PMD: Crux of the Self

Comment dit-on Salandit

"Bonjour." Von concentrated on the way his mouth moved. The rigidity of his scales no longer had the flexibility of his old human lips, yet he could form different sounds from the hisses that slithered over his tongue. The noises he made he could still shape into different words, though as he tried his best to focus on what noises he was actually making, his brain only reflected his words back at him verbatim. "Bonjour. Hello." He closed his eyes and focused as hard as he could on the movements his tongue made. The physical differences of his pronunciation between his French and English greetings were nonexistent. "Je m'appelle Devon. But you can call me Von."

He sighed and rolled over on the bed of beach grass. They sure have been gone a while. Left idle too long, he stood and stretched. There wasn't much to explore in the tiny den aside from the alcove that pair hosting him used to store food. Restless and curious, Von crawled over to the indent in the earth. The rudimentary shelving held a sparse amount of dried fruits and a handful of nuts, all of which he recognized by the faint amount of light that filtered into the burrow, but what captured his curiosity was a pair of alien fruit. Von estimated they were the same size as tangerines, though their dimpled skin was a deep blue.

"Don't tell me you're still hungry."

Von jumped in surprise. "Rockruff! No, not hungry, just exploring. You'd be impressed to learn I've explored every inch of this burrow."

"Impressed? Maybe. What's an inch?" Rockruff strode over to join him at the alcove. Von noticed she looked more relaxed after her talk with Ren, and her concern was once more focused on him.

Right. Human terminology will only make me stand out. "Ah, it's a unit of measurement where I'm from." He cast another glance around the small burrow's interior. "Say, how large would you say the burrow is?"

"Ten strides."

"So a stride would be..." Von turned and carefully moved away from the alcove. After a rough visual estimate of the burrow, he placed his right claw on the firm clay floor and extended his tail to touch the curved wall. "So one length would be from the wall to my claw, right?"

"Roughly, yes." Rockruff looked almost as curious as he felt.

Just a little under a foot. That shouldn't be hard to adapt to. Satisfied, Von relaxed his posture. He still had so many unanswered questions, but at least the company he found had been patient with him. Oh, I should try this before I forget. "Où est Ren?"

"He went to the night market to see if there was anything we could use on our journey."

I guess English and high school level French sound the same to her. "I thought the town was dangerous."

"Only to those who don't know what they're doing. Ren and I can handle ourselves." Rockruff's chest swelled with pride. "We're seasoned Researchers. You don't get to our age in the guild without knowing how to defend yourself."

Von tapped a claw to his chin. "May I ask what age you are?" Both Ren and Kaia looked like puppies to him, given their cutesy features and proportionately large heads.

"Fifteen seasons with family, two seasons of guild work, two seasons in the Cay." Nineteen!? Von expected no more than a quarter of that, given the lifespan of canines back home. "What's that look for?"

Von's shock must have shown on his face. He faltered for a moment as he tried to course correct. He didn't anticipate anyone would appreciate being told they were defying their life expectancy. "Sorry, I'm sorry. I've never talked to anyone outside of my own species before. Humans are.. were? A very insular species. Language worked different. We could barely even talk to each other."