fleetlogs | THE EDITED PHERES LOG (third times a charm)

THE EDITED PHERES LOG (third times a charm)

=> PHERES: Abscond.

=> FLEETBOUND POST. [refiningSpacetime - FIN]
=> MARDUK: Call your guide. [FIN]
=> RICCIN: Retrieve the damsel in distress. [FIN]
=> HINNOM: Lead him home. [FIN]
=> FLEETBOUND POST. [activatingAggro- FIN]
=> SIPARA: Fetch your dumb moirail. [FIN]
=> PHERES: Wake up. [FIN]

SUMMARY: Taking drinks from strangers is generally a bad idea. Pheres needs to be picked up from a party, but life is hard when your moirail is out of town and all of your friends are terrible. Luckily, there's always Fleetbound!

WARNINGS: None! Except for Pheres being thoroughly depressing in Lead him home.

THIS HAS BEEN FINALLY EDITED. For like the third time. Due to POV-switching shenanigans, you may occasionally encounter weird shifts / incorrect verb pluralisation at points that I missed in switching from 3rd person to 2nd person POV. Sorry! :c

For the most part, though, typoes should be fixed and continuity is now more accurate!

ALSO: Follow the story through the links above to ensure you're reading the correct, edited threads, please and thank youu

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Pheres," Sipara says, her voice carefully controlled. "You cool?"

No, you want to say.

Sun exposure seemed a melodramatic way to go earlier, but now you're back to seriously considering it - or maybe just crawling into that closet and seeing if you can't hide under the pile of coats. The moirails are probably sleeping: they wouldn't notice.

Anything would be better than thinking about Riccin's glib comment about engines and seadwellers.

But you can't go and die, no matter how tempting the thought is: Sipara's right there on the phone with you, and if you ran off, she'd come up just to murder you herself. You huff, drawing in on yourself, but the thought is soothing in an unpleasant sort of way.

"Yeah," you finally say, and my, your voice sounds terrible. It's all dry and raspy, and your mouth feels like it's been stuffed with porous combed wool balls. You love warmth, but the heat of noon is too much even for you. "I mean - yes. I'm alright."

"I can't stop sparking, though." You pull a face for all that no one can see you, and then you shake your head, just to see what'll happen. Sure enough, the gesture leaves a spray of light all around you, sparks flying off of your hair and skin like water. This is awful. "Do you suppose -- should I just go back inside, and sleep it off?"

"They're greenbloods, mostly," you add. "Maybe someone just - didn't realise I had psionics, and put the honey in on accident."

Ugh, fuck, he sounds terrible.

"Fuck that and fuck you, dude," you snap. "That's a terrible idea. Sit your ass dow- no, wait, don't do that, just. Lean against the wall or something."

And then you flounder, because - goddamnit, you fucking suck at pacifying. You're better than you used to be, at least: how many sweeps has it been since you marked up his face in that first major blow-out? But, shit, 'no longer a risk of physical maiming' is a pretty low bar to set.

Ugh.

You're going to have to try, though, because as much as it makes your skin crawl to admit it, Riccin was right: he does need to cool it with the lightshow. Sparky psionics out in the day are the ones that end up powering kids bootlegged ships, or dead because some dumb finface thinks eating a psionic brain will get them powers.

(You've been tempted to try some pretty dumb shit in the name of science, but not that dumb. Up spectrum run so cold, they must get freezer burn on their pan.)

"'sides, midbloods parties suck." You lean forward on the nutrition mesa, rapping your claws against the edge as you talk. "They're always so fucking cold." Wait, shit, he's out baking in the sun - that's not the best way to convince him to stay put. "Hmph. Iunno why you're always trying to get into 'em."

"You're the one that told me -" How did he phrase it? Oh, right. Their pitches aren't too different, when it comes down to it, but you exaggerate your words, stretches the vowels until it matches his fakey-fake highblood cadence. Maybe it'll make him laugh: he sounds like he needs it. "Midbloods are acceptable, not good. And most of them are barely that. Why, and heavens strike me if I am wrong, once I saw a teal wearing surplus goods--"

"Rude! I don't - I'm not constantly trying to hang with greenbloods," you protest, appalled and laughing despite that. "What does that even mean? I just - Sipa, I don't want to get robbed!"

