"Knights and dragons are cool." Not quite enough to make Blake read much, but they were cool. And occasionally he read when he had been assured a book was worth it. "There's one that has both... To Light A Candle, I think. Have you read it?" Probably not, to Blake's knowledge not many people knew it, but he didn't really keep track of that. Plus, she could always just be one of the people that had read it.

The snake... was made to continue facing him. That was nice. "Thanks. And yeah. I can think of pictures, but not really stories...." As English class thankfully no longer proved. One of the few improvements high school had made over the previous grades. Not that Persi couldn't write stories... he just couldn't write good ones.

"Like on Halloween?" There were always a few goddesses floating around then, and Greek was pretty easy to do with sheets. Persi never had himself, but he'd seen it done plenty of times. Maybe if she still liked them, he could try drawing that. He could probably pull off the fabric....

She moved to shake her head, but managed to stop herself. "I have not, actually. Perhaps I shall read it now, though. I am always looking for a good book to read on my days off." At least, when she wasn't out at malls, getting drawn by teenagers.

"Um... no. I did not celebrate Halloween. At least not until I came over here, that is." She had dressed up the last October at Saphirus' behest, much to her displeasure. "We did not celebrate that particular holiday in my family." Nor in Greece, actually. Other than a few mentions of parties on the news, the custom had yet to fully spread into her country.

"It's good. It's part of a trilogy... well, two trilogies, actually, I think. There might be more planned." Blake had, admittedly, not kept the best track. He'd enjoyed the books, but they were still books; other things were more fun.

"Really? But it's the best holiday." At least, as far as fun went. It wasn't the most moral holiday--that depended on how you celebrated holidays, anyway--but it definitely won for fun. "You get... well, little kids get free candy. But it's still a good reason to buy way more candy than you need, and eat the extra. And you can buy all kinds of cheap candy the next day, too." And dress up however you wanted, which was also fun, even if Persi didn't always have a good idea for it.

He'd finished sketching the snakes--the largest one especially, but all of them together as well, and a couple of the more interesting poses that smaller snakes got into. So he moved on to sketching Andrea, trying to get it done before she thought to ask. If he had time, he'd do more detailed drawings next, but getting sketches first seemed like a good idea.

She smiled, and fiddled with her fingers in her lap, tugging at the ends of her gloves. "My favorite holiday was Katheri Deftera. It marks the first day before lent, and everyone takes a trip out into the country. I used to watch broadcasts every year that showcased all of the unique paper kites that were flown."

She paused as another thought hit her, and locked her eyes on the ceiling above her. "Actually, I suppose another Holiday I enjoyed just as much was Independence day. Watching the parades with all of the dancers and costumes was almost magical." With a little giggle, she felt her cheeks warm at the happy memory. "My mother always used to fry cod and serve it with fresh made garlic sauce, and we would sit together as a family to watch the celebrations on TV."

Blake paused, blinked, and then went back to sketching. So that was why her family hadn't celebrated Halloween; they weren't American. Clearly they should, though; paper kites sounded kind of interesting, especially if there were a lot of unique ones, but also kind of... boring, for a holiday. "I didn't know anyone made kites out of paper anymore. Where are you from?" At least, not after kindergarten. He vaguely recalled making paper kites as a class project then. And that they hadn't worked well at all.

That sounded very... homey. Like would happen in a TV show about the fifties, maybe. "Did you ever go see the parades?" Really, Blake wasn't very fond of parades either, but that was mostly due to there being far, far too many people around for them. Watching them on TV didn't sound any more fun, though; at least at the real ones, his family would pay much less attention to them, and he could pretend not to hear them if he wanted to.

"Greece. Rhodes, specifically." She answered, picturing her house in her head. "Not very far from the sea. I could see it from my window." And smell it, when she had her window open on hot summer days.

"I... no." She felt like she was toeing the bank of dangerous waters with that question. No one ever reacted how she thought they would, which made her rather inclined to keep that information to herself.

She was silent for more than a moment or two, which probably made it obvious that she was struggling with the question. Finally, after battling with herself, she gave in. "...I never went to any of the parades because my parents did not feel it was safe. It was much safer to stay home and watch them."

