The cookies are greatly appreciated all around.

"Oh, you're welcome. I was making a bunch of batches, figured I'd bring some for everyone," Lianne says, taking a ginger cookie for herself. "It's a pity Sophie and Taylor couldn't make it. Not too surprising what with Christmas and all, though. How're everyone's holidays going, by the way?"

(Alex says her Christmas was great - she chats briefly about presents - and they're heading to visit family over New Years tomorrow. Mallory just laughs and says she went to a nice party Friday night, but otherwise had a quiet time.)

"Mine was nice too!"  Kaylee's happy to chat about presents.  "My dad got me some anatomy textbooks, they look really interesting - I'm gonna start reading them over break, to get better at healing."

"That's a good idea! Can I take a look, once you're done with them? I might get some medical books myself, my mom got me a gift card that should cover it..."

"Sure thing!  We can study together too, if you want."

"That'd help a lot, I'm betting."

"Happy to help."

"Anyways, Mallory, Kaylee and I were thinking about seeing if our parents wouldn't let us travel - next weekend? That's the last weekend of break - on our own. We could claim to be going to an anime con or something, and while we're there look for other girls to talk to about recruiting. What do you think?"

"That sounds like a good idea, but I'd be careful about approaching other girls. If they're unfriendly, they're much more likely to just warn you off rather than outright attack, but a fight isn't out of the realm of possibility. Try to approach them together, maybe."

"Yeah, I've run into a girl who didn't give any warning before attacking me. Of course, she was trying to claim my territory, rather than defending her own, but still... Didn't even listen when I explained I was willing to share."

"I'll keep that in mind," Kaylee says.  "Thanks."

"She backed off when she realized I was more powerful - most girls won't keep fighting past that point, it's usually more measuring each other that seriously fighting - but not everyone will. Can't imagine many girls would try and attack a team, though, unless they're really confident in themselves."

"Good thing we're sticking together, then."

"Definitely. Though the team's such a help, I can't imagine anyone being opposed to it just out of hand..."

"You'd be surprised. A lot of girls aren't very... teamwork-oriented."

Lianne doesn't look particularly convinced, but also doesn't dispute it.

Kaylee doesn't either.

"Good luck, though! It'll be very nice if we can expand some."

"Thanks!  Yeah, I'm really hoping at least some of them will go for it, it'd be good to cover more ground."

"It'll also be good practice for trying to recruit for your own groups, once you have more experience and freedom of movement."

"That's a good point.  ...did a lot of girls - need a lot of convincing?  When you were starting off?"

"So far I've mostly been relying on Kyubey to direct interested girls my way - haven't been at this for long, so far. Sophie took a bit of convincing, but mostly that logistics would work out. Otherwise, I've been very lucky. I suspect that some girls will be more - leery - of following someone closer to their own age, though."

"Yeah, that's a good point."

The conversation drifts off to other topics - mostly people's plans for New Years (Lianne's resigned to getting dragged to a boring party, Alex is going to watch fireworks with her family, Mallory has a non boring party lined up) - then they head out to hunt, a bit earlier than usual.

They find, and tidily slay, a sewing-kit witch full of stuffed animal familiars.

Lianne isn't quite sure whether the familiars are creepy or cute. She's leaning towards creepy, though (she decides to sketch a few in her brand new sketchbook).

As usual, Alex takes off in her own car after wishing them luck with their expedition, and Mallory drives Kaylee and Lianne home.

"I'll call you after I've talked to my mom about the trip," Lianne says when it's her stop. "How's that sound?"