Alluka &amp; Nanika Zoldyck

It didn't take too long before Ringo, who had showered and changed after a quick ride through town, knocked on the door. "Knock, knock!" she called, grinning in excitement. Because today was going to be fun!

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Alluka left off pacing in order to make a mad dash to the door eagerly.

"Ringo!" she chirped, throwing the door open. "You came! Hi!"

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"I did!" Ringo stilled for a moment, hesitating. "I'm not early, am I? Or late?"

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Alluka had no idea, actually.

So she beamed and bounced back from the door so that Ringo could come in. "You're right on time!"

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"Awesome!" Ringo beamed as she stepped through the door. "Oh, I like your hair," she added, one hand coming up to almost touch one of Alluka's pigtails before falling back to her side.

Ringo was rather partial to pigtails.

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Mabel's room wasn't terribly far from Alluka's. Actually, she was just down the hall, which meant she could take her time to make certain to pick a really good sweater for their excursion today. And, after a lot of deliberation? The winner was Meow Wow, because who could day no to a glittery pink cat?

Nobody, that's who.

"Did somebody say pigtails?" Mabel peered through the door. "Oh, those look adorable!"

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Alluka definitely couldn't.

She laughed, one hand going up to touch her pigtails, a little self-consciously.

"I, I thought that my hair should be up, if I'm trying on clothes," she explained, feeling silly. Maybe no one else wore their hair up when they tried on clothes? "Hi, hi, hi! Mabel! Come on in!"

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"Actually, that's a really good idea," Mabel decided as she stepped into the room. "It keeps it out of your eyes so you can see yourself in the mirror!"

Yes. That was what pigtails did.

"And also, they're super cute. I don't think you need an excuse to wear pigtails."

Mabel didn't wait for excuses to wear what she wanted, after all!

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She giggled.

"Maybe you should wear them too," Alluka suggested, perching on the edge of her bed. "I have hair elastics!"

Kathy had gotten her those too, yup.

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"Pigtails for everyone!" Ringo declared with a giggle. Then she leaned over to speak softly to Alluka, "Since you know us both, I think it's your job to introduce us. Since we don't know each other." Or, she didn't think so, anyway.

Not that Ringo thought Mabel needed much help with introductions.

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The reminder was probably a good idea, since Alluka wouldn't have thought of it. Her eyes went big.

"Oh!" she said, beaming at both of them. "Ringo, this is Mabel! She's funny and likes sweaters and has a pet pig named Waddles. He's really cute! And Mabel, this is Ringo! She's got super pretty hair and makes funny shoes that you skate with and she can almost fly and it's really neat!"

Also she adored the both of them, but she didn't say that.

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"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ringo," Mabel replied, offering Ringo a handshake. "Your hair is super pretty!"

Because today was 'saying nice things about people's hair' day, apparently.

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"Hi, Mabel," Ringo said, ducking her head slightly at the compliment. "Thank you."

She gently shook the other girl's hair and smiled. "I like your sweater."

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Alluka looked hopefully from one girl to the other, glad they seemed to be getting along okay!

"Mabel makes her own sweaters," Alluka said helpfully.

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"I do," Mabel agreed proudly, "and thanks! I can knit you one, if you like. These things take me practically no time at all, these days!"

Case in point- she had arrived on the island with practically nothing, and she now had a good dozen or so of these things. And a few more for Waddles, in case he got chilly.

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"Really?" Ringo smiled. "That would be neat. Maybe I can put together a pair of AirTrek for you in return!"

Sweaters and rocket skates combined!

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Alluka blinked as something occurred to her, listening to her friends talk. She... she had nothing to offer either of them.

It sounded kind of nice, to be able to do a thing like that. And she felt kind of funny and twisty inside, that she couldn't do the same.

She reached over and grabbed her bunny, hugging it tightly, and just watched them.

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"That would be great," Mabel enthused, grinning and bouncing on her toes.

It would be a disaster. Almost certainly. Fear, island.

"And then all three of us can skate around as the best-dressed girls on the island! Right, Alluka?"

... Oh, that wasn't a happy face.

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Ringo followed Mabel's gaze to Alluka and stilled. "Hey. What's up?" she asked gently, making sure to smile.

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There were two tried and true modes she had for dealing with twisty things that made her feel bad.

One: deny.

Two: deny harder and change the subject.

She blinked at them, snuggled her bunny, and went with option two. "I'm okay!" Why wouldn't she be okay? She was totally okay! "Um, um, can we look at closets now?"

Well, one closet, since her roomie's stuff had disappeared.

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Hmmmmm. Mabel kept her smiley face on, but something was probably up here, and it was officially her duty as The Best Friend She Could Possibly Be to figure out what it was so that she could do something about it.

She even had a few theories she was going to have to poke at a bit.

"You bet we can! Let's see what needs a little attention, shall we, ladies?"

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"Kathy helped a lot!" Alluka insisted, as she bounced off her bed and over to the closet. "I didn't even know I didn't have everything until it came up for class."

She opened her closet with a flourish and, with it, tucked the last of her bad mood away. She could think about it later and talk about it with her toys. They kept all her secrets.

"Ta-dah!"

As far as clothing went, Alluka had pretty much what was needed for the basics. Shirts, skirts, some pants in various pastel shades, a couple of fairly basic, but still cute, dresses. Her fancier dress that she'd shown up wearing was hanging up too.

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"Came up for class, huh?" Mabel pursed her lips as she leaned forward to inspect the contents of the closet. "What were you missing for class? We'll see if we can cover at least the basics, since I know our adventure class does a lot of different stuff we might need special clothes for."

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"I don't have a bathing suit," she admitted. "So I didn't go, when they said we needed one."

There'd been a temper tantrum that only her toys had been witness to that day, but now she was okay with having missed the fun.

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