towerofanimus

Characters: [AU1] Kanaya Maryam and you!
Setting: Floor 48, the graveyard floor, forward-dated to Dec. 2nd
Format: Starting action, but I'll change to match you! c:
Summary: Kanaya has some friends to say good-bye to.
Warnings: Language and mentions of character death. Par for the course with a Homestuck in Animus.

[Snow has already begun to fall and accumulate on the ground on this floor by the time Kanaya begins her journey through it. She's bundled -- or as bundled as she can be, with bits of her Hemobiologist garb slapped on underneath her usual coat and skirt.

The way her ratty cape flutters at her neck, she almost feels like she's back in her Land.

Kanaya's time here is divided and devoted to a handful of the graves. At some, she pens a message in the snow with her claw, to the best of her ability. To the Signless and the Dolorosa: Thank You. To the very first nullblood Karkat that she met: I Hope Youre Safe. To the Feferi of her universe: I Wish It Had Happened Differently.

On others, she leaves tokens. A simple swatch of bright red cloth for the alpha Terezi. A square of jade with her symbol embroidered messily on it for the alpha Kanaya. She has no offering for the alpha Vriska, but she does not have words, either. She instead settles for a crude representation of a spider in the snow.

A visitor could find her at any one of these graves. Or, most likely, they could find her at the last grave she will visit, kneeling silently before the more recent headstone of one brown-blooded Vriska Serket with not a word or a token to her name.]

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[She bows her head a margin to instead look at the flower resting atop the snow. From what she's heard about being returned to home, Kanaya doubts that Vriska will be entirely "okay" with that.

But maybe she's still alive, somewhere.] I certainly hope so. Perhaps I will see her again some day. [Kanaya doesn't have much faith in that. But she's not going to say that out loud.

Instead, she turns her head to look at Labrys again.] You mentioned "Yukiko". Is that a close friend of yours?

[Labrys nodded at that, smile carrying more than a little sadness to it.]

Yukiko Amagi. She's a real good friend a' mine from back home...well, kinda. She hadn't really met me yet. I guess I'm ahead a' everyone else I know far as time's concerned.

[Labrys' explanation garners a furrow in Kanaya's brow. Of course, such a thing wasn't unheard of — Kanaya was further along than Karkat where they had come from — but...]

I'm sorry. I cannot imagine how that would have felt.

[The idea of seeing Vriska or Karkat again, and them having no idea who she was made her pump biscuit twinge unpleasantly. Kanaya nips her lower lip nervously. After a pause, she asks:] Can you tell me about her?

Well...lemme think. I'd only met her pretty recently, so there ain't a lot I know. But she's real pretty--black hair, wears a nice red sweater. She carried herself all straight and refined like some kinda princess or somethin'.

[Labrys tapped a finger against the side of her face, thinking carefully.]

She was real nice t'me--her and all a' her friends were. They didn't think I was weird or different just 'cause I ain't human like them.

[Kanaya listens politely, interested in the other girl's tale. Of course, she's never heard of any person called Yukiko in her life, but...she would probably never have a chance to meet her, or any of the others in this graveyard. So she wants to hear their stories.

However, the last statement makes Kanaya tilt her head in curiosity.] You are not human?

[...she can't really tell the difference ok. It was bad enough with her limited knowledge back in her own universe, but there are so many odd-looking people in the Tower that it's hard to keep them all straight. Labrys looks pretty human to her! Even with the head ornaments.]

Y'can't tell?

[She held out one arm and tapped it with her other hand, making a distinctively metallic sound to demonstrate.]

I'm an android--a machine made t' look and act human.

[The demonstration seems to sink in; even Kanaya knows that humans are not (usually?) made of metal. Her cheeks color with her embarrassment.] I could not tell. Humans did not exist on my planet; I have met many here, but some of them have appeared similarly unorthodox.

[She looks sheepish.] I'm sorry. [An android, huh? She looked extraordinarily different from Equius' robots.]

It's okay. [Labrys laughed softly, amused but still trying to be polite.] I ain't gonna hold it against ya or nothin'.

[Well, today she has learned that humans have robots too and they look a lot more like humans than troll robots look like trolls. You learn something new every day!

Her face is still a little flushed, but her expression becomes more sympathetic than embarrassed.] I do not think being an android is a good reason to treat you differently. [Kanaya doesn't know much about robots, but this girl seems nice!

And...well, Kanaya knows about being different. She doesn't think it should matter.]

...That's real nice a' you. [Labrys smiled, and from the look on her face it was obvious that statement really did mean a lot. After she said that, however, something seemed to occur to her.]

You ain't been havin' trouble with that kinda thing, have you? [Some humans didn't like different people, did they? People like Kanaya or Feferi might register as 'strange' or even 'frightening' to them, and that bothered Labrys on a personal level.]

[Kanaya gives a smile at Labrys' reaction, glad to have earned a positive response. Though the smile is somewhat short-lived as Labrys seems to pick up on the implications of Kanaya's statement.

She casts a look to Vriska's grave, and the red flower that now rests atop it, courtesy of her robotic companion.] I have not had as many difficulties in this place. But it was very different at home.

[Sure, she's startled a few humans, but that doesn't bother her the same way Alternia's treatment of her does.]

007.

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