[PRP] This ain't a scene [Akkira + Sascha]

[Blasphemoose]

Where: Chitten town a club somewhere.
What a great time for a reunion.

 

[Blasphemoose]

Akkira drummed her hands on the bartop and hummed to an unknown tune. Without her lusus to control what she did, she made it a point never to be late and so was now an entire hour early to her own show. But that gave her time to get into something more interesting for the performance. Right at the moment she wore a plaid shirt opened in the front to show off a form fitting black tank top. Her pants were black, skintight and distressed., her long hair was pulled back into a simple braid and she wore a pair of red heart shaped sunglasses. An arms length away was the case of an old beat up guitar and a dufflebag.

Of course she planned to dress up better for the actual performance, but for now she had time to kill. She listened for any patrons that she might be able to engage in conversation or maybe tease a little bit? She felt a mild bubble of anxiety fill her chest and her humming turned into full on singing, it wasn't one of her original scores but something she heard at Cerpin's club a while back. She really should pay the guy a visit some time, she'd have sure fire work but the idea of relying on someone she knew from her childhood put a bad taste in her mouth. "I'm the leading troll, and the lies I weave are oh so intricate, oh so intricate---" she continued singing the song as she continued to listen to trolls pass by her.

seekingCylem

 

[seekingCylem]

As a Chittentown native, it continuously surprised Sascha to learn that not many people considered it much of a club scene. He supposed Four Fronds and Civisect were more pointedly tourist destinations, and New Hemisect was practically its own planet it was so huge. Still, Chittentown was the second-largest city on Alternia. Yet it was the science geeks and dense population of lowbloods that got all the attention in the city's elevator pitch. As though such things were mutually exclusive to partying, Sascha scoffed. Lowbloods were stereotyped as hard workers, therefore being renowned as equally hard partiers should have followed naturally. There's your science for you.

That said, the club Sascha found himself at currently wasn't nearly as robust as his usual go-tos. He tended to patronize establishments that were bigger, louder, 80% dance floor, 20% colored lights. This place was still technically bustling, but was practically quaint by Sascha's sense of scale. Live entertainment in an intimate setting seemed to be the main pull for the business. Sascha had heard the food was good. Happy hour prices were more than enough for Sascha to postpone deafening himself with EDM for another night.

It seemed he was still early enough to catch the beginning of the night's show too, Sascha noticed briefly. Trolls were just starting to take up seating at the tables near the stage. Sascha instead made a beeline for the bar--better to get served first before the club got much more crowded.

Sascha slid into the seat next to Akkira. As far as he knew, he'd just taken a bar stool unoccupied by one of a thousand other redbloods in the immediate vicinity. He rhythmically clapped his hands against the bar as he settled into his seat and waved to alert the nearest bartender.

At first Sascha thought the troll to his left had been speaking to him. It was only a moment before he recognized the lyrics to the song Akkira had been singing. "This place didn't strike me as all that pop-punk. Woulda pegged it as one of those acoustic, indie joints," he commented offhandedly. Were the stagehands going to wheel out a drum kit or something? He could get behind that.

saihen

 

[Blasphemoose]

seekingCylem

Of all the people and all the times and all the places the last thing she expected was to meet up with an old acquaintance she hadn't heard from since civisect tower. She hadn't any idea that he had walked up to the very bar she was sitting at, with no clue that he was the one who sat down next to her. She just continued singing as she thought about what was going to happen on stage. She was more or less only aware that there was a troll near her.


She stopped singing and opened her mouth to retort with 'well anything can happen where i'm concerned' But it struck her that the voice was familiar. Very familiar, the only thing missing was the smell of pungent chemical fumes."And I didn't peg you for the type to be anywhere remotely fun, but here you are," She teased and brought her hands from the counter to her stool. She leaned a bit closer to Sascha and sniffed, though this wasn't for anything but her teasing. "Actually, after the space tower I didn't think I'd ever run into you again, glad you dumped the chemical fume cologne, though it almost made you difficult to recognize,"


Actually, it was really nice to have someone she sort of recognized, if this in fact wasn't sascha and just someone that sounded a hell of a lot like him, boy was she making a fool of herself and she only vaguely thought of the fact that she might look like a fool. "Sascha, wasn't it?"  

