|
Post by Morgan on Mar 26, 2020 12:34:35 GMT -6
Female Pixie Harachiu Level 52 | Fidelity 37 Stamina: 1 Strength: 0 Resistance: 0 Dexterity: 2 Mentality: 1 Special Abilities: Fly, Speak Moves: N/AKnows:Tricks: Name, Feed, Dance, Ride On, Hitch a Ride Moves: Kick, Punch, Dash, Wing Buff Abilities: Speak, Fly, Hardy, Endurance, Danger Sense 50 TP / 52 TPTo Check: N/A To Teach: N/A Eventually: Read (15), Write (15), Jockey (4)
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Mar 26, 2020 13:31:53 GMT -6
Millicent was growing more and more confident every day, and that made Morgan proud. Of course Morgan was proud whenever they worked with their tat-lung family members to help them grow more and more independent, but there was some sort of innate biological instinct in Morgan that made them feel especially worried about Millicent. Millicent was so SMALL. Tat-lungs grew up to be far more powerful than Morgan was, but Millicent would always be so small. She was young too, and didn't know much about the world. Morgan found out that she loves berries, and enjoys spicy food. She was adventurous, and she loved to follow Morgan around in the Lab. She was so smart, picking up things even without language.
And that was the thing- she didn't have to pick up things without language. Harachiu could speak. And it was Morgan's job as parent to teach her. Morgan had been reading tons of parenting books lately, to figure out how to do it.
The human takes the harachiu to the park one day, with picture books, and a dream.
[1] - [Start, 'Speak' - Note this entire thread will be teaching speak while working on other stuff.]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Mar 26, 2020 13:36:19 GMT -6
Spring was starting up, but one would figure that it was later on in the spring than it actually was. It was about eighty degrees Fahrenheit out, and Morgan made sure that the harachiu had some fitting clothes on to work out for the weather. Getting her to wear clothes other than the ones that she came to Morgan in was difficult at first, but she was slowly learning how to feel comfortable in other clothes. Morgan sits her down on the top of a picnic table, and then sits down theirself. "I." Morgan said, pointing to theirself. "Am Morgan." They made sure to be really slow. "Morgan." Then they pointed at the harachiu, like they had with theirself.
"Millicent." Morgan said. The harachiu flicked her ears to the side, staring at Morgan with bright wide eyes. "Millicent." Morgan repeated, patiently.
[2] - [Start 'Name']
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Mar 26, 2020 13:40:56 GMT -6
The Harachiu had not yet said anything to Morgan specifically using words, but Morgan had caught her 'trying out' words while Millicent thought that Morgan wasn't around. Some of them were simple words that were repeated in sentences often, like 'to' and 'the' and 'a'. Morgan had also caught her practicing curse words. Totally Morgan's fault, they did curse quite often, so it was their fault. However, Morgan had noticed that she had picked up questions. She never asked them to Morgan, but she caught her walking up to the tat-lungs and going 'why' or 'what' or 'which'. The tat-lungs family could only communicate with her using signals, but she seemed content with her answers.
Morgan hoped that she could at least learn her name, now. It was a good name, a strong one. It fit her brash nature. "Millicent." Morgan repeated. "I am Morgan." Morgan pointed to theirself. "You are?" Morgan pointed to Millicent. "Millicent." They said, eye contact kept the entire time.
[3]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Mar 26, 2020 13:44:56 GMT -6
Millicent furrowed her brow and crossed her arms in typical Millicent fashion. Morgan couldn't help but crack a smile at her. "I am Morgan." The human said, following the same format they had been using. Morgan went back and forth for some time, using the same format, until finally, a breakthrough. Millicent spoke up, and Morgan realized that this was the first time that Morgan had ever heard her speak directly to them.
"Morgan. What Morgan? Why?" She mumbled, her mouth moving a little funny still. She looked down at her hands, and then up at Morgan a few times back and forth, before pointing at Morgan. "Morgan. You?" Wow, that was super fast. She'd already picked up that 'you' meant the other person and not herself just because someone called her you.
Of course, Morgan had been speaking with her for a long time before this, it was just that Millicent had not been verbalizing back.
[4]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Mar 26, 2020 13:48:11 GMT -6
Morgan wasn't sure if she was picking up intonation (did the books say that it was natural to pick up intonation from hearing it?) or simply repeating what Morgan had said in the exact way that it was said. However, Millicent's rather pointed look drove home that she MEANT something, and she seemed to be hoping that Morgan was picking up what she was laying down. The human nodded. "I am Morgan. Morgan is MY Name." Morgan pointed to theirself again. "Me. My." They said, trying to mime a meaning for her, to understand.
