Islander meeting!

[savedbyasong]

Who: Everyone!
What: An information gathering meeting, mingle log style!
When: 13th as advertised Here!
Where: Big tent, islet 4 (sorry Ardyn!)
Warnings: Keep an eye on subject lines for warnings!

[The tent is a good place to have this. It's sheltered at least. Shion has collected strawberries and also water. He hopes that people will turn up, there's a lot to discuss. About this place, how they are here and how to leave. But also surviving here. Helping each other make the most of being here.

They had done such things in the Tower and it was a good way to get things organised. He knows he has questions and he thinks other people probably do as well. If it's anything like the Tower then people all have different bits of information that will fit together eventually.

He greats people as they enter and will encourage anyone who looks less than certain to enter and offer them strawberries.]

((OOC: So I'll put up a subthread for mingling before the meeting, then discussion points can be posted as a reply to this main thread. I'll do a few for things Shion will bring up but feel free to post your own points as well! Tag around, do breakout threads, discuss all the things. Don't worry if things go off topic. Have fun!)

Comments

the drifter | ota | i'll match your format!

[hyperlit]

The intricacies of this meeting don't quite appeal to them, but they can at least use it for a forum for something else of note. A pink HUD hovers a few inches away form them, large block letters imprinted across its center:

SIGN LANGUAGE

...that's it. They don't elaborate, though if you approach them you're probably likely to get more specifics. In general, they're interested in teaching it, particularly to the illiterate - though the fact that they're advertising this via text throws a few wrenches in that plan, alas.

[savedbyasong]

"Sign language?" Shion reads the sign and looks up at the Drifter with a smile, "Is that the hand talking that Seto was asking about on the rock?"

Because Shion would like to learn that, he knew a few ways of making signs with his hands, for use in stealth situations, but not an entire language.

[hyperlit]

Yes. They answer with their hands at first, pairing it with a slow, somber nod, and then issue it with their sprite, bobbing at their shoulder as ever:

yes
it is how those without voices may communicate

When text does not suffice, at least.

[savedbyasong]

They have a curious little robot? Creature? Shion's not sure what it is, bobbing beside the. Shion reads the text and nods thoughtfully.

A person without a voice... He blinks. "Were you... captured in Ai'Tuoh?"

His voice is tinged with curiosity but also hope. Because if they were the injured prisoner Shion had tried to help, that meant they had escaped. They hadn't succumbed to eternal slumber.

[hyperlit]

They'd not been able to see him - if they were, perhaps that would have helped them recognize him faster. The timber of his tone stirs a faint memory or two, something vague and poorly-focused. They had not, after all, had full possession of their mental faculties as they bled out in the cells of Ai'tuoh.

The Drifter lowers their head in a somber nod. It is best not to assume.

for some time
lup retrieved me

[savedbyasong]

"I'm glad you escaped." He smiled, he's still not sure. There might be more than one person who cannot speak here and they never saw each other, their only communication knocking on a wall.

"I'm Shion. I... spoke to someone who couldn't speak in the cells."

[hyperlit]

Ah. So it would be the boy in question.

one for yes
two for no

A small harkening back to the code they employed, and the Drifter holds up one gloved hand, balled into a fist. They do not look back on their time spent in those cells and in the Water unless they've little choice - already they do not wish to think of what it had meant to be vulnerable and at the mercy of others the way they had been, but even less do they wish to think of how others must have seen them.

[savedbyasong]

It was them. Shion smiled, a relieved smile and tears filled his eyes though he was quick to blink them away. He didn't like thinking about that time either but he was so relieved that his injured neighbor had found their way back.

"I'm so glad you are okay. I was worried... I'm sorry... sorry I couldn't help you more."

[hyperlit]

could not do much
none could

It is a simple pronouncement to suit their mindset. They are not one to wallow in regret. They explore the past and gather broken histories from a distance; they do not dwell where it would do no good to.

alive
this is what matters

[catpiper]

[While she hadn't stayed for the entirety of Seto's rock post, he had given her the lowdown after his first lesson with the Drifter and now she can finally ask the question that's been burning on the tip of her tongue since finding out about this magical method of communication.]

