View source for 2016-05-21 (PostU) Shmanguage Barrier

{{Logsummary|
Title    = Language Barrier Shmanguage Barrier
|Summary = Kazuki, Rayne, and Urus have a conversation in the park.
|Who     = [[Kazuki]], [[Rayne]], [[Urus]]
|Date    = May 21st, 2016
|Where   = Nowhereto Park
|Log=

It's quiet.  Reasonably so.  One of the rare times that Kazuki's taking some time off.  He's just sort of ambling through the park at the moment, not really doing anything.  He's got a t-shirt, jeans, and those unreasonably clunky boots on.

Up in the sky, likely where no one is looking unless they're cloud watching, flies a bird.  Not just any bird, but a large eagle with red and gold plumage, almost like fire...   It glances around the park as it glides about.   Is it searching for prey?  Looking for a good nesting spot?   It's hard to say, for who truly knows the minds of birds?

Strolling through the park maybe looking for some peace Urus happens to also be in the area. Looking almost good as new.  And in fact he happens to be looking in all directions, so it is quite the sight to see such a magnificent looking bird flying overhead. He squints to look at it but is unsure. It seems familiar for some reason but he can't put a finger on it. However the fact that he is looking up means that he is not exactly watching where he is going.

Kazuki's attention is indeed drawn to the bird in the sky-- it's a very pretty color!  He isn't aware of anything odd about it.  He looks up to admire it.  And that's why he too doesn't notice where he's going, and collides with Urus!  "Oof!  What in the--?"  He wasn't walking very fast, so he doesn't fall.  He stumbles a bit, taking a step back.  "Oops.  Sorry about that."

The eagle, having witnessed the collision, makes a bit of a laughing sound, then circles around the two, lowering its altitude in a spiral.   Now that it's closer to the ground, perhaps it can be seen that the band on its leg isn't that left by someone tagging birds, but appears instead to be some sort of jewelry.

"Ugh..." Urus grunts as he sort of just stops when he collides with Kazuki.  He dusts himself off before apologizing. "No, forgive me. I was not paying attention." He replies. "Ok..." he mutters as he looks back toward the bird. "Well it seems to have recognized me... or you?" he asks Kazuki.

Kazuki looks between the jewelry-wearing bird and the hyena-man.  The latter of which makes him obviously pause and blink.  But he gets over it quick enough, once he realizes that the hyena-man is speaking to him normally.  Twisted is WEIRD.  Anyway.  Turning his attention to the recognition, he tilts his head.  "Probably you.  I've never seen it before."  He does start to get closer to where the bird's landed though, looking at the jewelry on its foot.  Maybe it's a nametag or something.

The bird, now very close to the ground, looks down as it indeed comes to a landing nearby.  It then looks up at Urus with a tilted head.   It then hangs its head,looking down, and shakes its head.  The bird then momentarily shines brightly as its form shifts into that of....  Well, Rayne.   "Oh, come on, Urus, haven't you seen me like that before?   Okay, it was in that... nightmare world, but you mentioned it the next day," she says as she makes sure her clothes are in order around her.  The jeweled brass band that was on the bird's leg is now there around her ankle, sized up to fit her much thicker human leg.

Urus arches an eyebrow at Kazuki when she mentioned it's not a friend of his.  He is not wholey surprised but not entirely expecting the Bird to morph. The familiar form helps everything when the Rayne he is used to seeing appears. "In my defense, 1 nightmare world. 2. It was not me officially who saw it. And  3... You do not usually do that, what is the occasion."  He then pauses and attempts to break the Ice considering he and Kazuki have never met. "Sorry, Urus Deravin, private contractor." He holds out a hand to shake. "And you are?"

Kazuki blinks again, as the bird changes into Rayne.  "Oh!  I'm sorry, Rayne.  I didn't recognize you in your feather cloak."  Smirk.  Smartass.  Urus's question gets a nod.  "Kazuki," he offers simply.  Nothing fancy or special.

