View source for Reading into things

<div style="padding:5px; background-color:#e7eaea;">

==Log Info==

*Title: Reading into things

*Emitter: Eztli

*Characters: [[Aelwyn]], [[Eztli]], [[Slixvah]]

*Place: Lower gardens district

*Summary: </div>


it was another warm day in the area of alexandria, a boon that Eztli was planning to make full use of. The small makari had a sprawling blanket set up underneath one of the trees, a large basket, though not the one she had woven by hand before laid out beside her, as well as a stack of books, pots of ink, and a pair of writing slates with chalk. She was all set, all that was left was to wait for her somewhat reluctant student.

A ruddy-shade of a sith-makar slowly wanders into view. And by slowly, it was slow. For some reason today, he had a lot of business with passers-by and the statues alike. Eventually though, he walks over the blanket with a relaxed gait and bows his head.

"Spellreader," Aelwyn greets and straightens, holding his glaive against his chest. He then eyes all the books and the writing slates. "This feels like a library," He rumbles with a roll of his shoulders. "She is not one for small steps?" He shows a bit of his teeht, before he sits down crosslegged, his polearm resting against his shoulder.

A shadow against the sky of the sun passes by over the gardens. It veers off in the distance.

A minute later, taloned feet clack and scrape on their way up. Head held up high, slitted blue eyes look between the two. A red scaled makari with white scale swirls looms over the two, spines lining their back all the way to the tip of their tail that which sways back and forth in amusement.

Teeth pull back in a wicked sharp grin. "Now what /exactly/ am I crashin' in on?" a rumbling yet light tone comes from them as they adjust their colorful robes.

A rainbow of ribbons litters their spines, horns, arms, and tail.

"Ah! The wayward pupil has arrived! Peace on your nest, Aelwyn." Eztli chuckles, patting the blanket nearby. "It should feel like a library! This is a place of learning, after all. But it's not a library, the librarian would throw you bodily out of the library if you brought sandwiches and cookies into it. Seriously, that Oruch is more than a bit scary. But don't be overwhelmed, I am taking things slowly. But you need supplies to learn, so, I had to make sure I had some." 

"Oh, peace on your nest! You aren't crashing anything, I'm just teaching Aelwyn here a few things, that's all." She replies to the other makari, with an inkling who it was, but no assupmptions made yet.

Aelwyn looks up towards the newcomer, then nods his head. "Ribbon." Great part about giving people names, is that even if you were wrong, you are not too far off. "Hmmh, wonder if it a surprise she knows what one cannot bring to the library?" He grins up at her, and then picks up one of the writing slates. Twisting and tilting it in his hand, he soon gives it a subtle nick with his teeth.

"What does Spellreader want to teach? This one can read and write."

The mannerisms, the ribbons, the color pattern, the eyes, without a doubt it has to be-

"Oooh, learnin' new stuff! I'm all 'bout that! So what we learnin' today, cuties?"

It's Slix.

She plops down with a thud, tail swishing back and forth behind her, dusting the ground with a grind.

"Because I wasn't the best student in Dragonier, of course." Eztli snorts. 

"You claim to be able to read and write, but I saw your writing before. But, if you say you can, lets see where you're at! I'd like you to take a piece of chalk with the board I gave you, and write your name and show me. Just for starters." 

"You're welcome to join if you want Slix. Interesting magic, that's different from the disguise you used before? It looks a bit more physical than the previous one. Looks good on you." The small makari chuckles. "We're just kind of setting the stage right now, seeing where Aelwyn is at, and what we need to work on."

"The ribbons suits her scales." The Dragoon grins toothily at totally-not-Slix, then turns his head towards Eztli. "Hmmh, wonder how her horns would look with a bit of silk?" He moves onto wonder whilst picking up his chalk. He rubs it between his fingers momentarily.

