[META PRP] A Sweet Deal (Sascha + Calida)

[seekingCylem]

Quote:

Sascha receives an acceptance letter that smells like frosting. It has added a special note,
"meet me for lunch?"

 

[seekingCylem]

Sascha drummed his fingers on the surface of the round cafe table. It was a delicate little thing that looked odd next to the larger troll. He'd made an attempt to dress nicely. He wore a blazer, granted with the sleeves pushed up. He was in the desert after all. His jeans were clean and his shoes polished. The hemotyping on his shirt was pristine to the point of near-fluorescence. Still, the professionalism was negated slightly by his wide-legged posture on the spindly bistro chair, and his shirt being unbuttoned a little lower than would pass for "casual."

Sascha examined his coffee cup and wondered how tacky it would look if his contact showed up to find he'd downed the whole thing a minute into their assigned meeting time. Sascha instead settled for busying his hands brushing his hair back over his ear. Again. Maybe the fifth time would take.

This was hardly Sascha's first... interview? Was that what this was? The vagueness was the major component wearing on Sascha's nerves. The fact he was introducing himself to a child should have lessened the tension considerably, but it just gave Sascha another unknown. He knew what to expect from someone like Chiara or Aandes. This was outside his realm of experience. To make matters worse, the stakes had never been higher.

Sascha sniffed and crossed one leg over the other to keep it from rattling.

saihen

 

[Blasphemoose]

seekingCylem

Calida's feet clicked as she hit the hard pavement outside the cafe and she quickly walked towards the door, smoothing her windblown hair down with a comb so that it was at least somewhat presentable. She placed the comb in a Yellow hand bag and then smoothed her skirt. Her Cherub looks had started fading as she grew closer to leaving childhood and an unkempt look was cute for only so long.

The young greenblood used the clean windows to check her reflection briefly. She wore a long sleeved, vibrant, almost blinding, green dress with a rust colored stripe as an accent and her symbol in a darker green.The sleeves had a gradient effect that went from the vibrant green to a darker green as it reached her hands. What was seen of her prosthetics was kept undecorated. Her shoes had only a slight heel to them and were a dark gray, her stockings were also a dark gray.

Content with her appearance Calida opened the door and entered the cafe, a big smile on her face. Her shoes clicked on the floor as she approached Sascha. She stopped at the table but didn't sit down, wanted to make sure this was the right guy. She didn't know how she felt about him arriving first. That definitely made her feel a little bit immature. "excuse me? are you mr.diasis?"  

[seekingCylem]

Sascha had been instinctively looking towards the door upon every odd noise since he sat down. This time was no different. However, his attentiveness finally paid off. He almost passed Calida over after becoming so conditioned to the parade of nobodies.

Sascha knew enough about Calida from the sponsorship listings. If Sascha had been asked to describe his interpretation of a child entrepreneur, Calida would have been it. Still, it was a little strange to see the concept in person. Sascha could never have imagined being quite as put-together at her age.

Calida approached Sascha's table, slowing to a stop. Given the height difference, Sascha felt a little weird standing up to greet her. In the end, he figured it was the most polite gesture. He inclined his head to look Calida in the eye as he stood. He did his best not to loom and offered the younger troll a handshake.

"That's me. Sascha is fine--though I'm down for playing it 'business formal,' if you'd rather, 'Miss Opalus,'" Sascha replied with a lopsided grin.

saihen

 

[Blasphemoose]

seekingCylem

"Oh!" Calida clapped her hands happily. "Well, I don't mind being a little less formal," she said as she took his hand and shook it briefly. She didn't really like to touch people, especially with how strong her prosthetics could be. Far to easy to hurt others, but she felt it was impolite to refuse. Hopefully her discomfort in that moment wasn't too obvious with how she pulled away.

"Sascha it is! You can Call me Calida, I think... It would be weird for you to be calling me miss though, since you're older than me." she noted before taking her seat. She was still not much older than a wiggler and he was obviously, no child. that much she could gather.

