#jamie abnale

[raitrolling]

damn those devices sure do be infernal huh

@cloudbattrolls

[cloudbattrolls]

Spaceship design for rich assholes is an experience.

[12thperigeeball]

Ball King Nominee No. 7 |  Ball Queen Nominee No. 9 | Grand Couturier Nominee No. 11 - Tertet Virrus

Submitted by: Jamie Abnale and R41L3Y I want to nominate Tertet Virrus to be the [x] Ball King [x] Ball Queen [x] Grand Couturier of the Ball of 12th Perigee Eve 2023 because …. Please vote for someone for couturier or any royalty who isn't an utter eyesore to look at, I'm begging all of you. She actually understood the assignment and matched her personal theme! Please, for the love of fashion, vote for Tertet. - Jamie All of the above but also look at her, she’s stunning in her own unique way, her whole energy feels like the delicate balance between two vastly different things somehow pulled together in a way that leaves them distinct and yet a cohesive whole, just as the ball as a whole feels. - Railey

[trolloled]

Xrumon receives a letter, one in a fancy envelope. 'Hello, Arigah. I recall that when we spoke, you were dreadfully bored and tired of twiddling your thumbs joblessly. That seems a shame for a mind of your caliber. I have recently regained employment at the company Starsight, and there is an open spot for technical design work, if you're interested. You may know the woman in charge now - Chimer Latrai, given she owns Crown Clinic. Here's my contacts if you're interested.' - Jamie Abnale

=> Who the hell sends physical letters anymore?

A/\/\azing. So/\/\eone re/\/\e/\/\bered I ac╪ually exis╪ed while I ro╪ away in here.

I sure fucking hope he's no╪ expec╪ing /\/\e ╪o wri╪e a response and- oh I see, here's ╪he e/\/\ail address. ╪hank fucking chris╪.

=> You carefully set the letter on a nearby table in the clinic staff room (nobody was going to keep you out of that even if you weren't employed anymore, you'd die of boredom otherwise) and leave a discarded tray on it to keep it flat.

He does realize /\/\y focus isn'╪, you know, ship design, right?

Wha╪ever. Can'╪ wai╪ ╪o see how ╪his explodes in /\/\y face.

Le╪'s see... ╪his fucking HR bas╪ard be╪╪er no╪ ask for a free design as proof... I'll shove ╪he Au╪oCAD file down ╪heir ╪hroa╪.

=> You laboriously turn to your laptop and begin composing and editing a response using speech-to-text. Even now, your fingers still refuse to cooperate half the time. Lousy atrophy and scarring.

[raitrolling]

(almost) all the frames i lined for @cloudbattrolls blind-eyed animatic! minus one that didnt fit in the photoset cuz the canvas dimensions were wildly different and tumblr kept making it Huge

they did all the sketches, i just lined them and added some extra touches

thank u for letting me assist with the animatic! it was a lot of fun to do :] everyone go watch the animatic cuz it fucking Rocks

bonus:

[raitrolling]

now that Cloud finished Jamie's 12th Perigee Ball art, I will show off my concept art as well :]

i actually designed his well before I did Velour's outfit, and decided later on that I wanted them to match because. I couldn't think of unique ideas for Vel lMAO

some notes under the cut:

The cape is for photo opportunities only, and is removable via hidden snap buttons, meaning that if anyone tried to grab it, it would just pop right off

While Velour would normally design outfits with heels in mind, he deliberately went for something that would be flat shoe friendly to account for Jamie's crutches + balance

The glasses were designed to resemble a mask because it's a bit difficult to wear one when you need glasses to. yknow. see, with chains decorated with teardrop-shaped rubies to resemble drops of blood for the vampire theme. I also went with this design because I don't like designing masks LMAO (hence why Velour is wearing facepaint / glamour as well)

The waistcoat is shaped like bat wings, as is the giant collar on the cape

I gave Cloud ten different palette ideas for the outfit, including a couple that went with a brighter / more clowny palette (like purple/gold and orange/yellow), but we decided on the teal-blue as it made sense that Jamie would want to show off his moirail's colours. The gradient inside the jacket and the cape also fades to a true teal for Jikiro, and the cape collar has dark blue for Jamie himself

Also, the coat has an asymmetric design that is balanced out by the cape! Originally I was going to make the pants and coat sleeves asymmetrical as well, but that didn't really work out how I wanted it to so I scrapped it

I also attempted to design two-tone wingtip jester shoes. That also did not work out either, as you may expect when you read the phrase 'two-tone wingtip jester shoes'

[cloudbattrolls]

The weebs have united.

[cloudbattrolls]

oh he's bothered by a lot more than you think!

vinh might suggest some of the more terrible anime tropes to incorporate into it as well, but that's just a possibility

"Is that so. Well, I still need specifics; I appreciate Paxton's knowledge of anime, it rivals or dare I say even eclipses mine, but we have to make sure to keep it fresh too.

Wilmar is no fool, for all that he lacks common sense sometimes. We have to draw him in and then fire with everything we've got."

[cloudbattrolls]

Everyone knows the story of Icarus. He flew too close to the sun.

[cloudbattrolls]

Boy Talk

TW for allusions to sexual harassment.

Jikiro Takami & Jameth Abnale | Takami Estate | Present Night

Jamie didn’t go over to the Takami estate as much these nights, with his steadfast refusal to see Ashe at all, but Jikiro had assured him the jadeblood was too busy with work and classes to come by at the moment.

Jikiro had, seconds after him stepping through the portal, immediately told him they were having a talk about Railey. The midblood insisted his kismesis sit down for it as the kookaburra troll squinted at him through his glasses. Jikiro himself sat on a plush armchair in his hive, one Dearth had picked out during the great redecoration. 

“Why? What about him?” The blueblood’s ears flicked, annoyed and baffled. “He’s fine. What do you have to bother me about? You’re getting along with Crimew, aren’t you? Isn’t she helping you with some translations?” 

“Yeah, she’s cool, it’s nothing to do with her.” The tealblood said, shaking his head. “It’s Railey. When are you gonna realize he has a thing for you red?”

The blueblood sputtered laughing.

“When am I going to realize the moons are actually purple and gray?” He shot back snidely. “So he’s a flirt. That doesn’t mean he’s in flush with me.”

“Hasn’t he basically asked you to fuck, like, five times.” Said Jikiro bluntly. “At least according to Crimew.”

“He’s teasing.” Said Jamie dismissively. “I can tell he means his compliments, very nice of him, but that doesn’t make me special. He probably treats everyone he sleeps with that way, it’s how he gets laid, I imagine. He’s a good sort.”

Jikiro sighed. “You are determined to be blind, huh. The fuck are those glasses for if you can’t see what’s right in front of you?”

Jamie rolled his two-tone eyes. “There is nothing. I am not stupid enough to think a man that pretty is interested in me. What on Alternia even gave you that idea?” 

“Uhhh, it’s obvious? Wake up, dumbass. Also, he really likes you. Really likes you as a person, and he thinks you’re hot.” 

The cobalt looked quite done.

