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[FIN] An Occasion for Starlight [Leukos+Sajahka] Goto Page: 1 2 3 [>] [»|]

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MissMisnomer

Omnipresent Browser

PostPosted: Wed Feb 21, 2018 3:12 pm

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Padding lightly on bare feet, Leukos traversed the wooden floorboards across their shared room. It was late, the day had been long, and he was sporting more bruises than he’s started the morning with, courtesy of an especially ornery mount he’d been dealing with all day. He had cleaned and dressed for the night, already sporting the most non-committal hairstyle humanly possible: just a thick ponytail at the base of his skull. He was ready for bed.

And yet, that was not what he had in mind in the slightest.

Stopping beside Saj’s bed where the other man laid prone, presumably settled down for the night himself, Leukos paused.

And dropped a heavy stack of books by his head.

“Get up: I’m teaching you how to write properly.”

[1/10]
The Only Black Uke
 
PostPosted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 6:39 am
Sajahka ached.

His typical day on the job was fairly physical to begin with, involving active lifting and maneuvering on a routine basis, and for the most part, his body was accustomed. Today, however, had involved an especially large shipment in of weighty crates, and then rearrangement of an entire store room to make room for new feed. He had been meaning for some time to begin personal work in his spare time on skills that he thought would benefit him going forward—his literacy being one of the most prominent. He had even mentioned it in passing to Leukos, he was sure. There was no denying it was an area Leu knew well.

But, thus far, it remained something to be tackled ‘later.’ Or even ‘soon.’ But never quite now. And it was not even on his mind this night, from his sore shoulders down through the rest of his body, he felt he would sleep especially well tonight and had even laid down reasonably early. He was not asleep yet, but had managed to begin drifting towards dozing when there came the pad of naked footsteps.

His lashes stirred against his cheeks, his mind shifting back towards wakefulness like a ripple in still water when—THHHD—something weighty landed heavy beside his head, and Sajah’s eyes scrunched shut with a grunt.

Get up…

He rolled to lean on one side, opening one eye to peer up at his roommate. And then the books. Then, he blinked as the information sank in, and flushed, pushing up to a sit with a shoulder roll. While he was still tired in portion and the prospect of book lessons didn’t eliminate the muscle ache, there was actually an active stirring of eager interest—and hopefully appreciation as his eyes flit up to Leu’s with a sheepish grin.

«Really? Right now…» Leu himself looked half ready for bed already, but it didn’t stop a brief toe wiggle as Sajah shifted himself around to a more properly upright sit. «I’m ready. What’s first?»  

Miss Chief aka Uke

Rainbow Fairy


MissMisnomer

Omnipresent Browser

PostPosted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 9:49 am

While communication with Sajahka was never something he had any problem with (aside from the occasional made up word in Saj's repertoire that Leukos had never learned in his training of the official Oban sign language), the rest of the world did not have it quite as easy. The slate and chalk Leukos had bought him had already earned their worth ten times over, Saj using them to speak with every other person he encountered in his life. But with that privilege came the necessity of writing out his thoughts.

And Leukos was tired of having to cringe at the abhorrent state his writing was in.

At his initial question, Leukos simply looked down at Saj with the same deadpan intensity he had dropped the books with, leaving his expression alone as answer enough to Saj's inquiry. But lucky for Sajah, he began moving in a cooperative manner, ready to begin the task: Leukos was fully prepared to smack him into consciousness if he had not gone along with it.

Moving the books aside (he'd mainly dropped them there out of dramatic emphasis), Leukos sat down on the bed next to Sajahka, pulling at his loose shorts when they rode up while he got comfortable. “It's clear you already know enough of the basics to make your thoughts known, and can read enough of the world that you are able to function. So that makes everything easier. But, that being said,” he paused, taking Saj's slate and bag of chalk off the nightstand where he kept it. “I think you learned it improperly in the beginning, so that now, we need to work on correcting the mistakes ingrained into your understanding of language.”

