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@barktiers-blog
hello!!!! i’m trying to get back into the groove!!!! so this is a starter call!!!!!! also if i owe you a reply and you’re not john or alexis PLEASE lmk!! also feel free to lmk if you want to drop any threads we have rn! anyways!! i’m capping this at 3!!
waretheredeyes:
Hilda leans over, looking over Jade’s shoulders as she maps out the quadrants in her notebook. Throughout the little lecture, she nods and says mhm occasionally, saving her questions for later. Jade’s explanation of troll romance is a little chaotic, but it’s all very interesting.
“I see,” Hilda says once Jade finishes. “I think I get some of it, aye. Human romance seems to work the same way as ours, so no confusion there! And mutual hatred as romance… It seems like something that should baffle me, but frankly, I think I somehow understand it. Not that I’ve experienced aught like that myself, but it makes sense in a way.”
She moves in a little closer to point at the diamonds and clubs symbols. “Ain’t sure I understand what these two are all about, though. You said they were more… platonic, right? Mediating? How’s that romance?” She’s getting even more interested in troll romance now. “Do people doing this kind of romance get married? Oh, and do the people who have the hate romance?”
Jade chews on the end of her pencil and she nods with a sigh. “Yeah... Yeah, those are the more confusing ones. This one, the diamond, it’s... a kind of, um... best friends, protective... thing? People who balance each other out, protect and keep each other in check.” She smiles over at Hilda. “That’s the last one that’s pretty applicable to human relationships. The club is... uh...” She laughs, then.
“The club is three people. Two people who are maybe close to a red or black romance, and one person who mediates between them, keeps them from falling into a quadrant for whatever reason. It’s a really weird and specific one.” She pauses, tapping the eraser on the end of her pencil against her mouth for a moment.
“They don’t get married, though. Trolls don’t do marriage-- well, they didn’t used to. Now I have a friend who’s a troll who got married. ...Anyways, they have these quadrants and then like... uh...” She pauses for a long moment, again. Contemplating. “Karkat is a big baby who’s too embarrassed to tell me a lot about it, but adult trolls have to provide genetic materials produced from the relationships so their big Mother Grub can use it to lay eggs that more trolls hatch from.”
She looks over at Hilda again, nose wrinkling. “Trolls,” she confides, “are really, really weird. But it makes sense, it’s normal for them but weird for us because we have entirely different biology and cultures and everything. Anyways. If you’re confused, don’t worry about it, is the point.”
hydaelynguard:
Minfilia nods. The idea of blending fruit reminds her of the woes of some Scions with a penchant for gardening. But this may be something different entirely… Crushed up fruit in a drink doesn’t sound particularly appetizing, but surely if it is popular enough for a business it must be.
She smiles at the girl in kind. “My, how delightful. The technology here truly is impressive.” She hums, tilting her head. “The fruit listed is similar, though I cannot say I have ever heard of a strawberry. I quite enjoy pineapple, though. Do you have a preference, typically?”
And then she realizes she’s asking this poor girl what sort of fruit she likes. Minfilia laughs, embarrassed. “I apologize for bothering you with such a trivial question. I do not often have time for such simple pleasures, you see. I forget myself.”
“Never heard of a strawberry?” Jade says in faint surprise, but then she smiles. She shakes her head firmly. “No, it’s okay. I’m happy to help out! This place is like... some sort of vacation, right? You have time for simple pleasures, so I’ll help you get them!”
She gestures to the menu, again. “I usually like mango. But if you like pineapple, you might want to go with it for your first try. A familiar flavor to ground a new thing, right?”
The woman seems interesting. Really nice, a kind look about her, and... maybe possibly really needs this vacation? If not having time for the simple pleasures is a problem she has.
“Oh, by the way... I’m Jade,” she adds with a smile.
starboundluminary:
[INCOMING TEXT FROM LUMINARY OF THE STARS (KAITO MOMOTA)]
LUMINARY OF THE STARS: yeah!! His name’s Keebo! I bet he’d be super good friends with a lotta people here, he’s nice! he’s sassy when people are mean ta robots around him tho, which is totally fair tbh
LUMINARY OF THE STARS: i hope he’s doin’ ok! But huh, looks like we got havin’ robot buddies in common, yeah…?
It didn’t seem like a good idea to pry there, a Luminary didn’t go doing that to people! It sounded like a sad topic, after all!
