Author's note: Chapter 5! Yay! Now this one's a special chapter. Within lies the tale of the initiation of a very special person into our Sisterhood… someone who's not even a student at OFUM. So if you can't guess, then just read it. =^) Writing credits at the bottom, so as not to give away our Stranger in Black.

Disclaimer: See bottom.

*~*~*~*~*~*

The night air was still and warm as Penn stepped out of the dormitory door. She was on her way to meet someone: not a Lust Object, not a Mini-Cuddly-Friend, but someone she'd wanted to meet for a long time. She walked noiselessly to the appointed meeting-place: the large willow that graced the green of the student commons. After making sure it was indeed the willow, and not a sleeping Ent, she sat down beneath it to wait.

The serenity was ruined, and her careful stealth rendered useless.

"Ow! Sonnofa!" A portal had appeared, hovering dramatically above the ground. Someone had tripped through it, and landed painfully on their knees.

Penn squinted, trying to adjust her eyes to the odd light. Then she grinned. "Hey," she stage-whispered, "over here."

The figure got to their feet, wincing, and limped over. "I'd just like (owshit) to say... It's...(ow) an honor. Really. Ow." The stranger reached out a hand to the student.

"No, no... the honor is mine, of course. Please, have a seat," Penn invited, accepting the proffered hand.

"Thank you, and I mean that." The stranger pumped her hand once, and then sat down hard on a bench. "It was quite a surprise, getting the offer. I'm not even a student."

"You're quite welcome," Penn grinned. "Actually, there are those among the student body who found you... shall we say, a bit intimidating? the first time you showed up on campus. But I've always admired your work. And so... well, of course we'd love to have you as a member. Elrond Extremist, aren't you?"

"Absolutely. I hear you're lacking one of them... though you've been blessed with a Shelob admirer?" The visitor had been on campus once, and only once. She and her partner had sparked an unlikely chain of events that had involved Elrond in drag (and later, with a gun), Boromir in a tuxedo, and a student going missing just at the same time as the Watcher in the Sauna started looking fatter.

"Shelob devotee... indeed." Penn nodded gravely. "GreyLadyBast. Good friend of mine. She gets into a spot of trouble every now and then, but you couldn't ask for a better friend."

"I hope you'll understand if I can't attend meetings all that regularly? It's pretty much an all-hours job. I'll do my best, though, I will," the black-clad stranger said.

Penn scoffed. "Pfft! More than half our members don't even show up at all. SNAOL's not really the kind of organization that requires much of its members. And oh, I forgot... I'm Penn, by the way, if you didn't realize, or anything," she finished lamely.

"Kinda figured." SNAOL's newest member stuck out a hand again, redundantly. "I'm Jay."

Penn shook Jay's hand again, redundantly, and smirked. "Glad to meet you, Jay. You've no idea how long I've wanted to meet you." She shrugged. "You being a legendary assassin, me being a PPC hopeful, you know. That sort of thing."

"PPC hopeful? I had no idea." Jay leaned down, putting her face to face with Penn. "Seek help. I advise you."

"Um... okay. I will, I promise." Penn swallowed hard. Maybe it was time to change the subject. "So... you like... um..." she trailed off, unable to think of anything but Jay's too-brightly glittering eyeballs.

Jay leaned back suddenly. "I like many things. Most of them are British."

Penn looked relieved. "Cool. Me too." Monosyllabic words were better than no words at all.

"Hopefully you've managed to lust after your own age-group?" Jay ventured. Her tone of voice suggested that hope was minimal.

Penn looked confused, and a bit afraid. "What do you mean?"

The assassin sighed. "I'm... infamous for my attraction to older men. Up to, and including Sir Ian-- yes, I know he's gay. And then there's Acacia's continuing obsession." She shook her head. "A simple Aragorn Admirer or Legoluster would seem almost wholesome."

"Oh," Penn sighed. "Well... since I put down 'elf' on my enrollment form" - she cringed - "I guess you could say I... um... well I dunno, how old *is* Glorfindel?"

"Elves are all right. At least their ACTORS are young. Just keep telling yourself that." Jay smiled. "Incidentally, what does he look like?"

She sighed again, her eyes glazing over a little. "He *looks* young enough. Gorgeous. He's got this long, blond hair... much better than Legolas'... and his eyes - wow. Not to mention Asfaloth." Penn regarded Jay for a moment. "He wasn't in the movie, so I don't get an actor to lust after once I go back to RL."

"Poor dear." Jay smiled slightly. Then, she dug in her pack, and produced her totem.

A Polaroid.

"Will this help?"

Penn gasped in delight, taking the camera into her hands as if she held a hallowed relic. "Oh, thank you! You'll really let me use it? For a Glorfindel picture?"

"Indeed. In fact, everyone can do one next meeting." Jay beamed.

Penn jumped up, enfolding Jay in an exuberant hug. "You are awesome!"

The assassin blushed hotly, and looked at the ground. Or would have if she hadn't been caught in a strong hug.

Something in her pocket beeped. "I have to get back," she said sadly. "I'll show at the next meeting, I promise!"

And then she was gone.

Penn blinked, looking at the empty bench. Then she shrugged, a grin coming unbidden to her lips. "Okay," she murmured. "Bedtime." And with that, she wandered back to her room, leaving the willow alone again in the still night air.

AN: Yay! See? You knew who it was, didn't you? "This chapter written by Penn, the curiously foolish PPC hopeful, and Jay, the curiously friendly assassin."

=^D

Disclaimer: The PPC belongs to the fearsome Jay and Acacia, OFUM belongs to the mighty Miss Cam, and Arda belongs to the Headmaster himself, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien.