Lost in Translation

Carmin managed to make out the first word, me. Then there were the noises that he didn't understand in the slightest, but coupled with actions that made sense to him. They were hungry. Then they snatched up one of the many flies still bothering him. It seemed they actually understood what he wanted to say, and then managed to give a reply that he could understand as well. The creature was just hungry for the flies that had attached themselves to him.

He supposed that it was fine. The lizard could keep eating the bugs and then maybe he could think clearly again. It was ridiculous to think there was some ulterior motive. Carmin spoke again, in words without actions that the creature probably couldn't even understand. "Fine, you can keep following me or whatever." Company was nice too, even if it was just some wild creature that didn't understand a thing he was saying. Besides, they were more intelligent than he was giving them credit for.

Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said about Carmin, who slowly curved his position to the left as he was walking. Apparently walking straight wasn't so easy when there wasn't a clear path and everything looked the same. At least it wasn't for untrained eyes like his.

Before long, most of the bugs were gone, a pleasant change to say the least. He could actually hear himself think now. Having this lizard around was actually pretty handy. On top of working as a personal insect repellent, they would appear in front of him from time to time to point him back in the correct direction when he started getting off track. Or at least he hoped that was what was happening. A piece of him still had concerns that they were going to get buddies to ambush him and tie him up to a tree any second.

Luckily, those suspicions turned out to be entirely false. Before long, he could make out the lake not too far into the distance. He'd actually made it back alive. Everything was going to be alright after all.

Carmin turned around to the creature that had returned him to society, feeling quite grateful . "Uhm, thanks for getting me back here." Odds are they couldn't understand him, but he still wanted to thank them. They seemed intelligent enough, maybe they even understood from the tone of his voice or something.

Carmin watched and listened as the small creature seemed to say something. None of which he could make out. But he could tell that they were gesturing to the lake. Almost as if they were telling him to head on home now. Though they also looked somewhat sad as they did this. He wondered if this would be the last they'd see of the creature.

He wanted to tell her that he'd be back to read sometime and that they could eat the bugs for him again if they were still there, but was pretty sure that was too complex of a thing to act out. Regardless he gave it a sad Carmin effort. He spoke the words then acted it out. "If I come back, you can eat the bugs again while I read." He made a walking motion using two of his fingers then pointed at the ground. Then pretended he was reading, then pointed at them and made a motion to pretend to be eating an apple. Then to finish he pointed at one of the few insects that remained. The odds that enough of that got through to them for them to understand it were low, but he still tried.

With that, he waved goodbye and pulled up his backpack higher on his shoulders. Then started making his way back to his room.