In terms of general discourse one can proceed hyponymously, confirming and making more specific the existing expression.

As I was lying back as weak as water, Aunt Mary came in behind me, and flew to me with a little rustle as if she had come on wings, and put her arms round me, and drew my head on to her breast.

Suddenly, far down and beyond the toun there came a screech as the morning grew, a screech like an hungered beast in pain. The hooters were blowing in the Segget Mills.

In either case, the characters must manage as best they can to work forward from this understanding, perhaps to discuss the details of some agreement, perhaps to prepare for hostilities, perhaps to cope with a gradient by bolstering a flimsy justification. There are clearly many possibilities. One is that the exchanges succeed in building a 'supercharacter'; that is a stable coalition between previously independent parties, genuinely sharing a position and being so sure of their relationship that they have no need to consider its failure.