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Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Shienvien
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Hrm... I'll note it down so I would remember to locate the line wherein it was mentioned.

- I found it somewhat interesting that your last IC post would mention accents ... the one I myself most commonly use when speaking English (my, eh, performance-accent? the one I also use when addressing an audience?) is apparently strange. One of the people taking the verbal part of my English exam back in the day commented that it was interesting, and added that it was somehow very easy to understand, but he had never heard something quite like that. (It might have somewhat changed after that, though, since it's been a while. Accents do change over time, and quite a lot.)
Else I tend to just match my accent with the people I am currently speaking to ... and sometimes my brain gets confused (especially if there are several nationalities together, or I am dealing with something in another language on the side) and then I may pronounce the same word in one way in one sentence, and in another in the next.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Dark Jack
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Heh, I have frequently been told that I speak really strangely, to the point of one such person sitting across the room and staring at me intently for several minutes until I asked him what was wrong, and he - sounding almost desperate - insisted I told him where I was from because he could not seem to figure out my dialect/accent. And this is when I speak Danish, mind you; not even other Danes can figure out the way I speak. When it comes to English... this was some years ago, but I once actually had an Englishwoman teach me English, and in one of my first classes with her she actually stopped me in the middle of a sentence to ask me where I had lived besides Denmark, because my accent didn't sound Danish at all. Apparently the way I speak is quite perplexing, which is weird because I'm not doing anything consciously for it to be so.
Curiously I never really applied the accents of people of other nationalities to the languages I already knew, even when having a conversation with such people... though I do have an occasional slip-up when I compose sentences of part-Danish and part-English, accidentally pronouncing a word from one language as though it had been from the other. I have noted that I am quite good at picking up pronounciations when I actually want to, though; when I was learning Spanish it became evident that I rarely had to hear a word more than once to be able to reproduce it with correct pronounciation myself (which was not solely a good thing, due to the way Spanish sentence-structure works that does that almost every word has at least two different ways to be pronounced depending on the context, but I digress).
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Shienvien
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Haven't really have had anyone comment on my Estonian (I can speak a dialect, though, if I want), or any other language besides English... But with my English I've gotten the "where are you from?" quite often (curiously enough, with my US accent have also been often asked - including by actual Americans - where in the US am I from more specifically). - If I go switching between accents, it is mostly between English/Australian/US English, rather than me mixing (the accents/pronunciations of) multiple languages. The language-space specific accents just haven't been a strong enough influence, I think (though I won't deny I might still subconsciously try to mimic them if I talk to the people for a while ... just haven't really noticed it myself).
To my recollection I have never actually unintentionally switched between two languages mid-sentence (not even very similar ones, such as Finnish and Estonian), and if I do it intentionally it feels ... wrong. This is also why I, for example, tell people to go with the English, not Estonian spelling of my first name when they are currently speaking to me in English. I have started a sentence in my native when the language in use is something else a couple of times, but it has always been when I am not actually paying attention to the conversation (and therefore it has also almost exclusively been the Estonian for "Ah, what?").
- And now I am curious about what you actually sound like, seeing I haven't really heard you speak other than but a couple of sentences all the way back (VC times, and not the last year of such either) - and then you were speaking fairly quietly because other people were already being bothered by you loudly talking to yourself at night (also the reason why you left rather quickly). I should be familiar enough with the Swedish accent at least; Danish one not so much, since I don't have quarter as many reference points. I don't think those two are all that different, though I know at least one person who can tell them apart by hearing.

@Nessa: - ?
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Mercinus3
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Rhaevnn Xeno said
Floor is yours, Merc. :P


I shall take the floor and write a post shortly.

