(OPEN) Sept Catch-all

[zomboii]

Who: Unnamed & YOU
Which: Open log
Where: Reverein proper
What: Handing out Devil Peppers & showin off his flashcard skills
Warnings: none atm!

I. Peppered Love

[ It's been a little while since Unnamed encountered the great and mighty Lord of the Goose, but since then he's been making the odd trip to Asura's garden to poke around and say hi while giving Lord Swan A VERY HEALTHY BERTH. On this particular occasion he's been gifted a nice little bundle of devil peppers, which he takes with immense delight.

In his head, it works something like this:

Happy feelings = warmth and devil peppers = HOT AF, which = so much love.

So clearly the best way he can show his affection is by giving the people he cares about some aptly-named Devil Peppers.

If you're someone he's seen before, you can bet ur butt that he's going to call out and wave them down...right before he presents them with one of these bad boys ]

Ouuh, auh! Ih--ih!

[ Take it :D IT'S FOR YOU ]

II. Flashcard Signing

[ One thing that Unnamed has been working on since his arrival is how to communicate--because that's hard when you're both deaf and undead. He started first with pictures in the journals, then again with sign language. Experience, however, has armed with the knowledge that not everyone understands Sign, so he's decided that his next step has to be reading and writing all those weird scribbles everyone always fills up their books with.

It has not been easy. His dexterity and fine motor skills are lacking at best like ya do when you're not-quite-alive, but help has come to him in the form of The Best Mom Ever and his introduction to.....flashcards. Shigeru has helped him acquire a set marked with both sight words and signs to help him recognize what each word means, and he has been studying them furiously. He's even gone and dreamotion'd a couple of his own into existence with Shigeru's help, so on this fine day Unnamed can be found:

a) pouring over his flashcards as he spreads them out over ground and table alike;

or

b) rushing up to your character with a flashcard with the word 'HELLO' written on it and holding it out with The Most Enthusiasm Ever. ]

Auh!

[ He looks so proud okay, you don't even know ]

[ ooc; just a small reminder that Unnamed here is both undead and deaf but he is doing his best!! and he's got swanky new flashcards to prove it. So if your character is interested in a mini-sign language lesson, this is a good place for it :D ]

Comments

[recreator]

[Exactly like that. Emet-Selch himself (uncertain though a part of him may yet be) has been dwelling much on the same topic. Of the people, and specifically one dear friend (one uncle) whose presence feels "right" - even if they have been forced into a stern word with one another following what happened in Madhuri's dreamscape. Unavoidable, that; but conquerable. A stepping stone.]

["So you understand." It's quite heartwarming, really. The sort of thing that would fair bring a tear to the eye if allowed to do so. Instead, Emet-Selch glances away from Unnamed's soft and sappy expression. "There are other things as well. Liking something about yourself - something you did or learned or changed. Places you are happy to go to - or go to with friends."]

["Pain...is hard. And not fun. It also can come from many things. And come with emotions - fear, sadness, anger. Have you ever felt anything strange when you fell down?]

[zomboii]

[ There are other ways things can feel right besides people... Unnamed makes a mental note of that. Learning to sign and read will go on his list later for sure; he can't think of more important things he's learned (besides playing games and trying to recreate Nier's Giant Muscles out of sand, of course).

Pain though... He thinks hard about whether he's ever felt anything from falling down, but comes up blank. Aside from the pressure of the impact, he doesn't think there's ever been anything strange.

He shakes his head, looking confused.

A discerning and careful eye will note that it's not as if he's never fallen down before--he's got calloused hands and his knuckles are always just a little raw, as if he's over-used his hands or bumped into things.

A look at his elbows and knees (most days hidden by his clothing) would reveal near-permanent bruising. In fact, he's got a lot of random bruises here and there--they've just never bothered him.

"No strange," he signs. ]

[recreator]

['Twould make sense, given his nature. Although some of his bruises may be invisible to the naked eye, there are still plain signs that he has been scraped up from time to time. Given his story about the dragons, and what Emet-Selch himself has witnessed from their first meeting - his single-mindedness when set upon a particular task regardless of his body's needs - he's fairly confident that his status as an undead makes him impervious to physical pain.]

