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After surviving Barren Pines, Fallon was trying to get her life together. One of the best distractions from that dark part of her past was something quite typical: prom. She had heard whispers of its existence, and never the one to turn down an opportunity to get dressed up, Fallon took the rumors as fact and began dress-shopping.

Man and Maiden's Memories was the eighth store she had gone to since she found out. It was a nice enough place, despite the odd name. It carried dresses made by smaller designers, and the sale rack was quite impressive -- not that Fallon cared much for the latter. She had been in the fitting room for about thirty minutes, and when the green hair girl entered, Fallon stepped out from behind the curtain of the dressing room wearing a yellow dress. One glance in the mirror told her it would not do for prom, but that mirror brought a more interesting revelation.

Esen Quinn Saylor was standing in the doorway.

At first, Fallon feared she might have hallucinated. She whipped around in a tight circle, dress swirling around her. Esen was still there, her distinguishing hair bright as ever. Fallon's mouth fell open, and she took a moment to practice breathing. Then she lifted her eyes and took a few tentative steps in the other girl's direction. "Esen?" she said, voice low and uncertain. It was the feeling she got every time she met another Barren Pines survivor -- happiness mixed with pain. Fallon fought to maintain her smile in spite of it.

On the dorm listing from Barren Pines, the girl standing before her was listed as Esen Quinn Saylor. Fallon never had much interaction with her, but the school was very small and she had a knack for memorization. It made Fallon feel better to know where others lived, like she had some kind of control over it. Plus, it was pretty hard to miss a neon-green haired female. Or any female, when you were Fallon.

Despite lacking a formal introduction, Fallon knew that this was Esen Quinn Saylor. And, thanks to the list that Imogen had given her, she knew that Esen Quinn Saylor had been one of the survivors of Barren Pines who ended up in the hospital. That didn't make it any less startling to see Esen Quinn Saylor standing across the store from her.

When Esen did not share the same knowledge of who Fallon was, a displeased frown crossed the girl's full lips. First Azzo, now Esen? Great. It wasn't like popularity was crucial to Fallon, but she thought she was respected and important enough to be at least a little familiar to her fellow classmates. Bouncing back, Fallon replaced the frown with a smile and took a few steps toward the neon-haired girl. "We went to... school together," she said, struggling to find the most polite way to bring it up. After a moment, she went with the blunt response. "Barren Pines. I'm Fallon. I lived on the second floor." Beat. "I cooked for everyone." The yellow dress billowed around Fallon, but she didn't look like much of a princess. Just... mildly annoyed. Why did no one remember her!

Fallon stared dumbly at the green-haired girl. Why didn't Esen -- or, Quinn, as it were -- remember Barren Pines? All the other students Fallon had talked to did. Sure, they all experienced the same pervasive memory loss that stole away the majority of those memories, but they hadn't forgotten the school entirely. Then again, Azzo couldn't remember Fallon. Maybe some people just experienced harsher loss than others?

A few awkward seconds passed. Fallon wasn't sure what to say. She couldn't exactly lie and say they knew each other from middle school. Fallon was in France at that time. Elementary school? Well, she had gone to school here in Destiny City, but she got in trouble so much that she hardly wanted to be associated with that. Hm. What to do? Could she lie maybe? She'd already said the girl's first name, but then the girl said that she knew her full name? Had Fallon said Esen's full name out loud? She didn't think so. Oh god, this was very confusing.

"Oh, sorry," she said at last. "I think I confused you with someone else. Is your name Esen, too? That is such a weird coincidence."

Smooth, Fallon. Very smooth.

She cleared her throat. A look of feigned surprise crossed her features. "Oh," she said, "I know where I remember you from. The, um, hospital. I was there when you were. For the situation with the... organs. That must be why I was confused." Why was Fallon mumbling like an idiot? Maybe it was because Quinn was making Fallon feel insane again. It was already terrible that her parents thought she was making it up. But someone who had been at the school too? Her stomach prickled at the thought.

Wow, awkward-awkward-awkward.

Stumbling to diffuse the tension, Fallon volunteered, "Are you looking for a prom dress too?" and then went back to wondering if she was crazy or not.

