Private Finished Lost and Loaded

"Oh, yeah," Ven said. He rubbed his face with his hand--his hand, he had fingers, not paws, remember that Ven, remember-- and nodded slowly. "The dorms. The residence halls. That's where I'm going. When we get back, I'll take you there."

Did that mean that she was close to his age? Maybe?

Ven was so cold and all he wanted was--

FUCK.

"WHAT THE HELL," he yelped as the snow hit him in the face. He was shivering even harder, but now he stuttered, unable to find the proper amount of rage.

"Oh my god I swear to everything that is...that is something, Aimouryllice," Ven muttered, but it did the trick, and he was stumbling in the direction of the school again.

Ven was not a violent person, but Aimouryllice was driving him insane.

"If you throw snow at me again I will dump you back into the ocean," he threatened, which might have sounded more menacing if his teeth were chattering so bad.

ooc: a quick heads up! I'm not making an official coming & going post since i'll be around, but my posts are going to slow down for the next couple days. I'm going back up north to the Land of Bad Internet and I'm not sure how much access I'll have!

Ugh. There she was with the ugly bit.

"It's a good thing I don't have self-esteem issues, you know," Ven sniffled, rubbing his nose on the back of his arm. His teeth were still chattering. She was making him a little bit paranoid; he really wanted to find a puddle or something reflective he could check himself in. Was there something on his face? He'd seen the bit of a bruise but was it worse than he thought?

He wrinkled his forehead, trying to stay focused on staying awake, walking, and Aimouryllice's manner of speaking.

"I'm prettier as a wolf, got it," he said, though he wasn't exactly certain if that's what she met. He huffed, "I mean, there are wolves that have lots of different colors, too."

He asked, "What...what colors do your people come in?"

Not the most tactful way to phrase the question but he was mirroring her manner of speaking even as he tucked his hands into his pockets.

His....voice? Or his manner of being?

Ven wasn't sure. He was tired, and it was much harder to figure out when she was complimenting him than when she was telling him he was ugly. He almost preferred that because, at least, it didn't give him as much of a headache.

or maybe it was caffeine withdrawal.

He wanted a coffee bad. Ven stumbled again, but he picked himself up, tucking his bright red hands back into his pockets yet again.

"You draw?" he asked, wondering if he was to understand that literally. "Do you paint, too?"

They had to be getting close now, he thought. His first most immediate thought was THANK GOD, but he was also going to be a bit sad to have this frustrating and kind of mean old lady in a young fish person's body leave him.

"I don't know how to draw, but I think I might start," he admitted. He said, "Do you have any family?"

"Oh," Ven said, and then, because he wasn't thinking, he accidentally made an offer. "Well, I would be happy to work with you in improving your English, if you want. I'm not a teacher or anything but I helped out my brother a lot when he was just learning."

Ven did not realize that he just gave himself up to seeing the frustrating Vox Somni again if she wanted.

And...she was...eating....her....hair.

Okay, whatever, Ven wouldn't judge. He bit his nails. Maybe she was trying to leave a trail of hair like breadcrumbs, a la Hansel and Grettle style.

"Oh," Ven said again, trying to make sure he was following. Then, he asked to clarify, "Are all your people lost or just you? Are they lost on land, too?"

He glanced at the trees, which seemed to be thinning and said through his chattering teeth, "We should be getting there soon, I hope."

(ooc: want to have them arrive in another post or two?)

"
Oh, that must be frustrating,” Ven said.

This was something he could relate to: work that was supposed to help you catch-up and build strengths but was unfortunately remarkably condescending. Aimouryllice was clearly intelligent enough to speak English and whatever language her people spoke, so it made sense that she had an adult vocabulary. Ven himself rather enjoyed learning from picture books, but understood that something for babies was not something you should give to…

“How old are you, anyway? Do your people count years like humans or do you have another way to measure time?” Ven chattered.

His face hurt from the cold and the snow that dripped beneath his shirt collar when she threw it at his face was melted enough to be comfortable now. He adjusted it and the pushed his hands back deep into his pockets.

His phone was missing. He hoped it would turn up soon, or he’d have to put in all new numbers.

“A word we use in English is very,” Ven said. “You say ‘much soon’ but very would be a better way to explain it to a human. The two words are very similar, but much is more of a quantity, like how much of something there is. There is much snow, not there is very snow. Does that make sense?”

Ven had no idea if it did or not. He was thinking about what it must be like to be here and not know where his family was, if they were all scattered around the land. There were a lot of students who didn’t know where their families were, but that didn’t make it any less sad.

Ven was still puzzling out dorm symbols.

“Like my room number?” he asked, trying to clarify. Her question caught him offguard. Ven was quiet for a moment and he said, “I thought I could do something by myself. I almost always need to be around other people, just so something like this doesn’t happen.”

He meant disappearing into the woods to go for a short walk without taking someone with him to watch his body incase he fell asleep.

“I think the snow on the branches of trees is pretty,” Ven said.

He thought about asking her if she had a phone and hesitated. Would it be stupid to ask her? Or rude to assume that she didn’t?

They were almost there. The silhouette of the school was visible beyond the thinning trees.