[PRP] Double Blind (Engrav/Polair) FIN

[Buzzwulf]

Engrav Setlar

The little tiles were so small! Engrav couldn't quite figure out how to track the small details in the textures of the tiles, especially with his metal hand. It was maddening. Five minutes? He could usually finish a matching puzzle in under forty seconds, even if it was significantly larger than this one. The inventor was too used to using his memory for strictly visual stimuli, clearly. "One minute thirty-four seconds." Engrav said, stopping the watch. "Amazing. I never considered how much harder it was trying to memorize sensation rather than simple images. The patterns are just hard to get a mental image of when I'm not using my eyes."

"Alright. last one." Engrav set up the board, held the patching pegs across to Polair. "Put them in whatever order you like. I'm gonna see how long it takes me to get them all in the corresponding locations." Twelve pegs, each with a distinctly different pattern of socket. This would test both his mechanical memory and his ability to detect which shape was which by touch alone. He was... excited.

As darkness descended once again, Engrav took a deep breath, keeping himself steady. He could hear the quiet clacking of the pieces being set up. As he began, he picked up several pegs at once, feeling the sockets. Crescent moon. Five-pointed star. triangle. Pentagon. These were a little less abstract than the tiles, a little easier to identify. He could do this one. He transferred the pegs to his mechanical hand, leaned forward to check the board. Sockets here, not in a specific order. Triangle. HE placed the peg carefully, slotted it into place. Crescent.

As the inventor leaned forward, the pegs slipped against the metal of his prosthetic, dropping from the inventor's hand with a clatter. Reflexively, he jerked forward, trying to catch the pegs he couldn't quite see. Instead, he ran right into a surprised seadweller. Both of the trolls fell to the floor in a tangle, Engrav managing to catch his fall what felt like just an inch away from the purpleblood. He could feel her breath on his face. His hands shook as he realized he'd fallen almost directly onto her, his body straddling the prone highblood.

"s**t," he said, under his breath. "Uh. I'm sorry?"  

[ImaginationsParadise]

"Everything is a challenge when you are not using your eyes. The sense of sight provides approximately 80% of all the information we receive about the world. Which is why sharpening your other senses is important for trolls like me. That's how I function Engrav." Polair reached out to pat his hand with a smile. "The way I do it, I try my best to use my sense of touch everywhere I go. Finger sensitivity is much like the sense of hearing. Over time, you gain awareness and learn to use your sense of touch to distinguish items and features of items. You can increase your tactual sensitivity by holding and exploring almost any object or anyone, really."

It has been something she has worked on the most, using her hands as her set of eyes. Though she has learnt many do not appreciate being touched, which Polair definitely respected (sometimes). The highblood was excited for the last experiment, mixing up the pegs to see how much time it'd take Engrav to solve it. Polair could only hear him manipulate the pegs, placing them were they belong until... It seemed he dropped some. Polair instinctively reached out to catch some of them but then they both clashed with one another and down the floor they went.

Polair grunted as she hit the floor, head spinning, back hurting. God, she swore one of the pegs was under her and above her... The highblood tried moving her legs, only to realize the other was straddling her. Polair could feel his clothes brushing against her skin and that when her face flushed purple. It was as if the color suffused across her face. He was so close. VERY close. Words seemed to be at lost with her as she tried to process the whole thing. So there they were, lying on the floor, face inches away from each other, breathing practically over each other. Sorry? Was he apologizing?

"Don't be." She slipped out. "Uh... I mean, don't worry about it." A sharp pain was felt on her back, she had forgotten about that peg. Her hand left his face abruptly, turning her body slightly as she retrieved the peg from her back. "Found one." She mumbled.

Such closeness made her heart race and she could feel her heart pang against her chest as she tried to organize her thoughts. "Are you okay?" She panted out. "Are you hurt?" The highblood gently placed her hand on his cheek. Her senses deliberately providing her more than enough information about him. Smell, touch, hearing... God she wonder how he tast-- WHAT. Such line of thought was quickly ignored. Polair gulped, trying to think of anything else. ANYTHING. She didn't even understand why had she thought of that in the first place.  

[Buzzwulf]

Engrav Setlar

Engrav flushed deep, his entire face awash in bright yellow. He could feel the heat of the purpleblood right beneath him, just inches away from his entire body. Right there. So close. If he just... just moved forward just a little, just moved his mouth to hers, she'd be right there. Engrav took a deep, shuddering breath, steeling himself, trying to organize his thoughts and sit them back down where they belonged, get back to objectivity. Was this something he wanted? Was it something SHE wanted? The inventor didn't know, wasn't sure if he wanted to know. That was the one secret he was afraid to explore. His thinkpan recoiled every time it got close.

