milliways_bar | (no subject)

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When Gyda comes into Milliways, she's dressed more then a little different than those who'd know her had seen her. Instead of her usual combination of modern and homespun, she's wearing a knee length, navy blue skirt, light blue long sleeved shirt and red and blue necktie. Wrapped around her waist is a sweatshirt the same color as her skirt. At her side is a black messenger bag strapped to her shoulder, the contents clearly a bunch of books.

For a moment, she looks around in surprise. According to her timetable, she's supposed to be in dining hall for lunch, but milliways sought to make itself appear instead.

Gyda said a silent thanks to the gods. This way, she could get in some food without being asked a thousand questions.

She settled onto the nearest table, dropping her bag to the floor with a heavy flood. She knew starting a proper school would be new and tiring, but it never occurred to her that the other children would be as curious about her as she was to them. Soon as the other students knew where she was from, that she was neither Jewish, christian or Muslim, but believed in other gods, far from being offended, they kept hounding her with questions. If she hadn't been as fast as she'd been, Gyda wasn't sure she'd make it to any of her classes in time.

And she still had two more classes for the day.

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"Do you go to school now?" Fry asks, looking at the bag.

She nodded. "My foster father enrolled me in what's called a private school, because the teachers are used to working with students who speak other languages." She could speak some Hebrew by now, but only enough to get by.

"I go to private school." Fry says. "But I think only a few of us speak English as a second language."

"I live near a place called Tiberius. Most of those in the school speak Hebrew." The language she actually found fascinating, but learning it was tricky. "I can speak and understand some of the language, but I'm still learning."

"I'm nearly bilingual, but English is my first language." Fry says. "My friend Xiao speaks Mandarin as her first language, and Kasha speaks Polish at home."

"Mandarin's taught as a language at school." She still had the list of class courses with her. "I'm supposed to be taking a language course this semester, but because I'm already learning Hebrew and taking tutoring for english, they said I could wait till next term."

Another reason for a private school, the teachers were more willing to make exceptions. "I'm wondering if I should take latin or french next term." She was leaning towards French, but Latin seemed pretty big in her own time-least for England.

Edited 2016-09-08 21:19 (UTC)

"Mandarin is hard." Fry says. "Xiao has to take classes outside school to do the hanzi. We do a little bit of French in school, but not much. Dad says we'll do it more in secondary school."

"Learning Hebrew is hard." She countered. "The words sound.." She tried to think out to describe it. "The sounds are like coming from the back of your throat, and the way you have to move your tongue is strange."

It's an interesting challenge though, definitely not something she'd try back home.

Gyda ordered some baked fish and potatoes, before pulling her schedule and handing it to him. "These are the classes I'm taking this term."

Edited 2016-09-08 21:38 (UTC)

Fry looks at the schedule.

"Where's the rest of the afternoon and the rest of the week?" he asks.

"I wish my school started that early."

"This is just my class schedule." She didn't really get what he meant by the afternoon. "After class ends I get tutoring for English language, but that's only because school ends at two thirty in the afternoon."

"Oh. My school finishes at three." Fry says. "And we don't do the same subjects every day."

"Maybe's it's different for other schools." Given that she wasn't experienced with schools outside of what was selected, she really didn't have an idea on how others were run. "What subjects do you have?"

"I'm at primary school." Fry says. "I'm guessing you're at secondary school.

"I do English, Maths, Geography, History, Science, Art, Music and Drama, and I do extra lessons in Speech and Drama, and Piano. But sometimes we do projects which have more than one subject in, because I have the same teacher for all of them."

"That's what they call it." Maybe it should've occurred to her that children and young adults had different schools, but she only considered it as 'private'. "I'm also told that just before the winter holidays I'll have to sign up for different classes."

Maybe that's why her schedule was different: because the autumn and spring terms were different. "The only extra class I'm getting is to help with my english and maybe whatever work I need help translated."

"We all do the same, except the extra ones." Fry says.

"Do you like it?"

"I don't know." She'd been so busy trying to get used to how things are run that she wasn't able to decide if she liked it or not. "Mostly it's just a lot of rushing around, and the other teens keep wanting me to talk about sagas and vikings."

"They know you're a Viking?"

"They know I'm from Norway." She clarified. "And I'm not viking, not yet." He would notice she said 'not viking' rather then 'not a viking'. "Being viking means being a seafarer and raider, I never had the chance to do either yet."

She picked at her lunch as she spoke. In all likelihood, she might get something to eat back in the dining hall, but it would be easy to talk with the other students if she wasn't focused on eating. "They know I couldn't be viking, but they want to know if I know any."

Which was true, her father was viking, but she couldn't completely say so without giving details.

"We have three new kids in my class." Fry says. "One doesn't really say anything."

She thought this over. She was never entirely that talkative unless she was really friends with someone, but in this case. "Maybe they're overwhelmed..or is it like me and they're still learning your language?"

Both of which could make a person quiet. She definitely preferred keeping silent if there was too much going on.

Edited 2016-09-09 21:33 (UTC)

Fry considers this.

