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-The oven had been blazing all day, the soft scent of sweets lingering down the hallways of the Crystal Academy school as the sun sunk low on the horizon, bringing forth the early evening of winter. Christmas music spilled from a flour covered stero, as the ivory haired girl fidgeted with yet another tray of cookies, moving them from the cookie sheet to a large tray. She was beginning to wonder if she shouldn't have just placed them directly onto the tablecloth, as platespace was becoming a hot commodity as her day long baking session moved along.

Dozens of cookies.. sugar, oatmeal chocolate chip, peppermint bonbons, and gingerbread where spread across the table, cooling alongside pairs of pumpkin and pecan pies. Away from the heat, cool and sticky bars of candied sweets (white chocolate cranberry blondies, seven layer bars, and gooey butter cake) rested around the centerpieces of an eggnog cheesecake and an honest to goodness (and gigantic) Buche de Noel. It was her crowning achievement, having taken 3 hours in and of itself between all the rolling and tons of tiny merange and sugar decorations.

Flour and chocolate covered the young cook as she shifted in another tray of cookies, inspecting her ever growing hoard of sweets. What she was going to do with them.. she didn't know. But for the moment her heart was full of cheer and busyness, as opposed to aching for the familiar sounds and events of a holiday at home with her brothers.-

((I may not be around alot today, but anyone is free to come in and have sweets/hangout/whatever :3 Will try to toss in replies when I can.))

((Yes indeed. XD Aurora would be wearing sensible and simple green dress and a very dirty apron heart ))

-She'd been humming along with the music when the emptiness of the kitchen was broken, turning after a moment curiously, spatula in hand. Glancing at the figure, not one she knew with any real familarity, but perhaps one she'd seen in passing, Aurora smiled a little, reciting out of memory.- "Merry Christmas Eve!"

-There were still a few minutes left on the cookies currently baking, so it wouldn't hurt to be a little social. She smiled delightedly at the compliments, faltering only a little when she realized the extent of the other girl's comment. Laughing a little, she waved the spatula free hand lightly.- "I'm glad you like it, take all you want."

"I'm Aurora Namid. I'm a junior." -She added the last part after a brief moment. Perhaps if she was subtle about it, the other girl wouldn't become embarassed about her mistake.-

-The quick change in attitude and words surprised Aurora, and the surprised look on her face was evident for a brief moment. Turning around, she pretended to check on the cookies, trying to remind herself of politeness. Even if one was nasty... a good role model and person always took the higher ground, she attempted to assure herself.

Nonetheless, the soft hints of a frown tainted her lips as she turned once more, motioning to the other side of the table.- "Ahh. Maybe the blondies.. or the buche de noel would be more to your taste?"

-She continued speaking, without a breath, hoping to cut short any unpleasant answer that might resound to her suggestion.- "It just reminds me of home I suppose.. since I can't get up there this year. I have alot of brothers, so I've always had to bake alot."

"I thought maybe I'd give some away as gifts when I'm done."

-Aurora was delighted for a distraction from the moment of awkwardness, lifting her eyes quickly to the new arrival. Once again it was short lived however.

The other girl looked absolutely ghastly, which of course was not her fault, but also the attitude.. even if it was in her defense. Sheesh. No wonder so many of the Meadowview and Hillsworth students seemed to think so poorly of them all. One would have thought 'ladies' would have been taught manners.

Nonetheless, a good deed had been done, and she offered the newer girl another soft smile, motioning towards the table.- "Feel free to help yourself to whatever. The more people eat, the less I have to wrap up and find something to do with."

-Pulling out the hot tray with a mitt, she began to move the cookies to a plate, trying hard not to keep sneaking glances at the new girl and her.. not so well hidden injuries.-

"Oh, that's quite priceless. For you to get mad over such things means that you simply lack the proper composure a Crystal Academy girl needs." Serah said snobbishly, popping in, the enticing smell of mixed cookies was enough to bring any semi-hungry girl into the room.

Serah was probably known for her flamboyantly pink hair throughout school. Don't forget her constant sleeping in class--- it was a wonder why she hadn't failed by now. There was a lot of rumors about injured girls these days. Serah was one of them. Including this dark haired girl whom Serah heard much whispers about. Unlike Miriam, the leftover of Serah's wounds were displayed carelessly with large sunglasses over her eyes.

"Finally tracked down the source." Her words implied that she had been looking for the mysterious source of cookies for awhile, as Serah took an appreciative sniff. These cookies smelled quite familiar-- but Serah disregarded it, noting that Crystal Academy probably had it's fair share of excellent chefs.

Miriam took a sugar cookie in the shape of a tree and took a bite out of it, chewing expressionlessly. She looked unbothered by anything Elegancia had just said, though her eyes flickered momentarily to Serah and then back to her cookie. She leaned against the wall and folded her arms, which caused one of her cufflinked sleeves to slide back -- she was bandaged around her wrists, and bandaged quite a lot, from the looks of it. The suicide rumor suddenly seemed all the more plausible. Miriam Jacobs wasn't exactly notorious for being a ray of sunshine, after all. But she wasn't notorious for being unhappy, either -- just an unfriendly, arrogant loner, a star fencer and violist who fenced and played the viola and seemed content enough with that. It was an enigma.

She directed her next words to Aurora. "You should take up a different hobby," she said, taking another bite out of her cookie directly across from the first. "Cooking is dreadful and boring, and you're not astoundingly good at it. Better to pay someone to do it for you."

-She had been semi engrossed in the last batch, turning it once, twice.. before finally pulling it out as well, her attention only half on the crowd that was slowly forming. She offered a polite, but silent greeting to each girl that entered, wiping her hands softly against her apron.

The room.. was less than cheerful. She'd take a room full of naughty boys trying to stick their hands in her baking over this ragtag group of catty girls. But one had to deal with what they were given.- "Tis the season to be generous, or at the very least civil" -She stated in her rather schoolmarm tone, as if it were the fun fact of the day, shoveling the last of the cookies onto the table.

And slowly she began to ponder what and if she should make something else too. It was seeming borderline obsessive really.. and then. Her lips pursed softly at Miriam's statement. She was floored.. absolutely. How could you even answer that sort of suggestion? Her fingers fidgeted with the stove, turning the heat off before they came to rest under the faucet, warm water washing clean any remains of stickiness.- "I enjoy doing it..."

-She said softly, obviously wounded. For a girl whose dreams at the moment consisted of 'Saving the world for truth and justice' and maybe being a good housewife/running a home one day... the words were tough ones to swallow. Where was Mili at a time like this..?-

In truth, Miriam Jacobs wouldn't pay anyone. Miriam wouldn't be paying for anything but her own hospital bills for quite some time. But the others had no way of knowing that, and she looked tidy and dapper in a blazer over a white button-down blouse. Of course, she looked ill enough that the tidiness and dapperness would go entirely unappreciated, but such was life.

She paused in the middle of decimating her cookie further in a methodical fashion. "I never said she was bad at it," she said, and she had that disgruntled tone she often did when someone dared to be offended by one of her rude statements. "Just that she's not exactly Anthony Bourdain, and it's a lot of effort to go to only to have rich girls like her," she motioned to Elegancia with her cookie, "use them to gain their holiday fifteen pounds while complaining all the while. Better all around to get a job and pay for your cookies." She took another bite. "If you're looking for some kind of holiday cheer, look elsewhere. This is Crystal Academy, not Care Bear Mountain."

Unfortunately, at this point she seemed to notice the guilty, sidelong interest that Aurora and others were taking in her injuries. Her voice chilled another ten degrees. "What's that? See something interesting?"