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

[chiron_survivor]

It's like watching a scolded puppy, and he'd be less bothered by it if it didn't remind him so damn much of how Adia reacts when she think she's offended someone. This time his girlfriend doesn't need to remind him to keep his tongue in check; he clears his throat and offers the mage what he hopes is a reassuring smile.

"Your list is more impressive." What with having a human brain, but he keeps that to himself. "How's your Common coming along? It's the weirdest damn language, not anything like the others I already know."

"I got about as far as pronouns and a few verbs," Adia adds, her expression clearing. It had bothered her to see Viatorus take Caspar's sarcastic tone to heart, but her boyfriend is making amends, so hopefully her friend's spirits will lift accordingly.

[heirtothearcane]

Viatorus can tell a consolation compliment when he hears one, but he gives Caspar a flickering smile all the same. He takes a deep breath to clear his thoughts before he replies.

"It's coming along a little slowly. The other languages I know share more with each other than Common does. It sounds like the Nordic languages of my world and I don't know any of them. English or German might be closest, but even they aren't very similar. At least German, French and English take a lot of their structure from Greek and Latin. Knowing one makes it easier to know the others. I think I can hold a basic conversation but Harrowheart has been teaching me for a while now, when we both get a chance."

[chiron_survivor]

"Nice to know it's an outlier among Earth languages, too," Caspar replies. "It's the same for us, all the colonial languages have things in common with one another. It's a good thing for Harrowheart that the Nexus translator normally works."

"Maybe Caspar can sit in on your lessons," Adia suggests brightly. Caspar gives her a look, and she grins at him with exaggerated innocence. He snorts lightly before returning his attention to the mage.

"So how'd you and he become friends? Chance meeting?"

[heirtothearcane]

Viatorus' smile flickers wider at the mention of Caspar joining in lessons. "I don't think Isidor would know what to do with being the second fastest student."

Caspar's question takes him by surprise. He blinks at them both and his eyes slide off into the distance as he thinks back. Now that he recalls their first few meetings it's striking to think how far they'd come.

His cheeks flush ever so slightly. "Oh. Well. We met in the Nexus wh-when Isidor and I were meeting new people. He and Isidor got into an argument, actually. He and I ended up meeting afterwards so that he could... make amends." He rubs his knuckles and laughs breathlessly. "Not a good start, I know. B-But then he, Steve and I ended up swapping bodies for a while. To be perfectly honest that didn't end all that well either... but the three of us have been good friends ever since."

[chiron_survivor]

That gets a real laugh out of Caspar. "I probably shouldn't, then. I wouldn't want to get on your sister's bad side." Although so far as humans go, he respects her and her priorities a great deal. Maybe participating in lessons wouldn't be so bad with Isidor there to keep things on track.

Adia sits up a little when Viatorus talks about how he met Harrowheart. It's not a story she's heard before, and she's surprised with herself that she never asked, but she isn't one to question friendships, no matter how odd the couple. She winces a little when he talks about their disastrous first encounter, but Caspar laughs again -- more of a chuckle this time. He can easily imagine the earthy death knight failing to get along with either mage. How they managed to overcome their differences, that's the part of the story that holds his attention the most.

"Well, I'm glad you're all friends now. Especially Harrowheart and Isidor, if that's how they got along the first time." Adia looks a little relieved. It's nice to know that some people can get along in the Nexus.

Caspar, meanwhile, seems hung up on the whole body swapping incident. "That was one of those Nexus curses?" He frowns uncomfortably. "I suppose I should be grateful that it's only a translator malfunction this time..."

[heirtothearcane]

Adia might look relieved but Viatorus can't help but look uncertain. He fidgets and admits quietly, "Well, they still don't always get along, but at least they fight less now."

"Oh, well." Viatorus thinks back to it, making sure he's remembers his facts right before he explains. "It was, sort of. Dr. Hill was trying to help people foster empathy. I think it worked rather well, but I did raise the issue of consent with him afterwards. I know that formality isn't really his way, a-and I don't think he understood how that might have overshadowed his intentions. Hopefully next time he'll have a few forms prepared if he does anything like that again."

