Serious business

Claire

Claire

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As she looked at the girl waiting for a reply, it became obvious to Fontaine that this girl didn't speak, or understand English. Sighing lightly as she tried to figure out a way to communicate with the girl in front of her, the girl had once again wrote something on her phone for her to read. Telling from what the message was, she confirmed in her mind that this girl, was indeed deaf. Thing about that thought, she then realized how hard this may be for them to communicate, if all they had to use was a phone, or if Fontaine learned sign language. Blinking a few times at the girl, she then nodded and again read what her phone had to say. A light smile crossed her face as she realized that she too could use the girls phone to talk to her.

Lightly grabbing the phone from the girls hands, she began to type her message. After she finished, she read it over again to make sure that it made as much sense as it could so hopefully the translation would be good for her. Thank you for letting me use your phone. I was trying to say that I can change the color of anything on my body, as well as duplicate things that I like. Nodding her herself as she was happy with the response, she extended her hand outwards for the girl to either read her message, or take the phone to read it better.
 
Emy

Emy

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Kim In Suk

Taking her phone back, In Suk quickly translated the words, a look of comprehension coming over her face as she read the Korean. The translation she received wasn't the best one, but it was far from being one of the worst ones, too, so she counted that as a minor victory. See? she thought to her absent parents in triumph. I may be deaf and may not understand English but I can still communicate with people!

Both of her parents had worried so much about the double language barrier being a huge problem -fretting all the way up to airport security with her- which was nice of them but In Suk had believed all along that she'd be just fine.After all, she couldn't have possibly been the first student to attend the Academy and not speak English, right? And she also couldn't have possibly been the only deaf one. She wasn't as certain about there being another combination of the two but, well, there was always a first time for everything!

"How interesting!" In Suk typed back cheerfully. "Is all I can do to build and shape the glass. That's the way I got this one." She waved a finger at the dragonfly in her hair.
 
Claire

Claire

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Looking at her face light up as she read her message, Fontaine too was happy that even though it wasn't prefect, they had found a way to communicate with each other. Even though they barely knew each other,she still felt quite happy that she had found someone to talk to that wasn't at all mean to her.Sighing lightly, she looked around as she waited or the girl in front of her to finish typing on her phone. She wondered if her words had been translated incorrectly, or if they were mixed up in the process. Thinking about it, it would have had to make sense for the girl would have had a much different look on her face when she received the message. As the girl passed her phone to her, it seemed that she too was explaining her powers. It seems that her powers were related to changing and manipulating glass. Nodding, she then took the phone and replied. After a few seconds, she wrote: That's very cool! What's your name? Mine's Fontaine. As she wrote that, she wondered if a name like herself would even work in the translator, and if the girls would work to turn into English.
 
Emy

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Kim In Suk

She cocked her head to the side, studying the name that was displayed on the screen. F-o-n-t-a-i-n-e. On the Korean side, it read "폰테인," which could be romanticized as Pon-te-in. Looking between the two variations, other, she really thought that the English version looked better. Having always thought of writing -in any language- in the same way as she thought of drawing pictures, it seemed like "Fontaine" had a much nicer aesthetic to it. It was just plain pretty, while "Pontein" just seemed weird to her. Maybe it was because she had never liked how P's looked. They looked kind of like flags that were too short to be seen. Unremarkable in a way, then.

At least, In Suk did know how to introduce herself in English without having to rely on a translator. That was one thing that her parents had made sure that she could do. "My name is 金仁淑," she wrote, using Hanja. Even though most people didn't use Chinese characters anymore in Korean, she had always liked to write them out. Sometimes the Chinese was so much prettier than the Korean. Although, she didn't really feel that about her own name. But her parents had told her that the romanization she had chosen was a bit odd anyways so she thought that she might as well get that across more properly.

She typed again, "Kim In Suk. It is nice to meet you!" With the phone in her hand and that awkward delay between somebody seeing text and actually comprehending what it said, she executed a little bow. Not entirely proper at all but, well, what could she do?
 
