(She only really talks about france and her actual home in south carolina but alright man)
"Oh good, you're waking up." Ken remarked to the young girl, switching out of his focused mode now that he could see she was fine.

(I never talk about it though, I'm from South Carolina)
"Hi there, good to see you're okay," Peridot smile.

Athena frowned. She didn't want to stay. "Can I get your number though?"

Alright, it was perfectly clear that Athena didn't mean what Stephana initially thought she meant. Like, no way in any kind of possible interpretation of the sentence.

Sharing numbers is a normal thing friends do. This means nothing. Absolutely nothing. Well, it means something or else BT wouldn't bother to do it. You know, keeping in contact with people - like, the only reason her lifestyle was actually possible.

It was just that the words just brought her back in time for a moment, and she was lucky she got off with an awkward pause as her brain desperately rerouted back to normal territory.

"Yeah, sure!" She said, boosting her enthusiasm back to regular percentages to compensate, digging around in her pocket for her phone. "Can I get yours? Fair trade and all that."

Her phone number was guided by the law of equivalent exchange. And she was a highly reputable businesswoman, if she said so herself. And she did, so there.

What? That wasn't -

Goddamnit! That wasn't how phone numbers worked anymore Stephana! Times have changed Goddammit! Dialup was dead! Next she'd be namedropping AOL, holy shit.

Maybe she didn't recover as gracefully - Alright, BT still seemed cool. We're cool. This is cool.

Stephana dexterously entered her number, listing her contact name as 'Sparkles' before handing it back. "One phone number, at your service. Please use responsibly."

"Ellie," Ellie responded in kind. "There was a helicopter outside, during the blizzard. Are they still out there?"

“A...helicopter?” Peridot asked.

Athena looked at Stephana for a beat, but decided to humor her. She put the phone to her own ear. “Hey, yeah, is this the pizza place on southern ave?”

Stephana grinned. Now this was familiar territory.

Gotcha.

"That's right, this is Ruugendorfs, how can I help you tonight?"

Her Customer Service voice was well-trained, giving the right impression of "I am happy to serve" and "I hate my life."

"Well, that just means you and Frost have to stay hidden, right?" Ken asked as he did as she requested, being careful as he moved her.

“You’re a Velkar too, Ken,” Peridot said. “They have ways of tracking us. Any of us,” Peridot said.

Athena’s smile dropped and her face went almost stony as she dead-panned, straight-faced, “Then you better go after it, it’s getting away.” And hung up.

"Really? No ones ever found me before and I heal lots of people." Ken replied, stepping back from the couch a bit once he had the girl placed on it. "And don't you two forget to tell me if theres any pain anywhere, alright?" He asked of the kids.

Peridot looked over at the laughter from the kitchen, surprised to hear something that had become so foreign to her. That was all she wanted, was for them to live in peace and have that without fear. She looked back to Ken. “We’re all concentrated together, it’s goinf to become easier and easier to locate us.”

Athena’s stoicism broke and she grinned. Man she didn’t think that would work. She chuckled a little bit but put her phone away.

"Then why are we gathered if it's dangerous for us to gather?" Ken asked, confused as to Peridot's reasoning.