UUU: "Next Time Won't You Sing With Me?"

Cast: Seed (Deme) and Kiera (TC)

tLDR:

Support Points Earned: 2

[10:56 PM] LadyDeme: Against the pale, still crisp page of a very simple book, Seed's fingers braced. He adjusted the book a little, in amidst his other supplies -- a pen or two, some ink, some loose pages for practice. They were not disorganized; they didn't need adjusting. Still, he shut the book and fiddled with it again from that angle. Then he glanced around, urging his nerves to lie still -- unfortunately, they were unruly. After some consideration, he'd asked Kiera to meet him for a lesson just outside the camp itself, and had set things up in a way he hoped would serve. They tended to lack tables or desks, but he could at least get by with a crate set between two of the smaller camp stools -- a flat enough surface, with few gaps between the slots. Ah, to be so certain and multi-functional in one's use as a crate. It was a pleasant morning, the air sweet and just a little cool, stirred with breezes. clouds dotted the deep blue sky; they didn't yet promise rain, he thought. A fine day for a little education.

[11:14 PM] TastyChicken12: Kiera lumbered over to the crate where Seed was at. She constantly held a hand over her one eye, and the other was dropping. Her clothes looked like they hadn't been washed, either. But at least her locket was in perfect condition- Kiera had her priorities straight, indeed.

July 1, 2018

[7:13 PM] LadyDeme: Seed rose quickly to his feet. After everything with Mars, he'd started carrying his festal not far from him, and so he reflexively bent for it as it leaned against the side of the crate. "Are you alright?"

[10:09 PM] TastyChicken12: "Mm? Y-Ye..." she pauses and then yawns. "Oh, I'm like this every morning, Seed," she says with a silly, toothless smile.

[10:19 PM] LadyDeme: Seed sighed a little in relief, though he couldn't shake the feeling of unease. If he had to guess, she'd slept in the clothes, and he was not sure whether or not there'd be a bruise behind her hand, or if it was just to block out the sun. "Is this too early for you? We can reschedule, if you care to." Despite his concerns, though, he sat back down. The rod made a tap sound as he rested it up against the crate once more.

[10:21 PM] TastyChicken12: Kiera jumped a little at the tap of the rod, but sat down in front of the crate, crossing her legs. "Naw, it's fine! We can start."

July 2, 2018

[2:28 PM] LadyDeme: "Very well, then!" He flipped open the book to the page of letters, arranged in order and in large type, capitals next to lowercases all; the rest of the book was working one's way through basic reading, that manner of things; he'd tried to pick something not... Overwhelmingly childish, even though a certain amount of 'See Spot Run' was inevitable. "To begin, I'd like to ask you what you already know, so we can figure out the best place to start."

[2:37 PM] TastyChicken12: "I know how to spell my own name and my son's. People tell me that my name's 'K-I-E-R-A', and my son's 'C-A-S-E-Y", I reckon."

[2:53 PM] LadyDeme: Spelling personal names was always tricky, particularly as a benchmark for knowledge -- they lacked regularity. But who could argue that it was wrong? Still, with that in mind, they could begin. "We'll start with a review of the rest of the alphabet and some of the sounds each letter represents. Essentially, letters are sometimes distressingly multi-directional signs to indicate the string of sounds that come together to form words. This means that even when you encounter a word that doesn't look familiar, you can sound it out letter by letter and it may make more sense. This book has two forms of each letter; one to be used at the start of sentences or for the first letter of names, and one to be used regularly. They remain the same letter, but the larger one's just intended to get your attention." For the sake of brevity, he gave a quick run-down of each one, framing the letter with his fingers, wrinkling his nose here and there at the chaos of linguistic history. When you stared at it, faced with the gulf of 'g-h-o-t-i spells fish,' there was little he could do. Ineffability stared at him, and Seed sat fully back down on his stool. He left off the more complicated digraphs, just for this second.

[3:01 PM] TastyChicken12: "Okay. So the tall letters are the ones that you start when you're talkin' a new idea, and then, the small ones ya use everywhere else. Tall letters for the start of names. I knew that one," she says, trying not to sound like she's bragging about her illiteracy.

