Chapter Text
After breakfast, Deuwie had spent most of the afternoon setting something up, but whatever that “something” was, Hornet had no clue, as the boy had said he wanted it to be a surprise.
She did know it involved a lot of paper, judging by the amount that came out of the large machine Deuwie had called a computer. Human technology was just as alien as it was startling. She remembered when the child had turned on the television yesterday, and she had nearly grabbed her nail and sliced it in half after the image of a large, predatory flesh-beast had appeared on screen, roaring at them.
Yes, Deuwie claimed it wasn’t magical, but seeing as Hornet barely understood a word of the actual explanation, (something about signals and satellites) that’s just what she was personally going with. Regardless, the TV was also where the four of them were sitting in front of now, Quirrel leaning back in a large armchair while the others sat on the couch. They were watching a program called “How it’s Made”, and this particular episode was going into the manufacturing of, fittingly, nails, which in this world seemed exclusive to construction. Hornet and Quirrel couldn’t help but admire the vast and complex system the humans had created, all to produce enormous quantities of a single object. Deuwie’s species were masters at crafting, if nothing else. The nailmasters back home would be losing their minds if they caught even a glimpse of this.
Then the commercials came and everything turned back to confusion. Hornet could understand their purpose as advertisements, but some of them were just plain nonsensical. One featured a can with arms beating another into the dirt, and apparently this was to convince humans to buy the winning product? Hornet had scoffed when Deuwie explained the reality to her. If the little cans did not fight each other in real life, then Hornet saw no reason to purchase them. The commercial after that one included an ad for something called dog food, which was nutrition for large, four-legged, furry beasts that humans seemed to use as companions.
After a quick but terrifying conversation with Deuwie where they learned that yes, he did have a dog, but no, it was not here, Hornet tuned out watching TV altogether until the actual show came back. Wyrm knows she was already confused enough about human culture, bodies, and just…everything related to them. She didn’t need that feeling to be increased a hundredfold.
However, if the commercials did do anything, it was confirmed once and for all that the humans were not Gods. Higher beings, perhaps, but certainly not deities. No divine entity would make something so irritatingly pointless.
Hornet then wondered if the humans had Gods of their own, stewed on that for a bit, and then came back to life when the show returned. However, only a few minutes into watching the screen went black. Deuwie then walked in front of them, remote in hand and almost shaking from excitement.
“Alright, it’s ready! Follow me, guys!” He said, before darting into the basement, not even giving them time to get up. The group exchanged glances, and Quirrel was the first to rise, chuckling. Ghost and Hollow followed after, with the former putting a bit of a spring in their step. Hornet was the last to leave, staring at her reflection in the now empty black screen before heading downstairs. The interior of the underground room was dimly lit at best and filthy at worst. Apparently, Deuwie’s family had been using it exclusively as a storage space, if the piles of boxes scattered around were anything to go by.
But in the middle of it all was a small clearing, where there were four desks assembled in two rows of two. They may not have closely resembled the ones in Hallownest, but Hornet had spent enough hours learning in the White Palace (with the best teachers in the Kingdom, of course) to recognize a desk when she saw one. Suddenly, she knew what was about to happen, and actually grinned at the thought. However it ended, this was sure to be entertaining.
“Take a seat and we can begin!” Deuwie said, standing next to a box that had a large stack of paper on it. Hornet chose a desk in the back alongside Hollow, while Quirrel and Ghost predictably sat in the front. Deuwie clapped his hands together and began to speak once more, almost sounding like a proper teacher. “So, these desks were owned by my Aunt, who used them to try and homeschool her own kids. According to my dad, that didn’t, ah, end very well, so they just stuffed them down here. Which means it’s perfectly fine for us to use them! So now we can begin a class that I call, “How to be Human”! Let’s start off by, uhh…”
Deuwie paused and then grabbed a paper to his right, opened his mouth again, only for a nervous laugh to escape it. “Wait, uh, wrong paper! L-lemme find the right one.” The boy then picked up the whole stack and began flipping through it, and Hornet felt a pang of second-hand embarrassment as she realized Deuwie hadn’t planned this out as well as she thought.
