EVENT ★ LOST IN TRANSLATION

[futurologists]

RETURN TO OSKA Upon arrival in Oska, new and returning recruits alike will find that something strange is going on. Any attempts to communicate with someone who doesn't speak the same language as you will be just that -- like you don't speak the same language. Let's hope everyone is good at charades, because you're going to be out of luck for a full day. On the second day, a text comes across -- surprisingly intelligible to everyone. Is it over? Well . . . crowley: Hello, Audentes. We are currently experiencing magitek difficulties, as you may have guessed already. Temporal insects have arrived with our latest arrivals, and as you may imagine, we have had our paws full. cherenkov: We are working out how to mitigate the pest problem for good. For now, please put your unpleasantly huge feet to use and stomp them out. Or other such methods. crowley: We have created a quick patch to facilitate text-based communications, but verbal translation will continue to be down until the insects are exterminated. Thank you for your patience. It's not over. TEMPORAL INSECTS This invasive species has worked its way in through the rifts along with the newest batch of arrivals, and information on them is available in the library (provided you can read the language it's written in!). It seems they behave like locusts, living quietly within the space between rifts for many years until their numbers suddenly balloon and they begin to swarm in search of food. These bugs move fast and pack a nasty bite, but are unarmored and easily squished. Each one is about the size of a football, and leaves a little tell-tale slime trail that makes it easy to track. They can cling to any surface, and won't hesitate to leap onto attackers and bite if they feel threatened. One can take a decently sized but non-lethal bite out of someone, but a number of them together will pose a real danger. If punctured or squished they tend to explode into moderately acidic goo that can cause caustic burns if not immediately washed off. They are attracted to any area of high temporal energy, which can be literally any surface, corner, or point on or within the castle and its grounds. As they begin to feed they cause temporal distortion in the area. This manifests as the immediate area seeming to flicker backwards and forwards through time. An insect gnawing at a table leg in the dining area, for example, might cause the area to stutter between years and years of dinner parties, ghostly attendants of all fashions and species appearing and disappearing as they enter and leave the affected area. An onlooker can't interact with temporal distortions directly, but if the insect is left to its own devices, it will eventually eat through all of the temporal energy and render the immediate area gray, frozen, and completely inert. It's highly recommended you kill or otherwise chase off an insect before it manages this, as it can do irreversible damage to a world. For affected Oska locations, please see this post. OOC NOTES The translation errors will continue through the rest of the month. For more information or to ask questions, please check the plotting post here! New bounties are available in Oska! Please remember to fill out your squidge success form before August 31, 23:59 UTC! Filling the form out is mandatory, even if you do not have the 3 squidge threads. You will not pass AC if you do not fill out the form. Characters who have been accepted on August 20th are exempt. Please direct questions relating to the success form here.

Comments

A

[expatriates]

[ Natasha had walked past the two, firmly uncomfortable with the fact that she could understand neither language being spoken, nor recognize it. She was used to at the very least being able to pinpoint the nuances of the languages she hadn't picked up over the years, but this …

She reached Nami in time to pick up a handful of words, but it took her a second to string together the sentence it belonged in. Wrong stuck out immediately, and Natasha was quick to nod. ]

They don't know either, I think. [ It's a guess, but an educated one, extrapolated from the fact that she was seeing more and more diversity of language among the Audentes. Oska might as well have been the Tower of Babel—and she'd have happily said so, if she had the vocabulary for it. Her Japanese was weak, and carried a stilted formality with it that strained the definition of fluency. ]

[weatherscience]

[ It was strange, to say the least, to hear the woman speak and understand the words, only spoken as if she'd forgotten how to speak; different languages had never been a thing for her, as everyone seemed to understand each other just fine. The concept of not understanding what others were saying was far, far stranger for her than the magic she'd encountered, the concept of a spacial rift, or any number of oddities among the Audentes.

She tilted her head, blinking, puzzling through Natasha's comment. ]

Ah... you think they're acting like that because of something that is happening to them?

[ And to the two of them, here, too, perhaps -- she couldn't ever recall noticing the way others were speaking, before. ]

[expatriates]

Or maybe something stop happen to them. [ That seemed a better way of putting it. She looked between Nami, the two they could see playing an elaborate game of charades now to try and understand each other, and then around for others, creased furrowing into her forehead as she puzzled through it. ] To everyone.

