The Lalonde's had fought to the end. Even as the Condesce and her drones faced their manor, the only reply for them was not a white flag of surrender, but rather several rounds from an automated weapon held onto by one very pissed off mother. Roxy Lalonde and her daughter had killed every drone, but when it came to the Baroness herself, only one of them got to live. But Rose wasn't without her victory, for she had still managed a fatal shot to the head of a certain rainbow-loving highblood. This had only made Condesce hate her, and curse her family name even more. So instead of culling her (the standard, brutal-if-not-more-merciful treatment) she simply had Rose auctioned off to the saddest fuckin' captain in the Alternian Fleet and his motley crew of fuck ups... Eridan Ampora. Well, she wasn't even auctioned, she was actually handed over for free. For even the Empress of Alternia could not think of a more painful and cruel punishment for anyone to have than to spend more than five minutes with the sad sack genetic match of Orphaner Dualscar. It was not simply a punishment of enslavement, but also a punishment of humiliation to be tossed to someone so low on the social ranking. To have been tossed to the pigs would have been kinder.
"Excuse me Rose, could you please assist me in the sewing block?" Kanaya Maryam, Captain Ampora's personal stylist asked of her. Rose hated Kanaya slightly less than other trolls, which was not much considering that well, she really hated trolls. For killing her mother, for killing her freedom, and making a slave out of a girl who could have had so much more. Still, spending time with Kanaya was marginally less boring than dusting the rows of biased Alternian history books in the library of the ship. At least Kanaya was pleasant to be around. Under different circumstances, Rose might have even desired a friendship with her. But for the past month, she had been a servant under troll rule, and she wasn't about to start getting used to it.
Rose opened the door to the sewing block for Kanaya. To her disappointment, Prince Ampora was there. "See, I ain't sure if I wanna' cape with the pointed collar or not." Eridan droned on. Kanaya sighed, and signaled for Rose to hold the bottom hem of the cape while she pinned it together.
"I say go with whatever one matches the douche scarf." Dave said from across the room. He was the only other official slave of the ship. While nobody on the ship except Eridan was on the empire's payroll, only Dave and Rose were officially classified as slave laborers. Both Rose and Kanaya found themselves laughing at his commentary. Rose covered mouth with her free hand. She was happy to be stuck here with Dave.
"Do I have to whip you to make you shut up or do we have to go straight to cuttin' out your oral flapping device?" Eridan hissed. Though he didn't mean it. He was more pathetic and annoying than he was cruel. The worst he would do is threaten Dave and make him do the worst of the worst chores. Which Dave was assigned to do anyways.
"Back off man, I ain't after your alien spade kismetfish whatever. I'm just pointing out that to anyone native to earth, you look like a douchebag and there is no amount of Kanaya's fashion magic that can fix it." Dave said. Kanaya covered her mouth with one of her taloned hands, the nails of which were painted a jade green color. She was about to explode into a giggling fit if Dave kept it up any more.
"Magic isn't real." Eridan argued.
"Fashion can easily be considered an art, magic or science. In Kanaya's case, I'd say it would be all three." Rose said, her voice was barely above whisper. She flattered Kanaya needlessly whenever she could. As a slave, Rose was willing to do anything she could to get in the good graces of her captors. Plus, she didn't completely detest Kanaya.
"Pointed collar or not?" Eridan asked.
"Absolutely not, you know that I would never consent to sewing that in the first place." Kanaya said. "Besides, for your new coat I was thinking that a cape attached to the epaulets on the shoulders would be more appropriate and perhaps less reminiscent of our wrigglerhood days."
"So no collar?" Eridan asked.
"If he's still wearing his scarf with that, I swear I'll eat my only pair of socks," Dave commented as he picked the numerous metal needles out of the carpet of the sewing room with his bare fingers. Eridan jabbed him in the shin with the tip of his boots like a wriggler.
"No collar, no cape." Kanaya replied. Eridan had the most pathetic expression on his face that Rose had ever seen in her life.
