Ring the Hogwarts Bell (OPEN)

[reina watanabe nakamura]

December 23, 2027

Being stuck in the Hospital Wing over Christmas was exactly how Reina hadn't wanted to spend the holiday, but she had ended up with a bad case of the flu that had landed her there. Luckily, magic was pretty good at healing most non-magical ailments, but Reina hadn't wanted to get any of the other girls in her dormitory ill. It was one of the few real breaks any of them got from their schoolwork, and they were meant to be enjoying their time off.

Apart from catching the flu at the absolute worst time possible, things had been going well for her as a student at MAGIC. Hogwarts wasn't Castelobruxo, but she had had a good experience there overall. There were obviously some differences, and having to do everything in English instead of switching between Portuguese and Spanish was a change. At the same time, she hadn't found it as difficult as she expected it to be at the beginning, but plenty of the other students in her year were already becoming seriously concerned about how they would perform on their Ordinary Wizarding Levels, which were months away.

Glancing up at the ceiling, Reina wished that she had something with her to occupy her time. The nurses who ran the Hospital Wing were fine, but they had other patients to care for, too.

OOC: OPEN!

[lyka cruz malkin]

▲

Christmas couldn't come any faster at this point. The throbbing pain radiating up her left arm wasn't nearly as scary as her hand hanging limp at the wrist. The culprit: ice on the front steps of the LIFE building and her inability to go slow. She had just finished her final flight of the fall term for Quidditch practice and was rushing back up to the school to grab food when she felt her feet suddenly slide straight out from under her. It was bound to be a painful fall regardless, but instinctively Lyka put her arms out to catch herself. Rule number one of falling was to take the brunt of it - she had learned that from Quidditch. Yet that didn't happen, and it probably had to do with her being totally inept on two feet instead of her broom.

The snapping of her wrist wasn't audible, though that didn't matter much because the pain was instantaneous. There was no ignoring it. Even gently touching it as she carefully stood up again caused a shooting sensation up to her elbow. Her first thought was to yank her mitten off to look at it, but she couldn't even do that as it hurt too much already. Trying to shake off passerby's from helping her, Lyka immediately started off in the direction of the Hospital Wing. A first for this year, surprisingly. She was absolutely horrid with healing spells and didn't trust herself to try anything on her own. With the nurses right here, it would be seriously stupid not to get their assistance. And she didn't need her sister telling her so a few hours from now.

Utilizing the last bit of adrenaline she had to get to the Hospital Wing, Lyka simply held her limp hand out to the first nurse she found, who seemed fairly interested in how it had happened. But first, she was told to take a seat on a bed and to try and get her glove off so that the hand and arm could be looked at. The nurse went off to fetch something and Lyka began to do as she was told, only looking up from her hand after she yanked the mitten off and threw it onto her bed in victory. Another girl was two beds down, staring up at the ceiling. "Did you slip too?" she asked, assuming this girl was just as clumsy as she was.

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[reina watanabe nakamura]

December 23, 2027

From where her bed was positioned, Reina had a good view of the door. That was great when there was something interesting going on but frustrating when she was just trying to rest. The next person to come into the Hospital Wing was another girl who looked, from what Reina could tell, as though she'd injured her wrist. It wasn't the worst injury and certainly nothing that she would have to be sent to St. Mungo's to treat; instead, she'd probably be in and out in hardly any time at all.

Reina didn't recognize the other girl who had just come in as being a MAGIC student, and she assumed that she would have been in her same year if she was one. She didn't look too much older than she was, so she guessed that she was probably a LIFE student studying for her NEWTs.

The other girl was instructed to sit down upon one of the other beds, and Reina went back to looking up at the ceiling before the apparently older girl suddenly spoke. "Did you slip too?" she wondered.

