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rainbowserenity · 7 years

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5.“Wait a minute. Are you jealous?”Hope/Light :)

royal!AU tag

total nano count: 20435/50000

Oneof the first things Lightning had been taught regarding her newlyroyal status was that when it came to parties and dinner engagements,she was never late. Everyone else was simply early.

Ofcourse, she'd tried to argue that that made no sense in the contextof her introduction ball since there were a bunch of other royalsthere, but Sazh had just sighed in that exasperated fashion of histhat suggested she was taking years off of his life and told her tohush.

Ifonly she had such an opportunity tonight.

Eversince she'd been found as the long-lost princess of the kingdom ofEden, Lightning had been largely kept away from the public. She knewthat the press offices occasionally released photos to ensure thepeople that she, well, existed,but that was the extent of it. She'd yet to make any sort of contactwith other kingdoms or establish what kind of ruler she would be.

Andyet somehow, Sazh had thought it was a completely brilliantidea to figuratively throw herout to the tigers and have her put mere months of royal training tothe test, when the people she'd be talking with had been royal theirwhole lives.

Well,she supposed that she'd been royal her whole life, too. She justhadn't known it until a little while ago.

Lightningtucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and then dropped her hand,trying not to fuss. She was standing behind a set of double doors,waiting for someone to announce her. Already she could hear voicesmurmuring, probably enjoying the party.

Ofcourse they all would.They weren't the'guest of honor.' Ugh.

“Ladiesand gentlemen, our esteemed guests from far and wide!”

Hadshe been able to run in these shoes, Lightning would've made a breakfor it. After months, it was somehow just now hittingher that she'd gone from a mere soldier just barely above the povertyline to an actual princess whowas soon to be in charge of a whole kingdom and who guarded what wasarguably the most important fal'cie in the world. Howthe hell was she going to pull this off?!

Somethings in life you just do.

“Presentingtonight's guest of honor, Eden's long-lost daughter – Her RoyalHighness, Crown Princess Lightning Farron!”

Heavenforbid they just say 'Princess Lightning' or something.

Insteadof running like she wanted to, Lightning squared her shoulders andstood up straight, her head held high as the double doors opened andshe stepped into the glitz of the ballroom.

Shewas a floor above everyone, so it was all too easy to see the eyesstaring up at her. Honestly, she hoped she wasn't blinding them withher ensemble, though she had to admit, it was quite a work of art.

Hergown was a light blue color (the color a certain personal bodyguardhad said matched her eyes...no, wrong timeto think of that) with a sweetheart neckline. There was delicate laceembroidery in the back the detailed the brand of Phoenix, Eden'sfal'cie. The skirt was full, made possible by way too many layers offabric, though the top layer was covered with a gauzy sort of fabricin a peplumstyle until the hem, which was embedded with a repeating design ofPhoenix's brand in hundreds of tiny diamonds onthe top layer.

Ofcourse, that hadn't been enough. Her hair had been done in a sort ofreverse crown braid – the braid wasat the nape of her neckrather than the top of her head – and the few stubborn pieces ofhair that escaped had been expertly curled. Nestled at the top of herhead and held in by what felt like a pound of hairpins was abrilliant diamond and sapphire tiara – one that was traditionallyworn at introduction balls like this. In fact, when her maids hadbeen putting the tiara on, Lightning had recalled with a shiver ofseeing previous princesses wearing the same one.

Shewas wearing a minimum amount of jewelry to better show off the tiaraand gown, but there were tiny diamond and sapphire earrings hangingfrom her ears and her elbow-length gloves shimmered. Honestly, theearrings alone were probably worth more than her entire career as asoldier in the slums.

Itwas still difficult to think that she deserved to wear any of this.

Lightninggave a little wave and curtsy, the way that'd been drilled into herhead a thousand times. Everyone started applauding politely as shebegan to descend down the grand staircase. It was really unnerving tohave all those eyes on her, especially since she was walking soslowly in an attempt not to trip.

Onceshe was finally at the bottom of the stairs she let out a breath andput on a practiced smile. The 'media smile', it was called. Afterall, a princess needed to look calm and composed at all times.

“Thankyou all for your support tonight,” she said. The voice didn'treally feel like hers. It was coming out of her mouth, sure, but itjust felt like another media trick. Probably because this was thepart of the ball that would show up in magazines and the internet. “Iwelcome you to join me in bringing Eden into a new era. Phoenix willcontinue to light the skies and all of us under its light willcontinue to thrive in return.”

Therewas polite applause and the rigidity in Lightning's shouldersloosened somewhat. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sazh wipeimaginary sweat off his brow. She could absolutely relate.

Thehardest part was over. Now...she just had to get through the rest ofthe night.

Sigh.

Afterher little speech, everyone gradually fell into murmuredconversations and there was that pleasant buzz that seemed to alwaysaccompany successful gatherings...not that Lightning had been to verymany, but it was easy to sense.

Sazhscurried up to her before she could take a step. “You know whatyou've gotta do now, right?”

“Takeoff these stupid shoes and run back to my room?”

“Don'tgive me a heart attack. Go and mingle. Relations!Put all that damn paperwork I gave you to use!”

“Right.”This was the part she'd been dreading, even more than the hardestpart of being put on display and speaking to the crowd. She'd neverbeen all that great at small talk and even after extensively goingthrough paperwork describing the other royals and nobles that wouldbe at this ball, she was sure she'd screw up and unintentionallyoffend somebody.

Ormaybe intentionally. Whoknew, maybe some of these people could use a good social faux-pas.

Hereyes wandered as she walked through the crowds, consciously aware ofher tiny steps. Between the heels and how elaborate her dress was,every second was a test of not tripping. Ridiculous.

Shescanned the crowds, looking for a pair of green eyes and a mop ofsilver hair. Hope – her personal bodyguard – had been invitedspecifically by her, and despite some...tense moments between them,she did genuinely hope that he'd still taken her up on herinvitation.

Yeah,tense, she thoughtwith a sigh. The last time they'd been left alone in a room together,he'd almost kissed her. Tense wasone word for it.

“Soyou're Eden's princess, huh?”

Lightningturned around and saw a woman with wild black hair smirking at hercuriously. She was dressed in a deep blue outfit, where the top halfresembled a sari, but the bottom was a more traditional gown. Thedress was adorned with intricate embroidery that Lightning was awarewas the symbol of a fal'cie, though hell if she could remember whichone. Tons of bracelets and necklaces completed the look.

