text, backdated to the 15th or so

[hellosirs]

[ First, he'd panicked. Suddenly being unable to speak was bad enough, but not being able to read or write was terrifying, and Angus had spent about an hour holed up in his room, trying to make sense of his books even though the text kept swimming out of focus. Some time with his family had helped calm him down, though, and it soon became obvious that this was the Turbo-Liches up to their usual fuckery. Things would go back to normal in a few days, but in the meantime, Angus was going to have to squash the fear down and try to figure out how to communicate, because miming things out could only get him so far.

Speaking didn't work. Writing didn't work. Typing didn't work, but... there was more than one keyboard on these phone things, wasn't there? Lup had shown him, once... ]

🤐

💬❌

✍️📵❌

👐🙌🤟❓❓❓

👩‍🎓❓

[ Anybody out there know sign language? Anyone willing to teach it? ]

Comments

[hellosirs]

❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️

[ A BREAKTHROUGH HAS BEEN MADE! ]

❌❗️

🙏👩‍🎓❓❓❓

[ aka, 'please, teach me your ways!' ]

[unnature]

[Will this help him if no one else knows NSL? Will this help him if she doesn't know NSL really because she's forgotten most of it?]

Oh, you're excited. Hmm. Lemme see if my thing didn't make me forget all of it.

[She pauses and stares at her hands for a moment. Okay. She tries fingerspelling her name, he first name for once, only it takes a lot of trial and error to get through it, including some cursing and groaning.

Eventually she gets it.]

Okay. Watch this.

[]

Avisheh. That's my name. I think. What's yours?

video

[hellosirs]

[ It absolutely will, because at least this way, he feels like he's making progress on something! It's been one hell of a discouraging day, and at this point, anything helps.

Angus turns the video on, and he's so excited that he's practically bouncing on his feet. It takes him a few moments to get the communicator level and propped up against something, and he slowly, carefully signs A-N-G-U-S back at her, though he improvises a bit by tracing the letters 'N' and 'U' in the air. ]

video

[unnature]

[Avisheh squints for a second.]

...Your name is Anus?

[Wait, no, fuck, there was totally a G in there. This kid is a fast learner, like Avisheh normally is, which she'd appreciate at other times but right now it just kind of annoys her.]

Nevermind, I got it. Here's Angus.

[]

Try that one on for size.

[hellosirs]

[ This time he really does facepalm. Just when he thought this day couldn't get any worse.

The second she says 'nevermind', Angus cracks his eyes open and studies Avisheh's hand movements intently through his fingers. Within moments, he's mimicking the gestures and signing A-N-G-U-S back at her, followed by A-V-I-S-H-E-H, and after some thought, T-H-A-N-K-U, with the T being the universal symbol for 'time out', and the K just being traced in the air. ]

[unnature]

Oh, "thank you" is easier than that. You don't have to fingerspell everything.

[She shows the gesture for "thank you", a simple, single gesture.

She's appreciating that she's at least slightly more useful than she's been recently. The thanks she signs is in part thanks to him as well.]

[hellosirs]

[ This time he signs back 'Thank you Avisheh' in full, and gives her a big gap-toothed grin and a thumbs up. When this is all over, he'll find her in person and thank her properly, probably with some baked goods.

(Spoilers: Angus is not very good at baking, yet.) ]

[unnature]

[God, kids. Imagine, Avisheh actually being good with one. That probably won't last, she's not exactly a pediatrician and has zero bedside manner, but she signs back a response.

"It's nothing."]