Book!  Books are great.

Also wiggles.

Meanwhile...

"...yes, the kid's name is Desta Moonflower, I don't have her parents' full names..."

"...Hey, Sam?  Can you do me a favor and run this to the Speaker that's doing their career presentation today?  I want a consult from them.  ...No, you accurséd gossip, not like that, I haven't even met them, it's a magic thing.  We have a new kid and they need help I can't give them on my own.  If we had an enchanter I'd be asking them too.  ...Thanks, Sam, I owe you one - one reasonably-sized favor."

"Speaker Hartley, thank you for coming to see me..."

And now it is lunchtime.

Giselda passes Desta a note.

'It is lunchtime; I am going to ring a bell, and then we are going to go to the cafeteria in small groups to get our food.  We will come back here to eat it.  We normally group everyone by their rooms; you will go with Alicia's room today.  Alicia is the girl you're reading with.'

'One of the other adults who take care of this group will start doing that after lunch is over.  I will make sure you meet them before I stop.'

And then there is a very emphatic (but not exactly loud) 'ting!', as she rings the meal bell.

"It's time for lunch, everyone; group up in front of your doors.  Desta will be going with room 3 for right now."

She startles a little at the bell, even with the warning, but gets up and joins Alicia's group.

Ooh yay!  Book friend!

Uh, sure?

...Oh, hello there.  All moves according to her design-- She's (preemptively) glad to be of help.

...Ah, yes.  She does have paper.  Er, paper that's not already in use for something else.  'Hi, I'm Opal.  The people who give us food at the cafeteria might want you to talk to them.  If you stay next to me I can talk to them instead, and you can just point at what you want or something.  Alicia does that sometimes when she's feeling really shy.  You don't have to, though.'

(They aren't the first group moving, today - it seems they're near the middle.)

Huh. "Yeh."

...actually that's really unusually nice of this kid, she'll put in some extra effort. If, y'know, the situation doesn't move on without her while she's mustering it.

Opal beams happily at Desta!

...she's a bit nonplussed at the additional social pressure but she's kind of committed now.

"Tank."

...Yay!

'Thank you!  I like helping!'

She may be vibrating with joy; she's a bit occupied showing Desta her message to properly express that, though!

Opal is acting weird, and that's a stronger predictor of trouble than being nice is of its absence.

Not that she knows what to do with that, so she'll just stand there awkwardly.

...Opal, she can feel you vibrating from over here.

...Sigh.  She'll probably have to put down her book.  The sacrifices she makes for her friends.

She nudges the other girl gently, and says - "Opal.  Too loud."

And then she applies Firm Hug.  That tends to get her less...  Flyaway.

...Oh.  Yeah.  ...Right.  Now that she is once again firmly contained in her own skin...  Looks like it's time for lunch?

...huh.

She follows the group to the lunchroom. Observant bystanders may note that she's orienting herself more to Alicia than to Opal, though with any luck they'll stay close enough together that it's a subtle difference.

With Alicia following Opal like a duckling, the difference is quite small indeed.

Unfortunately, the cafeteria, for all that it is not, actually, where people are eating, gets rather loud and chaotic nonetheless - people serving things and the sounds of cooking and food carts trundling and people talking in line combine to make a din, especially with the acoustics of the place.

This does not stop Opal from walking directly to the line the other kids their age are in and copying things down from the board that says 'TODAY'S MENU' on it (for the benefit of the staff who go through here, as much as anybody) onto her piece of paper.

...Goodness.  Opal is going to grow up to be quite something, someday, if she continues to be this determined about it.

Yeah, yeah, the painful chaos, we've all seen it this is worse than anything her old kindergarten ever asked her to put up with, actually. She continues following Opal but quickly has her shoulders up around her ears and her hands covering them.

...hm.  That's not good.

(Alicia doesn't like it here either, but not quite to that extent.)