Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 14)

(Yeah... I mean they let me choose between that and Early American Lit but like I am not someone who appreciates books just because they're tHe ClAsSiCs like... idk. I am aware I should appreciate them more. But so many of them are just objectively awful. But I read Beowulf in high school so thought I'd like Early Brit Lit but they had me reading stuff like Pilgrim's Progress and this one really fucking weird fairy story about a dude peeping on girls taking a bath under a waterfall. I don't remember what it was at all, just remember my ace ass was grossed out lol and also I was really confused because I went to a really religious school/cult and like... yikes lol)(on the plus side I had a super easy prof. She was boring af and couldn't actually answer any questions I had if they didn't perfectly align with her script of what she had prepared to teach but she gave essay tests and one test there were two prompts and I mismanaged my time so I gave a really beautiful answer to the first prompt and then had like a single paragraph on the second prompt that I wrote up in under five minutes and was like fml guess I'm gonna get a C I didn't address half that test and I get the score back and she was like "looks like you ran out of time on the second one but the first was really good! +98/100 c: " and like... I did *good* work on science tests and studied my ass off and got like 80-85 most of the time and went into that test half-cocked and got a 98 and I was shook xD)

"Like... it's hard to describe. It's just... Serpent Keep is so... solemn." Boring. "Calm. Quiet. Polite... and home is... fun."

(That sounds like the worst class in the world, good god)

He nodded. "I sort of see what you mean about Serpent Keep. It's like the place is asleep."

(Yeahhh haha I took it with one of my science nerd friends and she and I sat near the front of the room because we had been planning on being good students then hated the class and she wouldn't let us change seats so we just fucked off the whole class and would write each other notes on our laptop screens and just generally not pay attention and at one point like mid-way through the semester the prof said she wanted to see us after class and we were like ohhhhh fuuuuucckkkk and as the other students are filing out I am preparing my apology for fucking off because I am Conflict Averse and Anxious and she goes "are you girls English majors?" and we're like "...no...?" and my brain is like maybe she wants to lecture me that I need to take my major more seriously if she thinks English is my major but then she looks surprised and goes "really?! You both did phenomenal work on that last essay! Some of the best I've seen in years. May I use [my friend's] as an example when I teach this class next semester?" and like... my brain was just blown lol)(it also significantly made my head blow up xD like fuck I might actually have a decent GPA if I hadn't chosen to go into stem lmao)

"...Yeah." She sighed a little. "It's very low-energy. Not at all like back home."

(Holy shit
But seriously I think I have a professor like that this year. All she does is interpret the stories for us instead of letting us discuss it
And she loves Neil Gaiman but only gives us the worst of his stuff to read)

"I admit I'm enjoying the low energy," he said. "But one does feel rather useless when there's nothing to do all day. I'm working on reading, mostly, but I keep feeling like I ought to be moving around being productive."

(ughhh yeah it was rough. Like nice and cushy on the GPA but it wasn't enjoyable at all... and yet I still gave her a good course eval lmao)(it was wild at my undergrad tho because I was solid middle of the pack when it came to the science majors. Like. Not being mean, objectively/academically, usually the pre-med students were smartest, followed by biochemistry/cell biology, followed by the zoology students. And I was one of the smart zoology students but we only made up maybe like 15% of the bio department and most of the others in most of the other majors were smarter than me so I felt like the dumb kid all the time, then I'd turn around and not study for English (except 102 *shudders*) or like psych or basic core classes and get upper 90s and all my non-science friends hated me for it lol)(like in a friendly way, mostly just annoyed with me haha)

Ky nodded in agreement. "I'm... sorry I haven't been teaching you like I promised. I'm sure you're making due just fine. But... well... I think Ivar is annoyed with me. I just... haven't been... doing anything, really."

(Aw man that's a big oof
My roommates are pre-med and bio engineering majors respectively and they're both swamped right now; seems like a really tough field.
Meanwhile my humanities ass is over here drinking tea and eating gingersnaps while I try to vomit back what my professor taught me about Begram and Ai Khanoun when my true passion lies in staring at Caravaggio paintings and writing short stories about sad old people
I'm always very glad I'm not in science)

"It's alright," he assured her. "Things got wild fast; I understand. And Ivar..." He sighed. "Ivar is an irritable person in general, I think. He misses his home a lot and he'd like to leave, but May's struggling right now and he respects her wish to rest for the time being."

(Haha yeah I’m sure your program is hella hard too tho! Aren’t you like double majoring? And like I got B’s in both history classes I took so I definitely didn’t breeze through the rest of my classes… it just… science is a nasty beast xD my school actively tried to weed people out who didn’t belong in stem in the first semester by making it as traumatizing as possible. First semester bio 101 was like 2 classes of approximately 60 students each. Second semester bio 102 was a single class of like 55 ish students. Like slightly over a 50% drop rate to other majors in the first semester. It was wild lol)

Ky nodded. “I… don’t understand how they can… do it. Not being able to talk, really. I know they’re learning… but… I can’t imagine not being able to talk to the person I was dating.”

(Double majoring and double minoring X(
They did the same thing with bio here too, apparently. My roommate had a horrible time last year.)

"They find ways," he said. "Little things. Touches, looks, facial expressions. They understand each other very well, I think."

(That’s horrific. Best of luck to you lol I never actually got a minor because my indecisive ass couldn’t pick in time lol I switched from creative writing to chemistry to cross cultural service and then would have had to stay an extra semester and said fuck it lol)
(And yeah I think it’s pretty common. Trial by fire)

Ky nodded. “I mean… as long as they’re happy, I’m happy for them.”

(Urgh minors
There are so many to choose from)

"Same goes for me," he agreed.

(Yeah… in my defense I went to an undergrad that only had like 2,500 students so most major-specific classes only had a singular section. And to take upper level classes I had to take general zoology mwf at 9 as a prerequisite for all the other major classes I would need for my degree, and there was only a single section of creative writing 101 taught mwf at 9 and I wasn’t going to not take my major class to be able to get my minor. I was kinda bummed. But I eventually took creative writing 101 just for funsies and it was incredible)

Ky nodded. “Love is love.”

(Ahhh okay that makes sense)

Rickard smiled slightly. "That's a nice phrase."

Ky glanced at him with a little smile of her own. “I thought so too.”

"Is it a saying where you're from?"

“…no.” Ky deflated a little. “It… was something I heard Aleth say to one of his gay clients who was upset he was getting discriminated against… I just… try not to think about Aleth when I’m saying it.”