before finally giving Fallon a hug. It was good to have her friend back, even if there were awkward memories that Pierrette could never forget. It wasn't Fallon's fault, though. It was evil. There was some horrible, evil force at work, one that Pierrette would have to stop. She gave Fallon another squeeze, one to reassure both of them.

Sailor Pisces would do her best.

Pierrette moved past her hostess and held onto the door frame for support as she took off her heeled sandals.

"Thank you so much for inviting me! So, you're going to Crystal Academy now? Wow, it must be so nice..."

Wait. Elke was close with Pierrette too? Dear God, was this Fallon's arch nemesis in the flesh and blood! She eyed the blunette warily from across the room, lips bending down into a frown. First, Serenade. Now, Pierrette. Did Fallon need to create 'dibs' signs and hang them on her proposed conquests? This Elke girl worked fast. AND she was French too.

But hey -- as far as Fallon knew, Elke could not cook to save her life. Fallon clung to that fact like a life raft, drifting closer and closer to Elke.

The girl was quickly exposing herself as a kind of rival, but Fallon wasn't the type to jump at the first sign of danger. No, she would hang back and watch this girl and try to understand just what was so great about her to attract both Serenade and Pierrette. As Elke stepped forward, Fallon did not back away. It was a turf war, and Elke didn't even know it. Turning to Pierrette, Fallon turned her smile up 1000 watts, hoping to outshine Elke, if only by a little.

"Pierrette, you are always right on time," she said. It was a lie, and that hurt Fallon. But this was a necessary sacrifice. If she had lost Serenade, she sure as hell didn't want to lose Pierrette too. "And those shoes are exquisite. You have wonderful taste." Good taste or not, they had to come off. It was a rule. "It's great to see you too. I was overjoyed when I heard you were coming to dinner. Crystal Academy is a very nice school. I really enjoy it, but I could never replace the friends I had before." Was that entirely true? Meh, maybe not. But Fallon liked Pierrette, and with the competition of Elke hot on her heels, she felt determined to prove her devotion to the curly-haired teen.

Fighting the urge to snap Pierrette's hands away from Elke in a predatory claiming of territory, Fallon instead moved toward the table. "Feel free to have a seat at the table. I'm just plating up dinner now." Dagmar had not arrived yet, but Fallon did not seem to react to it, nor did she tell her guests when/if the girl would be joining them. Fallon knew what was going on, and that was all that really mattered.

(( Anyone here a vegetarian or adverse to chicken? ICly, I assume Fallon would know people's allergies/food stuff (for everyone but Elke at least). If you would care to save me some time and just post OOCly if your character has an allergy or something Fallon would know about, that would be muuuuch appreciated! ))

Melinda did as told, pulling off her shoes as each of the girls greeted each other. Tucking them away into the cubby, she made sure she placed her room key with them. She gave a small greeting to them all as she stood back up, suddenly realizing that she was the only one here that wasn't from Barren Pines. Slipping her hands behind her back, she linked her hands together as she watched them all. How amazing it had to be, just knowing each other, going to the same school for awhile.

Chewing on her bottom lip, she continues to remain quiet as she listen to the conversations. So the blue hair girl, Elke was her name, had a blog? That was pretty sweet, and Serenade played piano? That seem to catch Melinda's attention for the moment. Another who had a passion for music, which meant one thing maybe in common.

Moving towards the low table, she carefully sat down. Her feet slipping under her as she fixed her dress. Resting her hands in her lap, she looks down at them for a moment. Looking back up, her green eyes were gentle as she chuckles alittle "Fallon, this dinner smells amazing. I should have said this earlier, but thank you for inviting me."

Abeline greeted the guests with a small smile and nod for the most part, until Imogen made her hand raise on its own, copying the movement of the--- that was a white-burn mark right THAR! While Abeline recognized Serenade pretty quickly, she didn't click on Imogen until the greeting from long ago had passed. Her eyes widened slightly, but otherwise, Abeline's expression didn't change much.

And then, it seemed that most of the guests were here. She settled gracefully at Fallon's table, folding her hands in her lap as conversations started up. Her eyes flickering around. Fallon's room (well she wasn't sharing it with anyone else yet so technically it was all hers) was meticulious; as expected of the chef. The smells from the kitchen were delightful and Abeline inhaled deeply. She was a 'sometimes' vegetarian, but with Fallon's cooking, if it was on the plate, she'd try it. And this would totally blow any conception of a diet that she'd been considering.