She was sure pretending to be a teacher as a child was fun…while playing with other children, at least. Unfortunately, poor Deuwie was finding out that actually acting as an educator, even one as casual as this, was not always a “make it up as you go along” role. No doubt he had imagined this scenario in his head a hundred times since this morning, but now that it was actually here…
“Deuwie…” Quirrel started, noticing the same thing Hornet had. “Are you alright? If you’d like we can postpone this and do it another time-”
“No no, it’s okay! I just, uhm…agh, okay. I’m sorry, guys.” He said, clearly embarrassed as he sat down. “I was so excited to do this and spent so long setting everything up that I completely forgot to actually think of a starting point. I have no clue where to begin…” He gestured towards the pile of paper. “If you want, you can come back later so I can try to set something up, but it might take a while-”
Suddenly, Hollow furiously tapped his fingers against the desk, before writing something down and showing it off to Hornet. She hummed at his words, before relaying them. “Mm. Hollow says that this is fine. We have all we need right here, after all. This is the perfect opportunity to ask all the questions we were too afraid to ask before.”
“What do you mean?”
“Ah, I see what he means.” Quirrel said, nodding along. “Remember yesterday, when we admittedly overwhelmed you with questions once we made it back to the house, and you told us to save them for later? With all this setup you have in that stack, I’d say you have a great opportunity to properly teach. After all, educating is not just the instructor relaying facts and the students taking notes. A major factor is the curiosity and desire to learn, and I believe I speak for all of us when I say we’re eager to know more about how to properly function in this body.”
“Huh…huh! Yeah, that’s true! That could work! I’m pretty sure I know where everything is in here, after all. I just can’t figure out a good starting point.” Deuwie said, taking the stack of paper and separating it across the table. “So you guys could just ask me anything you want, and we’d go from there! Like, Quirrel, what was that question I asked you yesterday? Before I, uh, told you guys to slow down a bit?”
“I asked what this…expanding in my chest was. Which I imagine is a perfect place to begin.” He said, settling in for what Hornet hoped was an informative QNA session. She did have her own queries she’d like answered, after all. “We don’t breathe the same way as you, Deuwie, using our mouths and noses. We intake air through small holes throughout our body, rather than a few large ones. And when we breathe now…I can feel something in my torso puffing up like a Fungoon. What is that?”
“Oh, those are lungs! Guess it’s time for anatomy class. And I have just the thing.” Deuwie said, before reaching behind the desk and pulling out a large, cross-section model of the human body, displaying the inside of the skull as well as several internal organs, most of which were labeled. Hornet was happy to see some she recognized, albeit shaped differently, such as the stomach and brain, but there were others that were completely alien to her, namely the lungs Deuwie was going on about. She looked down at her chest and breathed in, touching her torso as she tried to imagine the two large, fleshy sacs expanding and contracting with each huff of air. Was that what that was?
“So, the lungs,” The boy started, pointing to them. “They’re responsible for our breathing! When you breathe in, they blow up, and when you breathe out, they shrink! All there is to it, really.”
Hollow scribbled something, and Hornet leaned over before translating. “He says that sounds incredibly inefficient, which I must agree with. Your entire breathing apparatus, our current breathing apparatus, is supported mainly by a thin tube connected to the same one food goes down? What if we choke on something?!”
“Then you need to dislodge it before you suffocate, of course!” Deuwie said, way too cheerfully, before clearing his throat. “Okay, yeah, the human body doesn't have a perfect design. But just keep doing what you’ve been doing, chew your food carefully, and I promise you’ll do fine! Alright?”
“…Very well.” Hornet said, swallowing deeply. They had just started and already Deuwie had put the fear of Wyrm in them with his knowledge. Frankly, Hornet wasn’t sure if she wanted to know just how much more of a mess her new body was. But then Ghost wrote something down before raising their hand eagerly, and she reminded herself why she was sitting at this desk.
She had to be here. For their sake.
“Hm. Little Ghost is asking what that white stuff around our lungs and brain is. Which, admittedly, I am curious about as well.” Quirrel said, pointing at the model’s skull.
“Wait, you guys…? Oh, right! I can’t believe I forgot insects don’t even have bones. Always crazy to think about.” Deuwie said. “Okay, bones! Besides the brain and heart, quite possibly the most important part of our anatomy! I think I might have something that would work better, though. Gimme a sec!”
Deuwie then ran off into the basement, and returned a minute later carrying something so strange looking that Hornet couldn’t stop herself from blurting out, “What is that?!”