She took the chance to examine him. Definitely had a nice face, he might draw a crowd towards her business, but she was more interested in finding out more about his time as a helmsmen and his catchphrase. Those are what interested her the most. "So, umm, I asked you to meet me here so that I could get to know you better, you see with phoenix down... I want to help people believe that they can do anything they set their minds to! If you're down on your luck, or having a bad time, you can turn things around!"

She put her arms up and made a wide arc. "And, I heard a bit about your time in the helmsman thing, you literally caught fire! And now here you are rising to become a star!" she insisted with sparkling eyes at the yellowblood, obviously taken with the drama of whatever his background was. "...but..." she trailed off a bit.  

[seekingCylem]

Sascha gave Calida's hand a firm, but small shake. He noted the prothesis with mild interest. Robotic limbs weren't uncommon by any stretch. On someone that young, and for both arms to be gone implied something especially intense. That was a tragic backstory if Sascha had ever seen one.

Sascha returned to his seat. He crossed his leg as he waited for Calida to get comfortable. He supposed comfortable wasn't the right word. This was an incredibly bizarre scenario anyway you cut it. While Sascha didn't have the finesse or particular motivation to make Calida feel more at ease, he at least listened patiently as she spoke her piece.

He was following along well enough, but snorted at the candid mention of his immolation. He hadn't expected that. Calida was clearly endeared to the story, though, so Sascha couldn't help but be charmed by the enthusiasm. The cough into his fist segued into a soft chuckle. The laughter trailed away just as quietly as Calida did.

"'But...'" Sascha reiterated, prompting her to continue. It was anyone's guess where her trepidation could be stemming from. He was a lowblood, and a rough one at that. Phoenix Down was a Civisect establishment, wasn't it? Sascha felt cold at the thought. Not surprised, but cold.

saihen

 

[Blasphemoose]

seekingCylem

Calida appreciated the soft chuckle more than Sascha would know. it made her feel a little more relaxed, but it didn't really help her prepare for what she had to say next. "But," She took a deep breath trying to steady herself. "Ummmmm, this is my first time doing this," She finally said letting out a breath causing her words to come out in a rush, "So I was wondering if you would be an okay fit" Hopefully this wouldn't put her in the negative on points, but he could help her probably more than she could help him. But she definitely liked the phoenix Image, so she most certainly wanted him on board.

She clasped her hands together, suddenly nervous that she might be making her business seem weaker than it was. One wrong move could send her business hurtling down in a ball of fire, but if she jumped the gun to try and correct herself, it could make things worse. Okay, she'd try to ride this one out. Once her words were out she carefully watched Sascha for any hints.

Suddenly her mind was going crazy trying to figure out if she'd already slipped up. That somewhat comforting chuckle suddenly turned into a frightful taunt. It took every ounce of self-control to keep composed at that very moment. Brains could be super dumb sometimes and especially in several seconds that hardly matter.  

[seekingCylem]

He really was dealing with a kid, wasn't he. Sascha couldn't fault her indecision too much given the circumstances. In a rare display of supportiveness, Sascha waved his hand through the air. "Heeeyy, it's my first time doing this too. Not every night someone gets the opportunity to rocket into the forefront of Alternian pop culture practically next-day. That goes for me as a performer as much as it does you as a business."

Even Sascha could see Calida was making classic "discomfort" gestures. He sat up a little straighter in his seat. "Look, I don't wanna condescend to you, so stop me if I start saying s**t you already know. This whole sponsorship-sponsee thing is a partnership. Like, I need you to help me, but I'm also here to help you. There's no need to go about this thing trying to secretly root out each other's weaknesses to get the upper hand or what have you. We don't embarrass each other. We get famous. We reap the benefits." Sascha smirked at his fool-proof plan. "And I ain't gonna embarrass you. My whole life, I've never been anything but transparent about the kind of person I am. You like what you see? Well that's what you get. If not, we go our separate ways."

Sascha leaned back in a more casual position. He gestured outward in indication of his general person. "I'm not dainty or tactful, which might go against your branding, but I am ambitious. You want your bakery to be the kinda business that climbs to the top, even if it's gotta crawl, then I'm your guy." Sascha's hand curled in a fist.

