Tweak

InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "mmm mmm good"

Beauty (i_tame) wrote in we_coexist,
@ 2012-08-17 06:49:00

Entry tags:

honour bellaforte, megan gwynn

Necessities (Megan)
An army of guests couldn't eat the produce in Beauty's cart before it spoiled, and Beauty realized this just as she set three large tomatoes beside the avocados she'd painstakingly selected. With a frown, she poked through the carrots and apples (those were for Horse, so they didn't count), checked under the carton of blueberries for the late summer strawberries, then pushed at the sacks of celery, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, zucchini...

The rest of the basket was full of bread, all sorts of bread -- baguettes, croissants, sourdough, rye, marbled rye, hard rolls. Then there were the bottles of juice. (Bottled juice, even after 4 years, was still a joy.) And the crackers. And she had the makings of five different cheese plates in the back of the cart, too.

Beauty raked a hand through her hair. It was still disconcerting to find that her hair terminated at her shoulders, so she dropped her hand again and stared dolefully at her shopping cart.

Clearly, she was distracted.

She started paring down the vegetables.

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i_gotsoul
2012-08-17 04:46 pm UTC (link)

Megan's basket was also full of essentials: pop tarts, ice cream, a frozen pizza, and the ingredients for s'mores, just in case she decided to make s'mores in her microwave. She'd been giving that some thought, and it seemed like a good idea the more she considered it. She was all ready to check out when a sense of guilt came over her. Guilt and her grandmother's voice, asking her if that was really all she was going to get at the store. She sighed and trudged over to the produce section for something that came demonstrably from plants to make her gran's phantom voice happy.

As she listlessly poked through apples, she saw someone familiar. "Ohmygod, you cut your hair!" she squealed, abandoning fruit in favor of zooming over to Honour/Beauty.

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i_tame
2012-08-17 05:06 pm UTC (link)

"Megan!" Beauty said, smiling despite her mood. "Megan!" And it was very good, very very good, to see her favorite maven of style. Hugs were in order.

"Yes," she said, pinching a bit of her hair and turning her fingers sideways to glance at the ends. "It happened while I was away from the City a few weeks ago. It's actually grown out pretty well. I suspect it might need more chalking, hmm?" The last bit was said with a little more of a smile. The hair... Beauty wasn't vain, not by anyone's definition, but she couldn't help but feeling something like a shorn sheep. She'd been too preoccupied to do much with it since her return, save getting the cut evened out. Knives didn't make for good hair cutting. "If only I knew someone who knew her way around a purple pastel. Oh, if only."

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i_gotsoul
2012-08-17 05:21 pm UTC (link)

"Adorable, it is," Megan said. "Lush. I used to have mine about up to here," she said, holding one of her hands at about jaw-length, "but it kept getting in my face and I wanted it long enough to pull back. I bet it's nice and easy to brush, though, isn't it?" She looked almost wistful. She hadn't had it so short since she was thirteen and hadn't needed to worry about keeping it in a ponytail or in a headband almost all the time just in case a fight broke out with absolutely no notice because that sort of thing happened around her now. Maybe she should think about getting it cut again. She certainly had the time.

She may not have been the most subtle person, but she certainly picked up on that hint, grinning. "I think I can manage that. Also, I need a mani/pedi so badly. Perfect sort of thing to take your mind off that place, isn't it? And hey, cucumbers!" She pointed at the zucchini in Honour/Beauty's cart. "Have you ever done those eye masks with those? All nice and relaxing like. Could have used some when I got plucked out of here and dropped down over there. I got punched in the face by a Cwm Annwn." She rubbed at her cheek, long-since healed, at the memory. "I didn't even know those were real."

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i_tame
2012-08-17 08:05 pm UTC (link)

"Someone punched you?!" she exclaimed. "Wait. Someone punched you?! Wait -- you were there, too?" Beauty was horrified on behalf of her friend. No one should have hurt her. And she didn't belong there. Beauty would have gone twice to have kept Pixie from having to be there. It made her very, very angry.

But her anger didn't help Pixie now -- and Beauty knew it. With a huff, she picked up the cucumbers and put them by the apples and carrots, before returning her cauliflower to its stand.