"She has a Welsh accent but she seems to speak perfect English when she does talk, and her parents speak perfect English."

Gyda slumped into the chair, trying to think back to what she knew and what Fry told her. "She could just be really shy. When Athelstan first came to live with us, he spoke our language, but he was so new and everything was probably strange to him, so he never really spoke unless spoken to."

Of course there was more to it, but Gyda didn't think Fry would wish to hear the exact details of Athelstan arriving as their slave. Besides, he was a free man now. "He warmed up in the end, he just had to get used to everyone."

Another simplification. "Why did her parents move her to a new school anyway?"

She must've been educated already, so Gyda couldn't think why the change.

"She didn't say. But I think she was bullied, because I saw some kids from The Gates call her Piggy."

"Hello, Gyda," says Father Harman, who is sitting at a table with some books, as usual. "You look rather different."

Pause.

"You are Gyda?"

She looked up, frowning as she tried to recall the priests name. "Father Harman. I'm still her, I'm being fostered by Ganymede."

She asked Bar for some baked fish and potatoes. "I asked if I could go to a modern school, and he's sent me to what's called a private school. He said it was because the teachers were better, and they are used to students who don't speak hebrew."

The latter was more of a plus as far as she was concerned.

"Hebrew?" Father Harman asks. "You're in Israel, with Ganymede?"

She nodded. "I can speak basic Hebrew now, but I still need to focus to understand." And not all of the teachers used the notes as reference. "They're also having me work with a tutor a half hour after school."

Frankly, she'd rather try to go to one of the clubs or the sports teams, but that was for older students.

"So you haven'T been here for a while?" Father Harman asks.

"Not as long as I have been." She answered. "I've been getting used to living in Israel and getting ready for the school."

"Which you are now starting on," Father Harman says. "Did you happen to see your father lately?"

She shook her head. "I haven't seen him for awhile." She wondered how he was doing, how Athelstan was doing. "I've some presents I'd like to give them when we eventually do see eachother."

Which, now that she was living some place else would be tricky. "Have you seem them? I'm especially worried about Athelstan."

"Not since last Sunday," Harman says. "I talked to your father then, and I'm looking for him now."

"What did the two of you talk about?" She was aware that most adults didn't wish to share things with younger people, but she still wanted to know. At the very least, she might find out what was going on.

"Private things," Harman says, "that need a follow-up, so I am looking for him. Tell him so if you see him before I do."

"I will." THat meant she'd have to find him, but even so she wanted to tell him of what it was like going a school. "Though I don't know if Milliways will let us see eachother again. I'm actually hear during the lunch period."

"As far as I know, he hasn't left for his world yet," Harman says.

That got her attention, making her look up from her meal. "Really?" She quickly thought to her time with him here. "He could be in the woods, by the lake..oh, he could be with my goats, he promised to take care of them while I'm away."

There could be any number of places where he'd be.

"I didn't look for him at the goat pen yet," Harman admits.

She immediately stood up from the table, reaching down to grab at the messenger bag. "Lets go now! I want to see my goats too."

She didn't wait for an answer from him before heading towards the back of the bar towards the barn and goat pen. For all her father said he'd take care of her goats for her, she till missed them.

Father Harman smiles, takes a few of his books, and follows her.

When they reach the goats, however, there is no Ragnar there. They are well fed and cared for, though.

She frowned, certain that's where he'd be. Of course, likely he's already been there, they just missed him.

The goats definitely missed her. Soon as she was close enough to the pen, Gyda would found herself all but swarmed with goats, and ones that weren't so little anymore. Before she was aware of it, she yelped as she found herself knocked to the ground.

She shouted and pushed them away, struggling back to her feet.

"Do you need help?" Father Harman enquires.

"I'm alright." She pulled herself up to the fence, shoving the goats back enough for her to climb up over the gate. "Ugh..I thought he'd be here."

The barn was an easier place to visit then trecking through the woods or mountains. He could've been anywhere within those areas.

She brushed off her skirt, frowning at the blotches made from being run over.

"You'll need to reassemble yourself before going back to school," Harman says. "It would be rather hard to make them believe your uniform was ruined by spontaneous cuddly goats."

There were goats along the countryside of their area, but even Gyda felt she wouldn't pull that excuse off. She tried another attempt to brush the dirt off of herself.

"I'll ask Bar if she could replace the skirt." Her shirt was more salvageable.

She sighed and straightened herself up. "Father could either be in the mountains or the forest. We could also pass by the lake.."

Her voice drifted off, feeling dejected at knowing the places he could be, but just as well knowing she couldn't walk to them all at once.

"I think it will be much more sensible for me to keep looking for him in the bar," Father Harman says. "Sooner or later, he'll turn up."

She gripped the fense, knowing what he said made sense, but she still wasn't entirely happy with it. "I've some presents I want to give him and Athelstan. I should leave them with Bar."

That way all she'll need to do when she does see them is to ask Bar for them.

"That is probably a good idea," Father Harman says. "We can't know when they will be back."

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