The time the trolls spent with the humans had definitely changed their views on things. Tavros had been surprised to hear that all humans had red blood. The hemospectrum was so ingrained into him that he couldn't imagine what it was like to have the same blood as everyone else as your species. He learned they had "racism", based on the color of people's skin, which was similar, but generally considered taboo and wrong; another surprise. Discrimination based on the color of one's blood was common and accepted.
The idea was generally brushed off at first, but got gradually more accepted as the trolls settled into human culture and lifestyle. Tavros was grateful for it. It felt nice to not be called "mud-blood" anymore. Other ideas from the humans, such as that of homicide being wrong, were also surprising and interesting, and sort of took root in the troll's heads after a time.
This wasn't to say they saw everything like the humans now, or to say they were losing their own culture. They still believed in the quadrants, something the humans were interested in as well as dabbling with. But the views of the humans were giving them a taste of another side of things; making them question long-held beliefs, ask, "but is it right to judge someone for the color of their blood?" Tavros read something in one the human Rose's books (which she had a lot of) saying "The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions." By Ralph Wando Emersong or something. He remembered the quote because it explained things so well.
Some of the higher-bloods had a tough time adjusting to the idea of being treated equal to the lower-bloods. Vriska especially. She spent a lot of time listening to John, talking about human views of homicide and "hemocism," as they had come to call discrimination for blood color. She didn't seem to accept the ideas, though, as she called Tavros mud-blood for quite a while after most trolls had stopped using blood-slurs, and for a while he just winced and took it, in his quiet, stuttering way.
However, he started to gain some self-confidence, slowly believing he wasn't lower than everyone else just because of his blood-color. No one but Vriska called him mud-blood anymore; something that had always sort of held him back, made him feel insignificant. His stutter lessened, though it was still there; it was difficult to break old habits, but he wasn't afraid of voicing his opinions anymore, because he wasn't ignored anymore. He never got up the courage to confront Vriska, though; she still frightened him. But even though her taunts stung, he didn't take them to heart as he once had.
He didn't like Vriska a lot, since she bullied him like she did, but he was interested in her. Not necessarily in a romantic sense, but just in general. He couldn't figure out why she seemed to hate him like she did; he hadn't done anything to antagonize her, but she still hissed blood-slurs at him in hallways with no one else around, shoved his wheelchair when no one was looking, smirked at him condescendingly. She still acted like she was his superior; she always had, but it was different now. Her superior attitude seemed purposeful now, rather than natural, as it had been before.
He figured maybe she wanted to retain her position of superiority that was a gift from her blood hue, but didn't want the other trolls to know, lest they accuse her of being a hemocist. So she bullied the one who was least likely to fight it, just so she could feel like she was still in control over someone. He hadn't heard her call Sollux anything nasty, so she was just bullying someone she knew was weaker than her. Tavros, despite his leap in self-confidence, knew he wasn't as strong as Vriska; he wasn't anywhere near as sure of anything as she was, and he was afraid when she wasn't; she seemed fearless. But Jade had told him bullies were cowards, and seeing how she only picked on him, who she apparently saw as the weakest, it seemed to fit the bill. He couldn't see Vriska as a coward, though. She intimidated him too much for that.
Later in the sweep, it suddenly stopped. One day she was taunting him, the next she wasn't. She didn't shove his chair anymore, and she seemed to avoid him for a little while. He thought for a bit that she might be angry at him for something, and was giving him the silent treatment, but that wasn't like her. If Vriska was mad at you, you got screamed at for a minute or two, and then she wasn't mad as she was. She was one to let it out explosively, rather than hold it in a quiet grudge. But she wouldn't even meet his gaze for about a week. Eventually, though, she stopped avoiding him. They weren't ever really friends, as Tavros still found her unapproachable and she never initiated any type of relationship with him, but they weren't enemies anymore.
Tavros didn't really understand why she stopped antagonizing him, and though he was grateful for it, it confused him. He liked her better for it, but didn't understand why. She hadn't seemed to accept the ideas of hemocism being wrong, so why she would stop so suddenly and so bizarrely confused him. He settled on the idea that she had just accepted it long after others had.
Maybe he was foggy on the reasons for the change, but he welcomed it anyways. It was nice to not be called mud-blood, not be pushed around.
Even if they weren't friends, she had changed, and he appreciated it.
Catz: The quote is from Ralph Waldo Emerson.
I really don't know how much I like this story. It just seems too clunky, too forced. It doesn't seem to flow right. But I might also be out of practice. You guys keep reading it, though, so as long as you seem to like it, I'll try to keep it up. I always felt bummed when someone discontinued a fic I was really into, so I try to never do that. Do you even like it? Let me know, you guys. Leave a review~