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 Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2017 11:32 am
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Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2017 4:52 pm
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Aah yes, silence. Or well, at least, silence as best as one could get in a hangar full of people. Really, Mahmud supposed that what he really meant was that he didn’t have to interact with another large group of people. Freaking awkward, was what it was. Trying to butt in at any given time when there were ten conversations going at once… and not to mention that he had made a fool of himself to Deimos right before. And that stranger. Did any of them know him? Like, Mahmud supposed that if there was a time to make small talk this’d be it but that didn’t help settle his stomach any. Something seemed very off about that guy…
Or it could be all those scars and missing limbs.
Which would just make Mahmud an a*****e, a prospect he didn’t very much care for.
No, instead he’d rather lean against the wall he was currently at and sigh. There was another food table nearby. Maybe he could just… grab some more snacks, eat away his nervous feelings… though that’d be a bad road to go down. Perhaps writing some slam poetry? That was always fun… wasn’t like he could do much else in this place, seeing as it was already… well… constructed and junk. For a little bit he looked around, seeing if anyone else was around, before deciding… on the snacks. More snacks now, poetry later.
Just as he was about to go get his grub on, a voice called out from beside himOH GOG WHERE DID HE COME FROM? Mahmud whipped his head around far more dramatically than need be and clutched a hand to his chest. ”Wh-wha… oh!” It was that stranger from before… maybe he had gotten worried about him or something. Giving a nervous laugh, Mahmud slumped a little from the rigid stance he had taken. ”Oh… Sorry I uh… didn’t realize you were right next to me.” Damn. He’d have to interact still… ah well, maybe he could get to know this guy and shake the heebie jeebies he was getting. ”Oh uh…”
He looked a little sheepish as he extended a hand out to the other troll. ”Mahmud. Mahmud Seshat. Nice to meet you.” Skittish he may be, but he was ready and willing to be polite. ”What’s your name then?” Accompanying the question was a weak smile. ”You uh… you talked to the others, right? Must’ave been nice.”
How did someone make polite small talk? It sure was harder than it normally seemed right now… maybe he was still being a nervous a*****e.
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Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 1:39 am
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Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 8:06 am
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”Oh…” Whoops. He must’ave mentioned it earlier, as stated. Swallowing his food, Mahmud could feel Engrav staring at him… Engrav, with his one eye… ack! No! No no no, he couldn’t be an a*****e! Couldn’t use that as an excuse to uncomfortable, what kind of guy would he be? Even if he was being a little bit… shifty, Engrav was probably just a regular guy looking to network. Not some like, he didn’t know, supersoldier or something or whatever.
Or maybe… as Engrav began to speak, Mahmud quirked a brow. This guy… he… he kept saying his full name? Didn’t he know… OH! Some sort of recognition clicked in his mind, and Mahmud’s expression softened even further. Maybe... Engrav had a hard time with social cues, like he himself did! That would explain why everything felt off- oh.
As Engrav mentioned the other’s worry, his face scrunched up a bit. Was it rage? Was it… disgust? Honestly, what it was was… embarrassment. Did they tell him about his panic attacks, how he had a hard time in groups? ”Yeah, I’m fine.” Though his voice seemed annoyed, he honestly felt far more disappointed than anything. Mahmud had been trying to get better about these things… For a moment his fingers twitched, reached upward, ready to scritch his arm out of nerves, but he stopped it. How much did they tell him? Would he know about his itching? Gog, now he couldn’t do it! Engrav’s attention was on him. ”Just… its whatever.” he replied, waving his hand dismissively. ”Thank you though, seriously. It’s real nice of you to check in on me like that.”
Quickly! He had to get his attention off his nervous tics, before they embarrassed him further! Scrambling, Mahmud finally managed to scrape together ”So uh…” Muddy’s expression had long since unwrinkled, and at the very least he seemed a bit more comfortable with this troll. ”About all this, going up into space and all…” Mahmud waved his hand in emphasis. ” What are you hoping to get out of this whole space thing?” A good question, a good opener… gave Engrav a lot of room to play and make himself comfortable. Mahmud tried his best to show his interest, smiling, making eye contact with Engrav… hopefully that’d make him more comfortable…
buzzwulf Tried to give Engrav’s paranoia a lot of room to play biggrin |
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Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 1:32 am
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The orangeblood was staring at him. Engrav wished he'd stop. It was starting to make him itchy.
He was shifting from foot to foot like he was standing on coals or something. Clearly nervous. Engrav wasn't able to get a read at all. He was pretty sure that he would have been able to figure out Mahmud's intentions if he could just catch a sentence fragment, a slipped word, maybe a slight twitch.
The problem was that Mahmud was nothing but sentence fragments, slipped words, and massive twitches that were nearly approaching spasms.
