[Okay, she should have thought this through a bit better. But lonely texts you send because you tell yourself it’s very practical training are a bit impulsive.]
[I must note that is saddens me greatly that Konoha can't get that joke rn because she would think it was the most hilarious thing. She is trying her best... but there isn't much in the message she can read. She knew the words for things that ended up on shop signs, like "tea" and "food" and "money"... things that she used on the lumber yard, like numbers... but not really verbs, adjectives, or pronouns.
[Konoha takes a few minutes to fix her hair and clothes, sniffing to make sure the robe, the same one she's been wearing almost constantly since her arrival, smells fresh enough. Okay. Then she has to tentatively make her way slowly down the stairs not meant for equine legs. And then...
The lobby! Looking around, she spots Palamedes... and gives a little smile, and a small bow, recognizing him from their hand-holding session in the Patho-Gen clinic. Oh, she should send him some puzzle pictures, too... maybe when she's done with this meeting she hadn't expected?
- But she doesn't break her stride, and, clueless, Konoha keeps moving to look around the lobby. A task that should be easy, considering she's about seven feet tall, but... hmmm... where are they...]
[Oh, there's Konoha... walking right past, aha, he's beginning to understand the rabbit. Or rather, that someone else is the rabbit, and perhaps this is about to get socially awkward?
Still, since she shouldn't just wander off and be disappointed no one came, he moves to approach her, calling out:]
Konoha, hello, just a second!
[And he's not even going to muddle through hi-maybe-that-was-not-for-me?— he simply pulls up the conversation on his Syntrofos and holds it up for her to see.]
[The sound of her name brings her head back around, a smile coming to her face almost automatically because, well, that's just what she's used to for greetings.]
Master Palamedes? What is i...
["It"... seems to be... her puzzle picture texts. Confusion takes over her expression with a furrow of her brow as she glances between the screen and the man holding it, finally coming up with a,]
[He... He's not a rabbit, he can just run as fast as one and she wasn't sure how to write his name, she had to make something up- ! But wait. It's his? Konoha is not one who is very skilled at schooling her expression, so the confusion is just blatant as she cocks her head, the large bun of hair wobbling atop her head.
The... username... Right... Not the name, the... user name...]
Um...
[She hesitates a moment, because since her arrival she has learned to be a bit self-conscious of the lack in a way that had never mattered in her own world, when she was surrounded by people in the same situation, but. Well, it's just the situation, so. She confesses with a little laugh that,]
I can't actually read, so I don't know it... I thought I found the one that was the same shape and size as I remember...
[But "recognizing" is not "reading", and it seems her memories of what his name looked like written out was a bit tainted by the weird corrupted stone fear that had suffused the woods when she saw it.]
[It's going to be quite embarrassing if she ever figures out that what she had thought was Liem's username was actually an unrelated word from the title of a Patho-Gen advertisement, but thankfully... she's not literate enough to, yet. As is...
Visuals help. ... But also please don't bring the tentacles into this. Konoha is valiantly attempting to pretend Corruption doesn't exist. Which might be evident in how she seems to be trying to cover every inch of herself these days, wearing a horse blanket over her back to try and hide the feathers coming into her undercoat.]
Oh, that's an easy shape to remember... !
[She pulls up the screen on her own device to try and find it, just to be sure, pointing at the first "x" she finds.]
[He's keeping the tentacles to himself, don't worry. They are staunchly contained under his poncho-like overpiece, unless he moves too quickly, then a glimpse might come out.
But for now, hidden. He leans over to look.]
That's the one. It's right in the middle, so if you see that, chances are it's me.
[Confirmed, she looks back at the symbol and squints hard at it, willing it to remain in her memory. "X... X... X..." is muttered under her breath, just to cement it in there, before...
She turns back to laugh a little helplessly. This fellow always sounded very smart (as far as she was concerned), so she can't help but ask,]
Are you a scholar, Master Palamedes?
[She's learned other people in other worlds, you didn't have to be a scholar or a noble or something to be literate, apparently, but. It's still her first guess.]