"Or culled!" Hang out with your own caste, and suddenly you're one of the wealthiest people in the room: if people aren't chasing you to buy them drinks, they're trying to size you up as a target. And highbloods.. well.

Even at your drunkest, you're not quite daft enough to try and party with them.

You lean against the wall - not just because she told you to, but because you feel like you're going to fall over, and you'd rather not have OA come out to you sprawled across the pavement. You can't read them very well, but you suspect they'd just leave you.

Sipara's mocking you, but it's a familiar game between the two of you, and the role of the offended ponce is an easy one to fall into. "I don't sound like that," you sniff. "And - and - you're making it sound terrible, but it's not like it's untrue, is it? They're -"

Shit. You can't remember if you're meant to count your own caste or not, and it makes you pause. "Well! They're only three or four castes above us. And you've said worse! It's nothing against them personally, and, and besides -" you say, teasing, "you're one to talk! Are we still pretending you're not - haah - fooling around with poor Boopis?"

"Don't you poor Boopis me," you retort. He sounds calmer. Good! "And I'm not fooling around with her, you bulgemunch. I already dumped her once, remember?"

You glance around, but - of course, poor Boopis stayed in her own hive today. Good. Talking shit about your manager is always hilarious, given she's one of the few trolls that you and Pheres have both known forever, but the snitfits when she inevitably finds out are distinctly not. Sometimes you think she's the one with ears like a fucking hopbeast, not you. "We're just fucking. Geez, get it right."

"Speaking of which - sage advice, bro, don't fuck teals. Might as well go fuck an empty pail. It's probs warmer."

Heavens above, your moirail is an awful person. One day you're going to make her clear it up with Boopis - one way or another - because you might not be a romantic expert, but you're fairly certain the way Sipara jerks her around can't be healthy.

(For either of them! You're certain Boopis only tolerates you for Sipara's sake, but that doesn't mean you want her feelings getting hurt.)

But not today. Sipara mentions pailing, rolling out the word with a pointed emphasis, and you laugh, mortified, and hide your face behind your arm. "Stop that," you demand, and then she adds on her second comment, and you yelp: "Stop, oh my god -"

Or at least, that's what you try to say, but once you've started laughing, it's hard to stop.

Oh, no, you broke him. Aren't you awful.

"Come on, dude," you laugh, because fuck it, it's almost two in the fucking evening and you are exhausted, "calm the fuck down! It's not like I said don't fuck indigoes, it'll give you frostbite - even though it will, actually, don't fuck Riccin, either, that shit probably rubs off -"

Just as you're calming down, Sipara comes out with that, and you choke on the air.

What the hell?

"Don't - don't bring me into this," you splutter out, your righteous indignation somewhat ruined by the way laughter keeps bubbling up over your words. OA is pretty enough, but - no way in hell. "I'm not going to - why would I - you're a horrible person, you know that -"

You don't hear the door open behind you. Probably for the best: your face is currently buried behind an arm, like it'll hide the way you've gone cherry red, and you're wheezing for air that doesn't want to come. You're a little occupied to be worrying about OA.

The hivestem's lobby is dank as fuck, sweltering with the heat and pheromones from too many trolls packed into too small of a space. There's almost no light at all, save for what's streaming in from the parted curtains, but most of the bodies are flushed green as fuck.

No wonder someone slipped Pheres a honeypill: dumb motherfucker was probably the only rust on the scene. It could've been intentional, or else it could've been some kid, a little too eager to spread the mirth to think about checking caste before hand.

Who cares? Same result.

No one pays you much mind as you stalk through, stepping on hands and bodies of people too zoned out to think to move. There's a few glances, but you sincerely doubt you're the first fucker to trespass today: these sorts of events are rife with trolls being retrieved by their moirails, and the residents must figure you're here to retrieve yours. Whatever, let the swillbloods think what they fucking want.