Turning her head and seeing that the girl was a couple of beds down from hers and speaking to her specifically, Reina shook her head. "No," she answered, trying to keep herself from coughing so that she wouldn't get the other girl sick when that didn't seem to be why she was there to begin with. "The flu."

lyka cruz malkin

[lyka cruz malkin]

▲

"Merlin...that fucking sucks," she said loudly in response with very little thought to it. "Language, Miss Malkin!" Came from somewhere deeper into the Hospital Wing from the nurse. Lyka scrunched her nose at that, making a funny face at the other girl as she called back, "Sorry!" Not really. She had the mouth of a sailor. There was no stopping that now that she had a whole handbag of fun swears to play with. That also happened to be where the house Quidditch team was lucky she was only a reserve. She'd be getting penalties left and right from the referee if they heard what she said whilst playing. She couldn't help herself. "But yeah, that's horrid right before Christmas. Hopefully you're all fixed up by the morning though and can head home?" Missing Christmas because of the flu would, as she had just aptly put it, fucking suck. Lyka had been there done that, though more because she ate an entire box of Bertie Bott's Christmas morning, which led to an instant upset stomach and a violent rainbow of spew. Who knew that the combination of earwax, roasted chestnuts, and cotton candy could do such a thing? Not Lyka at fourteen years old.

"I'm about ninety-nine percent sure I broke my wrist," she chuckled as she held the hand in question up so the other girl could see. With the mitten now off, it looked grotesquely limp. She moved her arm at the elbow and watched the hand jiggle, a stab of pain radiating up from it. "Have you eaten yet?" she asked, already forgetting that the girl had the flu and probably couldn't even stomach dinner currently. "Shit, sorry. I forgot. Flu." The nurse cleared her throat loudly, before repeating her warning again, albeit slightly sterner, "Miss Malkin!" At least she was finally walking back with a potion to get everything fixed up. "Seriously sorry. Won't happen again. I swe-." She didn't have time to finish swearing on it as the potion was forced up to her lips. One long sip later and the acrid taste of whatever this was, dispersed into her body. "That tastes like what a thestral smells like," Lyka stated, disgusted and trying to rub off the last of the potion on her tongue with her teeth. "Ten minutes and you'll be all fixed up," the nurse said flatly in response, though seemed like she had a victorious smirk on her face as she walked away with one last warning, "Dont let me hear you cursing again in here either."

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[reina watanabe nakamura]

December 23, 2027

The other girl a few beds down from her expressed her sympathy for the fact that she was in the Hospital Wing with the flu, though the wording that she used was crass enough that she got called out for it by one of the nurses. Reina didn't mind that the girl had used some language that perhaps she shouldn't have; it wasn't as though she hadn't heard—or used—curse words before. Of course, it probably wouldn't have been appropriate around the little kids who attended MYSTIC, but they weren't boarders anyway and weren't at school because of the holidays.

After being told off, the girl reiterated that it that the timing of her having fallen ill was unfortunate, though she mentioned that hopefully it wouldn't take very long for her to be healed and be able to go home. Reina nodded, feeling that it would be too awkward to get into the fact that she was a boarding student at MAGIC who would have been on the Hogwarts campus regardless. She didn't have a sob story or anything like that, but that would also require some clarification. No, she wasn't orphaned; no, her parents weren't heartless or abusive; no, she didn't have any deep, dark secrets that she wanted to keep hidden. Some people at Hogwarts might have had home lives marked by tragedy, but she didn't.

As for why the other girl was in the Hospital Wing, she shared that it was because she was "about ninety-nine percent sure" that she had broken her wrist. She even demonstrated how messed up her wrist was. Reina wasn't exactly a Healer, but it definitely looked broken to her. The bones were all still there, though, which meant that it would be a quick fix if that was all it was. She had heard of people having to have bones regrown by magic before, probably the closest thing to making something out of nothing that could be accomplished magically, and the experience didn't sound pleasant in the slightest. Dragon-related injuries, in comparison, seemed preferable.

For what it was worth, the other girl was good at making conversation, even though she had a tendency to swear. The nurse didn't really like the way in which she corrected herself when she apologized for forgetting about the flu after she questioned if she had eaten yet. Reina didn't have much of an appetite, but she knew that she probably did need to eat something at some point. One of the nurses would probably see to that later on, she figured.

"Seriously sorry. Won't happen again. I swe—"

Although it wasn't dinner, the girl with whom she had been conversing was given some sort of potion to drink before she could finish what she had to say. Amusingly, though she remarked that the potion tasted like how a Thestral smelled.

Could the other girl see Thestrals, then, if she knew what they smelled like? That was more likely than at Castelobruxo, Reina remembered, with everything that had happened at Hogwarts before she had gotten there. She coughed into her elbow but overheard the nurse mention that her momentary companion would need to be there for only about ten more minutes from that point.

