• Closed • In The Flesh

[Yanahalqah]

Ymiden 39 Arc 717

Ever since her trial and subsequent punishment, Yana had not been too excited for returning to Uleuda. During her punishment –which she had fortunately sat out already—even less so. Now though, she was rather excited, but also hesitant and nervous. Though the Idalos part of their getting together had gone well, and had had them reveal their feelings for each other, Yana could not help that in meeting in the Crystal Realm, something could go wrong. Perhaps they already had met, and maybe he’d seen her at her worst. Maybe he’d been disgusted at her weakness, thought her pathetic. Or perhaps they had never met at all. That would be preferable.

She sighed. Fleshlings did not have to go through this kind of confusing situations when they began a relationship, she was sure. It was all so simple for that folk. You were who you were. Yludih, not so much.

Still, the pulsing of her asterism did betray her anticipation of this. She had caught a glimpse of Rathaan’s form already, but not enough to recognize him, or confirm whether or not she’d seen him before. That was a troublesome thing, she reckoned, thus they had agreed on a meeting spot, and a way of identifying each other. There was a simple solution, really; they would go to the plaza, and look for someone who was using Common Sign. Something like “over here”, or “I am here”. If they did not see someone like that, it meant they were the first to arrive, and they would have to sign. It appeared Yana would have to play that role.

Taking the route leadling from Yldria to the plaza into account, Yana positioned herself so that she’d be visible from the entrance, so that when Rathaan arrived, he’d have no trouble spotting her. Then she began to sign. Perhaps it would have been easier for them to go pick a crystal flower near the forest, and use that as the identifying feature, but Yana really did not want to go near that place still. Sure, she could go there, and she could even go in, but she never felt comfortable. If she went in too deep, well, she’d seen what happened last time.

Several people were giving her odd looks –or at least Yana thought they did; most of them did not have a face—but she just kept going, doing her best to ignore them.
“Yana!” came a female voice from behind her, and the scarred Yludih nearly jumped. “What in Yldria’s name are you doing?”

Yana gave the woman an annoyed look –or rather, she would have, if she could. “Go away mom, I’m waiting for someone.”
“Hmmmm… Is it… a boy?”
“If I say yes, will you leave?” she tried.
“Is he handsome?”
“I don’t know, we’ve never met up here before!”
“Then how will you… oh. I see.” She nodded slowly. “When I was younger we just pinned a flower to our robes, you know. Way easier.”
“Can’t you just leave already, he can arrive any trill, and--” she pleaded, still signing.
“And you can’t have your embarrassing mother ruin your date, huh? I know the feeling. My father used to spy on me here every time I went on a date. One of my boyfriends stumbled upon him doing just that, once… it was really awkward for all of us.”
“If you get it, please just leave.” Yana begged again. “Please.”

Risahalqah laughed. “Well, okay, okay, Little Flower. You have fun then.” She paused, looking at a male Yludih stepping into the plaza. “Is that him? He looks kind of thin, don’t you think? Oh, he’s coming this way!” She laughed again, and Yana groaned.

“Mom, please…”
“All right, all right. I’m leaving.” She began to step away, then looking back over her shoulder. “Oh, and Yana? I’m glad you’ve finally found someone to open up to. I’ll be rooting for you.” She gave a thumbs up and a wink, which only elicited another groan from Yana. Then, the yellow Yludih left. Yana sighed. Perhaps she should have agreed to meeting up at the edge of the forest after all.

[Sintih]

[img]/gallery/image ... ge_id=6081[/img]

t had been a strange feeling, the combination of exhausted and boundless energy at the same time. Despite the fact that sleeping with a non Yludih took much more physical exertion than sleeping with Saeri did, Sin felt much more exhausted after it than he'd ever felt after sleeping with someone from Idalos. But the melding of two bodies into one, two asterism pulsing as one, gave him such a rush of energy that Sin felt like he was addicted to it already, after only two times, one of which had been a misunderstanding of some sort.

Saeri had drifted off first, sleeping with his arm around her while Sin had been staring at the ceiling of her room, unable to sleep, yet. In the end, the boundless energy was only there for as long as he was with her. The moment they separated, he went back to his broken asterism trying to keep up with what little demands his body had at the time. Pushing the jealous thoughts about Saeri's asterism, and other Yludih, aside, Sin drifted off as well, cuddling closer to the only Idalos Yludih he knew. The only person who shared and understood his secret. He'd pulled the furs up higher so they wouldn't cool down once the fire died and made sure he was sharing in as much of Saeri's body heat as possible, even if it was only illusionary heat.