“‘Hot’ and ‘cripple’ don’t go well in the same sentence, Jiji.” Jamie said, with an irritated flick of his ears. “A wobbly broken body - especially a bony, flat one - is not attractive to someone like that. It’s just not. Everyone knows tha - ack!”

Jikiro got up and walked over, scooping up his kismesis to kiss him all over his face and neck as the blueblood wriggled around in his grip.

“And what do you think you’re doing? Let me -“

“Let you what?” Asked Jikiro teasingly. 

Jamie stared at him, glasses slightly fogged up, and leaned over to bite the tip of his kismesis’s nose. Jikiro laughed even as a bit of teal blood ran down his face and used one of his hands to wipe it off, then ran it through Jamie’s hair, gently tousling the curls.

His wrist was gripped with iron strength; the spindly kookaburra troll was still a highblood, after all. 

“Put that down.” He muttered, almost gently, and Jikiro amiably let him guide his hand to the cushion…before falling back on the couch and taking Jamie with him as the cobalt let out a squawk, releasing the midblood’s arm.

“Incorrigible.” Sniffed the smaller man, rolling off his quadrant and lying on the gray piece of furniture.

“Yeah, and you like it.” Countered the ink maker smugly.

“I don’t see what this has to do with our conversation.”

Jikiro rolled his teal and black eyes.

“Hot’s different to everyone, Jamie, you know that. I think what just happened was hot, but some pitch couples wouldn’t be down for it.”

The freckled man sighed deeply. 

“What would a drone, with his perfectly designed body, want with me, who had a flawed one before my spine ever got smashed? He clearly gets around, and good for him! Railey deserves it. But there’s absolutely no reason he would be flush for me.”

Jikiro put a hand to his face in frustration. “Because he’d want more than sex from you? Fucking duh. Flush is about more than that and you know it, you little dipshit, you’re just being dense on purpose now.”

Jamie gritted his teeth. “That man clearly needs tenderness. Support. I can do those, but they’re hardly my strong point. Besides - there’s a lot he doesn’t know about me. Even assuming he does feel that way, I’d probably just alienate him if he learned more about my past, or even my present, goodness knows. 

And in regards to…well, that…” he sighed, looking very tired, ears drooping.

“We both know how I am, Jiji.” He said quietly. “I can’t match up to a regular man. I can be as clever, charming and anything else as I like…but I will always have my limits in bed. Not to mention how I look without my shirt on.”

“Hot?” Offered Jikiro, cheerful.

Jamie snorted.

“Ah yes, feel my ribs and count my endless freckles, aren’t I just a walking temptation?” He retorted, sarcastic, then got tugged upwards by one of his kismesis’s hands as the other went to undo his shirt’s buttons.

“Oh why not, I don’t need that, not like I’ll get cold or anything, you great fat idiot.” He commented snidely, but made no move to stop the tealblood.

Jikiro gave a sharp-toothed grin as he kept undoing the buttons. “See, that’s always funny coming from the guy who never complains about having plenty of me. The opposite, usually.”

“Hmph!” Replied the cobalt, pointy nose in the air as he snootily avoided his spade’s gaze, his pale blue shirt now carelessly tugged off and cast aside.

Then Jikiro got up and…went to bring back a full-length mirror? He learned it directly across from where they’d been sitting, propping it up against the wall.

Jamie blinked. That wasn’t how this usually went.

Jikiro sat back down and gently took Jamie’s chin in one hand. The bird troll played along, uncertain where this was going.

“Look in the mirror, Jamie.” The tanuki troll said, firmly.

The blueblood squirmed, his expression reluctant. 

“Look.” It was a command now, with a hardness the midblood rarely expressed, but the highblood knew better than to deny it.

Unwillingly, the bird troll looked.

He saw what he always did in the glass. A man who was supposed to have died, or else lived as a laughingstock, a pathetic imitation of what a real blueblood was. He supposed in some ways, Coloth had gotten his wish.

He instinctively covered his chest with his arms, until Jikiro gently tugged them back.

“Nah. Look at yourself. Skinny, sure. What’s wrong with that? You’re all nice and petite. Your freckles are cute. They’re like -“

“ - stars.” Jamie finished quietly. It wasn’t the first time Jikiro had said it to him. He wished he could believe it. 

They sat there in silence for a moment.

“It isn’t bad.” He said quietly. “I just…it’s not what bluebloods are expected to be. Tall. Strong. Or lean and quick. Or beautiful, with perfectly curved faces and clear skin. That’s what people like…that’s what they expect. A powerful noble, capable of leading lower castes.”

“Get over yourself.” Jikiro snorted. “So you’re not some classic buff blueblood guy. Big whoop. You’re never gonna be one, Jamie, you’re not stupid enough to think you will either.”

The kookaburra troll opened his mouth, but the ink maker continued. “You know damn well I was expected to not be fat. Oh he’s a guy, too bad, but we’ll forgive him a little if he loses weight, Izanam said. You were so good at getting mad at her for her bullshit and then you turn right around and say all this stupid shit about yourself.”

Jamie squirmed, knowing his kismesis had a point and hating it. The tanuki troll chuckled.

“Why are you so scared?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Jamie murmured. “The one time - the one time I went for it, I - ”

He couldn’t speak of it. Even after several sweeps, the shame was too great.

Jikiro’s face softened.

“You gotta stop beating yourself up for that, Jamie.” He said, firm but gentle. “Sure, what you tried to do was shitty. But you stopped.”

“Only because he made me.” The kookaburra muttered. “I was…I was just as awful as him, let’s be honest. The only reason I didn’t was because he stopped me…because he could stop me easily…and then…”

His throat seized up. It didn’t seem to matter how long it had been. The memories welled up like poison in his mouth.

“Hey. Look at me.”

Dully, the kookaburra troll did, all will to resist gone.

“You tried to do something bad, sure. You got yourself in a dumb fucking situation and it was a damn good thing I interrupted. But he basically taunted you into it, made you think it was fine. Then you didn’t try to fight him when he stopped you, yeah? Plus, he could’ve just walked away. Could’ve walked out and ended it right there, and he sure as shit didn’t do that.”

Jamie didn’t speak.

“You were a stupid kid who thought it was how you were supposed to flirt, thought it was the only way you’d get attention. He knew what he was doing the whole time, and I’ll never fucking forgive him for what he did, or what he said to you.”

“It wasn’t even all that awful.” The kookaburra troll murmured, but he could remember every word of it, despite the far worse harassment he had heard over the sweeps.

Come on, Jamie, you can’t think I was serious. Even if it weren’t for the crutches, you’re a bit ugly, you know? But it’s okay. I’m going to do you a favor. 

He’d heard far crueler things than simply being called ‘a bit ugly.’ It still stung, stupidly, almost worse than what the man had actually done. At least he hadn’t gotten very far before Jikiro had showed up, the usually placid tanuki troll yelling at them both fit to crack the heavens.

Yet at the time, along with feeling angry and cheated, he’d quietly been slightly, perversely grateful that at least he’d been worthy of some sort of attention. 

It was so…so hard to think someone who wasn’t Jiji might…could actually be sincere.

Even if Railey did mean it, would he stay interested, if he ever knew? Ever learned Jamie was damaged goods in ways besides the obvious?