[He finds himself unwilling to test that theory, however.]

["Then it will be hard for me to explain. When something bad happens, most people feel pain. It is a bad feeling. A "wrong" feeling. It means there is danger or injury or hurt. When one falls, their body may break or change colors. This comes with a very bad feeling, sharp - like claws, or a dull ache that continues. It can be too much for some people."]

["Pain can also come from losing someone. From large, bad change. From things that make you scared. If spending time with friends is happy and filled with good feelings, then being apart can cause the opposite. These feelings can last for a long time. Sometimes forever."]

[zomboii]

[ Unnamed's going to struggle enough with that first definition, never mind the second; abstract concepts are still a new concept to him and he's only able to learn that through experience. Good or bad, he still hasn't accumulated very many 'negative' experiences. Many would call him naive, with good cause.

He's not sure how to begin looking at the second definition of pain (and there are a number of signs in Emet-Selch's explanation he's unfamiliar with), so he focuses on the first.

"Danger like falling?" he tries first. That had felt bad in Trahearne's dream--he'd felt scared. "I see people fall. They don't move good after. But don't look sad mad." On account of the only people he's seen fall being, you know. Undead. Their range of expression is 'nothing' and 'hungry.' ]

[recreator]

[Alas. And far be it for Emet-Selch to inflict painful visions upon someone he would (begrudgingly) admit that he somewhat likes, even for educational purposes.]

["Yes, danger like falling or fighting."]

[He taps his chin in thought. "Were these people who fell like you? People you know from home? Most would be 'sad mad' if they cannot move well after falling."]

["Maybe I can teach you to see pain if you cannot feel it. You can tell, normally, by looking at a person's face if they hurt. Then you would know if they need help."]

[zomboii]

[ you caaare about hiiiim

He nods to the first question. "Like but little different. No talking, no signing." They never interacted with him, despite his most earnest attempts to bridge that gap. He didn't even know pain existed before Reverein. Being able to recognize it...that's probably important. He might not feel it, but he doesn't want to make anyone else feel it either.

"Teach me to see pain please!" His hands aren't coordinated,but he does sign it as fast as he can. "Important, I think. I saw someone's nose melt after eating peppers. That pain?" ]

[recreator]

[He does. Don't tell anyone - not even Hythlodaeus. (Though of course he already knows.)]

[No talking or signing. People who are unable to communicate at all? This sounds a great deal more like the undead creatures he has witnessed during his travels. Not dead, yet not truly alive either - little more than animated shells with only the barest hint of awareness, driven by instinct as opposed to conscious rationale or feeling. Though perhaps he's judging them too harshly.]

[At last he nods. "I will teach you. We'll make it like a small show, so you can see but no one gets hurt." As for someone's nose melting... he likes not to think how something of that nature came about. "Yes, I would think so. Noses are important. Connected to face. Losing it would be very painful. Did you see if their nose was ever fixed?"]

[zomboii]

[ "Yes, nose stop melting after waiting. Melt was thiiiiis long!"

Emet-Selch may get the sense that perhaps 'melt' is not the literal word here, but a placeholder that Unnamed is using because he lacks the vocabulary.

"Didn't know melt came from nose." But now of course he's feeling a bit guilty for giving poor Aether and Link those peppers... ]

Oh nooooo oh no.

[recreator]

[Oh.]

[Ohhhhh.]

[He gets the sense that, yes, they are going to have quite an educational experience together. Right here, right now. Emet-Selch groans, his shoulders heaving in a put-upon sigh. And for once, this is very much an inconvenience.]

[How crude. And no one else thought to explain?]

["Now I understand. If the melt came from your friend's nose, but their nose stayed the same - the melt is something else. Not the nose. It happens when eating something hot. Or when the weather is cold. Or when someone is sick. Usually 'melt' does not hurt you."]

