Gina peered at Miles inquiringly as he reacted to Gina’s reaction to the little green guy—oh no, little green guy couldn’t possibly be civil, what with the teeth, and the claws, and so on—

He looked over at Gina, the realization flitting across his face. Gina cracked a grin, and arched her eyebrows at him. Case-in-point, sir. They glanced back towards the green-guy in unison and Gina gave a polite smile. He was probably just scared. Gina most certainly had been.

Miles took the reins on introductions, touching his hands to his chest, then gesturing to Gina as he spoke. Everything was exaggerated and slow, as if he were addressing a sloth. He then asked the little green guy who he was. The green guys’ ears twitched, and he answered the inquiry with an abrupt, “Guglin.”

He gave Gina a wave and a brief “hello” and dealt the same acknowledgement to Miles, also known as “ill boy”. Gina chuckled. Well, Guglin had told him. He pursued a piece of toast, and Gina took the opportunity to take a seat in the doorway, bringing herself more to the green man’s level.

“Nice to meet you, Guglin,” Gina said fluidly, curling her tail around her legs, “Sorry for the scare. I thought you were a real… well, just a statue.”

So the little guy could speak! He even understood basic hand waving and introductions! His name was Guglin but he had totally gotten Miles' name wrong when he introduced himself.

"No, no, not Illsboy" the teenager quickly corrected, ignoring where the little goblin had gone and misunderstood him. "I'm Myyyyyyyyy-illssss" he said, slower this time, so Guglin could get it right.

Gina sat and apologized for scaring the goblin, totally forgetting how he almost snapped off Miles' hand, but as she was telling him this and the green guy was grabbing the toast off the floor, Miles' mind and that annoying habit it had of looking at things from different angles suddenly struck and the boy realized something a bit on the shameful side.

Basically, Miles had been a bit of a douche.

It was clear that the little green man was not a savage beast or an animal, he was a mutant and a person, worthy of all the dignities that implied. When Miles arrived at the mansion, he was welcomed by Granny and offered cookies and warmth. His mind had been put at ease and he felt comfortable and respected, the way mutants should feel when welcomed by other mutants. Even his dog was offered food and when it was Miles' turn to properly welcome a fellow mutant in need to the mansion, regardless of how green or small or wild the poor fellow looked, what had he done?

He had offered him scraps! He had offered him garbage! Picked from the very trash can! Oh, and to top it all off, he not only offered half eaten food and even a fake apple to a fellow mutant, he had sprawled it all over the floor as well! Are you hungry little fella? Would you like a coat of microbes and dirt on your food? Here you go! For shame, Miles. For SHAAAAME!

"Uhm... Don't eat that!" he suddenly blurted, feeling guilty for what he had done and scrambling to pick up the fake apple and the half eaten core. And the toast? Who knew who had been eating that thing or how old it was and Guglin was now nibbling on it! He figured they could at least sit the mutant goblin properly on the table and maybe offer him some real food, so the boy stretched his hand, trying to reach the toast on Guglin's fingers. "You shouldn't be eating that, give it here" Miles said, offering no explanation whatsoever for his actions...

That was probably a mistake.

Ill boy stares at Guglin and repeated his name again. This time he did it even slower than before. But since that game was over, he just ignored him to focus on his next and most important task: to eat.

But just as Gug started to think he had gotten rid of the silly questions, the woman directed her words toward him once again to continue the difficult art of communication.
Although he was still a little skeptical, he knew that humans did introductions all the time. On several occasions he had even heard them talking alone for hours with their tellphones glued to their ears, so Guglin knew very well their obsession with words.
The little goblin stopped halfway to the delicious toast to listen more attentively as the woman tried to apologize for scaring him, which he would never admit had happened. Hunter pride.
Then the woman said something very interesting that caught his attention so strongly that he was willing to talk. "Statue?" His head tilted slightly strengthening the question.

The idea was so stupid that soon he was smiling happily showing all his teeth. "Me no statue." The goblin said as he shook his head in negation. Once confirmed his status of "no statue" and just for fun, he observed his own skin that looked as green as always. In contrast, the woman's skin was as gray as if it were stone, a fact that amused the creature even more. "You gray statue." He said confidently as he pointed his index finger toward the woman. "Me green."

