wakingsavior | [SAMPLE THREADS WOO]

[SAMPLE THREADS WOO]

The downside to all the excitement and chaos happening in Sburb has been that John didn't give a single thought to the fact that he would be meeting his friends face-to-face.

His friends who have no idea that he's deaf. He's glad he still has that little notepad and pen, because he's pretty sure that none of them can use ASL.

And, y'know, he's suddenly and a little unexpectedly standing in front of one of them, with absolutely no idea how to handle this.

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Standing? Jade is not standing; she's running at John and wrapping him in her arms. She has no idea that he's deaf, but right now it doesn't really matter. All she wants to do is cling to him, newly ascended to god tier and full of plans and ideas and questions.

"John!"

Okay, the intent of this greeting is pretty obvious, and John can't help but laugh - it's quiet, and sounds a tiny bit odd, but it's definitely a laugh - and hug her back. Explaining things can wait a few seconds while he hugs Jade, who is awesome and God-Tiered and one of his best friends, for the very first time ever.

It feels good, man.

He pulls back a little sooner than he'd like, though, 'cause if she starts talking while they're like that, he has no hope of following her line of thought.

He waves a little, sheepishly, and silently. Hi Jade.

She's talking at about fifty miles an hour when he releases her; hopefully he can read lips because she hasn't figured it out yet.

"Hi John! It's so good to see you; when I was dying I was like "oh no, I'll never see John or Rose or Dave but then I ascended so it's okay now! What's up?"

He locks his eyes on her lips immediately, and... well, he can lip read, but she's talking so fast and all he catches is 'dying' and 'John' and maybe 'Dave'?

He holds out his hands in the universal "woah, woah, slow down!" gesture and decaptchalogues his pen and paper, scribbling really quickly before holding the paper out to her. His stomach's starting to sink. God, what's she gonna think? Either of him being deaf or him not telling her?

you're gonna have to slow down, i can't read lips that fast.

"What do you mean, you can't read lips that fast?" And then it hits her; the reason that he didn't seem to be comprehending her when she was talking ridiculously fast, is probably because he couldn't hear her. That's what lip-reading was for, right? People who couldn't hear, read lips.

"Oh. Well, why didn't you tell me?" Jade smiles, taking hold of his free hand. "Of course I'll slow down for you!"

He instinctively starts to sign, even with the notebook in his hand, and it turns into a facepalm. Derp, that's going to be less comprehensible to her than her 500 words a minute ramble was to him.

well, i guess i didn't want you guys to think of me any different.
but, uh. surprise?

It's accompanied by a sheepish smile.

She's not sure what he's doing with her hands, but it makes her laugh all the same.

"Big surprise! So what's up?"

nothing much but you being badassawesome!
are those dog ears? they look cute on you.

Jade Jade Jade Jade YAY. That's pretty much John's thought process at the moment.

It goes without saying that within a deadly alternate-reality game, chiefly played and strategized over the internet, Rose found the likelihood of the members of their foursome ever meeting rather small. But somehow John had made it through his next gate to her house before she'd advanced. Having seen him on Derse through Dave's computer, she awoke and hurried into the next room before he left. He was warming up a jetpack on her back porch.

"John! What are you doing?" She shouts over the growing rumble of the rocket, not sure if he can hear her.

He couldn't hear her over the rocket either way, but he glances around to make sure he's not going to set anything on fire and-- It's a Rose!

He captchalogues the jetpack without even thinking about it, because like he was gonna just PCHOOOOOOOO off without seeing her! He bounces a little and then hugs her tightly-- and realises mid-hug that oh yeah, none of them know he's deaf. This could be awkward. Or maybe he'll get lucky and she'll just roll with it! He's just gotta treat this like he does any interaction with a hearing person who doesn't know ASL. Casual and comfortable are the watchwords of the day.

He steps back abruptly and waves shyly to her, decaptchaloguing the little notebook-and-pen that he keeps on hand for... well, things like this. It takes all of two seconds to scribble out his message, and then he holds it out for her to see.

hi, rose!

