Placeholder Who: Minuette Kirsch and KJ Rosetti Where: In the Kitchen When: August 30th / 2009 - Late Evening
Mini's sleeping patterns were so shot it was hard for her body to figure out just what time she should be sleeping and what time she should be awake. She'd been sleeping a lot during the day, unfortunately and it made her quite awake at night. Then sometimes she was so exhausted she slept almost straight through the day. It wasn't doing her very much good.
Today was different though. Today she'd figured out she could make it rain. And not just because she was crying. If she concentrated hard enough she could actually gather storms and force water to come rushing out of them, soaking the streets below. It was...sort of awesome.
But also extremely tiring.
So she'd napped after testing out her new power twice that afternoon while spending time with Taylor, and then had passed out for a while. A long while. Six hours worth. Oops. She'd woken up ravenous and the sky outside was mostly clear, which was good she decided. She got up and got dressed and headed down in to the kitchen to find something to eat. There wasn't much there that really appealed to her, but she knew she had to eat.
Finding a case of canned pasta, she selected one and squinted at the front. It looked like you didn't have to cook it. They had something similar in Germany she was sure of it. Though she wasn't sure who the little spanish girl was on the label or the monkey was. She searched around and then found a can opener and got the top off and tossed it in to the garbage. She noted it needed to be taken out, and she considered doing that, but after she ate.
Mini pulled herself up on to the counter and sat with her legs dangling, taking the spoon she'd also found and stirring the contents in the can. Certainly not what she'd been expecting to be eating while visiting the United States of America.
KJ felt like having a late night snack. Although she was sure they should have been starting to conserve their food supply, she hadn't eaten much that day and she could go for an apple. It was going to go bad soon, anyway, so she might as well. She wondered briefly if perhaps they could have gotten more fruit and vegetables before they went bad at a grocery store, considering the power only went out a couple of days prior, but she had no idea. She'd suggest it to someone and see what they said.
But entering the kitchen, KJ spotted someone else. Smiling lightly, she went and grabbed an apple anyway, waving. "Hello there," she said easily enough, before taking a bite. Mm, red delicious; her favorite.
Mini turned when the door opened, her eyes going wide. You never knew what could have snuck in when nobody was looking. Were the monsters smart enough for that? To hide away until everybody was asleep and then go on a rampage. It surely sounded like it from what had been going on lately. And that didn't make Mini at all comforted. Who would it comfort really? She blinked over at the girl who did enter however. She looked normal enough. No extra limbs...but then again that meant nothing did it? Pepper, who had not been at the meeting looked a bit off, but she wasn't a bad person. Or at least, Mini had asked about and people had said she was nice.
She smiled a bit at the newcomer though. Why was it always her that got to explain she didn't speak English? At least if this girl had been at the meeting she'd know. But of course, she hadn't been. Damn it. Where was Tony? She needed him to write that sign for her. Then Taylor could probably do it now. 'I do not speak English' On a piece of cardboard to wear around her neck. Life would be a lot easier then. Anybody that didn't want to act anything out could just leave her alone.
"Hello." She said, her english still heavily accented. Maybe the other girl wouldn't want to talk...that'd make it easy wouldn't it? She held up her can of food and gave a bit of a shrug and continued to eat, watching the other woman a little.
Mm, accents... KJ stared at her, not in a bad way, but if her accent could be seen physically KJ would have been all over it. She still needed to find a tape recorder of some sort so she could begin to copy all this stuff down. That one sounded German, and she excitedly began wondering which part of the country the woman was from, and how long she had been in America. She knew sometimes accents could be 'Americanized', in a sense, or at least get less dense on some words than others. But this one was very heavy, so she suspected not too long. Excellent.
And then, realizing she was staring, and in most of proper society that was a big no-no, KJ took a bite of her apple calmly. She wouldn't ask the woman about the accent thing until she had something to record it WITH, but she could daydream about it until then. "So where are you from, then? You're definitely not from around here," she added, grinning enthusiastically.
At least she'd been talking to Taylor enough, and had enough sense to ask the other girl how exactly you would communicate to somebody properly that you didn't speak English. Then of course Taylor had her French accent. So words she'd learned from Dhaval at least sounded mostly American. He had a slight, if not tiny accent, but he hadn't really affected any of her learning. Taylor's however had a bit harder time of it. Mini, if she stuck about long enough was going to sound like some random hybrid of countries. That'd be just lovely wouldn't it?
