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 Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2014 2:12 am
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[backdated to the night of the great gerbil race!]
Dictys had never had any particular cause to care about gerbils before.
And sure - ey had a tendency to get caught up in trends, the new it thing. But somehow they'd never brought em this much contention, or disappointment. Ey'd managed to convince emself that eir gerbil had the advantage. It had eir considerable hoard of beetles bankrolling its success, and of course it'd performed almost exceedingly well on the training equipment. But perhaps - perhaps it'd burned itself out. Perhaps it had simply been a fluke. Perhaps, even, the race had been a fluke. None of those possibilities changed history, though. None of them changed the fact that Dictys had supported a loser.
Dictys considered emself precocious. A sharp troll with a silver tongue, fins acting only to accentuate eir already plentiful talents. Ey was good at gauging the moods of other trolls, good at knowing when it was time to throw eir support behind something and when it was time to withdraw it - just before its popularity faded into obscurity. Ey'd thought of emself as a young trendsetter, the sort that could play, well, stocks, because ey understood others so well. So the enthusiasm ey'd shown for the gerbil event: well, of course, it was generating buzz, and of course...ey'd thought ey'd win.
Now, ey was sure, ey was a laughingstock. Ey'd headed backstage immediately after the race's results were announced, ready to transfer Laureate back to the luxurious tank ey'd first purchased for it once the losing gerbils were moved back to their stables. Ha - Laureate. Ey'd been so sure, a week ago. Of course, ey'd had no way, at the time, to tell that so-named-Laureate was nothing more than a loser - slow, befuddlingly so, when it really counted. A disappointment. Unworthy.
Ey didn't want to face, ey could admit to emself (now that ey was alone with some dumb mammals' cages), the jeering faces of the crowd. For of course Dictys, self-centered as always, was certain the audience's only thoughts were of the seadweller whose gerbil had failed. Ey stood facing the cage that'd housed Laureate this past week, wondering where ey'd gone wrong - why ey'd decided to support a loser.
Of course it didn't matter, ey reasoned. It was only gerbils. And yet it hurt, to be wrong. Mommydaddy hummed from their now customary position around eir neck, a little curious. "It didn't matter, did it?" ey asked, not expecting a real answer - Mommydaddy had never cared much about this dalliance. Ey knew, rationally, that gerbils would only be fashionable for so long - but ey couldn't help but want to get that thing away from em. Ey'd thought it'd bring glory to the Glauci name.
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Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2014 5:53 pm
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[ Sinter's head was spinning. Between the adrenaline of the race, the rampant flash photography, and actually placing..! Sinter was walking on air. The only thing keeping his knees from giving out on him was the determination not to drop Lafayette as he they returned backstage to the gerbil stables.
At least, Sinter assumed they were called stables. He wasn't sure if there was a precedent for large-scale tiny animal race terminology.
Theodore, having come in at a magnificent third place, had been whisked away by NummCorp. gerbil handlers for more photos and something about gerbil breeding? Sinter was too happy as it was. Considering gerbil puppies would likely make him pass out.
Sinter instead, decided to cool off with Lafayette behind the stage while he waited on Theodore's return. He placed his gerbil in the modest tank that had been assigned to him by the race facilitators. Lafayette immediately began drinking from his water bottle, and Sinter decided the little guy had the right idea. Sinter stood up from the container to find something to drink.
Sinter instead, saw a seadweller. Normally this would only be a regular amount of unnerving, but Sinter hadn't noticed them when he'd walked in. Thankfully, he didn't yelp in surprise (like he wanted to), but he did jump, and jostle the table Lafayette was sitting on. Sinter quickly turned back to his gerbil and apologized. He rapidly switched his attention between his startled gerbil and the unfamiliar highblood. Was Sinter supposed to say something?!
"Uh! Uh..." Sinter mumbled. He frantically tried to place this kid. Sinter knew he'd seem them around prior to the race before, but where..? Sinter needed to know exactly how worried he should be. ] |
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Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2014 11:14 pm
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Dictys, of course, was far too absorbed in eir own extremely crucial angst to even notice Sinter entering, or beginning to feed Lafayette - that was, until ey heard the frantic apologies. Ey turned immediately, eyes sharp, to loftily forgive the intruder, only to see that the hushed apologies weren't even directed toward Dictys. Ey watched Sinter nervously soothe the little mammal on the table next to him before speaking up.