When next he opened his eyes, the bright light of Yldria washed over him and rejuvenated him. While things weren't perfect in Uleuda, at least the illness was less advanced here. Although, Sin had to admit, maybe things here would be closer to perfect now than they'd ever been. He couldn't help but smile, a reflex his crystal body didn't, couldn't pick up on. He looked around, trying to see the one Yludih signing common around here. Despite the time of the trial, it was crowded around the large crystal. Yludih of various sizes and shapes, in various states of development, walked around in their cloudy, see-through veils that covered their bodies.

Most of them were faceless and featureless like him but every now and then you'd see people further along their path with the beginnings of a face. The ancients were rarely seen but they were the closest to their true forms and as such had the most development. His parents were both ancients, although on the younger side of the ancient scale, but he couldn't really say they looked the way they were supposed to look. Sin held strongly on to the image of his parents being a pair of Eídisi farmers living outside of Andaris. Sin focused back on the present and started wandering around the crystal looking for that one signing Yludih.

There she was, standing alone near the main exit from the square to the plaza. Her hands moved slowly, with a grace he'd come to admire. Her ability with the signed language was much higher than his, much more decisive and accurate than his. She didn't need to hasten herself to keep up with her thoughts unlike him. He was standing to her side, while she was looking down the middle towards the crystal. A few people were looking in her direction but their lack of facial expressions made it impossible to see what they were thinking. Sin was about to raise his hand and wave at her when she suddenly stopped and turned around.

While the new person was more defined than Saeri, Sin couldn't tell anything about their conversation from this distance. He also didn't want to intrude on their conversation. He waited and watched the two of them converse. In what seemed like the middle of the conversation, the new Yludih turned in his direction. It seemed clear to Sin that she was looking right at him. Not wanting to look like he'd been spying on them, Sin started to walk back in their direction. Before he could get to them and introduce himself to whomever this person was, she turned and left, leaving Saeri with a thumbs up. A friend of Saeri's?

"Hello." He chimed at Saeri, a little dumbly. What else could you say to someone knowing your physical form was pressed up against theirs in Idalos while up here they were basically walking around naked, even if naked here meant consisting of various pieces of crystal stuck together to form a humanoid shape. He couldn't help but overlay Saeri's naked form over this Yludih. "So... This is me, Sintih Rhataan. I guess this is what I really look like, as undefined as all these other Yludih here." He'd grin or wink or something but his body here lacked the facilities to do any of that. Instead he shrugged slightly.

"Who was your friend?" Sin nodded in the direction of the disappearing yellow Yludih. Now that he was closer to Saeri, Sin could that she did have a bit more development going on than he initially thought. Across one eye she carried a large crack in her crystals. He remembered seeing her other form with a scar in the same place. He wondered why Saeri didn't have it. Perhaps her Eídisi scarring across her body had siphoned off the facial scar and hid it. Whatever the reason, the difference between the two forms was a blessing for Saeri as something as obvious as a facial scar might get one form in trouble for things the other had done.

[Yanahalqah]

There he was. Her mother had barely left when Rathaan presented himself before her. His form was thin, as was to be expected, and there did not seem to be a whole lot of distinguishable traits present on his form. Except for the crown-like crystals on the top of his head, which she vaguely recalled seeing earlier in the trial. He could hardly be called magnificent, or handsome –he did not have a face, after all— and he looked even less healthy here than he did in Idalos, which was an achievement in and of itself. His voice was the same though, a familiar trait at last. Yana on the contrary, was nothing like Saeri at all, she imagined. Her body type was closer to Rayna’s in terms of height and curves, and the scars, naturally. Her voice was a monotone still, although only barely, as it had more emotion laced through it. That might perhaps be the most surprising thing to Rathaan, she thought. That or the scars.

Rathaan reintroduced himself, his voice chiming and ringing like glass. “I wouldn’t exactly call it undefined,” Yana replied, finding he stood out quite a bit with his slender body. The crown on his head was rather unique as well. She wondered how it had come to be. “Well, this is me then. Probably not what you were expecting, but eh…” she gave a little shrug too. “Nice to meet you, Sintih, I am Yanahalqah.” Using his Yludih name would be a challenge, she expected. For so long he’d only been Rathaan to her that it was hard to think of by another name. Perhaps the same was true the other way around.

