Ustuck: Get Recruited by Troll Mafia [Closed RP]

Holy shit you hate this brownblood even more now. As if that were possible. But you know that psionic goldbloods often get drafted as helmstrolls. You haven't done a lot of research, but that's...pretty messed up. Maybe even more so than your situation. To call that "finding a use" for Keeler's psionics? To imply that goldbloods are feeble-minded because they're forced into a role that subsumes their autonomy? That's low.

So it's no wonder she just looks so sad, and you utterly fail to resist the urge to further comfort your patient. You reach out your arms so you can give her a hug, but then it occurs to you that she might not like to be touched. It occurs to you that you don't like to be touched.

> Lukasz: Quickly retrieve arms from air.

It's maybe a little late for that, numbnuts. Keeler has definitely noticed, but she hasn't done anything either way. So you just sort of sit there. Awkwardly.

"Um." You shrug your half-deployed hugging arms. "Is this okay?"

 

Lukasz is...waving his arms at you? That's a bit odd, but after the night you've had, it's probably completely understandable for him to be acting a bit oddly.

"Sure?" You can see how other trolls might have a bit of a problem with Lukasz flapping his arms at them, but you're not going to judge. Not everyone can be as well adjusted as you, after all.

 

Okay. Okay, you can do this.

You wrap your arms around Keeler's torso, doing your best not to jostle her thinkpan. It's been a while since you've hugged something without a thorax, and she's had a rough night.

"You're more than just a spaceship," you tell her. You only hope it helps.

 

Lukasz is...squeezing you? But not that hard. What. What is going on?

You stand there for a bit, completely baffled by this turn of events, until you remember about hugs. Ah That's probably what this is, then.
Maybe you should try to return the gesture? You try to arrange your arms in the same position as Lukasz's, but even without being able to see it, you can tell that it's not the same because your upper arms are currently being pinned. Maybe he won't notice?

You're so busy trying to figure out what to do that you almost forget to pay attention to his words, and when they filter in, your pump biscuit warms. Becoming any sort of spaceship has always been your dearest ambition, and to have this troll that you've only known for two nights tell you that you're destined to be more than just a standard ship? You've never received a better compliment.

"Thanks. I know you aren't in charge of it, but I hope you're right."

You're quiet for a moment, thinking. "Maybe if I work hard enough I can even be the Empress' battleship."

It's probably the hug that makes you say it. You've never even told your lusus this before, not wanting to jinx it by speaking it out loud, but right now it just slips out without first consulting with your thinkpan.

 

> Lukasz: Wait. What?

Is that sarcasm? You pull away just a bit, so you can get a good look at Keeler's face. She is being one hundred percent serious.

O--okay, that's a bit strange. You've just been commiserating about Keeler not wanting to be a spaceship, so why does she...want to be a spaceship? And the Empress's battleship, no less. You know Keeler's weird, but surely any troll with even half a thinkpan knows that any sort of proximity to Her Imperial Condescension is absolutely the worst idea ever. Then again--did Keeler ever actually say she didn't want to be a helmstroll?

"Hey, Keeler," you ask, carefully. "What, exactly, did that brownblood tell you?"

 

You blink, thinking.

"She said...she said that psionics are always useful to have around and that her people had resources to help me avoid a 'nasty fate' on Ascension. " You growl a little, remembering.

"And then she said that there was no way I was looking forward to the Imperial Drones grafting my ass to a ship, to which I said that obviously I'm looking forward to getting rid of this stupid body and becoming a spaceship and then she agreed that she was jaded and called me feeble minded and said I had no place in the new world which, I mean, obviously I don't because I won't be on a new planet, but at least it'll be a better place than I've got here because I'll be in space!"

You're maybe shaking a bit, so you hold on a little bit harder.

 

You...you are really not sure how to react to this information. On the one prong, about every other word Keeler says is seriously alarming and hints at a severe lack of understanding of the full implications of her life goals. On the other prong, every other word besides that reflects feelings you empathize with acutely and with great specificity. On the other other prong, there was something about the brownblood's allies, and finding your lusus really ought to should be your top priority right now.

Ugh. Hugs are exhausting. No wonder you don't do them anymore.

"Did she say anything else about her people? I mean, that is what the Kingpin sent us here to do, right?"

 

It's possible you should have questioned her more instead of getting upset when she started going on about Ascension, because this seems like exactly the sort of thing you probably could have figured out.

"I don't think so? Nothing important anyway, just that they have good hands."

 

It occurs to you that fully understanding exactly what goes on in Keeler's thinkpan is a futile endeavor. You can only endure.

"I...what?"