"You know," she said, "I think you're right. I've never tried this cucumber trick of yours, but it sounds..." Well, it sounded a little weird. "Like fun! Would you like to come to my place? It's in the park... I don't know if it's out of the way for you or not... Oh, you have groceries, too. Hmm."

Beauty pondered the logistics.

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i_gotsoul
2012-08-17 08:17 pm UTC (link)

"Well, it's got paws, so I guess it can't really punch," Megan said, tilting her head as she thought about it. "But it hit me in the face. I was stabbing it, though, so I guess that's fair. I would have liked not getting hit, but if someone tries to stab you--it came after me first, though, so it's not like I was the bad guy here, is it?"

She snorted. "Don't say 'cucumber trick,' it sounds... never mind. I'd love to come over! I can 'port them home first, it's no trouble. Or," she said, looking over her friend's haul, "I can just bring them along, too."

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i_tame
2012-08-17 10:45 pm UTC (link)

"Of course you can bring them along! That box goes in the freezer, right?" She pointed to the pizza. "I don't have anything in the freezer at home, so that sound fit just fine. And the kitchen is larger, too, since my cottage grew rooms. There's more than enough space for your things!"

She didn't ask about the paws or the stabbing (which was very difficult, because Beauty wouldn't ever have guessed that Pixie stabbed anything) or the cucumber trick: they could talk about all that later.

"For now, though, I have to put all this bread and cheese back. I don't know what I was thinking. It's only me, and I could never eat this much!"

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i_gotsoul
2012-08-19 02:42 am UTC (link)

"You don't have anything in your freezer?" For Megan, terrible cook that she was, the thought was bizarre. "What are you going to do with all that food, then? It's just you, isn't it? I'd think you'd need to freeze some of it. Or your leftovers, at least."

Of course, it sounded like she was going to put at least some of it back, so that settled that. "It's why I get frozen dinners," she said, tapping the pizza box and nodding. "And I can't cook, really. Your place grew? That's nice. Saves the trouble of looking for a bigger place if you wanted more space. My flat--" She stopped short, nearly mentioning the wonderfully secure, well-hidden safe that had appeared in her bedroom the other morning that was just the right size for the box with her bloodstones. "It's all a bit shuffled around now, too. I guess the City felt like redecorating a bit?"

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i_tame
2012-08-19 08:27 pm UTC (link)

Beauty winced at the cart. "I wasn't paying much attention," she confessed, lifting a baguette and setting it in the section of the cart she designated as 'things to purchase.' "But no, I don't usually freeze anything. I give the rest away or feed my guests, or sometimes I feed the birds in the park. I've never found a use for the freezer. Well, except for today, of course."

But when Megan paused, Beauty threw her a sly look. "You too, hmm? I think the City was trying to make up for us having been pulled away like that, if you ask me."

She pondered the broccoli, then set it in the 'keep' section of her cart.

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i_gotsoul
2012-08-20 02:12 am UTC (link)

"That's... nice," Megan said, torn between doubtful and truthful. "The freezer's pretty awesome, though. It keeps food forever. Or for, you know, days."

She reddened a little. Secrets were so not her thing, which was why it was so unbelievably great that the safe had turned up. "Me too," she said. "Nice of the City to do that, then. I'm not sure it makes up for the whole thing, but it helps." She picked up the nearest vegetable, examined it, and put it back down. "You live near the park, you said? I can 'port us there if you want. Us and all our stuff." She grinned. "It's so useful."

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i_tame
2012-08-22 01:34 pm UTC (link)

A quick calculation of the things in her cart told her she could probably return most of the surplus on the way to the cashier. The rest, well... there were always people happy to take food, no matter where she turned (except for vampires). It was simply a matter of presentation. And maybe she'd try using the freezer. Megan had been right about many things, so far.

From her time as a career blusher, Beauty knew better than to pursue whatever it was that Megan was blushing about. It was the height of discourtesy to force someone to talk about something they didn't want to... and Beauty liked Megan very much indeed.

The smile... no, it was a grin... Megan threw at her made Beauty respond in kind, although her own smile was far more subdued. Ever since Lestat sat on her couch, things had been different. "I heard you mentioning...um... porting? before, but I'm not sure what it is. It sounds very useful, though. Maybe even more useful than a freezer! Come on, let's check out, and then you can show me what you mean."

