Fourth Floor Common Room: Thursday Late Morning

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

Cally was doing her fair share of contributing to the free consumption of mass quantities to the masses.

She was baking vegan sugar cookies. And dancing a little dorkily to the tune 'Even Rats' by The Slip.

[ooc: Oooopen!]

Comments

[bound2blade.livejournal.com]

"I'm an old one," Setsuna said with another nod, another small smile. "I've been here since last summer. Is it safe to assume that you are new?"

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

Katara grinned and hugged her book to her chest. "Definitely new. But one day I'll pass for an old student."

[bound2blade.livejournal.com]

"It's just a matter of time until then, really, when the next new semester and influx of students makes its way here. It's almost hard to believe I've already seen two such events."

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

"It gets better after time?" Katara asked.

[bound2blade.livejournal.com]

"Better?" Setsuna arched an eyebrow. "Have you been having much trouble so far?"

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

Katara shrugged. "Most everyone is very nice. It's just different. There's a lot of people. And the writing is funny."

[bound2blade.livejournal.com]

Setsuna smiled a little. "I can relate to that. English isn't my first language, either." Her head tilted. "Where are you from, if you don't mind me asking, Katara?"

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

"The Southern Water Tribes," Katara replied easily. "From the South Pole. But...not this world's apparently." She looked eager. "Did you find learning to read it too difficult?"

[bound2blade.livejournal.com]

Setsuna shook her head. "I had a very excellent sensei," she said, "who taught me well, but I have difficulty still writing it. My spelling is...rather atrocious, to be honest. No amount of good teaching will ever change that, I think."

But at least her writing was legible, unlike some people she knew...

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

Katara grinned. "So if I get stuck, it's you I should talk to?"

[bound2blade.livejournal.com]

Setsuna smiled back. "I'd definately love to help if I can. I'm over in room 412, if there's anything you need at all. I'm sure about fifty million other people have offered to help you as well, though."

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

"Oh! I'm just the floor below you then," Katara said. "I'm in room 312 I think omg." She nodded. "Yes, but they've all known how to read English their whole lives. It's natural to them."

[bound2blade.livejournal.com]

"Ah, yes, that explains the sudden lack of boysex sounds coming up from the room below, then." "What language is your first, then? You seem quite good at speaking English..."

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

"Ooops, am I getting in the way of boysex?" *innocents* "I don't think this language is any different from the language at home," Katara said thoughtfully. "I think it's just written differently."

[bound2blade.livejournal.com]

"That all depends on how willing you'd be to maybe join in, I suppose." *also innocents...only not so much and now kinda needs a shower* Setsuna's head tilted at that. "How very peculiar. I have to admit, I'm now interested in the construction of your language. To see, basically, English, written in an altogether different way?"

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

"Dirty omg! Though there is liking of Chad and Jude..." *needs shower now too* Katara looked around for paper and a pen though she still frowned at the ballpoint kind. She grabbed both and started writing what looked like classical Chinese characters. "That's my language."

[bound2blade.livejournal.com]

"Showers for everyone! In which no one is getting clean." Setsuna's head tilted as she looked at the characters...familiar, but indecipherable. "Very interesting...You said you're from the South Pole, but not in this world, Katara?"

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

"No, because we are showering in the gutter" "That's my understanding," Katara agreed. "The Principal told me this was a different world."

[bound2blade.livejournal.com]

"A delightfully crowded and very dirty gutter, yis." "This writing looks a lot like Chinese," she observed, looking terribly fascinated and interested. "My native language, Japanese, emerged from Chinese. I can't be certain how similiar it actually is because I do not actually know Chinese, but Ranma does, perhaps I should ask him..." Her tone was very distant and rambling.

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

*does not mind a bit, no* Katara listened politely, following most of what Setsuna said. "Bridge said something like that too," she replied. She held out the book that she'd taken out of the library written for Mandarin Chinese speakers to learn to write English. "I can't really understand what this language says, but the characters are often the same."

[bound2blade.livejournal.com]

Setsuna leaned in to give the book a close look. "Very interesting. I wonder if...it's the same base but, since you're from what I can only assume is a different timeline, your language has evolved differently than Chinese. I wonder if...Ranma's very good at languages, so I almost want to ask him if there's some system that could work where Chinese can sort of work as a Rosetta Stone of sorts in teaching you how to write English..."

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

And Katara was completely lost. "Okay..."

[bound2blade.livejournal.com]

Setsuna immediately drew into her shoulders a little with a flush of pink. "S..sorry. I, uh...I babble sometimes..."

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

"No, that's okay," Katara said hastily. "I'm sorry. I just...didn't understand what you were saying. Rosetta Stone? Ranma?"

[bound2blade.livejournal.com]

"Oh! Sorry. Um, the Rosetta Stone is an ancient artifact used to decipher ancient languages. It was sort of the missing link to a lot of old documents and tablets that would otherwise go untranslated. And...uh, well, Ranma...he...that's my boyfriend."