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“Thinking of me? Why, Christa, I didn’t even know you felt that way.”

Paris stared down at his phone, frowning lightly as he considered his teammate’s digital missive. There was a teeny, tiny, bitter little part of him that thought about ignoring it, because even though he and Christa had consented to meet one another before, and even though they’d come to some sort of an understanding about their differences, they were nothing close to being the best of friends. They had something of an awkward peace between them, enough to exchange numbers, enough to know the other’s identity, but Paris certainly didn’t expect to be thought about, least of all by Kallichore.

Then again, he’d liked Christa better than Kallichore—which didn’t make much sense to him at all, considering they were the exact same person.

He typed out a quick response—“Sure. Be there in a little bit.”—before sliding his phone shut and hoisting himself off the couch, where he’d idly been flipping through some of Chris’s sports magazines (mostly for the muscular dudes, but also because he was actually trying to learn). “Hey, Pooh Bear~!” he called. “Crazy Christa wants me to meet her at the park! Do you want to come with me?”

Paris figured he might as well accept. He was trying to get along with her better, and he couldn’t do that if they never saw one another. Maybe he’d even be nice and pack a quick picnic lunch.

Her flu had been slow in going away, but Tallulah was finally feeling fully recovered. Christa's text was met with a whoop of excitement and an enthusiastic reply. Illness had turned her into a complete homebody, but the change of seasons had Tallulah itching for the great outdoors. She could even justify taking the afternoon off from homework because it was Christa and therefore, ostensibly, senshi business. (Even if it wasn't.)

She broke out her favorite pair of shorts to head to the park. Although some might think it was still slightly chilly for the look, Tallulah preferred shorts over any other kind of bottoms and thought the spring air and sunlight would do her good. She resented how pale her legs had become over the winter, even though pale for Tallulah was still decently tan.

It was a short walk to the park from her apartment, and Tallulah made the trip at a brisk pace. It took a bit of time to find Christa, as the girl hadn't been specific about her location, but once she did Tallulah wasted no time in plopping herself down on the bench beside her grey-haired friend.

"Come here often?" she asked brightly. "Long time no see. I've been sick. Did you get the psycho-flu, too?" It seemed like everyone she knew had gotten the psycho-flu, just about. That would certainly explain the lack of senshi activity as of late.

If Paris took his time getting to the park, it was only because he felt the need to be nice and pack a quick picnic lunch, not because of any superficial desire he might feel to look his best—though he couldn’t say there weren’t times in which that was the case.

As he assumed they would only be meeting up with Christa, however, he made less of an effort to look as flawless as he might have when going out on a nice date with Chris, and merely pulled on a pair of loose-fitted, slouching cowboy boots to finish off an outfit made up of little more than a long, white, short-sleeved and belted tunic and the inch or two of tight denim skirt that could be seen beneath it. What make-up he had on was light and natural and had been applied earlier that morning, and he’d thrown up his curly hair in the sort of ponytail he thought looked messily stylish.

With a small cooler and medium sized tote of hastily packed food slung over his shoulder, Paris followed Chris from his boyfriend’s apartment and, with Chris’s dog trotting merrily ahead on her leash, the two made their way to the park that had been indicated to them and set out in search of Christa.

They arrived some moments after Tallulah. Paris slowed his approach upon seeing another figure lounging on the bench beside the recognizable figure of Christa Calloway. The text invitation hadn’t mentioned any others, but then Paris knew Christa could have easily sent the same message to multiple people. He almost felt bad at the petty feeling of surprise he felt over the idea of Christa having other friends, but he had to admit she hadn’t given off the impression of being a very social being the one and only time they’d met as civilians, and as he couldn’t imagine she’d just randomly invite him on an outing with any of her normal friends—if she had any—he could only assume that she might have encouraged one of the other Jovians to join them.

“Hi,” he said as he and Chris drew closer, quickly glancing between the two girls and wondering if he should recognize both of them. “I dragged Chris along. I figured you wouldn’t mind. I was already at his place, so…”

The dog came first, and Tallulah's expression lit up like a lamp when the little spitz made it clear that she wanted to be paid attention. Although she had always had cats growing up, she was a lover of almost all animals and was quick to reach down and excitedly offer a hand to be sniffed. "Hi," she gushed. "It's nice to meet you, too."

Noticing that the dog was attached to a leash, Tallulah looked up to see what human this little ball of fur and sunshine was attached to. She blushed momentarily, recognizing Chris. "Yeah," she said, forcing herself to maintain composure. "Lifeguarding. Teaching water safety. Swimming competitively for DCU. The works." She liked to keep busy, as if that wasn't apparent.

The fact that Chris and Paris apparently knew Christa left her confused. Why would Christa have invited Paris? Was this relevant somehow? Tallulah furrowed her brow and shot her grey-haired friend a sidelong glance. "I think you need to make introductions, maybe?" she suggested. "Like, is there some kind of context for this that I'm totally missing?"

Because Chris Gallo, although charming, was someone she had only met once - and Paris? Paris was a complete stranger as far as she could tell. Of course, unless they were senshi, in which case it was just a matter of figuring out which ones. Knowing Christa, Tallulah wouldn't have been surprised if they were.

