Aesior was gone. It was a fact that hung heavily over Fragglerock, following him everywhere as he went about his day to day business. He knew that the other had said he would come back, but... in the back of the boy's mind, he couldn't help wondering if he wouldn't. Would Aesior instead decide that he was happier away from all of them, and away from The Golden Eye as a whole? The thought filled him with grief, but he tried not to let it show. He knew there was others that were upset about Aesior's departure as well, such as Arlo and Vincent. Frag didn't want to break down and make things worse for them, so he just kept his emotions tucked away, at least for the moment. When – if – Aesior returned... that would be when he could finally break down, and cry. He wouldn't feel a single shred of guilt or embarrassment for rushing to greet the other while crying tears of genuine happiness. Still, he had no idea of when that would be. They hadn't exactly been given any kind of time frame for when to expect Aesior's return.

In the meantime, Fraggle had decided that he was going to learn something new. Something that would hopefully surprise and delight Aesior once he returned. And that something was ASL, or American Sign Language. It had been a hell of a pain to find a book on the subject with their rather isolated territory, but Frag had managed to do it, and he felt incredibly excited. Even if Aesior didn't know ASL as well – which the rabbit didn't think he did, considering he had never seen the other using it – he could always act as a teacher so that they could communicate more easily with each other. In the boy's mind, that would be enough to ensure that Aesior stuck around. After all, Fraggle didn't really know why Aesior had decided that he needed to leave. He knew none of the details, and had only been given the same vague answer as everyone else. So, he had to fill in the gaps with his own conclusions. And one of the things that he had assumed was that Aesior had felt upset that it was so hard for him to communicate with others, and that he had to deal with prodding from some – like Cleo – as a result.

This seemed like a perfect solution – at least to Fragglerock – so he had immediately decided to get to work. Of course, "getting to work" in this case just meant finding a warm cavern corner to curl himself up in so that he was able to read. After a while of just sitting and scanning the book over, Fraggle finally sat up on his back legs, lifting up his paws.and beginning to mimic the symbols he saw in the book. Of course, his motions were far more sloppy, since he was working with clumsy paws, rather than hands. Still, they managed to get the point across just fine. As he very slowly signed along with the book, he muttered lightly to himself under his breath, "A... B... C..." To anyone watching him as he did this, they would probably be rather confused as to what he was actually doing.

Why, oh why, did it always have to be her? Fraggle knew that, logically, Cleo had a responsibility to be around often, considering her position as a Talonguard. However, these days he always found himself shrinking away from her, and trying to put as much space between the two of them as possible. Not because he was frightened, no. He wasn't actually scared of her eating him, knowing such a thing would come with massive consequences for her. Rather, he just disliked her presence, finding her sharp tongue to be grating, and her words to be rather unhelpful. This time was no exception, the boy's long ears pinned back briefly before he spoke, "I do know how to read and speak. But I'm trying to learn something new. I'm hoping to learn sign language, so that I'll be able to communicate more easily with Aesior when he returns." While his anxiety tried to prod at him about the possibility of the other not returning, he shoved it back down stubbornly. He couldn't think that way. It wouldn't be all that long before Aesior was back, and things were good as new. He was sure of it.

Just as he was about to turn and ask Cleopatra why she was hanging around, Frag was interrupted by the approach of Vincent. The other's presence caused Fraggke to settle down slightly, feeling less like snapping aggressively at Cleo to go away. With Aesior gone, Vincent and Arlo were the main people in his life who still provided him with comfort, and a sheer happiness. Not that he disliked the rest of The Golden Eye. Rather, he was just very close to Vincent and Arlo, despite Vincent's rather quiet nature. In response to the other's question, the young rabbit was quick to nod his head, explaining as he held up the sign for "a," "Yes, there is. These are the signs that I can use to communicate different letters of the alphabet. Ideally I won't need to spell everything out letter by letter, but if there's something I can't communicate with existing signs, it's a good fallback." Besides, it only seemed proper to learn the alphabet of a language before moving on to anything more complex.

As his tail twitched idly behind him, Fragglerock then questioned Vincent, a small smile on his face, "Hey... would you like to learn some ASL too, Vincent? It can be really useful in general, especially if more deaf or mute newcomers join The Golden Eye at some point." Even if one wasn't deaf or mute, sign language could still come in handy. There were occasionally those times where Frag felt like he just couldn't get the words out, and hopefully sign language could fill in the gaps. He didn't want to lean on it too terribly hard, considering he rather liked talking aloud, but he still felt rather enthusiastic about the whole idea.