Language LOL: Translator Malfunction

[rumham]

You know what's cool? Chatting with your pals. Reading the Internet. Navigating the roads because you can understand the Gods-damned street signs. You know what's not cool? Not being able to do any of that. By that metric, one might describe today in the Nexus decidedly uncool.

It's utterly without warning that the multiversal hub goes from automatic to manual translation. Shop signs, radio and television broadcasts, conversations on the streets between vendors and friends and businesspeople are suddenly a jarring cacophony of dissonant languages. Then there's the silence. Then there's the shouting. Turns out people get pissed off when nobody understands them!

Momentary chaos dies down as the average people of the Nexus come to grips with their new situation. Shopkeepers wait outside their stores and stands with expectant expressions, impatiently waiting for the translator to pull itself together and start working again.

Except...

It sort of doesn't.

No, it super doesn't.

Citizens of the Nexus, it would appear you're going to have to adjust...

((The temporary LANGUAGE LOL is now underway! It's freeform fun until you're done and participation is completely optional. Don't feel like this event should stop you from making threads which are unaffected by the LOL in the mean time. If you want your Language LOL'd character to interact with a non-LOL thread, please ask the OP if they want to play that dynamic first. For the OOC and organization post, GO HERE. ))

Comments

[grantuseyes]

Distress creates a particular sort of atmosphere, one that the supernatural can sometimes be sensitive to. And detected distress can summon two things: things who want to help, and things who want to eat you.

Thankfully, today, it's the first option. Because what else do messengers do but help people? They do not speak their own language, or any language at all, but they try their best to understand the needs of those they wish to aid. And the usual gathering of little withered beings near Katsuya's café have been witness to a great deal of confusion and frustration in short order! People who showed up just to get a coffee and a danish or read the news on their laptop are suddenly thrown into linguistic chaos! No one can understand one another! Everyone is talking weird! Some of them are yelling!

However, these messengers have a plan. They got a taste for this sort of thing during the Halloween's Nightmare ordeal and now? They are ready.

In various places around the Nexus, drawn to hot spots like the plaza, shops and just any clusters of frustrated and wildly gesturing people are, messengers arrive. Appearing through silver, bubbling portals in the floor and only surfacing from the waist up are groups of tiny, grey-skinned, gaunt creatures no bigger than a human infant. Every group is armed with rolls of parchment and a fresh box of crayons.

The messengers of the hunt are ready to offer their translation services in the only way they know how: through childish art.

[sweetcandygirl]

"RINGO! Boys! You are okay!" Harley claps her hands upon spying the Messengers. She is so glad to see them.

[grantuseyes]

Aaaa! It's the pretty lady! With the two-colours hair! And as luck would have it, yes indeed, the one christened Ringo is present and waves excitedly and eagerly at Harley. In fact, he rushes to get parchment and crayons ready and soon other messengers crowd around to see what he's making. Once they see him making a red shape, they all get in on it, grabbing various coloured crayons to make shapes too!

They hold it up en masse in all their tiny hands for Harley to see and take.

[sweetcandygirl]

"Awwwwwwww!" Harley claps her hands again at the presentation of the drawing. "This is beautiful guys. You are all so good."

"Damn... I wish I knew I was going to see you all again. I have presents for you! But they are at home."

[plagueofdeception]

Now, that's a sight he did not expect to see again! The little corpse monkeys gathering around with their mediocre art trying to help.

This is perfect.

"'Ello again..." He greets them with a warm smile, "I was wondering if you lot were real or not! What brings you out to a place like this, eh?"

[grantuseyes]

Oh! It's that guy! The one with the coat! And the funny goggle! A few of the messengers give Dr. White a wave. One claps.

With the comment of their reality being question, they just collectively shrug and groan. One looks at another and starts poking at his companion, indeed as if ensuring: IS he real? The one being poked slaps the other one away. Stoppit!

As as far as their purpose to be here, why, the bunch lift up their parchment rolls and crayon box! HELPING!!

[plagueofdeception]

Ah, those monkeys never cease to please. Or entertain, for that matter. He can't help but chuckle at their antics.

"Ah, more of those drawings, I take it? That's helpful enough!" Even though he still thinks they need work.

They can be of other uses though. "Hey, mind if I borrow a couple of you for a bit? I have some errands I need to run, and I could use some assistance with some of my... Clients at the clinic I work at."

He did miss being surrounded by assistants, after all. As questionable as their usefulness may be, the messengers might work just fine.

[chiron_survivor]

Adia is sitting at a Nexus terminal, trying to open a web browser, but all the dialog boxes contain gobbledygook. Is something wrong with the computer? Or is it the network? Come to think of it, a lot of people in the Plaza seem varying degrees of unhappy...