She regarded the boys in front of her with the slightest air of suspicion, waiting for an explanation for their presence. Although she'd be obliging to spend time with them either way, she would have liked a bit of warning so that she could avoid making a fool of herself. (As in: how she had behaved last time she met Chris Gallo.)

Firstly, Paris felt a mild jolt of irritation that Chris hadn’t felt the need to elaborate on the closeness of their relationship to one another, because even though it wasn’t all that important and anyone who saw them together could probably tell, he still sort of liked the idea of being called “Paris, my boyfriend.”

Secondly, he allowed himself to feel a hint of curiosity over the other girl’s—Tallulah’s?—reaction to seeing Chris, as well as his boyfriend’s apparent familiarity with her, because even though he wasn’t really the jealous type, it was true that he hadn’t met very many of Chris’s friendly acquaintances since they’d met and begun dating one another almost a full year ago.

Lastly… well, Paris didn’t really know how he felt when Christa introduced this girl as Europa, except maybe a little ashamed that he hadn’t made the effort to meet her like this before when he knew he should have. He shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other and swallowed down a nervous lump in his throat. He tried telling himself that there wasn’t anything to be nervous about—because it wasn’t like he didn’t know Europa as a senshi, and he’d definitely meant to meet under normal circumstances one day—but whatever part of himself his brain was speaking to didn’t seem to be listening.

There wasn’t anything in particular about Tallulah that caused it. Not that he could pick out, at least. She looked like any normal girl, and when he’d heard her speak to Chris she’d sounded friendly enough, but Paris could not quell the feeling that he was ridiculously underdressed for a face-to-face meeting with Sailor Europa’s civilian half, which seemed to him to deserve courtroom attire or his Sunday best—which didn’t even make much sense when he took the time to actually think about it, because she was in shorts herself (and it wasn't as if their respective fukus weren't revealing enough).

Even still, one of his hands reached to grab the hem of his short skirt and gave it a little tug. It might have slipped down his hips another inch if his a** didn’t get in the way. When that failed, he compulsively ran one of his hands down his skirt to make sure it actually covered everything it was supposed to.

“Oh…” was Paris’s lame response to the introductions. He struggled to find something more appropriate to say, but all that came out was, “I… it’s so… I mean, I’ve been meaning to… and… umm… it’s just that… well, this is… I… Christa didn’t say… not that… I mean… obviously it’s okay… I always wanted… umm…”

Eventually he just clamped his mouth shut and took the empty space on Christa’s other side, sliding both the tote and the small cooler off of his shoulder. “I brought food if anyone’s hungry,” he managed, like it was some sort of a peace offering. He felt like a total idiot, and averted his eyes only because he ran the risk of staring if he didn’t. “Just some things Chris had in the fridge. Fruit and sandwich stuff and some pasta salad...”

"Ohhhh," said Tallulah, offering the boys a friendly grin. Now everything made sense and she felt a little bit silly. Once Christa properly introduced them as Valhalla and Ganymede, she even thought she could see the resemblance. Yes. Paris's delicate features matched Ganymede's the more and more she thought about it, while Chris's impressive height seemed closer and closer to Valhalla's even as she watched him out of the corner of her eye.

"It's good to finally meet you both," she said, hopping primly to her feet and offering them each a handshake in turn. "Why are you stammering?" she added to Paris. "We're off the clock." Europa might have been a no-nonsense senshi, but Tallulah was here to have fun!

Turning her attention back to the dog bobbing around her feet, Tallulah gave Anna a vigorous scratching behind the ears. "Yes," she cooed, "You're absolutely beautiful and it's good to meet you, too. It's good to meet you too." Captain or not, all dignity was solidly out the door when a dog was involved.

"Great idea with the food," she chimed, looking up from a belly-rub. "It's a beautiful day - why don't we have a picnic?" And, she supposed, glancing at Christa, maybe they would eventually have to talk shop. Now that everyone was over the flu it was high time for a proper Jovian meeting to happen.

Paris willed the flush in his cheeks away, swallowing again and managing a smile when a little bit of the sudden nervousness settled. This should be easier than meeting as senshi, he told himself. He was much more confident in himself like this. His previous encounter with Christa had even gone rather peacefully; adding another person to the mix, especially someone he got along with so well as a senshi, shouldn’t be a problem at all.

He stood with the food again, slinging both tote and cooler back onto his shoulder to carry them as they made way for the bench Christa had pointed out. He glanced at the two girls again and was pleased he didn’t stutter more as he spoke.

“You don’t have to thank us,” he told Christa. “I mean, it’s what frie— er…”

Were they friends? He considered Europa his friend, so he supposed that should extend to Tallulah as well, and Christa… well, he was getting used to her, and they were getting along better, and she was really much more tolerable this way. It was sort of sweet that she seemed more self-conscious as a civilian, though he wasn’t about to advertise that thought lest she think he’d grown fond of her or something.

“Uh… it’s what people who know each other and who work together are supposed to do. You know, get together and do stuff or… whatever. Chris and I need to get out more anyway. We spend too much time on our own.”

He wondered if that was healthy but decided this wasn’t really the time to think about it. They had a valid excuse: they led strange lives.

“Besides, it’s been a while, so… we should probably all keep in touch more. I see you guys the most. And Pasiphae. Other than that, though…”