kami
Zeffer peered down at the poster in his hands as he lead the way into the city, Aprife following close behind. Who'd have known that the whole potion thing would affect so many trolls? The queen herself, too, apparently, because why else would she offer such an immense reward? The promise of beetles was only vaguely alluring to the blueblood, but it might be worth looking into.
"Where should we go first? The lady who sold it in the first place?" he asked aloud, reaching up to scratch his mohawk. He rather wished Arcus had come along, because it seemed a lot farther to walk with his current size. As he looked up at his friend, something behind the yellowblood caught his eye. He knew those legs.
"HEY! LEGS!" he called out obnoxiously, stumbling past Aprife to get to the familiar someone, who had stubby horns and a big weird fuzzle wrapped around her waist.
mea
Byakko had been off minding her own buisness, mind racing with thoughts as she stared intently at the Queen's announcement posted on the brick wall before her. Her lips twitched as she read it for the umpteenth time- even she had fallen for it, huh? Well, it looked like they had a common enemy.
Folding her short arms over her chest, Akko shifted her weight and hummed. She hadn't honestly expected so many trolls would have taken the elixir- and she certainly hadn't expected it to last so long. Byakko had been positive it would eventually wear off, but... she was just as short as the first night she crawled out of her recuperacoon.
A familiar voice called out, and Akko's shoulders jerked as she heard someone cry out 'LEGS!'. Refusing to acknowledge Zeffer or his crude nickname for her, Byakko simply continued to stare at the poster on the wall. Screw that guy.
sae
Unlike his blueblooded companion, Aprife did indeed have his lusus to rely on, but one that was already turning out to be a hinderance, not a help. Every time he leaned a little to try and get a look at the flyer, Bumbs, who was perched on his shoulder (and too big for that spot now) would peer around too and block his vision with wings or fuzz. By now he had given up trying to look.
"That could work," he responded shortly, but he was still mulling over it in his head when Zeffer almost knocked him over with a battle cry of 'LEGS.' Bumbs buzzed up in agitation and the yellowblood turned to trot and catch up.
It took him some time, but he eventually recalled some of the familiarities of this troll. The name… he wouldn't have remembered even if he had been told. "Zeffer, wait up!" he called, nearly tripping as Bumblesuckle tried to land on his shoulder again, only to continue getting in his face.
kami
Zeffer barreled right through the crowd to get to her, too, unashamed at the fact that he'd caused several older trolls to stumble on him. He ignored their cursing and strutted right up, grinning. Even as a child, his grin seemed just as huge as it had been before the elixir incident, all fangy and douchebaggish. He tossed an arm around the unsuspecting tealblood and shook her roughly. "AKKO. What a surprise to see you around here. Same reason, right? Looks like everyone is buzzing for that reward...HEY APRIFE COME MEET MY FRIEND LEGS." he twisted around to call back, waving with his free arm for Aprife to hurry the hell up.
mea
There was a barely audible growl in the back of Akko's throat as Zeffer grabbed her, and her body tensed. "I'm not your friend." She hissed under her breath, and as if on cue the cut on her head he had given her with a well lobbed rock throbbed painfully. Shrugging off his arm she took a few brisk sidesteps away, giving him an icy glare. ******** bluebloods.
Completely ignoring the rest of Zeffer's greeting, the mutantblood's eyes flickered over to the yellowblood he was seemingly friends with. Well, perhaps the lowblood was more humble- but seriously, who would willingly hang out with this jerk? Regardless, she kept her reservations to herself and simply nodded her head in greeting to Aprife.
sae
Even with his friend yelling and waving that arm around like some kind of impatient a*****e, Aprife didn't bother to pick up the pace. Or rather, it was too hard to run any faster with these stubby kid-legs, and his lusus sure wasn't making it any easier. The bee had landed on his nest of dreads, right between his horns, and was most definitely still too large for this, throwing the yellowblood off balance more than a few more times.
