#hell. i got better at english just bc i wanted to re-read the book in original language lol

[oddsnake]

just remembered that good omens exists i'm gonna get sick

[danteinthedevildom]

So, talkin abt multilingual Mams, 

I was gonna make this post anyway but then I saw @cheerypining​​ put this in the tags of my post re: Mams’ English in his character song:

I would like to hollar out a hell yes! 

The thing with Mams is that he isn’t stupid. He’s smart as fuck, he’s just motivated by self interest and fixation. It’s easier for him to learn things that are of interest to him, or that expand his interests. He’s got that sweet, sweet ADD brain.

So, if language helps him spread out his influence, make money, expand his contacts? It’s gonna be that lil bit easier for him to figure out. It might even be a fixation of his. Learn a language; open opportunities in the place that language hails from. Gain an interest in how language works. Learn other languages bc it’s fun. 

Consider, then, if you will, for some of that tastey lore-building, 

Mams starting out learning the languages of the most influencial/opulent human powers. It’s beneficial for him to figure out how to speak their language if he really wants to get at their pockets, and you can’t really smooth talk someone if you barely understand the way their haggling works. How is anyone going to trust you if their idioms go over your head, or if you miss some slang that marks you very starkly as an outsider? It’s a lot easier if they think you’re like them; if you know the little things that’ll get them lowering their guard around you. 

He’s great with dialects, too. With differences between the upper and lower classes. It only takes one slip-up using court language around the common folk, or using the dialet of the north in the south, for him to recognise how important those divisions are. He works with trust, and the eventual corruption of that trust, and it becomes pretty clear to him pretty quick that trust can only be attained the more like his target he sounds. 

Dead languages still live on in Mammon’s brain. He’s fluent in them, and even though he hasn’t really had to use them in some time, for some reason they’ve just never faded away. You can pretty much use him as a way to track how languages changed over time, how regional variants were influenced by other languages or cultures, when various languages died out and what replaced them. 

It’s not something that he really thinks about. It was beneficial for him, so he learnt it. Beyond that, it was fun, and he enjoyed it. He doesn’t really give himself credit for just how much linguistic history he has stored inside his head, and he really doesn’t put much credit into how goddamn useful it is - or would be - for modern historians. That’s not what he’s interested in. He’s content to leave Satan to the books, to the past; he’s got more of a propensity for the practicality, anyway. 

Listening to him talk is actually pretty astounding. The ease with which he slips into each language, the depth of his understanding for even the slight nuances between regions, makes him seem like a native speaker. The speed, too, is absolutely stunning; you’ve never seen a more baffling sight than Mammon, speaking mild-mannered in Russian to a witch, switching mid-sentence into heavily-flirtatious French to order from the waitress that came to their table. It’s like he doesn’t even stumble between the two, both as natural to him as breathing. 

He has his preferences, of course. When he’s not using the language for his own goals - doesn’t need to, for instance, be careful about his word choice to ensure a bond of trust is made - he quickly slips into a dialect that is most comfortable for him. He might use ‘watashi’ or ‘ore’ when he’s on the job, might tack on the ‘gozaimasu’ to his greetings to make them polite, but when he’s just generally speaking Japanese? That’s when he starts using ‘ore-sama’, when he drops all the humble or stilted phrases; uses ‘ja ne’ instead of ‘sayounara'. That’s when, in English, he stops making sure to enunciate fully; starts shortening ‘you’ to ‘ya’, cuts off the ‘g’ from ‘ing’ words, starts peppering in ‘crap’ instead of ‘stuff’, lets his words slur together to make ‘whaddaya’ out of ‘what are you’. 

He’s naturally an informal guy! It’s just the way he prefers to talk. He hates the pompous lingo, even if it’s usually the most beneficial to learn for what he does. If the language he’s speaking has a way to show belligerent informality, he will absolutely use it whenever he can. It’s a choice, make no mistake; he can arguably speak better in most languages than the stupid high academics. He just doesn’t enjoy that crap when it’s not immediately useful to him. 

(Yes, that does mean he can comprehend even the most pompously written academic papers. No, that doesn’t mean he wants to read them. He would much sooner stab a fork into his giblets than sit down for any period of time and read that wordy bullshit. Same goes for a lot of Satan’s literature; it’s just not enjoyable for him to read, even if he can perfectly understand it.)

Sometimes a word works better in one language than another. It can get extremely frustrating for him, if he has a very specific point to get across; unless someone knows both languages, they’re never going to fully understand. And why use five words in the inefficient language when one in the efficient language would have been even better for his intent? ‘Fernweh’ works much better than ‘imagine being homesick for a place you’ve never been’, after all.  

Mams has a tendency to drop in words he likes from other languages, which makes some of his speech sound a little confusing. He doesn’t think it makes him sound smarter, and he’s not doing it to show off; just, sometimes, he thinks ‘hey’ sounds better than ‘ohayou’, or that ‘ciao’ is cooler and more aloof than ‘au revoir’. Plus, it’s kinda funny when you’re talking to someone Lucifer and you insult them in a language they don’t understand. 

(I mean, in English, we literally say stuff like “it has a little je ne sais quoi,” [it has a little something that I can’t adequately express] so we merge languages into our own in order to better express ourselves. Mams does the same. He just does it with words and phrases that aren’t always naturally used together within that language.)

Do you understand the amount of skill that comes with being able to do this without even stopping to think? He somehow manages to do it in a way that makes each sentence still perfectly fluent and understandable in translation. It’s a little incredible, actually, considering he doesn’t put any stock into this ability. It’s just natural for him. Why’s he gotta think on it more than that? 

(This does mean, the few times someone points it out, that he gets incredibly flustered. Especially if they say it in awe, or in praise. It really is just second nature to him, not even something he’s putting on for show or something that he’s trying to be good at, so being given so much positive attention for it is... well. It’s surprising, and a little nice, actually. But also genuinely embarrasing. It’s perhaps the only time he’ll struggle to find words in any language.)

In conclusion:

Hell yeah I love reinforcin the idea that Mams ain’t stupid and that there’s a lot of goddamn skill that comes with learnin languages and learnin them to such a degree you can accurately pepper their words into your speech without stoppin to think. 

[shadowturtlesstuff]

again but better thoughts while reading

@polandbananas20

 so my spelling is terrible in this but you know i was more focused on the book than how to spell. 

Chapter 1) good intro and good starting tone. The lady next to her sucks. Good small establishment of shane.

chapter2)shane characterisation is still consistent. I like her two new roommates (will be best friends) . My guess is the boy in the kitchen will be pilot. Family means but not intentional. Has no confidence. I was right about the boy

Chapter 3) intro of pilot properly. He's good. I love the inner monologue of shane. Trying to keep eye contact, the surprise of having a normal conversation. It sets her character well. Intro to her blog which i would love to actually read (i hope there's at least one entry we can read) pilot is a musician but not. Business major. What crap. 

Chapter 4) i really feel like shane, she is just typical fangirl/ dork and i love it. Its weird being english and reading about the things that shock them like pasta in bags.i understand the watermelon.we do get to read ‘shanes writing’ but its her personal jornal not her blog.

Chapter 5) fun chapter. Intro to rome. Love the idea that shane is heavy handed and violent. Short, not alot happened other than small character establishment.

Chapter 6)intro to creative writing class which i want/need in my life.more beatles. Woman on plane works at starbucks, will she make more appearances? 

Chapter 7) the drama???or at least wht will be the drama. Pilot has a gf, called amy (wish it was me) (wait no, bc i know that plot doesnt actually like amy anymore bc he obviously likes shane. So i take it back. I want to be shane, i mean i basically am like her but oh well.)

Chapter 8) parents. Overprotective, think they know best. Urgh. guarantee one of shanes new friends fight back to her parents to support her life choices, that do not include doctor.

Chapter 9)gets an internship at travel mag company. Thats it…..

Chapter 10)rome. Looses purse. Pilot to the anxiety riddled rescue by telling his own life story about his wallet to help calm her nerves.distracts her. Basially he would do anything for shane already.re count of rome trip from her jornal again which is a good touch to further the plot. This is making me want to read dan brown (ish) all of two books i own of him

Chapter 11) the postcards are a nice touch that i hope someone reads???? Travel buddies..just saying.chad..hmmm,im like shane,well see if he is good enough for babe. Her GODDAM stupdi mean cousins being mean on her facebook, and babe seeing (best friend moment) about pilot and the whole teasing about having a boyfriend.

Chapter 12) he didnt see (but i think he did but istn sayin anything) paris i shappening. Babe is bff confirmed and i want her as my friend 

Chapter 13)angry birds addiction starts. Level three, weak, shoulder touching it romance confirmed.awwww pilot 100% waited to sleep so he could see shane safe in bed

Chapter 14) pilot with a french accent, enough  said. The flirtinggggg.  The plane woman  is back??in paris with them????

Chapter 15)pilots choices of the back in time thing are both wit shane. Its so obvious and i love it. Pilot as a fake fangirl about the eiffel tower. More flirting,kind of. Oh god chad no.he did it. Goddammit.nooo he wull run babe and shanes friendship and maybe her and pilot. ‘Assbucket’ indeed. Her an pilot are fine and i really believe her and babe will be because when she nearly gets robbed babe giver her a sympathetic smile. Not much to go on but i have hope.

Chapter 16)okay so, fav chapter, she finally spills her guts that she has anxiety basically, that she is premed with strict parents and this is scary whilst pilots lies in bed with her to relax her bc he heard her crying. He only ecoureges her slightly before going back to his bed and sleeping. My heart, i swear, soon the roles reverse and pilot will say why he is in london and all that.

Chapter 17)babe and shane bffs confired. Chad is the worst confirmed. Of course it wasnt  break up call. Of course she wants to vist. Of course pilot is to cowardly to break up and just accepts them going to paris together. Of freaking course.

Chapter 18) do not get over pilot, it wont work. Rugby guy nooooo!im team pilot how dare you kiss shane! Wow, city of glass mention. I want to make a list of every bookmentioned.

Chapter 19) pilot is not himself (obviouls) shane is worried. She is still lying to her parents an feeling bad about. Rugby guy is thankfully a no go. Pilot finds out about the kiss and guy and is clearly silently jealous. 

Chapter 20)aww shane! Im sorry pilot sucks currently. And a stupid guys trip with flat four. No. and devil chairs. 

Chapter 21)1)love the book talk.  The loneliness is kicking in, pilot man up for gods sake

Chapter 22)this red-head plain weirdo is back and going through her list like some sort of mentore. Omg!!! No. amy is here, i dont hatte her but can she not. Also, her dad…. No! (this is the stand up moment i was on about, i hope)

Chapter 23) i do not like her dad. At all. Nooo shane...no. they found out. And acted like assholes.

Chapter 24) n1!ahhhh no! Amy has her notebook. The end is nigh.im going to cry i feel like shane. 

Chapter 25) the family dinner-family outing. Niether of them manuped and shane is depressed

Chapter 26)back in america. Still hasn’t told pilot but you know it is a slow burn

Chapter 27) I, wait? Marry, some guy? Like no. I know it’s been what six years but no. I refuse.i don’t like this so called Melvin. It’s okay she doesn’t want to marry him. She goes to see pilot and finally mans up and tells him and asks if she made it and and pilot finally man’s up and tells her no she didn’t. They get stuck in an elevator

Chapter 28) the elevators doing something. Shane wants to re do London cuz she hates life

Chapter 1?) they are both back in London? Both having the same what ever is happening? 

  Chapter 2) omg. Plane lady took them back to staRt over and pilots mad about it (obv)

Chapter 3)so… they got mad but started over and I’m excited. 100%they won’t press the restart button. I’m calling it now. Cuz pilot knows he now has a chance to do the what if’s/

Chapter 4) they keep there distance but we all know it won’t last

Chapter 5) tipsy Shane? Shawarma

Chapter 6) babe thinksthere is something going on with them( again)

Chapter7)the story about fake pilot, and the kiss. Ahhhhhhg

Chapter 8)they found the button. Shane doesn’t want to go back. I do t want them to go back. They don’t go back thank god

Chapter 9) da Vinci code flirting somehow.. Shane tells him it won’t happen u less he breaks up with last Amy.

 Chapter 10) he will break up with Amy and laris is gonna happen. 

Chapter 11) so Shane is happy again, pilot broke up with amy. Shane tried to make peace with the devil chair.

Chapter 11) they are so adorable. Aswwwwewhwhehruysnwjw

 Chapter 12) Uwuwnfhueia we get more Shane and pilot flirting, 

Chapter 13) the opposite game is adorable. I like that they get to be themselves together without the awkwardness. The start of the move game. Thats my fav. 

Chapter 14) they still have the angry birds obssesion but unlike me and supercard they know when to stop.the dance ‘move’ ahh i love. The line ‘but you do.’ just shows how much they know each other and how pilot would do anything to make her smile. And the lost move (not really a move but totally a move.) once again proves their love. Also we had that plot moment where he talks about why h chose to go to london. I adore shanes rant (?) about the things she loves. And then pilot doing the same thing. Shane vs chair is my life, like i battle chairs too. 

Chapter 15) what is tfios? Ooohhh. Fault in our stars. (i googled it)i probably shouldve known by the whole always part. The dance move came back to bite pilot in the ass and now they are dancing together. Ew chad. Yes shane! That is what chad deserves. 

Chapter 16) they get intimate and gigly and happy and aaaawwwhww

Chapter 17) im glad shane still rememebers to be friends with babe and not forget her in her lovestick state currently.

Chapter 18) her postcard….the questions that haunt her so much. Sort of accepting them herself too. She finally got to do wrecking ball, they miss internship , oh no…. Start if a downall?? 

Chapter 19) shane and pilot have fallen HARD

Chapter 20) the article is off the table. Amy is there. What the hell. No. omg pilot no, you moron. THEY BROKE UP!!! Which is fair, a break is needed. They both get back on track and then try and find a balance. Hopefully. Oh her laptop….shit...the feels when all your work is just gone. Tries to reset bc she is so depressed bc she thinks she failed again. 

Chapter 21) she cant go back (thankfully) a bookstore is always a good haven to go to when your breaking down.

Chapter 22)the redemtion (?) time to try and fix everything and get back on track.the determination and the readiness to try and make everything better for herswelf, herself, and no one else is good. She makes friends with the people in her office and works harder than befire, try to get herself out of her comfort zone and experience things

Chapter 23) the confrontation with her parents. Oh god. I hope this goes well. Its going as well as it can go. Im happy shane is sticking up for her dream so she can be happy, uugh the whole dad speech of ‘i do everything for you, i know best because im older,’ i hate it. Ooohh she is making up with leo, talking ot him this time. Im happy. Leo is gay. Cool. i hate how he got broken up with becuase of his stupid family, it sucks. ‘There is no normal.’ perfect words. 

Chapter 24) her thing is in the thing!!!( also good job me with words.) her article got published (there we go)this is where she learns she can be with pilot and be successful because tracy is with a famous author and they make it work with harder schedules. Trys to talk to her parents. This time she will make there relationship work.

Chapter 25)urgh ‘you live under my roof,on my dime…’ blah blah blah. We hate controlling parents that dont see that overprotecting and controlling their childs life does more damage than good. Babe suggest self discovery trip. Babe is a grat friends. 

Chapter 26)the button thing will work…’im mad at pilot. Or am i mad at me.’ she cracked the code. She loathed herself because of her fear of failing, but because this time she worked on herself to make herself happy she no longer hates herself. Yet she still feels the same (ish) feeling that even though she worked harder and got further that she has no summer job when she gets back to the states, her parents still wont allow her choice of work.PILOTS BACK!!!!!!! She was about to press the button and he swooped in with his music.

Chapter 27) he still follows her blog and got help from babe. His speech, finished with lamppost. Where can i get a pilot?he uploaded their song. Working through the divorce thing again but it will be better because he has shane to talk to about it. Ahhh she got a job!!! Happy ending!!! My heart!!!eeeee…

epilogoue) she becomes a successful author. Her parents have accepted her and support her. Pilots a musician. He takes her to the weird plane lady and they gobe the locket back, then he makes the ultimate move. With pictures of where they fell in love he uses the beatles russain doll things to hide a ring and when she finds it she obviously says yes. And that its unfair cuz she cant top that move. 

sooo...thats it.

i really enjoyed this book. i cannot wait for her next book. this post is longwinded i apologize but oh well? again i will link my website and review as soon as its done. so far in about five hours all i have is a paragraph so it may not be as soon as i want it to be

[moviegroovies]

oh god after last time i really did think i was done but i must have unlocked some new level of hell because here we go, here we go, lost boys hcs PART 3!!!!

so ummmmm michael... is sort of dumb. 

like, ok, specifically??? i think he’s got a higher than average emotional intelligence, but he’s just one of those kids who’s bad at school. there’s some hints of this in the movie: when michael is telling sam that he can’t tell lucy about the vampirism thing, sam’s line is that it’s “not like getting a D in school, mike!”, implying that hiding that kind of thing is something the two of them have been over before, and a deleted subplot has him repeatedly insisting to lucy that he’s going to drop out of school to get a job and help her pay for things.

tbh i think he’s got that classic “child of divorce” thing going on. he feels like a burden on sparse resources and can’t stand the thought of wasting his days in school, where he doesn’t even want to be. he wants to help his mom! he gets a job for he so he can do that! what a good, sweet boy!!!

hmmm. dyslexic michael, anyone? like, i was going to say that he was particularly vexed by math & science, but the more i think about it, the more i’m leaning toward him maybe just being disinterested in those subjects, even though they’re the ones he’s better at, while english and history (but particularly english) really piss him off because studying takes so goddamn long.

so he gets like, C+/B- in math and science, consistent C- in history, and wavers C- to D+ or even lower in english. 

he’s so polite to his teachers that they help him when they can though, especially because they know he’s trying so hard, but he’s just not entirely gifted at this sort of stuff. 

the worst is when he has to keep his grades up to stay eligible for sports--that pressure just makes everything seem so much worse.

i think michael plays some of everything. he’s like, some kind of guard on the football team, not particularly their star player or anything, but i think he’s also got a starter position on the basketball team, and he is the star pitcher on the baseball team. 

physical stuff just comes easier to him than academic stuff, you know?

his high school girlfriend was a cheerleader, but they weren’t that serious. she was a kind of preppy girl, a little vapid, and it felt to michael like they only really dated because they were supposed to. breaking up with her kind of led to michael’s attraction to star; he saw her on the boardwalk and she looked like she dressed for herself and she was outwardly enjoying her time at the concert--plus, you know, she’s really pretty.

he hates to admit it, but michael’s favorite classes in school were the home ec classes that his guidance counselor suggested he take. he took shop first, which was okay, but really, what he liked to do the most was the cooking and sewing shit. when he joins the lost boys, he kind of “takes over” these roles from star (who had been pressured into acting the mother for all these assholes who could be her great grandfathers, easily), and it turns out that he’s a lot better at that stuff than she is. 

guess he was always kind of training to be david’s bitch after all.

the guys stop ribbing on him once he shows them how he can fix their clothes and shit, though. goddamn assholes.

michael’s main circle of friends in highschool was made up of other jocks, and like with his girlfriend, they weren’t super close. he often got excluded from stuff because he would insist he couldn’t do something or other on account of his mom needing him home that night, or he would get pissed at them for making fun of sam. 

michael said family comes first, fuckers!

he did drink and smoke and shit like that back in phoenix when he knew he wouldn’t be missed at home, though. he’s not a goody two shoes, really, he just didn’t want to make things harder than they were for his mom. 

one day he did come home drunk, and he’ll never forget how upset lucy looked. he still doesn’t feel like he’s made that up to her. ouch.

one of the guys michael hung out with, probably the closest michael had to a “best friend” was a dude named declan who he’d known since elementary school. declan as the only one of the jock guys who didn’t really hold it against him when he’d skip out on stuff, and the only one he ever even thought about telling the divorce shit to, although in the end, he chickened out of actually doing it. 

like i said, they weren’t best friends or anything, but they could have been, y’know?

one of the less nice dudes in his group (probs one michael got in fights with often) started dating michael’s girlfriend about a week after he moved. michael wasn’t really pissed by the time he found out about that; he had way bigger problems to worry about by then.

there was a guy that michael saw around who was kind of a beatnik loner outcast and almost definitely a fag. he liked shakespeare and oscar wilde and probably drew pretty things in the margins of his notebook, and the guys that michael hung out with trashed on him pretty much constantly. michael himself, however, had kind of a thing for the guy: he thought he was cool and would ask when he could to see what he was working on.

you know how michael acted around star at the very beginning of their association? that’s pretty much how he was around this dude. local bi disaster is bi.

the guy (i was going to say fuck it and name him after the guy who i’m sort of basing him on from peggy sue got married, but guess what my fucking luck is, that dude’s name is michael. jfc. let’s call him charlie) thought michael was just there to make fun of him like the others did, but he eventually, he might have come around to trusting that mike really was just interested in his art. 

maybe they made out or something before charlie eventually pushed back against him because he didn’t want to get fucking murdered by michael’s friends for making him queer if they got caught 

michael always felt like he should have pushed harder to have some sort of relationship with charlie, but once he moves to santa carla, there’s no use in thinking about it anymore.

unlike michael, sam did have a close circle of friends at school, even though he wasn’t as classically “popular” as his brother. 

it was probs this reason that made him take the move a lot harder than his brother did.

sam, also unlike michael, was/is really good at school. he’s super skilled at memorizing dates & facts (just look at him rattle off semi-obscure superman trivia lol), and pretty talented at writing to boot. he doesn’t like math as much, but if he works at it, it comes to him pretty quickly. 

gifted kid perks™

being that everything came easy to sam, and that he didn’t do any sports like michael did, he had a lot of downtime to read books and comics, keep up w/ pop culture, and hang out with his nerdy friends who liked to do the same. he was even in a d&d group

his character was an elf rogue.

it’s about gay rights

re: sports, it’s not that sam couldn’t be athletic, just that he didn’t ever really want to be. he used to do little league to be like michael and as a concession to his father, but really, he was always put in the outfield, and at the end of the day he would just rather read or watch tv than stand out in the hot sun playing this game he didn’t care about.

when they were little, michael trained himself to get better at reading so that he could read stuff to sam when their parents were fighting or their mom was away. he remembered how his parents (in better times) had read to him, and he knew it made sam feel better, so he put aside his difficulties and discomfort to read to his brother before bed.

the easiest things to read for him were comic books (he had some batmans and supermans and even a few wonder womans, although it wasn’t all superhero stuff. he also had richie rich and, of course, archies), which kind of sparked sam’s love for them--they were something he shared with his brother. <3

i’m thinking sam’s nerd club was the prototypical “mostly boys who never talked to a girl in their lives” type thing, but at the same time i’d like to imagine that at least one of them had a pretty brash (and nerdy) sister who pushed her way into the club, winning their respect by doing what sam did to frog brothers, only with star wars lore.

also, i’m kind of picturing a shy girl from their school who sam takes under his wing when she’s getting bullied, only to find out that she’s really into that stuff too.

she’s part of their d&d campaign; she plays a badass orc barbarian woman and consistently has the best luck with the dice. 

the girl is almost definitely a lesbian, but sam asks her to homecoming and stuff like that so that they’ll both have dates; they’re basically each other’s beards. 

