Participants:
| Scene Title | Understatements |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Abby and Tania meet for lunch, Russian lessons and a bit of a reveal of Tania's circumstances and other acquaintances. |
| Date | March 05, 2011 |
Rhett is with Abby, tied to a pole on the other side of the window, unable to bring him in yet loathing tying him up to the pole. But he's got a bowl of water, she bought him some wet food to munch while she sits across from her Russian teenaged friend, a pig plate of sushi in it's various forms between them, green tea and chopsticks.
Abby still can't, for the life of her, use a chopstick. So she's resorted to using her fingers. Tired looking, circles under her eyes, she's got one more stop tomorrow before back to the Island to help Megan and Francois out.
«Have you ever had» Sushi «before Tania?» Still practicing Russian with her, always trying. She's rundown, the stitches marching into her hairline finally looking better, no longer red, now healing as they should. She looks out the window to Rhett, worried that someone's going to bother her dog.
Tania has clearly never handled chopsticks before. She sits there, awkwardly attempting to reason out how to use them. The good news is, she isn't too bad at figuring it out. The bad news is, she's better at chopsticks in theory than she is in practice. Her attempts at picking up the odd pieces of raw fish have failed more often than not.
And when she succeeds, she has to spend a moment peering at this creation. Sushi was not exactly a common thing in her house. In fact, this may very well be her first experience with it. "«Fish, yes. This? Never this.»" And yet, she's less worried about the oddity than she is just curious about it. And when she goes to taste it, there's a gentle furrow of her brow as she just tries to figure it out.
This experiment may need more than one subject. Tania isn't even finished chewing before her gaze slides along their spread of food. "Ebby, «you are okay? You seem like you could use some rest.»"
«I could use rest. But no rest for the…» Crap, how do you say wicked in Russian? "Wicked. I got innoculated against the evo flu, and just all the walking. Don't worry, I'll get some good sleep soon. Like, crash and sleep for half a day and then stuff myself full of food, I promise" Not pick at her sushi like she's doing right now, sticking mostly to the california rolls.
"You're better at using chopsticks than me" She's given up russian right now, no energy to make her brain work at translating. "Found a favorite yet?"
"I think, still I am not very good," Tania says with a gesture of those sticks. "It is something… harder than it looks, da?" The girl's smile slides crooked there, but remains ever the understated expression it is with her. "It is important to take care of yourself. To run ragged, this is not good. I try to remember this, now that my mother is not here to… ah. To nag?" Of course, for Tania, running herself into the ground is just a little more life threatening than most people.
"I think I will try many things before I find a favorite. I have not decided if this is good or strange," she admits with a soft chuckle.
"I have a friend who loves to eat pickled herring. I just throw up a little in the back of my throat when she brings out a jar. I mean, how can you eat that. But then, I turn around and eat a baloney cake and people can't imagine eating that so… Interesting is good. Strange is good too."
The second bite - and rest of - the california roll is consumed after a quick run through wasabi. "Yes yes mother. I used to heal, run myself ragged and would just go till I dropped, and then would spend a few days just… taking care of myself. I promise, when I get where I'm getting, I'll do just that. But nagging is good."
THe topic of mothers though. Abby hasn't seen hers in… a long time, much less called hers. "She still alive? Do you talk to her if she is?"
Pickled herring just gets a bit of a stare from Tania, as if that may just be more weird than raw fish. She had, at least, heard of sushi before now. "Your friend, she sounds very brave," she eventually comments, which may be an attempt at a joke, or maybe is just her way of trying to stay polite. It's hard to tell exactly how she means it through her mild tone.
"As long as you take care of yourself," she says before trying another piece. And the chewing gives her a moment to digest the questions about her mother. "Still alive, last I saw her. But things were very…" she pauses, sifting through possible word choice before she settles on one, "…hectic. At the time. I have not heard from her since. I think she will be very upset with me. It is a hard thing, to choose between two people you care for."
"For eating pickled herring? No. But she's brave for a whole host of other reasons" She points out, picking up a piece of square rice with a slice of salmon or some other pink fish on top. "Maybe, you should send her something. Make something, write her a letter. Just something that tells her that you're alive, you're well, taken care of and thinking of her?" The stabbed piece of fish on her chopstick goes from side to side with each point she makes.
