simulsimul | another thing; w/ fafnirs and skeletonenigma; cw for suicide talk

[That makes things a little easier. Now they only need to pass the time until Kratos starts showing signs of exhaustion. Skulduggery doesn't mind that; he's spent enough of the last five years being unable to move forward on anything while he waits for Valkyrie to finish whatever she happens to be doing at the time. Waiting on other people describes roughly 40% of his undead life.]

Road. Street. Asphalt. Drive. Crosswalk. [He glances back a little.] Intersection.

[Then, on a whim, he makes a broad gesture indicating all the buildings, the people, the entire area around them.]

Dublin.

[Kratos seems headed toward the department store. That might pose a small problem; Skulduggery's used his magical facade for almost half an hour now. China was very clear on the time limit. Somehow, Skulduggery thinks losing his false face in the middle of a crowded shop would be a terrible idea.

Then again, he has stretched the time limit before.

Then again then again, that resulted in his facial features drooping right off his skull.]

[Kratos repeats those words to himself to ensure they encode in the cruxis crystal. Pity none of them overlaid the ones Skulduggery had used before. The sheer depth of vocabulary here is inefficient and incredible; Kratos can only imagine how Raine would react to it.

[Dublin. That sounded different to the others; more like the non-Sylvarant language Skulduggery had used earlier. And the sweeping way Skulduggery indicates their surrounds -- well, it's hard to tell whether he means the whole city, or just the nature of the avenue down which they're walking. Given the similarity to that first language, Kratos guesses he's referring to the city. Interesting, the difference; bilingal nation, at the very least.

[They're within range of the singing children, now. Kratos pauses by the window and can't help but smile at their happiness and the way they're bundled up in scarves and coats -- though not any more than would indicate they're used to the temperature.

[Then, as frequently happens, Kratos remembers that he missed this era of Lloyd's life, and his smile fades into an impassive kind of melancholy. He turns instead to the window to look at the lettered bunting hung behind the glass, and the decorated tree inside. There's sparkling ropes and baubles on the branches, and wrapped gifts at the base, and at the top --

[Kratos's eyebrows shoot up and then pull down in a frown nearly immediately after. There's an angel on the top of that tree. Turning to Skulduggery he points and asks:]

Angel?

[Skulduggery's been watching Kratos while they haltingly communicate. So far, the man's been strangely difficult to read. It's not that he doesn't have facial expressions, because he does -- albeit rarely. He'd smiled at the carolers. It's more that he has expressions, and... that's it. No tics, no fluidity, no chaos of even a minor nature. It's like he lets the experience of one emotion end before he has another one.

Because of that, all Skulduggery sees is the smile, and afterwards, nothing. There's no in-between, no hints as to what the smile means or what it's connected to.

The frown is the first time Skulduggery gets an inkling of anything deeper beneath the surface, and even then, he can't be sure. Fear? No, that's not right. Anger? No. Irritation? That's a little closer.]

Angel.

[He's frowning in return, but with curiosity.]

You don't like angels?

[For a single dizzying second Skulduggery's forcibly reminded of the Faceless Ones and their aspirations to godhood. But he's never met one who looked even remotely like an angel -- and unfortunately he's met quite a few of them.

He looks at the top of the tree, then back at Kratos.] Maybe you've had bad experiences with angels. [This is mostly muttered to himself.] You don't look like you're scared of them, though. You look more like someone's brought up an annoying acquaintance you don't like. [Head tilt.] Do you know angels?

[There's something there, something that makes sense, but Skulduggery can't quite put his finger on it. Talking out loud sometimes helps.]

[It's fairly clear that Skulduggery isn't talking to Kratos for most of this, but those times where he does, the questions are obvious. The word for 'angel' definitely features, with a slight shift in consonant which suggests some additional form of sentence construction.

[But Kratos doesn't know what the questions are -- and he doubts that he'd be willing to answer them even if he did. Of all the times to arrive on another human-inhabited planet, and it has to be during a religious winter festival where angels feature. He is definitely avoiding pulling his wings for as long as possible.

[Kratos returns Skulduggery's look with an impassive one of his own, and then turns to the letters in the bunting, pointing at them.]

