#thread.bernadette

[b4rredteeth]

Benny shrugged. His relationship to Spanish was somewhat difficult: he’d never meant to learn it, not like French, German, or even Mandarin. He’d simply had a brush of it at school, and thus he felt like he needed to perfect it, even if he hated how it had so many rules that seemed ridiculous. He could speak it, sure, he could hold a full conversation with any Spanish speaking person, but it didn’t feel the same as his knowledge of English, Indonesian, and Gujarati. “Pero tu ya puedes hablar?” he asked. “Esto es lo mas importante.” It was nice to talk languages with a not-librarian for once, even if it wasn’t a sexy librarian. 

The handyman nodded. “It’s the same for me,” he agreed. “Speaking it is much easier… at least if you don’t mind making mistakes and learning from them, which I really don’t. Best way to learn, if you don’t try it, it will just go to waste.” Benny’s accent in French wasn’t the best, but it was clear enough, bordering more on Canadian French, a language he’d heard plenty as well growing up. He grinned when French was returned to him, it had been a while since he’d last spoken to someone in that language. He nodded. “So you don’t think everyone should just pick the easiest language?” he asked. “I grew up with three, but I’d honestly not know which I’m most comfortable with. Probably English because everyone speaks it, but some things really are hard to explain, despite how many words English has for everything.” 

As someone that had a brush with the foster care system as a child, Bernadette quickly discovered her proclivity for languages, often finding herself in situations where she had to communicate on behalf of herself and her younger sister with people she barely knew, oftentimes from other corners of the world than from the Korean American household she was raised in. She'd always found a way, adapting quickly to whatever life threw at her. Luckily, salvation and stability came in the form of Eliana Okin's loving home, where the dulcet tones of Spanish (not to mention the Greek spoken by her foster siblings) became familiar background music. And if there was one good thing that came of her marriage and time spent overseas, it was the illustrator's firsthand exposure to languages she was unfamiliar with, nurturing her curiosity on the subject. "I am still learning!" she affirmed, her tentative grin widening. "It's difficult, but I think that makes it all the more interesting to learn."

Nodding along to his observation about Mandarin, a language she was still dead set on learning, Bernie took his advice in stride. "I think learning to speak a language is much easier than making sense of written syntax and unfamiliar grammar rules, so that's always the most challenging part for me," she agreed, but that hardly stopped the brunette from exploring the world of linguistics in the past. As far as Bernadette was concerned, anything to help her make herself heard and understood was a good thing, no matter how long it took to master. Her ears latching onto the familiar cadence of French, reminded fondly of her older brother, she broke out into a genuine smile. "Oui, mon frère vit en France, donc je le parle souvent," she gushed, her passion for the subject hard to fully tamp down. "I just think it's nice to be able to speak to people in the language that is most comfortable for them. It opens up so many avenues, understanding people like that."

[b4rredteeth]

Benny nodded, no clue who Estaban was. He wanted to joke about it, but he didn’t. He knew what it was like to grow up in a household that spoke another language from society. And he’d been blessed with two, his mother often relying on Gujarati, while his father spoke Indonesian. He learnt both quickly, because he didn’t have another choice. Like him, his sisters were quick to pick up new languages as well, though they certainly boasted about it. “But you’re still learning it?” he asked, grinning. “It’s a fucking difficult language,” he said, because that was the truth. 

“It’s hard to learn the signs, but the language isn’t too difficult,” he said. Though maybe that was because he understood others already, he was always looking to make sense of a language rather than pushing words into his head. Mandarin did make sense, and he figured if he had Mei back in his life - in whichever way she accepted - he’d be able to practise some. “Est-ce que tu utilises souvent le français?” he asked, still grinning. “So plenty of languages, any reason why you’re learning so many?”

Bernadette wasn't exactly known for catching onto subtle social cues too quickly. On more occasions than she could count, the brunette found herself going off on tangents, thinking that the people in her company were equally enraptured by the topic at hand, only to be silenced shortly thereafter. It was why she went out of her way to be accommodating to others, trying to play close attention to what caught their interest, and why she tended to fare much better in the company of people that didn't constantly make her guess how they felt or what they were thinking. Still, there were certain subjects that, quite simply, captured her heart far too earnestly to consider the usual social niceties, happy to discuss them at length for as long as she was permitted to.