July 3, 2018

[5:13 PM] LadyDeme: "Alright, then...Was the rest sensible enough?" He turned his head up from the page, her seemingly prideful tone drawing him away from the letters and into a faint smile. He smoothed it over with his hand. "I admit that at times, the path written language has taken to the present makes it... Convoluted, and inconsistent, in a lot of ways. So with all language, I suppose."

[8:35 PM] TastyChicken12: Kiera nods, trying to take it in. At this point, she was at least self-aware enough to know that she would get frustrated. She remembered getting frustrated with Casey at times, but never would yell at him. This? Well, writing isn't something she technically made.

July 4, 2018

[5:52 PM] LadyDeme: "Then let's try looking over a few simple sentences, shall we? There's a bit more about things that happen when you combine letters -- vowels, a few consonants that mean something with another, but I think it'd be good to put the ideas you already have into practice, before complicating matters further." He flipped a page, to where a large sentence was written in plain type. Part of Seed felt very far away; he'd seen sentences like that, albeit handwritten ones. It seemed like a lifetime ago -- it kind of was. He smiled wistfully down at it. 'My dog can dig' and below that, 'My cat can run,' and finally 'A big rat is in my yard.' They didn't really mean anything, practically; it was just a series of sentences with basic phonics.
"It's alright to sound them aloud if that's what you need to do, or stop and ask a question."

[6:09 PM] TastyChicken12: "... uh, sure. But after I try to write 'em, could I re-say the alphabet? I dunno if I got 'em all," she says as she keeps her head looking down at the page.

[6:15 PM] LadyDeme: "If you'd rather do that now, we can... Though I admit, right now, I'm more interested in making sure you can understand the words, rather than reproduce the lettering, so you don't have to worry about that. That said..." He reached for his paper and a charcoal stick that he'd brought along, passing it to her. "You've always struck me as a physical person. If you think writing the letters out would make them faster or easier to remember, it's worth a shot. I can't necessarily always think that teaching you exactly the way I was taught will work."

[6:21 PM] TastyChicken12: Kiera was much more physically-focused as a person; Seed was correct. "So... should I just copy it to remember? Kinda like how Ive been learning how to use a sword."(edited)

[8:33 PM] LadyDeme: "It's certainly worth a shot; should we go back and review first, repeating the sounds as you write them out? It certainly will do double-duty that way." He said, turning back to their initial page, with the letters, and settling in for the repetition.

[8:35 PM] TastyChicken12: "I say 'em as I rewrite 'em, I guess," she says. Kiera then does so, occasionally messing up "g" and "j", as well as "m" and "n", among other things. Her handwriting did not improve from the last time. It was expected for her handwriting to be very weak, but it was... unsightly at best, with r's looking like x's, and j's looking like y's. I hate the letter j.

July 5, 2018

[5:14 PM] LadyDeme: Seed gave an encouraging nod or an occasional addendum or tip to her sound association. While it was true there were some... Rather unfortunate letters here, he also had an understanding about handwriting: it mostly didn't actually matter. People were wonderful that way. Of course, this did not merit not practicing. "Fine work! While there's no doubt things will improve with practice, it's certainly not a poor first step."

[11:57 PM] TastyChicken12: Kiera breathes out, sort of smiling while doing so. She does make a slightly goofy grin at her successes so far. "Yeah, I just gotta practice it. Ain't no different 'an fightin', when I get down to it. It ain't hard, yeah?"

July 6, 2018

[3:22 PM] LadyDeme: "Right. It's just a matter of practice and memory, and memory itself is a skill to be practiced," He said, beaming; seeing his pupil in this so encouraged encouraged his efforts, stumbling along, trying to give her something so important to him. It felt light. "Are you ready for another go at reading the first page?"

[9:29 PM] TastyChicken12: She nods with a small grin. Kiera couldn't help but to feel more mature- perhaps ironically- from learning to read and write. It was probably the comparison of how frustrated she got with parenting, social ostracization back home, and learning how to fight, versus her ability to stay somewhat calm during these lessons. "I'm ready, Seed!"

