Ustuck: Get Recruited by Troll Mafia [Closed RP]

You definitely feel more comfortable with your fighting skills than with disguises of any kind, but you think you could manage a more general sneaking in. Probably a good idea to check which Kezria was suggesting though.

"Would that be sneaking in as in disguising ourselves as them or sneaking in as in trying not to be seen?"

 

"Oh, I was thinking more along the lines of no one seeing us in the first place, but Lukasz does have a point. If anyone sees Iglora, they'll realize she's a highblood and they'll know for sure that we're spies."

You frown. "I guess it's back to the kill them all plan then, huh?" You really don't like that plan. You know it's what Iglora wants, but you really do want to avoid killing if possible. Maybe some of the trolls in there don't realize what they're doing. Or something.

Also. "I don't think we want to go the route where we convince them to join Kingpin's operation, because I don't think anyone should have their lusus taken from them. We have to take the whole thing down."

 

Aaaaaaand now you're back to the fighting. Brilliant. But Kezria's right. You can't let anyone go through what you're going through right now.

"Okay. So how do we do this? If we don't know how many trolls we'll be fighting, or--or what sort of place we'll be fighting in, it's not like we can do much to plan, is it? I mean, I like the idea of sneaking in. If it's possible. But if it comes down to a strife...we might just have to figure it out as we go."

You suppose in a way that's kind of better than planning things out beforehand. Your last fight you were hyped on fear and determination, and that worked out pretty well. Until you were almost defenestrated, that is. Hopefully this secret base will be underground.

 

Figuring things out on the fly is your particular strength, and you know it. The last time you tried to wing something, after all, you managed to get important information out of Dextra, and you're feeling pretty confident about your prowess.

"We should probably get going as soon as it gets dark, before the news that we're looking for them spreads and they go on the defensive."

You're not antsy. Not at all. Definitely not.

 

"I also prefer sneaking in. If we can get to the higher ups first, maybe the underlings will just scatter."

"Yeah leaving as soon as possible is a good idea. But, we all definitely need to get some rest before we do any fighting. Do you two want to take the other room Iglora got for us?"

 

Oh. Yeah. It makes sense Kezria wouldn't want to leave her moirail. It looks like you and Keeler are going to be buddies for the duration of this mission. But you really had been hoping to catch Kezria alone so you could talk about Keeler's somewhat...alarming career aspirations.

You'll have to find a way to get Keeler out of the room. Thankfully, this is Keeler you're talking about. "Hey, uh, Keeler? Can you go ahead and check for, um--" Come on, Lukasz, make up something quick. "--recuperagrubs?"

Okay, that works. You press onward. "Yeah, they're little tiny grubs that swim in the sopor slime of recuperacoons and like to bite trolls, and I'm really allergic, and, you know, I was just thinking a psionic could find any recuperagrubs a lot faster than an unpowered troll like me." You try to give your best guileless smile, then give up halfway and just go for a sort of hopeful grin. "There are definitely some in there, so make sure you don't come back before you find any."

 

Recuperagrubs? You've never even heard of those before. That must be a really obscure allergy.

Still though. How would Lukasz know that there definitely would be recuperagrubs in there if he's never been here before?

Oh. Oh Keeler, you stupid troll. Of course. Lukasz obviously had to have been here before and just hadn't wanted to make it public.

You give Lukasz a knowing wink as you leave the room.

 

You don't know what to make of Keeler's wink. Did she see through your ruse? She couldn't have. She's Keeler. And anyways, you don't think she would have left if she'd known what you were planning on talking about with Kezria. So what was that?

Whatever. You'll worry about it later. The important thing is talking to Kezria.

You scoot your seat in close to the other troll. "Hey, look, I wanted to talk to you about something Keeler said earlier. What do you know about helmstrolls?"

 

Helmstrolls? "I know that it's, um." How much should you say? You don't really know where Lukasz's loyalties lie. Then again, he is hemoanonymous, so he can't be all that Empire friendly... "That it's a pretty horrible fate actually. It's unfair."

 

You let out a tired chuckle. From what you've read, that's kind of an understatement, but, "Yeah. It is. These poor trolls spend sweeps just trying to survive this planet and their reward is having their thinkpan gutted so a spaceship can move faster. I hear a lot of goldbloods get themselves culled trying to avoid it."

You lean forward. "Here's the thing, though. I was talking about it with Keeler, and she said she wanted to be a helmstroll. She was excited, even. I don't think she knows what happens to them."

 

"Yeah..." You also know that some of them can avoid it, but seems to be mostly down to luck.

