Stephana nodded, placing the order. Two cheese, two pepperoni. Large. Yes. Yes. Alright. Thanks!

Once that was done, she placed her phone back down (thank goodness it didn't lock before she was finished placing the order) and turned to Athena.

"Did you expect this to happen?" She kept her voice quiet, eyeing the flurry of activity in the living room. "Busy place."

Looks like this was gonna be a party after all. If she had to sleep here, she'd take the floor - Kids get first dibs on furniture.

Good plan BT.

"Yeah. Me neither. I feel it." Stephana replied, nodding.

She wasn't the most comfortable here either. It wasn't that crowds made her uncomfortable, hell, she loved parties. It was the gunshot thing. And the possibly crazy leader thing. And the blizzard-causing thing, and the fact that this was apparently normal. And the kids. Holy shit why were there so many kids? She'd bet five talents the new ones were orphans or some shit too.

The only thing keeping her here was that she really didn't have any better places to hunker down...at least not in person. She had some friend-of-friends who she could probably count on, maybe one or two people she hadn't seen in years and might ask awkward questions about the fact she didn't look any older.

"You at least gonna stay for the Pizza?"

That was her plan. Stay for the pizza, then maybe make her way to one of the friend-of-friends? Maybe? She could afford to spend one (1) night in a hotel, maybe, so that might also work.

"I've got a few people I could try."

The invitation felt natural. BT was cool - a little edgy, but cool. Having a +1 definitely changed her options around a little, especially given how BT was apparently not a crowd person. (For instance, Donny was no longer a solid choice.) But there were at least two people who'd be cool with it, probably -

Actually maybe what she said was incredibly forward and she just fucked up all her social interactions with Athena forever, for all time.

"If you're up for it, I mean."

Stephana shrugged. "Yeah. I've been in your shoes. It sucks. You're cool, collected. Maybe not as collected as Nice Guy but you know."

They were also both halfsies, but she didn't bring that up right now.

It was clear that she hadn't yet mastered the arcane art of couch surfing, which Stephana had dedicated years to mastering. In other words...can you spell Protege? Because Stephana suddenly realized that she couldn't quite put the letters together in the right order, at least mentally. Ever tried to spell a word in your own head?

Anyways, this also wasn't the first time she'd done something like this. In certain circumstances, it was easier to couch surf as a crowd, because you brought the party with you. Once in the party, it was easy to find a couch to sleep upon. Not that she was gonna drag BT to a party. Goodness no.

And if it fell through, it certainly wouldn't be the first time Stephana had to resort to more...desperate methods.

Wait shit did she just insult her?

"So long as you're cool with it." Stephana added a little too quickly, covering her bases. "Yeah."

Peridot gently took the girl from Ken, warming her own body and also channeling slight energy into the girl. “Ken, can you start healing as well?”

“Thanks. I, uh,” Athena seemed to change her mind about talking further. “Yeah. Thanks.” She looked back out to the living room, her gaze drawn to where Max was repeatedly throwing the ball with Hades. She didn’t know why, but she’s been seized by an intense desire to protect him, because she saw herself in him. “I’ll let you know. I’m worried about the boy.”

Frost left the room as he muttered "Wow I did not have an tact there"

Stephana hummed in agreement. Nobody wanted to see a child get hurt. She technically didn't want to see anybody get hurt, children were simply grouped under that banner. "They're weird, but they'll take care of him."

She hoped. And if not, he'd learn things on his own.

"They don't seem competent enough to take care of kids. Maybe Peridot, but three kids?" Athena asked.

Peridot nodded, careful to keep it a gentle heat.

Abigail observed them as Ellie had weakly stirred in response. She really hoped her sister was okay. They relied on each other for living on their own together.

Well, Stephana was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, but when you put it like that...

"They'll still try." She said, although it sounded a little empty, even to her. "Nice Guy seems like he'd pitch in, at least."

Still. Three kids, three people...

(You don't still think I'm from NYC do you?)
Athena crossed her arms. "I think...maybe, I might stay. I don't know. I'll let you know," she said.

"What's your name, Hun?" Peridot asked the other girl as they worked on her sister.