text; @The Seventh Crown of the Seventh Demon King;

[unrequite]

[ Four lines of text. ]

This is written in Victorian.
Kore wa Laterano-ji Higashi-go de kakareteimasu.
This is written in Higashinese.
This written by in Yanese. (Might be bad. Sorry.)

Please do let me know how many of these sentences you understand.

[ The first is in what would be considered Earth English, the second is what would be known as Japanese written in Romaji, but he's called it "Laterano-ji Higashinese". The third was written in Japanese, the fourth was written in some rather poor Chinese. He's called the languages themselves clearly incorrect names. What's more important, though, is that only the second one should parse as phonetic, and should only be understandable to fellow Japanese speakers. The rest are in whatever language is most understandable to whoever reads it. Funny, huh? This city sure is strange! ]

Comments

@stray

[unrequite]

Fascinating... Are you German or English, then? Assuming both are nationalities, of course.

[kampfgeist]

both are nationalities and both are languages i speak

[ alas shirow miwa hates details and never named the country heine is from but it's some future europe melting pot country so let's just pretend he names it here ]

what's the second one supposed to be?
i'm guessing based on this line of questioning that you didn't write any of them in english or german

[unrequite]

[ Shirow Miwa!! (raises my fists to the sky) ]

Not at all, or at the very least that wasn't my intention. The first sentence is in Victorian, a language spoken broadly across Terra; the second and third are Higashinese, but the second is written using the alphabet from Laterano, rather than the native alphabet used in Higashi. The last is in Yanese, a language spoken in a nation that sits between Higashi and Victoria, although Yan shares a border only with Higashi.

You're right that Higashinese is an odd case, though. There are quite a few people here from a country called Japan, which seems to share many linguistic and cultural similarities with Higashi, as far as I can gather. So far, only I and those from this Japan can read the second line.

[kampfgeist]

i figured there was something going on but never tested it on purpose

i spoke german to someone from england and she responded back in german. not that the english can't learn german but the german was real good

second i spoke german to my roommate who i know doesn't speak german and he also spoke back in german. but that was weird as fuck so i went back to english

i guess it makes sense in a way. if we're all from different worlds there's no way we'd be able to understand each other

weird that there's language overlap between worlds tho.

at least if the auto-translate stops working you and the japanese people'll be set

[unrequite]

Convenient, certainly. I think there's a fair shot that Victorian and English might be one in the same, so I'd be able to speak with you, too. Wouldn't miss that opportunity for the world.

[kampfgeist]

how flattering

[ he can't tell through text if that's flirtatious or sarcastic, so heine's response is similarly ambiguous! ]

might even teach you german if you feel ambitious

[unrequite]

Always, dear stranger. I love to learn. Tell me something basic right now, in fact. A greeting, perhaps, or a simple pleasantry.

[ It more genuine than either of the above, but just like in spoken conversation, Midnight's thoroughly all right with being misunderstood. Obfuscating the truth himself is honestly just more of the same! ]

[kampfgeist]

is this gonna work if the network automatically translates everything?

[ he will do his absolute best to teach midnight the phrase das is nicht mein Bier and find out if it gets automatically translated to "that's not my beer." ]

[unrequite]

That's the question, isn't it? The evidence seems to work against us, as it were. Try it, though.

[ Only one way to find out, right? (It's not going to, probably, but someone's gotta catch that egg in the face, and Midnight's happy to be the target.) ]

[kampfgeist]

"that's not my beer"

[ alas... ]

is how we say "none of my business"/"not my problem"

[unrequite]

[ Alas...... ]

Victorian, then back to Higashinese for me. Such as it is. I do like that, though. Pet phrase of yours, is it?

[kampfgeist]

yeah actually
nothing has ever been my business

or actually it's either super not my business or VERY my business, no in between

[unrequite]

Sounds tiresome. Or are you the sort to have patience navigating the mundanities of life in between occasional extremes?

[kampfgeist]

[ it is extremely rare for heine to be described as "patient" but in a way he sort of is...?? he has to consider this question for a minute. ]

i don't know if i'd say i'm patient but i am used to making it through
it's not always a bad thing for days to be boring yknow?

[unrequite]

[ ... It wasn't too long ago that Midnight was almost at a position in his life where he was craving a bit of variety. Not anymore, though. He's with this stranger on this one. ]

No news is good news. I won't guess after what you were up to where you're from too broadly, but I'd assume that this place feels rather slow in comparison.

[kampfgeist]

yeah you could say that. but it kind of
doesn't suck??

i still think it's fucked that my weapons are gone but i don't hate not having to look over my shoulder all the time

[unrequite]

I can't say that I understand how that feels. Lived a rather normal existence until about a year ago. Work, home, taxes, all that nonsense. Welcome to the other side to life, I suppose. Besides the occasional murder, but I rather think that was always a bit a punctuation marker to life.

[kampfgeist]

taxes, wow
is being the seventh crown of the seventh demon king a lucrative gig?

[ a whole ass adult,,, heine doesn't pay taxes because he has no legitimate and/or legal streams of income :) ]

one thing i've learned since being here:
most people don't have a little murder as a punctuation marker in their lives

[unrequite]

Well... Yes, actually. Learning how to take care of all of that money took a bit of doing. Doesn't matter much now, though.

[ Because they're here, of course, away from money. Definitely not because Midnight experienced several crises in under a year, sold everything, and ran away to join the paramilitary. If it was, what does that have anything to do with having a silly name on a website? ]

Well, all the more welcome, then. It's nice to not have to look over your own shoulder at shadows, I'm sure. Have you found a hobby yet?

[kampfgeist]

yeah, good point...

[ honestly thank fuck for the absence of capitalism, because heine never learned taxes and he sure as shit ain't gonna start now!

hobbies..... ]

i explore a lot. probably covered this whole city on foot by now
and i think i started a fight club
my roommate keeps telling me i'm a freak for that tho so taking suggestions too

[unrequite]

I see. Why not ask your roommate? Seems as though he's a bastion of normalcy between the two of you, or at the very least, you've deferred to his opinion on the matter.

[kampfgeist]

idk about » "deferred"
fight club's still on, so if you ever want to spar come on down

[ but he will indeed ask badou, despite his prediction that it'll result in badou laughing at him ]

[unrequite]

Sure, although you'll have to excuse a beginner's performance. I never learned how to fight with anything other than a sword, and I only began practical study of the blade a couple years ago.