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It took no more than two steps into the cafeteria for Emelyn White to stop, plant her feet, and stick her very inhuman nose in the air, inhaling so deeply it closed her eyes.

"Ohhhh," she said, a wave of memories and a wash of saliva bombarding her at once. It was pie. Pumpkin pie, apple pie- and likely an army of others, too, by the strength of the smells that had permeated the air. It had been- very literally a year since Emelyn had tasted the sweet miracle that is pie, and she lingered there in the doorway for one reason and one reason only: for the fear that it might not taste so sweet to her hedgehog palate. The idea of pie being ruined was akin to discovering that her Grandfather was Santa Claus... as well as the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. (Truly, the discovery had almost been joyed by that kernel of truth: the thought of her grandfather masquerading as a pink-tulle tutu'ed fairy had been enough to make the 8 year old beam through her incredulous sadness at the truth.)

Reuben, however, had fewer doubts- he bounded for the table- towards what Emelyn figured was the overwhelming scent of the food- but what was actually, she discovered, a fellow canine, sniffing about.

"Reu, hold on..." she said, fearful that he was about to accost some islander that had been hapless enough to be transformed into a less human version of a dog serum. "Hoooold on there, buddy." She half-ran, half-skittered forward, and grabbed the dog around the hips, then practically straddled him to look over his head at the other dog. Just in case, she said softly, "Um... I'm... sorry about that." Reuben wiggled against her grip.

"Ahh... regular dog." Emelyn looked up from her awkward angle, peering through the spines that had fallen, askance into her eyes as she spoke. Then she smiled and righted herself, releasing the mutt as she did so. Reuben made a beeline for Vixen- going straight to the 'hello' spot to sniff shamelessly. Em brushed the spines out of her face and activated a few of the lesser muscles that would draw them away from her vision. That they would also cause them to lay at a very '80's punk' pose wasn't lost on her- but it was better than having 'hedgiebangs'.

"Mm. On the beach, that night. You tried to carry Ambrose away. ...I'm Emelyn." Emelyn White was not a woman of many very impressive talents- she was not a Rubix Cube master... nor could she dance, or really even sing, or fix her own car. (Which she'd never owned). She wasn't even very adept at opening a pickle jar without banging it against a counter several more times than was likely necessary. But one thing she had always excelled at... a dubious thing at best...was recognition. Her sister could point at the television screen at a bit actor and ask 'what else was he in?' and Em could, almost without fail, dredge from her recall the esoteric film or show that the hapless character actor had previously appeared. ...Emelyn White would never win the Nobel Prize for anything.

But dagnabbit, she could recognize Gaius Harper.

Emelyn hardly had a chance to respond before the enthusiastic Shepard jumped up to greet her. Reuben didn't often leap up, so she was surprised, but a reflexive step backward gave her the balance she'd need to accommodate for the extra weight on her front. Another reflex found her smiling, but she stil pushed the dog down to its fours.

"Don't worry about that," she said, "I'm used to it." That was a slight lie. But that exuberance she knew. "So..." she reached down to give her own dog some ear-scratching attention to delay him from accosting Gaius in a somewhat similar way, "should I just call you ... Vixen's Dad, or do you have a name?" Her tone was light.

"Gaius... Gaius Gaius..." she half-muttered, her eyes alternately going thinner and wider as she wondered, then as recognition hit. "That's it; you're the one that makes the chairs. Oh," she explained, apologizing, "I'm sorry- it's just that I recognized your name from when Ambrose told me about your carpentry, and it took a minute for my mind to... um... find the right file." She twirled a clawed finger in a circle around near her temple, smiling again.

Reuben had focused his attention back at Vixen, sniffing and wagging his tail with a fevered excitement.

"Yes!" She realized only after it was out of her mouth that it was likely too exuberant a response. But it was already out, so it would do no good to muffle the remainder. "That is definitely me. And yes, of course Ambrose was talking about it- he's seen me practically hovering on the end of couches and hovering when other people are sitting," she mimed the actions with a goofy smile, " ...That, and Ambrose is the sort to brag about what his friends are up to." If he was a friend of Ambroses, it was likely he could be a friend of hers- the New Englander had proven himself to be- with one feminine exception- an excellent judge of character, Emelyn had long ago decided. Thus, this oddly put together, trunken necked pegasus man had already earned 'favor points' in Em's esteem.

If it went any wider, Gaius' smile was likely to crack his face. "Yeah, that Ambrose is a swell guy. And I can imagine how hard sitting like that is..." His face turned thoughtful as he watched the lady's actions, watching the spines in particular. "Maybe a stool?" he muttered to himself, then gave a quick headshake. "That'd be a pain to not have something to rest on... Maybe some kind of arm rest..." His smile grew wry. "You're going to be quite a pickle to figure out, I'm afraid..."

Vixen, her companion's attention elsewhere, had snuck to the edge of the table and was sitting on her haunches, a paw raised, about to stand up and see what she could swipe from Gaius' plate, perhaps to share with Reuben... Gaius negated that plan as he reached a hand over, picking up one of the cookies and eating it happily. Ah, it was fresh! And so loaded with sugar! He gave a happy sigh, then glanced at Em. "Want some?" he asked, waving at the plates nearby.

Gaius laughed around his mouthful, brushing the crumbs on his hand off casually on his new shirt. "Ah, pie! I'm saving that for after I have some dinner..." His eyes drifted to the tantalizing ham sitting at a table to the side. He hadn't had ham in... he didn't know how long. But now... He frowned, a small sigh flaring his nostrils. At least he could enjoy the cranberry sauce and vegetables and potato... and cookies. Always cookies.

Another quickly followed the first, to burry his woes with delicious sugar. "Mmmm... don't know how anyone could resist sugarcookies..."