what in the longdark spitting-pit is that

[inourhead]

This was a bad idea this was a bad idea this was a bad idea.

Holly runs as fast as she can but the demon's faster. She has no idea where Lightning's gotten to; maybe he found a tree to climb. She on the other hand has been diverted into a treeless hill and she's careening down a slope, trying very hard not to trip.

And the demon's gaining on her.

She's never seen anything like it and neither has Crystal; maybe Book knows what it is but Book's asleep. It's mostly mouth - it looks like a cross between a floorlength mirror of a mouth and a snake to propel the mouth along.

And Holly's not fast enough.

The mouth catches her.





But it doesn't hurt.

Where are we?

----


with Minus (kappa)

with Mark (kappa)

with Max (Benedict)

in Terraria (kappa)

with Emma (Marri)

with Erin (Rockeye)

Comments

[unblinkered]

"So... yeah. Sorry. She's some kind of... wizard, or something. She can switch... things, properties of things, I don't know- but it's clearly the same level of... thing, as appearing out of nowhere, so..."

[alicornucopia]

"Oh my god!" exclaims Gloria. "And - Max, I've got a class of kids who speak Spanish and Chinese and Korean and - what do you expect me to do with a wizard from another planet? Why does she have mice -?"

[unblinkered]

"Oh, god, I don't know about the mice, I don't know enough to ask her to explain them- she- I- I thought you'd be... you'd have more experience than me teaching people languages in general, just... ignoring the magic thing, that you could do what you usually do? Until the bell rings and I can figure out what to do with her."

[alicornucopia]

"Usually I have textbooks that refer to their native language, Max! I - what have you got her to pick up so far...? Anything?"

[unblinkered]

"I... she knows 'yes' and 'no', and 'and', and... 'Earth', 'flat', 'America'... I taught her "means", so if you can figure out her word for something, you can tell her what it is in English... and she knows 'draw', which is a big help... 'light', 'mice'... oh, and 'English'. Some other things I'm forgetting."

He gives her a look.

"Is it really all textbooks? You've... got to be better than me, at this...?"

[alicornucopia]

"I've usually got something to go on. And usually there's - context. I'm not sure if a wizard from another planet will even understand that she's in an ESL class. I'll try, at least for today, but is she even enrolled? I can't quite tell how old she is, I could believe anything between fourteen and twenty-two."

[unblinkered]

"I... seriously doubt she's enrolled, given that she teleported into my classroom less than an hour ago- she doesn't know how she got here, she says the last thing she remembers is... being eaten by a snake monster, if I read her drawing right? But... I taught her 'teach', and 'Gloria teach Sohng English', so... she knows that much."

[alicornucopia]

"How sure are you she's got all these words? Kids will smile and nod - have you seen her use all of them?"

[unblinkered]

"She-" he pauses.

"I hadn't thought of that- I figured, if she was really trying to communicate, she wouldn't lie and say she understood something just to get me to move on..."

He thinks for a moment.

"She definitely knows yes, no, and, means, draw, and... word, she knows 'word', and English, and... her language is called Nloggy, I don't know if that's also her world, her world might be 'Kweengow'..."

[inourhead]

"I've never heard of a language called Nloggy..." Gloria sighs and sits next to Sohng. She smiles at her. "Mrs. Roake," she says, pointing at herself.

"Misesrok," agrees Sohng, writing this down in her alphabet, which Gloria spies on.

Gloria points at her.

"Sohng, ruum Pyay," says Sohng.

Gloria glances at Max. "Do you know if the whole thing is her name or if she's just elaborating or giving a last name or...?"

[unblinkered]

"That... when I first met her, she introduced herself as Pyay, I thought? And she answered to it for a while, and then suddenly got really insistent that her name was Song? I don't know. 'Room' is her 'and', so... it could be a last name? Maybe they introduce themselves with a formal name, but after you've talked for a while you're supposed to use an informal name?"