[ It occurred to her that the easiest way was to simply address it. It seemed coincidence, that everyone prior to Nami had known such good English whether they had an 'England' or not, that no one had mentioned it at all. ]

I'm sorry. [ She said, a self-deprecating smile lighting on her lips suddenly. ] My Japanese isn't very good. I used it a long time ago. [ But she can't quite articulate "but not since then." ]

[weatherscience]

-- ah!!

[ It was, indeed, a better way of putting it -- the thought of something having stopped happening was enough to make her start thinking what hearing this woman's stilted words could mean, and just why she hadn't paid any attention to the way people were talking before this. ]

You think our words were being translated, before this? That must be why all of us understood each other, despite coming from different worlds.

[ Only after she was done musing all this out loud did she realize Natasha possibly had only understood a small part of it... ] Sorry! I'm sorry too! [ For babbling on like this... ] You're not all that bad, trust me! Hm, I could try to speak your language, but I don't know if I can... the only other I know is the one Marines use in their communications.

[ Which, incidentally... is English. ]

WAIT I MISREAD THAT as she switched to English

[expatriates]

[ Natasha shook her head on 'translated,' but the context at least afforded her enough to squint through and suffer it. Most of the words weren't unfamiliar, precisely, but rusty. It took the context of the rest of the statement to make it make sense finally, and then, after a few seconds, she parsed it and nodded. ]

I know a lot others. It never hurts to try. [ She gestured for Nami. 'Marines,' she couldn't quite pick up, and for a moment, she almost wished it were written; at least the kanji would give her some indication of meaning. But it would be easier to just keep trial and error. ]

ITS OKAY i realize i wasn't exactly super clear on it anyway

[weatherscience]

[ She nods -- it doesn't hurt to try, it's true. They're getting by like this, but only just. ] Alright!

Ah... [ It takes a moment to consciously decide to speak a different language, the one she so often heard her mother switch to when she was a child. ]

Like this? This is the official language of the Marines, back home. It's in all wanted posters!

[expatriates]

Where I come from, they call it English. My second language, but easier for me than Japanese.

[ She wonders if those words even mean anything to Nami, or how familiar she is with this apparent Marine language. ]

Are the Marines more than a job where you come from? They use their own language?

[weatherscience]

En...glish? [ She tilts her head, clearly confused -- the names are just words, nothing she's ever heard of, but she commits them to memory; it's useful to know, just in case! ]

They work under the World Government... so there's a lot of them! [ The best explanation she can give; it's a job, yes, but it's also the most common job, outside of being a pirate. ] They use it in all official documents, like the wanted posters. In the reports they write. But with us, they speak like I did, before.

[expatriates]

[ It tells her something, at least, of how language developed in the world Nami came from. If the English speakers are the ones controlling things, it seems to follow that perhaps at some point, colonialism leveled up. But Japanese among the general population—that was strange, for white colonists to allow.

She realizes halfway through her theorizing that the rules of her universe all-too-likely hold no bearing over Nami's. If Loki were present, he'd no doubt be happily explaining the likelihood of two parallel universes developing the same language via completely separate means.

Even his hypothetical voice in her imagination is enough to grate on her and draw her back into the moment. ]

Your entire planet is under the rule of one government? [ Her surprise gets a moment of breathing room before she says: ] We should find as many people as we can who know how to translate back and forth between other languages and one that we know. Then, maybe we can send out some kind of missive to warn people about what's happening, and they can find people who speak their language.

[weatherscience]

Mm, you could say that! I mean, different islands [ yes, islands... instead of countries or anything else ] have their own rulers, or towns have their mayors, but everyone is still under the jurisdiction of the World Government and the Marines-- if you break the law, they'll be after you!

[ The way she says this... seems to mean she. definitely knows about that. ]

That's a good idea! If we work together, I'm sure it'll work out!

[expatriates]

[ A smirk flitted across Natasha's lips. ]

That sounds very hard to evade. If you had to.

[ But surely neither of them would have to. She took a step back. ]

I'll come find you once I've found some others who speak English or Japanese. Maybe you can tell me more about it then.