2014.01.12 - (5-in-1 + 2)Shopping Day

After below freezing temperatures at the beginning of last week, this weekend has seemed absolutely balmy in comparison, breaking 50 on Saturday and nearing it again Sunday. It would feel warmer if the sun were out and it wasn't so windy, but it's a nice day despite that. The Lower East Side is abuzz with people this afternoon, the businesses doing a brisk business. Fern typically spends some time on Sunday in Central Park, but an invitation to go out shopping by Leo's schoolmates, The Cuckoos, brought an unquestioned change in plans. Trotting up the stairs from the subway, Fern turns to head to their designated meeting spot, a trendy little shop in the middle of a neighborhood filled with trendy little shops. Keen to be on time, the redhead pauses for a moment to look in a shop window, noting the name and making a plan to return sometime in the future to have a better look at the colorful saris and linens sold there. She hurries on at a brisk walk, her houndstooth coat buttoned against the wind, black boots tapping quickly as she weaves through the foot traffic, slowing to look around for the five sisters as she nears the meeting point.

There was many things you could say about the Stepford Cuckoos. Not sticking out in a crowd however wasn't one of them. If the fact that they were identical quintuplets wasn't enough, what there wearing would be. The five identical girls were all dressed in a form fitting black lace dress with a diving neckline that was low enough that there lacy black bras were visible. The dress's hemline went down to the ankle but you could still see the seven inch platform boots each of them was wearing. The sleeves of the dress were see through but had the same pattern as the lace for the rest of the dress. They each wore a short leather jacket to help break the wind but they didn't seem to care too much about the cold.

Unknown to anyone though was something internal with Celeste. She had a crush on Leo Luthor, the man who was dating this new friend of theirs, so to keep herself in control she had turned her heart into diamond. In that way she wouldn't feel emotion and thus would feel hurt being here.

When they saw Fern the all smiled and sauntered up to her as only five sexy identical quintuplets could, "Hello Fern, we're so very glad you could join us. We are so sure we will have a lovely time out today," the girls said in unison. Activity In 2 HeroMux 992 06:02 PM

Fern veers her path as soon as she spies the blond heads, and there's a smile in return for the girls. The sisters already had some inches on Fern, and the little redhead has to tilt her head a bit more to make up for the extra height given by their shoes. But, she's pretty used to having to look up at just about everyone that's over the age of thirteen. "I was really glad to get your message," she says, blue eyes drifting from one to the next, not really sure where to focus. It's curious, the way they all speak together, their voices blending melodiously with one another, but Fern does have the bit of knowledge about their ability, although she has no idea to what extent it goes. She's also got no idea that one of the sisters has an interest in Leo, having never been supplied that information by the young man, either. A touch of sheepishness creeps into Fern's smile, and she admits, "I know all your names, but... I have to admit that I have absolutely no clue how to tell you all apart. I'm afraid that I'll keep calling you by the wrong names."

"Not many people can tell us apart," the Cuckoos say in their melodious unison, "Only Ms. Frost, our best friend Hope and Mr. Noh-Varr have shown a real ability to tell us apart. Even Leo guesses most of the time."

The girls all smile and say, "You can just call us the Five-in-One, it is what we prefer. Our other names are more for convention than a real way to identify each other. We are five, but we are one. So Five-in-One makes more sense."

The four girls on the outsides of there formation pointed to the one in the middle, "You can focus on Sophie, we find people are more comfortable looking at the middle. Especially since it is uncommon for us to talk individually."

Fern nods, absently reaching up to push her hair out of her eyes, and focuses for a moment on Sophie. While she has a policy of not asking too many questions of her friends with abilities, the one she asks is more to sort it out in her own head than as just nosiness. "So you're all connected? Your minds, I mean..." Fern has had to do a lot of 'processing' during her time in the city, with all the new things that get thrown at her so frequently. For a small town girl, she does pretty well adapting to the unknown, and friends who speak in unison is just one more adaptation.

"We mutants, specifically with vast telepathic potential. Our brains architecture and chemistry is such that our brain waves merge with each other and create a collective or gestalt. Though this we can always communicate with each other at all times. We exist as one. All of us have slightly different personalities but all of us are governed by the whole. We are the Five-in-One, we are never alone." The girls say in unison with a small smile. They are quite clearly very proud of their existence. Even if it it did make more people think they were bitches.

