Twelfth Beat | Am I Better off this Way

[knightime]

Characters: Dave Strider and everyone
Format: Either or
This log is: open
Location: Somewhere in the grass with lots of space; accessible to both schools.
Summary: Dave finally decides that he's going to continue teaching ASL to everyone. Even without the presence of his bucktoothed best friend.
Warnings: Language and possibly a ridiculous amount of cute.

asl
in an hour
heres the location

The grassy area had a few books lying around. There was one opened to the alphabet and a few others were open to some simple, everyday words that were common in everyday use.

Dave was sitting near them, although he was busy flattening his sandwich. It's not like anyone was here yet. Honestly, this was probably a terrible idea. He wasn't cut out to be this people person who helped everyone learn with a smile. That was John's forte. But John wasn't here anymore. Hell, a lot of people weren't here anymore.

But...it was nice. Seeing everyone sign to him. Even if it was a simple hello or the bare minimal. it was nice to see people try to communicate to him. Hell, it looked like they still were trying. Why should he deny them the chance to learn?

Even if it made him nervous.

Because he wasn't used to it. Shit was too personal. This was too much. And it was impossible to read his face. He knew the basics for ASL. Facial expression was important. But he still kept to hiding behind the shades.

He pushed all those thoughts out of his head. Right. Teaching ASL. He can do that. He started eating his sandwich, waiting for people to arrive.

Comments

[knightime]

Dave just...blanches a bit when Sis arrives. Stupid, why did you think she wasn't coming? He honestly has no answer for that himself. Welp.

'Who says I'm not opening up? I am the most open person. It is me. All the friends and people. I am the biggest social butterfly. Spreading my wings and flying all across Rakuen like a fucking friendophile.' Hahah. God, what is he signing. Honestly, she kind of hit the nail on the head. All these people always talking to him. It was weird. He was so used to just the three colored texts of his best friends and the new acquaintances of uncool troll kids.

[knightime]

Oh my god. He's trying to not laugh. Just. At least you didn't sign anything vulgar. Shion signing vulgar things by accident would be hilarious.

He signs slowly for the other, sticking to the alphabet mostly.

'I think we need to expand your vocabulary. You don't know how funny it is to see you sign something that isn't grammatically correct.'

Hopefully you understood most of that.

[knightime]

Oh, what's this? A wild Jade in his lap? Couldn't be. Better weaken her a bit before he can catch her in a pokeball.

If he had one.

If she was actually a pokemon.

Instead, Dave digs his fingers lightly into her sides and starts tickling her. You gotta pay the fee to lie in his lap!!!

[knightime]

[Dave stares at Jane blankly for a little bit. You look a hell lot like John, Jade, and Jake. This...this is not a surprise. No, it is. He's lying. He can't quite wrap his mind around all this still. He's slightly more aware to expect it with the whole info dump back on the meteor. It was still weird.]

im guessing youre new here
i havent seen you around

[greenspaces]

If Jade was a Pokemon, this attack would be Very Effective! As it stands, she simply unrolls from being a rolly jadepoly and becomes a giggling Jade Harley instead.

"Dave, that tickles!"

And she collapses into fits of giggles, unable to say any more. But she's not giving her ground up. She will do this. The lap will remain hers.

[anotherpath]

[she misses the word "chill" so she signs again to him in hopes of catching it the second time]

[bloodandfire]

[She's kept her distance, it's true, but the mothering part of her just wants to communicate easily with him. We can ignore the fact that they're almost the same age. Did Dave have a baby? I think not.]

'Yes.' [she pauses] How do you manage to teach so many people?

[knightime]

Dave continues to tickle her, a large smile starting to appear on his face. God damn, how can you not smile when you're tickling one of your best friends into submission?

He even let's out a few breathy exhalations.

Nope. You're going to have to tell him to stop.

[knightime]

[He can take care of himself!!! Even if he's totally prone to getting into trouble. He switches PDA to answer her since it would be easier before they dived into actual learning.]

i keep notes on my pda
as long as i know where everyone is i can make sure i dont give them something too overwhelming
most people are around the same levels anyways
it was easier with another person teaching though

[knightime]

[He smiles a bit, repeating the word a little slower.]

'Chill.'

