Could This Be Home? (Beyril and Lani; Private)

She dropped her hands, only to raise one to take the check as the waiter returned. Bending over a bit, she added a ten dollar tip, over half the bill, and signed off on it. Turning Tien from the table before she could see, she lead the new student back out of the restaurant. "Ready to see your new home?"

Tien nodded, trailing along behind Eve like a lost puppy.

"Chin up, Tien," Eve said gently, leading her to the car and unlocking the door for her, "You are not less than me. You don't have to act like it."

Tien nodded along, "I wish I speak English more." she admitted.

"You will," The meister stated, aiding her in getting into the car once more before directing it back towards the school. "I can, and will, teach you how."

Tien nodded, sliding into the car in silence, then waiting for Eve to get in. "Thank you." she offered as she sat down.

"It is not a problem," She said, gesturing briefly to the glove compartment. "There's a notebook and a pen in there for you. You can draw, write, whatever --- I find that expressing myself on paper helps me through changes. It might do you good, too."

Tien opened the glove box, pulling out the pen and paper, and scrawled a few characters in Thai on the first page to test it out, "Thank you." she smiled, "You are kind woman."

"Do not worry about it," Evelyn said, shrugging off the compliment, as she did not need it, but smiling nonetheless. "Everything is new here. You are new to here. When you are ready, we can make your room look like home, if you want. Something familiar."

Tien nodded, looking at her bag full of trinkets, "What your home look like?"

"Mine?" She asked, amusement in her tone though she held back any laughter, "I will show you, sometime. But do not worry about it. Just... know that I like to read."

Tien nodded, "So... many books?"

Her smile turned sheepish at the edges as she drove up to the parking lot, a blush gracing her cheeks for the briefest of moments, "You could say that, yes."

"In English?" Tien asked, curious as to what languages she knew.

"In many languages," she said, unbuckling and reaching into the backseat for her purse and backpack. "I speak English, Spainsh, French, German, Italian, Greek, Latin, Sign Language, Chinese..." She paused, then, realizing that she was getting ahead of herself, "I know languages from all around the world, and I read in them, too."

Tien sat dumbstruck and silent.

She glanced over at her, shrugging, blushing just the slightest bit, "I study languages, Tien. It is what I do. Do you know how to read Chinese?"

Tien shook her head, "Only small letters." she spoke in rapid Thai, blended with mandarin, "My thai... mixes."

She nodded, understanding as best she could, "I do not know much of mixed languages, sadly, and Thai is not one of my stronger ones."

Tien nodded, firing off a few simple phrases in Chinese. "How are you?" and "Where is the restroom?" type sentences as she squinted to piece them together. She laughed, "Is worse than my English."

Eve followed after the sound, shrugging, but smiling softly, "Still, you do know a little of it." Her eyes drifted to the girl for a moment, brow raised as if she expected the foreigner to challenge the statement. "We're nearly to the school. I'll show you to your room, once we get there. It is designed for three people, but you might be alone for a while. We can work out your schedule next week, once you are moved in."

Tien nodded, "At home, I share bed with four brothers." she chuckled, "They snore."

"You do not have to share, here, at least not a bed." Eve said, gesturing towards what would be Tien's dorm. "It will look like you have a lot of space, but you might have people living in the room with you, later. Besides... it is normal here." Stepping from the vehicle, she pulled her backpack and purse on before going around to help Tien from the convertible. Her blue eyes were soft and gentle as she gestured towards the foreign exchange dorm, a smile painted gracefully across her lips.

Tien held her bag on her shoulder, looking up at the building, "Aahh..." she sighed, a bit taken aback, "It is so big..."

"Yes," Eve said, closing the door behind her, "A lot of students live there. There are kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms, and study halls." She smiled softly, "I know that it is a lot to take in at one time."