Completed [Flashback] Breaking the Language Barrier

[Solo] Flashback of Evanie learning Pavi from D'Ryat.

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Center of scholarly knowledge and shipwrighting, Zeltiva is a port city unlike any other in Mizahar. [Lore]

[Flashback] Breaking the Language Barrier

Postby Evanie Song on November 22nd, 2013, 5:27 am


Day 27 of Summer, 508 AV


The day started out sunny and muggy, just as a regular day during the summer in Zeltiva should. Being surrounded by mountains and water, Zeltiva had it's fair share of weather abnormalities and anomalies. It was on mornings like these that Evanie most enjoyed going out to the Zastoskas and drawing the leaves on the trees, still dripping with fresh dew that the night left. Her sketchbook was mainly full of drawings of nature and the forests, and occasionally a foreigner visiting the town, maybe of a different race that caught her attention.

"Mother! I'm going out for a while, I'll be home by the fourteenth bell!" Evanie shouted down the hallway on her way out, quickly grabbing her backpack and shoes that were sitting by the door. Both of her parents would still be asleep at this time in the morning, and knew where she would be whether she told them or not, but Evanie still liked to let them know.

The streets through the Old Quarter were practically empty, with a random stranger every few moments straggling along with an overloaded backpack or on horseback, the saddlebags filled to the brim. Evanie would smile and greet every person she passed, because in her heart she truly believed that every soul was a kind one, and there were no bad things in the world. Being only fourteen at the time and having had grown up in the same cottage in the same city her entire life, Evanie was a complete foreigner to the outside world. She knew nothing of the dangers it possessed because she was shielded by her parents and their constant reassuring that nothing could hurt her. She had never been trained to defend herself from any kind of attack and was usually good at resisting a fight, breaking up a fight, or stopping a fight before it happened. All Evanie knew was her drawings, singing, dancing, storytelling, and acting, and everybody loved her for it.

"Hello Evanie! You're up bright and early this morning. Why the rush?" A kind man who lived in the cottage three blocks from her, called out to Evanie from his front window. The man's name was Russand, and all Evanie knew of him was that he made very good soup for when one had a sickness, and he liked to offer his soup to anyone he saw, whether they were sick or not.

"Good morning Russand. I'm on my way out to the mountains actually, I'm going to catch the sun rising through the trees before it's too late."

"Would you like some soup? It's fresh!

"No thank you Russand, I have to be going now, farewell!"

Evanie jogged down the street and slowed her pace to a comfortable walk, heading for the Mirahil pass, which had many different trails branching off of it.

She passed through the busier part of town, the markets, seeing all the different races and people bustling around, selling, buying, conversing in the street. A line of soldiers passed through the square and she nodded her head respectfully at them as they passed, paying her no heed.

Maybe I should buy an apple, I'm hungry for an apple, Evanie thought whilst passing one of the many stalls selling foods. She looked around until seeing one selling fruits and browsed for apples. She smiled at the vendor, a human man with a graying beard and dark eyes, with a permanent scowl on his face, and picked out a round, shiny apple that looked very appetizing. She paid the man for her purchase and slipped the apple into her backpack.

After looking around a little more, Evanie decided to continue making her way to the pass, but was stopped by some sort of barricade in the street, made of horses.

"Sir, you need to pay for the food." A woman at another stall selling food farther down the road was talking up to one of the men on a horse. From this distance Evanie could tell that the people on the horses were Drykas, there were three. An older man, a woman, and a boy who seemed about Evanie's age, fourteen.

The man watched the woman as she repeated what she said, then he made some obscene gestures with his hands and spoke a language Evanie had only ever heard once before. Pavi, she thought, the family must not know any of the common language, they might need help.

Evanie pushed through the crowd that was accumulating around the horses and spoke directly to the woman.

"How much do they owe you, ma'am?" Evanie said with a smile and the nicest voice she could muster. The woman grunted a price and Evanie handed her some of the silver mizas in her pocket, telling her to keep whatever was left over. The woman turned back to her booth and started counting the money.

The Drykas family seemed surprised at Evanie's random offer to pay the price of their food. The Drykas woman dismounted from her horse and walked quickly over to Evanie. Evanie was almost sure the woman would do something drastic, but instead she stopped right before Evanie and just looked at her.

The woman made gestures with her hands and spoke in that strange language again, seeming to say something along the lines of 'Thank you'. Evanie smiled, nodded, and turned to continue down the road.

Before she could go anywhere, she felt someone grab her upper arm and yank her back, it was the Drykas woman, pulling on her sleeve.

The woman seemed to struggle with what to do, but then started speaking in Pavi again, with the hand motions again. Evanie waited until the woman was finished before letting her know that she didn't understand a single word of what the woman had said. The woman seemed exasperated but thought before making it a littler simpler. She shrugged her shoulders, looked all around, pointed in every direction, shrugged again, then put her palms flat together and held them to the side of her face, making a sign like she was sleeping, that's when it clicked in Evanie's mind.