Blake wasn't sure where Rhodes was, but Greece he was familiar with. Sort of. "That would be nice. I'd like being able to go to the beach all the time." Or to see it, that would be nice too. Kind of pointless and sentimental, plus way too expensive for his family, but it would be nice.

"Why not?" If parades were the point of the holiday, wouldn't it make more sense to go to them? At least a few times, it seemed like something that people would go out of their way to do.

"Wh--oh." Right. Snakes growing out of her head. The ones that Blake was currently drawing. Yeah, that might make parades a little more complicated. "Have you been to any parades here? I don't know if they're the same, probably not, but at least they're parades."

"Not really, no... I try to avoid places where people rather in large, condensed numbers." Andrea shifted in her seat slightly, "I may be able to control my mutations most of the time, but they are easily aggravated by things like crowds."

Much like herself, actually. Being packed together with her shoulders touching other people always put her on edge. There was just no telling how anything would turn out in that kind of situation.

"I have watched a few of the parades they hold here, but it is much safer for me to avoid such interactions. At least for now."

"Oh." Blake's first thought was to suggest that she wear a hood and keep the snakes inside it, but then he thought about what angry, trapped snakes might do to the neck next to them. Not to mention the missing, writhing hood that would result. Probably not a good idea, then.

"Hm." Blake was running out of things to talk about. That wouldn't be good; she'd been fidgeting less while they talked. What else was related to parades? Or that sort of old fashioned family holiday stuff she seemed to enjoy? "Have you been camping? Or picnicking?"

She cast a sidelong glance at him, and stilled, pursing her lips slightly. "Camping?... Like... woods and tents and fires?" Honestly, she hadn't even thought about camping before. "No, I do not think I have. Are there not bears in the woods and other frightening animals?"

Picnicking, on the other hand, was an entirely different case. The fact that Blake was bringing it up brought a little tint of brown to her cheeks. "...I have been to a picnic before, however. Not too long ago, in fact."

She wondered if picnics had some sort of stigma she didn't know about that teenagers used. Saph had told her easily enough about the kissing rule... but she had never considered how that affected other people. The thought made her slightly uncomfortable; talking about it even more so.

Blake... was not entirely sure how Andrea didn't know what woods contained. Apparently she didn't, though. "It depends on the woods. Some of them have bears and stuff, but some of them don't have anything worse than skunks and foxes. And those mostly just smell bad." That last detail probably wasn't needed, but then, if she thought bears were in every forest.... "There are official camping grounds, with park rangers and stuff. They have to be safe, cause someone would sue them if they weren't. So... I mean, if you're allergic to bees or something, being far away from town would be bad, but otherwise it's not dangerous unless you go looking for really wild out of the way places. There aren't many of those near here."

Well at least she was okay with those. Hopefully someone with snakes growing out of her head wouldn't be afraid of bees, but then, why would she be afraid of bears, either? "That's good. Did you have fun?"

...And... was brown a normal color for people to turn? Blake didn't think so, but then she was green, so it wasn't like she was normal colored to start with. "Are you okay?"

"Are you okay?" She turned a little browner, and wiggled in her seat.

"Um..yes. I-It was fun, very much so. It is just that I... well..." Memories from that particular day bubbled up to the surface rather quickly. "I was not accustomed to it. I did not know any of the things one is supposed to do when on a picnic, like how to serve someone, or what to bring, or that they start with kisses."

That last admission was the hardest to get out, but she found that once she said it, it was rather easy to ignore that had been brought up at all. Then again, maybe she hadn't needed to say anything? Surely it was common knowledge to anyone who hadn't been raised at home for the majority of their life.

"But, well, now that I know how one is approached, they are quite fun. I especially like sitting outside to eat. It is very relaxing."

...Kisses? Persi stopped drawing to blink at Andrea. "Uh... picnics don't start with kisses. Or have kisses anywhere in them." He brushed hair out of his eyes while he thought. "I guess, if it was a date as well as a picnic, then there would be kissing...." Persi really didn't know much about kissing, actually. Or dates. He did know that picnics generally involved neither, mostly because his family had been far too fond of them.

Either way, Persi had no interest in talking about kissing any more. "I'm not sure about serving... mostly my family would just bring stuff for sandwiches, and then everyone made their own."