My eyes flutter open, the birds chirp and I remember that Flanna stayed the night. I look over and find her still curled up, fast asleep. Slowly, carefully I get off the bed, doing my best not to disturb her. It would be rude to wake her up after staying up so late last night.

I leave the bedroom door open as I make my way downstairs, into the kitchen. I gather the supplies and start cracking eggs. French toast is fairly simple- and not pancakes. I think I'm sick of them after last night. I almost gag at the thought of pancakes. Yeah, definitely sick of them.

I'm almost done frying the last piece of french toast when I hear Flanna come down the stairs.

"Good morning. I was sick of pancakes, and I don't have a waffle maker, so I figured french toast was a good idea. Are you hungry?" I greet, and then Flanna is draped over me, her arms dangling at my sides and her head on my shoulder.

"I am sooo sick of pancakes... Thank you for not making them..." She whispers.

"Flanna- could you go sit down? It's kind of difficult to use my arms right now." I say, and I feel her nod before lumbering over to the table and sitting down.

I finish up with the last slice and turn off the oven.

"I made them really custardy, I hope you don't mind," I say, putting a plate of french toast in front of Flanna.

"Custardy french toast is good..." She mumbles before cutting them up. I cut mine up as well before covering them in maple syrup. See, cutting the french toast first makes it easier for them to soak up the syrup. It makes it easier to cut than after the syrup, too.

It's official. I am the best at french toast. I gobble it down, and Flanna does as well. After I clean up the mess I made and Flanna passes out on the couch. She must be really tired. I wonder what time she usually goes to bed. Can't be as late as last night, or she'd never do anything. Then again, who in their right mind goes to bed at 2?

I sit on the arm of the couch, watching the weather lady tell me the weather in the next state over. After a half-hour of that, I give up and turn the TV off. Then, I calculate how long Flanna's been sleeping for.

"Flanna, Flanna~" I chant quietly, shaking her shoulder. "It's time to get up. You've already gotten the recommended eight hours of sleep~" She groans and turns a little, so I shake her harder. "No... You have to get up, Flanna. It's the recommended amount for a reason. Any more or less than that is bad for you... Please wake up?" Flanna sighs and sits up, rubbing her eyes. How did her hair get even worse?! I thought it was impossible for it to get more volume and knots! Oh wow... That must be a pain to deal with.

"Hey, I'm gonna go home and get changed- take a shower 'n' all that. But if ya wanna- Angie'll be back in town today. Ya wanna meet her?" Flanna asks, yawning.

"Sure, you and Jenny have talked about her a lot. I'd like to know if she lives up to what you two have been telling me." Flanna nods and stumbled around, collecting her things.

"Awesome... I'll see you at noon? My place?" Flanna asks, on her way to the door.

"Sure- but are you really going to walk through town in your pajamas?" I ask, and she shrugs.

"Wouldn't be the first time. I'll see ya in a few." Flanna leaves, waving to me over her shoulder, and I instantly feel like something's missing.

It's this weird, heavy feeling in my chest and gut, a certain kind of loneliness that I've never experienced before. It's weird.

I go and take a shower, picking out my outfit for the day. I lime green crop top, and some jean shorts, matched with my hiking boots, and a lot of spiky, punk-ish jewelry. I think the tooth necklace really compliments a punk look. Not to mention, if I look like a punk, people leave me alone.

I laugh to myself. It certainly didn't stop Flanna. I think, remembering the first time I met her when she showed up at my door with food. A lot of our relationship revolves around food, doesn't it? I guess it is an international language- one that doesn't need words. That settles it, food is the best way to make friends.

I finish getting dressed and put my hair up in a ponytail, grabbing my wallet and phone on my way out the door.

I arrive at Flanna's house, looking decidedly punk. I just felt like looking punk today, okay? So, I have my purple crop top, my jean shorts, my boots, and all of the spiky bracelets I could fit on my arms. I put my hair up in a ponytail and added a spiky headband.

She comes out moments later, in one of her lilac sweaters and light blue skirt. She immediately bursts out laughing.

"Oh my god, Linnie! You look so scary! Are you trying to scare her away before you even meet her?"

"No. I just felt like dressing this way today. Should I change? I don't want to make a bad first impression." I reply, looking down at my outfit.

"No, no, it's fine. I think Angie'll like it, actually. She's a bit odd."

"Odd? How so?" Flanna looks away nervously, chuckling.

"You'll find out. We should get going, though, we have places to be." She says, walking away. I follow her, and on our way to the shopping district, I wish I had a knife. These woods are so creepy...

