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Posted: Fri May 14, 2010 4:29 pm
Scylla had never been in a situation quite like this one. It was daylight, and she was on the run from police officers. Or she would be. Maybe. Depending. She was pulling a Cavalier, Laocoon, behind her as she moved for the doors to the library, leaving Tony behind with a ruined entry desk. A youma had attacked, a football-shaped, acid-spitting worm. Tony was left behind with no shirt, but frankly, she was more concerned for herself. Tony was alive and would stay that way. She needed to find a safe place for herself and Laocoon to power down before Civilians and Police Officers got curious and organized enough to ask unwanted questions.
She tugged along behind her the much taller figure of the Cavalier, knowing exactly where she was going. Of course is was not like it was hard to know how to get out of the library if one was to follow the obvious path. And Scylla was a pretty straightforward thinker. Not much- not any- talking was needed to communicate the importance of GTFOing to her new Cavalier friend. She turned in the main lobby, starting to head down one of the side passages towards one of the emergency exits- it would be stupid to actually go out the front door, when someone had surely- crap! There was a frozen moment of silence as Scylla stared into the face of a uniformed police officer who was climbing out of his car.
She really needed to talk to Tony about having so much glass at the front of the library. It wasn't safe. Robbers and everything.
The frozen moment where she and the officer looked each other square in the eye, then the cop was running for the glassy doors and Scylla was dragging Laocoon the other way, back the way they had come from, her gloved fingers tangling in his to give her a better grip. They fled past Tony, past the doors that were for employees only, disappearing into the back passages of the library. "Okay, so the easy getaway plan failed, and now we're seen." she said it wryly, Mistress of the Obvious. "And in the movies, they always have little radios." All normal exits could be considered compromised. FFFFFF.
Still, Scylla beamed up at Laocoon as she dragged him out one of the side passages and into another section of the library, glancing around for people. The new section of the library was considerably quieter than the hubbub of the central area, now filled with a yelling police officer; Now the two could hear the sound of wailing from outside the library. Sirens. Which meant more police and probably a rescue squad. Good, Tony would be taken care of. "Okay, look. There are a few options we have here."
People were peeking their head around the stacks in this section of the library, moving towards the ruckus. At least one of them saw them, and she quickly retreated back into the employee passages. Hopefully it was before any of them had noted exactly who they were looking at. Or what. "Alright, so there is one employee exit from the back, but there aren't any stairs or anything to try for another floor. So we can power down and come up with excuses, hoping Tony is so confused he doesn't connect anything, we can make our escape through the back door-" she was already tugging him in that direction- "Or I'm insanely lucky and you are one of those magical Mirror Walking Cavaliers." There was an odd little smile playing on her lips. "Not that I can really talk about magical." The sound of a door slamming in the employee section and Scylla didn't wait. She dragged him into the bathroom (thank god they were passing it) and quietly shut and latched the door behind them. Her back pressed to the door, listening.
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Posted: Fri May 14, 2010 5:42 pm
Getting dragged along behind a senshi after a whirlwind battle wasn't exactly what Laocoon had expected when he'd gone to the library that morning. Apparently one couldn't even borrow a book in this city without getting accosted. It was a horrible, horrible shame. He would have to make a formal complaint to this world's Queen (when she decided to show up) about the state of affairs. She would certainly have her work cut out for her. But, for now, he was left to follow Sailor Scylla around as she tried to find them a way out of the library.
The cavalier nearly tripped over his own feet when she stopped suddenly, having spotted and been spotted by the first arriving police officer. Apparently police responded very quickly to 911 calls. That or someone had called in the commotion. Drats and double drats. Laocoon barely had time to get his feet back under him before they were charging in the opposite direction and making a well-timed deek into the back of the library. Only then did the conversation resume.
"Radios would be a problem," he agreed readily, taking a moment to breath. "The most effective way would be to scramble their communications and send them into a panicked tizzy but alas I possess no such abilities." Laocoon's expression was entirely apologetic. It was a shame that between the two of them they couldn't manage to mess with police radios. Why wasn't there a senshi who could do that kind of thing?