Taking advantage of the moment of silence created after the talk, Guglin moved toward the precious toast. It was then that he noticed the man walking toward him, commanding him to left the toast there.
The goblin gave him a profound look of incomprehension that the man replied stretching his hand to steal the toast. Without wasting a single second, Guglin countered the attempted of robbery with a loud slap of his green hand to the pale human hand.

"Mine." The goblin said while jealously hiding the piece of bread away from the thief. But before he could put it in his mouth, the goblin deciphered the expression on his face. The man wanted the toast. Guglin stared at the toast, then at the man for a few seconds while trying to find out if the inanimate object was more important than that stranger. Finally he concluded that the human was more important... so very reluctantly he cut the toast in half. One half flew to his mouth where it was crushed under several teeth, the other half offered to the ill boy. "Me share." To prevent a possible denial, Guglin insisted one more time to dispel any doubt about his intention to share. "Eat."

“Well, you were a statue,” Gina murmured, putting emphasis on the past tense. He wasn’t now, but he had been, “You were a statue, like me, but then you changed.”

Gina chuckled at that—even though she wasn’t a statue, to say that she looked like one was very astute—she did look very much like a statue, spare the clothes and her hair and eyes.

The little green guy seemed perfectly content to eat the garbage—if he hadn’t been, he would have said something, right? Sure, it wasn’t ethical, but different mutants ate all sorts of different things. Apparently, this one ate whatever he could get his hands on.

Miles, however, seemed to find fault in the food that he’d offered the little guy, and quickly interjected as Guglin plucked up a piece of bread. Miles reached closer, requesting that Guglin give the bread to him (or more like, politely commanding him). This earned a slap to the hand and a sharp, “Mine!”

Gina silenced her chuckling to arch an eyebrow and quirk a smile, watching the interaction closely. Guglin tore the old toast in-half and offered the other portion to Miles, insisting that he eat it. Gina looked towards Miles with a barely-contained grin.

The slap to the hand came as a complete surprise since he sort of expected Guglin to easily surrender the toast in exchange for better, less dirty food; but apparently the little green man had no compunction to eat stuff from the floor as he quickly demonstrated by having his row of sharp teeth immediately chomp on his half of toast.

The other half, he was offering to Miles. Dirty, hours old toast with peanut butter on it. The boy didn't even remember when he threw the toast on the floor if it had landed with the butter side up or DOWN and peanut butter was sticky.

'Eat' the goblin had commanded and Miles timidly accepted the offering in his hand. He gave a questioning look to Gina and the girl was trying really hard not to laugh while downright killing a smile, yet she didn't say a peep! He felt so tempted to go 'oh no, ladies first' and snap his half so he could share it with Gina but the whole 'let's throw food on the floor and treat him like an animal' bit had been entirely his idea, not hers. He felt tempted to refuse, but he didn't know how Guglin would take it. Granted, he was small but who knows how he would take such an affront, and besides... he was a goblin and looked quite wild. They were kind of trying to make him feel comfortable and to trust them, right? How much would you trust someone who offers you food and refuses to eat it themselves? The goblin could think they had poisoned him or something.

Come on Miles, it's just a little dirt on toast. Big deal. Ten second rule and all that, except the toast had been more like five minutes on the floor while the goblin made up his mind to come out.

"Delicious, right?" Miles said unconvincingly as he looked at his toast, not really sure what parts were just bits of burnt, toasted bread and which were just dirt. "There's better food in the kitchen if you're hungry" he said, as he still contemplated his bread, with a goblin and a gargoyle just staring at him. Waiting. Looking some more. And waiting...

Miles opened his mouth and almost in slow motion he started putting the toast inside. His eyes closed, his neck instinctively moved back and his tongue recoiled. His mind had been thinking up strategies to cop out but they would likely lose whatever little trust they had managed to get from the newcomer and zero decent ideas came up. Miles teeth slooooowly closed down on the chewy, no longer crunchy toast, but he could feel the sandy texture of dirt all over the peanut butter. In fact, he felt something else, sticking to his tongue and the inside of his cheeks. His eyes opened wide as he immediately tucked two fingers in to pull it out.

It was a hair. Long, thin and straight. Thank God! Had it been short, thick and curly, he would have puked right then and there. He wiped his fingers with his pants and finished swallowing.

