Put on Your Face&Let's Pretend (Noralei)

[Gabriel & Uriel Raines]

Invitations were out. Chairs and places were set. Mrs. Raines had been cooking for three days (because let's face it, pot roasts NEED to be cooked in crock pots). Not only dinner, but hors d'oeuvres. She hoped the invitations were clear enough. Were the invitations clear enough? She looked over to Uriel Raines, her (slightly younger) son. "Honey.." Uriel laughed.

"The invitations were clear, the food looks and smells great, the table is set for enough people, everything matches, Gabriel and I folded the napkins like how you like, and all that's left to do is keep the food warm, and change." Gabriel and Mr. Raines, Steven, were upstairs getting dressed. Then they would come down, and Uriel and his mother, Mary-Anne, would go up to change. Mostly so Gabriel and Uriel wouldn't accidentally dress identically.

The invitations had been explicit. Arrivals could being at 5pm, dinner would begin at 6pm sharp, and once it was done, the Raines' would clear away the dishes and a night of dancing and socializing and champagne would commence. Dress was to be semi-formal - no floor-length dresses, no ratty clothes, no jeans unless they were very nice, well-fitted and dark enough to not even appear to be denim.

The table, of course, was round, centered under a nice, although glass, chandelier. The Raines' were all four firm believers in everyone being equal, well-loved, all the same, et cetera. With a gasp, Mary-Anne turned back to Uriel. "Did you do that thing, with your iPod and the speakers, and the.." She was interrupted by Gabriel coming into the kitchen, kissing his mother on the cheek. "I did, mom. Don't worry about it, it's all set up and if something goes wrong.." He grinned, glancing at Uriel before the said in tandem, "That's why you had kids." "That's why you had kids." Uriel continued on with, "Cheap labor."

Mary-Anne laughed, before sighing and heading upstairs, Uriel eying Gabriel. "Ugh, no, I wanted to wear those shoes! You're awful, I hate you." He joked, Gabriel laughing in response. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll find another pair. Also, I was born first-" "Yes, yes, I know, first-born, blah blah.." Uriel made a face, Gabriel matching it easily.

Steven Raines came down, raising an eyebrow at Uriel. "Go, shoo, go get dressed." Uriel nodded, heading on upstairs. Mr. Raines was dressed in khakis, a darker wash, with a dark brown belt and shoes. He wore a medium blue button-up shirt with a deep purple bow tie. "Gabe, does this match?" Gabriel glanced up, looking at it, and shrugging.

"Looks good enough to me. You know that's your other son's forte. Also, your wife." Steven nodded. "Yeah, but your mother can't see me not matching, she does that thing, with her tongue.." He trailed off as Gabriel began making a disproving clicking sound with his tongue. "Yeah, you know the one." Steven said, sighing.

Gabriel had chosen to wear dark jean slacks and a dark purple shirt, with a black belt and black shoes, his usual cross on a black leather string tucked into his shirt. Uriel came own soon enough, approving of Mr. Raine's outfit, and wearing his own pair of dark blue jeans with a royal blue shirt, brown belt and brown shoes, cross on a brown leather string in his shirt.

"Ohh, look how handsome your face looks!" "Ohh, look how handsome your face looks!" They chided each other in tandem, before chuckling. As Mary-Anne got back down, putting in her second earring, the doorbell rang and she gasped, before taking a deep breath. She wore a halter strap corset-topped dress, the bottom flowing out wards till it hit her knees. It was a pure, firetruck red dress, with a white sweater over the top and nude heels on.

Guests began trickling in, Gabriel turning on some quiet classical music in the background. The closer it got to 6, Gabriel and Uriel began setting the table, pouring champagne into the glasses, and water into another, for guests who preferred that. They had - of course - made plenty of vegetarian options, being told by their mother than some people are and some people just prefer the vegetarian options.

As it approached 5:45, Mrs. Raines had begun relaxing, which of course automatically made Mr. Raines feel better along with their sons, as they all mingled appropriately with all their guests.

[Noralei Harris]

|| outfit ||

Normally when her parents were invited to parties, Nora stayed behind at home rather than accompanying them. She preferred babysitting her brother over mingling with adults twice her age who thought her foolish for liking animals enough not to eat them. It solved two problems, at least; her parents didn’t have to hire a babysitter, and they didn’t have to call ahead to inform the hosts that their daughter was strictly vegetarian and had qualms with processed food. When her sister was in high school, she went to the parties with her parents so that the other partygoers could meet at least one of her parent’s kids- the normal one, at that.

But even with Marilee in college, nora maintained her spot at home with her little brother. Guylan was easy to entertain; easier than adults anyway. But he parent’s friends, the Raine’s, insisted on meeting the two children. Nora was a bit against it, claiming Guylan was too young for fancy parties. But her parents decided that a party or two wouldn’t hurt now- they had to socialize him a bit before kindergarten started in the fall anyway. Not that he was anti-social, he was just an unusually quiet four year old. He talked incessantly to Nora, and moderately to his parents, but anyone else was met with blank stares and nods, whether the question asked was a yes or no question or not.

