An 'Old' Lady walks down town!

One thing Flax had noticed recently was the fact that she had begun to lose her sense of taste. It had certainly been more muted since she'd began to play host for a shadow creature beyond her mind's comprehension, but recently, she had noticed her tastebuds growing duller by the day. Not that she really had much of a need to eat, either. She'd also begun to notice that the shadow's sustenance was her sustenance. When it was full, she was full. When it was hungry, she was hungry. She didn't particularly want to think about the deeper implications of this, though.

On this day, though, for the first time in what felt like forever, as Flax walked past some sort of ice cream parlor, she felt... A craving. Not for the energy of another living being, but for... Mint chocolate chip. It had been her favorite flavor of ice cream back on Konats. Surely they had it here as well? If not, then Earth cuisine truly was beyond redemption. So, Flax quietly slipped into the shoppe, idly looking around as she stood in line behind some purple-haired, confused woman. She didn't say anything as the woman loudly declared herself to be sixty years old, and then seemed to lack the concept of money. Clearly had a screw or two loose in her head.

Oddly, when Flax reached out with her senses to gauge what kind of creature this human-like woman was, she felt... Nothing. As if the woman wasn't even there. Flax frowned. Strange.

Finally, the 'old woman' paid for her treat, though her 'payment' had apparently been a bird feather of some kind, and the store clerk didn't know what the hell to do. Flax rolled her eyes. "Look, gimme a scoop of mint chocolate and I'll grab that lady so she can go get you your money," Flax offered. At least she was offering a service in exchange for the scoop, rather than some little trinket. It took a moment or two more of 'convincing,' but long story short, Flax walked out of the parlor with a scoop in her hand, and glanced around to find that confused woman. ...Ah, there she was.

Flax caught up to her quickly, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, grandma," she said, somewhat sarcastically, "You still need to go pay for that scoop. Feathers aren't legal tender here."

It had been... Some time since Flax had last felt the warm embrace of another person. And, as this complete stranger wrapped their arms around her, hugging her with all the heart and joy of a grandmother expressing their unconditional love for a true family member, Flax had to say... She had not missed this at all.

"Get-!" she began to say as she struggled to free herself from this insane woman's grip. Clearly, 'Grandma' was having some kind of identity crisis, or at the very least didn't have a clear idea of either who she was nor who she was speaking to. And what was with her calling Flax 'Lizzie'? What kind of name even was Lizzie? Some sort of Earthling name? Did this woman not notice the very plainly obvious pointed ears on the sides of Flax's head? 

Flax exhaled through her nostrils as she was released, and shook her head as she was offered a cone of ice cream. "That's-" she began in a harsh tone, then decided to start over more calmly. "...Thank you. But I already have my own ice cream. Anyway, you need to go and pay for..." she had begun to instruct the woman, then stopped and stared when the woman suddenly opened up a compartment of some kind from inside of her own wrist. ...Huh. Not something you saw every day. That may have explained why Flax was having such a hard time sensing the woman, though. She was a robot, apparently. And clearly a malfunctioning one.

"Okay, then," Flax mumbled to herself, before continuing more loudly, amidst the woman singing her praises, "Look, lady - if you're some kind of machine, then you're probably a broken one. I'm not Lizzie, and you're not my grandmother. My grandmother died like, ten years ago. And she wasn't a robot with purple hair. Nor was she white." Flax didn't know a damn thing about robot repair, though, nor did she know anybody who did. 

"Uhh... Listen," Flax stammered. Normally, she'd just wash her hands of a situation like this, but something about this woman's sheer level of apparent innocence made her feel... Bad? Almost bad, anyway. "Where did you come from? Is there somewhere I can take you to have you, uh, looked at? And maybe fixed? I can't imagine you're operating the way you're meant to..."