[OPEN]

[slipshot]

WHO: Gavin, Peter, and OPEN~
WHAT: Peter is trying to teach Gavin to read, and Gavin is getting distracted by literally everything, and everyone.
WHEN: A few times, as the lessons are semi-regular, in the days following the wake.
WHERE: in the weird little library in the basement
NOTES: Ridiculous hijinks



He was doing his best. He really was. But Gavin had the attention span of a goldfish, and trying to sit still for long periods focusing on something he found difficult was worse.

He'd never really figured out how to read. Every time he tried the runes would seem to move around on their own, or flip over, and it was extremely frustrating. Peter, however, was absolutely determined that Gavin should learn to read properly and stop defacing the community bulletin boards with his scribbled drawings.

They'd managed to scramble a few books together for the purpose, and some sheets of parchment, and Gavin was working on drawing a surprisingly well rendered butt as Peter was pulling out the next text to start with.

As soon as Gavin happened to see anyone wandering by, he called out and waved them over.

Comments

[slipshot]

"No, no! Not at all! Come on in!" Gavin says, all too happy for the excuse, waving the stranger into the room. "I was just - ah - getting a reading lesson," He said with a grin.

"Can we help you find something?"

[vir_tasallan]

"A reading lesson?" one of her brows quirked as she considered it, and grinned very faintly at the admission. "Find something? No, no, I just come here to browse, find some old texts I've not read." initially she had bought the excuse given. After all, there was nothing amiss, but she couldn't help think she had interrupted something.

She shrugged it off and entered the library proper. "Glad you managed to stow away from the Commander. Doesn't matter if you're dead-beat tired, he'll set you to work. Best keep it down." She paused, taking a moment to look at the spines of some books before her curiosity got the better of her. "What sort of reading lesson?"

[slipshot]

He quickly slipped a hand over the drawing of a butt that he'd just drawn, but of course the ink was still wet, so instead of hiding it he just smudged it and god ink all over his hand.

"Ah-- yes, ah--" He tried to wipe some of the ink off on his leather trousers with a laugh. "A very basic one, I'm afraid. I can barely read at all, and Peter's been trying to rectify that. But yes, it helps to slip out from under the commander's eye." He grinned at her. "Gavin, by the way. Clan Ashara."

[vir_tasallan]

The movement to conceal was obvious to her, but she could only see smudged ink. Generally, the Dalish gave her more respect than she felt she deserved, but she wanted them to know she was just as normal as the rest of them. Perhaps he was hiding his attempts to learn?

"Wait a moment-- Clan Ashara? I travelled here with them." she gave a curious glance at his companion, then focused her attention back on Gavin. "How did you ever manage to evade your Keeper's wrath by not learning to read, lethallin?" Now she was invested in helping, stepping closer to have a look at the materials he was using.

[slipshot]

"You did?" Gavin asked, surprised at first, and then pleased. "Well there you go, you're half family already.

"And you say that like I've ever managed to evade the Keeper's wrath about anything. I think after a while she sort of gave up." That came with a grin, though. "Peter, this is - ah -" Oh wait, he hadn't actually gotten her name.

[vir_tasallan]

"Merrill," she smiled softly, trying to ignore or at least dampen that warmth in her heart at being called half-family. Or any family at all, really. She glanced at Peter and nodded her head to acknowledge him. "And it's a fine, troublesome task, it seems. You ought to appreciate all of Peter's effort."

She leaned over and tapped Gavin's book. "Reading surely gives you a benefit. Think of all the nonsense humans and other elves can get round you if they just show each other little pictures? You don't want that, do you?"

Her grin was a little mischievous but definitely serious. "We need to make sure we can read our past in order to ensure our future."

[slipshot]

"Oh, I do," He replied with a chuckle. "He is a man of infinite patience."

Her grin was enough to bring one to his lips as well, deciding (immediately) that he liked her. "I don't know, really," he teased her, "It depends on what the nonsense is. I quite like a bit of nonsense."

"But the past - yes. That I can agree with. That is the point, I think. Even just the present. The oral histories exclude so much context that it's impossible to know how much of them are true."