officerwhiskers | =04= [Video] - mglw'nafh Freckle R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

=04= [Video] - mglw'nafh Freckle R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

[Oh, the panic! A string of odd glubbing and croaking sounds like an attempt at speaking English. It's a failed attempt, at first, but once he gets the hang of speaking through a mouth of tentacles, Calvin sounds quite horrified.]

Bwrrwlwwwwhyrrl Glyublrgh! Wwwwwwwwhys this qurrlbhhh...happening! Wwwbble... I hate thyis.

[The video snaps on, revealing a piercing pair of red and orange octopus eyes staring with a look of concern and sorrow... If such emotions could even be seen on a fishy character.]

Could anyg-gwuone exblain why I'm a monster.

[A tentacle creeps up and covers the journal, before it closes out.]

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[Thank goodness for automatic signatures on posts, or Scott would never know that this is the cat-guy he met.]

Calvin? It's okay, everyone woke up a little different this morning... some more different than others.

[He tried to respond, though he still has not quite grasped control over the multiple appendages covering his mouth. Wrapping one tentacle that may have been a finger around his quill, a rough message slowly scribbles across the page.]

Forever? How long is this going to last?

[There's a pause in his writing.]

I'm some kind of squid.

I don't know, but I doubt it'll be forever. I think there were others saying this has happened before.

I'm a cyclops.

[It sounds like there's supposed to be some sort of joke in there.]

Did we do something wrong for them to do this? I hope it's not going to happen too often.

[Calvin lifts the journal up to his face, squinting at the word "cyclops". He's heard about those things before, right? Back in school. One of those fantasy monsters?]

So you only have one eye? That sounds better off than whatever I am, right now.

I couldn't tell you, Calvin. I hope so, too.

It's not that bad, I guess. My glasses don't fit, and I'm a lot taller than I used to be, but it could be a lot worse.

[He could have a visor that doesn't fit too, and then he'd be 10 feet tall and blind to boot.]

If we did, that's not fair because I didn't even do anything. Sounds like a load of horsefeathers, if you ask me.

[Calvin frowns... Or, at least he shifts his face to resemble something that could look sad.]

I wish I were taller. Sounds like I got the crummy end of the stick here.

I'm gonna have to agree with you there.

Maybe, but try to find a bright side. You might be able to do things you couldn't do before.

[Pfff, teacher optimism.]

I guess thats true. Maybe I can be a better swimmer, now.

[If you could sense emotion from his writing, there would be slight boost in his mood. Calvin hates wet fur, but no longer needs to be worried about that!]

There you go. I'd start with the thermal pools first, though; it's not really the right season to go swimming in the lake.

Yeah. That's a good idea. It's still pretty cold outside.

[He tries to clean up his writing, taking a bit longer to scribble out this last bit.]

Thanks for the help.

I can only offer a guess, and I don't think it'll be comforting. How're you handling it?

[She's going to just spare you a look, Calvin, because it's...not pretty.]

[His scribbling is rough, but just clear enough to be legible.]

You don't sound very good either. I'm doing okay I guess. It feels kind of gross, like I'm soggier than I would want to be. Hope I don't dry out.

Let's just say I've been better. And I may never be able to enjoy pumpkin pie again.

And I guess if you're worried about drying out there's always the lake. Or the sink, if you don't want to risk coming across that Kraken thing the Cap'n is so worried about.

What do you mean? Did you turn into something with pumpkins? I already talked to this one guy, or cyclops now. He said the thermal pools would be a good idea, since it's still really cold outside.

I think I'll use the sink too, though.

Something involved pumpkins, yeah. In that my head is now a pumpkin, and it's not the most...comfortable...feeling in the world. To say the least. Considering how things went the last time people had pumpkins for heads...

Yeah. Not a great day.

That sounds pretty bad. Are you feeling okay otherwise? I'm sorry about that, but I don't think having an octopus thing for a head is that much better.

I feel weird, but it's not a horrible weird. Just kind of a resentful weird.

But yeah, you have a point. It didn't sound like having tentacles was helping with the talking.

Tch, your mouth isn't made for those sounds. You sounds like you're choking.

[To avoid further embarrassment, Calvin messily scribbles out his messages.]

I know. I can't help it. I've never talked with a mouth made out of tentacles.

Well, your first mistake is trying to use Common.

What do you mean use common? Like language, or something?

[Calvin's going to need to learn another language?!]

It's the only one I know!

[Hope you like the sound of clicks and squeaks. They're a bit awkward right now, since Ezra's fancy new human voicebox isn't built for them, but heck if anyone else can tell.]

Like the language you're writing in right now. See, something like this would be easier on your mouth.

You should learn Squid. Or Water Common, at least.

[Calvin sees the translation, and unwisely tries to imitate the bunch of clicks and squeaks. To anyone else they may sound the same, but to Ezra it is going to sound like a load of idiot-speak. The translation in the journal will prove this.]

Horse Apple Grunt Heel Sky Beast

[There's a pause, then regular Common writing.]

I don't think I'll be able to learn a new language that quickly. I didn't even know squids had their own language.

Uh. Good try.

[But not really.]

Well, usually squids aren't that smart, they don't use that many words. But whatever kind you are probably has a proper language, right?

Maybe. The clicks felt kind of natural to make, but I'm going to have to find out if there's actually a language. Do you think they have books like that in the library?

Dunno. It'd be pretty hard to learn from a book, I think.

There's a squid in the lake, maybe you should try to go talk to it.

Oh yeah, there is! That's a good idea. I hope it's not one of those squids that would eat smaller squids. I don't think I'm a very fast swimmer, yet.

Practice in the baths first.

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=04= [Video] - mglw'nafh Freckle R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

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[audio] {{ooc: Tammy}}

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[text] beacuse yeah she does sound pretty bad...

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[Audio] - back to common.

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