PRP - Trollwatching Tango - Psykgi + Engrav

[Buzzwulf]

An unending descent into gibbering madness and caffeinated bean beverages.

 

[Buzzwulf]

The jungle of glass and steel wasn't something Engrav had expected to enjoy, but he was forced to admit it. He liked Civisect. It wasn't as easy to keep tabs on as Chittentown. There was always something happening, something new around every corner. Trolls deep in conversations uninterested in the world around them, oblivious to who or what might be listening. Engrav liked it.

Plus, the coffee was way better.

Engrav had been very careful that he didn't establish a routine, but it had been pretty easy when there were easily a dozen cafes within a close walk from his new office. The yellowblood barely even looked at the names of the little shops anymore, as ubiquitous as they had all become. Partially, he came for the enjoyment of a hot, steamy beverage, but mostly he liked to visit the shops to overhear the conversations between other trolls. For the most part, they seemed like they had very little on their minds, all of the talk he overheard concerned with the minutiae of everyday existence.

Engrav didn't care about that, but he did care about how they talked. Their mannerisms and interactions were good data. He liked to know how they behaved, if he wanted to be able to blend into the crowd. Engrav wasn't a fan of anyone being able to single him out when he didn't want to be.

The barista gave him a nod as he ordered his standard: Double shot, no fat, no froth. And a scone. Redberry. The troll tending the espresso machine didn't ask for a name. They recognized him from his face alone. Engrav sighed, but there wasn't really much he could do about how recognizable his face was.

Coffee in hand, Engrav found a deserted table near the back of the cafe and sat carefully, propping his bag against the wall. He pulled his new toy from the bag and attached it silently to the underside of the table, where it adhered. The yellowblood was interested in seeing how good the omnidirectional microphone was at picking up separate conversations at the same time. He'd review it when he got back to the office, but as untested as it was, he figured he'd have a very hard time separating any chatter from the background noise. Especially because that infernal espresso machine was so loud. He winced as the thing let out a squeal, not looking forward to listening to the feedback on the mic later.

Satisfied, Engrav settled in with a newspaper. Listening intently to the conversations around him, the yellowblood began to memorize so he could establish a baseline from the mic.

DraconicFeline

whoops this got longer than i expected. I guess I really like talking about coffee.

 

[DraconicFeline]

Buzzwulf

There were several coffeeshops and cafes that Psykgi frequented - any that would let her, honestly. There were a few places that wouldn't let Redbloods through the door, and a few others where their coffee wasn't worth the trouble anyway. Psy had high standards for her city, and she expected it to live up to those standards.

Technically, she was off duty... on break... whatever that meant for her as a member of the military and the mental health community, but the truth was that she never truly stopped working. Studying her fellow troll was her passion, and she would never pass up such a plum opportunity to study them in their element.

She leaned back in her chair, relaxing with her beverage - sweet and caffienated, chocolate-y and spicy, with just enough milk to coat the tongue on its way down - and a pair of cinnamon scones. She broke off a few pieces from the scones and idly set them aside for her lusus to eat as she leaned in to scribble a few notes in the red and white notebook laid open in front of her - the symbol of one of the trolls in the establishment was visible on her page, a troll embroiled in a conversation with another.

She took a few more notes and sat back with her coffee to observe some more. She had many similar notebooks and notes at home - they needed to be gone through, compiled into files some lazy evening, perhaps with the Alternian Blotter playing in the background. Or something more pleasant... She would get to them when she got to them.

For now, there were people to study, and scones to eat.  

[Buzzwulf]

"Testing" Engrav said, under his breath. From this distance, his voice should show on the microphone clear as day. "One. Two. Three. Final test." He glanced around the cafe quickly. Nothing much to say about the establishment, other than the obvious quality of caffeinated bean beverage. Paneled floors and trolls sitting and reading all around him, not a few showing off with trendy clothes and well-groomed hair. It was all very fake, and very ostentatious, but he hadn't been expecting much more from a Civisect cafe. There were layers of meaning here, but they all concealed the same fluff of everyday life. Engrav imagined that if boring everyday troll conversations had a color, it was probably a cotton-candy pink. Light and fluffy and sweet like so much air. He stuck out his tongue at the thought of the sickly-sweet conversation. That sounded particularly lurid.

"One quadrant past moonrise" he said to himself, for the benefit of the recorder, "At the corner of 75th and Beetle. The Bean Brew. Recorder is under back table, with a background level of approximately... 60 to 65 decibels. Not much to speak of environmentally, other than some truly hideous modern representations of... streams? Grain? It's unclear. And also..."

Something caught his eye.

No. Someone.

There was a redblood at one of the far tables that appeared to be taking notes. Watching, much like him. Engrav's gaze ducked away as her eyes swept over him, played the dumb cafe patron more interested in themselves, then back up when she'd stopped paying attention. She was clearly relaxed, sitting fearlessly over her journal as if no one could possibly notice. Engrav turned back to his redberry scone, took a bite. Chewed.

A conundrum.

"Possible contact of some kind." He whispered into the recorder. "I wasn't followed, so I suspect some form of passive surveillance. I'm going to investigate. If you've found this recording, and you're listening, know that you'll never discover all of my secrets." He paused, wiped a spot of redberry jam from his mouth. Picked up his coffee. "Never."

The yellowblood sauntered through the coffeeshop like he owned it, taking his time. He caught a glimpse of what she was writing as he wandered behind her towards the milk bar. Looked like symbols, diagrams, numbers. Notes on the other trolls in the establishment. Notes on him? He'd have to take the risk. Luckily, the redblood had sat so that there was an easy-chair right across from her, and he made a slow approach. He sank into the soft cushions with a smile on his face, looking directly at the curious redblood.

"May I ask," Engrav said, staring pointedly at the offender, "Exactly what you're planning on using those notes for?"

Hopefully the recorder would pick up a conversation from here, but... he wasn't going to hold his breath. Would be good to get some levels though.

DraconicFeline

 

[DraconicFeline]

Buzzwulf smile

There was such a thing as too relaxed. Psykgi wasn't, but the yellowblood over by the mural (of a farm? She'd never been sure...) was exactly that. Not much to glean from that - this was Civisect city and with all the highbloods literally everywhere most lowbloods did find it unsettling. If he was trying too hard to not look intimidated or weak, or to just enjoy his... she glanced over again... coffee and a scone, well, that was almost natural. She'd note him down, she supposed, after she updated a few things for the regulars. Although she noticed him get up, and idly kept track of him, she continued scribbled down a few of her other notes. Observations did take a while to get onto paper, after all.

Although apparently, he would not wait for her to finish that before doing something interesting. She ended her current note with a flourish of her very nice Schrad: the Musical Brand pen and laid it down in the middle of her notebook. It was still blatantly open, still blatantly showing a sketch of a symbol of at least one of the trolls around her. She didn't care if other people saw.

The question was, why did he? She grinned, met his gaze, and sipped her coffee - not an ounce of wariness. "Well, gosh." she said casually, mentally noting his symbol (one of a sort that she was surprised to see as only a blood-hue outline on his clothes and as a motif on the edges. It looked like the sort of symbol usually seen in full and bold color... hmm.) his prosthetic arm, his broken horns and missing eye on the same side (Unlucky or reckless?) And, of course, the very snappy pinstripes (Very snappy. It fit him well.) "That really depends on who's asking, doesn't it?"  

[Buzzwulf]

Engrav Setlar

Engrav sank back a little further into the cushions of the opposing chair. Interesting. The redblood should by all rights be nervous in the middle of Civisect, surrounded by highbloods as she was. Why, then, would she not take appropriate care in hiding her notes? The corner of the yellowblood's mouth quirked in a small smile.

This was a mystery. A small one to be sure, but a conundrum none the less. He crossed his legs, brought a hand to his face and studied for a moment.

"Engrav Setlar," he said, extending a metallic hand. "Entrepreneur." Perfect. Just vague enough a description. Didn't cost him anything to be polite, and social pressure typically dictated that he would get a name in response. Engrav found that with a name and a face, and a little leg work, other trolls tended to quickly become significantly less mysterious. Odd that no one ever seemed to have the same idea about him. It wasn't as if it would be particularly difficult to see his public records - just a little bit of bribery in the office of public records would almost certainly reveal the whitewashed information he'd carefully placed there. The gears turned, and he turned back to focusing on the redblood.

She wasn't intimidated in the slightest. That kernel stuck to the wall of his thinkpan and refused to dislodge. Instead, he extrapolated. If she wasn't worried about the highbloods trying to cull her, clearly she knew something he didn't. Perhaps the other trolls here knew something as well, if they weren't making a scene. He glanced around.

No, that wasn't it. His working theory had been that she owned the establishment in question, but that was both unlikely given the exorbitant price of real estate in Civisect and the lack of deference shown by staff and patron alike. Rather, the redblood seemed to be self-assured that she would be able to deal with any problem that would arise from high-blood trolls in the cafe. While no one other than Engrav himself had yet taken that particular bait, and the redblood didn't appear to welcome that conflict, she certainly wasn't shy about it.

Which meant she felt safe standing up to highbloods if she needed to.

Not that many ways for lowbloods to show that kind of soft power. Which meant...

"You're military, aren't you?" Engrav asked, voice soft. He didn't know if that was something she wanted others to know, especially if he was wrong. He hated being wrong. "Not that it has any bearing on our conversation. I was just... wondering." He closed his eyes for a second, visualized the notes he'd caught a glimpse of earlier. Classifications and symbols and very clear rundowns of mannerisms and habits. No long-term observations. This was... practice? A more in-depth surveillance would surely reference other dates or observations elsewhere in the notes, and he personally would have written it in cipher. Not the case here, but... it was just a cafe.

DraconicFeline

just a cafe of INTRIGUE

 

[DraconicFeline]

Entrepreneur? That was suuuuuper vague. You could literally do anything with a job title like that, and still sound fancy. Psykgi found it intriguing, The flow of the conversation was taking them away from the specifics, but Psykgi would bring it back around. Her grin widened at his observation -- very astute, especially considering she was in plainclothes. No uniform, no lab coat, and her military ID was not visible at the moment (though she did have it on her). She didn't really care, of course, she was just off duty... as much as she really bothered to get. Still, nothing obvious.

So what had given her away? Or, a more interesting idea, was he specifically looking for her? Either way, there were introductions to be made.

"Psykgi Mentha." she offered in return, shaking his hand. It was, she could tell from its general density and her experience with trolls that both made and wore prosthetics, modified. She could tell from the grip strength that its base was a decent functional model, but much of that had been buried by what appeared to (by the jagged solder scars) do-it-yourself mods. And a few hinges around it for extensions, she supposed. Not weapons -- the weight was not right for something like Leeroi's shotgun. She wouldn't be surprised about a blade, though. Many patients in the rehab center with prosthetics opted for such a modification. It made them comfortable. "And you're correct. Sergeant rank. Nice to meet you." No harm in him knowing that, after all.

Handshake over, she rested her cheek on her hand, an elbow on the notebook itself -- still open. Conversation milled around her, and she trusted her sponge clots (and, if not those, her lusus) to remember enough of what she heard in order to fill in gaps in her notes. You know, it occurred to her, He could be a distraction from something else going on in this cafe. It wouldn't be unlikely. Still, few trolls with secrets to keep also had the kind of brazen globes and spare trollpower to sit a distraction down with a random cafe goer and hold their attention. Or good enough looks to do it right. Considering that she was definitely not the only off-duty military person in the cafe this night;

(She happened to know that the blueblood adult drinking a latte near the mural was an off-duty guard, and that the tealblood she was talking animatedly with was their morail, and that they chatted frequently about the blueblood's conquests and lack thereof, and that the blueblood had many issues with anonymizing armor that didn't show off her cleavage, despite her current status being completely her own doing from inappropriate behavior...)

Psykgi didn't think that was the case. "And you're not military. You do.. entrepreneurial work with the military, though, am I right?" Any troll this side of the law, and a few on the other side of it, did. But given his interest in her notebook, and his adept pinpointing of her affiliation with the military... Well, she had a sense that he knew what he was doing. Professionally speaking.

But... back to casual. "So, Engrav... May I call you Engrav? Do you come here often?"

Buzzwulf

 

[Buzzwulf]

Engrav Setlar

Sergeant. Interesting. If Psykgi had risen that far as a lowblood, then certainly she brought something to the table tactically. So not just a troll interested in observation then. Engrav watched her as they shook hands. His eye caught hers at it flickered over his prosthetic, gauging the work. The inventor smiled politely. He wondered what she saw in the prosthetic, the jagged soldering and do-it-yourself additions to the piece. It was far past time he considered an upgrade.

"Engrav's just fine." As much as he hated parsing his name out in public, it had to be done at times. "The pleasure's mine, trust me." Not too often you noticed a troll so clearly reading the lines of conversation in a public place, and it had certainly sparked the yellowblood's interest.

"I don't work do work with the military directly, per se," he continued with a little nod "But you've certainly sussed out some of the truth of it. It's very difficult to avoid approaching purchasing of materials and property without dealing with them to a certain extent. Most of that is taken care of behind the scenes. I have, however, been known to... contract from time to time." Although he certainly didn't contract with the military exclusively. Not that she needed to know about that. Just enough to keep setting the hook. Hopefully sound at least a little nefarious. "Let me just say that if you need any custom parts or robotics, feel free to give me a call." Engrav flicked a card from his vest, setting it gently on the table. Then he gave a smile, one that was a least partially real.

"Sorry, not trying to give you the sales pitch. You just struck me as some who might be interested, and I get a little... wrapped up sometimes. Not that you'd know anything about that," he joked, gesturing to her notebook. "In answer to your other question, no, I do not come here often. I have, in fact, been here exactly twice." The inventor winked, injecting a little levity into his face. Although really it was more of just a blink. Oh well. "You got any thoughts on what's good here? I'd love to hear them."

DraconicFeline