Rayne perches on her left leg, raising the right so more easily point out the bangle there.  "The occasion is that it's been made a little be easier for me to do it more often, Urus."   She lowers her foot to the ground and stands properly again.  "Thanks to Dorian, I now can actually bring my clothes with me when I transform...   So I can actually go out, land, and talk to people, like I'm doing right now."  She then smirks back to Kazuki.  "Well, I don't wear it very often, and it does hide my most distinguishing feature."

Urus nods and chuckles enjoying the mild pun Kazuki made. "good to meet you."  Urus listens intently to Rayne's explanation.  "hmm seems like it would be useful for that kind of thing."  He comments "Well that answers that question" he mentions to Kazuki about whose friend it was. He cracks his neck before continuing. "so, if you do not mind me inquiring, which form is more..." he pauses for the right word. "natural to you."  He asks Rayne trying to find out what he should expect most of the time for now on when they meet.

Kazuki nods when Rayne explains her new ability to change more at-will.  "That seems like it's remarkably better for you," he observes.  "Dorian's a wizard?  That looked like magic."  And he half-bows politely to Urus's words to him.  And then snickers at the words of 'whose friend'.  "I think there's enough friendship for us both," he teases.  He's unaware of any history they may have.  He is, however, curious as to the answer to Urus's question.  "The Zentradi tend to prefer one form over the other, too."

Rayne takes a step back and spreads her arms out.  "This is me, more than any other form could ever be.  I may be a phoenix, but this is the form I was born into, the form I eat, work, sleep in.  The only real advantage the other form gives me is the ability to fly."  She pauses a moment before adding, "And a bit more power behind my fire abilities.   Okay, a lot more power."  She then slightly hesitantly nods to Kazuki.  "Dorian's a wizard, all right, but the shape changing is all me."  She lifts up her right leg to show the bangle again.  "What he did was make the enchantments that let me actually keep my clothes while doing it."

Urus nods again in understanding "Well it's good to hear that things are looking up. Speaking of which I have yet to see the Dwarf recently. Need to talk to him about a project." But this is neither the time nor place nor company.  He takes the chance stretch his arms as he leans against a nearby tree.  "magic... hehehe" he chuckles. "If you had told me a year ago magic was real... I would have just laughed at them. Yet. Here we are."

Kazuki all but freezes when Rayne mentions she's a phoenix.  "...You don't happen to be known as 'Suzaku' anywhere, do you?"  He's not overly superstitious or religious.  But he's JAPANESE.  For him NOT to think of the 'Red Sparrow' when phoenixes are mentioned is unpossible.  The mention of a wizard gets a smirk, though.  "So, literally 'a wizard did it'. I'm curious-- would you say he's 'magically delicious'?"  Smiiiiiiiirk.  Oh Lord, the puns.  And he nods to Urus's mention of magic.  "Makes two of us," he confirms.  "Though people like you don't exist in my world either, not really."

Rayne grins at Urus.  "Yes, magic.  Always a nice thing to have up your sleeve, even if you're just a neophyte like I am!"  She then tilts her head to Kazuki.  "Suza-wha?"   She shakes her head.  "Never heard the name before.  And...  yes, a wizard did it...    and...  magically delicious?"   She blinks, completely not getting it.  Apparently she didn't have Lucky Charms commercials running wherever she grew up.

Urus Busts out hyena like cackling at Kazuki's pun and almost falls over laughing, being completely caught off guard as well as someone else with his sense of humor. After a few seconds he catches up on breathing "That... is good. I am glad I 'Bumped' into you..." a similar smirk appears on his face as he makes an equally horrible pun.  When Kazuki mentions lack of hyena men he is not surprised in the slightest. "Do not worry. People like me do not exist in my world too." The smirk shrinks slightly for the slight joke but a serious comment just the same.

