[PRP] - The Fallout - (Flydra + Engrav)

[Buzzwulf]

So where are we now?

 

[Buzzwulf]

Engrav Setlar

Engrav looked at the note again. This was... definitely the place. The squat building didn't appear to be anything particularly devious on the outside, just so much standard brickwork with an unremarkable front. Nothing sinister, nothing malicious.

Suspicious.

For someone with such a public, glitzy persona on the husktube, she was remarkably adept at keeping herself out of the limelight. At least, she had been until.. that whole prom fiasco. But he hadn't come out of that smelling particularly clean either. The vultures of the press had descended almost immediately, and Engrav had spun a yarn or two attempting to fend them off.

Which was probably why Flydra had invited him here.

They had things to discuss.

Leaving his tape recorder at his hive was probably one of the most difficult things the yellowblood had done all span, but he'd forced himself to do it. It wasn't that he wanted Flydra to trust him. It was more that he really, really REALLY didn't want to give her a reason to cull him.

That would be a loss for everyone.

Especially Engrav.

He pressed the buzzer with a metallic finger and really, really hoped this was a good idea as a speaker crackled to life.

"Uh, Engrav here. You sent me a letter?"

Yamashii

 

[Yamashii]

The speaker buzzed and an out of breath voice answered almost immediately.

"I did. Welcome to my laboratory." A few seconds later, the door automatically opened to invite the yellowblood further inside. Flydra waited within, dressed in a mixture of stylish clothes underneath a visibly splotched lab coat. She'd had an unexpected client and no time to change between now and her appointment with Engrav.

"Please, have a seat. Help yourself." There was a small tray of food prepared on a table. It was carefully organized and divided between different types of nuts, marshmallows and rice crackers. If he selected a sampling, Flydra made a note on a small notepad.

"I think we both know why you are here." She cleared her throat before beginning the actual conversation. "You and I are both involved and aware of the turbulent relationship between Buffel Obile and Polair Rision." Flydra watched him carefully at the mention of the relationship. It had certainly been an awkward reaction that night at PROM. How did he feel about things now?

"I wanted to warn you that Buffel has an interest in winning her affections back. How does that sit with you?" Honestly, the tealblood had no idea if Engrav was romantically seeing Polair or not by this point but she was willing to gamble that the interest was still there. Did he have the same concerns about this that she did? Watching how Buffel had struggled with his feelings for Polair during their separation had been difficult. She assumed it hadn't been any easier on the Polair side of things. Those two needed strong willed trolls to take care of them. Trolls that would stay calm through these tantrums of theirs.

She was up for the challenge. Was Engrav?

Buzzwulf

 

[Buzzwulf]

Engrav Setlar

Engrav sat back stunned for a moment. PROM had been a... well, an unmitigated disaster for pretty much everyone involved. The inventor wrung his hands together in a nervous gesture, metal clenching around flesh. The rest of himself he tried to keep rock still and steady, not give anything away for free, but the inventor visibly flinched when Buffel came up. This was not something he was comfortable talking about, but... well, Engrav couldn't argue that it was a pressing matter that affected the both of them. However, he still couldn't understand Flydra's interest in the subject. What did she care which yellowblood Polair decided to... spend time with?

He could smell a trap here. Well, not a trap. A misalignment of intentions.

Flydra clearly wanted something out of whatever this was. Engrav picked at a marshmallow for a moment before switching to a rice cracker. Mostly, he just wanted to buy time while he thought about how he was going to respond. What in the world could she possibly hope to achieve here? Was this some way to get back at Polair for some kind of slight, or a plot to remove another superstar, bask in the adoration of the grubtube? That didn't seem right at all. A little light went off in the back of Engrav's thinkpan. A memory of Flydra's words at the PROM.

"Buffel's other girlfriend. Or whatever."

Engrav grinned. That made sense.

"Honestly?" the inventor began, scratching at the scar the zigzagged his horns."I don't give a ^%$@ what that yellowblood idiot is up to. Or at least, I have ideas on how to deal with him. Me and him aren't playing the same game. I'll admit that my interest in Polair has become more that the strictly academic relationship I'd envisioned from the beginning... but the same could be said for you and Buffel." Engrav's smile widened as he watched for reaction. PROM had been a whirl of poorly-understood emotion, insanity, and poor dance moves, but Engrav's memory was very, very good. Even for the humiliating, painful bits.