"Delishioush..." Miles lied with a face filled with disgust as he could almost hear his stomach going 'What the hell is THIS!? What did I ever do to you!?'. He immediately tried to stop any more offerings coming his way. "But really, you shouldn't be eating this when there's far better food in the kitchen" he said as he gestured Guglin and specially Gina towards the kitchen, only to remember he had scoured the place and nothing was actually done or served.

"I'm sure Gina can cook something good for us" he suggested non chalantly.

Even though he had already decided to share his toast with the human, delivering that delicious food was extremely difficult. On more than one occasion he felt like eating the other half but in the end Gug managed to control himself. The man had already admitted to want a piece. However, it was not his fault that the man wanted something he had given to him as a present, nor was his fault that that strange piece of bread was so peculiar, yet had such good taste. Still, Guglin obeyed his heart, putting aside his greedy stomach.

Once the toast was in his pale hands, the human began to observe the toast with an expression that could not mean anything but admiration. Pleased with himself for his good deed, Guglin followed with great attention every movement of the human, clearly waiting the ill boy to enjoy the meal as much as he did but the human continued watching the magnificence of the toast for a moment more and then asked a stupid question about its flavor that Guglin responded with a polite "Tasty."

After the tasting of that extraordinary delicacy that included a little surprise that the man could not help but show as if it were a trophy, he pointed again that the food from the kitchen was much better. Guglin´s always willing stomach immediately approved the proposal, but it was not until the reply reached his mind that the little goblin could verbalize their response. "Yes!" Cried the little creature with enthusiasm, then added "Gina cook me."

Although he did not know exactly where they were going, Guglin hastened to the door where the woman was waiting. Now that his attention was not focused on the toast but on the possible roasted rat that Gina would prepare, Guglin could worry again on the discussion he had ignored in favor of the small snack. He approached the woman with quick steps and once he was near her, he continued the conversation. "Never statue." He said with certainty, looking at his green skin as if that were the only evidence he needed to verify that claim. But when he tried to explain how he magically appeared in her arms, his memory failed to get a clear answer. Therefore, he tried to explain what he suspected. "Me changes places." But the explanation was not complete without a complicated word so he used one to explain his powers. "Suddenly." He pronounced that word as if it were a very difficult task, then smiled to himself, proud of his vast knowledge.

He ate the toast. He actually… ate… the toast. Gina showed a look of horror, but then the absurdity of the situation hit her, and a shrill, insane momentary giggle escaped her lips. He ate the toast! Gina quelled the giggle, still overcome by disbelief as Miles managed to fish out a hair and proposed, seemingly in the same breath, that Gina cook them food.

That almost made the gross toast seem more merciful. Gina’s cooking was atrocious, and offering her cooking not just to the creature that ate rotten toast like it was nothing, but to a boy who could get food poisoning from it was simply cruel and unusual punishment.

Guglin agreed that it was a fantastic idea to cook him, marching towards Gina before informing her that he was never a statue, but rather teleported. This answer seemed to suffice for the little green man, and Gina grinned slightly. He was like a child, convicted in his own truths even if they weren’t realities.

“Alright,” she agreed, nodding her head, “Never statue.”

She began to lead the way, making sure that the little guy was following with the occasional glance over her shoulder (not Miles… he should know where the kitchen was… little green guy didn’t). Gina meandered slowly towards the downstairs kitchen, and crossed the threshold into the room.

“What do you like?” she asked the green guy crisply, “Eggs? Ham? I could make you a breakfast sandwich.”

She didn’t slow down her speech, as Miles had, but she spoke with brief, concise sentences, and articulated her sentences.

Gina pulled the fridge open a little wider, rummaging for food. Maybe leftovers? All she’d have to do is microwave those.

“Or chicken?” Gina inquired, “Chocolate pudding?”

Don't you hate it when a good idea comes a wee bit too late?

He could have had Tinaker come and "accidentally" snatch the toast off his hand! Woopsie! My dog grabbed the toast and ate it! Darn! Gosh gee willikers! Bad dog!

Oh well, what was done, was done. This surely knocked off all the douche points he'd collected back to zero. The little green man was now following Gina as she started to mention the menu and the boy followed them both. Eggs and ham sounded nice, but what were the odds the goblin would want to share that?