When the day of the party arrived, Nora skipped her usual regimen of going around town to put up posters or finding stray animals to take to the shelter. Instead, she made sure Guylan got his bath, made him lunch, combed his hair, and then handed him off to his Mom to get him dressed. She was commanded to pull her dress from last Easter out of the closet. It fit, unsurprisingly. For it not to, Nora would’ve had to gain weight (an impossibility, with her diet) or an actual set of boobs, rather than her board-like excuse for a chest. (also an impossibility) She straightened out her hair and deftly plaited it in a loose braid that hung over her shoulder. Her mother sprayed it with hairspray and added a nice clip to the left side of her head before disappearing to make sure her father wasn’t putting on something ridiculous.

The man had shaved, leaving only his salt and pepper mustache intact, and was trying to find a decent outfit that didn’t make him look too thin. In the end he settled for a nice olive colored shirt and a black tie before shoving his hands in his pockets like a single high school boy at prom. He matched her mother for the most part and after a quick once over of Guylan- clad in khakis and a blue button up t-shirt- they were out the door. Nora sat in the backseat and worried her lip. She wasn’t quite sure how her parents met the Raine family, only that they were rich and her family was not. She was afraid she’d be underdressed.

They arrived in the middle of the stream of guests, sometime around a quarter after five. Nora was introduced to Mr. and Mrs. Raine, but Guylan, who needed no introduction, had pulled her away before they could call the twins over. He wanted to sample the snack table, of course. She took a couple of crackers for him before he bolted off again.

So started the night.

Nora was the dutiful sister as always. He found a few other kids his age but promptly shut his mouth when they tried to talk to him, leaving his sister to prod him. Finally, he went off with them to do whatever it was little kids did. Nora didn’t follow, and he didn’t look over his shoulder for her yet- he would in a few minutes, obviously. The girl took the opportunity to wander.

She checked on her parents, pausing by her father long enough to get a gist of the conversation (Politics, ick) before wandering off to her Mother, nervously discussing her employment at the jewelry store in the mall. She stood there and listened quietly before leaving again, finally separating herself from everyone else and sitting in one of the armchairs. A few teenagers scattered about largely ignored her- they knew her from school- and so she simply hummed with the music, wishing for a more familiar tune as she scanned the room for her brother again.

[Gabriel & Uriel Raines]

There were of course, plenty of children for Guylan to play with, as the Raines' always invited and insisted families bring all of their family. To them, family meant you'd go through hell with each other without even batting an eye.

The Gabriel and Uriel, it meant entertaining people of all ages, and getting experiences with kids. Their mother was determined they'd make wonderful husbands and fathers one day - but certainly not yet - and their father just nodded along with her.

Once they'd officially traveled around to all of the groups of party-goers, introduced themselves, ensured everyone was having a good time, et cetera, they saw a girl sitting in an arm chair - alone. Or at least, ignoring the other kids around their ages. They rose an eyebrow at each other - this was not allowed, and if their mother saw her and caught the boys *not* talking to her, they'd be in trouble.

It was, of course, no bother to them. Uriel was looking at the complimentary colors on her, and Gabriel wandered over first. They came from behind the chair, trying to play a little fun. Uriel leaned on the top of the chair, as Gabriel's face suddenly appeared to Nora's left. He peered over to her, not letting her notice him before letting out a kind, "Good evening." to her with a grin.

Uriel was snickering silently, certainly not picking fun at her, but just loving doing things like that. Also, he was still admiring the colors of her outfit, being an art lover at heart.

Uriel had to fight to not say 'good evening' in tandem with Gabriel, but they strove hard to be more different in the non-Hammel world. In the Hammel world, they strove to seem.. well. Not rich, for sure.

But they did like dinner parties, a lot, mostly because they knew it was never because they wanted to show off money, but because their mom liked dinner parties, their dad liked making their mom happy, and their mom LOVED people. She just had this need to always be around and to be with people - which is probably part of the reason Gabriel and Uriel couldn't stand being apart from each other for two long.

They knew it was never something to show off money, because of another reason their mom held dinner parties - the play dress up. If she held a formal one, she would include a notice that said if anyone wanted to borrow an outfit from her, her husband, or her sons, she would be more than happy to share. And it was true, she would be. She felt bad for her clothes that she didn't wear as often, and she practically never threw out nice things, in case someone smaller or bigger than her ever needed anything.

All around, the Raines' just liked people.

[Noralei Harris]

Watching her brother from a distance, Nora focused all of her attention on the little boy, who was now learning some hand clapping game from a little girl half his size. She worried her lip, hoping he’d play nice. All the time she spent teaching him to be kind to people seemed to be paying off, he was clapping her hands but he was doing it lightly. After dinner he would likely fall asleep on her lap while her parents danced and socialized some more. Judging by how things were going so far, she expected that they’d leave around nine or ten. Either way, she expected it would be a long night.

