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 Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 3:04 pm
Arctang had noticed that Hatim was hanging about the room and watching him carefully. At first it had almost annoyed him, but soon he became concerned. He'd shoo the boy off, only to see him lurking about again. It took a day or two of this before Arc came to realize what the problem might be. Hatim was a twelve year old boy who seemed to have lived his entire life as a slave. He was used to obeying direct orders, being overseen at all times, and being sassy when he could. At this point, his new 'master' had given him none of those things. Maybe it was time to teach the boy to be a boy.
This however was a bit difficult even for the deity of numbers. It had been a long time (if ever?) that he himself had been a boy. What did boys do? He supposed he should send Hatim out with Taj's boy or something, but they were all gone for the day, doing various things. No, for now, it was up to him. It would probably do him some good as well. It wasn't as if he was doing any good stewing over things in the past that he could no longer change, and fretting over things that were yet to be done was no good either.
"Hatim!" he called, rising from his desk and nearly tripping over the boy as he appeared immediately behind Arc. He chuckled a bit as he righted himself. "Come, let's go out in the garden," he said, gesturing towards the door. "Let's talk and enjoy the sunshine, shall we?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 3:31 pm
Arc felt a little more at ease outside. Knowing the universe no longer existed was something he could easily push to the back of his mind, letting himself be lulled into a sense of normalcy by the shield that shone above them. He strolled slowly, so that Hatim did not have to trot to keep up. Eventually he found a bench under one of the spreading trees and sat, motioning for the boy to join him.
However, social skills were not Arc's forte. For several minutes he sat there, fiddling with a twist of a twig in his fingers. Finally he up and decided he'd better say something or he'd never begin. "What do you like to do, Hatim?" he blurted. "Surely' you've had some free time before? What would you do with that time, before you met me?" He raised his eyes to Hatim's, and was surprised to find the boy perfectly calm and at ease.
Hatim nodded eagerly at his master's question. "Oh yes, I've had time to myself," he said. "But it all depends on what was going on, to what I'd do." He kicked his bare feet in the grass, enjoying the tickly feel of it. "If it was late, I'd use the time to sleep," he offered. "Or I'd try to make my clothes look a little better. Once I was slave to a tailor, and I stole a needle from him." Those mischievious eyes twinkled as he confided in the theft. "Took me a long while to figure out how to get the thread through that tiny hole, but it wasn't too hard after that to fix the tears and holes in m'clothes."
This was not helpful. These were things Hatim had needed to do, not things he liked doing. Arc ran a hand through his hair in agitation, making the green bits stick out at odd angles from amongst the brown. "But now, when I'm doing something else... what would you like to do when you aren't busy?" Was it possible the child didn't know what he wanted? "You realize that you are not a slave anymore, right?" It seemed a stupid question, but he couldn't help it. He had to get through to the boy somehow!
Hatim stared with wide eyes at his master. So that's what this was about? "I like to be around you," he said in surprise. "You and Master Taj are very interesting people." He paused in thought and added tentatively, "I mean, interesting gods." His master hadn't seemed to mind either way, but he wasn't sure if Master Taj would rather be called a god than just being called a person. "I just need more to do," he concluded naturally, to his mind.
"But I am not your master anymore, Hatim!" Arc protested strongly. "You are your own person, and you could do anything you wanted... you could even leave me and this place, if you really wanted." Though what fool would leave the protection of the Pantheon, he couldn't imagine.
"But," Hatim countered, "if you are not my master, what are you to me?" This had actually been heavy on his mind, and it was apparently okay to ask now. "Are you to be my father?" Ths was said with some hope as well as some trepidation. Though he liked the idea of the gentle-hearted diety being his father, via adoption, anyone who looked at him would think Arc much too young to be Hatim's father. "Brother, maybe?" he asked secondarily, since that seemed much more likely.
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Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 3:49 pm
He had not anticipated this, though the boy had a point. If Hatim was to stay with him as a free person, he had every right to expect their relationship to be defined. The idea of being the boy's adopted father made him shudder though. Much too much responsibility in that, at least for now! He shook his head, but paused at the thought of brother. That was appealing, but Arc tended to think he needed more... more authority than that. Something still friendly, but not quite so related. More like.... ah!
"Hatim, if you must call me Master," he began soberly, "we must make it a different kind of master than a slavemaster. Agreed?" He waited for the boy to nod mutely before going on. "I would like to be your teacher. Your schoolmaster. I will teach you whatever you need to know, whatever you want to know that I can show you." Yes, this felt right. "And whatever I cannot teach you, I'll find someone who can, if you want to learn it."
He considered this carefully, trying to act as one free to choose. It was easiest to simply accept, but he was learning already to think for himself. He twined his toes in the grass and ducked his head as he concentrated. Yes, that seemed like it could work. Except... "But I have to work for it," he announced, sitting bolt upright. "You have Raja and Rissa, but you have no real servant." He knew very well at this point that Raja had begun as a servant but now was more a bosom friend to the Numbers diety. "So I will stay with you, take care of little things, serve you, and you will teach me."
With that he nodded once in determination, then spit on his palm and offered it boldly for Arctang to shake in agreement. It was how he most often saw his masters seal deals, and this was the first deal he himself had bartered. He fairly quivered with pride and excitement, for the deal suited him very well indeed.
This was certainly a good sign! Arc beamed proudly at the boy for having made his own stipulation, to work for his tuition. It was a perfectly valid trade, and one Arc would take as seriously as the boy did. "Agreed, I will provide shelter, food, and lessons in exchange for your service to me on a day-to-day basis." However, as he stuck his hand out to shake, he realized what Hatim had just done in his own palm. He had to fight very hard to keep the look of disgust from his face as the boy seized his hand and pumped it up and down four times enthusiastically. Discretely he wiped his damp palm on his pants while he smiled at his new student.
"Now, first things first... can you read?" He leaned forward attentively, eyes boring into his young charge. "Reading is vital to math, for not all numbers are simple digits." Like on the cube. He shook the thought aside and pressed on with the first lesson. "So if you cannot read, we will have to tend to that as well."
Far from the reluctant schoolboy, Hatim shook his head with a cheerful negative. "I can read a few words, but mostly cause I memorized them," he freely admitted. He didn't think this was going to be easy, but it was sure to be fun! Ah, if only he'd known!! The conversation then turned to numbers themselves, which he was more acquainted with and his answers seemed to please his new schoolmaster. Yes, this life was going to be a good one, Hatim was sure of it.
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