Oriel's eyes darted to Alfie's mouth, so he could follow what he was saying. Since Alfie was only partially looking at him, that made it more difficult, but he thought he got the gist of it. A greeting of some sort.
He walked closer to him, and tilted his head to the side, licking his lips lightly. Oriel was always a bit uncomfortable speaking in front of people he didn't know really well. He was always worried someone would tease him, because his voice sounded flat, having never learned inflections or anything like that - things he couldn't hear and thus couldn't understand. But he didn't think Alfie was right that.
"Good," he replied after a pause. "How are you?" His fingers moved as he spoke, unconsciously signing the words out of habit.