It started as a typical Sunday (Brooke)

[Charlotte Greene]

A pleasant and relaxing Sunday was upon Hamel.. Or at least it had pleasant and relaxing thus far for one Charlotte Greene. She had taken care of some laundry earlier in the day, read several chapters of a book my Susan B. Cooper, and was currently sitting back in the common area of her dorm.. Her bedroom window was open, her door was open, and the door into the common area was open. The draft wasn't quite chilly, and it was nice to air out the place now and then. If anyone had any issues with it, she'd be happy to close the doors, but for now they were wide open.

The smell of Vermont air was nice. Nicer, maybe, than the air further south where she'd come from. Or perhaps it was simply the case that Charlie was finally settling in.. Talking to some people and getting used to her new pixie self. It wasn't clear and she didn't really care, but the point was that today felt good and it had been low stress and Charlie had managed to get a bit more sleep that usual and things were better on top of being good for it.

Given that Charlie was a short ways down the hall, there wasn't much traffic that went past her room, and even if someone was walking the girl's floor, she didn't think much of it. People were welcome to come and go as they pleased as long as they respected the privacy of her bedroom and didn't leave a mess. Not that she would actually have the guts to kick someone out, especially if Astley had invited them. Regardless, Charlie was seated on the floor next to the door that lead into the hallway there the breeze just teased at her hair and made her wing flutter slightly. She had her book open, one leg folded on the ground, and her other knee up do her forearm could rest on it as it held her book up.

She wore simple faded jeans, a pair of nike trainers in white and blue, had her hair down and reasonably straight, and was wearing a plain yellow sleeveless shirt.. and in general was pretty easy to miss if one didn't have a habit of looking down as soon as they entered a room.. Which was okay by Charlie, who would happily spend hours finishing her book if not interrupted or distracted. Today, though, she figured that distractions were as unlikely as they would ever be.

How very wrong she was.

[Deleted]

Brooke wasn't feeling much better today than she was a few days ago, but at least she was more….

she didn't want to get into that.

The girl bounced through the halls towards Room 406, where she hoped to see and show off her brand new hair-do to her bestie Astley. She would probably freak out, Brooke couldn't wait to see her face. She would probably push her to play with it and make it over and they could just be girls about it, you know?

Right?

A new look wasn't so bad….

Brooke was all set to knock on the door and enter with a spin to show off her new tresses along with some new threads sent from home. A silver rayon tank with a light blue jacket and a chiffon black skirt. The skirt had little rhinestones trailing up the edge which met where it tufted at one corner of the waistband.

The excitable girl pounced into the dorm room with a ta-da stance, wholly expecting Astley to be somewhere around there. Of course, she danced to a wholly empty room. Oh, well, it wasn't completely empty. There was a girl sitting in the hallway, whom Brooke hadn't bothered before.

Brooke skipped over to the girl reading and kneeled down beside her, her should-length curls bouncing along behind her. "Heya, chica! Whatcha reading?"

[Charlotte Greene]

Hm. A someone. A someone headed into Charlie's common room. A someone that had walked right past her like she owned the place. A someone that Charlie was fairly sure she'd seen before. Someone that was friends with Astley. Was her hair different? Probably. Maybe. Who knew. Charlie wasn't crazy about fashion like a lot of people were. She preferred clothes for comfort over style. That wasn't to say that she looked bad by any means, but.. This chick was wearing several layers.. and may well have changed all of them several times before deciding it looked right.

Of course, after dancing into the common area, the girl shortly returned. She looked.. both younger and older than Charlie. She looked shorter, but she also.. Something about her face spoke of .. either experience or.. something else? Hard to tell while Charlie was failing at reading her book because she was trying to stare out of the corner of her eye. Which was no longer a problem as this girl was suddenly interested in Charlie. Apparently Astley was out.

"Um.. It's.. It's just a book about.. good versus evil stuff. Light side, dark side.. Some kid that was raised never knowing he was an integral part of it and suddenly got shoved into the middle of things. I read the whole series when I was younger, but I can kinda relate to him better now that I'm.. ya know.. 'special'. If you're looking for Astley I haven't seen her lately. I don't have her number to call her for you either.. But.. I'm Charlie. Just so you know."

She would raise a hand to Brooke, outstretched as if to shake. Charlie was never all that good at meeting people, so she just emulated her Uncle James. Any time he met someone new he shook their hand.. So Charlie offered a handshake to this new person. "Um.. I've only seen you around, but.. Did you change your hair? I can't remember what it was like before but it looks.. maybe different?"

[Deleted]

Hmmmm……Interesting. "You like to read? Sweet, reading is magical, it takes you to lands far beyond the borders of our reality!" She fizzles her fingers like she was performing force lightning on the reading girl.

