[open video, 4/20 squeaky voice] | Skill Sharing!

[chefbayardee]

[ The screen blips on to Hunk, reclined across a couch. Balmogra the moogle's pom-pom occasionally drifts into the top of the frame, and Hunk's eyes keep glancing towards it. As he starts talking, he's entirely oblivious to the fact that his voice is high-pitched and squeaky. ]

Hey, so with other people asking about things like our stories, our worlds, and our jobs, I realized that we don't actually know a lot about what we can all do! Like... I learned that some people have never been grocery shopping before! Or some can't cook! Or some people don't know how technology here works. Since we're all stuck here, we might as well try to help each other out, right? So what are some things you know or want to know?

Me, I know about cooking and engineering and mechanics. But I don't know anything about magic. Or how to defend yourself from a monster that's up close and trying to eat you. Or how to use a giant fork in a fight? Or why they use forks here to begin with.

[ He pauses for a moment, looking almost uncomfortable, and then- ]

And if you're embarrassed to say something you can't do, you can always send it to me and I'll mention it for you!

( This is super open and threadjacking is possible and totally okay! )

Comments

[twomeals]

[Oh, can he not hear his own voice...that's strange. Still funny though.]

Um, you know, like...chirp chirp! Right?

[If you expected him to be better at bird impressions you'd be sorely disappointed...to know that he can in fact do better than that. Lazy though!]

[chefbayardee]

[ Hunk hears that low-effort chirping and, well, echoes a "chirp chirp" of his own. He hears the bass in his voice, and compares it to the sound from Yue's, as well as his own memories of chatting with Yue, and... ]

Did your voice rise a few octaves, or has it always been like that?

[twomeals]

[Yeah, see, Hunk's chirp sounds a lot more chirpy than Yue's! He tilts his head in a (birdlike?) questioning sort of manner.]

Eh? Um...I don't think it sounds any different. [Pause.] What's an octave?

[chefbayardee]

An octave is part of like music and singing. It... [ He pauses, struggling to explain. The mechanics of music were the farther reaches of his knowledge. ] ...kind of separates the sounds people make into groups.

So there's like- [ Hunk makes a deep "aaa" noise, but given the technical difficulties it sounds closer to his normal voice. ] but then higher up, there's- [ And he makes another "aaa" noise, perceived on his end as more of a shrill squeal. To Yue? It's closer to the palatable moments of this youtube video. ]

Does that make sense?

[twomeals]

[Yue thinks.

Tilts his head.

Makes a quiet attempt to sound like high-pitched Hunk. "Aaaaahhh...." he probably sounds like a squeaky toy or something.]

...I'm not sure if I get it.

[chefbayardee]

[ Hunk furrows his brow, but then his focus fades away with a shrug of his shoulders. That absurd noise Yue just made didn't help. ]

Eh, no big deal. Your voice is definitely squeakier than it was last time.

[ He narrows his eyes at his iMog slate and just starts glaring at it. ]

Is mine?

[twomeals]

["Is it?" he wants to ask, but Hunk beat him to it...he got as far as opening his mouth before closing it again, then--]

Mmhm. Your voice is reeaaally squeaky right now. Like... [raising one hand as high as it'll go--]

...That much!

[chefbayardee]

[ Hunk's eyes go wide for a moment, but then he just starts grinning. That was silly, Yue, and Hunk loves silly. ]

Well your voice, it's like... [ Hunk puts the slate on a solid surface, stands up, and makes sure a decidedly taller armspan is visible. ]

This much! [ Except his voice intentionally goes higher, to sound squeakier and sillier. Will this become a nonsense competition? Maybe. ]

[twomeals]

[Oh so that's how we're playing it, huh? Yue giggles--he's never been the competitive type, sadly, but he does enjoy the banter. There's a (squeaky) hum as he tries to figure out how to counter that.]

Mm, but I bet I could sound even higher than that if I tried! Like - [A pause, and as high as he can go:] Aaaaahhh...

[If the feed weren't so squeaky it'd probably sound melodic, him being a bird and all. Instead you get a singing hamster or something.]