At that moment, Guylan looked up from his game, suddenly alert. She sat up and watched him looking around, waving from her chair as he sought her out. He caught sight of her and waved back enthusiastically, making her smile as she mouthed ‘I’ll be right here’ and patted the arms of the chair. He nodded, understanding, and returned to his game. She smiled and watched him, smoothing out her skirt as she looked at her bag. She had her phone and could easily text her friends, but she was certain they were all busy somehow. One of them said something about a Lord of the Rings marathon at his house for the weekend.

It was then that she caught a moment to her left side and turned her head, noticing the boy to her left. He gave her a greeting and she nodded, smiling. “Hello.” There wasn’t much else to say in response. She noted the color of his shirt, admiring it as she realized she probably should be introducing herself. “I’m Noralei Harris.” She said, making sure that the pronunciation of her name was clear: Nor-uh-lay. She didn’t like it when people got it wrong, which was mostly why she shortened it to Nora. She pointed across the room at her little brother, now teaching the little girl how to make the Spock hand sign that one of her friends had taught him. Oh goodness. “And that’s my little brother Guylan.”

It was then that she realized that there was someone behind the chair and so looked up, blinking. “Oh, hello to you too.” Twins- they must be the Raines’ sons. The second twin had on a blue shirt, similar in color to the stripes on her dress. She supposed they must dress like that all the time, with their parents being rich. However, this was one of the the nicest dresses she owned. Even though she had an overabundance of skirts in her wardrobe she still lacked proper dresses.

It was probably because her family didn’t have formal parties. They had parties of course, because her father loved having people around and her mother loved to cook- but most of them spilled out into the backyard, pack porch, and the living room. They were crowded, loud affairs, much less stark than events like this. Nora made a mental note to tell her parents to invite the Raines Family to the next party they had. They probably wouldn’t come, but it would be a nice gesture.

[Gabriel & Uriel Raines]

"Ahh, yes! Gabriel started, standing up straight sliding to be more next to her as opposed to kind of behind her. "We met him. I'm very impressed he knows the universal symbol to 'live long and prosper'.."

Once Noralei had noticed Uriel, he piped in after moving more forward, so he wasn't awkwardly behind Noralei either, nodding. "Oh, yes, and so lovely that's he spreading it! Cute kid." He grinned, offering his hand to Noralei. "I'm Uriel, it's a pleasure to meet you." Gabriel glanced at Noralei, smiling and offering his hand as well. "I'm Gabriel. Did you teach him that? Really, I'm very impressed."

Noralei Harris. She was the human close to their age.. meeting each other's eyes, the gave each other a brief smile, before turning their attention to her. She was nice! She was excellent. Well, she seemed so at least. They would just go off of that for now. Also, human! Which of course, so was everyone else here, but really, all the other teens they'd met were dull and seemed to just be trying to capture their attention.

Which, of course, they'd given to the other teens, though not completely happily. Only to be proper guests. But this girl - look at that bow - thing - in her hair! It was nice. They liked it.

Also, they took careful notice to how she was pronouncing her name - good, it was the way they already all said it when their parents talked about her and the rest of the Harris'.

"How're you this lovely..late afternoon?" It was a quick cover for him suddenly realizing it technically wasn't evening till 6 - which it was rapidly approaching, and the boys figured they ought to disappear soon to quickly set the table, but for now, they were plenty happy to sit and socialize. Gabriel felt he should continue with a compliment of her dress, or another sci-fi joke, but he found the combination of thinking it himself, knowing Uriel was thinking it as well and could say it, and not wanting to sound like an idiot in front of her kept him from saying it. The Raines' liked the Harris'. A LOT.

Probably their favorite guests here, to be honest, it seems they went into the jewelry store just to talk to her. Of course - they loved everyone else, too.

In all of Gabriel's mental confusion of not being able to speak in tandem with his other half, Uriel took up the slack and complimented her. "Might.. I say you look lovely tonight?" He offered with a charming smile. It was even a struggle to not say 'we,' and instead to just say himself, even though he knew Gabriel was thinking it indeed.

Gabriel did finally manage out a compliment, albeit a little late. "I really.. I really like your.. your stripes." Uriel would've just lost it in laughter there, Gabriel's cheeks burning slightly. This was stupid. He couldn't say the exact same thing as Uriel, it was weird.

But he did, at least, like her stripes.