What's the script?

[It looks similar to the common tongue, for which Kratos has some mixed feelings. Mizuho's language is complex, but he could have used symbols to encompass whole concepts right about now. Individual letters are going to take longer.]

[Skulduggery finds the questions about angels more important, but he has to admit that it'll be difficult to get answers to those questions when they're still unable to understand each other. So he files the information away for later, lets his subconscious mull over it, and turns to the glittering bunting.]

Merry Christmas. [It's a little hard to miss how some of Skulduggery's earlier enthusiasm has now faded from his voice. He really, really does not like Christmas. A beat, and then he points to each letter in turn, naming them as he goes.]

Merry. [He smiles, and points to his own face.] Christmas. [And he hesitates, looking around, because how on earth does one go about describing a holiday without words?

He should really see about getting out of public soon.]

[Skulduggery's discomfort is fairly impossible to miss, particularly the sour note in his voice he reads the sign. Not that he can blame the ... man; given the little Kratos knows, he's not too happy about the occasion himself. It's fairly obvious, regardless, the name of the festival. Now that he's listening, too, the word 'angel' seems to feature a disproportionate amount in the song the children are singing.

[It's the individual letters Kratos wants, however, and those are what he mouths to himself, ignoring everything else.

[Then something in Skulduggery's mana flickers and Kratos glances toward him again. The surface movement of his mana-signature seems changed -- sluggish, like a chipped exsphere leaking mana. For an instant he can even sense the spark of mana-charge on Skulduggery's collarbones. So that's the source of the surface movement. What would happen if it fails?]

Do you need to do something about that?

[Kratos points, without touching, at Skulduggery's collarbone.]

[Now that's impressive, and Skulduggery makes no attempt to hide his surprise. The facade is still fairly new in sigil-crafting circles, at least to his knowledge; and no one else in this dimension has his unique circumstances. Picking out where the disguise originates from?

Kratos can summon lightning, possibly see magic, and definitely crack pavement. Crack pavement after falling a good distance. On top of that, he has strong feelings about angels.

There's an answer half-formed at the back of Skulduggery's mind, and he's honestly not sure whether he wants to be right or not, so he doesn't ask.]

It's a disguise. A -- hm. [Without a demonstration, this is going to be very difficult. Not to mention, at this point, Skulduggery isn't sure a demonstration would be wise even in private. He's not completely sure why, except that if he is right, then being dead might be some kind of personal offence.

He's probably not right.]

I'll show you later. It might be easier if we can understand each other first, and my friend might have a way to help us with that.

[Skulduggery glances at his watch.]

Although necessity might say otherwise. Come on. Let's see how well you handle being inside a car.

[And Skulduggery walks off toward the parking garage, making it quite clear he's expecting Kratos to follow.]

[Kratos waits patiently for Skulduggery to finish talking himself around to a conclusion, and follows as Skulduggery moves off further down the street. They have to pass the singing children to get there; and although the song is different, Kratos recognises the word 'angel' from this one too.

[He just can't escape his angelic nature, it seems. More to the point, how could the concept of the same being, even to the point of looking similar, cross solar systems? He might have thought the elves responsible, except that the elves had existed long before angels came into being.

[Skulduggery leads him past some store-fronts, and by chance Kratos looks in the window. It seems to be a children's store, given the bright colours; but it isn't until Kratos spots books and stationery which are clearly to teach children their letters that it occurs to him there might be something inside useful for figuring out the language.]

Skulduggery.

[Kratos waits a moment for Skulduggery to turn and then points to one of the books. There are children's books in the window, but deeper into the store he can see thicker tomes which indicate there are books for adults as well.]

I don't suppose you're willing to loan me some currency?

[A bookstore. Is Kratos a reader, or is he hoping the books inside will help him learn how to communicate? Probably the latter, and it's not a bad idea.]

OK. We can't browse for long, but --

[He stops again. Did he have the foresight to leave his usual disguise in the car? Hopefully.]

Tell you what.

[Skulduggery pulls out his wallet and counts out the cash he has left. Enough for three or four books, maybe, provided the books aren't large hardcovers. Kratos seems smart enough to work it out, at any rate, so Skulduggery hands him the cash.]

