(no subject)

[theboogieman]

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

---

[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.]

Comments

[mortalcoil]

[he looks down at his drink. letting his partner push alcohol on him, turning a blind eye when the skull paint came off, keeping watch while one night a year was spent forgetting about the job they had to do--he'd maybe sort of assumed that had been his gift. obediently going along with whatever Zhas had wanted, whether the evening consisted of spending time with each other or watching in anguish while his friend disappeared into the company of a stranger, had been the sacrifice he'd made every year.

but maybe he had been thinking wrong about it.

he never would have looked to her opinion if the alcohol hadn't been helping, and if the topic had been any less important to him.

looking a little hesitant about it, he finally asks, '...not enough?']

[interstices]

I don't think so.

[Time can be a gift, sure. She's given it to Shinji enough that it doesn't rattle her, that she doesn't think it's trivial. But Coil... he's known this guy for years. Asuka's prone to thinking harshly about families, but Zhas seems like the closest he's got.]

What're you so worried about, anyway?

[mortalcoil]

['not worried,' he answers, before spending a minute thinking about what the problem might actually be... which, to Asuka's credit, is more than most people ever get him to do. sure, the booze helps, but he still wouldn't be listening at all if he didn't think she must know what she's talking about.

he eventually strings together a few short signs that seem to fit. 'don't know how. maybe.']

[interstices]

What do you mean, you don't know how? You just pick something out. It's not something weird.

[mortalcoil]

['like what?' he signs with another wide, aimless gesture. because he's thought about it before... or, he did once, back when the concept had first been introduced to him, before he'd been excused from it through lack of follow-through.

it's not hypothetical when he asks, 'what would be good?']

[interstices]

God. [Asuka raises a hand irritably, and then her shoulders follow along like an afterthought.] How would I know? You're the one that's been with him for years.