xp_logs | Sooraya and Mondo - Foreigners, Islands, and Googly-Eyed Muppets.

Set on the bus ride back to Westchester from New York, the Samoan Smiling Machine and the Afghani Wonder have a little chat. Size, geography, sickness, pig calls, and googly-eyed Muppets are the order of the day.

Warning: May contain cuteness. Please consult your doctor before reading.

Sooraya had had quite an interesting and eventful day. Her introduction to American cities had started with what Julio had said was 'the biggest one of them all', and she didn't doubt that one bit. New York City had been huge, a bustling congregation of metal and concrete that was at times overwhelming and a bit scary. She had survived, however, thanks to the kind people from the school who had shown her around and even bought her a halal 'hot dog' to try. Needless to say, on the ride home she was quite tired.

Listening to the chatter around her, which sounded less like intelligible words and more like the buzz of busy insects, she watched the scenery fly past. Even being in this van was strange, though she had to admit it was far more efficient and fast than horses or camels would be. All in all, it had been a whirlwind day, and she was glad to be going back to the mansion.

Mondo plopped his not-inconsiderable bulk down next to Sooraya and smiled at her. "Hello!" he told her with a cheerful smile and a wave. "Did you enjoy New York?" He had been meaning to talk to the exotic girl from a far-away place for a long time now but never found the right time until now.

Blinking, Sooraya turned towards the young man, smiling back at him. "Hello. Yes. It is very nice," she told him, nodding her head. "And... big." Her eyes widened a little as she said this, though her smile didn't lessen.

"Very big." he said with a knowing nod. "I used to live in Tokyo, but New York is HUGE!" he exclaimed. Absently, he kneaded the muscle above his right knee.

"Excuse me," Sooraya said politely - after all, Nathan had encouraged her to ask questions (it was the only way to learn) - "what is Toe-key-oh?"

"A very big city in Japan." he said. "Very crowded, very tall buildings." he said, remembering his first impression of the Japanese city. "Where are you from?" he asked, because he couldn't honest pull the name of her home country out of his brain. Too much like work.

"Oh," she replied, impressed that there was more than one enormous city like New York in the world. "I am from Afghanistan," she explained, waving vaguely out the window in an eastern direction. "Far far away."

"I'm from Samoa. Also very, very far away." he said, making a bigger flapping gesture with his hand towards the window. Making flapping gestures was _fun_, come to think of it. "It's an island!"

"An island?" This drew a confused look from the Afghan girl, who glanced out the window before looking back at Mondo.

"Island." he repeated, but more slowly. She must not have heard him clearly. After all, he was speaking English and English wasn't her first language. Wasn't his either, but his English was good like _whoa_.

"Yes... what is island, please?" she asked, more politely this time.

Mondo scrunched up his face, thinking hard about how to explain th utterly obvious. "An island is a piece of land surrounded on all sides by water." he said, groping for a good explanation, not finding it, and leaving things at that. "Samoa's in the tropics so it's always really nice out, weather-wise."

Surrounded on all sides by water? That sounded positively crazy. Sooraya merely smiled kindly, though, and nodded again. "Thank you." Maybe he was even telling the truth, who knew? She would have to ask Nate when they got back to the mansion. At the mention of weather she raised her eyebrows, tipping her head to the side. "It is nice here," she said earnestly. "Not too... sun."

Mondo looked out the window with her. "Not too sun." he said sadly. He liked sunshine, and he liked being warm, and while everyone else was running around in T-shirts he felt cold. But, as his mother had told him, the cure for being cold was layers! Hence his current splendid toxic-yellow and Day-Glo Orange floral shirt with a nice white shirt
beneath it.

Sooraya sensed that the young man wasn't entirely happy with this, though she couldn't quite understand why. "You are sad?" she asked cautiously, hoping it wasn't something she had said.

"Homesick." he admitted after a moment. But then he rallied and gave her a blindingly white smile. "But now this is my home!" he said cheerfully.

Homesick? She understood the two words separately, but together... Oh, no, maybe he wasn't feeling well. Sooraya scooted a few inches to the side, in case he felt like getting homesick all over the seat. "It is my home too," she replied, wondering why he was smiling if he felt so ill.

Mondo didn't understand why she was scooting away from him with that look on her face. Did he do something? Say something? Did he stink? He showered this morning before they left, but he had been walking around a lot with Crystal .... "So what do you think of New York?" he asked, floundering for something inoffensive to talk about. "I like all the cars. Vroom!" he said proudly, imitating the sound of rush hour in Manhattan.

At the sound of his 'vroom!' Sooraya's eyes widened and she flattened against the seat. It was a small point of pride that she didn't immediately change forms - Dr. Moira would be proud. After a moment it became clear that this noise had been merely a sound effect and not the sound of her seatmate getting sick. Letting out a relieved sigh, the girl tried to smile. "It is loud. And hard."

Mondo looked ashamed - she didn't like his vrooms! Most sad. "Very loud." he agreed with a smile. Hrm. The new girl didn't seem to really like him much. Maybe it was just because of the language thing. That had to be it. He could remember what he was like in Japan before he got the hang of the language - the puzzled looks, the slow and loud speaking, the laughter. She wasn't laughing, though, he thought as he snuck another look at her. That was promising.

Not being able to communicate was becoming rather frustrating... Sooraya tried to remember patience as she chewed on her lip, trying to think of something to say. ~I need to study harder if I want to be able to talk to them like a normal person.~ "You are study at school?"

Mondo looked at Sooraya like she was from Mars. "I ... yes!" he said, parsing her rather oddly-phrased sentence. He think he was getting somewhere now! As another random thought struck him, he slid out of the seat awkwardly. "Don't go anywhere!" he said, hobbling towards the back of the bus and his pack.

It wasn't as if she could go anywhere, really... Sooraya sat, bemused and a little embarrassed.

Mondo reappeared a few moments later, visibly limping but clutching a small stuffed Kermit the Frog in his hand. He sank into the seat next to her gracelessly then handed her the toy, closing both her hands over it. "For you." he said. He got it because the googly eyes made him smile, but he thought that Sooraya needed a little Kermit in her life.

"For me?" she repeated, a bit flabbergasted at the small green thing in her hands. She lifted it up, staring at the happy face looking back at her. Little by little, a smile began to creep across her face, though she still had no idea what it was.

"For you!" he said with another blinding white smile. "Kermit, this is Sooyana. Sooie, this is Kermit." he said, making his introductions and butchering the poor Afghani girl's name.

All right... despite the utter strangeness of this encounter, Sooraya did have to admit the young man was very friendly and extremely generous, just like most of the people she had met at the school. "Hello, Kermit," she said, addressing the frog before turning towards Mondo. "Thank you. It is very nice."

Mondo nodded in perfect agreement with that. Then he slid back out of the seat. "It was very nice talking with you, Sooie." he said with a jaunty little wave before he ambled back to the seat he was nominally sharing with Crystal.