Glorious Escapism Roleplay

Toutaku · Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2011 4:38 pm Post subject:

[The warmth enveloping his swollen, throbbing cock was delicious to Gamzee. The scraping teeth every now and then were just proof to him that the insolent little bitch was under his power. He moaned throatily, enjoying the sensations of her tongue, but then he noticed a trickling down his legs. An indigo trickling.

The sheer rage that filled him when he noticed that the motherfucking cunt had made him bleed. The anger within him grew, and grew, forcing the moans he had been making to change into growls. Pulling her hair back, he forcefully began to viciously fuck her throat, scratching the fuck out of her back with his other hand as he did so.

"You little fucking bitch... You made me bleed. Me! YOU MOTHERFUCKING MADE ME BLEED!" He shouted, spittle showering her face. His angry thrusts deepened until he roared and then filled her raw throat with his come. Angrily pulling his cock from her mouth, he clasped a hand over her mouth and pinched her nose, forcing her to swallow.

When she had, he brought down a fist into her knee once more, and sat down opposite the poor girl, to catch his breath.]
_________________

"Victims, aren't we all?"

LenLenWearsBlue · Joined: 18 Mar 2011 Posts: 1059 Location: Under your bed.

[If anything, Adelia noticed, it was that her attempts at stopping her assaulter had made him abuse her further. He'd began thrusting into her mouth, making her struggle and writhe even more, and retained his firm grip on her hair. The tears were still streaming down her face - she could hardly stop them - and when she got the chance, she'd let out a stifled sob or moan against his throbbing cock.

He hadn't noticed the bleeding, it seemed. And when he did, that's when Adelia really was in trouble. He tugged hard on her hair, forcing her throat open and causing another dangerous creaking sound in her neck - which would have caused her to scream, had she had the energy and means to - and began fucking her throat wildly. It had taken all the strength in Adelia's body not to flinch and bite down on his cock when she felt nails being raked through the tender flesh of her back, and she dared not to think about what the consequences would have been if she had.

Adelia closed her eyes, whimpering and sobbing helplessly against her abuser's swollen cock, knowing what the hitch in his breath and the trembling of his thighs was building up to. And all at once, he erupted a torrent of cum again, right down her throat. Adelia gagged, but managed to keep her stomach settled as she was forced to gulp down the hot, sticky mess under the watchul, malicious eye of her attacker. She gasped and wheezed, screaming once more as her knee was attacked again, barely managing to stop the sick rising from her throat. And then he sat there, silent, watching the girl as she choked and cried softly. Adelia didn't think she wanted to know his name any more.

Toutaku · Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2011 5:14 pm Post subject:

[The bitch was crying again. It seemed she still had a little fight left in her, if the scratches on his body were anything to go by.

'We have to teach this FUCKING BITCH a lesson, bro.' he thought. 'MOTHERFUCKER MADE YOU BLEED. That wasn't very nice....'

An idea suddenly struck him. Gamzee knew he had to do something in order to establish the motherfucking hierarchy in this place. The proletarian needed to be taught her motherfucking position. She was a toy, a fucking possession to highbloods like him. She just hadn't realised it yet.

Standing up, he went to his bathroom and filled a basin with ice cold water. Carrying it carefully, he doused the small girl with it, to make sure she was fully conscious and aware of what he was doing. She spluttered and gasped, and looked at him in fear.

Good. His message had gotten across.

"Listen to me, peasantblood." Gamzee began. "I don't give a motherfuck who you are. But you're scum in my eyes. A toy to be used and thrown the fuck away, not even worth a second day of play, do you understand?"

Adelia made the mistake of not answering quickly enough. He forced her mouth open and ripped one of her teeth out, smiling at the sickening shlick it made.

"I said..." He whispered, an inch from her nose. "DO YOU FUCKING UNDERSTAND!?"

She nodded this time, and his grin widened. He'd figured out how to establish her place as lowest of the low.

Using one hand, he forced her head back and her mouth open, pinning her nose closed. With the other, he shoved his flaccid penis into her gaping mouth and began to urinate, making sure she swallowed every last drop.

"See?" He said softly. "You're disgusting. KNOW YOUR FUCKING PLACE."]
_________________

"Victims, aren't we all?"

