The troubles of knowing yourself

Benny's Quest, Part 3

One week after the fall...
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Benny carried the little pouch in his mouth as he strolled through the town. By now the novelty of him being there had started to wear off, so he wasn't getting quite as many stares.

It hadn't taken too long to learn to speak Salmonid, all things considered. He already knew how to understand it, after all. The only real roadblock had been that Deco was a lousy teacher. And he'd been rushing because he wanted Benny out of his house. Which hadn't even happened, actually, because he realized he could utilize Benny as an errand boy, thereby allowing him to stay in his house with his 'egg' more often. He...was already a bit tired of it, honestly.

It really hadn't been too long that he'd been there, but he was consistently concerned every single time he had to leave that run-down shack. He hadn't been attacked, or even given the indication that he would be; but he'd heard too much about the tell-tale aggression of the Salmonid race to cast aside the idea entirely. He really wanted to leave this anxiety-town.

But he had no idea where he'd go if he did! Deco was just about the least reliable source of information one could find, that much he could tell. He wouldn't spill any details about the area surrounding the town. Most of the merchants in the town didn't seem much for small talk, and he was not going to try and start a conversation with some random passerby fish.

It didn't really matter anyway. Aside from the side of the town that bordered the mountain, everything else was water. And as an ink-based life form, he couldn't swim. And even as an Octocopter, his helmet was broken and all he had to protect himself was a metal pan. He wouldn't last a minute against whatever it was that shot him down in the first place, never mind Inklings. His best bet, as much as he hated it, was to remain in the village until Garratia showed up.

He shook himself out of his musings, remembering what he was doing in the first place. Deco had sent him to fetch something and by Cod he was going to do it so he could return to the relative safety of that shack.

It didn't take long to find the stall in question, but Benny almost missed the shopkeeper herself. It honestly still caught him off guard how small Smallfry were.

"Hey there, you're that poor Octo that Deco's holding captive, yeah?" She greeted, waving a fin.

And that Smallfry were an adult facet of Salmonids. That was weird too.

Benny set down the bag on the counter and grimaced. "I-is he? Aren't I just, uh, rooming with him?"

She gave him a sympathetic look. "Pal, tell me honestly. Would you rather be with another fish?"

He looked down. "...maybe."

She sighed. "That's what I thought. Anyway, what'd he send you for?"

"U-uh. I think he wanted...eels?" Benny replied tentatively.

The Smallfry nodded, turning around. "Hiko, get the eels ready!" She yelled behind her, and a meek reply was heard. She turned back around and smiled at the Octarian, pulling the bag he'd offered towards her. She loosened the string and peered inside. "Mmhm, that's enough for five, I'd say."

If Octarians didn't use Salmonid eggs as currency, Benny would've found it a lot weirder that the Salmonids themselves did the same. Then again, he imagined it was an entirely different thing to use your own eggs for something like that than to use someone else's. Ugh, the less he thought about it the better, probably.

She closed the bag and looked back at him. "You got here just in time for the first glowflies of the month, you know."