Bestial Planet

Chapter 20: Breath/e

"Ugh." I suddenly remembered yesterday and the crowd of people still outside.

"What dude?" Nik asked with a mouth full of pumpkin.

I looked at him wishing I could go back to bed.

"Know everything."

Catty finished her breakfast and brought her plate to the cleaning area as Nik and I continued.

"Oh right - you've become the village elder." Nik said between bites.

"Oh come on, that makes me sound old. I'm only... how old am I again?"

Catty dropped her plate into the washer.

"You're 34 years old or like, 7-ish months, not counting your feral time."

I slumped to the floor, the rest of my food no longer looked appetizing.

"Why do I have to be Google for everyone?"

"Beats the shit outta me dude. Hey, does anyone else find it weird that we eat horse even though some people turned into horses?"

Silence fell over the room, even Vould was speechless. After a few seconds I tried to rationalize it.

"Well... human - horses are larger than normal ones, same with the rest of us and... well... Yeah it's pretty frickin weird."

"I'm a dragon so it doesn't bother me."

"Nik, your ass is reptilian, not a dragon." Catty said sitting back down at the table, opposite Nik.

"Dragons are reptiles Catty! And, I can breathe fire!"

"You don't breathe shit, you're a squirt gun!"

"... Close enough!"

"Guys I'm gonna go downstairs and..."

They continued arguing, paying me no mind. I dropped my bowl of food into the preserver and made my way to the massive group of people outside.

When I got down to the lobby almost everyone seemed to be looking into the ship expectantly. Their gazes caught me off guard and when I got outside I stood at the threshold awkwardly, staring at them before I finally let out a nervous "Hi". I moved back to my spot and almost immediately someone fluttered up to me.

"Is it true you were the first one to wake up?"

"I... Yeah, well on this continent anyway. I don't know about the others."

"What abo.... What's with the sign?"

"What sign?"

He rose his wing to point, and above me was a crude hologram of a flashing neon sign. 'Village Kitten: Q&A'.

"Not funny Vould!"

"I thought it was Kitten."

A few people from the crowd snickered. One guy laughed a little too hard and started coughing.

"Well my other question was, what about the rumour that you're psychic? Is that true?"

"Well... Vould, can you put on the loudspeaker so I don't have to say this 500 times today?"

"You're live Kitten."

His words echoed over the area making me blush, if it was possible for me to blush.

"Ok. On the topic of if I'm psychic the answer is complicated. Um, I can only talk to people I apparently knew from before the Shinimorte was crashed into Earth. Also it's not a one way street. The friends I was lucky enough to find can hear my thoughts as well and there's a distance limitation. About 20 feet. So to those closest to me, if you can't hear me think, I can't hear you think.