Chapter Text
~Chapter 2~
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“Excuse me! Coming through! Pardon me!”
Amy was sprinting as fast as she could back home. She wasn’t late - far from it, actually. She just had an excuse to see Ledo this time, that wouldn’t be ripped away by pirates or giant Yunboros from the sky or finding out that suddenly a barrage of whalesquids would come to the fleet or that half of Gargantia was splitting away from itself.
It was an actual normal day ever since he and Chamber were dug up from the ocean.
As much as Amy liked adventure, she also liked simple fun with her friends and family. Honestly, her belly dancing was an excuse to perform in front of people - even though the outfits were less than dignifying. On a 15 year old, no less… She was now the head teacher and choreographer, so if she could, that would be the first thing to change.
Regarding Ledo, though… Amy was surprised that he was as shy as he was; take away the fancy technology and he was just a socially awkward foreigner that was still adjusting to his new home. She wondered, how much of him did he actually know from when they met, and how much of that was just military protocol drilled into his head? It was impossible to guess, especially with the language barrier between them.
Her mind casted back to the warehouse. The way that he desperately tried to hide his struggling comprehension was… not pitiful, as in he should be ashamed, but sad. Amy could see it from the beginning; the few conversations he did have with other people were almost always with her around, and she ended up taking the lead in nearly every single one if it went beyond basic directions or small talk. Even then, his small talk wasn’t even that confident to begin with. And the way that he broke down when she said that she'd help him… he was lonely. And she couldn’t bear to see someone she loved that emotionally depraved.
Finding a jumping port, she ran off and launched her sail-kite straight towards her quarters - well, as straight as she could without running into anything. There were a few close calls, though!
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It was right at the turn of the afternoon when Amy was near her doors. ‘Perfect! I’m such a genius~!’ she thought, grinning to herself with pride. See, she can be a leader when she puts her mind to it! ‘Now I have plenty of time to make some tea and have Bevel and I-’
*THUD.*
Or she can fall flat on her butt, running straight into someone that just happened to be turning the same corner as she was.
So much for being a genius.
“Owww…” the young brunette whined, slowly standing up to recollect herself. “Please forgive me! I was on my way to study with-”
Wait.
“Ledo??”
Surely enough, Ledo himself just so happened to be the unfortunate casualty in this scenario. He didn’t seem too hurt or dazed, just a little bit in pain as he rubbed his head to make sure there weren’t any bruises. As he opened his eyes to see that Amy was there, however, his expression matched the one she had, as they both likely thought the exact same thing:
What were they doing here so early?
“Amy?” Ledo blinked in surprise. “You are here? It is not early?”
“I could say the same thing for you, Ledo!” She replied, outstretching a hand to pull him up. He obliged, and the two were soon face to face. Well, as close as they were due to Ledo being slightly taller. “I thought we were supposed to meet at sunset… Did you get confused as to what sunset means?” She pointed to the clearing that was facing the sky, as both of their eyes followed her arm to the sky. The blue sky. “The sky is still blue.”
“I know.” He responded. “I come early. It is from my soldier training.” His face turned back to meet Amy’s. “Sun-set is when the sky is orange, yes?”
“Yeah…” Amy pondered in thought. “But why so early? It’s about to be the start of the afternoon, did you have to be this early to events when you were in the army?”
Ledo nodded.
“That sounds like it was rough…” Amy mused.
He sighed in return. “It is. When I am a soldier - in the past - I am supposed to be ready for any combat situation. It does not help me sleep. My sleep is better now, but…” As he trailed off, it looked like he was looking for the right words in Terran, but eventually gave up and finished in his own language.
“I think I know what you mean…” She slowly nodded. “It's a force of habit, right? Something you still do even when you’re not trying because you’ve done it for so long.”
Seeing Ledo’s face light up was proof that she hit the nail on the head. “Ah, you have words for that feeling too?” He responded. Amy nodded back, “Yep! It’s called a force of habit. One of mine is not launching my sail-kite properly when I take off, you’re supposed to open it before you jump but I always do it afterwards.” Ledo appeared lost in thought at her explanation, probably trying to internalize the phrase for him to use later.
“Well either way, we’re both here now, so there’s no issue with starting a little early!” She beamed. The boy nodded, as they both turned towards Amy’s room.
Opening the door, Amy peeked through the curtains to see if Bevel was awake and ready, just in case he decided to take a nap. Sure enough, he was wide awake, and had some books laid out on the small tea table for the three of them, some of them dictionaries and simple short stories, along with three blank journals with pens next to them for the sake of writing. There were also three communicators, one for each of them, though these also looked like they were equipped to record as well.
“Oh, you two are early today!” Bevel lit up, smiling to his sister and her outer space friend. "I didn't know you were this excited, I would've made some food!"
"No worries!" Amy chimed. Sliding into the room and sitting at the table between her and her brother, gently relaxing as she mentally prepared herself. "I already ate, plus Ledo looks good on food too! Right?" Peeking over at Ledo, her warm smile was enough to catch his attention and signal him to also sit down. He seemed rather nervous, though sitting next to Amy seemed to calm his nerves enough to start settling in. "I… eat Seaweed Mustard Bread earlier. But, thank you for the offer." The silver haired boy quietly replied. Bevel smiled. Even though his attempt wasn't quite grammatically correct, the effort was still appreciated.
After gesturing for the two to sit down near the bed, the three of them started to get Ledo acquainted with reading things on his own more. His conversational skills weren't the best, but they proved functional for getting around the ship and talking more to Amy and Bevel would naturally speed up his comprehension and speaking abilities. They all each took turns as they would go through a Terran dictionary and sort out any words that Ledo would need help defining as he'd take notes for him to practice with later.
As Amy was taking her own notes, she glanced over at what exactly Ledo was jotting down. What she saw was unexpected; Ledo almost seemed to struggle with the act of writing, as he fumbled with the pen trying to trace the words from the dictionary itself. Taking a closer look, she noticed that he wasn’t holding it in a proper position - in fact, it looked like he was holding it as if he never held a pen in his life.
“Ledo?” Amy tried prodding at him quietly, as she saw his face screw in concentration. He didn’t respond. Maybe having Bevel break him out of his focus would help?
“Hey, Bevel?” she whispered, discreetly pointing towards Ledo. “Could you help me out?” Her brother perked up, and following his sister’s hand, soon got the message. He knew that Ledo was from a society that was full of advanced technology - but coming from one that had seemingly forgotten to write was another story…
“Ledo…?” Bevel tried to nudge.
The silver boy’s eyes darted towards him. “Hmm?”
“Do you…” the younger brunette started, “...not have pencils and pens on your home planet?”
~End of Chapter 2~
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