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 Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 6:58 pm
This is a PRP between: Xiu and Rong Wei
Location: Rong Wei's house
Time: Saturday morning
Duration of tuition: 9-11am
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Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 7:00 pm
“Do you need me to accompany you, Xiu,” Hazeline asked as she side parked before a row of houses. Today was the day Xiu was going to meet his Mandarin teacher and the young woman could tell that the frei was nervous.
“No, that won’t be necessary, Hazeline,” Xiu said as he gave his guardian what he hoped was a confident smile. “I can handle this,”
“Alright then. I guess I’ll be seeing you in two hours,” said Hazeline with a smile. “You learn well, okay?”
“Okay,” chuckled the white frei as he got out of the car and watched Hazeline drive off. Taking a deep breath, Xiu then floated to the house that supposedly belonged to Rong Wei and gave the doorbell a ring. It was as Hazeline said. Xiu was nervous. It had taken a while before he and Hazeline could come up with a fixed time and even then, one event after another came and their meeting with his Chinese language teacher was pushed further and further back. Until now that is.
Flicking his wings worriedly, Xiu waited as footsteps were heard. Xiu wondered what kind of teacher Rong Wei was.
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Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 7:32 pm
Who the hell is ringing the doorbell this early in the day? It had better not be one of those brats selling something or they're getting the hose again.
Rong Wei rolled herself off the couch as the familiar sound of the doorbell echoed over the television, its sound indicating that someone was indeed at the door and that the Chinese woman needed to get up. She'd apparently forgotten that someone was due to come over today, her schedule tending to be off the chest as the hours went by. It was only when her Mother came dashing past screaming that there was 'some demon beast!!' at the door that she remembered what she was supposed to be doing - teaching Mandarin to a freak of nature that turned out not to be a drunken hallucination after all.
Fairly glad that she was dressed in somewhat decent clothing that didn't get too rumbled from her morning sprawl in from of the tube, Rong Wei dusted the back of her pants off before she made her way towards the entrance, the whole while yelling back at her mother that a guest was here and tea was needed. The only response she got back was the sound of a door slamming and uneasy murmurs, leaving the woman to curse as she rounded the corner.
" . . . . . "
Her mother had let Xiu inside the house at the very least, the Frei inside the doorway where the shoes were resting, and Rong Wei looked him up and down as he came into perfect view. It certainly was the thing she'd met on her way to work that day, the thing from the photo that kid had shown her. These lessons were really going to happen with money being certain, so it was in the Chinese woman's best interest to get it going.
"Nihao Xiu. Come inside, I'll be teaching you the basics of Mandarin today."
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Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 8:01 pm
Well, Xiu's welcome into the house could have gone a little better. An elderly woman had opened the door, stared as Xiu waved awkwardly and would have probably slammed the door on him if Xiu hadn’t at that moment taken the initiative to shoulder himself partly in while frantically yelling Rong Wei’s name to the terrified lady. At last the woman seemed to understand (or at least given up trying to slam the door in fear) and had hurried into the house screaming something that was along the lines of ‘Monster!’.
Now that certainly was awkward…
Left alone with the shoes, Xiu realized that he did not know what he should do next. It was clear that any attempts to further investigate the house for signs of his teacher would lead to further aggravating the terrified old lady. Xiu did not want to be charged for causing a heart attack.
The sudden sounds of approaching feet made Xiu look up and the white frei smiled when at last, a familiar face presented itself. “Rong Wei,” greeted the white with a polite nod. The Chinese woman looked a little rumpled and surprised to see him. Perhaps the terrified woman had shocked Rong Wei?
“Thank you umm…teacher?” ventured Xiu as he followed Rong Wei into the house. Taking out a neat envelope, Xiu then offered it to his tutor. “The tuition fees, as…agreed upon,”
…
“The other lady, she is…alright, right?” ventured Xiu after a moment’s pause.
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Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 9:41 pm
"Eh? That old bat's fine, she doesn't take as well to surprises like I do. It's easier just to ignore her and go on with whatever it is you're doing." Rong Wei glanced over her shoulder towards where her mother had run, an odd expression playing at her face. It quickly passed as soon as Xiu pulled out the money, Rong Wei talking it from him slowly before she folded it and shoved in her back pant pocket.
