"It is alright, my hero sister-brother." Kalos put on her best appeasing smile. "I don't have a need for these things. I am well." Her hero was concerned. Kalos wanted to assuage those fears. It really was okay. She didn't want her sister-brother to buy her more things. Especially when she wasn't sure what those things were.

So she snapped off a piece of her crown and got to work making it fit and making it smooth. She was pretty quick, it was clearly a common enough issue.

"I wouldn't mind, if you do not mind, there's food... and it smells very good." Asking for things directly was not her strong suit. Asking at all was new. Kalos was hoping that hero sister-brother Maya would get the idea.

Maya made a mental note to go and look up how corals worked later. She had a vague idea of the basics from someone's biology class she hardly paid attention in, but now that she was apparently foster-parenting a piece of living reef, she really, really needed to brush up on the technicalities. Even if they did niot fit the mutation perfectly, they were at least a start to go on.

>>"It is alright, my hero sister-brother. I don't have a need for these things. I am well."

She was. She was... um, making a new finger. Okay, good. Great.

>>"I wouldn't mind, if you do not mind, there's food... and it smells very good."

"Oh, yes. Food." Maya paused "It does smell good... but there are quite a lot of places in the food court. Is there anything you like to eat? Other than cake? Like... um, pizza?..."

Her hero had many things on her mind. Or, it was possible that the grating sounds that came along with the shaping and smoothing of Kalos' new finger tip was distracting. She continued to rub the piece down one harsh scrape at a time until she was satisfied. She popped her new finger cap popped into place and Kalos held out her hand to check how it looked. The new piece was still reddish pink like the pieces on her scalp, but soon enough it would bleach to white in order to match her other fingers.

"The za is fine. All surface food is good food." No one gave her leftovers here. Always good food. After what she was used to, this was Elysium. "Which one is za?" Kalos took her hero sister's hand and hopped down, more than ready to go, but never ready to lead.

The finger had been replaced, and all was good in the world. Now that clothes had been acquired, bullies averted, and finger regained, it was time for Maya to figure out the next step in parenting the strange little coral child: Making sure she was fed. Feeding children, even in Maya's limited experience in parenthood, was an essential part of keeping them alive.

>>"The za is fine. All surface food is good food. Which one is za?"

On the other hand, introducing them to pizza was a privilege.

"C'mon" Maya smirked, leading the kid by hand to the nearest pizza place that had a large selection on display. Picking Kalos up to offer her a better look at the various pizzas on the counter, she explained "They come with different things on top. Like vegetables, meats... um, pineapple..."

There were so many good smells for Kalos to follow that it was hard just being one person. She wished she could go eat everywhere and have a taste of everything.
Instead, she let herself be dragged forward by the hand and she positioned herself slightly behind her hero when they stopped.

That was apparently the wrong thing to do because her sister hero picked her up.

>"They come with different things on top. Like vegetables, meats... um, pineapple..."

"Pineapple?" The pointing that her sister did was helpful and distracting. The za was round and then cut into triangles and there were many that seemed piled high with things. And even more interesting, behind the front counter where the zas were keeping warm, there was a man rolling and throwing things in the air!

"This one is looking old." If there was one thing Kalos knew it was old food. "This one is having lots of things. Maybe it might make a good choice?" Supreme. It had all the things.

>>"Pineapple?"

Wow, junk food was hard to explain to a kid from Atlantis who lacked basic vocabulary for edible things. Maya sincerely hoped Kalos was not going to ask what marinara sauce was made of. Because she sure had no idea...

"It's a fruit. Kind of sweet and sour." and something that does not belong on pizza according to most people. Then again, Kalos was from Atlantis. She had a clean slate, she could decide for herself.

>>"This one is looking old. This one is having lots of things. Maybe it might make a good choice?"

"You can try. If you don't like it, I'll eat it." Maya smirked, before she ordered two slices of the supreme pizza. They received them on small paper plates, which Maya carried to a nearby table on a tray. She was curious to see how Kalos would like them. You did not get to see someone try pizza for the first time in their life every day...

Fruit? Fruit did not seem like a thing that needed to go with this za, but Kalos was willing to try anything that would help her adapt to this new and wonderful culture.

"If you say pineapple goes on top, it does." What did Kalos know? This was her first za!

Kalos was set back on her feet after the selection had happened and she stayed close until she got to take a chair at the same table as her hero. Nobody seemed to care that she was sitting on a chair with a demigod. She hated feeling so exposed out in the middle of so many people who could be walking anywhere, but her hero was here. Kalos had to assume they would be fine.

And then there was the za. Kalos took her time inspecting it even though her stomach was trying to claw its way up to grab it off her plate. There were some things she recognized: peppers and onions and a tomato sauce and bread was on the bottom. The olives were black on this za instead of green, but they still were olives.

> "If you don't like it, I'll eat it."

"No! I'll like it!" She copied her hero and picked it up in order to take a bite. If Maya sister needed to be persuaded Kalos would.

One bite and Kalos knew in her heart that in Elysium all peoples ate the za.

There was crunch. There was bread. There was something stringy between her za and her mouth. It was salty and greasy and so warm and fresh and pristine. She tried to control herself. She really, really did, but the za was gone by the time she looked down. Like magic, she'd gobbled it down and there was only one lonely olive that had dropped on the table to mark its passing.

Kalos basically inhaled her pizza slice, faster than any human being Maya had ever seen. The mirrorwalker was no stranger to fast food cravings, or late night munchies, but damn, watching a kid discover the miracle of pizza for the first time was worth every penny. Before Maya could consider eating her own slice, Kalos had already gobbled hers up with such speed that it made Maya wonder if she had some kind of a special extra-fast coral-based digestive system. Or something.

