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Shut-in? Fallon felt like a shut-in no matter how much she went out. Before, she was almost two people: one in public, one in private. The private one was OCD-ridden and prone to meltdowns; the public one wore a mask of pleasantries, the cracks plastered over. Fallon thought it was a seamless disguise, but she was young and stupid. People could tell when she was agitated or fuming. It was one of the first things Andeon pointed out about her when they met.

Now, Fallon was merging, blending. Every day, she felt a little bit more optimistic. Today, in the glow of makeover magic, she was practically beaming. "My mom always bought me conditioner when I was little. I grew up using it. It never occurred to me not to use it," she said, shrugging.

Curving around the chair, Fallon scooped up a clear bottle and drizzled something into her hand. She rubbed her palms together and began working it into Audrey's hair, stopping to fuss here and there with an errant strand. "I feel better when my hair and makeup are done. I feel more confident about it." She smiled. "It doesn't have to be for someone in particular," Fallon leaned in, "but if it is, you're in luck. I'm going to make you look ******** fabulous." Profanity was usually resolved for Fallon's anger, but in moments of happiness, she often slipped too. Like now. Miss Manners would not be proud.

Since Fallon and Audrey had not been close for long, the cinnamon-haired teen had no clue who she had been seeing. And she wasn't too shy to ask. "Who were you seeing? I don't think you ever mentioned it to me." And then: "If they ended it, they're stupid. I'd date you." A smile etched across her lips and Fallon laughed. Of course, she was 100% serious, but it didn't really seem like it.

Khaldun? The name was familiar. It wasn't the kind of name that was easily forgotten. The boys of Barren Pines got far less attention from Fallon than the girls back in her dark school days. She knew their faces in passing (it hadn't been a large school), but the only one she would call a friend was Andeon. And now what was he? A ghost, just as seemingly dead as Leonette.

The thought was unpleasant, and Fallon pushed it away. "He was the guy with the dreads, right? I think I remember him," she said, twisting her fingers through Audrey's hair. The curls were taking form, and where they didn't do it on their own, Fallon's hand found them and twisted them into shape.

When Audrey tensed, Fallon could feel it. Her fingertips brushed the girls temples lightly before moving away. "Khaldun's dreads are twisted too tightly. It cuts off the blood flow to his brain, obviously." She flashed a grin to the mirror and then bobbed to the other side of Audrey's head. "But if a new look will put you in the right mind set for a new guy, then I am more than happy to help." This was true. Audrey was nice, but Fallon didn't feel a romantic attachment to her. She was happy if Audrey was happy.

Fallon's hands left Audrey's hair, and she crossed over to her desk, snatching a wet wipe from a pale purple canister to wipe her hands clean. "Ready for makeup?" She tossed the used wipe in the trashcan and moved closer, leaning forward to get a better look. "You'll let me do something with your eyebrows, won't you?" They didn't look too bad, but Fallon could tidy them up.

She was already pulling up another chair for her to sit across from Audrey. "So tell me about this new boy."

Fallon opened a desk drawer and took out a three tiered make-up box. It was made of some kind of hard plastic, but appeared to be polished. Could plastic be polished? Apparently Fallon had tried. She popped the lid open and pulled open the top tray, sliding the highest layer outward so the entire thing bloomed like a flower. Different tubes and palettes rested on each level, organized both by where the particular item would be applied and the color. She reached back into the drawer and pulled out a pair of tweezers and a white sheet.

Eyebrow tweezing had reached go time.

The white cloth was wet and cold. Fallon dragged it over Audrey's eyebrows and the surrounding skin. The chair squeaked under her as she moved. "Do you know his name?" she said, pausing to offer Audrey a sly smile. "Or are you just being coy about revealing his identity to me? I promise I won't tell." Tweezers at the ready, Fallon started to tug free the little hairs that grew outside of the smooth arch of Audrey's brow bone.

Fallon was used to multitasking, especially when it came to her appearance regiment. Any squirms from Audrey were largely ignored. The faster she went, the sooner it would be over. "Elzo Xanis?" She parroted the name as if it would help her remember. It didn't. "I don't really know anyone from Hillworth. I did meet one guy from there, but his name was Marlo. And he didn't hit on me." She paused. "In fact, he was a little curt."