LenLenWearsBlue · Joined: 18 Mar 2011 Posts: 1059 Location: Under your bed.

[Adelia continued sobbing for a while, not knowing what else to do. She'd contemplated trying to bargain with him for her freedom, but by the time time she'd looked up from her lap (which was soaked with tears, among other things) and opened her mouth to speak, he was gone. She stopped crying, but this didn't comfort Adelia in the slightest. For all she knew, he could have gone to get a friend. She shuddered at the thought.

As usual, she found she was wrong, and that nothing could be expect from this. . . this freak as a sudden immersion of coldness made the young troll snap back to her senses. After flinching and gasping, Adelia looked down at her bare form, and saw she was now dripping with freezing cold water.

Her captor reappeared again, and she watched him in fear.
"Listen to me, peasantblood." he began. "I don't give a motherfuck who you are. But you're scum in my eyes. A toy to be used and thrown the fuck away, not even worth a second day of play, do you understand?"

Adelia really didn't know what to say to this. So she just continued staring at him, the whole situation still not being fathomed entirely by her previously-innocent young mind. As punishment for this, Adelia felt her mouth being wrenched open by a slender, clawed hand, and a horrible ringing noise echoed through her head as -another- one of her teeth was ripped from her gums, warm, metallic blood dribbling into her mouth once more.

The taste was dulled, however, by something far worse. The tall troll shoved his cock - now flaccid - into her mouth once more, and Adelia tightened her throat, flinching instinctively at what she thought was to follow. Instead she was surprised, and rather unpleasantly so, as the warm, bitter taste of urine started to flow down her throat. As not to anger her attacker, and to prevent herself from being sick, Adelia gulped the disgusting fluid down as fast as she could, gasping for breath afterwards, and even daring to gaze up at him afterwards with tear-blurred eyes.
"P-Please..." Adelia begged softly, although by this point, she wasn't entirely sure what she was begging for as she reluctantly felt a slight throbbing feeling swell in her clitoris once more.]

Toutaku · Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 11:26 am Post subject:

[The complete dominance of the unfortunate girl was pleasing to Gamzee. His body sated, the Highblood needed to rest, but not before securing his victim in a rather more... Interesting fashion. Retrieving from a disorganised toolbox two lengths of piano wire, he walked round to the back of Adelia, and tightly lashed her two smallest fingers together. They bled slightly, and Gamzee licked a little of the yellow substance off of the twitching digits.

Now came the fun part.

Taking a screwdriver from the floor of his cluttered hive, he suddenly and violently jammed the sharp end through Adelia's ankle, just behind the Achilles tendon. Making sure not to damage it, he threaded the second piece of wire through the new wound, and tied it in a loose slipknot. The other end, he secured to the chair leg in a reef knot, making sure it wouldn't fall free. Satisfied with his work, Gamzee retired to his recouperacoon, not even sparing the small, quivering wreck a second glance.]
_________________

"Victims, aren't we all?"

LenLenWearsBlue · Joined: 18 Mar 2011 Posts: 1059 Location: Under your bed.

[The gold-blood winced as her arms were bent behind her and forced over the back of the chair, out of her view. She cried out softly as she felt something thin and sharp slicing into her little fingers - presumably the piano wire she'd seen her captor retrieve recently, although she couldn't be sure - followed by the warmth of his tongue. It was uncomfortable, and made her tremble, but Adelia knew it was the least of her worries when she saw her attacker produce something else: a screwdriver, large and blunt.

Whimpering as he approached her, the young girl tried to kick her attacker away, to no avail. She squeezed her eyes shut and inhaled deeply as she felt the screwdriver brush against the flesh of her ankle, but even this preparation didn't stop her from screaming as the dull piece of metal was drove through her flesh, her aggriever somehow managing to pierce her accurately despite the girl's thrashing and trembling. She felt another thin, sharp thing being threaded through her ankle, and reluctantly opened one eye, looking down at the wire binding her to the chair. The sight made her gag violently, but she managed to swallow sick and tears as she watched the taller troll retreating to his recuperacoon, and she spat at his turned back angrily. He either didn't notice, or didn't care, for soon Adelia was alone.