"SO she knows that you haven't succumbed to your Addison's and you know, put her heart at rest?"
Tania looks down there, chopsticks idly pushing food around her plate. "I will have to ask if it would be… safe." She takes a moment before she looks up at Abby again. "You remember Ivan Spektor?" she asks in a hushed tone, gentle, for the deceased. "The last I saw my mother, she was with his wife. Katarina. They were picking me up from lessons at the theatre."
She looks down again there, blinking against too-wet eyes before she shakes her head some. "And I do not know what happened to them. Or if they are alright. Or if it would be… careless to try to write my mother." There's a pause there, before she lets out a sigh, "And she blames so much on my brother, I do not know what she would do."
"Oh" It's softly spoken, face flooding with heat. Perhaps, things would be a bit more complicated. "Ask your brother?" She offers. "He might know, given that he knew where to find you and to send people for you" She wasn't present at the scene, never met Tania till she was at McRae's place. "Talk with your brother, see if he can find out where she is, and go from there"
Answering with a nod at first, Tania is quiet for just a few moments longer, collecting herself. But when she looks up again, she still looks a little sad, but is trying a more lighthearted expression. "Maybe I will skip over my brother and just ask Mister Logan myself," she says, with the air of someone telling an inside joke. It's just that she's the only one at the table who gets it at this particular moment. Or rather, that the person the joke is aimed at simply isn't present.
But she sobers a moment later to nod again, "But I will see. Maybe she is okay. I hope she is okay. She is very… pushy, but she always took care of me. It was not easy."
How many people are named Logan? In this city, who knows. "Englishman, snazzy dresser, green eyes?" Abigail chooses her words carefully. Please don't be that Logan.
The worst part is that Tania smiles a little as she nods to that description. "I never thought to call it snazzy," she says, the word somewhat odd, as if testing it out, "but yes. He is my brother's… friend. I think. It is all very confusing."
That look on Abby's face sinks with each nod, pushing her piece of sushi around her plate. Hey, that guy you want to ask for help, he's bad news, very bad news. Hey, that guy you just said your brothers friend, locked me up in his brothel for a month, had my tongue cut off. Hey, Tania, You need to get the fuck away from him as fast as possible.
Instead it comes out as. "I know him." That's all. No more, no less.
Tania tilts her head a little at that simple reply. "But… he makes you sad?" she notes, with that sunken look on the woman's face. But Tania doesn't seem very… surprised at a mixed reaction where John Logan is concerned. "I am not sure my brother actually likes him. But he is the one that made the way, for me to get out of Russia." And by her tone, she is grateful.
"No. He makes me angry Tania. He makes me very angry, and I hate him. But he's good to others and he is kind to others where he wasn't to me. I'm glad that he's not to you" She reaches over though, settling her hand on Tania's. "But if he ever isn't kind to you, you need to tell someone. Do you understand? Tell your brother, tell me, tell someone"
When that hand covers hers, Tania frowns — worry on her features as she looks over at Abby. "I understand. I will tell someone. I think my brother would not… let it happen. He can be intimidating." It may be an understatement. Her other hand lets go of her chopsticks to cover Abby's hand. "I am sorry he was bad to you, Ebby."
"Sorry's don't change what happened, needless to say, he and I get along as good as cats and baths do, or possibly worse" and that's fine by her. "Eat up, I don't want to leave Rhett out there for too long, before he tries to eat his way off the leash. «I have a boat to catch» She smiles to Tania, trying to wipe away the emotions on her face, replace them with something neutral.
"«Just… take care,» Ebby," Tania says, watching the woman for a moment before she turns back to her plate, slumping down in her seat. She'll get around to finishing that sushi eventually.
«Always Tania. We'll have lunch next wednesday? We can try Indian food, I hope you like spicy» Not that she or Tania know that the odds of Abby meeting up with Tania will be nil. «Try this one» She puts one of a matching pair of fish on Tania's plate then on hers. At least for another ten minutes, they can keep learning Russian and trying new food.