Chapter Text
A young troll made his way out of a rather large castle. Once he was reasonably out of sight he took a nice and calm stroll through the woods in the neighbourhood before heading back to the city. Once he arrived there he wandered around for a while, as nobody paid any attention to him whatsoever. Or at least not anymore than they did to anyone else. He walked into one of the typical dark and deserted alleyways and as his pursuers rounded the corner they could not find him anywhere.
“Damnit! Not again!”
Egnaro Zotlav grinned as he entered his own little hive. He chuckled and threw the crystal ball, his crystal ball, up in the air. Before he caught it again, it crossed one of the few beams of light entering the hive and broke it, briefly illuminating the troll and his living space. This showed his orange horns, both curled back, twisting across his head. This gave them an almost slithering look, at least, the parts of them that could be seen under his black hair, which helped the effect significantly. While most trolls wore the same shade of black as their hear, Egnaro’s clothing edged a bit more to dark blue. This was mostly because that particular colour blended in better under the Alternian night sky, as his lusus has taught him. It was also to annoy the high-bloods. Most of the things he did were. Also unlike most trolls, he didn’t wear his sign on his chest, because that was stupid, and instead wore it on his shoulder. In grey, for private reasons.
Speaking of his lusus, it wasn’t here at the moment. All this meant was that Egnaro couldn’t see it at the moment. Vigilance was necessary, of course, but it always was, so this did not worry him in the slightest. After all, with a lusus like his, these things happened all the time.
Speaking of high-bloods. He had someone to annoy. Or, more specifically, taunt.
-- shadowStalker [SS] began trolling conspiracyShift [CS] –
SS: Hello my kiSSmeSSiSS.
CS: What d0v0 y0v0 want?
SS: Did you noticce SSomething miSSSSing?
CS: Y0v0 found it, then?
CS: G0v0d.
SS: I figured you might SSay that.
SS: No SSenSSe making it look like thiSS waSS planned.
CS: Y0v0 sh0v0ld know, I have about ten of those left.
CS: Exactly ten, as a matter of fact.
SS: That iSS interesting.
CS: D0v0 not pretend this does not bother y0v0.
CS: I know y0v0 t0v0 well for that.
SS: Fine.
SS: You got me.
SS: Happy now?
CS: Very.
CS: I can assume my scouts did not find y0v0?
SS: YeSS.
SS: They are SSlipping up.
SS: They loSSt me in the alley already.
CS: Incompetents.
CS: They will be dealt with.
SS: Don’t be too hard on them.
SS: They’re doing their beSSt.
SS: They can’t help it that they’re up againSSt me.
CS: Your concern is d0v0ly noted.
SS: You will not be SSeeing me tomorrow.
CS: I w0v0ld not be so sure of that.
-- shadowStalker [SS] ceased trolling conspiracyShift [CS] –
Egnaro frowned. The other troll was getting better. Maybe even getting good. Maybe he was too predictable. He would have to switch things up next time.
They played a game, he and his kismesis. A game in which he tried to steal the most valuable objects the other had and his spade crush tried to discover his best kept secrets. There were two of particular interest: the location of Egnaro’s hive and his blood colour. Earlier in the relationship, he had decided to pursue the latter and most of the green bloods send out had come back bruised and beaten while the target didn’t have a scratch on him. Egnaro had been particularly proud of that battle.
At this point, Egnaro had stopped underestimating the resources of his black investment while said investment had wisely decided to pursue the first secret first. The blue-blood knew his colour was low, he just didn’t quite know how low. It would stay that way for quite a while, if the thief had any say in it.
His kismesis was quite often dull and from time to time somewhat slow, but he was observant and had a sharp mind and Egnaro would be damned if he didn’t pose a challenge. Unlike every other high-blood he had chosen to torment. He had gotten quite good at that, moving through their hives and prejudices with a certain grace no low-blood should posses. Because of that, they mostly thought someone else had set Egnaro on them. All but one.
There was a sound, almost unnoticeable even to trained ears, which his were. Without hesitation he pushed his chair back and saw a flash of white pass right in front of him. He fell and immediately used his momentum to roll back on his feet. He stood, trying to watch every corner of his respiteblock. His lusus had arrived.
Egnaro’s lusus was a small snake. Unlike most other lusi, his had not grown large. His had merely grown deadly. It’s venom could kill everything in one bite, save for a musclebeast. That took two. It was small and usually dismissed as something not worth considering. Most creatures only made that mistake once. The only problem it had was the possibility of being trampled by the bigger creatures. Avoiding that took cunning.
Egnaro had learned most of his skills from his lusus. It was either that or die and he very much preferred not to die.
He saw something white shoot at him out of the corner of his eye and instantly grabbed at it. The snake’s hiss slowly grew quieter as Egnaro held it right behind the head. He had won this round. This meant tonight’s challenge had been completed and he could go about his business for the rest of the night. He released it and it slithered away to wherever his nest in this place was.
His respiteblock was fairly empty for a young troll. It hived a recuperacoon, as they all did, but everything else was a trophy or another. Important or challenging thieveries had been completed to obtain them and nobody had ever been able to find any of it back. That was one secret still kept.
A noise coming from his computer indicated that someone was messaging him on Trollian.
-- seriousFreezerburn [SF] began trolling shadowStalker [SS] –
SF: hhey sss
SF: aare yyou tthere
SF: wwhat aare yyou ddoing
SS: Why hello there.
SS: My luSSSSuSS waSS trying to kill me.
SS: Again.
SF: ddidn’t ttake, tthen
SS: And again to no avail.
SS: You almost SSound diSSapointed.
SF: yyou aalready hhave aa kkismesis
SS: I reSState my previouSS SStatement.
SF: yyeah, yyeah
SF: llisten
SF: wwhat hhave yyou bbeen uup tto llately
SF: ii hhaven’t hheard ffrom yyou iin qquite aa wwhile
SS: Oh, the uSSual.
SS: piSSSSing off blue bloodSS.
SS: MoSStly by SStealing SStuff.
SF: sseriously, yyou nneed tto gget aa mmoirail
SF: bbefore yyou gget yyourself kkilled
SS: Are you offering?
SF: hhell nno
SF: ii wwant nnothing tto ddo wwith yyour rromantic ppursuits iin aany qquadrant
SS: What? Why not?
SF: bbecause tthen ii aactually hhave tto ddeal wwith yyou iinstead oof simply hhaving tthese nnice llitle cconversations
SS: That hurtSS.
SS: I’m not that bad.
SF: yyou’re ppractically ssuicidal
SF: aand ii wwant nnothing tto ddo wwith iit
SF: nnot eeven aas aan aauspistice
SS: We don’t need and auSSpiSSticce.
SS: Our relationSShip iSS SStable.
SS: We’re not a threat to each other’SS liveSS.
SF: tthat’s wwhat wworries mme
SS: That iSS SSuch an aSShen thing to SSay.
SF: sshut uup
SS: And you’d make a pretty good auSSpiSSticce.
SF: ii ddon’t wwant tto hhear iit
SF: bbesides, yyour ccaliginous ppartner wwould nnever aaccept aa yyellow
SS: Maybe he would.
SS: After he diSScoverSS mine.
SF: ii ddoubt hhe eever wwill
SF: ii ddon’t eeven kknow
SF: iis tthat aa hhint, bby tthe wway
SS: It might juSSt be.
SF: aanyway, llet’s sstop ttalking aabout yyour iinsane rromantic eendeavors
SS: You SStarted it.
SF: ddon’t ccare
SS: What do you want to talk about?
SF: yyou nnever aask wwhat ii’ve bbeen uup tto
SS: What have you been up to?
SF: aabsolutely nnothing
SS: Fuck you.
SF: bbut tthanks ffor asking
SS: ThiSS waSS completely pointleSSSS.
SF: pretty mmuch
SS: Anyway, I have more important thingSS to do.
SF: yyes hhave ffun wwith tthat
-- shadowStalker [SS] ceased trolling seriousFreezerburn [SF] --
She was always a fun person to talk to, all things considered, even though they always ended in teasing one another mercilessly. This also meant he would spend the rest of the night trying to come up with more important things to do and definitely not talking to her.