Fallon half-listened and half-watched herself in the mirror while Quinn, as she wanted to be called, spoke. She didn't have anything to add that would clarify the situation, and the creeping feeling that she might actually be crazy was not exactly a welcome one. Instead, she focused on the things she felt comfortable talking about.

"I like Crystal Academy. I moved in last month, and I started classes a few weeks ago. The transition was more seamless than I expected. I know a few of the students there from," she blinked, "the hospital." Was it really possible that Quinn didn't remember anything? Wow. For a moment, Fallon felt lucky. Her memory was full of holes and laden with fuzzy images, but she still remembered the school and the friends she had met there. Several of the girls she knew ended up at Crystal Academy too.

Hoping to move the subject away from the awkward confusion at hand, Fallon crossed back to the mirror. "What do you think of this for prom? Too bright?" she asked, though she had already made up her mind that she did not like it. Fallon just wanted to steer away from the previous topic.

Adjusting the skirt of the dress in the mirror, Fallon craned her neck to look at Esen. "There are kitchens for those who live there, and we have a classroom for Home Economics that has a kitchen. Are you going to live at Crystal? Or just attend during the day? I know the kitchens are open to residents, but I'm not sure about girls who don't. There is a school cafeteria though," she said, pressing a painted nail to her lips. It was much easier to talk about her life now compared to her life then, especially when Quinn didn't even remember.

When Quinn appraised the dress, Fallon glanced back to the mirror, touching at the fabric. "Yes, I agree. It's too bright for me. I prefer a muted color palette, something with subtlety." She took a few steps toward the dressing room where the rest of her potential dresses hung. "I think I'll try on another. Are you going to start trying on too? We could give each other feed back." Of course, Fallon was really just curious to spend more time around the girl who couldn't remember the school. Perhaps there was some detail that would become obvious if they interacted further?

Wow, Quinn had lost an entire year? Fallon had gone missing in August immediately after stepping foot on her plane to school. Her parents were under the impression that she was going to Crystal Academy all along -- and so was the school. When Fallon never showed up, they issued the usual missing persons report. Her parents had seen Taken and immediately assumed she had been sold into sex slavery. They poured money into private investigators, specialists, even psychics. And then in late December, she was back -- but part of an organ ring.

For as much confusion as Fallon had over her situation, she had even more guilt over what her parents had been through. The fact that they had been strong enough to actually return to France without her was still astounding to her. At first, her mother flatly refused to leave her again, but Fallon begged. She said that it was the one thing she wanted after everything she had been through: to go to school like she had originally intended. What could they say? They promised to pay the money to visit once a month and told Fallon that she had to call every night at the same time or they would call the police. It was a shaky compromise, but it had worked so far.

To hear that Quinn had lost more time was unfathomable to her. So surprising, in fact, that she neglected to comment on anything the girl had said that remotely touched on her memories of Barren Pines and her own period of absence.

Fallon recovered quickly, especially when Quinn started dishing fashion tips. It was all information Fallon had heard before. Truth by told, she had only tried on the yellow dress to check the cut. If she bought it, she would have it remade in plum. Plums, sages, and dusty blues made her little world go 'round. She smiled anyway. "Yes, I think I have a purple one in here. Blue too," she said, pulling back the curtain to her dressing room. "I'll throw on a new one and wait for you to grab a couple." With that, Fallon disappeared behind the curtain and began to change into her next look.

Fallon was in her next dress before Esen returned, but she lingered in her dressing room, staring at it and how it moved. Hm, much better than the last. It was a long, purple dress with silver accents. The back was appealing to Fallon. The silver pieces that crossed below the bust split low and high across the back to reveal most of her back. It was probably a bit too exposing for a 15-year-old, but Fallon would be sixteen soon. And it's not like her parents were there to tell her no.

When she heard Quinn step out of the dressing room, Fallon did too, pulling back her curtain. "I love the color," she said immediately. She glanced down at her own dress. "It appears we have similar tastes in color, actually..." Her hands smoothed down the front of her gown. The color was where the similarities mostly ended. Quinn's gown was far more ornate, and Fallon's was less traditional.

Fallon had her own opinion of Quinn's dress, but she didn't want to be rude. "What do you think of your gown?" she asked, still eying hers in the three-way mirror. She didn't notice the girl's scar.