[PRP] Persistence Pays Off [Floren + Muerte]

[nepsah]

So maybe obsessively checking medical supply stores in hopes of finding that one guy from the space tower pays off in the end

 

[nepsah]

To say that Floren was disappointed he hadn't run into Etet during the ground crew tasks was an understatement, but he had been too busy to really think about it. Now that the tasks were done and everyone had been sent back to their hive, though, he had plenty of time to think about it. Finding another troll that was medically inclined was rare enough- finding one that was willing to possibly teach him things was surely even more rare. He couldn't let that opportunity pass him up, not if he could help it.

Sadly he didn't really know anything about Etet aside from his name (part of his name?) and what he was studying... But trolls that studied medicine had to get their supplies from somewhere, right? He figured that he'd start with the supply stores farther away from populated spaces, since poor Skoli would have a difficult time in the cities. Perhaps Etet would be at one of those. None of the outposts near Chittentown had any luck, so on toward Busthind it was. He'd never actually been to the supply store in Busthind, but somehow he managed to find it. Skoli would just have to wait patiently outside while he explored the small store.

It seemed this would be another bust... but he might as well look around while he was there- they seemed to have some interesting supplies.

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

As chance would have it, Muerte--er, Etet, master of disguise--had gone out on a run himself.

Supplies in the swamp were always scarce, even in the light of the space missions. Sure, they definitely had a lot more to work with now, but that didn't mean he wanted to become extravagant in his research. Muerte still operated independently, and... to be frank, it wasn't like they's secured a lot of the resources that he needed, specifically.

But venturing out was always an enormous pain in the a**, so he didn't plan on returning to the swamp any time soon. Better to get as much as he could before making the trek back home.

And that would have been fine, if he hadn't been so nose-deep in his perusing that he stumbled right into a vaguely familiar troll.

"Watch--! ...oh." Oh no, Floren was supposed to remain a phantom of the past, a memory that only existed in association to the space reclamation. Well maybe he wouldn't recognize him. Kids--they had short attention spans, right? Onto one thing, moving onto the other, that sort of thing?

Thankfully Muerte's 'disguise' was somewhat different. That was to say, his 'bird symbol' was still plastered in green onto his chest, but the jacket he wore was definitely something he 're-purposed' from Aprife (and consequently yellow), his hair was pulled up, but the eye patch wasn't covering his robotic eye this time; it was covering his 'good' eye, the one that was still organic. Minor differences, but enough to throw off the ordinary troll.

Unfortunately, Floren was definitely an acquaintance, and that set him aside from the common rabble.

nepsah

 

[nepsah]

One moment he was reading a label on something meant to cause clots to form more quickly in blood, the next he was jostled as something-- no, someone -- bigger than him walked right into him. Floren nearly dropped the product in his hands, instead managing to fumble with it for a few seconds before finally securing it in both. He jerked his head to stare up at the older troll, expression mild despite the slight twinge of annoyance he felt internally. Wait a moment.

"...You!" He blinked, eyes widening as he let go of the box he was holding to point up at Etet. Surely this was him- he had the same general facial structure and symbol- not to mention the eye patch, even if it was on a different eye. Had he known it was robotic? No, no, it had been covered before. He realized what he was doing and quickly set the package down, clasping his hands in front of him. "Ah, I apologize- do you remember me?" It hadn't been that long, "we met at the space tower?" Perhaps some prompting was in order, just in case. "I've been looking for you, actually, what a wonderful coincidence!"

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

The thing was, Muerte's entire meeting with Floren hadn't been that bad. Honestly, he had no reason to dislike the greenblood, because they shared similar interests and Muerte didn't mind imparting medical wisdom down to those who were curious about it (especially considering so few were). No, the problem here was that Muerte didn't like commitment. He had extended his offer during the building of the space docks, time made it too busy for either of them to reconvene, and then they went their separate ways. It needed to stay that way.

Unfortunately Muerte always found himself at the '******** you' middle finger side of fate.

No matter, he could finesse this. Heaving a sigh, he seemed to relent, "Yes, yes. How could I ever forget?" Flobben? Flowern? Floren. "Floren! The young greenblood with a discernible eye for the medical arts." His mechanical eye whrr'd quietly like a camera lens as it focused in and out.

"However..." Muerte reminded himself he was in a public place. Don't draw attention to yourself, be a good little rebel, "You were, ah, looking for me?"

nepsah

 

[nepsah]

Floren opted to politely ignore the sigh. Or perhaps his own selfishness in wanting a proper mentor decided to ignore it- it didn't matter. His mind was set on a goal and he was going to achieve it, whether Etet was particularly pleased about it or not. "Yes, that's me." He positively beamed, delighted to be remembered and complimented at the same time. "Oh yes, of course, things seemed to be awfully busy and we never really did get a chance to work together." Outside of that odd occurrence where Etet had used him to get away from conducting a tour. Floren couldn't really blame him- dealing with the actual officials had been a lot less... well... pleasant, than he'd originally thought it might be. They barked far too many orders for his taste.

"I was thinking, perhaps, now that a certain amount of time isn't taken up by obligation I could see how you operate in your natural habitat?" Clearly Etet wouldn't object to this, after all, he'd agreed to let him shadow around the space tower so why would this be any different? In fact it would probably be better! Etet would be in his own familiar workspace, after all! "Since, you know, working in an unfamiliar area can affect processes and such... I thought seeing how you conduct your work in a place more familiar to you would be all the better for learning."

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"My what now?" Natural habitat? He didn't mean his hive or his lab did he? Wait, Floren didn't even know he had a lab. Preposterous! But really, he couldn't very well drag a child back to the swamp, that was just asinine. Muerte did have a number of small locations holed away for when he needed a place to sleep, but that was more or less courtesy of Aprife's own little network project. He couldn't very well lead a child there either...