Mini finished the mouthful of pasta she had and then looking around for something to wipe her face on, she saw some serviettes at the end of the counter. She selected some and then patted her mouth. There was no need for lack of civility even in a situation like this. She should ask how to say that, and then go tell it to Loren.
"I do not speak English." There. She could say that much. "German or French I can." Look at that. She'd used the English she'd learned. Now if she could only fit, chair, table, happy, sad, and smile in to the conversation she'd use everything she'd learned from Dhaval had taught her too. "Sorry." She said, actually looking apologetic. She had been apologetic to everybody that she couldn't really interact with...though she wasn't sure why. She shouldn't have to apologize, but people seemed to be nicer when you apologized for your 'flaws'. Ugh, Americans.
"Why are you sorry?" She slowed down her speech, knowing she had talked very fast in her excitement before, and although she didn't treat Mini as if she were an autistic child learning to speech, she at least realized that learning English at such a pace wouldn't go over well. "Don't be sorry," KJ implored here, shaking her head to help get the point across.
Unfortunately, KJ only knew smatterings of German or French, although she had taken Spanish in school. KJ tilted her head, considering. It was possible she knew a little as well, and then they could work out some sort of conversational mode. She would love to teach the woman English in exchange for German or French. In fact, in her head she was adding a notebook onto the list of other things she needed to get, including tape recorder and batteries. Perhaps more than one notebook, and pens. Lots of pens. Could she even pick up a few dictionaries so that the two of them could use it more in conversation? Who knew. The possibilities were endless, and KJ found herself getting very excited over it. "Hables espanol?" she ventured, hopeful.
Mini picked up from her body language and then the shake of her head and the word sorry, that she didn't need to be. Well, at least this girl had a brain in her head. Unlike some. Then she couldn't really fault them. She didn't particularly want to be here with them with her specific situation either. She was sure it went the same way. It wasn't like you could verbally warn Mini of anything other then perhaps shouting her name. Which would only just cause her to panic. The days ahead she was not looking forward to. Whatever Terry decided that they all needed to do. He'd been elected the head guy. Mini had just copied down whatever name seemed to be appearing the most on the list and had gone with that.
Mini looked at her funnily. She was pretty sure that wasn't English that the girl had just asked though through her french the espanol was fairly clear. "No...Spanish." She concluded, unsure of where she remembered that English word from. Though once again it was sort of...an obvious one. "German, french." She nodded her head. Mini looked around and then placed her hand on her chest. "I Minuette, Mini. You?" She asked, thanking Taylor over and over in her head. The girl had helped a fair bit.
KJ scowled a bit, more to herself than at Mini. No Spanish. Well, a girl could hope. But her fractured English was better than no English, and she was sure her fractured French and German was better than none, as well. Not that she could seem to recall any that was really appropriate right now. Taking her apple and sitting down across from Mini, she smiled a bit. "I am KJ," the woman told her, introducing the word am. She'd get to my name is next. "You are Mini."
Mini took a few more bites out of the can of cold pasta. It actually, sadly wasn't half bad like this. She felt like she was in an american movie where she was a college student living on canned food and instant noodles. That was what American's did right? In college? She had no idea, she'd barely gotten through school herself, her mother's horrible home schooling had done her no good. She'd barely passed exams she needed to get her equivalent and then she wasn't smart enough to go to any schooling beyond that. Her mother had made sure her daughter wouldn't ever find a lucrative job. Not that she minded being a secretary, but at the same time she'd often fantasized what it would be like to be a doctor or a architect....she could play the Piano at least.
When the woman accented her words, Mini blinked at her. Was...she trying to teach her something? Mini wasn't sure. And if she was, she wasn't sure if she should feel offended or not. Sure Mini wanted to learn, but she also wanted to learn from somebody she asked from, and not just a person who assumed that they'd be able to teach her something. She supposed you're not supposed to look a gift horse in the mouth, but that the same time it was that arrogance that she had never understood about people. "KJ." She smiled and nodded. "You are KJ." She mimicked, figuring it'd probably please the other woman.