 

"I know, it seemed weird to me too. She was just like 'tell your friend her lusus is in better hands,' which doesn't seem like it would be super useful. Unless maybe they're trolls who work at a touchstub decoration place and have really fancy nails?"

You can't see why Lukasz is so interested in this, it doesn't seem like a clue that will lead you anywhere.

 

Better hands. Better hands.

...

........

Fuck those lususnappers and the hoofbeast they rode in on.

Papillona is in "better hands"? What the hell is that even supposed to mean. Are they saying you didn't treat Papillona right? Okay, sure, maybe forcing her to uproot her life and go on the run with you was a problem, but she is a lusus, they are supposed to look after their trolls. And anyways, she was fine with it, so long as you were happy, because that's what lusii do.

You're not sure how they think she can be in any better hands than yours. Especially when their hands were the ones who pulled her bleeding from your respiteblock. But--and this is the only scrap of solace you can take from this--that does actually imply your lusus is alive. Because you don't think they'd be talking about her being in anyone's hands if she were dead. So there's that.

You are going to have to work on Keeler's grasp of idiom, though.

"Okay," you say. "So whoever these lususnappers are, they have enough clout they can help a troll dodge Ascension." Or they think they do, at least. "They'd have to be pretty high-blooded for that." Like, really high-blooded. The Kingpin is indigo and a mob boss and you're still not sure how he pulled it off.

 

You know intellectually that them being highbloods probably makes a lot of sense. Being stronger and more violent would make it easier for them to take lusii, and would make them more of a threat to the Kingpin. Still, though, you have to stamp down on the rising panic that one of them would be well-connected enough to have you straight up culled, or worse, given a non-helmsman job.

That won't be a problem. The Kingpin would be doing enough to these trolls that you would be the least of their worries. Probably. Assuming that they didn't hold you to blame for bringing him down upon them.

Everything will be okay. You try to squelch any thoughts that say otherwise.

"I suppose. They're probably really strict about the caste system, though. The brownblood thought I was an idiot for trying to be friends with a highblood."

 

Okay, you know Iglora's a bit high-strung, but that's still pretty harsh.

"Wait, how does she know about Iglora?"

 

"Oh, no, she was talking about you. Unless she was confused? Which is entirely possible."

You haven't discarded the likelihood that the shock of having her arm ripped off meant that she had no idea what was and was not true.

 

"Huh? I'm not a highblood." Also only debatably Keeler's friend. Oh, wait. Plausible hemoanonymity. "I mean, I'm not a highblood," you say, in as loud and unconvincing a tone as you can, then, "But I'm not a highblood."

 

Why is Lukasz repeating himself? You got it the first time. Well, he's probably tired, since it's been such a long night of trying to track down the trolls who kidnapped his lusus. Speaking of which, it's getting kinda late.

"Okay, you're not a highblood. Got it. But it is getting close to dawn. Should we start to head back to meet up with Kezria and Iglora soon?"

 

Dammit she failed to fall for your clever ruse. You mean, it's not the end of the world. There are plenty of shades on the hemospectrum that aren't high-blooded. Still, if you let more slip Keeler might start putting things together.

...If you let more slip, someone else might start putting things together. But still. It's bad enough the brownblood running around knows exactly what caste you are. Which is why it's so weird she apparently called you a highblood. You don't want to say Keeler got it wrong. But she must have overlooked something. It's the only thing that makes sense.

"I guess so." You check your husktop. It's getting to that time. "I'm surprised they haven't contacted us yet--" Then you notice Keeler's eyescreen, still lying in the far end of the alley. Kezria and Iglora don't know your Trollian handle, do they? If either of you got a message, it would be Keeler.

Whoops.

 

"Maybe they didn't contact us because they found a lead and aren't back yet?"

You hope it's not because they were caught by the lususnappers or anything. You go collect your eyescreen, which, thankfully, didn't land screen down. Scratches are so annoying.

As you put it on you notice a message notification flashing in the corner. Whoops.

AI: H1 Kezr1a!
AI: We ran 1nt0 the br0wnbl00d wh0 attacked Lukasz's lusus, but she escaped. We're head1ng back n0w. Bee there s00n!

"We should go. They're waiting for us and they think they have a lead."

 

You wince and remind yourself that concussions are no laughing matter and it was still a good idea to separate Keeler from her eyescreen even if it meant you were a little late following a lead.

It doesn't quite take.

"Yeah. Just be careful of your head, okay?"

 

It's starting to get bright out when you finally see Keeler and Lukasz coming up to you.

You wave at them and when they get close enough you say, "Hey! We should probably find somewhere to spend the day and compare notes."