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"So," wonders Blair, a little over a week later, "how attached are you two to the house?"
living_dead
Alexei blinks out of his confusion when he hears his mate talk about teaching the UPSETTINGLY SMALL PERSON how to read.
It occurs to him he doesn't know how.
He's... having some sort of emotion about this but he's not sure what it is.
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Yvette, not being a mind reader and furthermore having a Mission to Accomplish, has no idea! But she gives Alexei's hand another kiss and then zips off to retrieve paper and a pencil so Aurene can grumpily practice her letters.
brilliant_smile
James... is not a mind reader but he likes to pride himself in being a person reader. Somewhat.
"Alexei? Are you alright?" he asks, at a dhampir-undetectable pitch.
brilliant_smile
Conversation to be had when he is not currently overwhelmed by their child, that's fair. Somehow it didn't occur to him that "conversation" might be something he'd want to do during the eight hours Aurene was asleep for.
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This Yvette notices: she looks up from teaching Aurene to give Alexei a concerned look, then says (also at a dhampir-undetectable pitch), "Love you, darling."
And then it is back to wrestling psychologically with her child to get some kind of an education into her supernaturally developing young mind! Letters. They go together, and sometimes they make sounds that don't make logical sense when that happens! Isn't English fun?
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But soon Aurene will be able to write her own name! And see, it has lots of the weird doesn't-sound-like-it-looks in it!
painted_ephemeris
"Spelling is stupid and I hate it," declares Aurene when she compares the correct spelling of her own name to what she thinks it should be. "Why did you have to use fake letters in my name."
painted_ephemeris
"MNRH!"
Nope it is no longer letters time, it is pouting time. How dare he bring 'logic' into this.
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Yvette sighs, but doesn't push this time. This is kind of just how education sessions go, at least without proper books to read to her to make it more fun. Which Blair will show up with... at some point.
brilliant_smile
Their poor, sad, hard-done-by daughter.
"Do you want to run to the lake and see who can make the biggest splash?" he suggests.
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"Oh, that'd be a good place for me to finish your ring, so I don't have to spend ages wrestling with air," says Yvette, brightly.
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She beams at him, and then they can all go out on a trip to the lake. It's a bit of a run, but perfectly doable as a day trip for vampires, and one easily carried dhampir.
painted_ephemeris
(Though Aurene does at one point want to stop being carried and instead launch herself between trees like some terrifying superspeedy monkey. Her parents, rather predictably, indulge her.)
living_dead
Small person is CONFUSING and UPSETTING and he is not sure why and the only thing worse than having feelings is having unidentified feelings. Which sucks.
He does not like this, so instead he will remember he now has two (!!!!!!!!) extremely important and amazing and great and hot people and he can just keep thinking about that and not have any confusion or other feelings there, why doesn't he.
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Yvette has been a taskmaster for more than just Aurene, and by now she's cajoled James into using his witchcraft to do all sorts of neat things.
Like, say, read lips by knowing how the lips themselves move.
'Are you as concerned about him as I am?' she mouths, when Alexei isn't looking. 'Because I'm very concerned.'
brilliant_smile
Unfortunately he can't respond in as much nuance. They've worked out signs he can use for simple replies or requests, including ones that need to not look like signs at all in case of hostile actors around.
You know, just in case.
And Alexei is not hostile but, yeah.
James does the sign for "emphatic agreement" which while running looks like nothing more than the regular semi-random motion of his body as he dodges obstacles and moves this way and that.
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(The subtle signs were James's idea, not hers, to be completely fair to James's ability to think of neat ideas.)
Well. At least they're on the same page about how concerning their mate is. Because he is so concerning. Where... is he? It's like he's just kind of withered away after years of neglect, and now he's just confused by any signs of his own preferences or life!!!
But this seems like a long term problem, so. She will just leap over to take Alexei's hand and give it another squeeze. Because she loves him, and she wants so badly for him to be okay.
