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]

Ah, here is where she doesn't look so certain. Micolash took the lead last time, otherwise she has little experience with any sort of telepathic communication, rune-based or otherwise. She's willing to try, though. She can't deny the exhilaration she felt of her rune speaking to its twin, its meaning revealing itself to her, a profound understanding and blessing all at once.

Setting aside the notebook, she holds out her hands for Jim to take and smiles at him. Whether it will work or not, that's all he needs to do.

[boldygoing]

Hand-holding? Well, all right, not as similar to Vulcan mind-meld as he thought it might be. If the runes are in their brains, he would've thought they'd need more head-contact. But he can definitely work with this.

There's no hesitation when he reaches out to take her hands in return. He has no idea how this is going to work, or what to expect, but he's not afraid to find out. "Okay."

[chiron_survivor]

Her hands are warm and dry, her nails clean and cut short. She keeps her smile, looking into his eyes. She doesn't have to do that, Micolash's eyes were bound when they shared runes, but it give her something to focus on as she tries to get into what is hopefully the proper mindset. Should she clear her mind? Or concentrate on her rune? Or maybe try to picture his, or --

It's like being at a party and hearing one's name. Or being lost in the Nexus during a translator malfunction and hearing the words of your own language spoken clear as day. It is a flood of knowledge that flows between them, so much meaning packed into each rune that all other thoughts fall away.

The moon rune speaks of the moon, of course, and her providence. She is compassion, and maternal care. She is the power that comes from a light that reflects rather than burns. She is solace and comfort, her pull strong enough to command the tides but gentle enough to soothe the loneliest of souls.

Adia listens to her own rune -- if one can call her brain scrambling to strengthen newly formed neural networks "listening" -- before turning her attention to Jim's rune, and what it means.

[boldygoing]

Her hands are warm in his own, but for a moment, nothing else seems to happen. There's a little furrow in her brow, a thoughtfulness that looks like she's focusing on a moderately challenging puzzle, and then...

A jolt, like being startled out of a daydream, or water overflowing the lip of a dam, a gentle flood that cascades into his consciousness, impossible to ignore. And Jim suddenly becomes aware of it, blaring as brightly as a lighthouse on a cliff, its light so strong he should wonder how he ever missed its presence.

Dancing lights in the darkness, gently driving out fear and uncertainty. A soft trail to follow, paths opening up that lead away from the tangled thorns of baser beasthood, outward and upward towards discovery and enlightenment. The hand of Guidance on the reins, reassurance and confidence in the face of unknown danger, logic and reason over animal instinct, rejecting mindless suffering to seek meaning in the pain. Whispers and dreams, the unknown and unseen, a key to secrets left locked away. A message, if only he would look, if only he would listen. A question, seeking the reasons why, digging deep like roots to what is unseen below.

It's nothing like the mind-meld with the old Vulcan ambassador, that flood of memories and emotions and pain so strong, so deep, that to this day he still can't entirely sort out which parts come from Spock and which are his own. No, this is different, it's simply knowing in an instant, clarity like a bell being rung, eyes opening to the light after being in darkness. Strangely familiar, like he had always known it was there, only forgotten.

It's not words, not exactly, like he'd thought it might be. But he sees the moon in her, a gentle light that softens the shadows of the night and casts a watchful eye over what lies below. It's like nothing he's ever felt before.

[chiron_survivor]

His rune is clear as day to her, a thousand ideas wrapped into one single symbol. A trail that widens to a path that leads her ever upward, past fears and base instincts, towards understanding, towards the desire to learn more, to know when to ask and when to listen. A hand that gently guides her away from traps and missteps, that eases her forward, that keeps her from stumbling back into pain, into darkness.

When she did this before, with Micolash, their runes were like mirrors, reflecting one another into infinity, an ocean of moonlight spreading around them in a dazzling array. This moment she shares with Jim is different, but no less precious. It is a handshake, an exchange of ideas. It is guidance and compassion, a steady hand and a caring, watchful eye working in harmony to draw out answers from the shadows, to bring them both closer to understanding the language of the Great Ones.

She sighs softly and lets go of his hands. The connection ends, but the images remain, like a fading dream.

[boldygoing]

Unlike the mind-meld, when the connection between them breaks, Jim feels no need to wrench himself away and fight to regain his composure. His hands stay up for a long moment, as if still holding hers, before awareness begins to settle in and he slowly lowers them. The afterimages still paint themselves across his inner eye, and his head spins from the dizzying weight of it, making him reach out a hand to steady himself against the back of the couch just in case.

He still doesn't know what he was expecting, but it wasn't quite that. "Wow."

[chiron_survivor]

As it was her second experience communicating in runes, she recovers a little more quickly than Jim, although she seems rather dazed by this new information. "Wow," she agrees with a smile, a word that carries its meaning across the translation barrier without trouble.

Remembering that barrier, she picks up her notebook and pencil. It feels cumbersome to return to a human language, after what they have shared, but she tries her best. Did that help? It didn't give him a name for his rune, or tell him how he got it, but at least now he knows what it means. That's a step forward. And better that he could learn that from a friend than the only other person she knows who has a rune inside his brain.

[boldygoing]

It really does feel clumsy when he tries to decipher her handwritten note again, his mind still swirling with impressions and ideas that he hadn't even known were there, echoes that are slow to fade now that he's aware of them. He's certainly got a lot to think about, after that.

Jim nods slowly, looking back up at her with a small smile. "Mayhap. When we tsuri sprek, we sollte sprek about ikh encore." With as limited as their communication is at the moment, he's confident that trying to discuss it now is gonna be an even worse headache for the both of them. Seems like his whole life revolves around waiting lately, but he's looking forward to getting to pick her brain about this, when they can speak more clearly than scribbled notes and hand gestures.

[chiron_survivor]

It takes her far longer this time to decipher what he's saying, her brow knitted in confusion, but eventually she nods, either getting what he's saying or coming to the same conclusion. We can talk about it again soon. I am going to talk with a mage friend of mine so maybe I will have more information.

Bucky, who had been watching their exchange vigilantly, chirrups and shuffles closer to Adia. Not out of protectiveness this time, but loneliness. All this silent hand-holding and writing instead of talking -- even if he can't understand it -- is making him feel left out. Adia runs a hand down his feathery crest before writing something else to Jim.

I should take Bucky back to Steve's now so he can at least wait for him at his roost.

[boldygoing]

Jim flashes her a thumbs up, once he's puzzled through her message. Later is good, when they can actually talk to each other. And Bucky's neediness is pretty obvious even without words. "Okay, okay." Jim offers her a small smile, nodding once. Sure, the answers he's managed to get aren't entirely what he expected, but damn is he glad he ran into her regardless. Strange enough to learn he's gone some rune in his head; at least he's not the only one.

[chiron_survivor]

She's glad to have run into him, too. It's nice to know that she isn't alone in this, and Captain Kirk is good company to be in.

Gathering up her belongings, she waves goodbye before standing up. She doesn't need to non-verbal coax Bucky to follow her, he hops off the couch as soon as she's taken a step. He gives Jim a brief look -- less suspicious than before because he didn't try anything funny and perhaps was indirectly responsible for Caspar leaving, always a plus -- and then hops alongside Adia, back to Steve's apartment.