[Noralei Harris]

Making room on the arms of the chair for them to sit, Nora smiled as she folded her hands in her lap. Laughing, she shook her head and dissolved into giggles. “No, one of my friends from school did. He’s been doing it since he was two.” And her mother would never stop giving her friend Seth grief for it. He commented that if she didn’t like it, he could easily teach him a greeting or two from World of Warcraft- that alone made her give up the battle against the geeky hand sign. Between him watching musicals with Noralei and watching her friends play computer games, it was obvious he would grow up to be a world class nerd. But as long as he didn’t turn into a vegetarian like his sister, they would be happy. “But thank you, Uriel. Gabriel.” Repeating their names, she committed them to memory. She tried to find a way to tell them apart real quick, some sort of birthmark or something to remember them by. She couldn’t find anything, but she vowed she’d try again later. Their shirts would do for now. She was so glad that other people found him cute and that her pride in him wasn’t just her sisterly instincts acting up.

The smile shared between them didn’t pass her and for a moment her own smile faltered- she was often the butt of many jokes in school, so she got paranoid on occasion when she was left out of something. She pushed the thought to the back of her mind though, reminding herself that the Raines were nice people. They really seemed to enjoy her Mother’s company for some reason. It was probably because she was such a sensible woman, not flighty or gossipy. She had this air of unquestionable authority around her. That’s what attracted her father, anyway.

“Uhm.” She paused, thinking about how she was rather than giving a simple ‘fine’. “Content.” She decided with a nod. “Thank you for asking. Yourself?” She didn’t want to be rude and not ask him how he was feeling as well, that was bad manners. She looked to Uriel to, opening up the question for him to answer as well.

Lesser girls would blush and fumble under compliments, but Nora took them in stride and her smile widened into a bright grin. “Thank you!” She paused to flatten her skirt out again. “I got it for Easter this year, but I had to wear it with tights then, it was so cold.” Yes, she had bought a special pair of navy blue tights to wear with them. After easter was done she had put them away after a few more uses- the weather had warmed up and there was no need for them. “Your shirts look nice too. The colors are really vivid.” She wondered what kind of detergent they used to keep the colors bright like that. Maybe it was the fabric.

Looking from the twins to her brother, she discovered he wasn’t in the place he had been before. She didn’t worry about it for the moment. He was sure to turn up soon enough, as he was wont to do when he was around other people. She realized that Gabriel was blushing at his stumbling and she tried not to laugh at his expression. Instead, she diverted the conversation elsewhere. “Your house is really nice. I like the furniture.” She said, bouncing slightly on the cushion of the armchair to get her point across. In her house, the couches didn’t match and one of the kitchen chairs was a folding chair rather than a proper wooden one. It wasn’t a problem, really- when they entertained they could put it all out of the way easier.

[Gabriel & Uriel Raines]

Gabriel was still wondering why he'd said stripes. Stripes! Saying she had nice ankles wouldn't been even better. He couldn't muster up and say nice shoes, or bag, or hair bow - ribbon - thing, or even necklace, or heck, the best option would've been dress. Instead, he said stripes.

Uriel covered for him with a smile. "We're fine. Loving and gracious hosts!" He chuckled.

Gabriel had finally come back from his thoughts about stupid stripes in time to hear her talk about her Easter dress and compliment their shirts. Vivid. Vivid stripes might've been worse, but that was about it. Or if he'd just said the color. 'Nice blue.' That would've been really stupid.

Getting over himself mere moments later, he laughed. "Vivid! Yes, that's a word for them, also, slightly stifling and very stiff." He let her know, glancing to his mother, who was eying them. That meant it was time to get the food. Uriel rose an eyebrow. "Our.. furniture?"

"It's dull. "No character. "Oh, except this futon we have upstairs.." "It's striped!" "Yes, but aside from it, everything is very.. drab." "Drab." Uriel said in tandem with him.

Shoot. Shoot. How many people had heard that? They chuckled slightly, relaxing. A lot of people who spent a lot of time together said things in unison, right?! ..Right?

Pushing past it without even a glimpse of concern on their faces, Uriel added, "Very comfy and bouncy though, as you've noticed." He said, gesturing towards her bouncing on the chair. "Y'know, I think I jumped on this chair like it was a bed once.." Gabriel pondered, Uriel rising an eyebrow, muttering to Nora, but so Gabriel could hear, "Mind you, we've only had this couch about a year.." Gabriel rose an eyebrow, and would've stuck his tongue out, had they not been at a fancy party. He'd make up for it later.

"Well you'll have to excuse us and pardon our sudden appearance and departure, but we must set the table. Once it's done, if you don't mind, we'd like to come escort you to sit next to us." He offered with a smile, Uriel nodding. "Stripes and all." He teased Gabriel, though smiling to Nora.

They disappeared off, and as soon as they were in the kitchen, had a mini-play-scuffle, before setting the table. It took all of a solid five minutes, along with an extra five for pouring cold water into the cups not with champagne in them - of course, no champagne in the kid's section. Apple juice instead. Once they were done, Uriel went back over to his mother, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Dinner's served, mother." He told her, as Gabriel went over to Noralei, offering his arm.