Gay Rights.

one of the only ways michael could ever really relate to his dad was when they played baseball and the dad taught him Sports™ things, so sam not being at all interested in that stuff made him kind of a disappointment. even still (or maybe for that reason), michael was always the mama’s boy, while sam spent a long time desperate for his dad’s approval.

maybe bc michael and lucy tried really hard to protect him from just how shitty their dad really was, to be honest.

speaking of michael and sam’s dad, i’ve been doing a lot of thinking about him, and now i’ve got Opinions. 

contrary to what i guess is the general fandom consensus (at least from what i’ve seen? but my scope might not be that big regarding this character, so if i’m wrong, i’m wrong lol) regarding the dad, i can’t see him being particularly abusive physically. 

however, given how sweet and agreeable lucy is, i get a sense that there must have been something REALLY insurmountable in their relationship to make her decide that divorce was the only option. the way i see it, michael and sam’s father started as one of those anti-establishment punks who eventually grew up and just... snapped back the other way entirely to end up as the establishment himself. 

main justification for this is that scene w/ michael and star; he doesn’t just refer to his mother being an ex-hippie, he refers to his folks. plus, i mean, there must have been something about the man that endeared him to lucy, right?

so, over the course of their marriage, the guy goes from being a radical dreamer type with maybe some kind punk rock aspirations to being like.... reagan’s “moral majority.” 

he starts totally stomping down his old dreams and, in the process, mocking lucy for holding onto anything from their past (you know how she told sam part of the reason she divorced him was that “he never believed in the closet monster”? that was a symptom tbh). i imagine that this, in itself, was soul crushing, but what was really the last straw was when he started in on michael and sam: getting mad and telling michael that he wasn’t going to make it in the MLB and that he had to get his shitty grades up if he wanted to amount to anything (only making him hate school even more lbr), and openly disliking sam’s rejection of sports and stuff in favor of his comic books and MTV.

before the end, i think michael got in a lot of fights with his dad when he’d make passive-aggressive comments at sam for not being enough of a man. 

who made you the fucking authority on that, huh?

if he was ever actually physically violent with anyone, it was probably michael during these fights, or mayyyybe even lucy when she’d step in.

eventually, something just tips lucy’s goddamn scales, and she snaps and goes out right then and there to file for divorce. they never saw the point in signing a prenup or anything back then, y’know, so without really fighting for it, lucy wasn’t going to get anything in the divorce. 

she doesn’t. they leave arizona with just about the clothes on their backs.

if anyone actually fought against the divorce proceedings, honestly i think it was the dad. he had this idea of his respectable nuclear family, and, even though he was basically an emotionally neglectful POS to his sons, he hated the idea of his wallstreet suit-type coworkers coming to know that his home life was anything less than perfect. 

as a last ditch effort, he probably tried to win lucy back at the very last minute, even twisting her arm in an attempt to get her to stay for the boys’ sake, but he clearly no longer knows what attracted her to him in the first place, and the “effort” just makes her sad.

in her mind, she’s already gone by then, you know?

finally, he just ives up and signs the divorce papers. for a hot second it really fucks him up; he goes in to work unshaven and haggard, he’s back to eating like a bachelor, his heart isn’t in what he’s doing. this isn’t about grief over losing his family, though, is the shitty thing. not really. instead, he’s just dealing with uncertainty over how to remake his image. 

unfortunately, that’s about as much karma as their dad gets. by the time lucy, sam, and michael are gone for good, he finds it’s easiest to just pretend that they never happened. lucy didn’t demand it, but he sends the occasional bare bones childcare check in the mail and feels like he’s the goddamn father of the year or something, and meanwhile, he remarries a woman that’s both younger and more conservative than lucy, sooner or later fathering a son with her.

lucy isn’t cruel; she doesn’t want the boys to be totally cut off from their father, and even though they both pretty clearly sided with her in the divorce she offers him visitation rights and partial custody (saying that they could stay with him at least every summer and for whatever other holidays he wanted), but he mostly rejects this. 

when the boys try to call him to ask, he gives them a noncommittal answer about them maybe visiting next summer, after they’ve all gotten settled in. 

they pretty much stop calling after that. 

remember how i said michael has an above-average emotional intelligence? he’s definitely the one who helps lucy through the divorce the most. he picks up on the signals she sends about when she needs help and when she needs space, and chides sam for pushing her too hard every now and then.

sam, on the other hand, is definitely a good kid who cares about his mom a lot, but he’s a little more selfish and has a harder time acting like he’s got no problem leaving phoenix for her. the only real fights the two of them get into before all the vampire mess are centered around sam not being sympathetic enough to lucy and michael getting onto him for it.

i think that their dad might end up being a much better father and husband for his new family, and when the eventually visit him long enough to realize this, michael and sam... aren’t sure what to think.

like, they’re glad he’s not repeating the same mistakes he made before, but it’s not fair, is it? to see your little half-brother get the father you always wanted but never got. 

their new stepmom is a sweet lady, though. she really does want to try and welcome sam and michael into the family. sam, michael, and their dad all try, but in the end they find it uncomfortable, and the boys know it’s just a facade on all sides to make her happy. 

everyone is a little bit relieved when the boys just give up and go back to santa carla. 

when michael meets the lost boys (& subsequently learns about dwayne’s past with jasper and, you know, the total boner david has for him, and oh yeah, the fact that these guys are kind of universally gay asf), his only experience with gay shit had been his closeted fumbling with charlie and like, negative stereotypes from media, so he’s kind of amazed by these totally queer dudes who just... take no shit. 

like, he gets challenged to a motorcycle race and their leader doesn’t back down at all from the fight michael tries to incite, they take him back to drink and hang out in a semi-nasty man cave. these dudes aren’t what he expects from fags at all (they’re not sissies, and that’s kind of the end of his knowledge about the gay community at that time lol), and he just doesn’t... know what to think about them.

he kind of wants to be them.

like, you know how immediately after seeing them for the first time, michael buys himself a leather jacket and goes to get his ear pierced? there’s a reason for that, babes!

in other news, michael is a cancer and there’s nothing y’all can do about it.

i mean, i have Evidence behind my theory but also i’m just right.

but like, going back to that scene with michael and star again, when he’s introducing himself, you know how he tells her that he was nearly named moonbeam or moonchild or something like that? well, another name for cancers that i’ve seen is moonchildren, after the way cancer is ruled by the moon (and bc the term “cancer” itself has some... other connotations).

in conclusion, lucy really was That Bitch sgdfhghdh

[iampikachuhearmeroar]

do this also with books you had to read in uni/college! over the course of my time at uni, i didn’t bother reading many of the books that were on my reading lists or got halfway through them before ditching them. however, after i graduated, i went back to re-read/re-listen to some of my set texts, like jane eyre, sense & sensibility, hard times….. the list goes on. right now i’m re-reading/listening to grapes of wrath….. which i partially read in the second year creative writing subject i did in my final sem of uni before graduation.