“Friend?” She would have creased her brow if she could. “Oh! No, no. That was my mother. She was curious as to what I was doing…” Hopefully, Risahalqah would not be sticking around to spy on them. “So, ehm, what do we do now? Want to go somewhere? Find a quiet spot to talk in private?” That was the purpose of this meeting, right? To get to know each other for real, to find out more about the other. A scary thought for any Yludih, Yana imagined, but she was looking forward to talking about herself even less. The less he knew about the Yana that existed in Uleuda, the better, however that wouldn’t be really fair to him. She was aware of it, but too many what if’s and insecurities whispered in her ears. What if he decided she was a disappointment? What if he had fallen in love with Saeri, but not her as a whole. Was there even love in the first place?

Perhaps they had met before, perhaps he had seen her at her most pathetic. Perhaps he remembered it too. Yana had a feeling she recognized his crystal form, and the name Sintih, but she really hoped she didn’t. That she was imagining things. She did not dare to ask about it, lest it was true and her questions triggered memories of her as a sad heap of sobbing Yludih. She was fretting far too much, worrying far too much, she could see that, but that did not help any at all. Thinking that she needed to stop weaving doom scenario’s in her head only prompted more to appear. It was a good thing she was in control of herself still. Keeping up appearances was easy when she did not have a complete face. Her asterism might pulse with a different color light to reflect her mental state, but hopefully it was not too conspicuous.

The fingers of her right hand played idly with her robes, fidgeting nervously. The Yludih felt as if her nerves were not going to last much longer. Her asterism was pulsing way too fast. She’d probably die on the spot from anxiety.

Be strong, Yana!

[Sintih]

[img]/gallery/image ... ge_id=6090[/img]

tanding here, in front of Saeri, the real one, did come as something of a shock to Sintih. Maybe it was the lack of definition or the pieces of crystal poking out everywhere or perhaps the fact that he viewed his Idalos body as his real one and this Yludih one as a dream or secondary one but Sin had to admit that he didn't feel attracted to her like he did in Idalos. She was probably good looking by Yludih standards but those standards meant very little to him. The fact that it had never occurred to him until now should have told him something.

"I mean... I'm winking now." He winked, or tried to, and he couldn't feel anything moving. He smiled and nothing again. "I'm smiling now." He shook his head. "And now I feel dumb for telling everything I do." He tried to put as much amusement in his chimes as he could to let her know that he didn't mind, really. The fact that he wasn't very good at speaking Ulehi, or chiming it, meant that most of what he chimed had this hint of an annoying shrill to it. That and he seemed to be using a much less eloquent vocabulary than in Idalos. Saeri reintroduced herself as Yanahalqah. Despite how he felt about her Yludih form, at least he liked the sound her name made when she said it. "Your name sounds nice." He smiled again, unseen.

"Yanahalqah." He repeated her name, butchering the pronunciation of it. "Yana." Compared to her, his use of her name sounded more like broken glass rather than the crystal touches she gave to it. "Saeri." He chimed it softly. It sounded like he had better luck with that one. "So? Which one you prefer?" Some Yludih had specific names for specific places and forms, others, like Sintih, had one name they used for mostly everything. As he'd only known Saeri, or Yana rather, by the one name he wasn't sure if she belonged to the first or the latter.

It was curious how he'd come to expect certain things from Saeri. Of course she had a mother, she didn't just pop out of nowhere like a Nulliem. What about her father? From her reaction earlier, back in Idalos, Sin wondered how good her relationship with her family actually was. He didn't seem to sense any discomfort from her as she told him about her. "She looks... friendly? But maybe wait until later to introduce me?" He tilted his head slightly and shrugged lightly to indicate that he wasn't sure if it would be a good idea to meet so soon after finding out about each other.

While Rhataan and Saeri had a strong bond, which had now turned into the beginnings of a strong relationship, Sin wasn't sure how he felt about the whole Yludih thing and the Yanahalqah thing. Or the Saeri's mother thing for that matter. Was that how she felt about him? Was that why she was fidgeting with her cloudy robes, so unlike the strong and confident Saeri? "If you want, sure. Maybe meditation room somewhere? Or edge of the forest? I don't have house here so..." Maybe she did, maybe she didn't. He let his suggestions linger before looking around at the Yludih around them. Was it quite obvious to everyone just how uncomfortable they were with each other here? Did it show that they knew each other in Idalos? Sin felt it did but the logical part of him knew that it didn't. Didn't help, though.