(You've never been in a party like this: after-sermon meet-and-greets, sure, where the faygo's spiked and the air is kept as cold and humid as the inside of an refrigeration unit, but this isn't exactly the same. For one, there's not enough blood. And...)

The hell are you smelling?

(Scratch that: the honey pill definitely wasn't personal, because you're pretty sure most of these fuckers are high as kites right now. Who the fuck smokes sopor?)

There's a pair of moirails dozing in the cloak closet, and you step past them, snatching the first cloak that looks around the right size and the sunglasses from the larger trolls face. You're on your way out the door before they can even do more than sleepily protest, and whatever they say is too low to process as much more than a drone.

There's a half-drank bottle of alcohol by the door. You contemplate it, and then snatch it up, too. It smells like it's sopor-based, and if Pheres is still sparking, well. He's already proven he's not adverse to drinking: sopor'll fix the sparks, one way or the other.

But it looks like that was an unnecessary precaution, because when you step outside, the sound that greets them is hysterical laughter. Pheres is propped against the wall by the door, arm over his face, laughing so hard that you half-expect ruddy tears to be running down his face.

Maybe they are! You can't tell, because boy's bright as a colourgrub. It's a change of pace from the way he was cowering just a few minutes ago, and hmph. Maybe Sipara isn't such a shitty-ass rail, after all.

(Figures the only quad she's decent at is the one that doesn't fucking count.)

Pheres is still on the phone, his lips barely moving, but the buzz of his voice just loud enough that it registers to your ears. He might not know you can't hear worth a shit - he better not fucking know, or else you'll cull whatever wastechute's been running their seedflap - but it's still rude as fuck. If anyone's gonna be talking, they're going to do it where you can actually hear.

So you snatch the phone from him. It's not hard when his grip is already loose enough that it looks ready to drop, and when he makes a noise of protest, you dump the extra cloak on top of his head for good measure.

"Good job, nookmunch," you purr into the phone. Pheres is spluttering beside you, and on the other end of the line, Sipara looks like she's just about to pop a vein. Good. "Kid is sparky no more, so hell, maybe I won't ditch him now."

There's a sharp intake of breath, and then Sipara's actually growling over the phone, rattlereeds going so fast that it sounds like they're gonna snap straight in half. Your bloodpusher's twisting, the familiar, satisfying precursor to your war glands acting up, and -- holy shit, she's actually flashing fang at you now, the first time all day.

Took her fucking long enough.

"Later," you say brightly, just as it sounds like she's about to say something, and you end the call.

It starts ringing immediately as she calls back, and you're still grinning as you turn off the phone and shove it into your pocket.

The laughter cuts off when the world goes dark, and something plucks your phone from your fronds. You splutter with protest, interrupted mid-laugh, and you have to flail to get your face free. The cloth isn't restricting, but it's blocking your vision and you don't like it, not at all.

When you finally manage to scramble free, you're holding an oiled suncloak in your hands. You blink at it, and then look at OA: they were the one who took your phone, but it's gone now. Into a pocket? Or their sylladex? Rude.

Something is niggling in the back of your pan as you look at them, but you can't remember what. You're sure it'll pop back up eventually, or else Sipara will call and remind you. Normally you hate the way she likes to try and hover, but right now, you're alright with it: she's your moirail, and.. you're not exactly full functioning right now, although you're loathe to admit it. Hovering is her job, isn't it?

You shrug on the cloak, lacing it up with unsteady fingers. It's a little too large, but greenbloods don't tend that much larger, in width or height, and so it's easy enough to roll up the sleeves until they're no longer flopping over your fingers. The cloak itself is nothing to write home about, just the standard cheap, drone-produced swill you could buy at a depot, but for once, you're grateful for it: the fact the hood is meant to accommodate even girthy bluebloods is the only reason you even get it up and around your horns and hair, and once it's up, it's easy to tie the horn straps to keep it in place.

"Thank you," you say, polite. "Haah, ah. Shall we go?"

"Mm."

It's not much of a response, but you don't have much to say.

