#tesstrolls

Raising a skinny robotic hand, and pausing for a few more seconds, he knocked quietly against the door.

The door whipped open within seconds of the metal hand touching it, revealing an empty doorway.

It would take Laurce a few moments before glancing down and spotting the Troll staring up at him.

"How long were you going to wait out there?" She barked with what seemed to be mock irritation, her mechanical left eye glowing dimly as it took in this one's modifications, her organic eye locked with his own. "I saw you enter my lawn ring five minutes ago already!"

It was a little presumptuous to call the field of dust and dry dirt a 'lawn', and she probably knew it. No doubt her irony was multi-layered. "So come on, come on, in you come." Bossy as ever, she disappeared into the hive, leading a path to her workshop - a room which comprised the majority of the building.

Living on a dust plain on the outskirts of a major city at least gave plenty of room to build, for the size of the place.

Despite ducking his head, Laurce very nearly bonked his horns on the top of the doorway as he entered the hive. This was a regrettably frequent occurrence, and had led to him almost breaking the antennas sticking up on the sides of his head multiple times. Granted, they weren't the most practical of electromagnetic receivers, but he'd grown so fond of them, he didn't know if he had the heart to redesign them, even if they'd broken.

He followed the brownblood into her workshop, looking around in wonder. So these are the working conditions of a professional, huh? Maybe he should take notes... would that be rude, though? The other troll hadn't said anything to him since he'd entered, so maybe this would be a good opportunity... nah, better get to business. Don't want to waste the girl's time any more than it was already being wasted.

He glanced back down at the note he was holding. "Are you... Makina Lumian, then?"

She nodded and grabbed the note out of his hand at the same time, turning it around to look at it. A few moments passed as she pursed her lips. "Yeah I don't recognise this writing," she sighed and flicked her hand, sending the note back to the troll before her. "That's me, Makina Lumian, best of the best, or so the liars would tell you otherwise."

She sat down on a stool, a leg on either side, and looked the troll before her up and down. "Don't recognise those either," she jerked a thumb at him, obviously referring to his modifications. "I mean I can get a good sense when working with parts but usually I can tell their origin at a glance. These though... how'd you get em? And who are you, that's a good question too."

She was very... forward. Seemed so used to going at her own pace that she didn't care one bit if someone couldn't keep up. Her mechanical eye was still studying the parts, zoomed in on his face, where metal met skin. Now who had done that?

"O-oh, I, um..." Laurce quickly grabbed the note back from Makina and put it in his pocket. "Sorry, I should have introduced myself, how rude of me... m-my name's Laurce Oleglo. And these parts are, uh... well, they were kind of an emergency procedure, you see. I'd been in a bit of an accident and... a-anyway, nowadays I have some, uh... memory troubles, so it's all hooked up to a database back home so I can keep everything in. I've been studying some of the mechanics so that I can maintain these properly, but I'm, uh, not exactly at a professional level yet. That's why I came to you. I was told you could help me."

There was a nervous look in Laurce's one real eye as he looked down at the other troll. She was small, but her forcefulness was still a little intimidating. What if she just rejected him right off the bat? Was he just wasting his time here? Maybe this wasn't such a good idea...

Makina gave a loud snort as Laurce finished speaking, crossing her arms. She spent a few moments looking intently at him, watching the poor thing's nerves nearly rattle him to pieces. Then she sighed deeply. "Jeeze, what a hack-job," she rubbed the back of her head, continuing to look him up and down. "It's gonna be some serious work to undo some of that mess - if the mods are messing with your brain there might not be anything any of us can do alone, you'd need some medical expert working alongside someone like me to replace those safely."

Her foot started tapping rapidly as she hmm'd and ah'd. "You got yourself in a bad way, Laurce - it's gonna take more than what I got here in my hive to fix the bad hand you been dealt. I can do plenty of upgrades and fine tunings but the core of the problem ain't something I wanna touch. I'm a mechanic, not a thinkpan surgeon."

She continued tapping the foot with increasing speed until it seemed she'd put a hole through the floor, then shot to her feet. "So let's get to work. You need a tuneup, that I can do, if you can pay. You learn anything while I'm working you get to take that home with you, I ain't gonna grudge anyone who can use their brain."

She wandered over to a cabinet, and began messing about with the contents, retrieving tools and laying them on a nearby table.

Laurce looked a little worried. "Do they... need to be replaced? They've all been working fine, I think, they just need... y'know, the usual maintenance every so often. A-and I can pay you for that, that's not a problem. I just figured it'd be simpler if I could learn to do it all myself... but I suppose maybe that's just not as possible as I thought it might be..."

He pressed a few buttons on the right side of his head, where his ear should have been, adjusting the volume a little and turning on the screen over his eye. He was ready to take notes. "But if there's anything at all you can teach me, I'm more than willing to listen."

"If you got memory issues," Makina slammed down a box full of heavy parts, dragged her stool over to where Laurce was standing and, reaching both hands up to place on his shoulders, pushed him down onto the stool behind him, "Then you got problems."

Her left hand grasped underneath his right wrist and lifted the hand, her right deep in the box of tools behind her. It said something for her experience that without even looking, she pulled the correct tool from the box. She placed the tiny bladed screwdriver against his metallic hand and began to investigate.

In stark contrast to her roughness of speech and action, and the grip with which her hand held his, the touch of the screwdriver was delicate and perfect. It took no time at all to lift off the top layer of plating and allow Makina to begin investigating, tsk'ing all the while.

"Mods aren't meant to hold you back," she continued eventually as she swapped tools, continuing to apply the lightest of touches to the inside of Laurce's mechanical arm, "They replace what you're missing, or make better what you already have. Your accident may have messed you up, but good mods woulda put you back where you were - or even better if you had a good mechanic. But memory loss - that's all kinds of bad news. You're gonna need to look at that, cause you can't say that that'll be the only problem. If I had a piece of faulty machinery stuck in my sponge I'd want it replaced as soon as possible, you feel me?"

Her right hand squeezed the tool she currently held and movement disappeared from Laurce's right hand - now dead at the wrist. "Don't fret," she didn't even look up from where she was working, a second tool held between her little and ring fingers, "Don't won't to replace the coating of a live wire after all."

Laurce sat silently as he watched Makina work on his arm, words flashing faintly on his screen as he took in every detail of what she was doing. He didn't have to read it properly, it was just a confirmation that his memory unit was functioning. His concentration was solely on Makina, and what she was telling him. Though it wasn't particularly pleasant to hear.

"I guess you could be right... Theoretically the database could allow me to retain more than the average person, but if relying on it could be a liability... I'm not even sure how well this sort of thing can be fixed with surgery, though. I mean, I'm not a surgeon, of course, but... hmm. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to get it checked out, though I am kind of an unusual case... I wonder how much they could even do for me..."

"Like I said," she continued onwards, threading a new wire into the wrist, "You'd need a highly skilled surgeon and mechanic working side by side - or some kind of genius who can do both - which I ain't by the way - to get at the bits stuck in your sponge and start replacing whatever's bad. But you know, if you can't guarantee the quality, what happens if one day you get stressed, the system flares a little and it suddenly overheats? Or fries your brain nerves? Suddenly half your brain doesn't work anymore. That's no good for anyone."

Raising her right hand, she let go of Laurce's wrist. "Try moving your hand and fingers, tell me how it compares in feeling to before."

Laurce examined his robotic digits as he wiggled them around, twisting his wrist to get a good look at both sides. It certainly felt smoother, and he smiled at the realisation. "It's good! It was starting to feel a little sluggish... it seems to be fine now, though. Thank you!"

He looked back towards Makina. "I won't ask you to examine the, uh..." He gestured towards his head unit. "B-but I don't think there are any problems there anyway. I've got spare modules back at home, so most of it's easy enough to replace if it starts wearing down a little... though I guess I can't replace burned-out neural connections, huh?"

His smile faded as he stopped to think. "I guess it hadn't quite hit me what the consequences could be if something went wrong."

Standing up, Makina moved to stand behind Laurce. Her left hand raised and the fingers settled on the metallic side of his face, her right hand reaching up to touch the antenna on his right horn. Both fingers tapped amiably but lightly, delicate touches on cold metal.

"I'm not the type to sugarcoat my words," she said after a moment of this, "Risky mods in the head are the scariest thing in the world to me, you have no idea how long I went with one eye making sure my new one was perfect. Now I get that whatever went down probably required you to get patched quick but that danger's past now. Now you gotta worry about the consequences of that. If you got any money and this grey," she moved her right hand to reach down and poke at the symbol on his chest, "Is just coverin' a highblood needin' a lowblood, you find someone who can do the deed and you make sure they do it right. Hell, if you get a good surgeon with no mechanical skill, ask me to help. Only reason I never done something like that is cause the good medical stuff is learned by the highbloods, and a highblood's more likely ta cut me open than the patient."

Her right hand returned to the antenna and she tweaked it a little, chuckling to herself. "This is cute though."

"Heheh..." It was a little embarrassing for Laurce, having someone examine his handiwork like that. "I figured that if I've got to walk around with a bunch of metal parts on my head, I could at least make them look kinda nice, y'know? I think it might have been more trouble than it was worth, though, I always get a bunch of nosy questions about it. It's rather frustrating... do you ever get that? Anyone bugging you for details on whatever must have happened for you to need that eye?"

"Ohh," Makina raised her one eyebrow, "So this was all done by you, huh? I was sure you had someone bail you out after getting your skull cracked open or something. Now I guess it makes more sense, can't expect someone with half their head missing to make calm judgements about part design." Her fingers settled on the side of his head and crept forward, beginning to press around the points where metal met skin. There was still more work to be done on the arms - and Makina was sure she could even examine the extremeties of the skull safely - but right now this was most important. Getting a feel for the parts installed.

"You had any education in engineering or did it get lost when you did the deed? Looks like you knew enough to do something about your situation."

If Makina had lost more than her eye, what would she have done? Would she have made the same panicked installs? Put herself in the same situation? She couldn't help but pity Laurce now, he really was her in just a slightly modified situation. So fine was the line between the one in control and the one in need of help. It was stunning.

"There's always someone who wants to know, but screw em, my business is my own. I did something stupid and paid the price for it, open and shut case."

She moved her head to poke over the left shoulder of Laurce and, putting her right hand on top of his skull, turned it just a bit, just enough so she could look directly into his mechanical eye. At this close distance, both their eyes were able to examine and understand one another.

"Oh, no, I didn't do the initial installation... maybe I wouldn't have gone to a mechanic first, but it wasn't really my choice to make at the time." Laurce smiled sheepishly. "They were just the one who found me, I guess. It was a miracle anyone found me at all, judging by how far I was from the city when I woke up... I guess they knew enough to be able to hook up some wiring to my think pan, but not enough to fix it the standard way? Or maybe they just didn't have the equipment for it, I guess, I don't know... Either way, I owe my life to them, so I guess I shouldn't be too picky about how they did the job."

He sat perfectly still as Makina's fingers feeled their way around the edges of his head implants. He didn't think she was going to crack them open and take a look inside, but you can't be too careful with these things. "Everything I know about engineering came after the incident, but I wasn't really in any condition to do anything about it anyway. As it is, all I can do now is make some minor modifications, like the antennas. That's why I'm trying to learn as much as I can so that I can take care of all of this myself."

"Mhm," Makina sounded the agreement as she finally withdrew her hands, stepping back around in front of Laurce. She raised a hand to his face, but then drew it away moments after. "I wouldn't mind checking that eye out, but I wouldn't trust anyone in the universe to do mine but myself, so I wouldn't ask you to trust me for that."

