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Scooping up extra towels, Fallon crossed to the chair where Audrey sat. The girl was nearly a statue, catatonic in her shock. Fallon swept over to her side and leaned down so that no one could hear but the two of them. "I know this seems awful, Audrey, but look at it this way," she said, tugging the blunette to her feet by an arm. "Those aren't bad faces Elzo was making. Those are good face. Very good faces. That's what the s**t-eating grin is all about, and he isn't looking at me or Jada."

Her attempts to look on the bright side for Audrey did little to alleviate her own annoyance. It wasn't that they saw her naked. It was that such an action was rude. Manners meant a great deal to Fallon, and she didn't take violations of them lightly, no matter how much she might enjoy Marlo. Elzo? Meh. His positive qualities remained to be seen.

Fallon had just begun to shepherd Audrey inside when a splash echoed behind them. She spun, a whirl of wet dark hair, and spotted Jada plus the Xanis brothers in the pool. Together.

No immediate reaction crossed her face. Fallon would not put it past Jada to say that the girl might have done it on purpose. She was playful in that way (a way that Fallon could never understand). Or perhaps it had been the brothers? Elzo probably. She couldn't help but judge the boy based on his wagging tongue. Either way, there was so much spontaneous action going on around her that Fallon was having a hard time keeping the scowl off of her face.

Anxiety welled in her chest, and red splotches stained her cheeks. It was too much, too unpredictable. Her idea of what was going to happen that night had been changed, bent, disfigured. So far, she'd managed it well, but it was becoming too much for her. Her mind went to the marbles in her room, told her to leave now and go rearrange them. Six months ago, she would have done just that. Instead, she released her grip on Audrey and disappeared back into the house without a word.

It sounded like she was in the kitchen, or maybe upstairs? Who could tell in a house that big. Audrey and Jada were left to fend for themselves.

One of them- she wasn't able to tell which one- got Jada's arm as she shoved them into the pool. Before the dark-haired young woman could even get out a cry, she was in the water with them and the waters were closing over her dark head. She could feel her hair falling out of the tight knot as she was under the waters, felt the burn of the chill water smash against her face. One hell of a belly flop. This was one hell of a belly flop. Instinct had her breathing in, trying to get air in her lungs. Instead she got a mouthful of water- more than that, she received a lung full of water, and instinctively went into mini-spasms, until she bumped up against one of their bodies and wrapped her fist in their soggy clothing, hauling herself up their form until her head broke surface. Only a few seconds- two at the most- that felt like forever as her shocked body had inhaled water. She clung to the one who had her in his arms now, shaking and choking, using the larger body for support while she tried to clear her lungs. Her fingers clutched at his shoulders, arms wrapping around his neck. Finally Jada felt her body give one last choking shudder, and rested her forehead briefly on a cold, cloth-covered shoulder.

“Ugh.” she managed to say it at last and lifted her eyes to look at her life raft, the bright purple raising to look into the face of the brother that she was going to punch in the face. It was Marlo. He looked like he might be almost contrite? (If she realized where his hands were, she might actually realize what his face was reading.) She briefly debated hitting him anyway, for grabbing out for her and dragging her into the water, but instead she made a small noise of displeasure and unwound her arms from his neck. “Sorry I grabbed on like that.” Her voice was raw from the coughing and the water. Cloth from his pants rubbed against her bare inner thigh, but the towel was still between their bodies. Damn, but Marlo Xanis was a handsome man. Over his shoulder, further down the pool, she could see Elzo pulling his way out of the pool and approaching her friends. Her face darkened, and she almost glowered at him.

Instead, Jada pushed away from Marlo and backpedaled towards the side of the pool, finally starting to shove herself out of the water. It was something quite difficult to do with only one hand, the other being used keeping her towel clutched to her body. Failing, as the fluffy cloth was dampened to the point that it was only a little more protection than a bathing suit. It was tempting to drop it, and just be done with this little one-handed game. However, Marlo had seen her back from the fence. He didn't need to see the wounds up close and personal, no matter what he'd told her in the hospital about being beautiful no matter how she healed. What a load of crock. (Why was it that clinging to Marlo, for even the slightest moment, all she could think about was his comment about being able to do over 100 crunches?) Her cheeks were a pale red color in the lights from the pool. No, no, no. Marlo had a crush on Fallon, and while Fallon might not be interested in him, it still put him in the 'off limits' category. The young woman clawed once again at the side of the pool, desperate; From behind her there was a splash in the water and two hands went to her hips, lifting her out as easily as if she weighed nothing, setting her up on the concrete edge of the pool. Jada turned around, and gave the younger Xanis a faint smile; her eyes were probably, nay, definitely warmer than they should be for the situation they were all in right now. She should be heaping verbal abuse on the boys right now, but all she could do was grin like a little ninny.

