hadriel | Code - 006 [Text]

Gardening springs to mind for practicality. With Sorrow gone, as many of us should know how to work in the orchard as possible.

But most crafts rely on muscle memory as much or more than eyesight. So the question becomes what would you like to do?

Edited 2018-02-11 07:55 (UTC)

Most of the stuff I like to do I can't do here. Same goes for the people I like doing those things with.

And there are no principles which could apply here?

Then try something practical. You could manage woodworking, with measuring tools to compensate for your sight. Or you could pick up a musical instrument.

Are, um, are any of these things something you could teach me? Cuz otherwise I don't know where I'd start with woodworking or gardening or playing an instrument.

I can. And I believe there are others willing to teach music lessons, if you would prefer one I do not know.

Which ones do you know?

My best is the harp, but I play the flute and the war-trumpet as well.

I could probably learn the guitar quickly enough, but it seems to be a popular instrument here. You'd find plenty of teachers who know it better.

Edited 2018-03-07 23:49 (UTC)

[Whistler suddenly sees an opportunity]

Do you have any little flutes?

There are a few in the house, and I can make more quickly enough.

I'm having a harpsichord made, do you have any interest in learning to play?

Do you like to cook? I've been working on some recipes to make what we have for food here better. I wouldn't mind having someone to cook with.

Yeah I cook, don't know if I can say I have a burning passion for it though.

A harpsichord? Seems pretty specific. Why not a piano or a guitar? You know...the usual things.

What do you have an interest in?

A harpsichord could be usual where I'm from.

[It isn't, but it's what Hannibal played and he's the only person she had contact with when she was in hiding.]

I like the sound and feel of the harpsichord. I like the theremin too, but I can't play that.

I like making things and taking things apart to make new things. Learning how things work, you know?

Well, is it usual where you're from?

I get that, but I don't have anything you could take apart.

Not really. But before I came here, I could only have contact with one person and he played the harpsichord.

Do you have any bits and pieces I might be able to build something with?

Ah. Alright that makes more sense then.

Not on me. But you might find something in one of the empty houses or shops.

Depends a lil' on what you're good at, doesn't it?

Depends on what the thing is. Some things don't require you to be good at them before you do them.

Though, I'll hand it to you that most of the really fun stuff requires some kind of firsthand knowledge.

What sort of fun stuff are you meanin'?

I do think this place is really lackin' in radio and entertainment.

Making things. Using heavy machinery. Being a rock star. All that stuff takes experience.

And yeah you said it. I could build a radio but there would be no signal it could pick up on so it'd be pretty pointless.

[She laughs.] You plannin' to be a rock star?

Couldn't somebody make a signal? Start their own station?

Hey!

[He tries to sound annoyed but he's laughing himself]

Are you implying that I couldn't be a rock star? Maybe I'll be the first rock star on that new radio station if we can find someone who could get a signal going.

Not sayin' you can't. You'd just need to spice up your image. Rock-stars gotta be a lil' less clean cut. [Not looking like a fashion disaster = clean cut, at least in her mind.] Tell you what, if I can find someone smart enough to get us a signal then I'll make sure you're the first thing rockin' on there.

Aw, you're too good to me. Maybe I'll let you be my backup singer.

Ain't gonna talk myself up, but I am pretty shiny choice for it.

[Ignis' future is something that never quite fully leaves his mind. When you know, without a shadow of a doubt, that within only days of your last recollections of your own world you will be permanently injured in a way that will drastically affect your life, it isn't something that's very easily forgotten. He's thought often about how he would manage here in that state, and those thoughts never bring him very much optimism.

When you're someone as aggressively self-sufficient as himself, talking about weakness - even potential weakness - can be difficult. There's a great deal that he hasn't even mentioned to his closest friends, to whom he'd rather put on a brave face.]

I'm afraid I can't assist you with finding a vocation. [Does he remember him? It's been some time, and Ignis doesn't use the network openly enough to refresh the memory of his voice.] But if you'd be amenable, sir, there's... something else I'd like to speak with you about.

[There have been very few times in Whistler's life that he's been called 'sir' and most of those times involved being in some sort of interrogation and the 'sir' being a veiled form of threatening condescension.

And as for the 'amenable'...well now, this guy must be classy.]

I'm game. Shoot.

[Whistler: A touch less classy]

[Ignis hesitates, clearing his throat softly.]

Firstly, I'd like to apologise for the abruptness of this message. [Because, well, what he's about to ask relates to something peculiarly personal and something he has barely spoken about to those closest to him, let alone a man he barely knows.]

But I wished to ask how easy you found it to use the communication devices here. And... if you would demonstrate it to me.