Speaking of goblins... they didn't know anything about Guglin. He denied being a statue, which kind of made sense if he blacked out when he was turned into one, but... where had he come from? Did he have any family? Were goblins a real thing? Miles only knowledge about them came from books and videogames and guess what? They were never alone. They always came in groups, like a horde. From Lord of the Rings to Warhammer, these little guys were always numerous and plentyful. Would they actually regret feeding Guglin and then having him come back with mom, dad and 5,000 brothers ready to raid the fridge?

"Say, Guglin, do you have any friends or family?" Miles asked trying to be casual and hoping he had already gained his trust, at least enough for him to answer that. "...or are you on your own?"

Maybe he was looking too much into this. The real world was not like a fantasy videogame where goblins where ravenous little monsters ready to raid and... good lord, who was he trying to fool? This was already a fantasy videogame! Where else would you find a goblin, a gargoyle and a necromancer hanging out together!?

Since the woman seemed to know the way, the little goblin rushed to follow her footsteps closely. It was clear that her long legs gave her an advantage over the little creature that had to move his legs faster to avoid being left behind. Still that little exercise was a fair price for a free meal so Guglin observed silently at everything around them.

Considering he was walking very close to the humans, it was almost impossible for the little monster to see anything aside than their legs, so Guglin soon notice the big differences between these long legs and his shapely limbs. How could they walk with those things? Human’s legs were as long as his whole body, but that was not all, their pale limbs looked so fragile that it was difficult to understand how they did not break under the weight of their bodies. It was almost a miracle that they were standing...

While he was still contemplating these mysteries, they arrived to the kitchen and one by one they entered the large room. Gina was the first to enter the kitchen followed by Guglin, and she was also the first to break the silence. To her questions about eggs, ham and an exotic meal with sand Guglin replied silently by nodding energetically and smiling, while trying to remember and blend the flavors of each ingredient she mentioned. When the imaginary meal was created, she was already inspecting the deepest parts of that cold machine.

At the mention of chicken dipped in chocolate the little goblin centered his attention on Gina one more time, his ears pointed in her general direction while his yellow eyes fixed on her while he was still trying to find out if she was telling the truth. Did she say...? When he finished wondering if she was really going give him that delicate combination of flavors, the little monster raised his voice in a cry of triumph which also confirmed the daily menu. "Chocolate chicken!"

Guglin was so happy about the impending tasting that he did not even bother when the sick boy insisted on changing the subject. All he wanted to talk was that delicious combination but he still answered politely to his questions. To the first one, he replied with an accurate "Both." as he remembered his latest friend, Soot which also introduced him to Scora, lord of fire, but he also remembered his family. Her moose mother had a special place on his heart but there was also plenty of room for his slug father, his owl brother and his older brother with multiple eyes and ears. Unfortunately all of them were far away in the mountains, so in answer to his last question Guglin affirmed "On my own."

A slight sadness descended over his heart as he remembered his family and the mountains where he grew up, but fortunately another memory of his parents bring him back to reality. These two humans were being too nice to him for no particular reason and they did not seem to want to be separated from each other... exactly as his parents. The little monster tried to explore the idea quietly but curiosity soon grew so much that Guglin finally verbalized his suspicions. "You two married?"

While Gina went scouring for food, Miles made conversation, which Gina remained politely uninvolved in. Sometimes, friends and family were tricky subjects for visibly mutated. Quite often, they ran off or were disowned. It was rarely ever a happy conversation. But, as Miles opted to ask it, Gina listened.

The goblin loudly proclaimed that he wanted chocolate chicken, and Gina giggled. Okay.

“Chocolate chicken, it is,” Gina agreed, grinning mischeviously, “And you, Miles? Chocolate chicken?”

Gina fished out the bag of chicken, and a few pudding cups, as well as a bowl. She left the cabinet door open, lest the treat pleased the boy’s palate as well as the goblins. Gina went to wash her hands off in the sink, before returning to prepare the food. She first went after the pudding, peeling off the lid and dumping it into the bowl.

“Do you want the chicken with the chocolate, or do you want to add it on your own?” Gina inquired.

Guglin answered Gina’s question with one of his own, and Gina laughed.

“Oh, no,” Gina answered smoothly, “We are classmates. You’re at a school.”