"She what? Hmm, well that explains the mind honey then. Should we tell her? I almost don't want to bust her bubble, though." You don't know which would be worse for her. To Ascend and have all those horrible things happen to her, or to find out and be scared and worried until it's time to Ascend?

 

You blink. Kezria doesn't know what to do? You were sure Kezria would know? That was...that was the whole reason you wanted to talk to her. You shouldn't be the one making decisions like this. It always ends badly.

"I mean...I guess." She is pretty happy about the whole thing. You don't think she'd take it well to find out everything she'd dreamed about was a lie. But then, you'd been happy with your own fate, once. And you had not taken finding out well. But you don't even want to imagine what your life might be like now if you hadn't had your bubble burst. If you were still in the place you were, still mindlessly awaiting Ascension...you shudder, silently horrified.

"Look, I--I think she needs to know. While there's still time to...figure something out." You know the odds of Keeler escaping the Empire are slim. About as slim as, well, your odds. But you know for a fact that, even if the drones find you on Ascension, even if they cull you for your disobedience, it will have been worth it, for these precious sweeps of freedom. Keeler deserves that same chance.

 

"You're probably right. Man, I wish Astroh was here. It might be better, hearing it from another goldblood. I do think we should wait though. She might be really upset and that won't help while we're trying to fight tomorrow. Waiting another night or so can't hurt."

 

She's got a point. Having your entire worldview shattered is bad enough without being thrown into a high-stress combat situation immediately afterwards. "Yeah, that's fair."

 

You burst back into the room, proudly waving your spoils of war.

"I definitely got them all, I'm sure of it! Don't worry, Lukasz, the recuperacoons are recuperagrub-free!"

This place must be really fancy, since you only got a handful of the squirming things.

 

What.

...

No, no, you have long since stopped being shocked by anything Keeler does or says. She found the fictional recuperagrubs you only made up a minute ago? Yeah, sure, why not. Who cares anymore about what is even real or possible. You are way too tired for this shit.

"Hey, good job, Keeler." You stare at the squirmy little things. Actual recuperagrubs or no, you resolve you have your cocoon thoroughly sanitized when you get back. In fact, fuck the recuperacoon. You're going to sleep somewhere else from now on. Maybe you can take a big cushion like on your couch and lay it flat on some sort of elevated stand and cover the whole thing with a bunch of huge fabric squares you can swaddle yourself in and just lie sideways on that that to go to sleep. That sounds like a far better idea than dealing with whatever the fuck those wiggling things are. "You found the recuperabugs--grubs. Thanks so much."

 

You beam. It's always good to be able to use your powers for things other than fighting. And searching for recuperagrubs really wasn't that much different than your asteroid simulator back at your hive. You wonder for a moment if you have recuperagrubs in your own recuperacoon back home but decide that if you do they're probably not hurting anything, since you haven't had any allergic reactions to them yet. You mentally shrug and put the grubs in a receptacle next to where Iglora has long since dropped off to sleep.

"Do we need to discuss any more strategy? I'm getting kind of tired and now that I've cleared out the recuperacoon for Lukasz, I'd really like to go to sleep."

 

==> Iglora: Wake Up
You'd fallen asleep on the couch again. Not your couch - you can tell by the plush fabric under your cheek that you're at Magrat's again, although why you're on the couch and not in one of the high-quality recuperacoons is anyone's guess. You don't know what time it is, but you hope you aren't going to have to wake Papa up before you leave. You sigh, open your eyes, and -

Nevermind, your Papa's definitely awake.

"Papa!" you call, squinting at the coiling grubs on the table in front of you. "Very funny, but I do not need Erotagrubs this morning! Or any morning!" You scramble up, double and triple-checking that none of their slime has made it off of the table or on you.

Papa hasn't answered. He would definitely be standing around, waiting for you to get up if he were playing a prank. Suddenly the night before comes pouring back.

"Shit." You slip to your feet, giving the Erotagrubs a wide berth, and pad into the sleeping room. Inside, your moirail's horns are poking out of one of the recuperacoons. You reach in and pat between her horns. "Kezria. Kezria, wake up."

 

Nyeh...? You wake up sleepily and look around. Oh yeah, you're not in your own coon at home, but at a place Iglora found for you. It must be her waking you up. You tried to get her to join you in the sleeping room, but she was out cold on the couch...

You get yourself out of the slime and to the ablutionblock to clean up and get dressed for the day. When you're done you yawn and stretch.

"How'd you sleep?" You ask Iglora. "Sorry I couldn't get you to the coon."