#pollsim

“How about you? Are you from here?” You ask, feeling as lame as can be. It’s not like it makes a difference where he’s from as far as you’re concerned, but you’ve got to do something about this awkward pause! Makkea gasps, broken out of his deep thought. 

“Whoops, sorry! I didn’t mean to drift like that, haha! I was just thinking what a mystery you seem to be,” he laughed. At your bemused expression, he hastily adds:

“Oh, n-not in a bad way! I hope? I mean - I’m something of a sucker for mysteries,” he admits, trying to recover. 

“But yes! I am from here! I could show you around, if you’d like!” He offers, gesturing his hand about him. 

You consider his offer. It wouldn’t hurt to have someone show you the place… And you were having your doubts on whether the library would be any use for you anyways…

“That’d be a big help, thank you!” You reply with a smile. Makkea brightens with a beaming grin. 

“Wonderful! So, where would you like to go first? There’s so much to see in this town, in my humble opinion!” he says lightheartedly. You frown. You honestly aren’t sure what a place like this would have. You barely know half of the places in your own hometown, you think. Probably. That sounds about right, anyways.

“Hmm… Surprise me,” you try, hoping it isn’t obvious how out of your depth you are in all of this. Makkea does not seem to pick up on this, perking up at the suggestion. 

“Oh! Really?” 

“Yeah, why not? I don’t exactly have anywhere to be about now.”

Makkea hums in thought. 

“Well… Why don’t I just take you with me to where I was heading then?” He suggests. 

“Really? Where’s that?”

“Let’s call that part of the surprise,” he teases with a wink. 

“Come on, I’ll show you!”

You take the offered hand and let yourself get pulled to your feet.

"Sorry again," the boy says, giving you a sheepish grin once you're standing upright again.

"I've always been known for having my head in the clouds, so to speak! Not that… You would know that I suppose," a nervous laugh bubbles up from his throat, before he clears it.

"I'm Makkea. Makkea Uvishe. And you are?" He offers his hand, presumably to shake it. You take it with a smile, appreciating the familiarity of the gesture, before your smile fades a bit.

"I… I'm, uh," you stall. Who ARE you…?

Your brain tries to supply something, anything to work with, as Makkea starts to give you a rather worried look. R-e. Re….

"...Call me Ray," you finally say, releasing his hand at last. Makkea tilts his head at you, giving a thoughtful look.

"Ray. If you don't mind my asking… Where are you from? You, ah… Don't exactly seem to be from around here," he gives a somewhat playful smile, gesturing discreetly to his own face. Man, this guy's asking all the hardball questions, huh…? Meanwhile your brain is turning up nothing but mush in answer for him.

Helplessly, you give a meek shrug.

“I’m not even sure where ‘around here’ is,” you admit sheepishly. Makkea’s claws drift to his chin in thought as he studies you, concern etched into his face.

You aren’t sure what else to say, but as the seconds pass by, your brain warns you under force of habit that such a length of silence is impolite.

You hesitate at his caginess... And due to the sudden creep of uncertainty over taking off somewhere deeper into the unknown city without a second thought.

It was bad enough you'd been wandering about, but you at least had felt confident enough you could backtrack from here. Gallivanting off who-knows-where with this random, if overly friendly, alien... You could get seriously turned around. Maybe it'd be better to return to the bench you woke up on and start over.

He holds out his hand for you to take, though, beaming so broadly, that you shake off your concerns. Well, where was the harm - it wasn't like you'd be less lost anywhere else. You didn't think you even knew what planet you were on.

Taking the offered hand, you let him lead you through the more crowded parts of town, trying not to pay too much mind to the judgmental looks you both seem to garner from the passerby. You need a distraction from the decidedly negative attention.

"So, uh..." you stall, trying to think of what to say. Aside from his name, you... really don't know much about him. And you know far less about yourself than you'd like to admit.

You're not entirely sure what makes you think of it, other than your own countless hours spent at the library in your own hometown. The librarians were always so friendly, and more than willing to help, and the library itself always held a vast treasure trove of resources. A city like this must surely hold a similar hub of information and tools, and in a time like this that would surely be your best bet.

You leave the small familiarity of the bench, taking off in a direction further into the city, trying to follow your instincts. The buildings you pass are strange, almost reminiscent of ant mounds somehow, with signs and placards decorated in strange and often brightly colored squiggly shapes. You hope that's not writing. If it is, you'll never be able to pick out the library from the lot, if it's even called that.

As you walk, you're vaguely aware of the people you pass. They're humanoid enough, thankfully, but you find glaring differences in their grey coloring, their orange horns, their noseless faces and almost bulging golden eyes. They seem to largely ignore you, save for hard stares, giving you a warily wide berth, or the more bold purposefully shouldering past you despite there being plenty of room on the sidewalk. In a way, this treatment isn't too different from home, either, somehow.

You clearly were lost in your thoughts by this point, as you make a fullbody collision into a mass of teal in front of you. Admittedly you're not entirely sure how you missed that in a sea of greys and blacks, but you did. The teal coat gets knocked back, its owner grunting in surprise, but you're the one who ends up falling on your ass.

"Oof, sorry! Wasn't paying attention to where I was going, haha... Need any help?"

All you know is you're somewhere new. Somewhere strange. Foreign, and familiar, all at once. As you roll over onto your back, on the oddly-shaped bench you'd evidently decided to take your existential nap on, you see a lone pink moon glowing gently down on you. On you, and the alien city you seem to have found yourself in.

Firstly, this is basically going to function like friendsim/pesterquest! You'll be given a narrative and a selection of choices, starting with the list of trolls (though not in the way you'll expect it!) And then limited options of how to interact with them! The only real difference here is that other people voting are what influence the winning option!

Mod's energy and public interest willing, once any given 'route' with a troll is finished, the troll selection poll will be brought back, minus ones already done, and we start the process over again!

However, to prevent this going on TOO long, each troll will only get ONE route focus*! So if enough people pick the 'bad end' options then that's all you'll get! Choose wisely!

*exception here being unless mod comes up with a KILLER alt route and just Has to show it off but as of rn that's not a thing

The events of this 'pollsim' as it'll be tagged are noncanon to the blog itself! What this means is, even if canon events and information are explored during this event, the trolls are unaware of the event! If you try to ask them about the event, they may not know what you're talking about! You're free to ask and confuse them, just don't expect straightforward answers!

This event is being written on the fly! This may lead to delays in updates or slapdash writing. This is being done this way so the mod doesn't expend a lot of energy on routes that won't get seen, and also perhaps so he can work on something else behind the scenes....

Polls will be set to expire within a day, so if you're invested in this event please check back on this blog as often as you can! If there's delays the mod will post updates accordingly to avoid silence. Audience interaction is what keeps this blog afloat, every little bit helps!

And that should be the important bits! Please vote, spread the polls if you enjoy the event, and send in feedback if you have any! But most importantly, have fun and don't stress over options too much! This is all in good fun!

Also, if any other ask blogs see this post and want to run off with this idea, all I ask is leave something in the inbox in exchange! Hell, even a single letter 'a' could be something for the kids to play with, so just drop whatever! And feel free to rb and say you're using this, I'll try to do the same for yours!

Enjoy, I'm looking forward to embarking on this event together with everyone!

Start! (Select screen)

Head to the library! (Makkea)

Take his hand (Makkea) (pt.1)

Take his hand (Makkea) (pt.2)