This was inspired by reading @suzukiblu’s ‘Kara gets to Earth on Time’. I suddenly needed a certain scene so badly I was going to feel betrayed if Rin didn’t give it to me. Which was ridiculous. Rin can write whatever story they want! So I was trying to figure out how to deal with all of these giant feelings, and realized that I (yes, I) could write the scene. Now I am satisfied and free to enjoy Rin’s story on its own terms!
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“Ta-nuhn rawteev teysojeb vote?”
Kara freezes. Pa is ... what is Pa doing?
“Ta-nuhn rawteev teysojehb vote?”
Is ... that? The words are dull and flat, like always, but they sound almost like ...
“O-key. We-ill trai that a-gyan. Ta-nuhn rawteev Ka-RA vote?
And little Kal’s voice rings out, excited, “Kara! Kara!”
She turns the corner and there they are, Kal trying to wiggle away from Pa in her direction. He turns back to Pa, looking like the Kents do when they are pleased, and triumphantly announces, “Kara! Si! Kara!”
“You found me, cousin!” The words are automatic as she grabs him out of Pa’s rapidly failing grip, still wondering ...
And Pa mutters to himself, “SojehbTEY?”
He had been trying to speak Kryptonian. He ... what had he tried to say?
‘Where ... little cousin at?’ Why would he ask Kal that?
Pa takes a deep breath, and touches her arm gently, and she prepares for the flow of alien speech. She can sometimes understand now, if he keeps it simple.
“Nuhn rap Ka-RA teysojehb?”
That ...? OH! She’s started telling Kal he is her cousin every night as she puts him to bed.
‘You are Kal-El, my cousin. You are of the House of El. You are loved. Rao shines upon you.’
Pa tried to repeat that, but with her name. Her REAL name, not the one the aliens gave her. But why? Why call her his cousin? Is this a way of asking her to join a cadet branch of the House of Kent? Do they even HAVE cadet branches?
“Dang-it! Thuht ai had it.”
Ah, she’s just been staring at him. That is disrespectful! She needs to ... but! He spoke to her in Krypton- he spoke to KAL in Kryptonian. He ...
“Kal, where is your Pa-Kent?”
Kal lights up at the easy question, wiggling around to chime at Pa, arms raised to be grabbed. She passes him over with only a pang of loss, focused on Pa’s face.
“Ta-nuhn rawp Ka-RA-ni vote?”
She thinks this look is hopeful. Maybe. It ... it’s a happy one, anyway. She thinks.
“Yes!”
“Zee?”
“Oh. Yehs. Yehs, Pa!”
“DUHG! DUHG!”
Kal has tired of this, and of Kara not grabbing him a second time, and wants Krypto again. Kara is half way through the familiar question before she realizes what Pa was trying to do, before.
“Where is your doggie?” is a question Kara must ask 15 times a day. Where is your doggie? And Pa tried to ask about a person in the same way! “Your cousin” like she was any old object just laying around! She laughs, and both Kal and Pa startle.
“Wuht ihz iht, Ka-Lair?”
How would she ever explain? The insult of talking about her in the same way as you would a toy. How CLEVER Pa was, to figure out what the question meant. The feeling of hearing her words spoken in his dull, wrong, WONDERFUL way.
“Ny-suh ju-obb, Pa.”
It’s completely inadequate. It’s ... he says it to her for such small things, nothing like being the first person to speak her language to her in 2 months.
But then Kal starts yelling for Krypto again, and ... the day goes on.
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This grew out of trying to do the same thing Pa did - figure out how Kara would ask Kal where Krypto was, and then have Pa try to mimic that question with the word 'sibling' instead. Then I hit the three sets of pronouns Doyle gave Kryptonian, and suddenly there was a story. Or a linguistics lesson? I'm fuzzy on the difference - both are equally interesting to me! ;)
The term for older cousin is also one for aunt/uncle. Pa is trying to ask “where is your sibling?” and hoping it’s recognizable even if there are different terms for brother and sister. But it’s actually closer to asking someone “where is your nephew?” when you mean “where is your aunt?”
Kryptonian months are 73 Kryptonian days, equal to about 85 Earth days. So it’s been over 5 Earth months at this point.
Kryptonian sentences:
