Ni Hao.Ma {Open}

America was weird, she decided. Their language too. It had way too many unnecessary rules and words. Their words were impossible to pronounce at that. Why couldn’t everyone just speak Chinese. She wouldn’t mind the dialects, as long as she could at least write and read in the same language. That would be much easier. English was a pain. Her broken English didn’t help much to improve her view on the language. The majority of the time trying to communicate Jae had to play a little game of charades. Pointing out at things and making feeble attempts at words. Going into this the girl just assumed being able to say; ‘Hello!’, ‘Sorry’, ‘Thank you’, and a few assorted words would be enough. But no. The stereotype for Americans being dumb was true. They all were about as smart as toddlers.

That being said, the Chinese girl thoroughly enjoyed the scenery. Even secretly more than the forests back at home. But she would never admit it outloud. She didn’t want the stereotypical American’s egos to inflate even more. But it really was something to behold. America was very different than back home. Maybe in a good way. She might be able to get used to it. That is- until they try and make her write essays in English. Good luck with that.

It reminded the girl of back home. Especially in the mandatory English classes. Everyone seemed to understand it better than her, and could write things fluently and without much problem at all. Words just flowed from their pencil tips. The girl stopped her slow walk in front of a large oak tree, her face screwed up in a distasteful look. That one boy who sat next to her in that class always made fun of her. He even tried to tell Jae that she would be a rice field worker and would never work in the city. Then proceed to continuously tell her to fill up his cup with pure white rice from her family’s farm. She always found herself harshly responding something along the lines of; ”Excuse me, why could I give you my family’s rice? Greedy!”

Unknowingly, she had shouted this out loud, the anger from the memory bursting out of her mouth. Her words strictly Mandarin. It wasn’t like her family owned a rice farm. Not anything like that. The boy only made an assumption, and she didn’t care to correct him. The boy was an idiot anyways. Even if her family did have such a thing, it wasn’t like Jae would ever give it to him. He didn’t deserve it.

The newest student went to move forward, but found herself unable to do so. Frustrated, she spun around to see her fist imbeded into the tree. Eyes wide she glanced around. Had they seen her punch the tree out of anger? Would they help her? The girl’s eyes watered at the sharp splinters that poked at her hand, and instantly regretted punching the poor tree. Jae decided that she now did not like the American forests, their trees hurt.

Her mouth opened, but no words managed to find their way out. This is when she realized she did not know how to call out for help. Biting her lip, the girl did her best not to cry. The weight of a new country, with a new school, a new language, and the thought of managing her powers seemed to fall on her shoulders. ’I want to go back home…’

Harrison had gone towards the entrance to head towards the cafe to read the new book he had downloaded. Although this was his plan he was stopped by the sight of what appeared to be a new person to the school. Seeing as this is more interesting than reading and the book and be read later he had watched this girl. He had heard the girl say something but he was at a distance that he couldn't make out what she had said or if it was even in English.

'Did she just punch that tree?'

Suprised at what this girl had done Harrison had moved closer and noticed that her eyes started to water. 'Tsck, are you really going to cry right there?' Harrison had approched the girl with his fake genuine smile and said "Hey, trees are hard you know? Are you okay?" 'I swear you better not be obnoxious'

Dark eyes glanced over at the white haired boy approaching. Or a quick moment, she nearly forgot her tears. The boy's hair was white. Americans were very weird. Who in the world wanted their hair to be white? It was when a tear slipped down her cheek did the girl remember her predicament. Swallowing past the lump in her throat, the girl gave boy a helpless look. She couldn't understand what he said. "What an idiot I am." Renjie muttered, her voice wavering. The language she spoke was not English, but a popular dialect of Chinese, Mandarin.

