Egg: hatch.

Discussion in 'Boat Trolls RP' started by roach, Jul 13, 2015.

  1. roach

    roach hump rumpus professional

    You take advantage of your son's momentary distraction to put your paw in the syrup. It's a disappointing experience: now your paw has syrup on it. Syrup tastes terrible and gets on your face when you lick it.

    WHY DID YOU LET ME DO THIS, you want to know.

    Then the distraction makes a highpitched noise-- "oh my god what the hell is that, where'd you get it?" and puts a hot, wrong-feeling hand on you.

    You shriek, bristle all your fluff out to maximum volume, and peck the intruding hand with all your furious might. It tips you over, then TICKLES YOUR STOMACH. You gasp in mortal outrage, wrap your foreclaws around as many fingers as you can manage, then kick! And kick again! You shred your opponent with powerful strokes of your hindclaws, and smell blood in the air! So perish all your foes!

    The hand shakes you off, but the new troll just sits down and pulls the white food item towards itself. You prepare a tackle-- and are tipped over again. The wounds you dealt are only thin green lines across an enormous amount of arm...

    You retreat, strategically, to behind your son's elbow.

    KILL IT, you tell him.
     
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  2. Belatu Kadros

    Belatu Kadros crossfireHurricane

    "He's a fierce little thing, isn't he?" you grin proudly, trying to distract him with a shred of crab meat dipped in hummus. "Erskin's lusus and Pancho's lusus -- well, we all thought it was cute what good friends they were, and how much time they spent together. And then Reggie laid an egg. Erskin kept it, and then when he ditched it during the drama with Cloris I found it and kept it warm in case it was important to them. I think after I carried this little guy's egg around so long and then watched him hatch, he imprinted on me."

    His sticky paw is still bothering him, apparently; you dip a napkin in your tea and dab the sticky spots clean. The flavor of tea is more agreeable, it seems. You stop him from putting his beak in the cup. For all you know, caffeine would kill him.

    Lainey reaches to tussle with him again, and he does another quick fade. You laugh softly. "She's my friend, fluffcheep. You're going to have to wrap your tiny feather brain around the concept of friends, because you're going to meet a lot of them. You're the training friend," you add with a smile for Lainey. Then you finally see her properly, and do a doubletake. "That jacket. Is fabulous."
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 1, 2015
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  3. roach

    roach hump rumpus professional

    "Of course it is, I'm wearing it," Lainey grins, and ostentatiously preens the lapels. "What the hell do you have on, 'cupe sediment chique? You're kind of dashing all my star-struck reverence for nobility here, if you're going to slouch around in sleepwear you could have picked out something with a little lace."

    The fluffcheep essays a shrill and bouncy threat display, and she pokes it with a spoon. It retreats in a huff.
     
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  4. Belatu Kadros

    Belatu Kadros crossfireHurricane

    "Erskin's mutilated most of my wardrobe." You sigh fond exasperation at the memory. "That boy is a plague on clothing. I should invest in things with velcro seams, I swear."

    You consider your outfit: the nice navy wool trousers you picked up yesternight, but paired with a white tank top, soft pale gray hoodie, and broken-in athletic shoes. Your glasses are atop your head like a hairband. Your only accessories are quadrant tokens: the green hair clip from Pancho, yellow jade earrings and steel ring from Galley, and the weird little pearl-and-wire ring Erskin gave you so offhandedly.

    You shrug and give Lainey a self-mocking grin. "I'd say I look good in anything, but I'm pretty sure my face looks like it got run over by the blackrom truck. At least I'm comfortable." You nudge the appetizer plate toward her. "I bet you could woo the fluffcheep with a bit of food. He's got the attention span of a carrot."
     
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  5. roach

    roach hump rumpus professional

    She takes a slice of meat between painted claws and waggles it at the lurking ball of fluff. Immediately captivated by the motion, the creature tenses, crouches, and stares intently.

    "You should try him on squeakbeast hatchlings," Lainey comments. "I've worked my mom up to hop- and fleetbeasts, but when we were little it was squeaklunch every meal. She's a, hm, you'd say snake...? A noosekind slitherbeast. Not a fan of the darker seasons, I don't think I'll get her past the hive portal for half a sweep."