Fallon was gone, leaving Audrey alone with Elzo. Audrey didn't look upset, not particularly. Just tired, from this distance. Jada pushed to her feet, moving over to where the remaining dry towels had been. Shoot, Fallon had taken them! Her stomach was... in knots. She glanced behind her, at the light-haired young man. This was getting dangerous. “I don't have any mens clothing, but I know where the laundry is. My father may have something down there, though I don't know how well it will fit either of you. If one of you knows how to use a dryer, you can toss your clothes in there before you go home.” Was Jada running away? Jada was running away. From what, she wondered at herself.

She picked up the clothing that no one had thought to grab, and started for the stairs. “I'm going up. Boys, this is the point of no return. Taking your chances with whatever I can find in the laundry, or marching back to your not-so-scholarly prison school in wet clothes and catching cold.” The irony of telling Castor he was going to catch a cold. Jada was angry with them, not a sadist. “Unless you want to veto my invite, Audrey? This night was meant to be for the girls.” Jada shivered, feeling invisible eyes on her back. Her stalker had found his way into her home, and now the Xanis brothers. Suddenly a fenced-in yard that had once felt like the safest place in the world was just as dangerous as any other common location.

Regardless of the answers provided, unless Audrey asked Jada to help her get up the stairs, Jada put one foot in front of the other, making her way up the staircase to her balcony and the light streaming out from the closed french doors. Inside, she stepped over the clothing that all three of the girls had so boldly dropped on the floor, making her way for the closet-slash-changing room. Inside, she pulled out another pair of shorts and another halter top- the same outfit she'd been wearing when it was just the girls except this particular top covered more- pulling them on before hanging her wet towel on one of the racks in the bathroom.

Castor was rolling around on her bedroom floor. Apparently Fallon had gotten dressed before wandering the house, inadvertently letting out the kitten? Either way- “Castor, you naughty boy!” The mixed-blood creature was tangled up in a bra, whose she couldn't tell, rolling around and purring as he fought with it. “Get in the bathroom! You've been a very very, bad bad boy, Castor.”

“Mew.” The kitten said to her, looking about as adorable as a two-month-old kitten could look. Jada was putty. “Mew.” Castor said again, and licked his nose. And Jada put him on her bed, still scowling, even as the kitten shed on her comforter with small gleeful purrs.

How in the world did you ever stay upset with someone who always looked so comically contrite and pathetic? Even harder to deal with than her rapidly fading anger was the fact that Audrey was, in a part of her, disappointed. This was as exposed as her body ever got, even in the towel, and not even a finger and flicked over the skin of her shoulder? Incredibly dark blue eyes had given her a look-over more than once, and lingered in the most male-appropriate place before Elzo had shaken himself out of it and looked into her face and spoke before trailing off. Wondering what it was that he was needing, she was tugging viciously on a curl and didn't see him move until she was scooped up into his arms.

"Woah!" Eyes widened and she braced for her bruises to hurt, but for all that she'd been hauled up, he had obviously already seen them and was adjusting his grip to fit. So while arms wound around Elzo's neck to keep her steady, Audrey refused to look up at him and simply contemplated the rippling of white terrycloth over her torso. It was absolutely shameful, though they were slowly yellowing at the edges, the teen looked like someone had given her a good beating. Amusing that every single one of them was her own fault, her own stupidity, her own lack of control. Alighting the steps, both bodies stiffened as Jada called out to her little Castor, belatedly making her wonder if perhaps he wasn't allergic to cats? Maybe the little thing had peed on his shoes. Had the Xanis boys been to the Chamberlyn estate before? Somehow the girl doubted it.

Choosing not to comment when the hand brushed her bare a**, the bluenette responded to the apology with a cheerful smile. He'd said nothing about her injuries yet, maybe she was in the clear? Already Jada was bustling over with Audrey's clothing in her hands and pressed them onto her to a large whimper of gratitude. She'd even had the sense to wrap the cupcake panties up inside the grey sweats where neither boy would see them! Jada was a saint, deserved immediate canonization for such a merciful act. It took a bit of arching backwards onto her back, but everything was successfully pulled up and covered before the towel was being pulled away and Audrey realized that those achingly familiar blue eyes were still watching her, face red.

