Private An Aloof Encounter

"Oh-ho! Tone isn't all that difficult," Myst replied with excitement.

Sela nodded timidly in agreement. "I can keep it short, I think. I'm not a teacher. I think teaching would get boring after a while," they stated plainly. It was already stressful to be responsible for the accuracy of the knowledge they imparted to Gray. Either that stress would wear off and be replaced by boredom or become stronger.

"School taught me that there's a lot of way to express tone. The pitch of your voice, speed, and words can express different emotions. Like... Like..." They went quiet for a few seconds, then made their voices higher pitches and spoke quickly, "If I speak like this then I sound more panicky and nervous and confused which isn't helped by me not pausing."

When they stopped to see if that lesson registered in Gray, Myst tried to calm their fears by giving them a telepathic, Good work.

Sela watched Gray with a blank expression despite being confused. What made him feel the need to tell them they weren't boring? And then... it dawned on them. "I think teaching you, or anyone, would get boring for me after a while," they clarified.

"Perfect example!" Myst jumped in. "The word choice there came off way meaner than Sela intended. It makes them sound like they're disinterested when they aren't." He didn't acknowledge the grimace on Sela's face. They weren't angry, for the moment. Only embarrassed.

"I didn't... I didn't mean to sound disinterested or mean. I was only explaining what I actually meant... I should have said thank you. To show my appreciation to your compliment."

There was something to laugh about regarding the idea of Sela teaching Gray tone, when they themself were having trouble understanding his own. The only one laughing was Myst. It was all in Sela's head, and neither Sela nor Jao were enjoying it.

"Alright... I'll continue. Um, something I picked up on is politeness in every day conversation... People tend to shorten their words with contractions to sound less formal. Um, contractions are words like 'can not' being turned into 'can't.' Or 'let us' into 'let's...' They speak with a calm but pleasant tone too." To demonstrate, Sela raised the pitch of their voices to have a subtle bounciness. To emphasize the effect, they straightened their back, widened their eyes, and faced Gray directly. "They sound interested when speaking. It's important to sound interested so your conversational partner feels appreciated."

When they finished, they returned to having their usual drowsy expression and slow speech. "It's tiring... Everything goes too fast..."