The fuck are you supposed to be talking about? You've skimmed his and Liyiji's conversations before, curious about the sheer amount of time your pitypal's wasted talking to a fucking rusty, but you were disappointed to find it's mostly just books, books, books.

(And Liyiji trying to troll for information on Pheres's caste. Miracles, your friends are all a bunch of dumbasses. Since when has a seadweller ever had a rack that size?)

You could start flapping about books. You've raided enough from the crypts underneath the Academy over the sweeps: your hive is practically bristling with them and other old shit you thought seemed interesting enough at the time. But the only book you read on the regular is the Book of Rhymes, and Pheres doesn't seem the sort to be interested in religious fucking philosophy.

Most folks aren't. Well, it fucking sucks to be them: you've got a hive full of Mirthful that actually know what shit's worth gabbing over.

But that stray thought reminds you of something, and you peer down at him, frowning. "Hey, fourhorns," you say, "where the fuck are you staying at?"

"Hey, fourhorns," they say, "where the fuck are you staying at?"

OA has hellishly long legs and a stride to match, and you have to struggle to keep up. You rely on your psionics for so much in terms of orientation, and you've never really noticed that before: without them constantly judging the distance and angles of your environment, processing where a jump is feasible and where it simply isn't, the world feels a little unreal. It's hard to convince your pan that the ground won't move between the lift and drop of each walkstub, and it's harder still when you're trying to meet OA's stride.

They're as tall as a highblood, and it feels like they're taking three steps for every one of yours. It's absurd, and it only takes a minute of this before you get fed up and loop an arm through theirs. It steadies you, which is a definite bonus, but it also forces their steps to falter and slow.

(You don't like physical contact with strangers, not unless you're going in with a certain goal, but - it doesn't feel restricting, exactly, when you're the one initiating it.)

"Sorry," you say when OA looks down at you. You grin apologetically up at them, ignoring the way your lookstem clicks with protest. "I - haah - you're going a little fast."

They'd asked you a question, and you scramble internally to remember the answer. Where are you staying? You left your combustioncart at a resting facility, way back at the start of the night, but you can't remember where. You hadn't thought to put it into your phone, because, well.. it's not exactly as if you were planning on going back to your hive today, was it?

And unfortunately, resting facilities in a city like this are a dime a dozen. Leaving a cart out in public is an excellent way to get it stolen, or ruined by drones, or marked up by lusii: paying someone to watch it is the only way to ensure there's something to come back to in the evening, even in the greenblood districts. Maybe it's safer in the highblood lawnring communities, but you've never been able to afford a oversolar there.

OA is staring at you, waiting, and you snap out of your introspection. You're supposed to be answering a question. Right.

"I'm staying in my cart," you say, worrying your lip. "But, haah, would you believe -- oh, this sounds awful. Um."

"I.. don't precisely remember what facility I left it at?" You look down and away, massaging the back of your neck. "But there can't be a lot of them out here, right?"

Oh, hello, there's a tiny-ass rust clinging to your arm. You slow, looking down, and he's grinning up at you, looking apologetic as fuck.

Whatever. It's hard to look at Pheres and not compare him to Sipara, but when you strip away the expectations, it's not like he's hideous: bony as a stripped cluckbeast and with those freaky-ass visionorbs, but the freckles are nice, and the horns make up for a lot. He'll look nicer when he's not flushed as red as a water dispensing device, probably, but...

Eh. As far as arm candy goes, he's not exactly bad.

Even if it is entirely too hot for the way he's pressed in close, claws hooked into the layered fabric of your cloak. You can handle it, though, and you listen with increasing incredulity as he talks. He lives in his cart. And --

"You lost your cart," you repeat. "You lost your cart, and you get drunk at fucking sunlight parties, and -- how the fuck aren't you dead?"

It's a rhetorical question, because honest to god, you do not give a single shit about the answer. Exasperation is winning out over incredulity. You don't have time for this bullshit, and right now, you're just about ready to go hive and climb into your coon.

"Whatever," you say, your voice flat. "You're just staying in my hive. Come on."