She handed him a peg that had fallen underneath her, her hand leaving his face. He could feel the warmth it left behind there like a missing limb. Engrav brought a hand up, lifted the blindfold from his eye. Sensory data flooded back in in a rush, his thinkpan whirling as it collected the information his ears and hands had been unable to collect. Everything on the table was askew, the pegs scattered all across the floor and one of the chairs knocked over. The flush on the seadweller's face. That beautiful flush, the deep magenta of royalty. Who the hell did he think he was? She could literally send drones to his door, have him killed, and no one would blink. Just another culling.

Gog, he wanted to kiss her. Desperately.

No he didn't. He did not. That was unprofessional and dangerous and complete lunacy and he desperately wanted to do it. NO. He DIDN'T. Engrav told himself to move, to get away, to do ANYTHING but sit above her on that floor, just move, collect the pieces, reset and begin the trial again. Instead he absorbed the details of her hair, the contours of her face, the structure of her lips. Their breaths were matched. Both slow and heavy and... there wasn't enough data for him to extrapolate. Not enough hard evidence. What if she was scared of him? Just looking for an opportunity to escape the dangerous yellowblood?

"I'm, uh..." the inventor said, shaking, caught between hundreds of possibilities. "I'm fine. Fine. Are you ok?" His flesh hand reached out, almost unbidden, brushing a hair from the highblood's face. He should move. Or something. He didn't.  

[ImaginationsParadise]

What was this? Polair's breathe deepened the minute she felt his fingers graze her face, pushing away some of her hair. Eyes closed and lips parted, just trying to understand what was that feeling just now. It surely had to do with the previously ignore thought she had in mind, and just this bare touch made it creep back into her head. What if she got a tad closer? What would she do if she moved in closer to the other? What would happen?

No. Abort, abort! She wouldn't dare to. She didn't know how he'd react. Polair didn't have enough data to predict what would happen if she... Eyes fluttered open as she tried to get herself out of her train of thoughts. Something had to be done, she needed to move away, to keep him at arms length before she did something stupid or something she'd regret. But she couldn't, she wouldn't. Because what would there be to regret? "I-I..." She swallowed hard before flashing a reassuring smile. "I'm alright." The seadweller rubbed the sore spot on her back, trying to find where would she need to place ice. God, it was surely going to turn into bruise if left unattended and Claud would freak out about it. "Just... My back hurts. I feel as the peg lodged itself back there." She muttered, feeling the sore spot and flinching a bit. "I, um... I'm glad you're alright. I got worried."

Honestly Polair just wanted to hide her flushed face. It was embarrassing and Engrav most probably thought she was being ridiculous. Unless he still had the blindfold on. She sure hoped so. "Really, don't worry about me." She whispered, hands traveling back to his face as she cupped his cheeks. "Are you sure you're okay? What about your hands?" He must have probably felt some impact on them, at least his fleshy limb. And his electronic substitute must have suffered some damage. Both hands left his face as took Engrav's hand, trying to see if there were any sore spots.

"Does it hurt when I press down?"  

[Buzzwulf]

Engrav Setlar

Engrav squirmed like a grub on a hook as Polair pressed her hands to his face. oh gog he'd dropped her right on a peg. What in the world had he been thinking? "I'm fine, really," the inventor said as the highblood checked his hands for anything injured. "I mean, if my prosthetic broke from a fall that short, I wouldn't be much of an inventor, would I?" Engrav pushed himself back up, trying hard to ignore the little sting of... disappointment? That couldn't be right. He caught the highblood's hand as he stood up, helping her back to her feet as well.

"Let me, uh, let me get you some ice. Sorry about all that. I didn't realize the testing conditions were so, um, hazardous." he stuttered out excuses for himself while he stared at the flush on the seadweller's face. It wasn't right or fair, but he wanted nothing more than to watch the flush, let it wash over him in turn like the tide. "I'll, um, I'll go do that." Engrav stood and fled the room.

Engrav's hands rattled around as he found ice from the nutritionblock, cubes clinking against each other. The yellowblood looked at them as he poured them into a bag, wondered if he could just disappear like the ice seemed to. Melt away. His lack of coordination, his awkward fumblings, that flush that wouldn't seem to go away. Polair must think that he was an idiot. Hell, he thought he was an idiot. The inventor glanced around the room, eyes settling on a flier he'd stuck to his fridge. He hadn't planned on making an appearance, but maybe... he stuck the leaflet in a pocket. Wrapping the bag in a towel, Engrav went back to check on his guest.

