Prefacing something with the fact that it was a lie doesn't usually bode well. So while Blue fumbles around through their story, Astrid just stands there and listens to them. Her face occasionally twists into a weird expression while she tries to process things, but she doesn't interrupt. In fact, at this moment, she tries to imagine how Cantio would react to her babbling, and in some aspects, she tries to imitate him. So she just lets Blue Raspberry finish their story before she looks at them, blinks a couple of times, then lets out a pent-up breath. 

"Oh."

Her head rolls around slightly while she tries to put words together. "Okay, um... Wow, that was a lot. Alright." She's not really mad about this information coming to light now. Things were quite different when they first met. It made sense that Blue didn't trust her as much at the time. In fact, she's pretty happy to know they trust her with this information now.

Astrid looks at Blue, seeing the guilty expression on their face. "Well, ya didn't know much better at the time, and it's been a while, right? I... don't s'pose it's..." She trails off.

What are they even supposed to do in this situation? Maybe she should go get Cantio...

"Wait, why was there a corpse with some armor in the sewer of Sol City??" she asks suddenly. That's a very concerning piece of information, actually. 

Blue Raspberry shrugged. They really hadn't been as smart then as they were now, comparatively speaking. They hadn't questioned at all why a knight's corpse might be in the sewer in a full suit of armor with a big pouch of coin and the deed to their house at the time. They had just been excited for a large meal and then took the opportunity to slip into the armor and walk around on the surface. But, now that they thought about it, that was probably a question that should have been asked.

"I dunno.... I never thought about it. I just ate everything I found except this armor. It was way tastier than anything else I ate in the sewer. The corpse was nice and fresh too." Blue Raspberry said, smiling as they remembered before realizing they shouldn't be saying something like that. "Sorry! I know I shouldn't eat people unless they're big jerks! But, that guy was already dead and I hadn't met you yet, so, uh..." they trailed off, looking away from Astrid.

As they avoided eye contact, they looked at all the boxes of stuff still scattered around the room and thought of a good way to change the subject. They also just wanted to help out. They'd been invited to live here, but hadn't actually helped with the place at all, so they felt a little guilty.

"You want me to help unpack all this stuff? I want to help out. I'd feel guilty if I didn't help at all since I'm gonna live here."

It was...fresh? Are they really going to just move past that point? Blue didn't kill them, so what did? They probably won't ever know at this point, and who knows how long ago that was. She supposes it doesn't particularly matter now, and Blue feels at least a little sorry about it. Things are incredibly different. Heck, she's just invited her dear friend the ooze knight to live in her house with her and Cantio. 

With her attention drawn over to the still packed boxes, what few there are anyway, she considers. "Aye, we can finish unpackin'. Some of this stuff just kinda showed up here, so I don't really know what all we'll be pullin' out. Ya don't hafta feel bad though. Honestly, some of it's left in boxes 'cause we were kinda lazy." She says that with a jest in her voice and a smile. "We like a good project. Come on!" Waving Blue over, the two of them spend the rest of the afternoon unpacking various things from the scattered boxes around the living area. 

"Maybe next time we're in Sol City, we can look into that deed ya got. Betcha if the place is nice, we could make it a home away from home! Or a secret hideout! Or sell it and eat lots and lots of food ferever!" She laughs, throwing a bit of packing material into the air like plain confetti bits then plops down on the rug to let it shower over her. "Oh, I heard fer Winter's Crown, there's gonna be some interestin' stuff happenin' in Sol City. We could go check both of 'em out at the same time!" 

Blue Raspberry caught some of the falling bits of paper in their mouth like it was falling snow with a smile. They copied Astrid and sat down on the rug, their armor clanking, and leaned back on their arms.

"A secret base sounds cool! And the food, but I dunno if any amount of food would last forever with me, though!" they joked, but their statement was most likely true about the insatiable slime. "That sounds good to me!"

They were happy that Astrid had suggested the house be a hideout or something rather than saying Blue should just live there. They would have been really sad to be kicked out right after being invited to live here. They were relieved. But, another thought did occur to them as they thought about it. They looked away from Astrid, embarrassed.

"If I'd known that little piece of paper meant I had a house, maybe we coulda had a house a long time ago..." they muttered, but then smiled and looked at Astrid again. "But I bet that house won't be as nice as this one, right?"

Astrid contemplates that for a moment. She thinks back to the place she once called home, a small cottage in the mountains with her mother. It has some of the same rooms, just smaller and fewer in quantity. It's weird to think she lives in a place that's so much bigger, and for a little while, with only one other person. She's definitely glad to add someone else to fill it. 

There's a difference though: the atmosphere. This house, despite its size and emptiness, is warm. It's welcoming. When she comes home, Cantio is happy to have her around. That's a difference. That's what a home is. 