It's probably telling that the first thing you realise about OA's cloak is the fact it is expensive, more expensive than even the suncloak you keep in your syllabus for special occasions. The fabric is smooth and soft under the tips of your graspfronds, almost silky, and it feels like the fabric itself's been permeated in wax, because it's reflecting more heat than it's gaining.

"Haha. Ah. Um. Sheer luck?" Compared to you, their cloak is positively cool, and you press in close, pleased with your decision. You'd prefer to be inside, but this is at least a little reprieve from the heat, and that thought inspires you. "It's a miracle, really," you add, beaming up at them hard enough that your cheeks dimple. They're a cultist: they like that sort of thing, don't they?

You're not expecting the invitation to their hive, and for a moment, it throws you. They're not suggesting - no, no, of course not. Thank heavens, because OA seems nice enough, when they're not being terrifying, but no.

You might have gone out with a goal in mind, but OA is hardly eligible for the position. (Haah. Position.) There's a lot of rules you're willing to fudge in the name of some harmless fun, but pailing your moirail's ex is not one of them.

"Ah." You're not going to cast aspersions where there are none, you decide: they're just offering to let you sleep this off on their couch, and by the time the daymares wake you, hopefully it'll have burned off and you'll just leave. "If that's alright with you! I wouldn't want to, haah, be a bother.."

It's a miracle, he says.

"If it was a fucking bother, I wouldn't have offered." You look down at him, ready to ask what the fuck he's gabbing about, and when he tilts his head to meet your eye and beams, showing all those dull, bucky teeth, it strikes you that - oh, he did that on purpose.

It's easier to remember now why you found him appealing in the first place, back when he was just posting pictures on the board and you hadn't made the connection with between some four-pronged rustie and Sipara's rarely mentioned moirail. Nice rack, nice face, and nice manners. Maroons who know their place are few and far between, and ones worth looking at are even rarer.

He's still bricky red, but what can you say? You're a sucker for a lowblood who can spout religion.

It's just a shame about the eyes.

But luckily, you already thought about that. Fishing around in your pocket, you pull out the tinted eye protectors and present them to him with a flourish. "Nah, what's a real miracle is that those wicked monstrosities haven't gotten your chump ass culled," you say, amused. "Put these on, before some fucker starts getting ideas."

They.. aren't threatening to put out your eyes, are they? No, no. You're being unflattering again, you're sure, but just in case, you slide on the unfamiliar glasses as soon as OA presents them to you.

(Everyone hates your eyes, but honestly, you don't understand why. You like them better than the rosewood they should be: the way they blind you in the light is thoroughly unlovable, but they look nice against the swarthy complexion of your skin, and they go well with your clothes. All of your clothes, because white goes with everything.)

(It's not like it's an actual mutation! Some of the people they let past the culling pits these days are honestly distressing; for heavens sake, you saw a girl with multiple pupils out and about the other night, and you don't understand how no one seems to have a problem with that.)

You forgot how soothing it is to have glasses on. For the first time in hours, the suns indirect light doesn't leave you feeling like there are needles in your eyes, and the sparks still dancing at the edge of your vision are reduced to mere blurs. The tint on the glasses is weaker than what you prefer, but the way the worlds gone dark is comforitng.

"They're not cull-worthy," you retort with a sniff. They're not threatening to put your orbs out, but the joke still leaves you feeling defensive. "Everyone always asks that, like - haah - they've never seen a psi- a ps- someone with powers before."

"You're lucky you're so tall." Your tone is playful, but it's not quite a joke. You can see their eyes, bright as the sky behind them, but with the glasses on, they almost look normal. "I bet no one can even see your orbs up there, can they?"

Sunlight has never felt so good.

Hinnom scrambles up the ladder first and then loiters by it, shouting down encouragements. The climb up the ladder is difficult - legislacerator training is a lot of things, but physically taxing is not one of them - but it's worth it, when you crest the last rung and emerge in a day bright with light.

