Creature Languages, 02/02, Period 3

[game-of-you.livejournal.com]

There is a small white rat sitting on the lectern, while Dream stands to one side. At Dream's nod, the rat addresses the class in English in a voice that is clear, though high-pitched.

"Hey, kiddos. I'm Racso. I'm supposed to help teach you guys Rat. Heh. Might be easier to just teach all us rats English. But whatever, I ain't getting paid for my opinion.

Anyhow, your professor is passing out a vocabulary sheet. You're supposed to try to ask me a question from it in Rat. Go into English if you hafta. But study it over the weekend, 'cause on Monday, you're gonna need to talk to each other in Rat."

He turns to Dream. "Anything else I gotta say?" At the shake of Dream's head, Racso gnaws on the lectern briefly, then addresses the class again. "So who wants to go first?"

[OOC: Racso is loosely borrowed from "Racso and the Rats of NIMH", though my memory of the book is imperfect. Forgive any canon fumbles. Also, work is looking busy, so I may be slow.]

Comments

Re: Class Discussion, Creature, 02/02

[soldtoarmenians]

Xander read through the vocabulary sheet and scratched his head. It was a good thing Rasco spoke English too. (And how sad was it that animals who spoke English didn't remotely faze him anymore? Three years of knowing Buffy and his ability to be surprised by anything but... his ability to still be surprised by human nature? Pfft. Blown into tiny little dusty pieces.) What he wanted to ask was weird enough in any language; he still wasn't entirely sure how to put it together.

//I've got this friend// he started, //at home.//

"Well, she's in at school with another friend, actually, in another dimension but I knew her back home."

//She//

... okay, no word for spell on the list. Which made sense, because how many rats knew magic? And did he really want to know the answer to that question, actually?

//...changed into a rat. She's//

He looked at the the list and winced. Yeah, of course they'd have that word.

//trapped that way. We think so, since she can't speak//

"English"

//to talk to us.//

Re: Class Discussion, Creature, 02/02

[game-of-you.livejournal.com]

Racso winces, and utters a a curse in rat that certainly isn't on the vocabulary sheet. //That sucks for her,// he mutters, though "sucks" probably isn't on the vocabulary sheet either.

//If you're asking what I think you're asking...// he says, then stops, making himself switch to English.

"From what I've seen, if she's a normal rat, she can probably pick up a few words of English, if that. I'm kind of a special case. Some scientists messed around with my pa, gave him some extra abilities. The talking bit is kind of a gift with purchase. But I don't really know a lot about people who are stuck in rat bodies. Sort of an unusual situation."

//She might be happier as a rat, though,// he adds, switching back to Rat. //It's a fine way to be, ya know?//

Re: Class Discussion, Creature, 02/02

[soldtoarmenians]

Xander hesitated, not wanting to insult the rat, for both practical reasons and your basic homegrown polite ones. //"I'm sure it is if born you were a rat, but Amy wasn't. And she had a//

"...crappy - oh hey, there actually is a word for that."

//crappy life before that too//

Hell, there was no way he could make this out of the words on the paper in front of him. "Her mom tried to steal her body, she almost got burned at the stake... Accidentally turning herself into a rat seems like--" He stopped. "Ok, maybe you have a point. After the stake thing it might actually seem like a vacation."

He shook his head. "Still, it'd be nice to know if she's... actually even in there. I mean, she wasn't born that way, and she's only been a rat for a year or so, but she doesn't act like she remembers being a girl, she just acts like... a rat. Would she even speak Rat if I tried talking to her? Do you learn it growing up, like we do, or do you just know it somehow?"

Which was what he'd been trying to find a way to phrase, and hadn't even done so hot a job of it in English now that he'd finally gotten there.

Re: Class Discussion, Creature, 02/02

[game-of-you.livejournal.com]

Racso glances back at Dream. //Professor? This is more up your alley than mine. Heh, alley, rat, get it?//

Dream sighs and turns his attention to Xander. "It depends on the kind of enchantment used," he says. "Without knowing that, it is hard to say."

"It is most likely, though, that she just knew Rat when she found herself in her new body. It would have been a cruel spell indeed, to trap her without a language, and I doubt she would have done that to herself. For the same reason, I suspect she remembers being a girl, in the way humans remember dreams or early childhood."

"I doubt she is very unhappy."

Re: Class Discussion, Creature, 02/02

[soldtoarmenians]

//Thanks// Xander said to both the rat and his professor, looking, possibly, a bit thrown.

"That's... something to think about."