"Hey," he said, trying to sound casual but without much conviction. "I got you some ice." he glanced down at the patch of chitin where she'd fallen on the little wooden test piece, purple and blue already beginning to bloom there. yikes. "Um. Let me know if I can do anything else for you? I've got a recuperacoon in my retirementblock if you need to lie down for a moment." It came out of his mouth before he'd even considered how it could be taken, inviting a highblood to his room. "Or, uh, I can find some cushions. Just let me know."  

[ImaginationsParadise]

"I guess you are right." Polair said as she rose up from the ground with Engrav's help. The blush was still on her face and the highblood wondered if it'd ever fade away. She still held his hands as he gave her excuses. Everything sounded like static as she was just too focused on what happened and the many possibilities that would have happened. She only caught half of his excuses and only processed that he'd step out for a moment to fetch something for her bruise. "Alright." She smiled, once Polair was sure Engrav was no longer in the room, she left out a deep sigh.

God she was stupid to think she'd wanted to... Stay so close to him. She liked such closeness and she honestly didn't know why. Why did she liked that? Polair paced around the room trying so hard to push the idea away, to lock up whatever that warm fuzzy feeling had lodge itself in her chest. Feeling her warm cheeks, her rapidly beating heart. The highblood stubbed her toe in the process and tried hard to contain the grunt. she was truly an idiot.

God she hated this.

She took several deep breaths, counted to ten and relaxed some. The pain didn't go away though. Muscles tensed some as soon as she heard the yellow blood's voice again. She'd been leaning against the desk, looking or rather facing the window when he had come in. Polair ran her fingers through her hair, trying to hide her shameful and embarrassed face. "Thanks."

She could feel sweat forming already behind her bangs. He was... Inviting her to lay down for a bit... In his room. The room they hadn't entered before. God, she know,it'd be wise to just not accept the offer wholesale or just opt for the cushions. Yet her curiosity invited to take on that other option. Before she'd go home and wonder "what if" for the rest of the night.

"Um," Polair hesitated, half her brain screaming to shut up , to decline. "I guess lying down in a recuperacoon sounds nice. If you don't mind. Does it look that bad though? The last thing I need is my lusus questioning me where I've been." She sighed out. "Would need for it to heal quickly or hide it until I can figure something out..."  

[Buzzwulf]

Engrav felt a little spike of fear as Polair accepted the use of his recuperacoon. He hadn't even considered the possibility that she would accept that, and her acceptance to the contrary was terrifying. Maybe it wasn't all just in his head. He could feel cold sweat running down his back already, pooling at the base of the inventor's spine. Nerves and nerves and nerves. Engrav tried to shake it off, remain objective, try to focus. "No, it's not bad! I mean it's a little bit purple." Her lusus? the last thing the yellowblood wanted was to run afoul of a highblood lusus. That sounded like an easy recipe for disaster.

The inventor took the highblood's hand gently and led her down the hallway, the door to his retirementblock slowly creaking open. It wasn't as immaculate as the rest of the hive, a book here, a couple tools there. Engrav looked at the sketches that lined one wall and winced. It was one of his habits to draw trolls that he'd met from memory, as an exercise, but recently he'd been doing a lot of sketches of the highblood. At least she couldn't see them. There was a closet as well, and a full-length mirror with a small desk in front of it and some tailoring equipment. Engrav wasn't particularly interested in preening, but if he was going to run his own business, the least he could do was attempt to look the part.

He led Polair to the recuperacoon, put her hand against the warm side of the pod. "Here," he said, voice gentle. "Sorry about all that. Let me see if I can find something around here to cover up that bruise." Clearly a shirt wouldn't work here, if it was a lusus they had to fool. That would be even worse, they'd smell the inventor on the highblood. Engrav glanced around the room, settling on the desk. He should have... the inventor dug around in drawers for a moment, finally coming up with a fairly hefty bag.

"I have some makeup here," he said, neatly omitting that it was part of a disguise kit he'd been constructing just in case. "Should be oil-based, so I don't think it'll rinse off easily. Maybe that'll do the trick?"  

[ImaginationsParadise]

The highblood took a deep breath as she tried to put her curious mind to a halt. She could do this. This was all for Polair's personal research. The highblood took careful steps as she tried to assimilate the new environment. So this was his retirementblock...

"O-oh, yes, certainly it might do the trick. Thank you, you have no idea what my lusus is capable of doing..." The sea bear was so overprotective and overwhelming. Her foot brushed against something as she supported her weight against the recuperacoon. Really, she felt frozen in place, not knowing where to go or what to do without disorganizing his room. She took said object and felt it for a moment. "What's this?" She mumbled. "Um, here I uh... Should go in... There...." That was the purpose of the whole thing, right? Or was it wise to apply the make up before going inside? "You'll have to help me with that as well. I don't think I can reach very well."  

