How did this end up again? (Cam)

Walking through the hall Cameron continuously would check his map before looking around at the room numbers. Someone at the office had offered to show him to his classes now that his schedule as fixed but she had done so by shouting and that annoyed him. If he was hard of hearing and loud helped that would be a little considerate but he'd have a hearing aid if that was the case. As it stood he was completely deaf and only could feel certain things. He could smell her breath, but short of that she was just really jarring to look at.

Of course, he didn't expect to see dear antlers set up in a snare of sorts, meant to catch animals. He looked at the boy and wondered who had put the antlers on him. He approached slowly and gave a small wave before attempting to find the knot keeping him up. Once he found it he released the boy, a little quicker than he had intended to and would try to make up for the quick drop by releasing the rest of the rope off of his body.

"You okay?" He said, a little quieter than intended.

Cameron was able to make out a good bit of what the boy had said, noticing just how much shorter he had been than Cameron. He watched his lips closely, picking out a thank you, the fact he had been called mister, and a name but he tried to mimic the mouth motion himself. It wasn't a name he was familiar with so he made a mental note to get the written version of it later so he could commit it to memory. For now he thought of him as Deer Boy.

Do you know sign-language? He signed, somewhat hopeful but not expecting much. He pointed to both of his ears and shook his head. "Deaf." Was all that he said out loud. After that he would begin to examine the antlers, wondering how whoever did this had managed to get the things on. He would tug gently at them to see if they came off or if they were maybe glued on, but he didn't want to tear off any hair. Of course, he would be startled a bit when they in fact were secured very well to the young kids head.

C-A-M-E-R-O-N Cameron signed each letter slowly so that the person could keep up. Cameron was having trouble learning it himself still but knew enough to get basic conversation down. Everything else he pretty much typed out or tried to emote with his face if at all possible. Can you sign your name?

Cameron continued to be a bit perplexed by the antlers but for now he considered that maybe they were part of a costume and let it go. It was too much to be bothered to ask. Why were you tied up? He finished with.

Cameron gave a soft smile at the paper and made a mental note to put it in his locker later. It would feel rude to throw it away. From the letters and the mouth movements he thought he could pronounce it out loud but he wasn't sure that he could so if he had to he'd just make antlers with his fingers over his head when trying to ask people about him out loud.

Speaking of, as the guy explained he got the word trap, and that it happened a lot. So the kid was teased? Cameron wasn't really sure how to say antlers so he pointed at the kid's antlers and signed A-N-T-L-E-R-S And hooked his finger in a swooping motion, showing that he was asking a question. He was trying to ask if the antlers were the reason but he was quickly exhausting most of his progress with ASL.

The kid had a pretty cool name and the antlers were kinda strange. He was really curious about them for sure.

That explained it. The antlers were something of a cosmetic choice by the kid then. That was what he was being bullied for and the fact that he was smaller made it pretty easy he imagined. It all became rather clear and Cameron's eyes drifted away from the kid slightly but the signs were in his peripheral. He turned and gave a short nod to say that yes, he was in fact new. He turned to look at the direction that the kids must have gone since they didn't pass him as he approached.

His eyes shut slightly as he thought about chasing them down, but decided that was pointless.

Cameron signed, 'I am pretty good at reading lips if you just want to talk out loud, I don't mind the practice though.' He thought about it for a moment, putting up a finger as if to say 'please wait a second'. He thought about the dorm he had been given, it was just a room with a bed and a dresser, not much to it. He was told he had to stay there but to be honest he got a little claustrophobic about it all.

He put the finger down. 'Yes, I would like that.' He gave a small smile. He felt like he had made a friend, which terrified him but... but maybe he needed that.

As the kid hugged Cameron his mind left the room for a moment and he remembered hugging, what it felt like. He remembered when his parents still spoke to him, when they still loved him. Nowadays he was lucky to get an answer when he called them on Skype. They hadn't bothered to learn sign language but if the connection was good he could read lips, even then they didn't have much to say.

He was the mad bomber after all.

I'll text you, do you have a phone? Cameron pulled his flip phone out, it had a charm on it and definitely was dated but it was all he could get that would be covered by his program for being in school and on his own still. He opened up the new contact page and extended the phone toward Teufel to enter his information.