"Telepathy is our first language as a result. We have been thinking to each other in concepts before we had words. We default to it. That is why Celeste accidently read your mind when we first met. We meant no harm, we just naturally read minds as a form of communication," the girls said in unison. Apparently this was there form of an apology?

The explanation draws Fern's brows together a measure, but the momentary concentration gives way to her natural smile again as she nods, "I think I kind of understand." The nod turns immediately to a shake in the negative, and Fern lifts one hand, "Oh, hey, that's alright. It wasn't really that hard to see I was nervous anyway, and there's no harm done." She pauses, then attempts to clearly think, |Some minds must be pretty light reading.| She's got no idea how it works, or if they've managed to shut themselves out of her mind completely, so she looks at Sophie uncertainly before her eyes flicker to the others.


 * "Minds are like books. Some are very in-depth and interesting, others aren't worth the paper they are printed on"| the girls thought into Fern's head. Their voice sounded almost more beautiful when it was thoughts not words. The girls all smiled at Fern.


 * "We try not to pry to deeply into others minds without permission. Ms. Frost taught us that it wasn't right to do so. But since we more accustom to telepathic thought due to our unique existence we find it hard to completely shut out the thoughts of others. Most people see it as a violation of their privacy. We see it as the same as reading your body language for clues on how you are feeling"|

The girls certainly were chatty today, or maybe they always were. They gestured Fern to follow them as they headed to the first clothing store that they planned on visiting, |"And some thoughts are hard to ignore because they are broadcasted so clearly and loudly. Especially naughty, sweaty thoughts. When people think about sex they tend to think louder than they realize"|

It's not the first time Fern's been communicated with so directly, so she's not uncomfortable with it from the Cuckoo's. "I've met some others who can do that, more or less," she says, speaking aloud, also out of habit. "A couple people I've known can only speak like that." The images flip into her mind briefly, a dark haired young man with scars on his throat, a girl with two different colored eyes, a blue humanoid with no mouth or nose. She moves along easily with the sisters as they start to walk toward a store, and a light blush surfaces on Fern's cheeks but she laughs softly and nods, "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. They're kind of base thoughts... instinct, like." The suggestion of something often brings that thing to someone's mind, but Fern's mind brings up... a very brief flash of what might be skin, but it quickly shifts to the penguins at the zoo. Her limited experience has taught her a little bit about distracting herself when she doesn't want to think about something in particular, to varying degrees of success. She manages to concentrate on the penguins for a moment, before she looks up to the shop front. "Oh, this looks like a nice store."

The girls however keep talking telepathically. Now that they feel like they have permission to speak to like that |"We would be interested in meeting them. We only know a handful of telepaths. Ms. Frost and Nate Grey being the ones we've interacted with the most. Nate, however, prefers to speak aloud."|

The girls chuckle slightly at the brief flash in Fern's mind and then the penguins |"You don't have to worry about hiding your thoughts. We are excellent secret keepers and we don't have much in the way of personal morals so we don't judge either."|

They look at the shop and then say aloud in their perfect unison, "If you see anything you like, get it. This entire shopping excursion is on us and we have a nearly unlimited budget. Ms. Frost taught us that shopping together is perfect for bonding."

The wind picks up a little, making the mild afternoon just that little bit colder, and Fern doesn't try to avoid a puddle as they walk. Nate's name makes a little 'ping' in her head as she realizes she knows the young man they're speaking of, but again her thoughts shift from that immediately. It's not her business, he's not spoken of that to her himself, so in the interest of his privacy she doesn't study that information. She also doesn't bring it up to the sisters, because she doesn't feel they did it to 'out' him, as it were. It might look like she's talk to herself as she grins and says, "It's just kinda..." |personal.| She finishes the sentence in her head for the girls, trying to make the thought as gentle as her words. The small town girl is decidedly that, with small town morals. There's not the feeling that it's wrong, just that it's what she said... personal. But the offer of shopping takes those thoughts away entirely, and Fern automatically protests, "Oh heavens, I couldn't take advantage of that." She's still not gotten over her reluctance to accept things from anyone, even Leo, feeling they don't need to buy her things to have her friendship.

