Translation Fail Plot Ahoy!

[foolyoutwice]

Has Loki been around lately? It's hard to say. He's what they call "in a weird place mentally" these days, and he's kind of slipped in now and then without really talking to anyone, going straight to his stash of library books. But he's certainly been here the last few days, camping out in the skiff. Fishing a little, even. Good old-fashioned fishing. That's...a thing, right? That he enjoys. A thing that he enjoys. Like the old days.

....It's so boring.

Let's fix that. With magic. Didn't he see something in one of these books?


------

An hour later, he's draped over the side of the skiff, several feet above the lake, staring down in fascination at the roiling mass of fish that leap up at him. That's amazing. And kind of gross. Some of those things can't possibly be fish, can they?

------

Also an hour later, people may begin to notice the bar's translation field beginning to falter as the unseen babel fish in Milliways' walls congregate in one corner, straining to answer the powerful call to the spot in the lake.




((Translation Fail Plot, as promised! Feel free to tag Loki, or just to start in on your own EPs. Hit me up with any questions you have, and have fun! Also, please note in your EPs whether you're doing translation fail stuff, so that people who don't want to do it don't have to.

...one side note: thanks to Marvel magic, Loki himself is untroubled by translation problems, because of the good old Allspeak.))

Comments

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric is out walking by the lake when he feels... something pass through him. Something odd and magic. Something that leaves a sweetly sour feeling in it's wake. He looks out to the lake and sees Loki, trying to understand what has happened.

[foolyoutwice]

It takes a little while for the spell to take hold--or rather for it to spread. So at first Loki is just putting his book away and peering into the water. Fish? Fish fish fishy fish fish?

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric sits by the shore, just watching the fish gather. There's a demon bunny sitting by his foot, nibbling on a bone as Sinric idly strokes it's plaid fur.

[ownerless]

Pearl's been back and forth, out and about, and eventually her wandering takes her in the direction of the lake.

Hey look, there's Loki!

...and some.... fish....?

".......what are you doing?"

She's looking a little different from-- well, from the last time he saw her, of course, in that she has a human form again-- but she has a new outfit, too! Which is probably less remarkable to a species that changes its clothes at will, but it's a big deal for her okay.

[foolyoutwice]

No, sorry Pearl, the change of clothes doesn't even really register. (Well: it does, because Loki always has an eye for that. Part of being good at illusions is knowing what things look like. But it doesn't consciously register as a change.

He stares at her over the side of the skiff like someone remembering how words work. And then grins. "Fishing!"

[ownerless]

"Oh! Yes, of course." How silly of her! "....why?"

[foolyoutwice]

Ehhh.... "To pass the time?"

Oh look, some sort of flatfish is trying to launch itself at the skiff. Lol.

[ownerless]

"They don't look like any fish I've ever seen on earth," Pearl says. Not that she... spends a lot of time looking at fish.

[foolyoutwice]

"Mm." No, they really...don't. Loki hasn't been looking at Midgard fish for a few hundred years, but he remembers them being more salmony. Not that there aren't some perfectly ordinary fish here, but...

That one has five eyes.

"Do you want to watch from up here?"

[ownerless]

“Why, thank you!”

She springs effortlessly up to the skiff and lands gracefully beside him. “It’s been some time! —or maybe it hasn’t. I know time moves strangely here. That’s another thing I really need to look into...”

[foolyoutwice]

"It's been--" Oops, there's a giant tentacle lashing out from the depths. Loki ducks behind the side of the skiff. "--time. Probably some time. I haven't been keeping track."

[ownerless]

“What method of timekeeping do your people use?” She asks cheerfully. “We’ve adjusted to thinking on earth years, but obviously that’s only applicable there...”

[foolyoutwice]

"Oh--years, centuries, millennia. I've just been traveling. Haven't kept a calendar." He sounds like he hasn't been using his voice much recently; he has a ragged look to him.

[ownerless]

Pearl laughs. "But then how can your properly log your journey?!"

[foolyoutwice]

He shrugs. "I'll end up somewhere, and I'll remember how I got there. Writing it down just..." Spoils the fun? Takes too much time? Begs for someone else to study his methods?

The giant squids are definitely interested in the skiff now.

[ownerless]

“Hmmm,” says Pearl, though whether this is directed at Loki or the squids is debatable. She pulls out her spear, just in case.

[death_gone_mad]

There was someone else fishing, pointedly trying to ignore the boat.

The woman on the lake shore had just finished roasting a sole-like fish she had caught (but how? There's no campfire oh right magic duh) when the fish in the lake started to swarm the boat and lift it in the air.

"HEY!" she shouts at the man in the boat. "STOP HOGGING THE FISH!"

[foolyoutwice]

It's a little hard to tell from a distance, with how vigorously the fish are jumping, but it's actually a flying boat. Or hovering, at the moment. With wings and golden filigree. (Goddamn showoff Asgardians.)

It makes for a good vantage point to stand up and shout down, "NO, NO, COME AND GET THEM IF YOU WANT THEM. AS MANY AS YOU LIKE. DO BE MY GUEST."

[death_gone_mad]

Goddamn showoff is right. Ignoring a boat like that takes work.

It also takes work not to start tossing fireballs at the pretty thing.

You are harshing her buzz, man.

"WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?" she shouts across the water, "WALK ON WATER?"

She could, but there are people watching! Somewhere there is. There always is, especially when there is a goddamn flying boat and a small mound of fish coming out of the lake.

[foolyoutwice]

To be fair, Loki would probably welcome fireballs. Fireballs sound like a good time.

"...WHAT, CAN'T YOU DO THAT?" It's not like he can either, but whatever. "OR I'VE HEARD OF THESE MARVELOUS INVENTIONS. THEY'RE CALLED BOATS, HAVE YOU HEARD OF THEM?"

[death_gone_mad]

"AND I SHOULD JUST CONJURE A BOAT OUT OF THIN AIR? OR MAYBE OUT OF WATER?"

Inspiration hits her, then. She takes a several careful bites out of the sole before discarding the bones, picking up her hookah, and uttering something nearly unintelligible at the sky. A wind storm comes by and flings the beach chair she was standing next to far and away.

The wind storm quickly becomes a miniature tornado, carrying the woman out over the lake.

Yes, its cliché for a witch to ride a tornado around, but at least this way, there is a chance of knocking the boat out of the air and dispersing the mass of fish. There is also the disappointing possibility that the skiff is sturdy enough to survive the thrashing by what now become a waterspout, and it is just a perfectly sane way to get into the boat.

There is also a chance of creating a fishnado.

[foolyoutwice]

The tornado isn't a problem for the skiff; Asgardians might slap on way too much decoration, but they build for a rugged lifestyle.

The fishnado, though, that's getting pretty intense. Loki ducks under a flying sturgeon, laughing. "Good storm," he shouts. "Very impressive!"

[death_gone_mad]

Seeing that the man in the boat is actually enjoying the storm, Sarah lets the fishnado disappointed, launching the fish caught into it out into the lake and allowing her to drop into the skiff.

She sighs and sets the hookah down. "How did I know this thing would survive that?" She eyes him for a bit before checking the hookah's bowl to check if its contents are still smoldering. She manages to throw a half-hearted, "Hello," his way while checking.

[foolyoutwice]

"Well, it is a chariot of the gods. It had better stand up to a bit of weather."

He eyes her right back, with mild interest, then takes a seat (after tossing a small bream out of the way). "Hello."

[death_gone_mad]

Well, now that I'm riding in it, it is a chariot of the gods, she thinks to herself.

Well, a bunch of confused fish are riding alongside her, but minor detail.

"So you stole this?" she asks, teasing. "I'm Sarah, sometimes a witch, sometimes a merchant, sometimes a captain of my own ship," she says, only telling half truths.

[foolyoutwice]

"I found it," he answers mildly, "in the garage." Aaand then he wrecked it and rebuilt it with another skiff that he found in the garage, but--details, details. "But it's much like what we have at home. I am Loki of Asgard. Sometimes a prince, sometimes a god. --And rarely humble," he adds with a laugh.

[death_gone_mad]

"Good," Sarah nods approvingly. "Humility is so distasteful."

She looks over the side of the skiff to get a closer look at its decoration. "Loki of Asgard, where have I heard that before?"

The skiff sort of looks like an old Aviansie transport from the God Wars. They were much flimsier than this skiff, she recalls. What fun times those were!

