Lost in the Translation / Discussion

This is the discussion related to the wiki page Lost in the Translation.

In which I, an English-speaking author, use only two egregious Spanish words

HarryBlank 03 Nov 2021 19:39

With affection to the people of La Fundación SCP. This isn't meant to reflect any particular version of Site-34, so much as the general gist of its various versions. I've seen a few conversations on the -ES forums about whether the Site is in one specific place, or anomalously in many places at once, and decided to boldly posit: "I dunno maybe lol." Y'all have some neat characters.

Thanks to Amai-Ixchel, GremlinGroup, Grigori Karpin and Ralliston for taking a look! Amai kindly helped my dumb ass with a few details after the fact, and is very much not to blame for anything I did wrong. Almarduk and morhadow also supplied helpful pointers after the fact.

The header icons in this series are not meant to be in-universe, but to represent location. Since that's a bit awkward for Site-34, I went with the Flag of the Hispanic People to represent the variety of membership -ES is known for.

Author avatars appearing in this story:

Almarduk (typewriter kid cameo)
Amai-Ixchel (Amalia Mondragón)
Dc_Yerko
Detective Marw (the cat!)
Doctor Von Braun
DrCastillo
Dr Merlin - VI
Dr Reach (Richard Barnard)
Investigador Mallea
LazyLasagne (Andrés Mondragón)
morhadow (Borja Dowell)
Zevaxtians (Ernesto Navarro)

Last edited on 14 Aug 2022 00:27 by HarryBlank Show more

Grigori Karpin 03 Nov 2021 19:45

Really liked the twist in this, didn’t see it coming at all

Phantom8 04 Nov 2021 00:47

This automatically gets a special place in my heart for being about ES and Site-34, but leaving my bias aside, this was very well written! Very engaging from start to finish and great characterization job, loved the references to all of the ES characters.

I also really enjoyed how you played into the whole "Site-34 is wherever you need it to be" aspect of the Site. Only saw some minor SPaG and wording errors here and there but it's nothing that can't be solved by an lbl.

Great job!

HarryBlank 04 Nov 2021 02:26

Thanks! I had a lot of fun, even if it took me goddamn ages.

-ES has such a wide-spread membership, from so many different places, it seemed unfair for me (especially me, not being from the branch myself) to put it anywhere specific. Putting it everywhere instead seemed like a tidy solution :P

Can't speak to the G, but there ain't no SP. (Edit: and then I make a typo in my comment. That's how karma works, alright.)

Appreciate the comment!

Last edited on 04 Nov 2021 02:27 by HarryBlank Show more

morhadow 04 Nov 2021 14:51

A nitpick: Area-08 isn't exactly in Spain, the truth is more complicated.

Otherwise, good tale.

HarryBlank 04 Nov 2021 22:57

Thanks!

I was aware of the discrepancy a lifetime ago when I started figuring this tale out, intending Veiksaar's reference to "Spain" to be her vague misunderstanding. Months later I forgot to explicitly note that in the actual tale; hell, might as well put that very hyperlink in there. Think I will.

+1

Ralliston 08 Dec 2022 20:13

The Site location hijinks are genuinely super fun, but what really shines through here is the imagery of the Site and its surroundings. Just a really wonderful mental image to have. The exploration of memetics and their relation to IT shenanigans is equally engaging, and the two make for a trademark good tale.

Re: +1

ChronoBolt 12 Jan 2023 22:13

So I'm a bit lost on the revelation on where site-34 is located. How is it in Argentina, Chilé, and Spain all at the same time? Were the dark rooms actually full of memetic agents and they just hopped between countries while she couldn't remember it?

Re: +1

HarryBlank 13 Jan 2023 01:26

There's a few anomalies both from -ES and -EN that involve instantaneous transportation, though not usually in a useful sense, and there are also Ways, thaumaturgical gateways. The implication, not explored in depth out of respect for not wanting to tell another branch how I imagine their Site works, is that something along these lines is occurring in the dark rooms and there is a part of Site-34 in each member country. Probably exploiting some very specific, non-replicable effect. Almost every other site is specifically situated in its respective story, and this was my way of doing that but not taking it out of all the places that make up the -ES membership.