choir asl hcs bc im in an asl class rn
Ricky and his family use actual asl and not "their own made up sign language"
Ricky teaches the choir asl (shenanigans ensue)
Penny picks up on it the quickest, as she's the one who spends the most time with him.
Mischa takes about as long as she does to learn, maybe a little longer to become fluent (he's really good at learning languages)
Ocean takes the longest and it frustrates her so much because she's always been the best at everything and everything has always come easy to her... except for this thing which is vital to the communication between her and Ricky
Constance has an asl tutor because she doesn't get the hang of it easily, the choir (minus Ricky) meets with the tutor each Wednesday at the Blackwood Cafe to sharpen their skills, but Constance sees her every day until she doesn't need to anymore.
Noel makes a competition out of how good he and Ocean are at asl. she hates it but it's all in good fun, and Noel isn't actually making fun of her for learning slower than him.
Ricky just loves that his friends are doing this for him. He knows it's the bare minimum, but after spending so long without people to talk to it's nice to have people who care about him.
Ocean apologizes to Ricky for not learning sooner, and they have a heart to heart about what it means to be a good friend and how Ricky is proud of Ocean for trying now and making up for lost time and also about how he forgives her for not making more of an effort in the past.
Most of the choir still talks to Ricky and mainly uses their knowledge of sign to understand what he's saying, but Penny will actually sign without speaking a good chunk of the time. It can be more comfortable for her and it makes Ricky feel a little more "normal" to have some who also doesn't speak around him.
Mischa and Ricky sign to each other in situations of need. Usually Mischa will pass Ricky in the hallways and if some kid is bothering him he'll sign to him, asking if Ricky needs backup or just someone to walk with him that isn't an asshole.
Noel and Ricky sign to each other when they're in class and sharing answers or passing secrets and jokes.
Oh, here comes the spacedolls hcs:
Penny asks him out in asl, Ricky tries not to cry
Ricky will sign "i really love you" to her at random times and she just melts
They sign really fast and so when the other choir members or other students walk past they're just telling elaborate stories to each other and their hands will basically be wavy blurs. It can be hard for the others to keep up but it's really cute to watch the two of them just beaming and signing to each other all the time.
