[PRP] Load of Rubbish (Sascha + Tevini)

[Doutei]

you seem like trouble to me

 

[Doutei]

The moon rose high over the junkyard, with light reflecting through the metal hunks and pieces of discarded trash. Broken ladders, deflated basketballs, moldy jars.... you could find anything here. It was a collection of the busted and shambled leftovers of the world. It smelled atrocious with a metallic tang wafting in the air, nevermind the biodegraded matter. The air was open and stuffy at the same time with light highlighting the oddest places but never reaching the darkness where danger lurked.

For her, it was home.

Sneaking through the hidden paths she remembered, Tevini had come to return to her old stomping grounds. She knew better than to go back into her hive directly but couldn't avoid the entire junkyard when it was her main source of materials for her projects. It was a risk she'd have to live with until Cerpin could procure some more beetles to buy higher quality items. Besides, she missed the comforting solitude this place brought. Or she had until she heard a noise. It was larger than a rat or the other creatures that sometimes wandered through this heap of junk. Was it a drone? Nervous, she held her breath and peeked around a large discarded refrigerator to see the source of the sound.

seekingCylem

Sorry I didn't have her run into him straight outta the gate! I wanted to give you a chance to describe what he's up to! He can basically do anything to her hive, she's not been there to protect it! Or if you need more to work with, let me know and I'll edit!

 

[seekingCylem]

Sascha had gotten kicked out of the last two construction sites he'd trespassed on, and Bagwormother had finally put several of her feet down on his flea market spending habits. He needed a new source of junk to toss around. For the longest time he'd avoided the actual junkyard due to thoughts of the smell and connotations of running around in actual garbage. After his time spent hanging out with Adamaz, though, he'd learned to adapt. At least a lot of the organic trash had been mummified by the desert sun instead of getting wet with slush on the side of Busthind.

Sascha realized he was becoming a bit too well-versed in the quality of landfills.

Regardless, Chittentown was at least a dozen times bigger than the town on Busthind. As such, the chances of finding cool stuff was way higher. He'd already rearranged a modest clearing for himself. The debris had been precariously stacked into surprisingly neat pillars surrounding Sascha's workplace.

It was his most current find that had taken up most of his attention. Sascha had managed to unearth the incredibly rusted front half of an old scuttlebuggy. It was more frame than automobile at that point, but that didn't stop Sascha from wanting to check its interior.

He had already made an incredibly childlike attempt to simply pull the thing out from under the other rubbish. He'd only succeeded in breaking one of the bolts attaching the bumper to the buggy and throwing himself back on the ground. Upon reorienting himself, he seemed to regard the scuttlebuggy carefully for a more exacting method of freeing the doors.

Then he jumped on its hood and triggered its apparently very functional alarm.

WEEOO WEEOO WEEOO

Sascha found himself on his back in the dust again, clutching his ears and panicking.

Doutei

'sall good!

 

[Doutei]

There was already a troll here.

Holding very still, Tevini surveyed the situation and immediately began trying to come up with the quietest way to leave. She couldn't arouse any suspicion, she knew her hive was still being watched. It was unfortunate but just how life was. Who knew signing one piece of paper was going to lead to all of this? Shifting to look around, the girl watched in horror as the boy jumped onto a car and triggered its alarm. Every troll in the area would hear that!

She flew into motion, sliding out from the debris and diving to the scuttlebuggy. She wasn't familiar with this exact model but most of them could be silenced if you pulled the fuse. Smashing the remaining window, she reached in to rip the panel next to the steering wheel open and pulled out a few fuses. The alarm died and she breathed in relief. Only about ten seconds of the sound blasting, most trolls would probably shrug that off and return on their way. The junkyard was safe for another night, free from concerned citizens. Minus the boy. Oh no, the boy!

"Um..." Turning to look at him, Tevini swallowed. What was she supposed to tell him after leaping out of the dark like that? Besides, he shouldn't even be here in the first place, this was her territory! Until a few months ago it'd been her hive! She wanted to yell at him to get out! If only the words came that easily to her. Instead what she said was...

"You're not safe." -here, she'd meant to say. Fumbling with her words, the girl wanted to scare him off but came across more condescending than cryptic.

seekingCylem

i loved the car alarm, so cute! > w<

 

[seekingCylem]

Sascha froze mid-flail as he suddenly registered that the alarm had cut off. Had he just gone deaf? Carefully, worried he'd set it off again, he removed his hands from his head and sat up. Bagwormother too, pushed her head out from beneath her shell. She blended in with the other piles of junk so well, Sascha had nearly forgotten she was present.