Brooke knelt down to look at the title from the cover underneath. "Hmmm…don't think I read this one before." And Brooke had read a lot of books.

But yeaaaah. Brooke hadn't seen Astley around much either. Well, Brooke herself had been avoiding the pretty pretty girl for a short while if only because…well because…..because Brooke had been feeling nowhere near fine enough for social interactions.

She still wasn't but needed to get out before she went completely bonkers.

"I'm Brooke, luv. Good t' meetcha!" Brooke extended her hand and gave Charlie's a good, long, enthusiastic shaking. "Yup, cut it the other day! Looks sipffy, yah?" With a gleeful smile, Brooke gave her bob a little bob with the palm of her hand. More compliments please!

[Charlotte Greene]

Charlie was shaken and blinked a few times. "Um, it's nice to meet you Brooke. Yeah, your hair looks great. I bet you put a lot more effort into it than I do. I just straighten mine now and then.. get the split ends trimmed up.. I'm really not sure what I could even do with it. My uncle tried really hard to raise me but he just didn't know how to do anything quite that girly. I don't even really wear makeup."

She then reached over to a small pad and mechanical pencil, writing down the book's author and the name of the series for Brooke, tearing the page out and holding it up for Brooke. "I think our library has all the books in the series.. If they don't you can borrow mine if you want to read them. It's one of the few box sets I actually own. Sorry Astley isn't around, but if you needed an escape or.. a ticket to a land far beyond the borders of our reality, I like these. --Hey, how old are you? I'm having a really hard time guessing. You look young but your eyes look ..older."

Of course Charlie was also curious what Brooke did. What her meta ability was.. but she still wasn't used to the culture enough to feel overly comfortable just asking that outright. It was pretty obvious to anyone who knew metas what she did. She had big green butterfly wings. Obviously she was a pixie. Had the hallucinogenic dust to go with it. --Speaking of which, that wasn't why Brooke was being so nice, was it? Had that 'far beyond the borders of our reality' thing been a jab at her? An accusation or a test to see if she used her own dust? What is Brooke was a druggy who was only making eye contact with Charlie in order to see if she could store some dust? ... Oh crap, what if she was a telepath and reading all of this?? No! No, she didn't mean to offend!

And so suddenly Charlie's head dropped and she started blushing.. having no idea that Brooke was no more a telepath than Charlie herself was. Getting worked up over nothing, one of the staples of social ineptitude.

[Deleted]

Wow, for such a shy looking girl, this girl was actually quite the jabber-wocky. "Yup! Used t' have red highlights too, but I dyed it back to brown th' other day. I like, it. 'sall like a brunette Marilyn Monroe or somethin', right?" Brooke fluttered her fully made-up eyelashes as she bobbed her hair again like she was a movie star.

"Why not? You gotta purdy face, you'd probly look pretty good with a rightly made up face." Brooke leaned in to inspect her features a little more. "At least somethin' on the eyes, like some liner here," she invaded with her finger to motion along the top of her eyelid, "an' some shadow here," then under her eyebrow, "betcha be real purdy when I'm done with ya." Because at this point, Brooke had every intention of tying this girl up and making her over.

It'd be a good project for her.

Brooke looked at the paper with the name of the series and a light went on above Brooke's head. "Ohh! I remember seeing that one 'round there." Though she'd never picked it up before, or rather, hadn't yet. "Hmm…I'll do that, expect me over for 'em!" She gave her a thumbs up and a smile.

"Hmmm?" Brooke's ears perked up, or at least they would have if she had kitty ears at that moment. "Oh, I'm three years short of a score," she answered simply and said nothing further.

Brooke, of course, had no idea what was going on in Charlie's head, but, perceptive as she was, guessed that she needed a good time out to get over whatever was bothering her and Brooke totally wasn't projecting these needs onto her from her own desires. The shifter grabbed Charlie's hand and pulled her to her feet. "We're going out! Put your "I'm going out!" face on! …..Good!" And without another word, Brooke started guiding Charlie to the door with a slight skip in her step.

[Charlotte Greene]

Perhaps Charlie's jabbery nature was a defense mechanism.. If people couldn't handle her talking, they would walk away. Hopefully before she could say or do anything embarrassing. Or maybe she liked talking.. or maybe when she did get the chance to talk to someone, she tried subconsciously to say things to keep them involved so that the conversation would last long enough for people to get past her wings.. Or hell, maybe it was just a side-effect of Charlie being sleep deprived 70% of the time. She tended to ramble a little.

