It's a fool who plays it cool

[foolsmakeitcolder]

WHO: Jude & OPEN
WHAT: Arrival & settling
WHEN: Early Justinian
WHERE: First the Vimmark Mountains, then the Gallows
NOTES: Warning for giant ass wolf, giant wolf ass, nudity, violence.



Starters to come.

Comments

[kyrr]

Tofa appreciates the fact that he seems to be paying attention, and she is careful with her lessons. Each word has the action repeated at least a handful (hah) of times until she is confident that he has picked up the basics.

It's not enough to have a full conversation, but it is a start, and it warms her from the inside out.

When he begins his own explanation she pays attention, watching the way his own fingers move and copying them as he does so, nodding her head.

Safe. All clear. Friendly. See. Alert.

Nodding alone, she reaches for her papers.

I will use these. I hunt, so they will be useful. Good, easy signs.

[foolsmakeitcolder]

They keep going. It's easy to pass the time like this, to get that familiarity without over-saturating, keeping it simple.

Some of their signs are remarkably similar, enough to make Jude smile, and others he knows he'll be tripped up over without practice.

Hide. Weapon. Above. Below. Happy. Home.

Jude pauses, signing back fragments of what she's writing on the paper. Good, useful. Hunt. At this rate they'll have an amalgam of signs for themselves.

He signs to her then, fragments of ideas that make up a question.

When - you - hunt?

[kyrr]

Some signs are more obvious than others, even between different worlds and cultures. There are only so many movements of fingers, only so many ways you can gesture and point, so it comes around eventually to being almost identical.

It's enough that Tofa is almost beaming - or as much as she can with her carefulness with her mouth, lips pressed tight together but the corners of her lips moving up just a little bit. It's the biggest smile she can give.

Nodding along to the movement of his fingers, she continues to write out her words before she lets her fingers follow along.

When I can. When food is needed. For fun.

She lifts her shoulder in a shrug.

To practice fighting.

[foolsmakeitcolder]

Fun. Food. Fight.

They're all good words to add, and he keeps his attention on them rather than what Tofa does with her mouth, but he notices that she keeps her lips pressed together, even in her joy. It comes through in her eyes easily enough.

"Those are my reasons, too." Jude nods, thoughtful again.

"It's good for my wolf to run. It settles everything to feel the earth under my paws. If you'll have me, I'd like to go with you sometime."

[kyrr]

Tofa watches him watch her hands and she makes a concentrated effort to slow the motions, to allow it to settle into communication but at his speed. It could help him learn, especially with how he quickly he has picked things up already.

Leaning back a little, she nods her head.

I will hunt with you. Wolf or man? I do not mind.

[foolsmakeitcolder]

It's difficult at first, given that he's exercising brand-new knowledge, but it's all fresh in his mind. He appreciates her going slow, and nods back.

Signs wolf.

"It's awkward, trying to catch something with human teeth."

[kyrr]

Signing wolf back is easy enough, and Tofa nods along before she leans back, thinking.

I have not hunted here yet. Have you? Do you know the land?

[foolsmakeitcolder]

"I don't."

It seems to intrigue rather than daunt him. He often traveled back home. Now, he seeks any opportunity to range wider, to find anything familiar and grow more and more enchanted with what isn't.

"I'm looking forward to learning it."

[kyrr]

You will have an advantage.

Being a wolf will make things easier - the smells, the tracks, all of it. Tofa can read the ground as well as a scholar can read a book, but only some things are open to her. She is not a wolf.

I am excited.