I can hear you, but I won’t

Things had been strange lately, and if the moon hadn’t been so bright, she’d probably be sleeping right now. Even the wind sounded funny, like a whispered voice she couldn’t quite make out. It hadn’t taken much prodding to get Gil to follow her as she pranced after the fireflies, snapping her jaws as she skipped and jumped, unwittingly tempted along by their otherwise apparent trail of glowing insects towards the looming cavern. Finally, the bitterness on her tongue told her she just might have enough, “Hey Gil,” her voice was muffled as she tried to keep the bugs captive, “Um shtil weawin’ th- shmile yoo gave me wast week!” and she turned, giving her companion a wide tooth bearing grin, hoping the trapped beetles would light up her teeth from behind. She struggled to keep a straight face, one of the bugs buzzing against her soft palate and making her gag and wretch. She laughed as she coughed, the bugs making a hasty escape, flying at her face in a seemingly aggressive fashion despite her smug attempt at an apologetic look to the stars overhead. To someone a little more clued in, the setting might even be mistaken as romantic.

It was then she caught the soft bluish-purple glow ahead. “Ooo, I wonder what’s in there?”

“Speech”