(Untitled)

[sthenyaer]

It's a slightly chilly day out, so Mel's wearing a sweater. Idly, she wonders if John's planning on making it snow. After a second, she knocks.

Sarah invited her over. She shouldn't be nervous, dammit.

Comments

[sarah_branigan]

Sarah opens the door. She has on an apron, the same one from Thanksgiving, and she's got a smudge of flour on her face. But like the last time Mel saw her, she looks happy and relaxed. This is her time of year to shine.

"Hey, come on in." She ushers Mel inside and leads her to the kitchen. There a couple of trays of gingerbread men and women (the women have skirts) cooling on racks. "That's a pretty sweater. Do you want an apron, too?"

[sthenyaer]

Even before she's ushered in, she can smell the cookies. She looks around at the gingerbread men and women and smiles a little.

"Thanks. And sure." She fidgets a little.

[sarah_branigan]

Sarah opens a drawer that has a few folded aprons inside. Most are floral, like hers. One is white and says 'Kiss the Cook' (she bought it for Daniel). "Help yourself, dear. These are almost cool enough to decorate." She opens another drawer and takes out some decorating tubes of frosting. "Done any Christmas shopping yet? I'm almost done with my list."

[sthenyaer]

Mel pulls out a floral one, with little roses on it. Fumbling with it, she tries to get it on. "A little bit. I've gotten stuff for Rat and Schreber and for some other people..." She eyes the tubes of coloring. Watch Mel not want to talk about Gibbs until Sarah brings him up.

[sarah_branigan]

Sarah helps her with the ties. "Did you get anything for Cornelius yet?" she asks. Smooth, Sarah, smooth. "He's tricky to shop for, but I think he could use another warm scarf. He has a neck made for scarves." Whatever that means.

She takes a seat by one tray of cookies, motioning Mel to join her. "I'm going to make some Schrebers. I've gotten good at the glasses. Feel free to have a couple, if you want. I've made plenty."

((Writing this really makes me want a gingerbread cookie. >_>))

[sthenyaer]

((XD))

Augh dammit and yes, there's the meantion. The tube might have squirted a little bit more frosting than needed. "I was thinking about making something for him. But a scarf might be nice." Fidget, Mel, fidget.

She sits down next to Sarah, and fiddles with a tube. "A little Orwell on his shoulder might be cute..." She snags a normal gingerbread cookie, munching off an arm.

[sarah_branigan]

"Oh, it would... where's that tube of black frosting..." She carefully draws an outline of a tiny bird on a gingerbread man. It looks more like Orwell's sitting on his chest than his shoulder, but it's a good first attempt.

She eyes Melinda, then passes over a napkin. "I saw your secret in the Nexus," she says gently.

[sthenyaer]

Mel smiles a tiny bit at the little Orwell. "Do you think he'll think these are cute or terrifying?"

When Sarah meantions the secret, her brown eyes focus on the gingerbread men. "I know. Leoben was showing them... at least he wasn't mocking them." Squirm.

[sarah_branigan]

"I made them last year, and he liked them. Up until I picked one up and bit its head off." She giggles. "I'll make a couple of me, but I bet he won't eat them."

She picks up a tube of white frosting. "He was pretty good about not giving anyone a hard time," she agrees. "He thought I should talk to you, actually, although I was already planning to. Are you worried about what Cornelius will think about what happened to you when... well, with Orochi?"

[sthenyaer]

Mel fights down a snigger.

Then she bites her bottom lip. "Yeah, he was. I think I've seen his secrets up there before a few times. Maybe that's why he doesn't give people a hard time." Pause. The gingerbread cookies are seeming to fascinate Mel. "And... yeah." Give her a second to really get talking, Sarah. Then she'll start getting what's bugging her out.

[sarah_branigan]

"Seems like he likes you, anyway," she remarks, trying to draw a tiny little labcoat on her cookie. "He looked worried about you."

She keeps her gaze on the cookies, too, not wanting to spook Mel. "Cornelius cares about you a great deal. And he knows you're special. I think he'll listen and be there for you."

[sthenyaer]

Mel works on the glasses. "Really? That's... kind of nice of him." Awkward smile.

"I - really like him. I guess I don't want him to freak out? I told him that Orochi'd done fucked up shit to me, but I didn't go into detail... Triv said that I shouldn't overload him." Mel tries to get a little Orwell on the gingerbread Schreber's shoulder.

At the 'special' line, Mel makes a tiny 'heh' noise. "Orochi always called me 'sthenyaer' to make me mad. He liked reminding me that I wasn't a 'special little snowflake.' Which is kind of ironic, considering how much he liked to brag about how special he was..." she finishes the little raven. "I don't know how to tell him that I died, too. 'Hi, Gibbs, last year during August I got kidnapped, and I got killed and came back to life. Isn't that funny, how much we've got in common?'" She's being snarky, although it's not directed at Sarah. Mostly at everything, and maybe at herself.

[sarah_branigan]

"Is he not normally nice?" she asks, curious. All Sarah knows about Leoben is that he creeps her out a little and somehow knew Verbal. Which usually keeps her well away from him.

"I think," she says slowly, lightly brushing Mel's hair out of her face, "That he'll understand. Especially because something similar happened to him, too." She doesn't like thinking about how either of them died. She still believes that they 'almost died' or 'sort of died.'

"I think you're special," she adds. "I don't know anyone else like you."

[sthenyaer]

"No, no, I meant that that he worried was kind of sweet," she says. It's a little smile.

Mel lets Sarah play with her hair, because she likes it when people do that. And if Mel knew - she'd tell Sarah that there's a big difference between 'almost died' and 'sort of died' and really, honestly died.

"Thanks. It's good to know that I'm not a carbon copy." Mel smiles a little.

[sarah_branigan]

"Ah, I see." She smiles back. If he's nice to Mel, he can't be that bad.

Deep down, Sarah knows this difference. This is why she doesn't ask. She brushes Mel's hair back a little more, then goes back to decorating. All these naked cookies aren't going to dress themselves!

"Not in the slightest," she replies. "And I'm not talking about your powers, I'm talking about you."

[sthenyaer]

"I think he's a bit of a prophet. But I don't know for sure. He's got a nice dog." Mel smiles a little more.

She shuts her eyes a tad at the hair brushing. When it comes to affection and her hair being played with, she's a bit like a cat.

That? Gets a big ol' blush.