[PRP] Block Party (Sascha + Leeroi)

[seekingCylem]

TWO TROLLS ENTER; ONE TROLL LEAVES. Or something.

 

[seekingCylem]

Sascha felt a wave of nostalgia rush over him as he made his way down the halls of the Research Laboratories dormitory wing. Returning to this place felt a hell of a lot better than returning to his own hive earlier in the sweep--emotionally and physically. It took Sascha a considerable amount of willpower not to get sappy when running his hand over the familiar number engraving on the door. He flicked his key card against the sensor and watched the door slide open.

...There were two recuperacoons in here. Sascha instinctively tossed his duffel bag next to the recuperacoon on the right. Not that there were many options--the room was most certainly not made for two occupants. Sascha felt disappointment, but not surprise. His hindsight was 20/20 and the staff of the SRDPSL had nearly tripled, which was to say nothing of the volunteer program. Volunteers such as himself. Sascha simultaneously sighed and groaned. He picked at the bandages across his forehead in thought. At least he got there first. Established his dominance or whatever. He did technically have seniority over the other volunteers... even if it came with absolutely zero authority and was only acknowledged by himself and maybe the three staff members whose names he remembered.

Who knew; maybe his blockmate would be easily cowed into letting Sascha make the rules. Hope was not lost.

Kimbley Kitty

 

[zeflamigo]

Leeroi grinned wide, taking long strides down the Chittentown hallways with a stuffed duffel bag on his back, and two large wheeled cases in tow. Nothing could dash the excitement in his blood-pusher at this very moment. It was his first big excursion away from his lusus, his first chance to prove his technological prowess. Not to mention, a one way ticket to the stars! Leeroi was on the cusp of something important, and ready to make his mark.

Overshooting his room due to wide-eyed distraction, Leeroi eventually found his way to his temporary lodging. Fiddling with the key card for a moment, he gave a satisfied, hearty laugh when the doors slid open before him.

"Aha, yesss!" He said, pulling his luggage into the room to let the doors close behind him. His gaze flickered over to the yellowblood already in the room. He didn't know what the mummy look was about, but the fact the teen had a personalized jumpsuit definitely caught his attention. This kid meant serious business.

"Hey hey!" Leeroi rushed over to Sascha, extending a welcoming, but also strong, metal handshake. "Leeroi Furore," He introduced himself, then took a step back to heave his heavy luggage towards his own recuperacoon. The bags alone nearly took up all the space on his side of the room, he noted. He scratched the back of his neck idly. "Damn, really is the bare minimum, huh?" Leeroi laughed, putting his hands on his hips, "I suppose they're putting their resources where it really matters, though!"

seekingCylem

 

[seekingCylem]

Sascha heard the shuffling outside the door before it opened. It looked like this mystery was going to solve itself right quick.

The big reveal was that of a blueblood. He was stocky, square-jawed, clearly of the athletic persuasion. Sascha was mostly caught up digesting the bizarre circumstance of rooming with a highblood. He didn't have much time for even that as Leeroi was already approaching him in greeting.

Sascha was quick on the uptake, grasping Leeroi's hand with a half-high-five gesture fast enough to make a sound off the metal prosthetic. Two shakes and Sascha disengaged. "Sascha Diasis," he responded in turn. The immediate, no-nonsense introduction resonated well with him. Sascha found himself feeling optimistic at the blockmate situation--as much as he could given how cramped the room in question was.

"Ha! No kidding. These blocks originally roomed only one occupant each, but they've obviously had to double-down. Can't complain, though. Better than hauling space garbage all by my lonesome." To be honest, Sascha was only half-confident he even knew what a space elevator was. At this point he was too embarrassed to ask. "You travel far to get here?" It was the least confrontational way to deduce what a blueblood was doing all the way out in Chittentown. Civisect would have nicer dormitories at least.

Kimbley Kitty

 

[zeflamigo]

Leeroi paused, bringing a hand to his chin in playful contemplation. His roommate seemed fairly plain, not too exciting, but perhaps he was just on the shier side? He sure hoped the guy— Sascha— wasn't a total fuddy-duddy. Good thing he knew just the way to find out. He just had to wait for an opening.

"You travel far to get here?"

Bingo. Leeroi had received enough wary attention on the way to know exactly what Sascha was beating around the bush about.

"What, you don't think I fit in?" Leeroi snapped, quickly crossing the small room to confront the yellowblood, stepping close to invade his personal space. He couldn't help but smile, expression contorted in a confrontational sneer that was practically begging for Sascha to make a move. "Why's that, huh? Tell me!" He barked at Sascha, waiting impatiently for the yellowblood to act.

seekingCylem

it begins

 

[seekingCylem]

Sascha knew better than to be optimistic. Ever. Of course he'd get the deranged blockmate. At least he was upfront about it. Sascha could respect that. Respect it enough to return the favor, at least.

Eye-contact required an awkward head tilt on Sascha's part to compensate the height difference. He wasn't about to take a step back, however. It wasn't like he had much room to move anyway.

