Another Day (Open)

You can see he's a little curious about the snake, you guess it's because she is just in your arms and neck like nothing it's happening? Who knows, you feel comfortable with her and the other troll, who's name you just learned, seems friendly enough too, it makes you feel a little less uncomfortable with all the situation of discovering that Ducita, with whom you are pale for, has now a moirail, maybe what you thought that was special, was not in reality.

SSSooo, I guesss we're not leavin'? Zielle asks you, you glance at her, she knows you can't answer when you're infront of other trolls who don't know about your psionics -Zielle, you know I can't talk with you in front of other trolls, you'll have to wait- you answer her with the lowest voice you can make, you hope Theiyw didn't hear you.

-I was just... exploring the surroundings, I'm always exploring- you answer, while he's not looking you glance at Ducita, she was looking at you, and she seemed worried about something, you just smile at her, the best you can -What about you? Do you explore yo?- it's a little strage to find people that explores places, but he seemed a little like it.

Hm, alri9ht.

You watch the blue blood and Aryane with for a while longer before turning your attention to your moirail, who was now leaning on you. Aarush apparently has no concept of personal space, but you let him stay. He would probably get hurt if you moved away from him.

Yes, we, especially y0u sh0uld. C'm0n bi9 9uy.

You start leading the taller troll back towards the hive. You could literally be his lusus at this point. You turn awkwardly to call back to the other two trolls that seems to be having there own conversation. It's difficult to balance Aarush on your smaller frame.

Hey. We are headin9 inside.

You continue to attempt to help Aarush inside. S0 what was the 0ccasi0n?

The pale pair of trolls in front of you seems to be heading inside, and your suspicions are solidified by the fact that Aarush's moirail is telling both you and Aryane that it's time to get out of the damp cave and go into the slightly less damp cave-hive.

Aryane seems somewhat alarmed with your comfortable attitude towards the snake. You had never understood the fear of snakes that some trolls had. Mostly because your lusus was a snake, and therefore you really never had any time to develop any fears for the creatures. Maybe she's just alarmed because she's talking to her pet snake, and is trying to scare you off from her most likely one-sided conversation by making you feel a little uncomfortable.

Her question about exploring nearly has you laughing, but you hold the laughter back just in case Aarush holds laughing in some sort of high privilege only for members of his strange cult. You really would rather stay in the hive for as long as possible before going back out into the dank cave. "I'm never in one place." You respond, briefly remembering a few of the places left behind. She, of course, seems to like the concept of adventuring quite a lot more than you do. That's probably because she hasn't had to do it for her entire life, and you decide not to hold it against her.

Following Ducita and Aarush inside, you hold the door open for Aryane, since her hands are sort of full of snake at the moment.

Occasion? Why just another mirthful holiday!

You swing your arm up laughing like the fool you are. Unfortunately your momentum of that action unbalances you more then you already are and you find your self falling onto the floor of your hive. You hit the ground hard, but you still have the mind to turn so that Ducita would land on top of you instead on the hard stone floors.

Oops... sorry sis.

You look at Aryane -We're coming!- you answer, and then you wait for Theiyw, you hope he doesn't think you're strange... though you are actually, so maybe there is no point in trying to deny it, but you don't want to explain yourself, is enough having to deal with the trolls that come to your forest searching for what they think it's a ghost who guards the cursed forest. But the truth is, it's just you and your lusus protecting the forest from the evil trolls who just want to steal it's treasures or kill the beasts that live here.

-That means you're always traveling... That sounds interesting, I guess you have seen a lot of places... How lucky you are- you smile slightly, it took you a very long time to persuade your lusus to let you explore the surroundings of your hive, let's not talk about places far away. You follow Theiwy into Aarush's house, muttering a soft thanks when he hold the door for you, as soon as you are in you receive a message from one of your friends in trollian -Give me a minute- you say as you take your tablet out.

You then proceed to have a (more than expected) long conversation with Rubedo.

