(flashback) A Sign (Hadrian)

by **Hana** on June 1st, 2010, 7:29 pm

Her eyes followed his finger almost hypnotically, but she took to chewing on her bottom lip. The entire concept of the letters were rather foreign to her. Still she tried her best to pretend that she understood them, which would have worked if she’d not pointed to the word the before asking, “Wheat?”

by **Hadrian** on June 1st, 2010, 7:34 pm

"The wheat," he corrected gently, underlining the phrase as he went, curious as to her origins. He guessed Benshira, but he didn't want to ask and be proven wrong. He didn't like the taste of his own feet. Still, he was interested in linguistics, so he couldn't help but mention, "Not all languages have a definite article like 'the'," he said.

'Does Shiber?' he wanted to ask.

by **Hana** on June 1st, 2010, 7:43 pm

“Oh… The wheat…” She nodded slowly, looking at the words before turning her head towards him. She smiled shyly, though she remained close to him. Perhaps she was afraid that if she let go, she’d float off.

“My language… It does not look like this…” She waved her hand at the words. “This ugliness…”

She blinked, realizing what she’d just said. Her mouth opened a little as she glanced at the sign then back at him. “Why bother with the the if it is not needed?”

by **Hadrian** on June 1st, 2010, 7:58 pm

He smiled, perhaps noting that he wasn't the only one uncomfortable. Then he shrugged.

"Different languages indicate things in different ways. Some use tonal shifts, others declensions... In common there's a definite article as opposed to indefinite articles. In common we say the wheat to indicate particular wheat. Indefinite articles are for things that the listener isn't yet aware of... wheat isn't a good example. But you are the woman I met in the market, rather than a woman I might meet on the way home. Partitive articles, well, we don't actually use them in common... the closest thing we have is the determiner, some, like would you like some wheat? But other languages have a partitive article for that, for mass quantities of something where the actual quantity isn't determined. The negative article is just no or none, like there is no wheat. Some people think that's a determiner in common, too, though. Oh, and the zero article is the absence of an article when the noun is indefinite. Like, I'm swimming in wheat. How much? Well, I suppose one would assume enough to swim in, but whether that means a granary full of wheat or a field full of wheat..."

He began to trail off, realizing that he had probably lost her awhile back if she wasn't trained in linguistics at all. He absolutely had to be in order to be sure that his glyphs and spells were utterly precise. Most people just had to speak, not know the internal workings of language.

"Sorry."

by **Hana** on June 1st, 2010, 8:05 pm

“Oh,” she said as if he had explained everything perfectly to her in a manner she understood and thought to be obvious now that she knew. She blinked dumbly at him then. He had indeed lost her. “You have pretty the eyes.”

by **Hadrian** on June 1st, 2010, 8:08 pm

He blinked those chlorine blue eyes at her, what he liked to think of as his staggering intellect reduced in an instant to rubble. His mouth opened, gaping fish-wise, and finally he managed, "Oh. You... you too."

by **Hana** on June 3rd, 2010, 12:10 am

The smile he got from her was pretty enough. Clearly she was pleased now with the interaction. That grin faltered the slightest bit when she looked back to the sign and realized she had absolutely no idea how to read it still. Relying on the kindness of others all the time seemed rather dangerous to her.

“My name is Ha’na,” she said softly, a touch timid now that her mind had set to worrying her about the future once again.

by **Hadrian** on June 3rd, 2010, 4:07 am

Watching her glance at the sign again, he knew that they had barely laid a foundation in reading skills. That sort of thing required repetition, and he was lucky that he had learned so young when it was easier to assimilate such a vast thing as language, written or otherwise.

"I'm Hadrian Aelius," he said, a touch formal for no reason he could fathom. Perhaps he wanted to be remembered in his entirety.

by **Hana** on June 5th, 2010, 4:54 am

“It’s nice to meet you, Hadrian Aelius,” she offered quietly. She was busy searching over the words now to try to locate what she knew to be wheat. Sadly she was sure she’d already lost her grasp on it.

Her shoulders slumped down the smallest bit in defeat before her attention turned back to the man that had been kind enough to help her. Not only that, but he’d been kind enough to try to teach her something. That didn’t happen every day.

“Thank you for your help.”

by **Hadrian** on June 8th, 2010, 5:54 am

"Of course," he said, surprised by the finality he thought he heard in her tone and in her words. "I, uh... Is there anything else I can help you with? I mean... today."

Today? Inwardly he groaned. He was not a people person. He was not good with emotions, his own no more than those of others. He was especially not so good with beautiful damsels in distress who obviously admired his learning and his mind rather than finding him odd and deriding his course of study.

Well, perhaps she would in time. Perhaps he should leave now and have a positive memory to keep for those cold nights of the Zeltivan winter when he would be alone in his cottage. Alone in his bed.