[greenspaces]

"Stop, stop!" She is giggling to hard to really get anything else out, and is secretly pleased that he laughed for her! Dave is so cute. Jade even gets her hands free and awkwardly signs the letters for stop, too. Look at that.

[knightime]

Lucky you, Dave is feeling very giving today and actually does. He does wriggle his fingers near her sides but stops, letting her rest in his lap. He still had a smile on his face, but he wasn't quite laughing anymore.

[greenspaces]

She's still giggling, but has enough control of herself to start signing. It's a little clumsy, kind of awkward, but she manages it.

<<'How are you?'>>

[knightime]

<<'It's like fucking sunshine and rainbows right now. You're the apple of my eye. It's like you bitch slapped sadness out of the way like a boss.'>>

He's probably signing too fast like the idiot he is. But really, he's just messing anyways. He's probably signing too quickly so you don't even know what he's saying. That would be embarrassing!

[greenspaces]

"I only understood the bad words. What was the other part?"

And Dave would be right. Jade has no idea what he said other than "fucking" and "bitch," and she really hopes he hasn't been doing any of that, because he is not old enough nor is he married. So it would be doubly bad.

"Oh and um. How do you say....colors? In ASL?"

[knightime]

whoever is interested i guess
im probably going to just keep notes of where everyone is at
because continuously asking everyone each time is a pain in the ass

It's weird to consider that he's doing this without any strings attached. But Dave didn't half ass. He kind of acted like he did, but this hit pretty close to home for him. After all, it was basically his language to "speak."

[knightime]

ill teach you the alphabet today
not that im expecting you to memorize it by the end of the day
that would be cruel and unusual
oh wait im supposed to be the cruel one
the bad cop
whoops
looks like the good cop isnt around
everyone is fucked

Rambling aside...he points to the book opened to the alphabet.

im going to go through them one by one
youre going to just mimic me
youre free to talk or say the letters out loud
i kind of cant though
go figure

[savedbyasong]

Shion pieced together the words from the letters, blushing a little when he worked out what was being said. Sorry He signed. I want learn more.

[knightime]

nothing important
i was rambling

Because he did that. It was a convincing white lie. He did tend to ramble a lot for no reason. Maybe she won't ask again because it's kind of embarrassing.

But he definitely wasn't fucking a bitch if that makes her feel any better.

Colors...? Well he knew what color is. So technically the same sign should work. He held his hand up towards his face. His hand hovered over his neck and chin area and he just wriggled his fingertips a bit. He usually signed specific colors and not the general word, so it felt kind of silly.

[greenspaces]

"I don't believe you..."

Her look is a little suspicious, but then he starts doing something and she's thoroughly entertained. She lets out a giggle. "Is that what colors is? Can you tell me what, um..." she is looking at his shirt, where the maroon color is. Why can't she remember it...?

In a few minutes, she blinks and looks back up at him. "Maybe we shouldn't learn colors. Can I learn something else?"

[pencilpremonition]

She chuckled softly, but nodded her head, understanding what he was getting at. She copied the alphabet as he signed it, murmuring the letter names as she made each letter.

[knightime]

<<'I'll teach you some basic words then.'>>

Or at least he hoped they were basic. He wasn't sure what words were basic to Shion, but it seemed like their vocabulary was the same.

He went through family members, colors, and articles of clothing first, signing them twice and tapping them into his PDA so Shion knew what each sign was.

[overbiterestart]

[She nods.]

Yes, I'm new enough. [She is getting people skills right now.]

I'm Jane Crocker. I come from the same place as Jake and Dirk. If you know them that is!

[smupette]

'Friendophile?' Okay, even the signing for that is weird and unnecessary on the fingers. 'I would share in your talent and ability, but people really aren't my thing. Haha.'

She was glad to see progress though, she used to worry that he never got out enough. Just going out long enough to photograph shit and maybe get something to eat. Even then she had taught him to run the roofs.

[knightime]

yea i know them
dirk is my roommate
also apparently some strange alternate universe sibling from an alternate universe
how many times can i say alternate universe and still make sense i wonder
crocker?
like betty crocker slash batterwitch slash john really needs to fix his issues about baked goods
that crocker??

[Man. This shit is so weird.]