[seekingCylem]

There was an odd beat of silence as Akkira registered Sascha's identity. Despite the head-start and her following retort, Sascha still took his sweet time recognizing the redblood. The intensity of Sascha's puzzled scanning of Akkira would have been more embarrassing if she could see him doing it. When Sascha realized she couldn't, all of the pieces fell into place.

"No way." The disbelief was intense, but jovial. Sascha rocked in his seat and slapped the bar top enthusiastically. "Never woulda recognized you in a thousand sweeps. Your lusus finally let you start dressing yourself? I'd figure white robes would be a pain to try and maintain after all that, given you can't see stains. Diggin' the shades by the way."

Sascha broke attention from Akkira to the approaching bartender. One order for a noxiously sugary beverage and Sascha turned back to the redblood. His expression phased through congeniality, to thoughtfulness, to suspicion in a matter of seconds.

"Yeah?" He said. Sascha was quick to elaborate on the question in his tone. "I don't remember ever exchanging names, though. Do I got some reputation I'm not aware of?"

If Sascha's intent was to sound accusatory, he missed the mark by a country mile. He was far too interested to hear what was potentially being said about him behind his back. He leaned inward on the bar conspiratorially.

saihen

 

[Blasphemoose]

seekingCylem

Akkira began to think that maybe it wasn't in fact Sascha and she had just made an utter fool of herself. Her grip tightened on her seat as she began thinking of any retorts that might help her if whoever it was asked what she was talking about when.
"No way." and then a slap to the bar top that surprised Akkira. She had most likely been super wrong about Sascha in every way, imaginable.

She let out a laugh, "That's very sweet of you to say, their my favorite pair," Akkira said with a bit of a laugh and slightly dramatizing her words playfully, "Aanyway, my lusus doesn't exactly know, I sort of ditched her after chittentown and haven't looked back since....." She didn't intend to go into details, she didn't need to talk about the event with the daywalkers. Akkira listened to the steps of the bartender click against the floor as Sascha's next question came up.

"Not really? I was just talking to this troll that helped me get to a recupracoon, after the bomb ordeal, the one that knew you, I guess?" Akkira asked, as though looking for some kind of conformation about whether or not he knew Forera, "Anyway we were talking and she told me your name and I told her about the time I clobbered you with a bowling ball at bloodfest," She gave another laugh, though this one was half hearted.

"Ssssorrry, about that by the way, I ended up taking my anger out on you that night, got into a really nasty fight with my lusus... but that's no excuse..." she leaned back with only her arms keeping her from falling over, "I was a bit worried that I may have done a lot more damage and was really relieved when I heard from you again in chittentown," She let a bit of silence fall as she thought about whether or not to order something."I'm Akkira Kagome, Nice to officially meet you," she held her hand to him for a hand shake and flashed him a grin.  

[seekingCylem]

"The one that..." Sascha trailed off in thought as he struggled to recount everything that went down at the Chittentown Space Tower. His memory was a little fuzzy from the sheer amount that transpired. And the blood loss. And the bomb threat put kind of a weird damper on the whole thing. "Hmm... Hemera?" he tried, "Leeroi?" Sascha almost suggested Forera, but remembered at the last second she had been using some pseudonym at the time. What was it? Sascha wracked his brain. "FFfffuh... Fer... Puh... Prairie dog?" He was close. "Loud, shorty one-horn--oh, wait, guess two-thirds of that isn't helpful." Sascha trailed off in a frustrated grumble as he listened to Akkira further recount the mystery individual.

Hearing that the story of Sascha the Bowling Pin was still going strong did little to improve his mood, but his dry expression was lost on Akkira. It faded soon enough as Akkira followed up with an apology of all things. Sascha relaxed back into his seat. "Eh, no worries. I've had worse." Sascha replied with a dull tone, but realized after the fact that Akkira had no idea how ******** up he'd actually gotten over the sweeps. It was an odd sensation for Sascha. He smirked gently and took Akkira's hand with a firm shake. "Sascha Diasis, as you know. Nice meeting ya, Akkira."

