russian intensifies

[constellates]

[When you wake up on this fine morning and check your Retrospec feed, you'll find... Russian spam? It begins - ]

Доброе утро. Меня зовут Аня. [ - and it continues on from there, resulting in a full paragraph.

For anyone who can read Cyrillic, they'll find the following message: Good morning. My name is Anya. Is anyone able to understand this? I recognize it as Cyrillic, as Russian, however I don't recall ever being able to speak this language. I woke up and suddenly it's all I knew. If the people on here remember horses, maybe they remember me speaking differently? Properly? Maybe? Please let me know.

In an entirely separate text, she tries again. In two more languages.]

おはようございます。私の名前はAnyaです。わかりますか？これは日本語です。でも昨日でAnyaは日本語を話しません。

[ - and that also goes on. An English message, with the same approximate fluency level as the Japanese, to explain the whole situation is finally provided at the end. Third try's the charm?]

good morning. my name is anya. i am sorry to try again but i am confused. today i know how to speak russian and japanese. the russian is easy but the japanese is harder. english is also harder now. even though yesterday i only spoke english?

??? why?

if the people here remember horses do they remember the anya that did not know russian? please help. please. thank you.

[ ACTION ]

[ a: авария

Normally Anya is full of life. There's a skip in her step, there's a smile on her face, there's a whole-hearted willingness to tackle the day and everything that it brings her. It was easy to call Anya cheerful and friendly.

That doesn't appear to be the case anymore.

She avoids her friends. She ducks her head and doesn't make eye contact at school. She doesn't open her mouth to speak once, brows furrowed and lips pressed into a thin line.

Yet with her head bowed as it is, it's hard to steer clear of others, isn't it? Which is why she bumps into you - somewhere. She still wanders, even if she isn't at her best. Whether it's at school, at the dance studio, wandering around the city, she seems to have accidentally run right into you.

Startled, she exclaims in smooth Russian:]

Извините! [Then her eyes widen and she seems to pause, having to take a sincere moment to recall the words she's looking for. Even now, a distinct Russian accent colors her words.] Ah, um... I'm sorry...

[There's no helping the sad, defeated look on her face - but Anya is still a very gentle girl. Even though she wants to be by herself, she finds herself looking up to whoever she ran into uncertainly.]

Are you okay...?

[ b: секрет

Distracted as she is, Anya isn't really noticing any of the secrets that are posted around today - or her own. So there's a neat little sign posted on her back, whether it's detailing something small like:]

i ) Anastasia sometimes sneaks out to climb the rooftop of her house even though her mother has told her not to.
ii ) Anastasia used to be a cheerleader.

[Or something a little bit more telling like:]

iii ) Anastasia doesn't like to be left alone.
iv ) Anastasia is too scared to be an idol anymore.

[ ooc: anya's regain was her canon language tick! an example can be found here! complete with sprinkles of Russian and accent. an additional note is that if you hover over the different alphabets, the exact translation should come up! AND FINALLY, Anya's hair used to be the lightest shade of the blonde in the world - and now it's gone full silver, but that's the least of her problems.]

Comments

[constellates]

[Oh. Anya blinks - she's walked this way a few times before. She nods in recognition of where they're off to.]

Oh! Да... Yes, Anya has seen it before.

Do you want to read?

[alienates]

[ he opens his mouth to make a sarcastic reply... then closes it. NOT TODAY, KARKAT, NOT TODAY. ]

I'm picking something up and want your opinion on what to get.

[constellates]

[TRY AGAIN TOMORROW, KARKAT.

Still, Anya nods in agreement. Sure? And then they don't even need to enter the bookstore before she gives an opinion, aka her only opinion:]

Звезда. Something with stars.

[alienates]

[ the look on his face more or less says he should have seen that one coming. ]

Plot twist of the century. Alright, stars it is.

[ and, finally, the store is in sight. karkat directs them over to its entrance. ]

[constellates]

[He knows her well. There's a little smile from her even as they enter the store and she finds herself looking around, taking in all the words and directions.

It... makes sense to her for the most part? Though it takes an additional half-second to translate since her thoughts are primarily in Russian now.]

Did you want something else?

[Besides stars.]

[alienates]

We're getting stars and something else.

[ he does not elaborate what the something else is though, and instead focuses on... figuring out how the hell this store is organized. he usually orders his books online, or he knows where what he wants is already located. if it's stars then the... science... section???

karkat refuses to ask for help. he works retail and just flat out refuses to bother someone who is working. ]

Do you know where they keep their star stuff?

[constellates]

[Something... Else...

