Recently, Lumia had met someone rather interesting – Marianas. The other seemed fairly close in age to her, and she would've tried to make friends if circumstances had been a bit more... pleasant. Unfortunately, the Cipher had met Marianas after the other had fallen from a tree. While Mari had been alright, Lu still hadn't exactly thought it would be appropriate to start asking a bunch of personal questions at that moment.

So, she had instead decided to wait until a day or so later to try and seek the other out. Not only to try and make a new friend, but to perhaps ask if the other could show her around the territory a bit. After all, she still didn't know much about her new home just yet, even after spending several days already exploring. Having a guide would be useful, even if it was someone a bit younger than her. In spite of the fact that Marianas was younger, however, she had also been living within The Typhoon for longer.

It took a bit of asking around for Mia to figure out where the other lived, but she eventually found her way to the rather pleasant looking house. She wandered up to the front door, hesitating for a moment before she lifted one of her wheat colored paws. She knocked lightly against the wood, calling out in a firm tone, "Hello? Does... does Marianas live here? I really hope I've got the right house..." She didn't want to just go knocking on some random person's door. Realizing that Marianas would probably want an explanation for why she was there, the feline hesitated before adding in a softer voice, "I came, uh... to ask if maybe you wanted to go for a walk? I don't know much about the territory yet, and I thought maybe you'd know a bit more..." She cringed at how awkward her own speech was, but she also wasn't really sure of how to fix it. Before arriving at The Typhoon, she had hardly interacted with anyone outside of herself and her father. As a result, her social skills were a bit impaired.

— Reggan

Honestly, if Marianas had ended up crying in front of them that day... well, Lumia probably would've ended up crying as well. She couldn't help the fact that she felt an incredible amount of empathy for others, and she could certainly imagine the aching pain of falling out of a tree. Luckily for the both of them, Mari hadn't ended up crying in public, or else that probably would've been fairly embarrassing for the both of them. Not that the young feline would've blamed her, considering Marianas had not only fallen, but she had also seemingly gotten pretty close to her goal beforehand. It was hurt, compounded with disappointment, which was never good.

The young Cipher wouldn't focus on that right now, though. She doubted that Marianas would want her to, and now she was very firmly in making friends mode. So, when the other opened her front door the slightest bit, Mia found herself grinning. She had taken notice of the way that Mari's teeth briefly chattered together, but she didn't think too much of it. After all, the beta had small tics of her own when she was feeling particularly nervous. Instead of pointing such a thing out, Lumia instead just dipped her head to Marianas, saying in a relaxed purr, "Ah, hey! It was really no problem or anything. I've been trying to get to know people around here, and well... that didn't exactly look like it felt very good. I'm glad that you seem like you're doing alright, though!" Soreness was to be expected, but at least Mari was up and about, and willing to open the door. Mia was sure that if she had done the same, she'd be too embarrassed and upset at dealing with the pain to go out like Marianas seemed willing to do.

Taking a step back as Marianas moved out onto the porch, the wheat colored feline blinked in surprise at how excitable the other was. That wasn't a bad thing, though, since it served to push Lulu a bit more out of her shell with each word. She was eager to introduce herself, her short and fluffy tail flicking back and forth behind her, "My name...? Oh right, my name! My name is Lumia Cipher. I usually go by Lumia, but you can call me Lulu or Mia, if you want. Some of the people I've met while traveling have done that." She had always liked it when others gave her nicknames, since it felt more personal and pleasant to interact with them afterwards. Her father had never bothered to do so, much to the girl's own chagrin.

Then, just like that, Mari had launched into a couple of places for them to go. Lumia was vaguely aware of where the tavern was, considering she had passed it at one point during her wandering. The temple, though, was much more of a mystery. Judging by the other girl's words, though, it was evidently the medical base for The Typhoon. And Roan... that was a name she would need to remember, even if she didn't have a face to put it to. At least now she would know what name to call out if someone was hurt. Realizing that she had zoned out for a moment, Lu laughed before speaking once more, head tilting to one side, "The temple sounds pretty cool... I haven't seen it yet, I don't think. I've kinda just been wandering in circles... I like the smell of herbs, though! And meeting a medic seems like it could be neat. When my dad and I were traveling around, we met lots of different kinds of medics, and they were always really smart. I'm sure you're right about Roan being smart too." It had always been fascinating, meeting the medics of the various loner groups. They always had various little different methods on how they liked to personally handle things. It was interesting to watch, even if Lumia was fairly sure she'd never be interested in the medical side of things – at least for herself.

— Reggan