Honey, Honey (Shinigami)

[lily tomlinson]

Not long after the lunch bell rang and the stragglers left behind had made their way to their afternoon classes, Que Yue had decided to wander into the lunchroom. She'd had a study period, and while she should be smart and try to study up on language, get her English speaking skills in order, she didn't want to.

American schooling.... was not her thing. She wasn't a smart girl by any means. What she lacked in brains, she made up for in kindness, and playfulness. She didn't understand half of what was said around her, and it was all just so confusing. And she just was no good at learning a new language so far from what she was used to.

It didn't depress her, just tended to annoy her. She was irritated with herself for it. And so, like always when she was trying to avoid something, she found a place to spend time on her own, doing something she actually could do.

So with the lunchroom empty, and all either in class or in more creative places for skipping, she dropped her backpack on the floor and began pushing tables to the walls. Once the floor had enough room for her to move, she put on her headphones and started to dance. Ballet was one of her great loves, right up there with good food, her family and friends, and her boyfriend. Most of those loves were all the way back in Taiwan, but ballet was wherever she wanted it to be. And today it was in the lunchroom.

If someone happened upon her dancing, she would be embarrassed, of course. But she figured most weren't around the lunch room, nor did she really think about it. She just didn't want to study at the moment. Later, maybe. But now, she'd rather have fun.

((There's a few clips of Rainie Yang dancing in this: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JokRCHo-49E and I thought it would fit for the whole 'Que Yue Dance Mood'. Hee. ))

[shinigami]

He wasn't strictly allowed on campus; nobody'd seen fit to stop him. Him: Adam Thorne. He's looking very casually irreverent today, all in black; arms bare, so black as black can be inkwork around his bicept is visible -- like calligraphy. The opposite of an illuminated manuscript. He's got his shades on, too; it's sunny outside, dammit, because this is the middle of the day. He's also sleepy, because this is the middle of the day. Not his usual hour of wakefulness. But he woke. He put on clothes -- mostly; he's rather appealingly giving off a half-dressed air. He drove all the way to the high school; he went in. But was the girl he was supposed to pick up, to sneak out, to liberate anywhere around? No. No, she was not. Not where they were supposed to meet. Not in the principal's office. And probably not in her class. He didn't know where it was. And hadn't found anybody to ask, until he was drawn by the sound of scrapings and promise of shade to the cafeteria.

And so it is. Adam is in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe, watching Que Yue dance without saying a word. His hands? Deep in his pockets.

[lily tomlinson]

Que Yue, however, has yet to notice the entrance of Adam. She's quite entertained by her dancing, has her eyes shut and is just going by instinct rather than sight. That was until she collided with the corner of a table and hit the ground.

There was a squeak sound, like a mouse, when she fell, and she pouted at the table before getting back up and starting right up with the dancing again. She wasn't one to just fall and whine over it. She always got back up and forged on. Besides, she ran into stuff all the time, so she was very used to it.

And she still hadn't noticed Adam. So observant was she.

[shinigami]

Adam almost laughs. He doesn't, but he almost laughs; his mouth curves into a smirk; a dimple appears in his left cheek. He shakes his head and watches Que Yue as she gets up and spins herself back into graceful. He admires it, actually. What a pretty piece of cake. Too bad, he thinks, that he isn't hungry.

The smile gets a little bit deeper. Darker, dark as German Black Forest cake, baby -- and just as bad for the heart. Then the smile disappears under a general fog of grumpiness in the next moment, for Adam happened to get a glimpse of the cafeteria clock. He whistles (piercing wolf-whistle which causes him to wince; one would think he was hung-over, but he's not) to get her attention. And says:

"Hey, ballerina."

But lo! Que Yue still moves in her own world of music, of dance; that just can't be allowed. So he pushes himself out of the doorway, walks over and steals her headphones right off her head. Holds them up high, too.

"I said: Hey. Bal. Ler. In. A."

[lily tomlinson]

"Hey. Ah..... Hey!" Que Yue is startled, why yes. Quite embarrassed, of course at being caught in the act of skipping class and doing her own thing. But also irritated, in a way of a four year old who's just had her favorite toy confiscated. She snapped something in Mandarin, which roughly translated into 'Gimme back my headphones!' because she didn't know how to say it in English.

Bal. Ler. In. A.'

She also didn't get what that was supposed to mean. And at the moment she didn't care because the boy had stolen her headphones. She tried to jump up and get them, but alas, she was too short. Cursed tall people! Where did they all come from?!

Thrusting out her lower lip, her eyes doleful, she instead chose to yank on the cord connecting them to her music player, trying to yank them out of his hands.

[shinigami]

This is kind've hilarious. His mood is improving, slightly, when the little girl -- 'cause she's, what, twelve years old? -- jumps for her headphones. He wasn't going to keep them from her, but instinct has him raising them a little higher. Adam didn't have any siblings, and it was a good thing for them; he'd've been a pain in the ass older or younger brother.

"I don't know what you said," he says, "but it sounded kind've mean. Did you say you wanted these?" Heh, heh. Aww, doleful eyes. He lets his sunglasses slip down the bridge of his nose and stares unblinking at her for a second, two. Then: Okay, he stops; he lets her tug them out of his grasp. "Look, do you know this school at all? Or are you one of the teacher's kids?"

The Mandarin Chinese goes right over his head. It could be Cantonese, for all Adam knows. He's not a complete monkey when it comes to other languages, but Chinese he just doesn't know. Sure, she probably cursed at him in Chinese -- but he still believes she knows English.