The “that” in question was a tall, thin, white…thing that was vaguely humanoid in shape. It had empty holes for eyes, long arms and legs common with the species, and was very smooth. Hornet recognized the “plastic” material it was made of, but beyond that she didn’t know what to make of it. Although, it seemed like…like…
Wait.
The white bars on the thing’s chest…it matched the ones on the model body. And those teeth. Those were unquestionably human teeth. The exact same she had.
Oh no.
Don’t tell her that-
“This is a skeleton! Every human has it inside them, including you guys!” Dewi said cheerfully, and the room tensed up as everyone came to terms with the fact that this thing was in them. Quirrel was the first to speak, slowly getting up and approaching the model, which was held in place by a stand.
“This is…in our bodies?” He asked, reaching out and stroking the skeleton carefully. “I…why? What does it do for us? I can tell you that we don’t have anything like it. I’ve never seen something similar in all my travels.”
“It’s here to support us, I guess? As well as protect our organs, which is the job of the ribs.” Deuwie said, pointing at that general area. “The skull, too! Fun fact, the human skull is one of the hardest things in nature. I think. I read it all on this website, and it’s been a while so it might not-”
Save for Quirrel, no one was paying attention to what Deuwie was saying anymore. Hollow held out his hand, flexing his fingers over and over as if grasping the fact that super-tough, little white objects were underneath all that meat and muscle. Ghost was gently knocking their fist against their head, as if testing their skull’s supposed durability. And Hornet? She was just sitting still, trying to ignore the cold feeling once again crawling up her back.
This body was never going to run out of ways to creep her out.
“-and the tiniest bone in your body is in our ears, and one of the hardest is the femur in our legs!” Deuwie continued, knocking Hornet out of her thoughts as she looked up to see the boy now reading off a piece of paper. The woman cleared her throat, getting everyone’s attention and she leaned forward and clasped her hands together. This class was an intriguing idea, but she had to get him to move to another topic instead of one that made the group feel even more uncomfortable in their own skins. And the first thing that popped into her head was that moment many weeks ago, when Deuwie had first tried to act as their teacher.
“I have a question of my own, Deuwie, although it’s not about anatomy.” She said, “Early on, you taught us about the world we live on and our place in…outer space, was it? I left shortly after that conversation began. I apologize now for doing that, as I simply wasn’t feeling well. If it's alright with the others, I was wondering if we could go back to that. I know Deuwie probably already told you everything, but-”
“No, actually. After you left, I said we should stop so nobody else would feel…unwell.” Quirrel said, knowing exactly what had happened as he shot Hornet a sympathetic look. “We didn’t actually get past the part you did. Which means…” He faced the front again. “…Do you still have the materials from that time, Deuwie? I think we are more prepared to learn about them now.”
“I think so. Let’s see if…yeah, here we go!” The boy replied, pulling out a few sheets of paper. “I’ll admit I was kinda disappointed when you guys stopped it there, since space is so cool and so much fun to talk about! I guarantee you’ll love it!” He said, before clapping his hands together as he showed them all a model of the solar system, consisting little more of a big orange circle surrounded by smaller, multi-colored ones. He pointed at the third planet, covered in a pretty mixture of green and blue. “So, this is the planet that we’re on now! It’s called Earth…well, humans call it Earth, anyway. I don’t know if you have your own name for it.”
“We do not. I was aware of other Kingdoms in the “cave system”, but the surface was an entirely new concept to me. I, and the rest of our kind, likely, were only introduced to it the day we met.” Hornet said. “If humans call it Earth, then it is Earth. I’d say this world is far more yours than ours, after all.” She admitted, which was an uncomfortable but undeniable fact. Considering how much larger, more complex, and widespread human civilization was compared to theirs, it would almost be offensive to consider Earth as the property of Hallownest.
‘This is the humans’ world.’ She thought. ‘We just live in a tiny, insignificant, itty-bitty portion of it.’
“Good point. Earth is it, then!” Deuwie agreed with a nod. “So, planets are these huuuuge balls of rock and dust in space that orbit even bigger balls of, like, fire and stuff called stars! The star we’re orbiting around is called the sun. It’s the bright light in the sky. It’s really far away, but we’re still able to see it because of how giant it is. So don’t worry, it’s not dangerous to you!” He paused and then bit his lip. “Unless you stay outside too long. Then you can get a sunburn. Oh, and it can also cause forest fires? And my dad said it can give you some kind of cancer…you know, let’s just stop there. But I promise that the sun isn’t some big deadly laser. I know you guys aren’t…fond of it.”
