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This was a bad idea this was a bad idea this was a bad idea.
Holly runs as fast as she can but the demon's faster. She has no idea where Lightning's gotten to; maybe he found a tree to climb. She on the other hand has been diverted into a treeless hill and she's careening down a slope, trying very hard not to trip.
And the demon's gaining on her.
She's never seen anything like it and neither has Crystal; maybe Book knows what it is but Book's asleep. It's mostly mouth - it looks like a cross between a floorlength mirror of a mouth and a snake to propel the mouth along.
And Holly's not fast enough.
The mouth catches her.
But it doesn't hurt.
Where are we?
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inourhead
when_spoken_to
"Well, I don't know what to tell her," Emma points out. "Um. I can try this, I guess." She points at herself again. "Emma." Then she says, "room," and shakes her head, and repeats it. "Emma."
inourhead
This appears to make sense to the girl, but be very surprising. Then she starts giggling. "Emma!"
honestly_determined
"Seriously, you cannot just hand this girl to the court," Alli reminds Emma. "We now have one word and our names in common. What would they even do with her? What if they deport her? ...what if they deport her to Soche-Tas?"
when_spoken_to
"...ugh," Emma says. "She looks a little old for that, but still. Ugh. Okay, fine, I'll find her a place here. What about the servant's wing? The south half is empty, so proooobably no one would run into her."
when_spoken_to
Emma loftily ignores that. "Well, I have no idea how to explain this on the basis of 'names and the word and'," she says contemplatively, "so, explanation can wait, let's go find her a room."
She beckons the strange girl after her. The servant's wing isn't nearly as close as the library, but it's reasonably straightforward to find, since Emma was using the servant's stairs to meet her friends in the first place. (They're easier to sneak down when running pantry raids.)
The southern half of the servant's wing is, as promised, deserted. The rooms are all fairly utilitarian and identical, each with a tiny cot, a chest of drawers and a stool with no immediately apparent purpose. Emma's not that familiar with them, but after opening a few doors she verifies they're none of them that different and gives up.
"Okay, they're all the same, good enough. Do you want to stay here?" she says to the girl, knowing she can't understand but feeling weird not saying anything. "Um, hmm." She gestures at the bag, and mimes putting it on a set of drawers. Then she points to 'Sohng and Pyay' and then to the floor. "Stay?"
She beckons the strange girl after her. The servant's wing isn't nearly as close as the library, but it's reasonably straightforward to find, since Emma was using the servant's stairs to meet her friends in the first place. (They're easier to sneak down when running pantry raids.)
The southern half of the servant's wing is, as promised, deserted. The rooms are all fairly utilitarian and identical, each with a tiny cot, a chest of drawers and a stool with no immediately apparent purpose. Emma's not that familiar with them, but after opening a few doors she verifies they're none of them that different and gives up.
"Okay, they're all the same, good enough. Do you want to stay here?" she says to the girl, knowing she can't understand but feeling weird not saying anything. "Um, hmm." She gestures at the bag, and mimes putting it on a set of drawers. Then she points to 'Sohng and Pyay' and then to the floor. "Stay?"
inourhead
She looks around the room, tilts her head, puts her bag on the set of drawers, detaches the mouse cage and puts it next to said bag, opens the little cage door and pokes the mice, seems encouraged by the way they yawn and roll over, and shuts the cage.
when_spoken_to
Well, now she has no idea what to do. So, Emma falls back on her usual default: languages. "Soooo. Okay, um. Pointing at things, I guess?" She starts to point to the chest of drawers, thinks better of it because there are at least three words she can think of that would work, and points at the bag instead. "Bag."
inourhead
Sohng-and-Pyay (or whatever that means) does her best to pronounce "bag", and other concrete objects. She seems to have a pretty good memory for them.
when_spoken_to
It being a fairly empty room, Emma runs out of things to point out rather promptly. Then she casts about for new ideas. "Um. Food, I guess? That was part of the original plan, right, Jenny? You didn't just come over to be like Surprise I Brought Alli?"
joyful_soul
"Alli and dessert is definitely superior to Alli and no dessert," Jenny says blithely. "And I already said. There's blueberry pie, it's important."
honestly_determined
"Trust me, we wouldn't dream of coming between you and your sugar."