Nah. More likely, it was that she really liked when her uncle talked.. and she really liked talking to him.. so when talking was happening, it should flow. Now, onto why Charlie didn't wear makeup..

"Because I never learned how to put it on?" .. What was wrong with her eyes? Uncle James loved Charlie's eyes.. --Being touched. By crazy new girl.. near eyes... dead silence, dead stillness.. near panic state.. "When.. you're done with me?"

Of course, Brooke then moved on as Charlie had moved on.. but the talk of books and ages wasn't enough to sway whatever the girl had decided on.... and very shortly Charlie found herself being hauled to her feet and apparently not having ideas projected onto her.

Charlie's "I'm going out" face? O.O ..almost literally. She was wide-eyed and completely unprepared for any of this.. "But I'm only fourteen! A-and.. And you don't want to drag around some kid? U-uh.. a-and.. Gah!" And Charlie was being dragged (even if she wasn't really resisting much, it was easy to tell that Brooke was stronger than she looked.. Hauling around someone several inches taller than her like she were little more than prey to have fun with.

"Oh please don't hurt me!" If Brooke had even heard, Charlie would still be letting herself get dragged down the hallway, free hand flailing slightly for balance as her wings fluttered lightly in a feeble attempt to resist. "Where are we even going? I've never been off campus? You really don't have to?" ..Yeah, Charlie was apparently easy prey for a Cougar..

[Deleted]

"But that's ba-boo!" Brooke utter out nonsense at hearing that Charlie had never learned how to put on make-up. But already Brooke was figuring out how to bring out Charlie's best features. "Yuppers!" she asserted with a lazy smile. Charlie's face was like a ballerina's, very feminine and pretty all by itself, so there was actually very little that needed to be done. But sometimes the tiniest lines of makeup made all the difference.

Brooke ignored Charlie's protests as the girl pulled her up and started dragging her to the door. And the party girl knew places where age didn't matter, more than a few of her "friends" would probably be hosting a house party where IDs weren't necessary, or she could sneak in the back of one of the clubs. If worst came to worst, Brooke would just go to one of the under 18 clubs.

While Brooke heard her hushed plea to not be hurt, it was wholly ignored. Brooke glanced out the window at the end of the hall. It was still somewhat daylight, so they had plenty of time to get ready, which meant…

"The Mall!" Brooke announced. First they'd go to Saphora, then Forever 21 or maybe even one of the other cool fashionistic stores. Brooke had every intention of playing dress up with this little doll she just found.

And so she continued to pull the poor girl down the stairs and out into the courtyard. They would catch a bus into town and disembark right in front of the large indoor shopping center.

[Charlotte Greene]

Mall?? Freaking mall? This was like one of those scenes out of a movie where the nerdy girl gets scooped up by the ill-meaning popular bubbly chicks and forced into their world for who-knows-what ends.. and as much as it was strangely exciting, it was also freaking terrifying. But, honestly, at the pace Brooke seemed to move at there wasn't much time to feel anything.. In no time the courtyard had passed by, there had been a bus, and suddenly...mall.

"I have no idea how you did that, or if I should be impressed or more afraid.." the timing for the bus had been all but absolutely perfect, and somehow.. just.. boom. At the mall. "Do you do time manipulation or something? I have.. no idea how we got here so fast.." Of course, Charlie had been forced to put her wings away before they'd gotten off of Hammel property.. It should be a few hours before her back really started to bug her.. so.. she should be alright.. Worst case scenario, she could just.. hide out in a bathroom or something for a few minutes to let them out and stretch her back.

"Are you rich, Brooke? I have money for.. for food and stuff, but.. I mean.. Uncle James didn't have anything to leave when he died.. and my parents don't really.. um.. they don't really send me mad money..?" Oh crap, what if this chick was a klepto? Did she want Charlie to put on clothes and walk out of stores with them on?? Charlie couldn't do that! It would explain why Brooke was suddenly so interested, though.. People just weren't interested in Charlie. She didn't do these sorts of things.. Or have adventures.. or hyperactive 'omg lets go to a party!' friends... or ... really friends at all. Blah.

Anyway, especially being in a town she had only been through on the way to Hammel, Charlie would now be sticking to Brooke like she was attached at the waist by rubber bands, glue, and gorilla tape. Charlie did not want to get lost here.. or have to call someone from Hammel to come get her. Or break curfew.... This was such a bad idea.

[Deleted]

"Shop a new mall-mall, shop a new mall-mall~" Brooke sang the little jingle as she guided the Charlie-charl across the parking lot into the mall proper, swinging her arms and taking big glorious steps. "Hmmm?" she twisted her head to look behind at Charlie. "Nah, I'm a kitty. Shifter." She just laid it out there like it was no big deal. Yup, sharing powers was no big deal.

