(no subject)

[theboogieman]

Who: Zhas & You!!
Broadcast: None (probably)
Action: Planetside OR Red Fish
When: Forward dated to the 31st, late at night

► PLANET-SIDE

[back home, Zhas had a long-standing tradition of not working on Halloween. he gets totally into it. he puts on his best "normal person" costume and goes out and parties and drinks and talks to the locals like he actually belongs there. it's the one day a year he doesn't obsessively hunt down monsters or worry about his slowly-decaying family.

he may be lightyears away from home, on a planet with no vampires or any proper Halloween festivities, but like hell he's going to let that get in the way of his traditional day off. he can be found hanging around town, dressed in a nondescript black shirt, not covered in weapons, and not wearing any facepaint. he might be kind of hard to recognize--though his eyes are still glowing an unsettling, jack-o-lantern orange under the dim, clouded night sky.

oh, and there's blood on his face. his nose was bleeding, or something. he apparently hasn't noticed. actually, to be completely honest, he's kind of having trouble noticing that he's going to run into things until he nearly stumbles over them. once or twice he has to like, hold his hands out to navigate around a lamp-post. dude's pretty drunk.]

► RED FISH

[...unless you're on the Red Fish. he's cleaned up his face, but he's sort of tipsily putting ingredients together in the kitchen and messing around with the microwave? seriously, he accidentally brushed flour off on his shirt, like, what is he even doing. this is probably how fires start.]

Comments

[aberrant_type]

[She's been doing a lot of outdoors roving and exercising and drinking and exploring since they hit planetside, soooo... isn't Zhas lucky that fate dumps him in with his captain even when he's just innocently getting crUNK on his birthday?

Anyway. Hange is heading back to the ships, he's heading away, and destiny pulls the strings! She automatically moves to bump him upright when they cross paths and he stumbles, though she doesn't immediately recognize him as grumpy crewman. That will last for about three seconds before she notices the ember eyes.]

Woah, easy there.

[theboogieman]

[this whole stumbling incident ends with him a) grabbing onto her arm with one hand for stability and b) squinting at her and trying to figure out who he's just bumped into.]

...Oh.

[yeah good job buddy really off to a great start here.]

[aberrant_type]

Oh -

[Suddenly her face is in his face because she recognizes that voice, like being dragged backwards over sandpaper. Grinning!]

Look who it is!

[theboogieman]

[he has startlingly little reaction to having her face right in his face. really, he just kind of squints at her.]

Hi.

[aberrant_type]

[That's good, because she leans in even a bit closer and actually sniffs at him - channeling one of her comrades and his weird habit here, if Zhas but knew.]

Hmmm. Been hitting the bottle, eh?

[blindoptimism]

[Nunnally had been busy for the last few days, preparing. In the afternoon she was a little relieved to know that Zhas had gone down to the planet to have a good time, it gave her a little bit more time to prepare. She had set up camp in the rec room when she was finally done, although truth be told she dozed off a bit before Zhas returned back to the ship.

Something that he does in the kitchen, a particular close of the microwave door or a cabinet wakes up up. Sitting up straight and listening, she smiles and gathers her things. So if Zhas hears her wheelchair approaching, he'll see Nunnally with a black package on her lap, and what looks like a plate with an orange protein blob on it. It seems like she tried to scoop out eyes and a mouth, and tried to put a dollop of green on top... but it looks hella ugly.]

Happy Birthday.

[theboogieman]

[he stops banging around so that he can turn and see... though, even as she wheels in, it takes him a moment to realize just what it is that's happening here. his initial reaction is to just... lean back against the counter, tilting his head, looking a little perplexed? the booze seems to have loosened his expressions, somewhat; it's a bit easier to tell that this might be one of the single most bizarre experiences of his entire life.

the last time someone he knows wished him a happy birthday, he was eight.

he brings a hand up to his face so that he can muffle a sudden, surprised little laugh.]

[blindoptimism]

[Is the world ending? The closest she's seen to a smile from this guy is the corners of his mouth tipping slightly upward, now he... laughed? Nunnally can't really hide her surprise, but it causes her to look down at her dumb little fake jack-o-lantern and look a little embarrassed]

I-I'm sorry it's so messy. I thought this planet might have gourds of some kind, or the protein would be easier to mold--

[pout, but a happy pout. His laugh is nice :')]

[theboogieman]

[his laugh isn't so bad when it's quiet like this. and it's over quickly--the sound is foreign and makes him self-conscious. he clears his throat, after a moment, as if that would help clear up some of his gravelly-sounding monotone.]

Thank you.

[he feels like there are stones in his chest, but in a good way that he can't really explain. he takes one step towards her before the microwave dings--which distracts him again. he points at the table before turning back around.]

[blindoptimism]

[oh... she had meant to ask him about the talking thing, but here it was. Actual words, and his first words... She can't help the small smile that crosses her face, but she looks down so she doesn't make it embarrassing.]

