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(no subject)

Who: The fine crew of the SS Red Fish!
Broadcast: Probably not so much...
Action: You betcha.
When: Barely forward-dated to Halloween!

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[welcome to the Red Fish, the ship that always looks ready for Halloween anyway.

while today is a popular Earth holiday, it's also Zhas' birthday, and he has probably mentioned it to everyone on board in an unsubtle way over the last few weeks. there are a hilarious number of jack-o-lanterns around the ship, showing off skull-face carvings of... varying quality. thanks, Syeira!

what's in store on this spooky night? HILARITY, probably.]

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[ Remembering dates hasn't been much of a concern for two years, so it's still odd to be able to have a calendar or a clock to be able to keep time. His dad had always worn a watch, but the battery had long since died.

The past few days on the Red Fish have been a little more active than the first few days of Carl's arrival, so it's been a bit more difficult to go unnoticed. He'd come out of his room for food and something to drink, and was met with a kitchen full of people. Well, better late than never to get acquainted.. Although with so many unfamiliar people, there's still that notion of unease at the back of his head.

He sees Zhas without his skull makeup and Coil with, and it doesn't seem right, though he's only seen both of them in passing. Though he had met Zhas earlier. Captain one of three. Carl sidles over to Coil to at least introduce himself. ]

Hey, I'm Carl. I was just assigned here.

[for very certain reasons, Coil has recently been making it a point to ignore newcomers to the ship. it might have something to do with getting in trouble for throwing someone out, but whatever. since then, visitors have just not been his problem.

and this is why he doesn't even bother glancing out of the corner of his one good eye until the boy states that he's more than just a visitor.

Coil doesn't say anything, but Carl at least has his attention now. it's hard to tell with all that paint if his expression can really be called surprised, but his eyebrows do raise.]

[ He watches Coil, but the non-answer doesn't really rub him the wrong way. There are a few people in their group who don't have much to say where it doesn't count.

It's hard to tell what this guy is thinking through the skull paint. ]

I guess I'm maintenance. So if there's anything I need to look at, I'll try to fix it?

[ Try being the keyword. He doesn't know how successful it'll be, even with the augment. ]

[that does answer his most pressing question, really. wanting to know where the kid's skills will fit among the others (and hoping those skills don't land another person cluttering up the lab) had been his biggest concern.

so, he nods--looking a little awkward as he realizes there is yet another crewmate that he likely can't communicate with easily. and after a minute, he tries anyway. raising his free hand, he spells out 'C-O-I-L.']

[ It dawns on him pretty quickly that this guy is using sign language, but it's not one that he knows, really. Most of the letters are easy enough to understand, but there's one in the middle that Carl isn't familiar with. ]

Okay.. I got most of those. What's this one? [ He imitates the 'I'. ]

[if there is one thing that usually lightens Coil's mood even the tiniest bit, it's someone knowing (or even attempting to understand) his language. perking up a little--a subtle but important shift in his expression, looking slightly more open--he answers by pointing at his own eye.]

Oh! Okay. Nice to meet you, Coil.

[ It's times like these where he wishes he knew sign language. Well, if he's got nothing but time, maybe he could learn somewhere. Especially if one of his crew uses it. ]

[lucky for Carl, there is usually at least one sign language manual circulating around the ship, if he really wants to learn. certain crewmates may make a habit of quietly leaving them lying out, and Coil has never complained.

and Coil doesn't smile, but his expression lifts a little--especially around the eye--and whatever's in his cup may or may not be helping that along. either way, he tries his luck again--

'L-A-B,' he spells, after pointing to himself... with most of the letters being unfortunately more difficult to guess at.]

[ He'll definitely keep an eye out for one of them, because it will give him something else to focus on aside from when the fuck he and Maggie get to find their way back.

Carl's attention goes to Coil's hands, and again he's not really sure what he's spelling other than it starts with 'L' and is three letters. ]

Uh.. [ Hmm. ] I don't know the other letters. Can you draw them out in the air? What's this one? [ He holds up the 'a'. ]

[his head tips to the side a little, considering. somehow, in all of his struggling to communicate to others, he'd never been asked to draw out the letters without pen and paper before... and the idea had never occurred to him either.

so, as clearly as he can, he traces out a big peak in the air and then draws a little line across the middle.]

[ It would have taken time hunting down a piece of paper and a pen, so why bother when there are other ways to figure it out? Okay, clearly an 'a', so he can at least piece together 'L-A', and there's a missing letter. Not a lot of three letter words to start with that that would make sense, so... ]

Lab? You're in charge of the lab. [ Sleuthmaster Grimes figures it out. ]

[hey, he's had enough people (especially recently) snap at him to 'just write it down,' he's definitely wishing he'd thought of this earlier. he could have spelled out all kinds of things at the people who bothered him.

he nods then, looking more pleased than he generally allows himself to. it's easier to emote with a little bit of booze in your system.

and just to really test this newfound way of communicating, he ratchets the difficulty up to hard-mode... by slowly tracing out all the letters of 'Captain' in the air.

good luck, newbie.]

[ Whoa, okay, it looks like he started something, here. Carl does his best to follow along the letters that Coil is tracing in the air. He thinks he does a pretty good job, at least?

Even if he misses a letter or two, it's easy enough to figure out the word. ]

You're one of the Captains. [ And skeleton-man makes two. ]

[good job, kid! demonstration of a working brain is another way to get into Coil's good graces... or whatever counts as that in his case.

he nods, and points between himself and the skull-faced man over there as he does so, just in case Carl hadn't already heard about Zhas' rank as well.

and captain number three does not get a mention.]

[ He's got plenty of time to figure out who the other captain is. Hell, he can look at the ship's roster if he really wanted to..

Carl nods when Coil motions between himself and Zhas. ]

Met him earlier. [ Odd, but not a bad dude. ]

[Coil raises his brows in an 'oh yeah?' kind of way, which is (again) more of an expression than he usually offers near-strangers.

and just to make darn sure that the kid has gotten the memo that today is Zhas' birthday, he first uses the real signs for the word, before methodically drawing out the shapes of the letters.

'B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y.']

[ He definitely doesn't know the sign for birthday, so he's just going to follow along with their new way.

'Birthday'. Okay, that makes a bit more sense. He didn't really think this many people celebrated Halloween with this much gusto. Then again, he could be wrong. ]

I'll have to tell him Happy Birthday, then.

Edited 2016-11-15 03:14 (UTC)

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