"But Fef... she..." Eridan said.
"Feferi is no longer alive, and neither am I, and neither are many other trolls we used to be in cahoots with. You are a captain and though you may be a sad excuse of one, you are still required to hoist up your striped denim fabric pants and get through the day like an adult."
"Kanaya, I am sorry," Eridan said. He sounded forlorn and sad, if highbloods could be sad.
"We are all sorry. We can only look forward to the future and stop chewing on our knitted scarves." Kanaya said and pulled the scarf out of Eridan's mouth. His nervous scarf chewing habit was disgusting. She wondered how the damn scarf wasn't in shreds by now.
"Is Vriska still out there?" Eridan asked.
"Do you think we would know if she was?" Kanaya replied.
"If she's out there, you know she's with Bro," Dave said.
"Dave-" Rose said.
"My bro can take anything. A sword to the chest? Please, he's probably off with his puppets on Vriska's pirate ship out there stealing from these alien bastards," Dave said. He was in denial. He could not believe that Dirk was dead, even if he witnessed it. Goodness knows, no one in that room, not even Eridan would tell him how stupid it was. They all wanted to believe it too.
"Except you, and Terezi, and Sollux." Dave added in. "You are the exceptions to the bastard rule."
"Hey now-" Eridan argued.
"You're not an exception. Got your pins out of the carpet and I am off to vacuum the respite blocks like you asked. Laters." Dave said, placing the now-filled pincushion on the floor next to Kanaya. Kanaya resumed drapeing and pinning the cape. Rose held up the fabric and sighed once again. Dave was obnoxious, but it still got her through the day.
"Well, what do you think of this?" Kanaya asked. Eridan stepped forward and to the side quickly, trying to make his cape sway behind him like a majestic grey-skinned supervillain. Or he thought it did, Rose just always assumed that he looked more like a boy who read too much 'Harry Potter' growing up and it never really left him. It was almost paradoxical in appearance. He was trying so hard. If Eridan was truly fearsome, then he wouldn't need to hide under a dark cape and a 'sailor' coat as though he was the actual pilot of this ship. The actual pilot wore a tshirt, sweats, and slippers. He didn't have to reaffirm his skills with anyone.
"It flows nicely. Thanks, Kan. When's the entire coat going to be finished?" Eridan asked.
"In a day or so. I need to sew in the lining and tack on the trim," Kanaya said.
"Excellent. Rose, can you go to the library and bring my copy of 'Alternian Battle History in the Ninth Sector of the Andromeda Galaxy Discussing Tactical Advantages of Psionic Helmsmen' to the glass walled conference block?" Eridan asked.
Rose nodded and walked as quickly as she could. What he really meant was, 'grab me that large book I left in the incorrect place this morning' and'bring it to the green house garden'. Which would have been far more easy for him to say considering that he had some strange speech impediment that clearly prevented him from saying his 'w' and 'v' sounds correctly. Eridan said it was an accent that sea dwellers had, but Rose never heard a another troll, seadweller or not talk like that. Her only other experience with the fish aliens was the so-named 'Batterbitch' who, for which ever reason, spoke in a southern accent much stronger than Dave's. The library was a large, dusty room. Eridan never went in here, he only had Rose fetch books from it so he could read them in a better place. It reminded her of the library in her mother's home, but all of the books were in foreign text that served no purpose but to remind Rose of her place. She could not even get lost in a book.
The book was left on a table, and was already open to the page that Eridan had left on. Rose tucked a bookmark between the pages and closed the book before leaving. These were the small details that most people wouldn't think of. Unless they were a slave. When considering someone's place in a book became less about being polite and more about staying alive- it mattered quite a bit. There were always the little things to think about. When the proper time is to change the slime in the recuperacoons, what temperate to set the water in the showers, the fact that Eridan hated cilantro while Sollux found it addicting, how calling Kanaya a 'vampire' was culturally insensitive, sorting out the mail by blood color and alphabetical order; and of course remembering how that stupid hemocaste system worked and how Rose was so low on it she didn't even classify as a person to them.
