Walking out into the main street, my thoughts continued to swirl around how exactly her biology must have changed, eventually deciding that, at the very least, eating food wouldn't kill her, considering she could regenerate most of her body from scratch. "Does any of the food around here smell good to you?"
"Dog skat smells good to me… Just pick a place that you like."
"Oh… O-ok…"
We headed over to the Pho shop that Isy and I went to for our first real meal here, and I sat down and ordered for both of us.
I waited with bated breath to see how she'd react to the meal but. "It's bitter…" She said bluntly… "It tastes just like my blood."
'That doesn't sound right…' I took a bite of her food. "What are you talking about? It's sweet."
We both stared at each other for a while. 'Maybe her tastebuds got messed up.'
After a few moments, she slowly moved to claw her arm open where it had already mostly recovered from the previous gash, almost eager to compare the two flavors… "Stop it…" I growled, swatting her hand away. "Can you still eat it? My mom used to always say, "A little is better than nothing…" Though… She'd tend to then force me to eat everything anyway…" I sighed, thinking back. 'Technically speaking, that did eventually save my life since it let me survive my father's deranged healing magic…'
She looked back down at it. "Of course…" After the first several mouthfuls, she started shuddering, so I stopped her from forcing down anything else. "Let's… Try something else."
After packing up the leftovers for the others, I took her to a real candy store. Found the sweetest candy they had, and…
"Bitter…"
'What might she be able to stomach… If even this tastes bitter…' I tried lemons, sour things, and even the most bitter fruits I could think of, but it seemed like it all tasted the same. Protein, fat, and carbs didn't matter either. "How's your stomach feeling… You know you can spit it out if it's that bad…"
She shrugged. "It's fine."
"It all tastes fine to me… I think it's a problem with your tongue."
"So… You think my tongue is bitter? You wanna taste it to make sure?"
I paused, unsure how to respond at first. "I'm not doing that…"
She let it hang out poking and staring at it. "So all food just tastes gross now? When I prayed for a new body, I didn't mean one that made everything taste nasty…"
'She prayed? To who… Agis? He's practically useless though…' "I'm sure we can find something that works…" 'She was a gremlin… A kind of demon that feeds off despair… Oh, but wait. "You're half goblin, right?"
She flinched, suddenly shuddering back. "Y-yeah… Or at least, something like that…" She muttered, crossing her arms under my cloak and tugging at it to cover herself.
'Her habits don't make any sense… "Were you green before?"
Her ghostly white hair softly swayed as she shook her head. "No… I was pretty dark, but I had pink skin on my lower arms and legs, so… I wasn't really anything…"
'Does that mean she's actually mostly human?' "I thought goblins were green, though."
She shook her head again, looking down. "Goblins come in more colors than hair… Apparently… They are all because of different sicknesses you are born with, though. They are supposed to be green. I was told black meant that my body couldn't release stress or tension properly, it just kept building until I popped… Although I'm half human, so that probably helped."
'I wouldn't last a week…' I sighed. "Ok, well… Let's try something then. When was the last time you brushed your teeth?"
"What's that?"
'And she was coughing up blood too, so I'm sure her mouth is stained black… I should have thought of this earlier…' "Let's… Uh, actually, let's get you some clothes like I promised… Then we will come back to this later… Unless you're really hungry still."
She slowly lifted a hand to her stomach, "Not really… I'm…" Her thoughts trailed off as her eyes lost focus on the floor at my feet.
"Oh, and you aren't a tailed goblin, are you? That's a thing, right?"
She twitched her ears. "Long ears, goblin, see. At least that's my guess."
'So she can wear normal clothes without a problem, then.' "Ok, here, that store should work."
I walked inside, and she confidently followed behind. "This is just a normal store, though? You sure?"
"Well… I wasn't going to buy you armor…"
Her eyes scrunched with confusion. "That's… Not what I meant…"
"What, like underwear? You can buy that here too. They just don't have any on display because they sell men's clothes too."
"I don't need any of that stuff… I just thought…" Again, she let her thoughts trail off, as if she'd get in trouble if she talked too much.
I was going to say something more… But I just patted her on the head and pushed her forward to one of the female employees. "She needs three full new sets of clothes, please. Everything from the ground up. If she doesn't want to pick anything, just find what you think looks good on her. Oh, and make sure at least one of the sets is appropriate for working."
She suddenly shuddered as she looked back at me with eyes practically begging for help. 'Sorry, kid… This is for your own good… Also… It feels strangely good to have someone else suffer as much as I did last time I came here with Isy… Am I not a good person?'
She didn't even protest as they took her away, and despite her semi-horrified look, she wound up smiling, though slightly confused by the time she came back out. Wearing proper clothes, a thick cotton shirt, and light leather pants that were held tight around the calves with leather straps, and even boots. 'Must be the work outfit.'
"Ok… I got some new clothes… Now… What…" She asked, her words growing quieter still as she looked off to the side.
"Good question…" 'Bear's house is a lot closer than the tower at this point.' "Let's go to my friend's place, there we can clean out your mouth and see if that fixes the problem with your tongue."
Her eyebrows shot up as she squeaked, almost reminding me of Rune. "My… Mouth?"
"That… Is where your tongue is…" 'What made her change so much suddenly… She wasn't anything like this half an hour ago…'
"Well, duh…" She grumbled, snarling for a moment as she scuttled over to my side, hanging a bit closer to me than before.
'She asked if I wanted to taste her tongue… But she's embarrassed about cleaning her mouth? Although I guess it's good to see she can get embarrassed… I think? Wait… I think I finally get that thing Air told me that one time.' I shook my head, refocusing. "Are you ready to go?"
She hesitantly nodded, standing inches away from me but looking almost too stiff to move.
'Why does this feel so awkward…' "Do you want to hold my hand?"
The muscles in her jaw tightened as she snarled at me without another word.
'Guess that's a no…' "Well… Alright then…" After we made it to Bear's house, I mixed together herbs with salt water and charcoal to make what was essentially toothpaste. "This is going to taste… Well, actually, it will probably just taste bitter… Like everything else…" I groaned, having her open her mouth and trying my best to get rid of the black stains that covered most of her mouth. 'Well… I did the best I could.' "Rinse out your mouth with water and spit into the sink." 'The problem is that demon blood doesn't come off, so the only way to fix it is to tear off the tissue, and have it regenerate… I suppose it wouldn't be impossible or anything, especially with my claws, but… Would that really be better than things tasting bad for a while… And, there's no guarantee it would work either, since it's also possible the genetic makeup of her tongue has just changed.'
She did just as I said, shuddering again like she was about to gag.
"There… I did it…"
"Can you still taste it?"
She wiped her mouth. "Why does that matter? My mouth is clean now, right?"
"That was kind of why we cleaned it, though…"
"You mean you want me to taste it? Why, so I can compare or something?"
I blinked a few times, trying to make sense of how our words were fighting into the same conversation. "No… The whole point was so that you wouldn't taste it anymore… I figured you'd want to taste good things, instead of everything being bitter."
"Does it taste that good?"
'Why does this conversation feel so weird…' "It? Most… Food does… Well, at least to me, I guess. I'm not much of a picky eater."
She suddenly looked horrified again, and after another awkward pause, she continued asking. "So… Just my mouth?"
'I don't get this girl at all… Oh, wait. No, I think I actually understand this part. Sure, I guess she isn't dirty because her body is basically brand new, but… "Do you want to take a bath? Otherwise, you could shower back at my place, too."
She slowly closed her hanging jaw and shook her head. "Here is fine…"
Ok, go ahead and relax outside while I fill the tub. After she stepped out, I just used magic to heat the water and fill the tub as much as I could before swapping places with her. 'Magic really is the best… It's so stupid that I can't just use real magic to fight… I'd probably already be king, just drop a star on some guy and… Actually, that would be pretty gruesome, wouldn't it?' I sighed, leaning against the wall outside and crossing my arms. 'At first, I really thought she was going to be a handful… But the more time we spend together, the more skittish she becomes… Isn't it usually the other way around? I've been trying to be friendly and stuff… I don't think I did anything to upset her. There's no way this is because I wouldn't taste her tongue, right?' I paused. 'That… Might actually be the most absurd thought I've ever had… what kind of situation is this…' I sighed again, groaning slightly and rubbing my face. 'I feel like I missed something… I had to of missed something, right? Wait… I… I still don't even know her name!'