Work Text:
False looks around at the still landscape through her window. The trees move ever-so-slightly in the breeze, and the grass shuffles around in places where she assumes an animal is moving by. She wishes she could go out there instead of being stuck on the monorail train. It's such a nice day, and she really needs a break before the ice skating starts.
Shoving her skates out of the way, False finds her bag and starts digging around in it. There's a few miscellaneous things—a camera, a book or two, various gadgets she's been working on—but she quickly finds her embroidery pouch. As she pulls it out of the backpack, the sequins Ren decorated it with shimmer in the sunlight. Momentarily blinded, False almost drops the satchel, but manages to pick it back up again.
She grabs the jacket she's working on from the space next to her and starts work. She's fairly new to this whole embroidery thing, but it's going well! It's not particularly difficult once she gets into the rhythm, which makes it a nice background task to do while she's waiting—like now.
The train still hasn't left. It's at least 10 minutes late, last time False checked her phone. What are they waiting for?? She can't hear the announcement from in here—not when the door's closed. All the new tech is very useful, but sometimes tends to have the opposite effect and do the wrong thing. Soundproofing is one of those 'should be useful but actually aren't' things, and it's really annoying False. She just wants to hear the stupid train instructor! How hard can that be.
False groans and returns to her work, occasionally looking up at the window when she sees a spot of movement from outside. A few bugs crawl across a rock while she works on it, which makes her hold up her jacket and compare the two. Her half-done bug stitches are almost the same creature.. if you really squint for it.
A rushing sound pulls her away from the comparison. False looks up and around the room, spotting a hand attempting to open the door. False quickly makes a face at the painful looking procedure and sets her jacket, hopping up from her bed to rush over to the door. She presses the button on the side a couple times—it doesn't seem to do anything. Ah, that's why they're struggling… she pries open the door a bit until she feels a warm hand grab hers and pull itself through.
The person in front of her—now identified as a woman with long braids and a fluffy coat, holding a massive duffel bag—pants a little, chuckling and speaking something in another language. She wipes her brow, and looks up at False.
"Uh- hi! Nice to meet you, I'm False! Assuming you're here as the other person in the carriage?" False grins. She's honestly happy to have another person with her. It gets slightly lonely on overnight trips like these, and her old-fashioned mini jukebox can only keep her entertained for so long.
The girl looks a little shocked, but smiles politely. She nods and opens her mouth, but it takes her a second to speak.
"Aha hello! I'm- my name is Gem!" Gem stumbles over the phrasing for a second, as if she's not quite sure of the way the words sit on her tongue. "Not very good at, uh, English," She nods sheepishly.
False lets out a quiet noise of understanding. "Oh! All good," she reaches out for a handshake. "Hi, Gem!"
Gem shakes her hand, then buckles over with the weight of her massive bag. False grimaces and quickly takes it off her hands, placing it down on the bed across from her. It takes up… a lot of space, admittedly. False realises this and goes to pick it up again, but Gem has already shrugged and sat down on False's bed instead.
"Ha- I guess if you wanna sit there, it's fine! I'm not taking up much space, so I'm sure there's enough room for both of us." False carefully chooses her words—Gem obviously doesn't speak much English, but she might understand more verbally?
The other woman grins and nods. She puts her bag down on the floor, pushing it next to False's skates. As soon as she spots them, she lets out a happy noise of excitement and stands up again.
"I do it too! Ice skating!!" Gem exclaims, pulling out her own skates from within her bag. "You are also going to the competition?"
"I am!!" False said. "You also skate? That's pretty cool!"
Gem nods and does a little spin around, mimicking how she acts on ice. "Fantastic! Very exciting!"
False giggles slightly, a blush rising to her cheeks. "Yes!!" She doesn't know what else to say—Gem is obviously a pretty good skater, judging by the quality of her shoes and the general way she holds herself. It's very much the 'figure skater look', and False enjoys it. She's never been able to have that gracefulness that others might have. Not a bad skater, just lacking in that certain way that Gem carries herself…
Gem settles down on False's bed, taking off her coat and putting it beside her. False follows suit with shuffling around to find a nice position and picking up her embroidery again. They fall into a quiet stillness, the only sound being the sound of a book's pages flipping and the prick of a needle. A few hours pass like this. It's a nice break for False from everything; the loudness of the futuristic city she now lives in and the constant rush of moving between work and practice preparing for the competition. Gem seems to be enjoying it too, with her slight smile as she flips through her novel.