M3
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Shienvien
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@Nessa: Uhh... Thaler was wearing absolutely nothing else but Aemoten's coat, so she is now completely and utterly naked (or would be, if someone doesn't realize what she is doing and stop her)?
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Dark Jack
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People often assume that the Danish accent sound like the Swedish one because our languages are so similar (and considered mutually intelligible), or even that our accent sounds like the Norwegian one since it is even closer to Danish (which is almost mindblowingly wrong... the languages may be similar on paper, but our pronounciations are extremely different). Eh, Danish is a difficult language to compare to others (during World War II (which we prefer calling the Second World War) surfaced a popular saying among Danes and Germans that would be something along the lines of "foreigners can only understand Danish; only Danes speak Danish" because it proved virtually impossible to infiltrate Danish groups due to our language being so ridiculously hard to learn to speak fluently and practically impossible to speak without notable accent) and so is its accent, but if I were to make a comparison I'd say the Danish accent is more like the German one than the Swedish one. I couldn't even demonstrate it if I so desired, though, since as I previously mentioned my accent does apparently not sound Danish at all.
It hasn't happened for a long while now and only happened infrequently when it was the most common, but due to modern Danish borrowing a lot of words and terms from English there was a time when I'd start a sentence in Danish, reach a word borrowed from English and then say the rest of the sentence in English without even noticing it until I realized that the person I was talking to was looking at me with confusion or amusement.
I don't even try to copy accents, though... I just say things the way my brain tells me its supposed to be said, which I guess ends up (with English) being the words from US English and mostly US accent, with traces of UK English accent once in a while. Maybe? Not that it matters, since apparently my accent and dialect are both indeterminable.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Shienvien
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Danish is supposed to hard to learn? Both of the Estonians who speak fluent Danish I know (and one of them speaks both Danish and Swedish) have at some point stated that they found the language rather easy to learn... Oppositely, Estonian is supposed to be (have seen it cited as such in plenty of places) a very hard language to learn, and the person who lived/studied in Denmark for a while and has a Danish husband commented that it was absolute hell for him [the husband; they live in Estonia] to learn Estonian ... and that her first name literally turned into Kh'ht for the duration of her stay, since Danes apparently cannot pronounce any but the first and last letter of it. Whether it was a doctor's appointment or anything else, whenever she saw someone staring at a name with an utterly exasperated expression, she knew it was her. (Except once, when there apparently was a person with a just as odd name.) And English-speakers typically find the Estonian grammar hard to get accustomed and pronunciation ... will stay extremely strongly accented for a long time, to say the least. Have heard plenty of frankly rather horrible-sounding accents of my own language over time.
- How difficult a language will be to learn tends to very heavily rely on what language-space one is from, I've noticed. So what might be fairly hard to learn for someone from the Germanic branch might not be so for the Finno-Ugric branch, and perhaps even more arduous for one of the Slavic people to pick up, for instance.
Oddly enough, Hungarians can speak Estonian almost accent-free, even when they have never seen the language before and you just give them a page with Estonian text on it, and ask them to read it aloud. I have personally tested this. Which is odd, since the languages do not look or sound anything alike (there were four words total which were the exact same, and some we found that sound slightly similar? If either looks at a text written in another, or hears them speak, nothing at all would be understood). But I guess the languages are related, after all... Then again, with a Finnish person speaking Estonian and vice versa, there usually is an accent (when both are speaking English, the accent is somewhat alike, though you can still fairly easily tell one from another). And Finnish and Estonian are extremely close (well, Finnish will generally sound almost indistinguishable from some South-Estonian dialects when the person can speak neither), to the point you can compose entire sentences which are almost the same with only very minor differences in spelling and pronunciation. Perhaps just a conjugation or two... Of course, there are some words which look exactly the same, but mean different things, so if you went word-lending between the two too liberally you could end up saying something really stupid.
- Uhh, and I am a silly foreigner, so I first identify an accent as Scandinavian and then typically either Swedish or non-Swedish. From the two Danes I had to work together for a while - both of them very very fluent in English, though, so the accent was perhaps not as apparent? - I'd still put the accent far closer to Swedish than German. I never even made the association with German accent, and I have heard German accent in English *a lot*. ...I still can't make the association with German accents. Norweigan and Danish are very easy to tell apart when I hear them spoken, though, and I don't exactly understand much of either (well, I won't understand anything that isn't a lend or doesn't look like Swedish - and admittedly it is far easier with text than spoken word). I have picked up the understanding of some Swedish from being around it (if you recall, one of my aunts has a Swedish husband; they have residences in both countries ... all of my aunts have foreign husbands, actually), but I haven't really as much as tried to speak it aside of common pleasantries. As far as I can tell, I am trying to assign it the same unique-to-me accent I use with English and eh ... with the specific pronunciation-patterns I can only conclude it would sound truly weird if I went with it. (Ironically, with all the talk of my odd English accent, I appear to have opted to go with some some Australian-tinted UK English accent instead the past couple of days.)
(I wasn't wondering what you sounded like because I was wondering what Danish accent sounded like. Mostly I was just curious whether the accent you personally speak in with English comes across as unusual to me as it apparently is to others, or whether it might actually resemble something to me.)
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Mercinus3
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And the floor is all yours, Rhae.

