making mistakes

"It looks a lot like ASL, when it comes to syntax and some of the words." He said, shrugging. As a linguist, he'd been more than eager to learn it, but the thing with languages is that they fade away if they're not used. "I should show up one of these days." He said. Theo chuckled. "Oh no, I'm sure I was their diversity quota, which is why I always got a medal in the end, regardless of how far behind I made it to the finish line." Theo smiled. "Sometimes I'd actually take the opportunity to smoke some weed by myself in the middle of the lake. They couldn't get to me there." He confessed, laughing at the good ol' days. "Do you think we'll get a medal?"

"Ooh, interesting, I would say I'll learn it but I struggled enough to learn ASL" she admitted. Emily had learnt sign language late so it hadn't been so easy but she was starting to become a bit more natural with it. She laughed lightly when he suggested that he was the diversity quota, "I mean, that sounds like a great gig," she laughed. "I mean we better, otherwise we'll just call them out for lack of inclusion," she declared, "between us we are disabled, deaf and queer so..." she laughed. Emily never really took her deafness seriously, it had taken time to really accept it as part of her identity but now it was just a thing, like being blonde and liking women.

—Starter for @emilyybrown Location: The Burger Joint

She was rather relieved when he explained that he had a cat, though she also didn't see him as the pet parent type. "You are a responsible for keeping a being alive?" she questioned. "Doesn't seem like you're doing a particularly good job by looking at your arms." Emily had dogs, dogs she understood, dogs gave her love on demand, cats were just a little too fickle.

the last thing that cleo was going to do was tell the other that she wasn't interested in tagging along with whatever it was she was wanting to get into. after all, emily had been persistent when it came to being her friend and she was thankful that the other had been so sure about being her friend, especially when most people would have given up. emily didn't though and that meant more to her than she'd ever be able to express.

Emily was usually on her best behaviour with Cleo, she didn't want to scare the other off, which was why she tended to slow down a little and not come on quite so strong, it was also why she didn't flirt with Cleo at every given opportunity. Cleo was a sweetheart, and Emily appreciated her warm energy. Emily wasn't always warm, for Cleo it seemed natural and effortless.

"That works, don't worry. Tap me if you don't understand something and I'll fingerspell it for you." Which was a lazy alternative he wasn't so happy with; he loathed nothing more than to not be fluent. It was a matter of pride to his polyglot self. "I'm considering taking classes soon. I'm mostly familiar with french sign language, and it's not very useful here." He shrugged. "Oh, I rowed, it doesn't mean I was particularly great at it. We can use the competitiveness."

"Deal," she smiled. "French sign language, nice, I do not know any of that sorry." When he mentioned taking classes she smiled, "they run some classes at True Colours, and also an informal ASL chat session," she explained, "that's what I go to, it's a good chance to practise, it's a mixture of all abilities." Emily still wasn't a hundred percent fluent, she hadn't been signing all her life like a lot of deaf people, she'd come to it late. "I'm pretty sure you have to be good to make the rowing team," she countered, "is rowing a respectful sport or can I trash talk the other teams?" she asked.

"Well, you're not really supposed to use your hands in soccer." Jessica countered, head tilting. But it was sort of amusing that the blonde had done track, so not exactly transferrable skills either. Sounds like they'd be pretty easily matched. And while Jessica did enjoy winning, they weren't a sore loser by any means. "Blue it is," A nod, handing them over to the other, moving to stand the line that had been painted on the ground, presumably where they were supposed to stand for throwing. "I think that's pretty much the gist of it." @emilyybrown

"Oh that is true," Emily agreed, realising her own mistake, "though you could be a goalkeeper, how am I supposed to know?" she countered, never being one to just accept defeat. Emily moved to the opposite side, preparing to take her turn. "After you," she said, gesticulating to Jessie to take the first turn. "So, are you new in town or am I just too wrapped up in myself to notice?" she asked, she hoped it was the former but it also was likely to be the latter.

Mei honestly didn't know how she had gotten so lucky. It was really one of those things where everything had fallen into place. Despite the falling out with her family, she would have still done it and anything when it came to her family. At the end of the day, her wife and kids came first before anyone. " I don't really know, I guess fate as silly as that sounds. " Believing in fate hadn't really been something Mei had or would have believed in growing up but now looking at her life and how happy she was she couldn't help but do so. " You'll find someone though, I am sure of it. I think you'll know too when you meet them just like I did. "

"Fate, got it," she said as if that was a practical plan that she could follow to achieve what she wanted. Though in all honesty Emily wasn't sure what she wanted, being alone was no fun, but committing to someone also felt like the scariest thing a person could ever do. "Hey, you should know me well enough to know that it's highly likely I'll walk straight past whomever fate tries to put in my way," she admitted.

