|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 2:38 pm
  In which Jianyu discovers something new (and kind of amusing) about Bataar.
Setting:
Bataar's Yurt.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 2:45 pm
The sky overhead was a crisp blue. Jianyu raised his head, a hand covering his eyes as he stared up into the endless, brilliant cyan, dotted here and there with a few wispy white clouds. Vaguely, he wished that he could be out training, as the day was quite ideal for archery, but he had (reluctantly) promised to prepare an early lunch for Bataar and so here he was, on his way to the man's ever-moving tent.
Jianyu crossed over the back yard of Tae Kyung (in which Bataar had decided to settle for the time being) and came across the tent in question. Ducking underneath the flap, he let himself inside.
"Hey, Bataar." he said, leaning over to press a light kiss to the man's cheek in a form of greeting. "I brought you some food."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 3:09 pm
Bataar's tent had been ransacked when his mother had come to visit just days before, and he had been less than pleased. She'd thrown out all of his animals and had actually instilled a sense of hygiene into the place that wasn't helped by the frequent baths the Mongol took in order to obtain food from Yuudai. The place was kind of clean(spotless for Bataar) and he hated it.
His yurt had been made completely uncomfortable now! He'd happened to have forgotten how much he'd begged Jianyu for food(he'd consented only after Bat had pointed out that Yuudai made him food) and was now staring down at the journal his mother had given him, dumbfounded. Apparently she'd never heard him when he'd made his infrequent check-ups, and she had been rather pissed off that he'd never written in the journal.
She'd probably be pissed off when she next saw it, too. He was concentrating on drawing stick figures to explain the current situation of his life, and he had his tongue poking just slightly out of his mouth as he worked, clearly having a hard time with his artistic talents.
Bat looked up, surprised when Jianyu entered. "Food!" he exclaimed, finally remembering and throwing the small book full of childish scribbles and stick figures aside. Forget greeting his boyfriend! He was much more interested in what was on today's menu.
Only after a moment did he remember that Jianyu had come along with the meal. "Oh. Hi."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 3:23 pm
"I appreciate the heartfelt greeting." Jianyu said dryly as he sat down in front of Bataar. "Next time I will not bring the food. Just mention it so that I might perhaps be remembered next time?"
He set the bag of food down beside him and began to rummage around in it, pulling out several wrapped meats, a few vegetables, and a small box of seasoning to sprinkle over the meat. He had already cooked it while in his own home (preparing a fire in a place like Bataar's yurt was not exactly a good idea) and set it down carefully on the floor of Bataar's home. Which, as he glanced around, arching one dark eyebrow, was surprisingly clean.
As Bataar looked eagerly over the food, Jianyu's eyes were drawn to the book he had thrown to the floor at his arrival. Reaching over, Jianyu picked it up, flipping through the rough pages. It seemed to be a journal of sorts, but there were no words. Only crude, shakily drawn stick figures...one of which, Jianyu noticed, looked rather like himself. And there was one that looked quite similar to a certain innkeeper...
"Bataar." Jianyu said. "What...is THIS?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 3:30 pm
Bataar stared at Jianyu for a few short moments, failing to really comprehend the man's sarcasm. "What? Yes. Very heartfelt." he finally replied, grinning as he watched the other man set out the food. It was certainly better than anything he could find; after all, he refused to slaughter animals, didn't understand the point of currency, and had a firm belief that all vegetables were poisonous(he studiously ignored that the legionnaire had brought them into his home).
He was more than prepared to snatch up all the food and devour it when Jianyu snatched up his journal. He himself was carefully studying the meat, trying to figure out just how it get it all to himself as opposed to sharing it with his boyfriend. He was interrupted, however, when Jianyu demanded to know just what the contents of his journal were. He glanced up and shrugged, stealing a piece of meat and popping it into his mouth.