July 7, 2018

[4:56 PM] LadyDeme: He turned the page and presented those three simple sentences once more. 'My dog can dig,' 'My cat can run,' and 'A big rat is in my yard.' And he waited -- anxiously, maybe even, trying to disguise it by steepling his fingers, which swayed from side to side with nerves.

[5:48 PM] TastyChicken12: "Me d-d-oh-g can dig, me cat can run, a big rat is in me... ya-yard," she reads and then shrugs. "That don't seem right."(edited)

[6:53 PM] LadyDeme: "Very close, though," Seed said encouragingly, for all that it sounded like someone of perhaps a piratical bent, "You're just having trouble with one particular letter; I can't blame you. 'Y' is rather... A grab-bag of sounds. You were right about 'yard,' and that's one use for 'Y.' While it can sound like ee, particularly if it's at the end of a longer word or with an 'E,' but as the first vowel in a word, it's usually, as it is here, read as I. Which would make these...?" He offered, seeing if a second run would get her done with these sentences.

[6:59 PM] TastyChicken12: "So... it would be 'my'. That sounds better."

July 10, 2018

[8:43 PM] LadyDeme: "Yes! Fine work," Seed said, giving a little round of applause that it occurred to him, with a sheepishness that caused him to duck his head between the raised branches of his shoulders, could be seen as patronizing. "...If I might ask... Where did you get your foundations? Your own name, I'm not as surprised at your knowing, but your son's is maybe a little more unusual."

July 11, 2018

[12:45 PM] TastyChicken12: "I'm guessin' that yer askin' where I learned from? Well, I learned from one of the elders back in my village. We didn't learn to read n' write much, though I reckon we didn't strictly hafta. Still, I always did want to know howta read n' write, but... when I asked to get lessons as a kid, I sort of... never showed up. Eh..."

[8:09 PM] LadyDeme: "Any particular reason, or just youthful indiscretion?" Seed asked, with a little wistful amusement at the prospect of a child Kiera, skipping her lessons to... Hm. His expression stirred like a pond with a rock thrown into it, as the image sort of dissolved. "What exactly would a child get up to in the desert? I'm not especially familiar with being a child or living in a desert, so I'm not very clear on that."

[8:16 PM] TastyChicken12: "I just didn't feel like showin' up! And... well, my parents were working when those lessons were supposed to happen... so they didn't. It also ain't a desert... at least, I reckon it wasn't. Definitely a savannah or dryland, somethin' like that. And when I was a teenager, I uh, was... wastin' time with my then-boyfriend."

[9:14 PM] LadyDeme: "Ah, my apologies; I suppose I was thinking of Ramalia unjustly." Seed gave a little bow of his head. The wistful smile was back at the mention of the then-boyfriend, one in equal measures romantic and sorrowful. "Young love... You have my sympathies, for the brevity and oftentimes callousness of such things. An intemperate thing; bitter for its sweetness once, a flood of feeling that, in its wake, leaves high-water marks on the heart... Well, I suppose someone left in your position has...Rather. Well, it's a bit insensitive of me to muse for the immaterial, when reflecting on the presence and passage of...well, such very human love." He tapped the page again, trying to hide his embarrassment of nearly spoken what felt to Seed like out of turn, albeit a turn that left him on the more melancholy of his wistfulness, or it would when he was done turning a greener shade of brown. "You'll have to make sure you find some time to give Kasey lessons, on your return."

[9:30 PM] TastyChicken12: ".... are ya sayin' that all that came of that was my son? And that I oughtta teach him? Unless yer sayin' somethin' else, I reckon you're right!"

[9:39 PM] LadyDeme: "I wouldn't say the only; I don't think I could judge, even if I do believe that loving someone, even just for a while, benefits the heart..." He held his smile for a moment, at that thought, before he shrugged. "But I do think that teaching your son would be a wonderful gift you could give him one day. I believe you could manage something. But for that, you need to keep studying. Let's continue!" The fire for the topic re-ignited in them both, Seed turned the page and began once again to go through combinations of letters... == RP End ==