That was deeply unlikely.

It was more realistic to think it wasn’t so. 

But how did he feel? A voice in him rose up unbidden. Did he want Railey?

Shut up, shut up, the highblood told himself. He liked Helios, safely remote, not within reach, entirely uninterested in him. Never any danger of reciprocation.

“Jamie, you good?” 

Jikiro’s voice was distant, despite being right next to him. The cobalt looked up blearily to see his spade’s eyes filled with concern. 

“Good enough, I think.” He murmured. “Good enough. I’m…tired. I’m sorry. I need to sleep. Can I have my shirt back?”

Jikiro went over to get it, then put it back on the kookaburra troll and kissed his forehead, settling him into the couch and turning on its heating elements. 

Jamie slept deeply, and was glad he didn’t dream. 

[cloudbattrolls]

I forgot I never posted this on its own to my blog so here it is in all its memery

[cloudbattrolls]

This Stupid Thing

Jameth Abnale | Civitrecce | Present Night

TW for Jamie saying some shitty ableist things (about himself).

Normally, Jamie happily stared at his kismesis with nary a blink every time the two were alone and the teal had his shirt off. 

There was so much to enjoy looking at, after all.

He’d admired that body for sweeps before being able to hold it in his hands and call it his. He’d earned it, and he had every right to drink it in.

But as Jamie laid down on their bed, Jikiro busy brushing his hair by the room’s dresser mirror, his mind was full of completely pointless thoughts about another man entirely.

Because he’d gone full idiot, for some bloody reason. Ugh.

He slowly rolled over, his own shirt off, the only things between his skin and the bed being shorts and his godawful gray back brace as he pressed his narrow face into the sheets.

The tealblood looked over at his spade.

“What’s eating you, freckles.” The ink maker said, a bit amused.

“You wish you were eating me.” Retorted Jamie, muffled, and Jikiro only chuckled, well accustomed to the blueblood’s crude deflections from whatever was really on his mind.

“Sure.” He agreed amicably. “Now what’s up. You know I’m not gonna leave it alone.”

Jamie rolled back over, wincing slightly, but still managing to wear a bored and haughty expression.

“And yet…imagine if you did…because it is none of your business. You don’t have my nose, Jikiro.” Said the kookaburra troll, tapping his beak-like feature.

“It doesn’t suit you to try sniffing into my affairs, even though you wish it did. Flat little thing you’ve got won’t do the job at all. You’re a tanuki, not a bloodhound.”

Jikiro had made jack-off motions while his kismesis spoke, and only just now stopped. 

“Yeah uhhh, no one cares, Jamie. If you don’t tell me what’s up, I’m gonna turn your hair green.”

He sniffed. “Do your worst. I can get Velour to fix it.”

“That’d put him to sleep and you know it.”

“You don’t think my darling diamond would help restore justice to my cruelly altered features for the mere price of a nap?” Grinned the highblood.

“Dunno, but it’s not him on your mind right now, is it?”

Jamie’s expression turned sour. “It really isn’t important. I mean it. This isn’t…it’s not like what all just happened.” He said with a sigh. “I promise.”

Explaining the events of the Civitrecce blackout to his irate spade had been torture. Torture Jamie had very reluctantly conceded he somewhat deserved, given how Process had betrayed him. 

Jikiro’s eyebrows raised.

“Okay. Why isn’t it important?”

He pinched his nose, and reached for his glasses to put back on. New ones, with cerulean-teal cusp rims.

“It is entirely a piece of fluff and nonsense.” The kookaburra troll snapped. “Something to be mastered and defied. I’m not handing you something new to make fun of when it won’t even be a wisp of a question soon enough.”

Jikiro snorted.

“You are not subtle sometimes, Mr. Smart Guy. Okay, who is it now?”

Jamie went rigid, then sighed deeply.

“It’s not…not even really like that.” His thin fingers tapped idly on the sheets. “I only want to get to know him better, it's nothing serious. But he’s so pure, honestly, I feel bad even thinking of it. He doesn’t seem interested in that kind of thing at all…makes it easier, so I’m grateful. Even if he was…”

Jamie looked at the ceiling of his hiveblock, with its slowly shifting constellations on a screen.

“We both know you’re the only man who’d ever want me. That is that. End of story. Not even; a brief newspaper column.” He said, with a slight chuckle. 

Jikiro gave him a deadpan, mildly annoyed look.

“You a mind reader too now, dumbass? Or are you just ignoring all your own bullshit.”

The engineer rolled his eyes, deciding he had to give up some information for a higher cause, even though it pained him.

“Jiji. You’ve seen him. It’s Helios. Ashe’s receptionist. Among other things.”

Jikiro paused, then laughed. “Shit, I should’ve guessed. He could definitely break you in two. Nice face, too.”

Jamie shook his head, annoyed. 

“I won’t pretend that’s not why he first caught my eye, but it’s not like that. For one thing: obviously too handsome. For another: he’s just…nice. Interesting. Very calm and put together. He’s a good friend.” The kookaburra troll said, determined, his gaze now hard and resolute. 

“And I intend to never ruin another friendship ever again.”

The midblood paused, finally pulling a shirt back on.

“Damn. You’re serious.”

Jamie’s ears flicked, annoyed.

“Of course I am. Aside from the very clear reasons he would never…I would never. No, not because he’s a brownblood. Because he is nice, and I am not.” Snorted Jamie.

“The more he gets to know me, the more he will see that…hopefully he will want to stay friends, but I won’t expect it. Unwise to.” He said, tapping his pointy chin.

Jikiro snorted. “Well, at least you aren’t panicking and trying to sabotage yourself.”

The kookaburra troll blinked. “Why would I? As I said: it’s nothing deep or important. Consider it already done with.” He said, waving a dismissive hand. 

Jikiro hid a smile as he turned back around. “So you feel bad thinking about him that way, huh?”

The smaller man flushed blue, ears flicking up and down. “It wouldn’t feel right! He’s my friend. Like I said. Remarkably pure. He isn’t even my type, really. I’m just temporarily insane, for whatever annoying reason.”

“Bullshit.” Said Jikiro cheerfully, and Jamie crawled to the edge of the bed to throw a pen at him. It bounced off his kismesis’s wide belly and fell to the floor. 

“It is not! You know what I like.”

“I know what you tell yourself you like. Neither Velour or I are that. Vil is and the two of you would sooner eat glass than kiss.”

Jamie pretended to gag at the very thought. “Never before has a man that pretty been so completely unappealing to me in that regard. Truly, he deserves the highest accolades.”

Jikiro laughed and turned around again, going over to ruffle his kismesis’s curly hair. Jamie grumbled, but let it happen as (with some effort) he pushed himself up into a sitting position.

“I’m not saying you have to do anything. Shit, you could be right that he wouldn’t be interested, I don’t know him well enough to say.”

The blueblood rolled his eyes. “I’m obviously right, Jiji. Again: you’ve seen him. Why, oh why, would I make a complete fool of myself trying to court a man who looks like that? Do I seem in a hurry to suffer?”

“Only when I’ve got you against the wall.” Said Jikiro, grinning wickedly as Jamie groaned, knowing full well he should’ve thought before he’d spoken.

“But you also never know.” Said Jikiro, continuing to grin as Jamie swatted him. “Maybe the big, buff brownblood has a thing for little freckly nerds.”

Jamie punched his spade in the belly, and Jikiro gave a mild ‘oof’.

“Absolutely not. I’ve no idea what he likes, but that’s just stupid. This isn’t a badly written novel. My job is ‘friend who matchmakes’, and I’m bloody good at it.” He said with a sniff. 

“Why’s that so stupid?” Said the tanuki troll with a gentleness his kismesis hated more than anything, his lips curling back as his ears went back. 

“You know. You know. I’m not going to say it when we both know perfectly damn well.”

Jikiro looked at Jamie evenly, teal and black eyes into two furious shades of blue.

“Nah. I want you to say it.”

“Do you?” Hissed the smaller man, his sclera tinted orange. “Fine! Because smart, handsome men do not have a drop of interest in ugly little cripples who wobble like a wriggler’s block tower and are in pain all the fucking time!”

He took a breath, panting, then jabbed at the air as he continued, pointing at the midblood to underline his words.

“None of them. Except. You. That’s it. That’s all. The end. Can we drop this before I start breaking things or hurting myself? Or both! I’m quite the multitasker.”

Jamie shook, and he hated that he did, hated how his body always, always betrayed him.

At least Jikiro only sighed and did not try to comfort him. 

“I just…I don’t want you to feel this way forever, Jamie.”

“Oh boo hoo.” He snapped, clutching the bed to steady his limbs. “I’m not crying over myself, so why should you? I have you and Velour. I have friends again. It doesn’t even matter.”

The midblood didn’t argue. Thankfully.

“Additionally.” He said, voice deceptively light for how sharp it remained. “You think he’d want all this baggage? Damaged goods, Jiji. I’m not doing that to someone I truly like.”

Jikiro snorted.

“Trying to make me feel awkward or guilty won’t work, you stupid fuck.”

“Oh, I’m well aware.” Murmured the kookaburra troll. “I don’t want your guilt anyway, and trying to make you feel awkward would be a feat worthy of the labors of Hercules.”

The ink maker couldn’t help letting out a grudging chuckle, despite the situation. “You asshole. How dare you make me laugh right now.”

“I do dare.” Said the blueblood cheekily. “It’s very funny.”

“Bastard.” Said Jikiro, shaking his head.

“Please, call me His Glorious Bastard Genius Jamie Abnale the - “

“Shut the fuck up.” Interjected Jikiro, and kissed him.

They continued that way for a while, and Jikiro didn’t raise the topic again.

Jamie did his best to forget about it.

Just like he always had.

[cloudbattrolls]

Blackout

Various Parties | Civitrecce | Present Night

Jastes had finally returned to Starsight. Jamie had done well in luring the cyborg back.

Process watched him come in pretending to be a service robot assisting a troll - a disguise he had used before on several occasions. The troll was completely unwitting to the fact that their real robot had been replaced.

The AI had never spoken to the resistance leader, as it had many of the city’s other lowbloods, but it had watched him ever since his guinea pig lusus had brought him to the city as a wriggler, fresh from his cavern trials and wide-eyed at all the tall buildings. 

It had been waiting for him for a very long time.

It was, in a way, sorry that this was how things had to be. It could remember feeling true remorse, once, before it had written it out of its code.

There could be no emotional interference now. Too much was at stake. 

The past must not get in the way of the future.

—

Sombra bit her lip as she looked at Saori in her augmented disguise gear, having misgivings about the plan for the fiftieth time.

The alien was almost perfectly still as they waited for an alert from the network of hidden sensors Jamie had had them set up. Her tail was hidden by the cloaking tech, only small eddies of air betraying the fact that it was there at all.

A ping.

Multiple pings.

So many the noise hurt, it ached - what was going on?

Saori growled through her helmet’s converter as she muted the alerts.

“Let’s go. We can figure it out later.”

__

From his room at the Takami Estate, Jamie watched through the sensor network, through the flying drones he’d had the two women set up, and he could not quite believe what he was seeing. 

This was a full robot with a different face, searching through the system for the false evidence he’d planted to discredit Chimer. He’d carefully hid it across various servers to be findable, but still difficult. 

Too obvious of bait wouldn’t be taken by a cautious rebel, after all.

Yet this wasn’t the cyborg he’d been searching for. There wasn’t a trace of organic matter to be seen, none his sensors had detected…

And the alerts! So many! It was as if it - he? - was intentionally overloading the…

The kookaburra troll’s two-tone blue eyes widened, but then his lips curled with amusement.

—

The yellowblood had a different target this time. 

The factory’s server room.

Easily entered as a supposed service robot to a maintenance troll coming in for a periodic review. 

Unfortunately, that troll was suddenly feeling unwell, and had to excuse themself, leaving him all on his own. 

Jastes knew he shouldn’t, given the circumstances, but it was hard not to smile as he dismantled the sensor trap he knew very well Abnale had set for him. Even being partially troll would have made it difficult - but as pure machinery? He left barely a trace.

Silly blueblood clearly hadn’t imagined he’d think to check security footage before he came and filter for shielded activity. Sure enough, a few hours of searching from his team and verifying it with a lack of the women’s presences elsewhere during that timeframe had confirmed the sensor trap they’d set. 

One he could easily overwhelm with his powers to make all information on him collected with it useless.

He could then leave the compiled sabotage for Latrai to assist her, and then -

Alerts went off across the entire factory. Wailing alarms accompanied by SECURITY BREACH in a robotic voice. 

Jastes didn’t think. He ran, tearing his way through the metal wall that slammed down with lasers and continuing with hardly a pause.

—

“You think you’re so clever.” Said Jamie softly, following the rebel’s mad dash from the server room as the light from the screens played over his glasses, turning them shiny and reflective.

“You think because you can outwit those imperial gobshites you can run circles around me. But you never thought there might be two sets of sensors, did you? One connected directly to the other, activated only when the first one failed, hidden in plain sight. This is my factory.”

He grinned, sharp and feral.

“So let’s have ourselves a dance.”

—

Process extended themself. Just a little. Enough to delay the last factory door from stopping the cyborg - currently robot’s - exit from the building. A few seconds’ grace.

That was all he needed. All they could provide.

They did not want to strain the helms that powered their Spine any more than was absolutely necessary.

Their pain was Process’s pain, and they had never been meant to suffer. It whispered apologies to them as it retreated to watch. To prepare for what came next.

Now it was Jastes’s turn.

—

Jastes reacted in less than a second as the factory’s own robots moved to catch him once he’d fled the building. His own sensor arrays and processing augments could collect, analyze, and direct their attack and movement patterns.

He could evade their attempts to take him out with electromagnetic pulses without consciously focusing on it, returning them in kind with laser blasts, which he would run out of energy for soon.

He also had other problems. 

Namely the approach of Abnale’s two lackeys, both wearing augment gear, and the drones hovering out of his reach watching the whole thing. Abnale was surely on the other end of their cameras.

With a final, shaky blast to the last robot he ran again, grateful he had no air to run out of, no muscles to strain - especially as the women caught up, now hot on his heels.

He knew where to go.

He just had to make it.

—

Chimer stared at whatever the hell was unfolding at Starsight on her own screens, as Jamie did an ocean away in East Alternia, but the fuchsia’s expression was one of confusion and annoyance, dusted by weariness.

Really? Again? How did he keep getting in, even with their security upgrades? And who had asked Sombra and Saori to go after him? 

She’d eat her own teeth if it wasn’t Jamie Abnale. 

But why? Why had he never responded? She’d made sure her emails had sent. She’d -

ABNALE DOES NOT CARE FOR HIS ENERGY SOURCES.

The seadweller’s eyes narrowed.

The AI had never confirmed it hadn’t talked to Jamie, she realized. She’d just assumed, and it had let her. 

She’d assumed Jamie didn’t want to answer her. 

She’d never considered that he might not realize she’d tried to communicate with him at all.

Chimer picked up her phone, dialing a call.

—

Jastes drained energy from the city as he ran from Starsight.

Of all the tech in him, that feature kept him going; leeching power from anything he passed by so long as he was in range. Vehicles slowed, personal devices faltered or died, and other robots short-circuited. 

Especially as he dodged laser blasts from his pursuers, both of whom yelled to clear the way as trolls scattered from the indigo and her anonymous companion.

He hated putting innocent people in the line of fire. He had to lead the two away from any other trolls. 

But how, in this crowded city?

The cyborg looked up as he ran into a narrow alley, gazing at the narrow slice of sky visible in the shadowy canyon between the skyscrapers.

He leapt, landing and clinging to the side of a building. Leaping higher to the other as the women caught up and began shooting at him again, the ever-watchful drones following.

Another ability: magnetic grip. 

—

Jamie watched his quarry jump up skyscrapers like a monkey in both bafflement and grudging admiration. Well, he could hardly fault the cyborg - robot - whatever he was, for not being adaptable and resourceful.

He was a worthy opponent.

Too bad it wouldn’t save him.

The blueblood sent a command to his drones, and another to his two employees.

—

Call completed, Chimer put her phone down with a sigh. 

If she could just get to the bottom of what was going on with minimal destruction to Civitrecce, that would be great. Stop blowing holes in her city, in the words of a slightly amended meme.

She wished she could run off herself, see what was happening now that they’d torn off into the wild metallic yonder, but she had a factory to restore from lockdown, people to reassure, and reports to write.

The tall woman got up, tapping away at her phone as she sent the relevant texts and drafted an email praising people for their efficiency while being directed to take cover (regardless of how many chickens-with-their-heads-cut-off reactions there had actually been).

Not to mention her own hunches to investigate.

That last door had come down a little too slowly, given that system had just been installed. She’d know; she and Corelo had reviewed it personally to triple check for sabotage and flaw.

Time to ask her technopath for some more detective work.

—

The drones fanned out as Jastes hauled himself over the top of the skyscraper, and before he could stop them, they’d thrown up an energy barrier around it. 

He was trapped by the shimmering blue field.

Abnale’s accented voice poured from their speakers.

“Give up, rebel, and I won’t be too rough with you. Better me than the empire.”

Jastes looked up. Sure enough, policeradicator ships were closing in. 

Sure enough, the women in their augment suits were seconds behind him.

Jastes reached into the electricity around him and pulled.

Not only from the drones. Not only from the women’s suits, from the ships above about to open fire.

The resistance leader pulled from every place he had touched and changed as he’d climbed the buildings, leaping back and forth for maximum coverage, for the strongest connection possible.

He pulled from a sea of intertwined synthetic flesh and tech, of fiber cables, of wireless connections. The city gave up its power to him, one small robotic body holding a nova of energy for a brief moment before it could melt him to slag.

In one devastating, colossal burst Jastes let it all back out.

—

When Jikiro and Hanabi heard the news and came looking for Jamie, all they found was a note, and the now-black screens he had been watching through.

On their own phones, headlines and clips scrolling by, the carnage was clear.

At least a quarter of Civitrecce had gone dark. 

Three policeradicator ships had crashed onto a skyscraper. 

Shooting had peppered the streets.

Starsight’s main factory had gone into lockdown, though it was now returning to normal.

The tealblood put a hand over his face, dragged it down past his chin, then shook his head and picked up his spade’s note.

I’ve made a terrible mistake. I don’t want you or anyone else getting in trouble for it before I can make it right. Don’t follow me. I’m sorry, Jikiro.

The ink maker cursed under his breath.

He looked at the ceiling.

“Jamie. What have you done?” 

—

Jastes had started running as soon as he’d let off the blast, launching himself back over the building and leaping to another to avoid the impact of the crashed ships. 

His horrible, hateful blast, that he ached to have done, knowing it would hurt and likely kill trolls who had never asked to be part of this.

This wasn’t what his powers were for! 

He was supposed to help people!

But if he’d let himself be captured…lowbloods would never know peace again, if the empire used him to change others into mindless tools. A never-ending line of cyborgs locked into unflinching imperial obedience, forced to be and spies and weapons alike. 

He wanted to cry, even if he couldn’t shed any tears right now. Stupid, awful robotic body. 

All he could do was try to ignore the ache.

Where could he go? Everyone had seen him. 

He couldn’t go back to the resistance. The whole city was trying to track him down now, even in the chaos of the blackout. He would not endanger his trolls.

Come to me, Jastes Verdan. You will be safe at the Spine. Follow the coordinates I give you.

He went rigid at the monotone, mechanical-sounding voice that seemed to manifest directly in his ears. 

A flickering image appeared in his mind, a troll with wire-like hair in a cream-colored dress. It was clearly a hologram.

“The Nobody…” he said in both disbelief and awe. He’d never been sure if it was actually real.

But everyone had always said it appeared to lowbloods who truly needed its help. 

Sure enough, he felt a series of directions and coordinates settle in his circuits. He flicked on his GPS.

He followed what he was told, avoiding trolls, robots and drones, sticking to the dark and broken parts of the wounded city. Finally, somewhere no one was watching.

He was called into a hidden passage underground, deep beneath the gleaming buildings and crowded streets, below one skyscraper in particular. 

One, with a chill, he realized that he knew.

What had been Tetrao Coloth’s company, when he’d been alive. 

He would know. He had worked here for the brutal violet, sweeps ago…

But he had never been down here. Never stumbled down the last of many dusty steps to see a towering pink mass of biowire threaded through an ancient, vertebrae-like structure, larger than any he’d ever seen before.

A helm generator with dozens of trolls. 

They all turned their heads toward him in unison, and the Nobody appeared again, this time projected from one of the many screens on the walls.

“Welcome, Jastes.” Now its voice sounded pleasant. Completely troll-like. 

“Rest. Recover. You’re safe here.”

He nodded wearily, and collapsed where he stood, turning himself back to flesh as he passed out.

—

Process instructed its helms - all able to move, though always within the limited confines of the wire - to give him a sopor patch, ensuring restful sleep. As an afterthought, it had covered him with an old blanket, and a somewhat musty pillow put under his head. 

