After I finished drying her hair I carried Mochi over to my bed and laid some extra blankets on it for cushioning before wrapping one around her. 'I bet her appetite will finally be back when she wakes up. I'm a decent cook I think. I'll make something good. I should go buy some ingredients. They say halflings will eat anything with a smile… But I can't just give the poor girl a slab of raw meat… She's not an orc.'
Before long I bought some basic spices and vegetables. Potatoes, asparagus, black pepper etc. All the perfect ingredients for a juicy minotaur steak. Admittedly the thought of eating something so close to a person made me a bit queasy at first, but… Then I remembered I had eaten worse things before for survival so… And… I also gutted it… So it was a little late to complain…
"Chika? CHIKA!" I heard a yell coming from inside the house as I approached.
Everything I bought was in storage, so without delay, I rushed back to the house and opened the door.
"CHI–"
"What's wrong?"
She was standing on the bed, all of her muscles tensed as tightly as she could make them, yelling up at the ceiling as if it would make her voice carry farther. Her eyes slowly lowered to mine at the sound of my voice and she froze stiff with tears starting to well up, making her eyes glossy even from a distance.
We stared at each other in silence. 'Did she not hear the question?' "Uhm. Is everything ok?"
She opened her mouth, but no words came out, then she started shaking, squatting down, and hugging her knees. "No… Everything is fine… Sorry."
'Right… It's probably going to take her a while to get over habits like this. I bet she was forced to stay quiet and obedient.' I walked in and started organizing what I had bought, trying to act casual in hopes of easing the tension. "You don't look fine…" I said softly, as casually as I could.
I saw her almost flinch, like she had resisted some kind of basic instinct, slowly settling back to being motionless. "I'm sorry. I will try my best moving forward." Her voice seemed almost lifeless, and tears were now flowing down from her eyes, even if her voice didn't reflect it.
'She's crying? Wh… What the heck do I do now?' Another awkward silence lingered in the air for a while. 'This is where people like, hug and stuff, right? Or is that weird, is hugging something only kids do? What do adults do then? I could shake her hand… That feels like it would be more awkward…'
I cleared my throat, stepped up to her, and raised my hand out. "Hey Mochi… Uhm. I'm worried about you… So… If you do want to talk I'm here, ok?"
She got a rush of goosebumps all over, so much so I could see them as she shuddered, her eyes going wide. It felt a bit awkward at first holding my hand there for so long, but just before I pulled it back I got the feeling she was trying her best to shake it.
The muscles in her arm were twitching, just not enough for any significant movement, and her face looked strained like she was trying really hard. It took what felt like forever… But it was worth it.
Her hand was so cold and small, pale too, but I could see some color start to appear in her cheeks again as soon as our hands touched, just before she started crying even harder, nervously shifting her weight as we awkwardly stood there.
"Ok… Well, I'm going to get started on cooking this, and then I'd like to have another look at you're back."
"O…"
'O? What does that mean?'
"K…"
'She's trying really hard, but why does she have to? I feel like she was normal when we got here right? Or… Well… More normal?'
While I cooked I kept an eye on her, she just sat patiently, swaying back and forth like a little kid, her eyes doing the same, moving in a way that almost made me dizzy, every time I noticed her swaying though she would freeze and start to tear up again. Eventually, I forced myself to stop glancing her way.
'At least she isn't crying anymore.' I turned back to the stove and cut off my magic, dishing the food for her on the plate that I had, and just using the frying pan for my own dish. "Dinner is served," I said with a grin. I couldn't remember the last time I had actually eaten a properly cooked steak, much less one I made myself. Not to mention, this was minotaur steak, supposedly the best there was in terms of beef. Unlike warg meat, which didn't even qualify.
"Oh, be careful though it's still hot."
She sat down as well, making sure to sit up straight and gently fold her hands over her lap. "This isn't steak." She said plainly.
'Wha… Did I cook it wrong?' I was looking forward to her bright smile, but when I got that instead I almost wanted to cry. "What did I do wrong?"
She quickly looked down, flinching again. "It smells good, it's just not steak. It's not red, how could it be steak? I don't think this is even meat. It must be some kind of plant right?"
"Wha…"
"I know a lot about meat, I would get to eat it a lot because it was cheap, it was always red or pink. Every now and then it would be some other color, like kind of a greyish, or purple… I never liked the yellow meat. This is none of those, so it can't be meat, definitely not steak."
'Is she saying she's only ever eaten raw meat before? Wait… yellow?' The food in front of me was still trying to tempt me with its smell, but the more Mochi talked the less appetite I had.
"See, and look. When I poke it, it's not spongy, it's firm and–" her finger sank into the meat as it split apart, showing how tender it was as the scent wafted right into her face in a cloud of steam. It was like it broke her brain as her whole body froze completely still and her eyes went wide, a small trail of drool closing the corner of her mouth and cutting off her words.
'Now that's more like it.'