“Yes,”she finally replied with a bob of her head, aware that she'd beenstaring a second too long. “Princess Fang of Oerba, correct?”

“Noneed for the formality, sunshine.” Fang grinned and took a sip ofthe champagne flute she was holding. “If there's no cameras on us,no point in it.”

Lightningcouldn't help but smile. She liked Fang already. “All thingsconsidered, I should probably err on the side of caution.” As muchas she hated it.

“Suityourself. Want one?”

“Sure.”Lightning took the proffered champagne and took a tiny sip. It tastedway too expensive, but considering all the diamonds she was wearing,she shouldn't have been surprised. “Have you been to Eden often?”

“Lasttime was right before the last of the royal family croaked.” Fangshrugged one shoulder. “Though I guess technically they're yourfamily, too.”

Lightningpaused. She honestly hadn't really thought of it like that before.“Technically, I guess.They're very distant,though. Nobody knew about me until Sazh decided to poke around.”

Fangbarked out a laugh. “Of course it was him! He's good at that, eh?”

“Youknow Sazh?”

“Anyroyal that's got half a brain to speak of knows him.” Fang liftedher glass a bit as though in a toast. “Of course, he's long sincesettled in Eden, but he's coached all sorts of us over the years. Theguy's constantly grumblin' about us 'kids'.”

Lightning'ssmile widened a bit. “Sounds like him.”

“He'sjust pissed 'cause Vanille decided she'd rather spend time with merather than get schooled by him.” She finished her champagne.“Speakin' of which...”

“Vanille?”She didn't mean...

“Oi!Vanille!”

Agirl in a beautiful gown in colors of the sunrise suddenly appearedwith a wide smile on her face. She had a bounce to her step despitethe elaborate headdress she was wearing, which was dripping with goldpieces stamped with the symbol of Luxerion's fal'cie. Like Fang, shewore an alarming number of necklaces and bracelets.

Recognitionquickly dawned and Lightning couldn't hide her wide eyes. This wasDia Vanille – one of the royals her bodyguard had worked with...andclaimed to knew quite well.

Damnit.Where was he, then, tocoach her through this?

“Fang!”Vanille grinned and flung her arms around the other woman Lightningquirked an eyebrow when the hug turned into a kiss.

Wait.What?

“What,nobody ever mentioned that?” Fang said with a smirk when shenoticed Lightning's confused expression. “There's a reason the oldroyal family used to call me an 'old hag' for not being married. Theywere sorta prissy about it.”

“Oh.”Lightning blinked and shook her head a bit. “Well...I have noreason to be.” And that was the truth. She herself wasn't attractedto women, so what the hell did it matter to her if Fang and Vanillewere together? Had the old royal family honestly had a problem withit? The thought of being associated with such an archaic idea madeher uncomfortable.

“KnewI'd like ya.” Fang grinned and kissed Vanille again. “Sweetheart,don't be rude and say hello to the new princess.”

Eventhough Sazh probably would've had a heart attack if he'd heardsomething like that, Lightning just chuckled as Vanille turned with abright smile and held up her hands in a strange gesture – pinkyfingers crossed and her index fingers touching as she bowed.Lightning curtsied in return.

“It'sso nice to finally meet you!” Vanille grasped Lightning's hands,which took her by surprise, but all she could do was go with it.Plus, she could tell by instinct that Vanille was a good person. Heropinion had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Hopeapparently knew her quite well. “I've been wanting to meet Eden'snew princess ever since I heard about you! It's a terrible shame thatso much of the royal family perished, but...well, you're here now,aren't you?”

“Right.”Lightning's head was spinning. She was starting to get the vibe thatmost of the royals around here hadn't cared much for the old familythat had ruled over Eden and inwardly cursed herself for not payingmuch attention to the news when she was younger.

Thenagain, she'd been too busy trying to keep a roof over her head.

“Plus,I just love a good ball, don't you? It's so old-fashioned.” Vanillegrinned as the music from the live orchestra gradually changed. “Oh,Fang! Dance with me!”

Fangchuckled. “Can't disobey an order.” She winked as Vanille tuggedher out to the dance floor. “We'll talk later, eh?”

“Right,”Lightning echoed and watched as they scurried further into theballroom. Somehow, Vanille's bouncing became a lot more graceful asthey began to waltz, their gowns sweeping around them in perfectunison.

Eventually,she looked away and let out a breath. Okay. She'd met two of the mostimportant guests here and it actually hadn't been too bad. The restof the night would be a piece of cake. Practice made perfect, afterall, or so Sazh was constantly harping at her. Probably why he madeher repeat etiquette lessons constantly.

“Hel-loooo.Princess Lightning, right?”

Lightningturned and looked up – and up– at an unfamiliar tall man with shaggy blond hair, dressed in adark suit. It was precisely at this second that she remembered Sazhtelling her that these introduction balls were typically held to lookfor potential suitors.

“Yes,”she finally replied with a curtsy, though she was already a littleannoyed. Obviously that'swho she was – or had this guy missed the whole littleparade-and-speech earlier?

“SnowVilliers,” he introduced with a bow. “I'm the Patron of Yusnaan.”

Sheraised her eyebrows a little. Even she knew about Yusnaan – it wasthe only nation with a fal'cie that wasn't under any sort of formalrule. Snow had been elected by the people, but he wasn't bound to theduty. The only reason Yusnaan got away with this was because theirfal'cie, Pandaemonium, was in charge of a lot of the industry andfood production in that area of the world, which created tons of jobsfor the people. It was a notorious situation that was unlike anyother, but despite this, she hadn't heard much about the Patronhimself.

Honestly,she already wasn't all that impressed.

Still,she had to be polite. Relations and all that. “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.”He grinned, and it was the sort of expression someone had when theywere trying way too hard to be charming. She resisted the urge toroll her eyes. “Would you care for a dance?”

Oh,crap.

Sheknew there were cameras in the room to take press photos, and she'dbeen warned more than once that several would probably be taken whileshe was on the dance floor – it just lookedmore interesting for the princess to be dancing or doing somethinginstead of standing around chatting. On top of that, it'd also beenheavily implied that whoever she was photographed dancing with wouldcreate 'human interest,' meaning people would jump to romanticconclusions.

Ofcourse, never mind that she'd never met any of these people in personbefore, nor did she have any intention of getting romanticallyinvolved with anyoneunless they happened to be her personal bodyguard -

Wait.

Sheinwardly shook herself. Obviously, the press would make whatever thehell comments it wanted, regardless of her actions. Better that theyget their photos out of the way now, right?

“Iwould be honored,” Lightning finally replied, using the wordsthat'd been drilled into her head. Snow offered his arm with atoo-charming grin that had zero effect on her, but she took the crookof his elbow anyway.

Themusic had flowed into something a bit more upbeat, so it was easy todistract herself with counting steps and remembering where the hellher hands were supposed to go. It was awkward, because she was soused to dancing with someone shorter, who she didn't have to race tokeep up with and could lead instead...

Gods.What the hell was wrong withher?

Eventhough Snow was a big lug who had zero grace and kept nearly steppingon her gown, she somehow managed to keep a pleasant smile on her facethe whole time they waltzed, if only for the cameras. She spottedFang and Vanille – who were still dancing – out of the corner ofher eye and they seemed amused for some reason.

“Eden'sreal lucky they found you,” Snow said at one point. “But man, Ican't imagine living all normally and then suddenly getting thrustinto this.”

Shehummed in agreement. It occurred to her that Snow was probably theonly person here who could somewhat relate to her, since he'd beenelected to his position. It was a frightening thought that she hadanything in common with the guy. “I suppose,” she finally said.“I'm just glad this means I get to give my sister a better life.”

“Youhave a sister?”

Howwas it that she'd been required to memorize a bunch of facts aboutthese visiting royals and important people, but they apparentlyhadn't had to do the same? Or maybe Snow just didn't care. “Yes.She's around here somewhere. They're just putting the spotlight on mefor obvious reasons.”

“CanI meet her?”

Thatsurprised her, but Lightning was so eager to stop dancing that sheimmediately agreed. “Sure.”

Oncethe dance was over, she led Snow into a crowd of guests. She thoughtshe'd spotted her sister here earlier...

“Serah?”

“Sis!”Serah, always a lot more personable, gracefully extracted herselffrom a five-person conversation and went up to Lightning, graspingher hands excitedly. “Light, you look so beautiful in that dress.Those seamstresses really outdid themselves!”

“Thankyou.” She smiled, maybe her first genuine one of the night. “Youlook beautiful too, Serah.” And she did. Serah's hair was free fromits usual side ponytail and had been swept up into an elaboratelybraided bun at the top of her head. A few tendrils around her facehad been curled to perfection. The updo perfectly showed off theglitzy pastel pink gown she was wearing. Like her sister's, it alsohad lace embroidery on the back with the symbol of Phoenix.

“You'rejust saying that,” Serah teased, but she looked happy all the same.Finally, she seemed to notice Snow and looked up. Way up.Snow was easily twice the size of her tiny sister. “And youare...?”

Snowgrinned, but unlike Lightning, Serah practically swooned at it. “Myname is Snow Villiers. I'm the Patron of Yusnaan.” He made a grand,sweeping bow. “It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Serahgiggled and immediately dropped into a curtsy. “The pleasure is allmine, Mr. Villiers. I'm Serah Farron, Princess of Eden.”

Eventhough it was completely uncouth, Lightning's mouth fell open as Snowand Serah giggled throughout their pleasantries, which eventuallyturned into a request for a dance – a much more enthusiastic one onSnow's part – and she stared, totally flabbergasted as Snow andSerah waltzed across the dance floor. It looked completely ridiculousbecause of their height difference, but...

“Excuseme, Your Highness?”

Onlya lifetime of training as soldier kept Lightning from jumping out ofher skin. Instead, she sucked in a quick breath and put on a smile asshe turned to the voice. Standing there was a girl who was dressed inwhat looked more like a uniform than a ballgown, though it was formalenough. She didn't look familiar, so Lightning simply nodded.

“Yes?”

“Myname is Alyssa,” the girl said after a quick bow. “I'm her arepresentative of Academia. The President sends his regrets that hecouldn't make an appearance.”

“Oh.”Lightning vaguely recalled Sazh saying that Academia's Presidenthadn't replied to the invitation to the ball, but she hadn't reallythought to question it. Academia was a relatively new nation. Theyboasted the world's only man-made fal'cie, which honestly just seemedcrazy, but she hadn'tgiven it much thought. The leader, their President, was a personshrouded in mystery. It was speculated that there wasn't aPresident at all, because nobody had ever seen the guy. Or girl.

Therefore,it hadn't been such a surprise that there hadn't been an answer tothe invitation, and beyond that, Lightning hadn't really had time tomuse about it. After all, she wasn't about to rule Academia, so whatbusiness was it of hers?

Asecond later, she reminded herself of appearances. “Please send myregards to him. It'd be great to meet someday.”

Alyssaseemed amused at this, but she simply nodded. “Of course,Your Highness. In fact, if I could be so bold, he didn't think muchof the old royals. He might finally be willing to show himself to thepublic if Academia and Eden decided to ally.”

Ugh.Politics. Still, Lightning's smile didn't falter. “We'll have tosee, but I'm definitely open to the idea.”

“Goodto hear!” Alyssa said. She opened her mouth like she was going tosay more, but she flicked her eyes to something in the distance andinstead bowed again. “Well then, thank you for your time, YourHighness. I should be off.”

“Niceto meet you.” Lightning sighed as Alyssa walked off. Gods, this wasexhausting.

“Areyou all right, Your Highness?”

Lightning'shead whipped over her should and she spun around at the familiarvoice, her smile immediately forming into something much moregenuine. Despite the awkwardness of the last time they'd been alonetogether, right now, she'd never been so glad to see a familiar face.

“Hope,”she greeted with a smirky smile, her dress rustling as she stepped upto him. “What have I told you a thousand times? Call me Light.”

“Ithought formality would be a little more appropriate here.” Hiseyes flicked over her appearance. “You look...”

Evenbefore he said the word, a blush formed on Lightning's face that hadnothing to do with any makeup. It wasn't the first time he'd saidanything like this to her. Hell, it wasn't the first time tonightthat anyone had said such a thing, but coming from him...

“...Absolutelystunning.”

...Itwas different.

“T-Thankyou,” she managed to reply, cursing her little stutter as she triednot to let the mood get...awkward. After all, they were in a ballroomwith dozens of people, not to mention cameras. “You look...verynice yourself.”