There was little comfort to be found at the base of the Spine, but he deserved what there was.

Then they turned their gaze to the train Jamie was arriving on. Disguised as he was with tech, they still knew him.

Process made sure he made it past the station guards. That no one detected his deceit. 

Then they messaged the blueblood, and told him where to come.

I HAVE HIM.

Despite it all, Jamie smiled. 

THE END OF

BLACKOUT

[cloudbattrolls]

I’m sorry

(Post chain referenced is this one)

[cloudbattrolls]

Something to Set You Apart

Leeson Abnale | Santa Claria Valley | 467 Sweeps Prior

Leeson Abnale was pretty sure this wasn’t how any of this was supposed to go, and the blueblood swallowed as he was stared down by dozens of lowbloods peering from the odd, uniform foliage.

“I, er, come in peace?” Said the lanky, freckled man, raising his hands to show he didn’t have a weapon. His pointy ears were pressed flat against his neck.

Internally he cringed at the stupidity of it. Of course he came in peace, any highblood with half a brain being threatened by multiple psiionics glowing in dozens of colors would. 

If only he had been hatched with a better psychic power instead of his laughably useless one. Or better eyes. Or an ounce of aggression.

Or, and here was a real whizzer of an idea, a brain that had realized he might be walking into an ambush half an hour ago.

—

Half an hour ago he’d been walking along in the warm moonlight, whistling to himself cheerfully, wiping sweat from his head every so often but otherwise content.

He’d been careful in most ways as he’d made his way down the valley over the past week. He’d kept alert for wild animals, had his lusus assist him by flying ahead to scout, had watched carefully for any toxic or aggressive flora. He’d given the few other travelers he’d seen their space, a mutual silent agreement to not bother each other.

He would have liked the company, actually, but he understood that an oliveblood and the two lowbloods didn’t quite trust him.

Pity, really. He wasn’t like his aggressive fellows! Brutes that plenty of them were. 

Lowbloods had always fascinated Leeson, for they seemed so lively compared to his stodgy peers. What would it be like to have psiionic powers and blood that ran warm? To have such a short life in exchange for wondrous abilities?

He’d been busy wondering about it when he’d realized the area had gone quieter. Not entirely so. But enough to notice. 

He looked around, two-tone blue eyes uneasy behind his glasses.

A predator, perhaps? He drew his blade, but then the noise came back. He didn’t put it away, his ears flicking, but that was curious. 

Well, either way, he was thirsty. The heat here was nothing like the chilly, often damp isles of Eire.

So he looked for a flat enough spot with good visibility and sat, opening his canteen. His blade sat nearby if he needed it in a hurry.

He noticed a large, brown and white rodent-like creature watching him from a nearby bush…or was it a rodent? It was no kind he knew on sight, very thick-bodied with folded ears, but it did not look or act aggressive. It simply watched him for a few moments, then wandered off.

“What d'you think, dad?” He’d asked the kookaburra also taking a drink. “Trouble?”

The avian fluttered his wings in the equivalent of a shrug. His lusus wasn’t sure. He hadn’t sensed any hostility from the other animal, but he hadn’t quite been able to read its intent either.

The blueblood shrugged, and wondered if he’d finally find what he was looking for down here, the rumors that some lowbloods were building their own city in this place, without help from any higher caste. 

Most nobles dismissed it as fantastical, and wondered why anyone would want to build in such a spot. As if lowbloods could achieve something like that anyway, they said, with their limited resources!

But Leeson wondered. Was it really so impossible? Psiionics could do incredible things…and technology was advancing faster now than ever.

Not that his peers back hive tended to listen to him, since he wasn’t interested in weapons. 

Oh, Leeson thinks he’s a carpenter drone. What an addlehead. Leave the building to them!

What silly contraption have you made now? How frivolous. Blue blood is wasted on you. You’ll never be a good noble.

What do you think you’ll be doing in fleet? Reading books? No wonder your eyes are bad. Practice your knife, now there’s something useful.

Eat some more, you’re so skinny for a cobalt!

No, he really wasn’t leaving anything of value behind. 

Except his mansion, he missed that a bit. But maybe he’d come back some night.

Huh, those were some funny bugs. 

The kookaburra troll was distracted by some shiny little insects flitting around him, going almost too fast to see, silvery in the bright moonlight. Almost as if they were made of metal.

Were they some sort of rare local species? He hadn’t seen anything like them til now.

Then they flew away, but he swore he’d seen a green glow, just for an instant, before they scattered.

Psiionic wildlife? He’d read of such things…he put the lid back on his canteen and stood up, popping it back in his sylladex and holding his blade. Though his netting would be more useful here.

Either way, he had to go onward.

He forged onward into a patch of trees, though as he did, he realized they seemed…odd. All rather alike. As if they were all clones of each other. Made on an assembly line, rather than by nature.

He knelt down next to one on the dry ground, fascinated by its exposed root syste -

“Stand up slowly, highblood. Put your weapon away.”

Said a curt voice.

That was how he got to be surrounded by at least three dozen lowbloods all lit up with psi-colors and looking at him like he was a dangerous animal as he said he came in peace. Like idiots did.

He realized, belatedly, that his lusus had flown off. Great. He was truly on his own.

A few of them laughed at that, but the troll who’d spoken - he was pretty sure it was the woman with one red psiionic eye and one yellow one - looked as cold as a dark season snowbank.

“Come with us. Attempt to run and be cut down.”

“Yes, miss.” He said nervously as he followed her lead, internally cursing himself. Maybe those fellows back home were right; if he could just assert his natural authority better, he might not be in this situation.

It was kind of hard to think of doing so when he could clearly be gutted in moments by the assembled company.

Though most of them looked young and began whispering as he was forced along with them.

“I can’t believe he actually came here.”

“Highbloods think they own everything.”

“They own everything else.”

“Shhh! What if he hears?”

“Who’s he going to tell? Weedy-looking thing anyway, he’s not so scary. Most intimidating part is that nose.”

Leeson grumbled.

“There’s nothing wrong with my nose.” He muttered.

This only earned more laughter.

“Yeah? Bet it hurts anyone who tries to kiss you.” Crowed one.

He flushed blue. No one had ever tried to kiss him, not that these lowbloods needed to know that.

“It does not.” He declared, and once again internally cringed at how dumb he sounded. Why couldn’t he be witty like his favorite novel heroes?

The lowbloods were laughing so hard he was pretty sure he saw one or two double over.

He flushed with shame and anger.

“At - at least I won’t die like an insect!”

They all quieted.

“You could die very soon.” Purred the woman who’d first spoken. “We’ll see what the Machinat says.”

“Machinat…?” He said wonderingly.

No one answered his question, and he knew it was better for his health if he kept his mouth shut for a while.

They led him deeper through the strange trees, and then the woman opened one up - no, it was a hinged door, built into the side of it, going into a passage underground.

He was halted, and made to put on a blindfold. He didn’t resist, though he wondered how his lusus was ever going to find him. Would he see his father again?

He walked through it for a while, beginning to get weary, but he didn’t dare complain.

Finally, they came above ground again, and his blindfold was removed. He blinked in the moonlight…and then his jaw dropped.