reading all of these books with fresh eyes and not under the pressure of the “you must read this book either in a week or over the course of the semester and come back with your interpretations” deadlines, is so much better. you can finally grasp them better than when you’re going through it at uni. and the same goes for any classic book that you were forced to read as a set text in high school. not that i ever did any bc i wasn’t in the right english class level (years 7-10) or english subject level (in senior high school) to get assigned classic texts, bar shakespeare. but i always had an interest in reading them eventually, since i’m surrounded all of these books at home.

but the best thing with re-reading these texts when you’re older or not under any deadlines, is that you can just passively listen (if you so desire) instead of being forced to analyse every fuckin thing that’s going on. like obvs go for analysis if you want to, and it’s great to flex your analytical skills while engaging with classic texts…. but sometimes you just want to chill the fuck out.

although with all the above being said, i will never read james joyce’s a portrait of an artist. idk what the fuck it is with that book but i don’t think i’ll ever get past page 10 of it. lmao. and my point for also bringing up uni is, bc at 18-21, i didn’t particularly want to read all of my assigned classic texts at uni. i just wanted to survive off of the crib note analysis websites and books that you could get for many of them. bc fuck reading the 400 page volume of tess of the d’ubervilles or another 300 pages for idek modernists for lady chatterly’s lover, when i can just read the cheat notes instead and pretend to know what the fuck is going on when i write an essay. but going back in my own time, i was able to appreciate them much more for building my vocabulary and also enhancing my analytical skills in general.

and also for the texts that i fully skipped like frankenstein, for example: going back to finally listen to the full audiobook, i gained appreciation for why the hell my professor even put it on our romantics reading list, and for the concept of the sublime….. that i zoned out on bc i was much busier dicking around on here and online shopping during my classes. just go back and learn to appreciate your old assigned texts, no matter what age you were when you were given them. bc even in your 20s, you mightn’t have enough emotional maturity to process the text you’ve been given in class….. most esp when you haven’t even bothered to touch it and to read it for yourself all bc “i’m in uni. why bother reading this??? i’ll just get a reading off spark notes and run with that for my lectures/tutes/assignments and they’ll never know. and also im the master of bullshit bc i’m an *insert arts major field here* student.”

then again, you’ve got like a bajillion assigned texts to read in an arts degree during a sem. so, imo, it’s totally understandable that you’ll just never reach some of them during that particular semester. but at some point, go back and engage with those texts anyway. you’ll gain an appreciation/understanding as to why the fuck your professor made them part of your readings in the first place, much like i did with frankenstein and like 20 other assigned texts that i was supposed to read, or finish reading, during uni.

Anyway unpopular opinion probably but the school system (and general book snobbery) fucks up by trying to force kids to read "classics" before they have the mental and emotional development to appreciate them.

This post is me telling you to consider revisiting that classic book you read in the 7th grade that you hated because the ability to understand a lot of literature gets unlocked later, for reasons a lot to do with emotional maturity

[korra-the-red-lion]

Unnatural Affairs. Chapter 11: So Not The Drama.

(Ally)

Sitting in Drama class was not the way I ideally wanted to start my Monday with, but here I was.

My Anthropology class was cancelled after my professor literally just didn’t show up. We waited for about 10 minutes out of our 50-minute class before we all just left. She never gave us an explanation, and I wasn’t going to complain.

I sat next to Michael and Mags as we sat in the auditorium. Our prof, Kinkly, booked it for the class just so we could present our drama re-enactments. Michael told me before Mags got here that he was feeling a little better. He certainly looked a little better. He was just confused as to why the crystals didn’t work in protecting us. I brushed it off as it being stronger than expected, not having the heart to say it was probably all bogus.

Mags clutched their stomach and whispered, “I’m feeling so nervous all of a sudden.”

“I’ve been nervous this whole time,” muttered Michael. I nodded in agreement. The three of us watched as a few of the other students awkwardly stumbled through their own lines, which was a very relatable mood right now. I should have just written the damned paper. Argh, curse friendship and the stupid decisions it brought along.

Unfortunately, it was our turn next. We timidly clomped down to the main stage and got to work. We decided to have Mags play Julie, to change the dynamic slightly. In the original play, Julie is told by her mother to behave like a man, causing her a bunch of confusion. I was playing Jean, who is kind of using Julie to climb the social ladder, who was originally a man. Michael was the one who was reading the scene, and he also played the servant. Anyway, the whole thing just felt super awkward, and we just wanted to get it over with.

Time felt like it dragged on forever as we worked through our lines in the clumsy way students who never have done this before do. Finally, it was over, and we retreated back to the safety of our seats.

Mags ran a hand through their hair, messing up the stylized look they had going on. “Okay, I’m pretty sure that was awful.”

“Worse than awful,” I whined.

“Totally,” affirmed Michael.

“At least it’s over now,” I pointed out. “We never have to embarrass ourselves in front of the public like that ever again.”

They both nodded in agreement, and we just suffered through the rest of the class. Finally, it was over (THANK GOD), and I packed my things quickly. We said goodbye to Professor Kinkly, who was in the middle of speaking to Rachel McDurmant about something. My ribs were starting to ache as my morning painkillers wore off, and I was craving some lunch.

We all walked together towards the lunchroom, joking about the horrible play and how Thanksgiving weekend was coming up. Mags told us that they were leaving early for the long weekend because their partner was visiting from out of province, so they wanted an extra couple of days with him. Michael was staying because his family lived out in BC, and it was too expensive for him to fly out only for a couple of days. I was going home, but I wasn’t leaving until all my classes were done on Friday.

I felt a little guilty about leaving when we were in the middle of investigating whatever the hell was going on here, but I wasn’t about to sacrifice my holiday break for this. Besides, most students were going home anyway, so maybe it would be safer anyway. Well, that was the lie I told myself anyway, to make me feel a little better about going. I even offered Michael to come for supper, and he said he would think about it. His headaches were still pretty bad, and he thought it might help to just take a very relaxing weekend off in the darkness of his dorm room.

Mags spotted a spot that was free and made a beeline for it, with me and Michael following slowly behind. I gingerly sat down, hissing under my breath. Mags was just about to dig in when they stopped to look at me in concern.

“Is everything okay, Ally?”

I smiled with a nod. “Yup, just a little sore.”

“How come?”

That was a great question. I glanced over at Michael, who was poking at his food tenderly. He must have been feeling nauseous again. “Um…we went camping this weekend with a friend of ours,” I lied, turning my attention back to Mags’ watchful stare. “We got attacked by a bear, and I bruised my ribs trying to get away.” Michael nodded in confirmation as I explained the false story.

“Whoa, what the hell? Why didn’t you tell me before?” they asked indignantly.

“I didn’t want to worry you.”

“Well, now I’m worried, so mission failed!”

I frowned, my cheeks heating up with shame. “I’m sorry, Mags. I wasn’t keeping it a secret on purpose or anything. I just haven’t really told anyone about it.”

Mags crossed their arms, a look of momentary hurt on their face. “I get it…just let me know next time, okay? What if something more serious happened?”

“I promise,” I said with my hand held high. “Scout’s honour and all that jazz.” Mags looked satisfied enough and began to eat as they talked about our English class. It felt a little dirty to be lying to my friend, but I just really didn’t want to explain the whole ‘I’m a freak of a nature who talks to ghosts’ right now.

After a mostly satisfying lunch (I was starting to get tired of the food here), I headed over to library on my break as Mags headed to their next class and Michael went back to his dorm to lie down for a little while. I took a picture of Harper, which was right next to the library, before heading in. I was trying to decide if I wanted to talk to Amelia before or after break, plus I wanted to compare the building as it was now to what it was before. I was feeling like talking to her sooner would be better, but I was still tired and jittery from the Athletic Centre incident, so I wasn’t sure how ready I was to talk to an unknown ghost again.