He'd read somewhere that trolls could get their nerves fried while messing around with sopor slime. Maybe Mahmud had a bit of that? If he had decreased sensitivity, he could be nearly unstoppable. He might not feel pain. He might not understand danger, or comprehend threats. Engrav wondered if his imagination was conjuring scenarios to support his hypothesis of danger. Possible, but almost certainly better safe than sorry.
"Simple." the yellowblood replied. "I'm hoping to get some insight into the tech employed on the vessels in space. I'm also hoping to see how my new prosthetic holds up in unusual environments. And finally, I'm looking for trolls that I think I can..." Engrav's face screwed up in a horrible imitation of something like a smile. A terrifying, deaths-head grin of a smile. "Trust. I'm looking for trolls I think I can trust." He shook his head, clearing it, then shrugged.
"So, that's me. Why are YOU headed to space, Mahmud?"
Engrav reached past the orangeblood causally, grabbed a sausage. Took a bite. Chewed.
It was awful.
Skyli Peep I may be trying to scare Mahmud just slightly. Gotta shake him, see what comes out.
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Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 12:28 pm
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Gah! Why was Engrav such a hard person to read?!
Was it the eye thing again? God, why did he keep coming back to the eye thing! That was awful, and he needed to stop. And dear god there were two things that Mahmud had realized in that moment: One was that Engrav never needed to grin like that again, and that two, he was probably more socially awkward than himself. Which, really, given the evidence from this whole conversation… Mahmud was obviously having a great deal of trouble with interactions. So the fact that Engrav was by some measures worse was both impressive and, as one would say, a ******** miracle.
Or maybe he just had a hard time smiling because of the extensive injuries.
Gog, Mahmud, stop being so insensitive!
Feeling, again, guilty for being suspicious of Engrav, Mahmud tried to plow through this whole conversation the best he could as his conversation partner bit an eenie weenie. Sinisterly. No wait Mahmud he’s not sinister that’s BAD! Fighting these intrusive thoughts was starting to get tiring…
”Oh uh… That’s honestly pretty cool, better than my reason.” He reached over to take a cup off the table and quickly sip from it, before continuing. ”At least yours is rooted in technology and design, which I mean I can deeply appreciate. I get why you’d need to stress test the parts in different stimuli. Different environments call for different measures, and all, and if you’re wearing that you’d totally need it to work in a large range of environments… though I guess like…” For a moment he paused to think about how to put this, before finally concluding ”You must be in some sort of cool path in life if you’re stress testing for space you know?” Another sip of his drink, another awkward pause before he filled in the gaps.
”I enjoy building so like… I read up a lot about how different environments can affect structures, I imagine it’s the same for robotics and parts?” At this point Mahmud finally seemed a little more relaxed, waving his hand around as he spoke, no longer making awkward eye contact. ”S’pecially growing up in a desert, there’s temperature differences that need to be accounted for, although weather changes aren’t so much, as humidity as well.” Finally, he shrugged. ”Sorry, that wasn’t your question uh… I just… am kinda trying to find myself, I guess? See if something happens; get an idea of what I should be doing with my life. Kinda lame but… that’s the truth.”
buzzwulf PERSEVERANCE PAYS OFF, ENGRAV |
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Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2017 1:06 pm
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Something here wasn't sitting right with him. Engrav was pretty sure it was the sausage, but you never knew. His intuition was kicking him right in the thinkpan and it kinda hurt just a little bit, but he wasn't exactly sure what it was yelling about. It was starting to stress him out just a little bit.
An architect, huh? Not what he'd been expecting. Engrav wouldn't go as far as to call the vocation useless but... well. It wasn't like he was building communications systems or spaceships. He filed it away for another time. Maybe it had something to do with the group Mahmud was entwined with? The motivations there were hard to suss out, and Engrav wasn't honestly sure he wanted to.
Ok, he did.
Maybe just a hint, at least. Just something the slightest bit juicy.
The yellowblood raised his eyebrow. The good one. "So let me get this straight. You're going to space. To find yourself? You can't find yourself on a standard celestial landmass? There's lots of room." Engrav chuckled. He felt like that one had been pretty witty.
Banter. That's what he wanted. try to get the target to relax, to loosen up. Ideally, to trust him. Good old Engrav, he's great for telling secrets to, he's a closed vault, no one will ever get anything out of him. That was hard. Engrav was pretty sure he had no idea what he was doing.
"I get it, really. Hard to find yourself down here." The yellowblood nodded, shrugged. "There's so many expectations on all of us, and it's difficult to live up to all those commitments. Seems like it would help a lot to have friends who have your back though, right? And it doesn't look like you're hurting for those."
Engrav turned to the table and grabbed a cup, took a sip of something black, bitter, and bolstering. Rapport established. Good job, agent Engrav. "I'm from around Chittentown myself. Met Tevini," Engrav stopped, corrected himself. "-er, Corona- once or twice as well. That how you know her and Cerpin?"
