Clifford Beggs

Mechanic-33-Deaf

[carsonbecker-deactivated2015051]

Most? 

[clifford-beggs]

Well, I imagine there’s probably some nibbling going on behind closed doors.

[catchlovexgreta-deactivated2015]

“Well then you’re going to love me. Rolling my eyes is number one on my list of things that I’m good at.” She had to grin a little. “Here’s too using our facial expressions to get the point across.” Marley’s nose wrinkled at the sound of Hostess cake. “Gross. Do you know how many calories were in those things? And I guess so.” 

[clifford-beggs]

“Good. I’m very bad at sarcasm. I mean, I understand it most of the time, but sometimes...right over my head. Other people’s not my own,” he nods very seriously. “I do, but you know what? I’m a big guy, and Hostess cake will survive longer than any of us.”

[jules-benjamin]

Soren rocked with the way that Clifford nudged him, looking up at the other man with his brows furrowed. “Hey, hey. Gross abuse of power and size right there, not fair at all. I don’t think we can be friends after that.” His grin widened, and he couldn’t help laughing at himself as he nudged Clifford back, just to show he wasn’t going to give up with one little nudge.

"Well, you are right there. I’ve never actually built a house of cards, though, so you’re just going to have to forgive me if I break anything." Soren laughed again, hands sliding into his pockets, looking up at Clifford and smiling softly. There’d been a lot of eye contact between them, and it made the conversation flow even easier. Soren enjoyed it a lot.

[clifford-beggs]

“It’s not my fault I’m a giant. I just work with what I was given,” Clifford laughs, losing his footing only a bit before regaining his pace. However, he doesn’t try to nudge the man back again, perhaps a mocking truce. “That’s okay, though. You’re supposed to knock it down at the end. But most of the time, it keeps falling over, and you just give up.” He shrugs, signing it out. 

As they approach his house, he more or less bounds up the steps and through the door. The interior is dark, but it’s not necessarily the least homey place in the planet. It looks lived in rather than abandoned. “Make yourself at home!”  

[rorycorner-blog]

Every time the man had gone past, Rory looked up. It was that feeling of someone being close to him. Still he tried to keep focus on the journal in front of him. The pages held his life, his sanity and everything that Rory had become. “No, um, no, you’re not— bothering me.” Except, he didn’t know if that was true. 

[clifford-beggs]

“I’m sorry. You just look like you’re doing the aloof thing, and I didn’t want to mess with it,” Clifford stops, letting out a few exhales as he tries to regain control of his breathing. “I’ll be on my way in a second. Just catching my breath.” 

[christinaxgalloway-deactivated2]

I’m glad you are around. I think you will be the best teacher. [She nodded her head as she watched him and his signs] Yeah, that makes sense but how do you guys get different signs?

[clifford-beggs]

Well, I don’t know about the best. Maybe Top Ten. [He grins from cheek to cheek.] The community gives it. There are rules, and it’s important that nobody else already has it.

[soldierturnedcook-deactivated20]

“I can only imagine it was some hard work, but like they say, when it’s something you love, it’s not really work, right?” She responded with a smile. “How didn’t they understand,” she asked, her face scrunching momentarily in confusion. She imagined it wasn’t every day someone saw someone who was deaf acting, but she hoped that didn’t mean they were rude to him. Clifford seemed like a nice man overall, something that had been lost after the outbreak. “Ah. Sometimes I wish I went to college, but what difference does it make now, right?”

[clifford-beggs]

“Oh, it’s still work, and there will, of course, be days where you absolutely hate it. But then you like it again after a week or so.” Clifford laughs. “I just mean that...when you translate something to ASL, it’s not direct. It’s movement with its own rules. Sort of like dance but not entirely. If that makes sense?” He scrunches his face up, doing what he imagines is a rather poor job of explaining. His face falls. “Not very much. I think those of us best prepared know trades.”

