towerofanimus | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Characters: Terezi Pyrope and AU!Kanaya Maryam
Setting: All around the Tower
Format: Action?
Summary: Terezi is giving this delicious new arrival a tour!
Warnings: Terezi.

[Terezi is taking her duties as Kanaya's official tour guide very seriously, and shows up at her door at dusk. Of course, she doesn't knock. That would be too polite and boring! She just bursts into the room, sing songing out her name.]

Kanaya! Time to go!

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[What is that look for?]

If you do not mind satisfying my curiosity, I believe I would like to know.

[That grin widens for just an instant before Terezi leans forward to lick Kanaya right on the cheek.]

[--what

Her eyebrows furrow and her mouth pulls into a mild expression of disgust. It could be worse (it's just spit after all), but she can safely say she has never been licked before by something that wasn't a hoofbeast or a grub.

She reaches up to wipe the drool off of her face with the back of her hand.]

Do I take that to mean that you see with your tongue?

[She's cackling now.]

I can see with my nose, too! But you taste delicious, Kanaya.

Edited 2011-11-30 06:51 (UTC)

[...she won't deny it, that's actually kind of neat. If a bit hard to fathom. She can't stop her cheeks from coloring a little bit with said deliciousness at the remark, though.]

Um. Thank you, I think? Of the words I would associate with myself, "delicious" is not really one of them.

[Part of her wants to ask what she even tastes like. The other part doesn't want to know.]

[She tugs Kanaya onward, and, as though sensing her unspoken question:]

Like sweet, cherry cough syrup!

[The bewildered troll follows accordingly.]

Cough syrup is not something I have commonly heard be referred to as pleasing in regards to taste. [Also she's sure anything mutated can't be that tasty.]

[She shrugs.]

It's a little more bitter than cherry syrup, but not quite as much as cough syrup. I guess it is hard to describe!

[...hm. It seems hard to imagine too, from the perplexed look on Kanaya's face.]

Okay, I think that makes sense, even though I cannot really imagine the exact taste.

[A thought strikes her.] Oh, so that is why you said "blueberry" when you were referring to blood color. [Sudden understanding!]

[Terezi perks up slightly, nodding.]

Yes! But not all cerulean bloods are the same. Karkat's is a little sweeter.

[No it isn't, that is totally just her bias.]

[She's about to ask if all mutant bloods are the same. Then realizes that's a really stupid question.]

Really? I would suspect his would be more bitter than others if anything. [shelumoirail. really.] Are there subtle differences like that for every blood caste?

[Which is her way of asking the question she wants to ask without having to deal with the likelihood that Terezi has not tasted another mutantblood.]

Sometimes.

[She hesitates for a moment.]

There's another troll here with your blood color. There isn't much difference between the two of you. Maybe cerulean bloods are different.

[Kanaya quietly notes the hesitation. Hmm.]

Karkat has informed me of this. He expressed concern about this other troll being discovered, as he thinks it would lead to me being similarly revealed. [Or she's pretty sure that was concern, anyways.

She gives a small laugh and adds jokingly:] Maybe the difference is a mental one rather than a sensory one.

The Empress from my world is here. I don't think the two of you knowing about each other will make it more likely that she finds you, but I promised him I wouldn't tell anyone about his blood.

[She hesitates again at that second comment, considering. Her voice is considerably softer when she replies.] Maybe.

That was one of the first warnings I was given. I am not too thrilled, but I am used to the threat of culling by now.

[A pause.

Oh.

Oh. Well. Okay.

She looks at Terezi for a few seconds, and then down at their linked arms, finding it hard to look her in the face even though she knows Terezi is blind here too.]

...I see.

If it makes you feel better, we can't really die here!

[Terezi turns her head in Kanaya's direction, letting out an irritated little huff.]

See what?

[She recalls something like that in the note Minato showed her, but she finds it no less weird.] That is a small comfort. I think I would still prefer to avoid death in any form, however.

[Oh whoops. Um.]

He is a master of managing romantic quadrants, even if he is more apt to wreck them than fix them.

[A small, hesitant hush.] I think he may be doing some managing here as well. That is all.

[She nods.] It isn't horrible. You die and then all of a sudden you're waking up again. But there are side effects.

[Annnd that gets her attention. She tilts her head, looking a little suspicious.] What do you mean, "managing"?

[Okay the dying thing she'll ask about more once she clears up the quadrant thing.]

...I believe you deserve honesty, so I will tell you I cannot say for certain. I think there is some managing, I just cannot be sure in what context it is happening. [Maybe he is actually flushed for this Terezi, considering the situation he had with their universe's Terezi. She doesn't want to assume the worst of him, but it's something that needs clarifying nonetheless. It's just as likely that he's leading her on, whether intentionally or not.]

[Oh. Well.

Maybe he is flushed for her, too. Maybe. But from what she knows of his history, and from her own history with Vriska, she's inclined to say that's not it.

And this is reminding her of Vriska, quite painfully in fact, and it will be pretty easy for Kanaya to pick up how tense she is. She is so, so sick of being toyed with by cerulean bloods, though to Karkat's credit at least he'd warned her not to trust him.

After a moment or two of silence, Terezi continues, voice a bit clipped.]

Next floor.

[Yeah she can feel the tension. And she feels bad. Horribad. Kanaya is not very good with the physical comfort, but she gives it a shot nonetheless. She lays her opposite hand on the arm that Terezi has linked with hers.]

I am sorry. You are right to be angry. But I think it is just as likely that he may be doing it without intent. [She purses her lips before speaking again.] He was flushed for the Terezi of our universe, I am very sure. He may be doing this without realizing the emotional consequences it is having.

[She bows her head and apologizes again for good measure.] I am so sorry. I know it is not my place, but I think it is unfair to both of you if you do not know the context in which this is happening.

[Wow way to just fuck everything up, Kanaya. You'd be lucky to be culled at this rate.]

[So, that whole issue Karkat had when he'd first arrived, about feeling like he was being treated as a replacement? Suddenly, Terezi gets how he feels, and it isn't nice. At all. Actually it hurts a hell of a lot, but she sets her jaw and focuses on how furious she is with him instead.]

It doesn't matter.

[That is totally a lie. She is going to have a few Words with him when she's done here.]

[Kanaya falls silent after that. Man it's a shame death isn't permanent here, because now Karkat will get to kill her multiple times. Damn it.

Her hand falls away from Terezi's arm, though she doesn't pull away the one that's linked. Way to go, Maryam. You are the worst moirail and friend.

And you still have the whole tower to explore on this lovely little tour with your pissed-off companion.]

[Yup, this will not be pleasant. In fact she is so caught up in silently insulting Karkat that she's passing the nineteenth floor. Oops.]

[Well, Kanaya certainly isn't going to correct her. From what she can gather, it's just another library anyways, and she's familiar with those.

Onto the eighteenth floor, then?]

[Luckily, by the time they reach the eighteenth floor, Terezi has mostly managed to bury her anger. Her voice is still short, though.]

I don't think there is a point to this floor, other than to mess with us. If you stay here long enough you can hear things, or feel things touching you when nothing is there.

[Wow that sounds an awful lot like the maroon Terezi's life all the time. What a wonderfully convenient and absolutely awful association to make.

She glances around and notes the flickering lights. Part of her wants to wonder aloud if it's any worse when it's dark, but she figures Terezi probably isn't sensitive to brightness, and she doesn't want to further aggravate the girl.

So she settles for a somewhat soft, very neutral:] I see.

[She heads down to the next floor, and doesn't even bother to stop.]

This floor is worthless, too. Half of this tower is just here to mess with us.

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