The warmth of the library was welcomed as it hit my face and hands. I haven’t been able to stay warm since that night, and it wasn’t even that cold out today. I wanted to find a table, but I decided to grab a warm drink before I did. I was about to grab myself a tea when I had a tingling feeling in my gut. Confused, I looked over my shoulder to see someone approaching me.

It was Lyn’s friend from move in day. Shoot, what was her name again? I knew it started with an L…Lorie? No, that wasn’t right. Hmm, oh, it was Loryn! She stopped well enough away that I wasn’t uncomfortable with the distance. She was the one who noticed the first time how nervous I was on day one.

“Hey…” she frowned. “Crap, I’m sorry. I legit can’t remember your name.”

“Ally,” I reached out my hand. She gave me a firm shake.

“Loryn. Can we have a quick chat?”

I blinked in confusion, a squirming feeling working its way into my belly. “Umm…about what, exactly? We don’t really know each other.”

She sighed in exasperation. “I know, sorry. I…fuck, I probably shouldn’t be doing this because she’s gonna be so pissed at me. I just wanted to talk about Lyn for a minute.”

Oh. I had to admit, I was a little curious about that. I could see on her face that she looked a little worried, and judging by how tense her body language was, this wasn’t a recent development. Finally, I nodded and followed her to the corner of the café.

Once we sat down, I really took her in. She had a narrow face with long brown hair (did all the girls on the swim team have long hair?) that was currently held back in a braid and muddy brown eyes hidden behind long lashes. Her nose was slightly off center, so it must have been broken once before. She was working her jaw as she worked up the courage to talk about what she planned to. I waited patiently as she did, since there was no point in rushing someone to speak. If you did try to rush them, it only made them less likely to open up.

“So,” she started slowly, “Ally. Lyn and you met up the other night, right?” She waited for my confirmation before continuing. “I know you haven’t known each other long, but it seems like you connected really fast, which is super duper awesome. I’m really happy that she found someone who she trusted,” she stopped again, gathering her thoughts.

Loryn looked at me, her face serious. “I saw her arm this morning. I asked her what the hell happened, and she told me she went camping with you and some dude named Michael and got attacked by a bear. I’ve only known Lyn for just over a year at this point, but I know when she’s lying to me. She’s terrible at it. I wanna know what happened.”

I shifted in my seat uncomfortably. “That’s what happened. She pushed me out of the way, so I didn’t get hurt.”

Loryn sucked on her teeth as she shook her head. “Fine, whatever then. Did she tell you she was going home this weekend?”

It felt a little strange that she dropped it so quickly, but I had a feeling Loryn wasn’t done with the subject quite yet. The look in her eye was very overprotective. I didn’t want to antagonize her further, so I answered her other question with an affirmative.

“Oh, for the love of fucking God…” she muttered darkly to herself. She picked at her nail as she glanced at me. “How much do you know?”

“Enough,” I said cautiously. “I briefly met Olivia when she drove us to the hospital.”

Loryn rolled her eye as she sighed. “Perfect. Okay, well, I know you care about Lyn. Just…if you’re hanging around her, just to make sure she doesn’t retreat into herself too much, okay? She hasn’t been sleeping well since Jackie got hurt and I’m worried this is just going to make it all so much worse. Lyn would take on the whole world if she could but won’t share how much it weighs. Like seriously, she doesn’t ask for help and doesn’t like talking about her issues with other people. I practically have to pry it out of her when something is bothering her.”

I nodded slowly as I unlaced my fingers. “Why are you telling me all this?”

“Because Lyn likes you,” Loryn said with a shrug, “like a lot. I don’t want to see either of you get hurt because she decides to act like a stupid ass. If she does end up going home, which I strongly suggest we work together to convince her to not do that, she might be different when she gets back. Her mom especially brings out the worst in her.”

“She mentioned something like that,” I mused. I forced that giddy feeling I got from hearing Loryn say that Lyn liked me a lot down, paying attention to the topic on hand.

Loryn got up, stretched and tossed her braid behind her shoulder. “Okay, well…I guess that was it. Sorry if I seemed pushy or whatever. I just worry about that big dummy.”

“It’s fine,” I said firmly, and I meant it.

Loryn thanked me and left me alone to dwell on the conversation. It was very strange. Was she really that worried about Lyn that she was talking to anyone close to her? I chewed on my bottom lip, thinking. There was probably more to the story than I know. I didn’t know Lyn in first year, Loryn did. Something must have happened last year that was causing a level of concern in Loryn about her going home. I guess I could try to talk her out of it, but I doubt it would make any difference. Lyn seemed liked the kind of person who once her mind was made up, there was no changing it. It wouldn’t hurt to try though, right?

XXX

The rest of the week was going by slowly.

I didn’t really see Lyn much this week. She was busy with her classes and assignments, plus she was practicing still, even though she wasn’t supposed to be. She did call me every night before she went to bed, however.

It started on Saturday, when she said she would call me later that day. She held on to that promise, checking in to see how I was doing. We spoke for a little before she hung up so she could sleep. But then she called me again Sunday night. We didn’t really talk about much of anything, just random things like music, TV, classes or whatever. Sometimes I could hear her typing or writing in her notebook, suggesting that she was at the library. Other times I could hear the shuffling of clothes or maybe blankets, which I thought meant she was in her room. It always happened around 8:30, and never went past 9:30. It was nice and relaxing. I wasn’t sure why she started doing it, but I didn’t mind it at all. If anything, I started to look forward to it. Just listening to her talk relaxed me, and I found myself sleeping better.

Michael started feeling a little better by Wednesday. According to him, the doctor said he would be fully recovered between a week or two. He was reporting less pounding headaches and lights were bothering him less. I told him about Amelia and how she wasn’t the ghost in the Athletic Centre, but in fact the ghost who bothered him in his dream.

We were sitting outside, sitting on one of the benches as we stared at Harper. Michael scratched at his chin thoughtfully. “Okay, so we were wrong. Should we talk to her?”

I frowned, giving a noncommittal shrug. “I mean, yes? I just don’t know if I’m ready to do that just yet.”

“You know what? That’s totally valid,” said Michael. “My head is killing me from the last ghostly conversation we had. Oh!” A dawning look of sudden remembrance lit up Michael’s face. “I just remembered something! You know how you were talking to the ghost in the mirror?”

“I’m not likely to forget anytime soon,” I shuddered.

“Me either. Anyway, something I didn’t think about at the time, but it just occurred to me now; I could see her.”

The weight of those words came on slowly as I digested what he said. I looked over at him, his eyes showing some concern and curiosity. I tapped my finger against my knee, resisting the urge to chew on my lip.

“You…could see her?” I swallowed thickly. “But you never could do that before.”

“I know, but I think the crystals had something to do with it,” he explained. “The ones I gave to you were supposed to increase your spiritual awareness or whatever. So maybe what it did was do just that, but instead of affecting you, since your awareness is pretty much at its peak, it affected those around you. Like me. Oh, and Lyn too.”

I blinked a few times before whistling quietly. “That’s probably something I should look into a bit more.”

Michael nodded. “I think so too. Also, I sent in the sample today. Hopefully we’ll get the results sometime after Thanksgiving.”

“Oh, that’s good to know. I wonder what those results are going to reveal.”

“Hopefully it was human DNA.”

“Hopefully.”

We both sat silently for a couple of minutes, still staring at the haunted school building. Michael chewed on his nail absentmindedly, clearly lost in thought. I played with a button on my shirt, wondering if I should just suck it up and talk to Amelia. I needed to stop letting my more careful emotions control me. Shaking my head, I opened my purse and pulled out nail polish. I tapped Michael on the shoulder, who looked over when I did. I lift the bottle to line up with his eyesight.