Kazuki starts to laugh when Rayne looks so utterly confused by his statement.  From his baritone speaking voice, his laughter is quite a bit higher in pitch.  Once he gets himself under control again, he explains, "It was... a cereal commercial.  The mascot was this leprechaun, it was the cereal at the end of the rainbow instead of gold, and these kids were always stealing it.  'They're Magically Delicious' was the slogan."  He chuckles.  "In all seriousness, I was wondering if he was cute."  Urus's laughter gets a grin.  "Ah-ha.  Someone else who knows the ways of the groan-worthy pun," he surmises.  And a snicker, too, at the pun.  Though he tilts his head at the mention of hyena-men not existing in Urus's world.  "Did something happen to you?" he asks.

Rayne blinks, considering what Kazuki said.  "Cereal...   Oh, okay.  Yeah, just so you know, I didn't really grow up in an earth culture until I was 13, when I moved to Italy.  So...  yeah, didn't run into that particular brand."   She shrugs, then grins.  "While magic exists in my world, most people don't think Phoenixes do."   She then frowns, looking back to Kazuki again.  "Did I not mention that part to you before?"

Urus seems to be enjoying himself. Even visibly pleased, which is slightly more uncommon for him than your average person so... there is that. "I remember those commercials when I was a little boy on my trip to Terra. Never knew what was going on till I was older. Was still learning English then." He smiles being able to somehow connect with someone out here in twisted, even as small a thing as this, Really helps the morale. "Magic in my world is a myth and for stories, not something taken too seriously, because the magic as most people around here know it, does not exist where I come from. " as for what happened where to start. "I will not bore you with details. It was not my greatest moment anyways. If you really want to know we can talk about this later. but let us leave it off with the fact that I used to be human once, and I am one of a kind."

Kazuki nods to Rayne's explanation.  "I keep forgetting that," he admits.  "I lived so long in 'there's only one world' that while I'm here I forget that there's somewhere around a metric f... butt-load."  The hesitation, yes.  It's telling.  Kazuki has to make an EFFORT not to be foul-mouthed.  "You might have."  This to mentioning it.  "I'm still getting used to all this.  My brain isn't retaining it all yet."  A chuckle.  Urus's mention of the cereal gets a nod.  "The slogan should have been 'They're Magically Diabetes'," he notes, with a smirk.  "Closest thing they have to magic in my world is what a singer can do.  But that's about it."  The words of what happened to Urus, as sparse as they are, do open Kazuki's eyes.  "Ah, I see.  That makes sense."

Rayne laughs and shakes her head.  "Luckily for me, my father made me learn English in addition to Italian.  The English was harder, not as much of an immersive thing going, but I did eventually get it pretty well.  But it sure payed off when it more or less became the Terran standard language.  Something about it being the most common second language or something, so more people knew it."  She shrugs, then tilts her head at comparing singing to magic.  "Really?  ''Singers'' are the closest thing you have to mages?"

Urus  mentions "yeah, learning that your not the only universe out there is not an easy task. I had a bit of trouble with that too. You get used to asking before assumption of where they come from." There is a definite "mmmhmm" when Rayne talks about the standard Terran language. "Even where I come from this is one of two possible languages that you are likely to come across. That and Yesli kto-to ponimayet eto ya lyublyu tebya." Pausing to see if anyone understood the Russain.

The mention of English gets a disgusted face from Kazuki.  "English is a weird language.  I also happen to suck pretty bad at it."  And he nods at the mention of singers.  "Yeah.  Though it's not just 'Look at me I sing pretty'.  There's something in the music.  Though I don't really know what.  I just know it's there."  Urus's statement about universes gets a chuckle.  "It'll probably just take some time, yeah."  Though he raises an eyebrow at the Russian.  "Sorry, I only really speak Japanese.  I can understand English, but I can't speak it very well."

Urus snaps his fingers and sighs in disappointment. "well it was worth shot." Giving up on that idea quick. "Spiral arm... that would take centuries for those from my world, er universe. Took us nearly 60 years to get out of our own solar system." The tone making it sound like leaving the solar system was no big deal despite the fact that it was one of the only reasons he had a job. "You cannot speak English well... ummm" and an obvious eyebrow raise." Obviously twisted has not yet run out of supprises."

