Children of Chaos

Chapter 9

2024-02-27: minor edits until i can rewrite it
----------
Soon, Erratum was standing on the bathroom counter, trying to find the bandages.
"1 çÅñȚ f1ñĐ ťHəM."
"Try the top shelf."
"1 çÅñ'Ť ŕ3ă€h 1ț!"
"Stand on the bottom shelf then!"
Erratum followed Blue's 'advice', hanging on with one hand as he searched the back of the medicine cabinet. A bottle of pills came toppling out as he grabbed several dusty rolls of bandages. Blue tossed the pills up to him, and he read the label.

"₩h4ț'š ŤyŁøŃąĽ?"

Blue shrugged. Erratum would have to ask Dust about it later. He placed it back where it belonged and hopped off the counter.

Blue began expertly wrapping the back of his skull. "I don't see why you can't just use your strings to heal it," Blue remarked. "1 đ0ñ'Ț f3ê£ ł1ķ3 įȚ," he lied. The real reason was that he was quite drained from opening a portal to a different multiverse. That, coupled with making a bunch of clothing, left him with only a fraction of the magic he usually possessed, even after a fight with Inky. He hated lying to Blue, but he also didn't want him to worry.
"That's not a good reason, RuRu." Blue finished bandaging Erratum's wound. "I know it'll heal up eventually, but still..."

After that, they went to breakfast. It was pancakes. "...Aren't you gonna eat, Erratum?" asked Dust. Erratum was sitting next to Blue, watching everyone eat. "ÑåH."
"But breakfast is the most important meal of the day!" Horror exclaimed. Erratum shrugged.

Nightmare looked at him suspiciously. "Erratum, why do you have your hood up?"
"ÚhM, ñ0 ŕ3à$òŃ..."
"Erratum."
"1, ůH, m1ğHț'Və Fè£ł... Đø₩ñ Å f£īĢhȚ øF šŤâ1ř$."
"You wHAT?!?"

Nightmare made Erratum take off his hood, revealing the bandages. "Wha- Did you even dust them off before using them?" exclaimed Horror. "That's how you get an infection!" He got up and began reaching for the bandages, but was blocked by a very small hand. "Blue, let me unwrap the bandages and wash them. We should probably wash the wound itself, come to think of it."

Blue reluctantly withdrew his hand, and Horror examined the bandages. "Wow, these are actually wrapped really well! Who wrapped it?" he asked. "I did," responded Blue. Horror looked at him for a second, as if seeing something he hadn't noticed before. "Have you... had to do this before?" he asked tentatively. Blue shrugged, but the smile on his face seemed a little strained. "A couple of ti-"
"Å ł0ț 0f ȚįMê$." Erratum received a mild glare from Blue. "₩hÅţ? Țh3ý'Đ 3v3ńŤůÂł£ý FîŅđ 0úŢ éVěŘýȚh1ņĞ âÑý₩ãÝş." 'At least, on the topic of injuries,' he added in sign language. Everyone who was watching his hands heard static, like they did when he was speaking, but a bit quieter.

Everyone looked at him, surprised. Nightmare, who had taken a few courses in sign language, only recognized a couple. He figured they were using a different dialect, as the other signs were slightly or completely different than any he had seen before. There were more pressing matters at hand than dialects, though.

"Why did I hear static when you signed?" Dust inquired. "ßê€ãÜš3 øF m¥ ğ£ìȚćHé$. ßłÚé ÂņĐ 1 Đį$ç0v3ř3đ à wHı£ë Ąg0 ťHãŤ, ñ0 mÁțŢêŘ h0w 1 ç0mMûŃì€âŤé, ₩h0êVəŔ h3âŔš, ŘéĀđ$, óŘ ś3ē$ ìŤ h3âŔş $ťĂţ1ç. Ťh3 v0ļŰm3 øF ţHě $ťÃţ1ç ĐêPêŃđ$ óŇ țHë ₩㥠1'm €óMmÙņ1ćĀť1ñĞ," explained Erratum. "In order from loudest to quietest," added Blue, "they're speaking, signing, handwriting, and typed letters. The amount people understand doesn't seem to change how loud the static is. I hypothesize that the more 'distance' it is from a voice- that is, how close it is to actually speaking- the less static. So signing, since it's the closest, has louder static then handwriting."