After a while, False hums to herself to break the silence. She eventually thinks back to her jukebox—she should play it! Surely Gem wouldn't mind.
"Do you mind if I play a disc on the jukebox?"
A slight sound of surprise bursts from Gem's mouth and she looks up, eyes wide. "Yeah! No worries! What disc?"
"Ha!" False pulls out her jukebox and a sleeve of various music discs. "I don't mind! We have cat, blocks, mellohi… and I just got otherside, too! Take your pick!"
The sound of the flipping through the sleeves brings False some joy. It's been a while since she's heard that sound—not since Pokemon was still a big thing. Ren used to enjoy it (possibly still does; False should check that) and had hundreds of fancy cards in massive binders just like the one she stores her discs in.
"It's very.. non-electronic.?" Gem states with a questioning tone.
False tilts her head. "Non-electronic? I… yeah. Analogue, maybe?" She suggests, and Gem makes a noise of understanding. "Analogue… I couldn't spell that." She laughs.
"Honestly! Neither could I, and I've been speaking this language for years. It's really a tricky one." False shrugs. She mutters under her breath to spell it out, but gives up. Where do the u's and o's go??
"Hmm… A-N-N-A-L-O-U-G ? Maybe? Oh- Can we do this one?" Gem parses her lips trying to decide, then points at the otherside disc in its sleeve.
False grins and nods. "That's my favourite! Of course- give me a moment-"
She reaches over to get the jukebox which sits in its case on the floor by Gem. As she does, her face brushes with Gem's hair—why is it so soft? A moment of hesitation turns into three and suddenly False realises she's been frozen in one spot for far too long, feeling Gem's hair on her cheek.
"You're okay? Or no?" Gem asks with a laugh. False chuckles nervously and nods, grabbing the jukebox and jerking away. As she does, she sees Gem press her hands to her cheeks, as if she's trying to cool them down. Spotting the eye contact, Gem giggles and turns away, pretending to read her book again.
…huh. Anyways.. False eases the disc out of its case and puts it into the box, smiling as the first notes play clear. She sets it down by the window, looking over to Gem for approval.
"Ohh fantastic! It sounds good!" Gem says. She bops her head slightly to the music, letting out a tiny hum when the beat drops. "I like the music from the old times. New music is too… much. "
False nods. "I prefer the older stuff, too. All this cyberpunk-y tech is a little overwhelming, so I just stick with my good old analogue." She pats her jukebox and old-looking phone.
"Even my hobbies!" She adds, gesturing to her embroidery.
Gem lets out a small gasp seeing it. "Oh, wow!" She nods frantically. "Fantastic!"
False blushes at the praise. She's not used to others seeing or taking much notice of her work. "Thank you! I quite like bugs, so I decided to embroider them onto this thrifted jacket I got."
Gem gasps again. She must love this, huh? False feels a twinge of strangely intense affection, and that only increases as Gem suddenly pushes forward to look closer. They're touching now—Gem's hand is planted firmly on False's leg (Gem obviously doesn't notice), and she's leaning in a lot as well. False pretends not to notice; Gem doesn't, so why should she?
"Oh my goodness! It's so pretty! The bugs! Bugs are fantastic. And thrifting! That's the, uh, second arm- no, second hand thing?"
False nods, but before she can say anything, Gem grins and continues talking.
"Pretty… I thrifted the, uh, coat!" Gem gestures to her coat discarded on the floor. "I wish I could do your thing." She sighs dreamily, looking at it with awe. "Such.. what's the word? Doing it…"
False laughs. "Such doing it?"
"Yes!" Gem giggles, then fake pouts. "Too little words! I can't say it!"
False parses her lips, trying to think. "Uhh…"
As she thinks, Gem leans forward ever so slightly, not quite enough for False to notice. "…I wish I could say it proper."
"Hm?" False blinks, suddenly aware of how close they are. "I- what?"
"I don't have the words."
Gem sighs, and leans forward again. False's eyes widen. What is Gem doing? God- she wishes she could see inside the other's brain, this doesn't make sense. Gem's eyes are no longer on the jacket, rather on False's awkward smile instead.