"That's my journal. My mom makes me keep one." he replied, his lip curling. He still didn't understand the point, but then again, he was completely illiterate. He frowned, taking the journal from Jianyu and pointing to a scribble of a stick figure. "That one is supposed to be you dying after I beat you in a fight." he explained smugly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 6:09 pm
Jianyu flipped through the pages of the book, his eyes widening as he took in the childish scrawls. All up until Bataar reached out and took it from him, munching on a piece of meat. He was pointing at a small, scribbled picture of what appeared to be a stick-figure man lying on the ground, another stick figure standing beside it with its arms raised in what he supposed was a victorious pose.
"Bataar," Jianyu said, a dawning realization sparking in his mind. "Are you...telling me that you can't read? Or write?"
He suppose he should have expected it. After all, Bataar was not one for being..."civil..." as it was. But the fact that he was illiterate was surprising to Jianyu.
"You can't read or write?" he said again.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 6:37 pm
Bataar glanced up to Jianyu, a bit of meat hanging out of his mouth as he registered the other man's words. He swallowed the food, blinking before chancing a reply. "Nope." Bat said, looking unbothered by his own illiteracy. Certainly, it was a disadvantage at times, but he figured it was way too late to learn now. Besides, how much would that help him beyond gifting him with an uncanny ability to read the street signs and detect just where he was within the city?
He really didn't know, and he didn't care. He would rather have his lunch now. Apparently Jianyu's incredulity was stopping that, however, because he seemed to be caught up in too much painful shock to offer up anything else to eat. The Mongol shrugged to himself and stole another piece of meat, devouring it without a care.
He flipped to another page in his journal while he was at it, pointing again. "This one is my mom."
The picture looked kind of like a monster.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 6:44 pm
The picture looked rather like a monster. Jianyu swallowed back his sarcastic reply, glancing up at Bataar. The Mongol seemed quite uncaring that he could not read or write, nor by the fact that his drawings were, in fact, quite horrible. He did not seem to realize that these were perhaps not the best qualities for oneself to have.
"Er." said Jianyu, looking back down at the scrawled scribble. "It looks...rather like her, I suppose. I mean," he added quickly, realizing belatedly that he had never before seen Bataar's mother. "She looks like you. Very nice resemblance."
Running a hand through his hair, Jianyu reached for an apple, absently biting into it as he flipped through the pages of Bataar's journal. They were all the same; messy, smeared scribbles of drawings, some recognizable (such as the ones of himself), but some were so badly drawn that they were indistinguishable. Jianyu snapped the journal shut.
"That's it." he said. "Bataar, I am teaching you how to read."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 6:51 pm
The Mongol flushed with pleasure as Jianyu complimented his artistic skill, and leaned over to brush a kiss upon the other man's lips. He was, of course, overjoyed that his wonderful artistry had been discovered, but he was also happy that he had food in front of him. He'd given up sneaking any food and was now blatantly stuffing his face, pointing out a few more terrible little pictures to Jianyu.
"And that one is--"
"That's it. Bataar, I am teaching you how to read."
Bat paused, staring at Jianyu with faint disbelief before deciding to burst out laughing. That was rich! He couldn't imagine ever being able to learn how to read and write, let alone any teacher who could force him to understand. Bataar had always been a particularly bad student at the Academy, and was proud of that fact. One didn't need to be smart to make it through life; any person could get through with simple brawn!
He finally stopped his laughter, looking to Jianyu with a lazy grin. "Yeah, right. I don't read, and I don't want to!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 6:58 pm
Jianyu patiently waited until Bataar had finished laughing before speaking again. He knew that telling the man such a thing would not go over well, so he had expected some sort of mocking or teasing response.
"Bataar," Jianyu said complacently, once the Mongol was done. "Reading is a good thing. It doesn't make you look...girlish...to be able to read. It's important to be able to do such things."
He had the sneaking suspicion that that sort of logic would not well with someone like Bataar. The Mongol was as stubborn as Jianyu was (which, most of the time, was just irritating), so though he tried to explain things, a good portion of the time Bataar did not respond well to logic. He had to think like Bataar to get the man to do anything.