She looks back at Loki and notes his distinct lack of a beak and feathers. Not that it means much if he is a god. Sometimes.

"Skaði!" she says as she remembers. The memory causes her to scrutinize this Loki of Asgard more closely, though. Telling him that her name is Sarah might have been a mistake.

[foolyoutwice]

"Skaði," he echoes politely. (And noncommittally because who knows whether the MCU is going to do anything with Skaði.) "Well--there's probably another Loki in your universe. I do seem to get everywhere."

He's rather proud of that.

[death_gone_mad]

"Oh, no, I don't think there is a Loki or Skaði in my universe." It is not like a mere mortal like Sarah would know, though. She never searched the universe for worthy warriors, like Amascut has. Nope, Sarah has lived her whole life on a little blue and green gem of a planet. "I met Skaði here." Well, ok, Milliways doesn't count. "We were ... kind of friendly," she says, unsure if that counted as friendship.

Well, this is Skaði and Amascut we're talking about here. Neither are renown for their friendliness.

"She did not like Asgard at all."

For a mortal, Sarah sure is casual about talking to gods. That could just be what Milliways does to a person.

[foolyoutwice]

"My goodness. Shocking. How could anyone possibly dislike Asgard." Really. Just unbelievable. Tut-tut. He'll just have to keep that in mind if he runs into Skaði.

He lounges back, still looking Sarah over. "As it happens I'm in a little disagreement with Asgard myself just now, so. If you see her again, tell her Loki says hello. --Sooooo, waterspouts and windstorms. Very nice. I like it. What else do you do?"

[death_gone_mad]

She looks a bit wry at the hought of meeting Skaði again. Skaði was acting distressingly domestic and pregnant last time they had met.

Amascut wasn't exactly supportive...

The important thing is that Amascut's secret is safe with Skaði and her lame husband (possibly), since that Skaði and this Loki don't seem to talk. She can continue pretending to be Sarah all she wants.

"Magic-wise? Well, some minor teleportation, fire-related spells, exploding boulders. Water... I can make the seas choppy, but there aren't much occasions to do that. I was useless as a seawitch because I did the exact opposite of calming the seas, but I was much better protection against pirates than a cannon," she says, smugly.

[foolyoutwice]

It's pretty impressive the sheer variety of magical approaches you can find in Milliways. Loki considers himself to be an excellent magician--but he's run into things that make Asgardian magic scratch its head.

Thank goodness for the library, where it's all written down, somewhere.

He un-lounges and leans forward to listen with his chin on his hands. "Yes, I just bet you were. Teleportation, now...of yourself? Of other objects?"

[death_gone_mad]

"A bit of both; personal teleportation is highly regulated on my world and anyone who can do it is restricted to only teleporting into a few major cities. Some spots in the middle of nowhere that probably used to be cities too. As for objects..."

Sarah looks over the side of the skiff and into the roilling mass of fish. She finds a flatfish near the bottom and stretches out her hand toward it. Momentarily the flatfish materializes at her feet. She begins to explain, "It only works over short dista-" when a catfish leaps into the skiff and she drops the conversation to catch the squirmy slippery fish and flash cook it between her hands.

The catfish isn't completely dead before she remembers to gut it using a knife she had hidden under her skirt. She tosses the guts overboard after seperating out the heart and liver, and then finishes cooking the catfish.

Apparently catching and cooking catfish is an emergency worth dropping a conversation.

[foolyoutwice]

Uh...huh. Riiight. Well. "I've just been cooking them the old-fashioned way," he observes mildly. "But I suppose that's much fresher."

That's fine. He can overlook some oddnesses in manners, when someone is interesting enough. "Who oversees the regulation on your world? Of the teleportation, I mean. Can't you just...get around that?"

[death_gone_mad]

"Uh.. sorry, I don't trust catfish. They're... not dangerous, but you shouldn't let them listen in on a conversation and get away alive," she attempts to explain.

There's no interesting story behind that, just unfounded paranoia.

"Teleportation? Some council of elder mages decides which cities get to be destinations and they and the Abysal Services Department work together to reroute rouge teleporters. They say its something about preventing the fabric of spacetime ripping in an uncontrolled fashion."

She cuts out a filet of grilled catfish and offers it to Loki. "Of course there are ways around it. I don't think they could prevent the front door in this place from working."