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Class had been invigorating! Rebuilding an engine was no easy task and, frankly, some peoples' memories were less than perfect....so when it came down to the smaller components, Guzma had sweated it for s moment before deciding to just wing the damn thing and see how it went. If it worked, awesome! If not.....well, as long as nothing blew up, they were good!.....right? Ugh. WHY did he have to stay up the night before watching a movie marathon?? The amount of absolute nerves that the hybrid felt was palpable....and sweaty....but the moment that it started up and, not only worked, but sounded friggin' AMAZING, everyone in his group threw up cheers and noogied the s**t out of him. The teacher was unimpressed yet proud but suggested they take the celebration elsewhere.....mainly because everything echoed in the garage and was augmented thanks to the acoustics.

Guzma suggested a good burger place nearby, so he and his class buds meandered there and were still there, splotched with grease spots, chewing down on some burgers, sodas and shakes.....and still as stoked as when they left class. They laughed and joked (very loudly, even for sitting outside) and exchanged friendly arm punches while they talked about how they almost (literally) blew it. Guzma smoothed back his hair as best as he could and admitted that he had winged it, which earned another round of loud cheers and friendly insults between each other. They had gotten extra large shakes and Guzma challenged one of the guys to a chug-off and they both slurped the frozen treats to the chanting of "Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!" They stared at each other and a grin curled the hybrid's mouth as he could see his opponent fighting it.....and finally succumb to the brain freeze. Guzma proudly slurped up the rest of his shake and crushed the cup against his forehead, shouting victoriously and chest-bumping everyone enthusiastically. Yep.....there was a lot of loud and boisterous bro stuff happening and the chomp hybrid was, yet again, being given noogies that fuzzed up his mohawk.

They were a rowdy bunch, without a doubt, but it seemed fairly good-natured. Sure they were calling each other names but nothing was out of spite and everyone was smiling. They were just....not self aware enough to realize that they were bothering others....yet at the same time, their antics were attracting attention and people began to wander inside who didn't seem familiar with the place. Eventually the group started to trickle off as one or two started to leave, heading off to either home or another place they had to be. After a while only Guzma and two others remained and, after rating one of the others' belches, they all broke off and left.....after cleaning up, of course....well, ok, only Guzma made sure to pick up all their trash and toss it away. Ah, he didn't mind. It was a good day.

Fresh air always smelled better after being cooped up in a garage for hours. He liked walking; he could just look around and take his time, enjoy the look of things as they changed with the season. The trees were probably his favorite thing about this time of year; the leaves were such an array of colors! Orange, red, yellow, brown, some green, fluffy........wait a minute......

Guzma stopped and walked under a tree where he had seen a hint of something furry. Getting closer he heard small but loud mews of distress and as he looked up, he spied a little vespercat kitten that had climbed up way WAY too high for its age! Poor thing looked scared as hell....something must have really spooked it and it chose this for its escape. A glance to the side and he could see a little demon boy staring up at the kitten in the tree looking sad and a little panicked. Guzma connected the dots and, well, that was just extra incentive to get this little guy back on the ground. "Don't worry, buddy....I'll get 'em down for ya.." He smiled at the freshling before he started scaling the tree. It wasn't too hard; the tree had a lot of branches that made good hand and foot holds, thankfully, and the kitten seemed to be clinging to the branch it had chosen and wasn't planning to go anywhere....but oh boy was it mewling and the tiny sounds were breaking Guzma's heart.

He paused when he got near the kitten's level and slowly approached, not wanting to spook it any more than it had been. "Hey there little guy....." He spoke softly as he got closer, leaning on one of the smaller branches to try and get a little closer. "Its ok.....I'm gonna help ya get back to your kiddo over there...just.....stay still...." Guzma could feel the branch flexing pretty harshly under his weight but he was so close! He reached out with his other hand and his floating claws carefully scooped under the kitten and grasped it gently yet securely. "There ya go...." Whew....he brought the little furball close and held it against his chest, ready to turn back when......*CRACK*.......uh oh....

"s**t!" Instinct took over and Guzma curled up as he fell through the branches and landed with a harsh thud on his back that nearly knocked all the wind out of him. Crap....that hurt.....but he uncurled and looked down into his arms and saw the kitten still in tact in his protective grasp. The freshling ran over, looking scared, and Guzma lifted up the kitten to the kid. "H-here ya go, dude.....not a scratch on 'em.." His voice was strained and tense from the fall but he still smiled up at the kid, which broadened as they grabbed the kitten and hugged it close.

"Thank you, mister!" The freshling said happily and dashed off back towards what Guzma assumed was their home.

"No prob..." Guzma grunted with a thumbs up to the kid before he ran off, then he sprawled out on the ground with a slight groan.....but he was still smiling. "....Totally worth it....haha-ow..." He said to himself, staring up at the leaves while he waited for the pain to stop throbbing so harshly. That was gonna leave a bruise.

Guzma was focused on taking slow breaths that were a little deeper each time, staring up at the rustling leaves as the breeze made them move. This was oddly calming and was making the task of getting his breath back and banishing the pain a lot easier. Hell, he could have just taken a nap right then and there....but his ears picked up the sound of someone dropping a pretty hefty bag and running over towards him. Soon his vision was suddenly interrupted by a rather cute face that looked worried. She sounded like she was panicking and the hybrid cracked a lopsided smile and laughed a bit..

"Ambulance? Nah, I'm ok. No broken bones or nuthin'; just got the wind knocked outta me a little." Guzma figured he'd laid there long enough and managed to push himself up so he was sitting, wincing slightly but still smiling at the girl. "Gonna be sore as all hell tomorrow, though. Probably just some bruises....nothin' that won't end up getting covered by grease or something." He already had some marks appearing from where he'd hit branches and some smaller twigs had scratched his arms and face a bit....but other than that he didn't look too badly injured....just scratched up and, sure enough, he did have some grease spots on him in random places that looked like oil and lubricant of some sort. "Just glad I got the little guy down before it ended up getting hurt or eaten."

Guzma rolled onto his knees and pushed himself up with a grunt, suddenly grimacing as he realized that the impact had definitely made him more than a little sore and lying on hard ground wasn't exactly easy on the back. "Gah....damn, that's gonna leave a mark." He straightened up slowly and looked back at the girl curiously. "You ok? You look a little pale.....did I scare ya that bad?'

Guzma knew that she had a point; falling out of a tree was no laughing matter and, frankly, he was lucky it wasn't taller or she would have genuine reason to worry. As it was he was looking at his exposed ribs to make sure they were in tact but it didn't stop him from half smiling. "I appreciate the concern....and, frankly, if it had been taller and I'd have been dumber, I probably would have actually needed help." He looked at her and was surprised that she was so short....but hell if it wasn't cute. He started brushing himself off and picking out the leaves and twigs from his hair when she said that what he did was good.

"Yeah....I don't like seein' little furballs in distress like that....or any critter, really." He shrugged and rubbed the back of his head a bit, looking slightly sheepish. "Prolly woulda taken the little guy home with me if I didn't know he had a person." He mumbled the last part a bit, like he was embarrassed to admit it.

When she got all uppity about him scaring her when he fell and then didn't get back up, he snorted a chuckle. "Yeah, not the best thing when someone don't move after they have a tumble.....but I was trying to catch my breath. Hard to move much if ya can't breathe....but I still appreciate the worry." He smiled down at her and held out a hand to shake. "Name's Guzma, by the by."

Guzma half smirked as the girl kept staring at him and, frankly, he wasn't surprised. He knew he was bit of a rough-looking guy and being that chomps were still fairly new to the world, it was often intimidating to others....especially when dealing with the floating claws and tails situation. Most didn't know how to handle that....or the fact that most of his kind were stupidly tall.....however, being a hybrid, Guzma was actually on the short end of the spectrum; short enough that he was considered freakishly small, despite being just under six feet. He generally was taller than most however....he almost towered above the girl before him.

When she grabbed one of his claws to shake and he saw the unsure look on her face, he just grinned and shook hands regardless. His other claws clasped around her hand like any normal hand would and he smiled as she said her name; Sprite. s**t, that fit her to a T; she was so small and cute that Sprite was probably the most appropriate name he could have thought of. "Pleasure's all mine." He said rather congenially. He watched her and listened as she mentioned that she had rescued quite a few critters and he chuckled. "Hey, at least people like you give a s**t to make sure the little guys are taken care of. Your roomie can stuff a sock in it." He meant it in a friendly jabbing sort of way and hoped his voice didn't sound too aggressive.

When she mentioned the celebration at the diner, Guzma tilted his head a bit and looked at her in thought before he seemed to realize something. "Ooooh yeeeeaaaahh......I thought you looked familiar. You were drawing while we were there, right?" He laughed a little. "Sorry if we kinda got a little....loud....but considering we managed to put an engine back together without remembering that great and have it NOT blow up, we were pretty stoked. The other guys like to make a huge deal out of stuff and I was just glad I didn't lose my eyebrows, ya know?"

Guzma grinned broadly and laughed with Sprite at the comment. He didn't seem to notice her stuttering and even if he did, he didn't seem to mind. If anything, he'd probably find it either amusing or adorable. "Vespers are tricky little buggers! I hear socks are their favorite prey..." Ok, even he would admit that that was a bad joke....but it didn't stop him from grinning like an idiot to hide his own embarrassment. Real smooth there, Guz.

"Any day where ya don't lose an eyebrow or a finger is a good one in my book and worth celebratin'." He nodded affirmatively with a proud smile, still kind of not believing that they'd succeeded. He actually expected tomorrow to go back to class and touch one thing only to see the engine fall to pieces like something out of a cartoon. At least there weren't any 'extra' parts.....were there? As he was trying to remember, Sprite suddenly turned and went back to her bag and he blinked in confusion. He was about to ask if everything was ok when she came back with her sketchbook, which raised his curiosity even more.

"Eh? Whatcha mean?" Guzma looked puzzled till he saw the picture, studying it for a second before he smiled with his eyes going wide. "Whoa, was that me you based this off of? Damn....that's awesome! Hell, I think it looks better this way. I might even be jealous..." He snickered a bit and grinned at the smaller hybrid. "I don't mind being inspiration for something this wicked. What're ya using it for?" He looked at her with an almost child-like curiosity and interest, impressed by her art and genuinely wondering what she had planned for this.

Seeing her turn so red made him wonder if he'd said something to embarrass her....but it was hard to feel sheepish and even harder not to smile when he saw the tips of her ears turn red as well. Goddammit, she was just....cute! He had to resist the urge to randomly hug her due to the sheer amount of cuteness; that would be embarrassing. Guzma was about to retract the question when she started talking again....and the words intrigued him.

"A video game? s**t, that sounds pretty cool..." He was actually surprised that someone would have been inspired by him to create some sort of character for a game. He never was really good at them, personally (He was a master button-masher and that was about it) but he still found them pretty cool and fun when he didn't have to worry about being good.

"Hero or Villain.....huh...." Guzma tapped his chin thoughtfully, wondering what a design based on him would be best as. Honestly, who wouldn't want to be a hero? However.....it could be fun being a bad guy....not to mention he probably proved he had the personality to fit one, which kind of amused him. "Hell, I dunno.....I'm cool with you using the design for whatever ya think will work best for it. I mean, I'm probably loud and dumb enough to make a hilarious bad guy...or even a hero that people might like to hate." The idea made him laugh; heroes didn't have to all be likeable, after all. "Guess it depends on the story, right?"

Guzma was giving her his full attention, surprisingly more curious about her ideas than even he had expected. It wasn't that he didn't find things like this interesting, he just...never really sat down to listen or talk about them. Considering the company he usually kept, machismo pushed a lot of other things to the back-burner when it came to creativity. There were times where he wished he had a bunch of spare junk parts and a welding tool and time to himself to just do whatever. He sometimes wondered.....

Hearing that the main character was based on Sprite herself wasn't too surprising; most games seemed to represent something about the creators, as he recalled reading once....in an article....of a magazine that had been used as scrap paper for oil spills. It was a nifty read till it got covered up. "A villain-turned-hero kind of dude? Neat!" He smiled brightly at the concept, his face just tinged slightly pink at the idea of romance being involved. It was flattering, in a way.

"Your workspace? Well....Sure! I mean...if you don't mind me tromping around." Guzma looked slightly nervous. "I'll try to be careful, though. Don't wanna break yer stuff....and sorry in advance if I smell like a weird combo of motor oil and oranges; the soap we use to wash off the grease is made with orange oil. 'Sposed to be good for removing that kind of gunk, I guess." He shrugged a little as now he felt like he was about to be the - what was it called? Bull in a china store or something like that? Whatever it was, he knew it meant being a big clumsy person around delicate stuff.