He handed the supplies to Saj, crossing his legs. “Write out: ‘An ant came upon an apricot.’ Use up as much space as you feel comfortable with.”

[2/10]
 
PostPosted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 10:35 am
Sajahka was ready. His body was tired, and yet, just at the suggestion his mind was awake. Leukos’ deadpan stare was—perhaps not exactly the look he was used to from the man, but no matter. He caught its drift. And besides, he wanted to learn and it was a favor on Leu’s part to aid him at all in the first place. So, when Leukos moved onto the bed, he adjusted to make room, and listened.

Write out…

He wasn’t certain what he expected. Perhaps basics—but that wouldn’t have been necessary, he supposed as soon as the thought occurred to him. Leukos was right. He wasn’t starting from square one, he just lacked refinement, and as he took the familiar slate into his hands, he squinted at its blank canvas. It surely made perfect sense to request something he could manage, but with room for improvement. Still. He wanted to come as close to perfect as possible. And felt distinctly that he was a far shot from it before beginning.

He fiddled his chalk between his fingers for just a moment before beginning to scratch at the flat surface:

un ant k…

He eyed it. How did one write ae?

Was there a special distinction between ae and ah? It seemed there probably was, but he wasn’t clear on how it was to be shown.

un ant kam upon un apr-

He squinted again. After a moment, though, he grunted, and scritched out the rest on a guess. It was bound to be ‘wrong’ in portion, but he would only find out how if he shared.

un ant kam upon un aprukot

He turned the slate to Leu, having taken up most of the board.  

Miss Chief aka Uke

Rainbow Fairy


MissMisnomer

Omnipresent Browser

PostPosted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 11:31 am

He should have been used to it by now. He’d seen it enough.

Still, watching the letters take shape, Leukos couldn’t help but wince, mentally correcting everything as it appeared. But that was why they were here. It was not Sajah’s fault, and he surely did not want to continue on in this fashion for the rest of his life. He was aware of his problem, and was ready to fix it.

un ant kam upon un aprukot

It was…a valiant attempt.

“So, the reason I gave you that to start with, is that I wanted to figure out your understanding of the uses of the letter ‘A’; the very first, and a good place to start.” He took the chalk and board from Saj. “The first thing you wrote, ‘un’, as you spelt it, would be pronounced ‘uhn’. As in ‘fun’, and ‘sun’.

He wrote the words in tiny letters, in the margin of space left. “In this case, you should have written ‘an’. As in ‘animate’ or ‘antics’. You should not have written the letter ‘U’ here.” He crossed it out, circling the word ant. “Or right here: you used the correct letters: ‘a-n-t’. They are pronounced the same way when you say them. ‘An ant’. So: why did you not write them out that way?”

[3/10]
 
PostPosted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 12:01 pm
Unh sounded about right to Sajah, though admittedly, the word had been vocalized in various ways, hence his confusion. And it surely wouldn’t do him any good to argue, since he did at least understand that whatever the rules were, that was what they were and there was nothing he or Leu could do about it. They had not designed the system and his own chicken scratch was there solely to convey his points in the past. Still, he wanted to explain-

And Leukos did actually ask, which provided him the perfect opportunity.

«People speak the sounds differently. I thought it was U or A…» He considered. «It could have been E-N…» Not everyone was perfectly consistent in their pronunciation, and Sajahka’s understanding of letters, while he knew the full technical alphabet, was only to the extent that he knew the sounds they usually made. And he did understand after many years of having picked up on context to some extent that it was all very, very variable. It was probably only going to seem more so the more he tried to learn all the rules Obans had crafted-

But that was not the point.

He could and would learn it. Because he wanted it to be ‘right’, because it would be useful, because he would understand more, because he could read more after—and because, clearly, all other things aside, Leukos cared. And very, very privately, he wanted to have the man wince as little as possible at his attempts. The only way to manage, so far as he figured, was to do it better next time.