That was KJ's curse, to enjoy sharing the knowledge she accumulated as much as she enjoyed learning it. Even though she knew better, she supposed a part of her still assumed that other people enjoyed the process as much as she did. Giving Mini a thumbs up when she got the point, however, she smiled and took another bite out of her apple, thinking. She was a quick learner. Perhaps if KJ mimed what she was thinking accurately enough, Mini would get the point, and they could have a mutually beneficial relationship.
Clearing her throat, KJ scowled, wondering how she would mime it. Pointing at herself, she said, "English," and then pointing with her other hand at Mini, she added, "Deutsch," and then switched her fingers back and forth several times. She was hoping Mini would understand that if KJ taught her English, Mini could teach her German. Well, and KJ would have liked to learn French too, but the woman's accent was decidedly not French, and KJ felt this might have been the more comfortable trade of the two. She lifted her brow, giving her a hopeful look.
Mini watched the girl with a touch of interest as she ate her food. This was...going to be interesting. She hadn't asked this girl for help, and she'd probably giggle about it later with Taylor, but for the moment she figured she might as well see what the other girl was trying to do. Then the girl wasn't being particularly forthcoming with her pantomimes. It could be taken more of a 'I speak English, you speak German'...well...what about it? That was kind of pointing out the obvious wasn't it? Mini almost pretend that's what she figured it to be, but then decided this girl didn't look to be the type to give up right away and Mini would have to sit for more bad miming.
The German girl probably should have been excited to know that this girl wanted to learn German as well as teach her english, but she was also tired. Practicing her new power had taken a lot out of her and her patience level wasn't what it normally was. She smiled and nodded at the other girl though, not wanting to seem rude. People around here could be rude enough if you caught them at inopportune times. The civility again. Mini had to make sure she practiced her manners. She finished up what was in the bottom of the can though and put it aside, but settling on the counter a little bit and watched KJ waiting to see what she'd do next.
She wasn't able to start this little game, not really anyway. She'd see what this KJ wanted to do first.
Okay, that didn't seem to make sense to her. KJ frowned again, opening her mouth and then scowled. Did she know the word for teach in either French or German? She did not. She knew speak- sort of- in French. Maybe she could pantomime it with actual props. Looking at her apple, she lifted it and said, "English." Looking around, she found a cup and lifted it at Mini, labeling it as, "Deutsch." She swapped their places again, narrating with, "I say to you, you say to me." Would that work? Hm... Maybe she should try the Spanish. How off from French could it be? She knew they shared a common root language, and that many of their words sounded similar... "Enseñar?"
Mini tried not to laugh at the girl. She was trying. If it was wanted or not it was still amusing to see people try and communicate with her. At least this one didn't yell at her like Loren had. Though she supposed she should give him a break. They were all under a pretty stressful set of circumstances that day. Though Mini's patience level may not have been at full, she could probably deal with this for a little while. Then it would be bedtime.
Mini nodded her head. "I get." She said smiling trying to look as understanding. She decided that if the girl didn't get it she could at least start. She took the spoon. That wasn't something that could be taken as too many things. "Löffel!" She shook the spoon a little to make her point.
Löffel? What- oh. Oh! KJ beamed, the realization that she was in fact trying to teach her the word dawning on her slightly tired brain, and she instantly perked up. Nodding, KJ repeated, "Löffel," trying very hard to get the accent right. It wasn't half bad, if she said so herself; but Mini would probably laugh at it. KJ didn't care, she was just excited to be learning. "Spoon," she translated for the woman, picking up her apple and taking another bite before wandering over, holding it up to her. "Apple," she pointed out after she had finished chewing and swallowed.
Mini was glad to see the other woman so happy. At least she'd done that much for the day. Good karma and all. The accent wasn't bad, and she'd heard worse so Mini just smiled encouragingly, using her thumbs, and putting them up in the american sign of 'good'. It was actually a rather vulgar gesture in Germany but she was in America now. Time to start fitting in with the Americans she supposed. Tucking her hair behind her ears, Mini brought her legs up on the counter and sat with them pretzel like. Seemed like she was going to be here a while, might as well get comfy.
