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The apartment was quiet. More quiet than Gwen was use to it being since her roommate had moved in. Even the company of her little sheltie wasn't enough to ease her discomfort and loneliness that was beginning to seep in. The need for human interaction was what led to the 26 year old to pull out her phone and toss a text message to Kristen. The two had only just recently shared numbers but Gwen was feeling comfortable around the younger girl. After all, they'd been through a few difficult situations together so it was only natural they'd want to get to know each other when not powered up.

The two made plans for a girl's night in at Gwen's apartment. The promise of food, movies and just normal girl stuff as opposed to running around the city in search of trouble was a much more enticing night in Gwen's personal opinion. Plus, with Isaiah being out for the night, there was no worries of bothering her roommate (though in actuality, she would much prefer him being home).

With it nearing the time they'd decided for Kristen to arrive, Gwen bustled around the apartment in a quick attempt to tidy it up. Not that it was all that messy, but some things were strewn here and there, and Reilly's toys had been tossed every which way during his play. So taking care to scoop up the toys and place them in a corner, she pulled out a spare blanket and draped it over top of the chair. If Kristen was anything like Gwen, curling up under blankets was always a nice comfort.

Before she knew it, Gwen heard the doorbell which instantly set Reilly into a barking fest. "Shhhh, Reilly. Stop." The little sheltie growled a bit but stopped his incessant barking as Gwen hurried to the door to open it up and let Kristen inside. "Hey! Sorry about Reilly. He won't bite I swear." She chuckled as she let the girl in.

Gwen studied the girl as Kristen moved her way into the apartment, dodging the little dog that dared to run up and sniff her leg and shoes. The girl looked very much like a teenager when she wasn't donning her fuku and fighting off nega agents. Gwen had actually forgotten that the senshi she knew as Zhou was a mere 18. She was younger than her own baby brother and she certainly couldn't imagine Dallen out fighting in this crazy a** war.

"Yea, you can pet him. He'll be best friends with you soon, I am sure. Here let me help ya there." Reaching in, Gwen relieved the girl of the boxes of pizza, most of which she doubted the two of them would be able to eat, but the divine smell coming from them felt like a challenge. She carted the pizzas over to the coffee table in front of the couch and placed them down. Reilly wouldn't dare touch them. Sure, he'd beg for pizza but he wouldn't just take it.

"I am glad you found the apartment." She smiled as she turned to face the girl whom had a very interested dog at her feet.

Reilly was doing his best to sniff every part of Kristen that he could reach, and then doing a double take. The entire time his fluffy tail kept wagging gently behind him. "Reilly, you don't need to inspect her so much, buddy."

Shaking her head at the dogs antics, Gwen gestured to the couch in her small living room. "Make yourself comfortable. My roommate isn't around so we only have the neighbors to really worry about disturbing." She shrugged. "So we can enjoy the evening without much worry."

The dog responded to Kristen's attempts to appease him by hopping up and practically shoving his face into her own when she sat down. Gwen sighed and grabbed him, hoisting him up in her arms. "He can be such a pest sometimes. If he gets on your nerves just tell him to stop or get down. He'll listen." She gave the dog a scratch behind the ear, a kiss on his nose, and then set him down on the floor where he promptly hopped back up onto the couch but opted to curl up against one of the throw pillows.

At the mention of bringing more pizza Gwen laughed. "I think if he was here there'd be more than enough pizza for all us. I don't know really, he's out with some friends tonight. At least that's what he mentioned." She shrugged lightly.

"Alright, so, I'll grab us some plates, is there anything in particular you want to drink?" She paused at the doorway separating the living room and kitchen and bit her lip in thought. "I'll let you drink, but only if you stay the night. I remember what it was like at your age." She smiled. "I only have liquor though. If you'd rather not have any alcohol I've got some pepsi, water, and orange juice."

Gwen smiled and leaned against the frame of the archway into the kitchen, crossing her arms over her chest. “It’s...a fairly new relationship, but yes, boyfriend.” It was still a lovely thing to say. It had been years since she was able to say she had a boyfriend and even longer since she felt those lovely butterflies in her stomach at the mere mention of her relationship. “His name is Isaiah. He won’t be back until some point later in the day tomorrow so you most likely won’t get to meet him this time.”

With that the young woman pushed away from the arch and headed into the kitchen. “Pizza for breakfast takes me back to my college days.” Gwen called from the kitchen as she grabbed two plates down from the cupboard before snatching two glasses. Back in her days at college it was a miracle she hadn’t gained a significant amount of weight considering how much horrible food she ate. Nutrition was not priority number one at that time in her life. She since had gotten better since graduating but still did enjoy a good binge fest when given the opportunity and tonight was going to be one of those opportunities.

“I don’t mind at all. I can set you up on the couch. I’ve got enough blankets and pillows for you here. That couch is damn comfy. I’ve fallen asleep on it several times.” With a laugh Gwen grabbed the water pitcher from the fridge and filled up both glasses. Returning the pitcher she grabbed the requested ketchup and plopped it on top of the plates.

