driftfleet | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: The new weirdo on the Marsiva
Broadcast: Network-- fleet-wide
Action: Aboard the Marisva!
When: Oct. 22, nighttime

→ [network - audio, then video, and then text]

[at first, there's just the sound of someone fiddling with the buttons on some network station. technology is difficult, okay.

then, the camera turns on, and everyone watching will be treated to the sight of a raggedy, scarred-up teenager blinking in surprise at the screen. or... maybe it's not technically considered blinking, because he only has one eye.

he frowns hard when he realizes that he's turned the video on. that's not what he was aiming for. a second later, the video cuts off... and several seconds after that, a text transmission is sent out.]

hello.

→ [action - aboard the Marsiva]

[for anyone awake this late on the Marsiva--or awoken by the sound of someone angrily messing around with the buttons at a nearby network station--they can find this guy failing at technology.

I'm sure he's very friendly. you should say hi.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[he was just checking the comm. he couldn't sleep. figured he'd see what the rest of the world was up to. he wasn't expecting this, wasn't expecting to trace this message back to an earlier video and see the startlingly familiar scars.

incoming message. video. it's kind of a marvel he managed to hit the button with how hard he slammed his hand on the control panel.]

Coil! Video, now!

[he sounds really scary. gravelly, low. he knows the tone. Coil can see his face, covered in that same paint, like he never left.]

[you know she's just gonna pop her head in after a second, after his yell stops ringing around the halls.]

Hm, you can talk after all!

Everything all right? [BECAUSE HE DOESN'T SEEM TO BE UNDER ATTACK BUT WHAT DOES SHE KNOW]

Shut up.

[yeah, he's fine. clipped, angry. his voice sounds like gravel. staring intently at the screen.]

Edited 2014-10-23 04:50 (UTC)

Bad time? Friend of yours? Enemy? [Come on Zhas you know she doesn't EVER shut up]

[he turns his head just to GROWL AT HER and then return to the screen. he seems really mad...]

[She's gonna hang around to see if he actually speaks more, and failing that, going to quietly stalk their conversation on the communicators, at least what's publicly available of it.]

[hell, she can stay in the room for as long as she wants--he'll start talking again soon, and once he does, it'll be like he doesn't even notice she exists.]

[for once, Coil does not immediately obey. he can't even breathe for dragging seconds on end.

as unreal as this whole--vision? hallucination? another warp and joke of reality?--is, it cannot compare to what hits him when he sees that face. the voice stabbing out into the air of the room only makes it worse.

it's too real.

it's impossible.]

[when he doesn't get a response back (no no no don't you fucking disappear again) he yells again. because, he remembers. it takes him twice.]

Coil! Pick up the fucking device.

[and now Coil remembers. there's two chances. it's like cracking open a grave to remember what's buried there.

but enough of it is still automatic enough that his hand darts out without a solid thought behind it, while the rest of him is still too busy reeling, and he flicks on the video feed]

[and just like that, when he can finally see him for several consecutive seconds without him vanishing on him, assured that he's really going to stay--his rage lifts like a ghost and he sighs, face momentarily sinking out of sight as he bows his head.

thank god. thank fucking god. another breath, and he calms down.

assessment. checklist. assembly. come on, it's just like always.]

Calm down. You're fine.

[it's just like always.

and he can't handle it.

before he kind of ducks and turns away from the camera, one of his hands lifts up to cover the lower half of his face.

he's moved away a little bit, but there's still enough of him visible to confirm that he's still there. he's not going anywhere.]

[he lifts his head, watches him move. he's feeling a lot of things, but they all sit like stones. he doesn't have time to think about them. he lets him sit like that, counting in his head, slowly, all the way up to twenty.

and then he tries again.]

Look at the screen.

[again, he delays his obedience. he won't make him ask again this time, though. he knows about how much leeway he has before he'd run into that line.

so, there's only a few deliberate seconds while he tries to drag himself together enough to function.

he ducks back to camera range just enough to mostly be seen, and he's got tears all over one half of his face when he does]

[he can't be there for him; he's already figured that out. if Coil is new, he's been brought to the clean white bunks of Marsiva, which means it'll be at least two days until he can see him in-person.

but they've had worse. Coil is a tough kid, he'll be all right. time to reestablish.

he lifts his hands and, very intentionally, very clearly, starts to sign for him.

'Can you read this?']

Edited 2014-10-23 05:41 (UTC)

[he nods, and that seems to break up the fragile hold he'd had on himself. the tears start again, and he fails at swallowing them back as the floodgates of his 'silence' open.

he starts signing, but he's frantic and not nearly as careful. half of it isn't even in the frame of the camera. some of them are parts of questions--predictable ones--and the rest doesn't make sense]

Coil, stop.

[even calm, he's not patient enough for questions he can't read. he needs him to focus.]

[Zhas' order does half the work. and the fact that Coil audibly hiccups on something that sounds dangerously like a sob does the rest.

he clamps down on the breath and swallows it, shoving a hand over his mouth to keep any other sound from escaping.

he tries his best. retreating for a minute to drag everything down. he'd bite his tongue if he were able.

and only when he's able to breathe again without stumbling over it, when he can open his eye again, he finally manages to sign out a legible question]

'Where are you?'

[there we go. that's better. he gestures slowly and carefully. it's been a long time since he's had to think this much about how to move his hands.]

'Far away. I am in a different--' [he has to construct a new word. he signs for 'boat', pause, 'airplane', pause, 'combine', pause. he shows him a combined gesture. they'll use that for now.] '--I am on a spaceship, R-E-D-F-I-S-H. You are on a spaceship. M-A-R-S-I-V-A. You will be moved in two days.'

[putting his mind forward on the task of reading helps take it off of the way that it's spinning around in his head]

'Moved where?'

[see, these are good questions. constructive. they can work with these.]

'From the big ship to a smaller ship. Don't know which one. I can meet you then.'

[he follows with an important question, before Coil can go on--]

'Are you hurt?'

[he shakes his head, but turns around and moves his hair out of the way, so the camera can see the bit of white plastic sticking out of his skull near his ear.

does this count?]

[he looks... well, he always looks angry, but the sight of white plastic fills him with enough unease to show on his face. he hates those things. he's mad that Coil got one he can see. his answer to the unspoken question is to wobble his hand--so-so, pros and cons.]

'It teaches you things. Nothing bad has happened yet.'

[he's so anxious, and bringing his attention to the device has him fidgeting with it. fingers neurotically running over the shape of it while he returns to facing the screen.

his eyes are off to the side. he's upset and probably has a lot of things he wants to say and ask, but communication is not exactly his strong suit. it's all running together in his head. it's too much.

he doesn't know what to say.]

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