When you finish talking with him you look at Theiyw with a little of expectation -Rubedo says hi to you...- you chaptalogue your tabler once again, maybe saying it that way sounded a little strange, should you explain yourself?

What was the "mirthful holiday?" You don't think you can't be bothered to ask him while he is in this condition. He may go on a tangent about it, which you don't think you can deal with along with his constant falling down. You grumble and again push yourself off of him.

Just as lon9 as y0u d0 n0t land 0n me we sh0uld be 900d. Are y0u alri9ht?

You look back to see the blue blood holding the door for Aryane. You are starting to feel a little bad about addressing him as blue blood, even to yourself. You have to introduce yourself properly when a chance presents itself. You extend your hand out for Aarush and laugh lightly. This is starting to turn into some sick routine, you hope he isn't getting hurt.

Lucky? That's not exactly what you would describe it. It's thrown you into a sort of loop you can't get out of. You always end up leaving just when things begin to get good. Speaking of events such as that, Aryane mentions Rubedo, who you haven't seen since you both met a little while ago. "Tell him hey." Pausing, you decide to smile at Aryane as she enters the hive. "So you know him, right?  He didn't develop computer hacking skills and start tracking my journeys." That would definitely be something you wouldn't expect, but of course when you'd met Rubedo you had not really expected to become actual friends with him, which is what you  hope ended up  happening.

Meanwhile, your host and his moirail appear to be falling. Or rather, Aarush appears to be falling onto his moirail. You're pretty sure that's what is  happening. Ducita seems to have things under control, so you're alright with just watching her help him along while Aryane finishes putting away her tablet and says goodbye to Rubedo. It's sort of interesting that she knows him too, and you wonder if she knows your other friends as well. Although currently that really only consists of Eisire at the moment.

You rub your head some as you get up. It was spinning a little after that last fall but all was well.

It's all good sis... Just can't make my feet move faster then the rest of me... Or the rest of me move faster then my feet.

You chuckle to your self  and sort of hobble over to your couch and face plant on to it. It was probably the safest place for you until your head stops spinning.

Just make ya selves at home... I'll be here until all of ya stop spinning.

As soon as you enter you're worrying over the pair of moirails that is laying on the floor, even if it hurts the fact that you can't be moirails with Ducita, and that Aarush is the one who stole her, you're still worried about them -Ducita...- you hesitate for a moment -Aarush, are both of you alright?- you ask, though you're not sure if they heard you. You watch as Ducita helps Aarush up, the pain reflecting in your eyes, you can't stand it any longer so you just return to talking with Theiyw, the less you see the less it hurts.

-Yes, I know him- you smile slightly, even if you're in pain his comment is funny -I'm pretty sure he's not a troll who stalks other- you chuckle, feeling a little better, thought your chest still hurts. Ah right, you have to tell him about that- Uhm Theiyw... may I ask you something? It has to do with Rubedo- you stop for a little moment, well that sounded like you were about to say something bad, so you correct yourself -It's nothing bad of course- you talk quickly -It's something he asked me to tell you- you blush a little, you're making a fool of yourself trying to explain.

You relax slightly when Aarush finally lands on something soft, that being the couch. Alri9ht y0u stay there f0r n0w. You had heard Aryane call you earlier and you turn to address her, but as you try to make a small amount of eye contact she turns away. You ponder on the possibility of having done something wrong, but nothing comes to you. She didn't look like that before, only now when Aarush was involved. Wait, did she want to be your moirail? You feel pretty bad and awkward now. She probably doesn't want you to know...

The other trolls name happens to be Theiyw and you were not eavesdropping on the conversation! You shuffle over cautiously, not wanting to interrupt their conversation, but you also want to talk to them. Aryane should be able to understand your predicament, but she may not want to talk to you right now. They are talking about someone else you don't know, someone called 'Rubedo'. ....Hi...w-wh0's Rubed0? Your conflicted about entering this conversation which is making you nervous, in turn making your stutter.