Hornet had to concede that this was true. Heck, even more so now after what Deuwie had just told them. She didn’t know what cancer or sunburns were, but she didn’t need to. Deuwie had given her all she needed to never want to go out in that blinding light ever again. Ghost, meanwhile, raised their hand, writing something down and showing it off.
“Hm. They’re asking just how big the planets and this sun is.” Quirrel translated. “The sun cannot be…too much bigger than Earth, can it?” He asked, clearly perturbed, just like the rest of them, of how unimaginably huge the universe around them truly was.
“Uhhh…” Deuwie said, eyes darting to the right, and Hornet instantly got a bad feeling. So much for the class strictly being entertaining. “It’s bigger. It’s way bigger. I think something like…a million Earths could fit inside the sun? And the Earth itself is, like, 200 million square miles large.” He explained, clearly just listing off facts he learned in school. “You guys remember how long a mile is, yeah? I told you on one of my visits…”
Indeed they did, and that sick feeling Hornet felt back during the original space talk had returned with a vengeance. The eggs and bacon Deuwie gave them for breakfast was churning in her stomach, and she shifted uncomfortably.
She would not run away this time.
It didn’t matter how tiny or insignificant they were, even as humans. The size of their home planet, never mind the sun and stars, though terrifying, would not deter her. After all, Deuwie and the other humans seemed to function just fine being aware of this. She could do the same. As for the others…
Ghost, as always, appeared unbothered, although beneath their mask Hornet could their eyes widen as they reflexively glanced towards the ceiling. More than any of them, save perhaps Hollow, the little one did their best to stay out of the sunlight, even while indoors. Hornet had no idea what happened in the dream realm to cause such a fear, but as usual she decided it would be unwise to press for details.
Hollow and Quirrel, meanwhile, were both staring blankly at the drawing of the solar system Deuwie had given them, before the latter sucked in a breath and began speaking, returning to his seat.
“How…fascinating! It seems the world is much bigger than we assumed. But…perhaps we should move to another topic again. I think, for now, you have given us plenty to stew over.” Quirrel recommended, and everyone quietly agreed. There was a pause of a few seconds when the group thought about what questions they wanted answered, before Hollow raised his hand, pointed at his arm, and then pointed at the model before writing something down. Hornet leaned over, nodding her head at his query, which was something she wondered herself but figured was rude to ask about directly. “He’s asking why human skin and hair come in different shades.”
“Oh, that. I…may not be the best person to answer that. That’s actually something I hadn’t looked up…” Deuwie said, biting his lower lip, which Hornet understood. Bugs in Hallownest came in all sorts of hues, whether for natural camouflage or for reasons she herself didn’t understand. Because of this, all of them were quite accustomed to shells coming in all sorts of colors, but human skin and bug chitin were two entirely different things…and thus, the diversity in shade almost certainly happened for two different reasons.
Speaking of differences, there was a fair amount of them just among their small grouping. Hornet’s eyes were much thinner than everyone else’s and her (formerly long) hair was white as paper. This half-matched with both Ghost and Hollow, who also had hair nearly as white as their masks, but unlike Hornet this extended to their skin too; pale facades that she guessed, even among humans, weren’t common for the species. Deuwie’s fur was brown and his body was mostly a light pink similar to the models, but there was a noticeable tan there as well. As for Quirrel, his skin was darker than anyone else’s and his hair was jet black with a few graying strands here and there. She wondered what the process for that during their transformation was…had it just been randomized?
“So…” Deuwie continued. “I have no clue how the differences in eye shape work, but my dad told me once that skin color depends on where you live. People living in more southern and hotter areas have darker skin, and ones living more to the north are lighter. I think…” He explained, before coughing. “B-but it’s okay either way! Honestly, I think it’s really cool that humans look so different. I know it’s the same for you guys, too. Bugs are like, a hundred times more diverse than humans are. You’re not gonna see someone walking down the street with green, blue, or purple markings, that’s for sure.”
Quirrel chuckled at this, no doubt picturing someone with such a look. “A shame. But, interesting nonetheless. When your father returns, perhaps we can ask him. I just hope that such differences have not caused any strife in human society.”
