#blacknovelist talks a fucking lot is what this is

[blacknovelist]

I myself am not deaf/hoh but I was thinking of hc’s for my reader character in pyre (who I hc deaf) and I realized I never shared them so here i am. sharing them.

(Imma put these under the readmore bc holy shit there’s alot I copy pasted but please by all means add more or correct me if you got em)

(extra note: I myself am not part of the hard of hearing community, tho i do have family and friends who are. if there’s anything wrong, or things that should be changed, pls let me know)

It’s fairly obvious that speech is important in the CW (that and probably pictures) bc of the literacy ban, so, I mean, they gotta have stuff for ppl who can’t hear shit since it’s unfair otherwise (it’s never fair but hey they’ve got an image to maintain)

There’s definitely sign language for Sahrian. SSL, if you will

However!! Bc of how many races there are, that may make SSL….. complicated. There’s probably (definitely) different “dialects” and ways of signing depending on race

Like. A wyrm doing one action means the same as the hand signs for a certain word. It means you gotta learn how to interpret cur signs and wyrm signs separately, and some races come up w/ other little things specific to their races as far as nonverbal communication go too, but, like, it’s still SS, so, theoretically, anyone can use/learn it. 

Not that people in the Commonwealth do tbh

Harps kind of can’t really learn it bc the signs are adapted to everything but feet and wing. Plus they’ve mostly got wings, so, I like to think hands r a weird thing for them, bc to them its like “you have a second pair of weirdly-shaped feet on ur arms instead of wings wtf how do u live like this”

On a relevant note, the military has a kind of, pidgin language? A conlang adaptation of SSL??

It’s more reliant on finger movements than the hand-wrist-fullbody movements of actual SSL, which makes it easy to hide (esp from Harp eyes)

Jodi knows common SSL along with the military version

She taught Hedwyn some regular SSL but most of his knowledge on it is the military conlang, so, in the beginning, communication is a little funny (not hugely tho, military SSL is similar to civilian SSL outside of all the finger movements)

Jodariel is the one who recognizes the Reader cannot hear after Hedwyn patches them up and brings them in.

Reader can read the lips of curs, humans, saps, and wyrms. They can’t read Bog-crone lips bc they’ve never met one, but Bertrude already knows sign anyway (although, the reader is a quick learner so they do pick up some reading lips regardless since crone mouths aren’t that different anyway.) Is this a capital R reader thing? A little bit!

Subsequently they can kind of read Harp lips because they’re the same as human lips lmao. This makes communicating w/ Pamitha easier (but not that easy) when they first meet, though it’s some time until Pam can communicate w the Reader without a proxy translating SSL back and forth. Pam does pick up understanding it at a good rate though!

(Sometimes its hit and miss bc yknow, some ppl talk too fast or mush their words together or talk funny but it’s better than nothing)

The Reader experiences the Voice primarily through impressions (and occasionally in like, mental writing if something can’t be conveyed properly through images + feelings), and so they never hear AJ “properly”. Good thing the AJ way of talking is through direct mental projection because things would questionably get complicated otherwise

The reason they feel it in impressions is because of the nature of the Voice and the rites tbh. I know deaf/hoh folks usually think in sign - however, the Voice speaks English and SSL is in, well, Sahrian. So it… kind of can’t come across in the usual way the Reader thinks cause there’s no english sign language cause english is forbidden (*insert spooky noises here*)

The triumvirate feels the Reader in impressions, images and ideas too! Sometimes it translates in their heads as words they hear, but only in their own minds.

The thoughts of the triumvirate, those do come across in mental SSL impressions for the Reader! That’s because the other Nightwings couldn’t think in English if they tried (except for Volfred)

AJ, who has never met a deaf/hoh person doing the rites, has no clue the Reader can’t hear and still wants them to be his successor until the Volfred stuff.

The closest thing the Reader gets to hearing is the vague feelings they get through their triumvirate

If the Reader really, really needs to get everyone’s attention when politely tapping or wildly flailing don’t work (or if they’re too excited to try and want everyone to see something right now immediately), they’re not afraid to just make the biggest goddamn racket on planet Earth. Not like they’re bothered by it anyway, so it gets the job done. 

The first rite (in the book) was an experience because they figured the three would be talking to each other once they appeared, except the conversation actually presented itself in their head out of nowhere despite their faces being covered and the Reader not knowing for sure that they were actually talking (aka the Reader knew it wasn’t their imagination and this was stuff coming from the trio). 

Hedwyn nearly forgets the Reader can’t hear when he’s doing his “we’ll get free and we trust you so work with us here” speech, but he gets the feeling the Reader will understand anyway.

Gilman’s knowledge of SSL is also mostly from his time as a Wyrm Knight, but unlike the human army, wyrm civilian SSL is the same as wyrm military SSL, so there’s no issue there and the Reader learned all the SSL forms bc it’s not really like they had much else to do other than read up there u know?

When Volfred speaks into the Reader’s mind, it manifests in SSL like the others’ thoughts do, but if he’s speaking English it manifests as impressions and letters in the same way the Voice does during the rites. 

The Reader insists on learning how to use their Reader Powers to communicate “in case of the most dire of circumstances” 

They stick with SSL ever after tho bc of course they do

The Nightwings all learn how to understand human SSL but not everyone can use it, since the Reader can’t really teach it to everyone (u try imitating a wyrm effectively with ur hand and get back to me man, they aren’t gonna try)

Ti’zo already knows a little about understanding SSL, and the Reader helps him learn the rest.