Luckily for the pair of them, Scylla was already offering up escape options. The cavalier was starting to like her more and more with every passing second. So. Employee exit and horrible excuses, back doors, or the bathroom mirror. Laocoon's face lit up as he was placed into the Magical Mirrorwalking Cavaliers category – he would totally have to keep that one for future use – and he beamed. "Well I wouldn't go out and buy a lottery ticket today, you've probably used up all your good luck." He was already making his way towards the wall length mirror, quietly appraising it. It was tall enough for them to squeeze through… hopefully. They'd just have to give it a shot.
"Where shall we go?"
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Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 11:13 am
Tony getting attacked by a giant worm while working through what seemed like a normal day at the Destiny City Public Library wasn't exactly what Scylla had expected when she'd gone to the library this morning. Apparently that youma had been more of a bookworm that she was. LAWLER. Scylla would have laughed at her dumb joke if she dared.
She didn't.
She did, however, take a moment to appreciate the Cavalier's voice. He had a nice one. Huh. "Well, I could mess with their radios, but I believe it would be considered an even graver act of terrorism than what we just did." What she'd just did; Laocoon had nothing to do with the property damage. That was all her, baby! "Assaulting cop cars and sending them flying wouldn't be a way of making friends." Laocoon wasn't paying much attention to her at this point, examining the mirror, face bright as a child's.
Heavy footsteps were moving in their direction. Thank god this door was locked. She pulled off her heels, holding them in one hand, however, not wanting the audible clack of her heels on the tile of this floor to be what gave them away. Across the floor she walked, inwardly wincing at the thought of being on a public bathroom with no shoes on. Goodness, though, she worked with people who were clean enough... It couldn't be that dirty. "I may take my chances with a lotto ticket anyway." she murmured her reply, voice low. If she could convince someone to buy one for her. "I've been having more distinct luck than usual."
Where to go, where to go?
Dylan had told her that he couldn't go someplace he didn't know. Scylla had a few places in mind that might be safe, but she didn't know if Mr. Laocoon knew of these places. "I'm not picky." she said at last. "Anywhere but here. I can make my way back from anyplace within the City." Her purse... oh, dear. Her purse had been behind the counter. Luckily she didn't carry much in there. Makeup and pictures, mostly. Money and her phone she kept attached to her person.
"Someplace out of the way. No public places, please."
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Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 6:41 pm
Anywhere but here. That was a pretty vague request, even with the added constraint of 'out of the way.' Though Laocoon had been doing a very comprehensive study of the city's mirrors, he couldn't guarantee he'd be able to take her through any one of them. Well, that was a lie. He could go anywhere he'd been before, but there was no guarantee they wouldn't come out in the middle of a fully-packed store or a bathroom full of people. There were very few places that he knew for sure would be empty.
His host body gave a small balk at the idea of taking an unknown girl into his room and thereby revealing his identity, but it really was the only logical solution to this problem. The heavy footsteps were getting too close for him to risk taking her anywhere else. He'd just have to wing it and hope she could keep a secret.
"As you wish, my lady!" The cavalier neatly took Scylla by the hand and guided her through the mirror as easily as if it had been made of water. Seconds later the police managed to break open the door, but their search found no remains of the two "renegades." No doubt they'd tell the press they'd escaped through the ventilation shaft. It sounded much more believable than mirrorwalking or teleportation, that was for certain.
Meanwhile, Jesse and James came through a full length mirror into the very small dorm room of Johnny King. The mirror was allocated its own spot in the corner of the room, opposite a single bed. Though the room had a sufficiently large collection of items (mostly jars filled with various candies) there was a distinctive order to it. It wouldn't be too hard to believe that the room's inhabitant had drawn outlines around every item just to make sure it went back in the perfect spot every time.
Laocoon stepped easily into the room and let go of Jada's hand. "Do you need anything for the burns?" he asked, already making his way towards the bathroom he shared with another Sovereign Heights boy.