But yes - Anya is more interested in the astronomy and that's why she's nodding as the opportunity arises to demonstrate her absurd love for the stars. So there's a nod as she pulls on his hand to bring him to the science section.]

Да! Yes. It's this way.

[She already seems happier....]

[alienates]

[ he is glad that he seems to be passing this friendship level. he's seriously not used to actively attempting to cheer people up? and like, the number of people he would do that for is very low and the people on that list don't typically need to be cheered up. so. here we are.

he lets himself be tugged since why stop now, and also, he has no idea where to go without her leading. ]

... So, uh. Anya. Do you want to go to the observatory with me sometime?

[constellates]

[this is the part where if Anya was in better humor, she'd joke about him asking her out on a date

as is, she lights up entirely anyway. She glances over and gives an immediate smile and a nod.]

Of course! But it is... неожиданность? Ah - surprise? Why do you ask?

[alienates]

Can't I ask you to go to places with me? Maybe I really want to check out the observatory, Anya, and have decided to grace you with my presence and invite you along.

[ OR MAYBE HE JUST WANTS TO FURTHER CHEER HER UP who knows ]

[constellates]

[IT'S REALLY CUTE and she is trying to parse through his words - because she thinks that he is playing? She giggles a little bit before settling for a nod and a smile.

It's working.]

You do not normally talk about the stars...

Is it поддержка? For me...? Thank you.

[alienates]

Just think of it as a really late Valentine's Day gift or something.

[ once they are in front of the appropriate book section, he starts scanning the shelves for any potentially interesting astronomy books. ]

[constellates]

[any astronomy book would be an interesting astronomy book

which is how anya feels as she takes her free hand and openly runs them across the spines, her eyes following over the letters. they're familiar in that distant way, though it takes her a little bit longer to make sense of the words that they make]

Okay.

A late Valentine's Day with Karkat... милый. It is cute. I like it.

[alienates]

Don't tell people about it or else they're going to think I'm trying to like, court you or something.

[ he picks out one of the books and flips through the pages. it's mostly large pictures with blurbs next to them. ]

[constellates]

Нет. No, only Yuratchka thought that.

[which she thinks is pretty funny even still]

Do not worry. I will keep you safe.

[she knows some of the people around her are kinda... overprotective about the whole boy thing]

[alienates]

Wow. My hero.

[ it's said flatly, but... yeah. karkat may not know all of anya's friends, but he is pretty aware that she basically has a defense squad surrounding her. the last thing he needs is one of them thinking he romantically likes or something. ]

Are you going to beat them up for me.

[constellates]

I could not beat anyone up. подлый? That would be mean.

[Anya could never do anything mean on purpose that wasn't for temporary playing purposes.]

I will just tell them that you do not want to kiss me.

[EASY SOLUTIONS]

[alienates]

It would be mean but no one would see it coming from you so you have the element of surprise backing you up.

[ karkat would pay money to watch anya beat someone up, but he also knows the chances of that ever happening are practically nonexistent. ]

But that's one way of solving the problem.

[constellates]

[the funny thing is that anya could probably beat someone up

so she's beaming a little bit]

Occhan said that too. No one would expect me to мстить. Fight back? But I can.

[so who knows maybe one day she'll beat someone up]

But it is lucky that it has not been necessary.

[alienates]

Well it's good that you can defend yourself. Not everyone is a nice person.

[ he picks out another book and this one seems a lot more scientific. even his eyes are glazing over the language in it and his english is perfectly fine. ]

If it's a guy just punch him in the crotch.

[constellates]

[admittedly that's the book that has anya looking over his shoulder to read along - she reads slower but she seems to be vaguely nodding her head in understanding

nice

then

belatedly]

I do not want to touch that.

But it should be fine. No one has wanted to hurt Anya.

[alienates]

A nice kick will work wonders too. Just keep it in mind.

[ FIGHT DIRTY, ANYA. fight dirty. ]

Is there any book that's standing out?

[constellates]

[Well if she's going to be honest - there's one that caught her eye immediately.

Given that Anya wants to discover a star one day, she thinks it makes sense if she picks out a book that's about new stars.]

Ah - this one. It was not in stock when I looked last time.

I think it will be very good.

[alienates]

[ he glances at the cover and nods, putting the ones he had back in their spots. ]

Okay. One more spot then.

[ he pulls on her hand to leader her to another section... well where he thinks the section is. seriously he does not know the layout of this place. ]

[constellates]

[Aaand off they go.]

... что? What are we looking for?

[ ? ? ?? ? ]