It was then that he said "I wanted to spend time with you. I thought we could have lunch at a nice Chinese restaurant." That was all he needed to say. Both of them were immediately into it. Their very favorite restaurant was one that Henry had introduced them to when Noah was 8 years old. The food was standard fare for a Chinese restaurant, but it had tables and full seating space like it was a fancier place. They were also going there to get a full makeover and spa day. Henry did not take breaks often but, when he did, he knew the best ways to relax. On top of that they got new clothes to where. It was a full day affair. Henry had no kids, so he was the "cool" uncle. He got to dote on his niece and nephews and let them do things he knew their parents would never allow. Along the way, they picked up something new. The two powers they picked for themselves were language and free will. The free will power separated them from Noah's control. They did not have to follow orders and could do as they wished. The language power allowed them to speak. It was not just English.
Doing that would be a really shitty power. They could absorb any language they encountered. China was a giant place with over a billion people. There were hundreds of distinct languages there. Throughout the day, they heard a man and woman arguing outside the apartment in Spanish. He was cheating on her. She was not taking that too well. When they got to Chinatown things opened up wide. Standard Chinese was based on the Mandarin dialect of Beijing. It is the official national spoken language for the mainland. Because of the need to be able to account for the many provinces, Standard Chinese was taught to everyone in school in order for everyone to be able to speak to each other. The various regions had traditional and cultural languages and dialects taught on top of that. In that way, many Chinese people were multilingual, even if they were only "literate" in Mandarin. The residents of Chinatown were from all over China, but the signs were mainly Mandarin and Cantonese. Cantonese was spoken by many people in China with 80 million speakers. Many spoke it here too.
Even if they could not absorb the languages, it was very interesting to go there in person. They also picked up Gan and Hakka Chinese dialects from old couples. From a little old lady sitting on a sidewalk bench scolding five young hooligans causing mischief, they picked up Sui as well. Gan Chinese is spoken by people in the Jiangxi province, and in significant populations in surrounding regions such as Hunan, Hubei, Anhui, and Fujian. Estimates put it at about 31 million speakers in China. Hakka is a language spoken by the Hakka people. They lived in parts of Southern China, Taiwan, some diaspora areas of Southeast Asia and in overseas Chinese communities around the world. 34 million people spoke it. Now it was shared with Crimson and Scarlet. Sui is a Kam–Sui language spoken by the Sui people of the Guizhou province spoken by around 300,000 people. That made it rarer. It was the sixth language they learned that day. With their Locks' power, they absorbed all of the languages in the way they encountered them. They were fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese and English.
Fine enough. Their other 4 languages were just conversational. It probably would not be too hard to go online and read something in Spanish. For the other languages, they would not even know where to look. They were only juniors in high school. The first thing that they did was go to the spa. They got a manicure, pedicure massage, and nice spa treatment for their skin. Next was the hair salon. Henry said it was time for a new hairstyle. He told them that it was going to be a secret. It was not a secret because they could now understand the women who were working on them. Their hair was getting bleached and dyed. They did not know the color. From the hair salon, they went to the restaurant. Noah had always loved the chicken wings. Crimson and Scarlet were identical clones. Their taste buds were the same. If Noah liked it, they would like it as well. Henry ordered beef and broccoli over pork fried rice. They enjoyed the time together. Noah, Maroon and Cinnabar were at school. Their parents had decided to enroll them like Noah. Henry was not concerned about their educations.