He caught the nod and gave one of his own, a little bit awkwardly, because as he went to say hello, he realized 'Legs' could NOT be a real name. "Hey, uh- Hi." The greeting was backed with a grin considerably less sharky than Zeffer's, but still rather sharp. He absently swatted at his head and sent his lusus flying again.
kami
"Aw, c'mon, don't be that way! You know I didn't do it on purpose..." he tried to convince her in a more soothing voice, smiling like a sleazy little ******** trying to get her to see reason. He had apologized, afterall! He still thought Akko was pretty cool, and, well, he was still curious about her too! What was her deal, anyway? "Aprife, this is Byakko. I met her up in the mountains once. Byakko, Aprife!" he introduced them quickly enough, seeming pleased that she was at least looking at his buddy and not cold-shouldering them both.
"So how about that reward? Pretty insane, huh? I still think this whole thing is pretty damn sweet..." It was probably the umpteenth time Zeffer had voiced his opinion on the elixir, but he didn't care. Being a kid was ******** great! "But think of all the s**t you could buy! Were you gonna go looking, Akko?" he asked, ignoring the fact that she was trying to ignore him.
mea
Akko remained completely and totally unconvinced of Zeffer's innocence, but swiflty decided it was pointless to argue the point. He'd just keep grinning like an idiot and claim it was all in good fun and that he meant no harm, or that it was all okay now since he had said 'sorry' or something equally inadequate. She let out a small sigh, arms slipping to her sides as she realized there was no way they were just going to leave her be.
"Hello." She echoed Aprife emptily, making mental note of his name. Byakko stern gaze briefly flickered over to the luses floating above his head- despite her strong dislike for the creatures, his seemed harmless enough. Any lusus smaller than her was a good lusus in her books! Returning her attention back to Zeffer, she shrugged. She wasn't after the beetles, although the Rebels sure could use come new equipment... Wouldn't it be morally sketchy to use the Queen's beetles for that, though? Well, it wasn't anything she had to worry about. Her size however, she did. It was rather inconvienant! "I'm surprised so many trolls were affected." Akko commented, wondering idly if they were both in the same situation as she. "Yes, I do believe I'm going to do a bit of asking around. Are you two?"
sae
He was quiet for a moment, still grinning at his new acquaintance, now labeled Byakko, though how long that would last was yet to be seen. Especially if his blueblooded friend decided to keep calling her 'Legs.' Hopefully that wouldn't slip out on accident if he let his guard down.
As Bumbs made one more attempt to settle undisturbed somewhere, anywhere on his charge, Aprife glanced up at the poster Byakko had been eyeing moments ago. He was listening, and it was obvious from the way his fingers clenched slightly around the notebook he was, as usual, holding in the crook of his arm. Luckily he had found a smaller one on the floor of his hive, one to fit his new frame.
"We are," he responded before Zeffer could. Didn't wanna let the rowdy blueblood have all the fun. "Were just talkin' about whether we should go after the weirdo who sold that elixir stuff. Wonder if they knew it was gonna do" he looked down at himself and made a wild motion "this."
kami
Zeffer grinned as Aprife spoke up, and nodded in agreement. "Yeah...I mean I think the guy deserves a medal, but I guess the queen must'a been pissed...." he had to stop and snicker for a moment as he imagined a little baby Regina. What a crack up! He sniffled, and rubbed his sleeve across his face, before his expression brightened. An idea had struck him like a bolt of lightning!
"Hey, we should team up! I bet we'd figure out more if we worked together!" he said, flailing for a moment. Of course...it might be a little more dangerous wandering the city split up, but Zeffer was confident enough and Aprife had his lusus. Even though he barely knew Akko, she seemed like a tough enough cookie. "How about it? We can share any information...I bet no one else would ever think of working together!"
mea
Akko rose her brows as Aprife gestured to himself. Oh, so they were victims also? She certainly had to agree on their method of looking for the dealer that sold them the elixir in the first place; that's what she had been mulling over for some time. It was either that, or question the distributor. She highly doubted either were seriously involved in all this- the plan was far too brilliant and large scale to have such an obvious perpetrator. For gog's sake, a third of the population and probably the Queen were now barely wrigglers! No, the culprit was probably much too smart to leave such an obvious trail...
