lostnetwork | ITP: Claiming first in the name of horrible roommates

Let's go then.

'Because if he's this insistent, it must be important to him.'

[So they head off and Kyonko constantly tries to keep the sinking feeling out of her guy. She can't help it. Haruki is here but he's not her Haruki--] '--Not in that way!--' [--and she's stuck here too for who knows how long and he hasn't been home. He hasn't seen the Brigade or his parents or me or anyone for almost three yea--]

'What all happened to you in that other world, Haruki?'

[It's this question that keeps her glancing at him out of the corner of her eye as they wander through the city and for her to walk closer than she normally would alongside him. She's here. If nothing else, she's here for him. It's all she can do right now.]

Yeah, let's. [And so they set off - in silence to begin with, as he allows his thoughts to stew. It's her. It's her, and she isn't the same one. She doesn't remember their experiences, or that Valentines Day, or any of it. It's unfair, really, even if he never expected it to be fair. And... maybe it's for the best.

But she keeps looking at him. Scared. Worried. Possibly even wondering if he's the same person. He remembers the male Kyon's accusation that he wasn't a member of his SOS-Brigade, and wonders if this one will be the same. Even if she's the right gender. ...He can't keep thinking about this- talk. she said to talk, as they walk - well, he'll talk]

It was called Luceti. Everyone had those barcodes I have and wings... I guess I don't keep the wings off-world.

And here it was I was always the one you tried to get into wings. [She tries to keep her tone light and mostly succeeds. Mostly. It's probably the most inappropriate thing to muse about right now given the situation but she's kind of stopped being able to really think. Not really beyond any kind of response to what he says and putting one foot in front of the other.]

'It's still Haruki under there. Just like with the Haruki I met in the other world. A little different, but the core is still the same, right?'

Seriously, they were ridiculous little things too, not even arms length. Cosplay-worthy other than being attached to our back.

[...And he can't help it, he goes to try to flap the wings that are no longer there. In his effort to move the phantom muscles, his shoulder blades shift a bit.]

Did whoever take you there have a fetish for them or something?

[She sees the shoulder shift and wants to ask, but figures it's just a quirk of Haruki's now. Or his shoulders hurt. Or any number of things. Her main concern is making sure he's okay.]

You know, we never did get a clear story for the wings, other than that both us and the Organization's people have them. So it's probably that everyone the world sucked up gets them. Probably to survive Shifting or something... or maybe it's the universal translation.

[A beat]

...You know I haven't thought about it, but have I been speaking Japanese?

[She actually has to stop and think about it for a moment.]

....I think we've been speaking English this whole time.

'Which is kind of disturbing when you really try to analyze the situation. Speaking Japanese is as natural as breathing and yet here I am fluently speaking a language I could barely ever even write in back home like it's second nature. Did they rewire my brain somehow when they brought us here so everyone could talk to each other with no fuss about language barriers?'

[In Japanese, now that she's actively thinking about it:] Am I speaking it now?

[Same from him, represented in green text from here on-] Yeah, you are. That's weird. In Luceti, everything just translated so I heard everything people were speaking in Japanese and they heard my stuff in whatever they spoke. If you focused, you could even "hear" the echo of the translation process before your brain or your wings or whatever auto-corrected it. I guess here, we just speak English instead.

[Which he frankly finds insulting, now that he thinks about it.]

Edited 2012-08-19 05:58 (UTC)

[Then we'll go with green text here, as well!] It's kind of creepy we could be speaking another language without realizing it. Did they rewire our brains or something?

[She scratches the back of her head. It's kind of scary how much something as simple as language can disturb a person when you start to notice someone has been tampering with it.]

Probably, but I think I'll assume enchanted. Given all the species here and that they would want to communicate with us too, maybe it's like a magic cell tower wherein if you're within range you can speak English...