[That would explain "since I was born", anyway. There were plenty of those in the capital, she had heard of it, even if Tateyama was hardly a village large enough to have such a thing, and the nearby post town wasn't either.
At the offer of help, though, she cannot help but want to demure. It's just... what you did. At least two or three times, before accepting, just to make sure the other person was truly serious about the offer. But...
Looking hesitant, her thumbs rub over her device's screen in little circles.]
[He nods; yes, a scholar family, basically exactly that. And how, but he doesn't need to explain the sprawling Sixth "family" to her right now; it's not important to learning to read.]
My father has done a lot of teaching, and I've done a lot of listening to him talk about teaching. So, formally? No. But I'm good at explaining, so I think I can make it work for you.
[It's still her instinct to refuse, politely, to insist she couldn't impose on him like that, but. Her gaze flicks between the device and Palamedes' face and her tail flicks beneath the cloth "skirt" over her rump.]
If you have the time, that might be really nice... ? I don't really have any money, but I could try and find some. Or, I could do you favors to pay you back? I'm really strong, and I'm tall... I can carry a lot, or cook... ?
[Konoha doesn't know if she had been hoping he would say he was too busy or that he would demand money... but in the end, he simply insists he has both time and a need for one of the services she was capable of providing, and that means... Konoha sort of forgets whether she'd wanted one or the other. She just smiles a little, reaching up to scratch at her hairline. It was so itchy lately-]
Ehe, I would be really shocked if a scholar could cook...
[Something about it feels wrong, like you can't be super smart and good in the kitchen... That's too many blessings...]
What do you like? I can try my best... and if it's good, I'll take a lesson! In my world I didn't really have time for that sort of thing, but... I guess there's no lumberyards for me to run here, huh?
[She's an Augmented who is supposed to... to transform into some sort of monster and save people from poison rocks. Having some time on her hands seems a poor compensation for that, but... It was what it was.]
[He's sure there are some scholars who can cook... Not any that he knows, but probably out there somewhere. Maybe.]
I'm open to trying something new, so what do you like to cook? We didn't have much varied cuisine back home, so as long as it's not a bowl of protein mush, I'm happy.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Hi? [squinting... well, at least part of that seems to be "horse woman," so hopefully,] Konoha, is this you? How are you doing?
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🌳🍃👍
tree leaf👍
👋
🥩🍚🥣🫃？
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Am I hungry? I could eat.
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eat?
🥩🍚 eat now?
now 🫃？
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Or should I say where should we 🥩?
[hee hoo]
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Hmm... hmmm... something something meal question? Meat?]
🥩🍚 < 🥩🥩?
🌳🍃👍
[Just this once! You should really eat more balanced, though...]
now 🌳🍃 🏨
now 🐇🏃🏻♂️💨👨🏻 🏨?
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Let him... try this.]
🏨👍
🏃➡️-->🥩?
[And just in case, before even he forgets what he's doing,]
I can meet you outside.
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🏨⬇️
🐇🏃🏻♂️💨👨🏻 + 🌳🍃 🔜 🧑🏻🤝🧑🏻 🔜 🐎🏃➡️🥩?
⬇️１５？
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👍👍
👀🫵⬇️15
[Hopefully he's got this right... Well, he'll go down to loiter in the Valentia lobby and hope for the best!]
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The lobby! Looking around, she spots Palamedes... and gives a little smile, and a small bow, recognizing him from their hand-holding session in the Patho-Gen clinic. Oh, she should send him some puzzle pictures, too... maybe when she's done with this meeting she hadn't expected?
- But she doesn't break her stride, and, clueless, Konoha keeps moving to look around the lobby. A task that should be easy, considering she's about seven feet tall, but... hmmm... where are they...]
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Still, since she shouldn't just wander off and be disappointed no one came, he moves to approach her, calling out:]
Konoha, hello, just a second!
[And he's not even going to muddle through hi-maybe-that-was-not-for-me?— he simply pulls up the conversation on his Syntrofos and holds it up for her to see.]
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Master Palamedes? What is i...
["It"... seems to be... her puzzle picture texts. Confusion takes over her expression with a furrow of her brow as she glances between the screen and the man holding it, finally coming up with a,]
- Why do you have Mister Liem's Syntraphus?
