Arrona didn’t move to touch the coat until he was gone, a bout of odd anxiety keeping her from doing so. However, by the time he returned, she was huddled up against the dumpster and using the thing like a blanket. Smell hardly mattered to her—Arrona figured that she may be a bit smelly herself, considering the situation.
A bit of a soft gasp served as a greeting when he turned up, young girl quickly moving to a more manageable position. She hardly heard what he said, much more focused on all of the goodies he had brought back for… Her. She was quick to snatch the water bottle and tear the lid off, and then continue to down the liquid at a concerning pace. It has been weeks since she has had access to clean water.
As things were being set down, Arrona was pulling them towards herself just as quickly. She feared that she would run out of time, or perhaps this gentle man would change his mind about letting her eat if she wasn’t quick enough; a game that she has been a part of in the past way too many times.
She glanced at her hands, which were caked in dirt and whatever else, before continuing to wipe all the grime off of them. That was probably a good idea– at this point, she has stopped caring about being sanitary despite her discomfort with all of this muck.
After that Arrona wasted no time in tearing into the chicken, tossing the plastic top and yanking one of the limbs off to scarf it down. She would surely get a stomachache from eating so much too quickly, but she would be damned if she slowed down. It was delicious, better than anything she’s been able to eat in the past month for sure.
For a hot minute she forgot about Ghoul’s presence completely, hyperfixated on the chicken. It was when she remembered the word treat that Arrona realized he was still there. Startled at first, she jumped and then looked up at him with a little smile. Though she was convinced that she may explode, the cookies were still on her mind—she motioned towards them.
She was starving. Poor thing. Ghoul’s heart just melted at the sight of this sweet child.
“Slow it down,” He said quietly, sitting across from her as she devoured all she could. “There’s no need to rush, I won’t take it away.” She could eat all she liked, but probably slower so she didn’t puke it all up after she finished.
“You do have a sweet tooth, don’t you?” Ghoul chuckled before setting the packet next to here. “There you go now, take it slow. I can find you more cookies later too. Maybe even get some of my friend’s homemade ones.” Nothing could beat Megan’s baking.
“Do you feel any better after all that? I did manage to scrape up enough cash to probably get a motel room for you. That, of course, depends on what you want to do. We need to get you someplace to stay for the night so you can get cleaned up and have some sleep. But I understand if you’re still not sure if you can trust me.”
She had likely learned the hard way how you couldn’t trust strangers to not be monsters.