LUMINARY OF THE STARS: Right!! an’ teamworks super important in this world - no! I think it wouldn’t be a stretch ta say the whole universe is bult on teamwork, after all, if it weren’t fer the sun AND other planets bein’ the way they are, our universe wouldn’t be half as awesome I reckon!
LUMINARY OF THE STARS: Talkin’ ta folk about stuff one enjoys is always fun, haha! nice ta meetchya, jade….but omg?? ‘mr’….i’m eighteen, as awesome of a hero i try ta be fer others, i don’t think i need a title like THAT yet, I ain’t that old lol. that said! I’m Kaito Momota! LUMINARY OF THE STARS (as my phone name says lol.)
(word count for own reference: 247 so far + 212 this post = 459 words)
[msg] omg!!! ur 18? [msg] im 20 O: but you don’t have to call me ‘ms’ or something either!! im not that old at all haha [msg] it’s nice to meet you kaito momota :) !!!! you seem really fun!! i like your positivity, don’t let anything get you down!!!
heirinherent:
If John was being completely honest, he kind of wants to know why those Scorpion-Women are going to Mars. But more than that, he wants to do whatever Jade wants to do, really. She’s always coming over to his house and asking what he wants to do. Now it’s Jade’s turn to get Sibling Time!!
He studies the poster for Maximum Blood. The poster has what he assumes is the protagonist in cool spy gear and cool spy pose, with their sharp fangs on prominent display. Vampire spy movie.
Okay, that does kind of rule.
He turns to Jade. “We could try Maximum Blood,” he says. “I’m sure there will be at least one explosion, which in my expert connoisseur opinion means it’s probably pretty kick ass.”
She claps her hands together, looking pleased. “Oh, great!” She says with a grin. “It does look like one of those kinds of movies, doesn’t it? And the character on the poster looks really cool!”
She gestures for John to follow her, and she tosses another grin over her shoulder at him. “I’ll buy the tickets, you buy the popcorn!” And as they get inside, she runs up to the counter to buy two tickets to the next showing, in a brighter mood than she was before, if possible. When she walks back over to John, she hands him his ticket.
“Do you think it’s weird that I kind of wish Dave or Rose or someone else would show up here too? I mean, it could be dangerous here, but at least we’d all be in danger together, right?” She smiles. “Haha... Just like old times, I guess?”
unterzee:
The strength behind their grip is more than might have been expected, given how slight they are - but maybe things like that aren’t so strange. “Alexis. N’ I’m fine.” They offer her a sardonic little grin. “Know how it is, yeah. Can’t count th’number of places I’ve gotten m’self stuck up in ‘cause I felt like they were taunting me.”
Jade can’t help but relax a little. Oh, good. So she doesn’t seem like a crazy person to this person. “Alexis,” she says with a smile. “Hi, Alexis. Sorry again.” She laughs, rubbing at her arm a little self-consciously.
“Oh... Yeah. They really do get so stuck up, don’t they?” Then her smile splits into a grin. “Ugh! You just know that they know what they’re doing. Uh, anyways... It’s probably also just, um... canine instincts, I guess. I didn’t used to hate cats this much!”
hydaelynguard:
@barktiers
The weather here is strange indeed. There appears to be no rhyme or reason to the changes in the climate - there may be sun and cool breezes one day and oppressive mugginess the next. This makes planning for the day interesting.
In an effort to beat the heat, Minfilia has managed to purchase a sun hat and something to hold her hair back. Her next plan of action is proving difficult, as this drink stand sells some sort of beverage she has never heard of before. With some trepidation, she looks toward the younger woman next to her, also gazing at the large and colorful sign bearing the drink menu.
“Excuse me, miss.” Minfilia says, “What is a smoothie?”
It takes Jade a moment to snap from her thoughts. She’d been contemplating pineapple versus mango, staring hard at the drink menu and musing. Hm. It’s so hard to decide and oh someone is talking to her.
She looks over at the woman curiously, a little surprised at the question. Sure, okay, it makes sense that smoothies might not be a universal constant, but it’s still an odd question to hear.
“Oh!” She says. “Um, it’s like... A blended up fruit drink. It’s cold and kind of slushy and usually sweet?” She smiles. “No smoothies where you come from, huh? ...What kind of fruit do you like? I mean, if the fruit here is the same as the stuff where you come from...” She gestures at the menu with a sheepish smile.
waretheredeyes:
“That sounds really complicated,” says Hilda, chuckling. “Meeting the creators of your world and having them turn out to be confused teenagers who have no idea what they’re doing… I suppose that would explain some things about the world, frankly. But it’d still be a shock.”
