People were eating. Kalos lingered at the edges of the dining area, waiting for a good time to go in.

There was never a good time to walk in. Someone else was always walking by which prompted her to scoot aside and press herself into the wood paneling until the smells of the food lured her close to the doorway again.

Someone else was always getting up or sitting down. If she could just time it right... she could walk over to where the buffet of food was. Kalos had watched the ritual tens of times. Maybe even a hundred times, by now. She would just go and get a plate. All the kids just grabbed one off the stack.

Kalos took a large step toward the buffet that was laid out on the bar top that backed up to the kitchen.

It just felt like everyone was looking at her. She panicked and turned right around, ready to leave and come back when it was dark and all the students were asleep again.

Before lunch, Ignacio decided to take a run around the Mansion. He was enjoying the cloudless sky that has decided to grace his tanned skin. With each stride he felt his power from the Sun being synthesized into energy for himself. It was like every cell in his body was like a mini solar panel. On days like this, he felt like he could do anything!

After about ten more minutes, he decided to head back inside, take a shower, and get dressed. Once he came back down, he made his way toward the kitchen, having mango slices and yogurt on his mind. When he turned into the kitchen, he almost bumped into a little girl.

"Hola, squirt, how do you look so nervous?" He asked with a bright smile. "Do you need help getting you something to eat?"

He was on his way out. She was on her way in. They did not collide because Kalos was very careful not to touch people, demigods especially. They danced around the possibility of a collision with careful footwork. His ten million gigawatt smile was wasted on Kalos. She glanced once at his face to confirm that— yes, he like most of the others here was perfect, and then she affixed her gaze to the front of his shirt at eye level.

"I am no squirt."

But... he had offered to help. Kalos had an earful about asking for help when she needed it.

Apparently, she wasn't allowed to keep food in her room. It went bad up here where the heat made things so stinky.

Decision made, Kalos affixed her blue flooded eyes on the man-boy-god's chin rather than look him in the eyes. She could walk behind him. People would move for him and they would look at him and not her.

"Yes, please help?" The pink girl stepped aside so that he had a clear path to the buffet. It never hurt to be polite.

Ignacio found the little girl quite adorable! Her blue eyes and pink skin made her look like a little coral plushy. He bent down so that he was at eye level with her and smiled.

"Oh, I can help you no problemo!" Ignacio quickly stood up and led the little coral girl to the buffet table. He decided that he could always just circle around once he got her the food she wanted.

"What would you like?" The teenage mutant asked, looking over and down at her. Gods, he couldn't get over how cute she was! He wanted to strap her to his back and show off her cuteness to the world.

He bent down to catch her eye, but Kalos knew this game. She was a master at avoidance.

"Thank you for your help." She did not sound thankful at all. She sounded like she might be trying not to breathe while he was so close to her. Why was he so close to her?

It didn't last for too long, thankfully. Kalos trailed behind him like a baby duckling. Now that she had someone who she belonged with, she had a reason to be here. If someone wanted her to leave, she would just refer them to her no problemo helper.

Yes. It was a good plan.

> "What would you like?"

The food was all soft and strange looking. "One of everything." She insisted. Yes. She could take her leftovers upstairs. Maybe they wouldn't find it if she found a better hiding spot.

One of everything? Ignacio could do that no problem! Though, for such a small girl, he didn't know whether or not she would be able to eat everything that was on her plate. He turned to look down at the girl with a slightly confused look on his face.

"...Are you going to be able to eat all of this food? It's a lot after all." The buffet table had a whole host of foods to choice from. Maybe she needed was feeling adventurous and wanted to try everything so that she had a clear idea of what she liked and disliked. Still, Ignacio doubted that she would eat all of it.

"Maybe you want to stick with trying a handful of things before piling your plat up, yes?"

He questioned her ability to eat! Kalos opened her mouth to tell him that she would eat it all and he would just have to see, but she saw his face. He looked... was he mad? Anything but mad.

"Maybe. Maybe just—"

Her eyes darted around the food. What was good? Honestly everything had been better than what she'd been eating before.

"—The yellow fluff." She decided with a nod and then tentatively added. "And a round bread? The one with the hole in it?"

Was that too much? She felt the prickle of an embarrassed blush starting at her hairline except instead of turning pinker, Kalos blushed purple.

The yellow stuff? Did she mean the eggs? Ignacio wasn't too sure, but decided to put it on her plate anyway. He gave her a healthy amount and made sure not to give her too much just in case she didn't like it.

"And the bread with the hole?" Ignacio glanced at the bagels, then at the doughnuts. "Which one, chica? The sweet bread with the hole in the center of the plain on?" When he looked back down at her, it looked like she was blushing? Did he do something wrong? Ignacio furrowed his eyebrows more before letting up and giving the girl a smile. "What would you like after that?"

"Both." She blurted the word like she couldn't keep it inside her her body. Kalos got control of herself and tried again.

