saveourearth | Half time goes by, suddenly you're wise

Entry tags:

Half time goes by, suddenly you're wise

Date: October 6th, 2018
Characters: Walter Weekes; anyone who wants to bug the birthday boy!

A year before, and he might not have paid attention to the date on the calendar, with how he tried to keep himself busy.

Oh, he never forgot it; he'd just never asked for anything spectacular as a gift. Close friends either found out the date through casual conversation or ferreted the information out somehow on their own, but his family had never thrown lavish parties and he'd never wanted one.

(Haley had gotten one, once, once she'd chosen her degree back in London. Everyone involved had agreed afterwards to Never Speak of it Again.)

But he found the day special for a separate reason - or perhaps the same one, if people considered "discovering who you were" to be a form of rebirth.

What with what he now knew as a Numbered, though - that this day, six years ago, had been the activation of his first Echo/flashback/remnant of another's memory - it was all the more surreal.

[This is a post for Network communications, threadings for birthday shenanigans at the flat, and one (1) bike run in the evening!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Walter snorts, "Well, not nothing, exactly..."

But he'd given himself permission to Be Less Stressed about things, at least for today, and that by itself could do wonders.

Sadie's purring is only helping that.

Walter takes the offered gift very carefully, eyes widening - then narrowing, because he's never actually heard that phrase said aloud and is going to try and pronounce it.

"Otanjobi omedetou gozaimasu..." Ontanjobi omedetu...

And then the Echo hits. His eyes widen again, pupils narrowing to pinpricks, and he inhales sharply.

Remain calm, remain calm... That is a whole set of memories that was not there before. Eventually Walter's shoulders lower again, and he opens his mouth to reassure them and-

ありがとう,
私は大丈夫ですよ.

Oops?

Sadie's waiting keenly for Walter's reaction to Ben's present although she steps forward again as Walter shows the clear signs of an Echo. She doesn't touch him, for her safety and his just in case it's something intense, but when Walter comes out of it and starts speaking Japanese she starts to herd them into the lounge.

"Come on boys, let's go sit down. Much more comfortable and safer incase another moment happens. Walter, are you alright?" She asks, somewhat curious as to whether he would answer in English or Japanese.

Staring the two of them down into seats, Sadie escorts herself into the kitchen," Don't forget to actually open the present, and who wants a cuppa?"

Excited anticipation gives way to alarm as Walter reacts to the Japanese phrase. He similarly recognizes the Echo and he reaches his hands forward close to his friend, one near the box just in case his grasp on it starts to slip. When Walter remains steady his hands draw back with one drifting up to touch his lips, fault ascribed to his ridiculous mouth.

Hearing Walter speak a language he learned growing up with a flawless pronunciation, Benjiro stares wide eyed at the difference he hears from his attempt to repeat the wish for a happy birthday seconds prior.

Sadie taking charge alleviates him from constructing a response, not certain if he should reply in Japanese or English to his friend. Not opposed to the move, he takes a seat on the couch and looks to Walter to listen for his reply to Sadie with some unease. He doesn’t know how aware Walter is of the switch between given the way his own mind will work differently when thinking or speaking in Japanese as compared to English.

To the question about a drink, he’ll answer an affirmative, “…yes please for me.” Sadie would probably get him one even if he didn’t answer.

Walter does his best to look inward, to try and sequester the new knowledge instead of acting on it instinctively.

He's never been to Japan, never picked up a Japanese-to-English dictionary... but there hadn't even been an accent, not a shadow of a doubt in the pronunciation.

This needs to be studied, and apart from the initial freaking-out he's actually feeling sort of - grateful? - that this is something he's getting back on his birthday.

Especially if there are more memories lurking like what happened to Hannah Stark.

He appreciates both Sadie's quick reaction and Ben's readiness to help, only to flash back to concern when Ben reflexively reaches for his mouth.

"I... yes," he says eventually.

"I'd like one too, please."

There. At least he hasn't forgotten English in the process!

Not sure what to do next, he makes himself sit down as well, shifting his grip on the present.

Sadie let's out a small huff of relief as Walter answers her question in English, at least he wasn't stuck speaking only Japanese, having to get Ben to translate everything for her would have been a massive chore.

"Alright, three cups of tea coming up!" Getting the mugs and the tea bags out, she tops up Walter and Russell's kettle a bit, she places it back on its stand and switches it on.

"So language acquisition? Maybe this other you was Japanese?" She throws the thoughts out for the boys to disseminate as she retrieves the milk from the fridge and the sugar from the cupboard.

"Milk and sugar?" She asks just as the kettle clicks off having come to the boil.

Similarly relieved to realize Walter has control between the languages, Benjiro visibly relaxes through his shoulders. He would have readily translated for Sadie's sake, and he will if Walter wants to practice the use of his pristine Japanese. Yet to know there is choice matters most.