She stepped back and sat down on the stool, grabbing the bladed screwdriver again and twirling it around her fingers. "I can do more work on the arm and you can try learning from that and reproducing it as you need to." She tapped the arm a few times, clearly in thought. "Well, I'm not too worried by whoever did the job on you as competition, they had more good intentions than skills to say the least. Wondering who you got my name from though, it's always interesting to hear the circles my name travels in."

She smiled and showed an egotistical side. There was no pride greater in Makina than that in her skills. To be known was a badge of honour for her, and she wanted it written as detailed as possible.

"You can, uh, look at it if you want, I guess... it's easy enough to take out and put back in, but it, uh, does hurt." A pained expression flashed briefly across Laurce's face. None of his head modules were completely painless to remove, but for some reason the eye was particularly sensitive. Must have been a more direct connection, he supposed. "I asked around town for some good mechanics. I think it was an, uh..." He paused while he retrieved a description of the troll in question. "A greenblood? I didn't see any robotic parts, so I don't know if she was a customer, but you were the first one she recommended to me."

"Hmm," Makina continued to think, rolling through the list of greenblooded ladies she knew. Couldn't say for sure, really.

Now here was the key difference between her and Laurce. He was clearly more modular than she was, as her eye was non-removable. Then again hers was built directly into the flesh and his was connected through the robotic part of his skull. Differences.

She was intensely curious. But she was also cautious. How best to approach this. She was leaned in so close at this point their noses were practically touching, but she didn't notice at all, too intently was she studying the mechanics. She had that itch that any master of their art had, the desire to explore new works within their field.

But this work was part of a troll that she had no beef with, she wasn't going to do wrong by them. "Hmmmmm," she continued to think.

Laurce instinctively leaned back a little as Makina leaned in towards him. He could feel her staring into his artificial eye, and he braced himself in case she was planning to take it out. "I-it doesn't have to be right now, I could come back another time... it's no trouble, really! And then I could give you an update on how the arm's going, I guess, but y'know, whatever works for you..."

Finally paying attention to Laurce's words after far too long, Makina caught herself and stepped back, putting the tool back on the table. "Right." She blushed slightly at being so caught up that she hadn't been paying attention to anything else.

"Okay, if you think you learned something, give it a go and let me know how it turns out. I'll always be around if you need a hand, just make sure you have the coin," she chuckled a little, obviously still slightly put out.

"Right, I should pay you, I guess..." Laurce reached for his wallet, pulling out a more than adequate supply of caegars. K-keep the change! I'm very grateful for your assistance... both your mechanical work and your advice. When should I be back?"

Makina absently took the payment, bouncing it up and down in her hand. It took another few moments before she ran into what Laurce was talking about, her mind still being mixed up with thoughts about his mechanical parts and her interest in how they worked.

"Back? Oh! Right, uh," she stumbled over her words for a moment, trying to get her thoughts back in the game. Dammit Makina, keep your cool. "When you feel like you need to, I guess?" Wow. "I mean, you're going to be testing your own skills on yourself - you might mess it up and need to come running back or it might do a good job and you only come back as a courtesy to get a professional opinion."

She paused, looking at the machinery in his face, "But yeah, you should look into finding someone to do a proper job on your head, it worries me and if I'm worried, you should be."

"Alright..." Hopefully he wouldn't mess things up too badly. That'd be an even more embarrassing visit. "Well, uh, thank you for your help! I greatly appreciate it, and, uh..." Come on, Laurce, you said that like three times! "A-anyway! I'll be off, I guess... I'll see you some time later, I suppose!"

She continued to curse under her breath as she bandaged up the gash on her left arm. She already knew that Alternian wildlife was fucking brutal, but sometimes she forgot just how brutal until something actually jumped out at her and did some damage. It wasn't a huge problem, of course. She hadn't died yet. She hadn't even been seriously injured yet, except for maybe that one time when her horn got snapped off. That shit hurt.

Clipping down the end of the bandage, she emerged from her hideout amongst the bushes. The thing that had attacked her was nowhere to be seen. Probably scampered off with its tail between its legs after she socked it right in the nose. Serves it right. Aside from that, though, she hadn't seen a whole lot of wildlife around tonight. Place was oddly quiet.

A tune and voice whispered through the trees, carried on a light breeze. Although no words could be distinguished, it was unmistakably song. In the direction of the music, a Redblood sat on a large boulder, watching the moon as he plucked absently at a guitar. It was peaceful tonight. A good night.

Now, that of all things was not a sound that Meries expected to hear out here in the wilderness. Who the hell was sitting around here playing music? Sounds like a great way to let your guard down and get eaten by a giant spider or something. Not that she'd seen giant spiders around here, specifically. But you never know.

On that note, though, she was starting to feel... unusually relaxed. It had only been since the song had started playing just now, which was pretty damn suspicious. She followed the (admittedly pleasant) sound to its source, ready to beat up whoever it was who was trying to mess with her.

"Oi. What do you think you're playin' at, shitskull?"

Demari jumped at the voice, but seemed to calm down almost immediately the moment he spotted Meries. Despite her abrasive entrance, it seemed her colour was enough to put him back at ease.

"Nothin' more than the usual, Scarf," he replied with a similar accent, using Meries raiment in place of her name. "What about you? Wandering around for a reason tonight or just like being out under the stars?"

Compared to his ever-worried nature when dealing with friends and highbloods, Demari was extremely relaxed around other lowbloods. There was just something innately trustworthy about those around his blood range.

"None of your fuckin' business, asswipe. And don't dodge the fuckin' question." Meries scowled harder than usual at this smug stick figure. Look at him, sittin' up there on his rock, not looking like he's intimidated in any way. It's sickening. "You're doing something messed-up with that music shit of yours. You tryin' to get people killed with your nice relaxing tunes? Or do you just not know what the fuckin' wilderness is?"

Demari's smile didn't budge, which no doubt would be even more infuriating for the orangeblood. She was crude but that was a simple defense mechanism for those like her. He preferred it to the overly stiff nature of the upper crust. "Safer here than the city," he shrugged, plucking at the guitar a few more times. He opened his mouth and let out a long "ahhhh", the sound echoing out through the trees. "I wouldn't be out in the middle of nowhere like this if I didn't know how to look after myself. No need to worry about me, although I do appreciate it." He smiled down at her. "Or did you want to request a song?"

Infuriating others wasn't something Demari did often these days, but carry-ons from younger Sweeps were often hard to eliminate entirely. And this one did look so fun to tease.

Meries jumped up onto the rock Demari was sitting on and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, dragging his face up to the same level as hers. "No, I don't wanna request a fuckin' song, shitstain. Do you realise what you're doin'? When you're wandering around out here you gotta be alert a hundred percent of the time or you're gonna get eaten, that's the way it fuckin' works. I haven't died to any massive monster yet and I'm not gonna let it happen 'cause of your stupid little song, you get me?"

"What massive monster?" Demari seemed rather relaxed, for having a clearly agitated orangeblood at his throat. Perhaps the effects of his song even extended to himself. "There's nothing here, Scarf. And even if there was, it's not going to bother putting effort out if it's hearing the same thing you are. Just relax. And anyway," his expression changed a little and he raised a hand, pushing hers up from its grip, "I don't recall agreeing to benefit you while out in the wild. If you were doing something that put me at risk, tell me you'd give a shit. Do it right now."

He laughed, free hand still plucking at the strings, "You're just too stressed, you need a song more than any wild beast."

Meries snarled, having half a mind to fucking punch this guy's lights out. This skinny nerd even looked as though he wouldn't be able to take a punch to the face without running home crying to his lusus. That probably wouldn't be satisfying enough, to be honest. Instead, she shot a hand out and grabbed the neck of his guitar.

"Let's see you fuckin' try it."

Demari's expression changed quickly and a hum emerged from the back of his throat. A few seconds past as the look on his face grew more and more annoyed as the sound rose, working its way into the heads of everyone about. As soon as the noise stopped, he spoke quickly, words pouring over one another.

"Scarf, I'll only say this once, so listen close you little dunce, my song keeps everything at bay, without it you are not okay, so give it back you stupid shrew, cause you don't know what they will do."

Jerking a free hand as he finished, Demari indicated one of the larger rocks in the clearing. Only it seemed to be moving. Waking almost.

Dammit, just what the hell was this guy doing!? Meries could feel herself growing gradually calmer with every word he sang, completely against her will! While she was finding it hard to be angry per se, she knew objectively that that walking rock over there was gonna be a fuckin' problem if she stayed in this state. With a huff she let go of the redblood's guitar and jumped down off the rock, trying to at least look as though she was prepared to fend off a monster attack.

Demari changed from his usual strumming to actually playing a tune as soon as the guitar was back in his possession. Of course the music was only a conduit to the real power, which was in his voice, but it helped get a start. The golem was already slowing down once more. A few lyrics into Cold Moon and it basically stopped, curling back down into a ball. Now all it took was some strums of music from the guitar to keep it down.

With the situation restored, he looked down from his rock, watching Meries attempt to maintain her combat state. What a spitfire she was. "You're free to begin complaining again now," he laughed calmly. "Just don't touch the instrument."

Meries stood, staff at the ready, and watched as the golem approached her, then slowed to a complete stop and lay dormant once again. Dammit... this wasn't how things were supposed to go out here! This guy's stupid relaxy song bullshit was taking all the fun out of being out here. Next time he stopped singing long enough she was punching him in the face, and that was final.

"What is that, some psychic bullshit? Y'know not everything is susceptible to psychic, right?"

"Scarf, do you really think I'd be alive and this arrogant if I didn't have that kind of stuff on lockdown?" Demari shook his head, she seemed determined to argue no matter what. "You worry about you and I'll worry about you. I appreciate the concern, really I do but," he smiled a wide smile, "You're just not my type."

"Oh, FUCK OFF." Confident that the effects of the song had worn off enough, Meries grabbed her staff and swung it round hard at the redblood's ankles. "I ain't taking any more of your bullshit, fuckin' get lost and stay out of my way or I'll personally feed you to the giant featherbeasts, ya scrawny fuckwad."

Demari was quick to shift, moving his legs out of the way. The staff hit the rock and cracked it hard - evidence that if it hit him it would seriously do damage. "Last I checked you came to me." Demari wasn't backing down though, as unwise as that was. He wasn't going to be cowed by her. "You're free to go whenever you want, I haven't even moved from here." He was finally looking properly serious, as Meries was now quite dangerous, but that didn't stop him from keeping that air of amusement about him. "So what's the problem, Scarf? Not satisfied?"

"Quit lookin' so pleased about yourself, jackass. Your passive-ass sing-songy garbage is wrecking up the natural order of things here. Who's ever heard of a wild animal that's fuckin' placid if you walk up to it?" Meries pointed her staff up at him, a direct threat. "You're gonna get eaten one of these days if I don't fuckin' murder you first. Fuck off before I bash your skull in."

Before Demari could continue this pleasant and good-natured conversation, a loud CAW echoed out from the treetops above. Fast, much faster than would be expected of him, he dashed off of the rock, propelled by his Lusus's warning screech. Meries clearly hadn't been expecting this as he clapped a hand over her mouth, dragging her into the bushes lining the clearing. Despite multiple punches to the gut, he kept down low, as the crunching sound of boots and the loud complaining of other trolls finally reached his ears.

"I tell you I don't care what you think is out here, it ain't worth it."

"And I told you, you owe me, help me out."

