(Untitled)

[reallyaduck]

Duck's been snoring slightly on a table in the middle of the room, head pillowed on a piece of paper, when -

do you have the resolve, little duck?- she wakes up with a start, shaking her head to get the last wisps of weird half-memory out of her head

Comments

[veryscaryrobot]

"You're writing," observes Cameron.

It's so lucky for Duck that Cameron is here to point these things out!

[reallyaduck]

"Hi, Cameron-chan!"

Duck heaves an enormous sigh.

"Yeah, I gotta write an essay . . . man, I really suck at this kind of thing."

[veryscaryrobot]

A normal person, having initiated a conversation, might sit down across from Duck. Cameron, being neither of these things, just stands there. Watching.

"Are you grieving?"

[reallyaduck]

"Grieving, huh?"

Duck looks up, blinking, and tugs on a tuft of orange hair.

"You mean, like sad? Um, I don't think so . . . I mean, all my friends are okay so I'm not missing anyone . . ."

[veryscaryrobot]

"Are you doing schoolwork?"

Soon Cameron's short list of reasons people write things by hand will be exhausted.

[reallyaduck]

"Yeah!"

Got it in two, Cameron! Duck gives her an encouraging smile, because Duck likes it when people tell her she got something right. (It's rare.)

"Mr. Cat assigned us this work . . . but I'm even worse at essays than I am at dancing . . ."

[veryscaryrobot]

"You should practice writing essays." Cameron tilts her head to scrutinize the paper, heedless of the fact that she is standing opposite Duck and therefore has a fairly distant and also upside-down view of the essay in question. "That way you won't fail your classes." Failing classes is inconvenient.

"Why is Swan Lake a really great ballet?"

[reallyaduck]

"Well . . . um, it's really famous and it looks really pretty . . ."

Somehow, Duck does not think these answers are going to satisfy Mr. Cat.

"And, um, there's parts that are really hard to do! Like when the evil ballerina does thirty-two fouettes, that's really hard!"

[veryscaryrobot]

"It's a great ballet because it's difficult to perform?"

This is not a rhetorical question.

[reallyaduck]

"Y-yes?" Duck hazards, scratching her head.

"And because it's pretty!"

The fact that it's pretty is very important!

"And the music is, uh - well, the story's good too, and . . . even though it's sad . . . maybe that sort of makes it good? Though, I like happy endings better . . ."

[veryscaryrobot]

"If the ballet was more difficult to perform, would it be even greater?"

It's harder to quantify prettiness.

[reallyaduck]

". . . I guess so? People say dancers are greater the harder ballets they can perform . . . so maybe that makes the ballets greater too, if greater dancers are doing them!"

That's logic, right?

[veryscaryrobot]

"But great dancers can dance any ballet."

Cameron blinks. Once.

"So simple ballets can be danced well by anyone, but difficult ballets can only be danced by a small subset of dancers. They're not as widely compatible. It's not functional."

[reallyaduck]

"Well, even simple ballets are still really hard," Duck protests. "I can't even dance really simple ballets yet, not like for real, because you still need to go en pointe and stuff for those . . . but the most hard ones only the really special dancers can do. That's why they're special!"

[veryscaryrobot]

Cameron is still dubious.

"Isn't it difficult to choreograph a ballet that even beginners can dance?"

[reallyaduck]

Duck blinks a moment, startled.

"I - I dunno. I never really thought about it that way . . ."