Aoi seemed to be wrestling inside of herself and that ratched Kalos' anxiety up the longer the seconds ticked by. It was good, then, that Rowan was like one of those TV people who made you twist up into funny shapes. For every worry that twisted Kalos' guts, Rowan seemed to have a soothing rebuttal. By the end, she wanted to roll around in his voice and take a nap.

> "Do you like it better here?"

The question caught Kalos SO off guard that she made a loud bark of laughter before she slapped her hand over her mouth.

"Aoi, every day I was alive in Atlantis was a day they tried to kill me. When I was a baby, they could already see I wasn't right for them so they threw me out. My parents were punished for having a thing like me." She clicked her toes on the floor. "They were wrong, obviously. So I'm here now and I'm not ever leaving."

Eggs were brought to Kalos' attention and once mentioned, she couldn't un-notice the smell. Once she had complained about "eating babies" and once the hypocrisy of eating fish eggs was pointed out to her, she decided to give land eggs a go.

"Does eating make the animals better?" She looked to Rowan since he had one too?

Rowan almost smiled, the corners of his mouth twitching, as Aoi began listing things she could smell, going along with Rowan's meditative game. It...It wasn't like he cared about these two girls or anything! He just...didn't want Aoi to shift. Because if she shifted, he would shift too, and that would have been a disaster. Plus he knew all too well what Aoi was feeling. The constant panic attacks, the fear that the next slip up would be deadly, it was all...painfully relatable.

And suffering alone through the panic sucked, he wouldn't wish that upon anyone. It was rare that he got to be the voice of reason, the one in control.

Kalo's response to life in Atlantis surprised Rowan. He really didn't know much about their culture, and really only heard the more idyllic, touristy, side of things. Rowan realized that he could sympathize with Kalos too, he had been abandoned and cast out too. Although Kalos' struggles were on a much, much, larger scale.

Rowan had only realized he was starring again when Kalos turned to face him, prompting the boy to look away. He nodded, her question was a good one.

"Yeah...eating can be a good distraction.". He looked around the kitchen. "When I get...nervous...I like to eat things that are really really hot or really really cold. Ya know...to shock me out of it.

He laughed slightly, more like a quick exhale through his nose.

"I would chew on ice a lot to keep my temper in check. It's hard to be mad when your mouth is all cold."

Rowan turned to Aoi, giving the tiniest of smiles to let her know things were okay.

"So, what can we get for you Aoi?"

Aoi's own issues fled the front of her mind as she considered kalos's response. It was hard to hear what Kalos said and keep her mind on her own fears. It sounded so awful, Aoi had atleast had a good childhood and parents that did love her. But to be thrown away like that was horrifying to Aoi's mind. She simply could not understand how one might do that to their kid. It reminded her a lot of what might habit to visible mutants on birth even here in NYC or back home.

She considered kalos's question a moment. "The bear is easier to control when i eat well, as transforming burns a lot of calories. The bear is more content when it feels full." she said having learned that a Bear with something in it's stomach was a much happier thing to deal with.

"So you change on anger as well?" she askes curiously. their powers were starting to seem alike and Aoi's mind already wanted to connect and analyze his mutation and experience. Perhapse she could apply his methods for herself. It seemed like he might not have full control either but maybe they could help each other.

She looked around as Rowan asked her what she wanted. Honestly she was not entirely sure. "I think I just like being here with the two of you. You two seem nice and mostly calm. I feel like i can worry a bit less around you two" She said looking at them a bit shyly and wiping her eyes. "I think i'm ok now" she said her breathing evening out a bit.

Kalos, how did you survive all that if you don't mind me asking and Rowen How did you discover you were a mutant? she asked trying to refocus the conversation away from her being upset, feeling a bit embarrassed over the display.

Being sometimes an animal sounded really inconvenient. Kalos had never yet been thankful that she was really only ever one thing, but she was only a lady coral. Not sometimes coral, sometimes a lady. Maybe it had benefits, but at the moment as she watched Aoi try to reign in her breathing and embarrassment, Kalos couldn't see it.

"I hid." Kalos admitted about her survival. "I'm a good hider. There were others like me and we worked together."

There was one thing that Kalos knew she could do to help. They said food was good. Full was best. She had to agree, and since she'd been at the Mansion, she'd made it her mission to know where all the food was AND how to make more.

