Welcome to Gaia! ::

Caedus fascinated her.

It wasn't necessarily just the fact that he had somehow survived in a very bad place for nearly a millennia. (That was a whole eon of life, was it not?) It was the fact that he had adapted. He had learned the people. He had learned the language of the people, specifically; unlike her and the rest of the Vanguard, Caedus didn't bother with anything like a translator.

That meant that he understood the language. The nuance of the language. How to best use the language. She wanted to know how he did it, and she wanted to know how deep that knowledge went. Sometimes her translator didn't seem to understand anything she was listening to. There were other languages. One, who she had asked, seemed a little annoyed before they had said, "Hablo español."

Well, that and he was their king. He was a little out-of-touch with modern-day Velencian society, but Lysvi still found that, well, for lack of a better term, as the humans said, cool. Or was it lit--

She cleared her throat, approaching him when he didn't seem to be too busy.

Hopefully.

"Your Highness?" She cleared her throat again. "Or, uh, Caedus? I'm sorry. I don't know which one you prefer. I don't want to be impolite."

"Okay, Caedus," Caedus, alright. The royal of Velencya -- Velenia -- the last royal of their bloodline was fine with her using his first name. Perhaps that wasn't a big deal, but there was a part of her that was still excited about it.

And he was offering her Earth food.

She eagerly took his offer, skittering over and sitting right down next to him. These smelled amazing. Eagerly, she reached in, let out a sound of surprise at how warm they were, and quickly snatched one off the plate and popped it into her mouth gingerly like it might bite her.

She went for a few more afterward.

"These are really good!" Lysvi swallowed a second fry after biting it and letting herself taste the ingredients this time. "What's it made out of?" It didn't taste like much they had on Velencya. Earth was so fascinating. It being so alive seemed to lead to it having so many different things that she would have never imagined, including hot sticks of tastiness.

"A potato," echoed Lysvi back, trying on the word without the pleasures of translation, and trying it a few more times afterward under her breath as if trying to perfect it. Potato. Potato. Potato. Poh-tay-toe.

At the confession it was not healthy, perhaps she should have been more ashamed of how much she liked them, but to be honest, they were just tasty. Eagerly, she took a few more, though was careful to not take all of them despite the seeming offering. A proper Velencian shared their resources, and that included their very unhealthy food.

"I think the Commodore just wants the best for you," she replied, with a quiet snicker. "And these are very unhealthy." It was notable that it didn't seem to stop her from eating them. "But I will not tell. Your secret is safe with me."

A royal secret. Felt so mysterious--

"I've been trying things while I am out exploring and learning the planet! Their food is so fascinating. I was able to partake in one dish," she squinted, "there were these long things they called noodles in a watery, salty broth, and there were vegetables and," she knit her brows, "ahgg. It's what some of their bird-animals lay, I think."

Lysvi was attempting to describe ramen.

Caedus seemed to understand her, at least, which was the important part. She wasn't sure if she had been explaining it right, and her eyes lit up when he spoke of salt and vegetables. Even if he didn't recognize the dish, she was happy he understood it.

To herself, she reminded herself to bring Caedus back some of the salty and vegetable noodle soup for him to try--

If unhealthy eating was to be their little secret, anyway.

Lysvi listened, eagerly, to the description of humanity. Part of understanding the context of their linguistic forms meant understanding them as a people, after all. Perhaps their shorter lives could explain their tendency to contract and abbreviate words -- less time, so they had to fit so much more in that shorter period. Even if it was silly, Caedus seemed so very fond of them. Lysvi liked that. "I can see that! They do so many interesting things with their food, and they do so many daring things." She pursed her lips and tapped her finger against them. "They use so many spices. Some of them are very hot and make my nose tickle."

Like that green paste that they had at the same place as the noodle soup...

"And I have gathered that some people do things like extreme sports for fun. It seems silly, but in the context of needing to fill their lives with fun..."

She giggled.

"But I don't think Lyndin ever takes a break, but I guess you know that better than anyone else." She glanced toward him, that twinkle still in her eyes, a fry hanging slightly out of her mouth, "What was he like when he was younger?"