Though that still didn't answer the girl's question.

"Not rich," she said as she held the door open for the other ballerina girl. "But my momma sends me enough for things. She's a little doter." Even though her parents didn't actually make that much money. But she was still convinced they only sent her so much to try and make up for her having her world crashing down on her like it did. "So I got enough t' buy you an ou'fit at least. That an'," she turned with a dramatic pause then showcased the store they had walked to. "Saphora does make-overs for free!"

She hopped up in front of the girl she'd stolen away, a gentle, less crazy smile on her face. "Thanks for coming out with me today. I really needed it." As if Charlie had done it willingly out of the goodness of her own heart.

Brooke guided the other girl into the store and waved over one of the saleswomen, who urged Charlie to take a seat while she was worked on. "So, how long you been at Hammel?" she inquired of her new friend.

[Charlotte Greene]

...A kitty? Shifter? O.O "Must see kittyness in near future. Must.. see.." All Charlie really had until she got a job of her own was the little that her parents sent to keep her above water, and the college fund that her uncle had set up for her when she was a baby.. but she had no access to any of that until she was several years older.. and graduated high school.

Buying and outfit at some point.. and a free makeover? Truthfully, Charlie had come willingly just.. not so much out of the goodness of her heart as.. because Brooke slightly terrified Charlie in an overly friendly hyperactive way and she hadn't mustered the will to resist being dragged here. Charlie subconsciously followed the urges and gestures of the saleswoman and found herself sitting... Like some kind of princess or.. whoever sat in malls to get makeovers. Come to think of it, princesses probably didn't have to go to malls. So Charlie was just.. Charlie. In a mall. Getting a makeover.. After having been dragged there by a hyperactive kitty shifter Brooke. What a day.

"Um.. Just a couple months?" Charlie wanted to continue, but.. Wasn't it taboo to be talking about blatantly meta things in front of people outside the school? Like.. sure, people living this close probably knew all about what the school really was, but she wasn't supposed to talk about it, was she? "I, uh.. things started a little late for me.. and.. I got recruited.. so I'm here?" On top of the awkwardness of this entire situation as well as the fact that Charlie was beyond out of her element, she was also trying to be very still so that the saleswoman could do what she did. On top of that, Charlie was also genuinely worried about how long she was going to be able to keep her wings in before it started causing her enough pain that it became obvious that she was hurting.

Fortunately, she was very much looking forward to seeing a kitty shifter.. shift.. at some point. Why? Because freaking kitties. Charlie had no idea that this 'kitty shifter' wasn't a typical 'kitty' but actually a freaking full-grown cougar. Still.. if said cougar was actually a person and sentient.. it was just a big kitty, right? A big kitty that could rip a person in half with one paw was still just a big kitty... kind of.

"Uh, how long have you been at Hammel? And.. how long have you known Astley? I've seen ymmph!" Charlie went dead silent and still as lipstick neared her face... wide-eyed and.. actually probably making the saleswoman's job that much harder for trying to be so accommodating. At least the poor pixie was likely cute.

[Deleted]

Brooke was well aware of the restrictions on speaking of Hammel as it really was while in public. She often didn't care. Though she was at least as tactful in her words as Charlie was trying to be. If there was one thing Brooke was good at, it was spinning and twisting words.

"Ah…so you started this term, huh? Tha's cool." Brooke was searching the nearby cosmetics racks while they conversed and Charlie got her face painted. "Astley an' I met our Sophomore year, cuz that's when she came in, but I came in 'bout a year earlier. Spent mosta my high school ca-reer there. I's nice." About as nice at it could be. Meeting Astley was probably one of the nicer parts of her life at Hammel. She remembered that snowy day when they met and Astley spent the whole afternoon rubbing Brooke's kitty belly. It had been love at first rub.

If Brooke knew that Charlie wanted to do the same, she would probably go ahead and give it to her without a second thought. Though Brooke would still be wondering in the back of her mind what Astley would think……….which shouldn't be important because Brooke had slept with sooo many other people, it wasn't even funny!

Brooke eyes the saleswoman as she put a beautiful pale pink shade on Charlie's lips what which made her "ooooo" without restraint. "What shade is that?" she asked the woman. Once gotten, Brooke searched the shelves and picked up two. One was for Astley.

Brooke inspected Charlie's look again and gave the saleswoman more direction. "I wan' her t' look….fresh!" Like a virgin. Touched for the very first time.