We arrive at the shopping district without incident, though, and Flanna leads me to a little plant shop.

"Flanna!" Shouts a woman, and then Flanna is wrapped up in a bear hug. I didn't even see her move. "I heard you were attacked! Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? What happened? Jennie made it sound so casual! Was it really not that much of a big deal?" The woman exclaims, looking Flanna over from head to toe.

"Angie, I'm fine. That was weeks ago! I got this cool tooth from it, though!" Flanna says, holding up her necklace for Angie to see.

"A hellhound?! What- no, did you have any brass? How did you kill it?" Angie worries, turning Flanna over again, inspecting her.

"I didn't kill it, Angie. Edlynne did." Flanna gestures to me, and Angie turns to look at me. She stares me down, and I wave at her.

"Hello. Flanna and Jenny have told me good things about you. It's a pleasure to meet you." I say, holding out my hand for her to shake. She does, staring me into the eyes all the while. I think she might mistrust me.

"I have heard absolutely nothing about you. Why is that, Flanna? I mean, you and Jenny both have my number, but no news from either of you? I mean, you were attacked, there's a new girl, and you two are friends? And I hear nothing of this?" Angie scolds. "I mean, isn't that strange?"

"Angie, c'mon, let's just sit down and have a chat, okay? I'll tell you everything."

"Okay. Come on in, you two. I've got my table set up in the back." Angie leads us through a cloth door, and into a brightly lit room, with a round table at the center. Three chairs are already made up, and I sit between Flanna and Angie, who are chattering about the events since I got here.

"Okay, so, I met Edlynne when I brought her a care package like I always do. We talked a little, and that was that. And then she stumbled upon me doing the bubble/streamer thing, and I offered to guide her around town. We talked, well, it was mostly me, she doesn't talk much."

"I see that." Comments Angie, shooting me a look, somewhere between a glare and an interrogation.

"Yeah, well, I showed her around all my favorite places, including that spot in the woods."

"What?! Even I haven't been there!"

"Yeah, but this was special. I don't know how I knew, I just did. So I took her there, and we had a picnic, and we talked a bit, and then that beast jumped out of the woods, blocking our exit! It gave us some cryptic message- do you remember it, Edlynne?" Flanna asks, and I nod. "Mind sharing it??" Flanna presses, and I sigh.

"Two little fools, trapped out together. One by themselves is enough to tempt anyone- but two? Two is a treat- a treat to eat." I recite.

"See? Cryptic. Didn't it say something weird though? About the knife not hurting it?" Flanna asks.

"Silly. It won't hurt me. You won't live to see what will." I reply flatly.

"Yeah, but the knife did kill it! Or maybe Edlynne kicking it in the balls did? But anyway, it did get me, it hurt my knee, so I wasn't allowed to wear pants for a while, but it's all good now! No limp, no scar, all good!"

"That's a relief. Why did you two have a brass knife anyway? Brass is the only thing that can hurt those beasts."

"Cool! My theory was right! It is only certain metals that can hurt those!" Flanna exclaims happily, cheering herself on.

"Angie, if you don't mind me asking, why, or how, do you know this?" I ask, and she looks at me.

"I am not legally allowed to tell you. Sorry." Angie says.

"Yeah, okay. So after that, we became best friends, and we helped each other out, and I got her to meet Jenny! And we just had a sleepover last night! I taught her how to bake, so she's gonna teach me to ballroom dance! And I let her borrow some recipes, so long as she never tells anyone them, or lets any of the Coopers see or taste them!" Flanna smiles her closed-eyed smile, and I vaguely recognize it as a threat. Remind me to never do any of those things. She must be scary when she's mad... Is she capable of being mad?

"I think you two need to tone it down a little, I mean, spending almost every hour of every day together isn't good for any relationship, romantic or platonic. Take some time for yourselves, okay? Also, feel free to come back to my Botanical Apothecary anytime, okay?" Angie turns to me, her glare cold as ice. "If you ever do anything to hurt her, you won't want to see the light of day ever again."

I nod.

The meeting continues.

"That went great! She really likes you, Linnie!" Flanna exclaims as we leave the shop.

"She threatened me," I state, and Flanna giggles.

"If she didn't like you, she wouldn't even have bothered! She'd have straight-up banished you on the spot! It means she really likes you!"

"Has she banished anyone before?"

"Oh, yeah, and I'm glad. Turns out those people really didn't actually want to be my friend! Angie's a great judge of character