Holding up her shirt, it was noted that Fallon was still off in the deeper parts of the house doing whatever it was Fallon did when she was stressed. Probably she was alphabetizing the refrigerators or organizing Jada's closet by hue. It was a small blessing that she actually wasn't around to see the brothers dripping on the carpet, of a surety. Jada herself was occupied with her kitten and when Marlo rushed into the room, her attention swapped to him immediately. No help would come from that quarter, so she was forced to choose; breasts or bruises. Though the second would fade, the first never changed and it seemed like a no-brainer. Standing and turning slowly, the white towel fell away from her body, revealing her mottled rainbow of skin from the center of her back down beneath the waistband of her pants, quickly covered by a shirt the same color as her hair and she sank to the bed, face shameful and guarded.

"Thanks for bringing me up it's...a lot nicer to have real clothes and a place to sit." The towel was running through her curls now, squeezing the water from them methodically. "And it's ok...I guess. I mean. You didn't tell us to go skinny dipping like that. I'm sorry you had to see me like that." Audrey's voice had fallen down into the lower ranges, sure that her crush was now doomed to obscurity forever. Still pink with shame and misery, she fell onto her side on the bed to eye Jada. "Where in the world is Fallon?!"

Ewwwwp, she'd made him fumble. "Towels in the bathroom." she told the boys, pointing towards one of the doors. "The other door is the closet. I'll go try and sneak you something to wear. Please don't get water all over my carpets." And with that, Jada fled out the door to her bedroom on bare feet, finding her way into the laundry and pulling out two sets of clothing. Let Marlo sweat her response to the apology. Speaking of apologies, Elzo sure wasn't apologizing to her. It was interesting how singularly-focused the older brother could be. Huh.

On her way back from the laundry room, she heard a noise from the kitchen. What? A glance inside the room had her almost quailing. Cookie would sure get her in the morning if Fallon had moved anything out of her particular organizational system. "We were wondering where you were." she told her friend, smiling at Fallon. "The boys are upstairs, dripping all over my floor. We're going to dry their clothes and send them home." Fallon was whipping something, and there was coffee. "It smells delicious in here. Do you mind if I come back and steal some coffee?" She didn't wait for an answer, already disappearing in the direction of her bedroom.

Jada opened her door, arms full of clothing. Castor mewed from his location on her pillow, prancing to the end of her bed, tiny tail outstretched. "Clothes! Get changed! Fallon is in the kitchen, making something delicious." She grinned at Audrey. "We can raid the fridge, get something delicious."

It was perhaps fortunate that Jada has been kind enough to fetch the bag that Audrey had brought with her overnight, and placed it by the bed. That way, when the male voices had echoed out of the bathroom, she was able to simply bend down and scoop out the foot-tall flannel owl plush her mother had made for her tenth birthday. Given a choice, she would have squeezed her beloved Valentine's penguin for support, but it was a bit dangerous to let anyone see that. You never knew, after all.

When the talk of Elzo leering at her like a steak came up, all the girl could do was bury her face in the owl and moan. "Food. Yes. Great." She was just dying of shame over here, shame and something that tingled in her toes and felt suspiciously like delight at the fact that the younger brother was asking all the questions she'd been longing to. Remembering the blond Eve from Shufflepuck's not more than a week prior, lips curved lightly into the flannel and she resolved that one way or another, she would get that date soon enough.

So it was that when the door opened and their uninvited guest immediately started to towel her hair, Audrey jerked and had to immediately bite back a moan. Of course he would go straight for her hair, and of course he would pull instead of lightly rub the water out. It wasn't exactly something she advertised, her weakness for the pulling, it was shameful after all. Also, you never wanted to give your secrets away! So she only allowed herself a few light shivers before turning her head halfway to glare almost playfully at Elzo. "I can think of a few guys. Your brother, for one. My father, who probably doesn't count. Khaldun Cilentani, for a third." Certainly he'd never tried to get her naked, though she'd been willing at least once. "Oh, and Drew Collins would never, ever want to see me naked. He said so, though I forget how the topic came up. And I swear to God if I feel your face anywhere against my skin right now I'll...I'll...think of something really interesting to do to your anatomy, Elzo Xanis!" Though interestingly enough, as her lips quirked, she hadn't actually told him that it was a threat. After all, you had to keep them guessing, right?