Sascha smiled cheerily and dropped his hand into his lap. "It's up to you, of course!"

saihen

 

[Blasphemoose]

seekingCylem

Calida was more than a little surprised by what Sascha had to say but listened intently. So they were both new to this entire thing, in a sense. She gently bit the inside of her lip as he continued to talk. What he said made sense, it wasn't like they were enemies or anything, they were partners and she should probably stop treating him like he was something suspicious. "What you're saying makes sense," she thought very carefully about her next handful of words. Though, hopefully she wasn't oversharing.

She Let her prosthetics relax in her lap as she looked Sascha over for the third time that night. "I appreciate you telling me this, I do know more or less that we're partners and we're supposed to work together, I think... we can definitely pull something off, " she brought a hand to her chest and looked the older troll in the eyes. "I don't need dainty and I don't need tact, I need confidence, Someone comfortable in who they are and what they believe, I need someone to represent that anything can happen if you put your mind to it, that disaster isn't the end!"

Calida held her arms up, showing off the prosthetics to the older troll. "It's more than just my business that I want to move forward, In civisect... there was an explosion, I lost my hive, my arms... I almost lost my life, and many, many trolls would take that as defeat, would just give up," she let her arms fall with a clunk to the table, "I guess it's reasonable, but there is so much to see and do in this world that I don't think giving up is right," she brought a hand to her chest. "My goal is to help trolls everywhere realize that they can do anything, and for that, I need trolls who are confident and ambitious," of course she also needed trolls who weren't all that confident in themselves, to bring home the point that anyone can do anything.


she got up out of her seat and made a wide gesture and then put her hands on the table. "You see, my business isn't about baking, though that's where I started, it's about trolls, trolls who have it bad, lowbloods and highbloods who need a hand of help, who need to be given confidence before they can move forward," Calida's shining eyes stared at Sascha, her smile bright, though maybe blocked a little by her enormous canines. "And that is why you're perfect! You have energy, you may not be dainty, but I can tell you have charisma!" she paused a moment, was that even the right word. "Through disaster, possible casteism," she paused, she knew that as a yellowblood, he was definitely not going to be too liked in civisect, but she did hope she wasn't being too offensive, "You made it this far and you're trying to be an icon! That's something! that says a lot! I am really happy you picked me as a sponsor and I really look forward to working with you!"  

[seekingCylem]

Sascha felt cool relief settle over him immediately. He had yet to hear the rest of what Calida had to say, but it was clearly starting out in his favor. He leaned on the table ever so slightly. He did his best to maintain a calm, appraising look. He wasn't out of the woods yet.

Sascha's poker face didn't last long. His eyebrows rose up under his bangs. He supposed it made sense that Calida would be a passionate troll to have come this far as a businessperson. This was just the first he was really glimpsing it in action.

His expression steeled once more at the mention of the Civisect explosion. He knew immediately which one Calida was referring to. Sascha was hardly an empathetic troll, but the scenario hit particularly close to home. It could have easily been him caught up in that attack. He hadn't witnessed the effects of the less fortunate space tower in person before. It was eerie.

Calida was becoming more and more invigorated by her sales pitch. Sascha couldn't help but get swept along for the ride. Both trolls were grinning.

"Obviously I picked you for a reason, little lady, but now I can say with certainty: I'm proud to represent the Phoenix Down brand," Sascha announced. He too, stood and leaned over the table to meet Calida halfway with an open hand.

saihen

 

[Blasphemoose]

The wideness of Calida's smile might have been much to big for a tiny troll to have, but there it was. She was super stoked that Sascha was all for it. Then he offered his hand, she stared at it for a moment. She knew logically, her arms could not feel but she imagined that taking his hand would hurt somehow. Her face fell for a moment before she slowly took Sascha's hand and was careful not to squeeze too hard. "I look forward to working with you!"

Calida smiled again as she released his hand and returned to her seat and daintily sat down in her seat. "So, umm, lunch? I'm really hungry,"

seekingCylem

the end?