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Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 7:21 pm
She gripped his hand as he reached out to take her, and stepped through the mirror. She knew the feeling of walking through a mirror, and went with him. Never did she know that the police burst through the door after they had passed through; instead she was looking around a very small room.
It was neatly kept and about the size of her closet at her parents home. The bed was small, and there was candy. Scylla pulled her hand free of the Cavalier and moved for the bed. Comfy, and there was room for her to collapse on it. Which she proceeded to do, fading away from being Sailor Scylla and turning back into Jada as she touched the mattress. Anything for the burns. She examined herself carefully, assessing her civilian form. "No, I'm fine." she decided. Her sleeves were short, but the burns weren't bad at all. "Thank you, however. I think I'll be fine."
Sitting on Johnny's bed was the librarian's assistant.
She pushed away from the bed, peering around curiously, her hands behind her back. "I've never been in a man's room before." she couldn't help her soft laugh, then put her hand to her lips, eyes dancing with mischief. "Do you have a sweet tooth, Laocoon?" she peered into the candy jars, not reaching out to touch them. "So, where are we?"
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Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 10:00 am
Laocoon let his visitor do as she pleased, more focused on ointment retrieval. It was, thankfully, in the same cupboard he’d left it in – his roommate had a nasty habit of rearranging his things sometimes – which allowed him to return to the room in time to see Scylla powering down. The cavalier’s lips quirked upwards in a smile when he recognized her. Ah, the noble library assistant protecting her employer. It was kind of sweet.
Her assessment of her well-being was met with a, “Suit yourself” as he settled down on the floor. Powering down was as easy as powering up. One minute, Laocoon was there and the next minute his blue-eyed host body was there instead. Library assistant, meet frequent library patron. What were the chances that two powered beings happened to be at the front desk at the moment a bookworm youma decided to make itself known? Very small, no doubt, but today was apparently a very lucky day.
Though his face turned a bright red at her comment about ‘a man’s room’, Johnny refused to break his methodical application of the burn ointment. He turned his attention instead to her further questions. “Sovereign Heights dormitories. And yes, I suppose you could say that.” It was hard to deny a sweet tooth with the sheer number of jars littered around the room. “Is that the first time this has happened? Youma attacking the library, I mean.”
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Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 10:47 am
She asked lots of questions, not all of which made sense to spill from her mouth one after the other. Sometimes Jada's mind wandered like a pixie from one thought and one question to the next with the arrogance of a child who assumed everyone knew exactly what she was thinking; other times, her mind clung steadfast to a single thought and refused to move away from it. This was not one of the times when she was steadfast. The curiosity was eating at her. Her bedroom would be a stark difference to this one.
She touched nothing; that was rude, and she hated when people touched her things without permission. But she kept moving back to the candies, admiring the various colors and the strange organization that Laocoon had them in. Size and shape, colors; it was also almost obvious which of these candies were the Cavalier's favorite. Changes in amounts were drastic at times, though each jar was filled to a respectable amount.
The young woman glanced in his direction, opening her mouth to ask a question. It was no longer the Cavalier of the Maze sitting on the floor, it was a young man, a familiar one. "Your book is probably lost." Jada told the patron instead of asking her question, moving over to settle on the floor next to him.
His face was pink.
So she was in the bowels of Sovereign Heights, eh? "I've never actually been to Sovereign Heights. I was supposed to come take a tour, but I decided to skip the time here and go straight to DCU." Purple eyes peered at him as he applied the ointment. It was a step-by-step process for him, it seemed, and she watched with some small interest as he took everything methodically. "My name is Jada. Jada Chamberlyn. May I please have a piece of candy?" She didn't answer his question about library youma; not yet.
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Posted: Fri May 21, 2010 5:51 pm
Johnny gave a small shrug at the mention of the book. "It wasn't my book anyways, though I am a little disappointed I couldn't retrieve it." He had wanted to read the book. Pity it was probably ripped to shreds on the floor of the library. Hopefully it was in decent shame and wouldn't be taken by the police as evidence. Once all the dust settled he would really like to try and borrow it again.