[Charlotte Greene]

"H-hey! I'm 'fresh'! I took a shower not four hours ago! My clothes are clean and I have on deodorant and even if I don't have any fancy perfume I'm just as fresh as you are!" ... Or.. perhaps much, much fresher.. but then Charlie didn't quite think like Brooke did. And hadn't slept with any people, let alone a number high enough to require more than one 'o' when describing them as 'so many'.

As a matter of fact, even if Charlie was to 'sleep with' Brooke, it would be an entirely platonic thing.. Or at least that was her very truest intention. Charlie loved kitties.. and having a giant one to keep her warm and hug and protect her all at the same time? That would be freakin awesome! ..Still, Charlie's tone hadn't been angry or even accusatory, it had been desperate. She didn't want to be seen as 'not fresh'. Charlie was a fairly clean person. She bordered on being a neat-freak when it came to her own room. Being deemed 'unfresh' by someone as loud and talkative as Brooke could be..... bad.

"I.. I still don't know why you're doing any of this.. or bringing me with you. I mean, I'm happy to keep you company and stuff but.. this.. wherever we're going, it's probably not my scene.. and I don't want to drag you down or anything.. but I have no idea how we got here aside from 'the bus' and I can't just leave you? Gah. It makes sense why I don't have any popular friends.."

[Deleted]

Brooke looked a little dumbfounded at hearing little Charlie's outburst over how "fresh" she was, and the little kitty just had to snicker until it devolved into stomach clutching giggles. Oh! That was so cute! So adorable! Brooke was going to start crying soon, she was laughing so hard.

Of course the attendant just stared at Brooke like she was crazy.

As soon as Brooke had managed some level of control over herself, she turned back to Charlie with an 'aww you poor thing so cute" kind of look, like she was about to pat the head of a little puppy. In face, she did just so, disregarding any sort of condescending undertones it may have expressed, intentional or not. "Nawww, what I mean iiiissss," Brooke flipped her hand dismissively, then made a wave around Charlie's face like it was a crystal ball. "Make ya look young. Not clean, but...new! Like elegantly in-no-cent. Get it? Got it? Good!" Brooke looked between Charlie and the attendant, giving them both a nod each.

Brooke just snickered again at Charlie's little rant. She really was cute. Brooke could stand to drag her around for a while, at least until the girl got sick of it or wore out enough to call it quits and go home. Brooke honestly didn't care, she was just glad she had something to do. Something to distract. "Hee hee hee," Brooke squeed out, hiding behind a hand over her mouth. "Ya don' hafta worry 'bout that. We're not gonna go do anythin' illegal or anythin'. Jus' a little place I know, don' even need'n ID." It was an under-18 club anyway. Brooke wasn't stupid enough to get someone else in trouble over her own antics. But there was no way Brooke was letting Charlie go looking like she just spent the whole afternoon reading a book in the middle of the hallway! Hence the shopping and make-up extravaganza!

[Charlotte Greene]

Charlie didn't look very reassured by Brooke's reassurance... "No.. no, like.. I don't think you understand.. This is the most makeup I have had on in.. ever. I am a bookworm geek with win-- with, uh.. Just, I'm a geek. I'm probably the most sheltered person you have ever met. Like, my parents don't even like that I go by 'Charlie' because it's not a proper little girl's name. My uncle decided to call my Charlie probably to irritate my mom and make me like him more.. and.. yeah, sure, me and him did stuff.. but it was all uncle-niece stuff. Father-daughter stuff. I have never been to a club or even a party that wasn't some silly girly get-together meeting-of-the-housewives thing. Heck, I have never even been to a R-rated movie. I am already the definition of innocent and I am freaking out because I am so totally going to make a fool out of myself and then you're going to regret ever dragging me out here and I'm going to have to try to pay you back for whatever you get me and its not gonna fix it enough and youre gonna think I'm an even bigger loser than I actually am a--....." Gasp. Several deep breaths later, Charlie was shaking slightly...

"See? See?? Look at me! We're just at some makeup place in a mall and I'm freaking out! And when you ditch me later I'm going to be completely lost and alone and I'm gonna have to ask strangers how to get back to school and probably tear up your clothes trying to get there..... And I can't even remember to breath mid-freakout. I'm even a loser at freaking out!"

Oh dear, this poor saleswoman.

"And I'm already embarrassing you.. and I can't dance.. and I'm too tall to hide in corners and watch you have fun from afar...."

Just.. a little reassurance and a little laughter required.. No worries. It's actually probably good that Charlie is getting her freakout out of the way now instead of later at wherever Brooke was taking her. Weren't all geeks-who-happened-to-be-grabbed-up-by-party-people allowed at least one freakout? Hope so.. cause if not, Charlie was likely to be back on the bus to Hammel in the very near future with a somewhat irritated Brooke.