All of these were important, not because they mattered to Rose personally, but because remembering them was reason why Rose had never received a beating. Not even after she had committed a high crime. Before going up to the garden, she stopped by the kitchen. Rose also remembered that even if he didn't ask for it, Eridan would be expecting a cup of lavender earl grey with two sugars, one spoon of whole milk with his book. It was a human tea. Go figure, one of the few things that humans invented that alternians found enjoyable was caffeinated beverages. Other wise, he'd ask for it anyways and she'd have to run across the ship yet again to make him a cup of tea. It saved energy to just do it without being told to. It was more for Rose than it was for Eridan.
"You really bring a new level to the phrase athkissing" Sollux said. A trail of pink wires followed him from the Helmsblock into the kitchen of the ship. He opened a foil package of a grub tart and had a can of monster in his hard.
"What can I say, I really enjoy not being beaten." Rose replied back. Sollux didn't care if she talked back, he was barely a step above her on the hemocaste. He was technically a battery in troll form connected to the ship by what looked like an IV attached to his wrist.
"I could gueth that you also really enjoy Eridan." Sollux said. Rose always wondered why a society that could make a man into a machine to power an entire ship through the ocean couldn't bother with inventing cosmetic dental procedures to fix his godawful lisp.
"You are doing that less than endearing troll habit of confusing love with contempt, and you also lisp like a fifth grade who hasn't had what you would call tooth correctional wires put in yet." Rose told him. Sollux rolled his eyes.
"I'll have you know that thith lithp is considered very thexy on my home planet." Sollux replied.
"Lies!" Terezi shouted from across the room. She could seriously smell the lie across the room. That was the extent to which it was totally untrue.
"I will leave you two to debate the inherent sexiness of Sollux's speech impediment. I am off to deliver Eri Potter a book on needless violence and tea." Rose said, walking out of the meal preparation block with the book and tea, and she hated herself for not thinking of 'kitchen' first. Is this what those women felt when they were taken hostage by the terrorists in the mountains? She saw that on the news when she was young, about how the women eventually converted to the religion and even helped their captors. It seemed like a far off concept then, but felt closer to home now. Rose wondered when she'd finally turn grey and grow horns like the rest of them.
The green house room was towards the back end of the ship, and it was exactly as it said. A room in which a section of the ship's top deck was remolded to look like a small field or garden of sorts. It was a massive green house with glass wall and a glass roof. All ships that were given long tasks (this ship served no purpose but to drift aimlessly through the ocean like a promoted baby sitter) that required months away from shore were required to have some sort of agricultural sustenance. This was mostly to prevent trolls from eating each other when the rations ran out, but it wasn't bad to look at. The interior was lined with edible flowers of all sorts, a small pond, as well as a set of tables and chairs. Eridan was sitting in one of the chairs, playing with his cellphone as he waited for Rose. As Terezi would say, the multicolored room was a delicious change from the grey and black bore of the rest of the ship. Rose couldn't bring herself to dislike it, she even had to admit, it was an ingenious idea.
"Your book sir," Rose said as she set down both the book and the mug of tea. Above them, the moon was already high in the sky, a pale orange nightlight in the sky illuminating the black empty sea before her. How many thousands of miles was she from where her home was destroyed?
"Thank you." Eridan said, "Can you do something else for me?"
"Of course," Rose said. It was not like she could say no.
"Sit with me while I read?" Eridan asked.
"Yes sir." Rose said, she sat next to Eridan at the table while he read. She did not ask to leave, not even when he had fallen asleep at the table beside her.
Kanaya approached Rose and Eridan. Eridan had his head against Rose's shoulder. Rose had to tilt her head at a strange angle so his horns wouldn't jab her. Kanaya patted Eridan on the cheek to wake him up. He groaned loudly and sat up straight again. Rose readjusted her neck, which now had a painful crick in it from being in the position for too long. She moved her head from side to side, trying to make it go away faster. Kanaya had a flustered expression on her face. Eridan put the bookmark in his palce and closed the book on the table.
