"Rose? Uh... help!"
Rose stepped off the platform and took a look around the room. Not much to say: though Dave was home, Aradia was no where to be seen, and she presumed she had some business to attend to in what she had kept of her room. No one was there but Karkat, who was fiddling with the pile of DVDs he and John had built up so wide that they served as a coffee table and footrest, and Tavros, who was on the floor.
"Tavros, what...?"
His left leg was planted sole-down on the ground and his right sole-fore, with the entirety of his boot through the solid metal table. His chair had rolled off almost to Rose's side and he looked up at her upside-down from his position. Karkat selected a DVD and put it into the player.
"What happened?" Rose asked after John, who had arrived just after her, had helped her lift Tavros back into his chair and had gone to sit on the couch.
Tavros smiled lightly and said: "Pretty normal. I was just about to go to bed when I yawned. Yawning made my right leg kick out from under me and made both of them shut off."
"You were here all night?"
"Yeah, pretty much," he said with a nod. "Everyone else had already gone to bed, so there wasn't really anything anyone could have done."
Rose would not have quite said that, but bit her tongue. "So, do you want some help getting back to your room and get some sleep?" She could, with his permission, come into his section and help him the rest of the way. As a matter of fact, while for actual "bedrooms" she had only seen Kanaya's, she had been in several of the Troll's sections of the lab since her arrival: Equius could rarely be bothered to be torn away from his work in case of a repair, Terezi controlled access to the roof, and Gamzee's was so large that he got lost from time to time and would text in that he needed to be found.
"Nah, I figure I should just wait here for Equius. I'll just stay at my computer until then." His smile was so cheery, Rose did not really have the heart to disagree with him.
"All right," she said, "maybe I'll go see if I can find him in a little bit, though. Eridan broke my door."
"oH,,, uH, dID HE," As anyone familiar with him would have expected, Tavros's eyes flicked just off of meeting Rose's. "I figured he might. nOT THE BREAKING YOUR DOOR PART, i MEAN JUST TALKING TO YOU. He and Vriska haven't been talking about anything else for the past two days."
"Vriska too?" Rose said with a sigh, falling into Nepeta's chair.
"Yeah. wELL, nOT TO EACH OTHER'S FACES, just to me. In fact, if they weren't complaining about you, I'd figure they were trying to make me their auspistice."
Rose laughed bitterly. "Well, maybe you should volunteer, because I just told Eridan I'm not doing it."
"Really?"
"Yeah," she said. "I mean, I figure Vriska will come bother me about it on her own terms but no is still no."
"Wow, that's-!" Tavros said, and lurched forward with excitement, falling off-balance as his legs decided to stick magnet-hard to the ground. His arms flailed and Rose had to catch him before he fell straight into his own lap. "tHANKS," he whispered.
"No problem," she whispered back. "You... don't really care to see your friends turn kismeses?" she said, not really sure if she was barking up the right tree.
"No, that's not it," Tavros said as he pull-swivelled his chair back towards his desk and tried to set his head in his hands without touching the splayed metal hole struck by his boot in the middle of it. "It was sort of getting in the way of other things."
"Yeah," Rose said. "I know what you mean. New relationships can really put a wall in the middle of old ones." She was thinking specifically of Terezi and Dave at the time, but it really did seem as though it stretched out to cover her entire group of friends. She kept talking to keep her mind off of it. "Do you think they'll keep trying on their own?"
"Maybe. I don't know. That's not... really what I meant, though."
"What is it?" she asked, watching as he winced away, his head slowly disappearing into his crossed arms on his desk. "Tavros," she said with a bit of a laugh.
"It's... iT'S, well..." His face splotched over brownish-orange, an endearingly timed blush that nevertheless did nothing for his complexion. He then opened his mouth to give an answer, but to Rose's surprise nothing, not even the tiniest whisper or gasp of air, actually came past his lips as he moved them.
"Tavros," she said again, crossing her own arms.
