[WORLD TWO | SIGNET MELTDOWN MINGLE]

[spellbindmods]

Who: Anyone!
Where: Everywhere
When: Day 197-200
Open/Closed: OTA

[ If you've never experienced that ear-splitting, spine-tingling, bone-crushing headache that comes with Qri doing...something...then you're in for a treat. It lasts for about an hour on the first day, though usually it fades after a while and things go back to normal.

This time, you aren't so lucky. As soon as the headache passes, you notice there's a certain something missing within you. You may not notice it immediately, but the next time you hear someone talk their words might be equivalent to gibberish. When you go to ask someone what's going on with your telepathy, you find that your words just circle your own brain, no one answering because the message simply can't be received.

This...may be a problem. Hopefully you know how to play charades. ]

Comments

[alienates]

[ karkat quickly walks by, stops, and walks backwards until he's next to terezi. ]

Are you drawing more fanart?

[terezias]

This is an original story. Do not steal.

[She grins, though; she's happy to see Karkat.]

I presume you have noticed the language changes by now.

[terezias]

He may not be permitted a defense. You are not always, in Alternian court.

[She taps her chalk against her chin thoughtfully, though.]

Sometimes they try to pin their crimes on a lowblood underling. This works more often than you would expect.

[terezias]

[Helpfully, still in English:]

It is a public trial and execution. He has embezzled some funds.

[Yeah, good luck translating that.]

[terezias]

[She tilts her head at Dia. Still in English:]

You are speaking a strange human language, too. Would you like chalk?

[She holds out a stick of green chalk, helpfully.]

[alienates]

We can still understand our humans. What the fuck. Did they copy everything from us?

[ although they can't understand... every human? which is interesting. ]

[quakeitoff]

[Keiichi is exactly the kind of person to oblivious continue rambling at someone as they walk off, so, that works]

But I'm new, so, I guess there's still a lot I don't know!

[He does stop there, though, and lean in expectantly for a response. He's done!! Really really!!!]

[idolpedia]

[From she did understand, at least Terezi wasn't being too offensive? She takes a breath. Trying again.]

Did you...do that?

[IN ENGLISH THIS TIME. Raising a brow at the chalk.]

Me?

[witchhooded]

[ this? it's scandalous. the worst. jade slaps a hand over her mouth and raises her brows so high they nearly collide with her hairline. ]

That's terrible! Everyone deserves a chance, how else will you find out the truth??

[alienates]

So... what the fuck.

[ it, interesting enough, sounds like english. ]

[toblueskies]

[ this pain was entirely new to Ritsuka. the disorientation was different from the after-effects of Rayshifting, too, and this made for a deadly combination. she couldn't make out what people were shouting about as she passed them by, shouldering her way roughly off of the crowded streets to try and find somewhere where she could calm herself down and reorient her thoughts.

she didn't understand why this was happening, and for a brief moment she didn't care, just just needed to move.

—or run directly into someone else who was fleeing for the same reasons. that works, too. at least pained groans are universally understood? ]

[osuni]

[It's truly Okuni's lucky day to have attracted a generous soul such as Haru's...]

Oh, Harucchi! As expected, you understand right away, huh?

[The fact that she can understand her doesn't surprise her, since she's clearly Japanese. TRULY, LUCK STRIKES AGAIN]

And you have good timing too! Let's go eat something yummy.

[TREAT HER!!! she's poor]

[osuni]

[Okuni awakening everyone's hunger for riceballs...

also look josuke, okuni has very good reasons for holding up this sign.]

Obviously! [She says, as if this should be very obvious, even though JOSUKE IS RIGHT, WHY ISN'T OKUNI GETTING FOOD FOR HERSELF... She cocks her head in realization at understanding him, oooh lucky...] I'm starving. I haven't eaten anything for days!

[she ate something five hours ago...]

And I just got fired from my job, so I'm feeling all wobbly at the moment... I could really faint at any moment...

[osuni]

[JUST A HEADACHE... Okuni squints. Is Keiichi surprisingly more resilient than she expected?]

Weird or not, it's a nuisance. And I expect we won't get any concrete answers unless we kidnap an official and torture him.

[...]

Maybe that's what we should do!

[witchwithoutacause]

[ Shouldering through crowds? Amanda would've hurt everyone between her and a nice place to sit down if she'd been further away. Just let her give up. On life. On functioning. Practically clinging to a bench, she mostly kinda actually ignored Ritsuka. ]

[toblueskies]

[ Ritsuka didn't look ahead to where she was going, just that the park was less busy right now. there were regulars there that did recognize her, though — of the feline variety.

one started poking and prodding at the prone girl's head, to try and get her to stop hogging the whole thing to herself. ]

[witchwithoutacause]

[ Cats? Cats are cool except when they're being a pain in the ass like half the time. Amanda looked at a cat and hissed at it very convincingly - she even had a face like a pissed off cat herself. ]

[toblueskies]

That's not going to work. [ close now, one hand clutching her head and one eye shut, Ritsuka was watching the scene unfold as the girl and the cat vied for dominance over the bench.

the cat turned to her, then, and made a curious sound. Ritsuka addresses it directly, telling it to back off, which renders her speech untranslatable to Amanda.

—and when she continues speaking in the cat's tongue to the girl, not realizing it, that doesn't help either.

you know. like "nya"? ]

[witchwithoutacause]

[ It also kinda hurt her head more. Amanda was super ready to fight an entire

army? tribe? gang?

of cats. Amanda tilts her head, looking up at the strange girl speaking cat language. ]

Um. ...me...ow?

[toblueskies]

[ of course that doesn't sound like anything to Ritsuka except a human trying to make cat noises. what kind of poor dialect...?

the cat definitely laughed. or as much as a cat can laugh. Ritsuka sighed and shooed it away. now was not the time to deal with having to play peacemaker; she would rather the conflict be avoided altogether, even if it meant relocating a stray. she'll just come back and feed them later.

meanwhile, she still has to deal with the girl. at least the ringing in her ears has stopped. opening her mouth once more, nothing clear comes out. she's pointing at her collarbone now, beneath the line of the colorful scarf she's wearing (and has been wearing almost non-stop for weeks).

"signet"? ]

[witchwithoutacause]

[ In more magically dense places Amanda... might be able to muddle through cat? She was pretty sure talking to animals was possible without her wand, at least.

...here she was just a little lost. At least her headache had downgraded.

Amanda tilted her head, and pointed at her own collarbone too for a moment - oh right. Amanda nodded quickly. ]

[toblueskies]

Yours is working? [ with the cat gone, Ritsuka finally reverted to speaking Japanese. she misinterpreted the answer to her unobvious question. ]

[witchwithoutacause]

Uh. Um.

[ Amanda blinked. That was wrong. Oh god. What is going on she should be able to magically understand - those fuckers fucked with their magic translators? ]

Cone. Knee. Chee. Wuh?

[ ....h e l p ]

[toblueskies]

[ that was unexpected, indeed. Ritsuka is momentarily stunned but, well, she shouldn't be rude with someone's accent. an attempt was made... even if it didn't answer her question. ] Konnichiwa.

Are you able to reach anyone else? My head hurts and I don't know what happened. [ she talks so fast, I'm sorry. ]

[witchwithoutacause]

...nope.

[ Well she tried but the only Japanese person she's really met before coming here was... actually pretty good at English! And Amanda never had time to learn more than like five words. ]

Uh, sorry? Hello? Do you... know any English?