Three updates in one day! I'm avoiding college applications. And I like cheese. And clementines. Quite delicious. I don't own much, including my house, as it has been taken over by fourteen various family members. I do own a pretty sweet easel, courtesy of Santa Claus. Read, review, drink some eggnog and revel in the yuletide cheer,

A few short hours later, Brittany bounded into Virginia's room.

"Go throw yourself over a cliff," was the immediate statement from the lump of covers in the darkened room.

"I didn't even say anything, Grumpy!"

"You ruined this great dream I was having. I dreamed I talked all night to the Prince of Mirkwood and we 'connected'—you know." Brittany rolled her eyes at this and politely coughed, "Mary-Sue." Into her hand.

"No, my name's Virginia. You know this," V clearly didn't get it.

"Well, news flash kid, it wasn't a dream. He was talking our ears off at breakfast about a newfangled shopping center—a mall—I assume he got the idea from you."

"It's amusing how excited he was about the concept of a place you could buy clothes, get your hair done, nails done, all in the same visit. You sure know how to pick your guys Virginia," a third voice drawled from the shadowed doorway.

"The term is 'metrosexual'" Brittany piped in helpfully.

"Marina and Brittany! Will you stop…" she trailed off and looked into identical evil grins, "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME MARINA WAS HERE!"

"Run?"

"yeah." They took off quickly, grabbing Virginia's nonessential items such as shoes, food, and clean clothes along the way. The pair dashed into the bustling halls and dodged the stately elves parading the corridors until finally ducking into an ajar door.

"I thought she'd rip out your jugular, a shame really, considering she should be ecstatic to see you,"

"Yeah…definitely livid…maybe it was the Leggy comments."

"How long before she ventures out?"

"Awhile…she'll be embarrassed because we grabbed all the stuff the elves left."

"and her shoes."

"Now, if you two have finished your tête-à-tête, would you mind exiting my room now?" a half-naked Boromir came into view—well, actually, all he had on was a towel, but he was gripping a sword scarily. The two blushed and ran fast. Again.

Later that day, once their faces had lost their crimson hue and Virginia had gotten her possessions back from the pair of friends who feared her tongue-lashing more than the steel of Boromir's sword. They were walking through the sun dappled gardens chatting later that afternoon.

"So, there's three of us here, but you said there would be fore, I wonder who it'll be? Since we're all friends, maybe Selene will come!" Virginia paused to skip a rock across a small lake surrounded by blooming flowers.

"Buttercups!" Marina cried, completely changing the subject. She bent to pick one. Upon standing and holding it up, she found nothing but ash.

"It spontaneously combusted: she wailed, until seeing the evil grin on Brittany's face. "You incinerated it!" she accused. Brittany nonchalantly shined her fingers along her dress.

"I couldn't resist."

Marina pouted for awhile, muttering threats of flying wombats under her breath.

"Some days, I fear for her sanity," remarked Virginia as she brought a blossom to her nose.

"Yes. But there are times we are just as crazy—remember mission impossible?" the two shared a laugh at the memory of running around the movie theater Charlie's Angels-esque.

"You know, we never asked her how she well, came here."

"Hey Marina!" Virginia hollered. The other young woman looked up from the leaf she was studying.

"Yes?" she said expectantly, meandering over towards the twosome..

"How'd you get here?"

"How did I bypass the dimensional portals, transcend time, and appear in an entirely different age with my spleen still intact? It was easy cheesy." She looked at the two faces in front of her and watched Brittany slowly clench and unclench her fist.

"Once upon a time," Marina began, ignoring the fact that Brittany was muttering, "I'm going to throttle her." "When I was a wee one back in the old country," this earned a snort, "two of my best friends deserted me to travel to a freezing cold place up north—though I have to say, this spot is much better—so anyways, my comrade Selene wasn't answering her cell phone for two days straight and it was pouring rain," the two listen shook their heads slightly, as they knew where this was going, "so I read Everything possible in the flat, including cereal boxes. BUT IT DID NOT STOP RAINING." She paused dramatically, "the internet wasn't working because someone" she looked pointedly at Brittany, "forgot to mail my cable bill."

"If you're going to be ungrateful, take your own stuff to the post office and stop bothering me for stamps!" Brittany defended herself as Marina shot her a dirty look.

"So I was stuck inside with nothing to read, no internet, no car, nothing on TV, and I had to eat. So I stuck some asparagus in the blender," she looked at the incredulous faces, "well, it didn't quite work, so I finished off that box of doughnuts V left here—well, there—last week."

"How many doughnuts?" Virginia sighed.

"ummm…maybe 4? Or 5? But then, like, two hours later, it stopped raining!' she smiled and began walking backwards. "So I went for a run down to the park—it was beautiful, so serene and green. So I was running and thinking about LOTR because I couldn't figure out how to shut off the dvd player, so return of the king was playing nonstop, and it reminded me of Rivendell, and there was some mumble of 'the time has come' and voila! Here I am. In Lothlorien though." 'ThwaK!" she ran into something.

"Stupid tree!' Marina exclaimed as Brit and Nia sniggered quietly.

"You might want to check on that tree…its been making faces behind you for the past three minutes or so…in fact, it even appears to be slightly…err…metrosexual. Ow!" Brittany rubbed her head where Virginia thumped her.

"Come Brittany," Marina said haughtily, "let's leave these two alone." She stepped daintily around the laughing Legolas, pausing only to whisper, "Two words: Fan Girl." Brittany turned to Virginia with a mock-stern expression, "now dear, be home before dark, and remember, it's naughty to 'go behind bushes; with an unmarried elf." Marina nodded emphatically, as Virginia, blushing furiously, called them immature children. Big surprise. The two scampered off.

"So immature. One would hardly think they were in their twenties," Virginia said, by way of explanation.

"In my culture, twenty years of age is still considered infantile," Legolas replied. They sat on a stone bench in silence for a few moments before Legolas finally piped up "What is a fan girl anyways?" Virginia turned pink again, "Well…uh…it doesn't mean anything, well, it means I like fans! Yes. Fans. Those things used when you get really hot. In fact, it's kinda warm right now. Let's go look at that part of the garden." She breathlessly finished and walked off, a bemused wood elf trailing behind.