"I just learned how to make carrot cake." Kalos offered as she disentangled herself from Aoi. Aoi's hair was very, very pretty, Kalos had to admit. She sort of wondered if her hair would ever lay down like that. "And it cooks faster when it's cupcakes. Can you eat carrot cakes in mini size? If you don't like eggs, that is." Eggs were fine and all, but that thing called sugar was her new favorite.

She stood, glad for the little kitchen nook they'd ended up in. It was out of the way enough that no one had walked over them and once they'd sat on the ground, they were all short enough that they'd been sheltered by the countertop behind them. Now standing, she could see the students eating and joking so casually... like they'd never even been close to being eaten by a bear or a wolf.

"It's calming to bake. I can teach you...?" She offered her hands, one to each kid, in order to help them up too.

Rowan breathed a sigh of relief. Aoi seemed to be calming down, her breathing had evened out. He dodged her questions about his mutation, clearly not wanting to talk about it, giving her a half hearted shrug when she asked if he shifted on anger.

He did, however, soften a bit when Aoi admitted she enjoyed being with them. He blushed a little, scratching at his head, when she called them nice. He wasn't nice. He was grouchy and liked getting in fights, that wasn't nice.

Aoi's last question started to disrupt his 'big brother' mood. He huffed, crossing his arms in front of his chest, looking away. He didn't owe Aoi any sort of explanation, he barely knew her! He'd just lie. Say the first time he got in a fight he shifted! Or he got hit by a car and shifting saved him! Or something else equally manly!

Rowan frowned. He really didn't want to say something that would scare Kalos, or give Aoi anxiety. But the longer he waited the harder it was to find a good lie.

"I...uhm..." Rowan mumbled.

Luckily, he didn't struggle for long. As Kalos suggested the group try baking. Rowan sat up quickly, as if someone had jabbed him in the side.

"Yes! Baking!" He practically yelped, thankful he got to skip over talking about his mutation.

When Kalos offered him a hand he blushed deeper, quickly looking away and trying to look cross.

"I can...stand on my own!"

He awkwardly got to his feet, avoiding eye contact with Kalos.

"I've...actually never baked before." He admitted. "Most of my cooking experience is in a microwave, or having food ladled onto a tray for me."

She was glad kalos had made it, she seemed like such a nice girl, she had no idea how anyone could have just discarded her. She had little idea of Atlantis but it certainly did not seem like a good place. She really had to look into it more and look into it's history. "Well im glad you are kalos" she said glad her parents had been so understanding with her and her sister, even with the complications.

She noticed Rowan did not seem to wnat to answer her question and she was okay with letting it go. She was hardly one to have any right to press. Cooking food sounded like a great and fun idea as well. "I never had carrot cake before, let's do this. Eggs are good, im a fan" she said sounding more cheerful at the idea. She looked over at Rowan. "A ladle? she asked curiously.

She smiled as Rowan refused Kalos's hand in help but Aoi was only to happy to take it. "I can cook salmoln and some other fish related dishes but never baked anything before" she said figuring however that she could do it, with her experience. It took her a moment to recall it was more of a group effort. Her dad had always encouraged his kids to know some cooking, but it had been all seafood.

"Well Rowan, this should be a fun new thing to learn with Head Chef kalos" she said trying to be encouraging and her excitement and learning something new had greatly improved her mood. "How can we help?" she asked volunteering herself and Rowan in her eagerness.

They wanted to cook and she was dubbed head Chef Kalos! Rowan got a little weird, possibly because her hands were weird. Kalos rubbed the hand she had offered to Rowan on her pants leg to make sure the white caps of her fingers were still on tight. At least Aoi wasn't afraid. Maybe because she was used to seeing severed heads and stuff.

"The first thing I got learned was me zon plass. It means you get all your stuff out and make sure you have enough sugar. There's a book of cake recipes... uhm..." Where did it go? She opened a few cabinets, having to stretch to check the uppers until she found it. The illustrated Cake Book. She flipped greedily through the full color photos, pausing only briefly at her favorite chocolate cake picture, until she found the recipe in question.

"Okay. We need a cupcake pan and liners. Rowan can you find that? The pan is under the burner things and the liners are... somewhere..." She pointed to the pan's hiding spot and rather relished being in this sort of position of power. She asked and... and people were going to do what she was asking for? "Aoi, in the refrigerator we have a need for eggs- four eggs, apple sauce, carrots? Like a lot of carrots." She took the dry ingredients on herself. She grabbed the flour from the pantry and then climbed up onto the counter near Rowan so that she could reach the spices. Kalos carefully laid the illustrated guide on the range with the recipe open.