Snapping out of her train of thought as Zeffer suggested they team up, Akko cocked a scarred brow. Team up? Akko was used to flying solo, she worked best that way and she had a nagging feeling the boys would just slow her down. But the dirty blueblood certainly had a point, with more bodies they could cover more ground at a faster rate and rake in more information. "That's actually not a terrible idea." She said slowly, after taking a moment to silently debate to herself. Byakko just needed this s**t to be over already. Glancing over at Aprife, she waited for his two beetles.
sae
It still made Aprife grin, seeing Zeffer so excited over being re-littled. He hadn't freaked much, himself. Being little had both advantages and disadvantages. Tiny legs made walking around as much as he was used to kinda tiring, but hiding out was easier and he could squeeze into places he wouldn't have fit in sweeps. Buuuut growing back up was probably a good thing, and the reward was tempting, so the idea of teaming up to come out on top was very, very appealing.
"I agree. I bet there are a lot more trolls connected to this than we know. How could they spread something like this if there weren't…?" Bumbs buzzed from his shoulder, as if agreeing, but really the lusus was just getting tired of sitting still.
"What about that lady who wrote the news story about it? She's GOTTA know something else." There was a little sparkle in his eye. Aprife might have admired this journalist just a little bit.
kami
"Yeah! Good point!" Zeffer grinned all the more as Aprife helped cement the idea. Sure they'd probably have to split up the prize, but this was getting interesting enough to where he didn't really care about the money; it was the adventure that he wanted, the mystery. He wanted to see what the hell would happen here. It did kind of suck though...what would they do with the poor b*****d who caused all this delicious chaos? He didn't give a crap about helping the queen either, but life could get boring fast, and this was an opportunity for fun.
"It's a great idea is what! Aprife, you should go check out the journalist then. I bet if she found out you liked that kinda crap, she might share some info!" he said, and tapped his chin in thought. That left the shady dealer...and who else? He could vividly remember the day it was delivered, as well as the troll who's dropped the package off at his hive.
"Akko, do you think anyone else would be worth asking? Maybe the people who delivered the stuff would know."
mea
Byakko nodded gently in approval at the back and forth between Zeffer and Aprife. The more they discussed and waved their arms around in excitement, the more she grew pleased with herself for agreeing to team up with them. They were certainly... enthusiastic? Well, regardless of their motivations they seemed to want to get to the bottom of this just as much as she. Akko was sure the culprit would have some idea on how to fix this- and for once she might actually have to agree with whatever cruel sentence the Queen bequeathed them. But that was hardly a worry in her mind- she just needed her larger, significantly taller and more muscular body back. And quick! Without a guardian Akko felt hella vurnable- back then, she had Trolldad. What would happen now if her hue was accidentally exposed? Pushing her worries to the back of her mind, she opened her foodchute to respond to Zeffer.
"Yeah, the delivery company would be another logical place to investigate." She said, then paused briefly to think. "I'd say the troll who sold me the stuff needs a good interrogation." Akko persed her lips, reffering to the shady dealer. "Who sold it to you two, do you have any names?" She hoped they had more to go off of than she did, which was just whatever she could remember of the adult troll's appearance. Which wasn't much, considering the dealer's over the top disguise had kept her quite distracted...
sae
"Got it, I'll check her out," Aprife responded with a nod that was a little too zealous. Bumblesuckle almost fell off his shoulder and was scuttling backwards as fast as he could. Of course that meant he was back in the yellowblood's face again, all wiggly and fuzzy and it took a minute for him to recover from that. Luckily, Byakko saw fit to add her own feelings to the pot as he listened as well as he could.
