driftfleet | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: Elim Garak and YOU
Broadcast: Network wide at first; to the Red Fish ship afterwards
Action: In his room
When: December 28th

[A wholly pleasant smile appears on the network. While the face it's attached to is . . . reptilian, to say the least, at least the smile is friendly. Prominent ridges outline Garak's cheekbones and where a human's eyebrows would be; his black hair is neatly combed back from his face.]

I wonder . . . while the planet below is quite charming, I find myself rather disliking the temperature. And while I can amuse myself with embroidery, I find myself wanting nothing more than a good book. Do any of you have recommendations? I'm somewhat familiar with Terran literature; a friend of mine even says I have a favorite genre: realistic fiction, if that's any help.

My sincerest gratitude to any who might help.

[A beat. He cuts off the feed and adds to the members of the Red Fish:]

Coil. Might I ask you to stop by when you've a spare moment?

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[there's quite a delay before he answers. he may have even walked away from whatever network station he's at.

finally, though, the text comes through.]

Where are you?

My quarters.

[maybe he's actually busy, or maybe he's just a teenager and wants to make the new guy wait.

either way, it's at least an hour or two later before Coil finally swings by the bunk room. silent as always, haunting his way into the doorway without any real announcement.]

[He's impressed by the way he enters-- it's not often people are so quiet, not without training, which raises more questions about the boy. But those can wait for later. When he swings by, Garak doesn't look a bit startled-- he just gives him a pleasant sort of smile, as if he's only waited a few moments.]

I'll admit, I've never learned a wholly silent language-- but my own is rather dependent on facial and body cues, so perhaps this won't be as difficult as it seems.

[as closed as Coil's expressions and body-language tend to be, it all opens up a little when he's curious and needs to communicate.

he starts small, maybe to test how responsive the new guy is to vague gestures.

in response to the little bit that Garak is offering, Coil lifts his chin a little, looking questioning about it--a tiny prompt for him to maybe continue. Coil too has an avid interest in languages.]

[His smile grows just slightly as he studies Coil's body language. For each species it's different, of course, but he's known enough humans to know that indicates curiosity.]

Mm, there's so much to tell, of course-- but I'll skip basic letters and numbers and tell you of our body language instead. As children, we're taught to hold ourselves as largely as possible, to impose rather than shrink-- it's only right, as the dominant species of the galaxy.

[Does he mean that? Perhaps. That slight smile doesn't give away much.]

As such, that's our neutral gesture. Should we tip our head one way or another, we might indicate anger or laughter-- similar to how a human might indicate sarcasm or true venom in their tone alone.

[--and that is both more than he'd been expecting, and far more interesting than he'd hoped. the slight raise of his eyebrows tells as much.

it's both a fascinating and kind of an intimidating reminder of exactly how alien this man is.

the head-tilting thing is the most interesting--he tips his head one way, and then the other?]

[He laughs softly and mimics Coil-- first to the left--]

Anger.

[--and then to the right.]

Affection. Though I hasten to add that we rarely use them and expect to be understood when in the presence of other species-- it would be fairly foolish, hm?

Might I suggest a trade? Teach me something, and I'll teach you something in return.

[he nods with very little hesitation. a trade is nice and straightforward, especially with information that isn't of any great weight.

the most he risks is being better understood, and he's very much alright with that.]

Would you like something to write on in order to begin, or do you have another method?

[ah! he retrieves his newest toy from the large pocket of his sweatshirt-- a little plastic tablet and stylus. he's all set.

and to demonstrate, he writes out 'A B C D?' across its digital surface and turns to show Garak, with a lift of his eyebrows]

A very good place to start.

[He tips his head, and adds:]

Twenty-six letters, correct?

Edited 2014-12-30 02:26 (UTC)

[Coil nods, and since he's only heard his new crewmate's name spoken, he has to do a little guesswork as to how it would be spelled.

he hits a button to clear the tablet, and this time writes out 'Garrick?']

Close. G-A-R-A-K. We tend toward K's in our name-- it's a quirk, I suppose. And you are C-O-I-L?

[he nods, and follows it up with signing out the letters 'C-O-I-L.'

then he points at Garak and does the same for his name--but at least slows down enough for the other to see how each letter is formed. he's not the best teacher in the world, but he's at least going to give it a halfway decent shot.]

[He watches intently, his light blue eyes narrowed as he tries to memorize each finger movement. He feels as if he's in the Academy again, not knowing anything and learning on the fly. Fortunately, Coil is a far kinder teacher, and goes slowly enough that he thinks he understands.

Cautiously, he signs: A I O L

L K

And then another sign that's an attempt at an R.]

[Coil doesn't even bother with shaking his head to inform Garak that he's done it incorrectly. he just moves through the signs one more time-- 'C-O-I-L' and then 'G-A-R-A-K.' and then on the letters that most resemble the roman characters they are meant to represent (the C and L in particular) he pauses to trace how the shape of the letter matches how his hand is shaped, to help show how it makes sense.

just little logical tricks to help the information stick.]

[He nods slowly, staring intently at his shipmate, and then signs back-- accurately this time, his lips curved up into a satisfied smirk.]

Well, now I can call for you, and you for I.

[he nods--straightfaced, very businesslike.

however, he at least offers the sign for 'good,' even though he doesn't follow up with the explanation of it. maybe it's straightforward enough of a gesture of graciousness to not need much of an explanation.]

[He doesn't understand the exact word, but the gesture is understood, at least. Garak raises a ridge and beckons a finger.]

Palm, please?

[he... hesitates at first. brows knitting together, he leans away just an inch and fixes his new crewmate with a clear look of suspicion.

and he keeps that look going when he finally... slowly... holds out his hand--fingers marked up with little parallel lines of scars, and palm covered with a wrapped band of leather.]

[He notes the hesitation, the wariness, and respects it. He enjoys making people feel terribly uncomfortable at times, but Coil has been nothing but friendly up til now, and he doesn't want to hurt him.

So: carefully, gently, he takes his hand and pulls it up, until it looks as if Coil is telling him to stop. Garak presses his own palm to his, palm to palm, with light pressure.]

It's how friends say hello, or good-bye.

[and the boy clearly has no natural knack for this sort of friendly contact--holding quietly tense as if something unexpected could happen at any moment, glancing between Garak's eyes and his hand as if he can't quiet figure the whole thing out.

...he gets it, on a basic level. but it's strange and foreign and much closer than he is used to being with strangers. if even a normal handshake feels strange to him, this is even more so.

but he nods, after a minute, acknowledging that he has indeed learned a thing.]

You can stop, if you'd like.

[He smiles at him and pulls his own hand back.]

Lovers, relatives and friends all have variations on it.

[oh, permission is nice. he pulls his hand back as quickly as politeness allows.

and he nods again... and kind of dusts off his hands without thinking about it. he's a little wrapped up in his own thoughts now, and only some of them are concerning trying to work out what next to teach.

it doesn't help that all three of those examples that Garak explains puts him a little ill-at-ease.]

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