Re: Apartment: Mingmei & Donna
Donna's eyes snapped wide at the new phrase Mingmei said. It sounded like a good thing, at any rate. "Shi de?" she asked, the lilt in her voice asking for clarification. Of course, there was a moment of fear, knowing Mandarin was a tonal language and the questioning raise of her voice could have changed the meaning completely. However, the fear left almost immediately, as Donna also knew this woman would understand and wouldn't judge her. That was a nice feeling. She didn't get that sort of relief from many people. "How hard is it to leave China? Is it a lot of paperwork? Or is it more political pressure that makes it difficult? Is it simply getting out of the country, or is it going to specific countries? For example, could you have gone to Russia easier than the United States?" Instantly, Donna felt that wave of unease as she rambled. She needed to shut up. She was asking too many questions. Hopefully it wasn't too touchy of a subject, because it was absolutely fascinating.
"Mmhmm," Donna nodded to let Mingmei know that, yes, Seattle was in Washington state. "Where were you in California? I figure most people fly in to Los Angeles. That's the big airport hub, yeah? Did you do anything fun out there? Seattle doesn't have as much to do, but if you visit, go in the summer. It's always sunny and about 72 degrees outside. Perfect. Once October hits, the clouds roll back in." There were meteorological and geographical reasons behind the weather, but it was neither the time or place to discuss that. "He's done quite a few. Hrm, I'm not sure if you'd have heard any of them. I'll play some later on. It's all very calming. He's currently over in Gotham." Yeah, that was still weird to say.
The facts were always what Donna was interested in, and that was how she took Mingmei's explanation. "I think my brain tries to overcomplicate things. Simple is good. I thought it would be more difficult. This? This I could do." She laughed under her breath. At one point, someone had tried to equate cooking to science to Donna. It didn't work out well. Cooking was art and required much more instinct than people realized.
Donna finished with some of the cabbage, enough for the dumplings, and moved on to the scallions. "You weren't here? So, it didn't effect you back home? Interesting..." Her brow drew together as she attempted to reform her hypothesis of how the whole night could have worked given what information she had (which was close to none). A shake of her head and turned her attention back to Mingmei. "It was my first night with the hotel at all. What other things have happened? Because if I have to worry about strange men walking through my subconscious every time I go to sleep, I'm going to start watching cute puppy videos before bed." Again, if that was a joke, there was little humor behind the words.