Red Fishies

[mortalcoil]

Who: SS Red Fish crew and visitors
Broadcast: No
Action: Aboard the SS Red Fish
When: Around the drifting week (and probably a backtag party!)

[watch the newest episodes (and catch up on a few reruns) of your favorite dysfunctional fish in the fleet! what kind of drama will they create next? you can find out right here, right now!]

Comments

action

[witheringlotus]

[Look who else is in the cargo bay. It's the new guy who showed up on your bridge on Friday and promptly fucking disappeared to who knows where.

He's back, and this time he's watching Coil trying to build this thing and not lifting a single finger to help.]

A training dummy?

[mortalcoil]

[and, you know, that is Coil's favorite kind of crewmate. granted, he's a little disappointed to see him reappear at all, but it's still better than many alternatives. maybe he won't have to figure out a reliable way to lock the med bay door after all.

and the lack of help? he doesn't mind that either... though, he could do without an audience to his struggles.

he pauses in his work to look over, giving his new crewmate a little assessing up-and-down glance before nodding. he then sort of draws an implied circle around his own head and neck, and points to the dummy--because though they have a perfectly good punching bag, it's lacking some things that a real person would have.]

[witheringlotus]

[Kanda hasn't been in there more than two minutes. He walked in, looked around, and then left. He has no interest in playing doctor even if the augment insists he should know how.

Kanda makes notes of the scars around his face but he doesn't remark on them. Looks like this guy's a mute. Doesn't make a difference to Kanda-- he has a blind teammate. Kanda steps closer.]

... Let me try.

[hey, at least he's asking.]

[mortalcoil]

[there's a hesitation at first, as he tries to decide which would cost more of his pride--letting someone else take over, or continuing to struggle in front of them.

and being that his fingers are already dinged up because hammering nails while missing an eye is not easy... he eventually takes a step back from the dummy. and he holds out the roundish block that is destined to be the thing's head.]

[witheringlotus]

[Kanda takes it with surprising gentleness. He inspects the hole, then leans over to look at whatever is passing for the neck.]

It's cut a little crooked. That's why you're having trouble.

[He rolls up his sleeves. There are two stigmata on the insides of his forearms, deep like wounds but refusing to bleed.]

Do you have a knife or something? I'll take the hammer if you don't.

[mortalcoil]

[he doesn't really bother to hide the fact that he stares at his new crewmate's arms. he looks at the mysterious marks with the same expression he looks at everything, however--just a keen, neutral gaze ticking from the dummy's head and neck, to Kanda's arms, his face, and then off in the direction where he'd last shoved the toolbox.

just give him a moment to step over and dig through the cluttery thing, and he comes back with one of those finicky multi-purpose pocket knives that are apparently as popular in space as they are back home. and being that he's finding himself in a particularly cooperative mood right now, he hands the knife out to the stranger without hesitation.]

[witheringlotus]

[He notices Coil staring, but he doesn't offer an explanation. When Coil hands the knife to him, Kanda gives him a thankful nod and gets to work. He flicks the blade out with the sword of wicked quickness one would expect of a soldier, and then he gets to work: carving at the neck piece of wood so that the 'head' will go down better.

This time when he jams the head on, it actually completes with a satisfying thud. He takes a moment to test it, to see just how easily it comes off. Looks like it's pretty stable, actually.]

There.

[He folds up the knife and hands it back to Coil.]

Training's important. ... Keep it up.

[mortalcoil]

[he huffs a little at the comment--under his breath, through his nose--because he, of all people, doesn't need the reminder. training is really all he has to do around here, and it's one of the only things in the world he has left to actually care about.

but maybe spending so much time around 'normal' people lately has rubbed off on him, because he at least distantly recognizes that a scoff isn't considered the best response to someone being helpful.

so, after a moment (in which he spends reaching over to test for himself how sturdy dummy's new head feels), he forms the sign for 'thanks.' it's a pretty demonstrative gesture, so he figures that he probably won't have to explain it.]

[witheringlotus]

It's nothing.

[Kanda isn't expecting sign language. He's only seen it very briefly, and no one around him uses it, but he can get the meaning well enough.]

... Kanda. That's my name. [A soft huff.] It looks like I'm going to be here a while.

What should I call you? [Even if it's a hand gesture, it's better than nothing.]