"Both of them are sweet." Everything smelled sweet up here. Or maybe nothing smelled quite so rotten as the sewer she'd come from. "Can I have the one that is not sticky? Please."

And the last thing she needed? "The pink... no. The brown meat. Please." Pink meat seemed... not quite right for her to eat.

Kalos shuffled along down the line with her demigod. For a demigod he was quite attentive. And she noticed he did not seem to be getting food for himself.

"Where is yours food, chica?" He had called her chica, so clearly it was not an insult.

Iggy chuckled at her wanting to both the bagel and the doughnut. "Alright, I will get you the bagel. That's the none sticky one." The teenage mutant moved over a bit and grabbed her a plain bagel. After a small pause, he also decided to grab her a dollop of plain cream cheese.

"Brown meat?" She meant the sausage. Ignacio gave her three pieces and turned to look down at her with a smile. "There you go! I think you can eat that for now. If you want more, I can give you more." Ignacio bent down to give her the plate of food.

When the little girl called him chica, he couldn't help, but to laugh. "It's chico for me, bonita. And I'm gonna get my food after you had yours," he paused for a second, "what's your name?"

Bay gull. Bay gull. Kalos repeated the words under her breath. He chose the correct meat and Kalos assumed that he chose an appropriate portion. Her hardened coral fingers clinked against the plate as she accepted it.

Her eyes were telling her that she was hungry, but a careful survey of her plate and Kalos was sure she could save some of this for later. She had eaten less for a very long time.

He laughed and corrected her about his name. Or maybe it was something more generic than a name since it was what he had called her first.

"Oh okay. Chico." It didn't sound as nice when it came out of her mouth. And then he had a different word her her! Kalos tried not to ground her teeth. How was she supposed to keep up with these names?

"Are you Bonito?" That was the only sound that changed last time.

"The name I have is Kalos." She reported when asked. Kalos stood with her plate in her hands, very still while they spoke.

"You... get your food after?" That was abnormal wasn't it? Why had he helped her first? Beautiful people usually just helped themselves. Kalos took quiet little steps and very patiently trailed just behind her demigod like a little duckling. He was nice for a demigod. She would allow him to teach her how things worked.

"I am! That's right! I'm muy bontio and you're," he poked her stomach, "muy bontia."[/color] The kid was just so cute! She was like a walking and talking piece of coral. He giggled and shifted his position so that he was squatting instead of kneeling.

"Nice to meet you, Kalos, I'm Ignacio, but you can call my 'Iggy'." He playfully winked at her before standing up and going to get himself a plate.

The majority of the food he was getting was fruit. The rest was just a hard boiled egg and spoonful of oatmeal. Ignacio looked over his shoulder at the girl who was following him. That alone made him smile more than usual. It was nice having someone who looked up to him.

After getting what he wanted, he found a seat at the long dining room table and waved Kalos over.

"Come sit by me."[/font]

He was cheerful. Weirdly cheerful. Kalos wiggled to try to escape her belly poke. Was a bonita a belly?

"Iggy." Kalos repeated the word faithfully. "I like Iggy. It's fun to say."

Ignacio sounded like the name of an island she'd heard about the name of which meant "sandal" or maybe it was from the word ἴγνης which meant he was indigenous to this place? Kalos looked around the hall of students as she padded after the demigod. While everyone looked little bits of different, Iggy had more brown to his skin than most. Did that mean the pasty people were the indigenous ones and he, too, was new to this place?

Somehow she'd lost her Iggy while she was looking around. The teen waved her over to a table and Kalos couldn't get there fast enough.

"What is this?" She pointed at some of the more colorful squishy things on his plate. It was pale orange and square shaped. What in the world grew in a square shape? Kalos stuck with what she knew.

"I know some things. The yellow fluff is a very pale egg," she reported proudly to her Iggy. "And the brown is... well... it is tasty and meat. And meat keeps me feeling strong."

"What, this?" Ignacio picked up a strawberry up from his plate with his fork and offered it to Kalos. "It's really good. I want you to try it. You can eat fruits to your heart's content." Ignacio was a huge fruit eater himself. It usually made up 62.813% of his daily diet.

"Oh, the brown is oatmeal. Have you ever had oatmeal before?" Ignacio asked quietly with a smile on his face. Kalos was a little pink ball of cuteness. He wondered if one of her arms broke off if it grew back.

"No. The square one. I has never seen a square fruit." Kalos took the strawberry anyway. She'd actually already known that one, though this strawberry was bigger and redder than she was used to. He chomped into it and sent juices dribbling down her chin.

"Oh. It's tárta." She didn't know all the words for things, sometimes falling back to base Greek which was helpfully the base for many other languages, sometimes she just had to fall back to descriptions like 'the square one.'

"Your oatmeal looks like the slop of slaves. You can keep your brown. I will eat my brown meat."