This was a prime opportunity to escape, and Adelia acknowledged that. She also didn't know how long her captor would be asleep for, and that if she were to escape, it would have to be hasty.
'But my fingers...' the young girl thought to herself, whimpering audibly. Whilst escape would be easy, she wasn't dumb enough to trick herself that it would be without a cost. She'd never been in a serious accident before, and she knew some parts of a troll could grow back if removed - at least, it seemed that way, she thought as she curiously poked the new growths of bone sprouting from her gums, where her teeth had been previously ripped out. But to regrow flesh and bone...

'That's stupid', she told herself sternly. 'They don't grow back. Even if they -did-, how would you explain it to Griffonmom? Everything so far you could pass off as a musclebeast attack. But that...'
She shuddered at the thought. How would she even get home with her injured knee? She'd at least need to reach the cover of the forest by daybreak, and if the amount of blood she was losing was already making her slightly delirious, there was no chance she'd make it back. Escape was just too risky.

'But it's either you lose a couple of digits, or you DIE here.' The voice of reason hissed at her, and that made her listen. Death was a concept Adelia couldn't grasp. It was something that fascinated her - and didn't scare her exactly, but always seemed slightly daunting to the girl.

She tested her restraints a few times, cringing as the wire dug a little further into her fingers. Maybe if she did it quickly, it wouldn't be s--
Another scream tore free from the girl's throat as she ripped her fingers free from the slats of the chair - and, consequentially, their sockets. The severing had been quick (of course, that didn't make it much less painful), the wire strong enough the slice through the girl's bone in mere seconds. Adelia moved her trembling hands in front of her, to examine the damage, and promptly had to force back vomit.
'It doesn't look -that- bad,' she lied to herself. 'Maybe I can get some cool metal claws put in instead, when they heal. Tell people I lost them fighting a musclebeast or something.'

Now came the hard part. Adelia raised her form from the chair slightly, and felt the wire round her ankle move dangerously close to cutting into the edge of the wound. Fuck. Taking another deep breath, Adelia clung to the arm of the chair, balancing the weight of her already-useless other leg, and rose as much as the wire would allow her. All she had to do was take a step forward, the wire would rip and--
The girl screamed once more, all the pain from her missing fingers now focused on her ankle as the wire tore free, severing the girl's Achilles tendon. She collapsed on the floor, both legs rendered useless now. That didn't stop her, however. Instead, Adelia decided she'd crawl.

And that was what she did, very slowly. Having to use only one leg, since whenever she put weight on her injured knee, it made her want to vomit once more, and made her vision fade grey at the edges. Not like it mattered, of course. Her vision was already pulsing, and it seemed like it took an age for her to move a single, pathetic, sobbing inch.

Adelia managed to cover a grand distance of about 4 earth feet, before the grey nothingness at the edges of her vision enveloped her completely and she collapsed, unconscious.]

Toutaku · Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 1:02 pm Post subject:

[Gamzee shot up, a feeling of anger swarming over him again. He just knew that the little cunt had done something. Raising himself out of his recouperacoon, he didn't even bother to dress as he walked out of his personal sleeping quarters to the shoddy lounge-like room where the Gold-blooded troll was captor.

'I should have motherfucking known THAT FUCKING BITCH would do some shit like this.' he roared internally, seeing the barely conscious Adeila weakly typing on his laptop. Walking over, he viciously kicked the piece of machinery away from her, and straddled the disobedient wretch, hands around her throat.

"I don know how you fucking managed this," He began, his voice smothered in hatred and rage. "BUT I AM GOING TO BREAK YOU FOR IT."

His visage a mask of sneering hate, he forced her ruined legs apart and crawled between them. Grabbing her hair once again, he didn't slap her. He full on punched her, again and again. Laughing heartily as her nose broke, and then her jaw. Slamming her head against the floor, he became aware once more of his cock swelling. Deciding that revenge was best in order, he plunged harshly into her cunt, the momentary resistance of her hymen just an afterthought as he began to violently rape her senseless.

His hands grabbed her throat, and he choked her as he thrust, occasionally slamming her skull into the hard floor.]
_________________

"Victims, aren't we all?"

LenLenWearsBlue · Joined: 18 Mar 2011 Posts: 1059 Location: Under your bed.

Adelia examined her bandaged-up hand. She didn't know how long she'd been unconscious for, but it couldn't have been long, for when she awoke, the stumps where her fingers had been were still spurting blood. Her captor appeared to still be asleep, and - in her half-conscious state - she'd seen the remnants of her thong lying near her, and managed to fashion a (horribly humiliating) bandage for her stumps out of it.