She had to lean in to hear him, so had to ask him to repeat himself, which only made him blush harder. "...was hoping you might be interested in giving me some relationship advice."
Rose set a hand to her lips. "You want me to auspistice for you?" she said, surprised she had managed to contain herself to a whisper. "Really?"
"Well uh, that's not really what I'd call it, I mean... well maybe, in the future if I ever get a kismesis because that would be awesome, but this is a matespritship and you can't auspistice those and... wOW, i HOPE ME BEING IN A RELATIONSHIP ISN'T THAT SURPRISING TO YOU," Tavros said, looking as glum as ever.
"No, no, no," Rose said, dropping her hand to better show her smile, and trying to hide her embarrassment over mucking up the simple definition of "auspistice". "You've got me all wrong, I'm just..." She searched her memory, but finding only irony, said with a bit of a sarcastic lilt: "...I'm honoured."
"Really?" It was clearly his turn to be surprised. Beyond them, Sollux arrived to begin his morning code.
"Well sure! But maybe you should fill me in first. Who are we talking about? What kind of relationship? Does he or she know you're interested?"
Tavros' face gradually began to brighten. "Well, I think so. I mean, we've gone outside twice already, and I really like him. But we haven't talked much about it lately, and I didn't know if it was me, or maybe he wasn't interested any more because it was only twice, right? So I didn't think I would ask and then it looked like I wouldn't be able to."
"Hm," Rose set a hand on her chin. Tavros had a good point. She might understand the Troll's relationships in the macro but the closer she got the less she could really master. She agreed: even on Human terms she was hardly going to call two dates a commitment, and if Tavros was right his would-be matesprit was just being impolite. And if he was wrong, as he was obviously hoping, there was still a chance for more. "Well, I can see why you're all worried. Who are we talking about, Tavros?"
At that moment, Vriska appeared in the middle of the room. She looked straight at them, her wry smile thinning out.
"Goober," she greeted Tavros, and then Rose: "Bitch."
"mORNING VRISKA," Tavros said with a shrunken nod. Vriska's frown deepened, but seeing nothing on which she could immediately intrude, summoned an eight-ball from her sylladex and tossed it to herself as she returned to her computer. Luckily for Rose, she was cut off from she and Tavros by John and Karkat's movie nook, but that did not stop Vriska from tossing looks at them from her web from time to time.
Rose took quick stock of the situation, which now included Tavros' complete silence. "She... doesn't like the idea of you dating this guy, does she?" Tavros, looking slightly petrified, coughed in response. "Was that a yes or a no?"
Tavros reached up to his throat and rubbed it, as though it hurt to speak, and whispered. "uH,,, nO, nO, sHE DOESN'T LIKE HIM AT,,, aT ALL,"
Rose tented her fingers at first, thinking over the situation and how to work around Vriska, when an independent part of her mind hit on a conclusion and stopped the rest of her train of thought outright. Lazily, her eyes slid from Tavros to Vriska and then across to the other empty side of the room as claustrophobia closed in. I just walked through a labyrinth, she thought ruefully to herself, clenching and unclenching a fist. I've walked all this way just to end up where I started!
"That's what she was yelling at you about two days ago, wasn't it?" Rose whispered. Tavros nodded slowly. "She came in early and caught you two... coming in." Tavros nodded. Rose knew this was not exactly polite but she had to ask: "Why Eridan, Tavros?"
"Well I don't really know," he said. "Have you ever heard him talking about his relationships? He's so intense."
"Yeah," Rose said, looking at her hands, nodding meaninglessly. "Yeah, that's the word I'd use."