As Fern and the Cuckoos walk past an alley Gabriel steps out of it and bumps gently into Fern's side then falls into step with her. "Ooooo... You'd think they'd by me a new jacket? This one's getting a little old." As proof he hold up his hands, still stuffed in his black leather jacket's pockets, and sticks a finger out of a hole in the left pocket waggling it at Fern in what he probably expects to be a comical way.

The girls look Fern up and down for a moment and say in unison with their estery dialect being quite prominent in their speech (oddly enough not in their thoughts though,) "Nonsense, you need new clothing anyways. And we aren't trying to buy your friendship. We are bonding. We are very interested in fashion now a days and want to play dress up with you.

When Gabriel interrupted the girls they immediately reached out with the telepathy to find out who the interloper was. It wasn't that they were paranoid or afraid of him, this was just how they reacted when they met new people. As they were explaining to Fern just a moment ago, Telepathy was their first language so they tended to touch minds before saying hello.

They did however think at Fern |"Do you know him or is he just a street person who needs to be directed to the nearest shelter"|

Fern can't help but grin at the girls' words, taking no offense at the thought she needs new clothes. Her style is just... different. And at least she put on plain black tights today, and not one of her garishly colored paisley pair. "Playing dress up sounds like fun," she says agreeably, although she doesn't agree openly to the offer to buy whatever she likes. And she likes getting to know Leo's friends, which she assumes his classmates to be, despite his not very well hidden dislike of four of the five. The voice at her side startles Fern for a moment, until she registers the young man that's fallen into step with them. "Gabriel!" The enthusiasm is probably something of an answer to the silent question from the Cuckoos, but Fern thinks back |It's alright, he's a friend!| Despite living in the same building, the pair have been on different schedules, and haven't seen each other much in recent weeks. The redhead stops, turning to give Gabe an awkward hug with his hands in his pockets, then turns to the sisters. "Girls, this is my friend Gabriel, he lives in my apartment building." Which they've probably picked up already from her thoughts anyway. "Gabe, this is Esme, Celeste, Sophie, Phoebe and Irma." She doesn't indicate to any of the girls as she says the names, since she's really only sure at the moment which one Sophie, in the middle of the group, is.

The five girls cock their head at Gabriel slightly and say in the melodious union of voices, "Greetings, Gabriel. We are the Five-in-One. We are more than happy to make the acquaintance of one of Fern's friends"

They size up his appearance a bit more before adding two more things, "Your mind is intriguingly formed and your clothes are atrocious. If you are going to accompany us, you'll need new ones."

They gesture for both Fern and Gabriel to follow them into the store. The girls have seemed to have found themselves a pair of 'projects' for them to 'fix. To Fern they added in thought |"And we don't think your style is atrocious. We like different. That's why we dress like we do rather than imitating Ms. Frost."|

Gabriel doesn't leave his hands in his pockets. What red blooded male wouldn't return a hug from a girl like Fern, even if they are just friends? Once he's returned her hug he changes his attention to the quintuplets as Fern introduces them. "Well, its a definitely pleasure to meet you." At this point his hands have returned to his pockets since there is a nip in the air and the southern blood in him is not a fan. "Now playing dress up definitely sounds like fun. Can I play too?" He winks at Fern, making it clear he won't take offence if the answer is no. after all, his main intention was to say hi to his neighbor.

The assessment of Gabriel by the sisters has Fern quickly stifling a giggle, trying to disguise it as a cough and failing as it turns out more like a hiccup. "I guess that's a yes, Gabe," she grins. Maybe if they buy Gabriel something they won't mind so much if she doesn't make up her own mind to accept something. The bonding is in the time spent together, what she takes home doesn't matter to Fern. She's happy to trail along in the wake of the bevy of blonds, thinking back to them |Thank you, that's really nice of you to say.| She doesn't know why Leo isn't that fond of them, Fern is finding the sisters very likable. Boys can just be stupid sometimes.

Gabriel takes it all in stride. He looks down at himself for a moment then looks back up at the girls with a small smirk on his lips, "You're not wrong about that." Which of the two comments he's talking about, the mind or the body, isn't cleared up however. Instead he turns to Fern and says, "I think it is a yes indeed." Then he bows to all six young women, folding one arm at the waist and extending the other behind him, "You wish is my command, M'Ladies. Lead on."


