[video]

[littlemissfutility]

Have any of you taken the GED? Or--you know, whatever they call the test you take instead of going to high school. [If there is one--she's maybe just assuming there is one. It's asked by a teenager sitting at her desk, behind a pile of library books, a thick notebook, and a bunch of pens and highlighters.] How long did you have to study before you took it? I wanna get it over with, but I don't wanna have to retake it...

And every time I look through my science flashcards, I feel like I'm gonna fall asleep. [She smiles, a little sheepish.] But one of my books has a bunch of experiments in it, so maybe those'll help. Some of them look kind of cool--you can make plastic out of milk. And there's like a million different kinds of slime...

...If any of you are studying, too, maybe we could work together. It's more fun if you aren't the only one, right?

Oh--and I started a BlueTube channel, if you want something to watch. It's just songs and stuff, but it looks pretty cool. [Since, you know, she uses her powers on it.] And if you have any requests, I can try to learn them. The house is pretty quiet right now.

I'll put a link up--hold on...

[And that's here. Since she's only just started to experiment with posting videos, her channel's pretty sparse so far.]

Comments

video;

[heisenbitch]

[ Gaping, wide-eyed Jesse here. ]

Beth... holy shit.

[littlemissfutility]

[She's still smiling, but there's a little furrow in her brow.]

What?

[heisenbitch]

Uhhhhh, when exactly were you planning on telling me you're amazing on piano?

[littlemissfutility]

I mean--I'm not amazing... [She's a little flustered and a lot pleased. It's just chords--but hearing that somebody liked it, especially somebody whose opinion matters to her, is still really nice.] But I'm practicing again. So maybe I'll be amazing soon.

video

[h2no]

Nope! Flunked outta college too.

[great, cool, thanks for the help.]

Then again, kids back home leave when they're eleven and don't usually fully come home for a couple years, so education is a little all over the place. What sorta stuff they got you learnin'?

[littlemissfutility]

At eleven?

[Dubious. So dubious.

On the other hand, that's basically Carl, and if he never went to school again, Beth wants to believe he'd be fine. So maybe. But still.]

All kinds of stuff. I had to stop in tenth grade, so I have to catch up on everything. Biology, chemistry, trigonometry, who wrote what book when...

[heisenbitch]

Are you kidding me? "Not amazing"?!

[littlemissfutility]

[She shrugs.]

I'm not about to win any contests with "Deck the Halls." But I'm not terrible.

[heisenbitch]

Uhh, try amazing. Terrible would be me on the piano, yo. Like, we're talking 'Chopsticks' probably in the wrong key levels of terrible.

[ Sure, Beth only played chords, but Jesse thinks pretty much everything Beth does is awesome. ]

video;

[coppelganger]

I've thought about it. It might be worth it to try here, and then do the real thing at home someday.

[littlemissfutility]

If I'm amazing now, what happens when I get better?

[She's on the verge of laughing--the idea of "Chopsticks" in the wrong key, like that's a thing that happens, is just too good.]

[littlemissfutility]

Yeah. [If this girl--woman, whatever--can actually get a real degree at home, then that's even better.] The math's kind of boring, but the rest of it is fun. You should do it.

[A pause, as she looks at the picture on the screen.]

...Are you one of Sarissa's sisters?

[heisenbitch]

You become a megastar and I become your most loyal groupie, duh.

[littlemissfutility]

[Okay, this time she does laugh.]

Friends aren't groupies. Duh.

[coppelganger]

I'm not great at maths or science, if I'm honest. And yeah, I am. Sarah.

[ The expression on her face is very slightly worried, because when someone asks if she knows Sarissa, there's a pretty equal chance it's because they either think her sister is the coolest person ever, or the most annoying. ]

[h2no]

Yep! Our world is very different from most others, I've come to understand.

[also pokémon]

I can help you with biology if you want. I had to learn a bunch of new stuff here too because of differences in timeline, so I'm sure we're on the same level.

[littlemissfutility]

Nice to meet you. [Fortunately, Sarissa's made a good impression on her so far. Advocating for mac'n'cheese quesadillas will do that for you.] I'm Beth.

Math kind of sucks, though. I mean, if you have to build something, it's good to know about angles and stuff, but otherwise? [Ugh.]

[littlemissfutility]

Sounds like it.

[YEAH POKEMON MAKE A DIFFERENCE]

That'd be great. I don't know how much I have to know yet, but it's probably going to be a lot of stuff I've never heard of.

[heisenbitch]

[ He should feel like an asshole for making Beth think he's in any way deserving of friendship. His heart is swelling three times its size instead with warmth at her calling him a friend. Her laughter fills his heart with even more warmth. ]

Okay, okay. You become a megastar and I become your biggest, most loyal fan who goes to all of your gigs.

[littlemissfutility]

You better. Because if I'm a megastar, I probably won't have time to hang out.

...Actually, I don't wanna be a megastar. That'd suck.

[h2no]

Hey, you know those kid's toys where you gotta point to what noise which farm animal makes? I fucked up one of those the other day. I don't think you gotta worry about anythin'.

[he snorts.]

Plus there's a buncha magic shit in my world, so I gotta figure out how stuff works normally here, too. Stupid physics.

[littlemissfutility]

[She laughs.] Which one did you screw up?

Physics is tough, though. There's so many different laws.

[coppelganger]

Yeah, we've all got a calculator with us all the time, anyway.

[littlemissfutility]

Here, anyway.

[h2no]

The goat. They baa. They totally baa. Whoever made it was wrong. Not me. Ugh.

[honestly he can't tell a goat from a sheep right now.]

Right? Back home it's like-- okay, no, here, Blue has a magic tree that can read your mind. Explain that, physics.