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[ It's a flimsy, thin paperback book, but he swats Maverick's arm with it anyways. ]

French reading level, maybe!! [ In the four years he's been here... he can barely read, yeah, this is about his level and he hates to admit it. ]

Alright, alright, book club time! Go on and sit down so I can read to you about the tortoise and the hare!

[This is another reason the book club exists... Just let him help out, kid.]

Uh-huh. We'll read it, and beat it right after to get your sprinkles.

[He will sit, body language much more relaxed, and start in on drink number one. Go on, now.]

[ He doesn't need French speaking lessons when he's got an auto-translator!! Conversationally, he's fine, but when it comes to reading... too many weird accent marks, English doesn't have fancy accent marks and he hates these.

He settles into his own seat with the book on his lap and hopefully Maverick will soon be drunk enough to excuse his French— not terrible, but definitely spoken slowly and haltingly like a student learning a foreign language. ]

Rien ne sert de courir; il faut partir à point! Le lièvre et la tortue en sont un témoignage.
"Gageons, dit celle-ci, que vous n’atteindrez point sitôt que moi ce but."
"–Sitôt? Êtes-vous sage?"

[ He is going to suffer through every line of this book and Maverick has to suffer listening to him. ]

[If anything, he sobers up a little... How long has Kano been in this country again, muddling through written shit like this? He doesn't comment through the first beer or the second, going through them fairly quickly, but as he sets that one down, he leans forward a little.]

This isn't me being an asshole, it's a genuine fucking question. You got any learning disabilities, or some shit? Dyslexia, anything?

[ Reading out loud is genuinely a terrible task. It's so much different from reading in your head, or speaking ad-lib, neither of which he thinks he'd have quite as bad a problem with, except the process becomes disjointed when he's made to read words off a page. Is this something he could have gotten used to if he'd suffered through years of recitations in a classroom? Probably. But as it is, he just squints at Maverick over the top of the book. ]

Non. Can't you just accept that I'm dumb?

[sighhh.]

Non. Tu n'es pas stupide.

[He says this matter-of-factly, also I've just never mentioned how Mav doesn't sound particularly French unless he's speaking it, on account of Ramona being his primary conversational partner that raised him and from the States, but that's a thing.]

Means I don't got anything that might help you, though. Only a good trick for assholes with dyslexia and ADHD.

[ He sits up a little straighter at that, not wanting to get his hopes up, but also, he just sort of denied learning disabilities out of the principle of the thing. Maverick can't honestly believe Kano knows what dyslexia or ADHD really is, besides something like mixing up b's and d's, and being distractable, both things that are very reasonable in his opinion. ]

What's the trick? I want to see it anyways!! Show me, show me~

[As Maverick just said, he doesn't think Kano is stupid! He has no idea what the kid does or doesn't know... When prompted, however, he rolls his eyes and leans closer so he can put his finger against the book. Instantly, the ink begins to change color -- but not all of it, not solidly. It's a gradient, a fluid transition where the sentence starts in black ink, shifts to blue, followed by brown, gold, back to black, and repeating.]

It's supposed to make it all not run together, or something, and having a color order makes your eyes wander less.

[ The extent of Kano's knowledge is a good question; whatever he can learn off magazines and television and internet, I guess— and this is a bit like that, the bright flashy eye-catching colors used in magazines, separated into parts like scrolling subtitles on the tv, and internet because he has to pick the book up for a second to remind himself that it isn't a tablet screen he's looking at but still paper. ]

Eh... Does that make it easier? What about textbooks where it's a whole wall of text and it's tiny and the letters all look the same? You know how when you read a line and then your eyes go back to the other side to read the next line, but then you miss and land on the same line you just read?? And then you read the same thing over five times???

[ That sort of problem... it's a problem ]

[...okay, so. Kano lied. or just...genuinely didn't think he'd had a problem, which he could also believe, sadly. It really is...depressing, thinking of it like that.]

Yeah. It's hard to show with short-ass sentences like this shit, but...that's the idea. I mean, I can't fucking make words bigger, or change their shape much. Just colors.

[Hm... Tough to explain when he doesn't have something he can use as a proper visual.]

It's like... The first line starts out black, right? But then it goes into blue -- so your second line starts out blue. You follow the fucking color progression. They make fonts that make the shapes of letters more recognizable, but fuck your bitch eyes, learn to suffer with standard textbook bullshit, I guess. Shit's so fucking stupid.

