54th of Zi'da, Arc 717
The Hop, Skip and Jump heading to Welles
Eastern Trench, almost halfway between Rynmere and Welles
It had been a long trial on the ship. There was very little to do after Sin had spoken with Tristan and learned a few interesting things. He'd walked around a bit, taken a nap once They had woken up and done some actual guarding, this time for Lianne and Ayle as the pair explored the hold. Apart from that Sin had sat and waited for them to arrive. Iemes had tried to get a card game going but they'd all quickly gotten bored of that as well. Sin had tried to do some reading of his old notes, to find out if any of them held some overlooked secret but he found himself feeling nauseous after only a few bits of reading. He'd gone back up to the deck to catch some more fresh air but with the sun gone, the air had chilled too much and Sin couldn't stay out long.
Most of the ship had gone to sleep by now. Iemes lay curled up in his hammock, occasionally snoring loudly and mumbling to himself. Thetfretr didn't mind, of course, but Sin's head turned to look at the Qi'ora every time it happened. The two of them were awake, Thet because he was watching the room on the other side of the hallway through the open door and Sin because he couldn't sleep. Both men were sitting in their hammocks. Sin had his legs crossed, his back to the hallway. Thet could see and he could hear if things went wrong. There were other passengers on board so Sin was just taking precautions. You never knew when some RCA guy decided the new Duke had to die.
The little lamp hanging from the ceiling was throwing lights and shadows everywhere, constantly shifting with the waves and the movement of the ship. Iemes didn't seem to notice as he hadn't woken up yet but it was important for Thet and Sin to be able to communicate, considering Thet's situation. Sin shifted his hands signing slowly. "Teach Me One" He yawned as his hands moved, trying to wake up properly. Thet smiled and his fingers and hands moved, too quickly for Sin to read properly. "Again." He signed. "Joke. Sorry." Thet replied and grinned before signing again. "Something. Teach Me." It took a few trills before Sin understood what Thet was doing. He wasn't just joking around or repeating what Sin did, Sin was just plain wrong.
"Ok, Ok." The Eídisi signed back. "Something Teach Me" He slapped his hands together at the end of his sentence and put on his best puppy face, smiling from behind his hands. Thet brought his hand up and pointed with his index and middle finger to his Tristan's door before pointing his index finger to his own chest. Sin nodded that he understood. It was actually quite interesting to see Thet speak. Sin didn't think he was anywhere near the fluency he needed to truly grasp the language but from what little he did understand, Thet's short sentences and his own little bits of information back, Sin had found some interesting differences between Common and Common sign.
Most people, him included, always thought that common sign was simply common but with your hands rather than your voice.'I am home.' would be signed by following the I sign with the am or being sign and ending with the home sign. They couldn't be further from the truth. Sin watched Thet's hands move and had to pull himself from his thoughts. ... Learn You" Thet looked at him, his eyebrows pulled down in a questioning look. "Sorry. Again." Sin rubbed the palm of his closed fist in circles over his chest as an apology. "What Learn You?" There it was again, the strange following of words, or signs in this case, that translated into something grammatically incorrect when spoken yet Thet knew no other way.
It was curious to see just how different two languages could be when they were supposed to be close together. Between Common and Common sign, there was such a divide because of the grammatical rules yet people thought them to be two sides of the same coin. Sin pulled his thoughts from this ever deepening hole and focused them back on Thet. His hands moved more easily as he signed now, words he knew better than the others.
He put his palms together, fingertips pointing at Thet and then opened them, keeping his little fingers pushed together. Book. Next he pushed the tips of his index finger and thumb of his right hand against the extended index finger of his left hand. Word. Next he put his left hand, palm up and pressed his right fingers together before tapping the left palm with his fingertips. In or contain. Lastly he pointed at Thet and raised his eyebrows as best he could. ”Book Word In You?”
Surprisingly the use of facial expressions was something Sin found difficult if he didn’t pay attention to it. It wasn’t like they were difficult or strange to use, the spoken language used them in exactly the same way, eyebrows down to question things, eyebrows up in a more surprised way often got you a yes or no answer. These somewhat arbitrary rules in the spoken language were set in the sign language. Eyebrows up was a question that needed a yes or no answer, eyebrows down when you were asking a question and expecting an explanation in return.
Despite Thet explaining those things to him slowly, actual practical use of them still came slow to the Eídisi. Because he was focusing on asking the question this time, he did remember to raise his eyebrows. Thet looked at him for a moment, either not understanding or thinking, Sin couldn’t tell. His hands were already moving up again to repeat the question when Thet shifted his hands as well. ”No, No. None. Teaching Sign...” He used another sign after that Sin had never seen before. ”What… He tried to mimic the sign as best he could.