"It'll make you seem more manly if you learn to read." Jianyu said, eyeing Bataar. "I'll also give you something special if you do learn."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 7:47 pm
He had been under the impression his entirely life that if reading was carried out, it was something that a woman did. Therefore Bat had always been quite unconcerned with the skill, and certainly hadn't bothered. His mother, Odval, hadn't minded his lack of education, either-- at least, until now. It was impossible to tell just how he'd managed to graduate from the Academy in the first place.
"There's no way it can be that important. I do just fine without it!" Sure, he'd gotten into a pickle once or twice because of his damned illiteracy, but he was now wholly unconcerned and far more fascinated with the food he was busily piling into his mouth(avoiding all of the vegetables, of course; Jianyu would do just fine by eating all of those poisons). Bat simply wasn't interested in the subject at hand.
He gave the other man a slow, suspicious sidelong glance upon his next statement, pursing his lips as he assessed the legionnaire's tempting words. He could always use anything that was going to create the idea of increased manliness within himself, and besides, he did dearly love special things. Now he was left to the task of figuring out whether or not his efforts would be worth it. He had many options to weigh, although taking so many things into consideration was hardly his forte. In any case, Jianyu sounded absolutely determined to get him to learn; if he consented now, he might escape maximum damage.
"Okay. I'll do it."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 8:19 pm
It had worked. Offering Bataar something special had been an intelligent move after all. Jianyu knew that the Mongol had a slight weakness for certain shiny objects. Smiling triumphantly at his managing to convince Bataar into actually learning something valuable, Jianyu set down the apple in his hand and slid over to sit next to him. He picked up the rather sad looking journal and flipped it to a blank page. The, rummaging around for, admittedly, quite some time, he managed to find the charcoal pencil that Bataar had been using earlier.
"Here," he said, drawing the first few letters of the alphabet in large, block forms. "A, B, C. A, for 'alphabet.' B for...uh...'Bataar.' And C for...'call.'"
Jianyu pushed the book towards Bataar. "Now, you try to write them."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2010 11:34 am
Bataar observed the man with evident curiosity, more fascinated in the special object he was to be receiving as opposed to Jianyu's teaching. He looked rather vexed as he glanced down at the letters the legionnaire had just written, failing completely when it came to committing them to memory. The symbols on the page made absolutely no sense to the Mongol, and he wasn't sure if he really wanted them to. It was complicated to discern whether or not it was really worth his time to learn this.
"That makes no sense." he muttered as he accepted his book, writing each letter that Jianyu had shown him backwards in a few minutes' time, showing that he was having quite the struggle with the gaining of literacy.
Still, he fully believed he'd gotten them all correct; he hadn't the slightest inkling that he'd done such a pitiful job.
"There."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2010 1:44 pm
Jianyu had the distinct feeling that the afternoon was going to progress rather slowly. He watched as Bataar painstakingly and slowly wrote out each letter that he had shown him. Backwards. Jianyu arched one dark eyebrow, then ran a hand through his hair, absently twisting one of the beads strung through the dark strands.
"Er." he said, glancing first from the rather pitiful scribbles then up to Bataar's face. The Mongol was looking at him with an expression of confidence; like he was certain that what he had done was correct. Jianyu let out his breath in a long, slow sigh.
"That's...not right." Jianyu said, and bent over the book. Carefully he traced over the messy scrawl of Bataar's, inking a careful neat letter above. "Here, look, see? You wrote them backwards. All you have to do is turn them around to the write direction."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 4:00 pm
Bataar gazed down at his journal with absolute certainty, knowing that he was absolutely correct. Jianyu's words were the rain on his parade. His expression suddenly wiped blank, he chanced a glance up to Jianyu, hoping he was somehow joking. Not right? He saw that the other man's expression was serious, and he felt himself die a little right then and there-- he had been sure he was right!
Obviously, though, he'd been wrong, because Jianyu said it was entirely backwards. "No. What I did was right." he objected, looking about ready to punch his boyfriend square in the jaw. He refused to be called wrong when he actually tried, and he was about to make that particular fact very clear. "I'm not redoing those because they're right!" In Bat's mind, they were, too.
Perhaps he had the spirit of dyslexia burgeoning within him, but those letters were definitely in the right direction.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