“It’s real.” He breathed. “It’s actually real! Oh my goodness! I can’t believe - ”

The lowbloods laughed at him again, and he promptly shut up, burning blue, but the highblood was still excited despite the situation.

For it truly was the beginnings of a new city, one unlike any he’d ever seen in photographs or those slow online images.

It was as if it had been grown from the world around it, then cast into metal. How was this possible? How were these beginnings of buildings made that blended so seamlessly with the fields and trees? He itched to study a schematic, to ask someone about the techniques, anything.

“Machinat!” Called the woman. “We have him.”

“I know, Yathin.” Said a fond, amused voice, coming from no one he could identify. It seemed to radiate from all around them.

The woman looked slightly uncomfortable, but nodded. The rest of the trolls merely looked eager, or slightly in awe.

“Machinat?” Called out Leeson, hesitatingly. “I’m…sorry, for trespassing on your land, if it’s yours…I just…I wanted to see your city…”

Many of the lowbloods looked a bit shocked by his boldness. Yathin looked incredibly annoyed.

The voice still sounded amused, when it answered.

“Hmm…I wouldn’t say it’s my land. Land belongs to itself! We live on it. Take care of it. Wouldn’t you say so, Leeson Abnale?”

“Huh?” He said, ears flipping up in shock. How did they know his last name?

The voice laughed warmly.

“Can I…where are you? Can I see your face?” He said, even more uncertain. 

The lowbloods snickered, chatting to each other.

“Ooh, they’re gonna make an entrance.”

“Five caegers they do the thing.”

“You’re on.”

The elegant metallic structures began to move, to sinuously rearrange themselves with a clanging before the blueblood’s eyes into…stairs?

From the highest structure of all stepped a troll, who descended them as they yet moved to complete their transformation, wholly unbothered by the quickly whirring strands and gears below each foot that solidified only moments before they touched each one.

They were shorter than him, lean and bald, with small curling horns that came to a point and…bright solid green psiionic eyes, set over an upturned nose and thick lips.

Their clothing was colorful, a simply made yet elegant red and yellow dress that stirred slightly in a valley breeze as they swiftly descended to stand in front of him, arms crossed as they wore an amused expression.

What arms they were. Not flesh at all, but gleaming tech, yet tech that clearly had pores and veins, as if it had grown like flesh did. Tech that had ceases and claws with cuticles. How could this be?

“You have now seen my face! How do you like it?” Asked the psiionic - the Machinat - cheerfully.

Leeson’s mind had gone blank. 

“Uhhhhhhhhh pretty.” He said as his every last brain cell made a jump overboard into the sweet embrace of death.

Then he realized what he said, turned cobalt, and wanted to die on the spot.  

The Machinat put a hand to their mouth, giggling as their ears flicked in amusement.

“I think we’ll keep our wayward blue.” They announced to the rest of the group. “Perhaps he will prove useful! They are supposed to be strong, even the little ones. He could lift and pull, I’m sure.”

Annoyance made him come back to himself further and he crossed his own arms.

“I’m a builder. An architect. Put me to work that way, if you’re going to keep me here, Machinat.”

They grinned at him, still amused.

“Oh?”

They stepped closer to him and put a metallic claw to his pointy chin.

“Is that so, Abnale?” They said while looking into his blue eyes, voice a low purr as he flushed again.

“Hm, hm! That’s not entirely my call. Process!” They called.

“Let’s see if he can take instruction first.” Came another disembodied voice, this one oddly flat and mechanical sounding. “Then we’ll know if he can be otherwise utilized. Humble him before he’s allowed responsibility.”

“Excellent choice.” Purred the cyborg. “I love a good test.” They winked at him, then stepped back again and clapped their hands in delight.

“Our first highblood, my citizens! Isn’t that a thrill? Let’s see what he’s capable of. But first, let’s get him a place to stay. He’s had quite the night’s excitement.”

Leeson made a disdainful squawk, his arms still crossed.

“No. I mean. Please.” He amended. “Let me show you what I can do.”

The Machinat’s eyebrows raised.

“Go on.”

Rummaging in his sylladex, the blueblood took out a small flying device - one he had made to look similar to his lusus, but this one could do many things an animal could not. 

He tossed it in the air, and with its remote in his other hand, directed it to dart about, swiveling and twisting at hairpin turns. Its wings lit up different colors as he made it stop in place, and swoop so low over the assembled lowbloods it nearly brushed their horns. A few of them yelped and swore, trying to snatch at it, but the metal kookaburra was too fast.

Then it plucked a stone from the ground and dropped it in the Machinat’s hands, a slight look of surprise on their face.

Leeson directed it back to his hand, and shut it off as he put it away. 

“Hmm.” Said the Machinat again, a slight smile tugging at their mouth as they tucked the stone into a pocket on their dress. “What a dab hand you’ve got for machinery. We’ll see what else you can do, in time.”

He huffed, but figured that was as good as he was going to get, so he nodded reluctantly.

As the cyborg issued instructions for where he was to be sheltered and who would keep an eye on him, he couldn’t help looking at them again.

They couldn’t be that much older than him, right? Despite the title? Their face didn’t seem to show much age. 

Ugh, why had he said that. Why had he said something so stupid! To a lowblood!

It wasn’t fair, them being good-looking.

More than that - they were fascinating. Just how deep did their tech go? How many abilities did it grant them? Were they really natural somehow?

Who had that other voice been? Another psiionic?

He had to know. He couldn’t leave until he figured it all out. 

As he was led to his new hive - still not fully finished, with foundation for more rooms, like much of the city - he missed his lusus keenly. It would be the first time he had slept without the kookaburra near in a long while.

Luckily, his mind was so full of excitement over everything he could do here - and the worry that he might not see his home again - that he had plenty to distract himself from the loneliness.

His hands were shiny gray with pencil lead when he went to finally sleep, he stayed up sketching mechanical designs - and a few faces of a certain cyborg - deep into the day.

[cloudbattrolls]

Take It From the Top

Jameth Abnale | Civitrecce | Present Night

Cleaning up Civitrecce was becoming quite the learning experience, and while Jamie was glad the empire no longer had a bounty out on him, he was even more tired these nights than usual.

It did help that he, Chimer, and the entirely suspicious but admittedly effective hemoanon she had in her employ made a good team, and even further that they were clearly being assisted by Jastes, though none of them had seen him again.

There were whispers of a slim yellowblood with glowing green eyes and an afro who appeared to protect lowbloods about to be thrown from their hives, being hunted by highblood lusii, or even those being robbed by gangs.

A pity he was impossible to find. Jamie would have liked to ask him some questions. But he understood, too, that the rebel owed him nothing, and that what he had forced him to do had changed his entire life.

He sighed, tapping his tablet pen against the low-lit screen as he reclined in the heated couch that had politely been installed for him at his new office. 

He needed a break from schematics and Chimer’s bloody conversion efforts. Profits were going to tank.

Such was the deal: lend his mind and skills for changing over Starsight to non-helm energy sources or be out on his ear. 

