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[and thank every god, honestly: Cecelia doesn't really have the patience to be a good teacher, so Rip meeting her halfway and grasping this stuff right quick is a blessing. she's quite pleased by his progression, though; she has no idea how long it ought to take him, now that he's seemingly grown -- there's no physical change to mark as milestones like back in her younger years.

still. this is good, right? she thinks it's good. and at least he's asking about things she excels at, so she can puff up and answer confidently.]

That'd be script -- cursive, in other words. Designed for grace and flow with ink -- writing without having to lift the utensil up until the very end of a word. It makes it much easier to see the separation of words than block letters, in my opinion, and just...looks better, to boot. Here --

[she grabs one of the many sheets of looseleaf and a pen, scrawling out a sentence: the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog she does it once in cursive and once in block writing.

she turns it and slides it his way.]

See?

[a very fortunate situation they've avoided! at least until it gets more complicated and riptide does start struggling. well, anyway.]

I thought you weren't meant to pick it up to the end of a word anyway... [frown...] Honestly, I prefer the normal way. I mean-- I get it looks prettier, but I can hardly read it!

What--truly? [she frowns, tilting her head so she can see it at his angle.] But it's so intuitive...and almost one-to-one, if see past the connecting lines. See? This little 'a' and that block one are quite alike without the little curl here, right?

What can I say? I have a love affair with right angles. Everything I had to download was right angles.

[...]

Ahh... I mean. Read.

[she quirks an eyebrow for a beat then shakes her head.]

Well, you'll have to get a bit used to the idea of a softer-shaped letter; I've noticed this world isn't a complete loss when it comes to lettering, and it's more prevalent than a first glance would tell. Beyond all the ugly, fat, ballooned letters, there's actually a decent handful of scripts I've seen about? In the more costly restaurants and boutiques anyway. Some advertisements in the magazines are that way, too. Perfumes and clothes and jewelry and things.

Is it... just meant for upper-class people, then?

[he huffs.]

You know I'm bottom of the barrel MTO, right?

[matter-of-factly, waggling her pen idly between her fingers.] Riptide, I don't know what MTO is for one thing. For another, top or bottom of anything doesn't matter; everyone is entitled to decent things! That includes writing. Don't settle for less!

Made to order. [he frowns-- why is he telling her this?] I wasn't-- we were made to fight. Not learn.

[her expression scrunches up with distaste.

with defiance:] Well, you're learning now, aren't you? So poo to that. You can be what you want now, alright?

I don't know. Sometimes it feels like I'm just fooling myself into functionality.

[stop?? talking??]

Or that-- someone else should be here, having a nice day with a friend. Pipes. Trailcutter. God, Skids. They all deserve it more than I do.

Riptide... [:(...] That's...not how things work. I mean--we. We don't know who deserves what? And, and anyway, it's...not always up to us. And-and if it is you here, why not...make the most of it? For the ones who aren't? [her eyes wince. this sounds pretty saccharine aloud; it's nicer in text.]

No, we don't, but I know they did.

[he groans and donks his head down onto the table.]

I didn't even get to say bye to Pipes! We were meant to be roomies and go on the Lost Light together but I had to be stupid and get knocked out!

Oh, Riptide... [she tsks, then reaches over and pats his head.] That sounds awful. I'm sorry. It's not your fault, though? I mean, I can't imagine you'd ask to be knocked out?

I literally started the fight, so yes? Kind of?

With the intention for all that fallout, though?

No. I didn't really think it through, you know. That's kind of my thing.

[he sighs and leans back in his chair.]

I don't know. I probably wouldn't have survived the attack either, but... he died alone. He never wanted to be alone.

[she stays slumped forward, resting her chin in her cupped hands, frowning.]

I'm not sure he'd have wanted you to die, too? I mean...I don't know. If there was a choice in the matter. And if the roles were switched, would you?

No, but-- it's... ah, during the war, the Decepticons had these really big bad guys. Like... five of them, I think? They were known as Phase Sixers. They were the guys they'd send down to planets to completely obliterate them. Those guys show up on the battlefield and no-one makes it back, no matter how outnumbered they are.

[riptide's accidentally talking them up-- the phase sixers were unimaginably powerful but they didn't quite destroy planets. he's just going off rumours and from having seen the results of one of their work.]

Pipes died to the hands of one of them. Got crushed like he was nothing. I doubt Overlord even noticed he'd killed him.

[why are there five of them if they're called sixers, Cecelia wonders, squinting at him as he explains.

she grimaces.]

They sound dreadful. Brutish.

Yeah. He's ugly on top of it all.

[riptide leans back, sighs.]

I got told after Pipes died setting off the alarm. He died alone, but saved a lot of people in the process.

That was very good of him. Heroic, even? There's lots of stories of that sort of sacrifice. It's admirable, but not...not enviable, if you get what I mean.

Yeah, I understand.

[he sighs.]

Then Trailcutter? He was trying to do the right thing and got torn to pieces of because of it. Skids... I don't know he died. No-one would tell me.

[:(...]

That's dreadful. I'm--I'm very sorry, Riptide. Truly. To have experienced so much loss is abysmal and...and I wish it wasn't a fate you'd have had to endure at all. You or your friends. I'm, uh. Well. Nothing I've seen or done compares at all, so maybe...saying any of that seems kind of pointless? Or just naive, I, I don't know. Sorry. Words.

I don't even know why I'm telling you all this! What next? I'm gonna admit I kinda liked all of them?!

...

[he just donks his forehead onto the table.]

inhales

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