Astrid looks at Blue Raspberry. "Even if it were fancier, that don't make it a home. I think the people in a house make it a home. That's why I wanted ya ta stay here with us. Now it feels a bit more like home than before." She smiles a little, not a typical goofy grin, just a small, genuine smile that's content in the moment. 

Blue Raspberry didn't know what to say. They just smiled back, a small, genuinely happy smile just like Astrid's. They didn't know how homes worked, never having one before, but they were happy that they could make this one better. It was nice to feel wanted. They laid down on the floor in their armor, clanking as each piece touched the ground and shifted around. This suit of armor was probably the closest thing they'd ever had to a home, a thing they could belong in that let them feel less unwanted, but they'd never felt truly wanted before until they'd made friends with Astrid. But they'd messed that up immediately by running away as a giant wolf. They looked at Astrid with a guilty face again.

"Hey Astrid... I'm sorry I ran away when we first met... As Wolfey, I mean." they apologized, sitting up again.

The constant clanking of Blue Raspberry's armor is quite loud, but it also feels somewhat comforting and musical. She sits up when Blue lies down and absentmindedly rubs her finger over a little ding in the armor that catches her attention when the light hits it.

When they apologize, she stops, settling in the moment with a slightly furrowed brow. It's been a while since she's thought about that, and the apology catches her off guard, but it also pulls up some long-buried feelings she thought were long gone. There's a burning behind her eyes that she doesn't expect, and she blinks to pull herself back and process what Blue said. 

"Wha..?" she looks at them, a mix of emotions on her face hiding behind a confused smile. "How come yer apologizin' about that now?" Had they ever apologized before? Maybe not. Occasionally, she'd give the ooze a hard time about it, usually in jest, and usually about footing her with the bill for the furniture. But for leaving her behind? 

"I-I mean, it's not like I knew ya were an ooze person at the time or anythin'," Astrid says lightheartedly. Maybe that's the real reason she never held it against them and just moved on. Maybe she didn't really move on. "Guess I should've known better. What kinda wolf's big and blue and sticky and eats furniture and spits up necklaces?" Another joke to hide it. Really, it's not a big deal. Things are way better than before! 

"I kept it, ya know. The necklace. I mean- I still have it." She fishes the silver wolf head necklace out of her shirt and shows it to her ooze friend.

Blue Raspberry sat up and looked at the ding in their armor that Astrid was poking at. They should really take better care of this armor. Astrid would probably want to fix it later now that she's seen that. She'll probably want to check it or more, too. At least she seemed happy to do it. She really loved working on their armor.

"Hmm... I dunno. I guess it felt right. You said you wanted to fill this home with people you wanted around, and that meant me... So I just thought, I was sorry I didn't stick around then." Blue Raspberry spoke slowly, trying to figure out the right words to say what they were trying to say.

They smiled as Astrid showed them the necklace. "Actually, I still have something too!" They stood up, the blue ooze seeping out of their armor and swallowing it up so that Blue Raspberry stood there in their purely ooze form, a vaguely humanoid blue blob. They reached into their torso and pulled out three wooden chairs, placing them on the floor around them. "I still have the chairs I ate that day!"

Astrid's head tilts a little thoughtfully, and she looks at the wolf necklace dangling from the chain in her hand with a sheepish smile. "Thanks fer apologizin'. I'm glad I got ta meet ya again. An' well, I do want ya around! Yer me best friend now, an'..." Her words kind of fall away for a moment before she looks at Blue Raspberry. A bit of afternoon light from the window seems to catch the back side of Astrid's head, giving the girl a bit of a warm glow as her smile turns into a grin. "Yer me best friend, an' I love ya." 

She's quickly distracted by the fact that Blue stands up and absorbs their armor with a declaration that they, too, have a souvenir from the day they met. "Huh? What?" Astrid doesn't remember giving them anything that day. Suddenly, three wooden chairs come schlorping out of the ooze. There's a hanging moment in the air where all she can do is blink. Then, laughter takes over her, and she falls back on her back, laughing heartily. "Are those the chair from the diner?!" Astrid's legs kick in the air as another wave of giggles comes rushing out of her lungs. "Ya've had them this whole time?! I can't believe that! Yer too funny! Cantio's gonna get a kick outta this!" 

It takes a while for her laughter to subside, and she rolls over on her side to look at the chairs laid out in the living room before them. "Oh Avasha above, you are funny."

The blue blob just tilted what they had in place of a head in response to Astrid saying she loved them. They didn't know what that meant, but from the way she'd said it, it must be a nice thing.

They nodded enthusiastically once Astrid realized what these chairs were. "Uh-huh!" they replied, picking up one of the chairs to show it off excitedly. These chairs meant a lot to the ooze, even more than all the treasure and gold they'd eaten in all their adventuring. They had a lot of stuff from the bandit camp. The bandit's clothing, an armor stand, a whole bunch of treasure, but what they valued most was the stuff they'd eaten at the diner while sharing a meal with Astrid, like these chairs.

