[ Ah, he can feel her silent judgment now...I mean, she's got to be side-eyeing his work, right? It's bad. He knows it's bad. He's kinda surprised she hasn't started laughing at it, or something. If she, you know, laughed... ]
Um...just...some basic runes. Gotta learn the foundation before you can get to the fancy stuff! H-heh...it's a work in progress.
[ Whether or not that progress amounts to anything remains to be seen. ]
[ she wouldn't laugh at him, she's not a bully!! >:( not that she laughs anyway, yeah.. but still!! she's silent for a moment, shifting her weight. it's not her business, she should leave him be, but then.. she did say that she would assist him, did she not? and what better time? if he learns his foundations well, everything else will follow along much more easily.
but boy she's bad at opening her mouth to speak. so instead she just.. nods awkwardly, still hovering at her chair for a moment, before she sits again. ]
[ she lifts a hand to brush her ears, they're kind of chilly at the tips, but she'd not been thinking about it, ensconced as she was in her studies. until some ding dong interrupted her, at least.. ]
I told you to put on a jumper. Or turn up the heat. Have you no proper winter clothing?
[ He veritably jumps back up from his desk that he was sitting at for all of 0.5 seconds before stepping over to turn the thermostat up. Not too much, but enough that he can hopefully continue to embrace his bare-armed ways. ]
Lemme know if it gets too warm for you. [ And then, hesitating for a moment before he sits back down: ] U-um. Good talk! Good talk...
[ ...He's just going to go back to his homework now. ]
[ it's winter, prompto, put on some sleeves!! no guns out til the sun's out. she's wearing a comfortable long sleeved jumper so she's nice and toasty, too bad she doesn't have any ear socks though.
anyway, she sideeyes him for a few moments because it's difficult for her to concentrate while he's still fiddling in his seat, but soon enough she lapses back into silence.
except she still can't concentrate, because she's thinking about his rune structure and how inefficient it was and how she said she would help him so she should probably help him.. urgh. it takes a few minutes before she can summon up the gumption to initiate conversation with another living person, however.
[ It doesn't take much to draw Prompto's attention away from his homework again, much as he might have been trying to "focus". At the sound of Alisaie's voice, he glances up at her, pointedly — it isn't often she's the one to speak up first, and it's usually to tell him to stop doing something that's annoying her. If it takes him a moment to answer, it's only because he first has to figure out what she's talking about. ]
...Oh, you mean, my runes? [ The...ratio??? ] How, uh...would I go about fixin' that, d'you think?
[ Well, she volunteered, so he's going to ask for some clarification. She did say she would help him with his runes, and while he isn't going to twist her arm into it, if she's offering help right now, he'll absolutely take her up on it.
There's no way he'll finish this assignment otherwise. ]
thankfully, this is a very easy conversation for her to have. alisaie knows this subject, she has been working with runes since the moment she was able to lift a quill, they come easily to her, and so it is easy for her to talk about them. she feels only marginally nervous when she stands from her chair to move to his desk, rather than the uptight bundle of nerves she normally is. ]
Here -
[ remember that book she helped him check out of the library? we're just going to assume it's here on his desk. alisaie leans over prompto to flip it open, searching out a particular page near the middle of the first chapter, before smoothing it open with the palm of her hand. on it are drawn several simple looking runes. ]
Most runes are derivative of these five basic runes, building upon them to create more complex artes. Those you are working on now are no different, but see -
[ she traces the first rune on the page with her finger, then traces one that he has sketched out for his homework. ]
See the shape, here? You've made it too round, so all the rest does not quite fit into place.
[ He follows her movements as she draws the rune in the book and indicates the ones he had been sketching out. Is it too round? Are the shapes really that precise? This does give him a good place to start from, however. If he can perfect these basic runes, then maybe he can move on to bigger things.
...If being the keyword. ]
Whoa, you basically have to be an artist to get these down right...I can barely even tell the difference.
[ It's also probably one of those things that comes with practice, sure, but boy, is he gonna need a lot of practice... ]
[ Oh, god, it's terrifying when she flips the page to the more complicated symbols, but after spending so much time practicing the basic ones, he starts to see where they fit together. It...also helps him appreciate just how far he has to go. Also, why did she mention cake? Now he's thinking about cake...
...Anyway.
His eyes follow her fingers on the page as the traces the runes, nodding slowly. ]
Oookay, so...they're kinda like...legos?
[ ...Putting it in his terms helps him understand, okay. ]
[ they look terrifying but they're not!! she will help him to understand.. except, uh - ]
Legos?