"Pretty.. ARGH!" Gem is pulled back away from False as the train jolts suddenly. She lets out noises of unintelligible struggle and a few aggressive sounding words from a language False can't speak.
"Are you okay?? Oh shit, that was intense!" False exclaims, concern written into her words. Gem laughs nervously and tries to pull herself up from where she's sat on the floor.
"Yes.. I think." She wipes off her clothes and winces slightly as she gets up. "Oof."
False looks at her worriedly. "You look hurt…"
"No! No, no, it's good! I'm good." Gem blushes. "I don't.."
She trails off, looking like she's considering words. "I don't know how to say. I don't want to do something you, uh, don't like?"
False looks at her in confusion. "I'm sorry- I don't know what you mean? You weren't doing anything wrong.."
Gem tenses up and looks away. "Ah, don't. It's good. It's okay."
It's silent for a moment. False doesn't understand, really, what Gem's saying. She's racking her brain to think of translations, but she's not used to talking to people in this way. She wishes she could know—obviously Gem thinks it's important, but… False sighs. There's all those fancy translators out there in the world—hundreds of thousands of apps, all with perfect accuracy. But she doesn't have those, and neither does Gem. The downside to being analogue—the language barrier is real and can't just be fixed with an app because neither of them have the technology.
Gem bites her lip and turns away. "I can read again. It's good. Do not… it's good."
False furrows her brow. "Oh- okay… I'm sorry."
Gem merely shrugs as a response.
The last leg of the journey, finally. Three days and two nights later, Gem and False are almost there. They're so very close… it's been so long stuck in this tiny little carriage, only really going out to explore or eat. Both of them are tired and extremely excited to go out and skate again… it's been too long.
Gem didn't take long to talk again after what happened at the start. They had a nice little while of silence before she eventually finished her book and attempted to speak to False again, this time with renewed confidence. They spent… many hours there trying to understand each other—False didn't quite realise how many words Gem was missing from English, and how limited she was. Yes, she knew how to say things like 'competition' and 'crowned' but sorry wasn't something she had learnt. False did her best at teaching, despite their limited communication and bad charades. By the end of the night, however, Gem had learnt shockingly a lot! She was still confused, but making some connections and understanding a little more.
"I'm ready!" Gem exclaims as the train enters into the small competition town. "Ice skating! So fantastic!"
False grins. "You'll do great at the competition, I'm sure!"
"Hah! I know. I will be fantastic… I will be crowned winner!" Gem nods and spins around, faking an axel.
Suddenly, another thought enters False's mind. As she watches Gem spin, she feels an intense urge to.. do something. False isn't sure what, but surely something. She looks around for a moment, trying to find anything that'll make sense.
Her eyes land on the jacket. Surely… Gem's loved the jacket. She's been watching False intensely every time she started the embroidery, commenting 'fantastic!' or 'prettyyy' on everything she did on it. And, look, it wasn't an expensive jacket. It's high quality, but fairly cheap. False can always just replace it if she needs it, right?
She picks up the jacket and bundles it up in her hands. Gem's stopped spinning now, and is looking curiously at False's behaviours.
"For you, Gem." She holds out the jacket in front of her, making sure the bugs are in sight. "You liked it a lot so… I thought maybe you could have it!"
Gem steps back, shaking her head. "No- no no no, it's you! It's for you! Not me!"
False grins. "I'm giving it to you now, though! It's yours!"
"Oh…" Gem considers for a moment. "Thank you. What did I do?"
She blushes, giggling slightly. "You just.. y'know. You were cool. Fantastic, even!"
Gem laughs and takes the jacket out of False's hands. She brings it up to her chest and smiles. "It's so fantastic! So pretty! You're very.. good at doing it."
"Talented? Why, thank you!"
"Talented! You're so talented… so pretty, too."
False blushes. "Now, that's a lot… you're so talented and pretty and fantastic too!"
The two of them giggle at each other, going back and forth for a while. Eventually, the train comes to a stop, though.
"Oh… see you in the competition, then?" Gem asks False as they pack up their belongings.
"See you there! Yeah.." False trails off, not sure how to phrase it. Maybe she's not the only one without the words to say what she needs…