Go ahead and spend it all at once. I'll be back.

[To illustrate the point, Skulduggery points at himself, then his collarbone, then the car park down the street. Then he points at Kratos, holds up a finger in an echo of his earlier sign for wait, and points at the store.]

Understand?

[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.]

[When Skulduggery walks into the shop, he's wearing a thick scarf wrapped around the bottom half of his head, a pair of large dark sunglasses, and a very fuzzy wig poking out beneath a hat pulled low over his brow. It draws more than a few strange looks, but the important thing is that not one inch of his face is visible. He'd get much worse than a few strange looks if anyone realised why he's thin as a rake.

The store's a little bigger than it looks from the outside. When Skulduggery finds Kratos and the sales assistant, there's a small pile of books on top of a display near them, and there's that particular air of determined frustration around the woman while Kratos examines what looks like a dictionary.]

Kratos, there you are. Having a bit of trouble?

[The sales assistant looks relieved.]

You speak English?

Yes, I do. Sorry to leave him here on his own. I had an emergency. [Skulduggery looks over at the dictionary.] That's not going to be very much help, I'm afraid.

[The assistant sighs.] I know. I've been trying to figure out what language he speaks so I can get him something useful.

That's not going to work. I don't think he speaks any language we know.

What?

It's a long story. [Skulduggery thinks for a moment.] You'll have to pretend he's a child. An exceptionally intelligent child, but a child nonetheless. Do you have any picture books for learning the alphabet?

Uh --

And a thesaurus, come to think of it. He might find that useful.

[The woman frowns at him. In lieu of being able to give her a reassuring smile, Skulduggery simply bows his head.] Please.

[Kratos looks toward Skulduggery before Skulduggery even says his name, his gaze piercing and face showing nothing of the unease he's feeling. He knew it was Skulduggery approaching because of that blend of elements (why is the shadow opposed to the other four, when wind and earth ought to be opposites?), but that's the only reason why.

[Without that oily surface, Skulduggery's mana proves to be crystalline and unyielding, like an undead being; yet his signature is as complete as any sentient creature. Not a monster, but undead. That's ... unnerving. The fact that Skulduggery chooses to be so completely clothed does not bode well.

[Most of the ensuing conversation goes over Kratos's head, but having been hearing the language for a while now, and with extensive experience in the manner in which language moves, there's at least one thing he manages to figure out.]

English?

[He lifts the book and taps it. Knowing the name of the language he's trying to learn would be extremely useful.]

Edited (add a thot) 2016-12-17 21:01 (UTC)

See? An exceptionally intelligent child. [Skulduggery nods at Kratos.] Yes. English. Well done.

[There's a flicker of expressions across the sales assistant's face, and in any other setting she likely would have asked -- or accused them of playing some elaborate joke on her, judging by the expressions her face is flickering through. But perhaps she's had one too many altercations with a customer, because she simply goes:] I'll see what I can find. [And leaves them alone.

Skulduggery, meanwhile, turns to Kratos and holds out his hand.] Can I have my money back, please?

[Good. They're getting somewhere, if slowly; and now Kratos knows the word for an affirmative. He lowers the book, watching the woman's shifting emotions with some degree of curiosity. What had Skulduggery said to her? Hmh.

[Skulduggery's request gets a blank look, but the hand is practically universal; Kratos finds the money Skulduggery had given him, but doesn't give it back right away. Instead he holds it up.]

Currency. Yes?

[The 'yes', in English, with a nod.]

No.

[That, in Tethe'allan, with a shake of his head. Get that out of the way first, and then he can learn the numbering system using the money.]

OK. [Skulduggery's head has tilted a little to the side in confusion.] We've established you're an exceedingly blatant thief. That's a good first step. Do you want the translation?

[He pauses, then carefully repeats the word Kratos used, following it up with:] Money. Currency. Payment.

[Whatever Skulduggery's saying, Kratos only stares back blandly, until Skulduggery's words take the cadence from earlier -- the repeat of the words. Alright. They can start there. Kratos repeats those words and then nods.]

Yes.

[Again, this is in English. He finds the smallest of the coins, hoping that the size corresponds with the number on it, and holds it up.]