[ she's learned a lot about the human world and how to exist in it relatively seamlessly, but there are still moments of discord. she does not know what a legos is at all.. ]
Prompto might know Alisaie is fey, but he doesn't know how long she's been in the human world. It doesn't even occur to him that she might not know what legos are. It's just one of those universal things, you know? ]
Yeah, legos! C'mon. Little colorful building blocks? Full of imagination and suffering if you step on one?
[ She doesn't know the pain of stepping on a lego in the dark of night... ]
[ she definitely does not know what legos are.. but she does know what building blocks are. ]
Oh. Children's blocks. I have never heard them called that.
[ lego inc. doesn't ship to the outland, apparently!! ]
But yes, you can think of them that way. These basic runes are your foundation, the first building block. Everything else is simply build onto those blocks. Walls, roofs, turrets, things like that.
[ What a shame...he's going to have to see if they carry some in town. She's got to experience legos! Even if they're...probably totally not her thing and she'll find it a huge waste of time. It's the principle of the matter. ]
Riiiiight, just like a lego castle...got it.
[ He hesitates a moment, biting his lip. ]
Can I try again, and have you take a looksy after?
but without thinking she smiles, dipping her head in a shallow nod. what!! she likes to study okay.. she likes runes. they make her feel safe and happy. ]
Of course. Take your time.
[ for now she'll return to her own desk, and the very complicated rune she had been carefully sketching out. ]
[ She smiled...again. This one is more noticeable than the last, when they had been in the library, and he'd thanked her for helping him find a book on runes. She also hasn't smiled even slightly since then — at least, not in his presence — and by now, the significance of winning one from her isn't lost on him. Whoa, he feels like he hit a home run...
...except that he has no idea what he did that might've made her smile. It probably wasn't even him, really. She probably just really likes runes... ]
O-okay! I'm gonna make these ones real nice, just you wait!
[ Bending down over his desk again, he sets to work. ]
[ d-don't look into it too much, prompto!! she just likes runes!!
ahem. anyway. she's back to work herself, leaning over her desk, silent save for the sound of her pencil scratching. she's focused again all but immediately, falling into her work without and trouble at all, and until he's finished she'll remain quiet and undisturbed. ]
About fifteen minutes later, after many pencil scratches and eraser marks, Prompto lifts his paper victoriously up onto the air with gusto. It would seem he is done. ]
Eureka! I've done it!
[ ...He glances over at Alisaie. ]
Heh, I just wanted to say that. You got a sec to look this over for me now?
[ SUCH GUSTO.... his outburst is so sudden and so loud that alisaie yelps out loud, jumping out of her skin and dropping her pencil, her heart in her throat, beating fast. ]
Gods -
[ dammit, prompto!! she gives him a hard look, then inhales deeply and beckons to him, still frowning. how dare he be noisy and fun loving in her presence. ]
[ One day she will be used to this...maybe. Probably. Probably not. Anyway, once she gives her approval, he crosses the short distance over to her desk and sets down his paper. ]
I had to redraw a few of 'em more than once, but I tried to really pay attention to the shapes this time...
[ They're not great, but they're not terrible, either. Certainly an improvement over what he was doing before. ]
[ she has no choice, he is here for good... or at least for this semester. but anyway, he sets down his paper and she smooths it flat with her hands, sweeping her gaze over it with a scrutinizing eye. ]
It's not bad.
[ which is.. pretty high praise coming from her, tbh. sure she's not crowing over his work, but for what he knows and the experience he has, it's actually quite decent. runework is not a particularly simple science, and from what she knows he is more or less a novice. if he has worked with them in the past, it has not been extensively, or it was not taught to him by anyone who could be classified as an expert. ]
These three look good.
[ she says, dragging her fingertip over the second, fourth and fifth runes. ]
The other two still seem a bit off in proportion, mayhaps you might want to use a tool, but they are still an improvement from what you had before.
[ They're not...bad? Color him genuinely surprised, even with all the extra time he took. He was sure he still managed to screw them up somehow, but that doesn't sound as though it's the case. Huh...
Maybe he won't fail as hard at this as he thought he would. Maybe.
He flashes her a grin. ]
Really? Th-that's great! Super-duper great. I'll keep at it — heh, before you know it, I'm gonna be a rune wizard!
[ ... ]
...Except not a literal rune wizard. Y'know. [ He shrugs. ] Not a wizard.
[ he seems much more excited about it than she had expected - prompto isn't an.. academic boy by any stretch, so she had expected that he might complain about schoolwork or scholastic duties, but he seems over the moon about her review. she can't help but feel a little.. proud? satisfied? she's never really taught or tutored anyone before, but it is gratifying to see someone else succeed in something they had been having trouble with. ]
.. of course.
