A.N:: Very sorry for the slight delay on this new chapter but a bout of troublesome shenanigans from good ol' Life decided to butt in, though I also had a teensy bit of difficulty with this piece :I I'm not entirely sure why and it wasn't all too terrible but I can usually sit down to write longer portions than how it went this time around, meh. Either way I hope you enjoy the fifth snippet of the brain drivel that is Our Perthonal Athylum :D

Title:: Full of Surprises
Word Count:: 2,160
Warnings:: None, this one is actually quite clean :B
Summary:: The days continue to flit by on the meteor facility and the humans find themselves growing curious about their new home and the secrets it holds. One expedition in particular brings up an interesting item and Rose of all people is the one best fit to explain.

A dainty sneeze issued from the corner of the dark room, sharp shadows cast over the dusty surroundings by only a single bulb dangling overhead. Rose patted lightly at her nose as she straightened up with a new object in her grip before brushing it off with a flick of her wrist. A tiny, plastic green W rested in her palm and the Seer smiled almost wistfully down at the object.

It was the beginning of week two on the meteor maze, as the humans had fondly begun referring to the dreary facility, and more and more was being discovered about their new otherworldly lodgings. The trolls didn't seem to have taken much of an interest in exploring much further than the computer hub and surrounding necessities so it left much to be uncovered. The hunk of rock almost seemed to… have a consciousness of its own.

In addition to the sudden appearance of beds, or slabs as the trolls had tagged them, other areas of the place were altering themselves to accommodate the new arrivals in small ways. Just the other day Jade had questioned the whereabouts of the kitchen and upon receiving a barrage of blank stares that left her flushing uncomfortably Dave offered up "food" instead. Apparently the correct term for Alternians was "nutrition block", whatever that meant. Anyway once the group had found their way into the bright room layered with tile and cabinets of dull uniformity they were met with a pleasant surprise.

After sifting through various foreign snacks, most likely troll oriented but more based around unknown brands then any freaky delicacies, John had nearly cried out in delight at his discovery. Fruit Loops. In other words; colorful rings of pure, unbridled joy with a powdered sugar dusting.

Even Rose and Dave had had to crack small grins at the familiar and enthusiastic toucan design decorating the rectangular cardboard box. Without further ado four generously portioned bowls were served and promptly devoured before more cabinet spelunking took place. There were cookies, bananas, and a box of fruit snacks/fruit by the foot mix that had their resident Heir wincing at the Betty Crocker brand symbol adorning the packaging. All in all the ordeal resulted in sky high spirits and a fair amount of light hearted laughter that had Karkat poking his head in to toss in a few angry words at their apparent racket. Good times.

And that was the general trend. Very much human items and equipment were appearing out of seemingly nowhere as their presence almost seemed to become catalogued by the meteor. It wasn't all too surprising, though, given what they had experienced already and Dave had readily declared that he, in another insightful quote, "Wouldn't be surprised if a mini-Green Sun was chuggin' away at the meteor's core." How else would they have working electricity? Obviously.

However the type of room they now found themselves in was a relatively new discovery. They were almost like storage nooks, resembling a stereotypical dusty attic with moldy cartons and boxes to match. These containers also yielded an array of items that seemed random at times, but also meaningful in some instances depending on the person.

A pocket watch, a rusty hand-gun, a scrap of patterned fabric, or a set of jingling keys. Each item was something that could only be identified by a single person and didn't even usually hold that much significance. It was more like a snippet of a hazy memory or something just strong enough to bring about a small smile as a memory resurfaced, but also served to make a certain sort of sadness arise as well. No one ever brought it up.

This time in particular Kanaya, Nepeta, Feferi, and a somewhat begrudging Equius and Eridan had accompanied the group in their idle sifting through the boxes and a curious hum suddenly echoed through the small room among the shuffling.

With a slight sneeze of her own that had her feline features wrinkling Nepeta pulled her torso free from the depths of a box with a battered looking black, leather container. She ran her clawed hands over it curiously, one finding its way to the metal clasp holding it closed and dropped her discovery with a squeak as it sprang open. "Aiyeeh!"

"Nepeta?" Equius' rough voice questioned at his morail's surprise as he clambered to his feet, having been sitting against the wall stubbornly refusing to acknowledge much of anything going on around him.

"Ooh," Nepeta seemed to have gotten over her initial surprise and was now crouching on all fours beside the object and looking over it with bright eyes wide in curiosity. "What's this?"

"What's what?" John asked as he tugged himself free from his own box and stumbled over, followed by the slouching form of Dave and an equally curious Jade.

"I don't know. That's why I'm currrious."

"I do believe that is a makeup kit," Now it was Rose's smooth voice cutting in as she rounded her friends to kneel down and grasp the box, her gaze holding a sort of fondness that wasn't entirely masked. She dragged her thin fingers over the inclining shelves and brushed over one square of the numerous, colored powders, regarding it with a small smile as the flesh came back dusted in a midnight blue.

"Makeup?" Jade echoed as she too dropped into a crouch to sidle up next to the Seer and gain a better view. After confirming that it was indeed what had been said her lips tugged upwards into a slight grin and she muffled a giggle. "I didn't know you liked this type of thing, Rose."

This prompted identical, disbelieving snorts from both John and Dave at the concept. Rose, the psychoanalyzing, grimdark teetering, Outer Ring god communicating, pretty much emo chick giving a flying flapdoodle about makeup? Not likely to say the least.