And then Eztli asks him to write down his name. There's a long blank look towards the other sith-makar. "This one's name? Hmmhm." His own tail swaying behind him, he stares at the slate for a time being. Perhaps one could see the tension in his body, perhaps another the very well hidden excitement. Lines are drawn, swirls are cast, and finally with final swipe, he holds up the slate towards Eztli.

It probably had letters. Most of them were buried under the way expressive 'cursive' though. "See?" He grins, pleased. "This one's naame is easy to sign." Tail thump.

Slix taps the side of her snout. "Thanks! Yer a smart cookie, Ez," she snickers. "I ain't tryin' bein' this yet. No wings sadly, but the tail is fun! And man, I can smell everything!"

She looks to Aelwyn, an appraising look in her eye. Though if there was any judgement for the circumstance, none could be found. "I think Ez would look cute wit' a lil' veil on her horns, yeah," she opines in agreement before sitting there cross legged, watching Aelwyn.

And he presents. Her head cocks to the side in a very bird-like way. "That's certainly... expressive," she diplomatically hums. "Where did you pick up such unique penmanship, hon?"

"Don't think being able to smell everything is a good thing though, Slixvah." Eztli chuckles. "Some of the areas of the city are a bit overwhelming, it's partly why I'd like to work in the garden for this." 

Then her attention is on Aelwyn as he works, appraising his movements and the finished product. 

"You have a flair for writing, that's for certain. Though, it is hard to make out everything. Would you be able to tell me the letters used for it? To be honest, I don't know how your name is spelled, Aelwyn."

IF there ever was a trap, this one was it, yet the ruddy-scaled sith-makar was completely content walking blindly into it. Grinning at Slixvah, "The troupe. Plenty of parchment one needs to write." He tilts his head after, "... this one always wonder how the soft-skins get on by without a sense of smell?"

At Eztli's question, he picks up his chalk and points at the largest of the swirls, "'A'" He begins, then moves onto the other bold straight lines somewhere in the middle, "'E', the poise and the the cut is for the L..." He rumbles, and then he gestures with his palm up and down. "'Wyn', so it such as the wind." A pause. "Or win." He grins, tail swaying behind him.

Scaled Slixvah leans back to prop herself up on her hands behind her. Her tail flicking back and forth, almost betraying the her thought process as it ticks behind her like a metronome. Then, conclusion. "... is... your name Aelwyn because you like ale and winning? Troupe give you that one?"

She shrugs to Eztli. "Eh, used ta seein' a lot from far away. Not dealin' wit that so just tradin' that mental load over to scent. Ain't all bad."

She leans forward to take a slate and chalk, her scribbling out something on it before showing an: 'A E L W I N' written in blocky Trade letters. "Like this?"

The small makari nods. "Ah, I see, such flourishes are good for art and displays in situations like that, but they are a bit overwhelming for writing and reading efficiently." She continues. "That is good, and Slixvah has it written in plain tradespeak, as you told it." 

"At least with eyesight you can look away. You can't choose not to smell something." Eztli sighs. "But, back to what we are doing. You do have a grasp on it, so that's good! Now, the next step would be writing out the entirety of the tradespeak alphabet." 

The small makari takes the other chalkboard and quickly jots it down before she hands it over to Aelwyn. "Repeat writing these out, and if any are not recognized by you, simply say so."

Aelwyn stares with blank orange pupils at the other sith-makari. His tail shifts and then thwaps the woman on her arm. "And was she named after the slicks?" He rumbles with a grin. "No, it is this one's name. Before troupe." His pupils narrow, and then he reaches out with his hand to wipe off the 'win' part. Correcting, he stylizes a more fancier script - but 'wyn' is probably somewhat legible, if one follows his way of thinking.

Twirling the chalk in his hands, the ruddy-scaled sith-makar returns his eyes on Eztli. "Repeat and recognize?" He glances down at his slate. "They are letters?" He offers helpfully, before he wipes off his slate and holding his chalk with the tips of _all_ his fingers, he attempts to carefully trace the visible lines. Not write letters, but just trace the lines.

Slixvah shrugs once more. "Gettin' used ta havin' my senses scrambled for a bit with this mojo. Least if somethin's off, I can quit it."

