The languid duo regarded the man with their bright eyes, silent as ever. He was a slim and tallish man with a shock of long red hair. Now there was a color that one didn't see in the forest too often-- not green, or brown, or golden like the sunlight on water-- but red.
Red like a flower.
Red like fire.They liked his hair. A lot. Suzume adjusted herself into a sitting position, in order to get a more direct glimpse. Ayame remained half-reclined, looking sleepily towards the man before letting her disinterested gaze case the room. She'd fin something else that warranted her interest.
The man strode in, some faint disgust flickering across his face before he shook it from his mind. He quickly composed himself before taking a seat opposite of them. A coffee table stood between them, an plateau only blemished by a small whiteboard and a marker-- remnants of lessons passed. Suzume watched. Ayame made a point not to watch.
An introduction was made.
Blots, Ayame echoed disdainfully. The word was nonsense to the girls.
Ai, Suzume corrected, more resolute.
"Aaaiiii," Suzume echoed aloud, the syllable little more than a hiss. Their teeth and throat structure made anything more than whispers and sighs possible. Forget prolonged conversation. The sigh revealed a flash of razor-sharp teeth. Blissfully unaware of how unnerving the sight might be, Suzume smiled at the newcomer, then at her sister, clearly delighted. Ayame did not reciprocate. Why her more outgoing sister felt the need to show-off was beyond Ayame. She huffed in disinterest.
As Ai explained the reason for his visit, none of which the girls understood, Suzume steadily rose from the seat. She crouched on the couch momentarily, legs bowed beneath her, and she stepped, foot first, onto the coffee table, peering unabashedly at the newcomer.
He's here to talk, Suzume repeated,
About us.
I wonder what he knows.Ayame seemed none-too-pleased about her sister leaving her side to sit closer to the stranger. The two watched as he demonstrated what was called, "a quirk" which apparently entailed... making ones skin turn unusual colors. Suzume craned her face closer to the rippling display, until a very familiar face surfaced! A pair of faces.
"Ah-!" Suzumed declared in delight, turning excitedly to her sister and pointing at the man's arm. Ayame had sat-up, her brows stitched in intrigue. The duplicate faces swam closer and blended into a single, green face, and and Suzume smacked her knee in delight. Having made his introduction, Suzume grasped for the whiteboard on the table's surface, uncapping the thick marker that went with it.
It had become clear, after some trial-and-error, that the girls were incapable of speaking. So the decision was made to teach them to write, in order to open communications, and assess how easily they could be trained. They knew how to grip pens, somewhat, and had learned to write their names, and were in the process of learning the first two families of hiragana symbols.
Either way, Suzume took it upon herself to write the only words that she and Ayame knew how to write.
SU ZU ME
A YA ME
Each of these words was written in big, clumsy letters. But Suzume was nonetheless proud of her accomplishment. She held the whiteboard up for Ai, grinning toothily as she showed him the words.
She pointed to the first transcription-- Suzume-- and then placed a flat palm upon her chest. Then, she pointed at the second transcription-- Ayame-- and pointed at her sister. Once she was sure that Ai had read the whiteboard, Suzume used the sleeve of her pretty black dress to wipe the whiteboard clean. From the coffee table, the sunlight funneled from the surface-world to the underground Mansion, to invigorate the garden, cast a wedge of light onto Suzume's exposed foot.
Suzume touched the still-open whiteboard marker to her chin, turning to face her reclined sister, who seemed well on her way to a nap.
We should let Ai hear us, Suzume proposed. Ayame opened her eyes, just enough to cast a scowl at her sister.
No, Ayame trailed,
I don't like him. I don't like any of them.
But he knows tricks! Suzume pouted.
A low growl rippled from Ayame, and she rolled-over,
So what?! They all know tricks! And they keep us inside! Don't let him in.It was clear that they were having a difference of opinion, but their argument was silent to the outside observer. Suzume returned her attention to Ai, and she began to draw clumsily on the whiteboard. Two circles, given rudimentary faces using dots and lines. Suzume paused, then, unsure of how to communicate the idea of talking without talking to the outsider.
She brightened suddenly with a realization, adding a third face-- this one with an eye patch and an open mouth. Three lines from his mouth, to signify sound. Then, the two closed-mouth figures were given three lines each, radiating from their heads. Suzume capped the pen and showed the diagram to Ai.
She pointed to the smiling eyepatch caricature, then pointed at Ai. She pointed more emphatically at him, then mimicked a talking person, by pinching thumb and fingers together repeatedly. She cupped her other hand to her ear. Ai communicated by using his mouth, and the girls heard him by listening.
She then pointed at the two closed-mouth figures and pointed at her and her sister. Again, she pantomimed the talking mouth by opening and closing her hand, but held it close to her temple. She then extended the talking mouth towards Ai's temple-- in other words, she and Ayame talked with their minds. Not with mouths and ears.
The sudden shift in position made the room tilt dangerously around her, so Suzume sat on the coffee table, perhaps a little too close to Ai to be polite, as she waited for the room to stop tilting. The whiteboard and marker were set down, and Suzume clasped a hand to her head, waiting for the room to stop reeling.