Her close proximity only increased the colour in his face but he continued to pretend like he didn't notice. Just keep applying the burn ointment and maybe she could take the hint and go explore his room. Wait, scratch that. He didn’t want her rearranging his things. She had best stay next to him and continue their conversation.
"Ah, so you're graduating this year then?" The green-haired teen filled in the blank, capping the lid to his ointment as he did so. With no more distractions he was forced to look up at his guest, blue eyes wandering a little before they finally met purple. "Ms. Chamberlyn, then. John King." Her request was met with a calculate blink but he nodded. "Yeah... go for it. I'd prefer you leave the red jelly beans alone, though. They always run out first." Truthfully, they were his favourite jelly bean colour but he wasn't about to tell Jada that. The more people could figure out about him by sheer observation the more intelligence he attributed to them.
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Posted: Fri May 21, 2010 6:40 pm
"You'd reserved the book, so for two weeks it would have been your book. At least you hadn't checked it out yet." Jada was testing his sense of humor. Or maybe she was just tickling her own. "What was it?" She hadn't gotten a look at it to know. His face was still pink, and she was still watching him apply the burn ointment. She glanced down her own arm, at the livid streaks that were caused by the acid.
"The plan is for me to graduate this year." she agreed. "Followed by more school, and then even more." she grinned at him. "Where did you graduate from?" He capped the ointment, and she reached out to take it from him, pulling the lid off. Only a small bit, and she applied it to her arm carefully before recapping the jar. She pulled her sleeve back down, recapped the ointment, and gave him a smile. "Thank you." she didn't know what to do with the ointment again, so she sat it down next to him.
"Call me Jada, please?" She glanced around the room. Purple eyes landed on what looked to be a pencil and a notepad, and she pushed to her feet. "We've 'shed blood' together," her fingers made quotes in the air as she moved over to the pad of paper and jotted down her cell phone number, "So I think we can be on a first name basis. Don't you?" Away from the pad of paper, back over to the candy, where she perused it thoughtfully. "No worries, I'm not too fond of jellybeans. Except for Strawberry; I'll eat anything strawberry. What flavor is the red?" Her clean hand drifted over the candy jars thoughtfully, centimeters above the glass. "I think I'll have some of these, if I may." her nails tapped lightly on the glass and she looked to him for confirmation.
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Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 4:11 pm
He had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. "I severely doubt the library would demand I pay for a book that was devoured by a monster in front of the very eyes of their librarian. Not to mention I 'left' before any of the other damage was done so it's clearly not my fault." It would have been near impossible to pin the blame on him. That was one of the nice things about glamours; they worked even when all you did was round the corner and come back again. "'A' is for Alibi'. It's a murder mystery book I wanted to read."
The question of schools was met with a vague answer of, "Nowhere well known." He sounded dismissive as though it wasn't something he wanted to talk about. Johnny extended the ointment tube towards her when she reached for it, watching her apply it quietly. It was hard to know why she was refusing medical assistance. While it was true her burns weren't that bad, they would have benefitted from some treatment. Logically speaking, she either didn't want to appear weak or didn't want to owe anyone anything. Their contributions in the battle had, after all, made them even. If it was the latter he could understand her motivations. He and Hector were like that sometimes, hovering dangerously around neutral until one of them had enough of the truce.
But it kept their relationship interesting, and perhaps that was the way it would be with Jada. Even so, he tipped his head in a silent acceptance of her thank you.
Her explanation of why they should be on a first name basis was acceptable and so he conceded the point. "Red is practically a flavour in itself. It's a mixture of all the natural and unnatural chemicals in such a way that makes it taste cherry to some people, strawberry to others but ends up being its own flavour because there's nothing else like it. And go ahead. I said you could have anything." His eyes moved to the pad of paper with her number on it. "Your senshi don't use mirrors I assume."
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Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 2:42 am
"Sue Grafton." She recognized the book title. "I've always wondered why she chose titles the way she does. I've never read her stuff, myself." She knew more book titles and authors than she probably should, however. "I'm more of a science-fiction and fantasy reader, personally." And poetry. And one could never forget the cheesy romance novels; those were particular favorites.