The skin below Audrey's newly shaped brow was slowly turning pink. Fallon picked the little white sheet up and pressed it over the spot for a minute before moving to the other brow. "If he usually chews up and spits out his girls, maybe it is a good thing he isn't charming you. Maybe it means you're different. Special." It made sense. "I'm not exactly an expert on these things." For one, she typically went after girls, and the dynamic was different, at least in her eyes. The other reason was said aloud: "I've never actually been in a real relationship."

Fallon never thought of it as a problem before, but lately, she had been craving companionship, a confidant. She wanted someone other than her therapist to see all of her -- the real her. Would they still like her? If Fallon let go of all her pretentions and manners and bullshit, would her friends stick with her anyway? There were times when Fallon wasn't certain she was worthy of love, or that it wasn't in the cards. Most of the girls she fell for didn't fall for her back. Granted, most were straight. If only all the gay teen girls of Destiny City wore badges to identify themselves... it would be so much easier.

In her internal reverie, Fallon had zoned out on Audrey. She only caught the tail end of the question. "Do what -- pluck my eyebrows or talk about boys?" She grinned and yanked another hair free.

Younger brother? Weird. Fallon briefly remembered Marlo talking about doing a lot of cooking as a child, but she didn't recall if he ever talked about a brother. It was certainly possible. In her mind, she tried to imagine this Elzo guy, but he came out like a caricature: swollen head, piercing eyes, partially opened shirt catching the ruffled wind. If Audrey liked him, he was probably half-way decent, or at least reasonably inviting. Otherwise, Fallon wasn't certain Audrey would waste her time.

"Maybe he is just trying to warm you up for the skeevy stuff to begin," she said, widening her eyes in mock horror. "If you feel like the rebound, then I would walk away. Who wants to be second place to the memory of someone else?" Fallon, for one. Though she didn't know it. Her crush on Serenade grew weaker each day, but it didn't stop the girl from searching for the familiar swash of seafoam green hair around Crystal Academy. Force of habit.

Another hair yanked free, and Fallon pressed the cloth over the other eyebrow now, massaging the spot with her fingers. "All done on that," she said, tucking the tweezers away. She let the cloth hover over Audrey's eyes; it gave her time to think up a response to the questions directed at her.

Why hadn't she dated? It would be too easy to pull the gay card. She knew other people who were in happy and successful relationships with members of the same sex. And she couldn't exactly claim to have a female shortage in her life. Fallon attended an all girls school, and most of her friends off-campus were female too. No, it was something else, something Fallon wasn't ready to face yet.

So she skipped to the next question. "No, not boys. My eyebrows don't care to hear about them." Fallon grinned and leaned backward to drop the spent white cloth in her garbage can. She pulled out another and gently white it across Audrey's face, saying, "For cleansing." It seemed a little strange to leave the other question, hanging, especially since Audrey had been so open with her.

Fallon tossed away the white cloth and laid both hands on her knees, appraising the girl's face. "I'm not good about commitment. I am very particular about my own life and daily schedule. The idea of working to fit another person into it for an extended period of time is exhausting." She leaned back in. "I think purple would look nice with your eyes. How do you feel about purple? I could also do a gold..."

It wasn't hard to read the surprise on Audrey's face. Fallon didn't want to upset her; she just wanted to tell her the truth. "I could be wrong," she quickly added. "I'm not an expert on these things." Her hands busied themselves in the makeup box, pulling out a few tubes of this and that: primer, concealer, sponges.

A light smile lit her features when Audrey chose purple. It was what she wanted to do anyway. "I love purple," she said, selecting a tiny palette with several different shades. "It's my favorite color, but it will look much better paired with dark brown eyes." It was a pure fact of color. Fallon had bright magenta eyes. Adding purple to her lids made her eyes look like Valentine's candy. "I think I'm going to have more trouble finding concealer to match your skin tone." She leaned over her desk into the makeup drawer, drawing her brows together.

