"Sunset," Seth said as they boarded the plane, "Full disclosure: I know about as much Russian as a five-year-old that's been electrocuted does."
"You lucky son-of-a-bitch."
"Oh, is it fine if I sit with Sofia on the way to Germany? I think Liz and Autumn really want to talk to you on the way back," Seth said, "I mean, we'll be just across the aisle."
"Sure," Sunset smiled, "I find her... interesting."
As everyone took their seats, Autumn, Liz, and Sunset started being easily the chattiest bunch on the flight, whereas Sofia had brought a decent-sized backpack full of books and magazines, all in Rusinglish. Sofia's skills at reading English were admittedly terrible, along with Seth's complete lack of actual Russian, so it worked out.
When everyone was settled in and the flight took off, Sofia jammed her bag in between her and Seth so they could start burning through the stuff.
The first two things pulled out were Чемицал Цаталог, a physics magazine based around chemicals, pulled out by Sofia, and Ретро Цомпутинг Монтхлы, a retro-tech magazine, retrieved by Seth.
"Quick question," Seth said as they were a few pages in, "Do you ever use Belorussian instead of just Russian?"
"Only if I have to. It stupid that some people want documents in local languages, especially sending between labs in Minsk, Kiev, and Moskva."
"That is stupid."
"Da. Next document I make is just going to be Russian. They deal with it."
Without so much as looking up, they gave each other a fist bump.
Sunset was amazed, still, at just how open they were to her.
"Sunset, do ya kna Rusinglish?"
"I have never heard of that."
"It's one of those things that mixes two languages," Autumn said.
"English written wif the bloody Russian alphabet. I fin' you'd loike ter learn it."
Sunset looked over Liz's shoulder to see the duo reading with their legs crossed, "That's what that is."
"Daan't worry, they're Beechams Pill the bleedin' weirdos 'round 'ere."
"What? Weirdos?"
"Trust me," Autumn said, putting a hand on Sunset's shoulder, "If you knew them like the rest of us."
The three girls went into a fit of laughter.
"Sofia?" Seth said, getting out a Zune and two pairs of headphones from his bag.
"Da."
"Music?"
"Please."