IC INBOX for The Last Voyages

[magician_king]

You know what to do.

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[magician_king]

"Exactly."

He says to Fives, and bends forward, touching Jedao's fingertips to his lips, carefully too, so he doesn't have to shift his shoulder.

"Okay- but what's the difference between ner'riduur and riduur? I hear you use both. Is it just a shortened nickname, like sweetheart to sweetie, or does each piece of the word have a different meaning?"

[ninefox]

"Riduur is husband. 'Ner' is mine." There's an impulse to touch Quentin more, to stroke a thumb along the line of his neck, but of course Jedao's hands are already caught. "Ner'karta, my heart." Jedao still fancifully uses Ner'karta for Fives occasionally, despite their marital status; Fives put his heart back in his hollow chest in Fantasia, and Fives gave him his heart back long before that.

[callmefives]

"Ner'vod, my brother... or sibling, really, since there is no gender in Mando'a," Fives adds. "And ori'vod is big brother." Something Tup sometimes calls him, and that he's very rarely called Jedao. "Vod'ika is little brother. Cyare is beloved, cyar'ika is... sweetheart, basically."

Possessives, diminutives. He uses them all the time and should have explained them better rather than left them to context. He loosens one hand from Jedao's and reaches down to ruffle Quentin's spun silk hair before curling it back around Jedao's again.

[magician_king]

He perks up subtly at cyar'ike- that's his name! And tilts his head into Fives' touch, closing his eyes for a beat at the familiar comfort.

"What about the difference between ika and ike? Is ike always plural?"

He has a pretty clear sense that it is- but exploring Mando'a is a nice, safe, warm space to be in together.

[ninefox]

"Almost anything ending in e is plural. Vod'e, brothers, verd'e, soldiers, ad'ike, children. Adate, people. 'Ika and 'ike aways mean little, but sometimes the implications are specific. Ik'aad is the same roots as adiik, but adiik is child and Ik'aad is more like a baby. Under three, really little. And 'ni' is the first person pronoun, so N'ika is a pun."

His nickname for Nico, in the gently paternal spirit of junior, literally translates to little me.

[callmefives]

He likes this too. Likes listening to Jedao explain the things he's taught him, and that he's taught himself on his own, and he smiles softly at Jedao's explanation of his nickname for Nico.

"You know, I didn't fully grasp that brother was a gender-specific term until after I'd been here for... a while, really." And he still tends to think of Shiro as a brother. Hope and Alec too, after a fashion.

[magician_king]

Quentin looks up at Fives with a quick little smile at the thought. It's a sweet confusion.

"How do you say 'good morning, sweetheart?' do greetings differentiate morning, afternoon, evening? Or by level of affection?"

Tips of his fingertips touching to Jedao's, idly, as they settle.

[ninefox]

"The most common greeting is just olarom, welcome. Var'tuur jatne would literally mean 'the morning is good' but I'm kind of hearing it in my brother's voice very brightly at four AM and he's sending me out to feed the chickens."

He's hurting enough that it's easy to go a little hazy, to disappear in warrens of word and association.

"Morutar is to welcome, so maybe...moru'tuur, the welcome day. The day welcomes? It sounds casual, anyway. Sweetheart...Ibi'tuur moruti bah gar'cyare. The day welcomes you, beloved." Jedao looks to Fives carefully, dreamily, not jostling himself, as if to see how he did on a test.

[callmefives]

Fives smiles warmly at him, and doesn't even feel too badly about having to admit that, even now, even after teaching him so much, he's not completely fluent himself. He was taught piecemeal and informally, after all, and sometimes he's just stringing things together in ways that make sense, like Jedao's doing now.

"That sounds like it should be right. Mostly we greeted each other with su cuy'gar," he admits. Which amounts to, basically, you're still alive. Or still alive you in the Mando'a construction.

[magician_king]

"Ibi'tuur moruti bah gar'cyare. Gar'cyare, gar'cyare."

Says Quentin, to Fives at first, and then to himself, nailing down the slightl tricky construction. He looks up at su cuy'gar, with an arch of his eyebrows. He can't translate that quite yet.

"What's the word fro strength- but emotional strength, internal fortitude."

[ninefox]

"I figured su cuy'gar was mostly, like, hello," Jedao muses, without thinking to explain the literal meaning when presented with another question.

"Mmm. Ramikadyc? Which literally means 'commando-like'," he adds, and laughs for a second before going pale at the pain of jostling the injury, so he stops.

[callmefives]

Fives smiles at Quentin, at his earnestness and love.

