fandomhigh | Have Portal, Will Travel; Tuesday, Fourth Period [02/16].

At the front of the class, toothpick in mouth, portal waiting and ready to go behind them, Summer didn't have a lot of preamble for today's class, so she'd just get right into it.

"So next week, of course, is the school trip," she offered, "which, you know, basic portal travel stuff to another location on usually the same Earth, same time, sometimes same dimension, but not always. It's really hard to tell until we get there, but, either way, it's definitely going to be a different culture, which is an important thing to experience, you know? Japan's kind of interesting because it's gone through some periods of imperialism, it's gone through some periods of isolationism, and since World War II, it's definitely gotten very 'Westernized,'" the finger quote and the roll of her eyes there was clear indication that there was a whole rant in there somewhere, but she'd save that for another class, "so it very distinctly has its own culture, but it's also fairly accessable, too.

"Not so much with the place we're going today. Quick rundown: it's called Glaagablaaga, and the people who live there are called Garblovians. On the surface, there might seem to be some similarities between their culture and ours, but they don't speak a word of a Common language like English, which, for some reason, is actually really widely known around the galaxy, who knew? Anyway, they don't speak it, they do seem to understand it, though, but they have their own language and they are fully convinced that you understand it perfectly, which I'm assuming you do not. So let's go and see what we can do to work on some communication skills by interacting with some Garblovians.

"Oh," she added, after gesturing for them all to come up and slip on through the portal, "one more thing: they do tend to randomly explode, so if that happens, don't be startled, it's just a thing, and I promise you, the blue goo really does wash right off."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

With communication!

Belle

Illyana Rasputin

Nell Ingram

Relatively short and sweet this week, since some things are best left to experience, but if there are any questions before you go, get 'em in while you can!

"Randomly explode??" Summer, you can't just say that sort of thing!

But she already did!

"Yeaaaaah," Summer ventured with an apologetic drawl, "which might not even be a problem on our visit, no one knows why they explode, but it does seem to be a conscious choice, since it plays into sports and everything on Glaagablaaga, so hopefully, no one will feel the urge to explode while we're there."

"They explode on purpose?" Somehow, this was not a selling point for Belle. "Do they somehow recover from that?"

"You know what?" Summer realized, mulling it over with her toothpick. "That might be a good thing you could ask them about when we get there."

They are all stocky, lumpy creatures with palid skin of various tones and limp pale hair, a mouth full of large, sharp teeth and big, two horns on their heads, red pupilless eyes underneath a heavy brow...even the kids. The class has been transported into what looks like a business center park at the height of its noontime useage: food stalls line the pathways, while important looking Garblovian business people sit around or stand in clusters discussing the business of the day...assumingly. It all comes out in a garbled, gutteral mush of a "garble garb garb!" variety. There's some...well, you can't call them old, because they all really do look the same except for their clothing...but some Garblovians playing a game that looks like chess until you get closer, there's some kids (you can tell those are kids, at least, because they're smaller) playing in a playground, and, occasionally, one of them will explode and garner very little more than a passing glance from the others before they continue their conversations.

Eventually, they might notice the humans dropping in for a visit and come say garblegarb!, but don't let that stop you from taking the initiative if you feel so inclined!

Edited 2021-02-16 13:21 (UTC)

Belle was trying not to stare because that would be rude but if people were just going to randomly explode she needed to be aware of her surroundings, didn't she? Belle was also trying to think of a polite way to inquire about what happened when these people exploded. She thought there might not be a good way to do it.

Belle was absolutely going to end up covered in goo.

It wasn't long before two of the little ones (probably kids? They didn't look like kids, they looked like all the other Garblovians, only smaller, and dressed like kids, one in a pink dress with puffy sleeves, the other in overall shorts and a propellee beanie between his horns) took notice of Belle and rushed up to her excitedly, waving their arms and seeming to shout.

"Glarb glar garff!" said the one.

"Glar gar glarfglarg!" said the other.

"Hello," Belle greeted them.

She thought they had offered a friendly greeting themselves but it was so hard to say.

"Glarga glar fla glar?" asked the one in thr pink dress.

"Glar glar glar!" the one in the beanie agreed. "Glar glar glar glar glar glar?"

"I wish we understood each other," Belle said apologetically. Then she could tell the one that his little hat was just darling! And maybe ask awkward questions.

"I don't suppose either of you speak my language?"

Yeah, she's not ever going to even try to learn Garblovian, no matter how ubiquitous they seem around her galaxy as service workers. She's barely even made headway on her Squanch!

TBF, there has not been nearly enough goo-related incidents in this class so far.

Edited 2021-02-16 10:33 (UTC)

Have Portal, Will Travel; Tuesday, Fourth Period [02/16].

Sign In - HPWT, 02/16.

Re: Sign In - HPWT, 02/16.

Re: Sign In - HPWT, 02/16.

Re: Sign In - HPWT, 02/16.

Listen to the Lecture - HPWT, 02/16.

Re: Listen to the Lecture - HPWT, 02/16.

Re: Listen to the Lecture - HPWT, 02/16.

Re: Listen to the Lecture - HPWT, 02/16.

Re: Listen to the Lecture - HPWT, 02/16.

Communicate with Garblovians! - HPWT, 02/16.

Re: Communicate with Garblovians! - HPWT, 02/16.

Re: Communicate with Garblovians! - HPWT, 02/16.

Re: Communicate with Garblovians! - HPWT, 02/16.

Re: Communicate with Garblovians! - HPWT, 02/16.

Re: Communicate with Garblovians! - HPWT, 02/16.

Talk to Summer - HPWT, 02/16.

OOC - HPWT, 02/16.