Your eyes adjust quickly, and it's marvelous to actually be able to see again. "Oh," you say, pleased, "I know where we are! I can lead from here - we're only a block away, now -"

There's no objection, so you takes off walking. It's hot, but right now, fresh from the chill of the underground, the heat is a refreshing change. You've always liked the feeling of sun on your face, and if you hold your head high as you walk, perhaps you can pretend the trolls turning to stare are looking at your uncovered skin, and not because you just climbed out of a sewer.

Oh, god, it is so fucking hot.

"You should make this quick," Castor says from behind you. Ghosts aren't bothered by the sunlight 'cause they're just psychic imprints. There's no ganderbulbs to be hurt by the changing light, and so he's trailing Marduk, and you're following him, your gaze reduced to black-lashed slits.

There's no point in keeping your ganderbulbs open, anyway. Even with the hood of the cloak shading your vision, it's going to be a minute before they stop watering enough for you to see. You love using the sewers to go around - no people, no bother - but that's gotta be the worst part of it all: popping out and having the sun yell howdy, all bright and personal.

Castor's talking still, but you ignore him. Mardie gets weirded out whenever you start talking to ghosts around her, and besides, Castor doesn't care if you're listening or not, not really: he talks while you're asleep and he talks while you're awake, and even if you were dead, your pretty sure he'd still be there, yakking away at your gross huskbody.

But sometimes he says things worth paying attention to.

"There's two people up ahead," he reports a few moments later. "A lowblood.. and a highblood?"

That's weird. It's way past noon: almost no one's awake at this time of day, and you've never actually seen a highblood in person before. "Hey, Mardie," you chirp, darting forward until you're in step beside her. "There's folks up ahead!"

"Oh?" You can't see anything off in the distance, and you tilt your head to the side. There's no way that Hinnom can see better than you out in the sunlight - but sure enough, a few seconds later, the two forms come into view.

"How did you know?" you ask, surprised, but there's no time for that when the pair is walking straight towards you. They're both swaddled in suncloaks, and for a moment, you're hesitant: maybe it's not the right troll? Sipara hadn't mentioned he'd be with a friend. But then the light catches the smaller one's horns, and the caps flash white in the daylight. You saw his pictures on the forums, and while plenty of trolls dock their horns, adorning the stubs is significantly less common.

The academy is full of highbloods: there isn't a single teacher in your hall that is lower than teal, but even after two sweeps, talking to one makes you feel like you're swallowing nails. But Sipara asked her to retrieve her moirail, and you agreed, so you square your shoulders and steps forward.

"Greetings," you call out. If you pretends this is one of your mock trials, then maybe your voice won't shake. "My name is Marduk Lector, of the Imperial Legislacerator, division eight under Proctor Sungazer."

"I was sent to collect Pheres Dysseu?"

You've taken mind honey for testing procedures before, when the scienstiffs were trying to see how far your psionics could be pushed, and it took three days to come down from the resulting sparkshow. Pheres is still sparking steadily away, little stings of static that keep zapping you through your clothes, but he must not have taken much - or maybe the alcohol is diluting it, because apart from the sparks, he just seems drunk.

Scratch that. From the way he's stumbling over his words, you better make that trashed.

"You're lucky you're so tall." He sounds amused, but a little envious, too, and you can't blame him. Thank the Messiahs the program inducted you when you were still a shrimp: if you'd stayed on a lowblood's allowance and feed, you'd probably have ended up just as stunted as him. "I bet no one can even see your orbs up there, can they?"

"Got it in one, brother," you drawl. "My orbs are a regular mystery. Fuckers don't even know."

He laughs, pressing his palm against your shoulder, and alright, maybe this little retrieval mission wasn't such a waste of time.

You don't really notice the two trolls walking towards you, until the little jadeblood stops directly in front of you and starts making noise. You wouldn't think you'd know her from a peg in a tent, but when you cant your eyes down, there's something familiar about her, and it's weirding you the fuck out.

(You don't associate with jades: yellow and down and blue and up are your rules of thumb, because Carnival's taught you that everyone worth living is someone that can be used, and olives to ceruleans are fucking useless. Too blue for psionics and too green for the bluebloods: the only thing they're good for is the caverns, and you don't need that many cavern workers.)

