It's confusing, the way she feels when Lenore finally shows up again. There's a bright, hot spark of genuine gladness to once again have attentive company. There's the sick guilt of knowing she ought to hate the woman keeping her prisoner here. There's also the stupid, kicked-dog sensation of having been abandoned, which she hates because why the hell would she feel like that about someone who has likely barely thought of her at all.

In this frame of mind, Gideon doesn't say anything when her new owner greets her. Instead, she scoots closer to the bars of her cage, reaches a touch sullenly for her food. Never mind that all the while she's kinda aching to talk to her. Feels poised right on the precipice of asking why she'd left her for so long.

"Yeah, I can read," she answers the question though, between mouthfuls, still keeping her gaze on her meal rather than where she wants it to be. There's the dismissive roll of her shoulders; she's ready - unabashedly, and without a trace of shame - to elaborate, regardless of the desire to keep her eagerness to talk under wraps, "Like, the basics, you know? Basic letters, basic numbers, although no-one considered it a priority to teach me. Definitely not my strength is what I'm saying, but obviously when I was still just a little kid they didn't know how they were gonna use me yet."