He reached, thumbing out the ‘u’s and replacing them.

an ant kam upon an aprukot  

Miss Chief aka Uke

Rainbow Fairy


MissMisnomer

Omnipresent Browser

PostPosted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 1:01 pm

They would surely have to go over it in various combinations of other words using the same sounds, but: Leukos was glad to see that Saj was at least listening and learning.

“Language is a funny thing, and not easy to fully understand. I don’t even think I get it all myself. And listening is a good way of learning. But in the future, I’d suggest you try saying it to yourself out loud in your head first, before trying to recall how others pronounce it.” He tapped Saj’s temple with a grin. “You’re smart, you’ve proven that: you probably know the best way already. Go with your gut.”

There were other lessons to be had in that sentence. But, they were not as easy to explain, and carried more variables. He’d gotten an idea of Sajah’s general approach to spelling, so that helped. It carried its own frustrations, but it couldn’t be helped. But how best to improve Saj’s habits required some thought, which Leukos felt would be better tackled when he was alone, and could really put an effort into developing a game plan.

So, best to put that aside for another night.

“There is still plenty to learn from this particular phrase that doesn’t involve what we just talked about, but I want to work in a certain order, so that you don’t get confused.” He wiped the board off with the edge of a rag, creating a clean start. “So, let’s work on the form of letters, before you try to figure out what the hell you’re supposed to do with them.”

He drew a capital and lowercase ‘A’ on the slate, trying to refrain from writing in too flowy a script as possible; no need to overcomplicate things with cursive right now.

Tapping the larger of the letters, he turned it around to Saj. “When you wrote that sentence, you did not start with an uppercase letter. Do you understand the difference between these two shapes, and when to use them?”

[4/10]
 
PostPosted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 2:18 pm
So that you don’t get confused…

Sajahka scoffed to himself. He could handle it—but, in all fairness, Leukos was likely right. No matter how ready he was to attempt to process it all, he was at least aware that it was complex, and it wouldn’t benefit either of them if Leukos told him a hundred things in a night that he couldn’t possibly absorb all at once. So, he watched instead as Leukos wrote.

He wasn’t sure why, but it did always manage to look better under Leu’s hand than it did when he made the ‘same’ shapes himself. He rolled his shoulders, and then blinked. ‘Uppercase?’

«One is bigger,» he discerned. But, there was more to it than that, and he pulled on his recollection, trying to bring back everything he knew about the context he had observed in the past. «They’re the same, but if there is going to be a big one, it is often first…but…» He shook his head. «Not always?»

He never bothered with the big letters in his own scritching unless he was simply trying to emphasize something—often his name, which he sometimes drew out all large, but if not that, then it was all small. Thus, in the end, the answer was the same:

«I don’t know the difference but for making them more seen.»  

Miss Chief aka Uke

Rainbow Fairy


MissMisnomer

Omnipresent Browser

PostPosted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:24 pm

As Sajah elaborated, Leukos nodded. He'd had suspected as much: there'd been a distinct lack of the letters in Saj's daily scribblings. Well…they were going to work on changing that.

“Alright, well, let's get an introduction out of the way that has been long overdue,” he said, ghosting a finger along the angles of the letter form. “Hello Sajahka: I am the letter ‘A’, in its capital form. I am an uppercase letter.”

He traced it again and again as he spoke. “My namesake holds my meaning; I am for that which is important. Of capital importance. I am at the beginning any time you say something new. I am used to denote things that are ‘proper’; yourself, your friends, cities, books, songs, poems. Everywhere you find names, you will find one of me. I am something that belongs to you, when you think of yourself, when you do not want to use your name. I am something that should be used selectively, because I am important.”

I am,” he wrote, emphasizing the words as they left his mouth and were transferred onto the flat surface. “Leukos.

His chalk scritched on the slate.

You are Sajahka.”

