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 Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 7:19 pm
The army. Oh no way. No way no way no way. Almost as soon as the words were out of the Queen's mouth, Abrila was pushing her away through the crowd to get out. Maybe it hadn't been so bad that she had been stuck in a place with such a terrible view, after all. The crowd was still crushing, but she could actually make her way through to the back with a bit of pushing and shoving. It was bad enough she had guessed that an expedition to the cavern would be required, but she didn't think that the army itself would be involved.
A little voice in the back of Abrila's mind told her that she would be enlisted sooner or later, especially if she didn't find some other useful thing to do with her time, but she refused to acknowledge it. She had a few sweeps before that was going to happen. She turned around the bend of a narrow street and walked straight into a newly erected barrier. The blade of her shovel hit first with an audible clang and she fell with a 'oof' on her backside. Wincing, the orangeblood looked around with a touch of fear, hoping that no one saw what she was doing and scrambled back to her feet.
She was too late. Oh crap oh crap ohcrap. Now she was stuck. Stuck. Stuck! There was no way to go now but back. Back where she came. Abrila ground her teeth together - a quickly developing bad habit as of late - and dragged herself back to the main part of the crowd. Apparently the Queen and her subjects didn't delay when it came to rounding everybody up. There were already recruitment blocks set up, and tents rose up from the entrances to the main roads.
Then she began to think. During her mad rush... didn't the Queen mention something about Special Forces? Trolls that were only called upon when they were needed? That didn't seem so bad... Perhaps they would forget all about Abrila in time. And then there was the matter of the expedition... She had already been in the brooding caverns when she was young. She didn't remember it, but how bad could it really be? And there could be all kinds of treasure down there... Maybe she could come back with a souvenir or two.
Huh. The thought of treasure appealed to the orangeblood. With a resigned sigh, Abrila started to make her way in the direction of one of the blocks. She supposed she at least owed the Mother Grub this. To make sure she had a successor.
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Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 11:29 pm
“I-I wouldn’t – ” Alifax began, before glancing at Frossa. She was the highblood, so he probably should’ve deferred to her, first – but it seemed like she, too, was agreeing with Hazzan, or at least not trying to push any further through the crowd. Which was good, because he worried for her, with those shoelaces! Alifax couldn’t really see the point of shoes; bandages really worked just as well as they did, and they weren’t likely to come off until you got home and carefully peeled them off in the ablution chamber. And shoelaces were a frivolity on top of a frivolity. Highbloods were strange.
Anyway, he didn’t mind sitting there, if Hazzan didn’t, and – oh, dear. He hadn’t thought about Frossa’s clothing. He hesitated. Volunteering as a troll chair didn’t cross his mind, but he did try to find a solution anyway. He didn’t have much in the way of clothing he could simply lay on the ground for Frossa – he didn’t get cold easily, after all, and when he was cold, there was always fire. It was mighty useful! Alifax frowned, glancing over at Hazzan for her reaction – and then fell silent, because the queen began to speak before either he or Frossa could sit. It didn’t matter, anyway, because he had heard that you were supposed to rise for an audience with the Condescension (was that a thing? Perhaps he was mixing this reign up with a previous one, which, he reminded himself, was a dangerous thing to do!). He turned to listen, and then frowned almost immediately.
The mother grub? But that was a jade-blood’s concern, wasn’t it? Alifax wasn’t sure he’d like this at all – had he stepped above his station in coming here tonight, after all? No, he thought – no, the other option would’ve been worse, and anyway he was certain the Empress had a way of figuring out who’d been in attendance tonight. He’d have been culled for certain had he headed that way or had he not come; he was lowblooded enough for it. So he steeled himself, noticed Hazzan still on the floor listening, and gingerly sat himself down next to her.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered to the tealblood. He hadn’t meant to leave her waiting like that, and he hadn’t meant to obstruct her view, either (had he obstructed her view? He hoped not!). Then he turned his attention back to the Empress, resolutely ignoring the shouts that rang out around them upon the news of the mother grub’s illness. Didn’t these trolls know that they had to pay respects to their queen? He was certainly worried, too, but this was no time to interrupt the speech with discussion. He probably shouldn’t even have shifted his attention to talk to Hazzan. Would the queen notice? He hoped not; there had been far louder trolls in the audience. Maybe none so lowblooded, though.
