[ORP] The Nightly Grind Booth

[zeflamigo]

Leeroi shrugged. As much as he wanted to solve this mystery right here and now, he knew that neither of them access to the information they needed while they were drinking coffee at bloodfest. Hemera's information about the rebel was incredibly useful. Leeroi didn't really remember that tealblood, but he remembered the name. It was a lot like his own, after all.

"Panili didn't just have clairvoyance, she has that space crew on her side. Any technical knowledge she needed, she could glean it from them." Leeroi pointed out. He was surprised they had taken up such a strange grassroots cause.

Something was bugging him. For a moment, he sat there in thought, leg tapping the ground as he tried to remember the full details of his memory. When he remembered the missing link, his eyes narrowed.

"Do you remember, the masquerade ball..." Leeroi paused, trying to think of the best way to frame his thoughts. "All that stuff that happened with the guests... with Tigwyn. Well, Tigwyn wasn't supposed to be a part of that. But the captain, Piccal, was." Leeroi frowned, not sure how Hemera would take that. He had no idea what the queen's intentions were with that, but judging the whole situation, it didn't look good.  

[Gl!tch~]

Hemera frowned. "Was she..." Now that was somewhat concerning information. Tigwyn had been caught in the crossfire of meltdowns and personal machinations. Just about all the adults who attended the ball died by some form of foul play. So why was Piccal on that sort of guest list?

"I understand that the crew are persons of interest, but I'm not sure what to think of what you have told me. If Piccal was on that sort of level, she wouldn't be wandering around still in any case." Regina's games aside, wouldn't it have been privy to take Piccal into custody if she was a loose end that could flee after what happened with Tigwyn?

"But I think I can see why they joined Panili. They lost someone important to them after returning to society after sweeps on end. It must have been overwhelming. I can understand seeking a simple life after so much."

Hemera sipped her drink. "Do you believe them to be a concern, Furore?"

She didn't like potentially being put at odds with trolls she had grown to trust, but if they had nothing to hide, that would save them more than shielding them would.  

[zeflamigo]

Hemera's question gave him pause. Other than the words of some clown, the crew hadn't given him any reason of suspicion. It did make sense for them to settle down with a simple cause, like retiring after a long, violent day. Leeroi sighed. He didn't know what to make of it. Perhaps some research would help point him in the right direction, as much as he hated the idea of scoring through old books and outdated records.

"I don't believe anything until I see it," Leeroi took a small sip before continuing, locking eyes with Hemera. "I don't know. I don't have any idea how to tackle this, but I know somebody should be." He shrugged.  

[Gl!tch~]

Hemera nodded. "I can submit a request for further access to information as needed and to see if we can create an official investigation of the space race."

She leaned onto her elbows and folded a hand under her chin. "Because you don't expect me to stay out of this one, right?"

Again, Mera didn't like the possible finger-pointing towards the space crew, but more than anything else she wanted answers to the questions Leeroi brought up. Questions which she wanted to ignore for a while, then ended up with too much on her own plate to deal with alone.

Working with someone she was comfortable with, though... Someone who made her push herself... Now that could make all the difference.  

[zeflamigo]

Leeroi chuckled under his breath. If Hemera could take care of the paperwork, she'd always be a welcome member on his investigations. Even if she was a liability, with her connections to the Lightseekers. Leeroi trusted her to be fair and impartial in the pursuit of the truth.

"Who else would keep me from drinking poison?" Leeroi joked, taking advantage of Hemera's proximity to lean in for a kiss.  

[Gl!tch~]

Hemera's eyes widened at first, then closed at the kiss. She didn't know it was something she had been needing until she got it. Once it inevitably ended, she laughed a little, covering her mouth as she did so. He remembered... A time that she was sure had been left out of his memory with their first meeting. Was he actively trying to piece together their rough childhood history?

Her arm went back down, elbow on the table again. "God. Here's hoping I'll actually get to stop you if that sort of thing ends up happening again."

She leaned on her hand, looking at him with obvious fondness in her eyes.

"Speaking of important survival skills...how do you feel about the current sign-ups for Scouts? A lot of them certainly seem to have as much personality as you do." Granted, most trolls in Mera's life had loads of personality, almost overwhelmingly so. What was up with that trend?  

