Chapter Text
On Earth, there are hundreds of languages. It’s a similar concept in space, but each planet has one singular language for its people. It's pretty rare for a world to share two or more languages with one another since all inhabitants are from one species.
Earth's languages usually house millions of speakers of its languages too. English, Russian, and Mandarin are just a few examples, but only one country speaks Italian, and Pidge isn’t too happy about it since it just so happens that none of the others can speak her language.
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“Mama, cosa c’è per cena?” Matt asked, squirming in his chair. He had been helping in the kitchen for 20 or so minutes, and waiting was about to break him in half. He wanted to be up and doing something, anything , but his mom simply chuckled and told him to wait.
She had just finished setting up the table, laying out plates and silverware. Pidges’ dad was still in the study finishing up some necessary paperwork for flying abroad and traveling since they were beginning to pack up for moving to America.
The house smelled like warm soup brewing, the scent of dinner traveling around. The faint chatter on the radio was audible in almost any room. Her and Matt’s room was just across the hall, directly parallel to their parents’. They both shared one since the apartment they lived in had only two bedrooms, and they didn’t have enough money to buy a three-bedroom one.
“Pazenza, Matteo. Ma presto, caro.” She said, walking towards the study to retrieve her father. He was always so engrossed in his work, that he somehow could never smell dinner when it finished. She had always wondered if his nose just didn’t work. Soon enough, her dad came to the table and they had her mom's Fettuccini. Her life was perfect, she thought nothing of what happened daily.
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Pidge moved to America with her family when she was 8. She didn’t want to leave Naples, but her dad was offered a job position in a small town near Arizona, over in the United States. It was a famous space-engineer site known as the Galaxy Garrison, but she didn’t want to leave everything she had built up over the course of her life. Pidge begged her dad to let her stay in Naples, but she knew deep down it couldn’t happen no matter how much begging she did.
Her family all left Naples after a few days of finishing papers. They took the time to say final goodbyes, visit with loved ones, and for her and Matt to explain it to their friends. In Matt’s case, he was old enough for them to stay in touch with each other using phones and other devices, but for Pidge many tears were shed with her friends saying forever goodbye. She promised to write them letters and have each other call whenever possible, but as time passed her friends slowly grew distant with their own lives and schoolwork.
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When they finally got situated in their new home in Arizona, everything was so different from how she grew up. No one spoke Italian, and all the cultural customs differed severely from what she was used to. It wasn’t a horrible change, as she enjoyed learning all about America, but the kids didn’t particularly get along with a small girl from Italy who couldn’t speak good English very well.
She was bullied in elementary, and as the school year progressed it got worse with her peers. At first, it was just teasing and insults, but as the weeks went on it slowly became more physical. Words turned into bruises, bruises turned into scrapes, and scrapes became a bloody mess.
After some evaluation, she was placed in an ESL class during after-school hours. She was a quick learner, so Pidge caught on to English much quicker than the others in her class. Her mom had also helped a lot by speaking it at home with Matt and her both to further help their skills in conversation. After a few months, she became fluent enough to stand alone and not lose the words in translation.
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Her mom’s final straw with the school system was when Pidge came home into the living room, eyes red and brimming with tears. She was a strong kid, and to see her cry wasn’t a common sight in the house. When she saw her mom's face full of concern, she began to shake and tremble, before absolutely losing it, bawling while holding the pieces of something she couldn’t quite see.
Pidge began to shake, tears streaming down her face as her mom ran and enveloped Pidge in a firm, but comfortable and warm hug. They slowly went to the floor, letting her sob into her shoulder.
Matt soon walked in when he heard the sounds of muffled crying and his mom's gentle voice soothing someone, but didn’t expect what was in front of him.
“Mom, why is Katie on the floor with you?” He asked, observing the scene unfolding in front of him. Matt was obviously concerned, not used to seeing his sister so frail and vulnerable. He wasn’t one to admit this easily, but out of the two of them, he was the one who shed more tears. Whether it be over his homework or stress eating him alive, he would normally be the one to find some sort of thing to cool him down.
After a little convincing, they got Pidge to reveal what had caused the emotional outburst. When she opened her hands, it revealed bloody hands, with shards of glass embedded deep in them.
Matt screamed at the sight of blood.
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After evaluating that no, she isn’t going to get stitches, no, she isn't going to die, no Matt, I swear if you ask 'is she going to live' one more time I'm making you go to bed early, and yes, she’s gonna be just fine. After plenty of reassurances and promises, Matt finally went to bed.
And if Pidge ever brought this up with the Paladins? Matt would deny it every time that no, he doesn’t scream like a girl.