 * "Boys -ARE- stupid."| the Cuckoos transmitted to Fern |"And Leo doesn't like us because we played a trick on him the first time we met.... and because we replaced him as Ms. Frost's favorite students"|

As they entered the expensive clothing store the girls looked about the store seeing if anything peaked their interest as they looked. They would need to find Gabriel a new jacket... at absolute least. Preferably they could burn the old one afterwards. They figured it would be a kindness to humanity to do so. Fern needed at least one dress to wear that would match some of the girls clothes, if they were going to be friends and hang around each other more, they would need to compliment each others looks.

And then off course the girls needed to buy themselves some new outfits, being the spoiled and pampered students of Emma Frost meant that they rarely wore the same clothing twice. They did furrow their brows for a second and then said in unison, "Hmm, we just realized with Gabriel here we can no longer go underwear shopping. Pity."

The mental communication from the sisters actually explains it all for Fern. She very well knows the young Luthor's dislike of feeling like second best, and is still dealing with the repercussions of having a brief try at a relationship with someone else, someone less unpredictable. |He'll get over it. He can't carry a grudge forever.| Although, knowing him, he very well can. Fern doesn't have to be a telepath to imagine what goes through Gabriel's head when underwear shopping is mentioned, and she cuts him a quick warning look, like a sister trying to convey the 'keep your mouth shut' code. She has little hope it'll get through. "We can do that another time," she suggests. Maybe they should bring Jubilee along, too. She's the Underpants Princess.

The look Fern cuts at Gabriel is wasted because as soon as the group stepped into the store Gabriel saw a leather long coat that he immediately made a bee-line for. After speaking with a salesperson for a moment, much of which involves making motions towards the girls and Fern, motions which seem to reassure an initially doubtful looking attendant, Gabriel is allowed to take the coat into the dressing room.

When the long leather coat comes out of the dressing room, however, there's just one small problem. Instead of Gabriel a tall, willowy, dusky skinned woman is wearing it. Along with the rest of Gabriel's outfit, including a now very tight fitting white t-shirt and jeans that are suddenly too loose around the thighs and snug enough around the hips that it looks like they might have to be cut off at the end of the day. In a smokey voice that would do justice to most jazz standards out there she asks, "Well, how does it look?"

The girls giggle at Fern's thoughts about Leo |"The Dorkus can hold a grudge very well. He is a Luthor after all."| Ms. Frost had told the girls all about the Luthor family with a big stamp that said avoid except for Leo.

As Gabriel stepped out of the dressing room however he did something very few people have ever done. Surprised the Five-in-One. They quickly scanned his mind to make sure it was the same person. Then all the girls looked at each other and said nothing, though there was a small glow to their eyes as they did. Then they turned back to Gabriel and said in their typical unison voice, "It looks rather fetching on you. Though we think you need a new shirt and pants to better match it." They decided it wasn't worth commenting on his change in appearance.

Fern shares a grin with the girls, able to poke fun at Leo and his quirks while still holding much more than simple fondness for him. She's yet to meet his father, although she'd received an email from the man just the day before and has yet to get a response to her response. She's a little worried, deep inside, about the purpose of the missive, but puts those thoughts away immediately. It's made easier by the reappearance of Gabriel, his appearance also making Fern stop for a moment. She's seen this female form before, but has to take a second before she remembers. Of course! She ran into the woman with Sif. That realization makes Fern arch one brow, wondering if Sif was aware. The little redhead wrinkles her nose at Gabriel, a lightly sullen note to the words, "You never told me that was you. The coat does look nice, though."

Catiana looks very confused for a long moment. A moment that starts when she opens her mouth to speak then is extended by the Cuckoos and Fern's reactions. Then it breaks and she's dashing for a mirror. She takes in the sight of herself, frowns, then lets out a long suffering sigh, cocking a hip out and planting a hand on it in a clear gesture of annoyance. To Fern she says, "I hadn't told you what I could do at that point. And afterward we just haven't seen each other that much... Oh my God! Why are men's jeans so narrow!?"

So Gabriel is a man who can also turn into a woman, to the omnisexual polyamorous Five-in-One, that just changed everything. Though Gabriel/Catiana had yet to impress them personality wise, his/her mind was very interesting and their appearances were pleasing as well. Thoughts and discussions started within the collective that would probably take a while for them to resolve.


