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

[inourhead]

"Sren-puum-hi-ne-niu-ple sin!" she says, loud and clear.

[unblinkered]

It's rain poom he nane you play seen?

Okay, no, that is a different language. She's literally not speaking English, is the problem here. This is going to be a barrier to communi- to getting answers out of her. And he is ready with an immediate solution to the problem- a tactic so foolproof one could mistake it for the work of Sun Tzu himself:

"What are you doing, huh? Cut that out! Speak English!"

[inourhead]

She rolls her eyes and starts investigating the feasibility of going around him and out the door.

[unblinkered]

The feasibility of this is as follows: Max kicks aside the coffee cup and shuts the door. She's not getting away with this that easy.

A thought enters his head- the only flaw in his brilliant plan- that she might not know English at all. But... how could she organize an elaborate prank like this without help? She'd need accomplices who spoke English, probably- or at least, found some way past the language barrier, if she's here in a New Jersey middle school before hours- there's a vanishingly small space of stories that explain her making her way here and organizing an invisibility prank without having to talk to anyone.

"Do... you... speak... English?"

[inourhead]

"Srenpuumhineniuple sin!" she shouts. "Nlul!" Now she's investigating the latches on the windows.

[unblinkered]

She would find, on inspection, that the latches are easily undone- but that they are two stories up.

"Hey, now! What are you doing?"

He stays in front of the door- he can't imagine she'd risk the jump, so he sits down on the floor. Gotta block the exit, but be all... nonthreatening, and stu- oh, for the love of- the coffee spill, he forget the coffee spill, now his pants are... approximately the same shade of beige, actually, but wet.

[inourhead]

The girl is frustrated at the two-stories-up thing. She swings her bag - and the mouse cage attached below it - around in front of her so she can rummage through it.

[unblinkered]

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, mice? Where'd you get mice? What are you doing with- put that- I mean, please put that down, just- listen, explain what's- could you explain what's going on here?"

The panic's gone out of his voice, but not the worry- he's still bothered by the invisibility trick, he doesn't know how that happened.

[inourhead]

"Soo," she growls at him, and she continues rummaging. But apparently she doesn't find anything useful. She closes the top of the bag and reaches into her mouse cage, poking at the animals. They seem to be asleep. "Praspai...!"

[unblinkered]

He sighs. She doesn't seem to be too happy about having her escape foiled, and he's not sure how to get her in a cooperative mood without her understanding anything.

He deliberately softens and slows his voice- maybe that'll cut down on the hostility, assuming she really doesn't know what he's talking about. "Do you want... what do you want? Are you okay?"

She probably didn't understand that, but perhaps the tone came across.

[inourhead]

She looks over her shoulder. Uncomprehending, but paying attention to him instead of ways out the window.

[unblinkered]

Okay, so, language barrier. How does one get around those? ...Pantomime, probably. Pointing and gesturing, and such. He can't necessarily assume she knows common sorts of gestures like nodding and shaking one's head- can he? How universal are those sorts of things?

He stands up and points at her- "You!" He walks over and points at the floor where she appeared- "Here?"- and repeats this inquiry a couple of times.

[inourhead]

"Pyay," she says, pointing at herself. "Ruum, Sohng. Tlaa."

[unblinkered]

Oh! Names! Names are easy. He has no idea what the rest of that means, but... he points at himself, "Max," and at her- "You, Pyay?"

This is probably a necessary first step, although there's the part of him that's annoyed by how her name has nothing to do with how she magically appeared in the middle of his classroom. He tells that part to sit down and be patient, if it can.

[inourhead]

"Sin, Mahks," she approximates, pointing at him. "Mri, Pyay." She points at herself again.

[unblinkered]

"Sin, you... mri, me." He pauses. "Or possibly mri, I. Or- it's first person, it doesn't matter. Or- thinking out loud is probably going to confuse things..."

He gestures in a circle at the spot on the floor where she was standing. "You... sin, Pyay..." He makes a confused, interrogative sound that she hopefully won't confuse for a word.

[inourhead]

"Mri Pyay," she says agreeably.

[unblinkered]

"No! No- I meant- specifically- you-" he gestures more emphatically at the ground. It doesn't seem to be working- he throws in a few different sorts of peekaboo-type charades, to try to convey something appearing and disappearing.

[inourhead]

Pyay spreads her hands. "Mripuumhinehutple tlir!"

[unblinkered]

She... doesn't know? Or he could be misreading her gesture, or... she could be confused about why he's asking, and expressing confusion about his confusion... but more likely the first thing, and that's not okay. She did this, she has to know.

"Hold on, I'm gonna check..."

He drags over a chair and stands on top of it, then inspects the ceiling above the spot closely. There's nothing- and nothing obvious behind the ceiling panels, either.

His close inspection of the ceiling and precarious balance leaves the path to the door quite unobstructed.

[inourhead]

She edges towards the door, apparently not interested in being shut up in a room with him whether he's still shouting at her or not.

[unblinkered]

"Hey! Where are you-" He tries to step down from the chair, but trips and crashes into another desk.

[inourhead]

She's going out the door, apparently, tentatively but not slowly once she no longer expects him to be able to obstruct her.

[unblinkered]

The hallway is spartan and dim- the lights aren't on, although sunlight comes through the window at one end of the hall. It's lined mainly with lockers, with various posters and notices covering un-lockered wall space. There are plenty of doors like Max's classroom door, spaced at regular intervals.

"Hey! Come back here! Where are you...!"

Hm, no, she is not listening to him, it seems. He disentangles himself from the desk and gets up.

[inourhead]

She looks over her shoulder at him, but continues down the hall. "Tiim tupuumhitaoneniuple Nlaaki?" she calls.