Sascha replaced Akkira's hand in his with the beverage he'd ordered. "You keep saying 'Chittentown' like it's an event. You not from around here?" Sascha asked as he prodded the ice cubes in his drink with a straw.

saihen

 

[Blasphemoose]

seekingCylem

"Nope, dunno who 'hemera' or 'leeroi' are either, don't sound familiar," Akkira shrugged, she couldn't very well call Forera by name, that would probably be some sort of suicide. Akkira was pretty sure no one knew she personally existed aside from those that had met her, but Forera was wanted as far as the young redblood knew.

She touched back down to Alternia once Sascha introduced himself properly, also worse how? She'd have to ask when she had a bit more time to waste on personal stories. Akkira made a note about how Sascha's hand felt before he let go. "Yeah well, we'll have to find out if the feeling is mutual," eventually she just leaned against the bartop and played with her ponytail. How much time did she have before she had to get to the back and change? She'd have to ask

"Ha, as far as it's concerned it might as well be, I'm only here for work, once I've got enough to pay for a new hive i'm out of here," if she had to be honest, she much preferred the chill climate of Busthind and how close it was to the initiative. It was also more difficult for her lusus to hang around the bellow frigid temperatures. "From the sounds of it, you're a native or something right?"  

[seekingCylem]

Sascha was sucking his sugary beverage down with gusto. Fruit juice concentrate was way cheaper to come by in the desert than actual fruit. He'd savor whatever form of strawberries he could get his hands on.

"Dang. Didn't know this was an interview," Sascha said dryly. "I'd have dressed up. Maybe some cologne or somethin'."

Sascha's straw made a loud rattling as he emptied the glass of liquid. Casually, he rattled the leftover ice in the direction of the bartender and sat back in his seat.

"Yeah, can't argue with that." Something seemed to be going down in Chittentown on the regular since Sascha moved in fresh from the trials. It was any wonder the place was still standing. "Could be worse. Could be Civisect." The sharp smile Sascha gave was evident in his voice. The disaster-to-existence ratio was one record Sascha didn't mind the highbloods snaking from everyone else.

Sascha saluted the bartender as they swapped his empty glass for a full one. He turned back to Akkira. "Yeah, me and a billion other lowbloods. It's a nice place, but I can't blame ya for wanting to move on to bigger and better things." He twirled the ice around his pink beverage. "What work you doing out this way? Y'don't really strike me as the techie science type."

saihen

 

[Blasphemoose]

seekingCylem

"wouldn't have helped your chances any," she replied simply. She propped her head up against her hand and waved her free one. "You don't get brownie points for looks, I guess i could give you points if there was a feather boa involved," she'd only ever heard about the texture of a feather boa, never actually felt one, so she could only imagine what sort of texture that was. "Depends on the cologne too, you might get negative points if it wrecks my sense of smell,"

"Yeah?" She had never really experienced anything about Civisect and only heard about their space tower falling. Akkira couldn't decide if what she heard in Sascha's voice was smugness or something close to it. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're pretty smug about that," she tapped the bar idly. "Don't know much about civisect personally, I spent most my life around the foothills of busthind,"

"Oh yeah, what exactly are you implying there? That I can't possibly be a scientist?" as though she was daring Sascha to say that she couldn't do something.  

[seekingCylem]

"Damn shame--I got plenty looks to spare. You're missing out," Sascha threw back with a completely superfluous hair flip. His hair had finally grown long enough for the gesture to look minimal amounts of stupid. He wasn't about to waste the opportunity, regardless of his conversation partner's ability to appreciate (or even register) the movement.

"Civisect's a fine place and all if you're into the highblood metropolis thing. Ain't especially welcoming to our kind. Fun to hang around in the short-run though, like Bloodfest. Everyone's casteism gets channeled into dumb sporting events. Can't say I'd wanna live there on the regular, though. Maybe if I get mad famous and can afford a fancy high-rise."

Sascha snorted at Akkira's offense. He couldn't tell whether or not she was being serious, but continued to prattle on regardless. "Most science geeks I know are a little less... heavy-handed in their approaches to most things. Least on purpose." Sascha chuckled. "Plus they can read."

saihen

rude boy

 

[Blasphemoose]

seekingCylem

"Yeah, sure am missing out on your self-absorbed showcase," she shot back and stuck her tongue out at sascha before turning her attention to the large duffel, out of a side pocket she pulled out a thermos. she could feel the slight breeze that came from the hair flip and that was about all she registered. She couldn't exactly tell what the breeze was from, she was just sure it wasn't his breath.

