[The currency is nothing like Kratos has seen before, and he fingers one of the notes dubiously. It's easy enough to see the denominations, at least, though that doesn't tell him how many adds up to each note. The few coins are at least more familiar, though when he feels out the sense of them, he can tell the mineral is not particularly pure. Still, pure enough that there's nothing much he can do with it, mana-wise.
[Certainly nothing like the gald he has in one of the pouches on his belt, at least. Gold is a rare enough mineral on his own world; now he has to wonder whether it's similarly rare here. It's for the best that he doesn't need to find out.
[Of more interest is the fact that, apparently, the sluggish mana seeping from Skulduggery's collarbones is a rather urgent matter. If Skulduggery is dead underneath, then -- what will show once that illusion wears off? Likely not anything that should be seen in public.]
Yes.
[Kratos nods once with the affirmative. Sometime he'll need to get those words from Skulduggery. For now, though, he moves to enter the store. It isn't much like the stores he knows; the sheer amount of paper in this place is enough for a library on its own. If the people on this planet are as literate in text as they are in radio transmissions, spirits only know how many books there might be. The Sages would be beside themselves.
[He isn't wrong. He spends some minutes wandering around, lost among all the books and no way to tell what is what. Finally he finds a bookcase with books written in a script which looks very like the language of Mizuho, save that none of it makes any sense. There are other scripts there also -- various of them look familiar in a similar way, though some of them are only similar to languages long dead.
[It's while Kratos is sorting through these that a woman in a uniform appears to greet him cheerfully with the 'Merry Christmas!' and ask a question. Given that the colours of her clothes match that of the store, Kratos assumes she's asking if he needs any help.]
Yes. I don't understand your language.
[And he isn't sure how he's meant to ask her for a book to teach him the script. Unless -- Kratos pauses, and then beckons the woman, and takes her to the children's book in the window. He points to that, then to himself; her face lights with comprehension, and she takes him back to the bookcase where she'd found him.
[It takes significantly more time than Kratos could have wished, but he's patient as he leafs through the books she puts in his hands. Several times he has to point toward the signs and repeat 'Merry Christmas' at her to ensure he has the right language, since it seems there are many with the similar lettering.
[By the time Skulduggery returns, Kratos only has one book which looks as though it suits his needs -- a thick book of words -- and it certainly isn't going to help him learn the script or the grammar. The woman, to her credit, is being remarkably patient with him.]
no subject
[Certainly nothing like the gald he has in one of the pouches on his belt, at least. Gold is a rare enough mineral on his own world; now he has to wonder whether it's similarly rare here. It's for the best that he doesn't need to find out.
[Of more interest is the fact that, apparently, the sluggish mana seeping from Skulduggery's collarbones is a rather urgent matter. If Skulduggery is dead underneath, then -- what will show once that illusion wears off? Likely not anything that should be seen in public.]
Yes.
[Kratos nods once with the affirmative. Sometime he'll need to get those words from Skulduggery. For now, though, he moves to enter the store. It isn't much like the stores he knows; the sheer amount of paper in this place is enough for a library on its own. If the people on this planet are as literate in text as they are in radio transmissions, spirits only know how many books there might be. The Sages would be beside themselves.
[He isn't wrong. He spends some minutes wandering around, lost among all the books and no way to tell what is what. Finally he finds a bookcase with books written in a script which looks very like the language of Mizuho, save that none of it makes any sense. There are other scripts there also -- various of them look familiar in a similar way, though some of them are only similar to languages long dead.
[It's while Kratos is sorting through these that a woman in a uniform appears to greet him cheerfully with the 'Merry Christmas!' and ask a question. Given that the colours of her clothes match that of the store, Kratos assumes she's asking if he needs any help.]
Yes. I don't understand your language.
[And he isn't sure how he's meant to ask her for a book to teach him the script. Unless -- Kratos pauses, and then beckons the woman, and takes her to the children's book in the window. He points to that, then to himself; her face lights with comprehension, and she takes him back to the bookcase where she'd found him.
[It takes significantly more time than Kratos could have wished, but he's patient as he leafs through the books she puts in his hands. Several times he has to point toward the signs and repeat 'Merry Christmas' at her to ensure he has the right language, since it seems there are many with the similar lettering.
[By the time Skulduggery returns, Kratos only has one book which looks as though it suits his needs -- a thick book of words -- and it certainly isn't going to help him learn the script or the grammar. The woman, to her credit, is being remarkably patient with him.]