Was that how it worked? Was it just as simple as saying 'let's be friends' and it happened that way? "All right," she said cautiously, unsure she believed it really was just supposed to be that easy. Maybe she should try that. Then she was struck by an amusing thought: Maybe she'd network Ray and say 'let's be friends' to see what he said back.

"Our society," she began haltingly. "It was my father, mostly, I guess. And who he was. But ... I had guards, all the time. From ... my twelfth birthday on, I ... had guards. So it was difficult to ... just be. To say what I thought, or to do anything knowing that what I said, what I did, was going to be reported back to my father." In her later years, she'd gotten a taste of defiance, and she'd ridden that for all it was worth. But that was child's play compared to what happened after she met Will. "So I ... don't know how to make friends," she concluded awkwardly. "Even now, I expect to see Constantine over my shoulder or something, and ... of course he's not here."

She wasn't sure if that crossed a line into oversharing, but she didn't really know where the lines were. Samantha was the first person she'd really just sat down and talked to, so it was interesting.

"Are they?" She replied, watching the kitten. She guessed so. She seemed smart enough, anyway, so Sylvia was content to accept that.

"I don't know why I picked her up, really," she confessed, though she had a slight sense of deja-vu, like she'd already said that. "Someone found some kitten formula, and once she's bigger, there's a couple of bags of kitten food. People here are ... they're very considerate. I didn't even ... ask for any of the things, but after I posted about not knowing what I was doing, someone had put the things in my room."