[Yanahalqah]

Yana gave a small chuckle at his verbal emoting. It was indeed a little silly to do, and probably would turn obnoxious rather fast. She gave a little shrug. “I can wink, but that’s about it,” she said, “though it could as well be blinking. It tends to be confusing if you only have one eye.” On top of that, she did not have a brow, so she couldn’t really make any expressions with her eye either. A mouth would make things easier, but apparently, she wasn’t in tune with herself enough to unlock it. Her gaze could not be followed though, since her eyeball was much the same as her Eídisi form’s: blank. No iris, no pupil.

He complemented her name then, and Yana smiled unseen. “Thank you. My mother gave it to me.” Perhaps she would have commented that she quite liked it, but she often found it too ironic for her liking. Then he butchered the pronunciation, and while it did sound dreadful, it was a commendable effort. Especially since his Ulehi was rather bad. Really bad, in fact. Yana’s was certainly not the best around, but it was better than his for sure. “Whatever you like best. I’ve used Saeri far longer than Yanahalqah, but either is fine.” There was also Rayna, but that name was even newer to her than her Yludih name.

Again, she shrugged slightly as Rathaa — Sintih commented on her mother. “I suppose she is. A little too meddlesome at times, perhaps.” Also doting, which wasn’t always a good thing, since it usually went hand in hand with the meddling in Yana’s affairs. “Oh, no. Don’t worry. She was just curious. I think she’ll leave us alone.” At least she hoped so. Risahalqah had wouldn’t spy on her, surely, having experienced such a breach of privacy herself when she was younger. She’d give them some space. Introductions would come later down the line. “It’s way too early for introductions either way.” And the one in Uleuda would probably be the easiest one. In Idalos, she wasn’t sure if it would be a good idea to introduce Rathaan to her father…

“A meditation room sounds perfect,” she spoke quickly, maybe too quickly when the suggestion of the forest came up. “A little privacy is probably a good idea.” Hopefully it would help her calm her nerves as well. As things were now, she was fairly certain she was not making a good impression. She was different from the person she pretended to be in idalos, she knew, and perhaps she was too different. She wouldn’t be surprised. She wouldn’t blame him if he decided he did not want her after all. Perhaps she was a disappointment, nothing more than an illusion.

She led the way to the part of the city housing the spiritual aspect of the Yludih civilization, entering a large building she knew held many chambers fit for meditation and self-reflection. On the way, she tried desperately to stop the fidgeting of her hands, and adjust her posture to seem a little more confident. Channeling Saeri was a difficult task for her in this place though, as if she could not be anything else than the person she displayed by default. Rayna was equally impossible, either of them boasting confidence she did not have at the moment. She tried to keep a conversation going by asking Rathaan about his parents, family, and other such matters. His childhood, fond memories, the like.

It was a hard task keeping the silence at bay, a silence that would be awkward without a doubt. Just like it had on their first date. She needed to avoid that at all costs, but at the same time, it shouldn’t feel as if she was forcing conversation. Keeping the talk going felt rather awkward for her too, but it was better than silence, and she was genuinely interested in his answers. They reached an empty room then, no moment too soon too. Yana entered and sat down on a crystal cushion, offering another to Rathaan. “I’ve been told the rooms here are soundproof,” she said, “as some people like to hum when meditating, which can annoy people who don’t.” She wasn’t really sure why she shared that bit of trivia. “On an unrelated note, I was thinking that maybe we could work on your Ulehi a little? I noticed you are not quite fluent in it…” Her voice trailed off. “I mean, you don’t have to, but we can.” If not, well, then they could talk about… stuff. Personal things they could not discuss in Idalos, perhaps? Not that Yana was looking forward to that. If anything she’d rather try and improve Rathaan’s vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.

[Sintih]

[img]/gallery/image ... ge_id=6091[/img]

he decision was made and the two of them started walking towards the area with the meditation rooms. Uleuda had plenty of those as many Yludih found their true selves through quiet contemplation. Sintih didn't see the world like many Yludih so he'd spent as little time as possible in those rooms, preferring actual classes over sitting around in silence, doing nothing productive. But Saeri, or was it Yana now, was right, privacy would be good for them. He still couldn't shake the mental overlay of Saeri over the crystal form she had here and for once he was glad that his face didn't show anything. The Yludih weren't known for their concealing clothes.

