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[determinedest]

You've reached Frisk. If I'm not answering my phone, please leave a message or find me on the second floor, Room 12.

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Comments

[action] whoda thunk

[determinedest]

[They bite back an undignified snort. Swearing in another language is easier, absurd as it sounds to put it like that. River said no one seems to speak Mandarin here, so no one would know what they were saying, and they wouldn't get in trouble! It's a perfect solution.

Frisk wrinkles their nose at the subtle variations in the pronunciation.]

So I might end up saying "son of a horse" instead, because of my tone?

[action]

[brainleak]

Exactly! The tone can be neutral, high, up, down, or down and up. So pay close attention when you repeat words.

Hmm... Prob'ly a Mandarin grammar book in the library. Can teach you out of that. I've never tutored anyone before. Corrected homework, but not as a teacher.

[action]

[determinedest]

Yeah. I...think I'd like that. I like to read anyway.

[It'd be like having a friend. They are friends. And they can teach each other stuff, the way friends do.]

[action]

[brainleak]

[And maybe she can manage to enter the library again now that everything is fine between her and Frisk.]

We'll leave writing and reading hànzì for after you know the words, though. Might be too hard otherwise. It's not like the English alphabet.

[action]

[determinedest]

Is it...big? I mean, bigger than twenty-six letters?

[And here they'd been hoping they could find a translation dictionary and start there, but it doesn't sound as immediately intuitive as they might have thought.]

[action]

[brainleak]

Much bigger. Tens of thousands of them. They're each a word, or two or more are a word. But don't be scared. You won't have to learn all of them. Just the ones you'll use.

[action]

[determinedest]

[Their eyes widen at that. Tens of thousands of letters?]

Just...just the important ones. Got it.

[They nod. They can do this, though. They're determined.]

[action]

[brainleak]

You'll learn quick. I have confidence in you. [Pat pat.]

[action]

[determinedest]

[Frisk grins, pleased, filled with the warmth of...accomplishment. It's a feeling they haven't processed in a while, they think.]

Thanks, River.