:D

[zomboii]

[ So it's not called 'melt'...? And it happens when eating something hot (he thinks immediately of the peppers and feels both sheepish and guilty). He doesn't think cold or sick apply to what he saw, but it's good to know it doesn't hurt. Link had looked...a little like maybe that might've been the case (it was. It absolutely was).

"What is it?" he decides to ask. "Spell and word please?" ]

[recreator]

[By the star, why must he be the one to impart such knowledge? He could, of course, refuse. Or invent some vague excuse to explain why he cannot.]

[Yet such is an everyday occurrence, and 'twould be ridiculous to pretend otherwise.]

["There are many words for it. I will give you one." And here he spells: m-u-c-u-s. "Mucus. Melt from the nose. Mucus can also be stuck in here..." And he indicates his neck. "From here, it is called phlegm." P-h-l-e-g-m.]

["Do you understand?"]

[zomboii]

Ouh...

[ It could only be you, Emet-Selch. Futaba showed him heroes, Akechi taught him 'Fuck' and Aether let him know what all the animals he's been eating over the years are friends and now his world will be over.

"Mucus...phlegm. Nose and neck." Got it. Probably got it? The spelling and reading is going to be hard, but he can make a flashcard of it for later--and does just that with a bit of concentration. One card for each word!

"I understand! See? New word flashcard. No forgetting." ]

[recreator]

["Throat," he corrects, spelling it out with his fingers. "Inside neck."]

[He's certain there are much more useful bits of trivia that he could bestow if given the chance, yet Emet-Selch supposes even this duty must fall to someone. At least Unnamed will not be calling them "boogers" on his watch, so there is that much.]

["Yes, I see. You are very good at this, aren't you? Would you like for me to write down any other words for you to learn later?"]

[zomboii]

[ 'T-H-R-O-A-T,' he copies. Inside the neck; he'll remember. "Yes please! New words. Words lots people use?"

Those ones tend to be the most useful to him. Phlegm He's learned a lot of food and animal names recently, and a little bit after this thread he'll start doing more counting as well. ]

[recreator]

[Very well. Although it may take Emet-Selch a little while to find words with which Unnamed is as yet unfamiliar, and though it may take a longer while to attempt to explain them, it would not be a stretch to imagine that he uncovers at least a few new words to add to the boy's collection. Being Emet-Selch, such words would likely be rooted in descriptions for various aspects of the natural world or simple terms related to societal living - or at least, to the community of Reverein - names for different sorts of shopkeepers and professions, perhaps, or other words useful for living amongst neighbors.]

[And then there is the theatre, of course. Unnamed will find that Emet-Selch is entirely eager to revisit his pet project and teach him about the arts at length, keeping such ideas as simple and as straightforward as possible.]

[Perhaps one of the more difficult (but incredibly important - in his opinion) concepts which he would wish to bestow is the word "soul".]

["Have you been taught this one before? S-O-U-L. Soul?"]

[zomboii]

[ Like always, Emet-Selch remains a veritable treasure trove of information and concepts. It's not always easy to remember, but it's always there and Unnamed soaks up as much of it as he can--and marks anything he's unclear of for later. He can ask someone fluent in reading and Sign--like Hythlodaeus or Shigeru--to explain it to him again later if Emet-Selch isn't around.

That last word though... That's new, and it's made obvious by the way Unnamed tilts his head and shakes it.

"What 'S-O-U-L', soul?" ]

[recreator]

And thus Emet-Selch would attempt to explain that a soul is what makes a person who they are. An individual. Unique. From their likes and their dislikes to their feelings and thoughts, their way of interacting with the world around them.

A color and light that few are capable of seeing, but which exists nonetheless within each person and each creature that is born; an ever-present glow.

He has glimpsed Unnamed's soul numerous times before, of course - for it is what drew him to the boy and piqued his curiosity. 'Tis clear and welcoming like an early spring sky.

Mayhap that is part of the reason Emet-Selch took to him so easily from the start.