faderift | [Closed] How Rocket Learned To Read

WHO: Jamie and Kallian
WHAT: Puzzling out books and finding reading teachers
WHEN: An appropriate time during Wintermarch
WHERE: The Library
NOTES: None at this time, will add if needed

Since Jamie's arrival, there'd been plenty of things that he'd figured out, in one way or another. He'd gotten an idea what the world around him was like, managed to learn his way around Skyhold without getting too terribly lost, and even discovered what the mark on his hand was for - well, to a certain extent, anyway. He wasn't sure if there was more to it than 'point it at the rift and use your will to close it', but for now he was happy enough to have at least some sort of an idea of what was going on there.

What he still hadn't had any luck with was his learning to read. If the Doctor had been here, or Zoe - or even Victoria - he knew they'd have likely sussed it out by now, and he could've asked them for help. They weren't, though, and left to his own devices he was getting exactly nowhere. Today was another one of those days, one where he'd gone to the library to have a go at trying to figure things out, only to wind up realizing partway through that he'd been looking at the book upside down...again. It was beyond frustrating, and he pushed the book aside without bothering to turn it back around, angling his head so he could rest it on the back of his chair and try not to give into the urge to hit it against there instead.

"Och, what's the point?"

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There was another grimace from him at that - one he couldn't entirely help, as there was a part of him that'd been hoping to figure out how to pick up the runes here before anyone noticed. But the gentleness in Kallian's voice coupled with the fact that she was kind enough not to comment loudly enough that anyone could hear helped quite a lot, and after a moment he gave her a small nod.

"Not here, anyway. I could back home, but-" He took in a breath and let it out again. "Even there I'd not learned how until a couple of years ago. And the letters here...or well, the runes, I suppose. Whatever they're are, they're different."

"You don't have anything like this where you're from?" she asked. "Well. The good news is that this book is in Common. That's the easiest one. Originally, it came from the Dwarves, and they taught it to the other races in trade, or so the story goes."

Kallian found piece of blank paper.
"Here. Let me see if I can't help you some. We can start with the alphabet, if that's all right with you?"

"Well..." He paused for a moment, his brow knit together a bit, a faintly puzzled frown appearing as he thought. "I think there were some folk that used to use runes, but it was a long time ago. Mostly folk use letters instead."

Depending on the time they'd been in, of course, but he still wasn't sure about admitting that part of things - and while a part of him thought that maybe he'd like to explain that to her at some point, he suspected things were likely going to be complicated enough with reading as it is. Still, the alphabet sounded like a good start to him, and his expression smoothed out, followed a moment or two by an enthusiastic nod.

"If there's an alphabet with this, though, that'll help a lot, I think. Here, this should work to write with. Why'd they want to trade their writing, though?"

"I think it was more so that everyone could understand everyone else when making trades. I don't know the history all that well. Economics isn't nearly as exciting as other stories," she admitted.

Still, she dutifully wrote out the alphabet on scrap paper for him.
"Here, this is the alphabet." She pointed out each letter in turn for him.

"Aye, tell me about it. I'd rather have a story with some action in it than hear about numbers all day."

Knowing about money was all well and good, and there were times that was definitely useful, but stories about how money worked tended to be as dull as dishwater, as far as he was concerned. Unless it was a story about a great robbery where the robbers were defeated in the end by a hero, maybe, and that wasn't exactly the same thing.

He appreciated Kallian taking the time to write out the letters, though, and peered over at the paper with interest as she was putting them down. When she was done explaining, he traced a couple of the letters with his finger in order to fix them more firmly in his mind, then pulled over the book he'd been looking at again, his glance flipping between it and the paper as he tried to puzzle it out.

"So is it like the way it is back home, then, where the letters will spell out certain words? Like...oh, here." Underneath what she'd written, he traced out three letters in English - a 'C', an 'A' and a 'T'. "These are one way to do letters where I come from. Those three, if you put them together, spells out 'cat'. Is it like that?"

She looked over his example, but nodded.
"Yes, it works just like that. Each symbol represents a letter or a sound. Here is 'cat' written in Common."

She marked the letters on the paper for him.

Jamie stared at the a paper a bit blankly for a few moments, but then something seemed to snap into place and his whole face practically lit up, as though a light had been turned on over his head.

"Hey, that makes sense!"

It was similar enough to how he'd been taught to read that he could understand it, and while he knew he'd still have to work at it, especially while he got used to the symbols, for the first time he felt like he'd have a chance at figuring it out after all - and as a result, Kalli wound up getting a brief, but very broad smile.

"I'll admit, I'd not thought that part of things'd be the same here, but I've not really known how to read all that long back in my world either. I, ah, learned that a bit late."

She smiled back gently.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of. I know quite a few people back in the alienage who don't know how to read either. My mother insisted I knew. Makes it easier to love stories."

She scratched out two more words.
"Here. This one is my name. Kallian." She pointed to the individual characters. "And this one is yours. I think. If I haven't spelled it wrong."

"Aye, the Doctor thought it'd be good for me to learn back home, so he taught me. And Victoria -- she traveled with us for a time -- helped me with that and my writing. You'd have liked her, I think. She was clever, and kind. Well, and maybe a wee bit defiant sometimes as well, but in a good way."

A fond smile had crept on his face as he talked about her. As much as he wouldn't want her to have to face the dangers of life here, he still missed her sometimes. But the memories weren't going to help him now, and he shook them off after a moment, leaning over to look at his name.

"Ah, let me see. That...aye, I think you've gotten that right. Sometimes people switch around a couple of letters in mine, but it doesn't look like it's the case here. Here, let me try copying it down and and see if it comes out the same."

"They sound like good people. I wish I could have met them."

She watched him write things out.
"It looks pretty close, all things considered. Does that help you make sense of it? Do you want to try reading the book again?"

"I wish you could've too." He suspects that they would've liked her as well, especially Victoria, who likely would have wanted to help her take care of the injured here. Barring something pulling them here, though, chances were that wasn't going to happen, and with a small sigh, he turned his attention back to the lesson.

"And aye, it does. Alright, I'll have a go at it."

He pulled the book back to him, his brow knitting and his mouth silently moving as he tried to parse the first line. After a few moments, though, he felt confident enough to try and read out loud, although the words were slow and halting.

"'They...say...that ka...no, wait, that's coin, I think. That coin...never sleeps.' How's that?"

"Good luck!" she murmured.

But she cocked her head a little as he read.

"....'coin never sleeps'? That's... a strange phrase," she said, furrowing her brow. "What is that you're reading there, Jamie?" She looked dubiously at the book.

"I'll not argue with that."

It was odd, and he frowned a little as he flipped back a few pages to see if he could find a title page - then, after that didn't work, he closed the book to take a look at the cover. Now that he'd gotten a chance to read some of the runes out loud, it was a bit easier to figure out what was on there.

"The title's...hang on a second...ah. 'Hard in Hightown'. By...hey, that looks like Varric's name!" He turned the book towards her, so she could see for herself. "Is that right?"

[Closed] How Rocket Learned To Read

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