i_speak_softly | Fifty-Seventh Theory [Written/Voice/Action]

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Fifty-Seventh Theory [Written/Voice/Action]

[It's sunny and warm and spring, and Don can't wait to get outside. Or he wouldn't be able to wait, if he didn't have such impressive self-control.]

[He diligently starts the morning with his usual exercises, then sits down to leave a few messages in his journal before leaving the house.]

[Tutoring Beast in reading has made Don reconsider his own literacy skills, and after much thinking he's decided to do something to improve them. To that end, he easily constructs a filter, then labors through writing a brief message:]

Filtered from Housemates | Unhackable

[In translation-shielded kanji:] I WANT PLEASE: SOMEONE IS ABLE TO TEACH TO READ JAPANESE A SLOW STUDENT.

[There. Anyone who can't read that is automatically disqualifed as a teacher; anyone who can should immediately see the need for some teaching.]

[Reminding himself that lack of knowledge is not a cause for shame, but an opportunity to learn, Don closes that filter and opens another.]

Filtered to Leonardo | Unhackable

Hey, Padawan. If you ever take a break from mastering the Force, call your otouto and let him know you're okay.

[And finally:]

Filtered to SHELL members | Unhackable

The world visit experiment should be happening soon, if we can believe anything that blue man says. After that I'd like to have another meeting.

I'm taking nominations for other topics of discussion or club activities.

[Don will check for replies later - for now, he closes the journal, takes his gear, and quietly leaves the house. He'll be spending the next few hours meandering among the cherry trees, looking for early blooms.]

[Anyone who meets him may notice he now wears a silver chain around his wrist, half-visible where it laces through the leather wrappings.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only | Expand All

[Rei is intrigued. Ami's told her about the Turtles, and she's spoken to Leonardo, so she figures she'll offer to help. Calligraphy, after all, is her favorite subject. In a beautiful, flowery script, she'll respond in hiragana, since clearly he knows some Japanese]

Good Afternoon. My name is Hino Rei. I would be happy to help you learn to read Japanese.

[This is later followed by a Voice call]
Good Afternoon. If you weren't able to read my earlier message, my name is Hino Rei, and I would be happy to help you learn to read Japanese. Consider that to have been a bit of a test.

[... Oh shell. Don gets the first two sentences without too much trouble, but the third just has way too many verb forms. (Not that he would be able to name them as such; grammatical structures are a subject he's never been able to wrap his head around.)]

... I think I failed.

My my, what were you able to get from my message then?

Um... "hello", "my name is", and something about Japanese.

[Guess who's nudging in the teaching? Not really surprising; she always led the group study sessions back home, too.]

Rei-chan, would it be alright for Don to come over later? We could both work with him.

Of course, Ami-chan.

And Donatello was it? That's a good start.

... You two live together?

Mm. [And she is beyond happy about that, that they're all together here.] Rei-chan is one of my dear friends from home.

[Sort of. Enough for Ami to say it, at least. She's accepted Rei whole-heartedly.]

Yep, Ami-chan is a dear friend, and so is Usagi-chan.

I'm sure we can help you, Donatello. Please, come by.

Edited 2012-03-26 02:03 (UTC)

I'll be there soon.

I'll start getting some lessons together. I'll find some food and drink to entertain, too.

Great. I'll get a few papers and pencils, and some ink and brushes too.

You...really can't learn to read what you can't write, after all.

[You're going to make him do it in calligraphy?]

[Closing the journal on that thought, Don sets out across the village again. He'll be knocking on your door in a few minutes.]

[Ami, on the other hand, suspects Don can't possibly be slower to learn kanji than Usagi, which is something of a relief. (She's sorry, Usagi, really.)

By the time Don's there, she'll have tea and some snacks ready for everyone, and head to answer the door.]

[Rei suspects exactly the same thing. And calligraphy is easier than actual pencil writing since its larger, so she figures that should be the best thing for it.

She'll be waiting with Ami in the main room, of course]

Hi Ami. [He offers a small bow to her roommate.] Hino-san. Thanks for letting me come on such short notice.

[There's something jarring about the forms of address Don chooses for her, and for Rei, especially next to each other, though it's true he hasn't gotten to know Rei well yet. Ami lets him in, and invites him to sit down.]

It's alright. The timing worked out well.

[Rei notices this too. Clearly, he's much much closer to Ami than she'd originally thought. Ami-chan almost never forgot her politeness, and it just seemed odd]

Yes, please, sit down. Its no trouble at all, especially with Usagi-chan out of the house. And...I don't mind if you call me Rei-san. Or...would it be proper to address us both as Sensei? [She offers Ami a bit of a funny smile, knowing that Ami was so proper when it came to titles]

So, where should we begin? Can you write Hiragana and Katakana yet?

[Don realizes belatedly that addressing Ami with no honorific could lead Rei to a very wrong conclusion. Being bicultural is complicated sometimes.]

Um... Sensei is fine. [He really should be calling Ami that anyway, since she's a doctor and all.] I know the characters but I don't write well...

It just takes practice. [Ami smiles, meant to be encouraging.]

It will come easier then.

Right! Practice makes perfect.

[She'll offer Donatello a notebook and pencil]

Why don't you try writing out all the characters you are really familiar with? We can move from there!

[Don takes the proffered writing utensils, sits at the table, and thinks a moment before carefully writing his name in Hiragana. (Unorthodox, he knows, but Splinter was insistent that his sons learn to spell their foreign names in native characters.) With only slightly more hesitation, he writes his brothers' names. This seems to serve him as a warm-up, and he proceeds to draw a gojūon table, which he manages to fill in most of before giving up. He draws a second gojūon for Katakana, but this he doesn't get very far with - he never saw the point of writing English words in Japanese when he could already write them perfectly well (if often misspelled) in English.]

That's all I know...

It's not a bad start. Let's fill in the rest, and you'll have a study sheet to learn the ones you don't know by heart yet.

Yes, Ami-chan is right. Why don't we go on and perhaps work at some very basic kanji? Do you know any already?

A few...

[He writes 'turtle' and 'ninja', then adds a few basic kanji like 'home' and 'morning'. His calligraphy is not good and it's obvious he's nowhere near literate.]

[Voice/Written], under the Kanji filter

[Voice/Written], under the Kanji filter

[Voice], under the Kanji filter

[Voice], under the Kanji filter

[Voice], under the Kanji filter

[Voice], under the Kanji filter

[Voice], under the Kanji filter

Re: [Voice], under the Kanji filter

[Voice], under the Kanji filter

[Voice], under the Kanji filter | those icons XD

[Voice] hey, they need icons to show their biffleness.

[Voice] Yep!

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[Action] Starting to get back into things now

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