And then you tune in on the sounds she's making, and the mystery is solved. Right. Imperial trainee: that's what was tripping you up. The tunics they wear aren't exactly unique, but the belt holes for the sashes that bear their proctor's caste pretty much are, even if this little jade's missing hers.

"Riccin Kāyata," you say, stepping forward, and pulling Pheres with you. There's no need to look intimidating: when you've got over a foot of height on your side, it's impossible not to. "Of the Imperial Helms program, division six, under Proctor Shepherd."

"If we're all up and dropping rank, sister," you say, sneering the words. Schoolrules say your proctor's caste matters more than yours, and you can't get much higher than a fucking violet. "But I don't see why the fuck we have to start up that raucous noise."

You smile, showing your teeth, but there's nothing friendly about it, or the pointed lift of your eyebrows. "Who the fuck sent you?"

"Stay away from them," Castor tells you, wary. "They look dangerous."

He doesn't need to say it twice. You're a lot of things, but stupid isn't one of them: the highblood-looking fucker might as well be twice your height, and the sort of lowbloods that associate with highbloods aren't the sorts you want to lift your spirits with.

Marduk has stepped between you and the older trolls, and you're perfectly comfortable with that. If it came to strifing, you've got your sword, and Castor, and your centispidermom, sleeping under the collar of your cloak... but no way it'll come to that.

Marduk'll make sure of that. Right?

There's people in front of you, and you blink owlishly at them as the stout girl steps forward, her chin set. With the glasses on, you can actually see her face rather than a sunbleached gray blob, and.. oh, she must be jade, because her skin is exposed, and not even blushing under the light.

You are so jealous. (She doesn't look like she's being boiled alive.) It's enough to distract you from the fact she's talking about something, and.. saying your name? OA glances down at you, and you shrug, letting them pull you forward with them.

You have no idea what OA - no, Riccin, evidently - is talking about, or anything that the little jade said, apart from your name. So you wait patiently, leaning in againsnt Riccin's arm until it seems like a good time to speak.

"I'm sorry," you say, when you get the chance, "but, ah - who are you, exactly?"

Oh.

The Shepherd is a name that you haven't heard often, but it's impossible not to recognise it. Her face and symbol are everywhere, after all, as the current dean of the Imperial Education Programs.

You hadn't realised that she was a proctor as well. Today has been an amazing lesson about all the things you've never realised, and you're starting to feel a little resentful.

You've never seen a helmsman trainee before, either, and now that Riccin has identified themselves as such, you're curious. Everyone knows they start the wetware installations at a young age, but if there's apiculture integrated into Riccin's flesh, there's no way to tell: they're swathed head-to-toe in cloth, from the suncloak to the boots to the gloves on their hands, and there's nothing to see on their face save for the blue spark of their eyes and the white dabs of paint.

They don't seem the sort that would be receptive to questions, though. Riccin has drawn themselves up to their full height and they're looming over you, their lip curled in a sneer. If they're trying to intimidate you - well, it's working, because you have to steel yourself to keep from stepping back, and the only thing that really stops you is the fact you know Hinnom is behind you.

"Who the fuck sent you?" they ask, voice flat.

Their eyes might be blue, you remind yourself, but if they're a part of the helmsman program, then that means you're the highblood. Most of the kids in the legislacerator program are jadebloods like you, but there's more than a few violets and indigoes: all the isolated castes, that can't be regulated by normal midbloods for one reason or another. Your roommate is one of them, and thankfully, it's not hard to imagine what Sappho would say.

"His moirail," you say pompously, and your voice doesn't even crack, because you're Sappho, and she wouldn't care about a helmsman, even if their proctor was the Empress herself.

It's that thought that sends you stepping forward to the smaller figure, chin up, horns canted.. not defensively, but assertively. You don't have to be defensive, not when you're the highest caste here by two.

(The Academy always emphasizes one thing over the rest, regardless of program: respect the hemospectrum. You're desperately hoping that it carries true among the helmsmen, because your training's never covered how to deal with aggressive psionics.)