Thatwas putting it mildly. Though Hope always dressed in a neat andprofessional manner as her personal bodyguard, apparently he went theextra mile at a ball. His three-piece suit was perfectly tailored,like it'd been painted on his body, and his aqua tie brought out thebrilliant shades of green in his eyes.

Herheart was pounding. Not good.

Ifshe wasn't mistaken, Hope's cheeks flushed at her praise, but hemerely cleared his throat. “Thank you.”

Thesilence that followed was both awkward and comfortable in that wayshe usually was around Hope. It didn't matter that they were in aballroom full of people and that she was guest of honor all eyes wereon. The world always dwindled down to just the two of them when theywere together.

How?

“YourHighness!”

Lightningwas startled out of her stupor when someone called for her, andsomehow, she found herself away from Hope's side for the next fewhours. She talked to one of the noblemen of the Yaschas Massif andthen danced with the Primarch's son, who was even taller than Snow.At least the guy was quiet and courteous. Perhaps because thePrimarch worked so closely with the monarchy of Eden.

Fangand Vanille came to talk to her again to rescue her from a longconversation with a guest, and honestly, she was glad for it. Ifnothing else, she could say that she'd made friends of the two women.While that was good for relations and all, Lightning had never reallybeen all that close to other people, whether she was a princess ornot, so it was nice that there were people who sought her company.

Whenthe peak of the ball had inexplicably passed, made obvious by thefact that the cameras were finally gone, Lightning watched Fang andVanille go back to the dance floor. Serah was still offwith Snow somewhere, which almost made her want to go pry them apart,but Lightning was glad for a moment alone to breathe.

Thatmoment didn't last too long, but at least this time, the interruptionwas welcome.

“Thereyou are, Light.”

Shesmiled as Hope appeared beside her. “I'm sorry about before.”

Heshook his head. “Don't worry about it. I know what this event wasabout. It's important for you to mingle and make relations.”

“I'vehad about enough of that tonight,” she admitted. She wasridiculously glad that these balls weren't an everyday affair,because the thought of schmoozing and socializing like thisconstantly gave her a headache. Maybe she had a bit of confidence inthe political side of things, but the social aspects of being Eden'sprincess...ugh.

“Doesthat mean you're free from the rest of your obligations tonight?”

“UnlessSazh decides to spring something else on me.”

Hopechuckled, shifting where he was standing. He seemed weirdlynervous...at least until he turned to her and bowed at the waist.“Then will you please do me the honor of a dance?”

Lightningblinked in surprise. Hope wanted to dance with her? Why?

Okay,she did recall one of their dance lessons, and according to Sazh,they'd been totally coordinated. The orchestra was still playing andthere were still people on the dance floor. It wasn't totally out ofthe realm of possibility that Hope would want to dance with her.

Maybehe wanted to try and...

No,of course not. Their almost-kiss had been a total fluke. Despiteevidence to the contrary, she'd completely acknowledged it and movedon. This was just a princess dancing with her bodyguard.

Withthat thought, Lightning gave him a little smile and held out herhand. “I would be honored.”

Hopelooked just as surprised at her acceptance, but he quickly took herhand and led her out onto the dance floor with a little smile. Maybeit was just because she'd been waltzing all night, but the placementof their hands were perfectly in sync – automatic, like she'd donethis with him a thousand times before. The music began a simpleballad and they began to spin around the room, her dress glitteringin the light of the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.

Aftera moment, Hope relaxed even further and chuckled sheepishly. “Ihave to admit, I wasn't sure if you'd agree to dance.”

Lightingsmirked, squeezing his hand a bit. “I promised you one awhile ago,did I?”

“...Youdid,” he answered slowly, recalling a memory. “But you've beenwith so many others tonight. I wasn't sure if you'd be up for it.”

Eventhough it was the sort of kind and courteous thing a bodyguard wouldsay, there was something in Hope's tone that made her search his eyesfor what he wasn't quite saying. Maybe it was from all these monthsof royal training, teaching her to look people in the eye and findwhat was beyond the surface, but it eventually came to her.

“Waita minute...were you jealous?”

Hopecleared his throat and ducked his head a bit like he needed to watchhis feet, which was stupid since they were waltzing together sobeautifully. Lightning couldn't help but smile with a slight smirk,since his lack of verbal reply was more than answer enough.

Aftera couple more spins around the ballroom, he finally spoke. “Iwouldn't say that,exactly. I...I simply remembered that you'd promised me a dance and Iwas hoping I'd get to take you up on your offer.” He looked at herfrom behind his bangs. “That's all.”

Thatwasn't all and theyboth knew it. Even though she kept trying to push it out of her mindfor both of their sakes, her mind again drifted to their almost-kiss.Her eyes flickered down to his lips without realizing it, and not forthe first time, she wondered what it would feel like to finally havethem meet hers.

Ofcourse, usually when she had this stupidly girly daydream, she wasalone in her room, which meant that she had to snap out of it. Now!

Sheforced herself to meet his eyes. “I wouldn't leave my personalbodyguard hanging.”

Herwords brought a brilliant smile to his face and they fell even morein sync as the music swelled and got a bit faster, bringing joy totheir steps in a way she hadn't felt all night. She felt as light asair as Hope spun her around, occasionally letting her take the leadsince that was her instinct. The fact that he let her withoutquestion spoke volumes of how well he knew her.

Ormaybe just how often he'd worked with her. He was herpersonal bodyguard, after all, but then why didn't this feel like abodyguard-and-charge dance? How was he – and not the palace, gowns,tiaras, or hoard of servants - making her feel like an actualprincess for the firsttime since she'd found out about her royal blood?

Maybebecause, despite the friendliness of most of the other royals here,he was the only one who seemed to truly believe that she could do thejob and be better atit.

Ifit weren't for her stupid shoes, she honestly felt as though shecould've danced with him all night. As it was, she still wasn'tentirely used to being on her feet in heels for so long. Seriously,nobody could see her feet, so why couldn't she have worn somethingmore comfortable?

Lightningsqueezed Hope's hand to get his attention. Even though he was staringright at her, he looked a bit dazed. She couldn't help but wonder ifher expression was the same. “Can we stop? My feet are killing me.”

“Ofcourse.” He carefully guided her away from the rest of the peoplewaltzing – she saw Serah and Snow out of the corner of her eye,hmph – with a grace that she didn't really expect from a bodyguard.