Gina gave a humored tail-flick, fishing a knife out of the drawer and cutting the chicken into manageable strips for the goblin, “Besides which, I’ve already got a boyfriend. He probably wouldn’t be happy if he found out that I married a man I’d just met.”

Chocolate chicken? Was he serious? Why? I mean sure, both were delicious... specially when they were on separate plates, but together? Chocolate pudding over fried chicken!? What kind of weird, crazy craving was that? Was Guglin pregnant or something?

Gina accomodated him though, but she had a mischievous grin as she did so. When she asked him if he wanted the same, Miles opened his eyes wide, shrunk his mouth a little and slowly shook his head with a "Don't. You. Dare" expression on his face. Separate was the way he had always eaten both and that way it would remain.

"I'm fine with just the chicken, thank you very much" he said in polite fashion, the way Mama Haxton had taught him to be whenever anyone offered him food. He then approached the open cabinet as he thought up Guglin's answer to his question. 'Both'. Miles felt tempted to ask him 'How many of both?' but that would seem like he was intruding a bit too much and when the goblin said he was on his own, it pretty much laid to rest any fears of getting invaded by a goblin horde.

The boy grabbed a bottle of water from the cabinet, opened it and started chugging it to try and swallow the toast remnants still in his mouth when Guglin asked his next question.

PFFFFT!!

Miles choked as Gina laughed at the goblin's query. They had just met! They were teenagers! Then again, from Guglin's point of view, everyone must seem like an adult to him. She quickly pointed out his error and the boy just nodded in agreement as he now tried to dry some wet spots on his t-shirt with a paper towel. She also pointed out she had a boyfriend but he couldn't nod to that at all. He was pretty much single and until he figured out some of the intricacies of his mutation, that was the safest way for him and for any future grilfriends to be.

"No girlfriend for me yet" he said flat out, maybe with a tinge of regret, but since the Goblin had been so forward with his line of questioning, Miles figured he could do the same.

"What about you, if you don't mind my asking? Any cute gobliness around? What's your story anyway?"

Once the ill boy stopped asking unimportant question, Guglin could focus one more time on the girl that continued preparing her famous gourmet dish. For the little goblin whose meals always ended in a mess of dirt, grass and sometimes blood, the orderly way in which she was preparing the food was almost a work of art. Of course, sometimes his food was a little more alive than the one Gina was manipulating yet her culinary skills exceeded his clumsy abilities. So the little green monster continued to observe with great attention in an attempt to learn something from her.

The next question was really interesting and difficult too. He could eat it delicately as a gentlemen or submerging his hand in that delicious chocolate and enjoy it even more. It was the most difficult question he needed to answer that day and he was eager to answer it but he needed to verbalize a question of his own.
The responses triggered by his question were not what he expected. She denied it instantly, amused by the strange occurrence while the man preferred to spit water like a fountain. In turn, Guglin stared at the married couple that apparently was not a married while trying to figure if it would be polite to spit water as well. It seemed like a lot of fun to him.

But before Guglin could ask why they were not married when it was clear they were a couple, the woman hastened to add more details. Upon hearing about the existence of her boyfriend that was not the ill boy; the little goblin instantly imagined a person with gray skin, wings and tail. Exactly like her. "Statue boyfriend?" He asked curiously while still imagining two statues as gray as stone walking in the park.

In contrast, the ill boy admitted to be alone. That fact awakened a hint of depression on the man and sympathy inside the green goblin, so he decided to take responsibility by answering his questions. To the first question about a cute-something thing that surely was another word for "couple", the small Guglin responded with a sincere "I'm too young." that in his opinion responded in detail why he did not have a girlfriend. The next question, highly abstract, was much more difficult to answer so Guglin started to explain where he came from. "Live in park." He commented cheerfully, hoping his smile full of sharp teeth will cheer up the boy. "The big one."

Gina still grinned devilishly as Miles politely declined the offer in exchange for straight-chicken, but transitioned to a more outward laughter as Miles choked at the inquiry. She wasn’t laughing because he was choking—no, never because of that—she laughed because that had been his reaction to being asked if they were together. He was so embarrassed, and Gina was more flattered and amused than much yet. Yet he turned the question right back towards the goblin while Gina prepared the food. She diced the chicken up and, when the bowl was half-full of chicken, she poured chocolate atop it. Not exactly a cuisine that appealed to her, but if the little green guy wanted this, she’d give it to him.

