Work Text:
Sally tapped her chin with the end of the pen.
She was sat at a table, several pieces of intact- yet blank paper scattered in front of her, a fair few crumpled sheets .
It was dimly lit and quiet, broken beaded curtains hanging up behind her. The air seemed almost tense.
The table was one of the rickety ones, with Victor, Rosie, and Lulu all cramped around it, sharing equally tired, expectant stares.
Sally blinked back at them.
A beat.
“ Wie geht… das heute-? ”
She was cut off by a collective groan, Victor standing up with a shove to the chair that screeched on the hardwood floor, Rosie letting her forehead hit the table.
“Sally-! Ich Werde ja noch verrückt! (I’m going to go fucking crazy)-” Victor muttered, pressing his hands to his eyes as Lulu shook her head.
“How have you been here so long- and you still cannot speak a single word of German-”
Sally frowned, dropping the pen and crossing her arms.
“It’s hardly my fault! Everyone speaks English anyway, so how should I have been expected to learn German what with the performing-”
Lulu groaned.
“-and Texas is American!”
The blonde fussed irritantly.
Rosie was tugging at a strand of her own red hair, looking strained.
“See, well, the difference- between you and Texas, Sally, is that- well, simply that Texas can speak German rather fluently-”
“You two cannot compare,” Victor interjected. He tugged open a drawer- presumably the Emcee's, as his costume’s bowtie was discarded on the top- grabbing a cigarette.
He paused to consider that Em might possibly murder him if he took this one, but he lit it albeit that fact.
Lulu sighed, placing a small hand over Sally’s, fingers dancing over her painted green nails.
“We don’t mean to be harsh on you,” she said earnestly, her German accent stronger than even Victor.
“It’s only that- Victor gets frustrated easily and you know how he is, and you are going rather admittedly… slow,” she remarked, pursing her lips.
Sally listened to them rather petulantly- a fair feat that she was listening at all. The blonde crumpled up another piece of paper, throwing it with surprisingly good aim.
The offending projectile hit Victor in the head and he scowled at her, kicking it away from him.
Rosie stood up, snatching the cigarette from his fingers and taking a drag herself.
“ Sie wird nie Deutsch lernen, warum machen wir uns also die Mühe? ” (She’s never going to learn German, why do we bother?)
Victor nodded, raising his eyebrows in agreement.
Sally stared at her in confusion.
“ Du hast recht. ” (You’re right.)
“ Und- Em kann es uns unmöglich verübeln, dass wir aufgehört haben. Der einzige Grund, warum wir es tun müssen, ist, weil er es nicht ertragen konnte! ” (And- Em can’t possibly blame us for quitting, the only reason we have to do it is because he couldn’t take it anymore!)
Now it was Sally’s turn to stand up.
“Hey now- what are you three talking about? It isn’t fair to speak all huddled up like that, when someone here doesn't understand you,” she chided, German lesson forgotten.
“We’re talking about you,” Victor spat, Rosie then shushing him quickly.
“German’s a beastly language to learn anyway,” she continued, “it isn’t like English at all, and like I said, I really don’t see the problem when all of you here can also speak English!”
Lulu banged her head into Victor’s shoulder, blocking out Sally’s voice.
“The only- you know, I can hardly even reason with you-”
“Be nice to her, we can’t have her flouncing off-”
Sally’s mouth dropped open with a disbelieving glare.
“For your information, Rosie , I do not flounce off! I don’t flounce anywhere! I’m sick of you three anyway-”
“ Oh mein Gott, ” Victor muttered.
“- Frenchie and Fritzi never talk about me in German, since they understand proper etiquette-”
“We work in a nightclub, schatzi , etiquette is the least of our worries-” Lulu chimed in.
“Well it wouldn’t hurt!” Sally huffed, crossing her arms. She flicked a strand of short blonde hair out of her face, her lips pressed into a thin line.
The flare of emotion in the air died, leading the three in front of Sally to drop tiredly back into their chairs, resuming the painfully still position of before.
She stayed standing, snatching her dancing shoes off of the floor in a cloud of petticoats and indignance.
“ I’m going to talk with someone else- who isn’t an utter- an utter-” she struggled with her words- then just shook her head with a frustrated groan, stockinged feet stamping off out of the door.
Silence.
After a moment, The Emcee poked his head around the door, raising an eyebrow.
“Lesson over?” He grinned, taking in the scene before him.
“Lesson over.” Victor growled.
“Lesson over.” Rosie mumbled.
“Lesson over. ” Lulu exhaled, emphasising her words by letting her forehead fall onto the table with a thump.