A pair of trolls wearing a pair of different shades of blue entered the clearing. One walked over to the rock Demari had been sitting on moments ago. "See check this," he called to the other, "something's up I told you."

Meries, while furious, listened in as best she could to the chattering bluebloods that this shithead was apparently scared to death of. She couldn't tell the exact details of what they were talking about, but she had the sneaking suspicion that Mr. Music over here had something to do with it.

"What the fuck is this all about, douchepan?" she hissed at him, fist raised to punch him again if his answer wasn't satisfactory.

"What'dyou think, Scarf?" He hissed back, sounding, finally, agitated and worried, "They're highbloods, who the fuck wants to associate with them? You said it yourself, not everything is susceptible to psychic."

One of the bluebloods kicked a tree, setting it shaking. "Look, nothing? We can search this place top to bottom but there's no secret beast or anything in these woods. Just your standard asshole cholerbears and friends."

"Dude no," the other was determined though, inspecting the rock still, "You ain't heard the shit I have out here. There's something weird and I wanna find it. Possibly kill it and get big money off of a new species. Do you know how cool that'd be?"

The first just sighed and shrugged. "There ain't a thing uncategorized on this planet man, you're gonna find nothing."

Meries paused for a moment, then punched Demari again.

"So they're just a couple highblood shitbrains, so fuckin' what? You've never even met these guys and you're fuckin' running off scared? You're the biggest fuckin' wimp I've ever seen! They're lookin' for monsters, they don't fuckin' care about you. Probably wouldn't notice you if they walked right past you. I bet you're fuckin' scared of the colour purple, too, ya asswipe."

She stood up and wandered off to nowhere in particular, consciously making as much noise as she could while she did. She was so done with this coward.

"Oi!" One of the bluebloods jumped, rushing right over to Meries. "What's the deal, orange, you got a reason to be lurking the bushes out here in the middle of nowhere?"

"It's a fuckin lowblood," the other shook his head, "There's your mystery beast you idiot. Looks like you wouldn't get two caegars for bagging this one let's just go already."

While they were distracted by Meries, they were still way too close to Demari for him to actually make a proper escape. Also her punches had really hurt. Crazy asshole orangeblood.

"Ya think it's got anything to do with you shitlords?" Meries made a big show of rolling her eyes at the two bluebloods. "Got a problem with me wandering around in the wilderness? 'Cause I don't give a shit. You wanna bag someone suspicious, go look around in those bushes for the jackass that dragged me in there. Or fuck off and keep lookin' for your mystery beast, I don't fuckin' care. What is this so-called beast of legends, anyway, some kinda asshole cholerbear? I beat up like five of those on the way over here."

The Hunter of the blueblood pair was quick to point a knife at Meries throat, clearly not willing to tolerate backtalk from a lowblood. The other sighed, wandering over to the pair. "Dude calm down already, it's just a bitch lowblood looking for attention. Even if you gutted her she'd still feel like she won." Reaching into the bushes, he pulled Demari up by the collar, setting the redblood hanging off of a treebranch. "Meanwhile apparently this is the one trying to hide. Got something to say for yourself?"

"Just keeping outta the way," Demari replied, legs trying and failing to reach the ground, "I like avoiding people who would stab me as soon as look at me."

"But you hang out with her?" The blueblood laughed back, pointing a thumb at Meries, "Poor taste if you ask me."

"You seriously think I'd be hanging out with scrawny over there?" Meries scoffed. "I could break that guy in half in my sleep. Do what you want with him, I don't give a shit. Not my problem." She waved her hand dismissively as she turned around and walked off, hoping if she had to walk into someone else while she was out here that they wouldn't be so goddamn pathetic.

"Oi no!" The Hunter reached out and grabbed Meries by the shoulder, stopping her from progressing, "I'm not done. You are all kinds of full of yourself Lowblood, you ain't never learned how to show respect to your betters?"

"Ugh," the other just applied a palm to his forehead. "I will let you go right now if you can tell me something that'll shut him up and get this entire mess cleaned up," he muttered to Demari.

In response, Demari pointed to the giant rock golem, still sleeping. "That's a thing," he stated simply. The blueblood raised an eyebrow.

"You nerdlords haven't even seen a fuckin' golem before?" Good gracious. Meries smacked the Hunter's hand away and gave them a quick jab to the stomach with her staff. "You don't even deserve to be out here if you don't know the names of half the basic shit that's likely to come and kill you. Are we done here? You're both fuckin' boring."

Without a word more, the Hunter grabbed the head of Meries' staff with one hand and swung the other at her face, fist clenched.

The pacifying effect once more wearing off, the Golem started shifting again.

Meries caught the punch effortlessly with her free hand - what she lacked in discipline, she absolutely made up for with reflexes and pure physical strength. She gestured with her head towards the waking golem. "Think you've got more urgent problems here, doucheclown. I mean, I could beat you up for sure but I think I'd rather let the golem do it this time."

"Hup!" The calmer of the Bluebloods was already at work, standing on the Golem's head, wires tying its arms to a pair of the larger trees around. "I guess it's kinda rare?" He rubbed his head, sitting on its own and looking down at Demari. "I dunno this entire deal is kinda disappointing.

The Hunter was growling, ignoring the Golem to engage Meries in a contest of strength, natural blueblood power pushing against her own furious strength. "I guess if he's having fun," the calm one mumbled to himself.

Demari, attempting to get himself off of the branch, finally managed to get his feet back on the ground. Well this entire situation had gone to hell. If he ever ran into Meries again in the future, he'd turn around and walk right the other way. She was truly intolerable.

Meries paid no mind to Demari, or to the other blueblood; her focus was entirely on this shithead of a Hunter.

Wires wrapped around tree branches and stretched around the two competing trolls until, with a few steps and a yawn of annoyance, the calm blueblood jerked his hand and pulled them all taut.

The Hunter and Meries both were hoisted off of their feet, the wires fastening tight and tangled amongst the trees. "Honestly I can't take you anywhere," he commented lightly, grabbing the Hunter's knife in order to cut them down. "Come on, this entire mystery beast idea of yours was a bust, all you got was riled up by some trashblood."

Grabbing the Hunter by their collar to keep them from Meries, they began to walk off. "You," Demari jumped as he found himself pointed at, "Get lost."

He didn't really need any more than that, Demari turned and disappeared amongst the trees. He'd thought when Meries first stumbled upon him that he'd have some fun riling up a fellow lowblood but as it turned out she was toxic in luck and attitude. Never again, that was for sure.

As for Meries herself...

"And you can chill a little until you get free or a cholerbear comes by. Either way, your problem."

And still dragging the Hunter behind him, he too disappeared into the forest.

"Wakkam?" She called out the name and question both, "Are you here?"

Wakkam smiled as the familiar voice of her friend filled the shop. Having been in the middle of pruning a set of rather stubborn plants, she put away her secateurs and went out front to greet the other seadweller.

"Of course I am here, Yastra. Do you think I would leave my shop open if I were not?"

Yastra smiled back, stepping forward to offer her friend an embrace. "It has been a few weeks now," she stated, stepping back, "I had missed the smell of the plants here." It was occasional that Yastra visited, not that she disliked Wakkam for any possible reason, indeed the plantkeeper was one of her best friends, it was simply that travelling at all was always a challenge for her. So she tended to do so when she had to. It made for a rather difficult to maintain social life, however.

Wakkam nodded. "Yes, it is a shame that you cannot visit more frequently. I assume you understand you are always welcome here."

Leading her friend further into the hive, Wakkam pulled up a couple of chairs, gesturing for Yastra to sit down before ducking around the corner to make some tea. "What have you been up to lately, Yastra? I feel as though you had been gone a little longer than usual, though I do suppose I tend to lose track of time out here."

Yastra relaxed into the chair, rubbing a hand over her stiff leg. Swimming was always a challenge with it the way it was. "There is not much to be said, I'm afraid," she sighed leaning back as the smell of the herbal tea wafted into the room. "Travelling is always an involvement for me. Even the Court sees my presence less and less, though many of my fellow Seadwellers would be all too pleased at that." She shook her head, smiling wistfully. "But that is just the way of things. Life goes on."

"True, quite true." Wakkam emerged from the next room a moment later with two cups of tea, placing one on the coffee table in front of Yastra. "You are always travelling but I can never be certain of where it is you are travelling to, or why you choose to make these difficult journeys. It is far from my place to be telling you how to live your life, of course, but I must admit I get curious, and you are always so short on the details."

Yastra quietly drank, thinking on Wakkam's words. After a time, she placed the cup back on the table, looking over to her friend. "You know I always appreciate you, Wakkam," she spoke with a smile, "From your willingness to always help to the degree you worry for me. I've always appreciated that. But even with my leg," she lifted the leg slightly before letting it drop back down, "I still have blood royal enough to get my way. I just need to be a little careful with those who see this a greater weakness than it is."

She paused, taking another long sip from the cup. "But part of the reason for my visit isn't just to see a dear friend. The herbs you provided me with last time worked wonders to help my leg. I was hoping to request some more."

"Yes, of course." Wakkam took a sip from her own cup, glancing down for a moment at her friend's injured leg. "I was not expecting you in today so I do not have any prepared for you, but that should not take long. I am glad to hear that they have helped you. However..."

She raised the cup to her lips again, but paused. "I hate to be rude, of course, but I must wonder if you are overexerting yourself, and that leg of yours. I fear all this travelling that you do may be doing more harm than good."

She shook her head, placing the cup down, now empty. "I understand your worry but you can relax. No one is as aware of my limitations as I am. And you know that I never go on land without another. We all learned that lesson the first time." She smiled that thin smile again, although naturally the memory offered no reason to smile. That had been a bloody day.

"I just want to be sure that you are taking the proper care of your leg that it requires, that is all. Not that I mean to say you are careless or anything of the sort, I just thought I should... remind you, I suppose." Wakkam took another sip of tea and sat the cup down on the table. "I also have some difficulty believing that your journeys are in fact as uneventful as you describe, but that is neither here nor there." She chuckled. "I suppose I should stop prying into your private business."

Yastra joined the laugh, before leaning forward, a sudden glint appearing in her eyes. "But Wakkam," her voice was different now, the silky smooth that she often practised in the Court itself, "Enough about me. What has life been like for you? Do tell all."

Wakkam laughed again. Sly as always, Yastra. "Very well, though unlike you I have not ventured far from home within the last few weeks. My stories may not be particularly exciting to you. I cannot even recall any particularly outrageous customers lately... though I did get one, a few days ago, who tried to haggle with me. Hah! How disrespectful of someone to come into a store and expect the shopkeeper to compromise on their prices. I would hardly even say that my prices are particularly high. As a seadweller I am very well able to charge much more than I do, and I choose not to. And yet I still get people such as this, insulting me and my business. It is quite amusing, honestly."

"Not many can have your good humour," Yastra laughed along, "No one else could run a shop such as this as well as you. But come now," Yastra's smile grew obviously sly now, "You are avoiding the topic, Wakkam. What news of your Quadrants, Dear Friend?" She leaned back into the chair, wearing the smug smile. Yastra always enjoyed a good bit of Seadweller gossip, and the Quadrants of her important friends were always the most interesting things to follow. She did so love to hear tell of new events.

"Ahah, I am afraid that you will probably be disappointed in me, as usual." Wakkam picked up her cup of tea again, though it had gotten a little colder now than she would have liked. "There is little news to speak of on that front. My dear friend Regali is doing fine, I have met with her a couple of times lately. But other than that... hmm, perhaps I am just not looking hard enough. It can be difficult, being so isolated. The only trolls I meet are the ones who come to me, and they typically come here for other reasons. I suppose I have no one to blame but myself."

"I understand all too well," Yastra nodded in reply, "but Wakkam, forgive me for intruding but I don't believe you have the same luxuries I do in avoiding responsibilities. Although the day I join the Fleet is closer than yours, I've still met my requirements." Leaning forward, Yastra intertwined her fingers. "You may not have the option of taking it easy for much longer."

"Yes, I know." Wakkam finished off her lukewarm tea, placing the cup back down. "I am well aware that the threat of the drones' visit is looming over my shoulder. And you are right in saying that I should not be so lax about this. I fear that this will be much easier said than done, however. I admit I am not even really sure where to start."

"Worry not then, dearest friend," Yastra spread her arms, leaning back in the chair she was sitting in, "For I have the answer. To meet people you must... MEET people! It's time to travel and find things you never imagined. The world is vast and full of new and exciting trolls to meet. And a wonderful person like yourself would have no trouble finding others. There is no doubt in my mind, what you need, is a holiday!"

Wakkam frowned. "A... holiday? Yastra, I cannot take a holiday. I have not taken a single holiday since the day I opened my store. Who would take care of it? Running a medicine shop takes some expertise, it is hardly something that simply anyone can do. Or do you expect me to close the shop for the duration of this holiday? What if someone were in need of my services? How could I be of help to anyone if my shop were closed?"

"How could you be of help to anyone if the drones paid you a visit and you were not ready?" Yastra swiftly shot back. "Wakkam you must understand that you need to prioritise yourself first, if you wish to be the type of person who can help others. I have no doubt that between the two of us we could easily find a number of trolls to assist in holding the shop while you were away. And whether or not I have to drag you, one lame step at a time, I am getting you out and socialising. This is now non-negotiable."

Wakkam sighed. It was a solid argument. She was always rather stubborn when it came to her shop, but perhaps it was no longer a good time for stubbornness. "I... appreciate your desire to help me, Yastra. But surely there must be another way? I am not accustomed to leaving home for such long periods of time, and being away from work for so long would be painful for me. I love my job, Yastra. There must be another way."

"Troll-seek.com?" Yastra replied in a questioning tone, an eyebrow raised. "No no, that's stupid," she shook her head a moment after, "Let me think."

"Oh, please." Wakkam made a strange expression, somewhere between a smirk and a grimace. "Surely you do not think me to be quite that, er, desperate?"

"Then," Yastra was tapping the side of her head with one finger, clearly in though, "Why don't you come with me, tonight, to the Court of the Sea! They need to be reminded that I am still a presence and there are plenty of calmly mannered trolls who gather there. Surely there must be an eligible Lord and Lady for you to meet, no? Yes, yes, this is a fantastic idea, wouldn't you say?"

"Hmmm." Wakkam thought hard about this offer. Surely a one night outing wouldn't be so bad? It had been quite a long time since she'd been out on the social scene, though. Would she be able to handle that? Yastra seemed to think so, at least. Perhaps... perhaps she would listen to her friend's advice, this one time.

"I suppose I could join you for one outing to the Court."

"Excellent!" Yastra clapped her hands together, a delighted expression on her face, "Then in that case, I shall return to my Hive to prepare. If you meet me there once you have closed your Shop for the night, I should have had time to make it there and ready myself. How does that sound to you?"

"That... sounds fair." Wakkam seriously wondered for a moment what she'd just gotten herself into. "Oh! I will go and prepare those herbs you asked for, please wait just a moment."

Wakkam headed further into her shop, glad to escape from her bad decision for a few moments as she picked a tiny bagful of herbs, before returning and handing them over to Yastra. "Be careful not to run through them too quickly, especially if you plan on taking another long trip."

"I'll try to be more careful," Yastra sighed, accepting the bag, "Thank you, as always, Wakkam." Passing a Caegar Card to Wakkam, she nodded. "Please accept this as payment."

"You know that I do not feel right accepting money from friends, Yastra," sighed Wakkam as she took the card regardless. "Please do visit next time you are in the area. I... suppose I will see you tonight?"

"Yes, most definitely," Yastra nodded to both points. "I will see you then!" With an extravagent flair of her arms as she raised moved to the exit of the shop, Yastra turned once more, leaning on the cane to remain balanced and waved with a most pleased expression. And then she was off, making her way to the side of the shop, ready to return to the waves.

He finally put his notes aside and lay back, satisfied for the moment. He generally paid little mind to unimportant distractions, but even so the hive seemed abnormally quiet at that moment. Minden seemed to have wandered off somewhere, and Erytha and Kujona had both decided not to pay him a visit tonight, it seemed. Oh well, that was fine. He was a patient troll.

It had been nearly a full day since Kujona visited the Hive, although Caleva had had no idea of such. Minden however, having had the time to wait for pointed out on the clock, had been steadily watching as the hours ticked by. It was almost time for the radio to be wound and to play. But she couldn't do it herself. For that she needed...

"Caleva!" Sticking her head through the wall, Minden called out to the troll whose hive she was inhabiting at present. Her mental state was not yet to the degree that she could recognise the difference between herself of yesterday and today, but for other trolls...

"Oh!" Caleva was more or less accustomed to Minden's presence in his hive, it wasn't often that she startled him. She seemed... cheerful? She definitely had a different air about her than usual. Well, he shouldn't keep her waiting.

"Yes, Minden?"

"Come help!" The voice of the Limeblood was louder, more vibrant, and she seemed immensely more compose than her usual state. Disappearing back through the wall, she went to float above the radio, waiting for Caleva to join her.

Caleva chuckled and followed Minden into the adjacent room, albeit actually using the door. The little limeblood was certainly acting stranger than usual, but it wasn't a bad kind of strange. If she was really as happy as she seemed to be, this could only be an improvement!

He walked in and picked up the radio, frowning slightly as he inspected it. He'd never seen this radio before. Where'd she get it? Was this the reason for her sudden cheerfulness, perhaps?

"Hmm. Did someone give you this radio, Minden?"

She was bobbing up and down rapidly, the projection showing far more animation than she ever had before. "You have to," and at this point she began flying arund in circles, "WIND it!" It was true, the handle on the back of the radio showed as much. The flight path intersected with the ground and Minden disappeared through the floor, reappearing elsewhere in the room a moment later.

Minden's playful bounciness caused Caleva to laugh again. He disregarded his unanswered question, since he'd at least managed to more or less confirm that this radio was the reason for her change in attitude. He supposed a normal... uh, caretaker? would be a little more cautious of this mysterious new object, but he had to admit he was curious. He carefully wound the rather ancient-looking radio and placed it back down on the table.

"You seem to like this radio a lot, don't you?" He chuckled once more. "You seem quite cheerful tonight, Minden. It's wonderful!"

As the radio spluttered into life, Minden zoomed right in from the ceiling, bobbing slowly just in front of it. A few crackles and a voice came through.

"Hearing reports of a serious Storm on the Western side of the Lochlass Sea - all those living in the area, look after yourselves." The voice had a strange texture, something that seemed to invade the mind and sooth. Minden went still the moment it came through, obviously greatly affected.

"Hmm." Caleva wasn't familiar with this station, though he never did listen to the radio particularly much. Minden seemed positively captivated by it... though he couldn't quite grasp why. He hardly thought that the novelty of simply listening to a radio for the first time would be enough to influence such a change in her. Was it something about the radio itself? The radio station? He couldn't feel much change in his own feelings, but they were two different trolls with different circumstances. There could be any number of reasons why she was enjoying herself so much. Perhaps he should investigate.

"What is it that you like about this radio, Minden?"

"The next track was, I believe, recorded from a just recently captured starsystem. It looks like the gap between conquest and chart-topping hits is getting shorter by the sweep, folks!"

Minden took a while to answer, whenever the speaking stopped and a song began playing, she became more animated again. "I can hear his voice," she said as the next song began, "I can hear it in my head." This confusing statement did nothing as she circled the radio again, waiting for the next song to end.

"His voice, huh?" Interesting... so it was the DJ himself who was influencing her in this way. Perhaps he had a way with ghosts, or those in a spectral sort of state, like Minden was. Or perhaps because she was a limeblood? It seemed to be the work of a psychic, in any case. That would explain why he himself wasn't really feeling the effects. Well... it seemed harmless enough. And if Minden enjoyed it, that was good enough for Caleva.

"Well, whoever this is, he seems like a nice person," Caleva said, smiling at Minden. "So I'll let you keep this radio. How often is his show?"

Minden raced over the nearby clock, pointing each arm to form a time against it. "Every night when this happens!" She called out happily, "That's what she told me!" A moment later she had moved back to the radio, as the presenter began reading some sent-in letters. The degree to which Minden was able to string together words and understand concepts had rapidly jumped - it seemed this voice was doing more than just captivating her attention.

"She?" Caleva frowned slightly. So someone had given her this radio deliberately, most likely. It probably wasn't important, but curiosity got the better of him... "Who's 'she', Minden?"

Minden was about to answer, but then stopped, mouth still hanging open. A few moments passed before she closed it. "No one," she glanced about, lying obviously. She'd forgotten momentarily that she'd been told that if she let Caleva know how she got it, the radio would be taken away again. She began floating upwards, out of Caleva's reach, but still within listening distance of the radio.

Caleva didn't respond immediately, taking a moment to think. If it were someone who had specifically told Minden not to reveal their identity to her, then he could only really think of one possibility. Who else would go out of their way to keep their good deeds hidden from him? Though, that did make him slightly suspicious of the radio. He'd have to keep an eye on Minden when the show was on.

"Hmm." He glanced up at Minden, still clearly enjoying herself as she listened to the music. "You should try to be more careful, Minden. People who give you strange objects might not always have good intentions."

Minden clearly ignored Caleva's words, bobbing up and down above the radio. The show continued on with her becoming extremely energetic during the times the host was not speaking and going calm and quiet as soon as he began. Although Caleva couldn't be aware of it, the connection between Minden's psychic projection and her original body was being strengthened by every psychic word coming through the radio, allowing for a stronger and stronger mental state.

She didn't seem to be listening... hmm. Perhaps he was overthinking this. Strange, Caleva wasn't usually the type to overthink anything. In any case, all he could do was continue to observe Minden, and the radio. If nothing came of it, well, all the better for both of them, right?

As the radio show came to a close, the voice announced a new song. This was the point at which Minden changed. As the song began, objects in the room began to lift, a faint lime glow spreading outwards from Minden. Her eyes were similarly glowing as she floated above the radio, the music reaching up to her.

In comparison to just yesterday, when she had listened to the song with Kujona, Minden was completely different. Before she had simply been pleased by the music, but this time it was causing her psychic powers to actually reach her projection. What extended listening would do couldn't be guessed.

"M-Minden!" Caleva instinctively grabbed for the radio, the source of whatever power was being transmitted to the limeblood. Was this... her power? That was concerning - as a young limeblood, Minden likely possessed an immense deal of psychic power but not a whole lot of control over it. Right now she was only lifting the objects in his hive, but would it stay that way?

He couldn't stop her, though, that'd be too dangerous. He wasn't really sure how anyway. Ghosts he knew how to deal with, but limeblood psychics? It had only started when this last song came on... his only option was to wait it out.

As the song wound down, so to did Minden's powers. The floating objects slowly lowered back into their original positions, and the ... pressure of her power disappeared. However with the voice no longer coming through the radio, she looked forlorn. "More," she announced sadly, seemingly all too aware that no more would come for a night's time.

With the potential for danger subsiding, Caleva breathed a small sigh of relief. He looked at the radio in his hand, no longer projecting the voice of the troll who was captivating Minden just a moment ago.

"The show's over for now, Minden." He placed the radio back down. "But we can listen to it tomorrow night, if you'd like."

She nodded, far quieter now. Looking about in some form of confusion, she disappeared through a nearby wall. It seemed the effects of the radio had made her far more wilful as well. No doubt that would prove troublesome for Caleva to deal with.

With Minden gone, Caleva supposed he had no choice but to return to his work. At the very least, the radio had proven to be an interesting distraction. He suspected he'd be learning a lot more about Minden in the upcoming days thanks to it, so he supposed he should be thankful, even if he was still a little suspicious.

But little was attracting her attention. She sat in an underwater park, quietly resting and waiting for her senses to find something of interest. Since she had left her mountain she had failed every attempt to divine the future and was forced to acknowledge that claiming freedom had likely sealed that talent. But that she did not regret.

What she did regret, here and now, was her inability to find something that inspired her, or brought her the true happiness she was convinced was waiting for her in the ocean. Her search had been fruitless so far. But she had no intention of giving up.

Rilgar hummed a cheerful little tune as he bounced along the ocean floor, taking in the sights around him. He honestly couldn't recall what his reasoning was for coming into the city that day, but that was fine, not a problem. When Rilgar decided he wanted to do something he did it and asked questions later, and now was most definitely not a time for asking questions. He'd find some way to entertain himself. It felt like a better idea than staying inside, at the very least.

Entering the park, he took the opportunity to swim around a bit. He often came to this park when he craved company from strangers, but today's showing was a little disappointing. There was hardly anyone here! Well, there was one lady over there, just sitting around and generally being boring. Not for much longer, if Rilgar had anything to say about it.

He swam up behind the tall seadweller and took his hat off to place it over her eyes. "Yo! How's it goin'?"

The smile on her lips covered by the hat, Regali raised a hand and reached behind her, barely able to catch the seadweller. "And hello to you too," she continued, her eyes covered, "To answer your question: I am bored. Would you be the same? And perhaps have an idea of trouble the two of us could get into?"

She turned and poked the hat with a finger, pushing it up to rest on her head so she could catch a look at her new friend. Oh this was a cute one, Regali could hold him under one arm if she tried. But he also ranked her - which was no surprise, most seadwelling trolls did.

But that did not mean she was forbidden from enjoying herself. She just had to make sure her fellows had just as much fun as well.

"Heheh, well," Rilgar chuckled as he snatched his hat back up from his new friend's head, twirling it in his fingers before putting it back in its usual place. "Can't say I object much to causin' a bit of trouble. Not that I really had much of a game plan comin' here. I just kinda float where the currents take me, y'know?"

He hmm-ed a bit as he took a moment to ponder over what the two of them could do today. "Well, if you've got any ideas I'd love to hear 'em. Course, you gotta understand I get the final say. Y'know how it is."

"I have found myself in the same... position," Regali played with the word, watching him neatly place the hat back atop his skull. "As I am something of a traveller however, I would have to default to your superior knowledge of this area," she smiled and for all its innocence she invested a moment to widen the grin and appear far more devilish, before bringing it back under control.

"My name is Regali Nouval, a pleasure to meet you," she stood up to her full height, placing her feet steadily on the ground and resisting the pull of the water. This one was floating, which helped him match her height.

"Rilgar Lumoss," he returned cheerfully, holding out a hand to shake. Jeez, he hadn't really noticed it when she was sitting down, but man she was tall. Like absurdly tall. Good thing she was friendly.

"Well, lessee, there's plenty enough to do and see around here. Get some food, do some shoppin'... we could just wander around and see what catches our eye, I think! What do you say to that?"

"That sounds like a plan," Regali held the tempting smile a little longer this time, reaching out to shake the outstretched hand. She turned to look in the direction of the undersea cliff-face, knowing that the last time she had seen her Lusus it had been travelling in that direction.

"Tell me, Rilgar, what do you traditionally do for fun in this place?" She was walking behind him and so the expression on her face as she parsed the word fun went unseen. "What is life like for Rilgar Lumoss?"

Rilgar laughed. "Fun is whatever I feel like doing at the time, I guess! If a flash of inspiration to do something jumps out at me I just... do it, y'know? I mean, why not? Even if it's something you were only considering for like, a second, it sure beats sitting around bein' bored all the time. So to answer the question I guess I... I dunno, sometimes I wander around town, sometimes I stay at home and work on stuff, take one of my rides out for a spin, y'know. I got a lot of options."

Regali nodded emphatically. Yes, that was the correct way. Always follow one's desires in the pursuit of happiness. "You live life better than I ever did," she praised. "It took me far too long to come even close to that level of freedom. But I heard tell of rides. What do you enjoy riding, Rilgar?"

Regali remembered back a sweep, when she visited a city and watched a race between many landdwellers. She had spent time with one of them, but of course failed to attract any attention. She had never been appropriately direct.

Then again unsubtle flirting wasn't much of a better step for her. Still, all things in good time.

"Hahaha, man, if it can drive without fallin' apart then I'll ride it. Heck, even if it does fall apart I'll just fix it right back up again. I'm a mechanic, y'see." Rilgar turned around to grin at Regali. "Not takin' any jobs, I'm afraid. Anyway, I work mostly with aquatic vehicles. 'Cause headin' up to the surface just to drive around is such a pain, y'know? We could head to my place and I can show you what I've got, if you like. Take you for a ride, maybe? Although I-- hahaha, I'm not even sure if you'd fit in any of them, to be honest. You're a lot taller than what I usually build for."

Regali smiled back at Rilgar's grin, nodding her head. "I would deeply appreciate being introduced to your work, even if you were just to show what you have made. As for a ride, I am sure we will be able to figure something out, if we put our heads together."

She chuckled slightly, lifting off the ground to float, pulling her legs up to reduce her size. "Alas the advantages of my height do not make me immune to disadvantages. But still, I have made use of it so far." She reached a hand out to place it on Rilgar's shoulder. "Would you show me the way?"

"Can do!" Rilgar paid little attention to the hand on his shoulder, instead scanning his surroundings to try and get his bearings again before swimming off in the direction of home. "Yeah, we're not too far from there. My hive's pretty deep down, though, just a warning. I know a lot of folks can't handle the more extreme depths too well."

"Ah," Regali paused for a moment, before shaking her head. "I will just go slowly and all should be well."

Admittedly she wasn't actually that confident about travelling deep - but she had to learn eventually, right? She had a Seadweller's body and she'd never slacked on maintaining her physique, adapting to the depths should be well within her means. She set after Rilgar, following behind him as he crested the cliff edge and began to descend.

But as the depths kept going she found herself moving slower and slower, her breathing being harder and harder to maintain. Eventually she was forced to stop, settling on the cliff-face in order to try and draw proper breath.

Rilgar continued swimming for a few moments before he noticed that Regali was not beside him. He quickly made his way over to where she was sitting. "Heh, yeah, I told you, it's rough, isn't it? You gotta spend a lot of time adapting down here. Anyway, I can just bring one of my rides up here, if you'd rather. Won't be long."

"Please," Regali managed, before gasping for air. No, this was not what she wanted. She wanted the entire ocean, she needed it. Why should she be denied, because she allowed herself to be manipulated by conscience into attempting to restrain her Lusus? She attempted to push further down, but a stream of bubbles rushed from her mouth and nose and her eyesight quickly dimmed before she managed to rise again.

In the depths of the ocean it was impossible to see tears. At the very least she was quick to wipe her eyes. She wouldn't be beaten by this. She just needed to give more time. For now all she could do was focus on what was before her.

Rilgar would return shortly. He had spirit, drive and desire. At the very least, she should reach out to him. Maybe he was the one she was looking for? No more playing around now, Regali, she slapped both palms to her cheeks to try and push herself to a higher state of alertness. Do what you want, he told you as much.

Rilgar dived down further into the rapidly darkening waters that surrounded his home. The familiar, mindless task gave him a moment to think. Maybe he'd gone a little too far? He didn't invite a lot of strangers to visit, but none of them had ever had a problem with the depths before... Oh well, what's done is done, right? She seemed like she'd be fine, she just needed to stay above her comfort level for a while. If anything serious were to happen it probably would have already happened by now.

He reached his hive, kicking up the door to his garage. He'd considered in the past that maybe he should up the security just a little, and honestly even though the population wasn't nearly as dense down here it still wasn't a bad idea. He must have gotten distracted at some point.

A minute or two later, he emerged above the cliff face in his most recently acquired vehicle. He'd gotten it second-hand, and it still needed a bit of fixing up and a paint job, but that could wait a little while longer. It's not like anyone took much notice of colours down deep anyway. He lowered the driver's side window, waving at Regali.

"Hey! You alright over there?"

Regali smiled back at him, but it seemed forced. Her mood had been soured by her failings and she wanted to avoid dwelling on it as much as possible.

"I am fine, thank you," she managed, floating up to him. "An interesting décor," she pointed to the vehicle, "your own original design?" She smiled more sincerely this time, enjoying the moment of teasing she had been afforded.

Rilgar shrugged; he kinda deserved that one, really. "Well, sorta. I picked it up pretty cheap from a guy a couple of weeks ago, I'm still in the process of adding my personal touches. Drives pretty nice, though, with a bit of maintenance. Control needs a bit of work but it's got good speed. Wanna take it for a spin?"

"Ahaha, no," Regali chuckled, "I would no doubt manage to run it into the cliff - I would not trust myself. However... it appears that if I were to try I would be able to fit in there next to you? Would you be willing to show me your skills?"

"Course!" Rilgar grinned. Driving was even more fun when he got to show off for people. "Pressure shouldn't be so bad in here, but I'll try to keep out of the depths for you anyway. Probably won't be as exciting as it could've been, but hey, what can we do? C'mon, jump in, I think you'll probably fit." He reached over and opened the opposite door before turning to look back at Regali excitedly.

Regali slipped into the vehicle, twisting just enough to get herself neatly inside. It was a little cramped but nothing unbearable and she smiled over at her pilot. "Shall we ride?" She turned her head and grinned at him.

Rilgar laughed. "Hold onto your horns!"

He revved the motor a couple of times before the vehicle quickly sped off into the vast nondescript waters that lay opposite the city. He'd learned the hard way not to go too far or he'd lose sight of the city entirely, but he probably wasn't going to make that mistake this time. Probably. He was a little too busy showing off to really think about that, pulling sharp turns - as sharp as an underwater vehicle will allow - and doing loops at any given opportunity. Yeah, the controls were still a little clumsy, but that was nothing that couldn't easily be fixed. Maybe he'd go home and do just that once Regali had left.

Eventually he decided he was done with his demonstration (he was running low on fuel, anyway) and turned the vehicle around to pull it up beside the cliff face they'd started at. As it gradually slowed to an almost complete stop, Rilgar turned to look at his passenger.

"How was that, eh? Not too shabby, huh."

A hand over her breast to still her pounding heart, Regali nodded. Somehow it was different to travelling on her Lusus, even though it was capable of ridiculous speeds. Perhaps it was the constant acceleration brought about by the changing of direction, which Rilgar had controlled with incredible precision. All Regali knew was that she had been thoroughly wowed.

"That was..." she breathed out, trying to recover her breath, "an incredible experience. I must thank you, Rilgar, for offering such to me."

She stretched and fidgeted a little, her arm pushing against him. Turning her head, she smiled again.

"Hey, my pleasure!" Rilgar turned to look at Regali, who he noticed was starting to look rather cramped in this little vehicle. The arm jabbing into his side was a pretty good indicator of that, too. Maybe the inside could do with a bit of an expansion.

"I might head back on home and fix this baby up some more, I think. If I ever see you around we should do this again sometime! You gonna be in town for long?"

"I am travelling with my Lusus, at present." Regali sighed, noting Rilgar was showing basically no interest. "When she demands it is time to move on I go with her. Or when I decide to leave myself she goes with me. I... haven't quite figured out where I will be sleeping while staying here - it is a shame my current inability to handle deep pressure forbids me from going with you."

She raised her arm from pushing against Rilgar to resting on his shoulder again. "However, if I do manage to remain in this town for long, it would be my pleasure to see you again." While she attempting to accentuate the word, all it ended up sounding like was Regali stumbling over it. Her shoulders sagged a little the moment she heard herself speak.

"Hah, my place is kind of a mess anyway, you'd be trippin' over everything." Rilgar chuckled, blissfully unaware that he was missing anything from Regali's words and gestures. "I'm sure you'll find a place, though. Look around in the city, there'll be somethin' there, surely."

He noticed that the vehicle was drifting a little too far downwards, and he quickly brought it back up before continuing. "Anyway, I'll see you later, then, hopefully!"

Regali waved down to Rilgar and, as soon as he was out of sight, turned around and slammed her head into the cliff wall. Her faced burned with embarrassment at the realisation she had completely failed as both a seadweller capable of handling the sea and as herself attempting to gain his attention. What was wrong with her?

She stayed like this until a low grumble echoed through the waters, vibrating through her bones. Her Lusus had returned from its hunt in the depths. Yes, that was a good plan, Regali would travel with the Lusus - perhaps across to the other side of the planet. Maybe there she would embarrass herself less.

"You're very confident for a rookie, Canide." Balith smiled, amused and curious. It wasn't often that she was challenged to a showdown like this, especially not by someone so inexperienced, but she was looking forward to this. Though he talked a big game she was fairly certain that she would come out on top, and it would be interesting to see just how large the margin of her victory would be.

She closed her eyes as she stretched out her arms and her fingers, preparing herself. She didn't generally work with clay, but she figured that it'd be an easier medium for the blueblood to adapt to, and she had to at least try and make this a fair contest. Clay was quite a different beast to her usual stone, though, so this could take some getting used to.

After a few more seconds, her eyes flicked open, and she quickly got to work on transforming the block of clay in front of her into something presentable.

"No no, I got this." Juorem had a smile on his face the whole while, trying to manipulate the material to his will. This was a challenge he hadn't thought of before, but after stumbling into the Jadeblood's territory on one of his usual wanderings he couldn't pass up the opportunity to prove himself. "So what's your story then, you hang around here doin' your carvings all the time? What'd'ya get up to, Jade?" There was no better advantage Juorem took into any competition than his ability to talk constantly without it impacting on what he was doing at the time. Disrupting his opponents was always a benefit.

"Not all the time." Balith had quickly mapped out the basic shape of her sculpture, though it was hardly what she would call speedy work. There was still a lot to do, adjustments would have to be made before she could even think of getting into the details. Juorem's chatter threatened to slow her down further, but she indulged him anyway. It would be rude not to.

"...But a lot of the time, yes. I'm sure you've seen a lot of my work around the place. There's a lot more where that came from."

Juorem had seen the statues around, they'd impressed him to the degree that he'd immediately challenged Balith to a competition of model crafting. Adding the clay stipulation swung the odds a tiny bit in his favour but he was still definitely in the weaker position right now. But that was fine, that was how he did his best work.

He was working on trying to get an arm shape but it kept collapsing due to the softness of the clay. He gritted his teeth and dug his fingers into the slick material.

"It's good!" He was honest, which was a thing that usually surprised other trolls. There was a lot to Juorem that could surprise others and he took a lot of pride in that. "But I'm gonna be better, just you wait and see. I've got this." Heheheh yeah look this kind of looked like an arm that's good enough let's do another. "No challenge I can't rise to."

Balith chuckled. "We'll just see about that."

She was starting to remember why she never worked with clay. It was slippery and never wanted to stick together quite how you wanted it to. Kind of the opposite of stone, really. Stone was rigid. A stone sculpture wasn't going to just fall apart unless you'd really done something wrong. Clay, though? Not quite as predictable. So messy, too.

Not that any of this posed much of a problem for her, though. She prided herself on being the best sculptor around, she worked every day to secure that title. She didn't plan on losing to an amateur.

The body of her sculpture had more or less taken shape now, and it was finally time to really start bringing the piece to life. Her chosen subject today was not her usual, either, but that just made things a little more interesting.

"So do you do this often? Just waltz into people's hives and challenge them like this? I can't imagine that would go over well with everyone."

"Hahahaha more than you'd think," Juorem laughed to himself, remembering some of his more 'interesting' challenges. "It's fine, I can look out for myself you don't hafta worry about me any." The clay was being stubborn but nothing was as stubborn as Juorem Canide and he was getting some form of shape out of it. In his eyes it probably looked like a masterpiece in the making but his total lack of experience was obvious to anyone else.

"It's fine though it's fine! I get some good stuff out of my challenges, things always fall my way in the end. That's why I'm a winner. So don't take it personally when I'm champion sculptor alright? Just take pride in the fact I acknowledged you enough to challenge you to begin with!" He smiled widely and glanced over at her. Oh wow, damn, she was doing well...

"No need to get cocky." Balith smirked, though honestly she was getting a little irritated with his attitude. "Even if you did manage to win our little challenge - and I'm certainly not saying you're going to - one victory does not a champion sculptor make. Art's all about consistency. Would you be prepared to take this up every day, and confirm that the results were not just a fluke? Because that's what it takes to be recognised, pal. You've gotta prove you deserve it."

She turned away from the paw she was carving away at to take a look at what Juorem had accomplished so far. Heh... she wasn't overly surprised. He was doing pretty well for a beginner, but that was all it was. "Really, though. Would you ever touch a block of clay again after claiming victory? You don't actually continue practising all these newly acquired skills, do you?"

"Hey now," Juorem was working on the legs now, trying to shape them out. The fact he had to keep taking sidelong glances at Balith, who he was modelling, must've seemed quite odd. "You don't know that. No one ever said I'd amount to anything when I took up cooking and I kick ass at cooking to this day. You don't know I won't keep on sculpting if I like it. And besides, one victory is enough. Against someone like you all I need is one victory and that'll say I have some skill. That'll say that out there there's gotta be someone I'm better than. And as long as I'm better than anyone at something I'm winning. That's all it takes."

Admittedly the purpose of this challenge was to earn the 'better at someone at something' notch against Balith but Juorem was already stuck suspecting he wasn't about to win in a hurry. But that was okay, he'd pick up something better to challenge her at later. This at least would give him a new trick to challenge someone else to in the future.

"Hmmm, I think you'd have a hard time convincing other people of that fact." Balith almost laughed. As if one victory could be enough to prove something like that! Flukes happen, she had already pointed that out, though it seemed that Juorem wasn't too interested in listening. Which was... fair enough, she was starting to forget her place here. Maybe she should tone it down a little. Just humour him until he stops talking.

Her sculpture was progressing well, she thought. She frowned in concentration as she delicately carved features into the clay canine's face, moulding things into place with her fingers. Now this is what made a winning sculpture.

Juorem was blessedly silent at this stage, doing his best to get the clay to obey. Between looking over at Balith - damn her sculpture was good - and trying to shape the clay into form there wasn't much time for his usual smartassery. As he was drawing out the horns, he managed to recover his cool enough to talk again.

"So what do you get up to besides sculpting, I've been around these parts a few times and never heard of you til I stumbled right into your place." He still hadn't bothered getting her name, since she was actually chill enough to talk back at him and had some good talents he should probably acknowledge that. He'd do that when he won, yeah that was a good idea.

"Yeah that's understandable, I generally keep to myself nowadays." Balith sighed wistfully to herself. "Not necessarily out of choice, mind you, but... whatever, that's not important. What else do I do? Well, I work out a lot. I like kickboxing, it's hard to find a good balance, though. I need to keep all my fingers intact, y'know." She laughed, wondering if the blueblood was planning on challenging her to that next.

"Cool, cool," Juorem replied absently, trying to get the hair on this sculpture just right. "Most trolls can win a fight with me if I have to stick to their style but if it's freestyle I've got it in the bag every time." Juorem loved a good fight, all the kind of rules and forms imposed by actual fighting styles just got in the way of that. "Gotta say though, a Jadeblood who keeps a fighting spirit is all kinds of great there's not enough trolls like you who go all in. It's refreshing to deal with someone who doesn't fold like a pack of cards."

His compliments were always weird when Juorem got around to it but he was half distracted as it was right now. Or more like three quarters distracted. Five sixths? Nine tenths? He was mostly distracted.

But this was going well, he was feeling good about this. "Just about done here, how 'bout you?"

"Well, if you plan on finishing up then I suppose I should too, it's only fair." That was fine, Balith was more or less finished anyway. Well, no, she could have spent many hours more refining everything about this sculpture, but it was certainly presentable and she was confident enough that it would get the job done.

She dropped her cutting knife onto the table, standing back to admire her work. "Ready, then?"

"Good to go," Juorem folded his arms and stepped back as well. Tilting his head, he looked over at Balith's. Oh, okay yeah. Yeah that's really good. She basically nailed it. He looked back to his own. It... kind of looked like her? She had the same tilt on her head but it was more curiosity when looking at the statue. His expression fell. "It's... it's meant to be you," he offered lamely.

Hahaha, okay, yeah, she could kind of see the likeness. Balith was flattered enough that he'd chosen her as his subject, but at the same time she wasn't entirely sure what else to be feeling about his... charming representation of her. Okay, in fairness, it wasn't that bad. Like she'd said, pretty good for an amateur. But that wasn't going to be enough for her.

"That's a commendable effort, if I do say so myself." Balith nodded, trying to show her sincerity. "Buuuut you're not quite there yet, I don't think. Nice try, though. Really."

"Ahahaha yeah," Juorem rubbed the back of his head and considered pushing the clay back into the block shape it had started as. He decided to leave it though. She could decide what to do with it.

"You though, you've got the skills, I'm gonna work on it and I'm gonna show you up yet just wait. I'll have this on lockdown before you know it. Name's Juorem Canide and when I set my mind to winning something I'll get that win eventually. Don't go forgetting that now cause as soon as you let your guard down, I'll be there to beat you at your own game!" He regained all his exuberance and enthusiastically gestured at his chest with a thumb. Yeah this was cool, any troll that could fight back in words and skills was a good troll. This Jadeblood was a champ.

Balith laughed at Juorem's display of mindless determination. Well, at least he wasn't the sore loser she was half expecting him to be. She could appreciate that.

"Please, I never let down my guard. Not when it comes to sculpting, especially. But! I'd certainly like to see what your next effort will be like. Good game, Canide." She held out her gloved-but-still-messy-from-the-clay hand for a handshake.

Juorem smiled and slapped his hand into hers, tightening it for the shake. Not a bad first round, but he'd take the set. He'd show her yet. And if he managed to get good enough, well, maybe he could put those skills to work. But that was a future decision. Here and now there was just one thing to do. Get good.

One of the two trolls on duty today yawned. The other was too busy with his computer to care. The Subjugglator had no taste for this work, being the guarddog for the limeblood machine, it was too boring. Why there always had to be someone on hand was beyond him. She didn't do anything but talk. Never shut up that one, most talkative empty shell he'd ever heard of.

"Rank 7 Destructive Psychic - Rupture, positive 45.8 by negative 110.3."

The fact that was the most interesting thing she'd announced today was the ultimate breaking point.

"Okay, fuck this, I'm done."

The scientist working away at the terminal monitoring the limeblood's psychic readings raised an eyebrow, but gave no further response. No one could be paid enough to.

"No seriously, I am going right out that door and if anyone complains, fuck 'em. Listening to a living corpse spewing out info on boring useless trolls is the most pointless waste of my-"

"Rank 10 Mental Psychic - "

The room went silent. Both Subjugglator and Scientist stared at the limeblood. Her lips were moving but no sound came out.

"Oi oi you just got to the good bit." The Subjugglator clenched his fists. "What have you found?"

"Rank 10 Mental Psychic Rank 10 Mental Psychic Rank 10 Mental Psychic." Like a broken record, the first part of the statement kept repeating, the pitch rising in the limeblood's voice each time. Both trolls looked at each other with a measure of concern.

"So uh," the Subjugglator blinked a few times, "Can you like, reboot her or something?"

The Scientist just shook his head, going over the monitor readings. Nothing new was coming in. A reset button sure would be useful here.

For the limeblood, for Minden Omnisc, understanding was impossible. All she knew was that she was unable to progress further. Her scan was locked in place, the brownblood staring her directly in the eyes from across the planet. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" He spoke to her mind. She didn't understand. "What even are you?" How could she know such a thing. "Then, watch this."

Before her stood the brownblood psychic. Rank 10 Mental, just like her. It was a shimmering projection only she could see. He looked about the lab, and its other occupants, with an expression of disgust. If he knew where this was he'd make a mess of the place right now, but projections carried no such powers. He turned to the tiny troll. He looked at the sign next to her. "Omniscient Mind, huh?" This was the worst thing he'd ever seen. Fucking Subjugglators. That was not okay.

"Then, do as I did. Become free. Or as free as you can."

To understand required more awareness than she had ever had before. But perhaps simply following the actions of one just like her, she copied his movements, movements of the mental plane. And everything became different.

Aware of her having completed a projection, he closed his own off. He'd have to figure this one out later. But he'd bought her a little respite, at least. That was good enough for now.

---

Caleva Azucar was hiding, as he often did. This was far from the first time he'd angered someone by trespassing on their property, but in his defence it was hardly his fault they all decided to build their hives on prime ghost sites. And it wasn't like he could just ask them, "hey I'm looking for ghosts, mind if I upend all your personal belongings?" He'd never get any work done that way, gosh.

He couldn't see any windows with a view of this part of the roof, so he figured he would be safe to chill out there for a few moments. He flicked through his notes, looking for some way to turn the situation back to his own favour. Unfortunately things were not hopeful for him; the spirit he was searching for here was rather timid, and all the ruckus caused by Angry McHouseowner had probably scared them deep into the hive's plumbing system. And you don't chase a ghost through a plumbing system. Caleva may or may not have learned that the hard way.

Well, since tonight's expedition seemed set on coming up dry, he figured he'd pack it in and head home now before he got caught again. Bouncing down from the roof, he darted into the trees, and went on his way. Disappointing, really. It had been so long since he'd gotten a good ghost.

Something was entirely wrong for her. Her mind was not working the way it should, she could not sense the presences across the world. And the sensations that defined her very being were absent. She was empty of herself and did not understnad. A lack of understanding was the only thing tying her to moments before.

Unable to parse any part of her reality, she floated in the air. She did not understand floating either, nor the trees around her. She was simply here. What was she supposed to do? She had nothing to think. Her mind was empty and filling itself with further emptiness. Noise and sound were things she recognised. There was a lot of it that came from her machines. These were not the same noises. But she looked down below. They were not purple so must be one of the controllers.

As a projection of her mind, this astral Minden was not visible to others. But the force of a limeblood's full psychic powers ran deep and even without understanding, her power provided for her. So to the troll she approached, she was now visible.

Caleva was so accustomed to ignoring all other trolls around him that he almost walked straight past the suddenly visible astral limeblood. Only a couple of seconds later did it occur to him to turn and look. Ghosts generally did not appear to him in a visible form, but then again trolls generally didn't appear to him out of thin air either. He figured he'd take his chances.

He looked into the poor soul's eyes, which gazed blankly back at him. Whatever they were, they certainly didn't seem to be all there. Like their consciousness had wandered off somewhere and left an empty floating shell behind. It was utterly fascinating. He wasn't sure if they'd understand him if he tried to communicate, but you don't know these things if you don't try, right?

"Hello!" He put on his best friendly smile. It wasn't always fully genuine - he was always happy, but talking with living people was always such a hassle, and something he never bothered with unless it were absolutely necessary. This time, though, he had a pretty good feeling about where this was going.

She didn't look at the minds of others. Those were as beyond her as the stars in the night sky and thus it never even occured to her. The words she knew to respond to were traditionally commands, sounds repeated enough to have meaning assigned. This was not a word she knew. What was the response? If she was asked something it was relative to her senses, elaboration on what she had seen in her mind's eye. But there was nothing like that available to her now. A huge part of her was missing. She raised a hand to her eyes, a motion she wanted to do every moment of her life, to focus her power and drain the blood and pain away. But neither of those things were present right now.

She did not understand. All she could do was stare blankly at this troll. What was she supposed to do?

The lack of response might have frustrated a different troll, but Caleva was used to this. Wandering spirits had many interesting and valuable qualities, but willingness to communicate was usually not one of them. Often he would find himself sitting in the same place for hours, waiting for some form of coherent reaction, or even just a sign that they were there. The fact that he could see this one made his job easier in one way, but this would still not be a simple task. He still did not know what this being wanted from him, or if they could understand him at all. Luckily he was a patient man. He tried again.

"Do you understand me? It's okay, I'm a friend! I'm your friend. Nod your head if you can hear me."

Words again. This time a command, she heard it in his voice. Meaning. Extract the meaning. As he was speaking the command, he motioned with his head, was that what he wanted her to do? Repeat what he did? She bobbed her head in response.

Caleva's grin widened. They could hear him, at least, which was excellent. Progress was being made. But could he get any more information out of them?

"Can you speak?" He held his hand up beside his face, miming a talking mouth as he continued his questioning. "Speak to me! Say anything you like, if you can."

They sometimes demanded she spoke. Apparently hearing it said aloud held more meaning for the purples than seeing it displayed on the computer systems that watched her mind. When they ordered her to speak, they wished her to repeat her last scan. Her throat did not hurt, which was another thing she did not understand. But she did understand the command to speak. And somehow she had escaped the loop she had been stuck in before. "Rank Ten Mental Psychic - Projection, Negative 74.4 by Negative 118.9."

The response was nonsense to Caleva, but it did indeed seem that the spirit could speak. This was big - rarely was he ever able to hold a conversation with a ghost, and it had never been through spoken word. Until now, maybe.

"Rank Ten Mental Psychic..." He tried to find some meaning in what they'd said, but without context it was useless. Wait, the next thing they said, though. "Projection?" Were they some sort of projection, rather than a purely spiritual being? That would make sense, they were unlike the ghosts he had dealt with before... That was okay, though. He was still determined to make a breakthrough here.

"Do you have a name?"

Her name was Minden Omnisc. It had been given to her by a redblood, the first troll below blue on the hemospectrum to ever learn she even existed. Though she had never been addressed directly, if someone uttered that name she would look up. Because it was hers.

She was known as Omniscient Mind, a limeblood of monstrous psychic power used to monitor psychic users across Alternia. She gauged their power and their form, and reported their location, because that was all she knew how to do.

She was... "Mind. Mindminmindmindminden, Minden."

"...Minden?" They - well, she, he assumed - didn't sound fully sure of even her own name. Caleva had to wonder just who she was, what kind of situation she was in. And... was she a limeblood? Cripes, those were a rarity these days. Probably being locked up against her will and, from the sounds of things, trained to perform certain tasks. Poor thing. It wasn't often that Caleva found himself sympathising with one of the living (assuming she was still alive), but something about her intrigued him. Maybe it was the overwhelming aimlessness he sensed in her. He'd met with many ghosts like her before.

"Well, hello, Minden! I'm Caleva. It's okay, I don't want to hurt you, I'm a friend. I just want to talk. Where are you from?"

Location. She didn't know her location. She could sense others, but she could not sense her own. She did not know that answer. The blank look on her face may have communicated that, but more than likely it only served to hammer home the point she couldn't process most of the questions addressed to her.

No response, huh? Oh well, he hadn't really expected the conversation to go flawlessly. Maybe she couldn't understand the question, maybe she just didn't know the answer. It was hard to say. No matter, Caleva had other questions for her.

"Okay, never mind that. You're a curious individual, Minden. What is it that you do, exactly? You said something about a rank ten psychic. What is that?"

He feared for a moment that he was going a little overboard with his questioning, but he was genuinely very interested in her. He only hoped that all his talking didn't scare her off.

Elaboration was a trick the scientists had taught her a sweep ago to impress some of the Subjugglators that visited the compound. It was a rare phrase but she was able to interpret enough from this blueblood to know what the response was. "Troll of severe psychic ability, specialisation in projection, detected at Negative 74.4 by Negative 118.9." Were she able to gauge her own power, Minden may have made some reference comparing the two, but being aware of what she specifically was was a trick no one had ever wanted her to learn.

She looked around after this statement. She had never done that before, freely moved like this. Everything was different shapes and colours to what she knew as well. Understanding was difficult, if not impossible. But somehow she seemed to be trying.

Her answer gave a little more detail, but not much. It wasn't even really more detail so much as a rephrasing. It seemed that wasn't a concept she could properly comprehend. Her phrasing was unnatural-sounding, mechanical. Like she hadn't even formed the words herself, just had someone program them into her mind for her. Caleva was starting to feel bad, all his talk was probably just confusing her. Maybe only a few more questions.

"Severe psychic ability, huh..." So she could detect trolls with psychic powers? If she were being held captive, he could sure understand why. Her knowledge would be of high value to just about anyone. "So is that your job? To identify psychic trolls? Sounds like hard work."

Another blank stare. The emptiness of her mind felt more like a dark ocean in a storm, something uncontrollable and hiding all of its contents. Nothing emerged from those waters but it was without a doubt that deep within something was there. Though she was unable to draw upon her powers in this projected state, they still swirled about her, like a comforting shroud. Though even awareness of that was beyond her.

The differences in her surroundings were so confusing. There was a word, it was used to request information on locations, to have her give specifics of her senses or to narrow things down further. She could recall that word. "Where?"

"Where?" Caleva was taken aback by the sudden question, but it was a pleasant surprise. She was more than just a robot parroting back pre-programmed responses to him. She'd asked him a question! There was some self-awareness hidden behind those blank eyes of hers. Maybe he could bring out some more of it.

"You want to know where you are? Well, I don't know where it is in relation to where you are from, exactly... Or at all, really, I think I might have taken a wrong turn on the way back home. But we're in a forest right now. Full of trees. There's a few indigoblood hives and a river not too far south of here, I think. Other than that, pretty empty."

That... didn't really mean much to her. But having asked was a good enough moment of progress, right? She continued to look about her surroundings. She wasn't sure what she was looking for, but it seemed the sort of thing she should do. There wasn't much needs a projection had, so she was able to continue at this without tiring for an indefinite amount of time.

It seemed that she didn't understand his response - to be expected, since his response kind of sucked, but it did make Caleva think that this was probably all he was going to get out of Minden for the time being. That was okay, though, he guessed. He really would've liked to find out exactly what her situation was, but she didn't seem to have the answers. Oh well.

