Butterfly listened as Tses began to sound out the words and read them. She was very proud of her for trying and for doing well for her first attempt at reading. When all of a sudden, Tses snapped and got frustrated. Butterfly looked up at her and said "You were doing really well. Most people who don't know how to read, don't even know how to sound out words. Come back over here and try again. That's the only way you'll learn. And though it may sound horrible to you right now. You have to remember that you're just starting out and that as you practice and do it more, then it'll sound better and flow better. But to get to that point you have to practice and push yourself to read. You'll never get past it sounding choppy unless you read more." Chloe smiled up at Tses to give her some encouragement and patted the bed again for her to come and sit back down. "Besides you said yourself that you wanted to read a page and you haven't got there yet. And when you do, I'll be you'll feel so proud of yourself for getting that far and you'll feel better about it if you keep trying."

Tses took a deep breathe in and out through her nose, her mouth still a tight line. She wanted to keep reading. She did, but it seemed like she was in over her head right now. She wasn't smart enough to read. She was struggling with every sound and sentence. But Chloe's encouragement at least got her to sit, and she looked back over the sentence.

So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could.... She skimmed over it, then looked at what was still left. "For the h...ot, hot d....ah...day... day, m....made her f...ehl fell?" That didn't make sense. Why would she make her fell? What would the make her do... The hot day made her... "Feel." That sounded more logical. "v...vehry. Very, sl.....slee....pyyeh....sleepy and stupid. Sleepy and stupid sounds about right." Tses murmured. She pushed the book back towards Chloe.

"You try...." She said, glancing at her shoes.

Butterfly smiled as Tses continued to practice reading. When Tses pushed the book back towards her and told her to try, Butterfly nudged it back at Tses and said, "You're halfway through the sentence. You can finish the rest of it. You're doing great so far. You're even reasoning through the words and finding the most logical ones that it could be in the sentence as you read it. I'm so proud of you Tses. Tell you what. If you finish up the rest of that sentence, then I'll read the next couple of sentences after that."

Tses didn't want to keep reading. It was frustrating when she got the words wrong, and it was hard to make sense of all of them. But Chloe had a way of convincing her to go ahead and try, so she found herself slowly accepting the book again. She gave Butterfly a stern look as she did though, and frowned. "Only this sentence though." She remarked, then turned back to the book with a deep breathe. The words swam momentarily, but she managed to get her focus back enough to read.

"W..heh...the....rrrr. whether the pl....eh-ah....s....oo...rrr...pleasure of m...making a d-ah-y, syuh....dahsyuh? D....daisy ch...chain w-ooo-ld...would b..be w-or-th the trouble of g...getting up and p...picking the dais...ies, when s...sud....den, ly, suddenly, a white r...rah....rabbit w...with pink eyes r...ran close by her." She handed the book off to Butterfly gratefully, and then leaned over to see the words. She felt a lot better with Chloe reading and not her.

Butterfly smiled as Tses took the book back. When Tses said that she would only read that sentence, Butterfly said, "It's okay. All I ask you to do is try. Trust me. It'll get better the more you do it. You just gotta work at it."

As Tses read the remainder of the sentence, Butterfly smiled at how well Tses was doing. She really was doing well for someone who couldn't read very well. When Tses finished the sentence and handed the book back to her, Butterfly smiled and said with a slight giggle, "My turn already? I thought you were gonna read some more since you were doin so well." She took the book and peered down at the page and began to read again, looking over at Tses every now and then. "There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, `Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!' (when she thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge."

When she finished the passage, she turned to Tses and asked, "Do you wanna read anymore?

As Butterfly read the next segment, Tses was glad she wasn't reading. The words sounded like English, but the way they were arranged seemed all wrong to her. "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!' .... Who talked that way? Half the words didn't look right to her. She had no clue what a waistcoat was, and the word 'ought' didn't make sense written or pronounced. As Butterfly asked if she wanted to read again, Tses shook her head.

"No... not really. I feel lucky to have made it through that sentence. I just... sometimes I can sound things out, and if I really work at it I can figure out what something says. But when I see stuff written, they just seem to mash up in my head. Maybe some other time we can try some more..." Tses was someone you had to take time with. You try to get her to grow all at once she was going to lash out. Approach her a little at a time though, she would grow on you. She had to learn reading in little steps. A word here, a word there. Eventually she'd read on her own without having someone there guiding her through it. While it seemed like she was getting it all by herself, as she pronounced half the words, she watched Butterfly out of the corner of her eye. When she got the right sound, the girl's expression changed ever so slightly, and that little interaction let her know when she was on the right path. On her own, she would have no one to watch to tell when she was right or wrong. And she wanted to be right....

Butterfly listened to Tses explain about how she felt when trying to read. She nodded her head in understanding and then said, "Alright, we'll continue reading another time. And you're doing really well so far. Especially with sounding words out, but the whole thing with the words mashing up in your head will pass as you get better and better at reading. It just feels like that cuz your brain isn't used to seeing and understanding written words just yet. It'll get better though. I promise. So what do you wanna do now?"

Tses stared at her hands as the book went away. Sure, she hadn't been awful at reading, but she wasn't good enough to really consider herself literate. Most of the words she guessed at, and she didn't recognize them by appearance, she only knew them by the sounds they made. She could deduce the meanings, but that was only a mild accomplishment. Maybe with time she'd learn more, but she didn't feel like that day was anywhere close. It was depressing. But perhaps in time and practice she wouldn't be so nervous about it, or so irritated by attempting.