"Might I escort you? The kids can surely find the macaroni and cheese, but I know where all the best vegetarian dishes are." He said with a wink, offering his arm to her. It wasn't necessarily a flirtatious wink, just one of those, 'you know, because I just set the table, so I know where everything is' wink.

[Noralei Harris]

Listening the twins talk proved to be very entertaining for Noralei- she didn’t even bother to try and insert any comments in, she merely listened to them much like one would watch a tennis match. She looked from one to another with a growing smile as they took turns speaking. She knew very few twins, but the ones she had seen on TV and the like behaved just like this- always in sync. She suspected that it came from a lifetime of living together. The end made her laugh for a second as they joined to say the word ‘drab’ in perfect unison- it was too perfect. She liked them already.

“Well, I think it’s lovely furniture. At least it all matches.” She didn’t expound on that, realizing that the mention of her family’s mismatching furniture would probably draw more questions then she wanted to answer. Thankfully they had moved on, and she listened to Uriel intently and nodded with a mock-dignified look of ‘Oh, I see, I see.’ that turned into another smile as she looked back to Gabriel, signifying she could take their jokes in stride.

Then they left and she found herself missing their company within seconds. She stood from the chair and left in search of her brother. She found him under the snack table, giggling as he explained her was hiding from Claire, the girl he just met, in a game of hide and seek. Claire found him a few seconds later and rushed off to go hide as Nora agreed to be seeker for the two of them. Finding Claire took a minute- she hid in a doorway but kept peeking. The three year old (according to her holding up her fingers and shrieking she was ‘this many’) tagged behind Nora with a hand gripped on the hem of her dress as she ‘searched’ for Guylan, hiding behind a floor length curtain.

That was where Gabriel found her as she paused by Guylan’s hiding spot. “Hmm? Oh.” She smiled and motioned her brother was behind the curtain- pointing out his shoes sticking out from underneath. “I’d love to. But I have to find my brother first, he loves macaroni & cheese...” As if on cue, her brother burst from his hiding place with a manaical laugh before clinging to his sister’s leg. ‘MAC AND CHEEEEEESE.’ He whispered up to her, and she pointed to the table. He ran off with a final emphasized mutter of ‘CHEESE.’ to his new friend, who tagged along.

Noticing Gabriel’s arm was extended, she took hold of it with her hand after a moment of deliberation. “That’s good. I was worried my parent’s hadn’t called ahead about vegetarian options.” For some reason they thought that, if they didn’t, she would eat the meat on the table. But her dedication to animals was strong enough to tide her over until she got home to make a good peanut butter and jam sandwich. She missed his wink though- she was looking back to Guylan, who was running back with a concerned look on his face.

The young boy motioned for her to get closer so he could whisper in her ear. Unfortunately, he used his ‘little kid’ whisper, which was very loud and not a whisper at all. ‘They use happy cow milk, right? Because if, if they don’t, I wanna eat what you do.’ Nora considered this for a moment and finally decided that her brother shouldn’t miss out on his favorite food because the milk (if there was any) in the cheese sauce might not be organic.

“I think it’s okay.” She whispered, nodding. He ran off without a word after that, satisfied that the cows were happy giving him milk for his cheesy delight.

“Where did you say I was sitting?” Nora asked, feeling not even remotely embarrassed by her brother’s obvious concern.

[Gabriel & Uriel Raines]

Gabriel had smiled as he saw her playing with the kids, and nodded from behind Noralei at the happy cow question. Happy cows were good cows - their mom grew up on a farm, and they'd been practically raised on that same farm. Mind you, they grew cotton mostly, but they'd had a few cows. Also, a horse, their mother had always had a passion for them, and of course, Mr. Raines wanted nothing more than a happy Mrs. Raines.

As Gabriel escorted her over, he gestured. "Oh, they didn't call ahead, but my mother has the mind of an elephant, and remembers your mom mentioning once how you were a vegetarian." He said, nodding towards one area of the table.

"Oh, and we don't just have boring things like pasta salad - we make a delicious bruschetta here in the Raines' household, and veggie eggrolls." He chuckled a little. "You pretty much can't be a Raines if you can't roll an eggroll."

It was a joke they'd come up with, Mr. Raines knew Mrs. Raines was the one because she was the only woman in Texas who knew how to stir-fry and hand roll eggrolls. Urie, back when he was 9, had brought home a girl - she couldn't roll eggrolls. A week later, she was 'dating' some other boy. Not being able to roll eggrolls was like a curse for anyone who chose to date a Raines.

As everyone was being seated, Gabriel pulled the chair out for her, sliding her so he legs were mostly under the table. Uriel came and sat to one side of her, Gabriel to the other.

