Imagine talking animals

A/N NOTICE:

Greetings readers! Is anyone actually caught up to the current chapter? If so then please leave a comment! if there are some of you that are current then I'll release some more chapters with frequency.

Chapter twenty-six

Kagu has been following me around all day. He doesn't say anything, he just follows. I'd ask him why but again I'm hesitant because it's embarrassing to sound like an idiot. I've always been this super-intelligent child and so I guess I've gotten used to that narrative? Meh. After I finished reading that bit from the history book I decided to go find Isaea in order to actually practice my Highland Beastkin, but since Kagu has been following me I've just been wandering around on the lower plateaus. It's been pretty spacious down here as there has hardly been anyone around. I guess having two fleshy creatures around is more than enough for the Fairies of the tower to steer clear. Suits me just fine honestly. I don't care much for the stares.

I looked down at my feet as I hopped from square to square of the floor's tiles. They were marble tiles with intricate triangular patterns engraved on the top of each of em. Each one detailed this woman in the center of the triangle that had lines, which I presumed to be a representation of some energy, coming to form a smaller triangle around her. I wondered if it was some great historical figure or simply a representation of the Abyss Fairies culture. From what I've seen in my time spent here, they really had a vibrant sense of self. The level of expression I've seen in the mediums of art has been nothing short of astonishing. It's pretty amazing to be able to even recognize that to be the case I think.

I wonder what my life would be like if I didn't have this enhanced base of knowledge and comprehension to aid me…

I raise my gaze and look at the environment around me. Multiple aqueducts ran down from the main tower, hanging over sprawling wildlife with smaller buildings dotting the horizon. It always amazed me for some reason. Looking back into the memories from my previous life I've been able to see wondrous architecture, but all that lacks a certain… realness? Majesty as well. Makes me really appreciate that I ended up here.

I stopped in my favorite grove and sat on the ground, leaning back on my hands. Kagu looked around himself before taking a seat on a small boulder. I turned my eyes up to the false sky as I waited for my animal friends to come out. The two of us sat in silence for a little over a minute before various little critters came out of their hidey holes. There were all kinds. Two of them I had personally taken to so much that I gave them names. I figured that I had plenty of complicated things in my life and so chose to give them simple names. The first was a red-furred raccoon with a spotted tail I decided to call Firian. He was particularly special since he was the first creature that had come to me when I had started coming to this grove two years ago. After him, the rest of the animals seemed to warm up to me and so came over. I like to think it's because they got jelly of Firian since I cuddled and gave him lots of love that they started to come around.

The second one isn't exactly small, but I still affectionately refer to him as critter since I think he too is a cutie. Panda's name is Panda. After Firian he was like the fifth animal to come hang out. One may be thinking "Why did he get a name and not the others?". The answer is simple. I like bears, especially pandas. Special thing about him though is that he is actually really big. I've only ever seen him stand on his hind legs once, but I'm pretty sure that he was at least ten or eleven feet tall. So that would make him, like, a super panda. I'm all for it personally! Especially since he is super fluffy. I can already feel the softness of his fur.

Hehe well, I guess that is because I'm leaning on him. We're like a big cuddle sandwich right now.

"This is the best, don't you guys agree?" I asked nobody in particular. I didn't think that they could understand what I was saying, but unexpectedly, my ears were met with pleasant surprise.

Two voices call out simultaneously in response.

"Yeah this is pretty nice isn't it?" Said the smaller high pitch voice, coming from my lap. That was probably Firian.

"It sure is nice after a hardy meal! My belly always gets so chubby so having this little person here does wonders for my digestion!". That voice was considerably deeper and came from directly behind me so I'm just gonna assume that that was actually Panda. His voice is a bit sluggish and dopey, but I don't dislike that at all.

Hiding my mild surprise, I looked down at Firian who was currently resting in my lap with his eyes closed, and lightly flicked his ear.

"I didn't know you guys could talk."

Firian's ear twitched at the slight stimulation though otherwise, he remained unmoving.

Had they not heard me?

"Hello…?"

"Would you pipe down a bit? It's not like it's surprising that we're able to speak or anything." Said the small voice of Firian.

"That's a bit cheeky for our first conversation, don't you think?"

"I don't think so. We come here because you're usually nice and you don't cause much of a ruckus as the gem people do."

Gem people? What does he mean by that? I should ask.

"Who are the Gem people?"

Firian's tail floofed about nearly smacking me in the face with its fluffiness as he responded to me.

"It's them walkin' rocks! Gems are just particularly pretty rocks y'know? The Grand Magus and all the denizens here. Them. They're nice to be around but they hardly spend time in our glades since they're often too preoccupied with their many and varied purposes.

I nodded in understanding with closed eyes, running my fingers along his back, scritching tufts of his fur occasionally as I came across them. He could really use a bath.

"They come around here? Well of course they do, but what I mean is that they used to actually relax in the glades?"

Panda's loud voice startled me as he picked up the open-ended question.

"Well once upon a time they sure did."

Firian interjected with his own thoughts after Panda finished speaking.