[Buzzwulf]

Engrav Setlar

"Yeah, i uh... " did she want him to.. put this on? Engrav looked at the bruise on her back, and gulped. "Hold on just a second." he said she she felt around the edges of the recuperacoon. "Let me get this on first. If it doesn't wash off in the slime, it probably won't wash off in the water." The inventor gulped again as he looked at the bruise from the little piece, forcing himself to look just there and no where else. For modesty.

He didn't glance down her long legs at all, didn't admire the tightness of the muscles running up the legs beneath the swimsuit. Engrav certainly didn't imagine what might be underneath the straps of her top, not even for a second. He let out a long breath, bit his lip. "Alright," he said, opening up the kit and finding a small tub of concealer and a sponge. "I'm pretty sure I know how to do this." His hands shook as he moved forward, catching the seadweller's hip with one hand to hold her still while he gently brushed the makeup onto the bruise with the other.

The inventor let out a shuddering breath as he applied the makeup carefully. Slowly. He was too close, his thinkpan all scrambled from the proximity of her. Finally, the bruise disappeared into her more natural dusky coloration, and Engrav let out a deep breath. "Ok," he said, placing her hand in a handhold on the recuperacoon. "There's a handhold here and a foothold here" Engrav said, placing her in the right position. "And then you kinda just lift yourself up and flop forward. Like riding a musclebeast."

As if he knew anything about riding a musclebeast. He eyed - NO, he didn't eye - her as she lifted herself into the slime. Gog.

He needed a cold shower.  

[ImaginationsParadise]

Polair tried to keep both her nerves and her curiosity under control. Her echolocation bracelets picked up a few things around her and she couldn't help but wonder why did he had so many papers on the wall. Research maybe? That made sense.

Feeling his hand against her hip made her blink back to reality as her skin registered his touch. Deep breath in... Deep breath out. Honestly Polair didn't know what to do with her hands. She just tapped her fingertips together as the other applied the concealer on. Once that was done Polair repressed any other emotional response that might creep out. She was okay. Nothing wrong with her.

She was absolutely fine.

The highblood allowed him to place her in the right position for her to climb up and into the recuperacoon. Polair nodded, understanding the instructions and she did as told.

Being in someone else's room felt so... Compromising. Invading a close and personal space. Sure, she was feeling curious about it but she didn't have to accept and now she did and she surely made Engrav uncomfortable andit was too late to back out.

God this felt so good. It wouldn't hurt if she dozed off--no. It'd be even more compromising. Polair had to fight the urge to sleep. She could do so later in her own room. But the slime did its job and there the highblood was, taking a nap.

She didn't know how many minutes had passed, and Polair wasn't going to find out. She carefully tried to push up her out weight out of the coon so she wouldn't bother the yellowblood any more. "Engrav,a-are you there?" She called out. Polair hoped he wasn't, that way she could write up an apology and get herself back home. She... Wasn't feeling like herself. God. What was this?  

[Buzzwulf]

Engrav Setlar

skritch, skritch

Engrav waited for the purpleblood to wake, carefully sketching on the paper in front of him. It had been a few minutes before the tightly-wound yellowblood had finally managed to decompress after all the chaos of earlier. He'd reassembled most of his study and placed everything back where it belonged, then set another tray of water to make ice in the respiteblock. After that, it was strange how much time he had to kill.

It was an odd feeling, not knowing what to do with yourself in your own hive. He shook off a couple budding ideas as superfluous, or fanciful. It was difficult to focus, knowing the purpleblood was this close to him, trusting him, deep inside of his personal quarters and personal space. A younger, more cautious Engrav would have never let her into his hive in the first place, and the inventor contemplated this for a few minutes. His fingers moved unbidden, grabbing a pad of paper and throwing together a few sketches of the purpleblood.

Specifically, her neck.

Engrav had a very good memory.

It was easier for him to focus when he thought about the purpleblood. At least, it certainly felt that way. In order for him to breathe as she did, he would need... The yellowblood did some quick calculations. He needed an average of about 1.5 liters of oxygen to stay conscious, which would require processing almost 200 liters of water per minute to collect the required amount of oxygen. Anything that could do that would be bulky and unwieldy, unless he could find a way to remove excess carbon dioxide buildup in his spongeclots. Maybe some kind of breathing filter apparatus that removed extracted carbon dioxide directly from his fleshy tissue?

