This made me squee because of the accurate portrayal of ASL! I didn't quite follow the description of "P", but "fail" and "sorry" and the rest of it was spot on. That's so very rare in fanfic, and is wonderful to see. The story would have been enjoyable anyway, but the ASL was icing on the cake for me.
I'm glad I got it right! I'm not fluent in ASL, but I've studied it some, it's nice to know it worked. (I fail so hard on P. I learned the ABCs as a teen, but I learned a different shape from the standard for P somehow, so while I was signing to myself to get the descriptions of everything right, I had to look at a picture of P.)
I think that little scene is honestly my favorite. Picturing Neal hazily signing to Peter and Peter getting it was very sweet.
Don't worry too much about how you sign "P". It's one of two letters (the other being "G") that are quite often signed with variations. Just think of it as signing with an accent. Personally, I use the same handshape for "P" as for "K", rotated 90 degrees so it looks to be pointing downwards. It's hard to explain in writing.
Even if you aren't fluent in ASL, you seem to know more than some TV characters who are supposedly fluent, so you can pat yourself on the back for that. :-) Jethro Gibbs on NCIS, for example, often signs what looks to me to be nonsense.
I feel like I've babbled too much about ASL, so let me also mention that I enjoyed the humor and hurt/comfort in your story, and look forward to reading more of your writing.
AHA see that's how I sign P, but the pictures look different. Good to know I'm not totally off the chart. :)
Gibbs and Abby I can usually pick out a few words, but can't follow more than that. I think possibly the writers aren't quite entirely on top of how the grammar side works.
I'm glad you enjoyed the story as a whole, too! It was fun to write.
As someone who knows very little about ASL, I liked the "babbling". I thought this was very interesting. I love it when fanfic has well-researched bits of background like this, or like the "footnote" links to Real-Life artworks that Sam/CopperBadge (sam-storyteller.dreamwidth.org) includes in stories where the art's a plot-point. Maybe I'm geeky beyond the norm, but I think such details are great when they're accurate! :-)
And the "I didn't want to disappoint you..." scene was my absolute favorite in this story. Neal trying SO hard to Do Good for Peter... Awww!
It does make me wonder where (and why) Neal learned ASL...
I almost put in a scene about this, but it felt exposition-y. I figure sign language is a good thing for a con to know, at least a few words -- after all, law enforcement uses it. Words like 'cop' and 'want' would be useful in a situation where they can't talk to each other, or where they have to communicate, say, across a room.
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Deaf Reader
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