Blue Raspberry had learned in their time that people ate through their mouths. They also talked through their mouth. A highly inefficient system, if you asked them. Blue Raspberry, as an ooze, didn't actually have a mouth. They could just eat from anywhere on their body. However, they were trying to appear to be a humanoid person being. This meant they shouldn't be able to speak and eat at the same time, something they often forgot while eating street food and walking down the street with Astrid.

They felt like they might need to be a bit more careful about this while in the company of Zarius and Cirice, Therefore, they came to a conclusion. What would be the best way to remember to pretend they have a mouth? It would be to have a mouth! They changed their head to their recently made humanoid form and removed their helmet as they sat down at the table with the others. They gave a happy smile and began to eat.

Blue Raspberry nodded along as Astrid told the simple story of how they met. She hadn't mentioned that Blue Raspberry had actually been in the form of a giant wolf at the time or that about half of the bandits they'd fought ended up being eaten by the ooze, but that was probably for the best.

"Oh yeah, we've been on lots of adventures together. We fought displacer beasts and had these cool cloaks made from a couple of them. We went on a boat and got eaten by a sea monster and then spit out by a wizard. We went to a ball together and ate lots of good food. We went ghost hunting. Lots of adventures!" Blue Raspberry said between mouthfuls of food.

They made sure to not speak and eat at the same time. However, they completely forgot that they gave no sign of chewing their food or swallowing. It was like the food just disappeared after it entered their mouth. It probably would have been smarter for them to keep their helmet on. In no time at all, they devoured all the food they were given with no sign of being full at all.

Bathed and fully dressed in her new clothes Cirice comes to join them with a joyful smile, "These clothes are wonderful, thank you so much mister Zarius! Lunala truly blessed me in meeting you and I'm sure she'll bless you tenfold!"

She twirls a little for them before joining them at the table, allowing them to see her full outfit in all its glory. Her ruined skirts were replaced with a new, even more flowy dress with skirts in light purples and blues and shes added a corset in black leather to match her new knee high boots and gloves. As if in homage of her new armored friends she's also got some some body chains and belts that jingle as she moves. It appears in the time she was gone she managed to find a new jewelry piece to add as well, with a small yellow gem hanging from a silver necklace around her neck and she shows it off to Zarius proudly. "A man traded me a nice necklace for curing his gout flareup! Look it matches your eyes!"

Sitting down next to Zarius she digs into the food. "I didn't actually get your names..." She looks at Blue and Astrid. "You called him Blue, is that a nickname? Oh are you alright sir, you're barely chewing!" She giggles. "If you choke I can help!"

Zarius looks at Circe as she returns to the group and smiles. The clothes suited her and seemed to fit properly. All those trips to shop on his sister and mother’s behalf certainly had paid off in this case. An odd transferable skill he would admit.

“You are very welcome.”

He looks at the golden gem set in the silver pendant of the necklace. It was likely some sort of precious stone like topaz or tourmaline.

Cirice presented it proudly and with a bright smile that made even him softly smile back. She had a lot of similarities with Astrid when they had first met far from the Crescent Isle. These young folk and their shining optimism. It was almost blinding. Part of him hoped the world wouldn’t end up crushing them over time.

He was keeping an eye on Astrid’s friend. They appeared human-ish, though there was something off that the tiefling couldn’t quite put his finger on. Seeing him devour so much food so quickly definitely raised suspicions. That and the lack of chewing.

Perhaps he was some sort of snakeman using an illusion to disguise himself. It wouldn’t be surprising, some of the beastfolk of the Marshflats and the snakekin of Zeinav were often looked upon poorly by more human presenting races. Zarius himself knew well how one's appearance could often set the wrong expectations.

For the sake of satiating his own curiosity, he orders some more food for the armored individual. All the while he kept one eye on him while listening to the conversation between the three.

