More Than Two Words

Darenn was with Professor Gertrude. Darenn looked at her from the corner of his eye and started to observe her, remembering the permission he asked from his Summoner if it is okay to go with the professor. 

The Professor had a gentle smile on her face as both of them continued walking towards a tent, quite far from the entrance of the Stygian Forest.

As an earth familiar, one trait that Darenn has is to determine the aura of other people. If their aura is generally calm, giving off a light and happy feel at the same time, the person is generally god. 

But if he sensed that the other person usually has a raging aura, he often generalized them as people who have a bad attitude. 

This is why he only saw Zann as an acquaintance, and nothing more. 

"Now then!"

Darenn snapped out of his thoughts as they were both already in front of the tent, Professor Gertrude, looking up at him as she gestured at the entrance of the tent. 

"We enter here, and you can write here as much as you want," she said, Darenn, cocking his head to the side. 

"Here, write?"

"Yes~!" Professor Gertrude nodded at his two-worded question. "Since it is silent here, you can write as much as you want with little distractions. Quite good, no?"

Darenn gave Professor Gertrude a smile. He sensed that he could trust this woman so he didn't hesitate to be gentle around her, nodding as he asked another question. 

"What write?"

"Well..."

Professor Gertrude trailed off, contemplating for a while before giving him the answer that he needed.

"You can start by telling who you are--where you're from, and how long you stayed in the cave, why you're there... a lot of questions, really!"

"I see..."

Darenn nodded as he entered the tent, looking at the surroundings. He started to furrow his brows as he realized that he had not kept up with the times, a lot of unfamiliar gadgets found around them that were not present during his time. 

"Weird box," he commented, pointing at the phone on the table, making Professor Gertrude giggle a little before explaining to Darenn what it is. 

"Oh, that, deary, is a mobile phone!"

Darenn cocked his head to the side, "Mobile phone?"

"Correct!"

Professor Gertrude quickly went to the table to get the mobile phone. It was actually one of the academy's official smartphones for them to directly communicate with the staff and offices present in the school. 

"You see, nowadays, people use this to communicate with other people!"

Darenn raised a brow at her, "No pigeons?"

"Oh, deary!" Professor Gertrude giggled again, "That is obsolete! This is quicker already! You can also communicate while you see each other's faces! And you can use this to search about a lot of things, too!" 

Darenn found his head throbbing. With all the unfamiliar terms he was told along with its concepts, he knitted his brows together, especially being told that a weird, thin box can search a lot of things. 

"Dangerous thing."

"Oh, no, no! It's not dangerous--don't worry!"

Almost forgetting about the reason why they are in the tent in the first place, Professor Gertrude led Darenn back to their objective, putting the phone aside. 

"You will learn about these things soon. For now, I want you to focus and put into writing everything that I asked you, Darenn. If you're lost, you can call my attention and ask for concerns. Okay?"

Darenn nodded, already sitting down on the chair that made him look more like a giant. 

"Alright then."

Professor Gertrude made way to the mini-fridge and icebox present in the tent and asked, "Do you want to have snacks while you're eating?"

Darenn nodded as he picked up the quill at the side and dipped it in ink before writing on the paper before him and answered, "Yes, thanks."

Professor Gertrude smiled as she got a tub of ice cream from the fridge. She got some and put it in a small bowl, putting some small blueberries at the same time, and served it on the table Darenn's using. 

Professor Gertrude sat on the couch which is a meter away from Darenn. She watched the familiar write on the paper, her eyes doing a quick scan as a smile crept on her face.

She couldn't help but feel excited about the information that they are about to learn from him. Since he came from the old civilization, the information that he knew could be of help to them especially in continuing to update the history books. 

Snapping her away from her thoughts, Darenn got the small bowl of ice cream and started eating it as he thought to himself what to write next. 

Not containing her excitement further, Professor Gertrude cleared her throat, getting Darenn's attention as she asked him a question. 

"Tell me, Darenn... what is the old civilization like?"

Darenn blinked his eyes a few times and answered, "Like name."

Professor Gertrude knitted her brows together in wonder, "What do you mean?"

Darenn shrugged, "Civilization. Old."

"Ah..." 

Professor Gertrude's eyebrow twitched, realizing that Darenn meant that the old civilization is like what the name suggested.

Old.

Standing up and coming up with an idea at the same time, Darenn looked up at her as he watched her go towards the icebox, getting a bottle of an unfamiliar drink before him. 

"Do you like juice?" Professor Gertrude asked, making Darenn nod as he felt that he was thirsty. 

"Okay! Thanks!"

Getting the bottle opener at the side, Professor Gertrude took off the cap, extending her arm towards Darenn to give him the drink. 

"This juice is called Smirnoff! I heard that if you drink two bottles of this in one go, you can get pretty energetic!"

Darenn smiled as he got the bottle from the professor. Without saying a word, he started chugging it down, the professor opening the second bottle and giving it to him the moment he finished the first. 

Professor Gertrude watched him as he started to down the second bottle of Smirnoff. After a minute, Darenn's face started turning red, a cheeky grin appearing on his face as he looked at the professor with a happy face. 

"So..." The professor trailed off, satisfied with his reaction. "How was it, Darenn?"

"It's delicious! I like it!"

'Five words... finally, he spoke more than two words!'

"Great!" She exclaimed, "Now, tell me everything, Darenn!"

Smiling, Professor Gertrude sat on the chair beside him, crossing her leg over the other as she started a conversation with Darenn now that her assumption proved true. 

Darenn can speak more than two words with the help of alcohol, and Professor Gertrude's actions showed that she was proud of herself for proving her hypothesis.