InsaneJournal

Who: Nellie & Cass
What: A Lesson Plan
When: Tuesday, afternoon
Where: Rec room
Rating: PG
Status: Complete

Nell had been looking for something to do for the better part of the afternoon. She’d started looking at the network to understand what there might be a need for and she’d been in touch with the school to discuss working part-time with them for a bit of income. At least it was something. Something was better than nothing, and it meant that she was helping Luke with the household bills, and she had always wanted to teach.

But Hill House… it had taken so much from her. From all of them. Now, she was two years younger than her twin brother and that was something she couldn’t even think about half the time. They managed okay, sometimes it was like she’d never died but other times she’d wake in the middle of the night because Luke was awake and he’d walk into her room wild-eyed and terrified like she was a ghost, and they’d just sit together and watch the sunrise, his grip on her just a little too tight.

Finding herself in the rec room, Nell browsed the shelves and picked up a book, tilting her head as she saw a young woman already there, sitting on one of the chairs, scowling at the book she had in her hands. It didn’t look like the kind of book that had a storyline that warranted scowling, but still, Nell was curious.

“Not enjoying it?” she asked. “Is it that bad?”

The squiggles never seemed to shape a letter or word. It was if the more Cass glared at the pages the more it didn't make sense. She had decided that she needed to know how to read since everyone kept posting words. Yes, she could turn the setting on in her phone to read her things out loud, but it was metallic and took forever. It was annoying.

She was aware someone else walked in, but didn't stop her death glare at the book in her lap. The sound of the voice had her looking up and raising an eyebrow. She hadn't been looking when the other spoke, but she understood the words well enough, thankfully.

"Doesn't make sense," was the answer she supplied. Cass had debated stalking Tim or Jason today, but somehow had settled on attempting to read instead. She was regretting this. Next time she was just going to go find a place to spar. Her grip tightened on the book as she frowned deeper. Sparring she knew, she understood, whereas words were something she did not know.

“Because the plot’s bad?” Nell asked, moving a little closer. “Or because it’s hard to read?” Some books were like that, convoluted. Though the more she looked at the young woman and the look on her face Nell realised it likely wasn’t a bad plot that was confusing her. Maybe it was the words themselves. Her tone was calm and non-judgemental, after all, everyone had their struggles.

She seemed to shuffle some thoughts around in her head before she responded again. "...can't read. The letters are squiggles." Cass held the book up as if to show her point. The letters were very much letters, her mind just couldn't make sense of them since she didn't have anything to associate them with. "Never learned. I am trying to teach myself." Her voice was faintly raspy due to the fact she didn't use it much and in this place she had used it way more than she had ever wanted.

Nell felt something in her chest tighten at the thought that someone the girl’s age couldn’t read. It was a fundamental life skill that really had an impact on everyone’s daily skills, and she couldn’t help but wonder how she had gotten to her late (?) teens without anyone teaching her.

“Do you want some help?” she asked, sitting down on the other end of the couch, the book she’d chosen to look at forgotten in lieu of helping. “My name’s Eleanor, but most people call me Nell.”

"Cassandra. Cass." She glanced down at the book and then at Nell again. "No money," she stated without flinching. The guardians on the 8th floor didn't seem notice she was missing or they didn't care. She wasn't going to take Tim's money so she had no way of paying for someone to help her learn to read. The idea of going to high school confused her, what was it going to even teach her? She knew how to survive.

"I want to learn."

“That’s fine, I don’t feel like it’s right to charge you,” Nell said with a gentle smile. “I’m happy to just teach you for now.” She probably shouldn’t be doing this kind of thing for free, the amount of work involved in teaching someone to read as an adult was a lot greater than that of teaching a young child but Nellie understood. Not everyone was afforded the luxury of schooling, but it was remarkable that Cass hadn’t been enrolled into the school.

She got to her feet and walked back over to the bookshelf, finding a relatively easy book from the section that had most of the kid’s books. She found a graphic novel adaptation of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, which was pitched at about the right level for her to start, along with a few picture books and she grabbed a notepad from the empty selection on the desk.

“Can you write?” she asked, “You’re the girl on the network that communicates in emojis, right?” It might be easy to start with how to spell the words in her emojis, too, Nell thought, already piecing together the bits of text and supplies she might need.

Growing up on the streets after running away from her father hadn't leant to finally learning to read or write. It was kind of a miracle she had figured out how to say no and yes. A chance encounter with a psychic had given her words, but not the ability to sort them just right. She shifted on the couch so she was sitting with one leg bent up and the other one just dangling off the couch. She rested her chin on her knee as she watched Nell move about.

"No. And yes. Emojis easy."

Not everyone could translate her emojis well. It frustrated her, but most things did. Tim and Jason understood well enough and switched to Voice Text when they needed to actually talk to her. They weren't going to force her into school and since she was completely under the radar of the guardians she was pretty much free to do what she wanted.

“Well, I think I know where we can start then.” Back to basics it was. It was possible that Cass’ vocabulary was limited due to lack of exposure, maybe. Nellie figured she’d find out more if Cass wanted to tell her as they worked together. “I’m guessing you’re not going to school, which is probably for the best, so do you want to meet up in the afternoons? That way it won’t be too much.”

At times like this she did wish she had Theo’s gift, to just be able to understand and learn quickly, in one go. She’d just have to do this the old-fashioned way.

“Emojis are easy. How about we work on normal reading and writing, but I help you learn how to write some of the emojis into words?”

Cass stared at Nell as she talked and frowned as she tried to figure out the words said. "No school. Afternoons fine." She spent her days training and eating cereal. There was no real need for Batgirl yet, plus Tim would tell her when to suit up. So for now she fought against trees in the woods until her hands bled.

"Okay."

She had no idea what this was going to entail, but she already knew it was going to frustrate her. Whatever. It was worth it and if Barbara showed up she would be so proud. If Bruce showed up she could write him and startle the shit out of him. Cass gave Nell a smile that made her look more her age as she gave a thumbs up. Yes, this would be worth it.

Nellie’s own smile became a little more of a grin when Cass gave her the thumbs up. She looked so young. She wondered if the girl had family or parents here that were keeping an eye out for her, but it looked as though there were quite a few teenagers that were adult-less.

“Do you want to start today?” she asked, “Or do you want to start tomorrow?”

Cass was actually a great judge of character thanks to her ability to read body language. Nell seemed honest and nice so far. So she wasn't worried about learning from her. "Today." Sooner the better. Plus there was this idea she had to write to Tim. A mischievous look appeared in her eyes as she thought about tormenting her sort of brother. "Thanks."

“You’re welcome, Cass, thank you for letting me help. So, we can either start with letters or sounds, which would you prefer?” This felt comfortable for Nell, too, which meant the normal line of tension she held in her shoulders was gone. “And then tomorrow we’ll go somewhere with proper tables.” She needed to go shopping, clearly, for supplies. It was exciting.