She has a lot more thoughts about Jade’s brief description of trolls society, but she decided to keep them to herself. The thing about an alternative version of Jade dying by a troll queen’s hand confuses Hilda, but the girl seems to have a much deeper understanding of parallel worlds and how they interact with each other than Hilda ever could. Hells, before the Ark she had never considered there could be worlds other than hers.
The question about the Dragonsong Was is not an easy one to answer. “Well,” Hilda says uncertainly, “it happened a thousand years ago and I only have a general idea about what happened — it was a well-kept secret until recently, in fact — but it started when our ancestors killed one of the elder wyrms. Ratatoskr, that’s what her name was. Before then they’d been allies with the dragons, but after that betrayal, Ratatosk’r brother Nidhogg swore to avenge her. Dreary business, all of that.”
In a weak attempt at changing the topic, she says, “Anyroad, what was that you said about strange ideas about romance?”
Jade listens to her story with wide eyes. Man, it really does all sound just like a dramatic high fantasy story. A little like one of Rose’s book too... She makes a note to tell Rose about it the next time she’s able to.
“Wow,” she says, shaking her head. “That’s really rough. Really dreary.” She’s still curious, but it seems like Hilda isn’t keen on the subject (understandably), so she hums and lets her change the topic. “Oh, troll romance? Oh, man...” She swings her feet and leans back. It is times like this that she guesses living with Mr. Troll Romance Media Buff comes in handy.
“Well, I don’t know how it is for elves, but humans have... I mean, we have one type of romance, right? Romantic. Get married and stuff.” She smiles. “Anyways. Trolls have four kinds of romance-- Oh, jeez, I might need a diagram... Er, actually... Okay.”
She pulls out her notebook and scribbles a vague diagram of the quadrant symbols. “So, there’s four different kinds, and they’re kind of divided this way like, over here is positive emotions, over here is platonic emotions...”
Okay. So living with Karkat does not automatically make one a coherent lecturer on troll romance. She scribbles out the diagram.
"Okay, forget that. That’s confusing. But there’s... something closer to human romance, positive and, well... romantic. Then there’s a kind of mutual hatred quadrant, which is... weird, and then there’s the sort of... mediating quadrants, like more platonic and protective... um... does this make any sense?”
heirinherent:
John grins, and lets Jade pull him along. He tries not to let his expression fall at her words. Before the game, John had some casual friends, and they would go to movies and stuff. Jade didn’t have any of that. Ever!
“Haha, yeah…” He says, “Maybe this place isn’t so bad, if you think about it like that!”
At the theater, John inspects the Now Playing sign. They’re all… How does he put this. Fake? These cannot be real movies. The Scorpion-Women go to Mars? Maximum Blood? “Hm.” John says, at length.
Jade contemplates the titles. She thinks about it. She’s seen a lot of movies by this point, enough to know that these are maybe weird titles. “So,” she says after a bit, “what do you think looks good?”
She turns to look at him, crossing her arms and cocking her head in thought. “Maximum Blood sounds kind of fun. Hmm. Or... what about this one? Quadruple Retribution?”
She has to think about it a little longer. “You’re the expert, though,” she says with a grin. “What do you think? What’s your movie connoisseur gut instinct telling you?”
unterzee:
Alexis has their own reasons for being deep in the maze of streets – all deeply private, of course, and if they were to be asked they’d have a different answer every time. Maybe it’s something about wanting to be reminded of home. Or maybe they’re just looking for the rat king. Or maybe they’re just trying to find a spot where the rats don’t actively scurry away from them so they can grab a quick snack.
Different answer every time, really. It’s a good thing that’s not the topic of discussion here. The girl who’s just hit the ground at high speeds after passing straight through a building corner - straight through, exactly how did she - and just did her human best to bark at a fleeing street cat – that’s more interesting than why they’re here, isn’t it?
“Seen plenty of cat-chasing in m’ time,“ Alexis drawls, kneeling down to lend her a hand, “but usually it’s for secrets, n’ that cat doesn’t look like it’s got too much to tell you.“
Flustered, Jade takes their hand, pulling herself up. “Uh, no, umm... I wasn’t looking for secrets.” She laughs, self-conscious. “I just, um... well. It was looking at me funny.” Gosh, she feels embarrassed even just admitting it.
“You know. That really smug way, like... ‘I’m so much faster than you, I can jump higher than you!’ and like, uh... yeah.” She smiles, awkward. “You know how it is.” She brushes herself off, looking down at her dirtied jeans in dismay, and then she sighs.