A group of Messengers appear by her foot and she nearly jumps out of her seat. What? Another Nightmare? But with a quick look around, she's reassured that it's the same Nexus as always. She smiles tentatively at the little creatures. More cute than ugly this time, especially in the light.

"Χαίρετε," she says cheerfully, unaware that she sounds as if she's speaking Ancient Greek. "Πώς είσαι?"

[grantuseyes]

Oh, those...sure are words. Not the sort they've long since grown used to hearing, given that Yharnam is english-speaking and also hates foreigners and immigrants. It's a totally cool and totally not xenophobic place like that. But hunters ARE from other cities, other far-away locations, from the Hinterlands to the Eastern Kingdoms. Just because MOST of them are Yharnamites now doesn't mean they haven't heard other languages. It just means Yharnam has the biggest beast mess at the moment.

And besides, Adia still knows a Very Good Word without even having to speak it.

So with that being said, the messengers wave back to Adia and then set to doing what they've come to do: draw and help. Crayons are dumped out onto the floor and little grabby hands all get to work. They seem excited! Eager to draw something for her! Enough that all five that are present gather around the paper and get to work. When it's done, the messengers present it proudly.

[chiron_survivor]

Perhaps it is the way that they stare at her a moment before waving in return, or maybe the moon rune itself alerting her that something is off today, but she gets the impression that they don't understand her. She bites her lip worriedly, although that concern is eased once they get to work on the drawing for her.

She smiles warmly at the finished product. They remembered her hat! "είναι όμορφο," she tells them, and though they won't understand that she just called their painting beautiful, the sentiment is obvious in her voice.

Pointing to the drawings of the runes, she says something that sounds like another foreign word, but to the Messengers, they will sense something else, too. She is saying "moon." More than that, she understands what that rune symbolizes, a conscious wisdom that she has gained since they saw her last.

[not_the_question]

[OOC: I'm just going to use italics for Ancient Greek because I'm lazy like that LOL]

Once the Doctor figured out what was going on, he decided to just speak to others in whatever language they were speaking to him. Well, if he understood it.

"Ah, Hullo, Adia. Very strange happenings today, yes?"

[sumarusfinest]

"Do you have everything you need? Are you warm enough?"

Katsuya is hovering next to the small creatures protectively. When they first disappeared the officer was quite alarmed, but they look to be eager to help the people left stranded in the Nexus. He hasn't run into anyone he knows yet, though he's hoping at least someone will be able to speak either English or Japanese.

"I'm very proud of you all wanting to help those in need."

[grantuseyes]

THE HUNTER! If they could erupt into cheers, they would. Instead, they all clap excitedly and some reach to paw at Katsuya's pant leg or pat his shoes.

They also lift their parchments and crayons triumphantly, like they're brandishing weapons. These are our tools! We're going to HELP!

[westfallcorndog]

Harrow's so sure he just caught a glimpse of someone he recognizes, and he's hot on the trail. As he jogs down the street he doesn't think to keep his eyes on the ground, and you know what he gets for his trouble? Tripping over a little molehill of ugly precious monster babies. A thump and a shout and he's skidding along the asphalt. Good thing he can't feel the skin peeling off his arms!

He sits up with a groan and looks blearily at the critters he tripped over. "Ewiddan, ewiddan," he mumbles apologetically. And then the creatures come into view and he has to blink hard. They sure look familiar, don't they? Looking at them too long gives him the strangest hunger pains. Weird...

But then he notices that they have paper! And crayons! "Dope!" The extent of his English is spent on these little darlings. "Far kaelsig, varum!" He's down with what they're up to. He scoots on over to their side and rolls his wrist encouragingly. Show him what you got, little dudes!

[grantuseyes]

Oh Kos! Oh Flora! A big man just tripped over them! Like moles, they all duck back down into their portal in fright, leaving their parchment and crayons to scatter. Only when the man approaches speaking nicely and looking...happy! Then the messengers all start to cautiously resurface, one by one. They still look nervous and uncertain however. Harrow remembers them by sight, THEY remember him by scent. And that is a scent that's very distinct and very unmistakable when you're in the business of the hunt.

When Harrowheart encourages them to draw, however, one takes up the tools once more and scribbles something down, glancing up every now and again at the big pale man (maybe he's Pthumerian?) as if taking stock of his features. Or making sure he's not making any sudden moves.

The finished product is slid across the floor with two tiny hands for Harrowheart to inspect.

[mudblood_andproud]

The Nexus is often full of many surprises. During Christmas there were the chao to play with. And now the Nexus is offering Crookshanks another unique creature to meet.

He pads up to the messengers. Calm and collected. He knows they are helping people.

Maybe they have an idea of how he can help.

[grantuseyes]

......Cat.

Cat. Cat. Cat! CAT! CAT! CAT CAT CAT CAT CAT CAT

Much like the chao, the messengers are very eager to gather close to Crookshanks and start petting and patting him. Look at his little triangle ears! Look at his soft feet! His face is so flat!