Bumbs was finally situated on his undersized shoulder when he replied. "No names. Just an adult with a weird disguise." For a moment, Aprife mentally berated himself on not scoping out the seller a little better. That was what he DID. "Maybe they're still lurking around the same place. I dunno if they sold to a bunch of trolls from the same location. At least the distributer should be quicker to find than the seller."
kami
"Yeah, a weird adult! Lots of blue, pretty shady...I guess I was too excited to pay much attention." Zeffer shrugged with a stupid grin, not much else he could do. With this new development the weirdo adult might have gone into hiding to make it difficult for people to question, but they wouldn't know for sure until they started looking. "Akko, you're probably sharper than us, you should go look for the salestroll who did this...if that suits you." he nodded, trying not to seem too bossy. He had suggested that they work together, but he didn't really feel up to claiming the leadership roll.
"It's just that, I remember the guy who left the stuff at my hive pretty well. I'll go 'n see if I can dig up any info on that front." he said as an excuse. A truthful excuse, though. He couldn't think of anyone else who could possibly be connected to the little caper that was unfolding.
mea
"Hmm. Sounds like the same troll." Akko rose a fist to her chin thoughtfully, referring to the dealer. Well, tracking them down couldn't have been too hard... it wasn't like she didn't have the resources at her disposal. Even if those resources couldn't hold a conversation with her and keep a straight face- needless to say Akko had been avoiding her small band of rebels, who all remained full fledged trolls. Jerks, the lot of 'em! She blanky looked over at Zeffer upon hearing mention of her name. Sharper? Akko blinked, not quite sure what he meant by that. "That works for me." She said with a confident nod, if anything she preffered to go after the sketchy merchant. There was a score to settle, and Akko /would/ get some answers!
"It looks like we have our bases covered, then." She actually felt pretty good about this... at least for the time being.
sae
Everything was falling into place. Actually, it was going better than he ever could have imagined when he looked down towards his hands and saw sleeves even more oversized than usual, or when he began to feel the way his lusus put him off balance and no longer fit properly, snugly, on his shoulder. They were all still teens at heart, but teens in tiny little bodies. He could only hope their explorations went as well as their sudden team building had. This was one of those times where being a child could turn into a disadvantage.
"Alright, I'm gonna start heading over to the Equivocal Bulletin. Hopefully that journalist will be there. Good luck finding the others. Let's meet up again once we have some information!" The yellowblood didn't even wait to hear their responses, he knew they'd be affirmative. With all of them out looking, he hoped it would turn the disadvantage of their stature right around.
"See you guys!" And with that he was gone, one hand gripping his notebook and the other steadying his lusus after the sudden take off. Part of him was ready to really dig for info. The other… was actually just a bit excited at the possibility of meeting this journalist.
kami
Zeffer was pretty pleased that he'd managed to orchestrate this. Who knew what kind of ******** up crazy s**t they'd be getting into. Maybe, if other people were trying to solve the same case to get the reward, he could have a bit of fun and try to mess up their progress! The thought made him laugh rather suddenly, in an unexplained manner, but he only continued to laughed it off, and rubbed the back of his head. "Awesome! Good luck, man!" he called after Aprife as the yellowblood hurried away, confident in his friend's abilities to dig up good clues.
"I guess I know where I'm headed too. See ya soon, Legs! Meet up back here!" he said, and turned to set off on his own. The delivery company had to be somewhere in the city. Luckily he'd left with a few beetles in case he needed to catch the bus. He had the usual (though down-sized) pack with most of his usual adventuring crap, so he wasn't too worried. Never hurt to be prepared, especially in the city. He waved to Akko as he stepped off, grinning big.
mea
Byakko lifted her hand as Aprife departed, but hardly actually waved before her arm dropped loosely once more to her side. She continued to give Zeffer that same blank look as he randomly burst out in laughter from some private joke- was she missing something? Akko continued to stare at the blueblood, without that lowblood by his side she sure was questioning her decision making skills. God, bluebloods were crazy.
"My name is not Legs." She chided, crossing her arms in disapproval as Zeffer skipped off on his merry way. With a small sigh she turned around, and headed off to the district she had first encountered the shady dealer. So both the boys were victims just like her, huh? She couldn't shake the nagging feeling they looked vaguely familiar... perhaps it would come to her in time, or if they ever got to be teen sized in the near future. Wooden sandals clattered noisily against the stone roads as Akko raced off, determined to find that blueblooded bespectacled merchant.
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