She moved towards the kitchen, certain Xiu was in tow, and she finally stopped in front of a large table. It was fairly empty, save for a few dishes from breakfast, and Rong Wei cleared those aside as she began her questioning to figure out just what level she needed to start at. She had no idea how to really teach someone a language, but for the money she was getting she sure as hell was going to wing it really well.
"So, Xiu. Just how much Mandarin can you understand or speak? Can you read any of it, or write as well? That woman called Hazeline wasn't too specific on the details of your learning level, and I need to know if I'm going to be teaching you anything."
The dishes were quickly dropped in the sink, she'd wash them later, and Rong Wei propped a hand against her hip as she waited for this odd creature to answer her questions. It wasn't like she was impatient, he was here until whenever that lady came back to get him, but Rong Wei did have that type of personality that demanded quick responses to anything asked.
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Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 10:27 pm
Xiu followed his tutor to where they would be conducting their classes and from the looks of it, the dining table of the house would suffice. Watching Rong Wei clearing the dishes, Xiu was beginning to wonder if his lesson had really been planned for the day. It almost looks as though…his presence was not expected.
Folding his wings neatly behind his back lest they knock something down by accident, the white frei watched as Rong Wei turned to face him, asking him on his level of Mandarin.
“I do not understand the least bit of Mandarin,” said Xiu looking a little embarrassed. “Hazeline…well, the family speaks English at home and err…yeah,” answered the frei with a shrug. “I guess I am worse than a beginner,”
The white frei then waited while Rong Wei accessed his situation. Blue eyes scanned the kitchen in an attempt to know a little more about his tutor. So far, the house looked like a comfortable place to live in. Xiu wondered briefly what Rown’s connection to that ‘old bat’ was but felt that asking such a question would probably be considered rude.
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 9:48 am
"So we're starting from the ground up? Should be easy enough, you don't look like you're retarded or anything and if I consider it like teaching a puppy. . . yeah, easy enough." Rong Wei has stated that they'd be doing the basics to begin with, she didn't know why she'd backtracked, so perhaps for the two hours today she'd get him far enough along to know greetings and general introductions. Maybe.
The first thing the woman did was actually excuse herself for a moment, stating she had to get something, and Rong Wei strode out of the kitchen only to return about five minutes later carrying a small primer in her hands. It looked as though it was for preschoolers, the large picture on the front a good indication, and Rong Wei thrust it out towards the white Frei.
"Here, take this with you when you go home today. It's a beginner's primer for reading the language, and since it's written for four and five year old's I think you'd be able to grasp at least that much. Just ignore the bad handwriting in the margins, none of it is correct and my brother really liked writing in my books." Rong Wei sounded bitter on that note, as if she could blame her siblings for the fact that she never had anything nice growing up. It wasn't really true, but it made things easier.
"Anyway, let's start with basic introductions and greetings for the day. Mandarian is a tonal language, meaning if you pronounce something wrong there's a chance you'll be misunderstood, so for a lot of what we'll be doing I'll be writing it out in Pinyin." The woman paused, knowing the Frei more than likely may have no idea what Pinyin is. "Pinyin is writing out Chinese phonetically using the Latin alphabet. You can think of it like writing out a pronunciation guide to make it easier to say."
The woman was lucky enough to have a pen and a notebook sitting on the counter nearby, and she opened the folder to the first blank page, ripping out the others in the process. In clear print (she was lucky to have good handwriting) she wrote out the first word they'd be learning.
