001 ✪ video/audio

[redactions]

Who: Jim Barnes
Broadcast: Fleetwide video + audio
Action: Iskaulit.
When: August 20th.


[ The video flicks on to a spacious room, spans it from left to right, then top to bottom. There's a door off to the right side, and the camera follows it to the adjoining room, similarly large. Again, left to right, top to bottom. Both rooms are spic and span, empty, with wooden floors. And then it switches to audio. The voice is brusque, but amiable, with a moderate Brooklyn drawl. ]

Nice place for a gym. There could be a dojo next door, so it's all in one place. I've got a few sandbags to hang up, and some mats we could use. There's a notice outside for schedules — I know a lot of you folks have been offering training. The room's big enough, and there's plenty more like it on this ship.

Anybody else interested?



[ Anyone wandering the Iskaulit or looking for Bucky after the broadcast will find him humming as he puts up the sandbags. He's dressed very simply in the ship's jumpsuit, with no left sleeve. The left arm whirs in tune as he works. ]

Comments

8}

[mortalcoil]

[and even though it's not a surprise anymore, having his signs returned still delights him a little. as is having someone looking pleased to see him, instead of the more common alternatives. it's a nice novelty.

'practice,' he signs, and 'improve.']

[redactions]

I box. I know some martial arts. What would you like?

[mortalcoil]

[oh, he nods! and eagerly points at the screen. he likes both of those things.

and he adds onto the thought by spelling out the word 'S-T-A-F-F' and mimics the ready stance of bo or quarterstaff fighting.]

[redactions]

I don't know the staff myself, but if you don't mind teaching me, I could learn.

[mortalcoil]

[he looks a little uncertain, but ultimately shrugs with a shallow nod.

and maybe as a clarifying point, he points between the two of them and forms the rather self-explanatory sign for 'fight,' because he can at least handle that much. it's the best way to teach someone something anyway, right? ...something like that?]

[redactions]

[ Getting the idea, he nods. ]

I'm up for it. Are you used to fighting humans?

[mortalcoil]

[he glances to the side for a moment, but tentatively nods. waiting to hopefully find out why he would phrase it like that before he offers up any information that he doesn't exactly need to.]

[redactions]

I'm a little stronger and faster. Is that okay?

[mortalcoil]

[oh, now he gets it. and that is far less incriminating than what he'd feared, so he looks maybe a little disproportionately relieved as he nods.

and as an afterthought, he points at other and spells out 'human?']

[redactions]

[ that's not a loaded question at all ]

I'm what's called a super-soldier.

[ Except there's no specific sign for that, so he signs soldier and then better. ]

[mortalcoil]

[yeah this whole thing really is a small minefield.

the answer sounds a little ominous by itself--and Coil's brow knits appropriately as he hesitates--but it still doesn't answer the question.

'yes or no,' he signs. because the distinction is apparently very important.]

[redactions]

[ There's a moment where nothing happens: the air doesn't move, he doesn't breathe, the world comes to a halt. ]

[ And he signs: yes. ]

[mortalcoil]

[and--judging by the way that there is a matching pause on the other side of the network, one eye ticking over what details he can see of the other's face on the screen--that hesitation does not go unnoticed.

but he's not the type to ask. he's the kind that prefers to quietly wonder, and sate his curiosity in more roundabout ways.

so... he finally just nods. that's settled, then.]

[redactions]

[ Nodding in turn, ]

I'll see you here, then.