He let that sink in a moment, then swept the rag over the words, leaving it barren once again.

“Now you are going to practice writing these letters until the action becomes second nature. You won't need to think, you can do it with your eyes closed, you can do it hanging upside down. They will become so a part of your life, you won't know how you functioned before this. The words on your mind will seem to appear on your paper, without even trying; that's the beauty of language.”

Once more, he wrote ‘A’ and ‘a’ on the slate, passing it back to Saj.

“Copy these, over and over, and don't stop until I tell you to.”

[5/10]
 
PostPosted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:58 pm
Sajahka watched and listened with intent as Leukos spoke, and wrote. Passively, he noted that even in this, Leukos had his own way of putting his personal touch of theatrical flare into the lesson. It was so very Leukos, and though Sajah was focused and paying legitimate attention, the corner of his lip still edged up in a fleeting smile at the show the man made of it all. His mind, though, took the information and began setting it into boxes, attempting to categorize and keep:

I am at the beginning… Names, places, titles.

You won’t need to think, you can do it with your eyes closed…

He rolled his shoulders, taking the blank slate when offered, and this at least was something he understood: repetition until it became instinct; drilling until it was second-nature; again, and again, and again, and again, until it didn’t matter what circumstance, the understanding was there. He had quite some ways to go, but it was a habit he applied to his knives, and to his pick pocketing, and to his signs when he had had to initially learn.

This would be no different. And there was no better time than the present to begin.

So, he did as instructed.

In the coming weeks, lessons became a habit. But more than that, with books available and Leukos there for questioning, Sajah did not always need to swallow Leukos’ time to practice. He had his slate with him everywhere regardless, so he took each opportunity he could: idle moments were opportunity for scritching out extra lines and letters, the time while waiting for Leukos to bathe before work was a study opening, the few quiet luls that came up sporadically at work were chances to pull out his board and work through the alphabet, he didn’t need as much sleep as he sometimes indulged in and so on the nights where his mind was even slightly awake after whatever they had been over together, he took time to continue honing it on his own until his eyelids became too heavy to facilitate further progress.

Books, he found, were possibly the most perfect resource in their ever-availability and great wealth of examples. His literacy was such that initially, reading anything more than the simplest of texts was a trudging battle of decoding and fitting the pieces of sounds together to string into words and then finally sentences: slow, and mentally tiring. Eventually, however, very gradually he found that his eyes began to simply recognize words without having to fit together each letter like a separate component. First it was the most frequent and recognizable ones, but after enough, he could follow a page smoothly without exhausting himself—and it only seemed to grow easier from there.

He couldn’t have said how long it had been now, on this particular evening that Leukos sat with him, but they were working on the silent ‘e’ and sentence formation with punctuation. They had been sitting for some time. It was evening, but not as late as it had been the first night Leukos initiated lessons, and neither of them had eaten. Sajahka stretched, eyeing his slate where he had just finished making his most recent practice rounds: full sentences, now, though still often repetition for practice. His handwriting, he thought, was improving drastically, and instead of taking up the whole board with a single sentence, he could fit numbers of them.

At the bottom of his ‘assigned’ written work, he added a spare phrase:

Come to dinner with me?

And then, he passed the board to Leukos for review.  

Miss Chief aka Uke

Rainbow Fairy


MissMisnomer

Omnipresent Browser

PostPosted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 4:30 pm

With the way he had settled into his job, Leukos might have expected that Sajah would be a quick learner. But, he failed to anticipate just how quickly. It seemed like every moment, his fingers were gripping a piece of chalk, even foregoing signing as much to get more time communicating with the slate. Leukos had a hard time keeping up, trying to formulate lesson plans - often on the fly - because he had simply not had enough time to prepare one in advance. Picking over language with such a fine tooth comb helped give him a newfound appreciation for its complexity and difficulty, learning things himself along the way. He also found himself reading more, looking for literary examples to pass off to Sajah for him to work with. He was reminded why he loved word-play and poetry so much.