"And we were talking a week or so ago and he was saying how he figured that we were all land-dwellers now because there just any water any more, and got in this really deep funk, so I was talking to him and told him how nice the land is, really. And I asked if that helped and he looked really sad and said, 'tAVV, YOURE THE ONLY ONE WWHO EVVEN BOTHERED TO CHEER ME UP,'"
Tavros' impression was terrible, but Rose was deeply touched: very deeply, under miles of quickly accumulating oh-no-not-again. Tavros continued in the happiest tone Rose had seen him use in a while: "So we talked for a long time and two days later he came and asked me if I wanted to take a walk outside, and I didn't really realize what he meant at first, so I said I couldn't because of my legs and he just looked so sad all of a sudden that I had to think 'wAIT, wHAT DOES THIS MEAN,' and-"
"Tav," Rose said, putting an arm on his shoulder, and then immediately: "Tavros! I'm sorry, I think I need..." Rose tried to be direct, it felt like the only way she was going to be able to say anything and still stay the hell away from Eridan. Rose saw Vriska looking at them again, her eyelids lowered, and Rose dropped her hand. "I have to go take this all in a little. And I promised John I'd go watch some movies with him."
"...oh," Tavros said, his face falling as far as his tone of voice. "That's okay Rose, take all the time you want."
Oh no, don't look like that, Rose thought, biting her lip. "Look, if he comes in in the next few minutes, why don't you talk to him and see what you can about what's up? I think that would really help a lot. Just go out and... do it."
"Okay Rose," he said, sounding even deeper in the dumps. Rose shut her eyes, swearing inwardly, and made a bee-line to the couch.
"Hey Rose," John said as she approached. "What's up?"
"What are you two watching?" she asked.
"It's... uh..."
Karkat, swallowing a handful of popcorn, butted in. "Innocent-Teenager-Emblematic-Of-Intended-Core-Demographic-Peppered-With-Largely-Superficial-Flaws-Falls-In-Flushed-Relationships-With-A-Variety-Of-Supernatural-And-Unusual-Matesprits-Including-An-Alien-An-Imperial-Drone-And-Especially-A-Rainbow-Drinker-Who-Fight-Against-Her-Wishes-In-Low-Budget-But-High-Flying-Fight-Scenes-Part-One-Of-Four."
John coughed, and then leaned towards her to whisper. "'Trollight.'"
"Oh, good," Rose said, to John's obvious surprise. "I've been so busy first thing in the morning. I need a numb mind. Is this seat taken?"
Karkat and John unwrapped their legs from around the tub of popcorn that sat between them, and Karkat handed it to Rose as she vaulted the back. "Karkat," she said as she sat down, "I promise, it'll be like I'm not even here. If you want me to pass a punch John's way, you just tell me."
Karkat gave her a wary eye, John a look that showed he did not fully grasp what she was implying, and Karkat at last decided to roll back to the movie while muttering: "Sollux was right. You are fucking turning into Kanaya."
Rose just sat quietly and ate her popcorn. About half an hour later, Feferi arrived, saw the film and reacted with immediate glee. She took a seat beside Rose, making Karkat break out into a kicking spat that only ended when they both moved to the floor. Kanaya joined them later, taking Rose's old seat, to which Karkat did not object as he had, at that point, been reduced to blubbering tears by the film. Last of all came Jade, who joined the floor crowd. Others arrive less interested in fantasy romance as well, the whole lab waking up over time, and Feferi looked painfully torn when Aradia arrived. For a moment, it seemed she might get up to talk to her, but as she tried, Karkat reached down and pushed her conspicuously back to her seat. Feferi looked to him for an explaination, but all he seemed to be able to muster was something half-assed about this being "the best part." The film completed in due time, there was a clamouring demand (Rose decided to conclude that John's muffled laughter constituted "demand") to play the sequel.
Feferi, who had been able to sink back into the proceedings as though nothing had happened, almost started bouncing. "Rose, Jade, you have to see the next one. This is where it really gets interesting."
Karkat, muttering behind his hand, said something to the effect of "Yeah, to the eyes."
Feferi wagged her finger at him over her shoulder. "I'm not going to hear you complaining once he's on screen." Karkat shrugged. "Spends the entire movie in a loincloth," she continued after a pause, referring, Rose assumed, to the young Imperial Drone character. "He's gorgeous. It's the same actor as in the first movie but like," she closed her eyes, and swept both hands outwards. "...Completely grown up."
