No Taste to Warped Reality (Pop)

@"Poptart"

It was the first time the black hole child had been to the beach, and already they absolutely loved it. The sand was fun and squishing under their leg tentacles, the sun was warm (although not quite as warm as their head tentacles), and there was food everywhere. Seriously, everywhere. There were a few people going around picking up trash, and they had cheerfully explained that they were getting rid of all the random people-made things that had been left behind.

They had been happy to have the kid's help until they realized that the child was just eating everything they picked up. Then there was a brief sit-down, a donated hot dog, and a lecture about things to eat (and also lots of questions about whether or not they felt okay, having just consumed several handfuls of assorted trash).

It was so hard being surrounded by things to eat and then suddenly being told that they couldn't eat any of it. They'd stayed under the umbrella where they'd been put for a while, but as soon as the clean up crew had moved on they bounded right back across the sand for a patch that hadn't been cleaned yet -

only to run face-first into someone. Well, their legs. The black hole child might be able to eat a large vehicle in under a minute but they were still only three feet high and change. They also were not very heavy at all and even running flat-out on five tentacles (which were not as good in loose sand as on hard ground), they didn't pack much of a wallop.

Of all things, the child did not expect the person they bumped into to be familiar, especially in such a vague, unknowable sense. They hadn't met anyone who felt like that ever before; even the familiarity of their mother was something different.

AND THE PERSON THEY RAN INTO HAD TENTACLES TOO! The black hole child immediately started waving their head tentacles, all glowy warm red with their restrained starfire, and twined right onto the extended black tentacles.

"They'd have to have sharper teeth than me," they said cheerfully, giggling a little bit. "I'm super super tough. I can't even cut me! Plus I can eat anything so all I'd have to do is catch them."

@"Poptart"

The black hole child beamed up at the much bigger, much older eldritch creature. "I don't rip with my teeth," they said sweetly, swishing around on their leg tentacles, "I rip with my face!" They stretched their jagged mouth wide to show off the jaggedness, and then casually chewed on a super-squishy head tentacle. The tentacle mushed around the impossibly sharp edges and needle teeth, stretching thin enough to seem clear rather than starlit. As soon as they opened their mouth again, though, the tentacle sprang back into its usual shape and returned to idly waving around, completely unmarked.

"This place isn't dangerous," the child said dismissively. "And my mom isn't here. If she were, she'd eat everyone before I could even say hi! She's a whole black hole, I'm just half." Unconcerned with the warnings and whatnot, they latched a few tentacles around Algrogath's leg and hugged him. "There are people here who give me stuff though! I mean, I'm still always hungry, but they're nice!"

@"Poptart"

@"Poptart"

The black hole child bounced happily, entirely unaware that Algrogath was simply being nice. Compliments were good! They knew that not all words were true, but surely these ones were!

"I don't know what happened to my dad." The child was far from sad at the thought; they'd had their mom! And Algrogath offered a tentacle! They were quick to latch onto it, using a tiny-tiny hand like they had been told, even if it was a tentacle they were holding. Something about some people not liking holding onto super warm things, and there was a lot of heat in their head tentacles. They even glowed in the dark!

"My mom's super nice! But she does eat everything that comes by." Wait - edible? THEY LIKED EDIBLE! "You'll get me food?" Even without the vibrating, the child's excitement was about as clear as a flailing llama.

@"Poptart"

"I've seen wallets! But I'm just a kid and the school says the cafeteria gives me plenty of food, only they kick me out after a few minutes every day." They ooohed and aaaahed appropriately over the money and shiny cards, though. They had never seen so much in one place!

The sheer amount of food items Algrogath was putting in the cart amazed them too. No one had ever done anything like it! Just stuff from everywhere! All of it! All the stuff!

And as soon as they had permission, the black hole child swarmed up the side of the cart (they were short, okay?) and crawled into the pile with a little squeak of sheer, unrestrained joy. And then started eating things by the package, never even imagining that they should be opening things and eating the food items piece by piece.