[chiron_survivor]

"Oh, but--" she starts to say before clamping her mouth shut so hard that her teeth clack. She was not going to mention the crush, but it occurs to her that this might be a front Harrowheart keeps up for Viatorus' benefit. And so, she struggles in the silence, trying to come up with a way to finish her thought that doesn't sound suspicious.

Thankfully, Caspar unintentionally takes point. "I can't blame her for that," he interjects. "All that hands-on joshing and attitude. Does he roll his eyes every time you make him conjugate a verb?"

"Caspar," Adia says with a bone-weary patience, but before she can defend Harrowheart's honor, or point out that her beloved has an attitude of his own, Viatorus explains Doctor Hill's role in the bodyswap curse. That's actually old news to both of them. It's what he says at the end that shocks them both into silence.

The Cylon raises an eyebrow. "You think a man who swapped people's bodies is going to have consent forms next time?"

Adia worries her lower lip a little. "Viatorus," she says, her tone far more gentle. "I've heard a lot about Doctor Hill. I think that's a little optimistic to assume that he'll be more respectful of others in the future."

[heirtothearcane]

"No..." Viatorus answers bemusedly. Thoughts on Harrowheart rolling his eyes at other people are soon forgotten in the face of their surprise.

Caspar's question gets a small frown of disapproval, but it's Adia's comment that surprises him the most. Surely she should understand trying to educate someone to get them to get along with people better.

"Have you met him?" He asks Adia a little more sharply than he means to. With his soft voice and anxious mannerisms it doesn't compare to his sister, thankfully, but he still looks self-conscious the moment he asks. Quietly he continues, "It's not right to condemn someone for a mistake like that. Not without trying to teach them, not without trying to make them understand and give them a chance to improve, to make amends. We all come from different places and understand the world in different ways. If we need to take the time to teach each other and learn from each other, shouldn't we be happy to? Isn't that part of being in the Nexus?"

[chiron_survivor]

"No," she admits, her gaze dropping at his sharp tone and continuing to hold there while he speaks, mouth turning into a guilty frown. It's true, she hasn't met Doctor Hill to judge his intentions for herself. And if it were nearly anyone else, she'd be giving the same exact lecture as her friend. "But..."

But it's not just the body swap, or the lack of obtaining consent, or the obvious ire that Isidor has for the doctor. It's Josh. Doctor Hill was his psychiatrist, and yet the one time they spoke of it, her friend looked so haunted, so scared, that she never mentioned it again. If Doctor Hill can put that kind of fear into her friend, then what sort of a person is he?

Is he even a person at all?

She doesn't get a chance to vocalize her concerns, because Caspar suddenly speaks up, his expression hard. "You ever hear the phrase 'Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me?' Swapping people's bodies isn't a mistake. Someone with that kind of power using it as a kind of trust exercise isn't someone I want my girl around. You got it? You go ahead and give out your second chance, don't drag her into it."

"He's not wrong," Adia says, giving Caspar a look. He crosses his arms, but doesn't back down, and she doesn't know whether to be grateful that he's looking out for her, or frustrated that he's generating conflict. "I think..." She looks back at Viatorus and sighs. "I think maybe we should get going. Send me a text when you can see me at your office, okay?"

[heirtothearcane]

She hesitates and he hangs on that unfinished sentence with baited breath. Is she going to explain her fears so that he can resolve them? Or maybe the pause is her realising, is her understanding...

Instead Caspar speaks and his expression, his tone, his harsh words hit Viatorus like a slap to the face. He ducks his gaze to avoid their eyes meeting, as if it might hide his reddening cheeks. A voice in his head wants to say that Dr. Hill is different, he might not be human but he's still a person, he can still learn if they only give him the chance... Words that remain unspoken as he bites the inside of his lip to stop himself from saying anything else. He simply waits until Caspar has finished chastising him.

Only when Adia speaks up again does he move. He nods and glances so quickly at her that it's hard to spot what passes for a smile flickering across his face. Then he gets to his feet, nods to them both and mumbles a quiet, "Very nice to meet you."

He hurries off and Lyall gives them both an exceptionally suspicious look before following the scholar.