Reina, apart from feeling a bit jealous that the girl's wrist would be healed so quickly, didn't really want to lie there in silence for another ten minutes. The Hospital Wing was boring enough as it was, so she would take any excitement that she could get. If that came from a NEWT-level student who was going to use some more "colorful" vocabulary, then that was fine by her.

"I'm Reina," she said to introduce herself to the girl, whose surname she gathered to be Malkin because of the nurse's scolding her. "I'm a fifth-year at MAGIC from Castelobruxo."

lyka cruz malkin

[lyka cruz malkin]

▲

A strange pressure had started to form in her wrist where she assumed the break was. Saying that it tingled would be inaccurate, as it was more like a painless needle feeling stabbing the bones back into place. If only she had the magical know-how to fix it right up with a spell. Lyka made a mental note to ask the nurse at some point, though it would probably be better if she never broke a bone again. That was something she couldn't guarantee if she wanted a career in Quidditch though.

"Lyka," she responded with her name in turn to Reina. She never would have guessed the girl was a fifth-year, as it was hard to tell with her buried under bed sheets and sick as a Crup. "Oh! That's awesome! My sister and I were forced to go to Ilvermorny last year because of the whole Hogwarts burning down thing, but I would have preferred to go to Castelobruxo. Or Beauxbatons. Or literally anywhere that has Quidditch." Lyka barely took a breath before continuing, "Ilvermorny only has Quodpot, which is such a bastardization of Quidditch. The Americans even play Quidditch and it's popular enough for them to have a national team. So it doesn't make sense that they don't have any program at the school to get students into it." Poor Reina. An unwilling participant in Lyka's usual torrent of talk. Her mum constantly told her not to steamroll over people with conversation, but how was she supposed to stop the tsunami of thoughts when they came flooding out? She was just too passionate about the sport.

"Do you like it here? she asked, slowing herself down finally. As she waited for a response, she turned her wrist over a few times, inspecting it as it seemingly felt better now. Ten minutes hadn't passed yet though, and there was still a slight numbing feeling accompanying the initial pressure. And yet it was better than the shooting pain of a broken bone.

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[reina watanabe nakamura]

December 23, 2027

After she introduced herself, the other girl gave her name as Lyka. Reina wasn't exactly sure how to spell that name off the top of her head, but it was easy enough to pronounce. Even before she had arrived at Hogwarts, she had gotten her name misspelled on occasion, too. Apparently, there were more ways to spell "Reina" than she had thought, and "Reyna" was one variation she'd seen back at Castelobruxo.

Lyka said that it was cool that she was from Castelobruxo, and she explained that she and her sister had attended Ilvermorny temporarily. She added that she would have preferred to go to Castelobruxo—or any other school that offered Quidditch. As Lyka told her (to the extent that Reina could tell because of the speed at which Lyka was speaking), Ilvermorny put more of an emphasis on Quodpot over Quidditch.

Now, South America was certainly a good place to be immersed in Quidditch and the fan culture that surrounded the sport, Reina felt, though the difference was that Castelobruxo itself was in the Amazon. Although she loved it, she knew that kind of environment probably wasn't for everyone. There were lots of creatures around, and the weather was certainly very different from that of the Scottish Highlands.

"Do you like it here?"

Reina nodded. Apart from being ill at that moment, Hogwarts wasn't too bad, really. "Yeah, it's nice," she replied, stifling a cough. "My parents are dragonologists, so that's why we're here, but we're from Peru," she added, mostly to clarify that she wasn't from Brazil even though she had attended school there. "I'm in the fifth year at MAGIC, so I haven't seen much except for Hogsmeade." She was so close to being able to use magic outside of school, yet she was still so far. It was unfortunate, though, because it seemed that Hogwarts had plenty of opportunities to study dragons—for the more advanced students, that was.

lyka cruz malkin

[lyka cruz malkin]

▲

"Woah! That's so cool," Lyka exclaimed at the mention of dragons. "I've always wanted to see a real dragon. Like, one that wasn't trying to kill me, I guess." Technically she'd been unreasonably close to the one that flew out of the castle two years prior, and she had been lucky enough to miss the Hogsmeade day where all that had happened as well. She was two for two on near death experiences with them so far. That had to count for something, right? "I think there are field trips occasionally to that animal rehab place in Hogsmeade. I've heard they have dragon eggs sometimes. One day when I'm not busy, I'm going to try and go." Busy for her meant getting tutored and spending the rest of her free time flying herself in circles. A poor attempt at making the house team for the upcoming year.