"Oh! You don't know where the inn is! Of course I can help you there!" Evanie said excitedly. She waved at them, motioning for them to follow her. The Drykas woman remounted her horse and they started following when Evanie walked away, in the direction of the World's End Grotto.

They walked a good distance, zigzagging through the now busier streets of Zeltiva, until they reached the inn. The Drykas family thanked Evanie, tried to pay her for her troubles, but Evanie refused to take the money, and they went inside to get a room. The Drykas boy stopped outside before going in with his parents. He had intricate tattoos all up and down his arms and a pretty swirl right above his left eyebrow, Evanie could imagine sketching him.

"Thank you." The boy said to her with a heavy accent. Evanie raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"You can speak the common language?" She asked him, suddenly getting excited, he seemed to struggle to find what to say and nodded.

"Yes, school teach me little common, Mother and Father do not speak common." He replied. She nodded in thought and an idea popped into her mind.

"I could teach you! And in return could you teach me Pavi?" She asked him. Pavi was always a language that interested Evanie, with it's sign language along with spoken words. It seemed confusing, exotic, somehow alien, and that was exciting to her. It was like a language from a whole different world. The boy smiled and then gave her a questioning look.

"Day? Time?" He inquired. Evanie decided that tomorrow at the 12th bell would be a perfect time. She let the boy know, telling him that her name was Evanie. He smiled and told her his name was D'Ryat.

They parted ways and finally Evanie was able to get to her favorite spot in the Zastoskas to sit down and draw to her heart's content.


Last edited by Evanie Song on November 28th, 2013, 4:22 am, edited 4 times in total.
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Evanie Song
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Breaking the Language Barrier

Postby Evanie Song on November 26th, 2013, 7:50 pm



Day 86 of Sring, 510 AV


"I know this has been difficult for you Evanie, but death is an unfortunate certainty of life. We just have to accept it and try not to grieve for your mother. I promise she's happy where she is." Evanie's father spoke to her in a soothing tone, trying to ease the still-fresh pain of her mother's death away from their hearts.

It had been just over a week since her mother's burial, but Evanie still cried herself to sleep every night. Her father hadn't cooked a proper meal but still gave her some sort of sustenance. The grief and mourning was completely overwhelming them and the house had become a depressing space of sorrow.

The worst part, Evanie believed, about her mother's passing, was it had happened on her birthday. She had been celebrating her sixteenth year of life out with D'Ryat, whom was starting to teach her the more intricate Pavi words and patterns, and she knew that her mother was getting sick. So they went back home early to find that before her mother could even say "Happy Birthday" to her, she had died in bed, with her father sobbing next to her.

Now they walked around the house monotone, soundless, without much more than a "Hello" or "Good morning" to each other. D'Ryat tried to come over a few times to keep her company, but she never let him in. She didn't want him to see her in this depressing stage.

She had learned a good deal of Pavi since that first day from D'Ryat, she felt she could speak it almost fluently, and in fact sometimes had complete conversations with D'Ryat almost completely in Pavi. Of course it had been much more difficult than she had anticipated at first, it took a full week just to grasp the concept of "Hello, how are you?".

On the other hand, D'Ryat could speak perfect common, with a heavy accent of course, and maybe a few grammatical errors here and there, but people could understand him. He had even begun to teach his parents common, and they could now say simple things to some of the commoners of Zeltiva.

Now, just to add on to the terrible loss of her mother, D'Ryat's family had to leave again, on to another town to seek better opportunities than being fishermen or sailors. Now Evanie would really have no friends, and her life would elapse back into not focusing to her schooling and drawing almost all the time. She had drawn D'Ryat a few times in her sketchbook. The deep tan lines of his narrow face, the way his mouth seemed to always be turned up at the corners without his conscious thought, his large, almond-shaped eyes with thick eyelashes, the kind any girl would die for. His muscular shoulder and arm muscles stretching the thin fabric that covered them. The intricate tattoos that swirled up both arms, up his neck, and then above his left eye.

Yes, Evanie had discovered a long time ago that D'Ryat was beautiful. His appearance, and his personality. She had begun to develop strong feelings for him, but never let him know because she didn't feel like he felt the same, and he never showed any sign that he did. During their lessons, at first whenever he touched her hands to move them in the correct position for the word she was learning, she felt just a teaching practice. After a year of this, she felt something... stronger... something much more prevalent that sped up her heartbeat and made her face flush a deep red.

But now he was leaving, and all that he would leave behind was memories and a new language that Evanie would hope to never forget.

"I know father, I just miss her so much though. I miss hearing her voice in the house, it made the house seem more... comfortable. I can feel her lack of presence." She replied. Her father just stared at some point on the wall above her shoulder, seeming to be losing focus in his train of thoughts.

"She was sick, sick people die. It's the circle of life." Evanie didn't reply this time and eventually her father stood up from the table and walked off into one of the back rooms. His heavy footsteps reverberating through the walls, a clear sign of the heavy burden now placed upon his shoulders.

Evanie let out a deep sigh then grabbed her shoes and backpack and left out the door, not letting her father know she was going.

She turned down the road and headed for the Mirahil Pass.