Her attention drifts to the student of the day. Who promptly thwacks her on the arm. Which would elicit a wince, but being a pretend makari shields her with the scales. She blinks. A little chuckle. "Naw. Ya'll ain't speak it, but it roughly translates into Soft-Facing-Mountain-of-Fate," she hums proudly. "I guess, name before troupe, but the troupe taught ya how ta sign ya name on parchments?" she offers as another theory.

She watches the Dragoon once more. Her jaw lightly grinds in thought.

"I don't speak Auran, but that's a pretty name. My name means, well, that's just something for me." Eztli chuckles weakly, physically waving off whatever thought she was having. And then she takes hold of Aelwyn's hand for a moment, taking the chalk and resting it between their index and middle finger. "Brace it with your thumb, that will give you more control. But yes, they are letters. If you can recognize all of them, then that's a good start. As figuring out all the rules of putting them together, that's the part that takes a lot more time." 

"Being able to sign your name is important, I'm sure Integrity would agree."

"The Boss said the same thing." The Dragoon grinned widely, before he rolls his shoulders and tilts his head. "Very rarely he said reading the parchment was more important." Aelwyn gives a long glance towards Slixvah, considering how she was staring at him - and then he flexes out his chest, giving his mane of quills a roll with a rumbling chuckle.

Eztli snaps him out of his play and redirects the focus on the slate. He lets her correct his writing hand, and then with a deep breath, starts writing down the lines. With harsh, uncoordinated strikes. "A, B, ... I stands for Integrity?" He lets out a little hmh and a shake of his head, "Oh, another P, Q'oh..." A very vibrant hiss, and off he continues listing the letters, in his own way.

"Oh! Thank ya Ez! Momma picked it, us birdies are proud of our names."

The stare the polymorphed egalrin was giving him was one of appraisal. Of thought and weighing. Aelwyn's seen this before: when in the thick of things, Slix is jovial and upbeat, but there's that layer of calculation just behind it all. A nudge of magic in the right direction getting them out of a sticky situation, held until the opportune moment.

And whatever it was, she held such expression now, focused on him. "I see," she tweets to herself. And such observations remain a mystery. For now. <Auran>

She rises to her feet. "It is unwise to sign anything without reading it, who knows if ya just signed over everything you owned, even your own body. Charn loves such deals," she advises before reaching over and patting the two true makari on the head. "Ya'll cuties have fun now, I gotta bounce. My shift is starting soon!"

Shift? Shift where? Who knows, as suddenly there's wings. A step, and a buffet of air. And Slix is gone.

Slixvah has left.

"Both are important. But reading the parchment is even more important, I would agree with Slixvah." Eztli nods. "You need to know what you're getting into with any documents, but you need to be able to write your name properly and recognizeably, so any documents are identifiable. 

"Oh, you're working somewhere? Well, best of luck with your shift!" Eztli grins, waving off the egalrin before they're taking off. "Oh goodness, I can't believe she just did that. Casually showing she can fly and not sticking around so I can talk to her about it?" The small makari huffs. "Ah, sorry. You're doing well Aelwyn, keep it up. Integrity starts with an I, yes. I have a dictionary here for you, so you can reference words and what they mean. I'd suggest reading through it when you can. But, small steps. Thanks for letting me teach you, I'm happy to help."

Aelwyn finishes his scribbles - mostly they did look like letters, even if they resembled like clawmarks in places - and offers back the slate and chalk. "Hmmh, this one has not known her to do shift work either." He nods his head towards Eztli, "Very rude, agreed. Should talk more about flying."

The Dragoon tries to keep up with Eztli's enthusiasm, grabbing the offered dictionary and tilting his head at her. Finally, he grins. "Gratitude," He bows his head, and starts to get back up on his feet. "Shall bring the wine to go with her basket next time," He says in amusement, tail sliding behind him. "Peace on her nest" He bows his head and walks away with a new twirl on his tail.