Benjiro watches Walter sit down, his body language reading clearly. Having spoken Japanese in front of Walter previously, it seems odd that it has triggered the Echo, but here they are with his friend now as fluently bilingual as himself. Bowing his head, he'll lower his voice as he offers an apology, "I'm sorry, Walter. That's not what I intended to give you as a gift."

The suggestion that the language could be native to the being from which Walter's memories stem, he pauses to consider, "It would make sense. He sounds like a native speaker that's lived in Japan their whole life." Even Benjiro has a slight accent.

At the offer for sweetness added to the tea, he'll decline politely, "Oh no thank you. Just straight please."

"Or had a skill in learning languages - there weren't any memories to go with the knowledge as to how it was acquired. One sugar, please," he adds.

Sugar, to help deal with shock.

And the ability to keep making that choice between languages was important.

Walter can't help a wry grin, though his expression shifts to a more thoughtful one as he puts reaches one hand over to Benjiro's closest arm.

"It's not your fault, Ben. Though, I will thank you for it."

And he means that in the most positive manner possible! Speaking of gifts, though, he finally starts opening up the box while they wait for the tea.

Sadie quickly and expertly makes up the tea and carries the mugs into the lounge, placing one black tea in front of Ben, one with sugar in front of Walter, and her own black tea for herself down on the coffee table before curling up in another free seat.

"Well its certainly going to be something very useful." She agrees with Walter, all relief now that appears that the Echo wasn't something more malevolent before turning a teasing smile on her boyfriend. "Ben is an excellent practical gift-giver."

Also entirely possible. Some individuals have a knack for languages.

Apology met with gratitude instead, Benjiro lays his opposite hand over the touch at his arm for a moment in acknowledgement as he smiles with his guilt assuaged. Sometimes the Echoes can be beneficial, and this seems to be a favorable one as Sadie points out. Her tease is answered with a self-conscious chuckle before he thanks her for the tea. For now, he’ll let his cup cool, and focus on Walter opening the gift he had pain-stakingly prepared.

As Walter removes the paper, he’ll reveal that the plain box inside is secured with tape that is easily removed only along the top seam. Opening the flaps, he’ll find tissue paper with a handwritten note inside laying on the top. It reads, Keep in mind this is a prototype. Note and paper removed, Walter uncovers the open black tray with a thick, 1 cm tall border surrounding the painted metal surface. Etched into the metal are all the letters, numbers, and symbols found on a typical keyboard in smaller font yet centered in the space usually allocated to the keys. Even the number pad is there on the right. The bottom border is covered with a padded wrist support, and below the tray is an angled box that should sit comfortably on a lap like a laptop pillow. A simple USB-A connector cord runs from one side, making it ready to plug straight into the machine.

Rather than make Walter study it, Benjiro explains, “You know how your keyboard hasn’t been keeping up and has been wearing down? Well I built this one with you in mind. The sides are lined with photoelectric sensors that trigger when you break the beam, and by referencing which vertical and lateral positions are triggered, provides a character matching the coordinate. No moving parts means no worn out keys, and even you aren’t faster than light. The base has a small system to read these and store up to 1 GB of text characters in flash memory to relay to the computer.”

Edited 2018-10-15 02:00 (UTC)

With all of that build up, Ben's gift is not entirely a surprise - but is entirely appreciated, and Walter shows that very clearly on his face.

He leaves his tea similarly alone as he inspects the keyboard, fingers ghosting over the keys and tracing the outline of the angled box with growing joy.

"Let's hope that doesn't change," Walter sort-of jokes, at the 'even you aren't faster than light' remark.

"But, really, thank you! This will be massively useful."

He's also reminded, somewhat, of Jim's literally-from-the-future blueprints.

And so, motivated at least in part by that emotion, he very carefully sets the keyboard aside and moves to hug Ben outright.

Sadie smiles behind her mug as she watches Ben and Walter and beams when Walter gives Ben a hug. Look at her two boys bonding, and it's clear to her how much it means to both of them.

She waits for the boys to sort themselves out and finish any conversations about the keyboard before she retrieves the bag with her present in and hands the present bag to Walter. Contained inside is a series of wrapped presents, two small, thin cuboids that rattle when shaken, and two larger, squares, one A4 in size and the other A3.

"Happy birthday Walter!"

A rare swell of pride makes Benjiro grin as he sees how pleased Walter is with the gift. He had put in quite a lot of time into the creation of the device, and tested it thoroughly to make it as ready as possible for the flurry of taps his friend would be able to produce. The flat jest is a proposal of a rather extreme scenario, so he snerks softly and nods his head once at the thanks. "You're welcome. Let me know if it needs any fine tuning once you give it try."