Yes, Beauty liked Megan quite a bit. And truth be told, she had missed her effervescence. Especially after the foray into that other world, it would be nice to spend some time with the pixie. Slipping all but one of her tomatoes back onto the stand, Beauty charted their course toward the front of the store.

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i_gotsoul
2012-08-23 02:11 am UTC (link)

"Teleporting," Megan agreed. And then, remembering that Beauty was from olden days or whatever, she added, "Going from one place to another pretty much instantly. It's this whole big magic thing. It probably is more useful than a freezer; you run out of food, you just 'port somewhere that has it fresh."

Megan paid for her basket of food, picking up two candy bars for good measure and handing one to Beauty once it was paid for. "It's to balance out all the healthy food," she said, nodding at Beauty's cart. "Life's all about balance, isn't it?"

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i_tame
2012-08-23 03:20 am UTC (link)

"That it is," she said, shaking the candy bar over her head for emphasis. Beauty hadn't tried a lot of the foods that didn't look like food, but someone had given her a chocolate bar early in her time in the City and there'd really been no going back. They were ridiculously delightful.

The darkness tugging on Beauty's shoulder let her go for now, its grip broken by chocolate and a Pixie. She followed her friend away from the check-out line, shouldering her canvas grocery bag. (Yes, after her furtive returning of surplus groceries, she'd actually managed to fit everything in a single grocery bag. Even Beauty was impressed with herself.)

Teleporting wasn't a new concept to her; she'd read a good deal of science fiction already. But she'd never heard it abbreviated before. Beauty should've known. She gave Megan a bright smile. "I had no idea you could do that," she confessed. "I can't wait!"

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i_gotsoul
2012-08-23 03:44 am UTC (link)

"You said you live near the park? I can get us there. I can't get us exactly to your place until I've been there, though; I've got to picture it in my head." She shouldered her bag. "It's completely safe, unless the City decides to move again. Sihal Novarum Chinoth!"

As Megan said the words and threw out her hands, a bright pink light surrounded them and their groceries and they were gone. And then they weren't, suddenly in the park with the light fading around them. Pixie stretched her arms out in front of her. "And we're here. Where's your place?"

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i_tame
2012-08-23 07:12 pm UTC (link)

"...Sihal Novarum Chinoth!" Beauty blinked at the shimmering pink light, and when her eyes opened again, they were right in the middle of the park - and not terribly far away from Beauty's cottage. The new addition of the tower library could be seen just over the hill. Beauty stood still, simply amazed at her friend's ability. This had to be so common for Pixie, and Beauty hated to feel like a blinking fawn, but ... "Oh my goodness!"

Beauty turned and gave Pixie an appreciative look. "Gosh, you're right, no freezer could ever be as wonderful as that! Oh, but come on, let's get your stuff put away..." She pointed their way to the cottage, and before long the groceries were stashed and it was on to the tour.

"You've seen the living room," Beauty said, gesturing around it while she led her friend through the cozy room with its comfortable breakfast nook, cushy earth-brown couch, bright yellow curtains, and broad-cushioned windowseats. "The guest restroom is just through there --" she pointed at a door standing ajar while she walked down her hallway, "-- and here are my guest bedrooms," all quiet and depersonalized again, now that she had no one to share them with. "And this one is mine."

She hadn't had a bedroom before; her cottage had basically been one large room. But this room was decorated in shades of blue and purple with silver accents everywhere. The vanity was where Beauty led Pixie. On it was scattered various treasures the two of them had picked up together.

"So, what exactly are we supposed to do with cucumbers?"

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i_gotsoul
2012-08-24 01:22 am UTC (link)

"It's a little weird the first time." Megan frowned in thought. "First few times. First several dozen times." She'd had more than enough time and experience--mostly experience--to adjust, but she still vividly remembered her first 'port. And the accompanying panic. It probably helped Beauty that nobody was holding a figurative gun to her head or the head of anyone she cared about so she could enjoy the experience.

"You live here? It looks like something out of a painting. Or a movie set." Megan followed Beauty obligingly, goggling at the interior of the cottage once they were inside. It was cozy in an organized, classy way, she thought. Her own flat was more the kind of cozy that was really code for "I didn't feel like picking up today." "It's really pretty!" she said. "Was this all the City, or did you have input, because one or the other of you is a really good interior decorator."

She bit her lip, considering. "You're supposed to cut slices and put them on your eyes. I've never actually done it before. Actually, I don't even know what it's supposed to do, really," she confessed. "I saw it all the time in movies and TV whenever people are relaxing at a spa or something."

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i_tame
2012-08-24 02:20 am UTC (link)

Megan made her laugh. "I'm glad you like it. I think it's a little of both, really. I've only ever been able to use one of the guest bedrooms once before -- and when it was occupied, it looked a lot different than it does now. The bed was a lot bigger than it is now, for one, because Piotr was a giant, Pixie. I'm sure he should have come with a beanstalk. But he belonged to that other world we were in, though, so he didn't stay long. Now the room is back to the way you saw it.

"But my room.... We played around with it for a little while, and I decorated with a few things, myself. The living room came the way it was, though."

Cucumber slices on the eyes? It was decidedly a strange idea.... but Beauty was willing to try it. She was about to suggest it when she looked up at Megan and caught the strange expression.

"What...?" she asked, wondering what she'd said wrong.

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i_gotsoul
2012-08-24 02:28 am UTC (link)

She was all ready to comment about how the City sure seemed to like Beauty, when she heard the name Piotr and froze. "Big guy?" she asked. "Like... this tall?" She flew up to show the right height. "Black hair? Russian?"

She hit her forehead with the heel of her hand, then. House in the woods. He'd said it himself. "Yeah, that's him," she said, not waiting for Beauty's answer. "Great. He's not still here, is he?" She really, really hoped not. One surprise encounter was enough. Who else was going to pop up? Illyana? Belasco? Witchfire? A clown car full of demons?

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i_tame
2012-08-24 02:37 am UTC (link)

"No, not for a while now," Beauty said, shaking her head. "It sounds like you know him, Megan... and that you didn't like him very much. He was so... He was so lost, when I found him, and he was..."

He was sweet. He hadn't seemed at all dangerous, and he'd been... polite.

"He was very much in love," Beauty said quietly, staring at her toes. "All he wanted was to find his Katya." She smiled quickly. "And he ate a lot."

He ate a lot.

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i_gotsoul
2012-08-24 03:43 am UTC (link)

"We've met," she said shortly. "Back home. He doesn't remember it. I guess I'm from after his time or something."

Which, yeah, she was perfectly aware that being angry for something that they hadn't done yet was completely irrational and also rude. She'd called herself out on it, even. And it honestly wasn't even like he was the one who'd actually ripped out her soul; he'd just stood by and defended the one who'd started it all. Knowing that didn't stop her from feeling upset about the whole thing.

She snorted a darkly amused laugh. "Yeah, he and Ms. Pryde were a thing. She's nice, at least." That wasn't really fair. He'd seemed nice enough when he'd run into her, even if she'd freaked out at him. "I hope they found each other, too," she said grudgingly.

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i_tame
2012-08-26 02:24 am UTC (link)

There was so much anger in her friend's voice; it was startling. Quietly, Beauty picked out a soft pink nail polish, then a bright purple and an aquamarine and offered the last two to Megan for selection.

"You know," Beauty said gently. "I don't think you've ever told me about your home. Does it bother you to talk about it?"

Come to think of it, there were very few people in the City that she'd asked about like that. Why was it so? She pondered on that thought, while picking out a bottle of quick-dry, a mistake eraser, and a couple quad-sided nail buffers. Once Pixie lay claim to her preferred color, Beauty led the way back to the living room -- the coffee table would be the most comfortable place to do their nails. Cucumber later.

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i_gotsoul
2012-08-26 03:53 am UTC (link)

Megan took the aquamarine and started rolling it back and forth in her hands, a nervous gesture. "No, it was nice. I love my friends. I miss them a lot, actually. The City's great, and there's a distinct lack of evil demons and people shooting at me or hitting me with baseball bats or trying to blow me up, but I really do miss my friends and my grandparents. The upsides are really nice, though." The upsides being: said lack of evil demons and religious crazies and human supremacists and aliens who wanted to conquer the world. And when she thought about it that way, things seemed to even out pretty well.

And then she thought about Victor and Santo and she felt homesick. So she tried not to think about them too often, even if she wished they were here.

