Demon Marcus, Sunday

[myownface]

The best part about working in a clothing store, if you were to ask Sparkle today? The full-length mirrors. Seriously. Sure, he was getting work done today, too, putting a shipment of tank tops out onto the racks and occasionally wandering back over to the counter, where he had a book open to a page of math problems that he was steadfastly trying

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[filleauloup]

As agreed upon, Éponine arrived with Alouette -- the kitten was riding on her shoulder, much to her indignation (and had been informed she would be paying for repairs or replacements if her claws tore holes in any of Éponine's clothes).

"Goodness," she exclaimed, sounding as if she were caught halfway between laughter and surprise. "What on earth happened to your head?"

[filleauloup]

All right, so maybe their perspective was a short-sighted one.

"I don't see how either," Éponine agreed. "But I spend so much time a day sitting about waiting, in case customers happen to come in, and I do get bored, and it does make one look awfully respectable to know things like this."

She glanced around to see if she could spot either of the cats (she couldn't, and whether that was a good thing or not was -- it probably wasn't a good thing, actually) and made a thoughtful-sounding noise. "It still seems silly, though."

[myownface]

"That everything depends so much on stuff like this?" Sparkle tapped the book a few times with one finger to illustrate his point. "I don't get it. I really don't. But some of it... doesn't suck too much to study. I mean, I might even like some of the stories in the lit materials if I wasn't being made to learn them."

Because Sparkle was also very contrary.

[filleauloup]

"Stories I don't mind at all," Éponine said quickly. "I don't mind reading as many of those as I can."

It was probably a good thing nobody made her discuss those in a class setting, though.

"It must be important, if people are expected to keep learning it all," she said, shrugging. "I'd like to understand why, though."

[myownface]

"Maybe that's all it's about," Sparkle suggested. "They want to know that we understand. Like... I dunno, my reading comprehension isn't complete shit, I understand stories and how they apply to me. What else do they need?"

[filleauloup]

"As if I would know!" Éponine laughed, a touch too loudly. "I almost think I'm glad I never have to study until I know things to someone else's satisfaction, now."

Which was a complete lie. Under better circumstances she would have been perfectly happy to be a bookworm for the rest of her life.

[myownface]

"You can study things to your own satisfaction, instead," Sparkle offered, along with a little twitch of a smile. "I'm not gonna use these books forever, you know? And if you keep showing up we can... I dunno, bitch about math problems until they start to make sense. Why not?"

Truth be told, he appreciated having someone around who understood that this kind of thing, and the time and means to make use of it, were all a bit of a luxury.

[filleauloup]

"Oh, d'you think that might work?" asked Éponine, half-joking but interested nonetheless. "Ordinarily I'd say that no, that's silly, of course it would never work otherwise my --"

She broke off and snorted. "This place is so strange, though, I wouldn't be surprised if it did. But anyhow! You know more about it than I do. Perhaps if you help explain what I'm missing, it might start to make more sense to you?"

[myownface]

"Can't hurt to try, right?" Sparkle grinned a little. "Me, I've got to do good enough to at least pass the freaking test at the end, otherwise Karina's gonna be pissed. If I can explain it so it makes sense to you, then that means I understand it, right?"

He tilted his head a little, looking up at the ceiling in thought.

"Either that, or we'll both be wrong because I went and fucked it up."

Also a possibility.

[filleauloup]

"If you do," said Éponine, exaggeratedly solemn, "I'd be quite displeased but then, it's not as if I'll know, is it? And then I won't be able to correct you, so see that you do get it right."

She was teasing. Mostly. 99%.

[myownface]

"Guess that means I'm gonna have to get it right," Sparkle decided. "Easy enough with some subjects. God, I don't even want to get into like physics and stuff like that. In the real world, by the time I work out how fast something is moving using math, it's already gotten where it's going."

[filleauloup]

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Éponine said, nodding. "Here, I'll tell you what: if you get tired of staring at these problems, you can help me finish learning my multiplication tables, or we can find some story to read instead, how's that?"

[myownface]

"Oh my god that sounds perfect," Sparkle informed her, sounding very obviously relieved. "I'm not so great with multiplication either so I could use the refresher, but stories are great. You can get up and act 'em out as you go, you know?"

[filleauloup]

"Oh, do you ever do that?" asked a clearly delighted Éponine. "It isn't so much fun when one has to play all the parts alone."

Which didn't stop her, exactly.

[myownface]

"Only all the friggin' time," Sparkle laughed. "Reading is way better if you're reading, like, swashbuckling and jumping on couches and waving sticks around. You do that, too? God, I thought I was it."

The hyperactive kid who couldn't just read a story. Most people looked at him strangely. Sparkle didn't care.

[filleauloup]

"All the time when I was young," Éponine confirmed, "and I'd make my sister play along. Only we never had many books, so I made up my own stories when we ran out."

And kept doing that over the years. It had helped keep her going for a while, even when it devolved into drunken, half-mad rambling at the trees.

"And now I've books again," she blustered on, not wanting to linger on that last statement long enough to raise questions, "so I can do that, but Alouette isn't terribly cooperative."

Because of course she'd tried to make the cat play along.