I haven't talked to D'Ryat in over a week, maybe I should grab him to come along also. She thought, then turned down a road that led to the direction of the inn. Once there, she knocked on their room door, had D'Ryat get dressed to go out, then they headed off through Zeltiva, passing by people carrying heavy baskets and other supplies for everyday needs.

"Evanie," He paused and Evanie could feel his eyes watching her, she looked over and saw a concerned expression plastered on his face, "Where are we going? What are we doing?" He asked her. She ignored him and continued to wind her way through the oncoming crowd.

They passed through the market, people shouting about their wares and desperately trying to get as much coin in their pocket as they could. There were Humans, Dhani, Svefra, Benshira, she even saw the occasional Pycon running through people's legs, playing around and enjoying the sunshine.

D'Ryat and Evanie made their way past the market then up the Mirahil Pass and off her favorite side trail to get the a spot in the Zastoskas that overlooked the entire city and gave a wonderful view of the waters.

They sat next to each other, touching shoulders, watching the trading ships coming and going. The sailors and the fishermen loading crates onto and off the ships, talking with the villagers and getting a drink at the Kelp Bar.

Evanie sighed and rested her head on D'Ryat's shoulder, he placed his cheek on the top of her head but said nothing. She could feel his strong shoulder muscles and the tension in his biceps. She could feel he had a question to ask, but he held it back, not wanting to interrupt the silence.

"D'Ryat?" She paused, and when he didn't answer, she continued, "I miss her D'Ryat. I want her back, and I don't want you to go either. Who will I have left once you're gone too? My father hardly talks to me anymore. His energy seems like it's flowed from his veins, like she held all of his happiness and once she was gone, it was gone too." She told him all in a big rush. She felt the oncoming tears prick behind her eyeballs but held them back. D'Ryat didn't reply, but instead wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her into a tight hug. She put her arms around his back and hugged back just as tight. She sobbed and buried her face into the side of his neck. Hearing his heartbeat calmed her down and he just let her hold on to him.

"I do not wish to leave, Evanie. My parents will not let me stay, or I would. They cannot find jobs to pay for a home and we are tiring our stay at the inn. It's time for us to move on." He mumbled into her hair. She felt his breath tickle her ears and almost laughed out loud, but held back.

"I understand that," She assured him, "But it doesn't make it any less difficult to accept."

He pulled back and looked her in the eyes, they flicked back and forth as he seemed to examine her closely. She could see the flecks of gold that shot through his almost black-brown eyes, with a lighter ring of yellow that surrounded the iris. She always tried to draw them but could never get it exactly right, and got frustrated every time.

"You are a one of kind, you're different, and I like that. You are kind and caring and I'm glad that it was you and not any of the thieves or gamblers from East Street that became my friend first." He inquired, she smiled and nodded, but had nothing to say back to him.

He let go of her and reached around behind his neck to untie the necklace there. She had always thought his necklace was beautiful. It was a turquoise stone infused with sandstone, set into a gold miza that had been hollowed out in the middle. He said his grandmother had made jewelery and this one was designed especially for him.

He held the necklace in his hands then reached around behind her neck and tied it there. It rested just below her collarbones and felt warm against her chest.

"I want you to have this necklace, as a gift of thanks for the knowledge you have given me." He said in Pavi to her. She signed back to him.

"Thank you, I have nothing to give you other than a warm hug and the wisdom that as much as I've helped you, you have helped me." She dictated back in Pavi. He smiled that wide smile that showed off all of his perfectly aligned teeth and hugged her again.

"I will always remember your friendship Evanie."


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Evanie Song
Inspring Actress
 
Posts: 7
Words: 7789
Joined roleplay: November 1st, 2013, 4:46 am
Location: Zeltiva
Race: Human
Character sheet

[Flashback] Breaking the Language Barrier

Postby Vanari on January 14th, 2014, 11:51 pm

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Evanie
Observation +1 XP
Rhetoric +1 XP
Intelligence +1 XP

Lores :
  • Paying For Drykas
  • Interpreting Pavi
  • D'ryat: Pupil and Tutor
  • Death is a Part of Life
  • The Pain of Saying Goodbye


Notes :
Well written, a good start for your PC! However, there are a few issues you should address to make things easier in the future, both on yourself and your partners/graders:

-In your skill chart, you have only some of your XP accounted for. Please show where the other points are coming from, in addition to your RP and SP. This prevents misunderstandings and interventions down the road from more strict graders and ST's.

-It's best to do 1 thread for 1 day. You may flashforward a day or two with the consent of your partner or within reasonable context, but skipping 2 years is too wide of a gap. In the future, please split up your threads according to their timestamps.

-Because people have different monitor sizes and such, your posting template and font are much too large and might give more hassle than needed to future readers. Large letters get to be difficult to read smoothly, just a little shrinking will make everything more digestible.

Otherwise it was a lovely little story, and I hope to see more!

Please don't hesitate to PM me with questions, comments, or concerns! Also, remember to either delete your grade request or edit it as "graded."

Cheers :D
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A lonely heart is better than a bored one.

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