You're pretty good at letting all the expression in your face drain out into nothingness when you need to, but it doesn't look like Aryane is as lucky. You wonder which of them she's seemingly mourning over, taking a glance at Ducita and Aarush before looking back at the seadweller in front of you. What's she talking about again? Right, Rubedo.

You're sort of curious as to why he had to go through a troll you barely know to ask you a question, and you're a little worried that he might be in trouble. Of course, given where he lives, you're pretty sure Rubedo has got to be alright at avoiding trouble by now.

"Lay it on me." You say, trying to sound as if you're not as curious as you are. She seems a little agitated, for some reason. Maybe she doesn't meet other trolls a lot.

Aarush's moirail is coming over, and you turn to her, holding out a hand for your new acquaintance to shake. "I'm Theiyw. Rubedo's a mutual friend of me and..." You wince, trying to remember the seadweller's name. "Aryane." That was a grateful catch, you didn't want to seem rude. Both of these trolls seem nervous enough already, although there's no reason for them to be. Ducita's moirail, however intoxicated at the moment, could probably beat you in a fight if he tried, and Aryane is a seadweller, which you're pretty sure speaks for itself.

You keep your eyes closed but you aren't asleep yet, more like just drifting in between asleep and wakefulness. You listen to them talk, the drone of their voices soothing you to sleep. Ah... You should really take off your makeup before you fully pass out, but this couch has already seen plenty of days of you just passing out on it. You roll onto your back and place your feet and head up on the armrest. It's nice having folk in your hive. Your mobile communication device is buzzing like hell on the table next to the couch but you leave it. It probably wasn't that important.

You look at Ducita with surprised eyes, she stuttered, and you think that's cute, you chuckle a little and then you look somewhere else, feeling a little uncomfortable, but you're going to do your best so Ducita doesn't realizes, you smile at Theiyw -Yes, he is a mutual friend, I was talking with him about something and well- you glance at Ducita everyonce in a while, you should stop doing that, she's going to notice -He told me that he wanted to invite us to some kind of meeting, so we could know each other better, there is also another friend of mine going, Eisire, I'm not sure if you know her tough...- you explain yourself, safely avoiding the stuttering.

You then look at Ducita, he said you could invite her too, though you're not sure if you want her moirail to come, but... Oh well, it's better if you just give up with that -Uhm, Ducita... He said I can invite you too so uhm... would you like to go?- you ask, feeling shy suddenly -You can also bring Aarush- you quickly add, don't wanting to seem disrespectful.

You shake Theiyw's hand it's probably a bit too cautious to be perceived as friendly, but you're trying your best. You give him a small smile to help yourselves warm up to one another. If Aryane and Aarush like him he can't be too bad. That Rubedo character can't be too bad either, you'll have to see for yourself one night. He must be a 900d en0u9h 9uy if y0u tw0 are friends with him. Nice save Theiyw.

You watch Aryane as she giggles and tells you of another troll, Eisire. You don't know who that is, but again she can't be that bad. She keeps teetering between amused and nervous. You guess that's progress. I d0n't kn0w her. Y0u're 9ivin9 an interest in 0ther tr0lls, that's n0t s0methin9 that I usually have.

You start to feel apprehensive when the prospect of a meeting has been placed in front of you. You can handle meeting two trolls, but you had no clue how many would show up to this meeting! It could be a set up to ambush you in revenge for what you did to Aryane! I think that it will be interestin9. 0nce y0u 9et m0re inf0rmation be sure t0 tell me. You weren't sure if you would go even with or without Aarush, but them thinking you would go wouldn't hurt anyone..right?

Ducita seems to also be a rather introverted troll, if what she's saying about her experiences is true. Honestly, you're a little surprised she'd choose to be moirails with a seemingly outgoing highblood, but perhaps that whole 'opposites attract' deal was actually true.

This meeting that Aryane and Rubedo seem to be organizing sounds overwhelming. You're pretty used to meeting a few trolls at a time, introducing yourself at your own digression and not theirs. A gathering such as the one that's getting arranged might actually prompt you to stick to the shadows for once, and stick mainly to the trolls you'd like to communicate with.