This being is clearly Kin, if not a Great One. So they will pay tribute with art. One industriously starts to draw while the others watch and/or keep patting the Orange One.

And soon...

[boldygoing]

Are those...?

Yeah, they are. Jim had almost forgotten the creatures that welcomed Jim Kirk and Jim Kirk into their own personal hell, and he takes one hell of a step back when he sees they're delivering notes. Nope nope nope.

But... on second glance, the notes don't look anything like the one they'd delivered, spelling doom for the colony in scrawled script. They're using... wax pencils? Or something? Somewhat baffled, he watches as they doodle out colorful pictures and hand them out to those that approach, and nobody seems to be running away screaming. He steps forward, cautiously, trying to figure out just what the hell they're doing.

[grantuseyes]

The messengers are industrious in the moment Jim is watching, busy scribbling up drawings and attempted translations for others, handing out parchments left and right. Sometimes one dips down into the portal and comes back up with fresh papers.

One eventually notices Jim's leery approach and it startles. Oh! Oh! This is one of them! One of the two boys who looked the same! He looks...angry? Upset? But there's something about him that overthrows childish caution. It squints its single eye at him before pulling over a parchment and a blue crayon. A second watches the first work, looking up at Jim and then back to the drawing. Eventually, that one shakes its head and takes up another crayon, scribbling out the first one's work. When the first is affronted by this, the other is quick to take the blue crayon out of his compatriot's hand to draw a NEW picture. After they nod, agreeing, they hold it up for Jim to take. They'll gesture for him to come closer if he doesn't right away.

[gorogorogoro_chan]

"Awww, look at these creepy little fuckers." Majima cocks his head, watching a cluster of messengers in lieu of anything better to do in the Nexus' current state.

It slowly registers that there are at least a handful of these guys within his line of sight. He definitely hasn't seen them here before. Definitely not in these numbers. He steps forward and stabs an accusatory finger at the withered creatures. "Is this yer doin', ya turds? You guys makin' it so we can't understand each other?"

[grantuseyes]

Oh, that's...Eastern language! Whatever that one faraway place is. When is the last time they heard that one? Last time they saw Mr. Yamamura of the Confederates, actually, which was...huh. It's been awhile since he's been back in the Hunter's Dream, come to think of it. What happened to him anyway?

That's neither here nor there, however. What DOES matter is this new guy! He gives off a kind of tough guy aura, doesn't he? Someone strong and someone who fights a lot. He looks cool with that eyepatch too. What's underneath it? Did he pull it out? Did the witches or the Mensis men get it? Why just the one? Maybe he fought them off before they got the second. That would be so cool.

Majima is clearly a hunter, and hunters are worthy of nothing but adoration and praise from messengers! Rather than cringe away from his accusations or try to answer them, the little grey beings gather around him and paw at his pant legs and pull at his shoes and laces. Some clap, some reach up towards him, all of them are groaning, zombie-like, amongst themselves with happiness. Yayyy, hunter!

[losthunter]

Hunter was carrying a armful of art supplies, when he noticed the strange creatures nearby, gesturing to people to pay attention to them. He notices the parchment and the crayons that they are trying to hand out.

Clever.

"What do you guys have there?" Hunter kneels down, carefully. He takes a moment to search through some of his art supplies.

"Here..." He places a 200 box of crayons nearby. "Maybe you can make better use of this?"

[grantuseyes]

Oh.

My.

Kos.

This is more crayons than any one being should ever have access to. This is more crayons than any of them have seen in their ENTIRE LIVES. They little cluster of messengers are awestruck as they gather around the container and marvel at the contents.

When one finally dares to reach and pull out a single one (colour labelled 'mango tango'), the spell is broken and all hell breaks lose. Now they're ALL grabbing colours, some they've never even SEEN before and getting to work on new drawings. Now just scribbling self indulgent things to witness how these new shades will appear on their parchment. It's like Christmas in a kindergarten.

That doesn't mean they forgot their manners though! Several pause to clap at Hunter or give him a little bow. Thank you, kind human(?), your gift will go to good use!!

[smartass_captain]

The shimmering silver portal that pops up on the ground has Jim stopping in his tracks and watching with equal parts fascination and suspicion as to what's about to come popping up into the Nexus now when everything around them has gone to a linguistic hell.

The smile drops off of his face the moment he sees what calls those portals home, however. All color draining from Jim's face as that parchment and four simple words echo faintly in the back of his head. No. No way. Nope. Nope.

"Oh fuck no."

[grantuseyes]

All of the messengers freeze. Some cover their mouths. All go silent.

He said a Bad Word.

One is quick to start doing the 'shame shame' gesture, holding out one hand with the index finger extended and swiping the other hand's index finger on top of the other. Watch your mouth, mister.