Thet nodded and slowly repeated the sign. He made two fists and extended his index fingers upwards before lightly tapping his fists together. He pointed at Sin and then his right hand and then with his other hand to himself and his left hand before tapping them together once more. Sin thought he had some idea but wasn’t really sure, maybe like meeting or something, sign could only be learned by meeting people? He shook his head and Thet changed his approach by slowly spelling out the word with his hands. He seemed to know exactly what speed Sin needed to neither feel like an idiot nor too smart. "I N P E R S O N"
In person. Sin’s face cleared up like a cloudy day as understanding washed over him. Of course. He smiled and nodded, repeating the sign. It made sense that you couldn’t learn signs from pictures, at least nothing really useful. ”Learning In Person?” Thet nodded. ”Mother Teacher Mine. Children Mine Teacher Me. You Teacher Me. You Teacher…” Thet let his hands wave out into the air around him, indicating it could be anyone anywhere, basically. Sin smiled and nodded. He could see himself teach a bit of sign language to someone else.
Iemes suddenly snored loudly as he stired and Sin turned to look at him. He didn’t wake up nor did he make any more noise. Thet was looking at him as he turned back to face him. ”Why Looking Him?” For a moment Sin thought he had misread and then he wondered why Thet would ask him. Then the realization set in that Thet couldn’t hear a damn thing, which Sin sometimes envied him for although he wouldn’t want it permanently.
As he didn’t know the signs for snoring or anything he’d want to explain in this situation, Sin just pretended to be asleep and mimicked Iemes’ face as best he could, pretending to snore. He held up his index and middle finger crossed, the sign for the letter r and drew it back and forth from his nose and mouth, trying to ‘translate’ as much as he could from the situation that Thet might miss.
”Always. Sleeping Him Make…” Again, Sin pulled the r hand away from his mouth and nose. Thet nodded and put his fist up next to his forehead before extending his index finger upward. ”Understand. Not Know See Not Hear.” After that the lesson changed mostly into Sin and Thet talking about the charity event and how glad they both were that it was over and they were going home. Thet mentioned missing his stable back in Oakleigh and just working with the horses. Sin told him he was expecting a friend to show up sometime next season.
The two former squires exchanged information and some stories before they called it a night. Thet went to wake Iemes up to switch guard and Sin went straight to sleep. For a few more bits his mind wandered to how different languages were while supposedly being so similar but the sleep caught up with him soon. The moment he drifted out of Idalos he popped up in Uleuda, refreshed and ready to go and meet his parents.
The Hop, Skip and Jump heading to Welles
Eastern Trench, almost halfway between Rynmere and Welles
It had been a long trial on the ship. There was very little to do after Sin had spoken with Tristan and learned a few interesting things. He'd walked around a bit, taken a nap once They had woken up and done some actual guarding, this time for Lianne and Ayle as the pair explored the hold. Apart from that Sin had sat and waited for them to arrive. Iemes had tried to get a card game going but they'd all quickly gotten bored of that as well. Sin had tried to do some reading of his old notes, to find out if any of them held some overlooked secret but he found himself feeling nauseous after only a few bits of reading. He'd gone back up to the deck to catch some more fresh air but with the sun gone, the air had chilled too much and Sin couldn't stay out long.
Most of the ship had gone to sleep by now. Iemes lay curled up in his hammock, occasionally snoring loudly and mumbling to himself. Thetfretr didn't mind, of course, but Sin's head turned to look at the Qi'ora every time it happened. The two of them were awake, Thet because he was watching the room on the other side of the hallway through the open door and Sin because he couldn't sleep. Both men were sitting in their hammocks. Sin had his legs crossed, his back to the hallway. Thet could see and he could hear if things went wrong. There were other passengers on board so Sin was just taking precautions. You never knew when some RCA guy decided the new Duke had to die.
The little lamp hanging from the ceiling was throwing lights and shadows everywhere, constantly shifting with the waves and the movement of the ship. Iemes didn't seem to notice as he hadn't woken up yet but it was important for Thet and Sin to be able to communicate, considering Thet's situation. Sin shifted his hands signing slowly. "Teach Me One" He yawned as his hands moved, trying to wake up properly. Thet smiled and his fingers and hands moved, too quickly for Sin to read properly. "Again." He signed. "Joke. Sorry." Thet replied and grinned before signing again. "Something. Teach Me." It took a few trills before Sin understood what Thet was doing. He wasn't just joking around or repeating what Sin did, Sin was just plain wrong.
"Ok, Ok." The Eídisi signed back. "Something Teach Me" He slapped his hands together at the end of his sentence and put on his best puppy face, smiling from behind his hands. Thet brought his hand up and pointed with his index and middle finger to his Tristan's door before pointing his index finger to his own chest. Sin nodded that he understood. It was actually quite interesting to see Thet speak. Sin didn't think he was anywhere near the fluency he needed to truly grasp the language but from what little he did understand, Thet's short sentences and his own little bits of information back, Sin had found some interesting differences between Common and Common sign.