"That's okay," Lyka responded almost immediately after Reina explained she hadn't seen much of the school yet. "Its basically brand new for everyone anyways. You should have seen it before. One time, I had to run all the way from Potions, which was in the dungeons, all the way up to the Astronomy Tower. You'd think that would be enough to get me onto the house team because I made it in time, but so did everyone else so I guess it really wasn't that impressive..." she trailed off. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the nurse staring at her, probably wondering if another curse word had found it's way into the slew of jumbled noise that just flew out of Lyka's mouth. For once, she had kept it fairly clean. An achievement for her, amazingly. "But yeah. I like it better this way. Supposedly it's more like going to muggle uni or something, except my parents want me to continue living on campus. Something about 'not being motivated enough' if I live at home," Lyka shrugged. She didn't really get it. She'd be plenty motivated if she got to sleep in her own room every night.

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[reina watanabe nakamura]

December 23, 2027

Lyka was obviously thrilled by the fact that her parents were dragonologists, sounding as though it was exciting just to be in her presence because of what her parents did for work. Reina thought that maybe she should have exaggerated things to make herself seem more interesting, especially when Lyka said that she had never seen a real dragon before. (She wanted to, provided that it wasn't because the dragon was trying to kill her, she added.)

Dragons were dangerous creatures; there was no doubt about that. There were multiple reasons why they couldn't be kept as household pets or handled by just anyone. Reina had only been allowed around dragons under the strict supervision of her parents, but the younger dragons were relatively harmless. More accurately, it was when they got older and larger that they became more of a concern. It didn't take them long at all to go from being a hatchling to being a real danger, and most people probably didn't have the experience to know when a dragon had reached that point.

Although she had never seen a dragon for herself, Lyka explained that there were sometimes field trips from Hogwarts to the magical wildlife rehabilitation center in Hogsmeade. She told her that—from what she had heard—they sometimes had dragon eggs.

"Wow!" That sounded like fun to Reina, who wished that she could have done something like go there instead of being sick with the flu. Even magizoology that didn't overlap with dragonology would have been really cool. She didn't know if she would be able to get permission from the school to visit if it wasn't during a Hogsmeade weekend, but they couldn't pretend that it wasn't educational.

When it came to her not having seen everything there was to see of her new school or the rest of its surroundings, Lyka told her not to worry. She also talked about the layout of the school as it had been previously. Honestly, it didn't seem to have changed that much, then, from what Reina knew of the MAGIC building. The Potions classroom was definitely still in the dungeons, which made the class even more of a miserable experience than it really needed to be. It was dark down there, and it had become dark and cold ever since the weather had cooled off, which had been the majority of the time since she had started at Hogwarts.

Somehow, the anecdote that Lyka told her in the process of describing the previous layout of Hogwarts circled back around to Quidditch. Reina liked watching Quidditch, but she didn't have any experience with playing the sport herself. Lyka who soon got back on track, said that she liked LIFE better because it was supposed to be similar to what going to a Muggle university was like.

Reina nodded. That was her understanding of it, not that she knew too much about Muggle universities, especially not what the ones in the UK were like.

Lyka also brought up that her parents wanted her to continue living at school despite her being old enough to live at home or elsewhere. "Something about 'not being motivated enough' if I live at home," she commented with a shrug.

"You live in the dormitories, too?" Reina asked. The NEWT students were in the same dormitories as the MAGIC students because they were still close enough in age, but the students who didn't have to live at school stayed at Hogwarts only as day students.

