[PRP] Project Whitewash - Caiden and Engrav

[Buzzwulf]

 

[Micillia]

Caiden had been at this wall twice before. Each time it was like today, a special outing to the city of Chittentown with Caidens cool pops CamoDad. The chameleon was on the side of the wall, blended in to the grey concrete so he was almost unnoticeable. Caiden sat in front of the wall, a small plastic paint plate and water cup in front of him. This was his project for today. This wall. It was gonna become awesome. CamoDad agreed to the outing, as long as he could lecture his troll on the tactics and secrets of "City Subterfuge". Caiden nodded and did his best to pay attention while also working on the building wall painting. He started out with a nice shade of green.

Buzzwulf

 

[Buzzwulf]

Glittering skies, secrets tucked safely and quietly beneath. Chittentown bustled at night, abuzz with the whispers and plots of those who worked and lived there. Engrav wanted to hear all of it. Every little lie and falsehood, every juicy hidden thing.

So he'd been hiding on rooftops, installing cameras.

Mostly on street corners, but he'd had his eye on a wall that overlooked a busy veranda for a few nights, working up his courage (and a few pieces of wiring). He'd been using a motorized grapple to get up to the roofs, and so he'd seen a lot of the city from the rooftops lately, just like morrimom usually did. She cawed at him softly, annoyed.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm working on it." Engrav clicked the release on the grapple and found a piece of pipe that looked like it would hold his weight. He pulled on it a few times, to check, then slooooooowly put his weight onto the grapple line. Morrimom huffed and put her head down. "You were the one who wanted me to learn what it was like out here. You gonna be sulky all night?"

Yes. Yes she would be.

"Look, just keep an eye out for anyone, all right? I want to install this while no one is paying attention." Engrav grabbed the camera, which looked a bit like a small opaque black bubble. It was small enough to not be noticed easily, but large enough to feed info back to a box he'd installed on the roof. He just had to come back up to the roof to retrieve the feed every few nights and he'd be golden. He shrugged his hood up to cover his face a little and made sure the line was good, no scratches or nicks.

Convinced that the grapple would hold his weight now, Engrav walked over the the edge of the building, then turned around and hopped off, bracing as he bounced against the side. The line held him without too much give, to he braced against the wall and started to walk down it slowly, feeding himself more line as he went.

It was only once he has gotten a third of the way down Morrimom started cawing. She bristled at the edge of the wall like some sort of hulking monster. Engrav slowly looked down.

Yep. There was a troll staring right at him.

"Ah... Hi?" said Engrav, with was was obviously the most casual of tones and not a high-pitched squeak at all.

Micillia

 

[Micillia]

"Woooooah!" Caiden exclaimed as he saw the hovering troll. This was a new one. Caiden was used to butterflies appearing randomly, or bumblebee-beasts dancing in only to poof away once Caiden got close, but a floating troll? This was a new one. The brownblood oh so wanted this one to be real. Each time he reached out to touch the butterflies that appeared they vannished. Maybe this one wouldnt vanish.

Caiden stood up from his painting position and extended a finger, poking the floating newcomer right in the belly. When the troll didn't dissapear Caiden was excited. "Your real! Your really real! Oh my GLOB!" Maybe Caiden had done it. maybe this was "from-think-pan-to-reality" for real. This was a big moment, whatever Caiden was going to paint on the wall was soon forgotten, he had a new muse. "Hold still, okay?" Caiden asked his new butterfly as he readdied new paints.

Buzzwulf

 

[Buzzwulf]

"Wait, what? Why wouldn't I be real?" Engrav was confused. Also, in pain. This really really hurt. He was dangling from his stomach face-down above the street, and a weird troll was poking him with his finger. That wasn't great. "How did you know I'd be here? Have you been following me?" Engrav was starting to get worked up, now. He flailed around, trying to find the line to drag himself back up, and only managed to swivel himself around wildly.

Engrav came slowly back face to face with his pursuer. His arm was caught in the line now, and was couldn't move at all without wrenching it. "What are you even doing, anyway? Painting? Wait, are you painting me?!" He desperately tried to free his arm, but it wasn't budging. "Stop it! Nobody can know I was here!"

Poke.

"Stop it!"

Micillia

 

[Micillia]

Caiden had mixed the color that appeared on this troll's clothing, he figured it was the butterfly's blood color, but would also be the main color in his new portrait. He dabbed a little onto the captured troll's cheek just to make sure. Yep, perfect match. "Yeah! I was going to paint you!" Caiden responded distractedly. His focus was a little bit more on the painting he envisioned.