He turns out to be incredibly adept in Imp Charades and using facial expressions. Though unaccustomed to being able to communicate through chirps and other usual imp noises, he enjoys the challenge. 

Together with Mae, the three piece together a makeshift Imp SSL. Ti’zo loves it.

Volfred asks to teach it to the Messenger Inps and learn how to understand it, despite knowing already how to interpret Imp speech. They teach the Inps and Volfred anyway.

Even though the Reader can’t hear it, strumming Tariq’s white lute is incredibly soothing. Something about the vibrations. Tariq himself is quite sad the Reader will never hear his or Celeste’s music

“Fetch the Reader for Lunch/Dinner” is a task given to a randomly selected Nightwing (usually the first person to arrive after Hedwyn rings the bell for mealtime), and consists of poking/slapping/pulling at the Reader, who is blissfully unaware, so that they can join everyone to eat. This is important, because the Reader can and will miss meals if not alerted.

It only applies to lunch and dinner because the Reader loves sleeping and can therefore be woken up with everyone else instead of them having to be hunted down due to early morning wandering

Jodariel signs quickly and uses a lot of older formal gestures that the Reader knows of but has never seen before meeting Jodi. 

Hedwyn, on the other hand, usually signs a bit slower than her, and his signs are mostly “modern” ones mixed with military SSL. 

Basically the way they sign matches the way they usually talk.

Rukey knows a bit of cur SSL and does his best to learn more, but he's… not great at it, especially since the Reader can’t really help him through all the motions as a human. He keeps at it, even though the Reader tells them he doesn’t have to because they know how to lip-read and he's got a very expressive face anyway. They’re very touched he’s going so far to try (and he gets it… eventually. He makes up a lot of abbreviations.)

Gilman signs like Jodi does (quickly and in a more “olden traditional” way), but with about twenty times the exuberance. And a lot more old signs and gestures, because no one’s bothered updating wyrm SSL in a while, I guess

Tariq doesn’t seem to know how to do SSL, but never has a problem communicating with the Reader. They keep forgetting to ask him about it.

The big heartfelt speech about freedom and stars and stuff (after the rites are said to be ending, u know the one) is told through a mix of SSL and the Reader’s abilities, because it helps them portray exactly what they wanted to say more directly, right when everyone needed it. 

Barker absolutely knows cur SSL and how to understand other SSL dialects, and is constantly broadcasting everything he shouts in cur SSL just in case (works well bc cur SSL heavily depends on body position and language), which actually helps bc otherwise the Reader would have 0 idea what he’s saying

Lendel knows the bare minimum of SSL (thru his time as a police dude or whatever they’re called) and definitely not enough to communicate fluently. 

Ignarius learned the military version but has long since forgotten. 

Dalbert knows how to understand it but doesn’t know how to sign himself, and his son only knows a little. 

Sir Deluge learned as a Wyrm Knight and forgot it fairly quickly. 

Manley doesn’t even know it exists, and it takes some time for him to realize the Reader isn’t ignoring him on purpose when his mask is on.

Witch Udmildhe has never cared for such mortal things, as there’s no way to convey the horror of the Astral-Born through mere hand signals anyway.

Tamitha has tried learning SSL as a way to get a leg-up on the CW (if harps could crack it, there’s a huge boon there bc on-the-field plans to could be disrupted before they happen) but hasn’t been able to get the resources for it.

As a side note, Pamitha does help form a Harp SSL following the Scribes’ Return (and before then, simply made sure to always face the Reader when she talked to them so they could read her lips or get someone to interpret)

Falcon Ron and his dad don’t know SSL as Downside natives, so someone always has to accompany the Reader when they go to the Slugmarket in order to interpret for them.

Actually, in general someone’s gotta be with the Reader all the time, because they can’t hear anything and therefore even a mcfreaking rockslide could sneak up on them. Howler nights mean nothing when you can't hear the howling. Even if it’s a Drive Imp, somebody’s gotta be there to be the Reader’s ears

It honestly doesn’t help the Reader is kind of an unintentional little shit like. They just wanna see the world and being deaf isn’t gonna stop them but they’re literally gonna die pls save them from themselves holy shit 

Oralech knows SSL, of course. As a doctor it was important for him to know military SSL at the least, but in order to communicate freely he learned civilian SSL as well

Sandra does not know it, as it wasn’t created in her time and no one’s spent enough time with the Beyonder Crystal to teach her. Since she projects in a similar manner to the Archjustice she doesn’t technically need to, as impressions and text do fine for communication between her and the Reader, the Reader teaches her anyway. She quite enjoys it.

The other Drive Imps learn to gather and move on hand-command via the Reader. It makes them feel powerful. (The imps are just happy to be getting the pets and snacks so w/e)

All of the Nightwings have their own sign, and there’s signs for the Nightwings as a whole too.

If the ‘wings are practicing with each other and want to refer to the Reader, they hold their closed hands to their heart and move it to their chest like an open book (or like they’re cradling something)

The SSL for “Nightwings” is the signs for “night” and “wings” together.

Technically they came up with signs for the other Triumvirates but im not coming up with all of those man

Ti’zo still complains abt what the Accusers sign is and thinks it should’ve been something less friendly