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

[boldygoing]

What a coincidence! Here is another Terran whose translator is also malfunctioning, a sudden plunge from hearing twenty-third century English everywhere into mass confusion. The newcomer's words would be strange to his ears already anyway, archaic lingo to someone whose native tongue is the product of a few hundred years of interlingual mixing.

James T. Kirk - well, one of him - doesn't recognize this man, but he looks upset, so the captain approaches to offer what help he can give. Hasn't been a hell of a lot, since the Nexus translator decided to crap out, but hey, it's worth a shot.

"Ga you aider? I kann próba aider."

[zunesareawesome]

"Uh..."

Peter stares, trying to put that one together. His own skills are so poor that he can scarcely make that out. Sounded like there was an 'I' and 'you' there.

"My krutackin'...uh...translator broke." Please accept Kree words there in his cobbled-together English. He points to a spot on his neck, near the back of his head, where his translator implant was located. "Talking? All gone. No listening, no talking? D'you know Ravager-speak?"

[boldygoing]

Oh, well isn't that great. Jim grimaces a bit, pretty sure he's going to have to make an effort to imitate older English. That's gonna be a bitch and a half when he's not sure which words come from where anymore. Oh well, here goes.

"My transsprekker auch... also?" He taps a finger against a spot behind his ear, and mimes snapping something in half with both hands. Broken. Kaput. "Is for all sprek. Ravager is not knowingof but otherlings. Russky, vuhlkansu, andor'ii better."

[zunesareawesome]

"Also! Yeah!" He got that part, and finger-guns at him. He makes an explosion sound and moves his hands to indicate that it's all broken.

"Huh. No Ravager-speak. Sorry, that...that'all." That's all he's got, bro. "Why's it broken?" It doesn't make any sense. The tech shouldn't fail, and not among other people and in large numbers.

[boldygoing]

Finger-guns are universal enough, and Jim grins at the familiar gesture. No translation needed there, dude.

Asking the hard questions, isn't he? Jim shrugs, unsure how much of this is gonna make sense when their shared vocabulary is rather more limited than it usually would be. Still, he's gonna do his best. "Nexus is... tipua. Wonko. Soms it do... does... 'lawls'. Like, uh, prank. Wonko shit." He waves his hand near his head vaguely. "Not for alltime."

[zunesareawesome]

"Prank!" He knows that one, at least. It takes Peter a...long time to get all that, but...he kinda...sorta...gets the gist. Maybe.

"Come back?" He points to his implant. "Not forever?"

[boldygoing]

"Nah." Jim shakes his head and gives the stranger a thumbs up. "When, ehhhh..." He takes his wrist chronometer and shrugs, because really, who knows? Hours, days... shit, it'd better not be days. This is chaos enough and it's been what, a half hour, tops? "Not forever," he echoes with a nod.

Nothing to do now but wait, but killing time by sitting around quietly isn't exactly Jim's style. "Want you caf?" he asks, miming taking a drink from an imaginary mug.

[zunesareawesome]

Good! That's a relief. He gives two thumbs up, hopefully that's universal too.

"Caf?" He's met with a blank look. But that looks like drinking something, so...maybe some kind of drink. Clearly, right? Peter nods his head. "Yeah! Yes. Do want."

[boldygoing]

Jim flashes him a thumbs-up, and heads for the Nexus vending machines nearby. There's the usual assortment of soft drinks and juices and stuff, and one that dispenses nice hot cans of coffee. Jim gets two of the latter and passes one to his new friend, and taps his own against the other's "L'chaim," he says with a grin, taking a sip.

Seems like he should probably introduce himself, shouldn't he? Jim points towards himself. "Jim Kirk. You?"