when_spoken_to
"Why am I doing all the sign language and looking ridiculous," Emma mutters, but she goes through a pantomime of "follow us, you, eat," for the benefit of Sohng-and-Pyay.
when_spoken_to
The kitchen is what Emma's mother would call "clean but not neat." Everything's been cleaned after dinner, but some of the oddly shaped dishes that don't lend themselves easily to hand drying are still laid out on mats on free surfaces to dry overnight. Emma picks her way through the kitchen to retrieve plates and forks for everyone while Jenny produces the pie. Alli, as is her wont, mostly does nothing, but she does at least scrounge them up stools.
inourhead
Sohng-and-Pyay looks around at things - and spies a set of crystal cups and plates. She goes up to them and taps them. "Sohng," she says.
when_spoken_to
Emma looks at her in confusion. "Uh..." This is about her name? She points at the cup. "Cup." Then at the plate. "Plate." And holds out her porcelain plate, which is not yet em-pied. "Plate."
inourhead
She frowns, then picks up the nearest fork, and one of the cups, and -
Now the fork is made of crystal and the cup is made of silver.
"Sohng," she says, waving the fork.
Now the fork is made of crystal and the cup is made of silver.
"Sohng," she says, waving the fork.
when_spoken_to
Okay, so sohng means crystal, so then-
-and then the part of Emma's brain that is not an enormous language nerd catches up with her and she panics. "Aaaaaah, what did you do?" she barely manages not to shriek. "That's- that's crystal, and silver, my parents are gonna kill me." She hurries over and examines them. Whatever Crystal-Pyay did, the cup is now definitely silver.
She taps it tentatively. Still silver.
"I'm gonna be in so much trouble," she moans.
-and then the part of Emma's brain that is not an enormous language nerd catches up with her and she panics. "Aaaaaah, what did you do?" she barely manages not to shriek. "That's- that's crystal, and silver, my parents are gonna kill me." She hurries over and examines them. Whatever Crystal-Pyay did, the cup is now definitely silver.
She taps it tentatively. Still silver.
"I'm gonna be in so much trouble," she moans.
inourhead
"Ah - hwatreemree," says Crystal-Pyay apologetically, with the first consonant being something frictiony in the back of her throat, and then the cup and fork are back to normal. She puts them down and clasps her hands behind her back.
when_spoken_to
...well. That's a thing.
Emma stares, then splutters a bit. She plasters on a smile, says thank you, it's fixed now, she should be polite. But- she's met one Prime, once, and they were old and quiet and didn't do magic in front of her. And this isn't anything Prime magic, it's something she's never ever heard of.
(She hasn't heard of people appearing on staircases either, or this language, or that map, or-)
This is all way too much. She slumps on her stool, unsteadily. "I don't know what's going ooooon," she wails. "I have a magically appearing girl in my house, I can't speak a word of- of- whatever language that even is, and she can turn crystal things into silver and back and this is not how I was expecting today to go."
Emma stares, then splutters a bit. She plasters on a smile, says thank you, it's fixed now, she should be polite. But- she's met one Prime, once, and they were old and quiet and didn't do magic in front of her. And this isn't anything Prime magic, it's something she's never ever heard of.
(She hasn't heard of people appearing on staircases either, or this language, or that map, or-)
This is all way too much. She slumps on her stool, unsteadily. "I don't know what's going ooooon," she wails. "I have a magically appearing girl in my house, I can't speak a word of- of- whatever language that even is, and she can turn crystal things into silver and back and this is not how I was expecting today to go."
joyful_soul
"But- it's magic! It's cool!" Jenny says, worry and confusion on her face. She has nothing to compare Crystal-Pyay too; it's not quite as weird, for her. More 'awesome and cool' then 'strange and unknown and frightening.'
honestly_determined
Alli wraps an arm around Emma's shoulders and awkwardly pats her. "You're doing really well with the language thing?" she says, trying to be supportive.
when_spoken_to
"It's strange magic, I don't know what she did, I can't even ask her," Emma mumbles, but she manages to pull herself together (a little). And then, because she is used to Jenny and this is now how she handles crises, she cuts everyone a slice of pie and mechanically starts to eat her piece.
It's quite good, actually.
It's quite good, actually.