Nowhere well known? She tilted her head at his vague reply, yet did not verbally press. And then her attention was gone away from him like that of a little bird. In Jada's case it was a deceitful little bird, paying full mind to the other in the room while pretending he had already slipped her mind. John King was taller than she by far, green-haired and with pretty eyes. She did have a fondness for blue eyes, she reflected. As Laocoon, however, his eyes had been... She turned towards him, mouth opening as though to inquire, yet she did not. She merely turned back to her perusal of the candies.
"Next time you fill up on red-" she looked up at him from her half-crouch in front of his candy. "-you shall have to let me try one. I've never tasted red." It was an interesting way of defining foods. Jada was a healthy eater on her own; natural foods and water as her beverage. Fast food she never ate, except, ironically, when she was with friends; lately doing anything with friends was a rare enough occurrence she hardly counted it. She reached for one of the jars, taking a piece of candy and placing it in her mouth. Eyes drifted shut as the tastes burst over her tongue in a sweet and sour mix.
Mmmf, delicious. She made a noise of approval, opening her eyes again as he spoke. "My senshi?" what a curious way of phrasing things. However, she wasn't a foolish girl. Alexandros wasn't a Cavalier like Kunzite had been. She'd thought on it many times. Alexandros and Laocoon were swathed in black. Kunzite had been garbed in white. "You mean there are senshi to go with Cavaliers like you and Alex...andros?" Dylan hadn't spoken much of himself. She was going to simply call him Alex, but decided to just out with his mouthful of a name. "But you are right. I, at least, rely on a cell phone to communicate with my friends and allies."
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Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 6:21 pm
He was pleasantly surprised when Jada named the correct author, but then reminded himself that she did work at a library. Knowing authors and titles was her job, after all. Still, a memory like that was impressive and he would give credit where credit was due. It was a pity she didn't like mystery novels. He would have been happy – read: mildly pleased – to discuss her favourites had she enjoyed the genre.
"Never tasted red?" Johnny repeated, raising an eyebrow. "I'm going to take an educated guess and say you don't eat a lot of candy or junk food then?" It was difficult these days to find red candy that didn't taste like red. It was practically a universal flavour, next to orange. But if his guess had been right, it was likely that Jada was a health nut or someone who wasn't allowed to indulge. Was she weight conscious? It was always a possibility.
The fact that she made noises while eating candy proved his earlier hypothesis that it was more of a secret indulgence than a regular part of her diet, but that didn't make it any less embarrassing. He tried to focus on the fact that he was adding information to his collection rather than listening to a girl make sounds when she put something in her mouth. Johnny gave a small shudder and reached for another container filled with black and white liquorice candies, hoping it would offer some kind of distraction.
Her knowledge of the prince was equally surprising and he nodded. "Something like that, yeah. You've met him?" Johnny hadn't really considered the possibility that Dylan was out making senshi friends, but it wasn't all that odd. "Where?"
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Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 7:35 pm
Jada glanced at him and swallowed the remnants of the tiny piece of candy before speaking. "No, I don't. I eat a lot of sweets, but mostly pastries and cakes rather than candies. I adore sweet foods, but they go straight to places they shouldn't. I spend enough time counteracting the effects of my gluttony, I don't need the aid of added fats and sugars." she laughed when she'd finished saying it, then looked up at him from the floor, almost guilty. "So I'm really very careful when I eat fast food and candies." she gave a light shrug. "I still tend to overeat them though. I have a fondness for anything strawberry. Pancakes, crepes, cakes, candies, frosting, chewing gum, Mentos..." as she listed things off, she extended the fingers of one hand, the index finger of the other hand tapping the extending fingers as though she were counting. "Anything, really."
She caught the shudder and stopped counting, instead reaching out for his forehead, a frown crossing her face. Up she reached, the back of her hand pressing to his forehead. "You don't have a fever, do you?" He'd gotten burned a little worse than her own arm had, if she was judging, and when she'd gotten burned the first time she'd gotten a fever almost immediately from the shock of it all. Of course, her burn had been considerably different than either acid burn they had, and had been caused by another creature entirely. But she still couldn't help but guess. "You should sit down."
