[META PRP] Planetoid Potential (Deimos + Engrav)

[Buzzwulf]

Something out between the stars, never sleeping.

 

[Buzzwulf]

Engrav walked the corridors of the tower, looking up out the windows. Black sky, cold stars. Footfalls sounded through the interior of the tower, trolls hustling to and fro on prep business. Engrav wasn't impressed. He stared out one of the blank windows, looking up at the alternian sky. They'd be working up there soon. Engrav wondered what the young trolls.

The yellowblood heard a shuffle behind him. Turned slowly to see who was trying to sneak up. No one was.

That tealblood from before... Deimos? He was leaning against one of the windows, staring at the same stars. Had an intense look on his face, like he saw something the rest of them hadn't. Engrav wondered what it could be. He approached, wary.

"Deimos, right? Engrav. We met before. You look like someone who's deep in thought there. You feel like sharing with the class?" That was the ticket. Funny. Charming. Engrav let out a small chuckle, like he'd told a good joke.

nepsah

 

[nepsah]

He'd needed time away from the crowd. It was draining to be around so many other trolls, despite his recent interest in actually hanging around them. Somehow, he just couldn't bring himself to hang around large crowds for very long. They were too loud, too distracting... and the possibility of someone bumping into him when he least expected it was just too high. So he'd wandered away at the first chance he'd gotten to do so without making a scene. The stars had always been better company to other trolls - they were quiet. At least from planetside, and.. probably up there, too. Space didn't exactly allow for the travel of sound.

He had a lot to think about, most of it revolving around the mission to come and what it might mean for the future. The real possibility of space travel was there, hovering just out of reach. All they had to do was... well, he wasn't sure. Taking things was expressly forbidden, but how much could a troll learn about how the ships functioned without having something to take back with them?

A voice drew him out of his train of thought - though not completely. Blinking he turned to cast his stare on Engrav, taking a moment to really register that he was being spoken to before his expression shifted to something less... intense. "Oh, yeah, that's me." He blinked again, as if it would help him focus or something. Thankfully Engrav had given his name- he wasn't sure he remembered it correctly. "I remember you-" he stopped himself before adding 'you'd be hard to forget' that would probably be rude considering why he was hard to forget "you were interested in collecting notes, up there." He pointed up above them at the ships they couldn't see.

The joke earned a quirk of a brow, and the slightest twitch of a grin. "I dunno, why's the class so curious? Could be somethin' they don't wanna know." He wasn't thinking anything new based on the conversation they were having inside, but the temptation to hint as much was too much to resist. "Logistics, of actually doing something useful." He shrugged, keeping it vague for now since he had made little progress. They really didn't know much at all about what they were going to be doing outside of the very basics: detonate, or retrieve.

Buzzwulf

 

[Buzzwulf]

Engrav noticed the little evasion, let it go. He wanted very much to press, but he felt that this wasn't the place or time. Engrav studied the tealblood, really looked at him for the first time, and what he saw surprised him. There was the tiredness, the exhaustion, but the highblood troll wore it like a mask. Like it was protection against difficult questions. Deimos's eyes carried something else. Something intense, and not distant at all.

A blink, and all that was gone.

"Yeah," the yellowblood responded. "I'm definitely interested in collecting notes. Don't think they said we weren't allowed to do that. I want to be able to replicate tech I see up there. At least figure out power sources and circuits and the nitty-gritty bits of anything we find." He looked again, trying to catch the calculating moment in Deimos's face. Nothing there. "I'd call myself an enthusiast. I just wanna see how stuff works."

"You know, could be you're right. Maybe the class doesn't want to know." Engrav REALLY wanted to know. He'd let it go for now, though, try to get under Deimos's skin some other time. "How about this? I don't know a ton of trolls here, and I'm a little bit nervous around the military, so I'll be keeping an eye out for any trouble, or anything particularly interesting. If I see something, how about I let you know?"