"I don't know, like I said, we really don't have much here for entertainment. I usually just wander the city for fun, or talk to the cat lady next door. You could always meet her I guess. Meggy is pretty nice..." Tses remembered they had talked about Chloe meeting Meggy, and wondered if she still wanted to.

Butterfly placed the book back on top of the dresser and listened as Tses talked about what she did for entertainment. When she mentioned speaking to the cat lady next door, Butterfly replied with. "Sure, I'd like to meet the cat lady. Then maybe you could tell me some stories about you and my brother?" Butterfly asked, sorta shyly. She had been sorta curious about how they had met to begin with and wanted to hear how Tses talked about her brother. She had already heard how her brother talked about Tses, and could tell how much he really loved her.

Tses wasn't sure she wanted to talk about Ty at that point in time. His disappearance was still fresh in her mind, and after being stood up, or so she assumed, she wasn't sure how she felt about him. How could she be happy, or in love, or angry... she didn't know what to feel. But for now, she'd just have to wait, and see what happened. "We'll see when we get back. For now let's just say hi to my neighbor."

Tses slowly stood, and moved towards the door, glad for a distraction. Meggy was... different, that was certain, but she was sweet and she was fairly certain she would enjoy Tses having some company around. Pushing open the front door and then moving to the right, she paused in front of Meggy's apartment. She gave a knock, and waited as she heard the shuffling of feet and meowing from the other side.

"Tsessy? Oh, you have a visitor! Look David, it's someone new!" Meggy gave a wide smile, her face pulling into a wrinkled grin as she opened the door. She was holing a fat orange cat that was reminiscent of Garfield, and her hair was mostly gone, but had a red tint to it. "David wants to know what your name is dear." She said, opening the door and motioning for them to come in.

Butterfly nodded her head, understanding that Tses really didn't wanna talk about her brother. For her, talking about her brother kept the idea of him being still alive and well out there somewhere fresh in her mind and gave her hope. She followed Tses to her neighbors apartment and waited as Tses knocked. Butterfly head people moving about in the apartment. When the door opened she saw a woman with a wide smile and an incredibly cute orange cat. Butterfly smiled back at the woman and said politely, "My name is Chloe. And I find David to be an incredibly cute cat. Can I pet him?" As she asked, she held her hand out, but paused for a moment, awaiting an answer.

Meggy grinned, and David gave a rather bored look before offering his head out to Chloe to pet. He had a look that vaguely seemed to say 'you may pet me', as if it had been his idea in the first place. "David likes to be pet, dearie. You're more than welcome to. Oh, look Tessy, S'mores is excited to see you!" Meggy grinned, and a small kitten mewed as it purred and rubbed up against Tses' leg. The blond haired girl reached down and scooped up the kitten, scratching it under the chin as she walked into the apartment. It was sparsely furnished, and cats seemed to cover every available surface, a mass of moving meowing forms moving around. There was a sharp smell that was hard to breathe at first, but Tses was good at keeping her face composed when she was here.

"Chloe is Ty's sister." Tses said, and the cat-lady smiled a rather toothless smile.

"Well isn't that lovely dear. David like's Ty. He is a nice boy." She said with a nodd.

Butterfly pet David affectionately, scratching right behind his ears and along his jaw, smiling at him. When Meggy mentioned another kitty, she looked down and saw and absolutely adorable kitten. She watched as Tses scooped the kitten up and sorta cooed at the baby kitten. She followed Tses into the apartment and glanced around to get a look at it. She saw so many cats in the apartment. Tses wasn't wrong to call her the cat lady. It was very much true that the woman had become quite attached to many cats, but as long as they kept the woman happy, Chloe didn't mind. She all of sudden realized the smell in the apartment, but she then began to take short breaths so as to be courteous and not lose her composure. It would be rude of her to come into someone else's home and complain about the smell. Plus, it would hurt the woman's feelings and make it awkward for Tses. So Butterfly did her best to stand the smell and keep a straight face.

When Tses explained to Meggy that she was Ty's sister, Chloe smiled at Tses and the cat lady. And when Meggy complimented her brother, Chloe's smile grew wider. Her brother was a great guy and she loved him dearly. "I hope David likes me too.", she said while petting David some more.

The cat-lady slowly shuffled to her rocking chair, and took a seat in it humming to herself. She looked down at her cat, and the orange cat seemed to almost nod his head intelligently. Tses sometimes thought Meggy was a little strange for talking to the cats, but she had to admit, David was smart, and his loyalty to the woman was unquestionable. The fat feline was more of a dog than anything else, and his purring was the only thing that seemed to prove he had an inner 'cat'.

"David likes you. But he seems to like most friends of Tsessy." She smiled at her cat and scratched him behind the ears some more. Tses avoiding glancing at Chloe and took a seat on the couch with S'mores. The other cats started vying for the girl's attention.

Butterfly smiled at the cat lady and then asked, "Is s'mores the only kitten you have? You have some really beautiful cats. I've always liked cats. I like dogs too, but cats are always so friendly and know exactly how to cheer you up when you're down." She leaned over and pet S'mores some more and noticed that Tses didn't really wanna face her or speak as it seemed. She didn't have much to say. Butterfly began to wonder if she was ashamed to be around her or if she had said or done something wrong. She wanted to ask Tses what was wrong, but she didn't know if she should in front of her neighbor.