Once everyone was seated, Mrs. Raines rose, Mr. Raines tapping his champagne glass. "Good evening, everyone!" She chided them all with a warm and friendly smile. "I would like to propose a toast, of course, to my wonderful family, and my sons who have successfully helped me do this and kept me calm all day." Mr. Raines threw in a quick, "It does take a lot.." After everyone chuckled softly, even Mrs. Raines (because she knew it was true), she nodded. "Also, of course, a toast to all of you, my guests. Please, our door is always open for you."

Once the toast was made and she sat down, Uriel glanced around them. "Not a meat in sight! Oh, unless you look to my right, don't look to my right. Gabriel what's to your left..?" He asked, beginning to serve himself, Gabriel glancing. "Potato salad." Which he got himself some of, before offering it to Noralei.

"So, Noralei, I know your parents say your sister's an athlete, how about you? Any outdoorsy explorer behind that hair ribbon?" He asked with a charming smile, knowing for a fact and remembering her mother saying she wasn't athletic.. but it was far more fun to get to know her from her, and not from her mother, which Gabriel fully agreed with and was listening with full attention.

[Noralei Harris]

Alarms went off in Nora’s head when Gabriel told her that her parents didn’t call ahead. She’d ask them about it later. They probably just forgot, honestly. They were always doing that; it was easy to forget a few things here and there. After all, they were worried about Marilee at the moment- she was still in Baltimore, and they were trying to convince her to come up for at least few weeks. She seemed distant though, concerned about some new boyfriend. Maybe Noralei would have to talk to her. But it was nice to know Mrs. Raines had remembered- it was also a tad weird but she wouldn’t say that.

Practically salivating at the thought of a veggie roll, Nora nodded and licked her bottom lip. “I love eggrolls.” Rolling them was a different story, of course, but she could do it after a few botched tries. “At least it’s a decent skill though. Generally in my family the consensus is that you have to love The Beatles unconditionally to be a Harris.” Her parents wedding song, for example- ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’ every Christmas, someone had ‘Wonderful Christmas Time’ stuck in their head. Her father owned a tiny yellow submarine- he kept it on his nightstand. Her family was a weird one, alright.

Sitting down, Nora thanked Gabriel for his assistance and sat through the toast, attentive as always. She sipped for the toast and put down her glass before turned her attention to the food. Despite being a vegetarian, she had a decent appetite- she took an eggroll and laughed at Uriel’s advice not to look past him. “Oh, thank you.” She took the potato salad from Gabriel and put a couple spoonfuls on her plate before passing it to Uriel. She took a couple bites and nodded in approval before remembering to put her napkin in her lap. As she smoothed it out and picked up her fork again, she considered Uriel’s question along with whether or not she should start in on the eggroll.

“Oh yes, Marilee got a full ride scholarship to Johns Hopkins for lacrosse. Dad was proud of her.” She liked talking about her sister more than herself, honestly. “I don’t really do organized sports. I ride my bike, but other then that I’m not really athletic.” Unless she was chasing chickens around the backyard, having a water fight with Guylan, or was valiantly rescuing her neighbor’s cat from the tree in her backyard. “I’m a bit more artsy. I sing.” She confided in them, not bothering to elaborate that she was in the school’s show choir and had been taking the class since middle school without even one formal dance lesson. Her parents didn’t have the money for it.

She took a glance down the table and made sure Guylan was being good before looking to her parents a few seats down. Her Mom waved and her Father gave her a wink as he helped himself to the pot roast. She looked at the twin’s plates and took a bite of her salad. “Don’t feel obligated to go vegetarian because of me, you can help yourself to the meat. If there’s some on the table I’d rather it be eaten then wasted.” That was her general philosophy anyway. Leftovers at her house were passed around to the neighbors if her family couldn’t eat it all. Nora insisted.

[Gabriel & Uriel Raines]

At the mention of The Beatles, both boys rose eyebrows to each other. "We, actually, have a Yellow Submarine Christmas ornament. It's a little lunchbox with a tiny thermos in it, which is also an ornament." Gabriel nodded in agreement. "Yes, we also own the movie, The Yellow Submarine. Quite good. Very funny, definitely drug-induced movie." Much like the rest of their songs..

After that, Gabriel sang, just loud enough so Uriel and Norelei could hear, and probably the poor old woman on Gabriel's other side. "For the Benefit of Mr. Kite, there will be a show tonight, on trampoline! That's one of my favorites, brilliant." He said with a chuckle.

Uriel nodded, chuckling. "Of all their classics and you pick that one.." He said, Gabriel nodding. "You love it too, don't like.

At her talking about her sister, both listened, eating on their potato salad and veggie rolls and some pasta salad. At her mention of singing, Uriel grinned. "Ooh, you sing! We should have a karaoke match between you two! Spoiler alert, I bet Gabriel would lose." Gabriel did stick his tongue out this time, but it just barely made it out between his chuckling and grinning.