“Uhhhh…M-moving on. Let’s talk about, uh, water, since that is a huge part of human culture! Plus, it might rain soon, so you should know about all that.” Deuwie said awkwardly, which more than answered that question. He was now looking at a picture of what seemed to be clouds, with water droplets falling from them. “So, how do you use water in Hallownest? Just for drinking and bathing, or other things too?”
“It serves many purposes. Drinking and bathing as you said, but also as a method of relaxation through baths and springs. They used to be quite popular with Hallownest’s elite.” Hornet said. “Nowadays most of the springs still around are unused due to how difficult it is to reach them, but…” She leaned back and felt her cheeks warming for some reason. “…Even I admit I enjoy taking a warm soak every now and then. It is a good distraction during a long journey.”
Judging by the chorus of nods, everyone shared this sentiment, which only seemed to make Deuwie happier. “Warm soaks, huh? Hmm, I wonder if…” He put a hand to his chin, before breaking out into a Cheshire Cat-esque smirk. “Okay, I have an idea for something we could do tomorrow! I could take you guys to the town pool! Humans can’t breathe underwater or anything like that, but we do love a nice swim. My dad and I always like to go to the pool together while we’re here, so there are a couple of his bathing suits you guys could use. Ghost could borrow one of mine, and-”
“Ah, Deuwie…” Quirrel began, speaking softly. “By “town pool”, I assume you mean a public area? As in, a place that will be filled with other humans? I do not believe that would be a wise idea.”
“Y-yeah. And I know that I said it’s best if we stay indoors, but I plan for us to go during a time where there won’t be many people there, on a weekday, plus it’s, well, the pool. Everyone will be too busy swimming and doing their own thing to pay attention to us.” He grinned widely again, but Hornet could tell it was forced.
In an instant, she could tell what he was trying to do, and although the sentiment was appreciated…
“I agree with Quirrel, for more than one reason.” She said. “I do not feel comfortable wearing your father’s clothes all the time, nor will I be surrounded by throngs of unfamiliar humans, even if they pay little attention to us…which I doubt will be the case.” She glanced over at Ghost and Hollow, their various scars poking out from underneath their masks. Even if the white hair was somehow normal, there was no way all those old wounds wouldn’t get every set of eyes pointed their way. “…We do not know how to “act” human. It won’t be long before we draw attention even if there aren’t many people there.”
“Exactly.” Quirrel said, once more reading off of Hollow’s sheet. “It’s an interesting idea, but there are too many risks. We’re not used enough to your world to be out there. Not yet.”
“O-oh, yeah. I guess I didn’t think of that…” Deuwie mumbled, looking embarrassed. “Oog. I-I’m sorry.” He said again, now sitting down. “I-I just…want to do something fun with you guys that isn’t sitting in the house all day long. I asked about water because I was curious, but when you mentioned the hot spring, I thought about the pool, got all excited, and…and…” He sighed and slumped over, and Hornet felt her heart break just a little at seeing the usually optimistic child looking so depressed. “…I wish there was more I could do for you all. I did think of all that stuff, the problems with the pool, but I just hoped we could somehow make it work. Even this class was just set up on a whim because I was thrilled at the idea of doing something together, and it fell apart instantly…”
It was at this moment that Ghost began frantically writing something down, and Quirrel cleared his throat, getting Deuwie’s attention as he translated. “It didn’t fall apart, and it wasn’t pointless, either.” He started. “This new body and world is so strange to me. Remember that first day, when you captured me in a jar? I was terrified of you at first. But then I saw you getting all excited over a “magic talking bug” and I started to trust you. Same thing here. The human world is strange and scary, but you’re doing a great job showing us that it doesn’t have to be just that. It doesn’t matter if the idea isn’t a good one. What’s important is that you care enough about us to come up with it in the first place.”
“Agreed.” Hornet chimed in. “Believe me, I understand your excitement, and admit that being cooped up in the house all day isn’t thrilling. Taking it slow is the best option, and although we can’t go in public, I am sure we can come up with something to do eventually. Not being around humans doesn’t exclude all our options, does it?”
“Heh, you’re right. It doesn’t.” Deuwie said, smiling once again. “So, any other questions? We still have a lot of free time.”
Hollow stuck a hand up, before writing down, “Why do you even have hair to begin with, if it’s mostly only on your head?”