Not being the most graceful sometimes, Gwen decided to opt for two trips. Walking into the living room she put the plates down with the ketchup before slipping back into the kitchen to grab the waters. With everything on the coffee table, Gwen smiled. “Alrighty. I think we are just about set. Let me go change quick into something a bit more pizza and TV binge worthy. You came prepared but I definitely didn’t plan ahead.” With a chuckle she hurried into her bedroom through the door in the far left corner of the living room, and zipped around quickly to change out of the jeans and light sweater she was wearing and into black sweatpants, and an oversized sweatshirt she had cut down the neckline to make it more comfortable. Within mere minutes she popped back out.

“Ok! Let the festivities begin.” She laughed and curled up on the couch next to Kristen. “Anything in particular you want to watch or should we just channel surf for now?”

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"Another time then. I am looking forward to it. What is he like?" The question came naturally. Kristen was a girl who liked a good gossip and did not hold back questions that might seem too personal to some. Living her life on the internet and her minor celebrity status meant she might as well be an open book, she almost expected people to be the same way. Cyan eyes watched as Gwen came and went and came again, flipping one of the boxes open she put a slice on the plate provided and then sat further back on the couch.

She was right, it did seem comfy.

What the heck, she thought to herself. "Okay, you have twisted my arm. It is not like i’ll be missed." Her parents and brothers would not be back for a couple more days, there was nothing waiting for her but an empty house. She brought the slice to her mouth and took a bite, before balancing the plate on her folded legs. She already felt at home, Gwen was very inviting.

Then the auburn haired girl disappeared again, but came back wearing what the presumed she slept in? I guess it made sense if they were not planning to move for the rest of the night. "I am okay with Channel surfing. I am pretty easy and watch everything from RuPaul to How To Train Your Dragon to Planet Terror." Netflix was basically made up all her free time, she loved movies. "What is your favourite film?" She might as well ask whilst the topic was in the air.

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Nestling onto the couch Gwen grabbed the remote and flipped on the TV and began surfing through the channels with no real set goal in mind. “Isaiah isn’t your stereotypical guy, and I don’t mean that because we’re dating. He’s unique in a lot of different ways. Looking at us together, most would probably think we are a rather odd pair. But, he’s managed to pull me out of a five year hiatus with dating. He can be crude at times, but really, I think that’s one of his charming attributes. But don’t put it past him, he can be extremely sweet and gentle when needed.” She shrugged and leaned back into the couch and paused in her absent-minded channel flipping. “I guess I never really sat down and thought about him like this before. He’s just been a presence here since he moved in and things...progressed rather quickly.”

She went back to her channel surfing, stopping when she found The Lord Of The Rings. “Ha! Epic. And it’s the first one. Do you like this sort of thing? If not I can pull out some DVD’s I have. I think I’ve got some chick flicks in there if that’s more your speed. But, I tend towards action and adventure things. As for my favorite movie…” She scrunched up her nose in thought. “Um, I think it’s probably The Birdcage. It’s not my usual genre but it’s damn funny. So how about you? What do you like and what’s your favorite movie? I mean, I know you’ll watch anything but I am sure there’s specific things you prefer.”

Leaning forward she grabbed a plate and opted for stealing a slice out of the top box. Gwen wasn’t fussy with pizza toppings. She’d pretty much eat any of it as long as it wasn’t anchovies (But really, who even got those?). “Alright, so alcohol it is tonight. I’ve got some rum in there, vodka and I think Isaiah may have some whiskey or scotch...I am not exactly sure. Any of that work for ya?”

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"I see. Well then, I am looking forward to meeting him. You sound smitten. Funny how life works like that sometimes, huh?" Kristen liked to think that everyone was unique, sure sometimes even she found that very hard to believe, but the idea gave her some strange hope. It also made her life as a Magical Girl very difficult; it must of been easier to paint ever chaos agent with the same brush. One certain Captain had proved to her that was not the case and she still did not know how to handle that information.
Damn it, she was thinking about work again. Abort. Abort.

She smiled over at Gwen, she had given her some information so thought it was only fair to give a little back. "I have never had a boyfriend, though that is down to my own laziness rather than lack of offers. I guess being a workaholic as well as being very self centered does not do much for the mood. That is not to say I am not a sucker for a good love story or a cute couple, I just lack the drive, personally." She stated with a shrug before taking another bite of food, her eyes lighting up as Gwen stopped scrolling through the channels.

"No this is great. It never gets old, does it? I used to have such a crush on Sean Bean." Her and one of her friends used to quote scenes to each other; when they were younger they even planned on getting matching tattoos of Theoden's poem on their thighs - She was so glad she was too young to get tattoos then. She dare to think what she would look like if her 'alt' years hit when she was a smidge older.

