Work Text:
Language - Last Days of War - Day two
Everyone collects something. Mako collects postcards, and covers the wall in her quarters above her bed in them. Sunsets, cherry blossom, beaches and city skylines hiding the cold steel beneath.
Herc Hansen, slightly predictably, collects beer mats and bottle tops. His wall is similarly decorated, together with an Australian flag and a pinned up rugby shirt.
Dr Geiszler, as it turns out when they finally stop snarling at each other and start talking like grownups, collects languages.
The drift has had the inconvenient side effect of giving Hermann terrible headaches when they fight, as though his own brain is being rattled. Besides, it feels more than a little odd to have fragments of Newt's memories, likes, dislikes, hopes and fears floating around in his conscious mind with no context. It's no good. He is going to be forced to get to know his walking disaster of a lab partner.
As it turns out, they have more than a little in common. They discuss their Alma maters, their parents, music, film, sport (Hermann doesn't know an awful lot about music or sport, but he's happy to let Newt ramble on as he works), anything which will take the edge off their possible impending doom. Hermann talks a little about his collection of pipes, clay, wood, China, some painted or beautifully carved, tucked away in a drawer back in his room.
‘I never knew you smoked? You seemed way too much of a hardass for anything like that’
‘I used to. Cigarettes, though. But, you know, asthma, and getting around is enough of a struggle, so I gave up when I was twenty five’ Hermann says cooly ‘And I'm only a hardass when you're being an inconsiderate jerk’
‘What because of a little mess? Dude, you really gotta learn to relax sometimes and - ah!‘ Newt, who has defensively gone up at least two octaves in tone, grasps his temple at a sudden sharp pain, an invisible screwdriver though the eyeball. ‘Motherfucker. Do you get those headaches too?’
Hermann nods ‘I don't think the drift likes us fighting. Or rather, our brains don't. So perhaps we should try and get along? I'm…’ This is almost as painful as the headaches, but only almost ‘I'm sorry I said you were a joke, Doctor’
‘Man, you really gotta drop the Doctor thing. Newt is fine, I swear. Please.’
‘Alright’ Hermann grumbles ‘Anyway…we were talking about our collections, I believe’
‘Oh, yeah! It's like, I used to have a bunch of action figures, star wars, Godzilla, Ghostbusters, that kinda thing, yknow?’ Newt gestures broadly with a scalpel, pushing his headlamp out of the way and making all his hair stick up alarmingly.
‘I've never watched the second two, but I’m familiar’ Hermann feels a smile tug at one corner of his long mouth.
‘Okay, first off we gotta do something about that -’ Newt ticks off on an index finger ‘And second, well, it's not like I could pack all that stuff up every single time I moved, right? Cos that was a bunch of times, like, from Germany to California and then I was in New York for like, ten minutes, and Berlin, Hong Kong, and like, everywhere, I guess.’
‘Seems a little sad though, not having anything of home, or any of the places you've studied’
‘Yeah, but that's the genius part, it's all up here’ He taps his temple, and grins
‘Well, I suppose you've always got the memories and-’
‘Nah, well, yeah - but not what I meant. I kinda like to learn something everywhere I go. Everywhere I've taught, or studied, or worked, I try and learn a language. Getting kinda good at it now’
‘Interesting. What happens if you go somewhere where you already speak the language?’
‘Then I pick a wild card’
‘Why?’
‘I dunno, man, why does anyone do anything? Did you never learn anything just because it was fun? To keep your mind busy?’
‘I preferred to keep myself sharp for my work.’
‘I guess, I think it sorta makes me a bit sharper, having something that's not work to think about’
‘How many are you on now?’
‘How many what?’
‘Languages’
‘Oh uh - I didn't really stop to count.’ He pauses for a moment, looking up at the rusting steel ceiling as he thinks. He's actually sort of gormlessly handsome when he looks off into the distance like that, Hermann muses to himself with a small smile.
‘Ten, I think, those ones are fluent. And like, mostly fluent in five more. So, English and German, obviously, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Japanese, Thai, Arabic, and the two wild card ones were Swahili and Welsh’
‘Welsh?’
‘Yeah. It was kinda fun at the time’
‘Have you even been to Wales?’
‘No, never.’
‘Are you going to? ‘
‘I dunno, maybe? Why, do you wanna come with me, after we kick thousands of tonnes of Kaijuu ass back into the breach?’ He says, with a winning smile
‘If we live through it, maybe - wait. Hold on just a moment, if, can I-?’ Hermann is looking at him wild eyed, like he's just had an idea
‘Gonna have to be a little more specific than that, man, use your words-’
‘Wyt ti'n siarad cymraeg? Dyn ni’n siarad cymraeg?’ Hermann looks sort of confused and vaguely horrified as his mouth forms the words
‘Ydw.’ Newt grins broadly ‘Woah. I mean your pronunciation is a little off but like…yeah, man, you can speak Welsh too now. Perks of the drift, I guess. You probably also know how to crochet now.’
‘I'm sure that'll be wonderfully useful in my work. In contrast you now know where the mop is and how to clean the lab after yourself-’
‘I already did, man, come on, you can't say some of the stuff you got from this big sexy brain isn't at least kind of cool’
Hermann rolls his eyes ‘I'm sure I'll find a use for it one day. But in the meantime, have you eaten anything today? Because the non stop thinking about spicy noodles isn't me’
‘I mean, no, that's gonna take a little bit to get comfy with. Wanna have lunch with me maybe?’
‘You know, Newt, that might actually be nice.’