six_word_stories | (no subject)

[a young man working on a small sail boat, hat and coat hanging on the rail.

He is cursing at it.]

[ He may not be aware of the cursing, but he is interested in what the stranger's doing! Time to investigate!

Approaching the boat, he looks it over a couple of times, absently gnawing at the toffee apple as he peers over to try and see what Harry's doing. ]

[Harry hasn’t really cared whether people see him or not but being actively watched is gonna distract him from what he’s doing. He straightens up with his hands on his hips.]

I can help yeh with something?

[ If it helps, he's not so much staring as he is...watching keenly - something that Harry suddenly straightening up cuts short. While he doesn't know what he's saying, Levy can improvise with his reply.

Stepping closer, he gestures to the space Harry was just occupying and to the work he's put on hold, his expression questioning. ]

Cat got your tongue?

[Harry’s more focused on his boat than adorable strange boys and whether or not they can understand him or can even talk. He’ll lean an arm on the side of the hull with an exaggerated sigh and wave a hand at the untied sails and cracked mast.]

I can’t fix the damn sails without supplies. Don’t suppose yeh know where I could get some rope? Wood?

[ That's fine; Levy's slightly more focused on the boat too, eyes following Harry's gesture up at the sails, therefore missing that Harry's said anything else.

So...he's trying to do something to them? Fix them? The mast does look like it's seen better days - not that he knows really what it's meant to look like in the first place.

~~Probably needs some wood. Maybe some rope too.~~

He'll just be holding the apple between his teeth long enough to join Harry in the boat itself. How's he supposed to watch what he's doing from where he was stood before? Clearly this is the best thing to do. As long as he stays sat cross-legged it shouldn't be an issue, right? ]

Edited (html, why doth thou vex me so) 2017-10-10 12:08 (UTC)

Woah there—

[So this seems to be happening, he’s climbing on Harry’s boat and Harry is just frankly too surprised to shove him back into the sand.

Not to surprised to mouth off about it, though.]
Oy, prick, yeh ask permission before climbing on someone else’s vessel.

[Even if it is a sorry excuse right now.]

[ Does name-calling still work if the intended recipient is unaware of it? Who knows.

But Levy can see that this stranger's not entirely happy; he just hasn't quite clicked that it's because he may not want company aboard. Merfolk are incredibly social, and what he's seen of humans they are as well. Why would he mind Levy joining him?

Weird. But! He hasn't been thrown out yet, so he'll make himself comfortable, entertaining his free hand by introducing himself with a smile.

It may not be a sign language that humans made, but! It's something! ]

[Well it makes Harry feeel better, so that’s several points in its favor.

Harry does a double take at the sign. He doesn’t recognize it, but—]

Ah. And you’re mute. Deaf as well? [He points to his own ear, tilting his head to ask the question if the stranger can’t hear him.
It’d at least explain things, but it’s not making him less cranky. He was in a foul mood about the boat anyway way so it’s not really anything to do with Levy.]

[ Okay, this was something! Harry's still using his mouth to do most of his talking, but that's fine. If all else fails Levy can just gesture or point at things with enthusiasm and hope he's understood.

Digging his teeth into what's rapidly become half an apple now, he signs again, this time to his own ears, following this with a sharp, cutting motion with his hands on either side. ]

No hearing.

[ Not that that's important here - what was Harry saying before, about what he was doing before Levy arrived? Can he help somehow, or can he just watch, maybe learn something?

Motioning back up at the sails, he then brings his hand down and gestures between them, as if to say 'Is there something I can do?'. Whether this is how it'll be interpreted he doesn't know, but either way he's happy just to have someone willing to try and talk to him. ]

[Harry loves the sound of his own voice so it’s likely he’ll keep talking out loud anyway. No, not likely, he’s gonna keep talking out loud.]

Okay, great, so yeh can’t even hear me, we’re on the same page.

[Cuz his day is already going so great. Harry leans against the rail, watching Levy’s hands move. It’s not a sign language he’s familiar with, but then he’s not sure that’s actual signing that’s going on or if he’s just gesturing. He looks where Levy points.]

Oh, aye, it’s broken. I can fix it, but I don’t have what I need. [He gestures as he talks too, picking up a length of rope that’s been broken off and definitely isn’t anywhere near long enough for what he needs.]

((ooc: no no thank YOU I’ve wanted to play Harry against mer for a while now! Also I hope you don’t mind I assumed about the sign language being like a different dialect it can be handwaved as like harry misinterpreting random gestures))

[ All that mouth-moving is a little distracting, but the gestures certainly help.

His face scrunches for a second while he thinks. So he needs more rope...there was another boat that Levy passed by a little while ago, unmanned at the time. Maybe that has what he needs? He didn't stop to check at the time, but it wasn't too far off.

Getting back to his feet, he looks across the beach the way he came, trying to see if he can spot it from here. Spoiler warning, he can't - but he can go back and try to find it!

As he goes to climb back overboard, he pauses, takes another bite out of his toffee apple, and hands what remains of it to Harry to hold. With that, he wordlessly tells him to wait, before clambering back to the sand and running off.

'Running'...'stumbling quickly like Bambi on ice'...Point is he's moving faster than usual. Legs are tricky and sand doesn't help.

He does return a short while later though, much slower than before but trailing an armful of rope with him. ]

((ooc: I've seen Harry around, I'm glad I've finally gotten to tag with him! And no, that's fine - he doesn't know any human sign language so gesture misinterpreting is a-okay!))

Oy—

[Right, he can’t hear him. So he’s just gonna....hand Harry a toffee apple and run off, okay. Sure. Harry watches him stumble away with some amusement and takes a bite of the toffe apple.

Well he left it. So Harry’s gonna eat it. He munches on it while he works on the mast, which is cracked enough thwt he’s just trying to pull it down so he can start all over. He’s preoccupied with that when Levy comes back so it takes him a minute to notice him.]

Well hey again. [He leans over the rail and reaches a hand down—for the rope or to pull him up, whichever comes first.] that for me?

[ He'll be just slightly heartbroken that Harry ate the last of his treat, but until he finds that out, he'll be presenting as much of the rope as he can lift up to where Harry is with a grin, before climbing back up himself.

Hopefully this'll help whatever he's trying to do. Because that's what people do for each other, right? Steal stuff from other sailors? It's helping someone else, so where's the problem?

Logic.]

[Look he never said NOT to eat it so as far as Harry’s concerned it was fair game.

Harry looks over the rope with a crooked smile, and makes a ‘thank you’ gesture he’s not sure Levy knows.]

Well. I’m sure whoever you got this from won’t miss it.

[ The 'thanks' is accepted with a nod and a bright smile of his own, which gradually starts to fade as he looks around for what he was eating.

The thing that he gave to Harry for safe keeping.

And then he sees the stick that was stuck through the centre of the toffee apple, and in that moment learns a valuable lesson; do not trust strangers with your stolen treats.

The crestfallen look doesn't last long though; he's soon more distracted by watching what Harry's going to do with the acquired rope. ]

[It is a small and relatively harmless lesson to learn this way. Besides, if it was stolen, he can probably go back later and get a new one. Harry does give him a completely unrepentant grin and a shrug when he sees his smile fade. He's happy to help an innocent learn lessons about trusting strangers.

Especially when they're so tasty.

He goes back to pulling the mast down, gesturing for Levy to help push.] I druther get a new one, but masts are a sight more missable than rope. [He motions as he speaks, miming breaking a stick and gesturing out at the sea.] It'll break anyway, if I get far enough, but I might get it to hold enough to get me where I'm headed.

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lowkey loving this ok thank u

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