Engrav nodded, looked the tealblood in the eye. "I mean, of course, if you'd be willing to help me out the same way. Volunteers gotta stick together. Nothing unreasonable about that."

nepsah

 

[nepsah]

Now that was interesting. Replicating what they saw would definitely open the gates to faster departure for civilians. Now if only Deimos were more tech-minded. He'd allowed himself to get too fixated on one specialty, and was quickly finding out that it wasn't the most useful when it came to the actual mechanics of getting somewhere. He could learn... fit this new puzzle piece into himself an grow from it. "That's some risky enthusiasm, looking to figure out how military tech works while they keep their lookstalks on us the whole time." His tone betrayed the words - he knew he was saying something hypocritical and found it funny. The slight grin didn't exactly help, either. "But I'm the same. It should be open source. Especially if they're going to involve outsiders." He shrugged, shifting to lean against the wall.

"I can't say I know many of 'em either, just a few loud mouths that know other people." A shrug, "and I'm not exactly interested in signing my time away to servitude." At this, he leaned forward a little, something almost mischievous in those tired eyes of his. "So, deal, I'll look out for whatever you're lookin' for in return. I'm interested in navigation systems... maps, 'n stuff like that. They gotta have a whole treasure trove up there, better'n the stuff they sell in stores." As he'd grown older he'd already found faults in a few of the maps... Just how outdated were they? He had to know.

"So you just want like... power grids, yeah? I don't know much 'bout that sorta thing but I can take notes." He leaned back, tapping his head with one finger. Faulty as his memory tended to be sometimes, he'd made sure to get plenty of sleep before this. He shouldn't have trouble remembering any of this- not when it mattered so much to him.

Buzzwulf

 

[Buzzwulf]

Interesting. Engrav certainly hadn't been expecting the tealblood to be so on board with an equal exchange of information. He'd been expecting a lot more coercive behavior from the highblood, but he had no problem playing nice if that was what Deimos was expecting. It was a refreshing change of pace. The yellowblood couldn't keep a little smile off his face at the earnestness Deimos.

"Yes." Engrav continued. "I want power grids. Specifically, wiring diagrams of anything related to navigational or communications controls, and definitely any access codes if you happen upon them, although I'm not holding my breath. So when we're talking navigational systems, we have at least a little overlap in interest. As for maps..." The yellowblood paused, tapped right above his good gander bulb. "I'll keep an eye out for sure."

"We need to make sure that no one can catch us if we're going to do this, though. How about this. If I find something for you, I'll leave a note pinned on the underside of the table in the back left of the volunteer mess hall with times to contact me. If you find something, you do the same. If either of us get caught for whatever reason, we leave behind a note, but write... something nonsense. How about 'Grubloaf'? Then we'll both know to be careful without any direct contact that can be traced back to us." Engrav's thinkpan cranked out scenarios at a maddening pace, each more improbable than the last. No way he could set up anything more sophisticated under the noses of the royalists, in their own space tower.

It was already risky going as far as they were.

nepsah

That uh, took a little longer than I was hoping crying

 

[nepsah]

Dei nodded, mentally filing away the specifications Engrav wanted. He wasn't sure what sort of state the ships would be in, but hopefully whatever was going on up there would be simple enough to deal with and still allow time to get these things. Not to mention, being a volunteer would probably restrict any real access he'd have to things anyway... Ah well- these were things they'd like to get, and he'd certainly give it a shot. "Right, okay, I can do that." He nodded- maybe trying to smuggle a notebook on with him would be a good idea after all...

He quirked a brow at the suggestion of sticky note communication. It was a little... easy to spot, but he supposed there wasn't really a better option. "That sounds doable. And if we're caught and asked about it we'll need like, a believable reason for leaving times to meet up that doesn't involve sharing secrets about ship stuff." He folded his arms across his chest, thinking. He didn't know Engrav at all really- but he seemed to be the type to want to plan for any disruptions. "Or at least, have matching reasons for it if they manage to get a name out of one of us, I mean, assuming they go that far." He shrugged, still thinking... "You've got a prosthetic- do you know anythin' about like, maintainin' 'em? We can just say we're meetin' up to do maintenance. My foot's a piece a s**t anyway, needs it pretty frequent so its a good enough excuse." Normally one might think divulging such information would be dangerous, but it wasn't like it was anything not obvious. The fit was awkward, his gait was obviously affected by it. Anyone with lookstalks and the ability to put two and two together could see something was up. "If that's good 'n all we can just go with that 'n call it a plan, yeah?"

Buzzwulf

no worries !! i figure this... is prolly a last post from dei?