#clark and diana teaching each other themysciran greek and kryptahniuo is Important 2 Me.......

[blorb-el]

trick or treat (your pick of fic)!

another lil writing exercise wip form the fic graveyard! clark has been whammied with some sort of... magically infused fear toxin? iirc? and has locked himself away about it :) i'd have to check the kryptahniuo here, wrote it a long time ago partially to practice using the language.

gen, 530ish words, no particular warnings, trinity

---

The earthquakes had been mild. They’d begun thirty-six hours after the dosing, and had tapered off five hours after that. The scientific community was still mystified at the small scale of the earthquakes and their origination point deep in the Arctic, far from usual tectonic plate activity.

Bruce enters the main hall, eyes darting around. There, between the states of Jor-El and Lara, lies Clark’s cape. It’s crumpled small, alone on the floor, brilliant splash of red against the serenity of blue and glowing white.

“Clark,” he calls out. No answer.

“Fortress. Show me where Kal-El is.”

The ever-shifting low chimes turn down in volume for a moment, then return, and a soft glow blooms under the floor leading to the main body of the building. Not Clark’s quarters.

He follows the path. Under the globe of Krypton, through the man rows of mostly-empty animal habitat. To the main laboratory, and there’s another arched doorway at the end that Bruce has never been through, that’s never been open while he’s been here. It’s closed now, and the cool refracted light plays across the door, then slowly fades like starlight.

Bruce knocks, mouth dry.

“Please hold,” the cool Fortress voice says. “Announcing your arrival.” And then the cool tones shift into the lilt of Kryptonian.

Bruce has, sometimes, in moments between stakeouts and shareholder meetings and chemical analysis, thought about learning Kryptonian. He’d been on his way to take over monitor duty from Diana, and she and Superman had been speaking. Clark had been leaning back, arms crossed behind his head. As he’d entered Diana had ventured a phrase and Clark had chuckled, low and, Bruce thinks, happy.

“.Ehrosh :bem khaehtiv :bysh,” he corrects. “m-bysh, with the stress on the back, just like khaehtiv.” He’d looked up then, smiled at seeing Bruce. Diana looks up as well, and smiles, and he nods at the two of them. “There, try it on Batman.”

“.Ehrosh mbem khaehtiv mbysh,” Diana says, a little slowly.

Bruce pauses for a moment, then echoes back. “.Ehrosh… mbem?,” He sees Clark’s lips part just a tiny bit in surprise before they curl up. “What’s the second part?”

“My friend,” Clark answers. After a half second he adds, almost tentatively. “But for you and I, we’d use the masculine - .khahtiv :bysh.”

Bruce forms the syllables in his mouth, cautious. “…khahtiv mbysh,” he says. And the little smile of Clark’s reaches to the corners of his eyes, something unnameable but warm there.

Around him the Fortress is murmuring words beyond what he can make out, but it repeats .nahn rrutiv :bysh .nahn rraop zhachahvymahehd .nahn rrutiv :bysh .nahn rraop suzehdh

It falls silent for a moment, and Bruce strains his ears though there’s nothing to hear. Moments pass, nothing but the soft shimmer of the crystals around him. Then, softer still, the Fortress AI speaks again.

.kaoshahrodh kahl-ehl

Shahr. Shahrrehth. He knows that word; the world knows the word, blazoned as its ideograph is in red and yellow across Clark’s chest. Bruce pockets the Kryptonite, lays his hand on the door. “Clark. Kal. I’m here to help you.”

And the door holds a moment longer, and then sinks into the floor.

---

rough translations...

.ehrosh :bem khahtiv :bysh - hello, my friend .nahn rrutiv :bysh - he is your friend .nahn rraop zhachahvymahehd - you are not alone .nahn rraop suzehdh - you belong here/you are at home .kaoshahrodh - you must continue to hope

(I think the possessives are off, i'm missing some particles, and i'm not sure -ehd is the right suffix to change chahvymah from an adverb to an adjective. but yeah. rough drafts!! fun fact i kind of want to get a tattoo of the symbols for the word kaoshahrodh.........)