inourhead | what in the longdark spitting-pit is that

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)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

inourhead

"Ah - hwatreemree," says Crystal-Pyay apologetically, with the first consonant being something frictiony in the back of her throat, and then the cup and fork are back to normal. She puts them down and clasps her hands behind her back.

Edited Date: 2014-10-19 03:54 am (UTC)

From:

follow_the_leader

...well. That's a thing.

Emma stares, then splutters a bit. She plasters on a smile, says thank you, it's fixed now, she should be polite. But- she's met one Prime, once, and they were old and quiet and didn't do magic in front of her. And this isn't anything Prime magic, it's something she's never ever heard of.

(She hasn't heard of people appearing on staircases either, or this language, or that map, or-)

This is all way too much. She slumps on her stool, unsteadily. "I don't know what's going ooooon," she wails. "I have a magically appearing girl in my house, I can't speak a word of- of- whatever language that even is, and she can turn crystal things into silver and back and this is not how I was expecting today to go."

From:

joy_in_laughter

"But- it's magic! It's cool!" Jenny says, worry and confusion on her face. She has nothing to compare Crystal-Pyay too; it's not quite as weird, for her. More 'awesome and cool' then 'strange and unknown and frightening.'

From:

cry_me_a

Alli wraps an arm around Emma's shoulders and awkwardly pats her. "You're doing really well with the language thing?" she says, trying to be supportive.

From:

follow_the_leader

"It's strange magic, I don't know what she did, I can't even ask her," Emma mumbles, but she manages to pull herself together (a little). And then, because she is used to Jenny and this is now how she handles crises, she cuts everyone a slice of pie and mechanically starts to eat her piece.

It's quite good, actually.

From:

inourhead

Crystal-Pyay seems to like her pie too. A little ways in to her slice she says, "Hwatreesrayn."

From:

follow_the_leader

"...I'm going to assume that means thank you, because that makes me feel better," Emma declares. Then, to Crystal-Pyay, "You're welcome. Glad you like it."

She will be polite even when incomprehensible.

From:

joy_in_laughter

"What, no credit for meeee?"

From:

follow_the_leader

"It's still our pie!"

From:

inourhead

Crystal-Pyay looks between the other girls, uncomprehending but apparently picking up on the tone.

From:

joy_in_laughter

Jenny points at Emma and sticks her tongue out.

From:

follow_the_leader

Emma mimes shaking an angry fist in response. It is not terribly convincing, because she and Alli are both convulsed with giggles at the sight of Jenny's blueberry-tinted tongue.

From:

inourhead

Hee hee hee!

From:

follow_the_leader

Emma finishes her pie without much delay. Jenny has the best ideas sometimes. She and Jenny do the dishes, put them back, and then it is time for her to be actually-asleep, rather than fake-asleep-while-really-sneaking-into-the-kitchen.

She gets hugs from her friends then looks at Crystal-Pyay. She points at herself, then mimes sleeping on her hands. She repeats the gestures for her departing friends. Bedtime for sleepy, pie-eating people.

From:

inourhead

Crystal-Pyay looks - pitying? Something along those lines. "Emma, Emma," she sighs, dispensing with further elaboration since Emma couldn't understand any of it. Then she looks thoughtful and (carefully, nonthreateningly) takes Emma's hand, leading her back to the room she was given, with the bag and the mice. Some of the mice are awake.

From:

follow_the_leader

Well, now Emma is confused, but she follows along readily enough. Does the girl need something in her room, maybe?

From:

inourhead

A mouse, apparently. She peers into the cage. Some of the mice are awake. Still holding Emma's hand, she reaches in, pokes the liveliest mouse (it's eating a bit of a large chunk of bread that has been left in the cage), and -

Emma's not tired anymore.

The girl lets her hand go and grins.

From:

follow_the_leader

Emma is now extremely awake!

And extremely confused. But tragically for her, she has no way to ask about this. She can just be confused.

She looks at the mouse, which is now sleeping, then at her hand, then at Crystal Pyay. (And then repeats this a few times.)

...nope. Still no idea what just happened.

It is, in the realm of the crazy magic she has encountered, harmless. And arguably helpful. But... what.

She decides not to worry about it. She's awake now. What does she do now? She has- hours and hours, she's usually asleep now.

Well- being able to ask about it would help.

She makes reading and writing gestures, then points at herself and Crystal-Pyay, then makes a questioning expression.

She wants to be able to ask about things. And that means vocabulary lessons.

Edited Date: 2014-10-19 11:54 pm (UTC)

From:

inourhead

Crystal-Pyay peers into her bag theatrically, mimes writing, throws up her hands helplessly: she doesn't have pen and paper.

From:

follow_the_leader

Emma laughs, and points down the hall. There's writing implements back in the library, in the desk with the map on it, if Crystal-Pyay will follow her.

From:

inourhead

Crystal-Pyay will follow her.

And then look expectantly at Emma; apparently she'd rather learn the local language than teach her own.

From:

follow_the_leader

Well, they've already begun this. So Emma writes down all the words they've already gone over (it's a fairly short list so far, thankfully) and then hands the supplies to Crystal-Pyay. She points to the first word. "Bag," she reads, and then looks expectantly at Crystal-Pyay, so she can mark down her own word. Emma doesn't need to learn the language, necessarily, but Crystal-Pyay probably wants some way to remember what is what.

From:

inourhead

Crystal-Pyay writes two things in her own language, actually, in neatly spaced columns. "Bag," she repeats back, strongly accented but understandable Welchin. She hands back the pen.

From:

follow_the_leader

Emma runs down the list she's already written, repeating pronunciations. When they finish, she can start on other words; this is, handily enough, a library full of books, occasionally with helpful pictures.