IC contact

[thirtybits]

"This is Judah's voicemail, no need to leave your number, I'll reply as soon as I can."



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[depicted]

[Dorian gives that a smile. After a search for the words, he manages to put together his reply in Hebrew.] I prefer reality to—ah—to what makes sense. In this case.

[thirtybits]

[Judas seems to light up instantly, hearing his native language. He sits up a little straighter, raises his head, and smiles. Replying in kind, of course.] They're all equally accurate, 'from Kerioth' just happens to be the original derivation.

[depicted]

[Dorian is obviously far from fluent, needing to speak around words he doesn't know and spending time searching for words he knows but doesn't quite remember, but seeing the way Judas responds, he can't just switch back to English.]

The name from origins is not a name to be defined again after an event. It would be—backwards.

[thirtybits]

[Noticing that, Judas makes an effort not to speak too quickly, or use words that might not be easily understood. But likewise, he enjoys the opportunity too much to drop it.]

True. But plenty of disciples were given new names.

[depicted]

You mean like . . . [Wait, he definitely can't do this in Hebrew. He is forced into the Greek.] the Beloved Disciple? [Dorian is totally going to punch 'the Beloved Disciple' if he ever gets a chance. But back to Hebrew.] Your naming is more interesting. Everyone loves a villain.

[thirtybits]

Things like that - titles, and actual given names. Like Kepha - Peter, that is.

Have you heard the 'hanging' or 'choking' definition? It's not ALL villainy. [He laughs.]

[depicted]

That one is— [Oh no. What is the word? Give him a second. Or he'll have to talk around it.] 'Rock' is not a good epithet.

Those ones are too far-fetched. But they are— [Nope. He doesn't know it. Once again, he has no choice but to switch to Greek.] Charming. [Back to Hebrew!] In their way.

[thirtybits]

The real reason for all that was that too many of us shared first names. Doubles of Simon, Yaakov, Yohanen, Judah, Miriam, and all the rest, I think he got confused.

I like the hanging ones, it's a nicer thought than lying.

[depicted]

For you, 'hanging' is nicer thought compared to most things.

[Still cracking bad jokes in Hebrew, aww yes.]

[thirtybits]

[Judas grins, ducking his head as he laughs.] It is. That was half my meaning, actually.

[depicted]

[Dorian shakes his head, smiling.] You should not sit so far from me. It makes it hard to—respond [he mimes a kick] to you.

[thirtybits]

Why should I let you kick me, centurion? [The grin grows. But he does get up to sit beside Dorian.]

taking a wild guess on legal status weeeeee

[depicted]

Why? [Dorian leans towards Judas. While his Latin is more Late than Classical, it is smooth and easy compared to Hebrew, reflecting familiarity and practice. After all, he has hardly had anyone to speak with in Hebrew, but he and his friends were all excellent with Latin.] Because you can't stop me. But please, don't equate me with a centurion. I am a patrician, my darling dediticie.

as we learned before, it's impossible to find out

[thirtybits]

[It's just the opposite for Judas. He has heard Latin much more than he has spoken it. But there is at least one phrase he knows well, with perfect pronounciation, if only out of spite. And that's just the one he wants to use here.] I can stop you. I'll fight back.

[depicted]

[Dorian claps his hands together, laughing in delight.] Who would have believed it! There is your spine: hiding in the language of those who rule you.

[thirtybits]

[The rest he has to think through, chewing on his lip as he selects each word.] The one reason I used Latin. No point speaking or listening to the soldiers otherwise. I can do the same for you, if you want.

[depicted]

[Dorian raises his hands, indicating that there is no need to be hostile, and moves himself into Greek. He is as comfortable with it as he is with Latin.] What about this? More neutral ground?

[thirtybits]

[In embarrassment, Judas shakes his head, and speaks some of the only Greek words he knows.] No Greek. [It's back to Hebrew for him.] I can manage Arabic, Phoenician and Latin. While fluency is just Hebrew, English and Japanese. I only know enough Greek to recognise it and indicate I don't speak it. Yeshua and some of the others like Yaakov and Yohanan know it, it was more for...business and intellectuals. Not farmers and fishermen.

[depicted]

[After working out who 'Yaakov' and 'Yohanan' must be, he slips, however uncomfortably, back into Hebrew.] I didn't expect Arabic. A lot of speakers in the area?

[thirtybits]

[For Dorian's sake, he goes back to English. It's thrilling to revisit his mother tongue, but he doesn't want to make Dorian work too hard to entertain him that way.] Yeah, most of the Jews of my region came from around Egypt, and others besides. And maybe only half of us were Jewish there, while Galilee was pretty much one hundred percent, and all native to Judea.

[depicted]

And here I thought my home country was a linguistic mess. [Though it all gets translated anyway—eerie to notice, now that Kido has pointed it out to him—he can hear the difference in how Judas talks. He places his hand over Judas's.] Thank you for tolerating that. I didn't often get the chance to practice my Hebrew. Most of my friends were pure Hellenists.

[thirtybits]

[He shakes his head, laughing a little.] It was awful when I joined that group, I didn't know Phoenician, and most of them didn't speak much Hebrew. We were piecing things together with broken mixtures of those two and Latin. Or Jesus would have to translate everything.

[He lights up with another shake of his head, placing his other hand over top of Dorian's.] Tolerating it? I thought you were the one tolerating it for me. No one speaks my language with me, it was great! I'm pretty impressed you've retained it so well, especially with your circle being as it was.

[depicted]

Ah, then Hebrew severed us both from our groups. I more by choice, of course. [So Dorian makes the effort to return to Hebrew again. It is difficult, but that doesn't make it unworthwhile.] I enjoy it.

[thirtybits]

Yeah, even though it was the same country and a short distance, the Judah region was pretty far removed from Galilee. [Well, he certainly won't complain about the language being decided upon.] Do you? It's not as if it's a particularly 'nice' language.

[depicted]

[Dorian simply likes the way Judas seems to prefer using it, and hearing it.] The beauty in a language, that comes from how it is used. Language is sound. It is our work to make it music, not to make it noise.