[...That's actually a neat idea. He'll need to ask people, and hope it's something like that. It seems less invasive somehow]

That would be a lot less disturbing than the idea of our brains getting tampered with. The mirrors they gave us are a cross between a tablet and something out of a fantasy movie so I guess that makes sense? It'd make sense with how we're talking people here with wildly different anatomy are the norm here. It was probably here to begin with just so they could hold a decent conversation.

[Yeah, she's so distracted she has no idea she's slipped right back into English. Concentration, thy name is definitely not Kyon.]

[He hears it - now that he's noticed the difference, it's as clear as night and day to him. But Haruki has Pride. It's because of this Pride that he insists on continuing in Japanese even if she might not. By the by as it's dark there isn't many people on the streets, but there are a few folks. Mostly gnomes, but there's a pair of lizard-people cops at that next street corner]

It's a convenient fix, at least. [A pause, and he sighs] I think I prefer Luceti's method, though.

It sounds like it would be a lot less jarring than--[She stops mid-sentence, then concentrates again. Now that she's heard him speak in Japanese and can tell the difference, she's starting to pay attention to her own language.]

It sounds like it would be a lot less jarring than this. You know how bad I was at English. It's weird suddenly being fluent and--

'Wait a minute....'

[She holds up her mirror and looks through the network real quick, her eyes widening.]

I was writing in English, too?!

[Beat.]

I can read English?!

-What seriously? [And he goes to pull the mirror out of her hands so he can check that. There's her voice in English, where's the writing - oh there, the text things at the bottom.

This is, of course, if he pulls it out of her hands fo real]

[She'll pretty much let him with how shocked she is.]

Yeah, it's--er--

It's all there in English. I mean, I could write simple stuff and say the basic phrases before but it was one of my worst subjects in school!

'Something tells me I shouldn't be surprised about this, though.'

Huh. [That's said coolly, as he flips through these responses. Why are all these people using text? Probably because you don't need to write with a pen like you did with Luceti's journals, come to think of it. That does make the writing less weirdly intimate, even if there is a stylus involved.

Wait]

Are these people seriously writing in chatspeak? Seriously? If you were typing- [...But then, Yoohoo wrote like that too. Who is he to talk]

I think some people are too attached to chatspeak or whatever.

[She sighs, crossing her arms as Haruki goes through the entries and she glances around. Yep. The signs around here are in English, too. How hadn't she noticed it before?]

'Never mind. I can probably guess the reason why: It's just been one shock after another today and my mind probably didn't want to register the more subtle ones just yet. Still, who knew something as simple as my language centers being fooled could make me feel even more homesick?'

Yeah, seriously. This is ridiculous, what's even point of coloring your text? I don't even know how to do that yet. I didn't see a drop down menu or anything

[But he's still reading it all :T ]

My only guess is html, but I don't think a lot of people here would even know how to use it so why have it?

More options? Luceti had a lot of stuff other people didn't recognize after a point.

[And finally, having skimmed through it all, he hands it back]

[She takes it back then looks through for a second to make sure he didn't try leaving messages pretending to be her or something.]

Like what? The colored font?

Like microwaves? There's people from backwards worlds out there, you know. you need to be considerate of their limitations.

[...Man he should have left some reply as her. Alas that he didn't want to type while walking]

[THERE WILL BE A NEXT TIME because it is a hilarious thought.]

'Since when is Haruki the one to be considerate? He has a point but I never thought he would actually notice something like that. Then again, this Luceti place did change him a lot from what I can tell.'

I know. I met someone who's from the South Pole, actually. Sokka, I think his name was? I thought we were still talking about networks.

[There's a distinct reaction at Sokka's name. Whether it's good or bad is up in the air, but it's certainly recognition. He sort of doesn't push that though, just giving a sort of grunting confirmation as he slides his hands into his pockets and looking straight ahead]

Yeah, exactly. Plus people from Earth's past.

Like from when? You actually met people like that?

'If this place can pull people from different dimensions, then why not different time periods?'

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