 * "From what Ms. Frost has told us Lex Luthor is a manipulator of the highest order. Be careful dealing with him, he's not like Leo"| the girls thought to Fern.

To Catiana they say, "The fit on you isn't that bad shows off your hips decently enough. They just are old and ratty, they need to go for that reason alone." Fern shoots an appreciative look at Sophie... is that Sophie?... and files the information they've supplied away. It doesn't exactly settle her mind on that subject, but she's not met the man and will still give him the benefit of the doubt, as she does everyone. Catiana's confusion is mirrored on Fern's face when she sees her reaction to the fact that his shape has altered. While it's got it's comical level, it still prompts a concerned question. "Didn't you know that you changed? Does that happen a lot?"

Catiana makes he way back to the group with a marked swing to her hips, almost as if she was swishing invisible skirts. A possibility that is supported by her next comment, "Skirts. Skirts are soooo much better than any jeans." By this time she's finally close enough to talk in a near whisper, and shoot Fern a less obvious warning glance, "Fern, honey, the fact that I'm a shaper-shifter is not something I advertise. And the answer to your questions are no and no. Its rare with me but out-of-the-blue changes do happen, especially if I haven't taken one of my regular forms for a while..." There seems to be more to that but apparently Cat doesn't consider this the time or place to talk about it so she changes the topic by focusing on the Cuckoos again, "So ladies, want to dress me up in something pretty, preferably with a skirt as part of it?"

The Cuckoos smile a broad smile and say in unison, "Yes! We are going to have much fun dressing the two of you up. This has become a very surprising, but fun, excursion for us. Mundane things are usually just so boring."

With this the Cuckoos go to work, splitting up for the first time since they had met up with Fern today. Grabbing dresses, stocking, shoes, blouses skirts and more before coming back to the two women and saying, "These ones are for, Fern," handing her a pile of clothes and three different pairs of shoes. And then handing a similar pile to Catiana, "And these ones are for you." There is still a fair amount of clothes in their arms which they announce, "These ones are for us."

It was 80s teen movie fashion montage time! A deep frown turns down Fern's lips for a moment, her brow knitting as hurt flashes in her eyes, but she schools her expression quickly, face settling into a neutral placidness. She didn't yell it across the store and asked out of true concern, not to 'advertise' the shift. She's not the one who went into a changing room a boy and came back out some sultry siren. The young woman simply turns away while the Cuckoo's start their whirlwind of obtaining things to try on, looking at some scarves on a rack until they return loaded for bear. By the time the sisters return there's no trace of her discontent on her face, although it's niggling at her brain. But, she is an actress, after all, and all 80s teen movie fashion montages are decidedly wacky and carefree! "Wow, these are great!" she says, and turns to head for a dressing room.

Catiana does catch Fern's expression which pulls out one of concern from her. But again, not the place or time to talk about these things so she files it away to bring up later and lets the girls distract her from it for the moment. With a big smile she accepts the pile of clothing and disappears into the dressing room, this time the woman's dressing room, "Let see if you can be style consultants!" The last comment is tossed out to the Cuckoos in a lilting, teasing tone followed by a happy laugh.

While it may not seem like as they were lost in their little dress up game collection party they Cuckoos were monitoring both Catiana and Fern and feeling the issues they were having with all this. So the Cuckoos, who as they told Fern, considered telepathy to be there first language did what they thought was right.


 * "If there are issues that need to be discussed in private, we can facilitate that conversation with our minds. Our telepathy is quite strong and our minds unreadable by even the most powerful psychics."| The girls projected into both of the ladies minds as they began to try on their outfits.


 * "We have found that it is better to speak on important things immediately rather than letting them fester. It can be damaging to relationships"|

With her boots kicked aside and her skirt halfway off, Fern stops as the thoughts come from the sisters. She pauses a moment, then lets the skirt drop to the floor, leaving her in tights and top. |It's alright,| she's quick to think back to the group, pulling her shirt up and off in a fluff of red hair. |Lets just have a nice time.| Fern pulls a dress from a hanger, looking at it a moment to see if there's a zipper, finding it at the side and undoing it. The girls managed to find a dress colorful, like Fern is drawn to, yet a bit more classy than the things she usually finds at the thrift stores that she frequents.

