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"Oh. That would make getting along harder. At least you can't really fight with a sibling that much younger." Persi assumed, at least. He hadn't had any younger siblings, much less one that much younger, but it seemed logical. Little kids could be annoying, but they couldn't hate you the way kids the same age could.

"Oh." Frankly, Persi was perfectly happy with the information he already had; he really didn't need more. He supposed he could see that some people would need it, though, if they were really sheltered. He supposed a school would be a logical source of other information, too. "That makes sense, I guess. The internet's not very reliable for information." Among other reasons, most of it was ruled by liberals. Persi wasn't sure how that had happened, exactly, and most of the time it didn't matter, but it was still a bad source of information. "And then you just stayed here?"

And on that note, a less serious topic might be nice to have. Persi didn't even need to look around to find a distraction this time. "What are you making? ...It smells good." He hadn't thought about it until he spoke, actually, but it did.

...And apparently his stomach agreed. Hopefully she didn't hear that. Now that he thought of it, had he even eaten dinner last night? Oh well, he would now.

That was less than Persi expected. Only four years? How old had she been when she got here? Wasn't this a school? Mostly, anyway? "How old are you? ...Sorry." He remembered a bit too late that he wasn't supposed to ask girls that sort of thing.

"Yes... no.... I have a twin. He's not older, he's my twin, we're the same age." Persi's eyes wandered to the side as he answered, but he wasn't aware of it. Talking about Irri hurt, but stopping didn't seem to be happening. "He didn't... he was sick when we went to the protest, so they don't know he's a mutant, so... he didn't get kicked out." And those last two words hurt almost as much as missing Irri did.

That was a safer topic. Slightly, but still safer. "It depends on the siblings, I guess. Ace--my older brother--was horrible. Like... you know if you watch movies, the dumb football player who picks on everyone else? He's like that, only he's actually smart too, so that's just another way for him to pick on everyone." Including Persi and Irri, but they were the little brothers; no one saw anything wrong with them being picked on. "Irri's awesome, though. He plays drums, and makes electronic music--composes, I guess. And we got along." Well enough that Persi had never really needed to make other friends.

"There's a hedge maze? Mazes? How big is this place?" Big was the impression Persi had gotten, but it was sounding like it needed to be amended to 'huge.' Or larger. "Er... what's a bad idea? My room is what?" That sounded like it might be a thing which he was not supposed to ask about, but it also sounded kind of like something he might really want to know.

TNT-Kaitlyn stopped abruptly, and looked up. Persi looked up too.

...He knew he'd see someone on the ceiling here. And apparently it was a common enough occurrence that no one commented. Though Persi did follow Kaitlyn's lead in avoiding the space under the backpack. That wouldn't be fun to be hit by.

"So.... Where are we going now?"

There was a thump behind them that might have been backpack, or might have been boy and backpack. Persi glanced at Kaitlyn to see if they were supposed to check which it was.

"It's okay." No, it really wasn't, but it wasn't her fault. "It's not like you would have known."

"What?" That was a confusingly abrupt topic change. Once Persi did catch up with it, he blinked, blinked again, looked down and poked his stomach. It squished. That gave him absolutely no relevant information, but while he wasn't starving, thinking about it did make him feel sort of hungry. "Um, sure." Persi didn't think he'd spent that much energy on dreaming, really, but that could work as well as any other excuse. "Thanks."

The rambling, actually, was kind of nice. It gave him something to listen to that did not consist of echoing thoughts. "It's fine, I kind of do the opposite and don't talk, so... we fit, I guess?"

Their ways of dealing with awkwardness might fit together well, but trying to look at someone behind him was not working so well. Persi turned the chair slightly, and mostly himself, so that he could see her without adding to the pain that was starting to develop in his neck.

That... was a ridiculous reaction. The sort of thing a child would do, and be adorable for. Complete with attempting to hide the fact that she was eating. Persi blinked and waited.

...That was less amusing. Persi sunk in his seat. It hadn't occurred to him she'd remember his name. It hadn't even occurred to him that she knew his name; he wasn't used to having to think about that sort of thing. "Um. Yeah. But... Persi. Now." That was incredibly broken and possibly incomprehensible, but as long as she figured out what to call him now, he wasn't inclined to clarify why.

And then Persi cringed more, and was now officially staring at the floor. "I didn't. Live here, I mean. Then." And he would prefer not to have to think about the fact that he lived here now.

"Yeah? And what's the actual difference? Does defending myself consist of running away and beating someone up includes punching them?" And that question was rhetorical, guy, so don't bother answering.

...That was not convincing. I dragged out out here to hit you because I just care about you so much, stranger, I want to help you! That didn't seem very much like human... er, mutant... whatever. It didn't seem like logic to Persi. Not the sort of logic he'd believe, anyway.

Of course, whatever the guy's actual reasons were, they were apparently enough to make him stubborn. So Persi gave in, though he was still glaring.

"My time, but apparently I'm losing that anyway, so fine. And if you ruined my sketchbook when you dumped it on the floor, I will find a way to hurt you."

The table was noticeably hard against Persi's forehead and arms. Which wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as it sounded, really; it was actually kind of nice. The whole rest of the world felt like it was melting and waving; having something solid was a relief.

Waves would be nice to draw, actually. Simple, repetitive; the sort of repeated cresting wave that marched across kids' puppet theaters. Simple, repeated, flowing; flowing sounded good. Waves and spirals and other things that flowed, so Persi could just let his hands draw without having to pay attention. Or think. Thinking was good to avoid.

...Were those footsteps?

It took Persi another moment to determine that he did, in fact, care enough to use the energy it took to force his head partway up, and then reangle it so that his hair was out of his eyes. Well, eye; only one could actually see the woman that was searching through the cupboards. He wasn't sure why she hadn't said anything, but then he was also kind of grateful not to be... um.

"...Snakes?" The tone that came out in was a mix of surprise and confusion; Persi's expression would have matched it if it was visible behind his hair. It took a second for everything to click. When it did he sat up, exhaustion and nightmare temporarily pushed aside. "Oh, hey! Didn't I meet you?"