"Artsy, yes, Uriel's artsy. I like science." He nodded, before glancing at her. "All right, let's hear more-"

But he was interrupted by the woman on his other side - which he was fine with - tugging on his sleeve for attention. "Hold that thought." He said, before turning to the woman. "Yes, Mrs. Delorens, what ever can I get for you?" He offered, standing up so he could go fetch her whatever it was she wanted.

Uriel chuckled. "So, finishing where he left off, tell me more about you. Oh, and a warning, anything you say to me, Gabriel will find out about." It was true.. she just had no idea -how- quickly.

Meanwhile, while Gabriel was up, he brought the butter to Mrs. Delorens, and went around refilling champagne, making small talk so no one thought the Raines' twins were antisocial or something else equally as mortifying. The kids, of course, had mostly all made fun faces in their macaroni and cheese, and had the strongest desire to show him.

He was easily enthusiastic, even playing with them. Good with kids meant a good person, or something. But he liked kids - and who didn't like to play with their food? Gabriel luckily also got them to eat more, by saying he was going to take the macaroni and cheese and eat all of it if they didn't. They were instantly devouring their food. Well, faster than before, at least.

[Noralei Harris]

“My Dad has close to all their records even though we don’t have a player.” She chimed, and without any forethought she went on about her pets. “And my chickens are named Lucy, Prudence, and Jude, even though the last one is a girl.” any thought that having chickens might be considered a bit strange was lost on Nora. She loved her chickens, much like a mother loved her children. “We had two dogs, George and Ringo, but they passed on a few years back.” She explained, pausing to take a bite of her eggroll. She hummed in contentment, obviously loving it. She smiled at Gabriel’s favorite song, bobbing her head along with it.

Favorite songs was an area she had decent tastes about, so she put in her opinion for consideration. “I rather like the Sgt. Pepper album as a whole, but I’m partial to Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds myself. The sequence on Yellow Submarine is really brilliant, in a way.” It was obvious that she wasn’t parroting her parents and actually knew what she was talking about. “I like the remake that Bono did of it for the credits of Across The Universe too, but not as much as the original.” She had a penchant for musicals- a Beatles inspired musical was like her dream come true. She went and saw it in theaters a total of five times when it came out.

The mere idea of a karaoke contest between her and Gabriel made Nora laugh again- she was really just full of giggles tonight- and she shook her head. “Oh no, I couldn’t possibly.” She wasn’t good enough to get a solo, those went to the girls that took dance classes and voice lessons. She was just part of the chorus line. “I do okay in science. I flew through bio my freshman year, but integrated chemistry and physics was a pain...” The class (I-CAP, as the students call it) was mostly a blow off class, a way to bypass the chemistry course. She hated chemistry. Next year she was slated for Zoology though, a class she was bound to excel in.

Gabriel excused herself and after a moment she turned back to Uriel with a smile, not the least bit concerned about his brother’s absence. “More about me? Uhm.” She paused to think, mostly trying to figure out what to censor out so she wouldn’t come across as uppity of super strange. “I really like animals.” She decided to start with that, understating it from the beginning. “We have a lot of pets at out house. Three dogs, a cat, and three chickens. The chickens stay in the yard though.” For the most part. She brought them inside to her room when a blizzard hit over the winter. “And I volunteer at the Humane society a lot too.” That was a major understatement. “For a couple of hours almost every day, really.” That’s more like it.

She really didn’t want to talk entirely about herself though, so she fell back to the earlier conversation. “So your artsy? What do you do?” She was keen to know- she loved artists and their work.

[Gabriel & Uriel Raines]

At the mention of chicken, both boys had looked interested. Not freaked out or anything, but definitely interested. As she went on and talked, they listened until, of course, Gabriel excused himself. He finished off his 'good host' rounds, giving his mother a kiss on her cheek, and a pat on the shoulder to his dad, before he took the champagne back into the kitchen to keep it cool. He took his seat again, Mrs. Delorens dragging his face over to give him a kiss on the cheek, talking about how well-bred they were. Gabriel of course, thanked her, before turning back to Uriel and Noralei.

At her asking about his art, Gabriel didn't have a chance to interject by asking her about their chickens. They used to live never door (sort of..) to a chicken coop, their neighbor's. They'd throw over rotten tomatoes, and in return, they got the best eggs they'd ever had.

Uriel rose his eyebrows. "Oh, I, I do all sorts. I love to draw, paint, write.. I write music that Gabriel plays-" "And you too." Gabriel said, not letting Uriel give Gabriel all the credit. He took a sip of his champagne, signalling for Uriel to continue on. Uriel chuckled, shaking his head. "Really, all sorts to an extent. I think sculpture is the next thing I plan on tackling, really. I'm awful at it."

Gabriel nodded. "Yes, absolutely dreadful, as long as you can call Van Gogh bad, then yes, Uriel's sculptures could be considered dreadful." He teased, Uriel smirking and shaking his head. "Also.. fireworks." Gabriel coughed, looking at Uriel like he was crazy.

