fandomhigh | Brooding for Dummies, Friday, Period 2

//Morning, class,// Jono greeted, the lesson for today set up in a classroom. //Have you eaten today?//

It was an important question, okay? Yesterday's activity in the park had given him another idea for class today, and while there wasn't necessarily such a thing as a good brooding food, there was such a thing as a good comfort food.

//When people fall into a particular state, they sometimes get so lost in it that they forget to take care of the essentials,// he explained. //Maybe they don't eat, or shower, or tidy up as much as they ought to. Hell, it can be difficult to even leave the house when it gets bad enough. And... there's not much I can do about the rest, but today we can at least lean into eating.//

Well, you all could. Jono was going to have to spectate for this one.

//Here, I think, the trick is to find something easy. Make sure that easy thing is always an option, even when you've got other things to... feel. Think about. Whatever.// He shrugged. //There's a certain point where you don't even have to worry about it being healthy, just worry about it being food. Get delivery, keep some energy bars in the cupboard, just eat a block of ramen noodles dry, if that'll keep you going.//

... He'd resorted to a few of these things back during his, ah, blue period.

//Anyway, we're ordering pizza today. Figure out what toppings you want and let me know, and I'll pay.//

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"I might go with all of them too, just to try."

She remembered to smile here.

It was an effective smile, considering Astrid smiled back, albeit just a little. "See? Might as well go all-in."

"I actually haven't had a lot of pizza before, really," she added, tucking her hair behind her ears, almost embarrassed, definitely shy, unaware that Breq would probably have no idea why someone would be worried it would be weird to admit that to her peers.

"Neither have I," Breq said. "I'm from a different universe."

One where ancillaries weren't given anything resembling pizza.

Of course she was. Astrid's lips pressed together a moment, trying not to react, because, really, wasn't this just par for the course these days?

So she handled it the way she handled it when anyone else said they were from a different universe or had aliens for best friends or never seemed to take off giant shark-person costumes. She just went along with it.

"Yeah?" she asked. "Is it...really different?"

"I suppose it is," Breq said. "Then again, people aren't that different, or if they are, they are different in predictable ways. I'm guessing you're from Earth?"

"Oh, yeah," said Astrid, with a little emphatic breath. "Definitely. Los Angeles. I mean, I've lived in a few other places, too, but L.A. will always be home."

Which she missed to an almost excruciating extent, but she was trying to not let it bother her if she could help it. But the point was that she was from a place that actually existed that wasn't here or outer space or other dimensions or anything like that.

Edited 2018-07-22 11:31 (UTC)

"I've seen it marked on a map of this planet," Breq said. "You speak the same language there, don't you?"

She assumed that was the case, since Astrid didn't have an accent that told her otherwise.

"But it's the other coast of this continent?"

Astrid nodded. It was simple stuff, sure, but it was almost like how some people would repeat facts to themselves, to make sure their grip on reality remained strong enough to hold on. "That's right," she said. "Mostly English, but there's a lot of immigrants there, so you hear all kinds of languages."

She thought about talking about her own multilingual tongue, but stopped herself. It always felt like bragging, in a way, knowing it was a little unique. She also knew it would only make her ache for the way things were, so why even mention it?

"I haven't seen much of the rest of this planet, and I've only heard some of the other languages here in songs."

She made sure to smile. "We have space travel in my universe. I'm used to travel between planets, and I can't say I'd call any of them my home."

"You travel around a lot, then?" Astrid asked.

See, there was the thing. If she just ignored the space travel part, it could easily just be a conversation between two totally normal girls. She might have been able to suspend her disbelief longer, too, if she hadn't gone and asked a follow-up question that would make it hard to just brush it off. But letting people go on with their wild tales was still preferable to talking about herself.

"Do you have a favorite, though?"

"Before coming here, yes," Breq said. "And... favorites depend on the people there. Or the songs. I really couldn't name one place."

All of them came with good and bad memories.

"You like music?" Astrid ventured; she couldn't help noticing songs being brought up twice in their short conversation already.

"I do," Breq said. "I collects songs. Do you like music?"

This was an important subject to her, and she forgot to make sure her face expressed that adequately.

Brooding for Dummies, Friday, Period 2

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