"Why. Why Name?" Millicent tilted her head again, curiously. Something she'd picked up from either Morgan or the Tat-lungs.
"Why is it my name?" Morgan asked. "Or What is a name?" This was harder than Morgan thought it would be. Morgan wondered if maybe they were doing this improperly. But they had never done it before.
Millicent furrowed her brow again, and tapped the bottom of her chin. Yeah, she definitely picked that up from Morgan. "What name." She nodded.
[5]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Mar 26, 2020 13:52:56 GMT -6
It would seem that all those weeks of spending time with Morgan had allowed her to pick up the meanings of questions pretty well. That was certainly good, she'd probably picked up other things too, and undoubtedly she would pick up even more now that Morgan had managed to let her know that she could speak to Morgan and be heard. It must be an inborn instinct, to try to communicate when you can do so naturally. The human could philosophize later, however.
"Names are... Labels." Morgan reasoned, taking a few of the labels they kept in their pocket just in case out. "You've seen Labels, Millicent. They help us know who or what something is." Now that was complicated. The Harachiu furrowed her brow. Yes, it was pretty obvious that she'd been understanding bits and bobs over the last six months that Morgan had been caring for her.
"Names. LAY-bulls. Name, You Morgan?" Millicent said, putting it together hesitantly. "Me? Me name? MY Name?"
[6]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Mar 26, 2020 13:56:34 GMT -6
Morgan cracked a grin, a real, true grin. "Y-yes, you have a name. Your name is Millicent." Morgan said, pointing to her. The harachiu pointed to herself as well, finger to chest. "Millicent. Me Millicent." She nodded, understanding slightly.
"M-millicent, when you refer to yourself, use 'I'." Morgan pointed to theirself, pronouncing it loud. "I am Morgan." Morgan said, pointing to theirself again. The Harachiu looked quite enthusiastic, now. "I Millicent, I -am- Millicent." She danced around, singing it like some kind of a nursery rhyme. She couldn't hold a tune in a bucket, but she was trying.
"Good job Millicent! So when I say Millicent, that means I'm talking to or about you." Morgan tried to punctuate 'to' and 'about' differently, by waving their hand between them whenever they said 'to', and then 'about' by waving their hand around in general. Millicent furrowed her brow again, and Morgan was sure that eventually she would get it.
[7]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Mar 26, 2020 14:15:02 GMT -6
Morgan knew the next question was coming before it was even there. "What to?" Millicent asked, her voice slowly, ever so slowly, beginning to grow in confidence. The human was pretty proud already, they'd have to come back and do this quite often, they decided, to make sure that she became proficient with her speech. "To, as in, Me, TO, you." Morgan touched their own shoulder whenever they said me, and then made a movement during 'to' in order to gesture to the harachiu. Then they touched her shoulder whenever they said you.
Millicent understood this, but perhaps a little more broad reaching than they would like to have thought of it. "To! Millicent, To, Morgan!" At this, she pulls something from the tiny Backpack Morgan had gotten her, and it was a needle! How did she get that? Then she tried to hand to to Morgan.
"Oh, so M-Millicent is going to GIVE me the needle?" Morgan asked, before taking the needle. Their head swam- just how did she get this?
[8]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Mar 26, 2020 14:18:58 GMT -6
Millicent shrugged at first, shyly. She knew that she wasn't supposed to have anything sharp. "Millicent give needle to Morgan." She said, trying to string it together. Smart cookie, Morgan decided, maybe a little ahead of the curve. Or maybe it was because she tended to always be there when Morgan was doing at-home work. "Millicent did give the needle to Morgan. Thank you, Millicent." Morgan decided not to make a big deal about it at this moment. It was probably better not to make a big deal out of things for now.
"So Millicent, how are you today?" Morgan asked, glancing the needle over again.
"How... Millicent? Today?" She asked.
"Today, like, this daytime. With the sun out." Morgan said, pointing up.
That took a moment of going back and forth for Morgan to get the meaning across, and then Millicent struggled to find a good word for it.
"Millicent... Good?" There we go, that worked. She looked to Morgan for guidance, and when Morgan gave her the 'go ahead' look, she got more confident. "Good... Today. Millicent IS good today."
