paradiseblossoms | Breaking in a new muse~

[Oh, gog. It's her. It's the human she's scared of the most, except maybe Jade, but that's because Jade turned her down in a majorly self-confidence draining way. Also Jade's just weird. But Strider...Strider scares her possibly even more than Vriska does, except Strider's never thrown Tavris off a cliff or anything. Nor has she made creepy advances on her, but this is a whole different ballgame. Strider is a mystery, and mysteries are no friend to the brown-blood. Mysteries often lead to death or dismemberment, and Daphne Strider wields a sword.

Thusly, Tavris does an abrupt about-face on clunky metal legs at the sight of the human girl coming toward her. As if the fact that she's turned around will make her invisible.

Here's a hint: It doesn't.]

[One of Daphne's eyebrows arches up over her shades. She has to admit, she hasn't given the rather shy and awkward troll much thought since arriving - although, now that she thinks about it, that might be because she hasn't seen much of Tavris since they arrived. From the way she's just turned around looking like she wants to run away, Daphne gets the sense it might be because Tavris has been avoiding her, for some reason.

Well, shit on that. Daphne quickens her pace a little, ducks Tavris' enormous horns, and slings an arm around the troll's thin shoulders.]

hey my half-robot sis
where the fuck do you think youre going

[Tavris freezes, face going pale gray as the blood drains out of it. Drat, her plan didn't work. She's gonna have to work on being inconspicuous, no mean feat when your horns are so big you have to turn sideways to fit through doors. But she's been caught, and now she's fumbling for words, cringing away from the arm around her shoulders.]

uHHHH,
nOWHERE,
i WAS JUST, sTANDING HERE, hAHA,

[Nothing doing - Daphne tightens her grip, pulling Tavris into her.]

havent seen you around tav
been avoiding me huh

[Never been one to beat around the bush, Daphne.]

[Shoot. Strider is good. Tav can feel her face heating up, rapidly turning the color of a chocolate bar, but squirm as she might, she can't escape the grip of the lanky human girl.]

nO, uM,
i WOULDN'T, dO THAT, iN ANY CAPACITY,
wHAT WOULD GIVE YOU THAT, uHHH, iMPRESSION,

come on now
dont shit a sister
this asteroid isnt that big
so

[She gives Tavris a little shake.]

what the fuck did i do
i apologized for that chat log right
the one that freaked you out
is there something im not remembering

[Tavris blinks her eyes insistently, trying hard as she can not to appear guilty—not that she's done anything to be guilty for, it's just sort of her default mode.]

nO, uM,
tHAT'S OKAY, rEALLY,
i'M OVER IT, mOSTLY, i THINK,
i GUESS i'M MOSTLY JUST, uHH,
sCARED YOU'RE GOING TO DISMEMBER ME, oR SOMETHING,

[That makes her pause, blinking a bit behind her shades. She lets go of Tav, steps around in front of her in the blink of an eye, tipping her head curiously to one side.]

what
why
have i ever threatened to do anything like that
i thought that was more a troll thing anyway

oH, uM, nO,
nEVER, bUT i JUST,
tHAT SORT OF THING SEEMS TO HAPPEN TO ME MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, hAHA,

[She looks sheepish now, realizing that she's just sort of slinging around baseless accusations now. This is why she normally just avoids social interaction altogether.]

[Her mouth does this funny kind of twist at that, but it's rather unreadable.]

oh
that uh
sucks i guess
is that what happened here

[She extends one thigh-high, Converse-clad leg and taps her foot gently against one of Tav's metal legs.]

[Tavris looks down, like she's forgotten about her legs, and then hazards a glance back up at the Strider girl, kicked-puppy, eyes large and round. She pushes the swing of her black hair behind one ear on the side of her head that's not shaven, tucked neatly below her horn; it's a hairstyle that would look fearsome on pretty much anyone but her.]

tHAT IS, uM,
cORRECT,

guess i can see how that might make a girl twitchy
especially around someone with a strife specibus of pointy shit
but i dont make a habit out of dismembering people
if that makes you feel any better

[There's not really a whole lot else to say there, and Daphne's kind of thinking she's overstayed her welcome, anyway, so she shrugs and turns to go in a whirl of messy blonde hair and the flash of pale skin above her shoes and below her frayed shorts.]

[Tav nods, and then her eyes widen as the human girl turns to go; it's like some glittery rainbow drinker shit or something, she's sure Karkat would be able to explain it, but she finds herself, ridiculously, planting one heavy foot forward, reaching an arm out, calling after Daphne.]

oH, uM,
wAIT, pLEASE, iF THAT'S OKAY,

[That's surprising, and Daphne turns, pushing her mass of hair out of her face - jesus, she should think about getting Kanaya to cut it all off or something, she doesn't know what the fuck to do with it.]

sure whatever
just
didnt think you liked me much

[She bites her lip, looking unsure, like she doesn't really even know herself, but then finds herself shaking her head.]

