Figure Out Why Barbara Changed

Dave took another bite of his sandwich as he reread the instructions. "Maybe she's right... Maybe it was the water." Dave thought as he glanced over at Barbara. Barbara smiled at Dave and raised her eyebrows up and down. Dave chuckled and turned his attention back to the instructions. "I mean how else do you explain someone suddenly de-aging like that... Wait is de-aging even a word?" Dave took another bite of his sandwich. "It does say that she would tailor herself to my needs... But why now? Why all of the sudden?" Dave took his last bite of sandwich and turned his attention back to Barbara. "Question." Dave swallowed his last bite. "How long does it take you to tailor yourself to my needs?"

"Umm it depends..." Barbara paused in thought. "Most of the time it takes a bit of time for us to fully tailor ourselves to the person that rehydrates us."

"So it's gradual? Like a couple hours? Or more like a few days?" Dave asked.

"More like a few weeks..." Barbara responded.

"So then the whole ageing 15 years in reverse wasn't you tailoring yourself to me?" Dave asked as he got up from his chair.

"No." Barbara shook her head. "That was probably caused by the water." Barbara looked down at her more youthful body and then back up at Dave. "I can rehydrate myself with all sorts of water based liquids, but if the liquid is new or if it's not pure water then my rehydration process kind of gets... wonky? Is that the right word?" Barbara paused and scratched her head. "Anyways this is why the instructions have that warning at the end."

Dave picked the instructions back up from the table. "So you getting younger is an adverse reaction?"

"Umm... No..." Barbara said blushing. "I actually liked that a lot. I feel much less creaky now." Barbara cracked her neck and stretched her arms. "But yeah that is kind of what they mean."

"But why?" Dave asked tossing the instructions back on the table.

"Remember I don't know the why." Barbara said with a shrug. "I just know that I need to be careful what I drink, because random liquids can like trigger the part of me that adapts to my environment."

"So you are like a gremlin? I can't feed you after midnight?" Dave said smirking at his movie reference.

Barbara furrowed her brow. "No. Dave I'm a DPC not a gremlin..."