Fallon opened another drawer and took out a similar-looking makeup case. The products inside looked less polished than the ones in her first case. It was the B Team of makeup. She did a little rooting around before pulling out two small containers. "Life is complicated. I try to put order to it. It's hard to see eye-to-eye with people on that." Fallon flipped over Audrey's wrist and began dabbing it with the two shades of concealer to test which one would be best.

"For me, I use everything. Makeup is fun to play with," she said, turning Audrey's wrist to catch the light better. "I like to change things sometimes. I usually use golds and browns on my eyes, but my skin is much darker." Understatement.

Fallon did not believe in short-cuts or easy solutions. She liked complicated productions that only made something seem simple. Her makeup regiment was no exception. The hue for Audrey's skin was selected, and Fallon recapped the bottle to give it another shake. For herself, she preferred to use mineral makeup powder, but given Fallon's African heritage, she highly doubted she would find a shade for Audrey in that arsenal.

"Foundation, concealer, bronzer in the summer: it all helps even out your skin tone." The lid clicked on the counter, and Fallon retrieved a fresh sponge. She pressed it to the mouth of the bottle and then tipped it sideways. "Even if you wear nothing else, concealer is a good habit to get into. If you have a good enough product, you could hide just about any blemish." Fallon paused. "Even a hickey, if things go your way with Elzo." She grinned and tilted her head to one side in mock innocence.

Fallon began applying the concealer, first to her forehead, cheeks, and chin. She pulled out a smaller sponge to apply to to the area under Audrey's eyes. "Look up," she ordered, using a finger to tilt the girl's head back. "A pixie cut on you?" Fallon tried to picture it, but she could only see a weird version of the fairy from Ferngully. And then Marge Simpson with Audrey's eyes. She laughed and pulled the sponge away from the blunette's skin. "Do you have any pictures of this, by chance?" Fallon was laughing hard, and it broke up her sentences into fits and spurts. "I think this is something that I would need to see for myself. For proof." And for more laughs. Yes, for many more laughs.

Fallon resumed her position dabbing at Audrey's face, but a smiled remained on her lips. "The worst hair cut I ever had was self-made. I was nine, and I told my mom that my hair was uneven in the back. She told me it wasn't a big deal, to go bed -- typical Mom brush-off maneuver. But I wasn't convinced. So I went to the bathroom with a pair of safety scissors and tried to even it out myself." The bottle dragged across the counter, and she added more makeup to the sponge. "By the time my mom found me, I was sitting in a pool of my own hair and still cutting. I think I ended up taking off six inches of my own hair." Fallon laughed, reaching out a finger to dab away at some clumping foundation.

Fallon smirked as she dragged the sponge over the crest of Audrey's nose. "Well the good news," she said, blotting across the cheekbones next, "is that you already have a spectacular costume in mind for next Halloween. It can be a retro theme. You as a blue-haired Pebbles, and me as a black Twiggy." Her mother brought out photos of the mod-clothed, bob-haired model when Fallon was younger to make her feel better about her short hair cut. See, honey? Beautiful girls have short hair, too! Twiggy and Fallon shared the same lanky, thin body type -- at least when Fallon was nine.

Blush came next, and Fallon applied it across the apples of her cheeks, using a sponge to blend it. "I like my hair. When it's straight, it is easier to manage, even if it is no good to hold any curl." She used a finger to turn Audrey's head the other way. "But I also use conditioner." Fallon shot her a wry smile.

Fallon applied makeup in the same methodical, practiced manner that she arranged her room. No spills, no reapplying. When she added eyeliner, Audrey blinked and Fallon grabbed her chin. "No blinking!" It was easy enough to fix.

When Fallon stepped back to survey her work, she folded her arms across her chest and smiled. "So you like it?" Her hands clapped together. "Good! You can keep the foundation, if you want. And the blush. They aren't right for my skin, just extra things I've had..." From other makeovers, with other people. Fallon was always prepared. Like a Boy Scout. "I can write down the name of the eyeliner and shadow that I used too, and the lipstick. I tried to go soft with you." Fallon's smile had turned up about 1000 watts, and she danced happily on the balls of her feet. Oh god, how she loved to feel useful!

"Now Elzo won't be able to resist, even if he wanted to." Fallon canted her head to the side and grinned.