[ a rune wizard. sure.
anyway, she opens her desk to pull out a complicated looking object.. something like a compass but with a few more fiddly bits. ]
[ Oh...yeah, he definitely recognizes that thing — or at least, its basic intentions. He'd used one back home when he'd gone to normie school and had to draw geometric shapes. It's no surprise that there's something similar here for runes, also though he isn't exactly sure what all those extra fiddly bits do. Hopefully he won't have to use those quite yet.
Taking the compass in hand, he turns it over before grinning at her once again. ]
[ good thing also that it doesn't occur to her that he's talking about something like a date... or well, it might, but she would never expect anyone to ask her on a date?? she's mean to everyone, she does not attract dates. ]
[ And he would never expect to ask anyone on a date, because he's chicken shit, so they're good there...not a date! No matter what it sounds like on paper.
If Prompto realized what it sounded like, he would probably be dead by now, or at the very least, comatose. ]
Heh, you got it, then! Just lemme know when you've got some time. I'll stop interrupting your studying now.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Um...just...some basic runes. Gotta learn the foundation before you can get to the fancy stuff! H-heh...it's a work in progress.
[ Whether or not that progress amounts to anything remains to be seen. ]
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but boy she's bad at opening her mouth to speak. so instead she just.. nods awkwardly, still hovering at her chair for a moment, before she sits again. ]
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Biting at his lower lip, Prompto mimics her movement, grabbing his book and other papers off of his bunk before settling down at his desk.
...He pulls a blanket around his shoulders. ]
Can't believe you're not cold...not even your ears?!
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I suppose I am a little.
[ she lifts a hand to brush her ears, they're kind of chilly at the tips, but she'd not been thinking about it, ensconced as she was in her studies. until some ding dong interrupted her, at least.. ]
I told you to put on a jumper. Or turn up the heat. Have you no proper winter clothing?
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[ He's apparently under the impression that jumpers are something only babies wear. He doesn't know your French Briticisms?!? ]
I've got...a coat. Kinda heavy for wearing inside, though. You don't mind if I turn it up a lil' bit?
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[ why is he still on about babies!! she doesn't understand. but i mean, he also kind of is a baby.. ]
.. but no, I do not mind. Not too hot though, please.
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[ He veritably jumps back up from his desk that he was sitting at for all of 0.5 seconds before stepping over to turn the thermostat up. Not too much, but enough that he can hopefully continue to embrace his bare-armed ways. ]
Lemme know if it gets too warm for you. [ And then, hesitating for a moment before he sits back down: ] U-um. Good talk! Good talk...
[ ...He's just going to go back to his homework now. ]
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anyway, she sideeyes him for a few moments because it's difficult for her to concentrate while he's still fiddling in his seat, but soon enough she lapses back into silence.
except she still can't concentrate, because she's thinking about his rune structure and how inefficient it was and how she said she would help him so she should probably help him.. urgh. it takes a few minutes before she can summon up the gumption to initiate conversation with another living person, however.
eventually, she clears her throat. ]
The ratio of your basic structure is off.
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...Oh, you mean, my runes? [ The...ratio??? ] How, uh...would I go about fixin' that, d'you think?
[ Well, she volunteered, so he's going to ask for some clarification. She did say she would help him with his runes, and while he isn't going to twist her arm into it, if she's offering help right now, he'll absolutely take her up on it.
There's no way he'll finish this assignment otherwise. ]
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thankfully, this is a very easy conversation for her to have. alisaie knows this subject, she has been working with runes since the moment she was able to lift a quill, they come easily to her, and so it is easy for her to talk about them. she feels only marginally nervous when she stands from her chair to move to his desk, rather than the uptight bundle of nerves she normally is. ]
Here -
[ remember that book she helped him check out of the library? we're just going to assume it's here on his desk. alisaie leans over prompto to flip it open, searching out a particular page near the middle of the first chapter, before smoothing it open with the palm of her hand. on it are drawn several simple looking runes. ]
Most runes are derivative of these five basic runes, building upon them to create more complex artes. Those you are working on now are no different, but see -
[ she traces the first rune on the page with her finger, then traces one that he has sketched out for his homework. ]
See the shape, here? You've made it too round, so all the rest does not quite fit into place.
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...If being the keyword. ]
Whoa, you basically have to be an artist to get these down right...I can barely even tell the difference.
[ It's also probably one of those things that comes with practice, sure, but boy, is he gonna need a lot of practice... ]
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[ the basic runes are very simple shapes, after all, like this and this. ]
Do not let yourself be overwhelmed by the more complicated symbols, they are all mostly built over these base runes, like layers on a cake.
[ she turns several pages, to more complicated sigils, but tracing her fingers over the base runes within them. ]
You see? Ignore all of the rest for now, and familiarize yourself with the basic set. Walk before you run.
