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

[follow_the_leader]

In that case, Crystal-Pyay is welcome to a tour of the stables. There are only three horses, so the tour will not take very long.

[inourhead]

"Horse sleep," Crystal-Pyay points out.

[follow_the_leader]

Emma had not actually gotten to time words. She is now regretting this. "Horse sleep, horse sleep, horse sleep, horse no sleep," she tries as an alternative, complete with waving-forward-because-time-moves-I-guess hand gestures. "Horse no sleep, Crystal Pyay horse, Crystal Pyay no sleep?"

[inourhead]

Crystal-Pyay nods. "More mouse," she mutters. "Mouse sleep sleep sleep sleep."

[follow_the_leader]

"No mouse, Crystal Pyay sleep... bad?" Emma guesses.

[inourhead]

"Emma and - zero?" says Crystal-Pyay, improvising with her number words. "Emma sleep? Sleep not - bad bad bad. Sleep bad."

[follow_the_leader]

Emma shrugs. "Emma sleep. Jenny sleep, Alli sleep." She waves her hands vaguely around her head. "Chialto people sleep. Sleep not bad in Chialto."

She can see why sleep would be bad where Crystal Pyay comes from. If she can make herself be awake all the time, why wouldn't you? You'd get so much more done. Emma's rather jealous.

[inourhead]

"Not -" Handwave. "Tlaaaaa. Klaonso - eat sleep."

[follow_the_leader]

"No know-" Emma tries to get the drawn out vowel- "Tlaaaaa. Sleep not bad. Klaonso... eat sleep?"

The image she has is of them somehow eating the concept of sleep and people never being rested. She's pretty sure that's wrong.

[inourhead]

"Sleep, klaon eat - sleep person. No klaonso?"

[follow_the_leader]

Well, that is a very alarming image and Emma is no longer quite as jealous.

"No- klaonso." She giggles. "Um, Emma not know klaonso, but. Sleep, no klaonso eat Emma. Sleep good."

[inourhead]

"Fkoooohk nook...?" She doesn't seem to expect an answer; she doesn't know how to translate this yet.

[follow_the_leader]

Emma stares at her blankly. Does she think Emma meant it's just her, maybe? She points at the world map from earlier. "People sleep," she says, and jabs her finger at a bunch of spots. "People sleep, no klaonso eat people. People no know klaonso. People sleep."

[inourhead]

Crystal-Pyay taps her chin, then holds her hand about a couple feet off the ground. "Person." She holds her hand at about her eye level. "Person."

[follow_the_leader]

Emma supplies the words for "child" and "adult".

[inourhead]

"Adult sleep?" She starts jabbing her fingers at random places on the map - not even cities, random tiny towns. "Adult sleep adult sleep adult sleep adult sleep?"

[follow_the_leader]

Ooooookay, if this turns into an awkward sex conversation Emma is changing the subject.

"Yes, adult sleep," she says, still bewildered. She encompasses the whole map with a hand sweep. "Adult sleep. People sleep."

[inourhead]

"Emma and zero Emma and zero Emma and zero, people one one one one one...?"

[follow_the_leader]

This girl looks like she's around Emma's age. How did she not get the sex conversation already? Emma does not have the vocabulary for this and she is not explaining with gestures.

"Um. Adult and adult, people two, bed, child...? Emma and zero."

Not that her parents haven't been trying to find her someone Well Respected from the five families, but they haven't actually succeeded yet.

[inourhead]

Crystal-and-Pyay - looks quizzically at her.

Then she goes and stands slightly to the left of her original position and holds her arms up and says, "Crystal! One person." Then she steps to the right and makes a different gesture, hands by her sides and palms out. "Pyay! One person." She stands where she was standing. "Two people. Crystal. And. Pyay."

[follow_the_leader]

Emma- stares. She cannot possibly mean what she thinks she means.

"Emma, one person. Alli, one person." She points at Crystal-and-Pyay. "Two people?!"

[inourhead]

"Two people! Crystal and Pyay. Crystal not-sleep, Pyay -" Wobbly uncertain gesture. "...sleep. Pyay not-sleep, Crystal sleep. People two two two not sleep."

[follow_the_leader]

"But- but- but-" Emma splutters. She gestures at- she doesn't even know what to call her now. Crystal? Pyay? Is... one of them... sleeping? "One person, not two."

[inourhead]

"...Mmmmm. Not Crystal and Pyay - people two two two - one child," gesture over here, "one child," gesture over there, bundling-up-combining gesture, "two children - child and child. Not Crystal and Pyay, Crystal and Pyay..." She lacks the vocabulary. "People two two two two. People, people, not Crystal and Pyay." Pause. "Crystal and Pyay and Praip. Praip -" A gesture removes "Praip" from her body and puts them somewhere else. "Crystal and Pyay, Praip and Fwaysyee."

Now she looks sad.

[follow_the_leader]

Well, Emma thinks she understood half of that if she was lucky, but she can at least respond with the obvious thing.

Map wave. "People one." She imitates the bundle-up gesture. "People not know. People not know... mice sleep, people not sleep. People not know cup crystal, cup silver, cup crystal." They haven't gone over silver, but hopefully it's obvious in context. "People not know. People one."

She doesn't know what to do about the sad part. Someone she left behind, from the sound of it? She's been good about not using her own language, for the most part, those were probably names? "Crystal and Pyay good...?" she asks tentatively. "Sad-" she mimes it, "no good?" She'd offer help, if she had any kind of vocabulary for it, but basic vocabulary is the rule of the day.