Then Walter sets the gift aside and reaches for the hug. Surprised as he is, Benjiro is nevertheless welcoming to the affection and readily wraps his arms around Walter to return the hug with a solid squeeze.

As Sadie moves to retrieve her present for their mutual friend, he takes up his cup from the table to hold and settles back to lean comfortably into the couch and watch.

"Oh, you'll hear from me when I give this a test run, no worries," Walter assures - and from his tone, that may very well be "today".

Tapping on the packages, mentally shifting through the possibilities of 'what could this be' at about a hundred per second, he opens the A3 package first - a sketchpad.

"Paper!" His grin is juuust a bit teasing, now, though he does still look genuinely pleased.

"We never do have enough of that around."

He is getting an idea of what this is for, though, and opening the A4-sized cube provides a much better explanation.

Sadie laughs, grinning at Walter. "Well you know, I was sitting there thinking 'What is it that Walter uses the most?' and obviously, the answer was paper."

The grin remains unabated as he unwraps the Beginner's Guide to Landscapes and Portraits book and then the two tins of pencils. "I wasn't sure if you'd bought any drawing stuff after our conversation at the RSPCA but I figured that it would help even if you had. Now you can keep yourself busy whilst you wait for the rest of us to catch up."

He would be disappointed if he didn’t receive the feedback, and as far as the teen is concerned, the sooner he hears Walter’s evaluation, then the less time he has to spend revisiting the design in his brain to consider if he could have done better in a hypothetical manner.

Benjiro sips his tea as Walter opens the packages, and he chuckles at Sadie’s reasoning for the gift. Lucky for them, their friend is not inclined to leave them behind.

"Glad to hear we agree, then," Walter snarks back, before returning to his unwrapping; the packaging ends up placed in a neat pile for disposal later.

Or possibly decoration; recycling is increasingly in vogue this year...

"And yes, this will help. Don't expect any masterpieces soon, though, you hear?"

"From what I know of you Walter, you will be the last person to realise that what you draw have become masterpieces." She teases him gently. "But I hope that it's appropriate, I wasn't sure if the sketchbook was too big for you considering your normal way of getting about the place."

Recycling is both efficient and cost effective.

An amused yet relaxed smile on his face, Benjiro adds in after Sadie, “I give it three, maybe four months if Walter gets distracted with some other skill.” He leans to set back down his cup of tea and settles back against the couch to let it cool a little further.

Edited 2018-10-25 17:11 (UTC)

Walter does not really know what to do with that praise - not in the least because he hasn't started anything yet!

"It wouldn't be too much work to adjust, I promise you," he answers Sadie first.

The book, sketchpad and writing utensils get all neatly arranged on top of the discarded packaging - he might re-purpose an old box for them, really - and before turning back to his tea he answers Ben's remark with a smothered laugh.

"You're not going to make a bet out of that, are you? That's a challenge, that is."

Sadie laughs and places her mug down on the coffee table. "That definitely sounds like a challenge to me. I put a fiver on it only taking you three months. I can see it now. Walter's future as a world-renowned speed artist."

When Walter takes the estimation as a challenge, Benjiro laughs along with Sadie. Clarifying first, he’ll ante up, “As long as we’re strictly referring to life study drawings. I’ll match that for the three and a half month mark from today.” The boy has a feeling that’s too much time, but he’ll bank on delays and leave Walter a shorter mark to take up as a goal.

"'Life study,' he says," Walter playfully adds, getting more into the mood.

"What else would I study? Stocks?"

It's not a statement of confidence, though - but, given his memory, he can't forget that potential deadline anyway.

"What about still life? There's a dearth of drawings of fruit and you could fill such a vital niche in the market Walter."

She giggles, "All joking aside, I'm looking forward to seeing what you do Walter."

"If you studied stocks I would fear for the stock market," he jokes. "But no, I meant drawing from references as opposed to creative illustration." There's a vast difference in skill of capturing the image in front of one as seen with eyes than in capturing the image out of one's mind.

With Sadie offering their friend encouragement, he nods, "As am I. Whatever you draw, you should enjoy it."

Edited 2018-10-29 03:07 (UTC)

Walter's outright chuckling now - these two.

"Understandable, that. And- I appreciate it, both of you."

He gently taps the sketchpad again.

"Now, I'll confess I didn't have any big plans for the day, but while you're both here..."

And one last joke:

"Hangman?"

VERY FTW!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

... Any requests for what kinds of tea they have?

None from me

All teas are good teas

no subject

Sorry for the delay!

No worries

I am only the slightest bit sorry for this.

no subject

no subject

DON'T THINK I DIDN'T SEE. ;D

*innocent whistling*

You didn’t see anything /disappears into hole

Re: You didn’t see anything /disappears into hole

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

innocent whistling