"Why can nobody know your here? What are you doing out here? Is that big bird thing a think-pan butterfly too?" Caiden looked at the white bird beast thing. He didn't think he would ever really imagine anything up anything that looked quite that scary. It was probably fine tho, Caiden just needed to get to know the raven-beast! "Im so glad your real! You just HAVE to come home with me after this, okay? Ill take good care of you! I promise!" If Caiden really did make a real real think-pan butterfly it was his responsibility. Thats what CamoDad would want, Caiden to be a responsible troll, like in the stories the lusus always told the troll.

Then Caiden stood stalk still. How rude of him, he just could not believe himself. "WAIT! WHATS YOUR NAME?!" The brownblood yelled out, hoping that the captured butterfly would answer the questions based on volume as apposed to the order they were asked.

Buzzwulf

 

[Buzzwulf]

Engrav finally managed to free his arm, and started pulling on the release for the grapple. "I'm Engrav, as if you didn't already know that." The release finally did it's job, and Engrav fell the last few feet to the ground with a thud and rush of air. "Oof!"

He stood and dusted himself off with bruised dignity. There was a lot of dust. "I'm pretty sure you're a secret government robot, but if you're going to kill me, you'd better get on with it before Morrimom gets down from the roof. She's gonna be mad."

Morrimom dived from the roof as if on cue, slamming into the ground forcefully and spreading her wings as wide as they could go. She let loose an earsplitting screech in Caiden's direction, and Engrav winced. "Sorry" he said. "Maybe you should run?" And maybe the troll would drop his stupid paints in the meantime and Engrav could escape from this farce.

Micillia

 

[Micillia]

Caiden looked up when he heard the screech. He didn't even hear what his friend said after that as the brownblood quickly grabbed the yellowblood around the waist. This is what CamoDad would want. For Caiden to run to safety, and Caiden sure as hell was NOT going to leave his new best friend behind. "Lets go LETS GO!" The brownblood yelled as he dragged his friend around the corner. CamoDad appeared behind the white bird thing and that was all Caiden saw. He was getting as far away as he could. "There are some trash can over here. Quick lets hide inside um!" The brownblood shouted back to the yellowblood he was still dragging along. Maybe they could hide and get away okay.

Buzzwulf

 

[Buzzwulf]

Morrimom was mad. Maybe Engrav had some growing up to do, but nobody would take him away. He was HERS. She folded back her wings and dug in, dashing down the alley with a mad shriek. She'd hoped that the little brownblood would run like a squeakbeast, but he wasn't allowed to take Engrav with him! She'd kill him!

Engrav glanced back as Caiden pulled him along, just in time to see Morrimom crash through the trash bins at the end of the alley. Refuse spilled everywhere, garbage bins and rubbish spilling on the street with a massive crash. She turned and looked at the brownblood with rage in her eyes. Engrav recognized that look.

She was planning to kill something.

"No!" he yelled, jerking his hand from Caiden's. Morrimom barreled towards them, careening from one of the walls of the street, talons grabbing at Caiden. Engrav pushed him behind the trash cans with a clatter. Now he was mad too. Caiden had tried to save him, confused as the brownblood had been.

The lusus scrabbled to a halt inches from Engrav, staring him down. Eight cold red eyes stared right into his, and he didn't blink. She always took that as backing down. "I can use him." Engrav said. He could feel his teeth gritting. Tasted dusty in his mouth. "Step away."

She growled deep in her throat and clenched her talons to spring. Engrav grabbed the lid off a trash can and held it in front of Caiden like some sort of shield. A crappy shield. Whatever. Didn't matter.

"Back off." he yelled, swinging the lid to scare her off. "I've got this. Watch him if you need to,but he's not dangerous. And I think he could be useful."

Her eyes flashed rage, but she backed up, then coiled and leaped to the roof of the next building. She crouched there motionless with her feathers ruffled. Engrav stared her down for a moment more, than turned an offered a hand to Caiden. "My name is Engrav Setlar. I'm a yellowblood from around here, and I'm pretty sure you're too dense to be a spy. Lets start again?"

Micillia

man I had trouble with this one

 

[Micillia]

Caiden sat on the cold hard cement, mouth agape. A yellow peal fruit pealing slithered from the top of his head and plopped into the brownblood's lap. He didn't notice at all. His entire attention was focused on the yellowblood troll. CamoDad told Caiden lots of stories. Ones with brave heroes. Ones with heroic fights and trolls rescuing other trolls. Ones with big scary monsters. Caiden had just witnessed the most amazing story unfold right in front of his eyes. And the hero was now right in front of him introducing himself.