Before he knew it, he'd sketched a couple pictures of the purpleblood's gills. He couldn't seem to get the seadweller off his mind. Perhaps there was some kind of conundrum he hoped to solve there. The inventor started a moment as Polair pulled herself from the recuperacoon, not realizing how long it had been since she entered.

"Oh!" Engrav called out as she pushed herself from the pod. "Yes, right here! Um, let me help you out of there. Are you feeling any better?"
 

[ImaginationsParadise]

"I'm feeling much better. Think I should be able to make it home without any problems. " She smiled. Ah... He was still there, her plan was a failure before it could even begin. Why was she surprised? This was his hive after all. "I-it's okay. I can manage." Polair was still feeling drozy, nearly slipped off from where she was. Thankfully she took a hold of the handhold before collapsing on the floor. The highblood pulled her slimy hair back once she was sure she had regain control of her body.

Actually, some help wouldn't hurt at all. Polair reached out to Engrav, trying to take a hold of him so she could get down. "A-are you still there? Is there anything I can do to help pick up the mess we made?"  

[Buzzwulf]

Engrav Setlar

"No need," he said with a smile. "Already too care of it." The yellowblood helped the seadweller down from the pod, pressing a towel into her hand for the slime. "I'd offer if you wanted to take a shower, but..." he'd been forward enough already. He didn't want her thinking that he had the wrong idea. Even if he already did have ideas. No, especially then. "Well. It's there if you want it."

He helped the seadweller down the hall after she'd removed most of the slime, his arm in hers. Like it was the most casual stroll. Engrav glanced down as he did so, appraising the handiwork of the makeup, making sure it was still in place. Looked good. Hard to tell that there was a bruise there if you weren't really looking for it.

"You, uh..." Engrav said, tripping over his words a little as they re-entered the respiteblock. "I mean. We should try this again sometime. When I've thought it over a little, found some better laboratory settings. I'd like to..." The flier for P.R.O.M. slid out of his vest, almost without thought. Did he dare? He bit his lip, thinking it over, wondering if he really wanted this, what exactly he was looking for from the seadweller. "I'd like to see you more."
 

[ImaginationsParadise]

"No, it's alright. I've bothered you more than enough. Besides, I can just... Dip in the sea and get rid of the excess slime. " Polair smiled, chuckling some as their arms hooked with each other and walked down the hall. Even with everything that happened, this had been a nice night. Really... Spending time with him, wherever they went, seemed like an enjoyable thing to do. Polair would have never guessed how that stuttering yellowblood she met at the science fair, would turn out to be a great guy with lots of surprises.

She flushed. Thinking about seeing him again and... Did he want to see her again? "Yeah... I'd like to as well." She unhooked her arm and held his hand. Too forward, she knew it, but she... Wanted to. "If that's okay, I'm still going to try making up for the uh... Mess I made. Let me know when you're free, please. You know you're welcomed to my beach hive whenever you want." Even if her lusus didn't make him feel that welcomed. "Unless you'd want to go somewhere else... Just let me know alright?"  

[Buzzwulf]

Engrav Setlar

"no, I uh... yeah. That makes sense." Engrav sighed, a little sad that the seadweller was leaving already. Stupid yellowblood. If he'd just managed to set the experiment up right, then Polair wouldn't have gotten hurt, and maybe she wouldn't be leaving so early. Engrav nodded as he led her to the door of his hive, a little surprised as Polair took his hand. It... He'd gotten her hurt, why was she still being so nice? She did this every single time he saw her, twisted him up into little knots until he wasn't quite sure which part of his thinkpan was actually thinking. It was infuriating and exhilarating. He flushed a little bit, hand tightening around the paper of the flyer. He didn't really even want to go, did he?

Did he?

"Hey, um..." Engrav stuttered a little, not quite sure how to ask. "Before you go. I wanted to, um... I had a question." Well now he had to come up with something. He'd already started, couldn't take it back if he wanted to. "I mean, if you have a chance. There's a, um, d-dance or something coming up? I think it's called P-Prom or something? I was just uh, just wondering..." Engrav stalled for a moment, biting his lip. Who in the world did he think he was? Of course she already had plans for this, he was just going to look like an idiot. Even more than normal. He swallowed, working up the courage to just get it over with. "I was wondering if you were planning on going with someone? I wasn't, uh, really thinking of going, but then you were talking about spending more time? And I figured, why not show up, right? It could be fun? Dress up and dance and eat fancy food?" The inventor wanted to punch himself right in the thinkpan, face bright yellow like a daystar. Engrav winced. "Unless, you know, you've got plans already."