Deal with it later

James found himself picking at his thumbs, ideas on how to approach the topic of last night failing to come. Eventually, he decided to let her have her time on the sofa with snacks...but it was still a good time to remind her of their deal.

Not knowing how to warn her, he switched channels abruptly. She chirped harshly at him, throwing a slice of cheese on his face and flickering grey. When he laughed, and peeled the piece of cheddar from his cheek, he caught a small smile on her lips. He gestured at the children's program on the screen.

He didn't care for sesame Street, but she got the message quickly enough when they started pointing at letters and emphasising their sounds. When she started to mimic it, faintly glowing green, he relaxed into his seat. He had to stifle a laugh when, instead of 's' she blew raspberries at the screen, focused intensely. After seven tries she slumped her back and pursed her lips, a full yellow shimmering on her face.

He leaned forward, tapping her shoulder. When she turned to look, his closeness startled her. She let out a fast trill and her head jerked back. Then she noticed him pointing at his open mouth, making the same sound she'd been failing at. She pouted at him for a moment until realizing he was trying to help. Eventually she shoved a finger into his mouth, wanting to feel the placement of his tongue.

Confusion hit James hard when she began pushing up on his teeth, chirping in short patterns. When he pulled his head away she followed. She showed him her own teeth, rounded fangs with small serrations along the edges, and made a point of slowly retracting them. He backed up again, holding her wrist away from his lips.

"Are...you trying to say my teeth are in the way?"

She chipped again, repeating her show of retracting her teeth.

"...ok so this is about to be hard to explain...", he sighed and looked around the room. The fallen jenga blocks caught his eye and he grabbed one. After pointing at his teeth and the block she flickered blue. That had to mean she got the idea. He used his fingers to wrap around the top of it and hold it in place. She reached over and pushed it up into his hand, flickering blue again.

After thinking for another moment, he grabbed another brick and placed it horizontally against the top of the brick in his hand, and wedged it between his fingers. This time when she pushed it upwards it didn't give. He pointed back at his teeth. The next chirp sounded alarmed, and she grabbed his lips with both hands. It felt strange having her probe around in his mouth, but he dealt with it until she got the idea.

When she finally backed up, seeing his confusion, she looked frustrated and almost sad. Now it was her turn to look around the room, until she saw the one egg she had left. She used her thumbs and middle fingers to encircle it, top down and above the makeshift barrier. Her index fingers pushed down until around half was past her fingers. Then her middle fingers and thumbs squeezed it back upwards to her index fingers.

James cocked his head. That was how their teeth worked? It felt surreal discovering this. She did it again, and he realized he hadn't shown he understood. After he fished the blue card back out of his pocket she set the egg down. He nodded, and pulled out his phone to find a better way to teach her how to pronounce letters. Eventually he settled for a bland video series on YouTube that showed mouths making different sounds and the letters that accompanied them. They spent most of the afternoon repeating them together, and slowly going over easy sentences. Each time she got frustrated and tried to give in, he glanced at the fallen blocks. Usually she would let out something like a vibrating grunt, but she would keep going.