Still, you were invited, and you have to be nice. "Alright, I'll try and make it. No promises." You'll probably go so that you can chat with Rubedo. Maybe he'll bring that modified oven that the two of you made, and if he's catering this event you're pretty sure you'd trek for hours just so you could have something other than the dry tasteless stuff you usually ate while traveling.

"So, he's your moirail?" You inquire of Ducita, pointing briefly at Aarush. It's pretty obvious, but you wanted to make sure that they were actually official. It was humiliating mistaking trolls for quadranted when they were just flirting, you'd found.

You start snoring a bit when you finally fall asleep. You don't really dream of anything thankfully. Just a restful sleep of nothingness. Occasionally you would roll over with a grunt trying to make yourself comfortable again on that overstuffed couch.  You sleep a bit funny when you sleep on the couch. Almost always one arm is over your eyes, there's a leg over the back of the couch and the other one is over an armrest. Your other arm is usually grasping a pillow of some sort. You grumble a bit in your sleep. Nothing that makes sense just generally sleep grumbling. For some reason you start dreaming about eating a pizza and start chewing on the pillow in your sleep.

You swallow hard and smirk nervously. You try your best to keep eye contact with Theiyw, you think if you look at Aryane you'll just drop on your knees and start apologizing for hurting your first long-termed friend. You do your best to keep your composure and nod at Theiyw's question. Yes. Yes, we are. It's kind 0f a new thin9 thou9h. You could see how the two of you can be thought of as a strange pair. You hunch your shouldersI th0u9ht it was stran9e at first t00.

You look over at the slumbering troll and shake your head. I h0pe you didn't have t0 care f0r him while he was in this state. You have a slight chuckle in your voice. You start to wring your hands nervously as you delve deeper into this subject. You should've just cut it off when you had the chance! You are so stupid!

Both of them agreed to try and come to the meeting! You shall tell this to Rubedo as soon as you arrive your hive, you have to message and invite Eisire too, maybe she could bring more friends over, you're excited about meeting more trolls and talking to them, maybe you could find a moirail there? Well, that's a stupid thought but it kind of cheers you up a little -Great! I'll tell Rubedo as soon as I get to my hive, he's going to be happy- though you don't remember having seen Rubedo happy before...

You flinch when Theiyw asks that to Ducita, hoping no onw noticed, though you were pretty obvious -I-I see... you make a good pairing- you smile slightly, you tell yourself you're happy for her -Can I know did you two met?- you obviously try not thinking in the time you two were in the cave. You glance at Aarush ans sigh, you can't blame someone like that, you lost your chance, that's all there is to it.

"Cool." Apparently Aryane is RSVP'ing for you, which means you're pretty sure that you have to go now. Oh well, maybe Rubedo has some friends you'll be okay with meeting. Or maybe he's just going to be introducing you to trolls you already know.

Aryane's palecrush on Ducita is so obvious, and you turn your head away to make sure that you don't end up laughing at her. That would be so rude. Hopefully your skill at hiding your expression works out in this case as well, and you turn back to the group and look at Ducita. "Nah, he just invited me into the hive. Thankfully, he didn't attack or anything. I'm not in the mood for taking on someone like him, intoxicated or not." You hope that wasn't insulting. It's just...Aarush is taller than you, and he's of higher blood than you, and you don't want to get in trouble with him or any of the members of his strange and somewhat frightening cult.

Sighing, you shrug, waiting for Ducita's response to Aryane's question. Hopefully this wouldn't affect the seadweller much, you'd feel bad if you'd prompted a discussion that made her cry.

You continue to sleep on for a bit more. Your dreams don't really change much. They just keep going from one weird topic to another. It's finaly when you roll off the couch, and hit your head on the table in the middle of the room, you wake up. Grumbling a bit to your self as you rub your forehead. You sit back down on the couch and rub your eyes, ah shit, you still have have your makeup on. And the couch was a mess agian thanks to your makeup.

Oh damn it all...