The book wasn't hers. It technically belonged to the Mansion, but Kalos had made almost every recipe by now as it was the only book that did not require one to be able to read with any fluency. It had pictures for everything: every step was drawn out, though some things were harder to tell what they were...

"Can you read these?" Kalos pointed to the nutmeg and cloves and cinnamon and waited for Rowan to have a second to help. All the brown spices looked rather the same.

"Aoi! Can you reach the oven? We need it to say 3 - 0 - 0." She might be tall enough to reach it now, but her fingers didn't work on the buttons unless she took the caps off. People did not like when she took her fingers off.

"Uh...you know..ladling..." Rowan pantomimes being a lunch lady; scooping up food and dumping it on a plate. "At my last school...er...schools students weren't allowed in the kitchen. It's been a few years since I've made my own food." He sheepishly scratches the back of his head. "Like...even stuff like toast and stuff."


>> "Well Rowan, this should be a fun new thing to learn with Head Chef kalos"

Rowan struggled not to smile as Aoi made an effort to include him despite his extreme lack of experience in a kitchen. He was glad to see her in better spirits. He spotted a sink, taking a step away from his new friends...er...classmates, to wash his hands. He had dressed a wound today, and the group had been crawling around on the floor. Rowan then returned to the ground. He stood at mock attention in front of Kalos.

"Yeah Head Chef Kalos. I'm ready to learn."

His first task was to collect the cupcake pan and liners...easy enough. The pan was found quickly, it was exactly where Kalos said it would be, although it was partially buried under a various other trays and pans. Eventually he freed the cupcake pan and began searching for the liners. Opening different cabinets he eventually found them next to the sprinkles and food coloring. As he retrieved them Kalos hopped up onto the counter, getting spices. Instinctually Rowan held a hand up, 'spotting' her incase she slipped.

Rowan carefully looked over the spices Kalos had collected, and then back to the recipe. He nodded. Nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon were all called for in the recipe, but with varying measurements.

He sorted them left to right, from least to most in the recipe.

"One Fourth teaspoon of cloves...one teaspoon of nutmeg and...one and a half teaspoons of cinna-"

Rowan was cut off. The cinnamon Kalos had fetched was actually cumin. He stood on his tippy toes, struggling to get the cinnamon from the shelf. Once he did he showed Kalos the two bottles.

"This one, with the longer word, is cinnamon and this one is cumin. Super easy mix up, the packages almost look the same."

There was no mockery in his tone, he was still impressed by how good her english was. He set the cinnamon with the cloves and nutmeg and returned the cumin to the spice rack. With his first two tasks complete he again turned to Kalos.

"Oh hey, Head Chef, I saw a cheese grater in one of the cabinets. We can use that to shred the carrots, so we, uh, don't have to use knives. He subconsciously scratched at the scar on his face. Rowan had never baked or even eaten carrot cake before, but assumed the recipe would call for little shreds of carrot and not big chunks of carrot.

It made sense to be prepared to cook and to have whatever they needed on hand so they were not scrounging for it later. You might not find what you need and be forced to improvise which was often less then ideal in Aoi's mind. rowan then described what he meant and the horror she had formed in her mind vanished into a more innocent picture of rowan in a hairnet in some dust grimy American school. "Ohhh that makes more sense. I thought you mean they would only feed you by a ladle" she explained with a soft smile. Given his mutation fear, she had assumed it had been the reason.

She took Rowans example and washed her hands as well. She dried her hands and made her to the fridge quickly finding the eggs, applesauce and she did find carrots but it took her moving some things to find a sufficient number of carrots for their project. When Kalos asked she turned on the oven following Aoi's directions. Ovens she had a decent idea how to use.

She wondered how much the Cumin would change the recipe. It was one she did not figure she wanted to know. Well she had no idea what it was she figured it and cinnamon were likely pretty different. "I can use a knife but the cheese grater could still be a good idea, that is quite a few carrots" she said offering to help, growing more and more curious how this would taste in the end.

It was almost hard to believe that things just a little bit ago could have went very very different. She really did need to figure out the issue when she went back to her room. She made herself refocus and ran a hand through her long silver hair. She realized then that the fridge she had gotten the food from was the replacement one, for the one she had remodeled upon first getting here.