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2017 11:45 am
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Engrav was smart, Mahmud’d give him that. Admittedly, he too had found that reply rather witty. Why couldn’t he find himself here on Alternia? That was indeed the biggest mystery, right? Despite the weird feeling he got in his gut talking to this guy, he was... articulate. And in his own roundabout sort of way, sort of… nice? Certainly no seasick crocodilian lusus, as the holiday song went.
”Expectations are right…” Of course, it’d do no good to talk about his problems and whine too much. But this was nice, having someone who kinda sorta got it. ”Like I just… it’s just a lot. Even with friends, sometimes I get too caught up in myself to really take care of others. So I guess that’s what I mean by finding myself. Getting a sense of purpose again.” There was a wince at that last admittance, mostly because it sounded so… highblood. Lowbloods were supposed to know their duties and places in life, and if they didn’t there certainly weren’t a lack of jobs that could be thrown at him.
For some time their conversation continued… until Engrav dropped that bombshell. Tevini. Corona. Was that the name she was hiding behind here? How would he know Tevini’s actual name then? His eyes instinctively grew wider at the mention, and he was just as quick to try and reign himself in again. Did he look surprised at the mention? Oh gog he hoped not. As he began to talk again, his fingers drummed against the side of his plastic cup. ”Mmm… Cerpin and… Corona. I’m close you could say.” Close. Hah. He was bumming in their spare recouperacoon. ”I do some construction work for them.” There was another awkward pause before, in a surprisingly unstilted voice, Mahmud smiled and murmured ”They mean so much to me. They’ve done a lot for me, and I’m thankful to have them around.” He then laughed and placed his cup down nearby. ”Listen to me going all gooshy. They’re my friends. “ Genuine in his smile, he then remarked ”What about your friends? They must be nice?”
buzzwulf Engrav's Voice: -hacker voice- I'M IN |
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Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2018 12:02 am
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His eye twitched a little. Engrav was pretty sure he had a good grasp of the orangeblood. He was optimistic, but buried it beneath layers of caution. The yellowblood nodded, parsing through all the data that Mahmud had willingly given him. He seemed loyal to his friends, and trusting to a fault. He relied on those close to him for a sense of purpose and direction, rather than finding it himself. But if Mahmud was on your side, Engrav was willing to bet he was one of the best friends you could ask for.
So Engrav paused a moment to ask himself. How did he want to play this out?
He decided to try and lure the orangeblood in. Maybe if his blunt-force questioning didn't do the trick, the orangeblood would be more susceptible to a little manipulation. And Engrav was pretty sure he knew just what button to press.
"My friends, uh..." Engrav paused, broke eye contact. Played the awkward stranger. "I mean I guess it's just Caiden. I'm not very..." and circle the eye back to Mahmud. Look a little vulnerable. No, not a lip quiver, that was a bit much, but looking almost a little hurt. Drop the eye, and think about something sad. That was it. "I guess I'm not really very good at meeting trolls? I don't know." He backed up, building just a little bit of distance. When he spoke again, his voice was just a little quieter, so that the orangeblood would have to lean in a little to hear. "I kind of chase them away."
Engrav did feel a little wistful. He used that, put it on his face. Other trolls seemed to have an easy time of this, just meeting and talking like it was the easiest thing in the world. For him, it practically had to be a chore. He had to research it, press himself to get outside of his bubble.
It was exhausting.
Engrav gave the orangeblood a smile, a real one this time. "I'm glad you've got friends that have your back." he said, wondering if Caiden had his now, or if he was still hiding things from him. "That sounds... nice. I have trouble trusting trolls that much."
Skyli Peep Had to think about this for a while razz
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Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2018 10:36 am
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"Hey..." Before he could stop himself, Mahmud reached over and placed a hand on Engrav's shouldet. That was crossing too many boundaries but gog, if he didn't feel like he needed to in that moment. Mahmud knew exactly what it was like to be on the outside looking in, when it came to friends. How it felt not to be able to trust anybody. And though he couldn't see it, Mahmud was sure that the look on his face said way more than he had wanted to.
"You aren't alone, okay?"
That unveiled concern didn't dissipate, but Mahmud managed to smile through it. "I've had some real shitty friends in the past. Like, sell your soul for a chip made from plant material kind of jerks." Judhas had left Mahmud paranoid even to this day if his own friendships were going to be pulled from beneath him but... "You can't live in fear you know?" And inappropriately friendly squeeze was given to Engrav's shoulder.
"And for the record I uh... I have been enjoying talking to you."
Truth be told most his awkwardness was stemmed from trying to be polite about Engrav's disfigurements. Really, he hadn't been so bad. And who knew? Maybe with another friend he could learn to be less awkward! "SO you ever need anyone to talk? You ask for me got it?" Mahmud then gave him the brightest grin he could muster. "I work at that nightclub... Underworld? I work there, doing Maintenance and stuff. You stop by and we can hang, do something."
Not suspecting sinister, Mahmud opened a door that should have remained shut.
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