OOPs #263
Feb27
Lopin is dumb except for the things he is smart at
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CODE BLUE!!! CODE BLUE!!! Somebody get a crash cart, We have a Yinglet down!!!
Are all indrel that good at jump-scaring yinglets, or is Yannit just talented?
Maybe Lopin is just particularly susceptible? Being a pretty preening male, asking for help. But with screaming.
Lopin might be an easy scare, but Yannit also got Beizel in the vents, and I think that’s the only time we’ve seen him lose his cool. And she’s doing it completely by accident. I wonder if she could get a jump-scare out of Poak?
In most of de comic here, Lopin’s ears afe facing in de direction zhat Yannit is approaching in. Zhat Lopin was scared could mean a couple of zhings.
1: Lopin has hearing loss. It would explain why he gets scared zo often, zhat he cannot use all de same senses zhat Yinglets use to track de world around us.
2: Yannit is just really, really quiet. Kass didn’t hear her eizher, or react to Yannit aproaching. Zhat Kass didn’t also do de jump scare might mean zhat Kass DID hear Yannit, and assumed zhat Lopin did as well.
Kass’ constant, willful suppression of yinglet instincts (yingstincts?) seems to give him resistance to jumpscares. That also means he’ll probably be a bit slower to react to threats (although in many cases his reaction will be more appropriate to the situation). Note Yannit very nearly got a jumpscare on him earlier, just before he decided to get her a uniform – she snuck up on him, he appears to have felt her antennae as they reached for his hair, and you can practically see him suppressing the instinct to run away or otherwise panic (see page 199). This jumpscare is exceedingly minor compared to that (she just came in through the open doorway, rather than sneaking to within inches of Kass and possibly even making contact before being detected), so it’s no real surprise that Kass had no reaction beyond “Hey Yannit, looking good.”
And, yeah, I believe Yannit is indeed extremely quiet. I’m not certain if that’s an indrel thing or a Yannit thing, but I suspect it’s the former.
Perhaps de zhing I remember de most is from way, way back in prologue 20, wizh de comparison of footsteps sounds. We “heard” Isher’s footsteps, Elim’s, and even Kass’s too. But from Yannit…nozhing! De trio had even forgotten about Yannit being zhere until de announcement of “Sleepover!” by Yannit.
Zhis does prove zhat Yannit is pretty damm quiet normally. And I zhink Kass got a hold on Yinglet panic mode when Isher was zhrowing Kass into de air over and over. It is tiring to be in panic mode all zhe damm time, ya know?
For Lopin having hearing loss issues, zhere is a case for zhat too, from his first appearance in Prologue 10 where he gets into a fight because he didn’t obey de spoken rules. Anozher is his having a notable accent. He gets along wizh humans, because humans are LOUD. And zhey speak in a different pitch zhan Yinglets do. Kass is an exception to zhis somewhat, but to be fair, Kass is usually physically close to Lopin when speaking, or yelling at him. or bozh.
I think its that
1) kass is looking at the door so sees Yanit coming. He’s not looking directly at it, but weird eyeballs on the side of his head will pick her up anyway.
2) Kass seeing yanit is just “Hi yannit”. Lopin does not see yannit. Lopin sees GIANT KILLER BUG MONSTER.
I mean what would you do if you were in the bathroom and a 9 foot tall roach stuck their head in to say “HIIIIIIII”
Okies, for Kass seeing Yannit coming, maybe. From zhe angle Kass is looking, Kass would certainly see Yannit before Lopin did. However, bozh would hear Yannit before seeing her wizh our so, so big ears. Zhey are our most adapted sense for keeping us alive after all. At least if Lopin’s ears work as good as Kass’s does.
For Yannit being a monster? In de eye of a Yinglet (And I have two examples) Yannit may be a bit of a monster, but more along the lines of how a Humani sees a Minotaur. Humans (on Earzh) eat cows, so a Minitaur is food to be afraid of. Yinglets eat bugs (and ozher zhings zhat crawl, slither, and squirm) so Yannit to us is like dangerous food in de same way zhat a Minitaur is to a Humani. What’s zhat word, uncanny Valley? Somezhing like zhat.
I think the thing about Yannit is she’s *really* quiet until suddenly she’s not. She’s got footfalls like a cat, but a voice like bagpipes.