outsidehistory | Chapter Thirteen

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Chapter Thirteen :: Text

I know that some of you have expressed an interest in learning the native language around here. And I know that I've already offered to teach a fair number of you. General Cross - while helping us with other tasks - also knows the language though I'm not sure that he'd like me much for offering his lessons as well, so I'll keep it to just me. We'll need something to do in the winter months and lessons seemed like a good idea on keeping warm.

So far I know that I'm helping both Almas, Kiriko, and [Insert a name here that mun forgot because her memory is not like Lavi's.]. And I'm still helping Yorda with her English.

I'm going to go search around the school tomorrow and see if I can salvage what hasn't already been salvaged for writing materials and the like. If I don't find anything I'll be taking the chalkboard I put up on the bridge asking for aid down and use that. But the lessons will encompass speaking, reading, and writing of the language as well as learning their currency. We don't know when it might come in handy.

If you'd like to sign up, feel free to say so. We'll probably be meeting after noon to make the most of the light outside until winter.

[PRIVATE TO SELF:]
List
Alma Karma (bitty)
Alma Karma (blue owl)
Kiriko "Doc"
Okumura Yuiko
Allen Walker
John
Estelle
Sasuke
Ruca
Naoto

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count me in.

[No harm giving it a shot. If it turns out it's taking up time that could be better spent, say, scouting for a suitable location for that fallback base, he'll try to work around it then.]

Alright then, will do.

[Learning a new language is a good thing. How else are you going to know what people are saying about you behind your back?]

[Private]

Did the General make it back okay after that week? I forgot to ask you earlier, but I don't have constant contact with him.

[It definitely is! Other things have just been taking precedence. And that depends on how uncouth they're choosing to be. Allen knows several choice words right out of dirty taverns and roadside gutters, clearly he's ready to make small talk with Credintians.]

just let me know when we're starting. will you need help looking for materials?

[PRIVATE]

[A moment later:]

he's still there, but he was fine the last i saw him. play week was over by then.

[And yet another moment later:]

thanks for asking.

[With the right disguises Allen can have a good conversation with them.]

Probably after the next play week, don't want to do anything until we know what's in plan. Probably won't have lessons at all during those weeks. And I've already got Kiriko's help on that, thanks. You're stretching yourself too thin, Allen.

[Private]

That's good, do you know if he's had problems either?

...It's normal, yeah?

alright then. don't worry, this is nothing compared to master's training.

[PRIVATE]

well, i appreciate it regardless.

[More than Lavi realises, probably. And er, don't mind if his typing starts getting increasingly concise. Allen doesn't do text well — though he could if he had to.]

it happened to him too. no innocence, no spells. not sure if it's because credinta is still close enough for libitina to affect him, or because he's one of us. said things are calm over there for now. lavi, he also told me it's illegal for people there to come over. they get jailed for it too.

[Allen's first response was to ask if anyone got arrested for responding to the aid sign, but Cross disappeared before answering.]

I dunno, I've never taught so many before. It might feel like one of his lessons.

[Private]

You're welcome then, I guess.

I remember him saying he was stuck during the test, but did everything come back alright? [Lavi doesn't say anything about "calm" but it's good news to hear. Doesn't mean they should stop looking for a secondary location to hole up.]

Yeah, it's always been the soldiers that bring the aid stuff over. I noticed that the first time stuff arrived.

i don't know if ANYTHING can ever compare to master's lessons, lavi. but maybe it'll be easier for you to split us into groups?

[PRIVATE]

ah, that's good. could mean there are at least some in the military who are sympathetic. i didn't get to ask, but it seemed so. [ Were this anything other than text, this would be where Allen inhales, deeply, and tries not to sigh. ] he looked too relaxed to be missing anything.

It shouldn't be too hard, maybe. Plus the smaller Alma is getting lessons from Cross too.

[Private]

They might have brought it over at the behest of the citizens and the approval of their superiors.

Going into hiding so frequently like he as he must be used to doing without his spells and Innocence.

says the fellow who can't even make it down a few flights of stairs

[PRIVATE]

you're right, but hopefully it still says something. especially if those trips were approved. haha, he is.

[That's pretty much why it'd set Allen on edge to see and hear Cross reacting like that — 'This is... Not good. Not good at all.' He doesn't bring it up, though. No sense in worrying the others needlessly.

(It feels weird having to type 'haha' like that, by the way.)]

i take it you missed seeing the broadcast?

Lessons aren't physical. Shouldn't be anyway.

[Private]

Which one of his broadcasts? The one of him watching the public debate or the one of him sleeping around?

[Twitch.]

that's what i used to believe.

[Then along came Cross Marian.]

[PRIVATE]

......the latter, i suppose. you've seen her then?

Don't worry, I won't be like Gramps when he made me learn.

[Private]

She looks like Miss Anita, doesn't she? Maybe he misses home.

should i ask?

[PRIVATE]

a lot. i almost thought it's her, but that doesn't seem to be the case. mm, maybe. master isn't the type, though.

[To get sentimental, he means. About the places he's been and the people he's seen.

That, and Allen's heard him talking about how he doesn't plan on going home, but— Surely he doesn't mean it, right?]

It's rather spartan.

[Private]

She looks older than Miss Anita did. He doesn't want to go home?

...and effective, i'd wager.

[PRIVATE]

that's what he said to yukio.

[A carefully phrased response. Who knows how much weight Cross Marian's word holds when measured by grains of salt, especially when spoken to someone not of the Order. It's about as neutral Allen will be on the subject until he gets a chance to talk to Cross himself.]

For the most part, yeah.

[Private]

He might know what's coming for him. I don't blame him.

[Lavi doesn't want to go home, not knowing what he does. It would hurt. Physically and emotionally. Not to mention mentally.]

[Neither does (nor would) Allen. Nothing as simple as blame, in any case, but things are never straightforward between him and Cross — and between them it shall remain. There is still something he wants to say, though.

When his response comes, it's in video. Allen's hunched over one of Naoto's painstakingly plotted maps of Nesreca, but his eyes are fixed on the camera rather than the handful of ✘ marks scattered across the thin paper.]

Nothing's for certain yet. [It's a bleak outlook, but nothing's been set in stone. Not his master's fate, nor Kanda's, and most certainly not the Bookmen's, even if Allen's being purposefully vague. Lavi hasn't actually commented on his own situation, after all.]

[ a beat for that to stand alone, before he continues, in a similar vein and yet not: ] Besides, it's master. [ the last word is nearly a sigh, an unspoken reminder that the morally flexible tend to live longer. ] I wouldn't be surprised if he simply waltzes by one day to dump more bills on my head. [ smile softening ] We'll be okay in the end.

[Lavi makes the switch seamlessly, his fingers aren't used to typing all that much and it's easier to just...say things. Only sometimes. The rest of the time he doesn't want his expression to be seen.]

Certain or not, it's not a comforting thought to be sent home knowing you won't be able to see the next sunrise... Having nothing you can do about it.

[But even that has Lavi smiling a little.] Maybe. So long as he avoids putting it on my head.

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Chapter Thirteen :: Text

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[text] /FRANTIC WAVES HELLO

[text > video; private] I'M HOME BB /BODYSLAMS SO LOVINGLY♥♥♥

[video; private] /o/ ALL THE JOY AND RAPTURE WAS HAD! /FALLS AND CUDDLES ♥♥♥