“You never know unless you try. It could be fun or overwhelming,” Erzsi muses with a shrug. She may just be biased considering their advice always helped her.
She listens as they speak about what they had been up to. “When is your next performance? I would love to attend!” Erzsi gives them a friendly smile, “I also wouldn’t mind hearing any new compositions you have been working on.”
“Hmm, maybe. I suppose I could always try it on a small scale basis and see what works from there.“ If they were to going to run a little column about advice, that’d likely be the way to go about it.
“I’ve got a show coming up in early September so I can send you some information about that. ” Saima returns a thankful grin, thumbing through their phone – they check to see if they have a few recordings on there.
“I might have something worth sharing here, I tend to have a few recordings on me cause people can be curious about my efforts.“
“Oh, no. I don’t need a light.” At first glance it looks like she has a cigarette between her fingers, but upon closer inspection it reveals itself to be made of candy.
“Ah, a candy cigarette. It’s been a while since I ran into one of those.” They remember seeing kids about with such treats – didn’t suspect they tasted all that great. But it was still interesting to see them around.
“Oh this? The kids did it.” Rosemary laughs as she motions to the various hair clips in her hair. “They asked to give me a makeover and I just couldn’t say no.”
Saima couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at the sight of Rosemary’s makeover. “That’s really endearing though. It’s fun when the kids want to do something like that.”
Sometimes a different perspective was that was needed and Erzsi was glad to have theirs. “Well, I am glad that I came to ask for your advice. Have you ever thought about doing an advice column online?”
“I did warn him of that. I am not one to give second chances so easily, you know.” She sighs wistfully before asking, “What about you, Saima? Anything new happening in your life?”
“Glad I was able to help.“ Saima laughed a bit at the idea of running an advice column. “Hm, I’ve toyed with it now and then. But I’m not entirely certain that it’s for me. “
A nod of understanding. “Of course, I know. So it’s not like he doesn’t know what he’s going into.” Something that Saima appreciated about this whole deal. “New? Nothing such as that. I’ve still been performing and composing and running errands for folks. The usual – which has been good enough for me.”
Erzsi listens intently to their answer. Saima probably already guessed this was about her, they were intuitive like that. A wave of relief washed over her as they said their opinion wouldn’t change. For some reason, there were a couple of people whose opinions mattered to her; Saima’s was one of them.
“Has anyone ever told you that you give amazing advice?” She asks with a soft smile. “I am sure you already guessed that this about me and not some hypothetical friend.” Here she pauses for a few moments as she had yet to say it out loud to anyone, “Roderich and I are back together. I decided to give him a second chance and I hope he doesn’t take it for granted.”
“I’ve heard people claim as such. I guess that’s good if I hope my advice is heard every so often.” It was interesting to Saima how people seemed to recognize they gave good advice even if they just were giving their perspective on a situation.
Hearing that Erszi and Roderich were back together, they thought for a moment before giving a slight nod. “Well, you can only hope that he doesn’t take it for granted. But that’s nice news for you – as long as you’re happy with him, then I’ll be happy for you.”
“Let’s say, a friend hypothetically got back with their ex. This ex was not a good person the first time around, but swears he has changed. Would you be disappointed in that friend?” Erzsi asks with a little hesitation.
“Would it change your opinion of them?” Erzsi needed to gauge their reaction before telling Saima. She knew quite a few people who would be disappointed in her new relationship.
This hypothetical was incredibly telling in itself and if Saima was a little different, they’d just tell Erszi to be open with it. But gauging a reaction was still understandable.
“I mean, I would always be a little concerned initially for someone getting back with their ex. But..then again, considering how long lives of folk like you are, it’s possible that there’s a lot of change that has happened. Besides, there are those who I wouldn’t have possibly been close too a few centuries ago who are good friends today – so my level of concern would depend on who this ex-was too.”
A pause for a moment before getting to the question. “I wouldn’t be disappointed in that friend, and I wouldn’t change my opinion of them. But I’d just tell them to keep a look out for anything too much to handle while getting involved.”
“Saima, I was wondering if I could ask you for some advice,” Erzsi says rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. “Only if you are comfortable, of course.”
“I mean, I’d be glad to hear you out and see what I can give advice for. It not any trouble at all to try and be helpful for you.” They are a little curious about what the nature of this situation is so they might as well find out.
“So now…our outings are now like, beers and burgers and…and fishing sometimes. We’re old men.” He snorts with a light shrug. He didn’t mind the change, especially now that he wasn’t going to be in anymore near-death experiences.
“Oh, hell yeah. Catch me yellin’ cow puns at ‘em from heaven. Just…making cow puns for all eternity.”
“Guess that’s what tends to happen as people get older. But as long as you all hanging out together still, sounds like it’s still a good time.“ It wasn’t surprising for adventures to get less dangerous as more responsibilities came with age.
“Not a bad way to spend the afterlife. Might as well keep that plan anyway for entertainment’s sake.”
It’d been ages since they’ve had a drink together like this. It was a great feeling, Phi thought. No worries about getting picked up or preyed upon, no gross interruptions, barely any boring small talk with people who weren’t them. Just intellectual conversation with drink breaks and without Google to back them up, relying on Saima’s incredible experience and her weird memory. Perfect.
“You were actually alive when people spoke Latin as a mother tongue, right?” She set her elbows down on the table. “I’m a little bit jealous. Maybe I’d be better at it if I had people to practice with.”
Nothing like catching up with Phi especially when their idea of the conversation went into entirely different directions. Made Saima appreciate why they liked to spend time with her.
“Yeah I definitely was alive for that. And ended up speaking Latin for a while. I know I still have the ability to do so. ” A nod of sympathizing with Phi’s situation.
“It’s definitely easier to get better at a language when it’s the common language for multiple areas at a time. Versus an obscure thing used for specific purposes these days.“
Seekesotsibteadmist 