With her parents' research work, it was easier for Reina to live in the dormitories, where she didn't have to worry about supervision or making meals for herself or how to get around the restrictions on her doing magic outside of school. Besides, it was what she had been used to at Castelobruxo, so it wasn't a drastic change for her.

lyka cruz malkin

[lyka cruz malkin]

▲

”Yeahhhhh…” she dragged out the word while simultaneously rolling her eyes. ”Didn’t pass my apparition exam over the summer like they wanted me to, so I’m stuck in the dorms again.” The real reason being that they didn’t want to have to deal with her whining the entire school year. Especially with her sister so close to graduating. Lyka knew she was distracting and that she liked to vocalize her problems. How else would anyone understand what she was going through if she kept her mouth shut and bottled it all up? That sounded horrifying to her. ”But its okay. I like what they’ve got now. The old dorms were sort of cramped, and my roommates were always complaining about my Quidditch equipment being in the way.” Because she was never officially on the team and had nowhere to store her broom that she absolutely needed to have with her at school. That and all of the polishing equipment, various gloves and boots, three sets of goggles for different weather, and her own set of bludgers that occasionally vibrated in their box underneath her bed at odd times.

”So, are you spending the holidays here?” Lyka asked, not even thinking for a moment if that was an insensitive question to ask. The idea of not going home for Christmas had never crossed her mind once in her six years of school. There was too much good food at home, not that she had anything against what the house elves made, but she sort of wanted the bibingka her mum always baked. Missing out on that would be devastating for her stomach. One of her robes also had a strand that had been progressively pulling itself out, and she needed to get it fixed. Technically she was a competent enough seamstress that she could do it herself but having her family help meant more. ”Supposedly its pretty cool because the castle is empty and you can do whatever you want. But I kind of like going home,” she shrugged.

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[reina watanabe nakamura]

December 23, 2027

While Lyka confirmed that she lived in the dormitories too, she explained that it was because she hadn't been able to pass her Apparition examination. Reina nodded. She couldn't Apparate yet, either, but she hoped that she would be able to take lessons at some point, whether that would be at Hogwarts or back in South America in either Brazil or Peru.

Despite having to stay in the dormitories even though it wasn't her first choice, Lyka told her that she preferred the dormitories as they had become, rather than how they had been before the fire. Reina, who hadn't been there before, had to take her word for it when she brought up the lack of space. She didn't find anything about the dormitories to be objectionable, and she would have preferred being there than in the hospital bed, which was obviously not designed for comfort.

"So, are you spending the holidays here?" Lyka asked. "Supposedly it's pretty cool because the castle is empty and you can do whatever you want. But I kind of like going home."

"Yeah," Reina nodded. She was at Hogwarts for Christmas, but she didn't mind it. She could have gone "home" to where her parents had been living, but she had decided to stay at school. It would be a different experience for her and one that she had been looking forward to prior to coming down with the flu, getting to experience the holiday season in the Northern Hemisphere. Hearing that even Lyka thought that it was cool made her feel better about her decision. "And everyone says the feast is excellent." Maybe she would be able to get enough potions in her system to get back to normal and enjoy Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

lyka cruz malkin

[lyka cruz malkin]

▲

”Wow, bummer,” she said while scrunching up her nose at Reina. That sucked. Were there times where she absolutely did not want to be around her family during the holidays? Yup. But that wasn’t really any different than usual. Her bed at home was also way comfier than her dorm one, and sleeping in all day and barely having to move to get to the kitchen was far less frowned on than stumbling into the Great Hall at two in the afternoon still with bedhead and pajamas on. Like, she could definitely get away with that here during Christmas, but she knew she’d be way too self-conscious to do that.

”I’ve heard that too! I used to tell myself I’d stay one year, but I like going home…guess I’ll never know,” Lyka shrugged. Thankfully she didn’t need her broken arm to do that. Speaking of, the weird numbing burn that had been going through it had subsided. Did that mean it was almost done? The nurse was still off somewhere, though she knew the fastest way to summon her was to swear loudly a few times. ”You’ll have to let me know how it is once I’m back from break. Especially if there are like, desserts that the house elves only make for Christmas.” She could feel her mouth starting to water just by thinking of it. The bakery in Horizont Alley was great and all and had never really failed her when it came to sweets and pastries, but there was something about how perfectly made the house elves did their baked goods. Like it was the Pi Patisserie, which was already peak bakery, on steroids. She’d kill for either, to be quite honest.

