REDVOX "VINNY" ABRAMO - cis male - goat-bat hybrid - harbinger

Vinny had never really thought much about the language that he and just about everyone else on the island spoke. It was just what had been taught to him since birth, and so he had gotten used to it, the words sounding natural on his tongue. Sure, he had an accent that made it so occasionally he didn't pronounce the English words quite right, like when he dropped the g off of something or didn't pronounce the h as well as he should've. But overall, he liked to think that he was pretty damn good at English, especially considering he had been taught English and Italian in tandem with one another. The majority of his family within the Halls had Italian roots, and ever since he had just been a little tiny kitten – very far removed from his current odd hybrid form – he had been taught the English and Italian words for things at the same time. Thankfully he didn't do it too much anymore, but there had once been a time in his life where he would forget the word for something in one language that he could plainly remember in the other, or he would mix together words messily while speaking to someone else. It had certainly been quite entertaining whenever he had been in the middle of training with Hadley and she had suddenly looked at him like he had three heads when he loudly shouted cazzo in the middle of it instead of fuck when he slipped up.

In many ways, Aslisk reminded him a lot of himself at that awkward phase of life where the two languages had been sloppily battling in his head. Often she mixed together whatever her native language was with the English he was used to, and he would suddenly feel very much like Hadley when he would just stare at the wyvern in confusion. He had taken to calling Aslisk's language "nonsense words" not in some effort to actually insult her or her culture, but mainly just because they didn't sound like any other language he had ever heard. Hell, they didn't even sound a little bit like Latin, a language that Vin had learned a bit of just because it was the basis for so many other languages. Often Vox found himself wondering what the hell Aslisk was saying when she bellowed out words that sounded like nothing else he had ever heard, and it seemed as though now he would finally have a chance to learn. Vox had just been crawling in through the front window of the fortress when he heard Aslisk, still shaking snow from his wings as she announced what she was intent on doing. He was feeling a bit tired from ice fishing earlier in the day, and the cold had seeped down far into his bones... but he was curious, and he couldn't help the way that his mind pulled him towards where the other was. Sitting down nearby, the harbinger had to crane his neck up slightly to look at Aslisk in her strange dinosaur form, his voice soft, "Hey, Aslisk. I suppose that I'll participate, if ya don't mind havin' me... your language got a name?" He was curious to hear if her language actually was one of this world, and he just hadn't recognized it properly. Although he found himself very doubtful that would be the case.

REDVOX "VINNY" ABRAMO - cis male - goat-bat hybrid - harbinger

Vinny knew very little about Aslisk's old home, and anything he knew about her old wife or family were just brief whispers in the wind, information that was occasionally allowed to slip when Aslisk was feeling generous or emotional. Needless to say, that wasn't exactly an occasion that happened very often, and while Redvox didn't exactly relish it when it did, he did find himself pretty curious about what her old world was like. There were times were Vin wished that Aslisk's family had come with her through whatever strange portal or teleportation had ended up dumping her here on the island. From what he could piece together, her wife was much more kindhearted and better at controlling her, and there were certainly times where the hybrid wished they had a steadying hand like that around. He hadn't really actually heard enough about Aslisk's kids yet to form any mental image of what they could be like, considering the only time he had heard of them for more than a brief moment was when Aslisk went around stealing a bunch of bowls from people. He hardly thought that they could be quite as bad as Aslisk though, if they had at least one other parent to watch over them. He found himself wondering if they all spoke the same language where Aslisk came from, like most of them did here with English, or if there were many different additional languages that existed too. He hoped Aslisk didn't expect them to learn anything beyond Nitisian, because he was fairly sure his brain didn't have enough space for an entire other world's worth of languages.

Stretching out one of his long wings until he heard a pleasant pop and felt the release of pressure from earlier in the day, the harbinger found himself chuckling a little bit as Aslisk introduced the name of her language. He smiled a little bit at the regent, fangs flashing as he spoke, "Well, I can't really say that languages 'round here are much better. English is from England, 'n' the people from there are the... English." He could tell from the way that Aslisk was eying him that she was a little bit pissed at him – not exactly an uncommon occurence, honestly – most likely because of how he had treated her language before. So, he found himself trying to lighten the mood a little bit, joking around with the other so that he wouldn't find his head ripped from his shoulders, although he wasn't sure she'd go that far. Vinny found himself perking his ears up when Aslisk launched into the introduction of greetings, and he listened closely, the bridge of his nose wrinkling a little bit at the whole "don't acknowledge filth" thing. Aslisk launched into a joke about it near immediately afterwards, but Redvox didn't find it very funny. He didn't like to think of others as beneath him, even with his current position as leader. Still, he didn't say anything, not wanting Aslisk to think he was insulting her language further. Instead he just opened his mouth, pressing his tongue against the roof of it experimentally before he spoke, "Balayor Aslisk? I do that right?" As he practiced the greeting – which still honestly just sounded like nonsense to him – he found himself wondering if Aslisk would use 'bisisiy' for him, given their rank difference. Probably not, she never really seemed to think they were anything but equals.