They didn't understand what Astrid was laughing about, but they didn't mind. She seemed really happy. But, they suddenly looked surprised and concerned.

"You're going to kick Cantio!? Why would you kick your da!? Because of the chairs!?"

Astrid's laughter becomes even more uproarious. "No, ya goofy ooze!" she hurgles. It takes a moment for her to recover, and she stifles giggles as she rolls on her side. "It's a phrase! If ya get a kick outta somethin', it means ya get a laugh outta it. I dunno why we say that, but that's what that means." 

Finally, she sits up, wiping joyous tears from her face. Astrid can't remember a time she ever laughed that hard in her life. She knows Blue Raspberry didn't intend for that to necessarily be funny, but it really just caught her so off guard. "The chairs are yer own souvenir of our first meetin', ain't they?" she asks. "We could set 'em up here if ya want. We'll need a chair fer ya at the table anyway, we will. What d'ya think of that?" 

"Ohh, I understand!" Blue Raspberry nodded along, not understanding anything.

"Yeah! My souvenir!" they agreed, having no idea what a souvenir is. Today was just full of new words for them that they'd have to ask about later. Home, love, souvenir. The list just kept growing in such a short time. "I think that sounds great! Where do we set them up? Oh! Should I out them in my room?"

Blue Raspberry had just been given their room and didn't have any of their own stuff in it yet. Maybe these chairs would be the first things they added! They had lots of stuff they might be able to put in their room stored inside them, but they weren't sure what they should place in there. If they put it in their room, they wouldn't have it with them anymore and they liked having a lot of their stuff with them in case they needed it. What if they really needed a chair!? They'd better keep the ones they ate from other places.

Maybe the ooze had a bit of a hoarding problem, but it shouldn't hurt anyone considering it was all just hoarded in their stomach, right? Maybe they could stand to leave some things in their room. Maybe they'd get some advice from Astrid. Or maybe they could get some advice from Cantio? Astrid always said he was really nice. He'd probably be willing to help the ooze decorate, right?

Sometimes Astrid thinks Blue Raspberry goes along with whatever she says and nods along as if they understand, but with the ooze, it's difficult to tell. That's okay, though. She doesn't think any less of them for their world unwiseness. They are an ooze still learning things, after all! 

"I was thinkin' we could set one of 'em up at the table over there," Astrid says, pointing towards the little table in the breakfast nook in the kitchen where currently there are only two chairs. "Yer welcome ta store the others in yer room if ya want. I think yer room is fer whatever ya really wanna do with it."

As she almost lets that thought go as is, she quickly backtracks. "Within reason. Speakin' of, we should set some ground rules. One, don't eat nothin' that didn't come outta yer stomach without askin' first. Two, don't go in the forge without me permission. Three, don't tell anyone where we live. Miss Veliky said there's some assassins after us or somethin'... Four, um..." She can't think of number four. "If I think of somethin' else, I'll tell ya. Alright?"

Astrid claps her hands, rubbing them together with an excited buzz. "Let's get ya set up! Then how about we surprise Cantio with dinner?"

"Okay!" Blue brought over one of the chairs to the little breakfast nook and set it down. They were going to just leave it there, but looked at the other two chairs neatly tucked under the table and slid their chair in to match them. The chair they'd brought was a bit different than the other two, clearly not part of whatever set these had come from, but that didn't matter to them. They were just happy to see it had somewhere it belonged.

They went back to Astrid and nodded along to her stating the rules for the ground.

"Mm, don't eat nothing out of my stomach mhm, don't go in the forge without your persimmon, don't tell assassins where Miss Veliky lives, and think of a fourth thing, got it! Let's go put these in my room!"

Without waiting for Astrid to respond, Blue Raspberry picked up bothof  the chairs and excitedly ran over to the door to their room, opening it and striding in. They placed the chairs carefully in the center of the room facing each other and stepped back to look at them, waiting for Astrid to arrive and see.

Well... That's not exactly right. None of that was really right. This might just turn into another situation like the Charybdis. 

"Maybe I'll just write it down fer ya," she mumbles, following after the ooze knight and peeking into the open room to see where they set the chairs. Directly in the middle. Interesting placement. It's kind of fun to see what Blue Raspberry thinks is ideal. Their mind works quite differently than hers in some aspects. Honestly, it's kind of entertaining. 

"Centered, huh? Alright, I like it! Yer first things in yer new room! How's it feel?" Astrid's eyes seem to sparkle. She remembers the first time she put something that she considered her own in her room. It had this finality to it. It was solid and made it feel real, to live in a house -no, to live in a home- with someone she cares about. She wonders if Blue Raspberry will feel the same way.