>> "Statue boyfriend?"

“No, real boyfriend,” Gina corrected, “He’s got scales like a reptile. Fathomless black eyes.” Each of which Gina found beautiful and exotic, in their own rights—this admiration seeped into her tone, but she did not get any more detailed in fawning over the boy.

>> "I'm too young. Live in park. The big one."

In Gina’s mind, if one was too young for a girlfriend, they were most certainly too young to be living in a park. Central Park particularly—but how old Guglin was hard to discern, given his size and his face. You couldn’t use a human gauge, as with some mutants. She set the bowl of chicken and pudding in front of Guglin, and then went to prepare Miles chicken. She slid it out of the plastic baggie and onto a plate, then whisked it away to the microwave.

“Do you like living in the park?” Gina inquired, “Would you ever consider living inside?”

Lord, that's one hell of a creepy smile.

The goblin gave succinct answers to Miles' questions, showing all of his pointy teeth by the end. He mentioned he was young and homeless and had Gina talk to them about her boyfriend.

This was very curious. Miles had this misconception that mutants who wore their 'gift' 24/7 probably led shunned lives, with others clearly knowing they were mutants and likely being mean to them, at least those who had an anti-mutant agenda. He also imagined them not having much of a love life since people were superficial and having good looks was the hook that brought couples together, but then here was Gina, smashing those beliefs away. Reptilian scales with fathomless black eyes? The boy smiled. Just listening to her tell it and it was obvious she was in love. It felt really good and it was downright uplifting to see that love triumphed past looks, past mutations and past the bigotry and hatred other people had for mutants. For love was the most powerful of emotions, the engine that drove people to do selfless acts and overcome fear, pain or...

Ding!

Ah, good! Chicken's done.

Biting on delicious, dirt-less, chocolate-less chicken, Miles tried to push Gina's question slash suggestion through. He still wasn't so sure that having a goblin living in the mansion was safe, but the place was supposed to be a haven for mutants. Hell, his own powers were far darker and still outside of his control and the mansion accepted him for school, so why not a little animalistic guy with razor sharp teeth?

"There are perks to living in a house, Guglin" he said. "There's other people looking after you and you can have friends and food and you could even study! So in the future you could graduate and become..." he paused, as his mind drew a blank, trying to grasp a profession Guglin could go for.

"... a smarter goblin" he finished.

The few words the girl used to describe her boyfriend were really revealing for the little goblin that until then had been imagining a gray-skinned person with horns and wings, just like her. He even had the mental image of the strange couple pretending to be statues to scare people or to escape from problems.
But after the mention of his status as "reptile", Guglin was unable to picture him as more than one of those tiny green reptiles that he used to hunt and cook. Fortunately the strange way she described his eyes achieved to distract Guglin enough for him to forget to mention the different ways to cook a lizard he knew.

After several years of climbing trees and other objects designed for taller people, the little goblin had no problem climbing into the chair. His reward was a bowl of chicken dipped in chocolate. Once the delicious food was close enough, Guglin introduced one of his hands in the sweet substance to look for the chicken pieces that where hidden under the chocolate pudding.
A moment later, the little goblin removed the first piece of chicken soaked in chocolate and then he put in his mouth to suck all the peculiar sauce before swallowing the piece of chicken without chewing at all.

With a bit of food in his stomach and the delicious taste created by the chicken and chocolate still dancing inside his mouth, Guglin started to consider her question but as much as he liked the speed in which that box cooked food, or the magic door that produced food... Guglin could still not imagine how it will be to live there all the time, away from the trees and the lake, or his animal friends. Being in the park was almost like being in the mountains again, surrounded by his family... while living in a house brought back memories of that year with his human father.

The first question was very simple so Guglin tried to reply in the same way. "Me love park." He said with a smile. The next question was a bit more difficult, but after considering some of the problems of living in a house, the little monster replied "Inside is boring."
But while he was still trying to make an objective comparison of both places, the boy expanded Gina´s idea, adding several interesting details. "What you study?" Guglin asked with curiosity. Maybe there was something interesting to learn there as learning how to light fires or build weapons and traps. Were the two of them learning to hunt? If so, he could help them to repay them for the food. "Me good hunter."