Rose returns the hug, then watches as he takes out the notebook and writes in it. She reads, and then automatically responds:

"Hi, John, I..." and then she trails off. Hold on, there's a limited number of reasons why he's doing that instead of speaking. She takes the notebook and pen - and just to try it, she writes for him to see, quickly and in neat cursive:

Hello, John. Is this the most effective way to communicate with you?

John smiles widely, glad for the very practical question and no "oh my god, why aren't you talking???" But then, it's Rose - the practical, no hysterics approach is very her.

He takes the notebook back with a shake of his head.

i can usually read lips all right. unless you know asl?

He kind of hopes she does, though he's not holding his breath. He probably would've heard about it if she did. Still, it would make this less tedious.

Rose shakes her head. "Sadly not. I'll try to keep my rate of speech at a reasonable tempo, though I expect my eloquence will stay at the same level whether I try to adjust it or not. Doing so would be an insult to you, anyway."

'Eloquence' almost trips him up, but context is everything in lip reading. The tip of his tongue just barely peeks between his lips as he concentrates on Rose's mouth and interpreting the words she's saying.

Okay, he's pretty sure he followed that, and replies as quickly as he can.

thanks! i'll ask if i can't follow. i thought you were going to sleep forever!!! i'm glad you woke up before i left.

It's presented with a big smile. This is going much smoother than he had feared, which is a huge relief.

There's a small smile from Rose. That exposed tongue tip is pretty cute, actually.

"It looks like I got here just in time. What exactly were you planning on doing?"

just exploring. i was going to come back later and see if you were awake.
uh.
sorry about the bucket. couldn't resist.

He is the most adorable, Rose, you can't possibly be mad at him for playing a little prank on you, right?

Oh hell no that bucket was annoying. Rose starts to frown but... argh, she really can't stay TOO mad at him. She sighs.

"Consider your budding prankster talents in full bloom, John. There is no way I or any other sane human could beat you."

She looks out to the docks. "I've been wondering..." Whoops, not turned towards John. She fixes that. "I've been wondering what exactly is out there. Hold on while I alchemize an alternate mode of transportation."

This is the triumphant grin of a victorious jackanape. He catches the start of a sentence as she turns away, and is about to tap her on the shoulder when she realises it herself, and turns back to him.

He won't say it because it would take too long to write, but he is grateful beyond imagining that she is taking to this so well.

i should have figured out how to make a sign-to-speech translator, haha. we'll totally explore the whole planet! it's much brighter than mine.

He waits for a break in her alchemizing to hold the note out to her.

She reads the note and frowns, then looks to the alchemizer. Then back to the note.

"Try something for me. Can you draw hands well enough to get the basic signed alphabet down on paper? We might be able to..."

She looks back at the alchemizer. "Actually," she says, turning back to John, "your PDA could work, too. If you haven't thrown it away again."

John laughs, a breathy almost awkward sound, and pulls his PDA out and holds it out to Rose. She's smart, she's probably better at alchemizing without creating a bunch of totally useless stuff, and John's sure she'd like an easier way of communicating with him than lip reading and a notebook, just like he would.

He hops up on some railing or other and sits there, swinging his legs a little, and watches Rose do her thing. It's kind of interesting to watch. Her concentrating face is pretty cute, actually.

...Wait, did he just think that?

Rose bites her lip and examines the alchemiter. There must be an easy way to make what she wants. But what around here could she alchemize that can speak? As she looked around, she noticed a yellow lizard waddling its way out of John's house. Yes!

She hurried over to it and captchalogued the lizard. Through a little moving back-and-forth between the machines, she managed to create a new item: the PGA, or Personal Gabbing Assistant. The little yellow gadget looked like the PDA, but had a mouth at the end that only occasionally spurted bubbles instead of the user's input.

She turned to John, beaming, and caught him watching her.

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