And then she changed the subject: she was raising special forces for the army. He couldn’t dare – he stared up at her Imperial Condescension from beside Hazzan, feeling extremely excited. Perhaps this was his chance after all – he’d never hoped to join the army, except as, well, a helmsman (which was altogether a fate he wanted to avoid, naturally), and perhaps they wouldn’t change his designation once he’d been registered now. Could they do that? Probably. But perhaps this way Alifax could slip under the radar. He’d certainly stand out more by not enlisting, and a military job would be…comfortable. Far better than he’d hoped for himself. He met Frossa’s eyes as she turned to gauge his and Hazzan’s reactions, and turned to face Hazzan himself. If both of his friends (could he call them that? He worried about the presumption – perhaps fellow FLARPers would be better) wanted to enlist, perhaps they could get themselves assigned together. That would be nice. He wouldn’t mind either of them as his commanding officer.
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amicableAggressor Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 6:53 am
Soon the stations began to open their doors to the public, and actually managed to pass trolls through at a slightly alarming rate. If nothing else, the royal army was very, very efficient. Even so, with the pure amount of trolls that arrived, certainly a few would have to wait a day to have their turn come up, and the hotels began to slowly fill up with patrons who realized this. The crowds were beginning to thin however, as the swarms of trolls began to break up and head indoors, to one hive or another. For trolls who managed to squeeze or thrust their way to the front of the line, they were given a retinal scan, asked their name, and were deposited out the other side of the block with a new piece of paper, detailing where they were to report to for further instructions and transportation to the underground beachhead that had been set up in preparation for the massive expedition that was to take place. Regina's speach is now over, and trolls are free to either stick around in Four Fronds or begin to ship out to the new thread. Open rp will continue in this thread until the 14th, and in the new thread until the end of the meta.
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 8:55 am
"Do you always rock like that? Or is it a nervous movement?"
Maihue jumped at the noise... No, voice come from behind her. She turned her head around and stared at the troll questioning her. Who is this? Why is she talking to me? Wait, what kind of coat is that? Oh no! I shouldn't be thinking that, that's horrible oh no...
Maihue had been standing there with her mouth open like she was about to speak for maybe a minute, then she snapped out of it, and snapped back into what was happening.
"N-nervous movement..? I um... I was just thinking... About all of this and I started to move around.. S-sorry if it bothered you."
Maihue's cheeks flushed a deeper green and she folded her arms as she looked away. Why... Who was this troll? Oh dear, someone had been watching her. This is.. Truly embarrassing.
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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 4:03 am
Wow those sure were some reactions.
Pyruet nearly started herself at Sarce's yelp, quickly straightening back up, looking rather disgruntled. She hadn't even been loud with her greeting, how was it possibly that startling. And then the blueblood's face lit up and she started stammering and that was just sort of adorable and okay disgruntled moment over. She couldn't say she blamed the girl for turning away for the speech though, Pyre was pretty eager to see what was so important that such a huge number of trolls were summoned to one area, but before she looked up at the matriarch herself, she turned to Sempur at his growl. She stared, just for a moment, at the hand with the knife through it, gushing blood, and slowly shifted her gaze upwards until she met with his rather mangled nose. Her gaze fixated on it for a couple of seconds before she looked him in the eye, and snorted as derisively as she could manage.
That was evidently all she had to say to Sempur Livora as she shifted her gaze up towards the balcony, listening raptly to the speech, almost mesmerized. She probably wasn't as appalled by the information as she could have been--there are always more mother grubs, after all. It was just a matter of finding them, and Pyre was more than willing to contribute her part towards the hunt. Hell, she was downright excited for it. Aiding her entire race was a very appealing idea, not to mention the head-start towards attaining rank that starting early would give her.
She stared, transfixed, until the queen finished her speech, and even then, the empty balcony held her gaze for a long moment. The more she thought about it, the better it seemed. Pyruet was way more than happy to lend her race a hand. She was ******** stoked. She looked around, noticing the barriers and tents blocking any alternative ways out. Didn't look like the queen was in the mood to take no for an answer, even from those less enthusiastic than the greenblood.