Since then, she'd calmed down, and managed to access her captor's laptop. The idiot had left his Trollian client running before he'd answered the door, it seemed, and Adelia had made short work in frantically messaging everyone she could, despite the fact she knew none of them. Of course, this was mostly to no avail.

The computer beeped with an unread message.

Toutaku · Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 4:51 pm Post subject:

[Gamzee's face was a knotted grimace of fury and lust as he brutally slammed into the peasantblood's brutalised vagina. His grip on her throat was strong, and he wasn't about to ease up. At this point, he didn't give a motherfuck if she died, so long as she knew her fucking place.

Pulling his hand away, he punched her in the gut. Letting go of her neck, lest she lose consciousness, he wrenched her legs further apart and rammed his engorged member in deeper. The screams egging him on, he slapped her again and re-established his iron hold on her windpipe. His climax was close, and his moans and grunts reflected such. Resting a long nail on her brow, he sank the tip in enough to scar, and began to draw downwards.

His thrusts became erratic and his breathing heavy as he came closer and closer to orgasm. Deciding enough was a-motherfucking-nough, he drew his fingernail downward and filled her with seed. Lapping the golden blood oozing from her forehead, eyelid and cheek, he withdrew, stood and slowly walked toward his warhammer.

If the bitch had called for help, he'd need to dispose of her and lose the body soon, or he'd have to answer for it.

He took his time though. He liked hearing her cry.]
_________________

"Victims, aren't we all?"

LenLenWearsBlue · Joined: 18 Mar 2011 Posts: 1059 Location: Under your bed.

[Adelia thrashed and squealed helplessly as Gamzee brutalized her, his grip on her throat reducing her cries to mere squeaks. She'd try to struggle and push him away now and again, but she was only given a response in the form of a punch or a slap.

His cock, which was already drenched with pre-cum, was large compared to the small girl, and a new pain flared up inside her each time he thrusted, along with the horrible, reluctant feelings of arousal when her captor had prised her legs further apart and forced himself even further into her, the head of his cock ramming into a spot on her body that she didn't even know existed. His grip on her throat loosened for a moment, only enough for Adelia to elicit a small series of pained (and, although she wouldn't admit it, pleasured) screams - before he slapped her, making the already unbearable pain in Adelia's skull throb dangerously, then tightening his grip on her throat again.

The gold-blood ceased struggling as much after a while, helpless as her aggriever began thrusting erratically and moaning, his own climax approaching. As he sank into her over and over again, his thrusts becoming more powerful and frequent, the heat that had been building inside the young girl - the heat she was so unwilling to knowledge - burst forth from her once more. Adelia's back arched, and she trembled - although not entirely out of fear any more - as she let out a final scream and clawed at the tiles, racked with an orgasm strong enough to cause the girl's soaked cunt to tighten around Gamzee's throbbing cock.

After that, she didn't have time to rest. Almost immediately after her own orgasm, her captor had sunk his nails into the flesh of her brow, and proceeded to rake them through her flesh as he filled Adelia with his warm seed, a sensation that both repulsed and excited the young girl. After he'd lapped the blood from her wounds - as had become commonplace for him - Gamzee turned away from the sobbing, broken wreck and - much to her horror - headed towards his warhammer once more.

Whatever was going to follow, Adelia knew it wouldn't be pleasant. She knew she had to do something. And fast.]

Toutaku · Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 10:33 pm Post subject:

[The handle of his jesteresque weapon felt right in Gamzee Makara's strong and wiry hands. The comfortable weight was reassuring. Reassuringly deadly. He hefted the heavy business end over his shoulder, and straightened his back, breathing in deep the scent of his surroundings. Smiling like the ice cold, deranged motherfucker he so clearly was, he turned slightly around and shifted his neck to look at the soon-to-be little splodge on his hardwood floors. Taking a step toward Adelia, he began to swing the hammer back and forth, sending horns, unicycles and various old pie dishes long since dried into corners. He noted the beeping computer, now with its screen broken, and mercilessly slammed his deadly tool on top of it, rendering it a thousand useless pieces.

