Howland... Howland... Silver hair, limey accent... Hayley quietly thought before she finally recalled the one mutual factor and the source of her familiarity, her eyes wide with surprise and a tinge of fury. Okay, calm down, calm down... She hasn't tried to wring my neck yet... Maybe it's just a coincidence... After all, she doesn't seem to be from around here with the silver locks and all. Clearing her throat and looked back at Sarah, the blonde secretly hoped that she didn't end up messing up a friendly encounter and asked, "Nice to meet you, Sarah. You don't seem to be from around here, given your accent and appearance. Are you here on your own?" she asked, partly concerned to see her being out on her own feet.

Hearing Hayley's question, Sarah looks down at the ground sadly. "Kind of," she eventually says in a quiet voice. "My brother lives in town and he's been helping me. And until a few months ago, I had a boyfriend, but he..." Sniffling, she wipes her eyes and chuckles dryly, saying, "I'm sorry, you probably have enough problems of your own. You don't need mine to weigh you down, as well." Eager to change the topic, she then asks, "Have you lived here very long?"

Okay, so she has a brother and has lost a loved one... I don't really like where this is going, but she doesn't seem bad... Keeping her thoughts to herself, Hayley decided to switch the topic as well and shrugged. "I was born here and have been here most of my life. I did move away for a few years before heading back here. Family stuff and all," she replied, hoping to lighten up the mood. "I now live with another guy I know. We haven't lived together for very long, but we've known each other for a few months, so there's that." Smiling sheepishly, she figured that it might be best for her not to divulge on her own relationship with Isaac and her curiosity about her and her brother for the time being, given the young woman's apparent emotional state and its underlying cause. "I was thinking of cooking something for him as a way of saying thanks for helping me around, but I'm not exactly a chef material. Heck, eight out of ten dishes I could cook would probably give him food poisoning..."

Sarah listened to Hayley with interest, feeling herself warm up to the young woman, even though she seemed rather...crude at times. When she mentioned that she wanted to cook her friend something as a way of expressing her gratitude, Sarah's eyes light up in a way that they haven't in a long time. "If you want, I could help you," she says before she can stop herself. Realizing what she said, she backtracks and adds, "I mean, I'm not a bad cook, myself. I actually try to take every opportunity I can to cook, to try and get better at it. I could probably help you make something and give you pointers, if you want."

"That's a sound idea, but I'd really hate to bother you with that," Hayley replied, clearly not trusting Sarah enough to lead her to her home that easily. Thanks, in no part, to Sean's break-in, she now thought twice about bringing the stranger with dark ties home with her, despite her good intention. "Besides, it looks like you're in a hurry or something. Are you sure you'd like to come and help me out?"

"I look like I'm in a hurry?" Sarah asks, her head tilted curiously. She then chuckles and says, "Oh, I didn't mean for it to look like that. Actually, I have nothing more to do today than go home and make my own dinner. I was just hoping for a chance to have some company, but if you don't feel comfortable with me coming over, then I won't pressure you."

"I'd be frank. I'm not comfortable with having strangers in my house, given that it has just been broken into very recently," Hayley replied, omitting the time and culprit of the break-in. "Nothing was stolen, thankfully, but now I'm pretty wary about having anyone I don't know just yet." Thinking on how she could return her good gesture without making her look like a paranoid conspiracy theorist, she asked, smiling sheepishly as she did so, "Hey, maybe if you don't mind, we can do it at your place instead. Not to impose or anything, but my fridge is almost empty, so seeing what you could suggest me could help my grocery shopping later on. Yeah, I'm that unimaginative..."

As Hayley told her that her house was broken into, Sarah felt her heart go out to her new friend, overshadowing the disappointment she felt for not being able to help her at her house. However, Hayley then suggested that they go to her place and Sarah smiles and says, "Oh, yeah, that will be fine. It's been a long time since I had any visitors, so this is a nice change of pace. However, I have to warn you: my brother is staying with me for a few days while his home is being renovated and he's kind of shy when it comes to new people."