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...Anyway.
His eyes follow her fingers on the page as the traces the runes, nodding slowly. ]
Oookay, so...they're kinda like...legos?
[ ...Putting it in his terms helps him understand, okay. ]
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Legos?
[ she's learned a lot about the human world and how to exist in it relatively seamlessly, but there are still moments of discord. she does not know what a legos is at all.. ]
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Prompto might know Alisaie is fey, but he doesn't know how long she's been in the human world. It doesn't even occur to him that she might not know what legos are. It's just one of those universal things, you know? ]
Yeah, legos! C'mon. Little colorful building blocks? Full of imagination and suffering if you step on one?
[ She doesn't know the pain of stepping on a lego in the dark of night... ]
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Oh. Children's blocks. I have never heard them called that.
[ lego inc. doesn't ship to the outland, apparently!! ]
But yes, you can think of them that way. These basic runes are your foundation, the first building block. Everything else is simply build onto those blocks. Walls, roofs, turrets, things like that.
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Riiiiight, just like a lego castle...got it.
[ He hesitates a moment, biting his lip. ]
Can I try again, and have you take a looksy after?
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but without thinking she smiles, dipping her head in a shallow nod. what!! she likes to study okay.. she likes runes. they make her feel safe and happy. ]
Of course. Take your time.
[ for now she'll return to her own desk, and the very complicated rune she had been carefully sketching out. ]
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...except that he has no idea what he did that might've made her smile. It probably wasn't even him, really. She probably just really likes runes... ]
O-okay! I'm gonna make these ones real nice, just you wait!
[ Bending down over his desk again, he sets to work. ]
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ahem. anyway. she's back to work herself, leaning over her desk, silent save for the sound of her pencil scratching. she's focused again all but immediately, falling into her work without and trouble at all, and until he's finished she'll remain quiet and undisturbed. ]
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About fifteen minutes later, after many pencil scratches and eraser marks, Prompto lifts his paper victoriously up onto the air with gusto. It would seem he is done. ]
Eureka! I've done it!
[ ...He glances over at Alisaie. ]
Heh, I just wanted to say that. You got a sec to look this over for me now?
no subject
Gods -
[ dammit, prompto!! she gives him a hard look, then inhales deeply and beckons to him, still frowning. how dare he be noisy and fun loving in her presence. ]
Yes.. yes, bring it here.
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I had to redraw a few of 'em more than once, but I tried to really pay attention to the shapes this time...
[ They're not great, but they're not terrible, either. Certainly an improvement over what he was doing before. ]
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It's not bad.
[ which is.. pretty high praise coming from her, tbh. sure she's not crowing over his work, but for what he knows and the experience he has, it's actually quite decent. runework is not a particularly simple science, and from what she knows he is more or less a novice. if he has worked with them in the past, it has not been extensively, or it was not taught to him by anyone who could be classified as an expert. ]
These three look good.
[ she says, dragging her fingertip over the second, fourth and fifth runes. ]
The other two still seem a bit off in proportion, mayhaps you might want to use a tool, but they are still an improvement from what you had before.
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Maybe he won't fail as hard at this as he thought he would. Maybe.
He flashes her a grin. ]
Really? Th-that's great! Super-duper great. I'll keep at it — heh, before you know it, I'm gonna be a rune wizard!
[ ... ]
...Except not a literal rune wizard. Y'know. [ He shrugs. ] Not a wizard.
[ Anyway. ]
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.. of course.
[ a rune wizard. sure.
anyway, she opens her desk to pull out a complicated looking object.. something like a compass but with a few more fiddly bits. ]
This will help you with your lines.
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Taking the compass in hand, he turns it over before grinning at her once again. ]
Thanks! But...don't you need it?
[ Or is she just so pro that she does not?? ]
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No, I have another one.
[ by that she means she has like... 20 more.. ]
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Well, if you're sure...heh, thanks, Alisaie! Man, I owe you big time after all of this...you like ice cream? I'll bring you ice cream sometime.
[ Is the least he can do. ]
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[ she likes to help people understand runes, that's all...! baka!! but she looks slightly more interested when he mentions ice cream..... ]
Though I would not say no to ice cream..
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I hear there's a cute little parlor down in town. W-we should go some time! I mean, if you want. It'll be my treat since you're helpin' me out.
[ Good thing it doesn't occur to him that this sounds a lot like a date. ]
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Oh, I think I know the one. Mayhaps sometime..
[ she can leave the room and be social I GUESS ]
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If Prompto realized what it sounded like, he would probably be dead by now, or at the very least, comatose. ]
Heh, you got it, then! Just lemme know when you've got some time. I'll stop interrupting your studying now.
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[ she is definitely here for rune critique!! ]