Multi-pup post!

[precocioustilda]

Matilda has an armchair by the fire, a mug of hot chocolate, and a copy of Beowulf in the original Anglo-Saxon. By her standards this counts as non-academic relaxation. Do say hello.

Jhalak is hanging from the rafters by one arm, surveying the bar with two eyes, the remaining two arms tucked close to its body. It's not sure it likes being away

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[mapmakerchur]

Chur (the bipedal, tailless, leonine person) goes up to Bar to refill her mug of gfi, and as she turns around she notices something out of the corner of her eye.

Her ears go back as she stares up at Jhalak, and her mouth works as if she's trying to say something but isn't sure what. (She knows she's being rude, but she doesn't see very many nonbipedal aliens anywhere, much less here...)

[facile_fivefold]

Jhalak waves a five-thumbed hand.

"Hello hello!" "Hello strange person!"

[mapmakerchur]

Chur's mouth works again, and she manages, "H'lo," and then her eyes narrow a bit and she asks, "Are you a chi?" She follows this question by a whistle - the first tone of the idea "chi" in the t'ca language.

[facile_fivefold]

"Chi?" Jhalak copies the whistle, too, for good measure. It's an excellent mimic.

"What's it mean?" "Jhalak is Jotok." "Name Jhalak; species Jotok." "What's your name?"

[mapmakerchur]

"Chi - it's a race from the galaxy I'm from," Chur explains. "They breathe methane, but they look something like you, except much brighter, and they're usually found with t'ca." Chur whistles the first tone of that idea, too. "The t'ca have five voices and their words have to be sung in unison by all five voices, but for some words they understand if an oxy-breather makes the first tone."

Then she answers the rest of Jhalak's commentary: "I'm Chur Anify par Chanur, species hani. I go by just 'Chur' here, or ker Chur if you feel the need to be formal." She smiles a feline smile.

[facile_fivefold]

"Good to meet you!" "Good to meet Chur." "Five-tone voices?" "Fivefold symmetry, and not Jotok? Jhalak didn't know that's possible." "Everybody in Bar is bilaterally symmetric." "Even Lemurians aren't five-armed. Many arms. Not five."

[mapmakerchur]

"Five-tone voices," Chur confirms. "T'ca are bilaterally symmetric, I think, they look like enormous snakes, they just have five mouths and a whole lot of eyes. I haven't seen a chi up close to know what kind of symmetry it has. Good to meet you too, Jhalak."

[facile_fivefold]

"So t'ca" (whistle) "is snake, chi" (whistle) "is like Jotok, hani is like Chur. Jhalak will remember. Thank you! Jhalak likes new vocabulary."

[mapmakerchur]

Chur turns back to Bar and asks for a recording of a t'ca singing the idea "t'ca". A small black box is provided, and Chur presses play so that Jhalak can hear the five voices singing the five tones that make up "t'ca".

The voices are a bit dissonant, and one of them's pretty high-pitched.

[facile_fivefold]

Jhalak drops onto a barstool and opens and closes a few hands, thoughtfully.

Then it replicates the whistle. Strictly speaking its vocal apparatus isn't meant to make five distinct sounds at a time, but it manages a pretty close approximation with that it's got.

"New vocabulary! New vocabulary!"

It wiggles its digits and emits a very human, very girlish giggle.

[mapmakerchur]

Chur beams a delighted smile. "I bet you could have a real conversation with a t'ca!" she says. "The most we can do with computers is things like 'do you want to trade processed uranium for that refined steel?' and 'you can dock at number 27'."

[facile_fivefold]

"Jhalak could have a conversation." "Jhalak has lots of conversations." "Whole new language - lots of vocabulary. Jhalak only knows two." "English and Sumerian. Both human languages."

Two arms lift up, focusing their respective eyes on Chur.

"Learning" (whistle) "language would be interesting."

[mapmakerchur]

Chur beams at Jhalak. "I don't know t'ca, and I've never seen one here, but I could get you tapes of what we know of the t'ca language," she offers.

(ooc: sorry, the phone rang and I couldn't get away!)

[facile_fivefold]

(ooc: no worries! :D)

"Jhalak would like that." "Thank you!" "Approve!"