M3
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Dark Jack
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While we wait for Rhaevnn to either post or give me a green light to post due to Morgan not actually doing anything in the current situation, how about you, yoshua? Were you going to have I'on join that scene so that you could actually participate in the RP now that you are free from that ultimately fruitless collab? Because the Fixer isn't liable to keep hanging around there much longer, and I'm not sure how much drive there is to keep that scene going once he leaves...
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Rhaevnn Xeno
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@Dark Jack
Sorry man! I forgot to post that I was moving back into college. All settled in now, so I'll be posting sometime tomorrow :3
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Nib
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I'm still around, Jack. I'll try to have a post up soon.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Rhaevnn Xeno
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@DJ
After rereading the post (and trying post something up), I think you can advance the story if you want. Anything I have Morgan react to is going to be small, and I would probably be able to write another post of better quality if I had more to work with. :P
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Rhaevnn Xeno
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@DJ
After rereading the post (and trying post something up), I think you can advance the story if you want. Anything I have Morgan react to is going to be small, and I would probably be able to write another post of better quality if I had more to work with. :P
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by yoshua171
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Welp, finally posted. Took me forever, I know. Might've actually been a whole year, but I could be wrong. Who knows. Regardless, Jack, you're free to have those at the location where he's going, to react to him. I forget who exactly is there. A link to the post would be helpful. For now though I'd rather people react to him, that way I know whose posts to read and how he'd react.

Beyond that I hope the post is at least somewhat enjoyable, if not a good measure smaller than the majority of everyone else's posts I think. No matter, to each their own, right? :)
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Shienvien
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Said scene in Zerul contains Fixer (Jack), Ixion (Mercinus) and Morgan (Rhaevnn Xeno), I believe.

Jack, did you get the PM from handful of days ago? No particular hurry in replying to it, I think, but as usual I am not entirely certain whether it was actually noticed (lack of notifications and all).

Nessa, busy with children having school starting (soon)?
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by yoshua171
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Noted.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Shienvien
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Posted in the collab once more. (Have been feeling inexplicably weary the past couple of days, for some reason... Haven't really been doing much, either.)

Should be Jack in Zerul, Ashgan on Jillian's side, and Nessa (or Jack) in the collab?
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Dark Jack
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Yeah, it's my turn, I know... just... wait until the weekend, eh? Please? Dreaded September is already kicking my ass, so I doubt I'll have the energy for it until then...
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by ASTA
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Name: Ajanok'Tez, but refers to himself as 'Claw' when addressing others.

Age: 120

Sex: Male

Appearance: Bipedal with a robust build, and stands nearly twice the height of a tall human man, though prefers to run on all fours when giving chase or when rapid movement is demanded. A sizable portion of Ajanok's mane is braided, with each knot, twist and accompanying ornament representing the customary del-korm pattern of hair 'saga' pattern; Claw's life story, deeds, accomplishments, likes, dislikes, enemies, and friends are described by his intricate mane weavings. With an onyx-colored pelt, Ajanok blends in well with night-time enviroments, while his left and right eyes are yellow and blue respectively.

Talents and Skills

Tracker: With an enhanced sense of smell and hearing—and with an accompanying level of insight in hunting and trapping techniques—Ajanok possesses useful path-finding and tracking capabilities and an augmented level of situational awareness, affording him excellent perception and, consequently, making it exceptionally difficult to surprise him or hide from him.

