justscribing | The City

[ She nods, a little wide-eyed. ]

Did they ever figure out the reason? I know you said indiscriminate attacking, but the monsters must've come from somewhere...

Vahumana scholars have different theories, but I haven't looked that deeply into it. It's not a point of history I've had much interest in.

You're more interested in the aftermath?

[ This too is learning ]

That just happened to be the starting period for this book I was given. Truthfully, I haven't looked much into Inazuman history beyond what was relevant while studying its language. But I have time and resources in hand now, so I might as well round out my knowledge.

So do you have a favorite thing to study? Or just things you don't know yet?

[ He's a nerd, maybe he really does just like learning Whatever. ]

I don't restrict myself if something interests me. [All knowledge is valuable, even if it's value is what can be cast aside to refine better knowledge.] But my degree is in linguistics. I've spent a lot of time studying ancient languages.

[Unfortunately, in a city with both no ancient languages and with a translation that can't be turned off, Alhaitham has had very little of his usual study to... well, study.]

Ooh! Can you speak any of them?

[ Not that she'd be able to tell much, thanks to said translation. ]

Of course. I couldn't study a language if I didn't learn to speak it. But no matter which one I try to use with you, it all sounds exactly like your native language. I don't think you've noticed when I switch between Sumeran and Inazuman.

[Because only one of those languages is intelligible with Japanese, and the other gets filtered into Japanese to be intelligible.]

Mm...

Sometimes I feel like I can tell that people's throats are doing something a little different...

[ Does that count? ]

[See this is why he likes you so much Tsuruno.] That's very observant. Most people wouldn't see it.

[So he switches to Sumeran. It isn't the first time he's used it around her but it's usually when Kaveh's also around rather than when they're alone.] If you look carefully at how I'm saying it, can you see all the differences from what you hear?

[ she peers at him, Banzai's tail waving as the dog looks between the two of them. ]

It's like you're on a lag... like your mouth movements aren't matching the words exactly.

It's an illusion that occurs audibly, but not physically. [And that's probably because so few people would notice that there's no reason to go through the extra detail.] Kaveh and I attempted to bypass this automatic translation by creating an entirely new language, but it didn't work.

[A beat.] Well, I created the language. Kaveh just helped with the initial idea.

You two work well together. Obvious statement, I know.

[ But she says it brightly. ]

But it's interesting that system's prepped for anything new, though I guess that'd make sense. You wouldn't always be able to predict what language might be different, unless it could adjust automatically.

[Perhaps it is an obvious statement. Alhaitham, regardless, smiles for the recognition of it.]

Yes, though even the Akasha couldn't do such a thing and that was created by a god. What's interesting is that if you mix the alphabet of one language and the phonemes of another, the translation doesn't work. However it works can't operate based on intent alone.

Huh... so it's not perfect. You guys really dug into this, huh?

[ She says, completely unsurprised. ]

We were hoping it could be used to subvert however much we're being monitored, since it was clear early on they knew more about us than they should. [Also he just likes language. Too bad this universal translate is taking all the fun out of it.]

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