You're welcome.

[When she looks back up she sees his pointing at the table, so she nods and rolls that way.

Lala, she sets up her dumb attempt at a pumpkin in the center, and puts the present next to it. It's wrapped in black paper, about the height and width of a water bottle, and the paper is pulled up around it and tied at the top with white string. (She would have preferred ribbon and tape... but these things do happen)]

[carreau]

[ Oh, hey, it's a person. He doesn't recognize Zhas, but he recognizes blood. ]

Hey, hey~ There's blood on you~ Is it yours?

[theboogieman]

[oh, hey person. stopping. squinting. this is that guy from...]

...Huh?

[he looks down at his shirt... no blood there. what's he talking about?]

[carreau]

On your face~ Ahaha, did you get in a fight?

[theboogieman]

[OH. oh, he smears his fingers around his nose and sure enough, blood is there when he looks at his fingers. hrm. he does a really shitty job of cleaning it off his face with his sleeve, then.]

Yeah. Think I got punched...

[carreau]

Ahaha, you should be more careful next time~

[proteusmoon]

[ Cecil only wishes she was utterly wasted after the discovery she made today:

Barakiel is gone.

And with him, a lot of her strength to not be overwhelmed by her emotions at least once a day went too.

She's mostly roaming the emptier of the streets by herself, wondering if the angel has gone back to Court, or...

Well, her eyes on the ground, but she looks up when she sees another pair of feet off to her left, not making the surest of steps. She doesn't recognize the young man, but the sight of blood catches her eye immediately and she walks over to him. ]

Excuse me— are you all right?

[theboogieman]

[he's pulled out of his little world of distortion and stars and empty nerves when someone asks him something. he looks over at her, a little confused, familiar orange eyes blinking and squinting while he tries to remember what she just asked him.

she looks really familiar, though. hasn't he talked to her before? he tilts his head a little, seemingly oblivious to the blood on his face.]

[proteusmoon]

[ It takes her about another moment to realize she's seen those unique eyes before, but once she does, the rest begins to fall into place and she recognizes more of his face than just the color and brightness of his eyes-- the shape of them, bone structure, hair color...

She's just accustomed to seeing it all slathered in black and white. ]

...Z?

[theboogieman]

Oh.

[his voice is a little startling. deep, heavy, rough, very monotone. if it came out of a normal person, it'd be kind of surreal, but this guy... it'd match the face, if he were wearing it...]

It's Zhas.

[he thinks he remembers. the annoying girl who wouldn't leave him alone.]

[proteusmoon]

Zhas? Why didn't you just say so before?

[ True to form, she's not put off by his voice (if it were softer or smoother or higher in pitch, it'd probably be far more startling) and she starts walking towards him.

She's actually dressed rather differently than she normally is, in the clothes she was brought to the fleet in, all silver and red and golds. Maybe it's that or maybe it's the finery or maybe it's something else, but he's probably picking up a much more dynamic aura from her now. She's deeply distressed for one thing, even if she hides it well.

She takes hold of the edge of her cape and gently, cautiously begins to reach out for him. The movement is slow, largely because she expects him to either hit her again or pull away, and she wants to communicate that she's not trying to take that choice away from him. ]

[mortalcoil]

[this is so weird.

...he's trying to pretend that it's not weird, but it so totally is. Things playing out like how they would have a year or so ago, as if nothing had happened between then and now, and in an entirely wrong world. the fact that all the faces here are painted like skulls really seems like some part of a complicated cosmic mockery.

he had to wait for the ship to land and settle on solid ground before he could get out, so his communicator has been chiming at regular intervals for some time now.

it's still going off as he jitters off the ship and neurotically edges out into the crowd]

where [--he sends back. again.]

[theboogieman]

[he wasn't that far to begin with--since he had Hange check his face and make sure it looks good enough. so he notices the ship go down, and... you know, just followed him out of his ship.

so it won't be long until, instead of answering him over the text, Zhas just walks up and claps a hand on his shoulder.]

[mortalcoil]

[between anyone else, the fact that he automatically responds with violence might have been considered a negative thing.

in this case however, it probably means that Coil hasn't completely lost whatever edge Zhas last left him with. it might even be a good thing!

his hand immediately snaps up and swoops out as he turns, snatching at the wrist near his shoulder as he turns to face his... enemy...]

[theboogieman]

[not quite. the fact that there's no violence back speaks to how much alcohol Zhas still has in his system. he only blinks at Coil as he turns, his wrist captured, not at all perturbed by the sudden reaction.

he doesn't have a smile for him, but he grunts and reaches with his free arm to knock him in the side of his head with his knuckles--on his blind side. not hard, but his point still stands.]

[mortalcoil]

[...oh. okay.

a familiar skullface amongst all the others, and the rap of knuckles is one he hasn't had for a while. so, he... almost looks a little embarrassed when he finally lets him go and steps back--if that's the sort of thing he'd express very well, anyway.]