"Yeah, that's the closest I know," he agrees with Jedao, then braces him gently when he pales. "I think dral is really just physical strength, but ramikadyc is what they tried to train into us; the idea that you can do anything, endure anything, in pursuit of a goal." That goal, of course, being to die gloriously in service of the Republic.

[magician_king]

"What about in a slightly more naturalistic sense?"

Proposes Quentin, who doesn't know if that captures what he's looking for. He laces his hand with Jedao's, freeing up one to reach down and touch his leg, running a soothing hand up and down his thigh absently as he contemplates the meaning of words, and while Jedao's pain passes.

"Like a mountain. An growing oak. The smooth river stone. Either an adjective describing them or a noun for one of those things."

[ninefox]

"Atin or Atinla, maybe?" Jedao proposes. "Sort of...stubborn, tough, resisting anything. Atiniir is to endure. Cerar is mountain, but all the adjectival forms are about, like...pointy." He has to suppress the urge to giggle again; the endorphin haze is starting to pulse in a push-pull rhythm with the pain. "Choruk is stone."

[callmefives]

"A lot of my brothers chose Atin or Atin'la as a name, because of that. Atin'la's more tough, to atin's stubborn." He loosens one hand from Jedao's again and reaches up to stroke his fingers through his hair, the strands catching on his callouses and pulling a little.

"You're definitely atin'la, riduur," he teases Jedao, but looks down at Quentin to include him in the description. "And atin."

[magician_king]

"He's helping me pick something for you, choruk'ika."

He does not know for sure if this translates the sentiment at all. His voice stays low and steady, even as he teases Fives lightly.

"Our rock. Source of a little more strength every time, like knowing you is a secret pebble in my pocket. J, does choruk'ika come close, am I in the right ballpark or does it sound silly?"

Pet names aren't his forte but he does love language. He's careful not to infuse urgency into the question, just curiosity, a sweet puzzle to brainstorm together while Jedao catches his breath.

[ninefox]

"I think it sounds a little silly. But I also think it's okay for pet names to be silly." And he will manfully refrain from making and jokes about stones if Quentin and Fives both like it. "Maybe something with morut? That's...haven, stronghold. Morut'yc, safety." And the root of morutar, welcome. "Ner'morut."

Or maybe that one should be one of Jedao's endearments for Quentin, for both of them; he feels very safe now, in ways he would not have predicted when he called them. Silly goose, him. He carefully squeezes both their hands again.

[callmefives]

Fives flushes a bit, more in pleasure than anything, and bends very carefully to press a kiss to Quentin's temple. "You're ridiculous," he tells him, but from the warmth in his voice and the helpless quirk of his lips it's obvious how pleased he is.

"And ruus is rock, if that's what you're really looking for." Though privately he really likes Jedao's suggestion of ner'morut. It makes something warm and heavy and sweet expand in his chest.

[magician_king]

Quentin smiles with his eyes closed while Fives kisses his temple, turning his face up obligingly to give him more room so he doesn't have to bend too far.

"Ner'morut is pretty good." So, that settled, he turns delicately to take up Jedao's teacup, and turns back, moving to hold it in his lap just close enough that his fingertips brush it, that he can reach for it when he's ready for another sip.

"Now that I think about it, it'd be funny to be trying to call you 'the great and steady rock in both our lives' and end up just calling you 'cute piece of gravel.'" Ika does not perhaps apply. "Maybe just when you're being exceptionally stubborn."

[ninefox]

"I'll rattle your pebbles," Jedao mumbles, nonsensical and barely directed at either of them.

[callmefives]

Fives huffs a laugh and settles one hand on Quentin's head again, toying idly with delicate strands of his hair, while the other keeps hold of Jedao's.

"How about if you finish your tea and Quentin reads to us for a while instead?" he suggests quietly. "Something that just sounds pretty." That doesn't need any real focus, so Jedao can just listen to his voice and drift some more.

[magician_king]

"I picked up something I think you'll genuinely enjoy, Fives- but stop me when you need explaining."

Says Quentin, bending to give Jedao's held hand a last kiss on the fingers before transferring the teacup into it and letting it gently go to go lean off and find My Family and Other Animals.

[ninefox]

He does enjoy it; he hums and drifts, loses himself in the gentle sway of Quentin's voice, and soon drifts into a weary, necessary sleep.

[callmefives]

He tucks Jedao carefully against him and continues to hold his hand as Quentin reads, until he's drifted off completely to sleep. Then he reclaims his own, still gently steaming, cup and sips it occasionally as he listens.

[magician_king]

Eventually, Quentin has to take a break to sip his own tea, and clear his throat. His voice is a little cracked, but after a moment of rest, he wonders quietly;

"Pick him up and carry him to bed, or let him sleep here?"