Civisect, sounded like a great place to pick a fights. But if she learned anything it was to pick your fights with highbloods carefully. "If? you're saying there is a chance you won't get mad famous?" her tone almost mocking as she leaned in his direction before taking another sip of the tea in her thermos. "Well, I guess they only like trolls with personality," she swished the tea in her thermos a bit before capping it and sliding it back into her duffel bag.

"Exactly how many science geeks do you know? Sure sounds like you're an expert on the matter," Akkira tried her best to seem casual while on the inside she was seething and ready to fight. She knew she couldn't risk her gig, she KNEW if she lost this she wouldn't have the beetles for rent and food. She made a mental note to pay him back when she didn't risk her livelihood.  

[seekingCylem]

Sascha chuckled quietly in response to Akkira's tongue. He found it odd that Akkira brought her own beverage to a bar, but ultimately decided it was the least weird thing about her. "I've got more personality than any one troll has a right to and you know it," he replied, more smirk than face.

Sascha's laughter smoothed somewhat as he recounted the "science geeks" in his life. He seemed to consider the question seriously before responding. "Quite a few, actually. I wasn't at the research facility for funsies. I was part of the official helmsman program a long time before the space ladder debacle kicked off." Sascha spoke coolly relative to the bravado he'd shown only moments earlier.

"Guess I managed to retain a few brain cells after that bowling ball." Sascha was definitely grinning after that one.

saihen

 

[Blasphemoose]

seekingCylem

"Oh really? You know, you could have fooled me with how serious you were all the time," She couldn't help but smile. His comebacks weren't the most clever, but they were firm and she could respect a guy that could fight her so well verbally.

"Really? Huh, I actually wouldn't have thought of you as the sciency type either, maybe hired muscle or something but not sceince," she waved a hand and huffed, "believe me, I tried but apparently being blind is a hazard so even if i could prove I was perfectly capable without seeing, they wouldn't have it,"

Akkira couldn't help but let out a snort of laughter and cover her mouth as she giggled. "Or maybe it just knocked them into the right connections" She clicked her tongue in mock irritation, she was trying to stay mad but it was very difficult. "Anyway, I sing and dance for clubs like this, mostly I open for more well known singers while they get read, I'm actually opening tonight too in, uhhhh," she paused and drummed the counter top, "Actually I think I have to go soon, we've been talking for what... 10 minutes or something?"  

[seekingCylem]

Sascha's face actually fell upon being called "serious." "Are you... Is it you who's being serious?" He let loose a sharp "Ha!" that was more sigh than laugh. "I guess I can't be too surprised, but like... Lemme tell you the coincidence of you catching me two bad nights in a row was pretty insane. Kinda hard not to be serious after the brightmare helltower adventure at the research facility. Also I'm like, really bad at carnival games." Sascha relaxed back into his seat with a superfluous wave of his hand.

"I attract misfortune like bees to mind honey, and I'll be the first to admit the brunt of it is my own damn fault. I promise most of my gruff is hyperbolic. If I was legit mad all the time I'd have died of an aneurysm like four sweeps ago." He leaned sideways over the counter and sucked down on his drink. "You're not entirely wrong, though. I'm not in research, I am research. There's a bunch of studying, but it's straight and straight book learnin' on how to be a good helmsman. I'm not expected to draw brand new conclusions from any of it."

Sascha laughed, "I'm also hired muscle too. Different job. I'm a troll of many talents. Maybe you're onto something with that bowling ball theory."

He leaned around Akkira, taking note of her luggage for the first time in earnest. He whistled an impressed couple notes. "Well look who's talented!" He straightened back up in his seat. "A place like this is a pretty sweet gig! I mean, I've never been here and I didn't know there was going to be live entertainment, SO! Make of that what you will. We can pretend I came to see your performance specifically." He lifted his glass in a mock cheer, shaking the ice.

"Now I'm all interested! Don't let me keep you here on the sidelines if you've got places to be."

saihen