Astrid and Blue Raspberry are certainly a pair. Both armored, though in different regards and states of matching. Astrid's few pieces are clearly mismatched, and Blue Raspberry has a full, perfectly polished set. They match in a couple of aspects though: their capes made of Displacer Beast pelts, their slightly pointed ears, their pronounced canines, and most of all, their appetites. The two of them sure can eat, though Astrid notably chews a lot more than her blue-haired friend. If allowed to order enough (and heck, even if not allowed, she's willing to pay), Astrid orders enough meals for four adults on her own while Blue Raspberry orders even more. 

Cirice mentions she didn't get their names, and Astrid seems surprised. She's usually good at introducing herself, but she must have been distracted by Mister Zarius. "Oh, shoot," she says, choking down the last of the bite. Wiping her hand, she then extends it across the table to Cirice. "Nice t'meetcha! I'm Astrid Stormstone, and this is me best friend Blue Raspberry." She soon returns to scarfing down her meal. 

"I'm fine. I've never choked on anything before!" they answered Cirice after eating another mouthful of baked potato.

Blue Raspberry was a little surprised when the Tiefling orders them even more food, but they accepted it happily. They didn't expect him to get more food for them. They actually would have been less surprised if they were told to order less earlier. Their intense staring at them while they ate was a little weird, but no one who ordered this much food for them could be a bad guy.

"Thanks! I see why Astrid is your friend, you're really nice!" they said with a toothy smile, showing off their enlarged canines that matched Astrid's.

They were about to take a bite of the newly delivered food, but stopped, remembering what Cirice had said. They realized they'd not been pretending to chew or swallow the entire time they were eating! No wonder the man was staring at them and ordering them more food. He was probably suspicious. Would it be more suspicious to suddenly start chewing now? Maybe it'd be better to just try to play it off as their chewing being really subtle or something. Or maybe they could just say they don't chew their food for religious reasons! Either way, they should just continue to eat the same way they had been before or else it'd be obvious.

They finished the food and gave Zarius a nervous look. They still didn't give any indication that they were full at all, but they wanted the Tiefling to stop staring at them as they ate, so they wanted him to not order them any more food.

"Thanks, that was good. You don't have to order any more food for me, I'm fine."

Seeing Zarius' smile makes Cirice feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. He's her first friend, the person who is helping her out so much and she wants to please him and thank him however she can. She prays silently that they get along well for a long time.

"Astrid Stormstone and Blue Raspberry," she repeats, looking at Astrid and Blue, "you all have strange and wonderful names. Blue seems like a strange one though, but I like it! Like your hair! Such colorful people."

She looks at the food Zarius just ordered and takes a small bit of fish from the plate and munches on it, "How did you all meet? Are you all good friends? Would you mind if I joined you? Mother Moon said you would guide me to fame and glory, but I don't want to impose if you're busy or don't want me around..."

What was he?

This armored individual had Zarius completely befuddled. They seemed to have a bottomless appetite and they had no need to chew or even swallow. It could be that their illusion magic wasn’t that good…right? Is that how illusions worked? He would have to ask his sister some other time.

For the now, he would abstain from investigating this strange traveling companion too closely. Astrid clearly trusted them and knew them better than he did. 

That said, the tiefling could still tease the knight just for his own entertainment. The nervous looks were all he needed to be enticed into toying with Blue. He leans forward on the table and elbow on its surface, resting his chin in the palm of his hand with a sly smirk.

“Are you sure? I hear the pastries here are quite good.”

The tiefling's tail twitches with interest in this new game like a cat that just set its sights on a meek little mouse. 

In addition to this game, he was also curious in the more specific details of how they came to be traveling companions with the young half-dwarf. Astrid had an uncanny ability to find people who were willing to partner with her despite her age. She certainly was growing up fast. The confidence suited her.

"I met Miss Astrid in Skypeak Village in Dragon's Cradle. I am just making Sir Raspberry's acquaintance today."

Astrid, the second bottomless pit at the table, perks up at the mention of dessert. "The pastries are good? Think they're better than the ones at the Harvest Ball?" she asks with a grin. Bits of food cling to the edges of her mouth, and it doesn't take long for her to take another bite. It seems she's only worked on a few of her table manners, or, alternatively, whatever manners she did learn she then unlearned in her adventures with the strange knight. When her plate is cleared, she chugs her drink. "Bring on dessert!" 

