Speak boy, speak!

Tuzik had been napping on the floor near the window, the sunlight cast through the room and onto the floor.

The Hell Hound loved heat, he didn't get cold but he was drawn to any source of warmth.

With a small whine he woke up and rolled over, blinking rapidly as he looked around, stretching out as he yawned, his arms extending out in front of him as his back arched.

Getting up onto all fours he shook himself before padding towards the window and gazing out of it intently.

Alyosha had been working hard all morning.

After talking with Arzu and remembering the books that Belial gave to him, he had decided he was going to try and take on a possibly impossible task.

He was going to try and teach the Hound how to speak. In English.

What could possibly go wrong?

He dreaded the thought.

Alyosha picked up one of the many pages he had written out. "Tuzik," he called to the Hound lounging around the opposite side of the room.

"Veniunt hic." The words were broken and slowly, but recognisable. He was trying to learn a few phrases to help him teach Tuzik English using Belial's Latin translation book.

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Come here

The Hound's gaze looked over to his Master as he called his name but his face lit up as the man spoke in words, though poorly said, in a language that he understood.

Recognition of the words were evident by the dramatic change in his demeanor, he was immediately excited and rushed over to his Master, bounding across the room at break-neck speed.

He sat in front of the man, whining happily as his mess of hair swept away from one of his eyes, revealing the bright crimson irises.

Alyosha smiled when Tuzik bound over to him.

He had understood the butchered words. That made things slightly easier.

The Necromancer leaned down to fuss the Hound, stroking his head, scratching behind his ears, smiling brightly. His worries for the immediate future and the trouble that he'd encounter dissipated.

He reached over to pick up the paper again, blue eyes descending to it.

"Num poteris... lo-loqui similis mei?"

He wanted to know if Tuzik had the ability to speak.

_____________________
Can you... sp-speak like me?

He gave a happy yap as he was stroked and fussed over, leaning into the touches eagerly.

Tuzik was ecstatic that he had understood his Master's speak, it was better than trying to guess the meaning of his other ramblings.

He looked up at the man, his head tilting slightly as he tried to understand the slightly butchered Latin.

The hound's mouth opened hesitantly, this wasn't something he did often.

"Etiam, Dominus."

He muttered, his speech was almost a growl, the tone was deep, mumbled and gruff, a voice that didn't sound very often.
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"Yes, Master."

A bright smile pulled at the Russian's lips, his eyes lighting up.

He could speak. Which meant that he had the ability to learn English. They had a good chance of understanding each other.

That made Alyosha happier than he had been in a while.

"Latine loqui docere cupio. Vis, ut discerem?" It was spoken very slowly, read from his sheet.

He knew nothing of Latin except what he had translated earlier.

"Yes." He nodded excitedly. "Or no." he shook his head now.

He holed that Tuzik understood what he meant by that. To give his answer, he needed to nod or shake his head.

____________________________________________
I want to teach you to speak English. Do you want to learn?

Speak English?

Was that the language that everyone had been trying to speak to him? It must've been a fairly new dialect because it hadn't been the norm last time he was on Earth, granted, that was a fair time ago.

His Master was going to teach him to speak as everyone else did, he wanted that, he wanted to understand the babbling that everyone said to him, expecting him to be able to answer.

He nodded his head, it was easy enough to know what he meant by that gesture.

"Etiam."

He replied with a soft smile.
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Yes.

Etiam must mean yes if the nod had anything to go by.

He would be learning while teaching, too, it seemed.

Alyosha leaned forwards, wrapping his arms around the Hound, fingers stroking through his hair. "You're such a good boy," he crooned softly, nuzzling against the Hound's head affectionately.

"Let's start then!"

He was excited to teach the Hound a language that they could both speak.

He pressed his hands to his chest. "Ego sum Alyosha. I am Alyosha." He pointed to the Hound. "Tu es Tuzik. You are Tuzik."

He whined happily, nuzzling in against his Master, his hands gripping onto the man's shirt as his nose nestled in against his neck before pulling back and sitting on his backside, wanting to learn this language.

"Dominus, A-lyo-sha."
He repeated slowly, his Master finally had a name, Alyosha, uncommon but he liked it.

His bundled up had rested against his own chest, he had heard the name that he suspected was his many times now, and now he knew for sure, once again he had a name.

"Tu-zik."

The Necromancer nodded with a little grin. "Da, Tuzik."

A soft, sheepish chuckle sounded. "One language at time, Lyo," he scolded himself gently.

"You are Tuzik. Ego sum evocator mortuorum. I am a Necromancer." He pressed his hands to his chest again. Then he pointed to the hound again. "Tu es Hellhound. You are a Hellhound."

His brows furrowed slightly as the words got more complicated, he rarely spoke in his own language, let alone on he was only just learning, it was difficult.

"Ni-cro-mon-sor?"
His mouth struggled with the word, it had many more syllables than the rest.

He easily made the link between 'you are a' and 'I am a' logically if he switched them, he would be talking about himself instead of Alyosha talking about him, he decided to test that.

"I am, Tu-zik, h-hellhound."