A delighted grin playing at her delicate features when he mentioned knowing multiple languages, wondering whether or not she'd just stumbled on a kindred spirit of sorts, Bernie allowed herself a moment to talk about her own linguistic journey. "One of my childhood friends comes from a Spanish speaking household, actually. I started studying it more formally in middle school, as most people do, but I kept it up long after that, thanks to Esteban," she remarked with a small nod, a bit of unabashed joy manifesting at the topic. After all, it had been an interest of hers that brought her closer to a lot of the people in her past and present. Along that line of reasoning, why couldn't it serve to bridge the gap between her and this stranger? "I've been meaning to pick up Mandarin, but I've always been too intimated," she admitted, making a mental note to check out a book on the language that very day. "In terms of fluency, I also speak Korean, and I picked up French and Italian while living in Europe. I know a bit of Japanese and German too, but really only enough to make polite conversation and ask for directions."

[b4rredteeth]

Benny took a deep breath as he realised his mistakes. He wasn’t interested in starting a conversation, he wasn’t energetic enough to be nice for more than ten minutes, but it seemed that he’d hit on a subject the other was interested in, and now he was pulled down and suddenly sharing a familiar passion. Meaning that while he it was nice, he had so many new ways to fuck things up. People who took to him quickly tended to be the first he let down. Luckily she didn’t seem too excited to be sharing this interest. Meaning perhaps he could get away with it. Simply take the books and run. 

“Yeah, multiple,” he said. He wasn’t one to boast - except maybe about how good he was at sex - so it didn’t even cross his mind that he was pretty good at learning languages. Just not Spanish. Mostly because he had hated growing up and being told he should know it, since he looked… well, hispanic, in the eyes of his fellow classmates. He wanted to laugh at the not-librarian, say he didn’t need help, but he had to be nice. “How long you’ve been learning Spanish?” he asked. “Mandarin ain’t easy, but it’s a fun language to learn.” He bit the inside of his mouth, trying to at least pretend like he was trying to get in her pants, because at least then he could easily pretend to be interested. She was kinda cute, even if she dressed like a librarian. “What other languages do you know?”

Nodding in defeat at the revelation that her neutral, conservative wardrobe really did make her seem like a fixture at the establishment, Bernadette tried not to dwell on that idea too much. After all, she was most at home in places like this: tranquil and meant to cultivate independent study. They offered a respite from the minefield of socialization. And she so rarely predicted with such accuracy the impression that she might be making on strangers, so what difference did it make that the impression was a false one? Ah, well—that was a question for the young divorcee to agonize over later.

"Spanish books? Are you studying a foreign language?" the illustrator wondered, a small and genuine smile beginning to tug at the corners of her lips. Bernie tried not to let her palpable excitement at the topic show, which wasn't too difficult for her. Years of stamping down any emotions that had the potential of being deemed as "too much" had made it a reflex for the brunette, keeping any big feelings in line. Still, she couldn't entirely help the curiosity that soon stemmed from the subject. "You're in luck, then. I know the foreign language section like the back of my hand. I've been studying Spanish for a while too, so I might be able to help. Mandarin might be a little out of my wheelhouse right now, but I'm interested in learning more myself in the future."

[b4rredteeth]

Benny wanted to say something rough back like 'don't need to hear your life's story', but he was trying to be better so he swallowed those words right back and just frowned at the talkative individual. He realised being nice was also harder because he was either a complete jerk or he was trying to get in someone's pants. And he didn't want to get in anyone's pants aside from Mei - except when he got really lonely, he wasn't that strong.

He leaned into the book case and looked her over. "Did think you worked here," he said. And then he reconsidered what he was actually looking for, feeling that despite this goal of his own, he simply couldn't bring himself to ask her where the self-help books were. No way he would even be seen taking those out. He'd read them in a corner with another book over it. "Looking for some Spanish learning books," he said. Because that at least was something he didn't mind other people knowing. He'd been learning Spanish for years now. "And if this place has them: Mandarin." He grinned. "Think you can help me with that?"

( the local library, late march, afternoon ) @anchoragestarters

Strolling through towering stacks of books, eyes wandering high above her head as she attempted to take in all of the titles in the history section, Bernadette wasn't searching for anything in particular that afternoon, waiting instead for a book to call out to her, beckoning for her to take it home. Though she'd dropped out of university only a semester into her collegiate journey, the brunette found solace in learning, even if she had to do it on her own. And with her eyes so fixed on the tomes above her, craning her neck to make out the smaller print on faraway spines, it was only a matter of time before she bumped into a fellow patron, lost in her own head. "Oh, I'm so sorry," she blurted with an apologetic chuckle. Blinking back at the figure, the artist felt the compulsion to fill the beat of silence between them, a hard habit she'd yet to break. "I don't work here, if that's what you're thinking," Bernie informed the other patron, plastering on an inviting smile, hoping that her expression didn't betray how viscerally uncomfortable she was with small talk. "I know the cable-knit sweater sort of makes it look like I do, but I'm just browsing," she rambled in an exhale. "I come here a lot, though, so maybe I can point you in the right direction?"