"You're a highblood in Chittentown." It was a fact. Sascha stated it as such. He wasn't sure what Leeroi was so touchy about in the first place. Being a highblood was a good thing, last time he checked. "You've probably got a reason for picking this dust bowl over the shiny new waterfront establishment, and it's not the usual 'I don't want highbloods to be mean to me,' spiel ya get from the lowblood out-of-towners." Sascha deigned to break from his even tone in order to give the hypothetical lowbloods a whiny voice. "You don't wanna tell me? Fine. Chill. I think we'll all survive. You try and pull this half-cocked blueberry intimidation bullshit again on my turf, and I'll make sure you're the first troll in orbit way before this damn elevator gets built."

If anything, Sascha pushed closer to Leeroi. A distant part of him wondered if the dormitory administrator had planned for this. He hoped for their sake that they were getting a real good chuckle out of it.

Kimbley Kitty

 

[zeflamigo]

"Ooh-hoo, spunky, aren't you?" Leeroi laughed, holding his ground. His eyes narrowed, craning his neck closer to Sascha. "I'd like to see you try." He dared. Then, looking at the seriousness of Sascha's expression again, he couldn't help but burst into a fit of loud laughter. It wasn't the fight he was hoping for, but it certainly was a good reaction. This kid was no wimp, and Leeroi was fine with that.

"I'm just ******** with you, Sascha," Leeroi explained plainly, running a hand through his hair. Folding his arms, he looked back up at the yellowblood. "I'm from Busthind. Born and bred. And because you seem curious, I've always liked Chittentown's work better than Civisect's. That town's nothing but museums and art and people who just talk big and don't get any actual s**t done."

"If I wanted to be coddled I would have just stayed home," He joked, rolling his neck and stuffing his hands in his pockets. Perhaps he could have made just as much progress on his own. He laughed to himself.

"Now how about you, huh?" Leeroi poked at the symbol of Sascha's jumpsuit. "I take it you're important because you've got a personal outfit, right?" He smirked, touch still lingering.

seekingCylem

its just a prank bro

 

[seekingCylem]

Sascha was more than ready to make good on his promise when Leeroi broke out laughing. The progression of startled, to confused, to understanding washed visibly over Sascha's face as Leeroi explained himself. The sudden dissolution of tension was abrupt enough to leave Sascha laughing along. Judging by Leeroi's abrupt change in attitude, Sascha couldn't help but feel like he'd passed a test. He was more enthusiastic about the perceived victory than he probably had any right to be.

"Fine, fine! I'll hold you to it, though," Sascha replied in reference to Leeroi not being coddled. Relevance to the immediate situation didn't make Sascha's determination to punt uppity trolls into space any less true.

Sascha spared a glance down at the finger pressing against his jumpsuit. "You could say that," he replied in a joking tone. He wasn't one to leave off on cryptic statements, though, and readily continued.

"I'm a helmsman. At least according to the crash course of training I've been put through. In case it wasn't obvious, I've been on medical leave, but this actually used to be my old block."

Sascha surprised himself with the amount of nostalgia he felt while reminiscing over time at the research center. Perigees of laborious exercises, strictly enforced schedule, and seemingly endless textbooks on psionic-based engineering had lessened the excitement factor of going to space school. Seeing it all finally come together, before an enormous audience no less, was more than enough to reinvigorate Sascha's passion for the project.

Kimbley Kitty

 

[zeflamigo]

"How about that? I get to room with a gen-u-ine helmsman, huh?" Leeroi gave a small laugh, tapping Sascha on the chest with his knuckles. "I'll give it to you, I'm impressed," Leeroi admitted, though it looked like the yellowblood got into a serious mess, being dressed in all those bandages. Leeroi wouldn't press the issue too far just yet. For now he'd enjoy talking about himself instead.

"And if it wasn't obvious," Leeroi joked with the yellowblood, resting his metal hand on his own chest with a slight smirk. "Robotics engineering," he said matter-of-factly, taking a step back towards his luggage. Opening up one of the bags from the top, he reached down and withdrew one of his gerbils from inside. They were all resting from the long journey, only just starting to stir now.

Leeroi moved to hand the sleepy gerbil, Peepaws, over to Sascha. "These guys are my pet project," He explained, smiling at his horrible pun.

seekingCylem

:3c

 

[seekingCylem]

"Damn straight," Sascha replied, matter-of-fact. Trusting Leeroi not to pull the same stunt twice, Sascha allowed himself to relax. He settled with his arms folded as he looked over Leeroi's arm, brows raised. He actually snorted at the reveal of Peepaws, though. Of all things Leeroi could have pulled out of his bag, a robotically-enhanced gerbil was not something Sascha expected. It was enough to put off his understanding of the pun for just another second. He looked up from leaning over Peepaws with a dead-eyed stare. "Really?" He said in a tone clearly indicated the gerbil prosthetics were not the unbelievable detail.

