Yasmin hesitated, resting a gloved hand on the door handle to Incredible Edibles. The last time she showed her face here, her gracious offer to "help clean up" got her in a bit of trouble with the cook. Granted, she probably shouldn't have made those minor 'suggestions" about the desserts....

She wasn't going to let that stop her from having lunch with Annabeth, though.

Yas's 'secretary' had called Annabeth the evening before to set up the lunch, though it wasn't so much Yas's personal secretary as it was the WHAM! 101.1FM station's secretary. And furthermore, it wasn't so much the WHAM secretary as much as it was Yas mimicking the secretary's voice. Yas couldn't possibly be seen, or heard, setting up her own appointments, after all. She feigned being much too important for menial tasks like that.

She had always wanted to get together with Annabeth, but with her recent involvement in Cinderella and Rhydin Nights, her plate had been a little full. Singing for the movie's soundtrack took up a bit of time, too. But with the Shanachie on break for January and the last day of filming behind them, Yas finally felt like she could take a breather. She was happy to finally be able to catch up with her co-star.

Dressed warmly for the cold winter weather, Yas wore a deep burgundy red leather coat over a purple plum sweater, a bright teal knitted scarf draped over her neck, and acid washed jeans....because she loved her 80's. To help Annabeth quickly identify her, she decided to wear her long blonde "Roxanne" hair. She always kept her signature bright blue eyes, even for the filming.

With a soft sigh, Yas turned the handle and went inside to see if Annabeth was already there. She assumed she would be, only because Yas always like showing up "fashionably late?. This time she was doing well, only late by five minutes. The diva was much too busy to be on time for anything, after all.

"Ok, ok, so you weren't as fashionably late as you thought," Yas thought to herself when she saw Annabeth, "But at least you weren't technically the first one here." She had to save face, even if just to herself.

She smiled to Annabeth as she replied "Sure, I know a good spot over here by th-..." She began removing her coat as she darted off towards the table before she got to finish her sentence, causing it to trail off. By the time she got to the table situated as close to the dessert display as possible, she quickly threw her coat over the back of her chair. Pulling the chair out, she then sat down in front of the delicious exhibit of Lemon Drizzle Cake, Raspberry Cheesecake, and Chocolate Brownie. Yas quickly adjusted her scarf to drape loosely over her sweater while her black leather gloves faded into soft, cream skin. She enjoyed messing with people to make them wonder how much of the shapeshifter's appearance was her and how much wasn't, though disguising herself wasn't limited to just her outward appearance, either.

Once Annabeth came over, Yas looked at her with excited bright blue eyes and said, "I'm so happy we got to finally hang out. You were excellent during filming, very professional, and you looked like you were having a good time." Starting with a compliment was always good when trying to make friends, at least that's what she always assumed. Since the compliment was true, it was easy enough to pull off.

Although she looked cheerful and jovial, inside, Yas was nervous. She didn't have many casual friends that she would often have lunches with. Up until only recently, she didn't really have any friends. Of course, she always acted like she had loads of friends and even more fans. But even the lunches and get-togethers she had recently started out with business goals in mind. She met with Mataya at the end of the last Shanachie season to discuss her going off the rails a bit and walking off stage....about a dozen times. But that meet was only really for the purpose of making sure she could come back for this season. When she met with Elena just last month, that was really only to get a hold of the character that Yas would be playing that she inspired. But this, this was different. This was pretty much a social call, which scared Yas to no end.

It wouldn't be long before Magnolia, the hobbit on duty behind the counter, came over to take their orders. With a bright grin, Yas requested, "Could I get the chicken and avocado sandwich with a gingerbread hot chocolate" Whipped cream. Thanks." She had the menu memorized.

Eddie and Yas had been laying the groundwork for one more little publicity stunt in January. Granted, they would have a few more before the Rhydin Nights premiere, but this one would be for the soundtrack. Of course she couldn't say that, though. She and Eddie had a strict rule of always being able to work out a deal with the gossip magazines in order to keep their anonymity. If she went and blabbed to people, the public would rightfully assume she and her agent had been doing this from the beginning. She couldn't have Annabeth suspect that. Yas still felt bad that Eddie went a little too far in one of the scandal reports that gave false quotes from Annabeth. Luckily, they managed to patch that up, but she wasn't going to mess it up now.

"I'll probably just lay low a bit, rest up some," she lied, without skipping a beat.

"But next month, I'll be going back to do some of the interviews for WHAM." She took December and January off to focus on filming, but she was scheduled to return in February to interview another set of actors for her "Inside the Actors" Shanachie" special on WHAM! 101.1FM. "I would love it if you would be one of the guests for February," she quickly added with a bright smile.

Yas was excited to get back to the interviews. She hadn't truly been "herself", her DJ Zazzy Yas radio persona, in quite some time. WHAM put her on an immediate probation when they heard about her walk off's. She didn't even get to finish her "Acting Authority" segments she started her first year in the theater. Eventually, WHAM allowed her to do the interviews, which she suspected was the station's way of trying to make it up to the theater for her digressions. Here and there, WHAM would allow her to do minor guest spots, like on their Request Line or on their end-of-the-year Top 40 recap, but it wasn't the same. She had yet to earn the privilege of returning to her full time evening radio show. Though, with the heavy winter filming schedule, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. But now that that was complete, part of her was ready to jump back in. The other part of her wished the 'resting up" comment hadn't been a lie.

