hadriel | [video] You only THINK I guessed wrong!

I fell victim to one of the classic blunders- do I seriously have to read this?

[You may recognize the guy on your screen as local parkour enthusiast and history nerd Nathan Drake. What he is wearing, however, differs so resolutely from his typical "jeans and a Henley" aesthetic that the broadcast appears to be hosted by a man whose sartorial sensibilities make him look like the quintessential Harvard professor: tweed vest, bow tie and all.

He gives a pleading expression to someone out of frame, who appears to have no mercy. Nate takes a fortifying breath and continues his recitation with approximately zero enthusiasm.]

...the most famous of which is "never get involved in a land war in Asia" - but only slightly less well-known is this: "never challenge an FBI psychologist to deliver a line with a straight face."

[He looks directly at the camera, then at the figure behind the camera, and mimes a finger slicing across his neck at the figure in question with a mouthed I'm going to kill you.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'll give you the GPS coordinates.

[Nate grins at the sentiment, but it isn't a joke. He's got them written down. How else was he going to go back to find remote Nepalese villages to visit old friends?]

But, uh...I'll hear people use Spanish or Latin words, and they're from worlds that don't have Spain or Rome. Stuff like that.

[SCORE. Not that Peter would actually ever have time to go find this shit but MAN. How cool would that be?]

That is pretty weird, but is it any weirder than the fact that literally everyone speaks English? It's like a sci-fi movie where everyone just conveniently speaks the same language no matter what planet they come from.

[And then as an after though he kind of just blurts:] Oh man, speaking of, I'm gonna be so behind in Spanish class if I can ever get home.

Edited (durr durr HTML) 2018-09-19 23:14 (UTC)

I think it's some kind of mechanic of this place, like it...automatically translates. Except if it's written, I think written languages pretty much stay what they are?

[Something he only knows after extensive digging in their former library, and based on the fact that if he writes something in Spanish in his sketchbook, it doesn't suddenly transform into an English equivalent.]

...but, uh. Hey, if you need help with that - I'm fluent. Pretty much grew up south of the border.

[HUH, that is all super weird. Not that there aren't things that are a lot weirder, but at least this is weird in a way that's actually kind of helpful? Or something.]

That would be amazing and I would love help with that. But like, would the whole 'all spoken languages are now English' thing make that weird? Kinda tough to learn a language if you can't actually speak it.

Or am I thinking too hard about things again?

It depends, I think?

[He's not a scientist, but...]

The default seems to be everyone being translated to English, if we're not thinking about it. But writing in other languages works, and if you're concentrating on another language you seem to be able to speak it...enough to communicate. I taught some Spanish to someone else here, once.

Oh, cool, so it does work.

Uh, so I feel kinda bad asking you to help me with a thing when I can't really like, pay you back for it. Maybe I can owe you a few favors or something?

Eh, don't worry about it.

[What is he going to do, hold a teenager hostage over a favor? He's not a monster.]

Just gimme a call when you want the practice.

[NAH just ask him to clean your gutters or something]

Oh, sure! Yeah, I can do that. Thanks, like. Seriously.

[video] You only THINK I guessed wrong!

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