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Tsurai couldn't stop sneezing, so his eyes began to tear as he sat down, sliding his back against the wall.

"It's how you can tell if someone used to snuff," Connor explained. "They sneeze like that." The Romani sighed, leaning his back against the wall.

Tsurai looked at his hands with a groan, sneezing a few more times before he began to feel lightheaded, and knew he nose was beginning to bleed.

It stopped momentarily, so Tsurai reached forward for the dirty shirt, and tried to wipe the blood away, but he began sneezing again, and started doing so in the shirt, so his blood wouldn't spout everywhere.

"Get a grip, Tsurai; grow a backbone, and you wouldn't have to go through this," Connor grimaced.
He knew Isiah's bleeding heart was going to make Connor put an end to Tsurai's sneezing soon.

Connor growled lightly. "Punishment. I figured this would suffice instead of a punch to the face."

With a sigh, he got up and pulled the shirt away, "Let me see..." He mumbled, pushing Tsurai's head back.

Tsurai closed his eyes after a gasp while Connor pinched the top of the boy's nose bridge and brought his free hand up behind Tsurai's skull, thumb and index finger pushing into the base of the skull from the neck.
"Deep breath," Connor whispered.
Tsurai was in pain, and rightfully so. He did as Connor told him, however, and Connor held it a second more before gently taking his hands away.

Tsurai groaned, closing his eyes tightly, tears still streaming down while he breathed through his mouth.
Connor took the shirt and wiped Tsurai's nose clean.

"You know what that was for, right?" the gypsy urged, kneeling next to Tsurai.
The Duploy shook his head, still taking deep breaths.

Connor inhaled deeply himself, keeping his patience. "What were you doing before you ran off?"
"I.. Uh.. Talking to Kaegan?" Tsurai opened an eye, still sore from what Connor had done.

"You were waiting for Kaegan to say you could leave. You were waiting for Kaegan to give you an order." He pushed Tsurai's head back into the wall briefly.
"You have a brain, use it. You don't need people telling you what to do."

Tsurai stayed in his corner, coughing slightly and wiping his tears away.

Connor sat back on the cot, watching Tsurai. "He never trusted me. Did you see him shaking when his eyes were closed? People don't shake when they trust you."

He leaned on Isiah's shoulder with a sigh. "Tsurai has already been trained that punishment is pain. You can't teach an old dog new tricks. He won't learn anything unless you punish him the way he knows. Otherwise it feels like he's not truly being punished. I believe that is why he never took any orders from you. Not because you weren't in his trust cricle."

Connor closed his eyes and let his head fall in Isiah's lap.
"You said it was wrong, but gave him mixed signals..."

Tsurai frowned, bringing his knees to his chest in a huff, wrapping himself around them.
That sounded right.. But he didn't want to say anything...

Connor was already asleep by the time Isiah scooted away, so heard none of his 'speech',

Tsurai looked with a frown at connor, who still held the dogtags in his hand, albeit loosely, and nodded.
"I think he just passed out.." Tsurai said weakly.

Tsurai looked to the door, curling tighter to his legs, arms crossed atop his knees.
"What he said was true. You always confused me when you didn't punish me."
The twenty year old sighed.

"I think he knows me better than I do. It's weird. I've never met him before, how can he know so much, already?"

He stood up, still leaning aginst the wall, looking forlorn.
"I'm going to go wake up Braeden.." He inhaled deeply and turned tot he door. "He said he'd teach me Denzien."

Tsurai sighed and sat back down, back dragging the whole way on the wall of adobe.
"Tress don't deserve it either, but even willows get cut down sometimes. You're a wolf, I'm a dog." Tsurai nodded to Connor with his chin, "He's a gypsy. We can't change that. No matter what you say."

With a slight groan, he fell to his knees and began writing the alphabet down, from what he remembered Isiah had written earlier that day. He only got to "M" before forgetting the rest.

"Is this all of it..?" He counted the letters, going through it in his head, shaking it. "I missed some..."

"Had to," he answered, then gave a coy grin, elbowing Isiah. "I know the song. That's how I know I'm missing letters."

He crossed his legs, watching Isiah. "I just forgot what the last half looked like. I was thinking of what you wrote this morning. And that's all I remember really seeing."

Tsurai sighed, looking down at the letters, taking them all in. "So.. That's about all I know about the alphabet.. What comes next?"

Tsurai nodded. "Soo.. Do they sound like their names? Does 'A' sound like 'A'? B, B? Or is it different?"
Tsurai rolled over on his stomach to lie on the ground, forearms crossed beneath his chest.

"... How long did it take for you to learn how to read, anyway? Braeden said it only took you six months to master Denzien.. Can you write it, too?"