lifeaftr | Islander meeting!

Entry tags:

Islander meeting!

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!)

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[It's a good word that she wholeheartedly supports as being their favorite and a perfect addition to the song she had been concocting in her terrible mind. With a little hum, she signs Drifter friend Drifter friend to the melody.

This is great.]

You can sing too. I'll make the sound and you can sign whatever words you want.

[She's not making full sentences yet, but they can parse her meaning regardless. It's...touching, in its own right, even if she's said it audibly. It's another thing entirely to see it displayed in a language they've taught her.]

learn a song without singing?

[Maybe that's too abstract a way to put it, but that would be the bottom line, wouldn't it?]

You say the words that make you happy and that's singing. That's how it works.

[Verbal or not, with hands or not, it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. That's the power of music and Driftybean can make up their own song-she believes in them. She's got the background music down, it's up to them to be lead hand singer.]

It can be about pretty moons or suns hitting your tongue. [A pause] Or pizza pies and jungle vibes.

[They don't know what a pizza pie is, but the rest - that sounds good, they think.]

don't know any songs
except yours

[They remember hers, because that's the only song they know, and you don't forget something as pretty as that, now, do you? Of course not. Even if they had to sing along with little more than little floral symbols, the first time.]

You can sing that one.

[If they want. It's her favorite song and she's not going to deny a chance to hear their beautiful hand symphony using lyrics she loves, but-]

Or you can make one up. That's fun too.

[Well, that's where their expertise ends. Granted, it's not as if it is very large an area of expertise to start with, seeing as said area constitutes one single song that a small child has taught them. Still, she speaks like she's got experience with such a thing.]

[...hence:]

don't know how

I'll teach you.

[It's a simple task and they're talented enough to figure it out, she's sure. They managed to create beautiful crowns on their own with only a single lesson, turned weapons into treasures with that same gift-they can create music.]

What makes you happy?

[Well, she has already taught them a great deal of things. How to weave flowers into chains and make crowns of them, and how to take a moment to relax for no discernible reason, purely because it is something pleasant to do.]

[They consider the question, flipping through and discarding manifold options before finally settling on the most immediate.]

[Wordless, they point to her.

[They point her way and she looks down to see if she's standing on a pretty flower? Maybe a shiny stone?

There's nothing under her feet and she pulls at the front of her glamcho, because leaves and grasses and other plants stick to her clothes sometimes? It doesn't bother her, but it might be what they're looking at. She even brushes at the front of her shirt, hoping her fingers make an invisible treasure tumble down and give her an idea of what they're talking about.

But-

Nothing falls from her shirt and they're still looking at-

Her.]

...Me?

[A short but firm nod, and another gesture - the one they just taught her, meaning smile. Can’t get any clearer than that, right? They might not be one for many words, but they make each one count.]

very special

[And they even make the corresponding gestures for each word. How nice!!]

[A warm feeling blankets her when they confirm she's really what they meant. It's wrong, definitely. She can think of people far better, more deserving of those words. People like Seto and Chara and Guzma, who are brave. People like Lup and Taako and Murasaki-chan, who are loving and kind.

They're better, in every conceivable fashion, but-

She wants to pretend she might be among them. As a person that could make people happy, in the same way others continuously do for her, day after day. To be someone very special, knowing full well the secret that makes her special, also makes her failure in the eyes of most.

The offer still hangs between them and she considers stopping the lesson before they can make a mistake and sing about her, instead of something or someone better. It's tempting. Extremely so, but before she knows it, another quiet hum starts to reverberate in the back of her throat and she sings-]

Drifter's pretty heart
Makes me very happy
It makes me-

[Her hands move and sign out smile smile smile]

[Unbeknownst to the turbulence of her registering their pronouncement, the Drifter can instead listen patiently as she sings. It's not quite the same - the Drifter making her happy, and not the other way around - but they can at least be delighted that the feeling is mutual, can't they?]

[That's what they're coming away with.]

[They start to form the shapes with their hands as she sings, the corresponding words appearing on the screen as they go: Drifter's pretty heart, makes me very happy.]

[It's better. That's the type of song she wants to them to sing. They copy her, making the appropriate gestures that she knows will take time to remember. Thankfully, she has all the free time in the world to learn.

And in keeping with her promise to teach, she smiles, copies the signs once with a small hum and adds-]

Now you sing something. You put the words together like I did. You can sing about your pretty heart or your cat ears or your cape.

[They can't sing aloud, of course, but that hardly seems to matter to her. What matters is that they have the intention and the means to communicate that intention, and there is something about her genuine nature, the fact that it does not occur to her to be frustrated or disappointed over their lack of verbalization, that nestles deep in the center of them with a warm glow, like a strand of berry-lights.]

[They've never composed music before, sung or otherwise.]

sing about you?

[It's a surprise they still want to sing about her, especially when the option of using their own pretty heart, their cat ears, their flowing cape-maybe a cat, a cloud, small flowers that fit neatly into someone's hair.

There are better things to sing about, but-

She nods and continues her quiet little background hum in preparation for their song.]

[The Drifter is not a songwriter or a poet. They're not quite sure how one goes about writing a song. It takes several moments of careful thought to consider what words they would like to piece together in regards to her, and they've no idea where to start in terms of a tune.]

[Fortunately, they don't need to come up with a tune at all, really.]

hair like starlight
selfless heart
gentle like a snail

[The words are simple to understand-it's the sentiment behind it that makes her hum waver and a broad, huge smile to appear across her face. It's nice-far too nice to describe someone like her, but it's impossible to stop happiness from swelling in her and realizing, again, just how lucky she is to know them.]

Like a snail

[Snails aren't vicious, scary or dangerous, so she accepts this compliment without question and adds-]

Drifter is strong
Like a snail shell

[The Drifter is many things, but a songwriter they are not. Snail shells are easily broken, but they won’t correct her when she seems so pleased that they’ve taken her encouragement to compose something of their own so fundamentally to heart.]

kindness like candy
just as sweet

[Drifter that doesn’t even rhyme]

[It doesn't have to rhyme. The point is that they came up with the lyrics on their own and managed to make a song! Just like Chara, who apparently likes boats. That kind of rhymed, but let's be real, it was a terrible song. This is equally as awful and just as fun.]

Pretty grey ears
Pretty pretty cat ears
Drifter has the best ears

[They reach up at that one, tapping the edges of their helm with its slightly pointed protrusions. Ears, are they? Perhaps not anatomically correct, but they’re not about to disrupt the cadence of her sing over something silly like that. Instead, they mimic the sign from earlier, the one they made up.]

[Two fingers pointing straight up in a parody of elf’s ears.]

[Best ears indeed.]

[This one of the innumerable reasons she adores them. They take her joys and make them their own. Whether it's for their own comfort or to put a smile on her face, it warms her heart all the same. The fun, silly song over with, she lets out a quiet giggle and holds her own fingers up to make the happy elf sign.

Now they match.

And better still, the Drifter was able to create a song all on their own. She couldn't be happier. Maybe this can be a new method of learning sign language-through ridiculous hand songs. She's ready for it.]

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Islander meeting!

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