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(no subject)

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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[She knows so many soulless, creepy people... it hardly even makes a dent, really. Hange can be pretty creepy herself. She just looks friendly.]

Lucky you, we have all the free booze you could want for your celebration! Do you have a place you like?

Nah. [he shakes his head. it's all kind of the same around here.]

Me neither. [You know, she's just gonna steer him into the first dive bar that seems acceptable, then.]

[he goes in without a problem. and, you know, he does a remarkably good job of blending in, even drunk. bumps into someone, apologizes and smiles and goes on his way, straight to the bar whether or not Hange is following him or not.]

[She follows him, of course, chuckling to herself a little as he makes like a normal human. And then she takes a seat next to him, at least if he sits at the bar.]

You look like you're having a good time.

[yeah, he takes a seat. there's still room. he nods--shortly before yawning into the back of his hand. it's silly and human. his attention gets snatched up by everyone buzzing around next to them, out on the floor...]

[In the meantime, HAnge will order them both drinks. The horrible drinks. She pushes one glass over in front of him when the glasses come in.]

This reminds me of home!

[he wordlessly takes what he's been handed--she could have ordered him a glass of drain cleaner and he would have had a drink of it without even looking. whatever this horrible stuff is, he sucks it down like it's nothing.

a quarter of the glass down, he follows up, looking back at her.]

How?

[Ah, she's midway on her own deep swallow of the foul alcohol so there's a moment's delay before she responds - though respond she does.]

I'm a soldier, you know! We used to drink together like this. The quality was about as good. [laugh.]

Hm. [so kind of like him and Coil. except also not really. she sure doesn't act like a soldier--except maybe she does? she stepped up and took control of the ship, after all.] That's good.

What do you do, champ?

[he looks... uncomfortable. kind of makes a face, looks away. he doesn't know if he wants to talk about it around all of these people. even smashed, he's hesitant.]

It's...

[She nudges her own partially full glass in his direction.]

Have some more!

Oh.

[he sets down his not-particularly-empty glass so that he can pick up the one that she's sliding towards him instead. he takes this gulp like it's a shot, bringing it back down onto the counter just a little too hard.]

Okay. Have you ever heard of vampires.

Nope! Tell me more.

[She signals to the bartender for another. :)]

[oh, man. he turns on his stool, hunches over so he can talk all conspiratorial-like. this is one subject he can really get into! even if he still talks in the exact... same... monotone.]

Okay. Vampires are monsters that used to be humans--they become reannim--re-animated after death and exist halfway in death and halfway alive. They gain unholy powers but they have to drink the blood of humans to go on living, and they're--fucking horrible. So I-- [puts a hand on his chest!] Go out and kill them so they can't hurt other people.

[Hmmm. MmmMMMmm. Veeeery interesting. She leans in closer and listens, then pats him on the shoulder whne he's finished.]

Fascinating! How do they become reanimated? Do you work with a generalized force, or alone?

No, no, I work with...

[...he looks confused. he blinks, shaking his head a little. maybe the new round of booze is finally hitting him. or maybe he's running into a wall. he works alone, he works with Coil, sometimes he works with a team, but who for? for her, he works for her, but why does it feel like something is missing...?

he gets quiet again. she'll have to re-ask anything she wants answered.]

[This is better than he's done before, so she's prepared to be patient and take baby steps here.]

How do they become reanimated?

Hm? [he looks over at her, blinks a couple of times... but settles for rubbing his neck and looking back out at the crowd. his posture is especially terrible when he doesn't have a big coat or self-righteousness to keep him upright. he's all hunched up.]

Most night-walkers think it's magic, but it's really science. It's a kind of disease they pass on through their blood. Originally stemmed from a... species of things that are almost extinct. It mutates between hosts, I think, depending on genetics... It can pass to animals too, but the cases aren't usually as complex.

[see? just get him drunk and make him talk about science. he's got tons to say.]

[Oh man, this is already fascinating. A little side note before she dives into it deeper:]

Is there something I should call you, champ?

[he kind of likes being called 'champ'. it's very encouraging. and he's surprised she hasn't already figured out his name, forgetting that not everyone keeps as close a watch over their crew as he does.]

Zhas.

[She could have gone digging more... but it seems nice to ask. She gives him a friendly thump on the shoulder.]

Zhas? Cute.

Anyway, you have no idea how glad I am to hear someone else using the word "science" around here. Magic sounds very nice, but I personally don't hold much with that.

Cute.

[squint. that was probably meant to be a question, by the way he's looking at her.]

I suppose you'd prefer... fearsome.