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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?
inourhead
unmarred
They are in a tiny room with grey walls and a grey floor. The room contains: a chair, and something that resembles a desk more than it resembles any other things (the chair is at it), and two weird-looking doors, and a narrow bed in a sort of alcove. Most of these things are shades of grey. Except for the chair, the furniture all merges seamlessly into the walls. It all conserves space very efficiently. Light emanates dimly from a grey panel on the grey ceiling.
There is a person on the bed, under a grey blanket. He is short, and shirtless, and sleeping.
There is a person on the bed, under a grey blanket. He is short, and shirtless, and sleeping.
inourhead
Weird.
Weird, weird, weird.
The person's sleeping (and alive) - and it doesn't look like it was an accident; he's in a bed under a blanket - so they're probably under a dreamward, but it sure doesn't look like the one they grew up in.
Holly takes a step towards the... desk... thing to have a look at it.
unmarred
The sleeping person ceases to be sleeping, and becomes extremely confused and alarmed instead. He curls up defensively in his little bed-nook and stares at her, hissing a question in an unfamiliar language.
inourhead
Holly flings up her hands. "Huatrimri! Huatrimri! Ah - srenpuumhineniuple tu - huatrimri -"
unmarred
He relaxes slowly, alarm fading into curiosity. And mutters something to himself, and gets out of bed, and opens a cabinet-like thing beneath the bed to retrieve a shirt, and prods the desk-thing while putting the shirt on.
Now there are ghostly glowing lines and symbols and figures hovering in the air above the desk-thing. The previously-sleeping person manipulates this incomprehensible array in incomprehensible ways.
Now there are ghostly glowing lines and symbols and figures hovering in the air above the desk-thing. The previously-sleeping person manipulates this incomprehensible array in incomprehensible ways.
unmarred
He says something distractedly, most of his attention on the glowiness.
Then, having apparently manipulated it to his satisfaction, he untucks the chair from the desk and gestures from Holly to chair. Hovering above the desk surface is a sequence of shapes: red triangle, red circle, red square, and beneath them blue triangle, blue circle, blue square.
Then, having apparently manipulated it to his satisfaction, he untucks the chair from the desk and gestures from Holly to chair. Hovering above the desk surface is a sequence of shapes: red triangle, red circle, red square, and beneath them blue triangle, blue circle, blue square.
inourhead
She doesn't quite know what she's supposed to do with that. "Kue?" she repeats.
unmarred
He smiles slightly.
Indicating each of the shapes in turn, he says things which sound very much like they might be his language's words for 'red triangle, red circle, red square, blue triangle, blue circle'. (The shape he is pointing at in each case gets a white border for as long as he is pointing at it.) Then, before he can get to it, the last shape is briefly highlighted and a weird-sounding voice from the desk says something that, in context, seems very likely to mean 'blue square'.
He makes a now-you-try sort of gesture at Holly.
Indicating each of the shapes in turn, he says things which sound very much like they might be his language's words for 'red triangle, red circle, red square, blue triangle, blue circle'. (The shape he is pointing at in each case gets a white border for as long as he is pointing at it.) Then, before he can get to it, the last shape is briefly highlighted and a weird-sounding voice from the desk says something that, in context, seems very likely to mean 'blue square'.
He makes a now-you-try sort of gesture at Holly.
inourhead
Oh. Okay. He has a... weird magic thing... that can pick up Nlaaki. Ooooookay.
Crystal takes over. "Lere puisro - lere fkiol -" Etcetera.
Crystal takes over. "Lere puisro - lere fkiol -" Etcetera.
unmarred
The weird magic thing, with occasional helpful prompting from the short guy, starts learning Nlaaki from Crystal. The pattern seems to be: it shows her some things, gets her to label them, then shows her a new thing and says something about it that is supposed to make sense based on the vocabulary it just learned from her. (The short guy seems to have assigned himself the task of telling the magic whether or not it succeeded, because he watches for reactions and prods the desk in different ways based on whether she appears satisfied with its utterances. When she doesn't seem satisfied, the magic guesses again, and usually gets it right the second time.)
In this way, the magic desk learns quite a lot of Nlaaki in a surprisingly short time. (Its pictures can move, which helps a lot when they get to verbs - stylized stick-people walk and run and jump and climb and speak and exhibit various emotions at her.)
When it has amassed enough vocabulary to sustain a simple conversation, he prods it again and the shapes go away. He asks a question, and after a short pause the magic desk says: "How did you(singular) get here?"
In this way, the magic desk learns quite a lot of Nlaaki in a surprisingly short time. (Its pictures can move, which helps a lot when they get to verbs - stylized stick-people walk and run and jump and climb and speak and exhibit various emotions at her.)
When it has amassed enough vocabulary to sustain a simple conversation, he prods it again and the shapes go away. He asks a question, and after a short pause the magic desk says: "How did you(singular) get here?"
inourhead
Crystal replies: "We don't know. There was a demon chasing us and it seemed to eat us but then we were here."
unmarred
The desk says something in the other language that includes the word 'demon', which is not part of the vocabulary she has taught it.
The short guy looks at her quizzically. He asks something which the desk translates as, "What is a demon?"
The short guy looks at her quizzically. He asks something which the desk translates as, "What is a demon?"
inourhead
"There are lots of kinds of demons," says Crystal, trying to restrain her vocabulary to what the magic table has learned. "We don't know what this one was."
unmarred
"We are in a [untranslated word] travelling from [untranslated word] to [untranslated word]," apparently. (He smiles wryly at the obvious inadequacy of this answer.)
inourhead
"We," emphasizes Crystal, "were in a forest running from the demon that ate us."
unmarred
"You(singular) started to be instead of Holly when you(singular) started to talk to the table?"