[loreleijames]

“…—I don’t know where it came from, but it was placed on my desk and whoever put it there has some sense of humor. They even left a post-it that said ‘have fun, Dr. Dildo.’ Was that really necessary?”

[clifford-beggs]

“That could have been pre-owned. Aren’t most things these days?” Clifford makes a face, signing everything out as he speaks. He doesn’t even think he knows a motion for dildo off the top of his head, and that’s somehow disappointing. “I’m sorry. Me being gross probably isn’t making anything better.”

[rorycorner-blog]

Rory sat in a quiet area of town, with his notebook. It had been a few days since he’d felt he was properly able to write a decent entry in his journal. The past few days had been merely scribbles and tick marks, but nothing more than that. His hand felt comfortable with the pen in his hand. This was the calmness he liked. This was routine that he liked. Rory paused for a moment, looking up at the sky.

[clifford-beggs]

Jogging is apparently the perfect exercise for the day, at least as far as Clifford is concerned. He has been making rounds through the area, passing by the man and his notebook at a distance. It’s not until his third lap that he actually stops to offer a wave. “Am I disturbing you?”

[carsonbecker-deactivated2015051]

There are so many people here. 

[carsonbecker-deactivated2015051]

[clifford-beggs]

Don’t worry. Most of us don’t bite. At least no harder than those monster things.

[killingkeating-blog]

"Quite possible— And better stick to the gestures I already know." A laugh surfaced, at the very thought of it. If only Lakyn was this good to everyone, it certainly would make camp a happier place. But something told him it wasn’t just the man’s inability to hear that had him being nice. He seemed easy-going, someone relaxing to be around and people like that did not come in big groups these days. It was nice. "I’m going to hope no one over hears me saying this but, that’s actually really refreshing to hear."

[clifford-beggs]

Bringing up his hands, Clifford flips two birds and lets them linger in the air a moment before dropping his arms back to his sides. He lets out a laugh. Being optimistic comes naturally, and hell, he thinks, somebody has to do it. Sure, he’s got his own reasons to lash out, his own reasons to sulk, but the people he’s lost wouldn’t want that. And that’s why he meditates. “You’re in luck. I didn’t hear you saying it.”

[carter--galloway-deactivated201]

Maybe big, but not scary. I love dogs, we always had ‘em back home. You have a point, food is sometimes a better choice. 

[clifford-beggs]

I can be scary when I want to be. I should grow my sideburns out. That’s kind of scary. I like dogs too. I’ve always lived in the city, so I’ve never really had one. It wouldn’t be fair in an apartment, you know? 

[catchlovexgreta-deactivated2015]

Her eyes immediately roll at his pointing out the obvious. “Wouldn’t have guessed that.” Marley shook her head at him. “Maybe because normal changes as the world does? Like, this is normal now but it would have been strange two years ago.”

[clifford-beggs]

“See, I like it when people roll their eyes like that. I have to use my face all the time when I sign, so I like it when other people use theirs. I was mostly being facetious,” he smirks, letting out a puff of air. “That’s true. Normal is always changing. I still ate too many Hostess cakes two years ago, though. Maybe that’s it then. We have to find the little reminders.”

[joannaparker]

“In time like these, it definitely is.” Jo agreed, tucking a stray lock of her hair behind her ear, keeping her blue eyes on the male before her. “As long as you always have somethin’ to fight for, it’s what matters right?”

[clifford-beggs]

“No point in fighting if we’re just going to be miserable all the time. That’s not living,” he smiles weakly, shrugging his shoulders at the end as if to ensure his opinion isn’t too forceful should she decide to disagree. “I mean, we can pretend it’s for something greater, to reclaim the Earth, whatever. But at the end of the day, don’t we all just want some kind of peace and happiness before we croak? However we have to get it now.” 