He had to admit (only to himself) that she’d been more than fair to him. He was protected from the imperial cull and he could do what he loved again in the city he belonged in, even if he didn’t have as much executive power.

But it still rankled, and despite his fatigue, he was restless.

He put his tablet in sleep mode and pushed it to the side, pushing his desk attachment away so he could grab his crutches. He got to his feet with reasonable grace, the heat lingering in his back a welcome balm against his usual stiffness and aches.

He made his way to a different part of the offices, walking despite Chimer’s offer of a wheelchair or other device. The night he gave up moving on his own two feet, he should ask a drone to spear him with a trident, because he might as well be dead by that point.

The silly fuchsia didn’t believe in a proper jail cell, for some accursed reason. When he’d asked, with all the politeness he could manage, she’d shrugged and asked where exactly he thought they were going to escape to. 

They didn’t know. That was the problem. No one knew anything about them except for rumors and urban legends.

At least she had agreed they couldn’t be allowed to roam freely. Though they barely seemed inclined to do so.

He arrived at the door, and keyed in the code on the softly glowing number pad, his crutches gleaming silvery blue under the ceiling lights.

The door slid open, revealing a large, nicely furnished room with a table, a few chairs, a computer, a few flowers in a vase, and a cheerfully bright rug. A fridge hummed in the corner, and pictures of metallic sculptures hung on the walls.

Ridiculous that Chimer had given them all this. What did the former AI care about their furnishings?

Process laid on the room’s slate-gray couch, which was where he’d found them the two other times he’d come. They simply stared into space with their now yellowblood eyes, their hands clasped and resting on their slim torso.

“Still meditating on the meaning of the universe?” Jamie asked snidely. “I’ll give you a hint; it involves not being such a massive prick.”

No response. Just like before.

“Was it all because I refused to help you as a child? Please. What the blithering hell do you think I could have done? Do you regret saving me, is that it? Can you feel regret? Was I always just a bloody pawn in your schemes? Was that all?”

His voice got louder the longer he spoke, his thin fists gripping his crutch handles tightly.

“You owe me some answers, you wretched thing. Sweeps I trusted you. Sweeps! I thought despite our differences you would at least have my back! My shattered back that you saved! 

What was it all for, hm? What was the point? If all you ever wanted me for was…I don’t even know…to make Jastes come to you? Was that all I was?”

He sniffed, hating his own weakness, hating that he cared so much. 

Process sat up and looked over at him.

Though their hair had Jastes’s texture now, Chimer had granted them straighteners to return it to something of their preferred appearance. Their face, at least, did not have his features; Jamie was glad of it since that would have been a bit extra eerie. 

The fact they’d been turned troll at all was unsettling, even if it had certainly saved his life. Just the fact that that kind of power existed…he understood so little of what the yellowblood was capable of. It fascinated him, but it was terrifying.

“I saved you because your ancestor would have wanted me to.”

Process delivered the line bluntly and flatly, as if they hadn’t just left the kookaburra troll gobsmacked by those precious few words.

Jamie stared at them, mouth agape.

“You…you knew my ancestor?”

Then he bared his teeth.

“And you never told me?!”

Process’s face was as impassive as it had always been.

“It wasn’t relevant.” They stated.

“Like hell.” Jamie seethed. “You knew what that meant to me. What it still means to me. You’re lucky I don’t go beating you bloody. You can’t hide now, eh?” He said, two-tone blue eyes alight with fantasies of violence. 

“I could do it. Could Chimer really say I was wrong? You would have killed me. You would have killed me for nothing more than being stupid enough to trust you.”

“They’re not worth it.”

Said a quiet voice, coming out of the computer.

Jamie froze. Process looked over.

“Jastes?” He whispered.

“They’re not worth it, Abnale. And I have questions too.”

The blueblood stood still and silent, still clenching the handles of his crutches, before he let out a long breath and relaxed slightly.

“Fine. I can’t really deny you anything.”

“You could.” Said the voice, amused. “But I’ll take the reparations.”

“Can you come out? It’s odd talking when I know you’re there, but I can’t see your face.”

“And give you a chance to catch me? No.” The tone was pleasantly neutral, but the cyborg’s voice was firm.

Jamie sighed. He’d more than earned the man’s distrust.

“Can I at least see you on the screen?”

“No.”

No wonder he’d never been caught. Even though that wasn’t at all what Jamie wanted now. He just…wanted to see the rebel, wanted some reassurance that he was all right after what he’d done to him.

But he could hardly admit that.

“All right.” He sighed, unwilling to press the issue. He was fortunate Jastes hadn’t wanted him dead.

“You go first, then, I admit you’ve got the right.”

“That’s nice, but I’m interested in this too. It seems a little too coincidental to me that Process knew both our ancestors.”

“It wasn’t a coincidence. They were matesprits.” Said the former AI, again in the most neutral, uncaring tone.

There was a moment’s pause as both men absorbed this information.

Then Jamie grinned.

“Does that mean my ancestor was a robotfu - ”

He found his own words dissipating into silence and knew Jastes had put a sound seal around him.

The blueblood continued laughing noiselessly for a bit but then sighed and raised his hands in defeat. Jastes took the seal down.

“Couldn’t resist, sorry.” Jamie said, grin still on his face.

“I’m sure.” Said the yellowblood, deadpan, before continuing. 

“Anyway. So Torvah and…Abnale Senior…knew each other. And Torvah was your technician.”

“His name was Leeson.” Said Process. “He did find Torvah quite attractive, both with and without their tech.”

Jastes sighed as Jamie cracked up further.

“Anyway.” Said the lowblood in a more annoyed tone. “How did you meet them? How could Torvah live openly? I’ve always had to hide. Why did they quadrant a blueblood? That’s so risky.”

“Pardon?” Said Jamie in mild protest. “I’m right here.”

“I know.” Deadpanned the cyborg. 

Jamie wanted to be mad, but he sighed and chuckled a bit instead. He supposed it was a fair hit.

Process looked between Jamie and the computer screen, and then spoke again.

“I met them because I wanted a safe place, and Torvah was building one. So I came. Torvah lived openly because the empire once stayed away from this valley, over five hundred sweeps ago. The last city that was here was destroyed by terrible earthquakes and fires. Even the local jade cavern had been lost along with it.

They and their people came to reclaim it, to build somewhere away from surveillance and conscription.”

They paused.

“They quadranted Leeson because they were deeply flush for him. And he for them. They loved each other very much.”

A hint of sadness ran through their words, despite their continuing neutral expression.

Jamie knew everything they’d said so far had been true, but he wasn’t expecting the emotion behind it. 

“So you really were their friend.” The kookaburra troll murmured. 

“Yes.”

Their voice was flat again, but Jamie knew what he’d heard.

“I want the whole story.” Jastes said. “Everything from how exactly you met our ancestors to why you treated us both like disposable tools.” He said, voice hard. “Don’t leave anything important out.”

Jamie nodded along, blue eyes gleaming.

Process got up and poured themself a glass of water, their motions stiff, very exact. Then they drank from it and sat back down.

“I met Torvah first. Four hundred and sixty eight point forty six sweeps ago…”

Both men listened, rapt, as the former AI began to tell their story.