Money. Currency. Payment.

[In English. Then, in Tethe'allan:]

Coin.

[He holds up the banknote and shakes his head. They've never had anything like that, on Aselia. He holds up the coin again, and repeats the word 'coin'. Then he taps the number on it, and holds up a finger on his other hand.]

One?

[Ah. He wants to know more about the denominations.

It's a good thing Kratos is exceptionally intelligent, Skulduggery reflects, or this would be much more trouble than it's worth. As it is, he's glad he let the cloaked woman get away; this is an intellectual exercise he hasn't had in a very long time.]

No. [Skulduggery holds up five fingers instead.] Five. Five cents. We do have one-cent coins -- [Four fingers lower, leaving one finger raised.] -- but Ireland avoids using them. I don't have any there. [He points at the cash Kratos has and shakes his head.

In this strangely fluid form of communication, they manage to identify most of the coins before the sales assistant returns. Skulduggery's glad for that; if Kratos's culture, whatever it may be, doesn't use banknotes, then it would have been difficult to explain that the note represented both 5 euros, and 500 cents.]

Will this help? [The assistant holds up a children's thesaurus, a little smaller than Skulduggery might have expected, but complete with pictures. She also presents an alphabet book, roughly kindergarten-level, or so Skulduggery assumes. He doesn't know much about the public education system.]

What do you think, Kratos? [He indicates the books.] Can you use these?

[It's an educational few minutes. By the time the woman returns, Kratos has 'no', the numbers zero to nine, and some level of understanding the currency system. It's still fairly nonsensical, and nothing like the system of weighted gold coins he's familiar with, but at least he should be able to use the coins.

[It's the paper notes he's more concerned about. The numbers on them go high, and he doesn't know how many coins equates to a note.

[Kratos hands the money back to Skulduggery and takes the books, flicking through them with all customary gravity. The book of letters he can see will immediately be useful. The other will as well, but it's much thinner than the book of words he already has; after a moment he concludes that's probably just as well. Between the three books he appears to have the resources from extremely basic to advanced. Surely that will be enough.

[He looks up and nods firmly.]

Yes.

Temporary exceedingly blatant thief. [Skulduggery mutters as he takes the money back, earning him an odd look from the sales assistant. He waves a hand to indicate she shouldn't pay any mind, then points to the books Kratos has.]

We'll take both of those and the dictionary, please.

[With the books scanned and paid for, Skulduggery leads Kratos back out into the street, where it's begun to snow. It's only a little flurry, and the snowflakes melt the moment they hit the ground, but it's still enough to put a scattering of white on peoples' shoulders.]

I'm a skeleton. [Skulduggery points at the dictionary.] See if you can look that up before we get to the car. Skeleton. S.

[Not that Kratos will be able to read the definition, but who knows. Maybe there'll be pictures.]

[There's Yuan's tone again. Kratos throws Skulduggery an amused glance and follows the woman to the counter where money changes hands. He pays very close attention to the transaction, looking at the numbers on the back of the books, and eyeing the machine she uses with curiosity. In comparison to the value of gald, these seem very cheap. Kratos repeats 'Merry Christmas' before they leave, and the dubious frustration in the woman's face dissolves as she smiles and says it back.

[Outside, the snow is at least familiar; but it brings with it some feelings. Kratos looks up into the sky and remembers the evening he met with Lloyd in Flanoir, pressing his hand against the locket under his shirt. Lloyd had given it back to him before he left.

['You can't go out there without us,' Lloyd had said. The thought makes Kratos smile unconsciously. He hadn't opened it until long after they'd left Aselia. He hadn't realised, until then, that Lloyd had commissioned a picture on the locket's inside door, of himself and Colette, Genis and Raine.

[Skulduggery talking pulls Kratos's attention from the sky, and he follows the other man down the street. It's obvious which book Skulduggery intends for him to use, but Kratos goes to the one with the letters instead, flipping through it until he finds the 'S'. He remembers it from the 'Christmas'. There's a few images there. A snake, a sun, a face with a 'sad' expression.

[Kratos opens the larger books as they walk, noting the order of the letters in the smaller book to find the place in the larger one. There aren't any helpful pictures in this one, and there are ... a great many words.]