"I was living on this floating asteroid in the middle of the ocean before I 'ported here by accident," she said, following Beauty back to the living room and plopping down on the floor by the table. "I used to go to a school in upstate New York but it got blown up, and then it got re-opened in San Francisco but a bunch of people tried to kill us, so then we moved to the floating asteroid island so everyone would maybe try not to kill us any more. It was kind of awesome, except that we had to have food and toilet paper and everything brought out to us by boat so we were always running short on things. But seriously, how many people can say they lived on a floating asteroid island?"

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i_tame
2012-08-26 08:00 pm UTC (link)

What kind of place had Megan been in that she so casually mentioned the horrors she'd just rattled off? But it felt wrong to mention... "That's quite a thing to be able to say," Beauty agreed instead, shaping her nails the way she'd been shown to do. But she couldnt't manage the smile that should have gone with it. It was painfully clear from her friend's voice and her expression that she missed the place...and probably the people there, too. Beauty knew, because she herself had ached for her sisters and her father for a very long time after being pulled here, too.

Wait.

Beauty turned Megan's words carefully over in her head. Oh, dear goodness.

"You think you accidentally teleported away from your home?" Beauty asked, setting down the nail file. "Oh, Megan, no. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't ever you. You didn't leave them. You were pulled away. The City pulled you away. Maybe you happened to be in the middle of teleporting, but you didn't make a mistake."

How long had Megan been here, thinking she'd abandoned her family? There was nothing but sympathy in her expression.

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i_gotsoul
2012-08-26 10:09 pm UTC (link)

Megan shrugged and started painting her nails with expert sweeps. It was what she'd been used to. For the longest time, the weird part to her was being somewhere where people didn't look at her like her wings and ears and everything made her some kind of political statement at best and flying target at worst. It had been suspicious at first, since she'd been waiting for the other shoe to drop. And then it never did and now she could just enjoy it. It was almost like being a kid again.

"Well, yeah," she said, looking up at Beauty. "I needed was trying to get back to Wales to visit my grandparents and take a break from it all, and I'm not the best at 'porting, really, so I figured I'd just gone a bit off course. The same thing happened when I ended up over..." Her eyebrows knit together as she put one and one together. "Those were both the City, then." It wasn't a question. She slouched forward, remembering the press conference some months back and wishing that she hadn't got there late. Or wasted her one question on something stupid. She'd known this if she'd thought to ask. Or else maybe someone else had asked first--maybe that was how Beauty knew.

Well, nothing to be done for it. She sat up straighter. "Good to know," she said, sounding more cheerful. "X-men don't just skip out. Even ones on leave. Or ones who get kidnapped. Is it really being kidnapped if I like it better here, though?"

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i_tame
2012-08-29 02:54 am UTC (link)

Beauty didn't mean to laugh, but it happened anyway. "I think it still technically counts," she said, before completely mastering her smile. "Still, I'm glad you like it better here. It sounds like maybe some things are easier here for you." It was Beauty's tendency to redirect toward the positive things, rather than dwell on those things that made others feel sad. She didn't mention Megan's family. She didn't mention her own.

"What's an X-man?" she asked. "It sounds familiar but I can't place it." More than likely, she knew, she'd probably seen the phrase at work. When Megan said it, Beauty immediately saw a capital 'X' with a dash after it -- not the more phonetic 'ex' and corresponding dash.

The X-Men were a team. The scrap of information floated up into her consciousness where Beauty frowned over it. It seemed odd to want to research a team because your friend said she belonged to it, but Beauty's first inclination was to go to the library to look into the X-Men. Or maybe she'd borrow Ted's laptop again. That thing seemed to know everything.

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i_gotsoul
2012-08-29 08:33 pm UTC (link)

Megan shrugged nonchalantly and got back to the business of painting her nails. "I've been kidnapped before. As attempts go, this one's pretty nice. Lots of points for not being able to leave, failing grade on making it a completely horrible experience."

She looked up at the ceiling, a little serious and a lot wistful. "The X-men were--are a team," she said, slower than normal, picking her words carefully for once. " They're still around, as far as I know. They taught at the school I went to when I first started showing that I was a mutant, with the wings and the dust and everything. And when things got bad, they protected people. After things got really bad, they let me on the team." She smiled faintly at the memory. "I only went there to learn how to fly straight and control my dust, but once I was there... it was like this club that everyone wanted to be in." Her smile dimmed a little. "And then once they finally put me on the team, all I did was complain. I was helping people. Bad stuff happened to all of us. Maybe I was a little harder on Colossus than I should have been." Stress did that, she knew. And God knew they had all been stressed on Utopia, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

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i_tame
2012-08-30 01:55 am UTC (link)

"I was helping people."