John snickered and turned toward the back of the couch. "Hey, you hearing this?" he said to the rest of the room.
Feferi's hand slapped to her mouth as she laughed at own misfortune. "Sollux!" she called. "I LOV-E YOU!"
Their Mage of Doom swatted a dismissive hand in their direction. Karkat grunted. "Dude, get rid of your hate-on for this series and help me and Egbert not be the only guys over here, huh?"
"Not a chance in hell, Karkat."
As Karkat, still muttering, composed himself and set to the technical details of playing the next film. Rose took a check of the room. Tavros had stuck around, just as he had promised, and was essentially watching the movie with the rest of them from his chair, looking as forlorn as before. There was no sign of Eridan. Her sweep completed, Rose turned to her side and looked up at Kanaya, setting a hand on her leg.
"Hey," she said. "You get any sleep?"
"Enough, I suppose," Kanaya replied, only briefly meeting her eyes. "It was a bit of a late night."
Rose could not help but wonder at that. A "late night" had almost become their personal byword for a lengthy, involved conversation, but the night before Rose had been far too flustered at the truth of her encounter with the three Trolls to have been an eloquent conversationalist. On Kanaya's advice she had gone to "play" with Jade and Nepeta to cool down, but Jade had recognized her friend's mood and they had retreated to their corner of Aradia's for a bout of sleepover-style complaining and counselling. Rose had invited Kanaya to go, but she had refused at the time. Rose understood: she and Jade got along rather well, but no one wanted to join a pity party. Now Rose could think of a million things that could be wrong, but had nothing to work with.
As Karkat returned to his spot on the couch, remote in hand, Rose made a point to get quickly to her feet. "I think I should get going," she said. "Equius should be up soon enough, and someone's got to get him to pick up the pace and help Tavros. Also, Eridan may have broken my door."
Kanaya seemed a touch taken aback and replied, "That's..." She turned to Karkat, who had started chuckling the moment he heard it, and then back to Rose. "...unfortunate."
"Yeah. When he shows up, would someone tell him to get on his damn computer?" She meant "John's computer", as it had been leant to Eridan from what Rose assumed was the a corner of her friend's heart made of pure gold and fucking chocolate considering how Eridan had narrated the loss of his own. She tried to sound angry as she said it, as though she had left him some sort of nasty text, but Tavros gave the tiniest of smiles in response.
Rose stopped as she moved to leave and, trying to appear casual, dropped down just behind Kanaya. "Hey," she said. Though the pre-movie trailers-and-propaganda had begun ("Remember kids, an exercise regimen of at least an hour a day leads to a healthy life. Of course," he says with a laugh, "an exercise regimen of less than forty-five minutes a culling offence!" followed by the earworm jingle), Kanaya was looking towards her nails, turning them over in her hands. She was not really paying the film any attention at all: simply staring off into space.
"I was hoping..." Rose said, and could not help but notice that John took an immediate interest into the mandatory calisthenics routine at the time of the film's release. "...we could have a chance to hang out later."
Kanaya pulled the slightest bit away, seemingly surprised. "Yeah," she said nevertheless, apparently listening more than she was watching. "Sure, let's."
Rose was not really sure what to make of that display, at least at the moment, but later, she promised, she would do what she could. From where Rose sat, Kanaya's head was not far from her own hands and she extended a finger and brushed at her hair. It was all Rose could really do. Kanaya must have noticed as she turned slightly back and smiled, lips pressed tight together, and held up her hand in a goodbye wave. Taking to her feet, Rose headed over to the transportalizer, smiling at Tavros. A lot of people wanted her to play relationship detective today, she supposed, but that didn't preclude keeping a close eye on an established relationship. You know, she thought. Whatever it is.
Trolls actually can do one another's tones, as you'll see in the next chapter. But for some reason, I decided to demonstrate it in this chapter by having Tavros do a terrible impression - doubly so on Archive of Our Own and the forums, where Tavros uses a muddly amalgam of his and Eridan's text colours (I called the CSS class "terridan").