Let's all hold hands and sing Kumbaya

[notzubats]

Who: Everybody! It's a planet mingle!
Broadcast: If You want!
Action: On the Holding Hands plant!
When: From June 23 until whenever we need a new mingle.

[At long last, the fleet has arrived to a new planet. This means it's time for a mingle guys! Get in! ]

Comments

did someone say nerding?

[winn]

[ winn's just gotten off work, and hand holding is pretty low on his list of priorities at the moment because his hands hurt. he's been sewing like a madman to afford that inn room with kitty and still have time to explore this planet too, and all that work is starting to take its toll. most people, he never keeps contact with long enough to be really worried about it, but still the idea of sharing his heart with anyone he touches is somewhat unsettling. every rose has its thorn, and every planet has its catch, it seems. whatever, so far it's been worth it.

today, though, he keeps his hands in his pockets and his eyes cast downwards. which, unfortunately, means he completely misses hank standing in his path, and bumps into him hard.

out the pockets come his hands as he steps back to put some distance between them ]

I'm so sorry that was 100% on m- [ and now up go the eyes and he's smiling because if he has to bump into anyone - that's a pretty awesome choice right there! ] Hank! Watchu up to?

[ winn, winn you were apologizing. leaning in to check out what he's checking out does not count as completing your apology. straighten back up and finish your apology young man!!!!! ...he's not listening. ]

[beathach]

[Winn, Winn please watch where you're going!!

Hank startles a little, but he automatically reaches out to steady him, careful to avoid touching hands because - well, he might be used to it in a sense, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to avoid the sharing as much as he could anyway. He couldn't really avoid it with the locals, but he'd do his damndest with other people. After all, he knew how it went.

Still, he grins back and drops his hand as soon as he's sure Winn didn't end up knocking himself over or something. Because that would just be awkward]

Getting bumped into. [he says, cheeky, before he holds up the notebook in his hand] Gathering information on this place, mostly. When - you know, people aren't - uh, being friendly.

[he's putting that the nicest way possible]

[winn]

[ but hank, everybody does that - that's boring! and come on, awkward is his jam.

he laughs at that cheeky comment and offers an apologetic smile. ] Sorry. [ he perks right back up though because it was just an honest mistake and hank's one of his nerd bros, surely he's already forgiven! ] Watchu got so far?

[ yeah...winn's just not going to bother putting it in any way because it will not be as nice, he's not as nice. ]

[beathach]

[please, awkward is his life.

Nerd bros are always automatically forgiven, and he proves as much by holding out the notebook for Winn to look at it if he wants. Hope you're good at deciphering chickenscratch, although he's been trying to keep it neater, given that he's been sharing notes lately] Mostly stuff on their culture so far. I keep hearing about a - I guess it's a magical tree? So I've been trying to get more information on that without . . . being rude about it.

[winn]

[ what's the difference?

winn absolutely wants! he eagerly takes that notebook, and it's fine, hank. before the fleet he hadn't handwritten anything in years, his own handwriting is atrocious. if he can read that - he can decipher anything. ]

Cool - [ he leafs through it curiously, trying to take as much of it in without losing track of the conversation. he laughs at hank's last comment though. ] How's that working for you?

[ he's having trouble accepting magic himself, but it's easier to do when he thinks of it as rules of physics that have yet to be discovered. knowing hermione has sort of forced him to accept it for now. but a magical tree still sounds ridiculous (and awesome). ]

[beathach]

[he was going to switch over to putting it all in his communicator, but then he heard about notes being stolen or wiped and he's sticking to his notebooks.

He huffs out a noise, though, crossing his arms and glancing behind him at some people mingling nearby]

So far I haven't offended anyone. [and that's an accomplishment] As for the tree - experience tells me it's real, but the scientist in me wants to go looking for it to prove that it's real. So I might be going on a hike sooner or later.

[magic gives him such a headache, with the exception of talking about it with Hermoine]

[winn]

[ winn's keeping all his important research on paper only - cyber security is hard enough to achieve when you're a genius at it. when you're blocked? he's not taking any chances. ]

Your scientist and my scientist are really in sync. [ surprising absolutely no one. ] Except my scientist is a masochist who also wants to figure out how it's real. [ because it's magic is not an answer, it's just not. he hands hank his notebook back. ]

Maybe I just don't have enough experience.

[beathach]

[smart man. Stefan told him how his notes were taken and Hank's been offended by the very thought ever since]

I thought the figuring out part went without saying. [he takes the notebook and closes it, sticking it in a back pocket]

I have experience and I'm not sure if it's helping or not.

[winn]

[ hacker. he knows how easy it is to mess things up for people if you know what you're doing. ]

I think the it's-probably-just-gonna-give-us-headaches part is what goes without saying.

[ as does the but-we're-gonna-do-it-anyway part. ]

[beathach]

That's what caffeine and ibuprofen are for.