    The fluffcheep makes its move: a swift lunge across the table, and a snap of tiny beak. It whirls to scamper for safety and falls over, then decides to eat the crab meat while lying down.

    "How's your dad going to take your new custodian?" Lainey asks, supplying more meat flakes. "I mean, I figure you still have one? You're not mean enough to be orphaned, no offense."
     
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  6. Belatu Kadros

    Belatu Kadros crossfireHurricane

    "Custodian!" You blink. You stare at the fluffcheep. Its back feet are paddling in the air while its front feet attempt to grasp the morsel in its beak, and completely miss. "Oh god. He probably does think he's my lusus. First meal I fed him, I mashed up a hard boiled egg, and he brought me half the yolk." You lean back in your chair, clap your hand to your forehead, and have a good long laugh.

    Wiping tears of mirth, you tell Lainey, "My lusus is a thunderbird. He's got the wingspan of a small cargo transport. The fluffcheep could probably fit up one of his nostrils."
     
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  7. roach

    roach hump rumpus professional

    "Mm, I can see it," Lainey says, waving a forkful of cake at Bel. "You and Makwaa have that whole, you know, attitude. I'm not surprised Lord Aspera and my Arguus get along, they're both so totally-- um."

    She puts her fork in her mouth, a faint blush spreading across her face.
     
    Last edited: Aug 2, 2015
    • Like x 2
  8. Belatu Kadros

    Belatu Kadros crossfireHurricane

    "Arguus is your -- matesprit? Moirail? I've been thinking of him as Shy Bro because that's what Jethro nicknamed him. Everyone is Something Bro to Jethro." You beckon the waiter for refills, and another order of various munchies, then prop your chin on your hand and urge, "Sorry, go on. Any insight into Erskin's psyche would be pure gold. I'm crazy about him, but he confuses the hell out of me."
     
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  9. roach

    roach hump rumpus professional

    "Well-- I mean, you've known him longer by a factor of like, a jillion, so I don't think I'm an actual expert, here, but okay."

    She eats more cake, frowning. "He thinks he's prey. Like, it feels dumb to say that about a sea lord instead of some ochre kid but that's just how he comes off? That little bird of his is cute, but they both, you know, they're on edge like that, they're runners, evasion specialists. I guess not with monster wrestling, however the hell that worked. But, us, yeah. He cuts loose with you but that's-- like, he's not, as a person, much like the guy on camera. Like I mean, the first time I met him-- it was such a thrill, and he's got that polished set of manners, that confidence, but he's got the same little-lusus set of flinches as anyone else that knows, like, fundamentally knows they're someone's meal. He doesn't start shit, he keeps his head down, he tries to make everyone happy-- like, even you, a lot of the time. You notice he's even friendly towards serving staff?"

    She taps her fork on the edge of the plate, thinking. "I don't know, big guy. He got broken pretty fucking weird somewhere along the way, and I don't think his horns were screwed on straight even before that? I don't think he's got much of a shot at Ascension, frankly, I mean, I like the guy, but like. Damn."
     
    Last edited: Aug 3, 2015
    • Like x 5
  10. Belatu Kadros

    Belatu Kadros crossfireHurricane

    You quash the derailing urge to point out that you're friendly toward serving staff too. You'd assumed Erskin just has good manners; could he genuinely be worried about some kind of retaliation? At his rank?

    Of course he could.

    Lainey is watching the revelations unfold on your face, and embarrassing as it is to have made such a major oversight, it'd be churlish to hide it from the one who set you straight. "He had me fooled," you confess. "I mean, I haven't failed to notice that Reggie's not particularly lethal, but somehow I was thinking of him along the same lines as Pancho's -- as my moirail's lusus. This little monster's other parent. Beaver-wolverine, only about yea big but nothing messes with it. Pancho's got that big-lusus confidence, same as Jethro and me. Erskin..." You shake your head, feeling sort of upset at yourself. "He doesn't even do a good job of faking it most of the time."

    The fluffcheep is looking roundly full again. You arrange a little nest of napkin for him, tip him over on it so you can gently pet his taut fluffy belly. "Hell, so many things are suddenly making sense. Times when I was expecting pushback, and got panicky defensiveness instead. He just... well, he courted me by literally throwing a moose at my head. And he can be so reckless. I guess I just." Fingers pressed thoughtfully to your mouth, you lapse into silence.