And despite how much work it was, he found himself enjoying it. Saj was a good student. It was immensely satisfying seeing his progress in real time, watching as the words that caused him to cringe before became more and more sculpted. It was admirable, and interesting, and engaging, and he found himself…appreciating Sajahka more as well. How his ears twitched when he was pleased with himself. The way his brow knit together while he focused, totally intent on mastering a difficult word. How he slumped in his chair, completely spent when he passed out to sleep.

His dedication to the process was inspiring.

And surprisingly, in a growing number of situations, watching him work so confidently inspired other less studious thoughts in Leukos’ roaming mind.

Things you weren't supposed to imagine with ‘just a friend’.

He was intently mulling over just how to dissuade such thoughts as Sajahka worked tonight, staring at the opposite wall in a distracted state. Until the familiar board was passed to him, and he had to jolt himself back into awareness, taking it as he scanned the phrases for errors.

“Mmhm, okay, this looks good, you didn't need the comma there, this one-”

He squinted, inspecting the slate.

Come to dinner with me?

He didn't remember assigning that one. Or had he?

“Saj,” he held it back up, pointing to the last question. “I don't think I told you to write this one. Did you have a question about how to use ‘come’ properly in a real sentence, because it looks like you got it all right-”

Waaait.

Oh,” he said, cheeks tinting. “You meant it as an actual question for me, didn't you?

[6/10]
 
PostPosted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 4:57 pm
Sajah watched as Leukos read over his work, waiting for it, taking the corrections in stride, and—when Leukos squinted, Sajah felt a bubble of amused satisfaction in spite of himself, but attempted to keep it private, schooling his face into something neutral so that when Leukos looked up and pointed, Saj only raised his eyebrows.

“Hmmm?”

Oh…

Sajah didn’t bother masking the flicker of a grin then, as Leukos came to understand his meaning, and he took quiet appreciation of Leu’s blush before letting his focus move back on topic with a nod of confirmation. «I’m hungry,» he signed, shifting his weight and unfolding his legs to let them drop over the side of his mattress. «And I have an idea. There is something I want to show you…I’ll pay.»

Sajahka was aware that on a subtle level, depending on how one took it, his intentions toed a line—particularly if taken in the context of what he specifically had in mind—but it was a line he was happy to walk regardless. As compared to their early-on ‘slip up’ at the beach, their relations had remained in line with what they ‘ought’ to be. Sajahka had even had brief opportunity to spend some occasions out with a young man he had met in market, who worked frequent shifts at the supply store from which he purchased chalk. It was a passing engagement, however, and while he found that he did like the company, it wasn’t the same. Pleasant enough—but he had other things he was more intent on doing with his time.

And there was nothing improper about sharing a meal with a friend. He did so many nights already, this would just involve the slightest bit more fanfare — but that, too, was alright. After an evening of solid study, a day of hard work, and all of those that had come before it, surely both of them could use the chance to relax and appreciate an evening. Leaning over the side of his bed and reaching, he began pulling on his boots before signing to clarify:

«Nothing fancy. You can wear what you have on.»  

Miss Chief aka Uke

Rainbow Fairy


MissMisnomer

Omnipresent Browser

PostPosted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 6:11 pm

The obvious mystery inherent in Saj's request properly piqued Leukos’ curiosity, always fond of the theatrics that come with surprises. It would be good to get out of the room: he was more hungry than he had realized, mind set on focusing on more tantalizing things. Which would hopefully calm down once Sajah stepped away from his current activity.

At that last bit though, Leukos couldn't help but scoff quietly, getting up off the bed. Like he wasn't going to dress up.

Please.

