Room 312, Thursday afternoon/evening

[blondecanary]

All the pictures were off the walls. She'd said good-bye to Jak and Roy, Katchoo and Francine, and a slew of other people at last night's party. All the books were packed and sent. Everything was gone except Dinah's dufflebag for her trip to California and Canada, her computer and her cat

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[ancientbschamp]

Glad as she was to be back in Fandom for a while, Gabrielle still felt a little restless being in one place rather than traipsing all over the Mediterranean; she'd spent most of the day wandering the preserve before coming back to the dorms to poke about in search of people.

She paused in the hall outside Dinah's room and peeked in.

"Oh, thank the gods, you haven't gone yet."

[blondecanary]

"Hey!" Dinah grinned, for more reasons than one. "I'm so glad you got back before I did get out of here. How's Greece been since I saw it last?"

[ancientbschamp]

"Busy. Different." Gabrielle adjusted the strap of the new green top she wore; it still felt a little odd after the one she'd been used to. "Ephiny and Solari say hi, by the way -- Ephiny's ruling as regent for me while I'm here."

She realized she was missing a key part of that explanation, and gave Dinah an apologetic look. "Queen Melosa's gone . . . they made me Queen."

[blondecanary]

"Oh! Oh, I'm so sorry. She was really cool to us when we visited." Dinah sat down, and offered Gabrielle the last tin of cookies she had on hand. "And, well, it doesn't sound right to say congratulations. But-- I'm glad Ephiny's cool with being regent?"

[ancientbschamp]

"She'll do a better job than I will," Gabrielle admitted, taking the cookies with a little too much eagerness. She'd missed cookies. "She's been with the tribe all her life. There'll be less resistance to her leadership. It was a long trip . . . six months, I think. Maybe more. What have I missed while I've been gone?"

[blondecanary]

"Hooo boy. Well?" Dinah paused, took a cookie to nibble on, and picked up Camille. "A couple weeks ago you missed the island dissolving and stuff leaking in from really terrible places-- giant scorpions, radioactive bugs, these crazy people with hooks for hands... It all got fixed, but I think you should be glad you missed that one."

[ancientbschamp]

"I think I am. Everyone came through all right, though?" Gabrielle had to ask. "You should be glad you didn't come to visit again, though, so it's fair. It's been . . ."

She had to consider that. "About typical, actually, for Xena and me. Now that I think about it."

[blondecanary]

"Really? What happened?" Considering half of Gabrielle's stories, that was... ominous.

And considering what 'Dite had told her on Monday night, even more so.

[ancientbschamp]

"What didn't?" asked Gabrielle. "Do me a favor and promise you won't get yourself cursed to spend eternity on a ship? Because I want to visit you again, but I've been very forcibly reminded of just how seasick I can get."

[blondecanary]

Dinah's eyebrows rose to her hairline, and she grinned. "Terrifically unlikely, but I'll keep it in mind? And I am definitely sending you tickets if the Gotham Knights make it into the World Series. I want people to actually witness that happening."

[ancientbschamp]

"I can write the story of it!" Gabrielle volunteered. No, honey, that's what sports reporters are for. "I'm glad to be back. I'm just sorry you have to go."

[blondecanary]

"Me too." Dinah sighed. "I'm gonna miss you guys. And New Gotham's going to be-- okay, not boring, but way, way different. I'll see you at Homecoming, though. Definitely." She tapped a finger against her lip, then grinned a little. "Okay. Odd question. Have you gotten a boyfriend while I was away?"

[ancientbschamp]

"What?" Gabrielle blurted out, staring. "No! There was the thing with Joxer, but that was Aphrodite's fault, and Draco, but that was because Cupid needs a better babysitter! Kissing Autolycus definitely doesn't count; Xena was in his body at the time and --"

Oh, that wasn't helping matters at all. And she wasn't going into the other handful of ill-fated random encounters with cute puppyfaced boys that had all ended badly.

". . . no. Absolutely not."

[blondecanary]

"Aha!" Even better than she and Francine had suspected. Or worse?

Something like that.

Dinah dove under the bed, and came up with The Book. "Then I want to pass this along to you. It's been really helpful to me and a couple other people."

[ancientbschamp]

You could flip a dinar for the answer to that; it could go both ways. Gabrielle's relationship history was, to put it lightly, somewhat disastrous.

"A book?" asked Gabrielle, who hadn't actually looked at the title yet. "You're giving me a book?"

Don't squee yet, Gab.

[blondecanary]

"It's from me and Francine," Dinah said, half-earnest, half-amused. "Well, her copy got lost somewhere." Under Merlin's bed, probably.

"But, she said she owed you one, and there's other people who could use it who just wouldn't appreciate it, and..." Dinah stopped, hoping Gabrielle would take it in the right spirit. "It should be valued for what it is!"