Mini nodded at the translation. "Spoon." Easy enough. She watched the woman walking around with her food and then pointing to the apple. "Apple." She nodded her head. Words were well and good enough but putting them all in to a sentence hadn't worked so well before. She'd found out that instead of saying 'Dhaval is good smile' she should have said 'Dhaval has a nice smile', but that was neither here nor there now.
"Apfel." She said pointing to the woman's meal. Mini pointed to her nose. "Nase."
KJ smiled, repeating both words, still trying to mimic the womans accent. "Apfel, Nase... nose," she added on, pointing to her own nose as well. Not knowing what the woman did and did not know, since she did seem to understand barebones English, KJ then pointed to her eye and said, "Eye." She wished she had a notebook... She'd write it down on a piece of paper, soon, and if she spelled it wrong she could get Mini to correct her. Oh, and then maybe she could teach Mini to write English! KJ was getting very ahead of herself, but she couldn't help it.
"Nose." She said. This was easy enough she supposed. So long as the woman didn't want to jump in to anything farther than this tonight she'd be okay. Mini wasn't sure she'd retain as much as she had with both Taylor and Dhaval, because she'd been awake and lively when she'd talked to the other two about English, right now she was so tired that she could only hope the words stuck. If they didn't...well she'd just have to ask Taylor what they were when she saw the other girl next.
"Eye....Auge." She said pointing to her own eye. She smiled a bit. She pointed to her mouth while doing so. "Smile!" She already knew that one, and laughed.
There was no way KJ was going to remember all this. Laughing when the woman brought up the smile, she looked around, trying to find a notepad. Hopefully where there was paper, there would be some sort of writing utensil. "Löffel, Apfel, Nase, Auge..." KJ muttered to herself so she wouldn't forget, repeating them over and over until they were seared in her head. There was a line of coats hanging in the corner, and KJ searched pockets eventually finding a pen. Lifting it high for Mini to see, she added, "Pen," to the vocabulary list.
Scowling, KJ looked around some more, having hoped to find a waiters pad or something like that. But she knew most of those guys took them home with her, and there was no telling how many people had been here that morning that one would miraculously be left behind. Tapping her foot a bit, she repeated the list once more to herself before holding up one finger to Mini, indicating for her to wait, and dashed out of the kitchen.
KJ ran all the way to the front service desk, and there found the pad of paper she was looking for. Nothing humungous, and it was certainly low on paper, but it would do for now until she could find something better. Jogging back down to the kitchen, she lifted the notebook at Mini and waved it, saying, "Paper," before sitting unceremoniously at the table, writing her list down- she hoped correctly.
Mini watched the woman search around, a little confused. What exactly did this woman want now? Maybe a specific word...? When she pulled out the pen, she nodded her head. "Pen." Okay. Pen. "Kugelschreiber." That was the literal translation. Ball pointed pen. That was a harder one, she admit. Mini wasn't sure though when the woman went through looking for something else. She was even more confused when the woman held up her finger to Mini. Did she want to know what the number one sounded like? Finger? Pointer finger? Up?
And then when KJ went running out of the room, Mini was completely unsure of what was going on. Was that the end of their lesson? Mini figured she'd sit for a minute, to see if the strange girl would come back. She was kind of hoping she didn't. Mini was tired and all she wanted for was her bed. And for Annelise's warm, soft arms around her. But she would settle for the former rather than the latter if she had to. She was about to get up when Kj came barreling back in to the room and Mini sighed inwardly. KJ was nice and eager of course, but Mini was just ready for the day to end.
The German girl was still sitting on the counter when the woman pulled herself up to a table and sat down writing. Mini wasn't sure what she was writing, but she was sure that the girl wasn't quite done with her yet. She missed the paper translation, mostly because she wasn't paying attention. "Good?" She asked, confused as to what KJ wanted next.
KJ had just finished her list- horrendously misspelling Kugelschreiber, she was sure- when Mini asked the question and she looked up, blinking. Oh... oh. The woman looked tired. She should have noticed that earlier, what an insensitive ass she was. Swallowing, she looked down at her list once more before nodding. She could have gone on forever, but it was late, and KJ realized that not everyone had quite the energy she did about these things. Getting up, she handed the paper to Mini. KJ remembered the words, and writing them down again would only help to solidify them more in her mind than they were before. "Here," she said softly, hoping she would take them. "Words. Hopefully spelled right," she added sheepishly, knowing the German woman wouldn't understand.