[ It's not a problem if it doesn't inconvenience him, and it doesn't inconvenience him when he places zero importance on school in the first place, easy. Making words bigger, changing the font so he can pick letter out more easily, those are all things so easy for him to do— colors too, if he ever had the means to realize that could help. This is such a solvable problem... but he doesn't care and doesn't want to care, flipping the storybook closed and shoving fries into his mouth instead. ]

You'd think in a magic school, it'd be different huh? We're the technological age! They should be able to beam info directly into our heads.

[ Why can't Michael be a daemon of education instead of one of mischief, he already pops into his through unsolicited and never to whisper him exam answers. ]

[It's ridiculous to feel disappointed by Kano's dismissal of the book, and he knows that, but a small part of him still is anyway. That had been the attitude he'd had all through his prior schooling -- but he already knows Kano doesn't like to read, doesn't enjoy books, and doesn't seek out new, random information. There's no reason he would have had the same, eye-opening punch to the gut of finding something you genuinely like just because some idiot made it look prettier.

It was a good feeling. He wishes Kano knew it, too.]

Why would it be different? Magic's just about the most ancient-ass shit there is. Pretty sure I don't want some direct line into my fucking head, either.

[ He might like books if they're on things that matter or are interesting to him, but finding something that matters or is interesting is sort of where he's stuck at, reaching over to take Maverick's third can of beer if he's not going to finish it. ]

Hm, maybe~ But it's like intrusive thoughts into your head, 'cept you can tune them out, right? Like how you can tune me out, but you don't, but you could— but anyways, it would be useful! Maybe you can't relate, because you understand things when you hear them without having to overthink it?

[Excuse you, he had a total of four. But honestly, yeah, take his half-done third can so he can start in on that fourth while he contemplates it's kinda odd that Kano knows what intrusive thoughts are, all things considered. Not good.]

You have a lot of faith in my ability to tune you out.

[And very little faith in how much Mav shies away from the strange or things to do with his own mental health.]

Edited 2019-03-20 23:17 (UTC)

[ Kano, at six years old, Googling "Are these voices in my head real or am I possessed by a demon?" except he's possessed by a demon. ]

Can't resist the siren song of my voice, can you~?

[ He tilts the can far enough that he can stick his tongue inside, make a face at the taste, and give it back to Maverick. Nothing two scoops of vanilla ice cream can't solve, but they'll have to reorder more ice cream for that. ]

You wish.

[Pfft. Look at this child. Not that beer was great or anything, but it was a cheap solution to a hard-to-define, ever-changing problem.]

Not to your liking, cricket~? Maybe you shouldn't take my shit.

[But he can finish it off and pick up the last can, gesturing with it towards the door.]

Time for sprinkles.

I'll think about it! Can you buy another waffle cone first? No ice cream, just the cone!

[ It's something to put his sprinkles in, so he can painstakingly eat them one by once. But he clears everything off the table, book shoved into Maverick's backpack and trash wadded up to throw away. ]

[That earns a weird look, even if the little voice in his head sighs and explains that of course he would want just the cone, what are you, stupid?]

I'll buy it, but you have to order it.

[He needs to see the employee's face without anything distracting him.]

[ The employee doesn't want to see their faces again, cringing as the two of them make their way up to the counter and Kano sets both hands up on the counter so he can lift himself slightly up off his feet. ]

One plain, unfilled waffle cone, please~ The sharpest one you have! Make sure the bottom isn't broken!!

[what the fuck is this request

Their eyes flick over to Mav over the younger's shoulder, and their stomach drops even more as they realize all that's waiting for them is a wide, jubilant grin. Of course he would be supporting this odd idea of his boyfriend's, though. Of course. With how things have gone, and those piercings, it wouldn't surprise them if the "sharp" part was for that guy's benefit, and now they need to take a long, long break where they soak their brain in vinegar.

But Kano gets his cone. He's charged the price of a small ice cream because they couldn't figure out how else they could possibly sell it to them, but Mav pays the price without complaint. Time to go!]

[ If Kano's thoughts were in that direction, he'd have to argue that the fun part of the cone isn't the pointy end, but the inside. But that's neither here nor there! He's happy enough with his cone, all wrapped up in paper to keep the mess off one's hands, and holding it delicately as he skips out the door, pleased as punch. ]

Haha, this is great! It's like having a sugar daddy.

[ He had to open his mouth. ]

[grimace]

Without any of the fun for me, I...guess.

Yeah, you sure got the short end of the deal. But you wouldn't want to, anyways, right?

[ Friends with benefits... that'd be weird. ]

[The extended, disgusted noise he makes is answer enough.]

...That bad, huh? Thanks.

[ Should he be feeling hurt, here? ]

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also I disco'd you unimportant stuff

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