“Ooh, I can actually answer this one! I remember my teacher talking about that last Spring.” Deuwie said, switching right back into being an excited educator. The question itself, Hornet thought, was a rather good one. The strangeness (and grossness) of the hair aside, she felt like it didn’t make sense. Why have hair if it only covered one part of your body that, according to their skeleton talk, was amply armored anyway? The rest was just a layer of fine, almost see-through strings that still left the skin visible and exposed. “So, I’m sure you noticed, but humans have the ability to do something called sweat, which is when liquid appears on our skin to cool us down when it’s really hot. However, hair acts as another barrier against the sun, protecting our heads from it. I think it also keeps our brains warm when it’s really cold, although I don’t know how much help that is.”
Deuwie then grabbed another sheet of paper, which showed an image of a hairy, two-legged animal that was uncannily human in shape, but looked like some twisted, corrupted form of one. “This is a chimpanzee. A long time ago, humans used to have fur across our entire bodies like these things, and then we evolved out of it.”
“Across your entire body? How long did that take?” Quirrel asked, staring down at his own arms like he was imagining them fully covered in hair.
“Uh. Hundreds of thousands of years. Evolution is reeeeeeally slow. But we have fossil records and stuff that let us know how long everything took.” Deuwie replied, and once more Hornet’s mind broke. Human knowledge operated on such a timescale? The history of Hallownest that she knew scarcely went back a thousand years, and yet the humans had formed a timeline of over a hundred thousand? What kind of kingdoms had risen and fallen in such a lengthy span? Was there even anyone alive today, mortal, higher being, or God, that still remembered them?
“Just…” She started involuntarily. “How far back into the past can you see? How old even is the world we live in?”
“Earth is about 4 and a half billion years old! Which isn’t even close to the age of the entire universe.” Deuwie said, and that was followed by the longest silence of all.
“I see.” Hornet said after what might have been a full minute, nodding calmly. Strangely, this information didn’t disturb her as much as everything else. Perhaps because a hundred thousand was just as unimaginably large as 4.5 billion to her. Despite the vast difference in scale, her brain barely saw any difference to those numbers. Or maybe she was just in shock. Either way, she had to add some levity to this. Who knows how the others were taking it. “When Quirrel recommended we move to simpler topics, I do not believe this is what he meant…” She said, forcing a chuckle.
“Oh. Sorry. I, uh, did it again, didn’t I? Telling you too much at once?” Deuwie asked, leaning back against the table.
“It is hardly your fault.” Quirrel said, translating for Hollow. “You cannot be blamed for teaching us things that are common knowledge among your people. We accepted your invitation to be taught like this. If we were truly uncomfortable and wished to leave, we would let you know.”
“Indeed. Once more, I admit this is…a lot.” Hornet pointed out. “However, as significant as much of this information is, I do find myself enjoying this class you have set up for us. If it was a normal educator, I am sure I would have left. But you’re making it bearable, Deuwie. The way you speak about these subjects provide a nice layer of light-heartedness to it all.”
“Really?!” Deuwie said, stars in his eyes just like when he first met Ghost. “That’s great! I mean, from the start that’s been my main goal, after all. I want you guys to learn, of course, but I also want you to enjoy yourselves, too. As long as you are, I’m happy.”
“And your happiness rubs off on us, so it’s a win for us all.” Quirrel pointed out, before coughing. “That said. I think you’ve given us quite a bit of information to stew over, so how about…we all ask one quick question each, and then call it a day for the class? I know I certainly have much to write about, once we are able to return to Hallownest.”
“Alright! I can’t promise they’ll be quick answers, but I’ll do the best I can!” Deuwie said. “Uhh, Hollow! You go first.”
Hollow looked startled at being called on, just like a real student in class. Still, after a moment of thinking he wrote his query, which roughly translated to, “Do humans have kings of their own?”
“Yup! Humans are split into almost two hundred different nations across the planets, which I suppose you guys could call Kingdoms.” Deuwie replied, which, considering the size of the planet, was actually less than what Hornet expected. “A few still have Kings of their own, but most others have Presidents or Prime ministers. People who are elected by other people voting for them to be in power.”
“Voting for your rulers?” Quirrel said, mouth wide. “Does that mean, if everyone voted for it, even someone like you or me could take absolute power in your society?”
“Not…really. I know there are a lot of rules and guidelines, and you have to be pretty popular to make everyone like you. My dad doesn’t like me watching news like that yet, but I know human elections are really messy.” Deuwie said. “Should I, uh, count that as your one question?”