    It is dawning on you that you're an even worse kismesis than you thought you were.
     
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  11. roach

    roach hump rumpus professional

    Lainey shrugs uncomfortably and finishes her cake.

    "Well..." She ventures. "Not much of a shot isn't, like, no shot? Get him off whatever the hell he's been on, tuck him somewhere he feels safe enough to figure out some better coping mechanisms, if you got the patience for it, I don't know. It worked for my boy."
     
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  12. Belatu Kadros

    Belatu Kadros crossfireHurricane

    "What he's been on...?"

    And the other shoe drops.

    You whip out your phone, shake your head so your glasses flip down, and rattle out a search: are rainbow drinker bites addictive.

    "Lainey," you say as you slap the phone down on the table, "I'm a very stupid troll."
     
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  13. roach

    roach hump rumpus professional

    "Wait, you didn't--?" Lainey blinks, then pats Bel's hand with wincing sympathy. "At least you got your looks, Blue. Eeesh."
     
    • Like x 3
  14. Belatu Kadros

    Belatu Kadros crossfireHurricane

    "And I'm still pretty good at making things dead. That'll have to do." Which reminds you -- "Huh. That's probably why he didn't want me to go after the drinkers in the party video. Not the addiction, I mean, I hope he's got enough pride not to go back there, but the small-lusus attitude. They're predators and you don't go make predators mad if you don't have to. Right? Whereas I'm coming from, like, if you let another predator steal your lunch once they'll never quit, so you go murdercrazy on them as soon as possible." You wipe your hand down your face, trying to think through the feels.

    "Help a clueless musclehead out. What do you do in a situation like this?"
     
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  15. roach

    roach hump rumpus professional

    "You're his rival, aren't you?. Figure out what fight he's got left and reintroduce him to it, why don't you. You gotta hate him for something besides the butt stuff, yeah?"

    Lainey hooks over Bel's portion of snacks. "Also like, you're buddies with his moirail? You should probably, you know, talk."
     
    • Like x 3
  16. Belatu Kadros

    Belatu Kadros crossfireHurricane

    You roll your eyes. "Thank you for the hot scoop of things I never thought of. I meant, what do you do with a drinker bite addict. He likes it."
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 3, 2015
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  17. roach

    roach hump rumpus professional

    She pokes him with a fork, indignant. "So okay you could have said so, beefbrains! Anyway, I don't know, do I look like a drug queen or a blood sucker? Do your own research."
     
    Last edited: Aug 3, 2015
    • Like x 2
  18. Belatu Kadros

    Belatu Kadros crossfireHurricane

    "Hey!" You retaliate with your own fork; a brief bout of fork-fencing ensues, ending with the fluffcheep pouncing on both forks with the sort of batta-batta-bat paw action that would seriously disorient a squeakbeast or a large beetle. Then you both have to try to tickle his belly, and there's no point trying to address serious topics after that.

    "I don't suppose you know where I could get squeakbeast hatchlings at this time of day?"
     
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  19. roach

    roach hump rumpus professional

    Lainey blinks, her hand still splayed over the creature's fat and quiveringly offended stomach.

    "Uh, like, the grocery store?" she says. "Duh? This is a hive cluster? You don't have to, like, go roll a log over, or anything. How small is your island?"
     
    • Like x 2
  20. Belatu Kadros

    Belatu Kadros crossfireHurricane

    "It's... pretty small." You laugh at yourself. "I'm used to ordering a perigee's groceries at a time and having them delivered via cargo drone. The thought of just going out and buying one thing never occurs to me, even when I know it's an option."

    You nosh on a bit of crabmeat yourself -- and the next thing you know, the fluffcheep is fetching you another morsel, even though his paws can barely reach the table around the fatness of his belly. You graciously accept it and let him see you eat it, then ruffle his tufty little ear things in thanks.

    "I never really thought of myself as isolated -- Pancho and I go do battles periodically, and I have people over sometimes, I've had my matesprit and Pancho's matesprit and a few other people visiting for quite a while now. It's not lonely there. But it's remote. Being in a hivecluster is a different experience. Did you grow up here?"
     
    • Like x 2
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