"Thanks for the warning. I'd make sure I don't disturb him." And hopefully not get myself killed during my visit, if my hunch is correct, Hayley warily thought, preferring to see death on her own rather than drag Isaac and Vincent along for the ride. "I wouldn't take too much of your time, but thanks again for letting me come with you." Before she could follow Sarah, the 'other her' abruptly halted her body and she soon struggled to move. "Okay, I know I'm most likely dancing around with death, but I don't want to disappoint her. Who knows? The whole thing might be a coincidence!" Hayley whispered, hoping that Sarah didn't notice her fidgeting around on her spot.

"There are sufficient conclusive evidence to suggest that Sarah Howland and Nigel Howland are biologically related. I will not allow you to take such illogical risk with no concrete return on your time and safety investment."

Think about it! If Sarah and Nigel are really siblings and he knows that I'm a his sister's guest, he'd think twice about sticking his dick out in front of my face! I promise, I won't do anything to provoke him... provided that he doesn't start it first.

"I digress. Your safety is at very high risk should you move in close proximity with Nigel Howland. The calculative probability of him continuing his objective of eliminating you is estimated to be above 86.93%."

How about this? Let me go with Sarah and we'll see how things go. If his brother is Nigel and if he does go ballistic, I'll let you take over for as long as you want and I'm not gonna make a fuss over it, but if things go on just fine, then you'd relax for a bit and let me make a new friend, possibly taking in an intel or two.

Hayley's proposition was met with a dead silence for a short while, but with her legs finally being able to move not long after, she sighed with relief that the 'other her' was willing to chance the risk, most likely with her own logical reasoning. "Ah, sorry. My legs suddenly went stiff... Must be all that running I did..." Sighing softy, she smiled at Sarah and gestured to her to lead the way.

Sarah had started walking, only to stop once she realized Hayley wasn't following. She was about to ask if everything was alright when Hayley explained that her legs had gone stiff. Although she had a small kernel of doubt that was the case, Sarah still smiles and says, "Oh, I'm sorry. I hope it doesn't happen again." She then turns around and continues walking, leading the way for Hayley. After awhile, she finally asks, "So, this guy you mentioned...Is he really just a friend? I'm sorry if it seems like I'm prying, but it seems rather odd to me that a man and woman would live together unless they were related or in a relationship."

Chuckling softly, Hayley shook her head and replied, "Relax. I can tell why you'd be interested. Any sane person would ask the same question anyway. As for me and the guy... We've been living together for a month or two, but... Well, we've only been dating for less than a week... Less than three days, even..." she mumbled, her cheeks turning red and her gaze averted from Sarah. "The whole relationship thing was entirely new for me, so I'm not too sure I'd want to take that out in the public right now..."

Although part of her, that tiny, cruel part that she absolutely hates, was immediately angry with Hayley for having something that she lost, the majority of Sarah's mind was happy for her new friend. "Don't worry," she says gently, "you'll do fine. It just takes some getting used to." Looking ahead, she adds, "Back when I first started dating my boyfriend, I was new to the whole thing, too. I was always the shy wallflower that was always content with watching everyone else be happy. But he was the first, and one of the only ones, who noticed me. In all honesty, even the short time where I was still trying to figure out what to do, those few months were the best of my life..." As she spoke, Sarah realized that her vision was getting blurry and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, which came away wet. "Sorry, I'm still having trouble getting over it," she mutters, wiping the tears from her eyes.

Hayley felt bad for mentioning her relationship with Isaac and murmured, "Sorry about that..." Wanting to change the subject, she turned to Sarah and said calmly, "Y'know, hearing you talk about yourself made me realize just how different we both are. While you might be the pretty, shy flower, I'm anything but feminine at all. I'm brash, violent, a massive adrenaline junkie and a terrible cook to boot. I'm used to being so egoistic and self-serving, always looking after myself by any means necessary. If I can change my look to be more like you, people would think that I'm some sort of an alternate reality version of you. Kinda amusing when you think about it, huh?"