Peepaws was pretty cute, though. A sweep ago you couldn't walk two feet through Chittentown without tripping over some kind of gerbil-themed merchandise. Sascha had thought he'd become desensitized to the hype, but looking like a tiny Terminator had an undeniable appeal.

"'Ey, wait. So you're saying you built your own arm? How does that work?" Sascha tried to sound skeptical, which was waylaid by the clear edge of interest in his voice. "Hell of a resume," he mumbled.

Kimbley Kitty

 

[zeflamigo]

"I've got a few models," Leeroi explained. "Most are barebones. I use those so I can work on the better ones." He reached into his bag and pulled out one of the simplified arms. It wasn't much more than a piston and a claw. He smiled, beaming with pride at Sascha's compliment.

"I'll admit I referenced off of a lot of other trolls' work." He added, resting an elbow on his hand. "And it isn't perfect by any means. Complicated hand gestures— writing and s**t, you know? That stuff's hard to program. It's still wonky, so I just use my other hand for things like that."

Leeroi rested his chin on his knuckles. "It's sturdy as hell, though, and that's what matters. It packs a nasty punch." He looked at Sascha with another smirk on his face, waiting and hoping to receive some kind of challenge.

seekingCylem

 

[seekingCylem]

Sascha whistled at the claw. If it were rustier he'd have pegged it for something a lawless gambligant would have worn. It was certainly a cool mental image, if not a terribly inconvenient replacement for an actual arm. "Pretty sure referencing other people's s**t is what science is all about," he mentioned off-handedly. He paused abruptly at Leeroi's boast. God, did he know a thing or two about getting punched with a robotic arm. It wasn't something he wanted to become a connoisseur of.

Sascha wiped the slightly fettered expression off his face with a similarly devious smirk. "Punching and robots--that's some class-act highbloodness going on. You must be fun at parties." Sascha paused momentarily. He was about to say his next words as a joke, but began to seriously consider them mid-thought.

"You the sportsmanship kinda troll? 'Cos I'm thinking we can have Civisect beat in more than just technological prowess. If you're game for that kind of thing."

Kimbley Kitty

Getting to meet Peepaws is like meeting a celebrity.

 

[zeflamigo]

Leeroi laughed at Sascha's comments, though it trailed off a bit hollow, attention turning to the floor of the room. The blueblood's good feelings were dashed slightly by the memories of his last actual party. "Nah, the last event I attended, one of the queen's goons beat the s**t out of me," Leeroi paused, raising a hand defensively. "I was a kid, mind you. Barely more than knee-height." He lowered his hands, looking back at Sascha.

"I'm not well-liked with most highbloods," He admitted hoarsely, almost proud with himself. He supposed Chittentown folk might appreciate him more for an attribute like that.

Leeroi's eyes went wide at the idea of a bigger competition with Civisect. "I'm game for almost anything," He laughed, "What do you have in mind?"

seekingCylem

 

[seekingCylem]

Sascha was uncharacteristically sympathetic to Leeroi's unpleasant memories associated with parties. Not that Sascha had ever been to a real party before. The closest he got was through stealing his neighbor's mail as a child. "Sounds like a hell of a party," Sascha said, meaning every word.

Leeroi's admission of receiving rough treatment from fellow highbloods caused a calculating look to briefly pass over Sascha's features. Highbloods were aggressive by nature, but their behavior tended to slant more towards backstabbing and political games rather than knock-down drag-outs.
If Leeroi had made enough highblooded enemies for it to become a running theme, his transgressions must not have been that bad for him to still be alive and kicking. (Missing arm notwithstanding.)

As long as being friendly with this guy wouldn't get Sascha arrested, Sascha was more than tolerant of an abrasive personality. They were hardly out to make friends with what Sascha was considering.

"I'm just thinking... While the construction trolls do their construction thing, and the science trolls do their science thing... Why don't we punching trolls take a cue and do some sight-seeing around Civisect? Word on the street says they got some real neat stuff over there." Sascha spoke in an excessively casual tone, complete with a seemingly noncommittal shrug of his shoulders--as thought it wasn't incredibly obvious what he was suggesting.

Kimbley Kitty

 

[zeflamigo]

Leeroi made a gruff, confused noise. He had given himself a moment to try and piece together what Sascha was insinuating, but to no avail. If the yellowblood was trying to suggest looting or raiding of some sort, it was totally lost on Leeroi.

"Well, yeah," Leeroi tried to continue the conversation. The bulk of Civisect was wealthy now, of course they probably had some neat stuff. At the very least, it was probably shinier. Leeroi was in the frame of mind that Chittentown was already doing better work, however. Not to mention he assumed his talents would be better suited towards creation instead of sabotage. Surely the psionic would have similar ideas, wouldn't he? Leeroi crossed his arms, scratching idly.

"I suppose I wouldn't mind a vacation, if the work gets too grueling," he chuckled under his breath. He didn't expect things to come to that, ever. But he did want to impress Sascha, so he'd play his game, for as much as he could understand of it. He shot the yellowblood a winning smile and a wink, putting on the best show he could in his confusion.

seekingCylem