Harrison waited to see what was up with the girl but all he got was a stare and a look that would tell anyone that she was lost. "Ah great, cry more why don't you?' He wondered what to do about the current situation since she didn't really say anything in response to him. Hearing what she had muttered. 'Chinese? No, it was called... Mandarin?' Putting his hand to his forehead to focus on thinking he remembered the lessons forced onto him. 'That definitely wasn't french, or spanish.' Being the son of a wealthy family he was forced to learn these to make connections around the world. If they hadn't moved he would have learned more languages. "How are you?" He spoke mandarin in a slow clear voice since he wasn't that fluent in that language unlike the other 3 he spoke. 'Ni Hao Ma if I remember correctly.

Her eyes widened, and stared back at the boy. He knew Mandarin! A small smile crossed her face, she didn't feel quite as hopeless. "My hand is stuck in this tree. But other than that I'm just tai bang le." She responded, gaining a bit of her humor back towards the end of her sentence. Tai bang le meaning great. A bit of sarcasm went a long way. After she said that, Jae then considered the fact that this boy may or may not understand what she meant by it. After all, she was willing to bet that he was not a native speaker.

Harrison saw that she had been happy to see someone who she could talk to but he decided to neglect that for now. 'Stuck huh, well that's what you get for just punching a tree.' It was slightly hard to follow up what she had said but he had gotten the gist of what she had meant to say. "Hold, still." He spoke more slowly than last time since he had to concentrate his gift. 'Next time don't get stuck.' Seeing as how her hand was still stuck to the tree as she talked to him he decided to do something about this since it would just annoy him further to have this. He went up to the tree and placed his hand where her hand met the tree and the other hand in the middle of the tree trunk. 'No clue how far her hand actually goes. Lets take the tree then.' He had then teleported this girl alongside the wood that had covered her hand a meter away from the tree and the remaining pieces of the wood that covered her hand had fell to the ground. "You, okay?"

Renjie hesitated as he approached. The girl had been relieved when Harrison had talked at least a small bit of her language. Which meant that she wasn't left completely alone in this foreign land. Although it appeared that he did not speak a lot of Mandarin. She was still hopeful. Jae blinked rapidly as she found her self in a different area than what she was previously standing in. The wood that had previously enclosed her hand fell away, leaving her able to move it once more.

She looked over at him as soon as he spoke. Once she realized it was not in Mandarin, the girl scrunched up her face. She did her best to gather her knowlage of English and come up with an answer. A long moment later, she came up with a response. "Good." The word was barely recognizable beneath her accent. Quickly, she gave the boy a small bow. Thus showing her thankfulness. Jae assumed it would be better than trying to put together a sentence. That one movement meant something universal, right?

Harrison grinned when he heard her response after a moment of silence. 'Do you really n out speak English,  come on.' He was sure that she meant thanks when she bowed so he decided to not think too much. 'Um.. let's see.' "Hello my name is Harrison. Whats yours?" He had said this in mandarin and in a faster tone than before since this is one of the key phrases. Harison placed his hands inside his white jacket's pocket as he waited for a response.'So you decided to go to Beata even if you can't understand English. That sounds like such a pain. I mean she knew 'good' but even still after a while. Now what would make you do such a thing.'  Harrison had pondered this question in his mind but kept his smiling face on the outside. This had seemed like such a weird situation to be in for her, and it got him more intrugued. 'Wonder if it's her gift. Speak of which how do you say Spatial Manipulation in mandarin, oh well.'

Standing back upright, she glanced around for her bags which she had left near the tree. His words reached her hears, and the girl's eyes landed back on him, a slight smile crossing her lips. Jae didn't mind that he was not fluent. In fact, she was very thankful to him for even trying. Ni hao, wo jiao Harrison. Ni jiao Sheng.ma ming.zi Automaticly she responded. "Wo jiao Hua Renjie." Or rather; My name is Renjie Hua, in English. Bowing again, she spoke "Thank you fellow student"

Thankfully, she wasn't too far from her luggage, and the girl hurried over to them. Gathering her things, the girl paused glancing around the entrance. Turning back to the boy who helped her she quickly asked a question, forgetting his lack of fluency. "Do you know where the office is?" Jae froze in her spot and gave him a hesitant smile, remembering what she had forgotten. Shortening her sentence she said a simple word; "Office?"