Turning his attention back to his victim, the Highblood walked toward her once more. His feet now inches away from her ruined body, he laughed in a deep and malevolent way, raising the warhammer above his head with furious ardour.

"YOU KNOW WHO I AM?" He screamed, drool and blood running down his furious maw. "I'M GAMZEE MOTHERFUCKING MAKARA, BROTHER, AND THIS IS WHAT I WAS MEANT, NO BORN TO MOTHERFUCKING BE IN THE FIRST FUCKING PLACE!!"

His eyes lost to madness, he began to manically laugh again, this time with honking noises almost integrated into the torrents of harlequin mirth. Gripping his warhammer with newfound conviction, he began to bring it down with as much strength as he could physically muster, aiming directly for Adelia's already-damaged skull. His cock was erect once more, and his tongue lolled forth from his fanged mouth, dripping spittle and golden deluge from the poor girl's body.]
_________________

"Victims, aren't we all?"

LenLenWearsBlue · Joined: 18 Mar 2011 Posts: 1059 Location: Under your bed.

[Adelia watched her captor in awe. Even unclothed, he didn't look particularly strong, but the young girl thought he must be covered in hidden muscles as he lifted the warhammer - which in itself looked like a task - and swung it over his shoulder with ease.

The ancient floorboards of Gamzee's hive creaked in protest of the neglect each time he took a step towards her, the hammer swinging almost weightlessly in his grasp. The sudden, brutal smashing sound as he bought the weapon down snapped Adelia out of her trance, and - with a shriek - she lifted her arms up to her face to protect herself from any shrapnel from the now-ruined laptop that may have torn into her. Adelia shuddered as she looked at the broken, pathetic remains of the device sizzling on the floor, forcing down a nervous gulp. In a minute, that could be her.

Her attacker was on her now, towering over her as he went off into another rant. Adelia attempted to scramble backwards fearfully, defying the pain flaring up in her ruined arms and legs as the purple-blood raised his hammer once more. The odd mix of laughs and honks emanating from the troll standing over her made goosebumps rise on Adelia's beaten flesh, and before she even had a chance to understand exactly what was happening, Gamzee brought the warhammer down again, the force enough to make a sharp swoosh through the air, eliciting another sharp scream from Adelia, and with a sickening crack, the colourful weapon made contact--
--directly with the floor just centimetres away from Adelia's huddled form. The hard wood shattered, and small splinters rained down upon her, some nicking her sides and back, but she was alive. There was an eerie silence that sunk upon the room for no more than a few seconds, no more than a few seconds before Adelia realized the opportunity at hand, and tried her hardest to scrabble towards the door once again, her breath ripping out in rags.]

Toutaku · Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 10:22 am Post subject:

[While the psychosis had made Gamzee's aim a little off, it didn't put him off. Shouting obscenities with fervour, he once again raised his hammer and poised to bring it downward. The noises in his tattered mind were deafening, urging him on to kill this peasant. So loud were they, in fact, that the not-so-subtle commotion outside went completely devoid of Gamzee's attention. All he could hear, over and over again, was a high pitched, squealing voice telling him to kill them. All of them.

Bringing his foot down harshly upon Adelia's ankle, he pinned her to the floor. Again, he began to bring his hammer downwards, and she wouldn't escape this time.]
_________________

"Victims, aren't we all?"

LenLenWearsBlue · Joined: 18 Mar 2011 Posts: 1059 Location: Under your bed.

[The fear rose in the pit of her stomach as Adelia heard the dilapidated door to the hive creak open slowly, and the girl struggled to focus her bleary vision on the figure standing in the doorway. A soft breeze floated in - something that seemed alien to Adelia. She couldn't have been in the room for more than a day at the very most, but the sweet smell of outside made her snap to her senses immediately, her nausea from the mix of stenches inside the hive (and her own fear and pain) only momentarily subdued.

"G-G-Gamzee...?" The new presence in the room whimpered timidly, and Adelia couldn't help but let her gaze stray to him. He easily could have loomed over Adelia in height, and the large, bull-like pair of horns protruding from his head made his visage look quite menacing at a glance, but it was only when Adelia looked closer that she realized the boy couldn't have possibly posed a threat to her. His height, once studied, made the poor troll look awkward as opposed to fearsome, and his pale grey, smooth skin - combined with his wide, dark eyes - gave him an aura of harmlessness, even innocence. He stuttered coyly once more, his voice a quiet, weak mix of confusion and concern. "Please, uhh, p-put the hammer down, okay? We can t-t-talk about this and, uh, slam a c-cold drink."