The Darkness is a Shield: Despite their fearsome appearance, the del-korm people rely on their inherent aptitude for ambush-orientated hunting; silently stalking their prey from well-hidden positions under the cover of darkness has made them a very successful apex predator in their homeland. Naturally, Ajanok is no exception, his years spent in Malkor’Kurz having gifted him with a particularly-notable grace in the art of concealment and ensnarement, his movements and actions sowing discord and fear into the hearts and minds of those that he opts to prey upon.

Echoer’s Gift: Echoers, also known as Users of the Rawr, are unique del-korm children that were born with the unusual capacity to control sound. As these children advance towards maturity, their unearthly power grows with them, eventually becoming refined and strong enough to be used both as a useful tool and as a destructive weapon.

Ajanok’s frequent bouts with his mother and twin-sister, Aeon and Weadoo, have given him a respectable degree of experience with the Echo’s more malicious and violent applications, enabling him to direct painful, high-frequency sound waves at enemies or inanimate objects. But in a strange twist of irony, Claw is most proficient with his power’s more ‘utilitarian’ functions, such as silencing his own footsteps, generating distracting noises within the ears of the unwary and perfectly mimicking any sound that he wishes to utilize, such as voices or the noises of various beasts.

Claw's Echoer talents are improved through practice, but they are also fueled by consuming the life forces of other living creatures. Of course, this kills the victim in the process, but Claw has little regard for the lives of those that he dislikes anyway. To prevent the more 'intolerant' members of the land's population from lashing out at him, Claw conducts this dastardly deed in secret.

Tooth and Claw: In Malkor’Kurz, fighting is a way of life—a way to live. But Ajanok has grown relatively tired of the ‘ultra violence’ in his homeland, and therefore has taken it upon himself to be of cooler temperament, though he still has not let his proficiency in the art of bloodshed slip away from him. In melee combat, Ajanok can be exceedingly lethal.

Belongings and Equipment

Weadoo’s Boon: Ajanok has few friends and even fewer family, but his biological twin sister, Weadoo’Uranek (Grin of Teeth) is one of the few del-korm in Malkor’Kurz that he can honestly name as a friend.

Weadoo absolutely adored laughter and joy—but she also had an insatiable hunger for seemingly-unnecessary violence. When both were young, Weadoo’s murderous, happy-go-lucky demeanor often annoyed Ajanok to no end, leading to periodic episodes of brutal hostilities being exchanged between the two.

But, ironically enough, their shared, close relationship—one solidified through constant bickering and frequent skirmishes—gradually saw them enter into a brief yet fruitful Companionship. Throughout the land, brother and sister became legendary for their fighting prowess; they were especially deadly when together. Unfortunately, Ajanok’s infamy eventually forced him to notify his sibling that he was departing Malkor’Kurz for his own personal reasons.

Rather than mock him, Weadoo embraced her brother tightly, wishing him well and, taking his rightmost ear close to her mouth, she whispered: I will hold mother at bay until your return, so that you may claim her life as your own.

She then presented him with a heavy hand-made brassard and gauntlet combination wrought from meteoric iron and a strange, contradictory matrix of hate and love, with sections of its outermost form decorated and armored with the bones of their slain foes, while ancient runes of glory and power were engraved within its outer shell.

Ajanok would later learn that the symbols vividly told the story of war and conquest he and his sister wove mutually.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Dark Jack
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Ah, weekend at last. I thought I had an idea of what to expect of being a university student after my brief time studying to become a teacher last year, but woah, this university is a different beast altogether. Not only is it bigger - around ten times as big, I'd say... shit, I'm pretty sure that just the university itself is between three and six times the size of my entire hometown, with a population that I know for a fact is nearly a hundred times as big, with them having over ten thousand people studying there - but the expectations they have as to what you can achieve in a certain amount of time are much, much higher. It's quite daunting, really, but hopefully it'll be all right. I survived the first week, so I'd say chances are good that I'll make it through the second one too.
So yeah, sorry about being so brief in my last post here, but I was genuinely exhausted.

Hmm... are this Ajanok and Claw two different Malkor'Kurz? My initial thought was that you had merely decided to rename the character, but then Claw was mentioned as well, so I grew uncertain as to which was actually the case. Anyways, it seems fine thus far; I actually chuckled a little of the Malkor'Kurz alternate title for Echoers. "Users of the Rawr"... heh. For some reason that seems very funny to me.
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