i MIGHT BE, uHHH,
a LITTLE BIT SCARED OF, yOUR BADASSERY, hAHA,
bUT i DON'T THINK i DISLIKE YOU, oR ANYTHING LIKE THAT,

[She grins, reaching out to punch Tav lightly in the shoulder.]

well shit
why didnt you just say so sis
cant fucking blame you for that
im a pretty fucking big deal

[She cringes, but manages not to duck away from the punch. It doesn't hurt, but still; one can never be too careful. Probably. She reaches up to her hair again, this time to scratch at the shaved side of her head, sheepishly.]

hAHA, yEAH,
i GUESS i WAS JUST, nERVOUS, iN A WAY,
bUT WHAT I GUESS I WANT TO SAY,
wITH EXTREME LEVELS OF SELF-CONFIDENCE,
iS, iF IT'S OK WITH YOU,
i'D LIKE TO BE YOUR, uM, fRIEND,
aND MAYBE SOME OF YOUR COOLKID WAYS WILL,
rUB OFF ON ME,

why the fuck not
cool school is now in session
ill be your ridiculously hot instructor
all sexy librarian and shit
i need to find a pair of those douchey hipster shades
anyway
lets see what weve got to work with here

[She takes a step back, looking Tav rather unabashedly up and down.]

well fuck
thats not too bad at all
the piercings are pretty rad

[She reaches out to prod gently at Tav's sternum piercing.]

and your hair is pretty much the shit
way better than mine at least
i mean
what the fuck do i even do with this crap

[She lifts a hank of blonde hair in disgust, then drops it again. Seriously. So tempted to go back to her old haircut.]

[Tavris tries hard not to flush under Dave's appraising stare, failing miserable as per usual as her cheeks turn caramel and her ball-joint knees rotate, fidgety. She lets out a little squeak of surprise at the finger on her sternum; nobody's ever really ventured that close to her not-inconsiderable cleavage before (except Vriska but she doesn't actually count because that was seventy kinds of badtouch). Her fingers flit up to her septum and bridge piercings, one after the other, as if making sure they're still there.]

uMMM, tHANK YOU,
hAHA, }:)
mAYBE YOU COULD, uH,
wEAR IT IN PIGTAILS OR SOMETHING,
yOU KNOW, iRONICALLY, mAYBE,

yeah maybe

[She considers that for a moment, reaching up to separate her masses of blonde hair into two pigtails, holding them there for Tavris to contemplate.]

im tempted to just have someone hack it all off though
shit was so much easier to deal with before
i guess its nice not having to strap my chest down every morning though
that shit takes forever

[She cocks her head, but the mention of hacking all that nice blonde hair off makes Tav reel a little bit. In fact, her expression only becomes more confused, and she's going to go ahead and be extremely culturally unaware for a sec here.]

sORRY, uM,
bUT,
wHY WOULD YOU DO THAT,
tHAT SOUNDS,
rEALLY PAINFUL, kIND OF,

[Daphne's expression twists a little - lots of talking with Rose and Kanaya have made her a little more comfortable with being a girl, but it's still kind of a weird subject to talk about. Still, she figures she probably has to get used to it - John and Jade are definitely going to want some explanations.]

its uh
kind of a long story i guess
i didnt really want to be a girl
and kind of figured it would just be easier to be a boy
except
you know
the chest was kind of a dead giveaway

[She blinks, and it's sort of clear that she doesn't get it, not really. She comprehends, but on a cultural level it's just so...alien. Humans clearly have very different ideas about gender.]

oHH,
oKAY,
wELL,
yOU'RE A REALLY PRETTY GIRL,
i MEAN, aS A GIRL,
iF THAT'S, oK TO SAY,

[She shrugs, an awkward, halfway-embarrassed motion.]

sure
uh
thanks
i guess
still kind of a weird thing or whatever

[Tavris averts her gaze quickly.]

oH, i'M SORRY,
i DIDN'T MEAN TO MAKE YOU FEEL, uM,
wEIRD OR SOMETHING,

[Striders don't squirm, so that is definitely not what's going on here.]

no its
its cool
whatever
gotta get used to it sometime right

[Tavris shifts from metal foot to metal foot, and then shrugs her agreement. It's better than stuttering, anyway. But then there's a silence, and she hates silence, so she asks the first question that comes to mind.]

sO, uM, wHAT'S,
wITH THE GLANCE ORB SHIELDS,
dO YOU HAVE A, vISION PROBLEM, oR SOMETHING,

[She goes a little tense before she can stop herself, but doesn't reach up to check that her shades are still in place, the way she wants to - although, one hand does twitch awkwardly at her side for a moment.]

nope
these shades are actually for everyone elses benefit
the sheer intensity of my cool factor could blind an unprepared victim
gotta keep them on
dull the effect

[Tav's eyes go wide, and it doesn't once occur to her to doubt what she's being told. It's obviously true, if that's what Dave's telling her.]

oH,
tHAT'S, pROBABLY FOR THE BETTER THEN,
hAHA,

[Okay, she feels a little bad about lying now, but seriously? Is this troll chick's picture next to "naive" in the dictionary?]

yup
thats me
just
constantly looking out for everybody

Breaking in a new muse~

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