Chapter 1-007c
I know Natacha was around as I saw her chatting with Jade before. But I was not certain if she was willing to chat again, so I approached her, only for her to face me.
“Yes?”
“Oh, Nikki!”
“Hey! Are you alright?”
“I thought I slept enough hours, but somehow I still feel tired… So I just opted to chat with some people.”
“Aside that, yeah, I’m fine! You?”
“Not bad but not great.”
“Yeah, I understand… I feel the same.”
“Back in the hall, what the hell was all the noise about?”
“The hall…? Oh!”
“I already told this to Jade but, basically, Steve and Takumi got in an arm wrestling match. And well… Steve got his ass kicked. Metaphorically, of course.”
“Wild. So that’s why...”
“I just don’t understand how I was dragged in the situation, but well… That’s done.”
“Anyway! Nat!”
“Yes?”
“How many animation festivals did you go to in your life, you’d say?”
“Hm… About a dozen. I’ve actually been in a panel much less frequently that I’ve been going. Maybe twice or thrice, if I recall.”
“I often go to watch what the others’ styles are, and their techniques… I ask questions to understand as well as sharing my experiences. I also apply what I learned from others to my future projects.”
“Did you befriend anyone in a festival?”
“A few but my most memorable one is…”
“When I got a table, two years ago, I shared it with someone, and it happened to be Theo!”
“He is tall, but also very gentle. Theo is a children’s book author as well! You might have heard about him likely!”
“Theo… Theo...”
Theo, huh? I wasn’t sure if I recalled someone with that name… Unless… There was English and French translations of the books he authored…
“Oh! I remember who you’re talking about!”
Of course, I saw some of his books translated on the shelves of the libraries in my town. I wasn’t going to dive in children’s books, but I certainly remember who he was.
“Yeah! So, I did met him there, and we talked to each other about our occupations.”
“Around the end of the festival, before we packed up, I took the chance to ask him out..! I was so nervous!”
“And what did he say?”
“He said yes! I could tell he was nervous… But it was genuine. We did take our time to know each other better. Though, it was almost like destiny brought us together!”
“Aw, this is sweet! I hope it’s been doing well for you two..!”
“It has! We kept in touch since then.”
“...Well. Until I ended up here along with you and the others.”
“Yeah, same.”
“What about you, Nikki?”
I spoke to her the same thing I told Takumi about my boyfriend, we asked to each other questions about our boyfriends. It was overall a very pleasant conversation. Eventually, our topic went on to her sign language.
“Tell me, Nat… Mind teaching me some sign language..?”
“Of course! Just tell me what you wanna know and I’ll help you with that.”
I asked her about her province’s signs and alphabet in general. It wasn’t simple, but I think I got a hang of that.
“Learning sign language does require practice, so it’s okay if you don’t always get it right the first time, keep going and you’ll get better!”
“Yeah, that’s fair...”
“Still, thank you for taking your time to teach me! I am more than happy to learn.”
“No problem, we can resume tomorrow if you’d like!”
“Yeah, of course! Talk to you later!”
“Yeah, see you!”
Waving at her, Natacha did close the door after I went away from the room. It was pleasant to learn more about her and the fact that she didn’t mind taking her time to teach me her first language is what’s really cool. I feel more at ease today.
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