"Oh, yes, soccer - it's hard to adjust. Maybe I could play against - hmm. He's twice my size, I assume."

Huh. They’ve…all picked up specific hobbies and interests over the summer, like some sort of childhood interest box-checking? Evelyn isn’t really sure what to make of that. 

“I’m sure he’d be willing to play with you,” she says to Lucy. “He’s used to playing with younger kids, he knows how to be a gentleman.” Smile at the boys. “I’m not sure the local school has fencing but I believe it has an extracurricular wrestling club.”

"We watched The Princess Bride," Edmund says, after glancing at Evelyn's face. "S'where we got interested in fencing, and horses, and all that. Su already did archery though."

"If there isn't a fencing club already maybe we could start one?" Peter muses. "I'm sure there's plenty of kids who'd want to try it."

"You'd need to get a teacher on board with it, but I'm sure you can find someone who's delighted that students want to be proactive," Evelyn says brightly. "The Princess Bride is a wonderful movie. I have it on DVD, but I'm guessing it's a bit soon to rewatch it again, even if it is a classic." 

The kids seem...maybe slightly defensive about their new hobbies? Evelyn isn't sure what's going on with that, but it's definitely not going to help to make a big thing of it or make them feel any more put on the spot. She'll move the conversation along. 

"What else have you noticed being different about the US compared to Britain? I've never actually been to Britain, so," slight self-deprecating chuckle, "most of what I know about it is from Harry Potter." 

Lucy blinks, turns to Edmund. "Ed, is that -"

"Harry Potter, Lu, my God, you don't have to read it but you can't be a space alien about it," Edmund says a bit too quickly. "Um, it's not a very good window into the lives of the British public because she decided to write about secret wizards with silly names instead of people who live in Britain and interact with British people, yeah. Um. America is different... it's hotter for one thing, I'm not used to the heat at all."

"People think our accents are adorable instead of thinking we're being insufferably posh!"

"Fewer chavs," Peter contributes. "Or at least none worth the name."

Huh. It's hardly the first time Evelyn has met a child who didn't really know what Harry Potter was - severely neglected children sometimes haven't been exposed to any of the classic children's books and movies, and instead grew up watching R-rated adult movies alongside their drugged-out parents - but that doesn't fit their demographic, and also they're - a little bit acting like there's something there to hide? Were their parents some kind of religious minority that thinks Harry Potter is satanist? That sort of fits with the being embarrassed about it, but she thought that was less of a thing in Britain? 

...She should, as usual, stop getting ahead of herself and trying to be Sherlock Holmes about everything. And she's definitely trying pretty hard to keep any hint of suspicion off her face. 

"What's, er, a 'chav'?" 

"Oh God, I'm unequipped for this. Su? Help?"

"A chav is a lower-class youth in a sweatsuit and suspiciously nice trainers, generally in the business of leering suggestively and bantering with his equally chavvy friends."

"Thank you Su."

That is a hilariously specific cultural concept and Evelyn is having a slightly hard time keeping a straight face. "No, I hadn't even heard of that! We have 'punks', I guess, and...'gangsta' fashion is a thing, according to my son. You'd have to ask him for details." 

"We have punks! The Pistols were from London!"

"Now I'm envisioning the Chav Pistols."

Snicker. "Now you're going to lose me and I'm going to give myself away as an old fogey. ...I suppose it is pretty hot in Reno in summer. It'll cool down soon. We even get a little bit of snow in winter." 

"I regret to inform you, madam, that the Sex Pistols are not youth culture."

"Oh, I do like snow though."

"Well, you're in luck then! We could even go up to Tahoe, maybe, they get more snow. Have you done any winter sports?" 

"No, not really. I think I'd like to ice-skate, I never really got around to trying it."

"Cool! That's not really a Tahoe thing, but there's a rink in town." Evelyn chuckles. "Sounds like I may end up having to horribly embarrass myself on it again." 

"You wouldn't strictly have to skate with me, if you wouldn't enjoy it. I can have fun all on my own."

Grin. "Oh, no, I do. It's a rule, see, that foster parents have to embarrass their foster children by joining them for activities and being hopeless." She glances around the table again. "Anyway, please do let me know if the house gets too hot, we have air conditioning. I may just be more used to the heat than you are." 

"Most of us have better tolerance for it than Ed - don't let him fool you, he thought it was too hot in London as well."