thenearshore | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: the nerds
What: flash...cards...
When: April 24th evening
Where: hazel's lame western temple
Warnings: none they're dumb

[Well, with one tedious assigned mission out of the way, Jae-Ha was ready to return home. Earlier in the day he'd avoided enough interaction and conversation by browsing the internet, as the kids say, (and drinking with a person or two) and after that was the assigned mission. In a way, he's been gone all day, mentioning his whereabouts to Hazel but not lingering for very long at all. He's just a busy man. That must be it.

Well, he'd originally planned to go out drinking again tonight, but after all of the violence and the thinking he's had to endure, all he wants to do is go back and find some way to relax on his own. So, he'll slip into the temple through the window of the music room, as if he doesn't already live here.

Still, it's only polite to call out so he doesn't alarm him into picking up a lamp again. So, loudly, for wherever in the house Hazel is:]

I'm back, safe and sound. Did you miss me? [He's sure Hazel had probably noticed feelings here and there... So who knows what he was thinking.]

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[Hazel spends half of this day with a headache, honestly, so Jae-Ha being out of his hair is kind of welcome. It's not that he'd have minded if Jae-Ha were home, but he can't promise he'll be anything less than vicious when his head is pounding, so it's in both their best interests that he's left alone for a little while.

As it turns out, he spends most of the morning sulking around, nursing his headache and sparing only a grim stare of acknowledgement when Jae-Ha initially goes out. When he's through with sulking and feels real enough to do something else, he's set upon by rogue twinges of who knows what from whatever Jae-Ha is feeling. These again... They're distracting, but he hasn't been blighted, so it's not worth interrupting him.

Sometime in the late afternoon he decides to actually be productive, which requires a brief trip out to buy some stupid index cards and continue to ignore those distracting feelings tugging at him. One of these days, Jae-Ha will stop being upset on the hour, every hour—]

I don't leave a light on for men who can't use the front door, [is what he calls back, from where he has holed himself up in one of Several living rooms. He's actually sitting on the floor with his back to the couch, surveying the mess he's made of the coffee table. There are cards everywhere... some of them are even in a stack. What are these mystery objects??]

I can manage to navigate just fine without one.

[So grumpy about doors, goodness. Jae-Ha focuses very pointedly on his amusement at that to counter any of the complicated feelings that have been rising throughout the day. In between dealing with ayakashi-related problems, drinking, and a text post that made him think more than he had planned to, they were coming up far too often. Going out was supposed to distract from this!

What really distracts from this is the sight of Hazel and a ton of cards all over the place when Jae-Ha glances down into this room. He blinks, clear surprise written on his face before he makes his way down the stairs like a real person.]

What's all this?

[Just use the door once in a while to placate him... Please. Anyway, hello, welcome to the education station. Hazel looks up at him from his wreck of a 'project,' leaning a little over the table to peer at him as he comes down the stairs.]

Learnin'. I told ya, didn't I? I'm makin' good on my word.

[Already beginning Education with a helpful explanation.]

These are the "flashcards?"

[The way he says it is completely necessary. His mind is clear for the first time today, probably, and it's entirely because he's intrigued by this, and a little surprised that Hazel has been honestly working on something like this without any pestering. So he does care about learning!

Jae-Ha makes it to the bottom of the stairs and moves to crouch next to one of the stacks of cards, picking one up curiously.]

How long have you been at this?

These certainly are the flashcards. [That's his fav ye olde, demonstrating a great understanding of language already. The cards are pretty basic - since he still figures it will be easier for Jae-Ha to gain a moron's grasp of English before they both grasp complicated kanji, he has a stack of cards for the alphabet with a letter on one side and a somewhat talentless drawing of a matching object on the back.

There is also a stack of suspiciously green items, but that's for later. Jae-Ha has selected the letter F, with a very basic-looking fish on the back.

F is for Fish, Jae-Ha. F is for Fish. Anyway-] It takes longer to figure out what to put on the back than the rest. Maybe an hour or so?

[don't make fun of him for being a nerd...] I haven't been keepin' track.

[It takes Jae-Ha a good minute before realizing that this is a fish, and he can't help but smile as he does look down. An hour or so? What dedication.]

I'll try my best, as a student, but I already have no idea what this means. [Why is this line with two arms a fish? He sets it back down where it was and walks over to join Hazel at his side, instead.]

[Come sit on the floor with him, great. Hazel reaches for the F card, since it was already turned over. Surely he'll be able to explain!]

They're letters. Well, the picture's a fish. This one's the letter "F," in English.

[Oh. F, and fish... Hearing "F" is so different from hearing a word he can understand like "fish." This is going to take a long time, basically, but he's going to do his best to be quiet and try to figure it out along the way.]