Catiana kind of, sort of takes a hint. |I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings Fern. The uncontrolled change caught me by surprise, I was on edge from changing in a more or less public place, and I do appreciate the concern. I'll give you more details later|. /Then/ she lets it go and starts searching through the pile for more feminine underwear than what she's wearing right now and, hopefully, a bra.


 * "We're just trying to help. But yes. Let's buy clothing and have fun. We like this suggestion."| the girls think to the two of them as the finish putting on there own first outfit.

All five girls exit there dressing rooms dressed in a low cut, just above the knee, loose dress that have a see through mess shaped like a cross that started between the breasts and across under them. The mesh was big enough that their matching bras and panties were slightly visible through the mess. A pair of knee high black suede boots completed there look.

Fern emerges a moment after the sisters, adjusting the waistband of her own dress, the heels on her feet higher than she normally wears but not a height that makes her feel in danger of falling off them. Still, she walks with a measure of grace, the dance lessons paying off right now. But as she looks to the 5-in-1 she actually lets out a low whistle. "Wow. I wouldn't have looked twice at that dress on the hanger but it looks fantastic on you." There's sincere admiration in the words, the young woman having no trouble admitting that the girls are knockouts.

For her part Catiana comes out in, of all things, jeans. White, snug but not tight jeans and strappy, gladiator-style sandals. But what make the outfit is chambray, open shoulder top which starts out in cream right under the neck and slowly blends into a bright orange which then blends into a just-as-bright pink. And yes, there was clearly a bra in the pile. "Very nice picks ladies. Even if you did give me jeans anyway."

The Cuckoos smile at both the compliments and Catiana's words. When they speak in unison they say "Thank you Fern, we like to be a bit rebellious and daring with our clothing now. It's a trait we picked up from our errant sister."

Looking over at Catiana, "We told that jeans made your hips look good, there are skirts too but we thought you would look good in that. Plus you won't embarrass Gabriel later." They speak of Gabriel like he was Cat's boyfriend or some such thing.

The look at each other, which for most people would be looking in a mirror, "Yes we like this dress. We're going to keep it. It will be most enticing to Mr. Noh-Varr when he and Phoebe go on their second date." With six women accompanying her who are willowy and exotic, Fern looks at herself in the mirror and smirks. The term 'redheaded stepchild' seems terribly accurate long about now, but it doesn't bother her. Just like some people in the world have to be normal, some also have to be plainer. She just gets to be both, that's all, and she's alright with that. "That's a pretty top," she notes to Cat, "I wouldn't have thought orange and pink would work that well together." Heaven knows that when she wears pink she feels like she's clashing horribly with her hair, not that it stops her. There's a grin for the sisters, "He'd have to be blind to not like that dress on you." Another look at herself in the mirror and Fern decides, "I'm going to try on the next outfit."

Catiana is spinning slowly in place, making the very bottom edge of her top flare out and show a tiny bit of midriff, "Oh yes, I do like this top quite a bit." When Fern says she's going to try on the next outfit she stops and smiles at her, "Just make sure there's more heals in there. They make your calves look amazing!" Then she follows the red head into the dressing room and disappears into her own stall.


 * "Oh please, Fern! Your just as gorgeous as we are. Why do you think Leo Luthor is head over heels for you. Celeste is so jealous of your 'girl next door' beauty."| The Cuckoos project into Fern's mind. They weren't having it. No pretending your not pretty around them!

The girls themselves retreat back into their dressing rooms and start to try the next outfit on. Easy for them to coordinate given their collective nature. As they strip down they project to both of their new friends |"Actually the prank we played on Leo Luthor that made him dislike us was very bad. He was flirty with Celeste but dismissive of the rest of us so we put an image in his mind of the five of us 'experimenting' with each other"|

The sound of the girls giggling in their respective dressing rooms was audible as they changed. Fern actually manages a dismissive |Psht.| in her head toward the sisters, slipping easily out of the dress she had on, holding up the hangers for two others to decide between them. She chooses a royal blue dress, banded off the shoulder, with white lace appliques on the bodice and scattered on the mid-thigh length flared skirt. Paired with matching blue pumps, she manages to get the back mostly zipped before being surprised by the Cuckoo's confession. She's not surprised that Leo was flirty with any of the sisters, but she doesn't quite know what to think about what they did. Her thought is her default reaction when she doesn't know how to react, aside from blushing lightly, thankfully still away from the eyes of the others. |Huh.| She steps out of her tiny room again, going to the mirrors, eyeing herself critically and deciding she actually does like this dress very much.