And make no mistake - it was a sign of Dictys' eternal self-centeredness that ey didn't recognize the redblood, either. Ey hadn't really bothered to look at any of the other, er, gerbil owners, besides, well, Atiqua, who'd only really drawn Dictys' attention because she'd been so rude to em specifically. Also Curtsi, because he was Curtsi. "What're you doing here?" ey asked, already demanding, petulant, on the defensive. Eir fins flared, as if ey needed somehow to emphasize eir blood status. With a pedigree like eirs, there was nowhere ey didn't belong, ey seemed to be saying.
Of course, it was already fairly obvious to any observer that Sinter was one of Dictys' fellows - a rather more "successful" one (if you counted success by victories, which Dictys did), although that was less apparent at first glance. At the moment, Dictys was far too worked up to really give a s**t. Chalk it up to a spoiled toddler's immaturity, perhaps?
Of course, Dictys was hardly a toddler anymore. Eir limbs had been growing long and lanky of late. That didn't mean ey'd learned any life lessons, or even began to try to care much about those around em that weren't directly contributing to eir goals. For now ey was only glad that Sinter hadn't managed to catch em purple-eyed, because ey'd really felt like ey was - no, no. A starship captain would never, unless ey was appropriately feeling a humble sort of pride at eir crew's extraordinarily efficient assault upon some alien moon. And that wasn't Dictys' situation at the moment. So ey kept it to a barely-composed frown aimed at the redblood's antler-shaped horns.
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Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2014 11:36 pm
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Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 1:51 am
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Dictys had crossed eir thin little arms over eir chest just as Sinter was gathering his thoughts, a little miffed at the jingles. How had ey not noticed this troll walking in, again? Clearly ey had some work to do.
But of course it was back to the task. Ey assessed first the lowblood, and then the gerbil at hand. It was probably a true story: no one would pretend to own one of these beasts. Why would they? And certainly Sinter did not seem to be carrying anything resembling poison, or something else untoward. With a demeanor like that...well, Dictys reminded emself: the nervousness could come from having done something wrong. Ey nodded at the names, as though ey did recognize them - but wait.
Ey did. Theodore. Ey'd definitely heard that name before. In the race - the race during which Laureate had failed em. Ey closed eir eyes, thinking it over again - ah, of course. The gerbil had come in third. The redblood probably loved the creature, if what'd happened so far was any indication. Apologizing to a non-sentient beast - one that might not even be lusus-grade? To Dictys, it was unthinkable. "Are you fond of the creatures?" ey began, before Sinter did the polite thing and introduced himself.
Ah, right. Dictys tried to gather even an ounce of the 'swagger' ey ordinarily strutted about with. "Where are my manners today?" Dictys asked, far from able to mask that ey had been just seconds away from bursting into tears (ey really, really didn't like being a loser - even if no one really saw em that way.). "I'm Dictys Glauci." Ey fingered the symbol on eir wetsuit - so out of place in Chittentown's desert climate - and began to walk smartly over to the redblood. To be honest, eir eyes were a bit purple-rimmed - not that ey knew.
Mommydaddy uncurled themself from eir neck slightly, and Dictys paused to glance at them, and then back over to...Sinter. Who was now bowing. Dictys inclined eir head, as appropriate, ey thought - to be honest, though some called seadwellers royalty, Dictys had always deluded emself into thinking Alternia was somehow a meritocracy (where, of course, those with purple blood inevitably rose to the top). Ey wasn't really accustomed to anyone bowing at all; starship captains responded to other sorts of gestures.
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Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 12:16 pm
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[ Sinter tried to take a few deep breaths as subtly as possible. 'Good impressions, good impressions, good impressions...' he chanted to himself. He rose from his bow and watched Dictys carefully.
At the mention of the gerbils, Sinter perked up. "Of course! I mean, I love animals!" he replied, shedding much of his previous hesitation. "I'm from Chittentown, so it's either city or desert. Not a lot of wildlife. That isn't aggressive or poisonous, I guess..."
Sinter trailed off, partially from thought, partially from the realization that he'd begun rambling. He pushed some of his hair behind one ear and shuffled his feet. Thankfully Dictys too seemed to be relaxing into the conversation somewhat, having at least introduced eirself. Sinter knew he'd seen this troll around somewhere. It probably had something to do with NummCorp.'s marketing. Sinter unfortunately had been so preoccupied in his own gerbils lately, he hadn't been paying much attention to the other competitors. Oh gosh, he hoped Dictys didn't expect him to recognize em...
Sinter stopped his fidgeting upon Dictys's advance. He eyed the lusus wrapped around the seadweller's neck. It wasn't big, but Sinter found it threatening all the same... Even if its face did sort of remind Sinter of his own lusus. Cute, maybe, but still threatening. ] |
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