[She'll get Syntrofos right one of these days.]
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I don't. This is mine.
[A beat, pursing his lips. Okay,] Do you know this Liem's username? I can help you get in touch with him properly.
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The... username... Right... Not the name, the... user name...]
Um...
[She hesitates a moment, because since her arrival she has learned to be a bit self-conscious of the lack in a way that had never mattered in her own world, when she was surrounded by people in the same situation, but. Well, it's just the situation, so. She confesses with a little laugh that,]
I can't actually read, so I don't know it... I thought I found the one that was the same shape and size as I remember...
[But "recognizing" is not "reading", and it seems her memories of what his name looked like written out was a bit tainted by the weird corrupted stone fear that had suffused the woods when she saw it.]
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Well, mine is just my surname. "Sextus"-- just look for the "X".
[He draws an X shape in the air, rather than hold up his arms in the shape or something like that. He's not bringing the tentacles into this.]
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Visuals help. ... But also please don't bring the tentacles into this. Konoha is valiantly attempting to pretend Corruption doesn't exist. Which might be evident in how she seems to be trying to cover every inch of herself these days, wearing a horse blanket over her back to try and hide the feathers coming into her undercoat.]
Oh, that's an easy shape to remember... !
[She pulls up the screen on her own device to try and find it, just to be sure, pointing at the first "x" she finds.]
This one?
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But for now, hidden. He leans over to look.]
That's the one. It's right in the middle, so if you see that, chances are it's me.
[Not... like... 100 percent. But probably.]
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[Confirmed, she looks back at the symbol and squints hard at it, willing it to remain in her memory. "X... X... X..." is muttered under her breath, just to cement it in there, before...
She turns back to laugh a little helplessly. This fellow always sounded very smart (as far as she was concerned), so she can't help but ask,]
Are you a scholar, Master Palamedes?
[She's learned other people in other worlds, you didn't have to be a scholar or a noble or something to be literate, apparently, but. It's still her first guess.]
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[This is not an exaggeration, but only because he's from a big house of nerds who live in a library.]
I don't want to be presumptuous, but if you wanted an additional hand, I could help you get a solid baseline.
[He'll make flashcards!!]
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[That would explain "since I was born", anyway. There were plenty of those in the capital, she had heard of it, even if Tateyama was hardly a village large enough to have such a thing, and the nearby post town wasn't either.
At the offer of help, though, she cannot help but want to demure. It's just... what you did. At least two or three times, before accepting, just to make sure the other person was truly serious about the offer. But...
Looking hesitant, her thumbs rub over her device's screen in little circles.]
... Are you used to teaching, then?
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My father has done a lot of teaching, and I've done a lot of listening to him talk about teaching. So, formally? No. But I'm good at explaining, so I think I can make it work for you.
[A whole class maybe not, but one-on-one, easy!]
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[It's still her instinct to refuse, politely, to insist she couldn't impose on him like that, but. Her gaze flicks between the device and Palamedes' face and her tail flicks beneath the cloth "skirt" over her rump.]
If you have the time, that might be really nice... ? I don't really have any money, but I could try and find some. Or, I could do you favors to pay you back? I'm really strong, and I'm tall... I can carry a lot, or cook... ?
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[He doesn't really have plenty, oops, but he has enough! He'll make time.]
And if you insist, I can take you up on being paid in food, because I can't cook to save my life.
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Ehe, I would be really shocked if a scholar could cook...
[Something about it feels wrong, like you can't be super smart and good in the kitchen... That's too many blessings...]
What do you like? I can try my best... and if it's good, I'll take a lesson! In my world I didn't really have time for that sort of thing, but... I guess there's no lumberyards for me to run here, huh?
[She's an Augmented who is supposed to... to transform into some sort of monster and save people from poison rocks. Having some time on her hands seems a poor compensation for that, but... It was what it was.]
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I'm open to trying something new, so what do you like to cook? We didn't have much varied cuisine back home, so as long as it's not a bowl of protein mush, I'm happy.
[This is literal, the bowl of mush.]
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