You mutter to your self as you were still half asleep. You get up and walk into one of the back rooms. There would be the sound of water running as you take all the paint off your face and dunk your head a few times under the water to get the paint out of your hair. You come back out with a towel around your neck that you were using to dry off your hair.

You wait for her answer, maybe you're making things uncomfortable and you should stop asking things that you maybe don't want to know at all, it doesn't concerns you anyway, she hasn't answered, it's not too late to take it back, you can still save yourself from more suffering, it's good enough as it is right now -You know what? You don't have to answer that question if you don't want, it's not someting that concerns me anyway and I think I'm being a little nosy...- you say calmly, smiling a little to let her know that you're alright, to feel a little like you're alright. Though you're not.

You hear a loud noise comming from the couch where Aarush was resting, you turn around a little to look at him, it seems he's awake now and that the couch is a mess of makeup too -Your moirail just woke up, Ducita- you look around the hive, examinting it for the first time.

You silently thank whatever being was witnessing this sad conversation for providing you with a way out. I-I will tell y0u later. You didn't blame her for being curious. If you were on the other end of this spectrum you would be curious too. You felt like the current area you were in wasn't private enough...you weren't comfortable enough with Theiyw yet.

When Aryane calls attention to your moirail you turn to where he previously was. He wasn't on the couch anymore, but he was standing up. You smiled at him if anyone could take out of this situation you're glad it was him. 9ood to see y0u up a9ain. Um, we have been invited t0 a...meetin9 to meet 0ther tr0lls. I'm 90in9...are y0u? You couldn't think of a better way to phrase any of that.

Aryane had made the meeting sound suspicious, sure, but Ducita had made it sound like Rubedo was going to lead you all into an oven so he could make some sort of roast troll dish. Eww. It could not have sounded more like a trap if it had been wrapped up in gold and covered in sickly smelling candy. If you hadn't known Rubedo beforehand, you probably wouldn't go at all, which is why you're surprised that Ducita is not only willing to go, but she's willing to bring her unwieldy moirail along.

The rising tension between Aryane and the couple is getting a little uncomfortable, even for you, and you try to liven things up a bit by walking over to her and grinning a bit. "So, isn't this a nice cave?" You really hope Aarush didn't hear you call his hive a cave, although technically it is a cave. Mostly you just don't want to leave her standing there alone forlornly watching her palecrush shooshpap a half-drunk juggalo, though.

Morning folks...

You hide a yawn behind the towel around your neck. Your head is feeling a heck of a lot clearer after splashing water all over it. You keep an easy going smile on your face. There was no need to be on guard, you had invited all these trolls into your hive.

A meeting? Sounds interesting, could be interesting to meet with others... I have no complaints about it Ducita.

Everyone seemed a bit awkward. You wonder what had happened, but don't really think it was a good idea to pry. You laugh a bit at Theiyw's comment.

Well I've had around ten sweeps to work on it... Most of the painted things I did myself. I found most of the artifacts around the mountains, there's a bunch of abandoned hives around here.

Just like you thought, you were making her uncomfortable -Okay then- you smile slightly, pretending that it wasn't really important, but you wanted to know where was your mistake, you know she won't tell you ever probably, but you think that's alright as long as you can continue to be friends with her, maybe it would have been better if you had told her and accepted her rejection, you would be able to move forward, and you will be able someday, but for now, you'll have to wait.

You smile happily when both, Ducita and Aarush, agree to come with you, you'll have to get the details soon so you can set up everything. Suddenly an idea strikes you, you haven't thought about that until now, you've been alone for sweeps with no one around you, until the day you met Eisire, the first troll you've met in sweeps, then you start meeting other trolls like that, continuously, and for some reason it makes you feel weird, an idea starts to form in your mind but it banishes as soon at Theiyw talks.

-Yes, it is really nice, mostly because you made it yourself, Aarush- you smile slightly, the notice about the abandoned caves claiming your attention immediately -Abandoned caves?- you ask, failing to hide our curiosity.