"I'm hungry," Kanaya said. There was a hint of shame in her voice that she was desperately trying to hide.
"I don't mind," Rose said.
"Are you certain? I drank from you three days ago."
"It's fine, I can take it," Rose said as she rolled up the sleeve of her shirt to her elbow. A few faint scars marked the inside of her arm where Kanaya had bitten her before.
"Please tell me to stop if you feel faint," Kanaya said. She knelt down on her knees and bit into Rose's arm. The sound was like biting into an apple. Rose gasped quietly under her breath and looked off to the side. Kanaya was a gentle biter, but a flesh wound was still a flesh wound. It was overly painful as the endorphins began to kick in. She could see Kanaya's skin begin to glow brighter as she consumed her blood. Her head began to feel lighter, and then she fell out of the chair. Kanaya released her fangs from Rose's forearm immediately and held her in her lap.
"Rose?" Kanaya asked. She papped her cheek gently, trying to rouse her, but Rose was completely out of reach. Everything was spinning and fuzzy. The last thing she knew was Eridan lifting her up.
Rose was awake in Eridan's respiteblock. The lights were dimmed. The floor was a sparkling, cream colored fake marble and the trims were all gilded and tacky. There wasn't much in the way of furniture, because unlike the other trolls, he preferred to sleep in a large tub of frigid cold water. There was a desk, a pile of books, including some personal journals, and a dark purple plush couch. The rest of the room was kept cold and blank. It was only used for sleeping and bathing. Rose was laid on a couch where he sometimes used his laptop. His computer was set on the floor next to the couch. Kanaya and Eridan were sitting on the floor next to her, watching her intently. She had one of his capes laid over her. Both Eridan and Kanaya were looking at her with a concerned expression.
"I'm sorry Rose," Kanaya said. She had a pained expression on her face.
"It's alright, I'm fine, I just fainted," Rose explained. Her head was pounding but other than that, she didn't feel sick or hurt at all.
Terezi was next to arrive in the room. Sollux's lifeline didn't allow him to walk so far in the ship, and Dave was sleeping at this hour. She was breathing hard and staring at the three of them, Her cellphone was still in her hand. Rose felt embarrassed that everyone on the ship that was awake was now aware of her embarrassing little moment in the garden. She wanted to get out of the room and forget about it. Terezi joined Kanaya and Eridan in giving her a perfect trio of concerned expressions. Rose wasn't sure if she could trust any of them.
"I got your message, what happened?" she asked.
"I fainted, and I'm fine," Rose said. She gently pushed Eridan's cape to one side and sat up. Eridan said something in their alien language that Rose could not understand. She could understand that the overall tone of it was not threatening, but Terezi and Kanaya shuffled out of the room, staring back at Rose. She was confused and her head was still fuzz and pain. Rose remembered for a second, that it was considered disrespectful for 'lowbloods' to be in the private respiteblock of fish alien royalty. Rose tried to get off of the couch but Eridan held his hand to her chest so she could not move forward.
"Please Rose," Eridan said.
"I promise, I am fine," Rose said.
"You were passed out for an hour. You are not fine. At least let take you to your respiteblock so you can rest," Eridan said. He tossed his cape aside and picked up Rose.
"You don't need to carry me," Rose said. She felt ridiculous. Eridan was holding her fairytale style. It felt a little bit silly. Rose was sure she could get back to her room, even if she had to stumble a little bit on the way.
"It's easier if I don't have to worry about you fallin down," Eridan told her. Rose sighed and let him carry her like a limp doll. Next to him, she felt awfully small. She was tall for a human, but compared to trolls, humans were small. She was the same height as Dave, and Terezi. Kanaya and Eridan stood somewhere a bit above six feet in height, and Sollux was the tallest of all of them. He was maybe a foot taller than Eridan. Yet Rose was told that a troll of his color would grow faster than the rest of them. Meaning that the rest of the trolls, were no where near fully grown.
