There was another creature in this place, the grub could hear the voice. He had not a clue what the other was saying, though, but he was intrigued to find out.
He crawled his way closer and closer, the feline ears of the caterpillar tilting to try and catch the sound. The words, however, still made no sense.
Such being the case, the curious little being, who was not much more than an inch long, crept into viewing range.
And he found himself coming to a conclusion around then.
"Those words are not your words," He realized aloud, voice surprisingly audible for such a small creature. It explained the unfamiliarity the other had, but not where the words came from.
"How do you have words that are not your own?" The puzzled and fascinated voice of the grub asked. It had taken him time to find his own words, and the idea of grasping others' words without them being there sounded impossibly strenuous.
@Bentley
The woof startled him, and his fur fluffed up defensively, an instinct he did not know he had coming to light.
Speaking of light- There was now a bright orb above him! His fur unfluffed, as he felt the familiar awe at the world with the obvious magic in sight.
Unease soothed mostly, the caterpillar let himself be sniffed, sniffing right back. He was careful not to get to close, not wanting to paralyze the other on accident by accidental contact with his fur.
Excitement was clear on the other now, and he wondered if perhaps he had not been visible to the other. He knew he was very small.
Initially, the words spoken were indeed somewhat nonsensical, especially as a revelation dawned upon the caterpillar. There were word-names! Not just sound-names!
"I am... Samael," His response was somewhat slow, taking a bit after Bentley finished speaking, but it took a moment for the right word-name to come to him.
"Greetings, Bentley!" He cheerily added.
"There are markings on paper that are words in a book? And one has to learn to understand these words?" He repeated, wanting to make sure his comprehension was correct. He felt a growing excitement at the notion of more ways for words to exist.
"How do the markings get there?" He wondered.
He pondered over the question of friendship.
"You can be my friend if you get along with my..." Samael paused, not sure of the word. The word friend seemed to little to express the depth of his affection for his oftentimes companion.
"...She is a croon on the air and a heartbeat that beats in sync with my own," Samael decides.
To elaborate further he adds,
"She is... very important to me. She's not here right now. I don't know her word-name yet, but she is very very tall and has two pairs of wings."
"If you are okay with those terms, I would very much like to learn words with you."
@Bentley
Samael gave a pleased purr at the agreement. He had gained a friend, and so much knowledge! If he was someone else, he might have been overwhelmed. But he was Samael, and he loved the world and all the knowledge to be gained within it.
"What kind of words do these others write?" He wonders.
"And... Someone wrote all of these books?" There was an awe-some amount of books to behold, now that he understood they held papers all full of words.
"I can wait," He agreeably stated, the caterpillar's feline tail flicking with curiosity.
"Food would be nice, but you don't have to! But... I would like see how writing works, please," The grub regarded Bentley, hope in his eyes.
@Bentley
Not-Gembounds-but-other-people? What was a person if not a gembound? How puzzling. Equally intriguing as it was confusing. It seemed that Bentley didn't know what that meant either, even if he seemed to know a lot. Samael pondered this as Bentley was briefly gone. But he had still not come to any conclusion by the time that the other returned.
When the food was emptied onto the floor, Samael claimed a corndog for himself, nibbling away at it before he reached the delicious hotdog inside, at which point he became voracious, somehow purring and chewing simultaneously. He had never tried to eat meat before, but, he found it much more satisfying than the plants which he could currently digest.
"This is tasty! Thank you, Bentley," Samael warmly told the fellow gembound.
He paused his eating as another hunger consumed him, and he turned his attention to the art of writing.
"Yes! I would very much like to learn, please," He politely but eagerly agreed.
"Does knowing how to write help one know how to read, then?" The caterpillar voiced a thought aloud. The two did indeed seem to be connected.
@Bentley
At the praise, Samael purred contently. He was patient as Bentley searched for the correct words. When the canine finally did, the caterpillar's feline ears perked up. A metaphor! He hadn't heard many metaphors before, but Samael knew he liked them.
"So, two different methods to reach the same knowledge," He restated the words as he understood them.
"One method where you are the creator, and the other... the consumer?" The grub stated the last word uncertainly.
"Because... Even if one does not literally eat books, it sates a hunger of the mind?"
Then his attention was drawn by the written word-sound 'S', and to a lesser extent, the written word-sound
'See', whatever that meant. Soon enough, though, he was entirely focused on Bentley and this 'S'.
He stared in awe at the word-sound written on the board. S like Samael!
This time, when Bentley barked, his fur fluffed up for a briefer moment before he relaxed. Bentley was safe. Loud was not always dangerous.
"Is there a name for these word-sounds?" Samael wondered aloud. It seemed as if there would be, but he knew not what it could be.
@Bentley