“I guess it’s probably just a me thing.” She shakes her head, morose. But when she looks up at the stranger again, she smiles awkwardly. “Anyways. Umm, thanks. I’m Jade, are you alright?”
starboundluminary:
[INCOMING TEXT FROM LUMINARY OF THE STARS (KAITO MOMOTA)]
LUMINARY OF THE STARS: I’m just yer normal everyday space lover, though actually one of my friends IS a robot, i just couldn’t resist jokin’ about it because robots are pretty dang cool.
LUMINARY OF THE STARS: also oooooooohh
LUMINARY OF THE STARS: I get it now! thanks fer the heads up!!
LUMINARY OF THE STARS: yeah, i totally agree! They all work together in a big pack and support-one-another, so that’s another reason I picked it: i like ta support my friends just as much!
LUMINARY OF THE STARS: even if ya did accidentally send this ta everyone, i sure am glad fer it, because it’s nice ta get ta make a new friend who also agrees cool points of an animal ya like too, hehe.
New friends were always a good thing in Kaito’s mind!
(word count for own reference: 101 so far + 146 this post = 247 words)
[msg] OMG you have a friend who is a robot? that’s cool :) [msg] i used to have a robot :( i would be able to do stuff while i was dreaming because of it haha [msg] but anyways!!! yeah!!!!! they’re so cool and smart and really good at teamwork [msg] :B i’m glad too haha, it’s been so nice to talk to people about cool animals. my name is jade!! nice to meet you mr luminary of the stars, hehe
visiel:
Vis felt awkward, fiddling with her holophone. It was confusing for her, all of this; she didn’t entirely believe what she was experiencing was real. I mean, seriously? Being dragged from her own universe and forced into a much, much more advanced one? It wasn’t something she had even considered as possible. Her last experience had been less than elucidating, as it didn’t seem that Yasa had much more information than she had. Her fiddling was interrupted by a woman sitting next to her. Visiel looked up towards the woman as she sat down. “Hi! What did that phone do to make you so mad at it? You look like it beat you at a game of cards or something!”, the woman said to Vis.
She would reply plainly, her voice sounding bored and frustrated. “It is broken. Whether it has run out of mana or the like, I know not.” An interesting thing to note; her accent would be rather reminiscent of a German accent; her w’s and v’s are merged, etc. etc.. Visiel picks up the holophone next to her and look at the device. “I did not have this kind of… item in my homeland. Magic has come a long way, it would seem.”
Jade can’t help but give a snorting laugh. "It’s not magic,” she says with a grin. “I mean, unless magic to you is just science that we don’t fully understand yet! In which case, yeah, it’s magic! No, this is all like... electricity and little chips and... well. It’s basically a hunk of metal we tricked into thinking!” She pauses to think about it. “Which is a kind of magic, I guess.”
She laughs again, warm. “Um, sorry, anyways... What’s the problem with it exactly? Can I see? It might have run out of battery maybe...”
pinterestdivakanaya:
“I Have Not Seen Any Carapaces Yet But I Have Made Human Friendship With A Human And I Have Had An………. Interaction With Another Human And Ive Bought A Lot Of Fabric,” Kanaya reports. “Do You Want To Go Somewhere Nice Instead Of Staying Here In The Middle Of The Street? Do You Live Here Too? Surely Not Or I Would Have Seen You - Our Hiveblocks Have Lovely Hive Interior Garden Compartments, Did You Know, I Could Show You Mine.”
“Woah, really?” She gasps. “I would love to see your hiveblock’s garden!” She’s gotten so used to talking about hives and whatnot, she’s realizing. It almost makes her laugh to think about how easily the terminology comes to her.
“I live in Nectar, the ocean-y part of town,” she says with a smile. “And haha, yeah… getting off the street sounds nice. Show me your garden compartment!” She pauses, then gestures for Kanaya to lead the way with a smile still at her lips, lopsided. “Have you been doing a lot of sewing, then? Made any cool new outfits?”
starboundluminary:
[INCOMING TEXT FROM LUMINARY OF THE STARS (Kaito Momota)]
LUMINARY OF THE STARS: Nah, this ain’t John. THIS IS….ADVANCED AI. YOU TEXTED A ROBOT OMG
LUMINARY OF THE STARS: ….Nah, I ain’t a robot. Only jokin, pft. LUMINARY OF THE STARS: I’ve totally sent texts ta everyone in the whole area before too tho, anyone can make that mistake! LUMINARY OF THE STARS: personally, though, I love myself the nightsky and the awesome moon ta not see myself as a wolf kinda guy tho LUMINARY OF THE STARS: uh i think that is a question on what animal ya like?? right???