Can you show me?

[hyperlit]

[Oh, please, Ren. As if you needed to even ask. The words appear on their sprite's HUD in the same moment they make the corresponding signal with their hand - lesson number one.]

Yes.

yes

[catpiper]

[Hello, Professor Driftybean, Ren is here and ready to learn. There are so many words to choose from, but since their first lesson came so fast, she eagerly copies them and repeats it over and over. Yes, yes, yes.]

How do you say cat? And Drifter? And flower? And elf?

[This will be a long lesson. Run away before it's too late.]

[hyperlit]

[They make each signal with the corresponding word flicking up on the screen as they go, up until the point where they get to "elf". They don't...know that word, actually. Does it have a signal?]

can spell it out

[catpiper]

[Incredible. The three words are easy to copy and she's clearly partial to sentence cat yes cat flower flower drifter, if the way she repeats it is any indication. This is great!!

And they could spell it, but she has to ask-]

Can we make up a sign? Can we do that?

[hyperlit]

[THEY ARE NOT A SIGN LANGUAGE INNOVATOR perhaps that can be ren's hot new job. look at them. creating job opportunities wherever they go.]

[The Drifter considers that for a moment before, at last, flicking up two slightly pointed fingers and holding up to either side of their head to simulate pointed ears.]

yes

[catpiper]

[Holy heck.

She doesn't need any funky world translation to help her understand or their confirmation. The moment their fingers reach their head, she copies and wiggles her own, pointing them upwards for-]

Happy elf.

[And then lowering them, so they point towards the ground.]

Sad elf.

[They've done it!!!]

[hyperlit]

[sounds legit.]

[It is henceforth law. Pointed ears to the sides of heads - elves. That is not at all congruous with the typical kind of motions that go into sign language, but you know what? They can revolutionize this. They can make this work.]

invented new words

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Muffet greets the Drifter with a gentle smile and a little wave, having caught sight of their sign.]

Are you offering lessons, dearie?

[She doesn't bring up the event directly, but both of them can probably remember her own halting, scattered knowledge of the skill, just barely enough to get some meaning across.]

[Really, it's time she learned it properly.]

[hyperlit]

[A willing bob of their head in a nod. They are, indeed.]

some cannot read
may help

[Someone tell them that advertising this through written words rather defeats that purpose.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

[She's about to nod, then pauses as the thought occurs.]

Yes, it would, but... would they be able to read the sign?

[hyperlit]

[Hm.]

[A blink of their dark eyes, as they consider that, because they evidently hadn't considered it before now. They glance at their HUD, then to Muffet, and then back to the HUD once more.]



[And come to a decision.]

they will ask what it says

[Uh, hopefully.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

Fair enough- though I suppose it raises the question of how you'd answer them, if they don't read or already know sign language.

[Logistical planning is hard sometimes.]

Hm... I don't suppose your display does pictures at all?

[hyperlit]

[A moment of consideration. Then, after a brief pause:]


@------- ______
\____--- /------\
/--\---/--___---\
\_--\-/ --/ \---\
- \ -- \ (---\__/----)
-- \--- \_\-\______/
--- \--- \-------/___
---- \______\_________/____"-_

[prettypurpleparlor]

[It takes Muffet a brief second to get it, but then she looks delighted.]

Oh, it's a little snail, how cute- I hear they're quite useful creatures.

[Admittedly, the person telling her about it had been rather timid, but they seemed very sincere despite it- Napstablook had been polite enough to let her put up one of her bake sale's advertising flyers at their farm once, and that had earned the quiet little ghost more than enough fondness from her to listen to a few stories about snails.]

If you could work out how to make a hand shape, that might help people understand even if they don't read.

[hyperlit]

[Snails are useful. The Drifter nods, emphatic. Snails are indeed useful and wonderful creatures. People can and should value them.]

[The suggestion, on the other hand, is more puzzling than it is clarifying.]

already have a hand