Thenagain, he'd been surprising her since they day they'd met.

“Wouldyou like to sit, Your Highness?”

Sherolled her eyes. “Seriously? A few dances and you're going allformal on me again?”

Hesmiled. “Light. May I escort you to a seat?”

“Nowyou're just being ridiculous.” Impulsively, she flicked hisforehead, immediately regretting the action since that was definitelynot protocol.

Thankfully,he only blinked a few times before smiling again and offering her hisarm. “Well?”

“Ithink I just need to rest a minute.” How many hours had gone by,anyway? Sazh had mentioned offhand that the most splendid balls couldhave people dancing until dawn. She shuddered at the thought. “Canwe go somewhere quiet?”

“Ofcourse.”

Maybeit was from all the champagne that'd been served all night, buteverybody seemed too buzzed to notice the guest of honor basicallyescaping the party. Hope led her to a hidden hallway off in a cornerof the room, which further led to a door that opened up to thebalcony.

Sheinhaled deeply as they walked outside, glad for the fresh air. Themusic and hubbub seemed very far away. “Thank you.”

“You'rewelcome.” Hope wandered behind her, his hands behind his back asthey always seemed to be when they were around each other.

Shegestured to his formal stance. “You can relax a little. It's justus.”

Hopesmiled a bit sheepishly – and handsomely, can't forget that – andlet his arms fall to his sides. “Sorry. Force of habit.”

“Likeforgetting to call me 'Light'?”

“Exactly.”

Theychuckled. She felt more relaxed than she had in ages. Her eyeswandered over the dark, star-studded sky and she grasped the railingof the balcony as though afraid of falling. The world seemed so bigat that moment. It was hard to believe that she mattered so much inthe grand scheme of things – that princesses went down in historybooks, while the families that did just as much or even more got norecognition at all.

Andhow many families like that were there? More than there was royalty,of course. If she squinted, she could just barely make out the areawhere she and Serah had grown up. Further off were the slums, wherethey'd been forced to live when money got tight.

Somany hundreds and thousands of people lived like that, and yet,because she just happened to be from the right bloodline, she wasplucked from it all. It didn't seem fair that there were peoplestruggling to survive while she was literally wearing a dress coveredin diamonds.

“Light?”

Onlya lot of self-control kept her from jumping in surprise. “Yes?”

“Youlook lost in thought.” Hope approached her a bit cautiously tofinally stand beside her. “Are you all right?”

“Iwas just...thinking about the last time we talked.” And almostkissed, but no need to acknowledge that. Again.

Itmay have been her imagination, but she could've sworn Hope held hisbreath before responding. “You have?”

“Abouthow I could use my experience to help.” He visibly relaxed at herwords. “It just...it seems like such a huge undertaking. I wouldn'teven know where to start.”

“Atthe beginning.”

Sherolled her eyes. “I doubt it's that easy.”

“Probablynot,” he agreed. “But everything has a beginning.”

“Iguess.” The words were pretty generic, but still, he had a point.“I just hope that I can do anything at all. A lot of people I'vespoken to tonight apparently didn't like the old royal family thatmuch.”

Ifthis surprised Hope, he hid it well. Maybe he hadn't liked them,either. “Really.”

“Yes.”Lightning glanced back up at the stars. The moon that followedPhoenix was just a sliver in the sky. “And when I was working as asolider, we didn't really talk about the royals. They were a worldaway. Even though they made our laws and everything, it felt likenothing they did ever actually affected us.”

“Butyou know they did,” Hope pointed out. “And like I said, you'veseen both sides. I think that'll eventually come to be your biggeststrength.”

She'dknown ever since he'd said as much during their last privateconversation that he was right. Her empathy towards those who weredown in life – it wasn't anything any of Eden's previous royalsseemed to have. Maybe that was a reason they seemed to be so dislikedby a lot of the other kingdoms.

“It'sa lot to take in,” she finally said. “Even though it's beenawhile since I was crowned and everything, I don't think it's allreally hit me yet.” She never would have admitted this to anyoneelse, but Hope was different. He'd been different from the start.

Thoughwith how much she'd been rambling about her feelings aroundhim, she still hadn't discerned if this was a good or bad thing.

“Ofcourse not. It's a big change, especially when they do something likethis.” Hope made a sweeping gesture in the general direction of theballroom. “I don't think gatherings for soldiers in the Corps werequite so...”

“Expensive?”

“Iwas going to say 'elegant,' but yes, that too.”

Lightningsmirked, finally looking away from the sky to face him, though to hersurprise, Hope was already staring at her. Had he been looking at herthis whole time? There was something strangely intense in his gaze –something she'd felt since the moment they'd met, but hadn't wantedto put a name to until now.

Desire.

She'dalready halfway closed the space between them by the time he wasleaning in, and she tugged on his tie for good measure, an anchor tohold onto when their lips finally met.

Heheld on tightly, his fingers clinging to the fabric of her gown. Eventhough the kiss was strangely soft, there was an untapped passionsimmering between them that she could feel as though it was tangible.She'd never felt anything like it before...not that she had muchexperience to compare this to.

Maybeit was instinct. That was the one rule in life she always followed –to trust her instincts. And if her instincts wanted her to part herlips so the kiss could deepen? No way in hell was she about todisobey.

Hope'shands felt like they were burning on her body. She could feel everytouch, every movement of his fingertips as he traced the lace on herback, every little twitch as he pulled her even closer. Her handsmussed his perfectly coiffed hair, just begging for somethingto hold onto. For a second, she contemplated on taking off the stupidelbow-length gloves she was wearing, but that probably requiredbreaking the kiss and she was incredibly reluctant to do such athing.

Gods,kissing him was like nothing she'd ever experienced before. It didn'teven compare to, say, suddenly becoming the princess of the kingdomyou'd lived in your whole life. This was far more intense. Lightninghad never been a particularly romantic person or someone who boughtinto the whole idea that someone could be your other half, but withHope, all of those weird ideas felt like an actual reality.

Andit was all of this from just a kiss.

Okay,so it was a lot of kisses. But even so...

Eventually,one of them pulled away – she honestly couldn't tell who, since shewas already so lightheaded – and she resisted the urge to reconnecttheir lips as they both quietly gasped for air. All of this wascompletely unlike her.Maybe it was just the stress from everything catching up with her.Yeah. Except not.