OK, maybe there's a leeetle bit of Gabriel hiding around in Catiana's personality because she does not giggle. A slight thump is audible from her dressing room as she falls onto the little bench i there so that she can laugh without actually falling to the floor. Her laugh is as throaty and smokey as her voice and, while not uproarious, its definitely heartfelt and from the belly, "Very. Nice!" she manages to gasp between rounds of laughter.


 * "That was in our early days at the school. We were a bit more bitchy back then because we didn't have any memories and didn't understand how social interaction worked yet. We are very... insular."|

The Cuckoos then stepped out of dressing room, in unison as if they had some how planned their exit from each room again. Dressed this time in a white sweater that ends just above the hips, hip hugging jeans that lace in the front rather then button or buckle, a black leather jacket and open front wedge buckled sandals.

"Nothing like how we are now. Only Esme doesn't like how much we spend with other people but that's because she's our bad side," the girls say in unison after they had stepped out of the dressing room, "Most of the bad things we do wrong were originally Esme's idea."

Catiana finally controls her laughter enough to finish putting on her next outfit, which takes some time. When she walks out of the dressing room, well after everyone else she is wearing an outfit that most people would qualify as scandalous. Both her top and her floor length skirt are made out of white lace, contrasting nicely with her caramel skin, which is very much on display. The Cuckoos have selected a bra and panties set that is so close to Catiana's skin tone that it makes it very difficult indeed to tell if she is wearing any underwear at all. The whole outfit is finished off by a pair of simple peep-toe sandals in the same white as the lace. "Its a good thing that it didn't backfire thought. He might have liked the images. And it says something good about him that he didn't."

Looking at herself in the mirror, Fern considers what the girls and Cat have all said. It is very much to Leo's benefit that he wasn't swayed just by sex, which isn't something a lot of men would be able to claim. She can even kind of relate to the sisters having faltered with social interaction, since she herself has done as well in the differences between home and where she is not. "I like how you are now," she says thoughtfully to the girls, "I think you're very nice. You've been polite and thoughtful, and those aren't the easiest things for most people to master. You have everything going for you, but you don't act all stuck up like you think you deserve the world on a platter." And Fern has known some of those girls, even coming from a small town. She's just decided that maybe Leo would like her in this dress, and she should come back after her next paycheck and get it, when she looks over at Cat and her eyes widen. "Holy cats, that's some dress."

The Cuckoos smile and are quite glad the mental download they did on Ms. Frost the day of the eighteenth birthday had helped with their social interaction. It is where they got the new accent after all, "Alright right, our lovelies. Change back into the street clothes and pack up those outfits. They are going home with you."

They all looked over to Fern and said, "No excuses or buts! It is our gift to the two of you for being nice and being our friends. We don't have many of those."

The girls then went back into their dressing rooms to change back into the dress they had on when they first came in. Catiana grins at Fern as she examines herself in the mirror. "Fern, that is a magnificent dress for you. Especially if you're trying to impress someone." Then she looks down at herself when Fern reacts to her outfit and points at the Cuckoos. While winking at them she says,"Its their fault, they picked it!" before following instructions and returning to the dressing room to change back into her original street clothes. With two exceptions: When she comes back out she's wearing the white jeans and the leather long coat. Obviously she has no problem accepting gifts from someone she just met,"Well, from what I've seen you girls are quite nice, so I'll be happy to be called a friend. And Gabriel will too." Strange way to put it... Well, she's not a very difficult girl to get to know, so Fern isn't surprised that the mind-reading sisters know she was still going to try and politely decline their generosity. She holds her tongue, and her thoughts, and will find a way to repay their kindness and show them she values them in her own way. "Thank you, girls," she says softly, sincerely. It only takes her a couple minutes to get back into her own original outfit, and she can't help but stare admiringly at the blue dress as it's wrapped up for her. "Lets get a cup of coffee," she offers, as they're at the door ready to go. "My treat." And she won't take no for an answer on that.