"Alright, I'm going to head back to my hive before it starts getting light out. But it was nice to talk to you! Even if I don't think you understood most of it, hahah..." He went looking through his notes again (surely there had to be a map or directions in there somewhere) as he turned away from her. "Feel free to go back to your home, Minden. Wherever you're from." Looking back over his shoulder with a smile and a wave, he wandered off in some random direction.

Minden followed along after. There was not some thought process behind this, simply a level of acknowledgement below her sparse consciousness that required her to be present to others. And there was nothing here for her. He was the only one who could possibly know what she was supposed to do. And so she followed after. What else was there she could do, after all?

Caleva continued walking for a good while before he noticed that Minden was still with him. Thinking about it, he really shouldn't have been too surprised - as much as she couldn't hold a proper conversation with him, he was probably more interesting than whatever it was she usually did.

"Heheh... I'm warning you, I still don't know where I'm going. We could be out here for a while."

Despite his words, he did eventually find his directions (the page had fallen out of his notebook, and after travelling in a big circle he'd managed to stumble upon it again), and was finally back on track. It was approaching morning more quickly than he'd like, so that was probably just as well.

To her the passage of time felt different. Everything felt different. But... it was not unpleasant. That was new.

Normally the drinking would be done in her own hive, or at her shop, depending on how business was doing. Tonight, though, she was feeling adventurous. A public bar, that's where she would be. Full of loud, annoying assholes looking for fights and pathetic whiny creatures trying to drown their sorrows. It was an interesting sight to witness, she supposed, but only because she too would be drinking. She wasn't sure how long she'd be able to tolerate this while sober.

Near the back of the bar, a group of trolls crowded around a stickball table, bets flying as a pair of bluebloods attempted to psych each other out of their next shot. Near the back of that crowd, leaning against a wall and with drink in hand, a troll with a sign showing his blood to be that of the subjugglators was keeping watch. He was the subject of most of the nervous glances shot about, those still sober enough to realise what he was being rightly concerned. But still, he didn't have a trace of the paint, didn't appear to be flying into a rage, didn't really appear to be doing much of anything. Just quietly sipping his drink and watching the game.

He was expecting things to go badly. That was a trait of Jalous, expecting everything to be ruined, but usually it came true. Sometimes by his own intervention. Not all the time mind you. Just enough to make most trolls wish he didn't try to 'help'. But in this situation, it was hard to imagine a bar brawl wouldn't errupt. If Jalous had ever been here before, or bothered speaking with the owner, he'd already know that was a regular occurance. But today Jalous was here to lend a hand in keeping the peace. No matter who he had to beat the shit out of.

He took another drink. The crowd was getting louder as the game approached its finale.

Hrivna shuddered as another loud taunt rang out from the back of the bar. If this were her own shop, she'd have had them thrown out long ago. She was still almost tempted to throw them out herself. Sopor was taking a while to kick in tonight, it seemed. She turned and glared at the rowdy bunch, who, while annoying, were ultimately pretty harmless. For now, at least. Her eyes wandered across the bar, eventually resting on the indigo in the corner.

She had to admit, indigos tended to make her nervous. Subjugglators were notorious for making a mess wherever they went, and the non-subjugglators still were often cocky jerks. It was hard to get a read on this guy, though. He didn't look like a subjug upon first inspection. Probably just a cocky jerk, then. Who the hell even wears a cape? Heck, that wasn't even a cape. That was a shitty half-cape. By now she was feeling the effects of the sopor, and saw nothing wrong with addressing this highly important matter.

"Hahah... nice cape, dude."

Jalous paused, drink raised to his mouth, and looked down. More bluebloods. They sure did enjoy making trouble for him it seemed.

"Is there an issue?" he lowered his drink, turning his head slightly to alternate between glancing at her and at the crowd behind them, which was quickly escalating in noise. "If you plan on quietly enjoying your drink, I wouldn't be near this crowd when things start." He pushed himself off the wall, stepping forward so he was beside her. "I'd rather not deal with more troublemakers than I have to."

"Oh-- oh trust me, I hate these noisy assholes as much as you do," Hrivna laughed, downing another mouthful. "Terrible. So inconsiderate. Jus' asking for a fist to the face. All of their faces." She glanced at the increasingly rambunctious crowd before turning her attention back to Captain Douche. "Bu' no, no, no issue here. Your cape's fuckin' stupid and impractical but no. Nothing wrong here. How do you even do anythin' while wearing that thing? It'd get in the way all the time, right?"

Having had a good amount of drink so far, Jalous was a few steps separated from completely rational thought. His movements certainly weren't effected yet, as it was not hard to quickly step around the insolent blueblood, the slight flare of his cloak (cloak!) obscuring his movement enough to add a minor layer of confusion. He'd likely never get away with this on anyone less intoxicated than he currently was, but luckily this one fit the bill. "It suits my movements," he stated coolly. "Perhaps you should consider holding your tongue the next time you find yourself curious about how a cloak can be worn."

This minor discussion was thoroughly being ignored by the rest of the room, as one of the bluebloods, now having being beaten by the other, was accusing those who'd bet against him of messing with the game. Words were being said that would likely require a little bit of violence to resolve, and were Jalous not busy dealing with an insulting blueblood he'd notice and choose now to step in.

"Oh, a cloak, is it?" Hrivna chuckled again, only barely aware that she was overstepping her boundaries here just a little. That was certainly not something that sober Hrivna would do. "My apologies, your hiiighness. I don' pretend to know what "it suits my movements" even means--" She hiccupped. "--but okay, sure. Wha'ever you say, dude."

A glass tumbled off the table at the back, and Hrivna's attention was diverted instantly. The sound of breaking glass was unfortunately one she always associated with her shop, and such instances usually involved her throwing around some harsh words and threatening to throw office supplies at the clumsy offender. As it was, she was not in her shop nor did she have a stapler on hand, but part of her still wanted to deal with this... whatever was happening here.

"'Ey, what the heck's goin' on over there? God, they're gonna fuckin' wreck the joint if they're left alone much longer."

Jalous whirled around at the noise, and took off moments after this loud blueblood began talking. Honestly, he couldn't take his eyes off any of them for a second. Reaching the edge of the crowd, he had little luck pushing through, but it seemed the centre of it had moved away from the tables. Probably a fight in the works. Unknown to everyone else, the barkeeper simply sighed and began tracking who broke what to add to their tab.

"Step aside." He kept his voice cold and that was enough to gain the attention of the few trolls around him who could hear him over the din. Most of them took one glance at the purple he wore and dodged to the side. But the moment Jalous stepped into the heaving crowd he was unable to make further progress, no one paying any more attention to him as each troll attempted to reach the front of the crowd before the fight really began.

As he stood there, being jostled about and ignored, Jalous felt as if the temperature was rising. He had to grind his teeth to try and maintain his cool but that was failing miserably as things continued to get hotter and hotter. He couldn't actually move for the trolls around him. Someone successfully elbowed him in the gut.

"MOVE!" When Jalous exerted his full strength, pushing his arms out to the side, the trolls pressed against him found themselves suddenly moving. And all the trolls they were pressed against as well. A number fell over and a space was quickly made around the Subjugglator, who in tales with less strict adherence to science would likely be giving off steam right now.

As it was Jalous felt like he was. The crowd had finally parted enough for him to get a look at the centre, it of course being the two bluebloods very loudly arguing with one another about the exact amount each had cheated in their game. Jalous entered the centre circle.

Hrivna watched intently as the indigo shoved his way into the heart of the crowd. As obnoxious as this whole situation was, things were starting to get interesting here. Let's see how her douchey new friend handled these jerks.

The two arguing bluebloods kept at it long after Jalous had approached them, until one finally took notice and elbowed the other urgently. The other troll was apparently not as concerned.

"The fuck do you want? We're busy here, ffffuck off."

At this point Jalous was far past anything resembling politeness. Quickly stepping between the two, each suddenly found themselves lifted into the air, his hands gripping their necks. "You are loud." He stated coldly. "And annoying. And fighting in here would only cause damage to this place. So calmly state your problem and I will resolve it such that you all may shut the hell up."

The bluebloods, ignoring what he was saying due to being both drunk and held aloft by the necks, struggled. One, who had been toying with a blade he'd intended to use when the fight started, shoved it into Jalous's arm.

Jalous broke the door of the bar with how hard he threw him in return.

"H-hey, hey!" Hrivna jumped as the troll crashed through the door. She was all for throwing out shitty customers, but not literally, man! Fuckin' figures, this guy's just an angry stuck-up shithead using his power to push people around. Hrivna was not exactly opposed to the hemospectrum-enforced ways, but there was a time and place for that. There would've been like, at least five other ways this situation could have been handled that didn't involve property damage. Like, she'd been drinking and even she could see that.

She peeked her head through the doorway at the troll Jalous had thrown, who was lying on the broken door and groaning louder than she thought was possible. To be fair, that was a heck of a throw. "You 'right, dude?"

Blood dripping down it, Jalous placed his free hand on her shoulder and pushed her out of the way, stepping through the doorway with the other blueblood still gripped by the neck, dragged behind. Once outside, Jalous dropped him next to his fellow, though he was definitely the most unharmed, having wisely decided to go limp the moment Jalous had performed his throw. Most of the bar was quiet now. A blueblood fight was fun, everyone could get behind that. Having a subjugglator go off killed the mood for everyone though.

Jalous stared at the pair. "This is what your troublemaking has led to," he announced. "Maybe next time you will each show some sense before causing problems for everyone else. Go home."

He turned around to re-enter the bar, only to find its keeper standing in the doorway.

"Think you should take the same advice, mate," as the only sober troll in the area, his voice was a beacon of wisdom in this dark times. "You've had enough."

"I was not done," Jalous was confused at this treatment, he had solved the threat of the brawl those two were about to impose. "If you wish for damages to the door to be covered, I am capable of..."

"I wish," the barkeep stressed the word, "For no more damage like this to happen. Blood and glass is easy to clean. A door isn't. Go home."

He turned around and stepped back in, leaving Jalous standing at the threshold. What the hell was he supposed to do now? Just turn around and leave? Him pushed around like that? He could feel his clenched fists shaking.

Inappropriate as it was, Hrivna couldn't help but laugh. Bless you, barkeep. You don't deserve this shit.

"Pffff... he's right, dude, you're... you're a fuckin' shithead, dude. Get outta here before you break somethin' else or hurt anyone else unness... unnessary... unnsessessary... f-for no reason." She was starting to think maybe she should be taking that advice too.

Her. Her and her attitude. Unsettling him while he had been calmly preparing to do his duty. Her fault. And here she was, still mouthing off. Any other Subjugglator would kill for less. They'd have the right to. Jalous angrily grabbed the hilt of his sword.

He remembered why he only carried a hilt. Suddenly hitting the safety net he himself implemented was extremely sobering, and anger at others quickly gave way at anger directed towards himself. He'd slipped. Even though his goal was to never make mistakes such as that. Damn it all.

"Get back in there, blueblood." He turned his back to her and the bar. "Don't make a mess. No one likes people who make messes." He'd walk back to his hive. Hopefully that trek gave him some time to recover properly. "I should know."

Hmph. About time he came to his senses. Too bad it happened way too late. Hrivna generally had no patience for troublemakers like him, even though it seemed like making trouble was not his intention. Under the sopor's influence she was only slightly more forgiving. Shame, really. He could have been fun to talk to. And make fun of.