Unfortunately, it'd probably have to do. Muerte came into quite the sum of beetles after the space incident, so if push came to shove he could fund another new hideaway. It was probably about time he payed Aprife back anyway...

"Ah! You mean perhaps like my own personal work space, yes?" Muerte's eyes gleamed. "I suppose I can make an exception in the pursuit of knowledge. Usually I keep such areas privy to myself and my... clientele." Well, it wasn't a total lie. "But I can see it--the look in your eyes--you won't be so easily deterred."

It was obnoxious, but only because Muerte had a tendency to wear the same look when he had his mind set on something. Damn it all.

"I will be in Busthind for a few nights time. Travel; it's ridiculous, isn't it? But an unfortunate necessity in this line of work."

nepsah

 

[nepsah]

Oh, whoops. He'd forgotten other trolls didn't really use "habitat" that way. He was far too used to talking about animals, wasn't he... "Yes, exactly. Natural habitat. A place you are acclimated to." He nodded. No sense in taking back the awkward phrasing, Etet seemed to understand what he'd meant anyway. "I see... that would make sense, confidentiality and all that." He spoke the word 'confidentiality' slowly so as not to mess up the pronunciation. He had an unusually good grasp on vocabulary for his age but sometimes the larger words were still a bit of a mouthful.

"You will? Splendid. I'll see if I can find a temporary place or something to stay while you are in town. Time is precious after all, wouldn't want to waste any of it having to trek from the desert over here." He rubbed his hands together in excitement as his mind began to sift through the possibilities. He didn't need anything fancy, just a temporary place with a recouperacoon, preferably on the outskirts of town so Skoli wouldn't have to suffer too much.

"Is your work space near here? Oh! Would you like any assistance carrying things back? I presume you're here to get more supplies." Whether he meant to do it or not, it seemed Floren was quite fixated on inserting himself into Etet's night right then and there. Figuring out a place to sleep could wait, as far as he was concerned. It wasn't like the sun's rays bore much of a threat for him anyway.

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Muerte was digging himself deeper and deeper and deeper to the point of no return. "Unfortunately no, it's a bit of a trek..." There was the issue of re-finding the hive, cleaning it out, making it look vaguely lived in and... improvising a whole lot of medical equipment. "Well, I suppose it's what you mean by near. It's probably an hour's hike or so."

Not a complete fib.

"But I am here for more supplies, yes." He hummed for a moment, "I'm accustomed to improvising and crafting most of my equipment, but honestly it's better to have some things professionally made. Thankfully, the things I'm here for are small, but..." He had a variety of tools crafted from bone, so he was more or less here for simple things like gauze, wrappings, bandages. Some sort of splint kit would be fantastic too, with how often trolls twisted themselves up in the swamp.

It was, for lack of a better term, vaguely endearing to see Floren as excited as he was. He'd been looking for him (apparently), was willing to stop everything he was doing for a chance to shadow him. Then again, Floren was a child, so he probably didn't have a life yet. Made sense. To have that freedom again...

"Well, allow me to be frank, Floren." Muerte puffed up, "I'll need a bit of time to prepare for a pupil in the work space. I understand you're eager, but you can grant me at least this, yes? It will be worth your while, I assure you." To work alongside the great Doctor Perist!...he wanted to say, but didn't. Disguises Muerte! "Yes, we'll have plenty of time in the coming nights to answer a plethora of your questions about the trollian condition, I'm sure."

nepsah

 

[nepsah]

"I see, that isn't too bad." The trek from the desert had taken up far more time than that- a simple hour's hike shouldn't be too bad. Then again it was probably on rocky terrain, and Floren had admittedly little experience with it. Would Skoli be able to tunnel through the mountain alright...? More things to consider. "Really? That's fascinating." It seemed Etet had revealed yet another thing for him to latch onto. Floren made his own salves and 'potions,' but never tools. Another skill he could learn, truly Etet was a treasure trove of knowledge.

"Oh! Of course, I completely understand. Perhaps we could meet here tomorrow, if it's a good midway point? I'll be seeing about finding something on the edge of town." He hummed to himself as he flipped open the little box on his belt, then pulled out a small notepad and pencil to write notes down. "About midnight? Is that okay? I tend to rise early." He looked up to Etet, hand at the ready to write and expression full of expectation.

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

The kid had a notebook. Muerte figured that even if he shrived up and died somewhere, Floren would likely track down his body by some miracle of nature just to show him whatever he wrote down on that slip of paper, like 'hey, remember this?'. As if bargaining with a body would do anything. He supposed the persistence was one way to get things out of others.

"Fascinating? Necessary. It isn't as if I'm a highblood with troves of funds to buy whatever the hell I want." No, he was a midblood who, hilariously enough, relied on a lowbloods fortuitous luck to buy off what he needed most. He also lived in the middle of nowhere in the woods before the swamp life took him over. It just made more sense. "But I suppose, yes. Midnight here, we'll trek there. Indeed..."

Muerte always looked vaguely disgruntled--like a resting b***h face of sorts--but at least now it was genuine as he thought about all the work he'd have to do tonight. Well, Floren didn't know that. Probably a good thing.

nepsah

 

[nepsah]

"Ah, yes, true." He hadn't thought of that... then again most of his tools were relatively basic. He'd need to find a way to continue saving beetles to purchase better equipment as he advanced in the field. Simple enough! "Perfect, then. I will meet you here at midnight tomorrow, then." He hurriedly wrote down the note, then replaced both the pad and pencil into the box. "I look forward to observing your work...! I'll be along then, so you have more time. Have a good evening." He flashed Etet one last smile and bobbed his head respectfully, then... carefully weaved around the older troll to go find the exit. He needed to get to town!

Melancholies

a good fin for this one i think !