Lysvi was the type that found joy in everything, and the Earth being alive and full of people and things and animals and languages and unhealthy food and a sun and a moon brought her joy bountifully. To see that Caedus might share in that, with the way he smiled, too, warmed her all the way into her toes.

She wiggled them in her shoes for good measure.

That joy was not restrained to her shoes when Caedus said he was proud of all of them, and she might have done a full body wriggle of joy, shooting him a grin. "Ah, thank you! I'm very proud of our Vanguard too. When I found out my brother and I were accepted to it," she popped another fry into her mouth, covering her mouth with her hand as she chewed, "I was thrilled. A place to study language! Always! But can't even imagine a Velencya without Lyndin, to be honest."

She thought Caedus' description of the young Lyndin still seemed very accurate. Very responsible. Very busy. Always looking after people. Trusted with the hard choices. She tilted her head slightly when Caedus mentioned Lyndin being lost to Beryl -- and then he had ended up in the Rift. What had happened there-- "So odd to think of the Vanguard as a little thing. Didn't even think of how young it must have been when you last saw Velencya..."

She pursed her lips.

"Is that how you're so good with English? So long away?"

Caedus' quick assurance brought a blush to Lysvi's cheeks; had they said too much? Had they said the wrong thing? But their heart calmed as they listened to the way he seemed to reassure both her and himself. And not reassure. His Velenian sounded like it was accented, and when Lysvi considered it, she supposed it did, in a way--

"A trade language, if you will," confirmed Lysvi, quietly, as she pondered the implications of this common language also being echoed in so many parts of the galaxy. If there were more peoples, somewhere out there, would they be able to communicate with them simply by speaking this? She supposed the way she worked on translations did back that up--

In an attempt to encourage her king, she offered, "I think you're doing better than you think! Humans don't live as long as us, so I imagine their linguistic evolution is considerably faster." She tapped a finger against her chin. "And if you were gone long enough to only return with an accent and not a misunderstanding in general, I think you'll readjust in time."

She wasn't exactly sure how encouraging that was, in the end, but her smile was sincere and it was clear she wanted him to feel encouraged.

Her attention was very quickly swept up by the mention of languages. Her eyes lit up.

"Yes!" Caedus was speaking to Lysvi's favorite thing. "There are so many languages here! I desire to study them all, but I believe that would be impossible. Their web encyclopedia implies that there are thousands of languages here, some only spoken by a few hundred people." She bounced on the backs of her legs. "I have run into some people who say they speak something called Español. I have also heard reference to...," Lysvi cleared her throat, "한국인*. I believe the English translation is Korean."

Lysvi seemed very proud of this. "I have tried to find texts in these languages, but you are right, some are so very similar, and others are so very different. How often have you tried to read in these different languages? Is it like English, where you notice differences?"

She was definitely babbling.

*pronounced: Hangug-in

Caedus seemed like he was smiling a bit brighter now, and to Lysvi, that meant that she had done her job. Their king was definitely different than them, so long gone from their society, but Lysvi didn't innately see that as a reason to see him as someone who couldn't be part of their society, just someone who needed readjustment. He was their king, after all. To her, his relationship with their world's past was fascinating. Perhaps he knew a form of Velenian that she hadn't yet figured out--

At the concept of having books brought to him by his friends on Earth, Lysvi thoughtfully tapped her chin. "I could try bringing over a book in another language? I know it might look strange, but," but she had discovered that humans had these things called book stores, and while she didn't quite understand why they needed to use the cards they were given for the books, she was very happy to indulge in grabbing even more if he'd like.

Even more--

Her eyes sparkled.

"Oh, you think he'd let me?" It was clearly very important to her. "That would be wonderful! The more of these people we can associate with, the better, right? The more we can find out from them." She shot him a grin from ear to ear. "And that might help the rest of us learn, too--"

Her thoughts hit a halt and she stopped talking for a moment, shook herself out, and then asked, forever enthusiastic, "If English is changing -- how do you keep up with it? Their language seems to rapidly evolve. I swear I hear a new slang word our translator does not quite recognize every day."