She glanced around the table. Realizing that she was being rather quiet. "Uhm, Fallon, would you like a hand carrying the food in?" An empty offer, since Fallon would probably attack anyone who moved into the kitchen with a wooden spoon. But still, she offered because Abe was oh so good at making small talk.

When Abeline spoke up, Pierrette snapped her head over to look at the Frost Queen.
Apparently, the title 'Frost Queen' or 'Ice Queen', etc didn't bother her.

"A-be-liiiiine!" Pierrette waved happily, suddenly glad of where she had sat. In a wave of nostalgia, the girl hugged Abeline's arm, resting her cheek on her shoulder. "I'm so happy to see you agaaaain!"

The nostalgia passed, and Pierrette blinked a couple of times before lifting herself off of Abeline and sitting calmly at her seat, looking at the beautiful plate in front of her. Memories of hands tangled in hair and sweaty bodies viewable only to the stars fluttered through her mind, and soon were replaced by images of Fallon starring in Iron Chef. She certainly had the talent, but Pierrette wasn't sure if she could imagine Fallon working in a hectic battle where you had to have assistants helping you. No, Fallon was more suited to a solo battle, something like Chopped
Pierrette had obviously been watching food shows on her host family's small TV.

"This looks amazing, Fallon. You really thought of everything, you even have hoisin sauce!"

Pierrette's sudden hug caught Abeline off guard and she spent a moment staring at the girl hugging her arm before something more shiny distracted Pierrette... but the touch of Pierrette's bare skin--- Abeline poured herself a drink in venerable silence, settled back, took a sip, happily took a few baby tomatoes from her salad and rend their flesh unto her mouth. She remembered them meeting in Denny's; Pierrette was Pisces. That seemed perfectly okay, not a problem, nothing out of the ordinary. And then the word checkers came up. Oh yes. The codeword that she remembered teasing someone abo---

OH MY GOD!!!

Abeline's face turned red and she almost whiplashed around. "P-Pierrette..." it was a weak whisper of a sound, inquisitive, childlike; because if it reflected the sound of a gargled scream echoing through her head, then that would be totally unlike Abeline Froust.

She had flashes. A full color-sensation remembered PORNO in her head. And there was Pierrette, touching her, like, like.... Froust almost choked on the tea she was trying to sip daintily. She reached toward Pierrette, touching her shoulder briefly--- ICANSEEYOUNAKEDINMYHEADDDDDDD!! before smiling. It was a gentle smile, a soft smile; one that betrayed nothing of the embarrassing thoughts whizzing through her brain. "Games... very flexible..."

She took a deep breath in through her nose and glanced at Fallon. "Do tell us about the game..." It wasn't helping; she had images of throwing a giggling woman down beneath him--- her---oh god, why was her past self a damn pervert!?!!? And crumpling sheets and.... and... wait, how the hell was she bending her spine that way?

If Fallon knew what Pierrette and Abeline were thinking about, she would be jealous. It is unfortunate the cinnamon-haired teen could not read minds.

Alas.

Fallon hardly noticed any awkwardness passing across the table. She was too fixated on a bit of wilted lettuce she had missed when preparing the salads. It was on her plate thankfully, but she tried to steal glances at the others to see if they had the misfortune of receiving her sub-par lettuce too. Apparently Fallon had been more nervous about tonight than she realized. Those little slips didn't happen often.

Pushing the thought of less-than-delicious lettuce from her mind, Fallon smiled up at Elke, eyes drinking in every inch of her face. She barely knew the girl, but her familiarity with those that Fallon wanted to be more familiar with piqued the girl's curiosity in a way that was hard to turn off. "It's a simple game. A sort of 'getting to know you' activity. I know most of us went to school together or go to school together now," she smiled at Melinda, "but I was hoping we could learn even more. Make new memories, you know?" New memories would be great. Super great. Actually, remembering her old memories might not be so bad either.

"I don't want to give away all the details yet, but you might want to start thinking of five questions you would like to ask the people in this room." Fallon smiled, clearly pleased with herself. The game wasn't horribly clever, but the hostess was pleased as punch to play it.