"I'd simply hoped to either to expose or fabricate evidence and hand it to the proper authorities, then watch Buffel get sent to the prison pits, but I have a feeling that you might take exception to that, now that I consider it. And I'm certainly not interested in making enemies that know how I operate. So perhaps our interests would be aligned in... diverting his attention elsewhere?" Engrav crunched into a rice cracker as he thought. Dry. Nicely salted, though.

Engrav had always figured Flydra for a plotter, so it was nice to see that his suspicions had been confirmed. "You have a plan, don't you? And you want me to play along." Engrav couldn't keep the smile off his face. He loved watching a plan come together. "Let's talk about it. I'd very much like for use to be able to help each other."

Yamashii

 

[Yamashii]

"The trolls that succeed are the ones that plan ahead. But I can see you already knew that." Flydra smiled in response to Engrav's. It didn't surprise her to hear that he'd already thought of a way to dispose of Buffel should the other yellowblood prove to be in the way. It was a solid plan too, to frame the simple minded cowboy for some kind of crime and have him sent far away from Polair. He probably could have done it too, if he'd wanted to. It was a good thing she'd called this meeting before he set anything into motion.

Buffel was stupid at times, sure, but she was fond of him even if he was clueless as to the trouble he caused. If she and Engrav worked together, they could likely reduce that trouble to nothing.

"The plan is very simple. The two of them are horribly clueless when it comes to being straightforward with each other. So long as you act as if you're dating Polair whenever he comes around, he's bound to accept that as defeat without questioning it." Her darling Buffel had only mustered up the courage to talk things out with the seadweller after she had coaxed him into it, followed by Scorpa's bold meddling. Without encouragement (or harassment), there was the chance the cowboy would leave the matter alone and give up on Polair.

"Should Polair come to visit Buffel, I'll simply return the favor for you. He told me she insisted on starting over as friends." She toyed with a pigtail, letting out a quiet laugh of sorts.

"I hope you and I can be friends as well." There were many reasons to befriend this troll. Their shared trial over Polair and Buffel was just one of them.

Buzzwulf

 

[Buzzwulf]

Engrav Setlar

She wasn't wrong. Her plan was significantly less elaborate than Engrav had surmised, but it would probably work. It was the subtlest kind of soft power, but he knew Polair tended to respond to that kind of thing. He could only assume that Flydra knew Buffel well enough for that to be true for the two of them as well. Still, the word dating seemed to stick in his thinkpan. It sounded so... vulgar to the yellowblood. Crass. But... they had been pursuing mutual interests in each others company now. If calling it dating helped cement their relationship, then it was a sacrifice Engrav was willing to make.

"I can agree to those terms. As you put it, we've actually been... dating... for a little while now." Spots of yellow bloomed on the inventor's cheeks, flush slightly scattered by the scarring on his right side. Why couldn't he erase this damn little bashful smile off his face? The inventor cleared his chagrin tunnel, trying to regain composure. "Ahem. So really, for me it's as simple as just telling the truth. But if you want to do the same, I would recommend you actually, uh, take Buffel out once or twice. Maybe somewhere where cameras are present. Really cement that relationship. Maybe get it in some papers. You are a celebrity, after all." And he could spread those rumors via contacts in the press. Engrav wondered if that infuriating tealblood Avissi might be interested in tell of a possibly tryst. It seemed like the kind of emotionally-loaded garbage she usually peddled.

"Actually, I'll do you one better," Engrav said, after a short pause. "I've been thinking about getting Buffel alone for a chat for a little while now. Nothing untoward, I simply want to get the measure of the troll, as it were." At the very least, to size the yellowblood up with his own eye. Get his opinion on how the whole fiasco had been handled. "But... if I happen to see the opportunity, I could plant a tracker on the yellowblood. That way you'll know where he is all the time. That makes my job much easier, in turn."

"In the interest of our new friendship, may I just ask one question?" Engrav said, wondering exactly how far he could push his luck. Flydra didn't seem like one to pursue useless peices, but in his mind, he couldn't imagine Buffel being much more than a pawn. At best. And Flydra already had a knight in her Morail. Possibly even a queen. "Why Buffel? What in the world do you highbloods see in him? He strikes me as unambitious, naive, and noncommittal. What in Alternia is the draw there?" He wanted to be careful not to push too much, but this point defied him. Flydra would be a valuable ally if he could establish trust, not just in relation to Polair, but for future operations as well. At least, if he could predict her behavior. If she was more emotionally compromised then she was letting on... that could be incredibly dangerous for the both of them.

Yamashii

whoops that really turned into a wall of text