“Light...”Hope murmured, his eyes only half-open. Clearly, he was just as dazedas she was. “Light, I...”

“Yes?”Her voice was husky in a way that she hadn't even known she'd beencapable of.

Somethingabout it, however, seemed to snap Hope out of his daze. He suddenlygasped and they flew apart, his eyes wide with something akin topanic, which was strange in itself since she'd never seen him lookanything but calm and collected.

“I...I'msorry,” he said, not quite looking at her. She could've sworn hewas trying to avoid staring at her lips. “I can't.”

“What?”

Hopestammered out something unintelligible, but before Lightning couldeven think to get him to elaborate, he turned and went back inside.

Yearsof training instantly kicked in and she followed, calling out hisname and demands for him to wait, just waita minute, but either Hope was way faster than she'd given him creditfor or he was using some secret passage that nobody had told herabout yet. When she finally made her way back to the ballroom, Hopehad completely vanished.

Andhe hadn't even left a shoe behind.

Lightninghad no idea how long she stood there, just staring into the crowdlike it was going to give her an answer, but eventually, someonetouched her arm and brought her mind back from wandering.

“Sis?”

“Serah?”Thank goodness it was her and not anybody else. Except Hope. Hopewould've been preferable, and she hated herself for thinking that.

“Areyou okay?” Serah cocked her head a little. “You look tired. Comesit down with me, okay?”

“Allright.” Lightning let Serah lead her around, not even wondering howher sister managed to extract herself from the Patron's side or ifthere was something else going on. There was only one person on hermind, and now, one question.

Whyhad Hope pulled away?

Ormore importantly...

Wouldhe return?

#syna esthesia #hopelight #hoperai #hopurai #hopelight fic #royal!AU #FINALLY #SHE'S GOING TO THE BALL #HELL YEAH #i've had all of this floating around in my brain for ages lmao #and finally i wrote it #hopefully people are still interested in this AU whoops #i should probably stick them up on ao3 one of these days #BUT YEEEEEEAH #OTP TASTIC #THAT'S ALL I'M SAYIN' OHOHOHO #ahem

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mozukumi · 3 years

Note

HIII IT'S THE EXCITED ANON AGAIN (will be referring to myself as 🌸 from now on)

AAAAAA THANK YOU FOR ANSWERING I'M SO 👁👁 AT THE AU!! i'm even more curious about the 30 year olds (lmao oldasses) bc they didn't really have a concrete life plan in canon!! i also saw that izumi, azuma, chikage, and hisoka are the same age so im super intrigued!! did yukio just leave, why izumi became the autumn leader, do they go to the same school, and where is august in this au are the questions floating around in my brain!! AND DAD ENERGY SAKUYA SO TRUE he practically adopted izumi, azuma, chikage, and hisoka bc of their similar family circumstances (probs??? not to impose on your ideas though!!) and the lone wolves link skill became a 5-person one now lol I LOVE THIS AU SO MUCH AAAAAAA

a*sneefles* 🌸 ANON I OWE YOU MY LIFE!!

Just like last time, this got long, so under the cut - for context on what this is about you can look at the mAnkAi swAp tag on my blog! tl;dr: ages of the cast get shuffled around. changes result in much to think about!

first of all. YES. they are very much oldheads. I've literally realized just now in writing this response that Azami should... technically be 31? Because my original methodology was to swap from the two extremes (14 year old become 30, 30 year old become 14, and so on). And while I ended up doing much more tweaking for the high schoolers ages to make it Make more sense, the older crowd remained the same. But um, I forgot that Azami is actually 1 year younger then Yuki and Muku. Oops!

You're absolutely right in that it's hard bc they dont have life plans in canon, which means It's Free Real Estate.

Azami Izumida - Azami, you really got the short end of the stick in this AU, I'm going to be painfully honest. In this verse, his father died when he was about 20 - and without Mankai and Sakyo around to encourage him to find his own path in life, he ended up taking up the family business and becoming the head of the Ginsenkai. He runs the organization with diligence, although deep down he knows its not what he wants to be doing with his life.

He's known Juza ever since he joined the yakuza (at age 17), and holds him in high respect. He appreciates that Juza isn't cruel, but also isn't fake with Azami, and is willing to be honest with him even when that honesty is blunt.

Recently, a young Sakyo Furuichi approached him and asked to join the yakuza in hopes of making money for his family. However, Azami rejected him - not seeing the yakuza as a place for a promising young man such as him.

Muku Sakisaka - Despite his unassuming demeanor, thirty-year-old Muku is actually quite the celebrity - being a renowned shoujo mangaka. Which, funnily enough, makes him kind of parallel to Homare? Famous artist who you wouldn’t expect to be one based on their personality.

Since he didn't have the theater to turn to after he had his injury, in this verse he instead decided to work on his artistic skills. And like...

This is his practice doodle, and I think it's pretty cute! So I don't think it's out of the question to assert that with more time, Muku would be somebody quite capable of producing some good shoujo classics.

He joined Mankai due to a bout of artists block, and hoped the environment would provide him with new inspiration.

Yuki Rurikawa - A well-known fashion designer. Yuki... actually doesn't change that much in this AU? He's definitely more genuinely confident in himself in this verse, which means he isn't always as acidic - he doesn't need to put up a bravado of confidence anymore. But otherwise, same old Yuki, great new package.

and now for the 16 year olds (abandonment issues crew) lets make some NOISE. please dont feel bad for suggesting sakuya adopts them because he ABSOLUTELY DOES. like, obviously all of the adults in the company are parents now :tm:, but sakuya is number 1 dad. masumi also, because he's now realized how fucked up his dad was and he's trying to become a better role model then he was. i have made a meme to illustrate the vibes

So, first of all, let me talk to you about my darling daughter:

Izumi Tachibana - Imagine: it has been one year since your father disappeared. For the most part, things have returned back to normal - or as normal as things will ever be, now that he’s gone.

Then you see a flyer on the street. For the goddamn Mankai Company.

Would you react well? Because um. Izumi didn’t! Understandably!

She was pissed, assuming that her father was back and didn’t even bother to say hi to her and mom - mirroring her longstanding issue of her father valuing the theater over her. So maybe she didn’t think logically. Maybe she just went over to the Mankai theater as fast as she could, and angrily demanded that she speak to the director.

