Natural Born Ghyyler

[cityship]

The fauxbellion had gone just as planned.

Allenby and everyone else that had 'rebeled' against the Daligig had played their parts well, as had the ones that had put down the rebellion. Command and Council had gained some respect amongst the Daligig, and had been rewarded with more control over Stacy.

The 'rebelers' had been dragged off to the brig under the watchful eye of the Daligig, but had not stayed for long; Aibghalien's illusions had allowed them to leave with the Daligig being none the wiser. Unfortunately, they were paying a little more attention to the prisoners than had been expected.

The portal system (unknown to the Daligig) that Celena had set up allowed for easy access in and out of the Precinct. The prisoners were allowed out in shifts, under the supervision of other crewmembers, to do work repairing buildings in the City.

Also unknown to the Daligig, the repairs were largely a lie as well.

There was still a real rebellion to be had, and that would require weapons spread out in locations all over the City. It would also require less interference from Stacy. It was easy to make spaces to store said weaponry and to install jamming fields that Engineering had been working on under the guise of repairs.

The building that one small group was working on was unlike anything on Earth, and made completely of a very durable grey stone. The Daligig would pop in on occasion to check on the prisoners, but they never paid much attention to what was actually being done, content to leave if it looked enough like the prisoners were doing as they were told. It was clear the Daligig didn't think highly of their intelligence.

Grif had been tasked with supervising the group of five. The Daligig had made a check only five minutes before, and weren't due for another few hours.

It was the perfect time to investigate the slime that was on one of the walls, about knee-high. For those that were observant, the Ghyyl were rather slimy in appearance, and it was about the perfect height for a Ghyyl's arms.

Comments

[anwei]

Anwei was filthy. Powdered concrete in her hair and up her nose and ground under her nails, and sticking to her plantsuit and skin thanks to the combination of humidity and sweat. She was well aware that she stank as well, of smoke and sweat and mock-defeat.

She tried to look defeated, shoulders rounded and head drooping; the image of a prisoner let loose to work only as part of her punishment. But her eyes seemed to be spending a lot of time peeking in odd directions, as though she had more on her mind than just repairs.

[changelingdude]

Beastboy was not having fun anymore.

At first rebellion sounded like a great idea. He'd always loved revolution stories of a plucky and determined hero rising up against some kind of all consuming badness to change the world. But manual labor was never fun.

Scrawny though he was he did his best to keep up the pace with the others. His ropey muscles strained under heavy tools and rubble. He could just as easily transform into gorilla form and increase his strength significantly, but the idea was to make like they were struggling with the task. They were supposed to be weak and defeated after all. It would draw more attention if he was strong enough to tear down a wall with his bear hands.

[starbolts]

Starfire was not having fun in the trenches either. She knew they had served their purpose well, and that this would assist everyone in the end, but prisoners were not permitted to be joyful.

This was a significant damper on her spirits.

She worked in silence, though she would stop to squeeze one of her companions' wrists in comfort every now and then.

[whyarewehere]

"That's right, keep working, Ladies!" Grif called in his best imitation of Sarge. He had commandeered a lawnchair, from which he was overseeing the work. He liked this gig. Pretend to be in charge? Yell abuse for show? Watch other people work?

He was born for this.

[moltenman]

Like the others working on these repairs, Mark was not very happy at least on the surface anyway. He did find it odd that he ended up with Starfire. He actually admired the alien girl greatly. And the fact he of all people had a chance to do good? He'll take it.

So Mark kept his focus on his work for right now.

[starbolts]

"Forgive me sir, but you are mistaken," Starfire said, in a smaller voice than usual. "Mark and Beastboy are not ladies."

She'd probably be punished for this, but she could handle another beating.

[changelingdude]

Beastboy flinched hearing Starfire spoke up and against his better judgement chimed in, "Yeah haven't you been paying attention? The girls are stronger." He called out joking.

[anwei]

Anwei frowned, assessing the next piece of rubble. It looked like part of a building facade, but when she shifted it with her toe it proved to be some sort of foamed material, much lighter than it looked.

Not that anyone else had to know that.

She set her grip and picked up the rough slab of fake-stone the size of her torso, consciously flexing the muscles in her arms and back to make it look heavy. With flat-footed steps she went to the pile of un-reusable rubble, near the building of slick grey stone, and put it down without a sound.

Then she turned and glanced at Grif, as though noticing him for the first time.

"You say 'ladies' as though it were a bad thing," she observed mildly, and went to get another piece of debris.

[sawedoffgenius]

Artoo wolf-whistled at Anwei's display, but then looked away innocently. Unlike the others he was mostly content with manual labor, despite being utterly unsuited for it. It was better than sitting around in a cell with nothing to do, after all. Then again, he was pretty much designed to receive positive internal feedback from being useful. To avoid blowing everyone's cover, however, he had largely been counteracting this by being silent up until now.

[cityship]

There was actually quite a bit of the fake stone rubble lying around, which made their jobs easier. Some of the rubble within a few feet of the slime patch on the wall also had bits of slime on it, almost like webbed footprints.

[starbolts]

Starfire, of course, never encountered a patch of slime she didn't eat. Unconcerned about anything that could happen, she noticed the slime and slurped it right up.

"Fascinating. Our rubble comes with a meal!" she called to the group in an excited hushed whisper.

[moltenman]

Mark was a cross between horror and intrigued at Starfire's behavior. "Star, that's not food."

[sawedoffgenius]

Weirdo. It was a good thing Artoo didn't really have a face, because he would be giving Starfire an incredulous look right now. Not only was she eating slime she found on the ground, but what was it even doing there? It could have come from anything! Ew, ew.

Morbid curiosity led him to roll a little bit closer to where the slime had been and switch his optical sensors to ultraviolet mode so that he could see the residue Star had failed to slurp up. There was enough there for him to determine that what she had eaten was apparently the foot-mucus of some slimy bipedal creature that went around barefoot.

He twittered amusedly at it, probably saying something along the lines of, You just ate dirty foot-slime! Good job!

[changelingdude]

Beastboy sighed and facepalmed "She does that...try not to think too hard about it." Beastboy muttered looking over his shoulder to make sure the coast was clear before shifting into the form of a bloodhound. One of the most sensitive accurate noses in the animal kingdom and set to sniffing at where the slime and footprints had been.

[anwei]

Anwei was trying not to think too hard about it. Not that she was necessarily opposed to eating revolting things, but you at least smelled them first! The way these people just disregarded all safety and rationality (and physics) and didn't end up dead never failed to make her shiver.

She squinted at the outline of the footprints. "Are there any crew members with webbed feet? There used to be that feathery one, with the cigar." But of course it could just be a shape-changing member of the crew.

[cityship]

There seemed to be more slimy footsteps in the same area that there was slime on the wall. There was also a faint horizontal line in the stone that went up five feet from the ground, too straight to be anything but artificial.

[changelingdude]

Without a word Beastboy began to shrink down till he almost vanished from sight. A tiny green ant began marching for the line in an attempt to squeeze through it to the other side.

[anwei]

Anwei deliberately did not follow Beastboy's change with her eyes; instead she looked intently at the tallest pile of rubble, as though trying to choose which piece to move next - and stepped casually between the building and Grif.

No reason to make him work to not notice things, after all.