"Only that's a secret.." Uriel nodded. "Yes, well. It's a secret. I'm working on the colors and he's doing all the sciencey bits, well, really he's doing all of it, and we're trying to make out own."

"Shh, it's a huge secret." Gabriel joked with a wink, which it really was, but obviously Uriel wasn't too keen on keeping it that way for long.

After that cat was let out of the bag, Gabriel turned to Noralei, finally asking the question he'd wanted to ask her. "Now, you said something about chickens, yes? Like, real chickens? In a coop and everything?" He asked, a huge grin splitting his face. He was thrilled about the possibility of real chicken eggs again, homegrown and everything. You could get them from the store, but even organic eggs, once in store, just.. weren't as good.

"Also, have you ever had a pet bunny? He had, and he and Uriel had together made it's hatch, and it was marvelous, and if she hadn't, they would changing that soon enough.

[Noralei Harris]

Uriel sounded like either an accomplished artist or a terrible show off- Nora couldn’t really decide which. She suspected that’s why he had been accepted into Hammel in any case. She could only sing, dance, and doodle. Otherwise, she was terrible. She decided that they didn’t need to know that right away, and so the tidbit was kept to herself as Uriel explained his desire to tackle sculpture. She nodded, interested as always.

“Fireworks?” She repeated in a whisper, suddenly much more interested. She had been interested in fireworks since she was little- not actively interested, like they were, but passively so. She loved Fourth of July celebrations to the extreme and was always the most eager to set off bottle rockets and firecrackers. Their venture into pyrotechnics sounded like an interesting tale to hear. They confessed it to be a secret and she nodded. Obviously it had to be- she suspected their parents wouldn’t approve. “I won’t tell anyone.” She assured them, before realizing that she honestly had no one to tell, except maybe Guylan.

Then the subject turned to her most absolute favorite thing in the world: chickens. Her chickens, specifically. Her eyes lit up and she grinned from ear to ear before launching into her story, food forgotten as her hands told half of the tale with wild gestures. “Well when I I became a vegetarian, my Mom was worried that I wasn’t going to get enough protein in my diet because I wasn’t eating meat. So I ended up eating eggs, but I felt bad about it because organic eggs are really expensive. Well, my Grandmother in New Mexico, she owns a bunch of chickens, so during one of our visits she gave me some chicks to take home and raise. My Dad and I, we made them a tiny coop for them to sit in and made a run for them too, but a lot of times I’ll let them out. They lay lots of eggs, so we end up giving the extras to our neighbors to eat.” She realized that during her whole entire explanation she had hardly even taken a breath, so she stopped there to do so, letting them get a word in now that her tale was spun.

She cocked her head to the side and thought for a second before shaking it. “No, afraid not. Viktor, my sister’s cat, he would try to kill it if we brought one into the house.” She didn’t mention that he already killed baby bunnies in the woods and brought them back to eat or leave as presents on the back porch- that wasn’t appropriate dinnertime conversation. “Why, do you two have one?”

[Gabriel & Uriel Raines]

Gabriel grinned at the chicken story. "No way! Back when we lived in Texas, out next door neighbors - well, sort of.. - had chickens, and when we're pick rotten tomatoes, we'd throw them over the fence for them. In return, the neighbors always brought us the freshest eggs, oh, they were so amazing!" He said, grinning widely.

Uriel, in response to the question about them still having a bunny, they shook their head. "No, we don't have him anymore, but we used to have one. It was amazing." Uriel and Gabriel glanced at each other knowingly, then back to Noralei. "We made our rabbit hatch, there's not a cat alive who could get in there." "Or wolf.." "Or heck, even a human, really.." Gabriel finished with a laugh.

It was true, their hatch had been so good - too good, really. A normal human couldn't get it open, for the gestalt pair, it was all right, still sticky though, but their parents could never get it open.

"It's decided then. We're giving you a bunny!" Gabriel nodded. "Yes! Only this time, the hatch will actually open." He chuckled.

"Now, I just saw, Gabriel you can't see them, but mom is giving us a glare as though we're infected with the plague, everyone should just eat for a solid five minutes. Or so.." He trailed off, digging into his own food.

It was true, in all their talking, almost everyone else had finished. The older, slower-eating people were still eating, but that was about it, and the places on the snack table for desserts didn't have desserts in them and it was the twins' job to do it. "Tsk tsk, young lady, distracting us so." Gabriel teased, clicking his tongue jokingly disapprovingly.

Uriel could only nod, too busy trying to eat as much as he could as fast as he could. As soon as they were done, they both excused themselves, beginning to clear everyone's plates who were finished. The rose, heading into the socializing area, Uriel finishing off plates while Gabriel put out desserts. They did this all very quickly, successfully enough, and Gabriel sat back down while Uriel continued clear off food, starting with the empty ones - in case anyone wanted any more food from the main table.