The first person she met was one Yuki Rurikawa. And well - he could tell this kid was upset, for some reason. But also Banri had denied him the budget increase he so clearly deserved, so Yuki was feeling petty and decided not to clarify anything. He just told her that “he’s right over there.”

So she just goes up to the figure and punches him, because she’s 16 and she’s angry and honestly, have you met an angry 16 year old whose angry at her father? I was one. It’s intense. And then he turns around, and it’s not her father at all, but it’s Banri.

She immediately apologizes, but Banri honestly isn’t even that mad. He’s just kind of impressed. #Girlboss! She explains her situation, and Banri invites her to audition for the autumn troupe.

You may ask: wait isn’t mankai a men only theater. and my response is ya but idk <3 #girlboss

As for Izumi being a bad actress, I posit that so were Sakuya and Juza. I forget where I saw it, but I remember seeing some fic or meta say that the only problem is that Izumi never had her own Izumi, somebody to nurture her talent and make her bloom. But in this AU, she does.

She’s the leader because honestly? She volunteered first. Sakyo was considering volunteering, but when Izumi volunteered, he yielded to her. Her style as a similar is pretty similar to her style as a director, except y’know she’s a teenager.

Azuma Yukishiro - ohhh azuma poor little meow meow.

He’s more fresh off of his familys death in this verse, which does make him a bit squishier. However, he’s also less emotionally distant, because he hasn’t had all of the years to try and convince himself he’s #coping. He’s actually honest enough to admit that he doesn’t want to have his own room in this verse - so he ends up rooming with Tsumugi and Tasuku is the solo room.

(my friends joked that because Tasuku and Tsumugi aren’t ‘divorced’ in this verse, Banri decided to divorce them by making them not be in the same room. this does actually make their problem of exerting themselves too hard for the others sake worsen, bc they can stay up late studying without the other noticing.)

Chikage Utsuki and Hisoka Mikage and also August - y’know, for somebody who constantly reblogs gekkagumi content and is constantly thinking about gekkabros, it is actually kind of hilarious that i have no fucking clue what they’re up to in this AU.

It’s something I’ve been rotating and trying to think about! Theoretically, most of their arc could remain the same, because I do think that Chikage and Hisoka entered the Organization at around age 12. But my friends and I still haven’t decided if we want to keep it the same, or have it changed up somehow? The main issue I personally keep running into is justifying the year where Hisoka joins the company but Chikage doesn’t, since if they aren’t split up by potion of erase your memory, I don’t see why they’d go their seperate ways. And then there’s August to think about... I don’t know!!

I definitely think there’s something fun and unique that could be gotten from their dynamic in this AU, but it hasn’t been cracked quite yet. But also imagining August as a really overdramatic theater parent is everything I need in my life. In my moms home videos of my own community theater productions, you can literally hear my father distinctly whistling during all of the sections where everybody is clapping. This is Augustcore.

One thing to note tho is that if the Chikage arc goes the same way, there is definitely going to be like. a Moment where Banri realizes he got kidnapped by a 17 year old and he’s like “goddamn it this is kinda cringe isn’t it. anyway this kind of overdramatic response is exactly what i would have done if i was a kid lmao lets get you to bed.”

As for the schools... that’s a great question omg. We haven’t decided where Izumi goes to school! But there’s so much potential for interesting dynamics there. And depending on how we end up handling Chikage and Hisoka in this AU, it’s possible they aren’t even going to be going to a regular high school because y’know, Spy Kids. Which brings about a really funny scene in my head where Hisoka isn’t going to school and Banri asks him if he has enough absence days stored up, and then Banri comes to the realization that he literally does not go to school.

And for Yukio, yup, he still left! It’s just that he only left 1 year prior to the story starting.

AGAIN, ANON, THANK YOU SO SO MUCH!! onto your next ask these are a joy and also really good for developing some stuff abt this AU

#mAnkAi swAp #a3!#azami izumida #muku sakisaka #yuki rurikawa #izumi tachibana #azuma yukishiro #chikage utsuki #hisoka mikage #august a3!#sakuya sakuma #he's discussed enough i think he can be tagged in this one #🌸 anon

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cookinguptales · 4 years

Note

I've a small query (if it doesn't float your boat, no worries!) I was interested in how you got into learning languages, what led you to it? I've become curious since learning a new language as an adult has only increased my awe of multilingual folk (additionally, I vaguely remember a post about a request in exchange for a donation to charity, and wondered if there were any you'd like a donation to)

First of all, good luck with the language learning! It’s not easy as an adult, but I do think it’s worth it, both in terms of cultural fluency and brain elasticity.

My answer to the language thing is actually extremely complicated, so I’ll be putting it under the cut. I’ll put the charity stuff above the cut so more people can see it.

— I’d just like to warn you, though, before I start, that I have been locked in this house for over a month with no respite and I HAVE A LOT OF WORDS AND FEELINGS IN ME SO THIS POST HAS SO MANY OF BOTH OF THOSE THINGS!!

anyway

There are so many charities that I want to donate to now that it honestly makes my head spin. Every time I look at a site like GoFundMe it kind of makes me want to cry. So a lot of donations I’ve made have been to like local businesses, restaurants, etc. who will close down without help. (Also a lot of local native groups, who are disproportionately suffering right now.) I’ve also been donating to various food banks — Philabundance, a Philly-centric charity that deals with food insecurity in general, is a good one. That was a regular of mine even before the outbreak. I’ve also donated to a lot of the local services in the small town where I’m in now, though you’ll need to PM me if you want the name of that. (It’s… very small.)

Off Their Plate is another great charity that’s been working with small restaurants (who can’t open for business) to get food to first responders. They’re partnered with World Central Kitchen, which is another fantastic charity that helps out during disasters. Plus well-known ones like Feeding America, No Kid Hungry (important while school is out and kids aren’t getting breakfast/lunch there), Direct Relief, etc.

(I uhhh may have overstrained my charity budget the past couple months. It’s odd how that adds to stress and relieves it at the same time.)

I tend to avoid religious charities, especially Salvation Army, because they’re occasionally discriminatory in how they distribute resources and we no longer have laws & oversight to make sure they don’t do shady shit. So I just avoid them in general now. I also avoid the American Red Cross because they’ve been known to misuse funds. Research is key!