[zeflamigo]

Leeroi laughed at the question, smiling toothily. "Most kids do, Mera. I'll have you know, you were the odd stick in the mud for your age." He smirked, leaving his assessment at that. He was pretty happy that the kids were excited about what they had to offer. An impressive turnout was something to be proud of.

"I'm happy we got so much attention, you know? Even if people just stopped by to make bracelets for their friends, it's nice..." It was always nice to achieve that kind of success, to put that kind of energy out into the world. It made Leeroi feel good and warm, despite the frigid temperatures. Head in his hands, he leaned with his elbows on table, sighing happily as he stared into his drink.  

[Gl!tch~]

Hemera huffed. "I was not a stick in the mud. I was very capable of having fun... It just left fewer holes in my horns because I was sensible about it." That and even if she was anything like as ridiculous as Leeroi was, her lusus would've had fit upon fit. There wasn't room for being like Leeroi.

"It was quite a decent turnout, though I was hoping the pupa-grub ratio would be a little different. Oh well. More the merrier I suppose."

Bracelets for their friends... Hm... That brought up another kettle of fish Hemera found herself somewhat uncomfortably dealing with.

"I did see trolls make bracelets for a lot of different reasons, between friendship and quadrants and in between..."

God, she had no idea how to do this. Hemera hated winging things, but this might be the most opportune time while everyone was still in the same area. If there was any hope for resolution versus the weird pining thing Elidae kept up.

She took the bracelet out of her pocket and slid it across the table.

"As well as secret admirers, apparently."  

[zeflamigo]

"Oooooh, is this for me?" Leeroi laughed, picking up the bracelet and studying it. That was his hue and... Psykgi's? Wait no, it was just red because it was for matespritship... Maybe? He had no idea who this was from. Still, he started to tie it around his wrist. The sentiment was really cute, even if he didn't know whose sentiment it was.

"Aww did one of the kids make this, but was too shy to share it? That's a shame, it's super well made! The colors are real good..." Finishing tying it on his wrist, he admired it next to Hemera and Psykgi's. Leeroi smiled, living off the feeling of popularity. He laughed under his breath before taking a good sip of his drink.  

[Gl!tch~]

Hemera just kept drinking her coffee. She liked seeing Leeroi happy, preferred it, even, but she felt obligated to make it crash on down. Mera couldn't...just let things stay frosty between Leeroi and Elidae. She could intervene, help avoid what she went through with Leeroi herself until some miracle actually got them together despite so much. And that sort of thing didn't always happen. There needed to be action.

She put her drink down. Mera took a breath. Let no bad happen.

"It wasn't a child... But definitely shy about sharing it..."

Her hands started fidgeting with her plushie gift.

"Perhaps...you could tell Elidae yourself about how nice it looks?" she asked, hesitantly hopeful but not trying to appear naive on the matter.  

[zeflamigo]

Leeroi choked on his coffee, going into a violent coughing fit. He set his drink down firmly, being kind enough to turn in his seat to face away from Hemera while he tried to clear his throat.

He took a good long moment to regain his composure, and even then he was clearly distraught. His hands covered his face, blushing a deep, embarrassing blue. Narrow eyes peeked out between his fingers, and a pained expression was apparent on his face.

"You're ******** with me, you're ******** with me..." Leeroi tried to assure himself, but studying Hemera's expression made him doubt himself within the same thought. "No, you couldn't..." Leeroi made a pained laugh. Hemera could never do something like that to him, even if she hated him. She wasn't capable of that, and she was so close with Elidae. It had to be real.

Leeroi curled in on himself, rubbing his eyes in the palm of his hands. He was a ******** idiot, how was he so stupid? Telling Elidae to avoid him because he was afraid of Kursha's wrath? Telling a girl who LIKED him to AVOID him because he was a COWARD? Some ******** hero. He wanted to scream, but held back for Hemera's sake, settling for a low grumble.

He sat up with a start. He wasn't going to sit and sulk about his mistakes. He was going to fix them.

