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 was still in the middle of his sandwich but he jabbed his finger at the book which was opened to the alphabet and then pointed it to himself.

As in 'sign me the alphabet' but he wasn't even sure if that made sense to Dirk.

On the upside, he gets to see what Dirk does.

[fracturedsoul]

Dirk glanced over at the book -- aha. He had read up on that much just in case there was ever a pressing emergency. Now to see how much he remembered.

'A, B, C, D, S --'

[knightime]

He stopped Dirk before he could continue on.

someones getting too excited
lost a few letters back there

Dave put his PDA down before holding his hands up to sign.

'E'

your thumb is tucked underneath your fingers
you just signed me a s
which is basically a fist

Aww look at that. Dave actually being fairly helpful and serious with teaching.

[fracturedsoul]

Whoops. Dirk watched Dave sign it correctly, then looked down at his own hand and imitated. E, S, E, S. "All right, got it."

Okay. 'E, F, G, H, I, J.' Only he sort of got that one backward. He moved his pinky finger down, over, and up so that the hook of the J would be the proper shape, all right, except that Dirk was left-handed, so the shape came out backward.

[knightime]

He has to stop Dirk, but there's a bit of a silent chuckle as he helps the other.

oh shit
you had the same problem i had
who would know that being left handed wrecked our shit so much
your j is backwards
jsyk

Dave wasn't really even aware that the other was left-handed until now. Huh. Guess that makes sense. It wasn't something he particularly noticed.

[fracturedsoul]

"Well, strap my arm down and beat me with a ruler." Huh, if Dave is left-handed -- was his Bro, too? Maybe that's why all the shit he'd left in that apartment had never given Dirk any problems.

Right. So. 'J, K, L, M, N, O.' Those were easy, they just looked like the letters they were meant to represent. 'P, Q, R, S --' If it was possible to emphasize sign language, Dirk definitely was right there. '-- T, U, V, W, X, I love you.' Not realizing he'd fucked up his Y, he paused for a second to make sure he moved his hand in the proper direction for, 'Z.'

[knightime]

Oh my god. Watching Dirk sign the alphabet is the funniest shit. Look at him getting all testy with the letter S. Like it offended his pet or something. He just...

He can't. Nope. Done. Dead. His shit is lost

Dave let's out a breathy laugh and soon he's laughing. The only sounds is the inhale and exhale of air and Dave's entire body shaking as he tries to stop laughing.

i love you too
i dont think thats what you were trying to sign to me though

Excuse him while he tries to stop his giggle fit.

[fracturedsoul]

What.

"What. What did I do?" He didn't realize. At all. He hadn't learned anything more than the basic letters.

[knightime]

Dave is trying to not laugh so much as he tries to type and show Dirk the different signs.

this
this is y dude

He shows him Y, which didn't have the index finger.

what you just signed to me was confessing your undying love for me
this is
i love you

He shows the sign that Dirk had signed to him. This would be more awkward or kind of embarrassing if he were not still trying to contain himself.

[fracturedsoul]

"What the hell? Who decided those signs should fucking be so similar?" But he imitated Dave as he signed the letter Y. That was a little embarrassing, but he hadn't meant anything by it and Dave wasn't making a big deal out of it so it wasn't like it really mattered. There wasn't anybody Dirk would have a reason to sign that to anyway.

The hysterical laughter, though, that was what got to Dirk.

"Okay, I get it now, you can stop with the cachinnations, bro. That's pretty clever, encoding entire common phrases into one gesture instead of makin' you break 'em up into separate words. Must save time."

[knightime]

the signing gods apparently

Dave appreciated it honestly. Even if it were by accident. He rarely got to see people sign it to him other than Sis or something. It wasn't usually used towards him. That thought was honestly kind of sad.

i can laugh at this shit if i want to

It made him feel a little less nervous. At least he was knowledgeable in this. But he signs 'I love you' to Dirk with both hands. Because he's being sassy.

its kind of a bitch to teach it though
since people are prone to mixing things up

[fracturedsoul]

Dirk made a face and replied with the only other bit of sign language he knew.

"Yeah, I bet. Having you as a teacher's probably gonna fuck all these righties up something fierce," Dirk conjectured. "Guess I should say thanks for going out of your way to bother."

[knightime]

Rude. he can sign with his right too you know. He was stronger in signing then he was in writing for a little while, It was easier to do hand movements than it was to write after all.

Dave shrugged lightly.

it isnt that big of a deal
i didnt think people would actually be interested in this

[fracturedsoul]

"Language is important. Without a way to mutually communicate, we're no better than our animal forebears. Except apes can totally use sign language too so we'd be worse off than them, even." Dirk shrugged back. "Besides, this is hells more useful than half the shit they've got us learning at these so-called schools."

Hm. He considered something for a second. "Why are you the only one teaching? Doesn't your sis know sign language too?"

[knightime]

i guess
but its not like people really wanted to put the effort in to learn
why sign when you can talk?
little davey cant talk??
well sucks to be him he can just listen

Dave wasn't actually all that bitter about it. He just read books or did other things instead. It was only a problem when he started getting picked on for it.

oh
well yeah
i guess she would know for my sake
but its not really her style
i was the one who offered anyways
its not like i was gonna force other people to help me teach
i didnt even consider teaching until egbert mentioned teaching it

[fracturedsoul]

Interesting. Dave didn't seem all that broken up about what he was typing, but Dirk still got the sense that it did bother him.

He also got the sense that, if he was reading Sis right, she wouldn't mind helping Dave with his classes, but he wasn't going to point that out. Her being an older, genderswapped version of Dirk from an alternate universe was still kind of weird -- and he was a heart player, so that was saying a lot.

"The deaf Egbert? Where'd he get to, anyway?"

[knightime]

Striders were stupid okay. He mostly didn't ask Sis because he didn't want to bother her. He could do this himself. Then maybe she wouldn't be as pissed with him for before.

idk
i guess he went home

This is not a conversation he wants to be talking about. Welp.

[fracturedsoul]

"Lucky bastard." Dirk backed off. If that's all Dave had to say, he wouldn't push.

"What skill level are you teaching to? Looks like you'll have a combined class. People you've already taught some alongside complete newbies."

[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."