His attention at the moment was on a pair of horns he saw sticking up over the roof of the scuttlebuggy. The bright orange contrasted with pretty much everything else in the junkyard. Sascha leaned over to get a better look just as Tevini gave him her attention. There was a weird second where they just looked at each other, processing.

Sascha was clearly taking longer than Tevini. He pointedly looked at her, then the silent scuttlebuggy's now-open window, then back at Tevini again. He barely even registered that she'd spoken to him.

"Wait- What?" Sascha's voice sounded strange to his own ears after that auditory blast from the alarm, but he shrugged it off. "Who the hell are you, and why do you care?"

Despite the rough phrasing, Sascha's tone wasn't accusatory. Tevini hardly had an authoritative air about her, so Sascha doubted she was indicating that she was the source of danger. He bothered to at least push himself up off the dirt.

Doutei

 

[Doutei]

"I'm..." Tevini paused. She didn't really want to give out her name to this stranger who'd been poking around. There was nothing about him that screamed Royalist danger boy but there was nothing that said to trust him either. Maybe he'd been poking around her old junkyard for fun or maybe he'd been looking for something... or someone...

"What are you doing here?" Changing the subject while moving away slowly from the car now, Tevini wished she had thought to ask Scuttle to smash the car instead. Sure it would've been weird for a giant turtle lusus to fly in out of nowhere, demolish a car, and then leave but... she didn't know what to say to this yellowblood and felt the alternative might've been easier. No, what was she thinking, that would have been more suspicious. Her nerves were fried from being so close to her old hive where she'd last seen a drone standing outside. She needed to calm down.

"Do you live here?" It dawned on her that maybe he'd moved into her old hive and she hadn't heard about it yet. Cautious, she waited to see what explanation he'd give.

seekingCylem

Sorry it's late and short! And that Tevini is a butt!

 

[seekingCylem]

The redblood was being pointedly cagey about her circumstances. It only served to intrigue and annoy Sascha further. He brushed dirt off his pants without removing his suspicious stare. When he finished, he set his hands on his hips.

"Treasure hunting," Sascha replied in a dull tone that was only a little bit sarcastic. "I live up the road from here."

Sascha's answers were staccato. It wasn't like he owed this kid any explanation. Even Bagwormother wasn't quite as anxious as she would have normally been under such circumstances. She at least had the presence of mind to be wary of whatever could have been bothering Tevini. Sascha had no such concerns.

"I know I'm great and intimidating and all, but are you always this uptight?" Sascha raised his head and looked down at Tevini for emphasis.

Doutei

"Royalist danger boy," is going to go on all of Sascha's business cards.

 

[Doutei]

"Oh. I-" The redblood wasn't a master of social cues but even she could tell the boy wasn't happy. She opened her mouth to speak when suddenly he called her uptight. She wound up like a spring.

"I-I guess I am." The girl stumbled over her words, not prepared with a comeback. She'd met so many nice trolls lately who'd forgiven her awkward anxiety that she'd forgotten about the ones who reacted badly like this. His eyes glared down at her and she wanted to fall into the ground. It was almost funny, this is how a highblood like Cerpin should've spoken to her. Even though they were fighting he hadn't shown this much impatience.

"I just wanted to warn you about the drone, was all." Tevini admitted, not sure what to say. She wasn't really here to start a conversation with someone, nor did she think the two of them would get along well now... but she also didn't want anyone to get mixed up with her old problems. Even if the troll appeared like he might be a jerk. It was kind of weird for her to feel this way after so many sweeps of looking out only for herself.

seekingCylem

I would be disappointed if they didn't now.

 

[seekingCylem]

The little redblood continued to fuss and fret. Sascha watched, his expression becoming flat. When Tevini finally mentioned the drone, the contrast of his piqued interest was severe.

"Drone? The hell would drones be doing in a trash lot like this? I doubt the rats did anything illegal."

Bagwormother too had perked her ears up at the mention of drones. They were always something to be wary of. Sascha wasn't that unruly of a child to warrant true concern, but being a lowblood in a suspicious part of town brought risks.

If Sascha was aware of those risks, he didn't show it. He'd potentially stumbled onto something big. "How'd you know? Did you see it?" He continued to pepper Tevini with questions, haughty attitude tossed by the wayside.

Doutei