Claire

Claire

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Looking at the girl as she typed quietly, she was excited to have found someone like her, even though the fact of not actually talking was quite weird to her. It wasn't like she enjoyed talking all that much anyways, so the fact that she didn't have to pleased her the more she thought of it. Fontaine wondered if her name had been translated right or not. It was a weird name, so there was more likely of a chance that it hadn't. As the girl passed her the phone once again, looking at her name, she was a bit confused. Kim In Suk? Was that her name or had it translated it wrong? Thinking for a moment, she went with that it was her name, even though she didn't want to be rude and ask her. Typing back she said: 'Nice to meet you too Kim In Suk! That's a pretty name.' She did really like the name went she though about it, as it was unique just like hers. Passing her the phone, she wasn't sure what to do next from that moment.
 
Emy

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Kim In Suk

”Oh, thank you!” The Korean girl was both embarrassed and pleased by the compliment. ”Many people spell it "Kim, In – Sook." But I think this is a better way.” With a sheepish expression, she gave Fontaine a few moments to read that message before typing a new one right underneath it.

”So are you a student?” The answer seemed obvious but it seemed like a good one just to get conversation going, no matter how weak it was. ”I’m a third year high school. Here for third months. It's really nice here, is not it? I have never been to another country before.”

Oh! It was so annoying having to translate everything back and forth like this! For the first time, In Suk was really regretting not going to those mandatory English classes. She had gotten an excusal because she was deaf, even though her parents had told her that it would have been useful to at least learn how to read and write. Back then, she had been too focused on finding out the limits on her powers to think that she had time to do other things, though. It wasn’t that she hadn’t believed the same as her parents –she really had –but it had seemed like she would never leave Korea anyways. So she had thought, Why bother?

Well, now she sure knew!
 
Claire

Claire

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Blinking her eyes as she explained her name, or at least how people usually said it to her. It was a cute name, one that seemed just as complex as it was nice to hear. As the girl wrote another message, she patiently waited, pulling and rolling her hair around her finger, still getting used to the color that it now was. Looking at her new message about if she was in school, she nodded, but also took to phone gently to type her message to her new friend. 'I am sixteen, and I am in the second year of high school. I've been here for a few months also.' she said as a message before passing it back to the girl. It seemed that they were around the same age, which really made her smile. Maybe she would finally have her first real friend, though she made sure not to get ahead of herself. She only wished that the girl in front of her could speak english, or that she herself could speak her language. It was a shame, but she knew that she could look past that if this girl was really friend material, and right for her. So far, it seemed that way.
 
Emy

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Kim In Suk

She was a year older than Fontaine? So that was why In Suk hadn't been able to recognize her! They probably wouldn't have many possible classes in common until college, and then there was also the fact that In Suk had a bunch of English As A Second Language classes stuffed into her schedule instead of electives. Ugh, I don't think languages like me very much. Already doing pretty mediocre in her classes, she couldn't imagine what it would have been like if she had to actually speak. At least, the faster she got all of this awful stuff out of the way, the faster she could get into the really interesting classes. Like criminal justice. That sounded pretty fun.

"Oh! I have friends in that year," she wrote, remembering the girl who had been assigned as her translator. "It is a great school, but maybe you know her? Her name is Yang Ji Hye. She's a shaman." Which was really oversimplifying it but In Suk worried that if she tried writing too much, the translator would change her words into something truly embarrassing. "She is very quiet. Or, that's what it looks like!"
 
Claire

Claire

Spicy Bean Water
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Nov 10, 2013
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Thinking for a moment if she knew anyone by the name that Kim In Suk had wrote, she nodded her head in a no. She hadn't really met anyone anyways, so she doubted that she knew the girl. She wasn't sure if she had seen the girl that she was talking about. Blinking a few times, she also wasn't sure what a shaman was, but she guessed that it was something that helped her in some way. As she stated that the girl was quiet, she was pretty sure that no, she had never even heard or seen of the girl, but at the same time she did ignore most people. Typing back, she said: 'No, I don't think I have met her, but then again I don't talk to many people.' It seemed kind of sad to her as she herself didn't even have any friends in her grade. Kim In Suk was the first person that she had kept a good conversation with, even though they weren't actually talking. Passing her the phone, she let her reply.