He pressed the entry code on the wall and the door opened. Rose's respite block was messy. Her writing books and her yarn was scattered everywhere. Her cover was put astray. Rose spent so much time working on chores to clean and maintain the ship that her personal quarters went unnoticed. Or perhaps not. Her room back home, which was torn down and built over, was just as messy when it still existed. What little Rose had were gifts from the trolls when it fortuitous, or things from back home she had managed to stash. Her laptop and her mobile pad were on a desk in the corner, plugged in and undisturbed. Humans weren't supposed to have internet access under the empress's rule. Dave and Rose were allowed to have it anyways, because the ship was big, there were only six people living there. Messaging via trollian was the only efficient means of getting stuff done. Eridan set her down on the mattress.
"Thank you, you didn't have to," Rose said.
"Kan feels guilty about what happened, so its better if I made sure you weren't hurt," Eridan said. Rose never thought of him as the kind of person who cared.
"Were you friends on your home planet?" Rose asked.
"We knew each other, but I wasn't a good friend to anyone when I was younger."
"But Kanaya sticks around?"
"I've done a lot a things I ain't proud of, but I'm trying to do better."
"Thankyou. I will talk to Kanaya when I assist her tomorrow..."Rose said. Blood drinking monster or not, Kanaya was kind to her. It was no surprise that she had so many friends who cared about her. She didn't mean to be, whatever it was. It wasn't her fault. Even Rose understood this.
"Your assignment is to take it easy tomorrow and don't do anythin."
"Kanaya's assignments aren't very physically exerting."
"Rose."
"Understood. I will enjoy my day off, and again, thank you."
That morning Dave knocked on the door before pressing the keypad and opening it. Rose was sitting bed writing some of 'complacency'. She closed the notebook and stuffed it under the covers when Dave walked in with breakfast on a tray. He had his shades perched on his head and his red eyes looked bloodshot and worried. After a good night of sleep, Rose felt fine and refreshed. She could easily go back to working, but she was given a day off, a luxury she assumed she wasn't going to be getting frequently. Might as well sit back and enjoy it, right?
"I brought you breakfast. What the hell happened to make Eridan give you the day off?" Dave asked. He set the tray on Rose's lap. He had made her some scrambled eggs, bacon and a short stack of pancakes. Rose felt an emotion of gratitude she hadn't felt in awhile.
"Kanaya drank a bit too much of my blood last night and I passed out. Kanaya was very concerned so I was given the day off to recuperate."
"Damn it," Dave cursed.
"Dave, she didn't mean it, and thank you for making me breakfast. You really didn't have to."
"It was my first task of the day. Plus I wanna talk to you."
"About what?"
"It's hard to talk to you because I know you don't want to be friends with any of 'em, but I think I might be uh, falling for Terezi," Dave confessed.
"Yet you're suspicious of Kanaya," Rose said. She never thought she'd be defending a troll, but when it came to trolls, Kanaya was fun. Terezi wasn't terrible but she smelled everything, had teeth like needles and liked to talk at length about how people's blood smelled. If any of the trolls were likely to eat one of them, it was probably going to be Terezi.
"The blooddrinking thing creeps me out, okay?" Dave said.
"Whatever makes you happy, I suppose," Rose sighed. Though Dave and Terezi as a couple made complete sense. She saw them jamming out in their spare time. Dave was always telling Terezi about earth, Terezi told Dave about the finer points of Alternia. In some ways, Rose was just a bit jealous of Dave's ability to seamlessly fit right into the crew. She was trying to herself that she didn't belong here. It wasn't so bad to be here but she couldn't just snap into it. Dave sat on her bed and ate a bagel with her. It was nice to always have Dave around, that was one thing Rose knew.
"Alright Rose, I'm off to work. I'll be online if you wanna troll me," Dave said. He picked up the tray and left. Rose took the notebook and started writing again. Her thoughts were drifting towards Calmasis. She wanted to get in the words to make her reality seem less bleak.