Adelia was so fixated on the new troll, and how out of place he looked among the wrecked, blood-spattered hive, that she failed to notice Gamzee poising her hammer to attack again. That was, until he slammed his foot down on her wrecked ankle, pinning her to the floor. The pain that ripped through her was nothing new to Adelia, but caused the girl to scream out regardless, and she tried to squirm away from her captor once more again, her nails scrabbling frantically against the filthy wooden floor as a few previously-healing cuts on her naked form ripping open again.

The suddenness of the event, as well as the urgency in Adelia's cries, must have made the bull-like boy snap out of his trance, and he began meekly trying to shout over the commotion once more, begging his friend to stop. Then, what happened next was a blur to Adelia. She was aware of the clanking of metal legs rushing towards her, another twinge of pain as she was shoved hard enough to fall to the floor, freeing her trapped foot and pushing her clear of her demented attacker's path. There was the familiar swish as the hammer cut through the air, and Adelia yelped softly as she heard it impact with flesh and bone, a sickening crack. She didn't want to look at the damage, instead staying huddled on the floor with her head rested against her knees, trembling.

Then something odd happened. The ominous chuckling emanating from Gamzee ceased after he'd realized that he'd certainly harmed someone - although not the right person. Instead, a soft, sobbing sound began to fill the room, and Adelia was sure it hadn't been coming from her possible savior. It didn't take long for the sound to break her, and soon they were both crying heaps on the floor - Gamzee mourning the loss of his friend, at his own hands, nonetheless, and Adelia mourning everything. She didn't fear him, now.

They couldn't have stayed like that for long, before a quiet background murmur of shocked gasps and voices began to surface. The new voices discussed - even argued, at one point - about their plan of action, and Adelia didn't respond as she felt a slender hand touch her shoulder and tenuously shake her. The voices grew harsher, and she felt her form being swept into the arms of an older, taller figure. A motherly-looking girl with short hair, black lipstick and a lovely red skirt. She would have been embarrassed, had she the capacity to feel so, but instead, suddenly - for the first time in many, many hours - Adelia felt safe. She let her scarred, weary eyes scan the scene once more, shuddering as she noticed the stains of blood - her blood, and her savior's - streaked around the room in erratic, jarring patterns. Reluctantly, she glanced once more at Gamzee, now nothing more than a hysterical, struggling heap on the floor, surrounded by a group of other trolls trying to restrain him, before letting her poor eyes flutter closed once more, her form caressed by the breeze she'd longed to feel for hours. She was finally outside, and she celebrated by drifting off into a well-earned sleep in the taller troll's arms.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
[Adelia curled up close to Anomly, the comfort and warmth shared by her best friend always a blessing. It had been a month, maybe even two - Adelia had never been good with keeping track of time - since that day on the coast, and she'd been healing up at a remarkable rate (at least physically). She'd made a few new friends, who assured her Gamzee wouldn't hurt her again, and although she'd initially been wary around the males of the group, the feeling of acceptance and the support offered by her new friends had been the key to Adelia's recovery. For weeks she'd just stayed at home, wracked by nightmares. But then Anomly visited her, and she got... better.

Adelia really had been worried of what Anomly would think the most. She knew Griffonmom would take care of her, but rebuilding her friendship with Anomly would have proven a challenge after her absence for weeks - at least, she thought so. An ugly scar ran across her brow, and her body was still riddled with the lines left by shallow cuts and rings of bruising, where her captor had sunk his fangs into her repeatedly little more than a fortnight before, but when the dear snake-girl visited her bed-ridden friend, Adelia had never felt more beautiful.

Truly, even with all her new friends, Anomly had been Adelia's favourite, and would be likely to remain so for a long time. She'd often considered taking their friendship to the next level, but was unsure if she was ready for that kind of adventure yet. There was no harm in experimenting, though.

The gold-blooded girl grasped her friend's hand tightly, entwining their fingers and grinning to herself as she looked down at the tangle of appendages - her newly fitted robotic fingers glinting for a second.]