It was finally here. The higher bloods dreamed of it, the lower bloods dreaded it. A rainbow of trolls approached the large ship, eager and terrified of what lay ahead. The military was one of the most common things on these trolls' minds, who were certain of their future before even entering the gargantuan ships. The hemospectrum was more important than ever before now, as the trolls were separated into their various places in society. Most of the trolls were around nine or ten, eyes fully filled in, horns mostly grown to their fullest. The time had come for this generation of young trolls to be shipped off of Alternia, starting their adult troll life.

Two trolls were "playfully" teasing each other a short ways away from the crowd, bored and waiting for their other companions. The first, garbed in a red and teal costume, bumbled around and frequently poked the other with a cane, and manically cackled like a witch during random intervals. The second was doing his very best to ignore her, but to no avail. After some red and blue static flying from his eyes, the girl backed off, smiling yet frightened. She flipped a coin to try and decide whether or not to try and act like a bumbling blind girl again, but the coin landed on scratched. Hm. Boring. She shrugged and looked around for her friends.

Most of them hadn't met each other in person, aside from the FLARPers. The trolls that did play FLARP, however, were either mortal enemies of each other or were too guilty to talk to each other since the incident. The non-FLARPers wouldn't be too hard to find, though. There were certain characteristics that they were looking for.

Yes, he has purple blood, but it's not indigo.

That could be her, except she's missing a set of fins.

Sure, he's angry alright, but his horns are too big.

That one isn't nearly sweaty enough.

This went on for a ridiculously long amount of time. When would these slackers get here? It's not like the ship's going to wait forever, and if you don't get on and they find you, you'll get culled in a second. It's not normal for older trolls to be on Alternia anyway, you would stick out like a sore thumb. But hey, there are a lot of hiding places. Caves, ditches, et cetera. You would find a hiding place, no matter how bland your miserable life would be from that point in time. Your choice.

There was silence for an even longer time. The two trolls were anxious to see their friends, but they were also curious about what they were really like. Were they really as obnoxious in person? Maybe, maybe not. How could they know until they meet?

Finally, there was a tap on the girl's shoulder, and a calm, musical voice sounded out.

"Are You The Only Two That Have Found Your Way Here?"

"Y3AH."

"I Am So Sorry I Cannot Join You," she squeaked.

Being a jadeblood, she had the "honorable" duty of tending to the Mother Grub for the rest of her life, so she could not enter a ship. There was no need for her to leave Alternia; the Mother Grub lived underneath Alternia. However, she could continue her normal life of designing and creating clothes, the only passion she might have been able to keep. Despite this, most of her time would be dedicated to tending to the Mother Grub.

"Terezi," began the jadeblood, "May I Ask Why You Are Wearing Your Flarp Outfit?"

"H3H3, 1'M GO1NG TO B3 4 PROS3CUTOR, 4R3N'T 1?"

"But…Oh Never Mind."

The jadeblood sighed. There wasn't any real artful aspect to the outfit at all. She could have added some button or ribbon to class it up a bit, but she knew that Terezi wouldn't care for it at all. The jadeblood turned to the other troll.

"How Are You Taking All Of This?"

"ii don't know. fiine ii gue22."

She knew that Sollux was lying. There was no way he was okay with the direction his life was going in. He was either going to be a biological weapon or a ship battery. Being a weapon would involve Sollux killing things by the thousands. On the other hand, if he was a Helmsman, he would be sucked dry of his life and power. Either way, he'd die at some point from overuse of power. Who would possibly enjoy something like that?

Sollux brought out his computer and started typing incomprehensible gibberish onto the screen. Great. Another ~ATH program. He opened up another tab, hastily typing a message to one of their friends. After a few minutes, he sent over the virus as well. There was a pause, and everyone was silent, waiting for the other troll to respond. But alas, no response, no obnoxious comeback to the offending backhanded insult that Sollux sent, no uncontrollable streams of consciousness in the form of curses and extended metaphors. Which wasn't a surprise, he hadn't responded to them at all since his last wriggling day, half a sweep ago.

"ST1LL NOT 4NSW3R1NG?"

"what do you thiink?"

Terezi scratched her head. Sollux turned back to his computer, frantically sending more messages, more insults, and even an apology.

"diid you 2ee anybody we know?"

"I Can Not Say That I Have."

"two bad," he said, fiddling with his computer, "ii really want two mess wiith theiir 2tuff."