“You should use this to help with that,” I said, indicating his bitten hands.

Michael took it from me with curiosity. “Nail polish?”

“It will make your nails taste disgusting, so you’ll stop chewing them,” I explained.

“Interesting.” Michael held it up, examining it. “Women sure do have a lot of sneaky tricks that men should take up more often. Otousan chews his nails too, I get it from him.”

I smiled playfully. “The world would be a much better place if men listened to women more often.”

He smirked back at me. “And if we listened to less white people.”

“Touché.”

After that, it was time for class. I really didn’t feel like feel like going to my class, but I forced myself to go anyway. I was paying to go here, so I should make the most of it, I suppose. I shot one last guilty look at Harper as I walked away. Maybe I should try to talk to her before Thanksgiving.

Gosh, I needed to stop getting to invested in all of this.

XXX

It was Thursday evening when I finally got the chance to talk to Lyn in person.

It was purely accidental. I was just about to leave the library when I decided to check to see if she was here tonight. I went downstairs and she was sitting at the table that I found her at the last time. She had her headphones on, tunelessly humming along to whatever she was listening to. I stopped just before, sending a text for her to see first. I spooked her last time, and I didn’t want to do that again.

The screen was lighting up her face as she typed something quickly into her open Word doc. She must have felt her phone vibrate, because she reached for it without taking her eyes off the screen as she switched to a different tab with her other hand. She glanced at her phone before she turned around in her chair, smiling when she saw me. Lyn waved me over, pulling out the free chair.

“Hey,” she greeted when I sat.

“Hey to you too,” I said back. “What are you up to?”

“Writing a paper,” she yawned. “I wanted to get it most of done before the holiday break, you know?”

I stifled a giggle. “Actually, I don’t. I’m pretty bad at keeping on top of things at times.”

“Wish I had the nerve to do that,” said Lyn. “I don’t think I’ve ever missed a due date, if I actually think about it.” She paused, making an uncomfortable face before switching topics. “Are you going home for the break? I haven’t asked yet.”

“I am, tomorrow after class,” I said happily. “Are you?”

“I told Olivia I was,” she grumbled.

I remembered my conversation with Loryn. I nodded slowly, leaning on the table. “Are…are you actually planning on going, though? You don’t seem too happy about it.”

Lyn frowned, before she shrugged her shoulders. “I promised Olivia.”

“But you don’t have to, right?”

She looked away, tapping her finger against the table. Her brows were drawn together as she thought about her answer. “I just…after last week, and this,” she gestured to her left arm, “I just felt like maybe I should make an effort to get along with Liv again. I don’t really want to go all that much. Last year when I did, shit hit the fan for me. But, I dunno, learning about all these poor people that are stuck here because they can’t move on, it got me thinking. Even if it’s only one person I can try to fix my relationship with, I think it’s worth it. Olivia might piss me off, but she’s still my sister. She fucking came and got us in the middle of the night, so I know she still cares about me enough to do that.”

That was actually not a terrible reason, but I was still wary of it. I tapped my foot against hers, causing her look over at me. I give her a supportive smile. “Lyn, I’m not going to tell you what the right decision is. Just make sure that you’re making this choice because you want to, not because you think it’s the right thing to do. I’m terrible for doing things just because I feel like it’s the right thing to do, as exhibited by me trying to figure out this whole ghost thing.”

Her eyes searched my face before she chuckled under breath softly. I was confused, that wasn’t the reaction I was expecting. She leaned back in the chair, pulling her leg up and lacing her fingers around her knee.

“Ally, I seriously don’t know what to think about you. You’re like a super PI therapist lady,” she laughed again.

My face flushed with embarrassment. “I-I wasn’t trying to-”

“It’s good,” she cut me off. “It’s cute. You’re cute, for caring. I promise that I’m doing this of my own free will.”

“A-as long as you’re sure,” I mumbled. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt.” My face was still red from her laughing at me, plus her freaking comment too! I really wanted to be like please go out with me! I think you’re so nice and attractive and funny and the list goes on for while. But I was nervous. I dated a couple of girls in high school, but they all ended rather quickly. I didn’t want to ruin what I had with Lyn, but the messages I was getting told me it was okay. Yes, she was flirty and affectionate, but this was different, I just knew it.

I looked at her over top of my frames. She was still smiling at me with her ridiculously infectious grin, her eyes looking like they were shining brightly. Was it okay? Was it okay to fall for someone so quickly? Without thinking, my hand reached over and touched the back of hers. My heart felt like it was in my throat, and it was pounding so loud.

The energy in here could only be described as nervous. I pushed my chair over just a little bit closer with my feet, my fingers tracing her knuckles softly. Lyn watched as I did, almost as if she were entranced by the motions. I parted my lips, fully prepared to ask but no words came out.

“Ally,” Lyn said softly as she removed one of her hands to cover mine, “I have something I wanted to ask you.”

I nodded nervously as our eyes connect, the look in hers serious yet kind.

She took a deep breath in, only to be interrupted by her phone ringing. It startled us both so badly that I jumped back, and Lyn knocked her chair backwards, falling to the ground. Groaning, she pushed herself up and grabbed her phone off the table. “I don’t know this fucking number,” she growled as she hung up.

“A-a-are you okay?” I stammered, reaching down to help her to her feet. All the tension from earlier was starting to subside.

“Yeah, I’m fine, mostly just annoyed,” she said irritably.

The phone rang again with the same number. Lyn glared at the screen before ending the call again. When it rang the third time, she was pretty annoyed. She finally hit the green answer button and snapped, “Hello?”

I picked up the chair as she stoically listened to the person on the phone. All of sudden Lyn got very quiet as she stood there on the phone, her face slowly going from annoyed to concerned. She glanced over at me and silently handed me the phone. I took it from her confused and put it to my ear.

“Hello?”

There was a staticky silence on the other end. I looked over at Lyn, wondering if it was a prank call when someone whispered, “It’s coming.”

My heart felt like it dropped into my stomach. The voice had the tinniness of a ghost. But, how? “Who are you?” I asked tensely, my free hand clenching my shirt.

“It’s coming. It’s coming for-” there was a bloodcurdling screech all of sudden that caused me to drop the phone in surprise and a little bit of fear. I quickly picked it up again, but the call was done.

I stared at the blank screen for several taunt minutes, trying to figure out what that was. I looked over at Lyn, who was watching me with concern.

“Did they tell you to give me the phone?”

She nodded tentatively. “All I heard was your name over and over again. Should I…not have done that?”

“It’s fine,” I assured her. I looked back down at the phone. “It was a ghost. I think it was trying to warn me about something.”

“How very modern of it,” Lyn remarked dryly as she took her phone back.

“It was very strange,” I said quietly. Lyn went to the table to close her laptop as I continued, “I’ve never heard of them doing that before. Also, it means that they’re aware I’m looking into the case. That’s really disturbing to me.”

Lyn, who was in the middle of putting both of our things away, grimaced at me. “No offence, Al, but that’s extremely creepy. If they can call you from the afterlife or whatever, how are you safe anywhere?”

I didn’t really have an answer for that. I looked down at my shoes, my mind racing with various scenarios of being accosted wherever I went now. It was extremely creepy, as Lyn so bluntly put it. I scrunched more of my shirt in my hands, trying very hard to not get overwhelmed with this development. Suddenly, Lyn reached over and grabbed one of my hands, gently removing the glob of cloth beneath my grasp.

“We’ll figure something out,” she said confidently. “Let’s not worry about that tonight, okay? You got home to look forward to, yeah? Turkey dinner, awkward family get togethers where your uncle does some stupid shit, regular scheduled TV programs because we’re not obsessed with the holiday like Americans are.” She smiled at me, but I could see the tension in her eyes. Numbly, I nodded.

