nexus_crossings | Language LOL: Translator Malfunction

Entry tags:

event,
lol

Language LOL: Translator Malfunction

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. ))

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Polite! Bucky likes this orange meowth. He scoots over to give Crookshanks room to hop up between him and Adia, very deliberately pushing himself into Caspar and forcing the Cylon to the very end of the couch. Caspar could push back, but despite his irritation with the braviary, he's not about to start a fight with a pokémon.

He is obviously unhappy about it. "Hey, Crookshanks. Do you think you can tell your feathered friend to cool it?"

"Caspar," Adia says tiredly. Truthfully, she's not happy about Bucky's attitude, either, but he's not listening to her at all right now. She reaches out and gives Crookshanks a comforting pet on the head. "I'm sorry you've lost track of your witch. It probably has something to do with the translator failing. Do you want me to send her a text?"

Excellent. Room on the couch. Crookshanks jumps up and nuzzles on Adia's lap. He is compromising. Letting the Big Bird to have more room, and not have to push into Caspar.

He purrs loudly at Caspar's comment. He is not sticking his nose in their disagreement. He is too brilliant for that.

He does nuzzle Bucky to calm the Big Bird down slightly. Reassuring Bucky that it is okay.

Crookshanks blinks up at Adia. And meows his concern again. Haven't you noticed that written words around the Nexus are also difficult to read, unless you know that language? And if his witch can't rely on her magic to translate an unknown language, she might be confused.

But wait... he nuzzles Adia's phone. Take a picture! A picture would be understood!

The nuzzling settles Bucky a little, and he eases up enough so that Caspar has some breathing room. "Thanks, buddy," he says to Crookshanks, brushing down off his suit jacket and trying not to glare back at Bucky. Adia warned him that it only makes things worse, but the bird's attitude on top of this translator failure nonsense has left him in a sour mood.

Adia takes her PINpoint out, but pauses when Crookshanks meows. It's true, texting might not be a sure thing, although she has been continuing to read English without problems...

"You want me to take a picture?" she asks, when the tabby seems more interested in the camera than the keypad. She looks around for a landmark -- thankfully they are close to the vending machines, and if she angles the camera right, she can get them in the background.

Fairly soon, Hermione will get a photo attachment from Adia's PINpoint -- a picture of Adia, Crookshanks, Bucky, and Caspar, and the vending machines. Weirdest selfie ever.

Hermione was quiet worried about Crookshanks at this point. There was so much chaos in the Nexus, and they had gotten separated. And then she was unable to sense him properly.

Her PINpoint dings, and she looks at the message. And sighs in relief.

Okay, the vending machines. She knows where those are located.

It only takes her a few minutes to get to their location. "Crookshanks! You had me worried. Thanks for looking after him, Adia. Caspar."

Not much has changed by the time Hermione has arrived. Bucky is still keeping vigil over Adia, not letting Caspar get too close. He gives the witch a suspicious once-over when she arrives. Who the heck are you, lady?

Caspar waves off the gratitude, looking a little petulant on his end of the couch. Adia smiles -- she can understand Hermione, although what sounds like an accent from the colony Aerilon sounds especially thick to her. She starts to reply, but Caspar says something to her in... Ancient Greek? Is that what that was? Regardless, she reaches for her notebook and pen and writes something instead.

It was Crookshanks looking after us. He's the only one who's been able to understand us. She nods her head towards the braviary. This is Bucky. He doesn't understand any human languages currently. I think the Nexus translator is broken.

Crookshanks places a steady paw on Bucky when the bird gives his witch a suspicious once-over. This is his witch, Bucky. He is to her, that Adia is to Bucky.

Hermione takes the note and reads it over. "No wonder everyone is upset right now."

Bucky looks down at the paw and settles his feathers. Okay, she gets a pass, then. He's pretty lenient with pokémon trainers if their pokémon vouch for them. So long as she behaves herself.

Adia nods worriedly. I was in the library when the translator broke. I thought the librarians were going to lose their minds with all the noise of people complaining in their native tongues. I tried one of the Nexus terminals but it's spewing out nonsense characters.

