Finding My Voice

It was quiet in the art room today and Rori was somewhat regretful that there didn't seem to be anyone else around. But he had come here for a reason, so maybe it was for the best that he not be distracted for the moment. Learning to write was taking way too long in the mirror spirit's opinion, and even though he could theoretically mouth out everything, he knew reading lips was hard and required a bit of concentration. So he had to be creative, and right now that meant miming and drawing. It was so frustrating to have so many questions just trapped inside himself.

So Rori had come here to practice what looked like it was going to be his main form of communication for awhile. Perhaps he should work on learning to write better instead, but he already was spending so much time on that, and he had heard someone say that a picture was worth a thousand words anyways. The boy's hand-eye coordination was pretty decent considering that he'd only had hands and eyes for a month, and he had a great concept of shapes and space. He probably could be an artist if he worked at it, but for communication purposes, stick figures were quick and easy. He just needed to figure out how to position them. He also needed to figure out a way to express emotion, which was one thing drawing really didn't seem to help much with.

Before he actually started to practice, though, he wanted to put down some things for quick communication, so he would have something on hand to start with. He grabbed a notepad and a pencil and began writing down things he would need. The first page was 'RORI' written in his mirror-style writing. The second page was a backwards question mark. He hadn't gotten much farther than that when he thought he heard someone come in and looked at the door to see who it was.

The mirror spirit waved at the kid who had entered the art room. He didn't recognize him, but then again he was so new here he barely recognized anybody. Rori was a little disappointed at having been interrupted so quickly. He hadn't had time to prepare anything. He held up the question mark to the boy though, wondering why he had come in.

Then he realized that a question mark without context would probably be more confusing than him just not saying anything, so he held up the RORI sign instead. He pointed to the sign and then to himself. Then he held up the question mark again and pointed to the boy, hoping it was clear enough that he was asking for his name. And then, in case all the gesturing and signs hadn't made it obvious, he covered his mouth with one hand, indicating that he could not speak. Afterward, he just shrugged. That was one bit of body language he'd at least understood quite quickly. Mostly because he seemed to have to do it so much.

Well, he had hoped to have some practice. And people weren't going to just come at him one at a time. Real life just didn't work that way.

Rori read the name and nodded. He supposed it didn't matter that he really had no clue how to pronounce that name because he couldn't say it out loud anyway. At least the boy wasn't assuming he was deaf just because he couldn't talk. But after his initial action of writing his name, the mirror spirit wasn't really sure what to do next. He couldn't really ignore the other boy, but his conversational skills were even more limited than his spelling ability, and that was saying something.

Small talk was really not something Rori was equipped to handle at this point when the closest he could get to saying good day was a sun with a smiley face. Although, asking how Reece was doing was probably a good start. The mirror spirit, having finally thought of something close to a conversation starter, drew a smiley face next to a question mark and held it up to the boy. Hopefully, it was easy enough to figure out. He didn't think there were a lot of ways for it to be misinterpreted.

Rori nodded in answer - that had been what he was trying to say or close enough that it really made no difference. He gave a thumbs up, then thought and nodded again. He was pretty content. His dulled emotions meant he didn't really get overly happy, but his inexperience made even just feeling a little relaxed seem to be amazing.

It may have seemed like a game to the other boy, but if so it was incredibly frustrating to the spirit. Much like the one drawing in Pictionary, he had to figure out how to put a concept into pictures. Except the concepts weren't simple objects or actions and he had no prompt cards to tell him what to say. And it was up to Reece to guess everything. Rori would probably do better at 20 questions - at least yes and no was easier, although that would take a long time. And would probably get boring fast.

He momentarily flailed his arms at the boy's question. Time was a very difficult concept, to begin with, and although he could answer a number question with his fingers, he had no way to say whether he was measuring in days, months, or years. He covered his eyes with his hand briefly before pointing at the other boy, to indicate that he hadn't seen him either. Then he shrugged and held up one finger - it seemed they'd have to do a short game of yes or no anyway.