"Well... I guess you do like it" Maya grinned, pushing her plate with the other slice across the table. "Pizza's not... well, it is what we call fast food. It doesn't mean you have to eat it fast, it just means you can buy it fast and grab it and you don't have to wait for... it to be cooked, or anything. Not very fancy, but very good when you are hungry."

She did not exactly plan on beginning the cultural education of an Atlantean kid by the definition of fast food... but at least it was a practical place to start?

Her sister hero slid her own za over to Kalos and that was too far. The girl slid it back. "For all the respect in my heart I cannot accept any more. Also... my body is very too much full." Her food had gone fast. She did that sometimes and always regretted it after. The smell and knowing the taste of this za made it so tempted to try to fit more in her stomach.

Instead Kalos groaned and put her head on the table. That was too much food and it was not settling nicely.

"Please enjoy your food with more care. I have regrets."

Maya was not sure if Kalos was going to accept her pizza slice. She could always just go get another one, but Kalos still had some issues about asking and accepting, especially if Maya was giving away something that was considered her own. Like food. She was not entirely surprised when the coral child rejected it.

>>"For all the respect in my heart I cannot accept any more. Also... my body is very too much full."

Okay, so she was a tiny person, and that slice had been pretty large, and full of... stuff. For someone having their first encounter with pizza, it had to be an overwhelming experience. However, Maya was worried by the groaning.

>>"Please enjoy your food with more care. I have regrets."

"Did you eat too fast?" Maya ventured an understatement "Do you... um, need to drink some water? Or go to the bathroom?..."

Atlantean mutant coral kids. Why did they not come with manuals?...

She sounded so worried. Kalos tried to rally for her hero sister-brother's sake. "Yes. Too fast." And as a result she was furiously miserable. It felt like a brick in her abdomen. Kalos hunched her shoulders, but put a smile on her face.

"It was so good and sometimes food is taken away. I didn't think. It was my own doing." She didn't feel like she was making sense, probably because she wasn't. Kalos knew that no one would take her good food from her here, but some habits were hard to kick. "It was a very big piece." She should have planned to put half in her pocket for later. Oh. Did her sweater have pockets? Kalos rustled around in her new sequin sweatshirt, but there were no such pockets. Alas. The first minus point for her new favorite thing in the world.

"I will not be sick on you unless you make me run. Please eat and enjoy, but much more slow." Kalos had sequins to play with and a smile to keep up despite not feeling like it.

>>"Yes. Too fast. It was so good and sometimes food is taken away. I didn't think. It was my own doing. It was a very big piece."

Maya scooted over to pat Kalos gently on the back. She had eaten too fast, basically without chewing, and the supreme was a hard pizza to defeat, even under the best of circumstances. No wonder the kid was not feeling well. Once upon a time Maya had made similar mistakes. Usually with alcohol and candy, but the principle was the same.

"No one's gonna take food away from you, I promise." she said, rubbing Kalos' back.

>>"I will not be sick on you unless you make me run. Please eat and enjoy, but much more slow."

Maya took a bite of her own pizza, keeping an eye on Kalos as she did so.

"I'm definitely not gonna make you run" she promised "but if you feel like you're gonna throw up anyway, let me know, and I'll find you a garbage can..."

Sentences she had only ever said to adults before.

She promised that no one would take the food. That was fine. No one could, now that it was in her belly. Maybe they should have. Her body was very unhappy. Clearly, she had no self control. That was bad. She had to get a hold of herself and work out some discipline for this yummy land food.

"I can save things for later, at usual. Pockets are good for hiding food and it's good to hide things away for later, but sometimes that makes the dogs more interested." And dogs were not kind to gorgon children. Kalos was sinking lower and lower in her chair. Lower was better. Laying down would have been best. It was good that there were no dogs around, not that Kalos had any food left for them to have an interest in her. But she had already stated that running was out of the question.

And, of course, she could sense that this was making her hero sister-brother uncomfortable. Kalos watched the people around them with the utmost patience. Maya was supposed to take her time and learn from Kalos' mistake.

"How many people live here?" If she had to guess this bubble city was only a little smaller than Atlantis.

>>"I can save things for later, at usual. Pockets are good for hiding food and it's good to hide things away for later, but sometimes that makes the dogs more interested."

Maya blinked, in the way she usually did when Kalos talked about how her life had been so far. Hiding food, running from dogs, eating too fast... those habits were going to die hard, even if she knew, consciously, that she did not need them anymore. It was going to be a process for sure. Maya munched on her pizza, slowly, mainly not to freak Kalos out.

>>"How many people live here?"

"Umm... honestly, I am not sure. Somewhere between eight to ten million?" Maya ventured. She was not sure if that would be a high or low number in Kalos' eyes... in fact, it was hard to guess how many people Atlantis had, since they lived separated into two very distinct worlds. "It's a very busy place... not all of the USA is like this. Maybe I'll take you traveling a little, hm? See other places that are less crowded..."

Kalos choked on Maya's assertion that 8 or 9 million people lived in the mall.

"A million people would not fit!" Or... would they? Kalos was inspecting the stores and restaurants with much more scrutiny now. Where did they all go during they day if so many people lived here? There was so much open space that was wasted! In Atlantis, she had been told they needed that open space for the air that they breathed, but this building was not under water.

Or... she meant the USA. Kalos had been sat down and shown that the world was a big place, but 9 million people in this mall was silly! "Ohhhh. You mean the USA. There have 9 or 10 million of people in the whole USA." That was better. That made a lot more sense.

"Where would the travelling be?"