I see. It's rather plain looking for a letter, isn't it? It ought to have more curls.

[Jae-Ha... what the actual fuck. F is now for Fuck, because why is he like this? Hazel's plucky enthusiasm for flashcards is already faltering. Ah.]

You're not gonna enjoy the English language very much, I suspect. Here, take a look at this. [He picks up a pen - not the googly eyed one, sadly - and adds to the corner of this F card, a capital F... in cursive!! Behold!!]

It's the same thing. [this isn't confusing.]

[Oh, oops. He didn't mean to insult the entire English language. Now there's another part of it he doesn't understand...?]

I'll enjoy it plenty, if I can read your shirts. [What] Is this just fancy handwriting? Maybe we should start with your basics you have laid out here.

[He sure does love that cursive F though.]

[Note to self: burn Texas t-shirt before Jae-Ha can read. Hazel taps the end of the pen against Jae-Ha's shoulder, scolding!! him for disrupting this great lesson already.]

Don't make noise about the letters, then. Let's go in order.

[He picks up the rest of the alphabet stack and hands Jae-Ha the first one. It's an angel, but his fish drawing was already mysterious... Bear with him.] That's an "A."

[Jae-Ha takes this little card with both hands, ignoring the scolding pen taps to focus on the letter, first. A. Okay. Looks simple enough... but when he turns it over... Okay, the fish he was able to gather after a moment, but—]

Why does this man have wings? [That's not a thing and he makes a point of saying this whenever he talks about how cool he is for flying.]

[Everything about this was a mistake.]

It's— well, it's meant to be an angel. [STARES...] Like a Heavenly creature? Excludin' this particular low quality Heaven.

[A heavenly creature?? Why hasn't he heard about this!]

I see! I've never met an angel before. Can they fly? [He's losing track of the point.]

That's the idea behind the wings. There's all manner of classifications and so on, too... [He could go on, but wait, crap-]

Let's not get away from the point, here.

[Note to self: google "angel" later. For now, he smiles and holds up the card in front of his face, angel side facing Hazel.]

Sorry, sorry! A for aaaangel. [He stretches out the A sound, see.] What's next, then?

[How dare he... be cute... Hazel reaches over and plucks the card back, putting it down next to the pile and picking up the B next.

B is for Bible. He needs a moment to think about his own predictability here.

Okay.] This one's "B." B's for... book.

[It's hard to not have the energy when suddenly this day is so much lighter. Imagine that, just spending time here and not thinking so much about it leaves him feeling lighter. That'll start to worry him again soon, but for now, they're safe.]

Ah, books! Your favorite. [He points at the card. He gets it!!] Should I be memorizing the order of this?

[His favorite...!! Stop it, that's cute too. Hazel hands him the card and as an afterthought, hands him back the A card as well. Yes, keep these in order, good idea.]

Sure. There's a lil song, but I'll let ya find that bit on your own. [Jae-Ha Does Youtube]

Maybe I'll quiz ya later.

[A song... there's so much that he has to google later, goodness. He won't have the time with how long he takes to type things into a search bar. He gathers these cards up with obvious care. They're silly little things, but they're silly things that Hazel has spent over an hour on, so he's worried about them smudging or bending or anything horrible like that.

A and then B. Two out of how many, he wonders?] A quiz? How exciting. Will there be more at stake? [A light teasing call back. Sort of.] I'm ready for the next one.

[Ah, that does remind him not for the first time today to think about what he did while he was drunk. He sure didn't black out, but the specifics of all the sappy things he said are kind of a blur. But he knows they were sappy...

Well, take the C card and shut up, how about that.] Wait and find out. There's a "C."

[C was once for church, but now it's for cat, congratulations.]

[Oh, a secret quiz? Jae-Ha smirks as he takes this third card, looking it over. C is a cute letter, so he's fine with it. Turning it over, he eyes this cat for a good few moments before he smiles over at Hazel.]

Is this a cat? Your drawings are a little cute, even if they're roughly done.

Stop, you're embarrassin' me. [He says, neutrally. Don't make fun of his artwork, you brat.]

It is a cat. C's for "cute," too, if you'd like to know.

[Look, if it's something that looks like devcat's weird cat, then he can't help but be endeared and mystified.]

Is it, now? What a coincidence. [Why does C make a hard sound when the letter itself is a soft one?? Things Jae-Ha won't ask because that's too real. Besides, he's busy considering suggesting other drawings to represent the word "cute" before deciding he better not.]

Let's see, that's easy enough so far... Just how many of these are there, exactly?

[Hazel isn't learned enough to explain linguistics... Thanks for sparing him. That's enough of C, so Jae-Ha can have that one too.]

26, why? Do ya need a break already?