你好 [ ni hao ]
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Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2010 7:29 am
Xiu was not sure he was happy with being likened to a puppy and this showed by the slight frown that formed on the white raevan’s features. Puppies, as far as Xiu was concerned, were little fluffballs of energy that had a weird tendency to chew smelly shoes and wet themselves in the most unlikely places. Oh, and they were noisy too. Xiu guessed they were cute but…with Hazeline not being fond of animals (or rather not wanting any animals in the house as they lived above a bookstore), Xiu had not had much contact with them. True, there was Vyn’s dog but…that was stretching the definition of cute a little far. Thus lost in his musings, Xiu was not aware of Rong Wei leaving the room only to return a little later with small primer in her hands. Taking the offered primer from Rong Wei, Xiu gave the item a cursory glance. It was as Rong Wei had said; the item was clearly designed for the younger readers with big words and colourful pictures. With the book in his hands, Xiu felt a momentary jab at his intelligence but quickly pushed it aside. He did not know the least bit about the Chinese language so it was not his place to be arrogant here. Placing the book gently onto the table top, Xiu listened to the tutor’s explanation before leaning in to see what Rong Wei had written. 你好 [ ni hao ] “ Ni hao?” said Xiu reading aloud what his tutor has written before glancing at Rong Wei. “What…does this mean? Was my pronunciation correct? ”
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Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 8:58 am
"Yes, that's how you do it more or less. What you've basically said is 'hello'. Actually to be more specific you've say 'good you', but it's translated into hello."
Rong Wei wasn't going to be overly picky right now about how Xiu pronounced words, knowing that if she got really into it right off that bat both of them would end today red in the face from either agitation or tears. Shed certainly wasn't going to be the one crying though, so that only gave her the first choice. She wasn't entirely sure she wanted to see this floaty thing cry either, her general response when something cried was to either hit or make it leave, and seeing as she was being paid that wouldn't go over well either.
"Today we're not going to worry about writing anything, that would probably kill both of us and I'd rather not spend the rest of today pissed off at the world. We can continue slow and steady like this, with basic introduction words, or we can talk and try to get to know one another more. If I'm going to be spending more time with you and teaching you, like I said earlier, I'm going to need to know a hell of a lot more about what you are and what you can do."
She tapped a finger to her lips, the motion probably meaning she wanted a cigarette more than anything. They had just started but already a break was sounding appealing, though Rong Wei would wait until this creature before her decided on what they would do before she stomped off to get her nicotine fix.
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Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 10:12 am
Xiu chuckled softly at the mention of ‘Good you’. “I never knew that, teacher,” said Xiu with a smile. This was fun. He was learning something and a new language at that!
“Kill the both of us?” said Xiu sounding a little surprised. He had thought that the lesson was getting on rather well but if Rong Wei thought otherwise…
“I guess…it is my first lesson after all…,” admitted Xiu softly. “We could take it slow and steady and perhaps speed it up a little after I’ve gotten the hang of it. Hopefully it should not take too long,” said the white frei more to himself than to his teacher. He wanted to strive and do his best! Test his limits!
…
“You want to know more about me?” asked Xiu looking a little confused. “But …what is there to know that I’ve not already told you when we first met?” said Xiu with a small tilt of his head. “But as to what I can do… I guess I can do what most humans can…as long as it does not require legwork,” said Xiu with a small laugh. “Seeing that I am lacking legs and all…,”
“It must be interesting though to walk on legs as you do,” said Xiu giving Rong Wei’s legs a quick glance. “A little bouncy or rocky when you walk perhaps?” said Xiu recalling the swaying of human (mostly women’s) hair when they walk and the slight jumpy-springy gait of children as they skipped by. “Doesn’t that make you giddy?”
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Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:45 pm
"Giddy? Over walking? Hardly, I'd rather just sit or stand around if I had to. Walking gets me place to place, sure, but floating looks like it'd be more worth my while. You probably never have to worry about getting tired or stepping in something unpleasant when you don't even touch the ground."
Rong Wei sat down at the table, having been standing the whole time (or pacing at least) and she folded her arms across her chest, watching the Frei as they exchanged conversation. He had said he could do 'anything a human could' but she seriously didn't believe it. From her memory he'd said he couldn't eat which most likely meant he couldn't drink as well. Did that limit sleeping?
"But you say 'anything' you can do, but I severely doubt that. I mean it's pretty obvious from looking at you that you're very limited to anything physical even if it doesn't involve legwork. You probably can't do anything that requires you to do heavy lifting - not that I can say I'm able either. I tend to avoid those kinda jobs."
It was a fair trade of information, a give and take even if the woman was doing subtle jabs here and there at the Frei. It was somewhat unintentional. Somewhat.
"Though I will say this of you - you're not stupid. At least you can speak properly which is more than I can say of most humans."
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