Most people, him included, always thought that common sign was simply common but with your hands rather than your voice.'I am home.' would be signed by following the I sign with the am or being sign and ending with the home sign. They couldn't be further from the truth. Sin watched Thet's hands move and had to pull himself from his thoughts. ... Learn You" Thet looked at him, his eyebrows pulled down in a questioning look. "Sorry. Again." Sin rubbed the palm of his closed fist in circles over his chest as an apology. "What Learn You?" There it was again, the strange following of words, or signs in this case, that translated into something grammatically incorrect when spoken yet Thet knew no other way.
It was curious to see just how different two languages could be when they were supposed to be close together. Between Common and Common sign, there was such a divide because of the grammatical rules yet people thought them to be two sides of the same coin. Sin pulled his thoughts from this ever deepening hole and focused them back on Thet. His hands moved more easily as he signed now, words he knew better than the others.
He put his palms together, fingertips pointing at Thet and then opened them, keeping his little fingers pushed together. Book. Next he pushed the tips of his index finger and thumb of his right hand against the extended index finger of his left hand. Word. Next he put his left hand, palm up and pressed his right fingers together before tapping the left palm with his fingertips. In or contain. Lastly he pointed at Thet and raised his eyebrows as best he could. ”Book Word In You?”
Surprisingly the use of facial expressions was something Sin found difficult if he didn’t pay attention to it. It wasn’t like they were difficult or strange to use, the spoken language used them in exactly the same way, eyebrows down to question things, eyebrows up in a more surprised way often got you a yes or no answer. These somewhat arbitrary rules in the spoken language were set in the sign language. Eyebrows up was a question that needed a yes or no answer, eyebrows down when you were asking a question and expecting an explanation in return.
Despite Thet explaining those things to him slowly, actual practical use of them still came slow to the Eídisi. Because he was focusing on asking the question this time, he did remember to raise his eyebrows. Thet looked at him for a moment, either not understanding or thinking, Sin couldn’t tell. His hands were already moving up again to repeat the question when Thet shifted his hands as well. ”No, No. None. Teaching Sign...” He used another sign after that Sin had never seen before. ”What… He tried to mimic the sign as best he could.
Thet nodded and slowly repeated the sign. He made two fists and extended his index fingers upwards before lightly tapping his fists together. He pointed at Sin and then his right hand and then with his other hand to himself and his left hand before tapping them together once more. Sin thought he had some idea but wasn’t really sure, maybe like meeting or something, sign could only be learned by meeting people? He shook his head and Thet changed his approach by slowly spelling out the word with his hands. He seemed to know exactly what speed Sin needed to neither feel like an idiot nor too smart. "I N P E R S O N"
In person. Sin’s face cleared up like a cloudy day as understanding washed over him. Of course. He smiled and nodded, repeating the sign. It made sense that you couldn’t learn signs from pictures, at least nothing really useful. ”Learning In Person?” Thet nodded. ”Mother Teacher Mine. Children Mine Teacher Me. You Teacher Me. You Teacher…” Thet let his hands wave out into the air around him, indicating it could be anyone anywhere, basically. Sin smiled and nodded. He could see himself teach a bit of sign language to someone else.
Iemes suddenly snored loudly as he stired and Sin turned to look at him. He didn’t wake up nor did he make any more noise. Thet was looking at him as he turned back to face him. ”Why Looking Him?” For a moment Sin thought he had misread and then he wondered why Thet would ask him. Then the realization set in that Thet couldn’t hear a damn thing, which Sin sometimes envied him for although he wouldn’t want it permanently.
As he didn’t know the signs for snoring or anything he’d want to explain in this situation, Sin just pretended to be asleep and mimicked Iemes’ face as best he could, pretending to snore. He held up his index and middle finger crossed, the sign for the letter r and drew it back and forth from his nose and mouth, trying to ‘translate’ as much as he could from the situation that Thet might miss.
”Always. Sleeping Him Make…” Again, Sin pulled the r hand away from his mouth and nose. Thet nodded and put his fist up next to his forehead before extending his index finger upward. ”Understand. Not Know See Not Hear.” After that the lesson changed mostly into Sin and Thet talking about the charity event and how glad they both were that it was over and they were going home. Thet mentioned missing his stable back in Oakleigh and just working with the horses. Sin told him he was expecting a friend to show up sometime next season.
The two former squires exchanged information and some stories before they called it a night. Thet went to wake Iemes up to switch guard and Sin went straight to sleep. For a few more bits his mind wandered to how different languages were while supposedly being so similar but the sleep caught up with him soon. The moment he drifted out of Idalos he popped up in Uleuda, refreshed and ready to go and meet his parents.