Speaking of a lack of enthusiasm, she turned towards Sarce again, trying to keep her voice level. She couldn't sound too excited, it'd be a sign of weakness, and weakness would absolutely not be something she'd show in front of him--not that she ever showed weakness at all thank you for asking. "...You gonna be down for this?" She gestured toward the leg that had taken the hit in the tournament not too long ago. "Not crippled or anything, are you?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 10:03 am
Interesting reactions were a commonplace thing for Sarcel, anyway, and the next situation was no different. Listening to the queen talk about the grub more, say it was sick, and then give out the proposal to lower the enlistment age, allow children into the army...
She was tense, uncomfortable, still all too aware of the crowd around her, and now all too aware of the situation. She knew that she'd be thrown into this; not that she would say no or refuse, but she knew a certain blueblood next to her was probably incredibly excited at the idea of joining the military. Hell, it was probably a dream come true for him! Taking a moment to glance sideways at the foreboding figure next to her, looking for any signs that he was about to throw his jurisdiction around and drag her off to these sign ups, or just to see his reaction in general. She noticed the bloody hand then, looking genuinely concerned, but... not speaking up of course! Oh but that cut looked pretty deep... she wondered if the greenblood behind her had seen! Sir didn't seem to enjoy her company very much, and secretly she wondered if the girl had found any sort of satisfaction at the state of her Superior.
But nevermind that now! There was a bigger problem at hand, the case of the mother grub. A straggling absent minded thought tugged at the idea of the other letter, and she briefly humored the idea and wondered what that just might of been about. Maybe they were the ones that caused this mishap with the grub, if that was even possible? She had no idea, but wasn't one to dismiss accusations very quickly, and a few other thoughts sprung up and swirled in the cauldron of her mind.
Snap back to reality, she realized the greenblood was speaking with her again. Pyruet, wasn't it? Sir probably would have a fit if she answered, but it would be rude to ignore her, especially given that she sort of looked up to the troll for standing up to Sir! Maybe one day she could stand up to that menace, maybe...
But the pushed such inconceivable ideals away for the moment while she fumbled with something to say. At first she only mustered out a shrug, but when the second partial of the question came she straightened up. Crippled?! As if, and even if she was she'd be perfectly able! You trying to imply I have walking problems?
"O-O-Of course I-I am. I'm fine." was her terse reply, still uncomfortably stiff as ever. "N-Not crippled, I-I got here p-perfectly fine, d-d-didn't I?" voice wavering a little, trying to sound mad at the thought, but failing miserably before settling back into her silent little self. She had more to say, but what was the point?
Instead she just glanced at Sir's shoes, back at hers- silently scoffing at the familiarization between them, given the two who were wearing them- before looking in the greenbloods general direction, but not exactly at her, because she really wasn't one to stare or get anywhere close to eye contact.
But now she was reminded of the scar on her leg and the all too real possibility of being crippled, and truthfully... it scared her a bit. All she ever did was run away from her problems, and what if she couldn't run anymore? What then?
No, she wasn't going to think about that right now.
She wanted to ask sir when they were going to go sign up, not if because the answer was obvious, but she surely wasn't going to question him like some impatient grub. You going to be down for this?
Honestly, she didn't know. She knew Sir and Pyruet would be; maybe if she fell behind and died, it'd be for the better. This was a noble cause, right sir? Having a plaque in the breeding caves might be kinda cool, but she was sure Sir wouldn't probably want to place something out for her to be remembered by, not like the 'fallen comrades' back home.
Or maybe she could make something of herself here. Help a cause, help the queen, and the sound of recognition didn't sound too bad!
Oh, who was she kidding...
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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 7:48 pm
Nelgan sighed as he savored his last seconds of laziness. Once the Queen finished her speech, the still crowd quickly turned chaotic. Neglan eyed the crowd hesitantly, wondering how he would even make it though; he was on the side, after all. And it wasn't like he even had a choice, especially as a Class-D citizen. Nelgan straightened up, dusted off his back, and began searching for a way to reach the sign up stations.