Sarah, grateful to Hayley for changing the subject, laughs and says, "Yeah, it is. I just hope it's one of those cases where opposites attract and we can be great friends." Still chuckling softly, she makes a left turn and stops in front of an apartment complex. "Here we are," she says, turning to the blonde with a smile. Then, she adds, "Oh, another thing I should warn you about: my brother tends to be less than tidy, so I apologize in advance for the mess." That said, she turns back to the building and walks in. A few minutes and two floors later, they stop in front of an apartment and wait while Sarah searches her bag for her keys. After a few more seconds, she pulls them out and opens the door to reveal a mid-size, two-bedroom apartment. Although she had warned Hayley that it would probably be a mess, the only things that were out of place were a couple of throw pillows, which were sitting in the middle of the living room. Sighing, she says, "I've told him time and again to clean up after himself. I swear, it's like watching over a five-year-old..."

"You'd really expect a guy to clean up after his mess? Not many would be bothered to," Hayley replied in jest and looked around, admiring the clean and tidy surroundings and being slightly surprised by her new neat freak acquaintance. "It doesn't look messy at all though, so I assume he does listen to what you asked him to do, just not completely. Nice place, by the way. Certainly much better than my own," she said to Sarah, admiring the simplistic and homely atmosphere of the room.

Sarah shrugs and says, "I guess you're right." Turning back to Hayley, she smiles and says, "Oh, thanks. It really isn't anything special, though. Certainly nothing like some of the other places around here." Walking into the kitchen, she says, "If you want, I can make some tea or something before we get started. I also have some snacks in case you're hungry."

"I'm fine with tea or a glass or water, but I'm not that hungry, so don't worry about the snacks. I'm here to learn from you, after all," the blonde replied with a chuckle, put her shoes away and followed Sarah into the kitchen, wondering what sort of dishes she could make and believing that they would most likely be much better than the ones she normally made for Isaac. Her brother and late boyfriend are lucky to have her. She seems like a decent chick with her feet on a solid ground. Not to mention that she seems quite good at cooking... she thought somewhat enviously.

Humming quietly to herself, Sarah quickly makes a couple of cups of peppermint tea and walks over to the dining room table. Setting one cup down, she takes a sip of her own and places it on the table. "Alright, now if you'll follow me," she says, walking over to the refrigerator. After opening the door, she scans the contents of the fridge, muttering, "If I wanted to make dinner for him, what would I make...?" Eventually, she snaps her fingers and pulls out several different ingredients, saying, "Alright, I'll teach you how to make my own lasagna. My boyfriend used to love it, so I'm hoping you can make yours happy with it." The couple of hours is spent with Sarah taking Hayley through a step-by-step tutorial on how to make the lasagna, including instructions on how to make the pasta itself and the meat sauce. Once the dish was in the oven, she sighs and turns back to Hayley, saying, "I hope I didn't overload your brain with all of that information. I know it can be a lot to take in, especially with one of my dishes."

Despite not acting like it, Hayley paid her entire attention and carefully studied what Sarah did, how she did it and when she did it. She made a mental note of the ingredients she used, the utensils needed to prepare it and the time the raw lasagna took to sit in the oven. She wondered if she could make one satisfactory enough to feed Isaac, but also envied the fact that Sarah could easily make her own boyfriend happy with her home cooked food whereas she struggled to prepare a decent meal. While she refused to bow to social standards and considered them to be unnecessary and, at times, sexist restrictions, she'd love to do something special to make her loved one happy too. "Eh, I'm not too overloaded. It's actually quite easy to memorize things like food recipes when you've got lots of cues, be it in the ingredients, cooking methods or even the smell and sights alone," she replied casually.

"I'm glad I was able to help, then," Sarah says with a smile as she leads the way back into the dining room. Setting her tea down, she takes a seat and sips from her mug before setting it down on the table. After awhile, she opens her mouth to ask a question, but the sound of the door opening interrupts her, followed by, "I smell lasagna! You're feeling better, I take it?" As he turns the corner, Nigel Howland, his arms laden with groceries, stops as he takes in the sight of his sister sitting at the dining table with one of his enemies. Fixing a cold glare on Hayley, he quietly says, "Ms. Summerland. It's nice to see you."