"Well, it's good to be surprised now and again," Ariel replied easily, although he did wonder to himself who would be surprised by a cookie. But - as he always reminded himself - people had vastly different minds than his own, and vastly different backgrounds to go around with.
"Cookies are wily things, at times. You never know when they might appear." He set down the cookie he had bitten into (he wasn't going to give someone, even a stranger -especially a stranger! - a partially eaten cookie) and took out a fresh one, holding it out in offering.
"My name is Ariel," he replied in a serene manner, pronouncing his name so that the first syllable sounded like 'are' and not 'air'. "And you are?" he asked in a curious manner.