Getting off the couch, Caspar approaches Adia so he can read over her shoulder. Bucky wraps a wing around Adia and the Cylon rolls his eyes. "Τρελό πουλί," he says before writing something down in the notebook. It can only communicate in binary. The code breaks down when it tries to translate. He frowns -- this problem makes the Nexus a lot more difficult to navigate. Do you have a translation spell? Have you tried that?

"My translation spells are not working." Hermione explains. "Even my natural connection with Crookshanks is gone."

That is why she was so worried about him.

"He can't tell me what anyone else is saying."

So technology and magic are both affected. Great. Obviously not great, but Caspar's expression gets his sarcasm across. Is there anything we can do about this? Or can we only wait it out?

Adia gives Crookshanks a comforting rub about the ears. She gestures for the notebook. What matters is that you found him. He can understand all of us, at least. It's better than Bucky is doing.

"I think we just wait it out. People are upset, but no one is at risk of getting hurt. And that is the most important thing."

Crookshanks purrs at the attention to his ears.

"Crookshanks knows a lot of languages." Hermione is proud of her Kneazle for that.

Her answer lessens some of Caspar's irritation. It's the translator, not the AV field, he reminds himself. He doesn't doubt that some people will try to take advantage of the confusion, there are always those that do, but at least he doesn't have to worry about Adia getting hurt.

Of course he does. Caspar grins at the cat. "You're a clever little fellow," he says in his native tongue. Not for Hermione's ears, but for the purring tabby.

Adia's eyes light up suddenly with an idea. She takes the pen and notebook and jots down a couple of sentences for Hermione. Do you speak any other languages? Caspar is quick to learn them.

Crookshanks looks up at Caspar at the comment. And just purrs more. Of course he is clever. Thank you for noticing it.

"I speak enough Bulgarian to be conversational."

Bulgarian! She's never heard of the language before, but she's assuming that it's an Earth one. She says something to Caspar in their native language, and he stops admiring Crookshanks long enough to consider whatever she's asking him. He shrugs and takes the pen and notebook, ignoring the stink-eye that Bucky gives him when he reaches across the bird for them.

I can learn, if you're willing to teach me. So long as you give me some context.

"Context is easy." Hermione smiles. Then she says her sentence in English first. "My name is Hermione. I am glad to be in your country."

Then in Bulgarian. "Моето име е Хърмаяни. Радвам се да бъде във вашата страна."

Caspar listens to her speak Bulgarian with an intent expression on his face. It reminds him a little of the Tauron dialect, at least in terms of pronunciation.

"Казвам се Каспар. Радвам се, че съм във вашата страна," he replies, getting a feel for how the vowels and consonants fit on his tongue. He repeats it again, to himself, then writes in his notebook.

Give me some sentences. Try to include a variety of structure. I'll learn faster that way.

Adia is also paying attention to the lesson, but she knows that she won't pick up on anything nearly as quickly. She keeps her hands occupied with petting Crookshanks and Bucky, which seems to keep the large bird pacified.

((Feel free to handwave as much of the lesson as you'd like in your tag.))

"Certainly. I can do that for you. If you would repeat back the sentences back to me in the dialect you and Adia are speaking." Hermione wants to learn too. And she too is a quick learner. Caspar and her can spend the next hour or so talking to each other in sentences, learning each others languages as they do.

Crookshanks meanwhile is content in being petted this entire time. Life goals.

"Κανένα πρόβλημα," he replies, which eventually Hermione will learn means "No problem." They trade sentences back and forth, and though Adia tries to follow along, eventually she is lost as Caspar becomes fluent enough to hold a conversation. The only thing eluding him are nouns, but he can always learn those later.

Adia could probably ask where the bathroom is. And that she is sorry, and to please excuse her. The cornerstone of any attempt to be polite in a foreign land. Mostly, she is pleased with how well Caspar gets along with Hermione. She leans in and whispers to Crookshanks, "You are a good influence," before doubling up on Bucky's pettings so he doesn't get jealous.

"Why do you know Bulgarian?" Caspar asks in Bulgarian, once he feels comfortable enough to do so. "Is it a magic language?"

Crookshanks purrs again. He is the best influence.

"No. I dated a Bulgarian wizard, who was the Durmstrang Triwizard Champion. Durmstrang is the Scandinavian wizarding school. Hermione answers him.

"He was also a champion seeker for his Quidditch team."

Some of that eludes him, despite understanding the words, but he's quick to figure it out. Must be some sort of cross-school competition. He doesn't know what to say about the dating part, and glances Adia's way. He repeats what Hermione told him -- the gist of it, anyway -- and Adia blinks curiously. She asks something, and Caspar translates it into Bulgarian.

"She wants to know if he fought in the war, too, and if he's okay." She probably wants to know more than that, but she isn't going to be nosy, especially through a third party translator.

Hermione shakes her head. "No. He didn't. Durmstrang is a mostly Pureblood wizarding school. So they were not considered a threat to Voldemort."

"I have not seen him in quite some time." Hermione seems fine with that development. "He was in my life during a time when I needed confidence to be more than just the 'brain' of my friendship circle with Harry and Ron. He saw me as a woman. And he will always hold a special place in my heart."

"But our relationship would have not worked. The Runes supported that fact."

That's more of an answer than Caspar was expecting, and he doesn't know what to say in response. That sounds like something Adia could relate to more than him. So he simply nods and then repeats Hermione's words in Caprican, including the bit about the runes.

She takes the notebook and pen, flipping to a new page, and begins writing something out to Hermione. Bucky reclaims his wing to give her writing arm a little space.

That is how I feel about my first boyfriend. Before that I was either just a friend or not noticed at all. She's glad that Hermione has no hard feelings. Caspar told me about Arithmancy. It's the first field of magic he's had anything nice to say about.

"The nice thing about Arithmancy is that anyone can learn it. You do not have to have magical abilities to understand the runes." She might as well speak in English to both of them, since they understand her. Caspar has the option to answer back in Bulgarian.

Hermione opens her beaded bag. And taps her wand on it. She pulls out a large, thick Arthimancy book. And a unopened bag of runes.

"In fact, this is my Solstice gift to you, Caspar." She holds both of the items out to him.

Caspar blinks at the offered presents. It's a rare thing for him, to get gifts from anyone, and it's with a surprising tentativeness that he reaches out and takes the thick book and bag of runes.

"I--" he begins, in Bulgarian, before knitting his brows and clearing his throat. He doesn't seem to know what to do with his hands full, but eventually sets down the book and bag on the couch so he can take the notebook and pen from Adia.

Thank you. I had thought about asking if someone like me could learn. The corner of his mouth pulls up into a playful smile. You wouldn't happen to have this book in electronic form, would you?

Adia, who had been beaming over Caspar's sincere thanks, frowns a little and nudges his shoulder. Caspar laughs, then yelps when Bucky also pokes at him for good measure, and not nearly as gently. "Ow! αστειευόμουν!" He sighs and says to Hermione in Bulgarian, "I'm kidding. I can come to you if I have a question, okay?"

Hermione laughs at the written question. "We are still working on uniting technology with the wizarding world Caspar."

"But why not transfer what you read into an electronic form?" He would be good at it.

Yeah, why doesn't he? The thought keeps the smile on his face. I'll send you the first copy.

Adia's PINpoint beeps. She looks at it, then at Caspar. She doesn't have to say anything; he knows what that means.

We need to go he writes down. They're expecting us back home.

He trades the notebook for the book and runes, giving the bag a thoughtful heft. Adia gestures to her messenger bag, but he shakes his head. He'll carry them home.

It's Adia's turn to write, after a worried glance at Bucky. The braviary is ruffling its feathers anxiously, sensing that Adia is getting ready to leave. Can you and Crookshanks make sure he gets back to his roost? The translator malfunction is stressing him out.

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