[open post: Kei ryezich Ravkayash?]

[ravkanwitch]

Nina makes friends very easily. This is a known fact. Despite what's going on internally, she's friendly, exuberant, and silly when she's around others. When she moved to the Little Palace from the orphanage, she immediately made a few fast friends with other Grisha who were around the same age. One was a young girl from Fjerda -- rescued from the Drüskelle, who would rather burn their own at stake than admit that Grisha were human -- and they were best friends. Her friend didn't know the Ravkan language that well, so Nina began learning Fjerdan to bridge the gap. Her instructors immediately saw promise and placed her in multiple language courses where she thrived. Fjerdan (the language of the enemy) ironically became what she excelled in, to native fluency. Her Kerch (the language of commerce) is near perfect. Shu and Zemeni were next, potential rivals or partners of Ravka. Kaelish because it was fun. Suli was the most difficult to grasp, a dialect of Ravkan but also entirely different. In any case, she didn't see it as work, she saw it as a way to connect more deeply with others.

Since arriving, Nina has noticed that everyone at the mansion has a different accent, if you can call it that. It's clear that none of them share the same language, but she processes everyone's language the same, somehow. She started experimenting, speaking Fjerdan with Laertes, Shu with Binghe and Lan Wangji, Kerch with some of the other residents like Nightingale and Janet. It's possible it changes her accent to something closer to theirs -- she thinks it does -- but it doesn't seem to change what she's saying. At least it's a way to maintain fluency, just in case...

She has also noticed that there are some areas of the grounds, some little pockets, that don't seem to translate what she's reading or saying as clearly. She first noticed this when she wandered a little too far into the woods and pulled out a book to read in an attempt to be more cultured (before she became swarmed with bugs and had to give up) -- but there was a moment where the language in the book seemed to be entirely different. It's been happening more frequently lately.

In the wake of a successful (?) talent show, Nina has found one of those pockets. She is sitting at a desk strewn with books about languages, deep into studying English, French, and Chinese simultaneously. She would absolutely welcome company, whether to discuss the talent show, languages, or anything else.

Comments

[involuntaryturncoat]

"The free time, I relish. It had been long enough since I had any that it is a welcome change. At the root, though, I can only blame myself for that."

[ravkanwitch]

"Have you mostly been practicing music during your free time?" Nina asks. She's realized recently that she asks a lot of questions compared to the other residents, but it's the best way of moving a conversation forward.

[involuntaryturncoat]

"Mostly, yes." He shrugs. "Although I'll admit that I've also been drawn to finding music from other worlds than my own. It's a unique opportunity that most musicians never get to experience, so I've been trying to take advantage of it. What have you been doing with yours, aside from arranging communal displays of talent?"

[ravkanwitch]

Nina briefly wonders if the mansion has Ravkan music scores somewhere and makes a note to look. "I've mostly been trying to meet everyone and find new skills for myself. I can't sing. Can't cook. I can shoot a pistol, though, and... boss people around. I can also learn languages quickly." She gestures at the books in front of her.

[involuntaryturncoat]

He looks at the books with some interest. "I've had to learn a language quickly precisely once. Although this place seems as if it would make the attempt somewhat difficult."

[ravkanwitch]

"Whatever translation is happening is weaker when you go out further in the woods... and it's weak in this room as well." She slides a random book towards him (Spanish) and shows him the cover. "See? What language do you normally speak? Well, the one you're speaking now, I suppose."

[involuntaryturncoat]

He runs a hand lightly along the title. "Huh. Yes. On my world now, it's simply called the Old Tongue."

[ravkanwitch]

She motions at the pen and paper she has on the table. "Do you think you could write something in it? If you don't mind, of course."

[involuntaryturncoat]

"Of course." He nods and writes. Asmodi sovya domorakoshi isain. "Music is another language," he says, before pausing and repeating the phrase with a bit of a pause between each word to convey word order, drawing a finger underneath each word on the page as he does so. "Music another language is."

[ravkanwitch]

"Interesting," Nina says, "It looks like a beautiful language."

[involuntaryturncoat]

"It is a beautiful language. One I was admittedly somewhat startled to hear when I arrived, until I realized what was happening."

[ravkanwitch]

"I think I was in too much shock," Nina laughs a little. "Trying too hard to hide my identity to realize that not everyone was speaking Ravkan."

[involuntaryturncoat]

His eyebrows rise slightly. "Something we have in common, then, it seems."

[ravkanwitch]

"The people in my world are not kind to Grisha. They enslave them, kill them, and use them for their abilities," Nina says, quietly.

[involuntaryturncoat]

He frowns. "I am sorry to hear that. That seems untenable. My world has its own difficulties with power, but nothing like that... in most places."

[ravkanwitch]

Nina nods. "It's not too terrible in my own country. We have full rights. I'm part of the royal court. But... treatment varies from country to country."

[involuntaryturncoat]

He nods slowly. "And you feel a kinship."

[ravkanwitch]

"Kinship, yes... but anger against the injustice moreso."

[involuntaryturncoat]

He frowns and gives another nod. "That is to your credit." There's a brief hesitation. "It's a selfless kind of anger. Try not to lose it."

[ravkanwitch]

She thinks about Jarl Brum and the combined hatred and mercy that festers there -- and she nods. "I'll try not to."

[involuntaryturncoat]

He nods. "My own reasons for initially concealing my identity had much more selfish roots, but as it seems I'm to remain the only one from my world here, there seemed to be little point to continue."

[ravkanwitch]

“You never know when someone you know might show up, though¹,” Nina says, with a little wry laugh, thinking of Aleksander.

¹Accidental irony lever in the past…

[involuntaryturncoat]

"That is true enough, I suppose, although I am better equipped to deal with something of that sort now than I was on my arrival. My own abilities were... curtailed, until recently."

[ravkanwitch]

"Oh? How so?" Nina knows how Grisha abilities are stopped or amplified; she wonders if other abilities are similar.

[involuntaryturncoat]

"There was a shield woven around them by a... colleague, who decided I had use in her machinations."