[inourhead]

"Mrs. Roake," says Gloria, pointing at herself, "Mr. Wax," she points at Max. "Mrs. Roake is a name. Mr. Wax is a name. Sohng is a name?"

"Sohng is a name," agrees Sohng. "Pyay is a name."

Gloria gets some of the little chalk and puts it in three piles - one in front of Sohng, one in front of Max, one in front of herself. Pointing at each pile, she says, "Mrs. Roake's chalk. My chalk. Mr. Wax's chalk. His chalk. Sohng's chalk. Your chalk."

Sohng nods, takes notes, thinks, and then points at Gloria's chalk and says, "Your chalk."

"Yes!" nods Gloria, smiling encouragingly. "Max, do the pronouns thing and we'll hope she picks up on the gender distinction in the third person, some languages don't have those."

[unblinkered]

"Lucky them," he responds.

Max points at his chalk- "Mr. Wax's chalk, my chalk," Sohng's chalk- "Sohng's chalk, your chalk," and Gloria's- "Mrs. Roake's chalk, her chalk."

[inourhead]

Sohng tilts her head. She writes a little bit.

She divides her own chalk into two piles.

"Sohng's chalk, Pyay's chalk. My chalk - her chalk?" she asks, pointing first at the one and then the other.

Gloria looks confused.

[unblinkered]

Max shares the expression of confusion.

"Your name Sohng? Or your name Pyay?"

[inourhead]

"My name Sohng. ...Her name Pyay," she adds, gesturing to her own head. "...Name means nluupel, my name Sohng."

"Did you bring an alien who hears voices into my classroom?" asks Gloria.

[unblinkered]

"Who hears- I don't- it's not a voice in her head, it's got to be some sort of... weird contextual distinction, she called herself Pyay earlier when she first showed up. She must be... misunderstanding 'her', somehow, thinks it's somehow referring to... some weird thing we don't have an easy analogue to."

He... first, he puts a piece of chalk in front of Sohng. "One chalk." He adds one- "two chalk"- up through three. And then...

"My name Max. One name. 'Mr. Wax' means 'Max', two name. Sohng means Pyay?"

[inourhead]

"Sohng no mean Pyay," says - whoever she is - firmly.

[unblinkered]

This isn't working. Maybe it's her turn to explain? If she can put it into words... there's paper and pencils and chalk, if she needs to draw pictures, so she should be able to...

"Pyay means...?"

[inourhead]

"Pyay means -" She draws a plant. The leaves look sort of Christmasy; it's got berries. "Sohng means -" She gets up and taps the window glass.

[unblinkered]

That- no. That's not what he...

"So... I think she's got... sort of, two identities? Song and Pyay both refer to her, but... under some conditions she 'is' Song, and other times she 'is' Pyay? Like... two names, but there's cultural norms that tell when to use them, and we don't know what they are?"

She doesn't know "when"... how to ask her when she's Song and when she's Pyay?

[inourhead]

"Voices in her head is a much more conservative explanation," says Gloria. "I'll - see what I can do. I'll have the rest of my kids watch Sesame Street and get as much English into her as I can; you should go or you'll be late for your first class."

Sohng blinks uncomprehendingly.

Gloria sighs and starts going over numbers with her.

[unblinkered]

"Yeah, sure, that's more... she's magic, why not... uh, good luck with that. I'll drop by later to take her off your hands, bring her to... I don't know, child services, something like that..." he mumbles as he heads out the door.

This whole mess is definitely going to bug him all day, but at least it's just all day, and not "indefinitely".

[inourhead]

At the end of the day, Sohng and Gloria are still in the classroom. Sohng's bag, mice and all, has been squirreled away in a cupboard; Sohng is peacefully going over her notes while Gloria grades worksheets.

[unblinkered]

Max wraps up sixth period, leans out the window for a smoke, and then sets about closing down the classroom. He locks the door- not something he usually does, but keeping the place where she appeared secure seems like a responsible sort of idea- and heads downstairs to Gloria's ESL room.

She's still there- didn't run away, so that's good.

"How'd it go?"