[He pauses again, then sighs.]

I have discovered through various means since my arrival that such knowledge may prove useful should I ever be released and drawn back from further on in my life.

[There's a bit of a silence as Whistler starts putting those pieces together. It's an odd request, asking a blind man to teach you how to do something, specifically to teach you how to do something you already can do but in the way a blind person can.

When he does answer its in a quieter more modulated tone]

Hey, um, are you saying you might be going blind?

[This message is locked down for a reason - so few people know about this already and there are so many more that he wouldn't want to find out. He can't deny the usefulness of finding out how a person who can't see the phones actually uses them.

He's overly verbose in his request, measuring his words as he might if speaking in a far more formal situation than this. When the response comes back, condensing what he'd said into such a simple question, his breath almost catches in his throat. Ignis has spent so long thinking about the eventuality. So long wondering how he is going to cope. He doesn't want to worry his friends, and Noctis least of all, with those concerns. They have enough worries of their own.]

No. [He replies quietly.] Not that I might. The only way to avoid it is never leaving Hadriel.

Which...isn't a guarantee....

[That is said more to himself the anything, Whistler murmuring under his breath as his thoughts try to follow where Ignis is headed.

He never knew what sight was like. Never lost it, so to speak. And in many ways he's come to believe that in its own way was a small blessing. At least he never had something and then had it taken away. He was simply born into a sightless existence and could then, with a blank canvas, construct his own world of sounds and sensations unhindered by any passing memory of sight.

He wonders what it must be like then, not only to have sight but to stand on a precipice between having and not having.]

Sure. I can teach you.

[He doesn't nod, knowing the other man couldn't see it regardless, but the silence surely holds all the confirmation that any words might have conveyed.

Not speaking of it to anyone has left him only with his own thoughts on the matter, and he has come to the conclusion that the blindness is not the main thing which bothers him. Rather, it's what that blindness will inevitably take away from him when it happens. So much of what he does relies on his sight - how can he possibly expect to continue to operate as he does when he no longer has that vital sense?

He can't, and he did not have the elder version of his closest friend in Hadriel for long enough to ask just how well he would come to cope with the change.

Knowing in Hadriel does nothing, in the end. Once he leaves, there will be no way to change what is bound to come to pass. No matter how much he might wish to, and no matter how much Noctis might wish him to.]

Thank you.

[Simple, soft, and sincere - a departure from his previous over-wordiness.]

At your discretion, of course. Where might I find you, when you have the time?

If you're the right person...and...I think you are...I'm pretty sure I live next to your girlfriend. And I've got nothing but time, buddy.

... Ah.

[Of course that would be where he lived. Now, how to get there without Kate seeing him and wondering just what he's doing that isn't visiting her? He's overthinking it - there's no reason for her to coincidentally appear, and...

And this is something he should talk about with her, eventually. He's been avoiding it, just as he's been avoiding discussing it with Noctis.]

In that case, I shall be with you presently.

You want me to make coffee or something?

[He may not have guests over often or like...at all.... but that doesn't mean he has to be a bad host.]

Ah... no, thank you.

[A hard pass on the coffee. There's only so much of it he can take at once, and that's just enough to keep the headaches at bay. Best taken in the mornings, before he's woken up enough to properly register how vile it is.

Pardon him, he's a snob about his coffee.]

I'll be by shortly.

[And he is, gently knocking on the door so as not to draw any unwanted attention. He watches Kate's door while he waits, still not knowing when he's going to tell her about any of this.]

[It's about a minute before Whistler fumbles with the latch and gets the door open. He's picked up on the cue from the quiet knock and silently gestures for Ignis to come in in place of a verbal greeting. Whistler may enjoy teasing people 99% of the time, but he doesn't find anything funny about the possibility of spilling the beans on something this important to a guy's girlfriend before the guy is ready.

As such he only speaks when he's shut the door again and is careful to modulate his voice accordingly]

So, uh...what did you want to know first?

[Maybe he should have told her first. Perhaps this is something that one discusses with one's friends and loved ones before approaching a near-stranger for help. Perhaps it is, but he can barely speak of it with Noctis - how can he look Kate in the face and tell her about something like this?

There's no way to rehearse it. He knows her well, but for this, he can't judge how she's going to react. Overthinking can sometimes be a benefit but in this, everything leads him around to the thought that he doesn't want to lose her.]

I... admit I hadn't thought that far ahead. [He replies with a sigh, keeping his voice equally quiet. For anyone who knows him, that lack of forethought is a strange thing indeed.] How you navigate the phone would be a place to start.

Code - 006 [Text]

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