We left the library after that, with Lyn stating that we were no longer allowed to meet on the lower floors of the library at night, because that was the second time something creepy happened. I had a sneaking suspicion that since Amelia’s ghost was so close to the area that she or something similar to her had something to do with it. Still, I didn’t disagree with the thought.

As usual, Lyn walked me back all the way to my residence. I walked up the steps and reached for the door, then a thought occurred to me. Before I went inside, I turned to look at Lyn who was waiting until I was safely in. She tilted her head in minor curiosity at my hesitancy.

“What was it you were going to ask me?” I asked quietly, my hand trembling by my side in anxious anticipation.

Lyn stiffened. She laughed nervously, tugging on her ear lobe. “Um, yeah. I was about to ask something, wasn’t I?” She laughed again. Under the softly lit outside lamps, it was hard to make out her full expression, but I could see by her body language she was struggling to come up with the words. Instead, she took a couple of steps to close the distance. I gasped as she reached out to cusp my face in her hands, her ears and face just as red as I bet mine was.

She kissed my forehead, before slipping something on my head. My heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest as she slipped her hands off, instead clasping them with mine. “I’ll tell you after break, okay?” Lyn whispered softly. “I don’t think now is the time after what just happened. Stay safe, stay warm, eh? I-I’ll see you in a few days.”

I nodded dumbly, not trusting my voice right now. I was certain it would come out in a squeak. Lyn gave me a nervous smile before kissing the back of my hand in goodbye. I felt like I was floating as I went inside, drifting absently to my room. I struggled with the lock on our door before I finally managed to get my key in after the 5th try.

Sarah looked up from her phone as I walked in, her face going from confused to elated in a manner of seconds. “Oh my God, Ally! Your face! It’s like, so red! What happened?” she asked with a squeal as she led me to sit on her bed.

Finally, my brain caught up to the rest of my body, and I ended up bursting out into a mix of excited laughter and screeching. I explained everything to Sarah giddily (without the spooky ghost stuff of course), who responded with equal excitement. I reached up and pulled what turned out to be a different hat then last time off my head, my grin getting even bigger.

I fell back on her bed with an oomph, smiling up at the ceiling. “Sarah, I’m seriously so happy right now. I can’t even picture it, but I can at the same time! Lyn is so amazing and at first I thought I was reading the signals wrong, but this has to be legit!” I squeezed the hat between my hands and sighed happily. “Why else wouldn’t she tell me right away? She’s waiting until the moment’s right!”

Sarah laid beside me, a mischievous grin on her face. “Ally-gator, remember what you told me?”

I stared at her with interest. “I’ve told you a lot of things.”

“Yeah, I know, but this is like, a big thing,” she giggled. “You guys had breakfast, like, the second day or whatever, right? She told you could like, ask her one thing, anything. I think you should totally like, ask her first!”

My jaw fell open in surprise. I can’t believe Sarah remembered that. I pushed myself up on my elbow to get a better look at her. “I mean, that sounds fantastic in theory, but I don’t know if I can pull it off…” I ran my hand along the top of her covers.

“You totally can!” Sarah poked me in the forehead. “It doesn’t need to be this like, super huge thing. Just be like, ‘oh hey, remember when you said I could ask you one thing? Will you go out with me?’” she batted her eyelashes with her hands clasped together. “Just like that!”

I laughed, smacking her with one of her own pillows. “I don’t sound like that! Also, I could never be so straightforward, that’s so nerve wracking!”

“Okay, okay!” She held up her arms to protect herself from my pillow onslaught. “I still think you should, like, make the first move though! It’d be iconic!”

“Maybe,” I mused. “I’ll think about it.”

“You better!”

We both ended up being way too hyped to go to sleep after that, so we put on a movie to relax too. I held on to that hat for the rest of the night, all thoughts of ghosts and creepy phone calls just melting away as I lost myself in the bliss of having my super intense crush reciprocated. I’ve been a little distracted by the case recently, so it sorta took a back burner for awhile. But it was in the hospital, with the sunlight shining and the peaceful look on her freckled face that it came back full force.

I let myself drift off, my chest full of warmth and happy feelings.

[aly126]

To join the discussion re. Latin to help your native language: I'm a native English speaker, and I have to say that when I started learning German (English is in the Germanic family as Romanian, Italian, etc. are in the Romantic family) it really, really did help me with English a lot. I started German right as the books used in my English classes started drifting into the pre-1800 range, and early modern English sentence structure has more in common with German than current English in many...

cases. Having the understanding that German gave me of how to parse the weird confusing word order made getting through some of those books a lot more bearable. It also really did give me a better understanding of grammar; idk if it’s because the case system in English is nearly dead or because it was deemphasized at my school but I didn’t have a great understanding of how accusative, dative and genitive really worked beyond just “hm that sounds off” until it was formally taught to me as … part of the German curriculum. I was a very good English student, who always got straight As and read well above my grade level, and I started German in highschool. Obviously I respect that y'all may have had different experiences for a variety of reasons. But for me, even being a well-educated, confident native speaker of my language, studying a closely related language helped me speak it better. I think there’s merit to the argument.  

Also this is less germane but wow, I would have loved to have the opportunity to study Latin and philosophy and logic in highschool. In American high schools you typically only have six or seven subjects per year, because you attend the same classes every day - the only schools that do European style block scheduling are really bougie prep schools, at least in my part of the country. Those are also just uncommon courses to offer at the highschool level. There are so many interesting things I would have liked to pursue and learn if I had the opportunity to take anything beyond the basic English, history, math, science, foreign language, fine art, athletics/PE that is the typical course plan in the US.

I’m not gonna argue about how German helped you understand English better, because it’s obviously a matter of personal experience, you know. Sure, there can be a merit to the argument, but I just said it did nothing for me, just like my Italian anon said happened in their case. And to be honest, you got the better deal, cause you get to speak German now, I got Latin. I guess I can penpal with my Italian anon lmao, but otherwise, it doesn’t come handy to me in any other way right now.

On having more subjects in highschool, yeah, we had a lot, and how many classes of each subject you do every week depends on your profile, arts or science. For the arts profile, I had the following

Romanian, English, French, German, History, Geography, Music, Painting, Religion, and PE every year of highschool. To that, you add 2 years of Latin, Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Informatics (like html and Office shit). And a year of Logics, Philosophy, Pshychology, Sociology, Economy and Entreprenourship (?).

And to be clear, cause you mentioned choosing, those were all mandatory, we had no say in it, bc if we were to choose, we would’ve chosen less classes lol.

Looking back, sure, it’s cool, you learn a lot, and maybe you become up a more well rounded individual, I don’t know, but I sure as hell didn’t enjoy it then. You can’t imagine how much information that actually is, or how much homework you get for all those subjects. And it’s not like you learned for pleasure or bc you want to, you learned because you HAD TO. We had frequent tests and got graded, and you HAD TO get good grades, because all the grades you get throughout highschool get averaged and that average matters for college admission, together with the Baccalaureate. So you can’t just say fuck it, I’ll cruise it and just study for the final exams. Nope, you had to get good grades throughout highschool to make it to a good university.

So yeah, the advantage is learning more, which is obviously good, but it comes with the huge added pressure of being good at 100 things and trying desperately to remember all sorts of things you will never use again. A lot of the things I learned, I can’t remember, cause I learned them… blindly. Like, just forced myself to remember a million mountains and their max hights, or the years of literally 30000 wars, things you forget easily. And I remember no German at all, except ‘schneller schneller das ist gut’. But I don’t think they taught me that at school, anyway