Now.
Now.
Now I was making real progress. I was advancing from baby steps, to grown person steps. Not only had I figured out how to make the ever mysterious thingy absorb energy and stuff. But I figured out how to make it empower me. It involved a lot of involved thought. Like serious mind minding stuff, that kinda gave me a headache if I did it for too long.
Aching heads aside, I'd also spotted a person. They weren't far from me, just a measly few yards away at best. A small distance, one that was actually pretty far by tree standards though. As most trees couldn't see at all. Yet more proof that I was no longer your average, everyday, normal, complacent with just sunlight, unsuspecting, standard, non state of the art, tree.
Still, the picture I was getting was rather blurry. Which I immediately assumed was normal. Then I began to watch the person as hard as I could. Which meant a lot of potentially creepy staring. Creepy staring that paid off after an hour or two.
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The person I was watching started talking to themselves. Saying things that I didn't actually understand intermingled with a few words I actually did know. I tried to pick up the meaning as best I could, but was utterly lost. The person's speak reminded me of a bear, or a boar, only far more complicated and confusing. Like they were trying to create a labyrinth with words alone.
I wasn't sure if that was how labyrinths were made or not, but it still seemed a bit much regardless.
Perhaps that was why trees did not speak. I doubted it, as this was new information to me. Not only that but this person sounded much different from the persons I'd heard before. As if they were speaking an entirely different form of person speak.
Which couldn't be the case, as I'd only ever heard one type of person speak. And this wasn't it. Which meant that the creature before me, likely wasn't really one of the persons. It must be an imposter or a type of thing that just looked very close to a person.
In any case I decided to watch with even more intensity. Taking in every detail to see if this not-person was good or not. How I'd be able to tell, was something I was unsure of. But I'm pretty sure I would be able to tell if I saw some evidence.
So I settled in for a steak out. Or stake out. Or steake owt.