[msg] ummmm :D [msg] lol, kind of!! [msg] it’s also like. what animal you identify with :B get it?? like furry + persona!! [msg] and wolves are really cool haha! they’re so cute. and really skilled hunters!!!
heirinherent:
John nods. Seeing a movie does sound fun. On Earth C it was kind of hard to get around without being recognized, which was still really weird. So he mostly kept to his and his friends’ places. “Yeah, let’s go! It’d be cool if they had Earth movies. I’d even take one of Karkat’s romcoms right now - you can’t tell him I said that.”
Jade laughs, her grin wide and conspiratorial. “Haha, I won’t tell him, don’t worry! Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t right now!” She grabs his arm, then. “Okay, you can pick if you want, whether you recognize the movies or not.”
It’s nice to think about just... going to a movie with a friend. Like in a real theater and everything, not being recognized and treated like a celebrity either! She smiles at John. “Y’know, I used to always want to do stuff like this. Like, go out to the movies, sneak candy in, go to malls and stuff? I mean, I was happy, but sometimes I thought about how fun it would be to do normal kid stuff!”
visiel:
@barktiers
It had only been a few days since Visiel arrived in Aldebaran. Her lack of intuition about technology was obvious; she was so laughably bad at even basic skills the elderly in our time would seem like some kind of technological mastermind. She sat in the halls of the Pallilicium, fiddling at her holophone’s off screen. Her eyes poked around the device, lifting it and looking at every last bit of it. This whole “electronic” thing was new to Visiel. Coming from what could best be described as the mid-Renaissance, her time didn’t have such luxuries, and even the concept of electricity was strange and foreign to her. Previously, she had gotten someone else to explain to her what it is, but that brief explanation doesn’t seem to have taught her anything about the use of her holophone. She sighs, fiercely tapping each side of the poor thing. Seeming like she’s had enough, she places next to her, closing her eyes, looking up and giving a soft groan as if she’s been defeated.
Jade had come to realize that the different occupants of the city came from many different places. Even different times! It was exciting, and she had to admit that it was kind of fun being able to teach people about the finer points of the future. It made her feel like a time traveler. Except in a cooler way like... A Kid In King Arthur’s Court, and not Dave traveling to like an hour ago to close a convoluted loop.
And what was this, pulling her out of her reverie? Someone who looked in need of help!
She smiled, walking over to sit down next to the woman. Another elf, it looked like, but she wondered if the woman was an elf or... what was Hilda called? Oh yeah, an elezen.
“Hi! What did that phone do to make you so mad at it?” She joked with a smile. “You look like it beat you at a game of cards or something!”
waretheredeyes:
“Hm…” Hilda taps her finger on her shoulder rhythmically. “I can’t do any real magic and I doubt I’ll be particularly long-lived, but I am pretty bloody wise, that’s for sure. If you’re ever in need of wisdom, you know who to turn to!” She grins at Jade.
“We’ve most certainly got dragons and goblins. Are they not real in your world? That’s so strange to consider — the country I’m from, you see, was at war with dragons for a thousand years, until just recently. Can’t imagine what Ishgard would be like without it. As for goblins, I ain’t seen one in person, but they’re out there, aye. I think most of them stay underground. They hate the air on the surface, I’m told.”
She shakes her head slightly, smiling. “Can’t believe you don’t have any of these in your world. Well, I guess we don’t have trolls, that must be odd for you to imagine. What are they like, by the way? I don’t believe I’ve seen any here in the Ark.”
“Oh-- I mean, they aren’t exactly from our world,” Jade says with a laugh. “They’re like... um, kind of the creators of our world? Like gods!” And she smiles easily, shrugs. Like it’s the most casual statement in the world.
“They made our universe, we met them, and it turned out they were just a bunch of teenagers like us. A real disappointment, let me tell you. I mean, they’re cool and all! But they weren’t really used to being gods.” She pauses, then, sitting back and stretching her legs out in front of her.
“But they’re... hmm. They have all kinds of confusing ideas about romance. They have different blood colors that formed a kinda hierarchal system on their homeworld, and they were all ruled over by a fish lady who killed an alternate version of me apparently!!” She laughs. “Um, but yeah.”
She shifts, straightens, and she claps her hands together. “Why were you at war with dragons? I’ve never seen a dragon. Did you steal from their treasure hoards or something?”