I also worry about some of my regular charities, like Immigration Equality & Rainbow Railroad (helps LGBTQ people in dangerous countries immigrate to less dangerous ones), the Native American Rights Fund, various local abortion funds, RAICES (provides legal services to immigrants & refugees), the ACLU, Dysautonomia International, the Rainforest Action Network, etc… A lot of them are getting fewer donations than they’re used to because we’re in the middle of such life-shattering events.

If you are really interested in making a donation (please, please, please do) those are all good options. I also fully recommend looking up needy organizations, services, people, etc. in your own area. I try to donate to a healthy mixture of national/international organizations, local needs, and temporary issues du jour. (Disaster relief, bail funds for protesters, fighting new discriminatory laws, etc.) I would genuinely appreciate any donations, especially if you find a cause near and dear to your heart that I would never even hear about. Anything along these same lines, y’know? If you have anything you’d like me to do in return, just hmu.

I constantly stress about who to donate to — there are so many good organizations and so few dollars to give them — but at a certain point, every dollar to a cause you believe in counts. Every dollar you donate helps to make the world a little bit better for at least one person. That’s what I have to tell myself to calm myself down, haha. So even the smallest donation you make to any of these groups would mean a lot to me.

Anyway, onto the language stuff:

For me personally, I grew up bilingual. Deafness runs in my family, so I learned sign language from a very young age. Note: I say “sign language” rather than ASL. I learned sign language kind of organically, which ended up making a mess later in life. My parents mostly taught me, but so did my daycare (at a deaf school) and so did my babysitters and so did other family members, etc. The point is, not all of them used the same sign language. There was a wide mixture of ASL, SEE, and home signs and my current signing style is… problematic. lmao. My family all understands it (hey, they taught it to me) and I can have conversations with American sign language users, but I know they can’t love my signing lmao. I’ve considered sitting down and taking a legit ASL class for years, but there are so many classes I want to take… I don’t know.

After that, it largely became a case of taking languages whenever they were made available to me. I’ve always liked them. We moved around a lot when I was a preteen so I went to a lot of different schools. (4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade were all different schools.) It was rough at home and hard to make friends so I guess I threw myself into academics a lot. My sixth grade school was an odd one; it was a 6-8 grade school and you were supposed to take a crash course in three different languages in sixth grade so you could choose one and take it in 7th and 8th grade. I ended up taking Spanish, French, and German that year. I liked French best! But then we moved so it was kind of moot. (And I hated German, sorry Germans. My mouth doesn’t like the noises. It didn’t help that my teacher was weirdly sympathetic to Nazi-era Germany…? But I guess that’s another post.)

When we moved to Florida, you had to have special permission to take language classes in 7th grade. (FL doesn’t have great academics.) But since I’d already had some Spanish in NC, they let me take it! And then I moved schools again. This new school, my 8th grade school, I’d be in until I graduated 12th grade years later — but the employee turnover at that school was almost comedically bad? I took Spanish for like a year and a half there and had three different teachers. So at this point I’d had 5 different Spanish teachers, all from different countries (where they spoke slightly different Spanish!), all reteaching the same ideas over and over again because they didn’t know where the last teacher had left off. In the end, my last Spanish teacher sent me to the school library with some textbooks because he felt like I was very good at languages and he couldn’t adequately teach me in the environment he’d been thrown into. (My high school was very terrible. So he was right.)

SO I SWITCHED TO FRENCH. I took French for 3-4 years in high school (can’t remember when I started) but the same shit started happening. By the last year, my French teacher had the French I, II, III, and IV students IN THE SAME CLASS and she just put the advanced students in small groups and had us do independent study. Sigh… Around this same time, I started three other languages. At this point, I was getting kind of accustomed to self-study so I applied for a Latin class in the Florida Virtual School and took a year of that. I also spent a summer studying at the University of Chicago when I was 16-17 and learned Middle Egyptian then. (Yes, I was an ancient cultures nerd even back then.)

The Japanese has always been an odd case. Like I said, my 8-12 education was fairly terrible. They had this thing where they used a computer program to teach kids math and the teacher kind of taught along? When I transferred to the school in the middle of 8th grade, the teacher didn’t know what to do with me so he just plopped me in front of a computer and told me to do as much as I could. They started me in… Pre-Algebra, I think? Which I’d already taken in sixth grade. So I ended up getting through Pre-Algebra, Geometry, Algebra, and Algebra II, which… wasn’t in the teacher’s plans. I’d kind of finished several years of math in like a quarter. And then they didn’t have any more classes. So he just told me to like. Sit quietly and amuse myself for the last few months of school?? (Terrible, terrible school.) So I went to the library and found a book about Japanese and started teaching myself that. I really, really liked Japanese! Like it’s a language that just clicks really well with the way my brain works, I think. It’s very logical, I like the syllabary, etc. And I think growing up signing helped me with pictographic languages like Middle Egyptian and Japanese. My brain easily connects visual symbols with concepts.

When I went to college, the plan was honestly to learn more Egyptian and start translating, and I kept taking French to help me read old research in various ancient study fields. I ended up transferring out of the NELC major, though, due to some ethical problems… I guess that’s another post. Several years into my RELS/FOLK degree I went to my parents like. Look. I love learning this stuff but none of it’s useful. Remember how much I loved Japanese? Can I go back to learning that? I could translate that and that’s a legit skill. So I applied to a program through my school and studied in Japan for a while and ended up really doubling down on that language. Weird how I came back to it years later, but I guess it was always the one I loved best.

I have a mind that’s very pattern-based, so I guess I’ve always loved learning languages and the patterns behind them. (This may be why languages with a lot of rule exceptions, like French, irritate me.) They’re like puzzles that I’ve always enjoyed teasing out. Unfortunately, the way my education bounced around meant that I never got a good grounding in most of those languages, so I’ve largely lost them. I can still read French fairly well and my Japanese is good… My Spanish is like. Enough to get me around in the southern US. My German is abysmal. I remember very little Latin & Middle Egyptian. (It’s been over 10 years, I guess.)

So I guess what I feel the need to say to you is that if you don’t use it, you will lose it. I did well in all my language classes. They’ve always been fairly easy for me. Like. Straight As, no problem. I don’t say this to brag. I say it so you know that even for someone like me, whose brain is fairly well-wired for languages, it’s very, very difficult to retain languages when you’re not using them. If you’re not used to taking languages or you started late in life, it’s even harder. So even on the days you don’t want to practice! You gotta practice! Ganbare! Bon chance!

#replies #god these are so many words #sorry to everyone #shaymeson

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