It was a suggestion, not an order; this was Johnny's home, and he was kind enough to have not yet kicked her from the premises, even as she stole his candy and made herself at home. "And yes, I have met him." she looked faintly amused for a moment. "We met on the subway, actually. I was on my way home from work, didn't have any cash for the taxi, so I had to take the subway. My first time ever, and we had to encounter youma! Long story short, we helped each other out- he was more of a help than I was- and he got me to the hospital when I was injured. He visited me, brought me some books during my convalescence. He's an interesting guy." To say the least.
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Posted: Mon May 31, 2010 10:00 am
She made gluttony sound like a bad thing. Johnny's only rebuttal was to eat several liquorice squares all at once. After chewing them with a kind of single-minded precision he swallowed and said, "I prefer chocolate, but I like strawberry. It depends on the time of day." While there was never really a time he'd refuse sugar, certain flavours tasted better after certain activities. Chocolate was always good after a battle but he wasn't as willing to share his chocolate cake as he was to share his large variety of chewable candies. Jada would have to make due with that.
The hand on his forehead was unexpected and he took a step backwards, face burning brighter. He tried to cover it with a scowl. "I a—I was perfectly healthy when I left this morning." The statement had to be amended due to the fact that he was now sporting several acid burns from a certain dastardly bookworm. Johnny rubbed his fingers over one of the burns absently. He did, however, move to sit with his back against the bed, taking his jar of liquorice with him. It remained in his lap like some kind of barrier between him and the girl in his room, though he wasn't sure what he'd do if she went to stick her hand in the jar. The thought made him close his knees a little tighter around his jar.
The green haired teen made an amused noise when Jada proclaimed Alexandros an 'interesting guy.' Laocoon would probably argue that he was the most interesting guy in the whole world and while Johnny wouldn't go that far his interest had been captured. "This world got a heck of a lot more complicated after I met him." Idly he wondered if she'd met both Dylan and Alexandros but didn't press the subject. If Dylan hadn't revealed himself he wasn't going to out him. "The youma keep appearing in very public places, though. I have to wonder if this is the doing of that Dark Kingdom." He had an almost expectant look on his face, as though he assumed Jada would know something about them too.
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Posted: Mon May 31, 2010 3:42 pm
She watched him shove the candy into his mouth, her own opening into an 'O' shape as he shoved.... wow, he had a big mouth. And inwardly, Jada Chamberlyn made her glee face. Someone else with a sweet tooth. Excellent. But when she stroked his forehead and he stepped away from her touch, the glee turned to worry. He was awful red. "Well healthy when you left doesn't mean healthy now." she frowned at him, but didn't chase him down. He was clinging to that licorice like it was a lifeboat. "When was the last time you ate?" Jada asked him, slowly, thinking back to when the last time she herself had eaten was. It was still early enough in the evening that neither needed to worry about curfews and that hopefully they'd be able to get a table somewhere.
"I don't know... Alex... too well, but he seems..." hmmm, what would be a good word for her impressions of Dylan Rasmussen? "Unique. Both as a man and a Cavalier. Interesting sense of style." He certainly never pretended to be something he was not- well, not that she could tell. "As for the Dark Kingdom, do you mean the Negaverse?" She'd never heard it referred to as the Dark Kingdom. "If so, I can only assume this is their fault. The beasts are getting bolder and bolder, the the point that I'm surprised the police officers haven't figured out the senshi aren't terrorists, but Ghost Busters." her tone was very droll. "I put very little faith in the officers of our fair city to do much but shoot at the wrong people."
She tapped her finger against her lips lightly. Her nails were french-tipped, neatly manicured, rounded rather than squared. her hands were mostly soft and without callouses, but the pads of her fingers were rougher. "We should probably go swing back by the library, just for appearances, but then do you want to go get some dinner? You probably need something real. And I know some great dessert shoppes." She licked her lips dramatically, making a happy noise.
Jada and Johnny: bonding over sweet things.
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