Aarti stared at her friend, her eyes bugging out. "I do not need that image in my head right now, Em." She shook her head, trying to dispel the thought of a hot air balloon bursting into flames mid-flight. Now she was second guessing her judgment. Despite wanting to try something new, the idea of being suspended in a basket hundreds of feet in the air, with only a thin fabric and some hot air keeping them aloft, made her stomach churn. "I thought you were the daredevil out of the two of us. Don't tell me you're going soft on me now?" She teased. "What's next, are you going to start refusing to go on roller coasters, too?"

"Filter, got it," she said, wincing a little with guilt. Emily had a tendency to talk before thinking, and suggesting that hot air balloons were a death trap was probably not the best thing to do before her friend went up in one. Her face turned into a pout though as Aarti suggested that Emily was being a wimp. "Hey, rollercoasters are a feat of engineering, there is on control over that," she declared over enthusiastically, "whereas those are just a bit of physics and a lot of trust."

"I can accept that," she laughed with Emily's words, "if I have to be the fall guy, I will." Even if no one had asked her to be, that was merely the type of person she was, even in the situational humor. "Puppies absolutely," Dilan had never imagined that she would be a dog person but when she came across Tina volunteering at the shelter, it was love at first sight. Dilan had taken her out a number of times prior to adopting her and she had quickly adjusted to the Barak household, even with the cat. "It's so hard not to fall in love with all those puppy kisses." @emilyybrown

"Deal," she grinned, happy to leave the responsibility at Dilan's feet. In truth though, Emily probably had more restraint that most people, she'd built that up over years, it was a skill she practised daily. Emily immediately beelined towards the puppies when Dilan gave the word, watching as they bounded over one another, knocking each other about. One sat solitary though in the corner which got Emily's attention and once she was surrounded she immediately picked the little copper coloured puppy up, "I have banned myself from shelters, because everytime I go and I end up with a dog," sure it'd only happened twice but that was more than enough.

Mei nodded sympathetically as Emily recounted her date experience. "Oh, I understand," she replied with a gentle smile. "It's disappointing when a date doesn't live up to expectations. But hey, at least you got some coffee out of it, right?" Mei chuckled softly, trying to lighten the mood. "Maybe next time you'll find someone a bit more stimulating." She sipped her tea, contemplating the complexities of dating as she listened to Emily's story.

"Well that is true, but the down side of queer dating is that you have to pay for the coffee," she joked with a smile. "Fingers crossed, the apps seem to be mainly girls who never reply or couples trying to find a third." Emily had never been very good at dating, hooking up yes, she was great at that, but anything more never seemed to stick, she was sure that a psychologist would say she had commitment issues and they'd probably be right. "I just want a hot wife, how did you get one of those?"

"It's alright." He said, moving forward to reach the renting table. "It's a good opportunity for me to practise my ASL." Theo was a language enthusiast, but he'd focused on french sign language, and eventually british, rather than american. "Plus, my signing isn't so fluent, so excuse my dexterity." And he hated that, but he had physical limits too. "I was in the rowing team back in Cambridge. The one thing that could ever make me wake up early. Well, aside from the twins now."

"Oh you know ASL, perfect, I'll sit at the back, that work for you?" she asked, that way she would be able to see any important signs over his shoulder, and she didn't mind using her voice even with her processors off. "Hey, no judgement here, anything is better than nothing," she grinned. "Oh shit, you're the real deal," she said, "I feel like now I should warn you that although I am highly competitive, I have zero skills when it comes to this particular sport."

Emily had been closely working with her and her family for well over a year now. Mei wouldn't have hired her if she didn't trust her, nor would she have let her around her own daughter. Mei was a big believer that if people made mistakes, they deserved a second chance. Especially when it came professionally. " You don't have to do that. " Mei really wasn't super hungry at this point and was still having a hard time keeping stuff down if she did eat she would at least try to drink something. " How about a camellia tea. " The couple still had yet to tell everyone close to them about the pregnancy wanting to wait until they were a little more in the clear. " Besides work, how has everything been? "

"Tea it is," she said, ordering Mei's drink before ordering herself a coffee and a bagel with cream cheese. When it came to food Emily always had room, especially for bagels. "Relatively boring," she answered, "which for me is probably a good thing." Emily had had some parts of her life that were anything but boring, but they weren't exactly good either. "I did go on a date yesterday," she explained, "just coffee, but she was boring, so so boring."