[Ray's pulled out of comparisons between here and there, then and now, by Goodnight's instant praise of her academics. Her mother was of the opinion Ray should have focused on finding a husband, her father out of the picture before she got to the point of choosing a university; all she had wanted was for someone to say congratulations. Her face burns, and she wishes she could say how much his praise meant.] Thank you. It took some work, but I think I'm at least adequate in most subjects except math by now. I spent a lot of time in the school's library. [Mostly to stay away from home, but. Details.
She eats, feeling whatever tension was still in her diminish as she does so. True, the food isn't anything fancy, yet it's warm and homemade, and that's enough in this moment, with another person's voice to drown out the roar of thoughts in her head and redirect her attention. It's almost comfortable.] That would be wonderful. Math may be hard, but I don't want to give up trying. If I'd done that with words, I never would have gotten anywhere, and now I speak three and read in two. [Technically four if Taiwanese Mandarin and mainland Mandarin were counted as two, which she didn't count on because that was kind of arrogant.] I'm just glad you're willing to put up with me at all. I know all of this is a lot to take in, but you make it look easy, just randomly ending up here.
[Ray's sure she'll mess up someone's name here if given enough time. There's little in the way of East Asian anything in this place, rendering it all foreign and surreal in the way only imported films were before.] This place could be worse. At least we're not completely alone.
I'm glad you have a friend here. [Sort of. She doesn't wish the things their hosts inflict on anyone, she wishes they could all just move on to the afterlife, cross the bridge to Heaven and leave Earth behind entirely. But a suffering shared might be a suffering lessened, if only for Goodnight and Billy, and for that, she really is grateful. Living with two friends seems like it'll be more peaceful than living with people who disliked each other, too. Waiting until she's done with the bite of food she's eating, she asks,] How many people are there here? When I was walking around town it all looked empty. It's a little unsettling.
no subject
She eats, feeling whatever tension was still in her diminish as she does so. True, the food isn't anything fancy, yet it's warm and homemade, and that's enough in this moment, with another person's voice to drown out the roar of thoughts in her head and redirect her attention. It's almost comfortable.] That would be wonderful. Math may be hard, but I don't want to give up trying. If I'd done that with words, I never would have gotten anywhere, and now I speak three and read in two. [Technically four if Taiwanese Mandarin and mainland Mandarin were counted as two, which she didn't count on because that was kind of arrogant.] I'm just glad you're willing to put up with me at all. I know all of this is a lot to take in, but you make it look easy, just randomly ending up here.
[Ray's sure she'll mess up someone's name here if given enough time. There's little in the way of East Asian anything in this place, rendering it all foreign and surreal in the way only imported films were before.] This place could be worse. At least we're not completely alone.
I'm glad you have a friend here. [Sort of. She doesn't wish the things their hosts inflict on anyone, she wishes they could all just move on to the afterlife, cross the bridge to Heaven and leave Earth behind entirely. But a suffering shared might be a suffering lessened, if only for Goodnight and Billy, and for that, she really is grateful. Living with two friends seems like it'll be more peaceful than living with people who disliked each other, too. Waiting until she's done with the bite of food she's eating, she asks,] How many people are there here? When I was walking around town it all looked empty. It's a little unsettling.