[9]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Mar 26, 2020 14:23:06 GMT -6
At this, Morgan continued to have conversations with her, this little mini communication bits, about anything Morgan could think of to continue to cement the idea to Millicent that Millicent was her name, what names were used for, and to get her comfortable. She'd already been pretty comfortable with it, in that way that beings tended to, with the psycho-social bond becoming a little more prevalent. However, whenever noon came up, Morgan was pretty sure that Millicent had come to the understanding naturally.
The human was getting a little hungry, so they asked Millicent. "Millicent?" The young harachiu turned from where she had been observing a bee on a flower. "Are you feeling hungry, Millicent?" That was a whole new can of worms. "What Hungry? What? oh, IS hungry." She asked. Morgan explained that, and then immediately- "Morgan? What is 'feeling'?" There we go again!
The pair left the park to go grab a bite to eat at an outdoor restaurant, with Morgan continuing to teach her by answering incessant questions... Children.
[10] - [End of 'Name', the pair goes home for now.]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Mar 26, 2020 14:32:27 GMT -6
Millicent was a buzzing bottle-rocket of questions now, and Morgan was trying VERY HARD not to be driven nuts by it. All day, questions, half of the night, questions. Millicent was difficult to settle down to go to bed, but thankfully Morgan had made sure that their life was generally a very 'mundane' one. They did the same things at the same time for her every day, and she spent most of the day as a pre-teen does, mostly looking after herself at the house, with Morgan doing work and working with the other beings of the estate. Morgan didn't mind Millicent tagging along a little more often, when she wanted to, but Morgan was catching her doing all kinds of interesting things at the house, namely, looking at books.
Morgan knew that she wasn't reading, she had no idea how, but she loved the picture books. The human brought another few for today, but they had another agenda today when bringing her to the park. It was flying time.
[11]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Mar 26, 2020 14:39:56 GMT -6
Morgan wondered what kind of a weird universe they had woken up in, that apparently it was a preteen right of passage to learn how to fly. Of course, Millicent had beautiful wings, almost powdering in their shimmer, but Morgan had only just recently become aware that she could learn how to fly, if taught. Morgan had taught tat-lungs to fly, but not anything with actual wings. It was time to figure that one out.
The human sat the harachiu down on the table again, and Millicent cracked a sort of off-color joke, complete with poor grammar (that made it a little funnier) and Morgan half-smirked and half shook their head at the harachiu. "Millicent, it's time for you to learn to fu-fly." Morgan mentioned.
Millicent got that 'question' look on her face, and Morgan was already dreading it. "What is 'fly'?" She asked.
"Flying... It's like uh, walking in the air? Using your wings." Morgan realized their mistake immediately.
"Air... Walking?" She asked.
[12] - [Start of 'Fly']
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Mar 26, 2020 14:43:30 GMT -6
That was probably not the best way of putting it, Morgan realized as soon as they had said it. For one, it might confuse her into just walking off of stuff, and that might get her hurt. She was SO SMALL after all. "No, that's not right. It's more like, moving through air. With your wings, not your legs." Morgan said, pointing to her wings and then to her Legs, to make sure that she understood what they were saying. "So don't go walking off o' tables or anythin'."
They had, the other day, sat down for a long time playing the 'what is this body part' game, where Millicent had picked up what her legs were, her arms, her hands and feet, her head, wings, and even her toes and fingers. For some reason, she'd sang a dumb little song pointing to all of them and then laughed at her ears when she looked at herself in a mirror.
At least she was learning! Millicent moved her wings a bit, wiggled them at the tips, and Morgan was at least glad that they'd worked on that the other day.
[13]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Mar 26, 2020 14:48:51 GMT -6
Morgan knew it was going to be hard work, and possibly take them a few weeks. She was bipedal, and undoubtedly that would make it a bit difficult since she was both bipedal AND not bird shaped. It must be some kind of other thing that allowed them to fly, Morgan thought. It couldn't be magic, that was dumb. "Alright Millicent, I'm not a harachiu, so I don't really have any uh, a-any experience on my own." They explained, sure to go slow so that Millicent could hear words clearly enough to learn them as they went on. "BUT I've taught Tat-lungs to fly-" And that's probably not even remotely the same thing but "So it can't be that hard, right?" Morgan said. Millicent nervously fiddled with her fingers, and Morgan watched her.
"I know t-th-that you need to learn how to flap your wings. Move them. I'm sure that after lots of wo-work, you'll lift right up." Morgan said, encouragingly.
[14]
|
|