Chimera Fields a body moving through space

Nine seemed like a very strange name to Yosemite, who did know how to count, thank you very much. There was only one of Nine, as far as he could see, but he knew better than to say so after the male had been so kind. Well — he had been generous, at least.

"I, uh. I walked," he replied, giving a tiny whisk of his tail. That seemed rather obvious, on second thought, so he thought about what Nine might really be asking him and went on, "My mom said I should see more of the world. So I came down this way — and it's been really hard. I thought I was a pretty good hunter, but maybe not so much by myself. Mostly I've been eating carrion, but then a couple weeks ago I ate something really bad and I couldn't keep anything down for — for a long time. And then when I stopped being sick and dizzy I was really weak — "

His voice cracked on the last word, and he was beginning to speak so fast that his syllables were all running together. He could feel the stutter coming back on, so he shut his mouth and breathed through his nose. "But you know how to do stuff, right?" he asked the older man, his tail shimmying once more. "Maybe I can just stick with you, and I promise I can be helpful, I'm justreally bad a-alone. And I know about plants. A-a little. Enough for that," here, he peered around Nine at his hind leg.