Something twisted hard in her stomach. Beauty put the cap back on her nail polish and splayed her fingers flat on the coffee table, motionless, while she waited for the first coat to dry. "Megan," she began carefully.

Her friend had gone through so much in such a short time span. She seemed nonchalant about it, but it wasn't normal and it wasn't right. It wasn't right, and it made Beauty furious that anyone would hurt her, would try to hit her... Honour shook her head. "How would you like to come live with me? I ask, because I really like helping people, too. It's why I have those extra rooms. It's for when I find someone who needs a place for a while, just until they get their feet under them. But I've only ever needed one extra room, and that leaves the other... Oh, it would be so nice. What do you think?"

And there was the added bonus of knowing that if something bad happened to Pixie, Beauty would know about it almost instantly. And then, Beauty thought darkly, Whoever hurt her would be very, very sorry. By herself, Beauty was powerless. But she knew the right friends to go to for help. She'd call all of them, for Pixie.

She said none of this to her friend.

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i_gotsoul
2012-08-30 03:29 am UTC (link)

Megan virtually lit up at the suggestion, the tension and hints of anger and loss vanishing from one moment to the next. "What, like roommates?" She'd had a roommate most of the time she had been at Xavier's, until the school had cleared out after M-day. And she'd had two roommates in San Fransisco. She'd had her own room on Utopia, and her flat here was very nice and all, but... she'd been an only child who'd wished for siblings who did awesome fun things together like in the stories she read and TV she saw, and roommates were as close to the experience as she'd come. (The evil half-sisters she'd only found out about recently didn't count. Attempted murder was neither awesome nor fun.)

"Ohmygod," she squealed, nail polish forgotten temporarily. "That would be amazing! When can I move in? Do you need me to pay rent? Can we have a chore wheel? Do you think two people is enough people for a chore wheel?"

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i_tame
2012-08-31 02:45 am UTC (link)

Relief relaxed Beauty's shoulders; she'd been worried Pixie would think she was strange. But no, Megan looked instead like she thought it was the best! idea! ever! And the excitement from her friend was nearly impossible not to reflect. Her smile was brighter than it'd been in the last few weeks at least.

"You can move in whenever you want -- tonight, if you like. Rent? No, no, I don't pay rent, so you don't have to either. Chor... ah... Well, if you want! Come on, let's go see which room you like better. I bet one of them looks different, now that you'll be using one. The cottage does that sort of thing. It's like magic."

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i_gotsoul
2012-09-02 02:05 am UTC (link)

"One of them should look different already?" Megan was already on her feet, aided by her wings. "I've got to see this."

She flew over, too excited to walk, since walking was just too slow for some things. She came to the first guest room that Beauty had shown her, the one with the door just slightly ajar, and pushed it open to peek inside.

Her room was in there. Brightly painted walls, soft and fuzzy cloths draped over surfaces, framed pictures and her collage of her friends from the Xavier school, a pile of magazines and DVDs in neat piles (she'd left them strewn everywhere, so whatever or whoever had moved them had cleaned up) and everything. She gasped and dove for the closet, digging underneath clothes and shoes for the one thing that actually mattered.

Her safe was here. Tiny, almost flat, hard to notice unless you knew where to look. She sat back on her heels, stunned, before throwing things over it hastily and backing out of the closet.

"I think that's everything that wasn't nailed down," she told Beauty. "You weren't kidding around about this place being like magic, were you? I didn't even hear a thing."

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i_tame
2012-09-02 02:57 am UTC (link)

From the hallway, Beauty smiled. "I really wasn't," she said, shoulder fetched up against the doorway. "Oh, and if you hear whispers that you can't quite make out, don't worry. They come with the cottage. I think they might be enchanted helpers. They made me wear this crazy short dress, once. I think I frightened my coworker."

Beauty was smiling at the floor at the memory.

"welcome home, Pixie!" she said, dragging herself out of the remembrance.

This was going to be so much fun.

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