Something, however, caught his eye. It was a troll, an orangeblood who had tried to make a mad dash out of here, instead hitting a barrier. Barriers, Nelgan thought, mildly taken aback. He expected the Queen to want everyone to sign up, but the idea of putting a barrier around the area was a bit disturbing. Nelgan wasn't surprised though; there were few things that surprised him anyway.
Nelgan glanced at the crowd again. He'd better get in line quick, or he might end up staying here all day. Though the idea did appeal to the drone, he didn't want to be one of the last trolls to sign up. Anything that would mark Nelgan with suspicion was something he would try to avoid, and straggling had a possibility of putting him on the radar.
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 5:11 pm
Hazzan glanced at both her friends, keen to go wherever they were headed. Trouble with the mother grub sounded like it could make for a great story, or at the least it would be a great adventure! "Well, it is temporary enlistment," the tealblood said to justify the decision. Just joining the army willy-nilly didn't jive with her life plans, but she certainly could afford to try it out. It would make for good experience later.
Seizing Frossa and Alifax 'round their biceps, Hazzan hauled her friends to their feet and began the task of tugging them towards the nearest station. "Come on, guys!" she urged. "We should go do this. It's practically our civic duty!"
It was hard to feign this much enthusiasm because Hazzan was being sincere. The caverns were a place she'd been itching to properly explore as fodder for LARP plots - you just couldn't fake a good cave. Pulling her friends into line, Hazzan flashed them both a sharp toothed smile and rocked on her heels. "This is going to be fun. I promise."
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 8:10 pm
It goes without say that Sempur liked what he heard. Thus concluded the first speech by the queen he actually got to attend on time and without distraction (totally wasn't going to dwell on that greenblood over there, nope), and ah, such passion! When she punctuated her speech with that strike, he might have actually felt his heart leap in excitement, were such a thing possible for a heartless b*****d. Now this was a ruler, and he could only admire the swift work in putting up barriers. A sad thing that such measures had to be taken, that such cowards existed who would want to get out of such beautiful duty, but nevermind that. Sempur was only too eager to sign up. Surely, one could make the argument that his might was all that was needed!!
Honestly this would have been the best day ever if not for one thing. Snapped out of his euphoria by the very thing that plagued Sempur's darkest thoughts but not really because he never thought about her, his expression changed quickly from one of highest admiration to sheer disgust as he glowered at the two trolls talking to each other. Well, he couldn't very well call what Pathetic was doing "talking" because of that horrendous stutter, but scolding her now would not do. No, he was too fixated on something else.
So that was her game, ignoring him. How completely childish. Not that Sempur would have wanted her attention anyway, because he most certainly didn't—honestly she never should have shown up at ALL. Unfortunately, it looked like the greenblood was determined to be a bad influence on Pathetic, probably just to rile him up because she really was just so immature like that. Well, two can play at that game. With his still-bleeding hand, Sempur grabbed Pathetic's arm and began roughly leading her away to their destiny. And unlike some completley unpatriotic, disgustingly unmotivated trolls, Sempur was only too eager to sing the praises of this opportunity.
"Pathetic, you may have disgraced your entire unit with your spectacular failure at the Battle Royale, but providence has once again led us to another chance at redemption for you. This is a shot at glory, an honor even greater than serving under me, though make no mistake—that is still a grand honor! In fact! Making it to a recruitment station was relatively easy with all of Sempur's bluster and eager gesturing as he forced his way through the crowd. Unfortunately, his gesturing become even messier as he released Sarcel and supplemented his improptu speech with his still-bleeding hand seriously how did he not notice "You would do well not to squander this opportunity. I can promise you that, if you were to stick with me, you would surely be lead on the greatest path to achievement. Let us hope you do not fall astray."
That last part sounded more like a threat than mere hoping. And certainly, the pointed, suspicious look he threw over his shoulder at no one in particular made it clear that Sempur did not have high hopes for others not under his perfect leadership. Still, composing himself now that they were in line, he clasped his bloody hand behind his back finally and looked down at his poor recruit, actually deciding to maybe pay her compliment in one of his rare good moods. "But I trust in your judgement, Pathetic. Your very slight improvements have not been overlooked." Totally not just trying to butter her up, nope, no getting possessive here!
