Spence had landed cooking duty, which was… not the greatest. It depended a lot on who felt the need to get grub and what sort of a mood they were in; sometimes it was Deutschland stomping in, other times…
Well, today she was lucky, considering that California and Arizona had walked in, actively discussing something. Unfortunately for Spence's boredom, it was in Spanish.
"Como… como un gatito."
"¿Las orejas? Son falsas."
"Yo se, pero es la personalidad." Arizona said. "Es facil le…" she made some sort of gesture with her hands like she was trying to pluck the right word out of the air. "... le embarazada?"
California burst into laughter. "¿Embarazada? ¿Embarazada?"
Arizona had flushed with embarrassment, even if she wasn't quite sure what she was supposed to be embarrassed about. "¿Qué es tan divertido?"
"La palabra es vergüenza, Arizona. Embarazada es cuando tengas un bebe."
"Oh," Arizona said. Some things didn't need to be translated, it seemed.
"Es un milagro no tenemos un embarazo, eh?"
Their conversation slowed for a moment as they grabbed plates and got some food (labeled in seven languages, to avoid confusion).
"Me encanta tu pelo, Arizona. ¿Qué le haces?"
"¿Champú?" Arizona felt her own hair absentmindedly.
"¿Solo champú?" California gaped.
"Si."
"No te creo." Before Arizona could respond, California turned towards the door and she cried out to someone. "Phoenix! Qué tal?"
If she was having trouble tracking the conversation before, three people made it practically impossible. Well, it was Phoenix and California doing most of the talking, but those two could talk. Was it Spanglish, that they were dipping into there?
A little later, some Royal Navy girls came in. Some of them just ignored the mangling of their beautiful language- like American English wasn't bad enough already- but Hunter looked particularly aggrieved. (Picking up bits and pieces of the language during Spanish Civil War patrols only made it worse.)
(Previous conversation was about Hammann)
"Like, like a kitten."
"The ears? They're fake."
"I know, but it's the personality." Arizona said, "She gets… pregnant easily."
"Pregnant? Pregnant?"
"What's so funny?"
"The word's embarrassed. Pregnancy is when you have a baby."
"Oh."
"It's a miracle we don't have a pregnancy, huh?"
….
"I love your hair, Arizona. What do you do with it?"
"Shampoo?"
"Only shampoo?"
"Yes."
"I don't believe you."
"Phoenix! What's up?"
"Lady Roma!" Carabiniere rushed into the room, clumsily bowing. "You have a visitor!"
"A visitor?" Roma asked. "Someone wishes to bask in my glory?"
"I think Lady Bismarck wishes to discuss business."
Roma thought for a moment, wondering if her precious time should be spent on Bismarck. Another battleship… well, it would be beneath her dignity to handle the small fry. "Let her in."
Bismarck came in, her staff in hand and a sheaf of papers under her arm. She opened her mouth and…
Roma sighed. "I'm sorry, I don't speak barbarian."
Bismarck frowned, and Carabiniere sputtered. "Lady Roma!"
"You can put the barbarian in a civilization, but the savagery remains."
Bismarck turned to Carabiniere and spoke in English. "Does she know any other languages?"
Carabiniere shook her head, deciding to not speak any Germanic languages in the presence of Roma. She had a complex.
Juustagram
(Photograph of Valiant, her head bent low over a textbook.) "Learning French!"
"Wait why French?"
"I have found documents supporting my claim to the throne of France."
"Didn't they give up that claim like two hundred years ago?"
"We can bring it back."
"Don't tell Jeanne lmao"
(Video footage of Jeanne d'Arc snapping awake and rushing to the door)
—-
Language Headcanons/Ideas: Most girls probably have a handful of phrases in other languages, just enough to facilitate cooperation.
Brooklyn: America's resident diplomat and polyglot. Speaks English with a marked Transatlantic accent. Very intentional.
Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Dutch. Has had, at best, half a conversation with the Germans.
Aoba, Oriani: Conversational in other languages to facilitate reporting. Oriani probably picks up French.
Minneapolis: Has only overcome the Minnesota accent through hard work.
Koln: French, at least.
Kongou: English, obviously. Has taught her sisters.
Fortune: Quebecois French.
New Orleans: Louisiana French, efforts towards European languages.
Latin: Easier to list girls who might know some this way. Liz, Warspite, most of the French with an ecclesiastical bent, the Italians. York might have learned it for the LARP.
Belfast: Just enough Irish to make Liz concerned.
Glasgow, Edinburgh: Scots
Langley: polyglot, preference for French. Possibly the sort of nerd who knows Esperanto
Salt Lake City: Cursed with a perfect knowledge of the Deseret Alphabet.
Gascogne: Binary.
Reno: Spanish, plus a handful of fictional languages.
The embarrassed-pregnant mixup is one I haven't made but I've heard horror stories about it.