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last online May 5, 2024 18:19:20 GMT -7
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Jan 23, 2017 11:30:34 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2017 11:30:34 GMT -7
Oscar nodded when Anna said that he could come to the Gryffindor common room with her whenever he wanted. “I may do that.” Or he might not. He wasn’t sure if Anna’s fellow students would be amiable to her bringing a foreign student into their common room very often, even if the two of them were dating. People dated and broke up all the time, and if they were let in on a secret – and yes, the common room felt like a secret – then it wasn’t like the secret could be revoked when the relationship ended. Not that Oscar planned on breaking up with Anna anytime soon – he hoped not to have to break up with her at all. “Well, bonjour means good day.” He began, feeling rather silly. “Bonsoir is good evening. Ça va? Is like ‘how are you?’. Literally, it means, ‘it is going?’, so when you respond you can say ça va, too – it’s going.” Oscar said, rattling off the phrases and feeling foolish as he did so.
@annelise
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last online May 5, 2024 18:19:20 GMT -7
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Jan 23, 2017 15:43:10 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2017 15:43:10 GMT -7
Anna smiled slyly, "Well, just be aware I might try to get you to come here with me sometimes. I like how comfortable it is." She didn't care what other people thought; she'd seen others bring people that weren't Gryffindors into the room, so it wasn't against the rules. Her friends were understand. Then he started speaking in French and Anna focused on him, trying to remember what the words sounded like. "Bonjour?" she repeated when he was done, the word harder for her to pronounce than she thought it would be. "Ça- Ça va?" She asked, not really asking the question, more questioning him how she sounded. "Is that anything like how it's supposed to sound?" Anna didn't think she sounded anything like Oscar did when he spoke. She also really wasn't sure how much of this she would remember, but repeating it seemed to be one way to start.
@oscar
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last online May 5, 2024 18:19:20 GMT -7
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Jan 24, 2017 21:01:53 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2017 21:01:53 GMT -7
Oscar chuckled when Anna said that she would try to get him to come with her to the common room. “I do not mind that, so long as your classmates will not mind.” Anna probably would say that she didn’t care what they thought, but she had the benefit of being their classmate, friend, and Champion. All Oscar was to most of them was a foreign interloper. Not that he would mind getting to know them better, but it was rather difficult when he didn’t know how to talk to people who weren’t Anna without making a complete fool of himself. Anna fumbled a little on the pronunciation of bonjour, but it was more or less correct. Her pronunciation of ça va was not as correct, though. “Softer.” Oscar said. “You do not need to use much air to speak French. Or open your mouth much.” He said with a chuckle. It was a stereotype of the French language, but it was true that the French did not move their mouths nearly as much. “You are close.” He assured Anna. Close, but not there yet.
@annelise
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last online May 5, 2024 18:19:20 GMT -7
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Jan 24, 2017 22:11:01 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2017 22:11:01 GMT -7
Anna shrugged when Oscar said that he wouldn't mind if her classmates wouldn't. "I'm sure they'll be fine with it," she told him. He already knew that she wanted him there and that she'd try to convince him whether or not her friends wanted him there, but she honestly didn't see it as a problem. Everyone knew that they were dating now. There shouldn't be a problem with them spending so much time together, even in the Gryffindor tower. Anna nodded when Oscar told her to speak softer. She wasn't quite sure what he was telling her to do, but she tried again, using a softer tone of voice and trying to not move her mouth so much, looking at him doubtfully. Did that sound anything like what it was supposed to? "Do you have another one?" She asked him, even though she knew he did. After all, it was his language. He could teach her to say anything he wanted to.