Mini wasn't really all that sure what KJ wanted from her when she passed her the paper. She looked down at the words on the page. Oh these were words? Was that right? Mini studied them a second and indicated she wanted the pen. When it was given to her she crossed out the spelling of 'Pen' and changed it. She wrote down 'Wrot' and then tapped the pen to the paper. "Words." Mini said, before handing it back to her.
Perhaps this was the way the woman was going to learn? Maybe. Mini wasn't sure, and wouldn't be sure. At least now she had the word for 'Word'. She looked at KJ hoping to see that she'd done what the other girl wanted. She was going to be forever in that questioning mind set when Taylor wasn't around and the other girl couldn't translate to her what the world around Mini wanted. She reached and patted KJ's shoulder though. "Good." She said, and remembering what the thumbs up meant, put her own thumbs up with a smile.
KJ smiled softly, but shook her head and then handed the paper back. "For you. To have," she added, pointing to Mini and then, unsure on how to pantomime the word have, crossed her arms briefly in front of her chest and hoped that made sense. "You look... tired. Do you want to sleep?" KJ pointed at her again and then rested her head down on her hands, lifting a brow at the other woman.
Mini blinked a bit and then realized what KJ was doing. She wanted her to learn to write as well as speak? That'd be a hard one. Or maybe she just wanted her to have the page. Which was nice of course, though Mini wasn't sure what she'd do with it. Thus far she'd been able to retain mostly everything she'd been taught. Though she was chalking this up partly to the fact that her mother didn't ever let her use her brain to the full extent that it was supposed to as a young girl. Maybe one good thing her mother ever did.
"Thank you." She said folding the paper up and tucking it in to the pocket of her jeans. She'd have to remember to take it out and put it among the things she was keeping in her room. When KJ asked if she was tired? Or wanted to go to bed, Mini smiled a little bit. She didn't want to seem rude, but she was tired. "Is okay." She said making the so/so motion with her hand. "You is?" She asked the other girl.
"A little bit," KJ admitted, holding her hand up and tilting it from side-to-side in the American gesture meaning so-so, although whether that transferred over to Germany or not she had no idea. Realizing that, she followed it up with nearing her forefinger and thumb close together. Hopefully one of the two got through. "It's late." Although she didn't know how to sign that, and it wasn't like there was really a clock nearby that she could indicate with- although that just reminded KJ of her earlier thought of seeing if she could assemble a sun dial. Her brain momentarily woke up, busy with the notion. Sun dial... She needed to visit a library, and soon.
Since Mini had just used the same gesture, for about the same response, Mini nodded at the fact that KJ was a little bit tired. Good, at least she didn't have the energy to stay up all night and keep Mini up with her, though she was pretty sure that the girl wouldn't. When KJ looked around, Minuette wasn't sure for what, and took the moment to stifle a yawn behind her hand. She'd made it rain three times that day. She figured she was well due for a night of good sleep.
"You teach good." She said when KJ's attention seemed to turn inwards and she patted the other girl's arm. She was trying to be complimentary though she wasn't sure the other woman understood that. She slid off the counter, assuming that their lesson for the day was over. She picked up her can of eaten food and washed it out (it was habit) before looking for a recycle bin. Then she remembered where she was and realized there would be no recycling anymore and sighed, tossing it in the bin and then washing her spoon and putting it back. "You bed?" She asked, indicating to at the door.
"Thank you. Danke," KJ added, not sure if Mini knew that one or not, but she figured it didn't hurt to add it in the woman's native language. Nodding, she stretched a little. "Bed soon. You go," she insisted, seeing how tired the woman was and waving towards the door. She wanted to stick around the kitchen some more, familiarize herself with it and see what she could find. Then perhaps she would peruse the front desk. And then perhaps she would go to bed.
"Welcome." Mini said, having asked what was customary to say after saying Thank you to somebody. She had Thank You down before all of this had happened. It was a good one to know when you had other's around you doing things for you. She'd picked that one up pretty easily.
She got the gist of what KJ was trying to indicate to her and she smiled and nodded, moving and giving KJ the customary double kisses to the cheeks and then heading out of the room, she paused at the doorway to turn and wave at the other woman. "Good sleep." She said before exiting the room.