tushanshu | [voice]

[It was hard not to smile at the first part of Adrien's answer. Though she'd already known he was French, it was always nice to have that small reminded of the presence of fellow native speakers. So that, if the magic that allowed everyone to communicate regardless of tongue, she would still have someone to speak French with.]

No, it's not. As far as I know, written as never been translated. Either in person, or over the Network.

That was one of the reasons why I had to start learning English. It seemed like everybody here at one point spoke it, but few of them spoke more than a few words of French.

[It's always paging Captain Obvious with Adrien. Still, it is a comfort knowing there's someone here he can communicate with, should anything happen. ]

I wonder what makes it different. I would have thought translations would work easier with text than anything else.

[Ugh that's a good point. ]

Hm, it seems the popular choice. Is it hard to learn a new language here, what with the natural translating magic here anyway?

[Her nose scrunched up at the memory.]

Sort of.

The good news was that at least Damian spoke French, too, so when he was teaching me, I knew that nothing was getting lost because of the translators. But, on the other hand, I don't actually know what most of these words actually sound like. I can pronounce them as best as I can, but I'm sure I'm far from Fluent.

[kedanese with a French accent.]

So I can tell you what a written word means, but not what it's supposed to sound like.

I see. It makes it all a lot more complicated, doesn't it? Like a whole lot of largely guesswork. Hoping you get the word right and not really being able to have anyone tell you that you're wrong unless the translating thing stops working.

Talk about a catch twenty two.

[Her lips pressed together, confused. She was never all that shy about admitting something she didn't know, but it never made having to ask any easier.]

What's...'catch twenty two'?

Oh right, sorry.

[He'l offer an apologetic smile at least. It's easy to forget not everyone is from home. ]

It means that there's no way out of a situation because both ways to solve it are contradictory. Like you need a key to open a door, but the key is actually on the other side of the locked door.

[A contemplative humm followed.]

That's a...strange saying.

But I can see your point. It's very much like that...Catch-22. For all the convenience of the translators, they do make it that much harder to learn the languages being translated for us.

I guess it is, a little. I think it comes from a book?

Hm, they sure do. Shame there's no real way around that without the translators being turned off which...defeats the whole object.

I'd like to read that book sometime. If I can ever find a copy.

[It might not exist here. It might not even exist back home, or if it did, would only be in a place she could access.]

It would be nice if we could turn it on and off at will. Just to hear all the languages being spoken around here constantly. Then turn it back on to find out what they were saying.

I don't think...I remember that somebody turned the magic off at one point, and all the people who had powers didn't have them anymore. [One might think she'd be pleased at something like that, but the memory came with a small frown; apparently, some magical creatures literally depended upon their powers for survival, and had fallen gravely ill during that time.] But I don't remember any of the translators ever failing. Not once.

Let me knows if it's any good if you do.

[Because hell if he knows what it's like, or even about, really. Catch 22's, he assumes.]

Wow, that really happened? Everyone's powers just vanished? I take it they came back?

[Adrien you sound way too concerned about that for someone who apparently doesn't have any powers. ]

Hm. So whatever's powering them might be something different?

[...so he hadn't read the book? Then how did he know the saying? Curiouser and curiouser.]

Not completely, but a lot of people got really weak. Some of them even got sick. But only people with powers or extra special abilities.

I always thought that A--I mean, the Turtle was the one sharing his power with them. But if people can still use magic even when he's been in that deep coma, then I have no idea what it could be.

[The joys of pop culture and those pesky millennials. ]

Wow. That's...weird. I hope that never happens again.

And I doubt we'll figure it out unless we wake him up. Maybe not even then.

...I think we will.

[Wake him up, she meant. There was no telling how long it would take, but all the signs were there.]

But you're right. We have no idea what will happen when he does wake up. Or how much he knows about what's been going on in Keelai.

We don't even know if the "Asti" we used to know a long time ago is even the same Turtle.

I really hope so. I mean, things are looking good on that front at the moment, right? With the...glowing?

[Look, he is no expert on giant world turtles okay. ]

So you think his personality might have changed? While he was asleep? I mean, I guess that sometimes happens to people who come out of comas, right? Makes sense it might happen to the turtle as well.

[She shook her head.]

No, that's not what I--

I mean, that could happen, yes, but that wasn't what I meant. Long before he went into a coma, he was being controlled by Malicant. We didn't learn about that until later, but at the same time, we also don't know how long he was being controlled for. There's a chance that he could have been controlled for as long as any of us have been here.

Oh.

[Well, THAT he can put into horrible experience. He knows exactly what it's like, seeing someone being controlled by an evil figure. Hell, he's been the victim of mind control himself. It's the worst. There's a touch of tension in his voice when he responds. ]

Then if it ends up that he's been controlled for that long, chances are he will be different than you remember him. If he's very lucky, he won't remember being controlled at all. That's usually a blessing.

Edited 2016-07-03 23:23 (UTC)

Part of me...hopes that too.

[The other part is unnerved by the thought that that boy she'd encountered in her dreams so long ago had been Malicant. An unfriendly presence infiltrating somewhere that should have been safe.]

It'd be kinder for him. Confusing, sure. But kinder. Then he wouldn't know what Malicant made him do.

[It made things better back home, at least. None of his friends ever needed to know how many lives they put at stake. How much havoc they wrecked on Paris. They could remain, for the most part, pretty ignorant of it all. ]

I don't know. For me, if someone were to ever do that to me...I'd want to know.

[No matter how painful. The worst thing, to her, would be getting left in the dark. Risk people knowing things "she" said or did with no way of defending or explaining herself.]

[He can understand that. The incident with Dark Cupid springs to mind. He did so many awful things to Ladybug, and remembers none of them. Plagg won't tell him, and Ladybug never talks about what happens to him when someone else is pulling his strings. It's frustrating, yes, but would he be any better in knowing the truth?]

Not knowing wouldn't be fun, that's for sure. Never really knowing what happened, what other people know about you that you have no recollection of. But...I don't know. Wouldn't knowing hurt more?

[What would Nino say if he knew he very nearly killed him and Ladybug both? How it felt to be turned into a twisted version of himself? Someone he wouldn't ever recognise in a mirror? ]

I mean. If he was under someone else's control, it wouldn't have really been him. It would have been like having a stranger in his own body.

The pain of not knowing has always outweighed the pain of knowing for me.

At least, if I know, I can do something about it later. Or know for absolute certain there isn't anything I can do.

...I never thought about it that way before.

But what if there's nothing you can do about it? Wouldn't that make you feel even more powerless?

I'm already powerless.

[Despite her words, her tone didn't sound forlorn, defeated, or even resigned. More like she was stating a fact. Because it was true--compared to so many supernatural abilities she had seen, she truly was power-less.]

I'm not a fighter. I can't fly or do magic or anything like that.

What I am is a survivor, and I've always survived by using my brain. Learning what I need to know, and how I need to react. When it's better to run or stay or speak up or remain silent.

I'd say that makes you pretty powerful. So long as you can survive, get up and carry on, you're not powerless.

[He's been powerless. Sitting under his father's thumb, doing everything asked of him. Not having the strength or courage to move out from under it. He could never go back to that. Not again. ]

...But I understand. How knowing would help with that.

[They were talking about two different definitions of power. Not so different, but enough for them to...in a sense...both be right.]

And that's why I want to keep learning. So I can know as much as possible. Just in case something like Malicant ever comes back, or other bad things start happening around here again.

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