She doesn't wait for Zarius to order them, she just waves the waiter down, orders up dessert for the table, then sits back in her chair with a satisfied sigh. "Yeah, me and Mister Zarius met a while ago. I was just a gross kid on the street, and he and Cantio and Miss Veliky all came upon me all at once. Bought me some new clothes, got me a bath and a meal, and then Mister Zarius took me on me first adventure through the mountains!"

Blue Raspberry was actually a bit curious themself now that it was brought up. They'd never really thought about who else Astrid had met before meeting them, but they had met other people before meeting Astrid, so it seemed like it should have been obvious. They hadn't heard about any of these people before, though. The two mostly talked about armor, food, Avasha, food, Lightning powers, and food when they talked to each other. Maybe they should ask Astrid about other things.

"Who are Cantio and Miss Veliky? You never told me about them before. Are they nice too?" they asked, looking at Astrid.

Before any answer could be given, the waiter returned with a smorgasbord of pastries and desserts, placing them all over the table without a care for who wanted what specifically since they'd all been ordered by the one little girl. Blue Raspberry did their best to resist the temptation of the delicious looking food being spread across the table before them, but couldn't stop themself. Giving into the urge to eat after approximately 0.1 seconds, they began to scarf down tarts and cookies and cakes.

They ate several cupcakes without taking off the wrappers, shoving the entire thing into their mouth, not realizing their mistake in the slightest. They ate a parfait in a lovely little glass by simply shoving the entire thing into their mouth complete with the glass and little spoon. With that, they realized they may have committed an error. They pulled the now empty glass from their mouth and placing it on the table before looking at Zarius nervously. They hoped they hadn't noticed anything suspicious.

Cirice looks to Astrid, "It seems you made a lot of friends really quickly." She giggles. "I guess I fit into the gross kid on the street in need of help look too. I'm so glad to know that there are such kind and caring people in the world who help others from the goodness of their heart. I've never left my homeland, but knowing they're out there too makes me excited to meet more wonderful people! Perhaps one day you can introduce me to more of your friends?" She picks up a small cake and munches on it. "oh the pastries are quite good."

"Tell me about your adventures? Are you all well-known heroes? Um.... Blue.... I think you ate the spoon..." She looks at him in concern, "I don't think thats good for you..."

Zarius' expression of curious amusement changes to alarmed concern as he bears witness to Blue Raspberry's engorgement on the desserts. Forget snakefolk, there was no way this person was any sort of known creature. They just absorbed the food like a...Zarius sits back in his chair. His mind reeled with theories. This person, or whatever they were, was not what they seemed.

He looks at Astrid with that same concern still on his face, but he doesn't know how to even begin to ask for answers in a way that didn't come off as incredibly judgmental. He wants to trust the young adventurer's words, but he is having doubts about if this strange armored individual is actually safe for her to travel with. What would Veliky say if he willingly turned a blind eye to all this and then Astrid ended up hurt, or worse?

The tiefling does not order any more food for the table and tries to keep his feet and tail tucked under his chair, away from Blue Raspberry. He awkwardly clears his throat and looks at Cirice.

"I would not say too well-known, though given enough time that may change. I would recommend traveling beyond these shores, there are many interesting folk to meet and incredible places to see. If you require allies to aid you on your journeys, I have several recommendations located across most of Charon."

Astrid looks at Blue Raspberry with a confused head tilt. There's no way she hasn't told them about Cantio and Miss Veliky. She's pretty sure she rambled about trying to impress Miss Veliky the whole time she was building her suit for the ball. Then again, Blue Raspberry hasn't been known to pay the most attention, and they weren't present through the entire endeavor. So she explains again anyway.