REDVOX "VINNY" ABRAMO - cis male - goat-bat hybrid - harbinger

An aggressive, cutthroat language. This world didn't have many of those, or at least not as far as Vinny was really aware. Any language could be aggressive and cutthroat, depending on how you used it. Even his own first language of Italian could be considered aggressive, if you were able to say things the right way. He had seen many a non-Italian speaker frightened half to death by one of his family members spewing curses in Italian at them faster than they could even attempt to process. However, it seemed as though Nitisian was not a language that one could half ass. Evidently if you were as soft spoken as Vin usually was, it meant that you were of a lesser variety, which was never something that one really wanted to hear. Part of the male wanted to suggest to Aslisk that perhaps the harshness of the language didn't also need to come over in the transfer to this world, considering such hostility was not something he wanted to foster within the Halls, but... well, it wasn't as if Nitisian was about to become their official second language. Plus, it felt disrespectful to ask the wyvern to change the rules of her language just because it didn't quite fit in with the etiquette of this world. He obviously didn't know much about where Aslisk came from, but it was easy to see that it was a far more brutal world than this one – even though this one could be plenty brutal when it wanted to be – and that was reflected in their languages, for better or worse. Perhaps someday he would ask her if she knew some words in other languages of her world, just to compare and see if any of them were a mite softer.

Shaking his head a little bit in order to collect himself, the hybrid decided to focus on the lesson at hand, taking Aslisk's critique to heart. Taking a deep breath inward, he snapped softly, his voice firm and challenging as his tongue curled against razor sharp fangs, "Balayor, Aslisk." He winced a little bit at the sound of his own voice after that, worried that he had gone a bit too harsh. The greeting sounded more like he was scolding her, which was technically what she had recommended, but still just felt so foreign that he couldn't help but think it was wrong somehow. The next words to come out of Aslisk's mouth were also fairly basic, although they certainly sounded foreign to him. Keeping the same jagged tone from before, he tested them upon his tongue, "Felz. Fepza." The words sounded so odd and strangely similar to him that for a moment, he actually considered that perhaps Aslisk was fucking with him, and was just making stuff up to make him seem ridiculous. However, he didn't much see the point in that at the moment, considering it was doubtful that he would be using the Nitisian greetings and words for things in the presence of others. Not unless all of a sudden far more of Aslisk's world began to bleed and mix into this one. The next phrase was... a bit more difficult. It sounded entirely otherworldly to his large ears, to the point where they nearly pinned down against his head in response. However, he tried his best to replicate her inflection, gesturing one of his wings off at a pencil on the table nearby, "Gorktoktark selbyesor pencil." He doubted the word for pencil in Aslisk's language was pencil – if they even had a word for pencil in her world – but it was the only thing he could think to follow it up with. Once he was done, he tilted his head to one side, allowing his voice to drop back down to its usual monotone polite lilt, "How was that? Honestly, your language just feels like you're yellin' all th'time."

REDVOX "VINNY" ABRAMO - cis male - goat-bat hybrid - harbinger

Vinny never really expected Aslisk to be a teacher that would be eager to go out there and dispense praise like free candy, and he quickly found that he was right when he seemingly got the greeting to at least a somewhat stern level. It was in no way perfect, but Vox was hardly the type to go around screeching greetings at people, really. He knew that Aslisk hated it, but Vinny had always been a soft spoken and thoughtful individual, incredibly charismatic and outgoing, but never really the type to scream for everyone's attention. That was still true even now, with him holding the leader position that had been promised to him ever since he had been chosen to be Hadley's apprentice. He technically shouted for everyone's attention when he brought together meetings, and even then it was just an polite call for everyone to come together, just so that he was able to deliver unto them the news of the last month. He knew that things would probably change a lot when he one day passed and Aslisk took over, but he hoped that he would leave at least somewhat of an impression on the wyvern. After all, here he was attempting to learn at least bits and pieces of her strange and screeching language, and it only seemed fair that she could at least pick up a little bit of his kindness, or his softness. He knew it was a long shot, but a man could hope, at the very least.

He watched as a little crooked grin took up residence on Aslisk's sharp features, and he could practically feel the pride radiating off her in waves at the way his tongue managed to get a hold of the strange, jagged words he was being taught. It was enough to make him smile, and that smile only grew mode when Aslisk spoke about how to say pencil in her world's languages, a soft snicker leaving him at the word 'trencil.' It was just different enough to seem odd to his ears, but too similar for it to not be funny. He then listened to his teacher speak about her understanding of the language was, and what mastery it required. It sounded difficult, especially for a soft spoken soul such as himself, but he found himself nodding anyways, mumbling after a moment, I guess I can see how havin' a language that let's ya get things out fast 'n' furious could be useful, at least in certain situations." He much preferred situations that didn't require shouting frantic and loud words to each other just to get the point across, but that didn't mean he couldn't learn, just in case. It was after he nodded that Aslisk launched into her next explanatio,n beginning to talk about practical uses. Hearing her talk about combat was far from surprising, but he still found himself wincing a little, silently praying that they wouldn't need to call upon this technique anytime soon. He didn't particularly want the Halls involved in anything too chaotic, now or ever, really. Still, he listened intently to what she had to say, not wanting her to think that he was ignoring her or didn't appreciate her teaching him. It took him a moment to parse out what he was supposed to say, really, but eventually he cleared his throat, awkward words slipping past sharp fangs, "Aslisk, torklem hokatark... shit, did I do that right?"