'Hua Renjie, is that Chinese?' Hearing her name made him wonder where she had came from but he did not care to ask right now. 'What's with all the bowing. I had enough of that during those parties.' He had smiled a bit more after he heard her thank her since he thought she owed him at least that much. He had stood still with the smile on his face as he watched her walk away to her luggage. 'You don't know where the office is do you?' Considering how this would be her first day here you really wouldn't think they would memorize the map to the place.

Seeing her look around at the entrance had confirmed what he had thought since he was slightly taken aback about what she said. 'The office right?' Upon hearing her her say one word in English he knew what she had meant. After clearing his throat he looked at this girl and spoke in Mandarin. "Just follow me" He had then passed by the girl into the entrance and had started walking towards the office although a little slowly. Again in Mandarin he spoke. "What brought you, here." 'Oh wait powers, oh well.'

"This is a school for children with powers, correct?" A thoughtful look crossed her face. There were more students in Beata who had powers. Which meant that she was not the only one with abilities. A grin crossed her face. And it was in America. It has been called the land of many opportunities. What did Americans do for Chinese New Year? What about the Mid Autumn Festival? Did they sell moon cakes at the grocery stores? What were some American holidays?

"What is the next American holiday?" She asked suddenly, slowing her words so the boy could follow easier. She was careful to enunciate her tones.

"Yes~." He said this in Mandarin but he said this in a slightly irritated tone but not something you would normally pick up. 'Tsck, so that is her reason? I wish it would have been more interesting like, trying to clear your family's name or proving to your family you can use your powers properly...' Upon finishing his thought he placed his hands on his forehead, tilted his head down and let out a sigh since he considered what he thought of was just plot for stories and rarely happen in real life.

He lifted his face from his palm when he heard her ask a question. 'Why would she ask that. Doesn't she have more things to worry about aside from what American Holiday comes next?' "I think, it's St. Patrick's day." Despite his curiosity for why she would ask a random question like that he had refrained from asking. Seeing that she was still carrying her luggage he turned to her and reached out his arm. "Can I help? Office bit way away." "I messed up somewhere in that sentence but I cant remember.

St. Patrick's day was translated into Chinese based on it's pronunciation instead of it's meaning. So it left Renjie without much knowlage about what the holiday was for. She'd have to look it up later. Especially how Americans act. Jae was sure she had insulted someone somehow on her way to Beata. Her brown eyes flickered towards the fountain and followed the water as it cascaded off of each tier. Jake's voice once again brought her out of her ogling. Help? No way! She wasn't going to show any weakness to an American. "Bu."[/color] No.

Even if her arms were beginning to hurt, the girl was not going to give in.

"Sure, if you need help tell me." 'Okay then, reminder for me to never ask you again.' Although she did nothing that would agitate a normal person, Harrison took a little offense since he was being nice here and she declined. Walking up towards the office he opened the door and left it open fir her to enter. 'Chinese? Japanese? Koreanease?' He chucked under his breath at the poorly made joke and looked towards her seeing if he can spot where shes from. "Office there, sign, in." He walked over to one of the walls to have something to lean against since she probably won't be able to make it to the initiate dorms by herself and he would have to guide her.

"Thank you." She responded to him holding open the door, and passing through it quickly. Her accent made it hard for any native speaker to understand what she had said. But based on the fact that he had done something for her, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out, right? Besides. It was one of the few words she could say in English. Jae needed the practice.

It took some bantering and quite a few charades to get the lady to understand her purpose of being there. Although she seemed very polite after learning she was there to sign in. It was another challenge in itself for Renjie to understand the many papers she was given. The English on it was nothing but nonsense. Thus the two had another rousing game of charades. This one lasted longer than the other, yet soon enough with the papers signed and new uniform in hand, the girl began to make her way out. The Taiwanese girl stood not too far from Jake and tilted her head. "Where do I sleep?"