[voice]

[unetrustworthy]

I was wondering...how many other people here can speak other languages?

[But then, she paused and there was a slight jostling of the camera as she shook her head.  Sorting out her thoughts.]

No,  not speak.  That doesn't really help any, with everything always being translated for us.  More like...read.  I was wondering...what languages everyone here can read?  Since written words have never been translated.  Not since I've been here.

Comments

[justno]

I know English. I can read a little bit of a few languages. Japanese, Latin, a couple magic ones. It's pretty easy to learn if you need to.

What do you speak?

[unetrustworthy]

[She opened her mouth to question, then paused. Figuring it was better manners to answer his question before asking her own:]

French and Japanese. Fluently. And I've been studying English and Kedanese since I've been here.

[And now that that was settled....]

What...magic languages are there? Do you mean, like the lady at the Welcome Center who talks backwards?

[justno]

You any good at.. Kedanese? [The word is him quoting her, being a brand new word to him. It's not a bad idea to learn the local dialect though.]

No, it's- There are a few of 'em. They don't really have names. It's ruins and scratches and shit like that.

[unetrustworthy]

I'm...getting there. [Her lips twisted into a small, thoughtful frown.] I can't speak it very well because of the translators, but I can read most of the books in the children's section now.

I don't think I know any other magic languages. The only one I do know is because I've heard her talk about it before.

[justno]

'Her' who?

[unetrustworthy]

The one I already mentioned. The lady who runs the Welcome Center.

Her name's Zatanna, I believe.

[Midii, herself, hadn't needed anyone to answer questions for her in a while, and rarely traveled near the Center. Her main exposure to the teen magician was through Network transmissions and...a certain magic mishap from a couple years' back.]

[justno]

Weird. [A pause.] Wait, she seriously does magic by talking backwards?

[unetrustworthy]

[She shrugged. A little awkward talking about a subject she knew little about. And trusted even less.]

You'd have to ask her.

[justno]

I will, thanks.

You got a reason for asking about languages?

[unetrustworthy]

I'm curious.

[It was her main reason for a lot of things she did or asked.]

Since I've been here...I'm not much of a fighter. And I don't have any special powers. But I've been good at listening and learning. I thought...maybe if I learn more languages, I could be more help there. Since written words aren't translated for us.

[justno]

You have magic in your world?

[unetrustworthy]

[An audible shake of her head followed. Definitely not.]

No.

I didn't even believe it existed for a long time after I first came here. I thought...I mean, I was just a kid then--[She said, as if she weren't still a kid.]--but I thought that people were trying to trick me. Or that the word magic must have meant something different to them.

[justno]

What changed your mind?

[unetrustworthy]

I guess...there were too many things happening that couldn't be explained by anything but magic.

After a while, it seemed dumb to keep denying something that was happening right in front of me.

[justno]

That puts you ahead of most people.

[unetrustworthy]

I had a couple years' head start.