There wasn't any conversation between the two of them for the first bit or so. Sintih was happy to walk with her towards the meditation but he could feel the quiet between them was heavier than what it should've been. Out there, in Idalos, they shared so many things. Their careers, love for learning, history, their views of the world. All those things matched and yet, learning that they shared their most guarded, most secret of secrets as well caused all those things to fade to the background. Here they were, back to being strangers meeting each other for the first time. It was probably a side effect of the Yludih training. Trust no one. Apparently, such a lifestyle resulted in trust being difficult to manage even between... what? Friends? Lovers? Sin didn't think he could put a word on it.

Saeri broke the silence between them as she started to talk about mundane things, asking him questions about himself. Curiously enough, despite the length of their relationship in Idalos, Sintih felt like they had only just met, really met. "Well, it's just me out there. Here, however, my parents are here, they're ancients. My mother teaches magic classes, Kinteh Osigur. Father trains the warriors, Oniguhr." As he spoke, his tones were sharper and shriller than most, giving away his need for vocal training in Uleuda, but the names of his parents came out naturally, chiming with the grace and strength they were meant to convey. "No brother or sister." He didn't want to talk about much in regards to his past. There was only weakness and illness there and he didn't want to show either of that to Saeri. Maybe in the future. "I have to say, not been here much." He remembered that she couldn't see the slight grin on his face so he added a shrug to it as well.

"You know your way here." It wasn't clear whether it was a question or a statement, his chiming rose slightly shriller at the end but it didn't indicate either of the two options. "Your parents? Your mother is nice. How about your father?" Sintih didn't really have any hopes in regards to her family, her mother had seemed nice enough from what he'd seen from a distance but you never knew with people. In the end, it didn't really matter as long as he was with Saeri in Idalos. The large street made way for smaller ones which turned into hallways which lead them to a row of doors, where Saeri picked one that was open and walked in. As always, someone had prepared cushions to sit on and Yldria's light was ever present here. Once the door closed, the room became quiet, apart from Saeri's voice.

Sintih didn't want to admit that he did, indeed, hum or mumble the time away whenever he'd been in one of these. Usually, thoughts turned to words because he got so deep into his tactics and ideas that he forgot about everything else. The fact that he did was something Sintih wasn't aware of until someone'd come up to him and mention it. He always started out trying not to do it but it usually ended up that way, especially in here. "Yes, interrupting meditation is bad." With no facial expressions and his Ulehi so broken, it was difficult to tell whether Sin was genuine or not. When she brought up his Ulehi, Sintih felt the heat rise to his cheeks. In Idalos, it would have probably gone unseen but here, where everything existed out of crystals and light, the rising of the light within him to his cheeks was quite clear.

Sintih didn't know why he felt shame for not knowing a language he barely used. Yet, Saeri's words made him feel as such and he did his best not to look at her. The empty crystal walls of the room were so fascinating, weren't they. His Ulehi was bad, wasn't it? Sintih sighed, which sounded like someone was blowing air down the neck of an empty bottle. "I think that's a good idea. It does need work." He spoke as he picked a spot near the middle of the room to sit. "I barely use it so it's left behind." He shrugged but why was he giving her excuses? This was Saeri. He knew her, there was no need for these silly lovebird thoughts and feelings. They'd shared everything already. He'd seen her, really seen her in Idalos, and now he'd seen her here, in her true form. Why was he still holding back on things when they shared all this? "What did you want to teach me?"

[Yanahalqah]

Yana was glad that Rathaan responded to her chatter, and told her a little more about himself and his family when she asked. Though she wasn’t confident that she’d managed to drive the silence away as naturally as she had hoped, the fact that the somewhat awkward quiet was now gone did set her at ease a little. This felt like their first date, as if they’d bumped into each other only recently, and had met up again, not too sure how the other ticked.

It wasn’t too far off from the truth, really. Though she wouldn’t say that she wasn’t Saeri or Rayna, Uleuda had a habit of making her feel vulnerable and bare, open for all to see. She felt uncomfortable and less sure of herself because of it. To meet with Rathaan under such circumstances, well, it did not make things better. To see him not be affected by it in the same way as she was, didn’t help either. Maybe something was wrong with her after all.

“I’ve been coming here for a couple arcs now,” she explained, leading the other Yludih through streets and alleys, in and out of buildings and hallways. “My Yludih father?” An easy question to answer, really. “I don’t know him.” Her mother had never told her about him, nor had she actually mentioned him in any conversation Yana could think of. If she’d said things like “your father this” or “your father that”, she’d always referred to the Eídisi man Yana had thought to be her father for fourteen arcs.

Inside the meditation room, she sat herself down on a cushion and brought up Rathaan’s Ulehi, which brought a glow to his cheeks. She had meant for it to be a simple suggestion, not to put him on the spot, but apparently she’d made him self-conscious about it now. Smooth. Fortunately though, he moved on quickly, simply accepting her comment and going along with it. What would she teach him though? She wasn’t too sure on where to start.

“Well, ” Yana began, “I think it’s mostly your pronunciation that needs a little work. Right now you’re decently fluent, but you have an accent.” It was quite true. “It’s mostly the stress you place on the wrong syllables, which give your speech a bit of a wonky feel to it.” Her tone of voice made it clear she meant no offence. She was glad though that she now had something to focus on. It made it easier to behave normally. “You have a harshness to your voice too, which isn’t too bad per se, but it comes across as … unrefined?” She needed to explain that a little better, really. “The thing is, the harsher, more scratchy glass on glass sounds are not often used, except for when swearing or cursing or cussing.” Which really made Rathaan’s speech sound like he was turning every word he spoke into a very odd statement meant to offend. That, or that he was constantly furious. Ulehi used more gentle and smooth sounding chimes and rings when spoken properly. The more offensive one wanted to be, or the more angry they wanted to sound, the harsher the sounds. The same thing was applicable for other emotions; very clear and full sounding noises often conveyed happiness or related emotions, while brittle and fragile sounds showed sadness or other emotions of the same vein.

“What this also does is invoke the negative connotation of certain words when they have one. Though if we’d want to convey said connotation, we’d not use sounds as harsh as yours. Just a little scratchier than usual.” She paused for a bit, asking Rathaan if she made sense with a gesture of her hands.

“Like, when you said my name; ‘Yanahalqah’--” she spoke it like he had, rough and coarse, a very angular and sharp pronunciation. “—it kind of takes on a very different meaning than Yanahalqah.” She gestured with her hands to convey the subtle difference while repeating his pronunciation a couple times. She first signed the literal meaning of yana and alqah; one and flower, respectively. Then she signed a less literal negative meaning of the first part of her name, adding the latter to it to demonstrate her point; ‘the worst flower’. Lastly she finally settled on a more context basted translation: ‘ugliest flower’. She then did the same with the actual pronunciation, going from ‘one flower’ to ‘best flower’ to ‘most beautiful flower’, or ‘fairest flower’.

“You see?” she asked, letting her hands drop in her lap. “There’s a slight difference, but it matters quite a lot.”

[Sintih]

[img]/gallery/image ... ge_id=6091[/img]

o his surprise, Saeri told him that she'd never known her own father. He'd always assumed the Yludih were very familial that way, apparently not everyone had a mother and father like he'd had. It was obvious, actually, now that he thought about it. It was just this link they had with this place that made Sin think it near impossible for people to lose sight of each other unless they were truly dead or left Yludih society all together. He didn't want to pry any further so he left the father subject for a future talk, one less awkward, where they were more comfortable. The image of a naked Saeri sauntering over to him popped up in his mind and he felt very comfortable, very quickly.

He sat himself down in the chamber with Saeri, or Yanahalqah. He constantly caught himself thinking of her as her Eídisi form, rather than her Yludih form. He listened as she spoke and had to admit that his Ulehi was horribly sharp compared to hers. Saeri, Yana, spoke with very musical tones as she tried to explain what was wrong with his pronunciation. It was difficult for him to be mad at her for talking about his voice like that. She was quite right, after all. "Are you saying I've been cursing the whole time?" He was obviously surprised, despite not having any facial reactions, even his harsher sounds were a little higher. The thought that he'd been cursing at his parents every time he spoke with them brought a smile to his face, an invisible, unmoved smile.

When she spoke her own name like he did and then followed it up by how it was supposed to sound, he heard the difference quite clearly. Her version of her name sent a tingle down his spine while his made him cringe thinking about it. It was harsh and painful to listen to. She kept repeating his harsh way of speaking her name while her hands started to move. He missed the first part of it but caught the difference between the ugly flower and the beautiful flower that she tried to convey. The light in his cheeks shone brightly as understanding dawned on him. He'd been calling the most interesting woman in his life an ugly flower. "I didn't mean to... You're not ugly at all." Saeri wasn't, at least. The big reveal and being here in Uleuda hadn't given him much time to accept that part of her and physically, he didn't like what he saw. Not compared to Saeri.

He tried to chime her name a few times like she did it but even at his best it still sounded a little scratchy. "Yanahalqah." It was difficult to make the right sounds just by imitation mostly because he wasn't aware of how to make certain sounds. Ulehi was nothing like Common, or even Rakahi for that matter. The fact that he spoke by making certain crystals vibrate was in and off itself a small miracle. "How do you sound the 'Qah' at the end?" Sin's question was slow, even slower than usual, but he paid attention to his chimes, trying his best not to chime too harshly. It didn't change much but it did show a little of his desire to learn. A thought came to him then and he suddenly interrupted whatever explanation Saeri, Yana, was giving him.

"Wait... What have I been calling myself this whole time?" Sintih sounded surprised by his own train of thought. "Sintih." He just said his name like always, with the sharp tones and scratchy noises. His mother had explained to him once that his name had been a guide for him. Something for his soul, his being as a Yludih before he knew what he was, to cling to when he was young and sick. A bright future is what his mother had wished for him so she'd put together the chimes for gold and future, hoping that her son would aspire to follow his own name. So far Sin figured he'd done a good job of it. The sickness was mostly an afterthought, because he'd gotten so used to it, and his future was looking very bright indeed as his eyes scanned the barely dressed crystal person in front of him.

[Yanahalqah]

“Well, cursing may be the wrong word…” Yana admitted, her own vocabulary was still missing some words as well, though her pronunciation was on point. “More like… You sound more like… you’re irritated? Frustrated? Disgusted? Angry?” She wasn’t too sure really if those were the right words for it. His tone wasn’t really consistent, changing and shifting in subtle ways with every word he spoke. Cursing had been the wrong term to put on it, though the way he spoke certain names did remind her of that, even though his was unintentional. “Lots of bad things, really.” She watched the folds of the crystal cushion through her crossed legs. “It took me a few moments to realize that it was just the way you spoke,” she admitted.

After Yana had tried her best to explain the nuance of how he’d pronounced her name, using both Ulehi and Sign language, it appeared that Rathaan understood, realizing his unintentional … well, rudeness. She could tell he felt ashamed, and Yana felt a little bad, though knew that it was for his own good. In the long run, some good and honest advice would serve him better than her considering his feelings and not mentioning it at all.

She looked at him, her one eye blinking slowly as she placed a hand on his knee in what was supposed to be a reassuring gesture. “I know you didn’t. It’s just a little … off putting at first. The tone, that is. Your pronunciation … well… It’s hard to understand you.” No need to lie about that. “The way you put emphasis on words, it changes the meaning of what you want to say, and it makes very little sense. I have to consider the words that use roughly the same sounds and compare them, using context clues and then I can get the general gist of what you want to say.” She wasn’t bragging, not intentionally anyway, but she considered that if Rathaan had been speaking with someone less gifted with languages, they’d have a harder time with it. Maybe.

Then again, she mostly already understood the gist of what he meant by just listening…

“Qah,” she corrected, thinking about how exactly the sound was produced. She repeated the sound a couple times for herself, then moved closer to Rathaan and tapped him on the spot where his jaw ended and his throat began. “Use this part,” she said, drawing a small circle. “Nothing else. All of that, and you should get a clear sound.” She backed off then, giving him a “go ahead and try” kind of gesture.

The question that came a bit later, one she should have been expecting, did catch her a little off guard. His name. Well… that was a bit of a less fun topic, especially considering his physique and feeble-looking asterism. “You introduced yourself back there as ‘sintih rathaan’,” Yana spoke, carefully mimicking the pronunciation he’d used. “Which means--” she slowly raised her hands to make herself understandable in Common Sign. ”It means ‘close to death’,” she signed, her whole body glowing a soft teal. ”About to die.”

Yana wasn’t sure whether or not he’d been pronouncing his name wrongly, or if his parents had just named him in such a cruel way. And it was because of this uncertainty that she looked to her feet again, glowing slightly and feeling a bit ashamed herself.

[Sintih]

[img]/gallery/image ... ge_id=6073[/img]

gain, Sin had to smile, unseen by his companion. Somehow, having someone tell you that you've been talking exactly like you've been feeling for arcs now felt therapeutic. He nodded as she told him that she could get used to the way he spoke. He assumed there was the unspoken addition that it might be better for him to learn to speak properly, less harshly to people in general and keep his cursing to a minimum or when in the presence of only her. All that didn't help to lower the glow from his face, the glow he knew she knew what it meant. He tried to turn his attention to something different but the room provided very little in the way of distraction so there was only Saeri, Yana, to look at.

Despite knowing his Ulehi was bad, to put it nicely, that Saeri, Yana, told him to his face still hurt. It wasn't like he did it on purpose or anything. He did try, nobody ever told him his trying was wrong. "Sou...Sound...Sounds... ver...very...b...bad... bad." A completely change from before, Sin spoke slowly, very, very slowly, and made sure to pronounce everything he said with as clear a sound as he could muster. With the hesitation and retries of each word to make it sound as clear as he could it took those three words most of a bit to all come out fully. If he'd had any, Saeri, Yana would have been able to see his eyebrows flex at the intense concentration he was bringing forth. The light inside of him did pulse lightly near his head.

He listened to her repeat her own name. He liked the way she said it. When she leaned in, his mind quickly jumped to something entirely different until she tapped his jaw and explained how to make the noise. Get your mind our of the crystal gutter. Sin nodded and started repeating the noise as if he was imitating a crow. "Qah...Q...Qa...Qah...Qah...Qah" He kept repeating the noise, trying to mimic Saeri's, Yana's, voice. By the end, he felt like the noise had gotten softer, away from the harsh crow sound. Learning had always been a strong suit of his, theoretical things more so than practical things. Trying to keep up with Saeri, Yana, was difficult for him. The concept of making noise by vibrating parts you'd never really knew you had was still difficult for him.

He halted his practice as Saeri, Yana, moved on to the subject of his name. Considering everything else she'd told him about his use of Ulehi, he didn't have high expectations of this. He knew what his name meant, his mother had told him multiple times over the course of the arcs, but he had no idea how bad he'd messed up in the last arcs. It was curious how he'd never actually spoken his own name in the presence of his mother and father. He was pretty sure they'd have told him about it if he had messed up as bad as he figured he had. Saeri, Yana, spoke his name and it sounded nothing like what his mother used, none of the kind or gentle love she had for him was in there. It sounded harsh and broken. Then Saeri, Yana, started to sign at him.

At first, he was sure she'd signed wrong or he misunderstood. Her hands shifted a little in color as she continued to sign a similar meaning to the first one. Two misreads from different signs still meaning the same? Neither Saeri, Yana, nor him were so bad at sign language that this would have been a double fault. For a few trills he was just staring at Saeri's, Yana's, hands in silence. The wheels of his mind were turning, slowly falling in place as he connected the dots. A bright future had turned to about to die. The future his mother had desired had been renamed by him, without knowing it, to something she'd smack the living asterism out of him for for joking about something like that. The silence was suddenly broken as he started to laugh.

Such a clear sound, produced without thinking or trying on his part, just a natural sound, sounded nothing like Sintih trying to speak Ulehi. Soft crystal ringing echoed in the chamber as Sintih's laugh went from a small chuckle to full blown laughter, full of mirth. He leaned forward and brought a hand up, trying to cover where his mouth was supposed to be. Through his hand, as the laughter subsided for a trill, Sin managed a few words. "Oh no..." Like the laughter, his voices sounded clear and chimed, almost, perfectly to the meaning of the word, conveying his amusement. Then the laughter took back over. The light in his face, previously there from embarrassment over his language skills, shifted in color to a bright and vibrant yellow and quickly spread all over his thin and weak body.

The laughter sometimes stopped for a moment, as if he was trying to breathe in, a reflex from Idalos brought back to a world where air wasn't needed. For the next bit, Sin just kept laughing, remaining seated in his place but constantly shifting his upper body, leaning forward and back while the occasional "noho-ho-w-w..." managed to worm it's way into his laughter. As the yellow light started to dim somewhat, Sin seemed to manage to get a grip on himself once more. With both hands in front of his mouth, Sin looked at Saeri, Yana, head twinkling with yellow light, shaking his head at her. He still seemed to try and catch his breath. "No, no, no... That's not what it means." His enjoyment of the moment seeped through every word he spoke, his speech remaining clear and chiming cheerfully. "Oh no..." His yellow glow lessened in his body but remained in his face. "Sae-... Yana. Promise you'll never tell my mother this. Never." His usual speech pattern started to mix back into his words as he got a hold of himself once again and he'd calmed down from his laughter.