They finished the walk-through of the big house and Will sighed.
"Can we make the doors to where they'll be able to operate them however they want? If they want it open they can if they don't they can leave it open. So extra light doors that hook onto something on the wall would work."
Chiron nodded "Certainly. How're you going to get your shadow to live in here without you?"
Will shrugged his shoulders. The sudden movement startled Akiko.
"Sorry, Akiko. I was just moving. Do you want to try it?"
She looked wary but bobbed her head. Will gently eased her grasped hand away from his clothes and turned to face her and shruggd his shoulders. "Now you try."
She bobbed her head and mirrored his action. He realized this would be a great way to enable the young girl to have some form of communication other than just bobbing her head yes all of the time. That's how we say 'I don't know.'Or 'maybe.'Okay?"
Will handed her a cookie.
Akiko bobbed her head. Will did the motion she was doing and said "That means 'yes.' Okay? Can you tell me 'yes'?"
Akiko bobbed her head. "Good job. Here's a cookie."
"Can you move your head like this?" Will shook his head. Akiko tried to mirror it but it wasn't great or very defined at all.
"That's okay. We can try something else. Can you hold out your hand and shake it like this?" Will put his hand in front of his face and moved his hand from side to side.
Akiko bobbed her head and then tried the new motion. It worked.
"So that means 'no' can you tell me 'no'?"
Akiko moved her hand in front of her face side to side. Will gave her a cookie.
"Can you do this?" He touched his stomach.
Akiko bobbed her head and mimicked the motion. "That means food. Okay? Can you ask me for food?"
Akiko touched her stomach. And Will gave her the cookie and said "this is a cookie. Do you like them?"
She bobbed her head.
"Okay. One more. Can you do this?" He touched his mouth with his hand.
Akiko mimicked the action. "Awesome. That means drink. Can you ask me for a drink?"
Akiko bobbed her head and did the motion. Will handed her an opened bottle of water and she tried to lick it. She was confused now. "Oh you don't know how to? I'll show you." Will grabbed his own bottle and showed her how to drink out of it. Akiko mimicked the action and made a mess but did drink the water.
Will wanted to do more but knew that this was probably as many as she could handle right now. This method of having her mimic his actions worked with Akiko but might not work for all of the kids
"Okay very good job. What do you want to do know?" She pulled his shirt and pointed at the door. She wanted to leave.
"You want to leave the building? She bobbed her head.
"Okay. Let's go." Once they were outside Will told her to show him where to go. She walked never letting go of his shirt. When she saw Will's cabin she pointed at the door. And pulled him along. The door was too heavy for her. Will pushed it open and sat on his bed. Akiko sat in the floor and watched him.
"Her name's Akiko." Will announced to his siblings. "She can't speak but we're working on ways for her to communicate. She learned a few signals earlier."
He ran brought the signals cod everyone quickly. The conch horn blew and Akiko jumped startled.
"Are you okay?" Will asked.
She bobbed her head.
"Just startled?"
She bobbed her head.
"Do you want to go eat? Do you want food?"
Akiko touched her stomach and then bobbed her head she wasn't sure which to say.
"Okay. Let's go eat."
The pavilion was far too crowded for the easily frightened mutants so the big house had a dining hall just for them. That particular dining hall was a mess during meal times to say the least. Some wouldn't use utensils. Others had issues seeing the food or would startle somersault that the food would wind up being dropped. Since Akiko refused to leave Will's side he ate with them.