[lily tomlinson]

Que Yue stomps her foot on the ground petulantly when he wouldn't give her back her headphones. And then stares at him blankly, completely lost when he started talking more.

"Speak slo-oo-oowly... Little.... English..." She trails off with a blush, glancing down at the ground with a frown. "Teacher.... what? Eh?"

She is at this point in time, trying to rack her brain for coherant English speaking skills. She knows a few words here and there. Knows how to ask certain common things like 'Where is the bathroom?' and 'How are you?' but other than that, she's a hopeless case.

She glances back up at the headphones out of her reach. Doesn't know how to say headphones, but she does know something else. So she points at them and says, "Please?" as nicely as she can. Which is pretty darn nice from her, complete with puppy eyes and everything.

[shinigami]

Aw. How adorable. How cute. He doesn't know whether he should pat her head, pinch her cheeks or drain her completely dry; he bets she tastes delicious. He doesn't usually lose the bets he places. Adam's mouth curves, slightly; he pushes his sunglasses up. Hides his gaze. Conceals it. Protects it. The sun, it's so full of shining. He also resists the nice and adorable plea. At least, for now. If she gave the headphones a strong yank, she'd be able to reclaim them; he isn't actively mean. Just, on occasion, callous.

"Trade?" Adam suggests. "You ..." He nods toward her with his chin. "Help... Me... " He points at himself, and mimes the rest: "I'll... Give them back?"

Her lack of skills in the whole English speaking language might be a barrier. Adam recognizes that. He says, "Er, tu parle francaise? Habla espagnol? Italiano?" A meditative pause. "Japanese?" He can sort've do Japanese.

[lily tomlinson]

She understood the 'You help me' and 'Give.... back...' and from that she could get the gist of what he meant. The rest was all gibberish. Until... 'Japanese?'

"Hai!" Que Yue nodded excitedly, bouncing on the balls of her feet. She knew a bit of Japanese at least. She used to go to Japan a lot when she lived in Taipei, so she knew just enough to get her by without seeming stupid. Now, Asian languages she could actually learn. "私は日本語を知っている。 はい!" (I know Japanese!)

((Bwahahahahah. And this was totally my excuse to use my japanese type-setting. Bwhahahahaha.))

[shinigami]

Adam tilted his head back. The gesture had an unconscious sort've arrogance to it; an unconscious sort've lazy grace. He wasn't human, even if he gave good pretend. There probably couldn't be a greater contrast between the ball of enthusiastic bounce that was Que Yue and the coooooooooooool-as-a-grumpy cucumber Adam.

Now, Adam knew Japanese. He did. Just not very well, as stated before; it was harder for him to speak it. So he gives it a moment's thought, twirling the headphones around his finger. Then: "Ah! [You went to learning place and know god noodles? So where your class or you cat of teacher?]"

(( The italicized/inside brackets = Japanese. ))

[lily tomlinson]

There is a very long moment of silence for Que Yue, in which she is trying not to giggle. She's trying very hard not to laugh at him, because she was sure she sounded just as silly if she were to really try to speak English. God noodles? Really?

With her shoulders shaking, she found she couldn't hold back any more and said, [[You don't know Japanese, mister.]] and burst into a fit of giggles that had her doubling over.

[shinigami]

And then there was a very long moment of silence for Que Yue. Adam raises both of his eyebrows. It is more than possible that Que Yue can see her valiant struggle reflected in his shades. As well as the inevitable loss of her composure. Adam's shoulders rise-and-fall in the slightest of sighs. He doesn't get paid enough for this, he thinks, and his internal monologuer has a vaguely Sicilian mafiosa voice. He maintains expressionlessness in the face of a little girl mocking him with her infectious giggling. He refuses to giggle back. But! His mouth curves, finally. Self-mockery doesn't come with any difficulty to Adam.

"[Currently, see here! I unfluent Japanese but Japanese I is talking. Best speak other phrases not courteously to now. Finding girl] -- " He stops the Japanese, long enough to say in English, "Look, trying to find someone's class. She's short. Not as short as you, but then ..." Trails away, pulls the sunshades down the bridge of his nose to give Que Yue a head-to-toe once over. It doesn't take very long. "That would be hard, wouldn't it? Sort've ...freaky. All... With the ... Aw, hell." He switches back to Japanese, or Adam's approximation of Japanese: "[This your school?]

[lily tomlinson]

Que Yue tilted her head to the side, staring up at him with a mixture of childish amusement and confusion. "[[You are very odd. Yes, this is my school. I don't really know anyone here... so I don't know if I can find a person for you.]] Um..... Sorry. I.... don't.... know...."

Language barriers, for the win! Or for the fail, depending on your stand point. Que Yue was beginning to lean towards the fail part, and all she wanted was her headphones back, and the mean tall man was withholding them.

[shinigami]

Adam gives up. He knows when to fold. When to walk away from the table. Adam gives Que Yue a look like she was the cute red cherry on the top of a cute chocolate fudge sundae and he's not altogether clear on whether or not he's going to give the cherry away or eat it for himself. The look could be disturbing, given its casual intensity. But the intensity is dispelled by a rake's smile, as easy as it is bad for girls -- rots their brains the way sugar rots the teeth: sweetly, and deliciously. "All right, sweetheart. Get back to class." He pauses, then manages to say, in perfect -- albeit badly accented -- Japanese: "[Maybe cheerleading will help you with your English. You'd look cute in the skirt.]"

He's completely forgotten about the headphones -- specifically, that they aren't his, so it should come as no surprise that he's forgotten to give them back, even though he's still holding them and, indeed, sort've twirls them around his finger.