At the final words out of Marlo's mouth, a blush flamed over her cheeks and down over her chest becomingly. There was so much iron will preventing her from shivering and downright moaning at the little tugs turning her lower body to jelly that Audrey simply couldn't keep the blush down as well, and it spread like wildfire. "Actually, that sounds like a good idea. Finding Fallon, though I'm grateful for the pampering. Sometimes hurts to bend my arms like that still." Yet more smiles, bright and glittery eyes, Audrey at her most vivacious and charming. "Seems rude to leave her down there alone, especially if she's going through all that trouble! Elzo," hair was pulled from his grasp and she twisted and made a little pain grimace, "would you mind hopping over to grab my crutches? I can't quite reach, and I'm not entirely sure I can walk without them anymore." He needed to get off the bed, and get his hands off of her, or she wasn't entirely sure she could walk at all. Ever.

Instead, all that happened was Elzo Xanis, Manly Man of Manly Men, repeated his earlier actions. One arm came beneath her knees, the other cradled her upper back and diligently avoided groping her as the Hillworth student lifted her from Jada's bed. Audrey protested, and lightly pushed against his chest, before realizing something very simple - there was no shirt. There was actually nothing between her and her crush but one very thin blue shirt, and he seemingly had no intention of putting her down anywhere but the kitchen. Jada was slightly wide-eyed and looked to be about ready to laugh, concern also floating around the edges of her eyes. Marlo wasn't far from her, though he looked yet again exasperated with his brother. Really, Audrey couldn't blame him, though she was rather breathless with the whole thing. She could have walked with the crutches, he didn't have to carry her! But it was nice, nonetheless.

Someone upstairs was being cruel, forcing poor Audrey Collins to flash through her strongest emotions, in front of the last people she wanted to see her fall apart. All they needed now was Ursula Killingworth, and the bluenette would have thrown her arms up, growled, and gone home. Some things were just too much.

Fallon was the fifth wheel in some hormone-fueled teenage love fest, but if she noticed, she didn't say anything. No, she was just making coffee. Perhaps that was her chosen partner: cooking. It would never ask more of her time than she had to offer, would also keep her fed and happy, would never leave her. Yes, a partnership with cooking seemed like an excellent choice indeed.

Slowly, everyone trickled back downstairs. Fallon was getting clear coffee mugs out of the cupboard, going over each one with a white polishing rag. They were plenty clean, but that didn't matter to Fallon. It was the motion that completed a compulsion for her, giving her enough peace of mind to smile as the four others trailed into the kitchen.

A shirtless Elzo was carrying Audrey. Fallon quirked an eyebrow. Okay -- was she really about to get caught up in some torrid romance novel scene? Because she could go upstairs and knit. This was a viable option. "Audrey, did your legs break?" It was said warmly, the only hint of derision aimed at Elzo. There was a difference between chivalry and assertion of dominance. Fallon was not sure which one she was looking at just then.

Her eyes fell back to the glass she held. Turning briskly, she snatched the French press full of an aromatic dark coffee blend and started filling glasses. "Does everyone want coffee?" Whatever annoyance she had felt toward the Xanis brothers had more or less dissipated at that point. The kitchen had that effect on her.

"Load me up good, Fal. I'm almost tempted to beg you to put some Bailey's in it, if they even have any around here. I bet they do, this place is big enough to fit most of my house. And no. My left leg is fine. I asked for my crutches and I got this." As she was gingerly set onto the padded kitchen stool, an elbow went back lightly into Elzo's gut before his arms went around her and a chin came down on her head. "Faster, more efficient, much prettier, but there's just something lacking in dignity about it!" Audrey's voice was light and teasing, but her face was red and her hands were anything but idle as they nervously toyed with everything in sight.

It was somewhat unfortunate that she'd taken her first sip of the scalding liquid when he started begging to stay overnight at the Chamberlyn estate, and it was swallowed rapidly to burn her throat all the way down. Silence stretched as gold eyes looked pleadingly at Fallon to please save her, she didn't know how to handle this, what was she supposed to do?! Surprisingly, it was Marlo that was her savior, all but snapping at his elder brother as Jada bustled back into the kitchen. Obviously something had happened to put that look on Marlo's face after being alone with their lovely hostess, and Audrey definitely intended to grill her later.

"Boys, boys, don't snarl too much." Handling Testosterone was a class given to every female member of the Negaverse, for the place practically burst at the seams with it every time you put all the males in a single place together and stood back. Oh of course Scheelite had a thing for Zinkenite, but Obsidian and Charonite alone had a man corona that could outburn the sun. Sipping again and trying to be casual, Audrey reached down and lightly sat her hand over Elzo's arm where it rested around her. "You said upstairs that you had a reason for coming? I doubt it was just to see if we were having any incredible lesbian make-out sessions. I mean, we're closer to the sharp implements than before, I'd love to know what the reason was." It wasn't a coincidence that she'd joined Fallon in the kitchen, after all!