Skeleton?

[It's a bit questioning. Some of the sounds are unfamiliar.]

[Ah, well. It was a bit of a long shot.]

Yes. That's me. [Skulduggery points to himself.] I'll show you what it means once we're a little more out of sight. Pity you couldn't have landed here a couple of months ago.

[At least then, there would have been a couple of skeletons in the store windows.

Time travel still isn't entirely out of the question, but more and more Skulduggery suspects that Kratos is from another world without streetlights, without paper money, and without many forms of technology Dublin takes for granted. On top of that, he still has the niggling suspicion from earlier, the vivid memory of Kratos's face settling into an irritated frown upon seeing the little decorative angel.

Again, Skulduggery wishes Valkyrie were here. Again, he has to wonder exactly what it is she hasn't been telling him.

Once Skulduggery and Kratos make it into the parking garage, which a great deal emptier than the street outside, Skulduggery looks around to make sure they're not in sight of any security cameras and then pulls his glove back just far enough to reveal the gleaming white bone underneath.]

There. Skeleton.

[So then. It's a word for Skulduggery -- but Kratos doubts it's a word for human. Kratos leafs through the books some more, and by the time he thinks to point out one of the other passersby to ask what they are, they're already inside where it's far emptier of people. He feels marginally more secure, at least. It's a building, but the ceiling and pillars are thick stone; and though he can still sense the light and lightning mana in them which indicates the presence of wiring, at least if he has to use stone he can be assured he won't risk destroying whatever power source the city uses.

[Kratos peers at the bones of Skulduggery's wrist. It's a cleaner bone than the dank, splitting bones of the skeletons Kratos is used to destroying. That matches; Skulduggery's being appears more ... whole.]

Hmh.

[With that being the only reaction Kratos continues in the direction they'd been heading. A young man moves at cross purposes to them, toward one of the stationary vehicles sitting in a marked lot. Kratos turns back to Skulduggery and inclines his head toward the young man.]

Human. Skeleton?

[The first is in Tethe'allan; the second in English, both low enough not to be noticed by the man across the way.]

[If Skulduggery still had a face, he'd be frowning. He had been hoping Kratos's reaction wouldn't be negative, of course, but he'd been prepared in case it had. What he didn't expect was no reaction at all.

And yet, there is one -- just one Skulduggery can't see. Kratos seems to understand there's a difference between what Skulduggery is and what everyone else is, but he hasn't shown any sign of surprise, either. Like he's met living skeletons before. Like the fact of Skulduggery's existence is normal to him.]

No. [Well, in a way, but that level of semantics is not one Skulduggery feels like descending to until they've gotten a little better at communicating.] Human. Mortal.

[He hesitates, and shakes his head.] Not mortal. Forget mortal. Human.

[Skulduggery would prefer not to be the one who passes on demeaning bias to their world's first interdimensional visitor. He likes to think he's better than that.]

['Not' is near enough to 'no' that Kratos gets the gist of that one, and the rest answers his question sufficiently.]

Human.

[He repeats that thoughtfully in English, then again in Tethe'allan, and comes back to Skulduggery. His gaze is probing and thoughtful as he looks at Skulduggery and Skulduggery's frankly ridiculous outfit. Skeleton, for what had obviously been bones; presumably the word for a complete bone structure of an organic being. Kratos nods toward him.]

Skulduggery. Human skeleton?

[Or is he the skeleton of something else? Their scans had shown human mana, but there had been so much of it that if there's any other sentient beings on the planet, they hadn't been able to tell from Derris-Kharlan.]

[Skulduggery doesn't answer right away, surprised yet again. When he does speak, there's a smile in his voice.]

Yes. Human skeleton.

[Which implies Kratos is familiar with skeletons, but not with human ones. That is, if Skulduggery's being perfectly honest with himself, a little terrifying.

He gestures at Kratos and asks the question before he can think it through too much.] Are you human?

[He looks human, but so do vampires. So do angels, as a matter of fact, apart from a select few obvious differences.]

another thing; w/ fafnirs and skeletonenigma; cw for suicide talk

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject