There was no one in the multiverse who loved the new and novel more than Ariadne. But even her unending supply of curiosity was starting to wane, after three weeks wandering the same hallways. She'd made a few furtive attempts to leave, to be sure. But all of them had ended in an abrupt return to the confines of the mall. The air just didn't smell right out there. She wished she had a more firm and concrete way to explain it. All she could settle for, though, was the way the hairs on the back of her neck rose whenever she caught a whiff of the outside.

So she'd started inventing ways to keep herself from getting stir-crazy. Thanks to a few kind strangers she'd met over the last three weeks, she had clothes and boots and a lovely bag to carry over her shoulder. And because she didn't want her skills to atrophy, she'd started to fill the bag with little items she'd borrowed from the stores without asking, when the too-friendly clerks' backs were turned.

Nothing terribly thrilling. A pretty rock. A kerchief. A kitchen knife. In her experience, anything could prove useful at any time.

She smiled when she caught Dean's scent and saw him by one of the glass boxes of food. At least, she assumed it was food. It had words like 'chewy' and 'cheesy' and the like. She hadn't managed to get them to work yet.

"Hello," she said, dipping into a curtsy before she could stop herself. Old habits. But you didn't curtsy to a friend, did you? She tried to cover it by checking the laces on her boots.