@oscar
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last online May 5, 2024 18:19:20 GMT -7
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Feb 9, 2017 17:52:22 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2017 17:52:22 GMT -7
Maybe teaching Anna how to speak French hadn’t been the best idea. It wasn’t that she was bad at it…but yes, she was horrible. Oscar didn’t know if it came because she was learning French relatively late in life or because English didn’t have all of the sounds that French required, or because he was expecting too much of her too quickly, but this was on the trajectory to become a disaster. Oscar decided that instead of teaching Anna conversational French that she could use with her friends, he would just teach her lovey-dovey French that they could use when they were together. “How about I love you?” Oscar suggested, even though he didn’t have an alternative if Anna said that she didn’t want to learn how to say that. “Je t’aime.” He said, enunciating carefully so she could hear all the sounds. Then, Oscar repeated himself, with everything softer and smoother, more like he would say in everyday life. “Je t’aime.”
@annelise
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last online May 5, 2024 18:19:20 GMT -7
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Feb 11, 2017 15:04:38 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2017 15:04:38 GMT -7
Did he cringe at her pronunciation? Anna wasn't sure if that was her eyes playing tricks on her or if she was really that bad at French. It was a shame. She wanted to be able to talk to Oscar in his language, but maybe that would take time. Maybe it was something she could learn on her own and surprise him with someday. Then he suggested teaching her "I love you" and Anna smiled and nodded. "Go ahead," she encouraged, determined to do her best to learn this one. He said it slowly at first and she paid close attention to how he said the words. Then he said it again, more softly, and Anna felt her heart start racing. Even in a different language, she loved it when he said that phrase to her. She took a deep breath, "Je t'aime," she said, trying her best to echo the way he said it. Her eyebrows rose questioningly while she waited for his response. Hopefully she didn't completely butcher it, but she really had no idea. "How was that?"
@oscar
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last online May 5, 2024 18:19:20 GMT -7
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Feb 17, 2017 18:50:13 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2017 18:50:13 GMT -7
Anna seemed to be focused more intently on his pronunciation of the words meaning I love you, and Oscar wondered if she had noticed his chagrin at her previous pronunciation. She did much better saying je t’aime, though, and Oscar gave her a winning smile. “It was perfect.” He assured her when Anna asked how she had done. “There are different tenses in French, the way there are in English.” Oscar explained. Sometimes he wished there weren’t different tenses, especially since some of them sounded the same anyways, but it was about to become relevant. “Je t’aime, je t’aimais, et je t’aimerai.” Oscar said softly. “I have loved you, I love you, and I will love you.” Oscar translated softly. He grabbed for Anna’s hand, and raised it to his lips so he could kiss her knuckles softly. He didn’t know how long love was supposed to last, but he hoped that his use of the future tense wasn’t misguided.
@annelise
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last online May 5, 2024 18:19:20 GMT -7
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Feb 17, 2017 19:17:07 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2017 19:17:07 GMT -7
Anna couldn't help but smile wider when Oscar told her she pronounced it perfectly. She wasn't sure if he was exaggerating or not, but him saying that was flattering. She nodded when he started talking about tenses. It made sense. Then he started giving her an example and Anna guessed that he was saying "I love you" in different ways. He explained what he said, lifting her hand and kissing it gently and Anna smiled softly at him. "Je t’aime," she repeated softly, looking at him. She thought for a moment and then cocked her head to the side, "What were the other two again? I want to say it right." Anna didn't know why it mattered so much that she say these words right, but it did. She wanted to tell Oscar how she felt for him in French.
@oscar
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last online May 5, 2024 18:19:20 GMT -7
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Feb 18, 2017 8:15:44 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2017 8:15:44 GMT -7
Anna repeated his words again softly, and Oscar smiled a little at Anna as she did so. Her pronunciation really was excellent. She asked for the other two tenses, and Oscar nodded. “The one for the past is je’taimais.” Oscar said, slowing down a little on the French so Anna could hear his enunciation more clearly. “And the one for the future is je t’aimerai.” Oscar cleared his throat a little at the end. “And with that, I think I will conclude out French lesson.” He was slightly terrified that someone was going to walk through the doors and see the googly eyes he was making at Anna. Oscar liked spending time with her, but it was better when they were alone, and he could be himself, with no one but her looking.