[christinaxgalloway-deactivated2]

Yeah, life tends to be a bitch when it comes to giving us things we never thought we’d have to deal with. [She let a smile come across her face as he agreed to help her out and watched him, pressing her lips together] I think would it be something interesting to learn. I always wanted to learn it but you know.. stuff happened. Name signs.. I kind of understand but I’m not sure what you mean by it’s just yours.

[clifford-beggs]

Well, I’m here to teach now. It’s really just learning vocabulary that’ll take time. We like consistent sentence structures. [He smiles, nodding his head, perhaps overeager at the prospect of having someone new to teach. He repeats his name sign.] It doesn’t mean “Clifford” like this means “dog.” [He demonstrates with his hands.] Another deaf man named Clifford could have a completely different one. It’s given to us by the community. So it’s just mine. Does that make more sense? 

[oliverrmac]

… True. But you still need to be at least decent enough at it. Maybe not the fastest, but fast enough to outrun the slowest out there, right?

[clifford-beggs]

I plan on tripping everyone with well-placed logs. I didn’t go into scenic design for nothing.

[jules-benjamin]

Such easy conversation made Soren feel warm inside, more comfortable in his own skin, and he couldn’t help but laugh at the wild flail of Clifford’s hands. The long-haired man leaned forward a little bit, lips curled in a warm grin. “You’re way too tall for a ten year old.” Soren grinned a little wider, and playfully added, “I’d say you look more like a twelve year old, to be completely honest.” 

“If you ever need that dash of self-confidence boosting conversation, come to me. I’ll have your back no matter what.” Soren grinned, brows lifting as the man said he’d probably break his arm. “Hey, I am not that tiny, thank you very much. Rude.” Soren wiggled his brows right back at Clifford before standing and stretching again, hands sliding into the pockets of his jeans. He playfully nudged Clifford with his shoulder, before starting to walk again. He turned, taking easy steps backwards, so he could continue the conversation. “Why a house of cards?”

[clifford-beggs]

“It’s growth hormone. They put it in beef, you know. I saw it on the news. People are hitting puberty earlier,” Clifford explains with mock seriousness, but in truth, he think he really must have seen something akin to all that on television before the world went haywire.

“Thank you, but my self-confidence is usually pretty good. I think it’s because people tend to expect me to wallow in pity about my ears. When it’s really just a different way of experiencing the world,” he smiles, muscles aching a bit as he begins to walk beside the other man. There is a creak in his knees as he goes All the same, he bumps Soren back, throwing in a touch too much force as if to demonstrate a point. “I don’t know. We don’t have to plug it in, and it’s still fun?”

[jules-benjamin]

"It’d be very practical. Safer, too, I would think. It would draw less attention than shouting." Soren smiled a little bit up at the man, arching his brows without thinking. "Too much canned corn could be bad for you. I’d take it easy on that stuff for a little while, huh?" Soren shifted around once more, humming softly under his breath before popping his back.

His words made Soren laugh again, and he nodded again, rubbing a hand across his jaw. “Frankly, that was a terrible analogy, but I’ll let it slide. I know what you mean. There’s a lot riding on the things you do, but I believe in you. It’ll be okay.” Soren smiled, reaching out and landing a very light, playful punch on Clifford’s shoulder. “I think my butt is freezing to the ground, so do you think we could shift around, maybe go somewhere warmer?”

[clifford-beggs]

"I suppose you could do baseball hand-signs too. Steal third," he says, making a face before wiggling his hands nonsensically. "I need to eat something other than Hostess cakes sometimes. I still don't really like my vegetables. I mean, they're good for me, sure, but I'm ten years old." He shrugs his shoulders. "I have good metabolism. It comes with the height."

"Well, I appreciate the faith. Everyone likes to feel important," he smiles, nodding his head. "So thank you. And I'd punch you back, but I'm about three times your size. And I could probably break your arm." He wiggles his brow as if it's some sort of challenge. "Oh, of course. Let's go inside. I can build a house of cards, and you can blow it over or something."