[chefbayardee]

[ Hunk just laughs at the hamster serenade- Yue's got more of a singing voice, for sure. But then he sighs, and shakes his head. ]

Yeah, I think you've got me beat! [ And even if he didn't, the noise that just came through the slate was too amusing. ] I'm more of a uh... [ And then he takes a deep breath, and lowers the tone of his voice as much as he can. ]

A deep, rich baritone. [ He has no idea, but the lowered voice and the higher pitch combine to something very close to his actual voice. ]

[twomeals]

[So baritone means deep? Not that anything at all sounds deep in this convo today, but he thinks he gets the gist, maybe.]

Ah--you sounded almost like yourself just then! It's like you're not squeaky at all! Do you think I could do that too? [no yue you've never attempted a low note in your life]

[chefbayardee]

[ Hunk is appropriately enabled by Yue's remark, and tries to make his voice go even lower. ]

Well, you won't know until you try, Yue! [ Exhale. This was effort, but it was funny and it was effort worth spending. ] C'mon, get down on my level!

[ Hunk wholly doubts that Yue can bring his voice that far down. But it'll be a learning experience for both of them! ]

[twomeals]

[...Well. Okay! Yue, too, puts in the effort to lower his voice as faaaar as possibleeee.]

Like this...?

[He's trying! He still sounds nothing like his normal voice on the imog but he's trying!]

[chefbayardee]

You can go lower than that! [ Hunk sounds disappointed, and the displeasure breaks his deep voice long enough for him to briefly sound like a cartoon hippo. ]

Just try to make a voice that's super serious and angry. [ And then he makes a monotone "raaaargh" sort of noise. He'll get Yue to pull this off even if it kills both of their voices. ]

[twomeals]

Awww, but it's hard to get angry...

[Too much effort!! He does keep trying though, lowering his voice a little farther.]

Blaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh.

[Oh hey, that might've actually kinda worked.]

[chefbayardee]

[ Hunk giggles, but it's closer to his normal volume and therefore super muppety. And then he dons the deep voice once more. ]

That was kinda close! [ His voice cracks higher for a moment. This is ridiculous. ] Can you try again? [ He looks worried. ] This isn't hurting your throat, is it?

[ Hunk screams a lot, so he's pretty much fine. Yue doesn't seem like he screams at things often. ]

[twomeals]

[Yue screams at things literally never, he's generally pretty quiet? Trying again though!]

Booooooooo--it does a little, hehe.

[might've switched back partway through that, it's fine. He's still smiling, anyway!]

[chefbayardee]

Oh. [ He winces a bit, and stops the changes in his voice as well. ] Sorry. We can stop, then! [ And it dawns on Hunk just how strong his vocal cords are from all that screaming. ]

That was funny- do you think these sorts of things happen to the iMog slates often? [ Hunk doesn't really have any idea how tech-savvy Yue is. Time to find out. ]

[twomeals]

[Hunk's a strong guy! Much stronger than Yue! Especially since I just remembered the faq said everybody's stuck at human strength levels...guess we're not picking you up after all.]

Mm, I don't know! We never had stuff like this back home...maybe it happens all the time here? That'd be pretty funny. [A pause.] Or maybe more annoying?

[chefbayardee]

[ #Whoops. Probably for the best that doesn't happen, because Hunk's body-slammed people before and Yue would probably like die. ]

Well, as long as the problems are funny, it'd be fine. [ And then he furrows his brow, death-glaring his slate's camera. ] But if it keeps us from using them for what they're here for, then it's a problem.

Like, what if we couldn't send messages, wouldn't that be the worst?!

[twomeals]

If they couldn't send messages, that'd mean they're broken, right? So then... [wait.] Would we have to get new ones if that happened?

...Does this place have that many of these things?

[chefbayardee]

They had enough to just dump free ones on us... [ He chuckles. ] ...so I guess they have a lot.

[ Hunk glances to the side. ] Or they're cheap to make. Means they're probably cheap to fix too. [ But he... does not want to try that out. Nope. What if there's no warranty?! ]