"Miss Veliky is the lady that rewarded me Charles after I finished a job fer her!" She motions back to the metal golem Blixtbot^TM standing off to the side patiently. "And Mister Cantio, he's me da now, remember? I s'pose I was in shock after the ball... I don't know where he's gone off ta though. S'pose he's lookin' fer the house he said we needed."

When Circie mentions that Blue Raspberry ate the spoon, she lightly elbows the ooze knight's armor - an indication to spit it out. "Sometimes stuff just gets stuck in his teeth. He's got a big mouth and a bigger stomach!" she says cheerfully. This seems the king of excuses she's had to make plenty of times in the past. 

"Blue an' I have been travelin' together fer a while. We've done all sortsa stuff together an' seen most of Moonglade. This was the last place we haven't visited, so we figured we'd come an' see it. Seems like there's some work ta do here, too. I heard someone complainin' about harpies off the coast." 

Blue Raspberry hurriedly spit the spoon back out of their mouth and let out a nervous laugh.

"Sorry, yeah, things just get stuck in my teeth! I'm fine, I didn't swallow it, but my stomach could handle it. I can eat a lot! I could eat a whole wolf, and wolves are really big!" they reassured Cirice, following Astrid's lead to try and cover up their mistake, but probably overdoing it a bit.

They listened intently as Astrid described Veliky and Cantio. They sounded familiar. Did she talk about them right after the ball? The ooze had been thinking a lot about all the food they'd just eaten and hadn't been listening very well at that time. That explains why thy forgot about it. They did remember a few things they caught as they'd been together that night.

"OOH! Right, new dad and dare lady! I forgot! My bad, I was thinking really hard about all that party food then, but I remember a bit. And there was also some belly guy or something. That was a fun party! We should go to another one some time." the knight suddenly exclaimed as they remembered, looking at Astrid happily.

"What's a harpy?" they asked curiously.

"I don't know what a harpy is either, but I'm not sure I know what you are Blue... I've never seen anyone eat like you... Is that something from the mainland? A human thing maybe? I honestly grew up around mostly elves. In fact my village was pretty much all elves, so I don't have much experience with other races I'm afraid. Do many humans have blue hair as well?" Cirice is brimming with questions, coming up with more and more as they spend time together and not really concerned about being delicate. "I want to know everything! I want to meet all kinds of people and learn all kinds of things! Please introduce me to everyone you can!"

Cirice's eyes sparkle with excitement and curiosity and she smiles at all of them with genuine gratitude. These people are kind and willing to show her such new and wonderous things, she hopes she can stay with them a while. "Can I meet your dad? And this lady Veliky sounds kind too! Please introduce me! And you've been to a fancy party? Wow you guys really live such interesting lives!" 

The tiefling blinks. "Cantio? Really?"

That was a surprise. The bard didn't seem like the type to settle down or be responsible for another person. Though he was easily influenced, perhaps someone tricked him into agreeing and then he was too weak willed to disappoint Astrid. That would make sense. 

His tail twitches at the mention of some 'belly guy'. Was this man referring to Bellighul? He hoped not. Astrid needed to stay as far away from that murderous psychopath as possible. It was strange to learn that Blue Raspberry was at the party, he can't recall seeing him there at all. Then again, some of his memories of the night were strangely hazy despite him being pretty sure he hadn't drank any alcohol. 

Zarius narrows his eyes at the mention of harpies. He had some experience with the winged creatures and it was concerning to hear that there were some causing a raucous in the lands protected by the Witch of Moonglade. Perhaps he would have to seek her out and see if she was capable of driving off such a threat. 

He turns to Blue Raspberry. "Harpies are winged creatures with female humanoid faces. They're quite vicious."

The tiefling snorts a bit of a laugh at Cirice's comment about Veliky. "Miss Veliky's type of kindness if fairly unique. Just stay on her good side and you will be fine." 

For some reason the quarterling still tolerated him, which was odd. He thought for certain that bridge had been burned time and time again and yet...they kept meeting and working together. They weren't friends, at least he doesn't believe Veliky would ever call him that. She had been very clear about her dislike for him and his profession. Still, they had been through much together. It was a strange bond they shared.