"Yeah, but that was a looong time ago. Many years before the great split."

"The great split?" I asked curiously.

Firian opened his eyes and looked at me before rolling them and laying his head back down.

"It was thousands of years ago. Don't worry about it."

I doubled over laughing, pulling Firian's small form into my embrace. Wheezing sounds came out as my hugging squeezed the air out of him.

"Who would've thought that you two were actually old geezers! You both look super young!"

I felt Panda's paws grip my shoulders as he lifted me clear up off the ground. He rolled onto his back and placed both me and Firian, who I was still holding, onto his belly. I could feel the beating of his heart pulsate from deep within him. The three of us laid there peacefully for a few hours, only sharing small bits with one another on how comfortable we were. In that time, a bunch of other animals came by and rested with us like usual.

"I guess they're done talking."

Whilst looking up into the false sky, I reached down and untethered my notebook from my belt and held it against my chest for a minute before deciding against writing another entry in it.

~It's probably too early~

~I guess I'll just enjoy the silence for a while longer before heading back…~

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Kagu's pov:

~I followed her because she seemed like an interesting person, but all she's really done so far was read and sleep. I mean, don't get me wrong. There is nothing at all wrong with that, but I'm an active kid, and reading and sleeping are about as opposite as the moon and sun! Still, I've followed her this far so I may as well finish out the day. I would be pretty sad if a friend just left without saying anything after all. Mother always told me to treat others kindly because I'm a bit bigger and stronger than most and I intend to do just that!~

With a look of self-satisfaction, Kagu shot both hands up in the air, letting himself fall back off the boulder. He fell down into a handstand, kicking off the boulder in a skillful display of his youth, landing on his feet. His tail danced in the air happily as he tilted his head to see around the boulder.

"Let's just see what she's doing now…"

Suzuka rested in what seemed to Kagu as complete serenity on top of the giant panda's stomach. The strangely discolored sun shone brightly against Suzuka's hair which sprawled out freely along the belly and sides of the panda complimenting her already foreign physique in a way that made his heartbeat just a tad faster. His eyes unconsciously dragged over her, observing how she was uncharacteristically fit, though still maintaining that feminine air that he often found in the woman of his heritage, like his mother. And though in that sense she was something familiar, in others she was captivating. Her skin was a reddish bronze which was exceedingly rare and she had those character-defining horns. He remembered something about people from a story his mother used to tell him when he was young that had horns just like her. In this tale, the horned people traveled the land and saw many things, and lived a life without ties.

"If I stick around her then maybe…" He uttered in a whispered tone.

He did not wish to disturb the scene. To him, she seemed the belle of the glade, untouchable and exotic. If Kagu had a concept of what beauty was, then surely he'd find the sight before him as such. An unknown tingling feeling trembled in his chest as he continued to look onward, relenting only after a deep exhalation. Though he still had a tinge of blush on his cheeks, he turned away from the living portrait.

It was in his pivot that he had been met with something that he was not at all prepared for.

Unknown to him, countless noisy little animals had snuck up behind him as he gazed at her. He paid little mind to any one individual of the bunch and instead spoke to the group of forest creatures as a whole.

"Are you perhaps… dinner?"

An old man's voice jumped out from within the forest animals' numbers in response to the boy's question.

"You're a million years too young to even think about hunting anyone of us here. You had better mind your manners around your elders, child."

The voice itself carried a hint of scorn or perhaps contempt in what would have otherwise been a celestial delivery of the common ceremonial tongue of the beastkin tribes. Even Kagu, who was a notorious dodger of academics, immediately recognized the language. His eyes grew wide as he curiously reached into the crowd of animals to where he had thought the voice had originated from.

"It surprises me how little the young ones remember-"

The flow of speech stopped as Kagu's large hands gripped around something. It felt moist and smooth to the touch and was small enough to be hoisted up out of the group with little effort on Kagu's part, though that doesn't speak to how heavy the creature would otherwise have been.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING! UNHAND ME THIS INSTANT." Yelled the tiny creature as it flailed around in Kagu's light grasp. It kicked its webbed feet out wildly as its legs repeatedly contracted and pressed outward. It was kicking with such force that you'd audibly hear the wind upturn if not for the creatures yelling.

Instead of releasing the creature as he had demanded, Kagu shamefully scurried away from behind the boulder. The frog was being waaay too loud to allow him to continue to be around Suzuka while she was… having a rest.

With a bit of haste, Kagu carried the horizontally slitted-eyed creature out of earshot from where the Horned one was. All the while, the frog was screaming all types of obscenities and nonsense as it was making it clear that it cared little for being handled in such a… crass manner.

"You still have yet to- WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH"

Kagu began to shake the green creature up and down violently in hopes to silence its roaring. He too was growing irritated.

"Would you give it a rest already? Couldn't you see that Suzuka was resting?"

Kagu waited expectantly for the little creature to respond but found that he could only hear his heartbeat.

~Did… I shake it too hard?~

Suddenly worried for the little critter, he set it on the ground and placed his lion ears against the creature's stomach.

"There's no heartbeat…"