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Megan began to squeal, but suddenly stopped. Snatching up the ball, she tossed it back, trying to get it to land behind the book and into Zayd's lap. Oh, goody! He was a sneaky one.

As soon as she did that, she swirled around and did just as Jenny had suggested... She cut herself a generous slice of cake, but continued to throw cautionary glances toward Zayd as she did so.

"Did you move here from London then?" AriyaLauna asked, off-guard. These people stole people internationally?

"Oh, ok. " No, then, Jenny must have already been in the states. How did one respond to the death of a spouce though? Ariya didn't, she looked down instead. Geez, why had she done this again? She knew she didn't know how to keep a conversation.

Megan had cut two slices of the cake and brought one over to Zayd, "S'real good. Your grandma can really cook." She offered it and said, munching through a bite.

AriyaLauna nodded to the kids. She opened up immediately to this woman, "For them. For you. I know when I first found out about the whole mess with the powers and the children being taken from their homes and us just being relocated without any information," she shook her head, "I was in shambles. Ask Charles. The fact he even kept me around is a miracle. I thought it'd be nice to come out and visit, see if there's anything I can do for you. Just to be a friend."

The Agency sure didn't do a good job of that. Someone had to step out and try.

"Really? Wow, I couldn't cook nothing when I was little," it was supposed to be a compliment. She sat down, "Ariya's not my momma, but I like bein' with her...You sound funny." He had a weird accent!

"I'm glad to hear that!" AriyaLauna truly was grateful for it, the mess she'd gone through had practically been unbearable, "Still, I know moving to a different area...if you weren't in Metropolis already...can be a little crazy. If you'd ever like to go out and do something, I'm sure we'd be up for it."

"Oh. Ara can talk two languages too. " What was it with these people and accents and languages and... "Your smaller'n me, but you throw and cook real good, so I guess it don't matter."

AriyaLauna smiled back with a nod, then looked to the children. She was at a loss as to how else to try any conversation, how others could speak with strangers, she'd never know.

Megan's eyes widened, and she grinned, "You're bad," but it was a compliment, she snatched the keys out of his hands and stuffed them back into her pocket, "Most anyone's cleverer'n me. I wasn't made to be smart." She sat, settling in now. Saying things like that really made AriyaLauna mad, so it'd become something she was quite agreeable with saying.

Megan would have been impressed with that, except for the fact that she hung around the crowd that "didn't fit the mold," as AriyaLauna put it, and some of those kids couldn't read despite being at school for 9+ years. She really admired them. That took guts!

So, consequently, she quietly admired Zayd, but he looked like he was trying now. One of the reforms, or else Jenny was like Ariya and harped on it, "Reading's for people who dun know better'n to try to please ever'one... Guess it's useful though..." She didn't know this kid, so she tried to walk the line to where she'd perk his interest either way.

AriyaLauna smiled, and from politeness cut herself a small piece of the cake. If she didn't watch herself... "Oh, I stay home unless Megan drags me out. The deal is she has to hold my hand to keep my head straight." it was only a half-joke. She downright hated it, and had paniced simply for being out in a crowd more than once. "We try to make it out toward various parks instead." It was nothing for them to leave Friday afternoon, drive half the night to get away, and spend the weekend in a small..er...town that AriyaLauna had discovered and liked.

Megan did a double take, "You never had a CHANCE to learn? Really? Whoa....But why ain't you lucky?" It had never, ever occured to her that people who didn't have to go to school didn't think they were lucky!

AriyaLauna blushed a little at Jenny's first comment, and was tricked somehow into nodding dumbly at the second, "That might be fun," it was hesitent...But she hadn't really had the chance to go on a shopping trip with an adult she might actually enjoy being around in some time. The disadvantage to hiding away on the weekends was missing out on things like that. "But I'm not very big into any of the pop culture stuff..." And that had to be one of the top reasons she hated the place, it was loaded with it to an extreme.