Kazuki nods to Rayne's mention of the singing from his world.  "That's also possible," he agrees.  "If so, we got shafted, though.  No shapechanging, no lighting things on fire... nothing cool like that."  Urus's mention of leaving the solar system gets a nod.  "We didn't until we reverse-engineered tech from a crashed alien ship."  As for his English being bad?  He smirks.  "Ooat du yu sink?  Ai sink Engurishu as meid jass tu bi deeficurt."  He pauses then, and works his jaw as if in pain.  Back to his native tongue he observes, "I think I actually popped something."  He hasn't, he's being a smartass.

Rayne says, "Yeah, the Sidrans have been spacefaring for waaaay more than 60 years, Urus.   A few millenia at the least...  I'm not that well versed in my Sidra arm history, sadly, so not sure if it's as long as Tyrians or not...."   She blinks, looking to Kazuki as he starts speaking...  English?  She blinks, now a bit unsure of herself in other things.  "Wait, what language have I been speaking this whole time?"

"Well I got the ability to eat uncooked meat and have people mistake me for some kind of dog. Science I my realm has screwed me over too." On the fact that magic is not giving Kazuki anything good. Urus gives a strange look to Rayne as Kazuki attempts apparently English. "So wait.... I could have had it adapt to my native language! Akh der'mo. Well... what have you been trying Rayne?" as to the brand new language debate.  Have they all just found something on their own or had they stumbled upon common knowledge... all at the same time. "You see Kazuki... you sound like you are speaking perfect English... right now."

Kazuki smirks, slightly self-derisively.  "My English sucks balls, I know."  Though the question of what language gets a blink.  "...You both sound like you're speaking Japanese to me," he observes.  Pause, and he looks between Rayne and Urus.  "Well, it makes sense.  I mean... if there's going to be bazillions of worlds from umpteen different cultures, what's the guarantee they're all going to speak the exact same language?"

Rayne tilts her head, looking a bit confused.  "Honestly, I've not even been thinking about what language I've been speaking...   I speak four fluently, five more not so well."   She frowns and scratches at the back of her head.  "Japanese is none of those languages, by the way.  Yeah, I'd have to put it to...  whatever is bringing us here, they like the people to communicate with each other.   Ugh...  this place gives me a headache sometimes."

Urus is still baffled by the fact that Twisted continues to feed strange secrets one by one. However when Kazuki puts it as commonplace as It simply makes sense with everything around, it's hard to argue against the point. "Well.. This is... interesting. Would love to get hands on whatever is doing this... is amazing." Then he ponders for a few seconds before complaining. "Well that means the 4 years I spent in school learning new language was wasted here. Wish I had known that then." The conversation had taken a quick turn for the bizarre and was unsure where they had left off.

Kazuki starts to laugh when Rayne mentions a headache.  "You get used to getting your mind blown, I'm sure," he replies.  "Hell, happened to me the first time I saw a full-sized Zentradi.  There just weren't any in the neighborhood I grew up in."  As for Urus's training being wasted?  "Not necessarily.  I still didn't understand the other language you spoke, so there's that."  Smirk.  "I'm glad, this means I can sing in my native language and be understood."

Rayne shrugs to Urus.  "How often did you need the second language before you came here, after all?"   With a shake of her head, she turns to Kazuki.  "No...  no, I don't think there's ever getting completely used to this place.  Something will come out of the woods and surprise you."

"A lot actually." Urus Replies " population without actually counting was about half and half out there. And sometimes the money came from people of the opposite language." It was pretty simple. If you were able to talk to the person, they were more likely to hire you. Period.  Kazuki's mention of not understanding the other language, while still confusing how some words work and others don't  simply gets put down as " It is my native language as you call it. It is the one I grew up with.  Strangely the one I learned got more use."

Kazuki snickers at Rayne's mention of getting used to Twisted.  "That's quite possible," he replies.  "But it's definitely good for people who like a little bit of surprise in their lives, right?"  As to Urus's words?  "Huh.  Weird."  Pause.  "Then again, this place is... well, this place."

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