The corners of Yas�s closed lips turned up slightly, revealing her genuine smile. It wasn�t as audacious as her typical open mouthed, laughing smile. She couldn�t help but nod, subtly smiling, as she heard Annabeth call her out on her lie. She was impressed to say the least, especially when Annabeth went on in the conversation without directly putting Yas on the spot. It seemed like this little country girl didn�t fall off the turnip truck yesterday.

Yas had picked up on when she mentioned moving during the film shooting. She would have volunteered to help move, but that definitely wouldn�t have been in keeping with her pampered diva image. And she would have volunteered to help pick out things, but her eclectic style was generally not what many others �appreciated�. Her small studio apartment was as colorful as her gypsy upbringing. No wall was painted the same color and her whimsical furniture was a mix-match of flamboyantly painted woods and bright, bold fabrics. Her landlord swore she must have a child that she allowed to decorate the gawdy rooms. It never helped that she redecorated every time she felt restless, which was probably around once or twice a month. As a shapeshifter, she never had to look the same for too long, so why would her living space? Of course, fashion was an entirely different case.

�Snake,� Yas answered Annabeth�s question abruptly before Magnolia slipped in and placed their sandwiches in front of them. Yas smiled and nodded in gratitude.

�I have a pretty awesome snake accessory. I�m planning on working my outfit around that,� Yas clarified to Annabeth. Pausing, she grabbed a huge chunk of chicken that hadn�t come into contact with the avocado off her open face sandwich, and put it on the side of her plate. Then she rolled her sandwich into a taco shape and took a bite of chicken and avocado bliss. With a full mouth, and no tact, she continued, �I�m not exactly the best fashionista. I pretty much just look in a fashion magazine and copy what the models are wearing....I did find a cute little black and white number I hope to use, but you know I�ll be spicing that up with a little color.� She was thinking yellow.

Putting her sandwich down, she pulled off a piece of her on-the-side chicken and slid it down towards her pocket as her little turtle popped his head out to snap the chicken up from her fingers.

As her and her pocket pet munched on their lunches, she added, �But that�s the thing - Go with your own style. If you want to glam it up a step from jeans and a t-shirt, you can do that. There�s so many options and looks for pants. Cool colors too. White. Red. Oh, and then there�s those romper / jumpers too. I have no idea what the difference is, but they are pant-like and can look so glamorous.� She picked up her sandwich and took another big bite.

Yas was looking forward to seeing the teal pant suit. All shades of blues were her favorite color. She couldn't help but smile when Annabeth referred to her ex-agent as her now best friend. All too often it seemed like Eddie was Yas's best friend. In her case, that might be sad or sweet, depending on how one looked at it.

"I think I might be doing something for WHAM," Yas answered in response to the invitation. The producers had been having her do more promos and small segments lately. She hoped if she put in the time to get back into their good graces, she would get to get back to her evening radio show soon. "I'm sorry. I'll try to stop by for a few minutes if I can manage." She would still be sending a gift either way, though.

Magnolia came over, gracefully carrying a tray in each hand. She delicately placed one of the trays on the table, filled with a variety of fresh-from-the-oven homemade scones and a selection of mouthwatering jams. With one hand free, she picked up the pot of Breakfast Blend tea, two tea cups, and Yas's gingerbread hot chocolate and placed them on the table. Yas smiled in thanks.

"Oh, if you want to do a sharing thing, I'd love to offer some of my hot chocolate. I know it's after the holiday season, but I love gingerbread all through winter." She figured now would be the perfect opportunity to share the chocolate, since they had the empty cups from the Tiny Tea set.

"So when exactly is your birthday' And how old will you be?" she asked thoughtfully before taking a final bite of her avocado and chicken. With a full mouth, she added, "Unless you don't want to say."

"I'll have whatever you're having," Yas answered as she poured half of her hot chocolate into Annabeth's tea cup. The scent of the lemon curd was making her mouth water. "I don't think I ever had....whatever that is before."

Annabeth went on to talk about her preparations for her party while Yas debated about the best gift to bring. The conversation soon segued back to their performances at the Shanchie. Yas tried to insult Jon the best she could, though it was only a half attempted jab. She tried to let people think that she hated him as her rival, but Annabeth knew her too well by now. Talk of Jon led into reminiscing over the movie, especially how they despised the previous director, Fredrick Lee. Yas could tell how much Annabeth hated it every time he would call her Beth, though everyone seemed to have their own reasons for loathing the man.

With the hot chocolate long gone, most of the tea had similarly vanished and only a few scones remained. Yas insisted on paying for half the bill, though she wondered if she ate more than her share of what was originally Annabeth's order. She couldn't help herself, as she was now a big fan of lemon curd. Yas was about to ask Magnolia if she could help take their dirty dishes back to the kitchen and clean them up, but she thought better of it, since things didn't go as smoothly as she planned last time.

"I'm so glad we did this," Yas said to Annabeth, as she stood and gathered her coat off her chair. She tightened her scarf around her neck with her cream skin hands as they casually faded back into her black leather gloves. "I'll be looking forward to doing your interview next month."

Annabeth responded with a smile, "Me too, on both fronts. Give me a call sometime and we'll do it again.?

After paying, both girls finished getting ready and headed out into the chilly winter air.