”Hopefully you get over your illness before then. Don’t think I’d be able to live with myself knowing I’d missed out on Christmas dinner, especially after having to stay here for it.” A long sigh escaped her as she imagined herself in Reina’s position. If she had instead broken her leg, maybe she would have been forced to stay. Obviously, Lyka wasn’t going to attempt that, but the thought still crossed her mind. ”Because like, eating a bunch and then vomiting it all up right after would be shitty.” A ”I heard that Malkin!” echoed through the hospital wing immediately after. ”How’d she hear that?” Lyka continued with a whisper, lowering her head as well, as if that actually made a difference.

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[reina watanabe nakamura]

December 23, 2027

Lyka described being at Hogwarts for the holidays as a "bummer". Reina understood why it probably would come across as a disappointing thing; there were few reasons to stay at Hogwarts if someone had a good relationship with their family, she supposed. She wasn't a misfit or mistreated or an orphan or any of the many possible reasons why someone would elect to stay at school when she could have been "at home", but there she was.

The good news was that even Lyka, who hadn't ever eaten a Hogwarts Christmas feast for herself, said that she had heard good things about the food they served, but she had never had the opportunity to try it because she preferred to go home. That was nice in a way, Reina thought, because it was clear that the food wouldn't just be a consolation prize for having to be there for Christmas. Even when it wasn't a special occasion, the food at Hogwarts really wasn't bad, though, just different from what she was used to at Castelobruxo.

With Lyka telling her to let her know how the food was once she got back to school, Reina nodded. She also liked the thought of having some sort of special dessert just for Christmas, as Lyka suggested.

"Hopefully you get over your illness before then. Don’t think I’d be able to live with myself knowing I’d missed out on Christmas dinner, especially after having to stay here for it," Lyka said with a sigh. She went on after that, too, adding that she couldn't stomach the thought of ending up vomiting after the feast.

Almost immediately, the nurse called out that she had heard what Lyka had said. That must have included the word "shitty", Reina thought, not that it was that bad of a word. That also took Reina's mind off of the idea of vomiting, at least for a moment.

"How'd she hear that?" Lyka asked at a whisper.

Reina wasn't sure, but she knew a way around that. "If you say bad words in another language, maybe she won't care…" She tried to lower her own voice, but it only led to her coughing. Once she'd stopped, she added, "Do you know Spanish?"

lyka cruz malkin

[lyka cruz malkin]

▲

The nurse seemed to be omnipresent or at the very least, had the best hearing of anyone she’d ever come across. At least she couldn’t dish out detentions or take points away. Though now that she thought about it, Lyka wasn’t quite sure if that was the case. Surely the nurses could report to a professor what happened, and then an appropriate punishment would be doled out? Losing points over a couple of mediocre swears would be embarrassing. How very un-Hufflepuff of her.

Reina brought up the suggestion of swearing in Spanish, but she shook her head at it and waited for the coughing fit to subside before answering. ”No…I know some Tagalog but can’t swear in it.” Because she didn’t have the attention span to sit down and fully learn it from anyone but her mother, who would never teach her bad words in it. From what she understood, there were Filipinos that still spoke Spanish, but that time had long since passed for most. Her mum didn’t know it and thus, did not pass it on. ”And anyways, my comprehension is better than my speaking. Like if my mum is calling our relatives, I know what she’s saying. But I’d never be able to talk to them without help.” If she ever hung out with that side of the family again though, she knew exactly what she was going to do though: beg them to teach her some vulgar phrases. They were infinitely useful.

”What about you? Know anything I can use that won’t get me yelled at again?” she asked Reina. Peeking toward the end of the hospital wing, she still didn’t see where the nurse had gone. Not that it meant they were in the clear, but it was better than nothing. What were the odds she knew another language anyways?

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[reina watanabe nakamura]

December 23, 2027

The answer that she got from Lyka was that she knew some Tagalog but not any words she could use to swear in the language. She didn't seem to know any Spanish, though, and asked Reina if she knew anything that wouldn't get her yelled at again.

"Hmmm." There were a lot of curse words that Reina could teach Lyka, some of them worse than others. Some of the words she could teach her would sound close enough to their English words to be understood—"idiot" and "stupid", for instance. Other words were too vulgar to teach a foreigner casually, and some of them differed in meaning between Spanish-speaking places too much to be useful without a lengthy explanation.

"In Spanish, mierda is 'sh*t'," Reina volunteered. "And perra is a female dog, or 'b*tch'." Neither were the most colorful insults, but they did their job.

lyka cruz malkin