I'm so sorry, I know I said I'd try to watch the movies myself, but due to circumstances beyond my control I cannot. I promise it's not because I'm scared, I just don't have the time.
In fact, remember when I said I want to finish this trilogy before I finish high school? Well, by the time you read this, I'll have moved into my college dorm.
Welp.
Anyway, I'll have to make do with reviews/summaries for the movies, and I'll check the runtimes as well.
"Sup, Feli," Gil said, sitting with me and Ludwig. "Hey, how're the paintings coming along?"
"I'm doing Artie's and Herc's now," I said. "They're pretty similar, so I can do them back-to-back."
"Similar?" Ludwig asked. "Since when do they look similar?"
"But they do," I said in surprise. "They have exactly the same skin tone and their eyes are exactly the same shape and color. They even have the same little dark flecks in the irises. I mean, Herc always has rings around his eyes, but other than that . . ."
"Haven't noticed," Gil said, leaning back in his chair. "Guess you'd need an artist's eye to see it."
I shrugged. "I only saw it when I got a closer look . . ."
"They couldn't be related, right?" Ludwig muttered. "Then again, Alfred and Matthew are Arthur's cousins, and they don't look much like him . . ."
"Probably just a coincidence," Gil decided. "Speaking of Alfie and Mattie, Spooky Day's pretty soon."
"Oh, yeah," I said. "I've never been to their place before . . ."
"It's a nice house," Gil said. "Like . . . really generic '90s suburban style."
"I dunno what that is, but okay. Oh yeah," I added, "do you guys know who discovered gravity?"
They glanced at each other.
"Galileo, right?" Gil said. "He dropped shit off the leaning tower of Pisa and then the Church arrested him."
"No, I think it was Aristotle who first experimented with motion," Ludwig argued. "Galileo's experiments followed his writings, and Newton was the first to write the laws we call the first, second, and third laws of motion."
"Wait, so . . . people didn't float around until those guys came along, right?"
They stared at me.
"No," Gil said. "I mean . . . even before you discover a thing, it's still there before you name it, unless it's something you invented, like the Slinky or the microwave."
"Oh, okay," I said, nodding. "That makes sense."
Ludwig smiled. "Who told you that?"
"Al."
Gil laughed. "Of course it was him. Don't listen to him if he tries teaching you things, he has no idea what he's talking about."
"So he was wrong about Fig Newtons being named after the gravity guy?"
"Oh, no, he was right about that," Gil said.
Ludwig frowned. "No, he wasn't. Fig Newtons weren't named after Isaac Newton."
"They weren't?" Gil and I asked together.
"Then who?" Gil demanded.
Ludwig shrugged. "I don't know who, I just know they weren't named after that Newton."
Gil pulled out his phone. "Probably some smart dude, to come up with a way to make figs taste good . . ." he typed something in and read something. "Oh. Says they were named after the town Newton, Massachusetts."
"Well, there you go," Ludwig said. "Nothing to do with Isaac Newton."
Gil shrugged and put away his phone. "Anyway . . ."
"How's Mei doing?" I asked. "I don't see her a lot, so . . ."
"She's doing well," Ludwig said. "I feel like she's more settled in now."
"Oh, that's good," I said in relief.
"Alfie actually threatened me on that," Gil remarked. "Said something about breaking my legs if we hurt her. Like we'd ever do that, I mean, she's our friend. I had to throw some pennies to distract him so I could get away."
"You threw money?"
"Just some pennies, dude, basically nothing. Why do they even make pennies anymore?"
"Good question," Ludwig muttered. "I've heard they're planning to stop production, but . . . I suppose it would make things complicated with prices not divisible by five."
"Oh, right," Gil agreed. "Well, it shouldn't be too hard, right? I mean, who pays in exact change?"
"I once saw someone pay for something in nothing but pennies," I remembered. "I think the whole cost was about five dollars."
"Wow, what an asshole," Gil exclaimed. "Poor cashier."
"Why did they have that many pennies?" I wondered. "I never really thought about it . . ."
"Some people like to collect them," Ludwig explained.
"Ah, so that's why they should stop making pennies," Gil said. "Then collectors' pennies will have more value, right?"
Ludwig sighed. "That's not even what—"
"So who's up for a round of cards?" Gil asked, bringing out the deck again.
"You did that earlier."
"Yeah, but it's relevant again. So, go fish or strip poker?"