"Your handle is RS, isn't it?" You hold out a hand, and you steadfastly ignore the way it's shaking. "My online personal identification tag is forgottenSebayt. We've engaged in prior communications."

"Oh!"

Now that she's said it, you can see it. You'd never thought of her face before, but Marduk looks almost exactly like you would've imagined: small, round, and thoroughly academic, although you hadn't anticipated the snaggletooth.

Although.. she's not that small. Her eyes are level with your horns, so she has to tilt her chin down just a little to make eye contact, and she's round in a way that lowbloods rarely achieve: not just weight padding muscle, like with Sipara, but honestly round, with dimples to her cheeks even though she's not smiling, and a certain green flush that implies regular access to food.

In short, she looks healthier than most greenbloods you've met. You're not sure what the Imperial Education Program is, but evidently, it's been treating her and Riccin quite well.

You take the proferred hand loosely and shake it. Handshakes are such a greenblood thing, and the way she automatically defaults to it, like you're not rust, is charming. Her skin is cool and soft against yours, and between that and the way you're still twined around Riccin's arm, the fabric cooling your skin, you're starting to feel drowsy.

Drowsy, but not actually tired enough to stop the sparks. You hastily pull back as a crackle of aura snaps off of your horn and flies towards her. "Sorry," you say. Your instinct is to duck your horns and back away, but that just flings more sparks free, and your arm is still looped through Riccin's. "Um. Try not to let them -"

Too late. Marduk flinches as a spark hits her skin and sizzles, and you flush. "Try not to let them touch you," you finishes, a bit lamely. "Sorry. Bad reaction to.. a drink. Ah. It's nice to meet you?"

The little jadeblood steps right on past you, like you don't even matter, and your temper flares. Trainee or not, you're apt to knock those fucking horns off. It's one things when indigoes act like that - it's their fucking right, as top of the rung. But you're not about to let some rotblood stick their nose in the air like a goddamn blueblood.

But Pheres speaks up first, and a better idea strikes you instead. Sipara wants this fucker to lead her poor diamond home? Well, fuck that: she should've come calling herself, because now you're handling it.

"Drink, my ass," you say, sharp and pointedly cheerful. "Some greenblood slipped him some honey and shit ain't going too well for him. He's an out-of-towner, so I was going to take him to my hive.. but fuck, if you think your dorms'll enjoy the lightshow, it'll be my fucking pleasure if you want to take his chump-ass off my fronds."

They won't. Bringing a free troll onto academy grounds after hours is a great way of getting reprimanded. Sneaking a sparking lowblood into the dorms, though - that's some cullbait shit, right there.

The spark is more startling than it is painful: it's like the zap of static electricity, or the frisson on your lusus's scales after he goes rolling in the laundry. Still, you step back, folding your hand safely behind you as you consider.

Sipara said he had a hive. Was she expecting you to take him all the way to the city outskirts? It's distressingly plausible: your brownblooded friends are a lot of things, but considerate has never been one of them.

You can't bring him back to your dormitories. If he were a caste or two higher, you might be able to pass him off as a quadrantmate and gain an exemption that way.. but Proctor Sungazer disapproves of caste gaps, and expects his creche to abide strictly by the three castes or less rule, analogous colours only. And you can't just bring Pheres in as a friend. No one would believe that.

You won't get culled, of course. You're a jade, and the caste is too rare for any physical reprimands short of outright treason. But Pheres certainly would be, and the consequences for you would be still be distinctly unpleasant.

(You've seen the girls with cut horns, and yours may not be very large, but you like them the way they are.)

You chew on your lip. Your confidence is slipping: you don't know Sappho nearly well enough to decide what she would do now, and you don't know what you should do. This is why you like staying in your dorms, with your books as company. Books, like the laws, are predictable and precise: they follow rules, and if you only pay attention, you'll always know how the plot will go, and what the characters will do.

You wish life was that simple.

"No," you finally say. "I don't think they would."

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[pheres you protest too much]

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[pheres won't acknowledge his drunken hook-ups even while on the prowl for drunken hook-ups]

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