He muttered slowly, he knew the world hell-hound but had rarely had and oppotunity in which to say it.

"Nec-ro-man-cer," he corrected gently.

He had still been coming to terms with it himself. But now he had told his Hound he was a Necromancer, he could accept it. That was what he was. It was what bought Tuzik to him.

Necromancy.

His blue eyes lit up with pride. "Yes, well done! Good boy," he praised, hand ruffling the Hound's hair.

He was already doing so well. This would be a long process, but he would enjoy every minute of it.

"Chair." He press his hand against the wooden object he was sitting on. Might as well teach him easy things that he could identify now that he had gotten the more difficult introducing himself out of the way.

His foot tapped against the ground. "Floor."

"Nic-ro-man-sor."

It wasn't perfect, but it he was getting close enough to the words correct pronunciation.

The more he was exposed to words, the more he would learn.

Tuzik's face beamed as he Master looked down at him excitedly, he had done it right.

So far English wasn't so hard, the words were short and could be broken down into smaller parts.

He reach over and stroked the wooden object that Alyosha was sitting on.

"Ch-air."
He murmured, stroking it as if enthralled by the names of everything.

"F-l-oor"

He pounced forward, grabbing onto his Master's tapping foot.

Alyosha laughed and lifted his foot a little.

"This is foot." He tapped the side of the foot that Tuzik was clinging onto.

He bent lower to tap the floor. "This is floor."

It would take a long time to teach him everything he needed to know about the language but for now he would go with the basics and teach the Hound anything he was curious about.

"Foot, floor."

He repeated, first nuzzling against his Master's foot before running his hand over the ground.

He thought he knew some words, things he had picked up from listening to people when they spoke to him.

Tuzik grabbed onto his own shirt, tugging it forward, stretching the fabric slightly.

"C-lo-thes?"

He questioned, his head tilting quizzically.

Alyosha nodded with a smile.

It seemed he was picking words up on his own. The Necromancer was so proud of him.

"Clothes," he affirmed.

He reached forwards to take the shirt between his own fingers. "Shirt." His hand slid down to touch the jeans cladding his legs. "Jeans. Trousers."

He gestured vaguely. "They are clothes."

His brow furrowed as he gave multiple words for the fabric that clung to him.

He had said they were clothes, why were they more than one thing?

Tuzik tried not to get too easily frustrated but it was hard to understand.

He gripped onto his shirt tighter.
"Clothes."
He said defensively.

Alyosha chuckled.

He was like a child. If he didn't understand something, he applied his own word to it to make it easier for himself.

It was okay for now. He could teach him the different types of clothing later once he knew a little more of the language.

He didn't need to know everything now.

"Clothes."

His hand reached up to stroke through the Hound's bright hair, pulling it forwards a little so the Hound could see it. "Hair."

A smile spread across his lips, yes he had gotten it right, they were clothes, Alyosha was being silly.

He gazed at the bright red strands and ran his own hands through his hair.

"H-air."

He was good at repeating what he heard, he just had to remember everything that was being said.

Lifting his hand up he gripped onto Alyosha's long locks.

"Hair."

He muttered again, giving it a little tug.

He chuckled softly when his hair was tugged.

"Yes. Hair."

On finger pressed lightly to the tip of Tuzik's nose and he grinned as he pressed down a little before pulling his hand away. "Nose."

It was a childish move, tapping his nose like that. But Tuzik reminded him of a child and he couldn't help himself.

Tuzik's nose crinkled up as Alyosha poked it, tickling it slightly with the closeness of his scent, causing the hound to sneeze softly.

He looked back at the man and grinned softly, his usual lopsided, wolfish grin.

"Nose."

He replied, leaning forward and swiping his tongue over the Necromancer's nose, it was a very dog-like action but Tuzik's crimson eyes shone brightly.

Alyosha's nose wrinkled when it was licked.

He lifted a hand to wipe his wet nose gently, laughing softly.

A child and a puppy. Tuzik was an adorable mix of the two. He was truly adorable and Lyo was glad he had summoned him; even if it had been accidental.

He stuck his tongue out childishly. "Tongue," he murmured when his tongue had slid back into his mouth.

Tuzik stuck out his long, pale pink tongue.
"Tung."
He muttered, his tongue still sticking out of his lips as he did so.

The hound had not spoke so much in a very long time, his usual Masters did not want to hear him speak and he never left his hound form.

This was different from anything he had experience before.

A finger swiped over Tuzik's tongue before tapping his nose, leaving behind a patch of saliva.

He ruffled the Hound's hair gently. "Yes, a tongue."

The Hound was doing so well. Alyosha was so proud.

"You're such a good by, Tuzik." He was a great dog. He was smart and playful. Everything he wanted in a pet and more.

Tuzik's tongue recoiled back into his mouth as Alyosha touched it, shaking his head as saliva was placed on his nose, rubbing it away with the back of his hand.

He barked happy pouncing on his Master as he praised him, nuzzling his face in against the man's neck happily.

"A-lyo-sha, good."
He murmured softly as his head rested against the man's shoulder.