Let the games begin!

[thespaceopera]

[several days late, as has been the trend lately, the Shuffle's transmission plays for the Fleet.

...or, it tries anyway. the music doesn't even make it--just a punch of static with sad, scattered pieces of musical notes trying to struggle their way through.

when Diamond's voice is finally heard, it's only intelligible in three little bites.]

--Three disappearing from-- ... --new faces, so-- ... --Captain Halliwell--...

[and then the music blends strangely with other sounds, like someone flipping idly through broken radio stations. it takes some time for anything to come in clear, and every frequency turns up the same interference. it isn't until several minutes later that one signal suddenly stutters into clarity, and music begins to play.

wherever you are, they are playing your song! and if there are multiple people in the room, maybe the speakers nearest to each person are playing different songs, each specific to the closest passenger. and after the signal connects, the speakers will continue to play whatever song they started with, even if different passengers move toward or away from them, and will only play something else when the controls are messed around with. and the signals and machinery will continue to behave in this way sporadically, all through the month.]

ooc: the musical madness has begun! feel free to use this post as a mingle for interactions relating to shuffle day and the ensuing musical chaos. if you have any questions, please post them to the January ooc post!

→ Shuffle ooc post
→ January system ooc post

Comments

[aberrant_type]

[She whistles at him through her teeth before she comes any closer. Wouldn't want to surprise the big guy when he's so deep in contemplation.]

[theboogieman]

[good thing, too, since he almost startles--he looks at her with wide-eyes until he remembers where he is, what he's listening to, and why he'd retreated to the cargo bay to begin with.

he anxiously lowers his communicator against his leg, but it only muffles the noise. he looks back down at it. he doesn't have the heart to turn it off.]

[aberrant_type]

You've got it too, huh?

[It's not as if she's going to mock his 'choice' of music. It's not hard to extrapolate why a woman's warm and semi-tuneless humming might be what someone heard.]

It'll be interesting to see what comes of it all.

[theboogieman]

[still looking at his communicator, he signs for "bad". time to see if she remembers, with how drunk they were...]

[aberrant_type]

[Silence trickles out like molasses. She squints at the signs... mulls it over... she knows this, she's sure she does.

They were very drunk... luckily, Hange is smart as hell. Three signs, three letters, and something rises out of the murky waters of her deeper memory.]

A bad sign? Sure seems that way.

[theboogieman]

[that's not quite what he was trying to get across--but what he's trying to express is a complicated concept one shouldn't expect to be understood through just one word. he wishes he could speak through his hands, but he sits and winds tight and tries to think of a way to express what's trying to claw its way out of him.

it's bad. he can't do it. she can tell he's getting really upset.]

[aberrant_type]

[Hange's eyebrows rise as the air knots up with tension. She's not actually sure exactly what will defuse him, but she comes over and punches him in the shoulder anyway.]

Hey, now, simmer down.

[theboogieman]

Nn-- [he moves, finally, to rub his shoulder. that snapped him out of it. it gives him a little room to scramble for something.] --she's real.

[aberrant_type]

[She hoped that would do it. Zhas responds so well to tactile things. Hange points to the communicator:]

The woman? I don't doubt you. What's the problem?

[theboogieman]

My master. [maybe he should call her--his queen? his... her name keeps slipping away from him, it's right there--] This is her.

[aberrant_type]

... Did this technology not exist in your world?

[It would explain why he's so het-up at hearing her, and it's the situation Hange herself is in.]

[theboogieman]

Not around her.

[god, he really misses her. she smelled like roses and iron. why can't he remember her face? what her hair felt like, what she'd say to him. what would she say to him now? it's too sickening a thought.]

[aberrant_type]

[She's here wondering what she should say... does he need a distraction? Should she let him be? The former might do more good, but the latter might be a safer option. For the moment she settles for bumping her hip into his shoulder, since they're at a height for her to do that fairly comfortably.

It's a hard bump but not aggressive.]

Let's consider that they've literally invaded our heads with these augments... not that that's much more comforting, but they might not have needed to be anywhere near her to pull this out to mess with your head.

[Which is not reassuring at all, but.]

[theboogieman]

[bumped again. her words have a surprising resonance, and he suddenly covers up the speaker with his palm. it muffles the soft humming almost to silence.

it could be from his head? he normally hates even the thought of those damn augments, but almost anything is better than the idea that she could be calling for him. he'd imagined her down on that planet, somehow, even though it seems impossible. if she's not really there, there's no capacity for him to be failing her, and that is an incredible relief.

he still looks troubled, but he nods. he regards the speaker with a more objective glance. what should he do with it?]

[aberrant_type]

[Hmm. Distraction time?]

Why don't you teach me those signs again?

[theboogieman]

...Now.

[he tilts his head to look up at her. it seems like that was maybe supposed to be a question?]

[aberrant_type]

Yeah, right now.

[She drags up a random crate :T]

[theboogieman]

[he's thick-headed, but he's not stupid--he knows that Hange is just doing this to give him something else to think about, to get his mind off of the problem. and it's... embarrassing that she thinks she has to do that for him. he must seem so pathetic...

he looks to the side, pressing fingers into the side of his head, rolling something over in his head. he needs... something. when he finally responds, his words have the sort of clumsy tone to them--like he's not sure if he's saying this right.]

Get me a... cup of coffee?

[aberrant_type]

[She could use it too, don't doubt it. She looks at him for a moment, expression calm. Then she reaches out and thumps him on the shoulder, less hard. Get your head back together, champ.]

Sure, kiddo.

[That question is being categorized under "request for a brief reprieve". She can respect that.]

[theboogieman]

[notably, he turns the radio off. does it all in one motion, like calmly ripping off a band-aid. he'll do good in exchange. he'll get it together. if he asked that much of Hange, he can be asked the same in return.

he'll just lean his head against the wall and wait here, if that's okay.

[aberrant_type]

[She'll give him a few minutes and take her time getting the coffee together. A cup for herself, creamed, a cup for him, unleavened with anything.

Soon enough she's coming back, deliberately tapping her boots on the floor to announce where she is, and holding out the coffee for him.]

[theboogieman]

[when she gets back, the communicator is out of sight. he hasn't really moved, though. he reaches reaches up to gesture, grinding one fist over the other--] Coffee. [--before accepting the cup.]

[aberrant_type]

[She sits down, sets the coffee on the ground, copies the gesture, expression stilling into one of calm concentration. It's the same look that's on her face when she bends over a microscope. In cram mode.]

Coffee. [And now, because she has had a while to think about this and she did a tiny bit with Coil -] Why don't we do the alphabet first?

[That way, he can spell stuff out if he doesn't know the sign, or it's hard to conceptualize.]

[theboogieman]

[he nods once. he switches hands so that he can sign with his right and drink coffee with his left. it's going to be up to her to figure out that the first sign he holds up is the letter A.]

[aberrant_type]

[Coil spelled Zhas' name for her, so it's easy enough to figure that out. She copies the sign back at him, glancing between his hand and hers and adjusting, humming under her breath softly: the same note of the dumb little song that they use to teach children the alphabet in her world too. A...]