@annelise
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last online May 5, 2024 18:19:20 GMT -7
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Feb 18, 2017 10:49:30 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2017 10:49:30 GMT -7
His small smile when she repeated that she loved him in French was confirmation enough to Anna that she said it decently enough. Or maybe he just liked hearing her say the words. She listened carefully, trying to repeat the different tenses of "I love you" as well as she could. "Je t'aimais," she echoed, listening to the next one before echoing it as well, "Je t'aimerai." He said their lesson was over, but Anna's eyebrows pursed a little as an idea occurred to her. "First can you show me how to say one more word?" She asked. If Oscar didn't want to, she could probably find someone else who could tell her, but she wanted to be able to tell him she would love him forever. She waited only a few seconds before asking him, "Forever?" Now that he knew which word she wanted, he probably could figure out what she wanted to say, but she asked him all the same. She knew most school romances weren't real love, but the way she felt for Oscar didn't feel normal and she wanted it to last far beyond this school year.
@oscar
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last online May 5, 2024 18:19:20 GMT -7
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Mar 4, 2017 14:26:05 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2017 14:26:05 GMT -7
Anna repeated the words that he had said one more time, and Oscar nodded, though he doubted she was asking whether or not they were correct. Oscar hesitated a moment before nodding when Anna asked if he would teach her another word. He was sure that she had a reason for wanting to know it, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to know what the word was. He nodded, though. Oscar told himself it was because he was curious about what Anna would ask about, but in all truth, he just wasn’t good at saying no to Anna. Oscar smiled lopsidedly at Anna when she asked what the French word for forever was. That wasn’t what he was expecting, but it still made something warm bloom in his stomach. “It is actually a phrase.” He told her. “Pour toujours.” He intoned quietly. “Literally, it means for always.” Forever was a much simpler and elegant way of expressing the sentiment, though.
@annelise
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last online May 5, 2024 18:19:20 GMT -7
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Mar 4, 2017 22:40:51 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2017 22:40:51 GMT -7
He was smiling at her as he told her how to say forever in French and Anna smiled back, repeating the phrase. She wanted to tell Oscar she would love him forever, but not yet. A part of her was worried that if she did that she would scare him away. It was probably better to wait until their relationship was more established. "Thank you," she told him as she scooted closer so she could lean against him. "So are you ever going to try and teach me French again or was I too terrible?" she asked with a teasing smile.
@oscar (OOC: do you want us to end it in the next few posts or ...)
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last online May 5, 2024 18:19:20 GMT -7
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Mar 5, 2017 10:56:12 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2017 10:56:12 GMT -7
Oscar smiled when Anna thanked him for teaching her, though he wasn’t sure why, since he had failed fairly miserably. “It is not you, it is me.” Oscar said, because there was no reason not to use a horrible cliché if it was true. “I think we are beginning to learn that I am not much good at teaching.” First the history lesson had gone south, and now the French lesson had gone the same way. Anna was a good student, obviously, so that meant that it was the teacher’s fault that she wasn’t doing well. “Perhaps you can just ask me what you want to learn how to say when you need to say it?” Oscar asked. He didn’t anticipate a situation where Anna would ever have to speak solely French, so just teaching her the phrases she wanted to know as they came up in everyday conversation seemed like a decent idea to him, and maybe it would be easier for Oscar to teach her that way, too.
@annelise (you can end on your next?)
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last online May 5, 2024 18:19:20 GMT -7
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Mar 6, 2017 21:02:19 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2017 21:02:19 GMT -7
Anna laughed, "I think we're learning that neither of us are too good at teaching or learning together. At least not seriously. We couldn't even teach one another about ourselves," she said with a giggle, moving a little closer to him. She nodded at his next suggestion. "I will ask you when there's more I want to learn to say. And when you take me to France, I'll just beg you to translate everything for me," she laughed a little more. Apparently spending so much time with Oscar was making Anna giddy. She turned so they were facing the fire again and moved so she was cuddling with him. They didn't need to always talk when they spent time together. That was something nice about being so close with him. ---end--- @oscar
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