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 8:42 pm
"You are stuttering as well,"
Zeylla was always very observant, and the greenblooded troll was by far the most nervous creature she had ever seen. Actually, there was the blueblood earlier. But she quickly averted from that thought as it caused her hands to sweat. Blue blood. All over his jacket. It was enough to make a small shudder dance down her spine, though her outer appearance seemed to change very little. Besides the fact that she had gone silent and seemed to be staring through Maihue rather then at her.
Thankfully the other troll seemed not to even notice, since she was too busy flushing and looking any other direction then at her. Zeylla decided the best course of action was to act cool and continue speaking, "And no I wasn't bothered. Just interested," she paused again and stared at the troll before her, eyebrows furrowing slightly as she thought about some secret thought.
"Do I make you feel uncomfortable, because now you are just flushing quiet a bit."
Well, she was.
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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 12:05 am
Maihue once again jumped at the trolls voice. Why does this keep happening? Stop jumping or something...
"Oh I.. I am sorry. Deeply sorry, I tend to stutter sometimes possibly more than I should, I don't mean to, really. That's good that it didn't bother you in any way, I'm glad..
Maihue shook her head as she stumbled on with her babbling. You must be at least a bit more calm than this. Calm down... Calm... Down. Maihue took a breath and slowly looked up as the other troll asked another question.
"I..." Maihue gulped as she tried to get more words out. This was a little difficult. Just a little. Just be honest, maybe... That'll help?
"I um.. am uncom..fortab..le..." Barely managing to mumble those words out she rubbed her arm and looked away from the other troll once again. Great courage, great effort way to mumble, Maihue.
She took a deep breath and started to speak to the ground. "I tend to do things while I think, motion helps a bit for me, it really does. I... I am sorry i-if my cheeks are um too flushed, it happens.. a lot.." As Maihue got to the end of her sentence she lost energy.
Boy oh boy, was that was difficult to say to a stranger.
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Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 1:37 am
The greenblood shot Sarcel a rather odd look as her tone changed, lowering her eyebrows at the smaller girl. "Did you? I didn't see you arrive, I'd have no way of knowing." Her voice had gained a rather cool edge at Sarce's awkward little attempt at indignation. She wasn't sure what she'd said to upset the girl, but frankly, wasn't in the mood to care. She'd attempted to be nice and check in, that sorta didn't go quite right, but that was fine, now it was time to get down to business. "...I trust you'll make an honest effort, then."
Pyruet gave another awkward not-sure-what-else-to-say half-shrug, and was considering just walking away at that--was it okay to just leave someone like her with someone like him(seriously he was just cutting his hands to ribbons), even for something as important as this?--when Sarce was dragged off towards one of the recruitment stations.
Huh.
Well she was heading there anyway, that worked out.
She fell into stride behind them, briefly considering speeding up because he should never be leading her in any circumstances at all ever but decided she was being sort of ridiculous there and just listened to him ramble instead. She was having to hold back laughter at moments during his impressive display of false grandiose, and almost lost it at a couple of trolls being splattered by his blood as he flailed around, but managed to stay mostly composed. "It's worth noting," she interrupted once they were in line. "That I apparently got the only knockout in that entire tournament. Against you. You were the only one in the entire event that fell unconscious. And I never even drew my weapons." She was smiling a small, barely there, but very smug smile. "In fact, as I recall, you only landed three hits on me--again, an unarmed opponent." Wait s**t she probably shouldn't have been so specific, it was probably telling that she'd memorized that number. "Don't worry about it, stay cool. Stay cool." "...I'm just saying, perhaps you're not in the best position to criticize others' performances. I haven't seen you display anything resembling the competence you claim, nothing that would even hint at you possessing the skills it takes to carry yourself, much less someone else, as far as you're proclaiming." A small shrug, eyes half-lidded in satisfaction, she concluded her counterspeech. Enlisting in the military this early on, contributing towards the safety of the entire race, getting to shoot down this dullard; it was shaping up to be a great night.
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