“Dinner sounds like a great idea. Just give me a few minutes, then I'll be ready to go,” he said, gliding into the bathroom. Just a touch of color here, braid the sides of his hair, secure that all with some strategically placed golden clamps. And slip on a bangle or two, no wait, the bracer with the jade inlay, that would match the shirt he was wearing, and the collar with the matching jade pendant-

Sure enough, he was done in ‘a few minutes’, give or take. Just little additions, since he'd taken most of it off already when he got comfy tonight. Slipping on a pair of ankle boots, he mosied over to the door, holding it open for Saj as they left for the evening.

The final destination Sajah had in mind never revealed itself, instead petering around the streets and markets picking up food from vendors and storefronts. A loaf of brown bread, some cheese stuffed dates, grilled fish wrapped in a smoked leaf, a small bottle of some kind of rosy liquor: all that and other various things. But he was not supposed to eat it all: Saj wanted him to wait for some reason.

What was this boy planning?

[7/10]
 
PostPosted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 7:24 pm
Sajah—should have known better.

Still.

He hadn’t intended anything grand or over complicated, and he had thought with the proper backdrop, Leukos might understand he didn’t need to put on theatrics. But. At ‘a few minutes’ Sajah suspected he already knew where things were headed. And that was fine.

He could wait.

If anything, the wait was flattering. It was Leukos’ nature, clearly, so he didn’t need to feel especially special in the treatment, but still—it was pleasing, and amusing, and endearing to watch the scene play out. A few was a relative term, he supposed, and by the time Leu was satisfied with himself, he did look lovely. Sajah told him so. Because he could. There was nothing in the Book of Friendship against that so far as he knew, and as they moved out into the early night, the air was brisk and lively with the chatter of other street goers. It felt crisp and enlivening against his skin.

He instructed that they ought to select carry-able things and not eat just yet, for he had a plan—which he had no intention of revealing until they had made their selections. After they had, though, he lead the way, food in hand and Leukos in tow as they moved down the open streets towards a quieter section of town.

Sajah could not afford to risk stealing anymore, but it hadn’t kept him from scoping out the area, the buildings—and the climbing points. There happened to be, near the edge of the city overlooking the water, a tall, older building that had not simply an easy scaling area from the prospect of a thief, but rather an easy scaling area for almost anyone. The bottom level was still used. He’d seen activity there, from time to time. But he wasn’t sure what it was used for, and found that he didn’t care, since it didn’t seem to affect how the rest of the building was managed: often completely abandoned, with a handy set of back steps that lead up to a perfectly flat roof clearly once dedicated to an up story garden. There were circle marks left by potted plants, now removed, and stray bits of dirt.

He suspected that at least once upon a time, it was an inn or housing complex where residents had made use of the upper space for their personal flowering projects.

When he lead the way now, though, there was nothing but open space, a flat top and upraised, short ‘walls’ around the sides to serve as a sort of fence of clay brick. Perfect for sitting upon and overlooking the surrounding area. Overhead, the sky was open, and from this distance, the ocean could just be heard rolling in, in tandem with the trickle of distant conversation below.  

Miss Chief aka Uke

Rainbow Fairy


MissMisnomer

Omnipresent Browser

PostPosted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 8:09 pm

Leukos kept his mind and eyes open as Sajahka led him on a tour of the city, persistently keeping the details of his plan under wraps, even as Leu tried to off-handedly mine him for information. He wasn't budging: stubborn. It was both irksome and entertaining to be on the receiving end of it, blindly letting Saj lead the charge into the unknown.

And as they walked, he could honestly say he had no idea where there were, or where they could be headed. He'd been so occupied since he arrived in the city; exploring the thing wasn't high on his list of priorities. But he was glad in a way that he hadn't yet, as each corner they rounded led to new discoveries, and Leukos was enjoying the adventure. And after being led up a flight of stairs to an abandoned rooftop, feet planted on the ceramic, he suspected they had reached their final destination.

He turned three-sixty degrees, getting a good look at the place. “So, what brings us to this particular neck of the woods tonight? How did you even find this place?”

[8/10]
 
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