“Oh, no. Apologies. Mine actually is about the moon. During our first talk, you made an offhand comment about how humans have been to the moon, and came back. So, what was it like up there?” He asked, remaining ever the explorer.
“It was…full of rocks. And dust. And more rocks…it’s mostly just a big ball of rock. Sorry.”
“Oh.” The former bug mumbled, clearly disappointed, before he perked up again. “Well, that is still an impressive feat, yes? Something to be proud of?”
“Absolutely! I think it took like, hundreds of thousands of people working together just to send three up there. Probably the greatest example of human exploration ever.” Deuwie said, which seemed to appease Quirrel as the man beamed. No doubt he was already wondering if he could take a trip himself. “Hornet, you’re next. What’s your question?”
“Do humans have weapons like ours?” She asked. “I know you use nails for construction, but is there a similar tool you use for combat? You mentioned humans having wars amongst each other as well, but you did not go into great detail about them.”
“That’s mostly because I just don’t know a lot about human wars. I asked about it in school, and it’s just another one of those things that “You’ll learn when you’re older”.” He said with a pout, before nodding. “But yeah! They may be outdated, but humans have tons of weapons like the ones you use. I’d say swords or spears are the most similar. There's also bow and arrows, big hammers, maces, throwing knives, crossbows, all sorts of stuff! I don’t have any pictures, but I can show you some tomorrow.”
“I’d appreciate that, yes.” Hornet said. A part of her wanted to ask what kinds of weapons humans had invented to make their “swords and spears” obsolete, but Hornet had already used her one question, so she stayed her tongue. (Plus she had a feeling it would be another world-shattering revelation, and she could only take so much.)
Finally, it was Ghost’s turn, and Quirrel read their question with an amused snort. “How are human babies made?”
“Ughhhhhh…” Deuwie said, leaning his head back. “I’ve asked my dad this like a dozen times, but he said he’d teach me when I’m a teenager. Plus, he said if I tried to look it up online, he’d know and ground me. Sorry. It’s something that I’m not sure about, and I don’t wanna risk getting in trouble. Although, I do know that humans don’t lay eggs like bugs do. They just, like, come out? That’s all dad told me about it…”
As interesting as the fact that humans did not lay eggs was, Hornet had to stifle a giggle at Deuwie’s reaction to the questions. It seemed that even between cultures as different as humanities and Hallownests, some things never changed. She recalled asking her mother similar questions, only to be rebuked with the same, “you’ll learn when you’re older” excuse. Considering the sheer awkwardness of the eventual Talk they had, perhaps it was for the best that Deuwie wasn’t aware of his kind's reproductive methods.
“So then...” She said. “As Quirrel mentioned, I’d say that is a good ending point. Unless there is anything else you’d like to tell us?”
“Yeah, actually. I think I have an idea for something we could do tomorrow!” Deuwie said. “I know the pool idea is a bust, and I know you guys told me it’s okay, but I still think that we all need some time outside. So, how about instead of a pool day, we all go through a nice walk in the woods? There are like a dozen different trails, and at this time of year I’d say about half of those almost never get visitors. It’d be perfect!”
“A nature walk, hmm? With no chance of unfamiliar humans appearing?” Quirrel said, now smiling again. “I must say, I am intrigued by this idea. Although is there a risk of that “cancer” or “sunburns” you mentioned earlier?” He asked, which Hornet was glad he pointed out so she didn’t have to.
“Well, when I asked my dad that same thing, he said cancer only happens if you’re put in the sun for like, forever. As for sunburns, I’ve had plenty of those. They’re nothing serious, but your skin turns red and it burns real bad.” He explained, and Hornet couldn’t help but wonder why this species was so ill-suited to its natural environment. “But don’t worry! I have a sun spray that can prevent that. You’ll just have to rub it into your skin. Along with some bug…uh, actually, let’s cross that bridge tomorrow.”
Besides the vagueness of that ending statement, Hornet had to admit it sounded like a nice plan. She knew that at this rate, she’d go crazy cooped up in here. A nice walk outside, even in an unfamiliar world, would be a perfect opportunity for everyone to clear their heads.
With a soft chuckle, she then looked down at the desk and smiled as the others got up to go back upstairs. Although this entire experience was confusing and even frightening at times, with Deuwie leading them she had to admit…
…it had been a lot of fun.