[of course they're gonna do it anyway, they're scientists. It's their duty]

[winn]

If we don't make it out there together - we gotta find each other and compare notes, at least.

[ there's no reason they should have their headaches alone! ]

[beathach]

Absolutely. Though from what I've heard, it's more of - [and he makes a gesture to two people nearby who have spontaneously decided to hug.

Do you really want to go to the magic tree with Hank, Winn] So maybe comparing notes after the fact is . . . safer.

[winn]

Ahh -- yeah.

[ rubbing the back of his head. hank's one of the few people who isn't looking at him like he's about to break and telling him to get therapy, he'd like to keep it that way. ]

Comparing notes it is. Though we can look around together - [ you know, observe other people, observe the tree - ]

[beathach]

I mean, unless you want to hold hands, but I don't want Kitty coming after me.

[Hank would never tell him to get therapy. But he will provide distractions, because Kara may have told him that Winn's been having a rough time]

If you're game for it, I wouldn't mind going exploring. There's a lot to see.

[winn]

And you're just her coming-after type.

[ not even talking about her reaction to him when he arrived. out of all of winn's friends he's been baffled to find that the one she's jealous of is - cisco. he would've gone kara or kate in her shoes but...there you have it. ]

I'm always game for it!

[ he smiles; distractions he'll gratefully accept. judgments about his sanity, not as much. ]

[beathach]

I am. I'd rather not tempt fate.

[you all are ridiculous, never let Hank find out about any of this or he'll tease you all. And that'll be something coming from him, of all people]

Then let's do that, and if we come across the tree . . . we can keep our distance.

[this is a judgement-free nerdbro zone. Especially because Hank can't talk]

[winn]

[ your nerdbros are baffled, hank, explain women to them because they are lost.

winn looks around and picks up a twig off the ground, offering one of it to hank ]

Shake on it?

[ with a little grin; do you get it, nerdbro? come on, you know you wanna laugh. ]

[beathach]

[do you really think he can explain women, he could maybe explain one and he'd still somehow mess it up.

. . . he does laugh a little, but then he immediately makes a face because dammit Winn, no. But he does take the other end of the stick to shake]

That was bad.

[winn]

[ maybe if all three of them put their heads together - they could sorta manage two. ]

I heard you laugh.

[ w h a t e v e r. he shrugs with a smile and drops the twig. he's been overcompensating for his misery with everything he has lately. having solid ground beneath his feet does cheer him up immensely - but the result is just an awkward cheersplosion that's half overcompensating for how not fully cheered he still is, and half trying to get everything he can out of the cheer he did get back. in other words, your life is now awkward jokes, hank. ]

[beathach]

[maybe, possibly. It would be an adventure in trying]

You're hearing things.

[listen, Winn's in good company when it comes to awkward jokes, because that's something Hank falls back on, too. But he does make a motion with his head further into the marketplace and gives Winn a curious look] We could start exploring around here if you want. I haven't really looked around much.

[winn]

Not really, you laugh loud.

[ and there he goes again with the bad jokes. it's a good thing he and hank get each other so well.

nodding, he starts walking in the direction hank pointed to. ]

Me neither, so sounds good. [ he's been mostly working around here. ] I wanna see if I can find something for Margaery, anyway.

[ he knows she's missing home badly, and her family. this place with all its beautiful greenery feels like the sort of place that'd have something to remind her of it when she's feeling down. ]

[beathach]

Now you're reaching. I maybe chuckled.

[it's like Winn said, they're like the same person from different universes, more or less. Winn just missed out on getting a mutation and all the fun that comes along with that.

He follows along with Winn, though keeping a careful distance so there isn't any accidental touching. He knows how this nonsense goes]

Who's Margaery?

[winn]

[ and hank missed out on the fun of watching his dad get arrested for murder at age 11. we can't have it all! ]

Denial may be a great river - but it's a terrible look on you.

[ nope, he's not gonna let up. ]

She's my friend - she's on the Windrose with Kitty. [ a pause ] She's 16 and kind of a menace, so kinda more like a little sister.

[beathach]

[thankfully no, but he's seen his own shit. Let's not go there]

Who's the one in denial here?

[they'll be at this all day. But this time the huff of laughter is genuine and a little surprised - pleasantly so]

Ah, one of those. [he knows all about little sister menaces] What's she like?

[winn]

[ the point of the matter is - they're both screwed, still close enough! ]

Aww, memory troubles already, old man? I'd pat your back but you may not remember this - that's a bad idea here. Pat yourself.

[ they may never stop, but for winn's part - the teasing comes from a place of great affection. ]

She's really smart, she's from a world with knights and kings - but she picks up on everything like - [ snapping his fingers ] that. She's royalty, so you know, she has this proper way about her that really catches you off your guard when she asks really inappropriate questions about your love life.