"That was AMAZING!" Caiden shouted as he got to his feet. He took Engrav's hand in both of his and held it tight like a treasure. "Im Caiden! Oh my Glob are you a hero?! You are arnt you?!" Abruptly Caiden stopped and silenced himself. Heroes did not just walk around streets. They had secrets. Engrav was a secret hero. Caiden just knew it. "I get it, i get it! Your under cover!!" Caiden switched from holding Engrav's hands to holding the yellowblood's pinky in his own pinky. "Ill keep it a secret. I promise!" Caiden whispered. Now he was friends with a secret hero. This was just amazing.

Buzzwulf

 

[Buzzwulf]

Yup. Definitely an idiot.

"Uh, yeah, I'm definitely a hero. That sounds a whole lot like me. Don't tell anyone though, or all my enemies will know who i am. I can trust you to keep a secret, right, Caiden? Right?"


Engrav definitely couldn't trust this brownblood to keep a secret. He was too much of a dolt. Definitely a harmless dolt, but he'd be careful anyway. Could never be too careful. Morrimom was still eyeing him from the top of the nearby building like he was something distasteful. A grub or a maggot or something like that she just wanted to get rid of. Engrav gulped a bit. Caiden would probably be fine as long as he kept an eye on her. He'd definitely pay for this later though.

"I'm a super secret hero doing super sectet hero stuff, and don't tell anyone about it, ok? Now, what were you doing in the city tonight, Caiden? And what was all that talk about your think-pan?" Engrav was likely to just hear a bunch more raving from the brownblood, but maybe he'd be able to convince him to go back to what he had been doing and escape.

Micillia

 

[Micillia]

Caiden was in serious mode. This was a serious matter. Secret identities, heroes, fighting crimes, and Engrav was entrusting it in Caiden. The brownblood nodded. "You can trust me! I wont tell ANYONE!" He held his fist to his chest in a promise stance and stared Engrav in the eyes.

Oooh but now the Superhero wanted to know about Caiden?! Sure thing! "Oooh! Well i was out here cuz i knew about that wall back there were we met! See its not all that interesting. Kinda bland really. So ive been planning to spice it up a bit! Then i met this beverage genie! And he needed someone to help advertise his business! So i was gonna paint a logo there! But then YOU showed up! And i thought you were one of my think-pan imaginations! But, like, a REALLY amazing one! I guess i can see that your a REAL Superhero now. So you cant possibly be a think-pan imagination though. But i was so excited i HAD to paint YOU instead! And you were posing just SO perfect!" Caiden grabbed Engrav's hand. "I understand, your a super secret Superhero. But, can you come to my hive and pose for me some more like that? I just HAVE to get more drawings of you!" Without waiting for a response Caiden wrote the address of his hive on Engrav's hand. "You just GOTTA Come over!!"

Buzzwulf

 

[Buzzwulf]

Yup. Brownblood raved for a while. Engrav was unsurprised. He looked at his hand for a second where Caiden had scrawled all over it, then smiled at the troll.

"I don't know about coming over, but I'll tell you what. I've been looking for a super-sidekick, and it sounds like you know your way around town. There's a potted plant on the corner this street, right down there" Engrav said, pointing to the drop point he'd put on the corner down the street. "It looks heavy, but it's not. If you wanna help me, just write down anything interesting or suspicious you see as you go around town, and put it under that plant. And if you wanted to write down names of trolls you meet and what makes them... interesting, I'd appreciate that as well."

Engrav tossed the grapple he'd been caught in to Caiden nonchalantly, then stepped back into the shadows of the alley. "Maybe this'll help. If you don't feel like being a hero, then stop any time. Just think of this as a gift. Have fun with your paintings, Caiden."

Engrav slipped deeper into the shadows, and morrimom came down to pick him up. The grapple wasn't too much of a loss, and he could always make more. Plus, Caiden could be very, very useful if he could be... guided.

Gently.

The idiot.

Micillia

 

[Micillia]

Caiden stood there a while, starstruck. The secret superhero had disappeared so stealthily and heroically. Caiden was in awe. CamoDad came up behind Caiden.
"Well..." The reptile started, bringing the brownblood out of his trance. Before CamoDad could continue Caiden was excitedly talking about everything.
"...and LOOK dad! He gave me this SUPER COOL SUPER HERO GEAR! Im going to be a sidekick! And that plant! Over there! Its like, his secret super hero messaging box! Oh im going to write him a message EVERY NIGHT!...." CamoDad waited until Caiden ran out of breath. The reptile had the patience the deal with his child, thankfully. Eventually CamoDad got the pause he wanted.
"You DID do the right thing and run for cover, but overall i will give you a 45 for staying in the way of danger for far too long. Next time lets do better." Caiden frowned, but only for a second, he had a letter to write to Engrav.

Buzzwulf