"She— she hasn't left yet, has she?" Leeroi asked, desperation obvious in his voice. "Do you think you can get her to come back to the booth?"  

[Gl!tch~]

Hemera just wanted to hide at first, between the choking and the very intense reaction. The latter she signed up for like it or not, the former she should've foreseen enough to avoid. Sigh.

She did perk up a little at Leeroi figuring out for himself that she would never mess with him like that.

And now he had a mission, which would likely cut their date short. As much as Hemera supported him trying to get his s**t together, she did feel a little disappointed despite herself. And Mera hated that feeling.

"Of course she hasn't left yet... I can only imagine she'll want to come back to see how the delivery went. But I can help you get something set up, of course."

Mera folded her hands, and looked down at them. "Leeroi...I don't mean to meddle, and I am sure I'm saying things you already know, but I feel like I should mention it anyway. But... If you do intend to make things work, you're going to have to work the Kursha factor out with her. He is her moirail, and after his reputation and history, she'll likely be learning how to navigate keeping relationships afloat despite his attitude."

After saying her piece, she took a moment, then looked up at him and smiled. She put a hand on his. "But I have faith that everything will work out."  

[zeflamigo]

Leeroi couldn't believe it. There was still opportunity to fix this mess before the wait would kill him. He sighed with relief.

"You're divine," Leeroi grabbed Hemera's hands, leaning over the table and resting his head on them. He was totally sincere, though he naturally over-exaggerated. He won Hemera a stuffed toy, but she was wing-manning him into a matespritship with one of his youngest crushes. Leeroi couldn't believe it.

Before raising himself back up to sit normally, Leeroi kissed Hemera's hands and laughed softly. He couldn't stop blushing with joy, though he wasn't quite sure who it was for anymore.

The situation with Kursha... It was a weird one to say the least. It didn't hamper his feelings. At this point, regardless of their standing, Kursha knew what he was dealing with when it came to Leeroi. He didn't see the greenblood ******** things up at this point, knowing it would hurt Elidae. "Vidari's a mess, but I'm not afraid of what he'll do to me. I'm sure Elidae is capable of making her feelings known, and I'd hope the Captain wouldn't intervene in a way that'd hurt her." He shrugged, squeezing her hands again slightly. There was no way he could prepare for Kursha's reaction. It wasn't worth dwelling on.

"Let's have one more drink, huh? Decaf? I'll get you a piece of cake. Two pieces of cake?" Leeroi prattled a bit, watching Hemera cutely for her answer. She needed to know there was no way he was leaving the date early, with everything she had done.  

[Gl!tch~]

Of course Hemera's face went teal at the word. 'Divine'. No one had ever...ever called her something like that. Maybe she once felt something like it when Afryse kissed her in an amazing moment of ice-skating, but that was different. Her relationship with Afryse was different.

Leeroi's entire display was something else. Unreserved, like he tended to be, but the level of...awe, perhaps. She didn't know what to call it, really, but it did more than fluster her. If she were a peacock, she would flash her tail feathers. But she was not a peacock, only an emotionally-repressed troll. Mera's hands went cold.

She felt so happy over something so small, it was embarrassing. It was even more embarrassing that she didn't know what to do with herself except maybe hide her face. But she shouldn't do that, either. She couldn't keep showing her hand at how inexperienced she was with affection. That, too, just added to the embarrassment.

Hemera felt, in short, deep spades. 'In love' would be a comparatible term, if it was redrom. But calling it hate wouldn't do it justice; she felt flustered, angry at being flustered, but so painfully attracted to him, and she was honestly enjoying the attention immensely, and it was...so many things at once. Perhaps the most infuriating parts were that Leeroi, being Leeroi, likely had no idea what he was doing to her. Further, she wasn't about to verbalize her feelings like a sap.

Instead, she went the other way: an absolute loss for words.

Cold hands went icy, a display of how intensely she couldn't help feeling in the moment.

She had to get her composure back; in the end, this wasn't about her. Drawing attention to herself would just distract from the more important things.

And yet all she could manage was, "You...are certainly something else, Furore."

Where was a couch to make out on when she needed it?

His question remained hanging, forgotten in the moment. She would get back to it after she managed to get herself back together a bit more.