Of Art and Company (Max)

Guest

Elleon made his way to the art room, his bag of art supplies slung over his shoulder casually. He'd done absolutely everything he needed to do: study, go through pronunciation of spells, homework, and practicing non-verbal spells. For once, he could spend his time on art without needing to worry about school. He'd turned down Jelena's offer to accompany him, knowing she wanted to spend the free time with her friends. He didn't expect to be talking to anyone anyway.

Heading to the section with the easels, Elleon picked one at random and set down his things on a nearby desk, taking out his paints and sorting them out by colour. He only needed one colour for what he had in mind but it didn't hurt to have the rest of the colours at hand in case inspiration for another idea struck.

He eyed the size of the board sitting on the easel, picturing the what he wanted to paint. With a decisive nod of his head, he opened his sketch book and took a page out. Carefully, he tore part of that page into thin strips. The rest, he cut into shapes that he needed. Using a bit of glue, he stuck the white strips of paper onto the board. Then he proceeded to cover every inch of the board in a deep blue paint so that the entire thing looked plain blue to the casual observer. It was what laid underneath that would give meaning to the piece.

While waiting for the paint to dry, Elleon busied himself with cleaning up, washing the paint brush and palette he'd used, and throwing away the bits of paper he didn't need.

Guest

Max liked to explore, which meant he went everywhere, and anywhere in the castle. It was so big, there was no way he could have gotten around the whole thing and not missed anything. Today, Freddo was being needy. Freddo liked to wander, and most of the time, Max let him do so, but now that his kitten was a little bit bigger (fully grown, Max thought, though he wasn't sure), he hurt when he scratched.

So, Max had followed the cat - who was pretty much his exploring buddy until he found someone else - Max ended up on the Fourth Floor. He knew there was the Arts classroom, but Max wasn't much in to the arts, really. They took a lot of concentration, and Max simply didn't have that.

Nor, did he have much talent in that area, either.

Freddo, however, seemed to want to explore the room, so Max followed him in, scooping him up a moment after he'd moved in to the room. Freddo could be mischievous, and the kind of people who worked in this room probably didn't need a mischievous cat around their ankles.

Though, today, there was only one boy in the room. "Hey!" Max called out to the boy - though... a moment later, Max realised it was the kid who was always moving his hands very quickly with another girl. But that girl wasn't here. Oh, yes, the deaf boy... what's his name.... Elliot? Max tried to remember, as he moved across the room, and, towards the other boy.

Tapping him on the shoulder, Max waited for him to turn, and grinned, before repeating the same greeting as before. "Hey!" He said, only meaning to be friendly in that moment.

Guest

It took quite a while for the paint to dry and by the time it did, Elleon had put everything back in its place and cleaned all the rubbish. He ran a gentle finger over the painting, his sensitive fingers searching for the strips of paper he stuck underneath the paint. Very carefully, he pulled away the strips of paper, revealing the white board underneath. He worked painstakingly slowly, making sure he did not mess up the rest of the painting.

When he was done, he stood back and eyed the final piece with a small smile on his face. At first glance, it looked like a face viewed sideways. But if one looked closer, the letters, 'M', 'A', and 'N' could be seen as well as a '?'. It was a reflective piece of art, questioning the existence of mankind, the complexity of their being, their thoughts and emotions. Not many people understood his work and Elleon took advantage of that. It allowed him to keep his own opinions private.

Just as he was about to take the board off the easel, he felt a tap on his shoulder and swung around, expecting to see Jelena. He paused for a moment when his eyes landed on a boy instead. A movement of the boy's lips made Elleon focus his attention there. He was grinning which made it a little harder to read his lips but Elleon assumed it was something along the lines of "Hi" or "Hey". He recognised the boy and knew his name to be a long one but couldn't recall it.

"Hi," he mouthed and waved his hand, adding a smile at the end and noticing that the boy held a cat. "Nice cat!" he signed before pointing at the cat and putting his thumbs up. He held up his hand, palm facing the boy in the universal sign for 'wait' and flipped his sketchbook open. He took out a pen and wrote: I'm sorry, I forgot your name. I'm Elleon. You have a nice cat. Smile

Guest

Having yourself being watched quite closely as you spoke made Max feel a little conscious. Did he have something in his teeth, or was this part of the being deaf thing that the boy before him had? Max wasn't sure, he'd never really thought about it much, truth be told, but now that he was dealing with the boy before him, he had wished he had looked in to it.

Max put it on his copious list of things to look in to.

For another time, for sure.

But, the boy before him started moving his hands, and Max couldn't help but allow his eyebrows to crease in confusion. He did not know sign language, and though the boy might be making signs towards Freddo, and universal signs of the non-deaf community, Max felt uncomfortable. Talking was much more fun!

And, the Gryffindor did not understand how this might be difficult for a deaf person to actually do.

The boy moved away a moment later, though, and Max watched him curiously for a moment, before the other boy came back with a sketchpad and wrote on it. Max's face turned in to one of realisation as he read all of it - taking in the boy's name, and everything that he'd been trying to say.

"I'm Maximillian!" Max replied, waiting for the boy to look at him. "But, everyone calls me Max. And, thank you, Freddo is a pain, though!" Max explained, motioning to his cat as he did so. Freddo purred contently in Max's arms, and the Gryffindor smiled down at him. "Can you not talk?" Max asked, curious in nature, and not meaning any harm. Filters were not something the twelve year old had mastered.

Guest

There was no missing the obvious confusion in the other boy's face as he signed and it wasn't an unusual sight for Elleon. Things had been going so well in his old school, a school for the Deaf where he fit right in and there was no communication barrier. Here in a hearing school, Elleon occasionally felt like he was an exotic animal on display at the zoo; people gawked and talked about him, knowing he couldn't hear what they were saying about him. The jeers on their faces gave him a pretty good idea though.

But Elleon did not regret coming to Hogwarts. He was learning something entirely different and something he was interested in. Nothing could beat art but magic came pretty close which was why he stayed though it could be a pretty lonely existence with not many peers he could talk to or hang out with that didn't feel uncomfortable around him. The constant support and encouragement his parents gave helped him through though.

He grinned as he saw understanding dawn on the boy's face as he read what he'd written. But his elation did not last long as the boy started talking and Elleon concentrated his attention on the moving lips, trying his best to catch what was said. I'm Macks..me..l..n but everyone calls me Macks. ...you Fre..o is a pain ..ough. As the other boy talked, Elleon's brain went into overdrive, splitting between registering the movement of the lips, associating the shapes with words he knew fit them and filling up the blanks with things that would make everything make sense. Lip reading, unlike what most people assumed, wasn't as easy as reading a book.

The question he caught in full. It was one that was asked so often that he was familiar with the lip movements. He smiled gently at the question, giving ...Macks? the benefit of the doubt that he was asking it sincerely and without mockery. He gave a slow shrug of his shoulders as he debated how he should respond to the question. "I prefer not to," he said slowly, making sure to pronounce the words so his accent wouldn't get in the way. "But I can."

Deaf people speaking was a subjective topic and quite personal too. Most were not oral but some who felt comfortable enough to use their voice did speak. It was up to the person, really. For Elleon, he only spoke when absolutely necessary, being self-conscious of his Deaf accent.

[[OOC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdhXmLtBLQY An example of how a Deaf person would sound like talking. Elleon's speech wouldn't be as clear as Marlee Matlin's though Smile

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