"I can not say I have ever seen the Birdcage.... Erm. I guess mine would have to be Sucker Punch. I went to see it about four times when it was in the Cinema. Heck, I agreed to two dates just because I did not want to drag my friend there again." She liked the hidden messages in it and in all honestly probably got engrossed more than most people did with the hints and undertones that ran through it. "Rum sounds good to me, thank you." She nodded, putting her plate on the table to rest her hands on her knees.

"Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it."

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Chuckling Gwen took a bite of the pizza. The stringy cheese gave her a bit of a fight as she tried to eat it without ripping off more cheese than she wanted off of the slice. After some tugging she managed to free her bite, plopping the slice back onto the plate that was carefully balanced on her lap. “You could say I am smitten, yea.” She said after swallowing her bite. “I am sure one day you’ll find the guy who will be interesting enough to you to make you want to be with him. I’ve been there. The past five years I had no interest in getting into a relationship and actively avoided them and then Isaiah came around. Life really is funny that way. Besides you’re still young. You have college ahead of you. Make sure you enjoy it and don’t work too hard all the time.” Gwen raised a brow at the girl hoping she’d know what kind of work she was meaning.

Turning her focus to TV Gwen took another bite of the pizza. This time the cheese cooperated for her. “Hm, Sean Bean is really attractive. It’s a shame his characters have a tendency to die. At the rate he’s going it would be a major plot twist if he didn’t die in a movie.” She chuckled.

“Oh man, you need to sit and watch The Birdcage sometime. I’ll make sure to get my hands on a copy of it the next time we have a girl’s night. As for Sucker Punch...well...I wasn’t a huge fan of it. I...I don’t know, I guess it’s just not my kind of movie.” She shrugged as she reached forward to grab her water off the coffee table. “You must have really liked it though to take two dates.” She grinned. “Considering you were saying you had no real interest in a boyfriend.”

After taking a sip of water Gwen smiled. ”A girl after my own heart. Rum it is, then. That’s certainly easy enough to put together with soda. I’ll get it right after this part. For some reason I really enjoy the Mines of Moria scenes. Plus I’ll be able to get this pizza down and have a nice base for that alcohol.”

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"Maybe." She would not like to say either way. Her priorities might very well change but she doubted it. Daddy always used to say that she could never love anyone as much as she loved her work; and Daddy always knew best - In her eyes at least.

She looked over at Gwen and smiled. "I can not really say right now, it's not like being a Magical Girl makes things any easier. I guess in a way I am lucky, it must be hard hiding something like that from the people you care about. I mean there is my parents, but they are not around much anyway - keeping it from them is easier than I thought it would be." Despite being quite popular in school, Kristen did not have any -close- friends. Lying to people was easy and painless for her and she very rarely got caught out. She could not imagine what it would be like to fall for someone who was keeping such a huge secret from you.

How much a burden it was to hide part of yourself from those people.

pcolor=indianred]"That would be cool if you could find a copy, yea." She was always up to watching good movies and if one came Gwen recommended then all the better. She laughed out loud at her reaction to the dating comment, Kristen's idea of dates differed from the normal person, so she could understand the confusion. "I have no interest. However if people want to treat me to things I do not see the harm in taking advantage. They soon get the picture; to be fair I think some Hillworth boys have made a game out of it, I have a reputation for shooting people down." Though that did not mean she did not play nice when a group broke into the school grounds, it sure made life interesting.

With a shrug she rested her head back against the couch and looked up at the roof. "I guess I am in the thick of the same highschool bullshit that has been rinsed and recycled for years, was your school the same?"

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Kristen was right. Keeping a secret as extensive as being a Knight from Isaiah wasn’t the easiest of tasks. Another hard thing to deal with was the fact she was damn sure he was also a player in the war that they were caught up in, but she had no clue which side he played for. A part of her wanted to just come out and say something to him, but there was this slight fear, that if they were on opposite sides, that they’d be torn apart in some way. That wasn’t something she was willing to gamble with. The best she could do was try and forget that he ever said he was fighting. “

“No interest in dating?” Gwen tilted her head slightly and smiled. “That may change in the future. But, I don’t really blame you right now. Not with getting into college and then...all of this other stuff we’re caught up in. It’s not very conducive to dating. Just make sure you don’t get yourself into trouble with those boys. Sometimes games can get a bit out of hand.”

Brushing her hands off after taking another bite of her Pizza, Gwen set the plate on the coffee table. “Alright. Since you’re staying the night, let’s get ourselves set for the night. Rum right? I’ll throw together two rum and cokes then.” She handed over the remote to Kristen. “If you want to see if anything else is on while I am in the kitchen, feel free.”

Gwen removed herself from the couch and set to making the drinks. It didn’t take her particularly long to fill up two low glasses with ice and rum topped with soda. Grabbing straws from a box stashed in a drawer she returned to the living room. “Your drink my dear.” She smiled as she handed Kristen the glass.

Sitting down next to Kristen, Gwen tipped her glass to the girl. “Here’s to a night of some girlish fun, I believe.” She chuckled before taking a sip.

Fin.