Rose only regarded her friends coolly before straightening up with the case still in her grip and flashing a cryptic smirk. "I believe there are a few more aspects left for you to discover about me, though this is actually something I was rather surprised about myself." She replied with a somewhat thoughtful tone creeping into her voice as she continued the explanation. "My mother seemed to one day decide that I should know these types of things, and so she briefly pushed aside our passive-aggressive tendencies and sat down for a full tutorial of sorts. Though I suppose that, if anything, she was… eccentric."

"Wwhat are you rambling cod swallowers going on about?" Eridan interrupted grumpily from where he stood with his arms crossed besides Feferi, who seemed just as curious about the newly discovered item as the other females. She only flicked one hand at him dismissively and his jaw visibly tightened before relenting with an angered huff.

"I apologize, but aside from what I can recognize as lipstick in the array we see before us we do not really have this sort of thing," Kanaya provided as a more diplomatic means of getting across the point, and it was true. Aside from the green lip paint the Virgo seemed so fond of the female trolls never appeared to be wearing any other sorts of cosmetics.

"Hee hee, maybe you should show them rather than tell, Rose," Jade interjected with an almost sly lilt to the statement as her furry ears twitched in earnest. Rose then seemed to ponder this for a moment before shrugging her shoulders, causing each of her friends to blink in surprise.

"I don't see why not."

"Are you quite finished yet?" Kanaya sounded the slightest bit impatient as the Seer continued to carefully work with the makeup at her disposal. She had been undertaking the "makeover" suggested eagerly by both Nepeta and Feferi for a solid half hour now and each movement of her pale hands seemed artful and deliberate, holding the majority of those in the room transfixed. Her subject, however, was growing visibly tired of the facial expressions she was directed to make as well as sitting utterly still on the cold floor.

Rose only hummed with the beginnings of a pleased smile lighting her features and she paused to shoo off those hovering over her shoulder. "Yes but it will progress more quickly if I'm allowed some space," She directed pointedly and John poked the tip of his tongue out in her direction before slinking off obediently, Dave chuckling quietly at the display.

Equius and Eridan alike had settled with simply grumbling unhappily to themselves on occasion given that their morails were being nothing but supportive of the endeavor. A few more minutes ticked by with the idle shuffling through a few more stray boxes before Rose suddenly drew back from Kanaya, gathered up the few tinted brushes she had been using, and closed the carrying case with a magnetic snap.

"There we are," She sounded pleasantly satisfied and was visibly restraining how wide a smile was allowed to curl her features as Kanaya blinked and clambered to her feet somewhat stiffly.

"Is that so?" The troll echoed and lifted one gray hand as if to brush at her cheek before a girlish squeal interrupted her mid-movement. Nepeta was staring with comically widened eyes and tail waving energetically behind her form towards the other girl and bounded forwards the few feet needed to bring her practically nose-to-nose with her.

"You look soooo puuuretty!" The Leo exclaimed with enthusiastic hand waving to match and after another moment or two of staring Feferi had joined in on the excitement, raving about the end result in a long string of chatter. Poor Kanaya could find no response to the onslaught and only flashed a nervous smile as her own curiosity began to swell, however it was her turn to blink in surprise as Rose produced a small square of reflective glass and presented it to the troll. Hesitating slightly due to nerves she then reached out, grasped the mirror and held it up before her face.

The sigh that met her was enough to practically unhinge her jaw and let it free-fall to the ground but she managed to contain herself to looking only like a mild idiot as her eyes bugged flashing large amount of yellowed whites. Whatever Rose had done, she had quite the handle on it. Through the use of a variety of silvery, charcoal-like powders her skin looked flawless and smooth as liquid steel with delicate cheekbones emphasized by darkened shadows. Her eyelids were colored in a shimmery green the brightened the barest flecks emerging in her irises and seemed deep set and mysterious because of the black outliner. Tying it all together was the vivid green lipstick most would consider her trade-mark and the Virgo was struck utterly speechless by the transformation; finding herself momentarily transfixed by her newly lengthened and curling lashes before she flushed a pale jade hue.

"I…" She began attempting to wrestle for the correct words to express her wonderment but finding none that seemed fitting. In the end all she could really do was flash a shaky smile and nod. "It is amazing."

Rose seemed sufficiently pleased and only returned the smile which turned a tad smug as she caught the very obvious stares directed towards the female troll, all of the males in question made sure to look away quickly. "Well I'm simply glad that you are pleased. I hoped that I still knew my way around cosmetics."

Jade made a sound unlike a squeaky pet toy at that and rushed forward to envelop the Seer in a fabric heavy squeeze. "That doesn't even begin to cover it! Rose you're awesome with makeup, do you think you could, um, teach me sometime?"

"Of course, Jade," Rose replied with a light chuckle and received a renewed grin and stream of excited chatter in return. Nepeta and Feferi were crowding around Kanaya in awe trying to get as close up a view as possible of the feat and said troll looked a bit uncomfortable at the wash of attention. Before she could be utterly overwhelmed, however, Rose pried herself away from her dog-eared friend long enough to move over and cut in.

"Now I do believe some showmanship is in order," She declared with a mischievous lilt to her tone and Kanaya's face only colored again at the words, averting her eyes to avoid direct contact. "Shall we… let the others in on our little accomplishment?"

She didn't even need to clarify as both Nepeta and Feferi exchanged shark-like grins between themselves and then grasped onto Kanaya's arms to begin tugging her bodily towards the door as the Virgo protested weakly from behind. Snippets of her lightly accented voice drifted back as she was dragged further along the space and she cast one last beseeching glance over her shoulder towards Rose, who only lifted her hand and wiggled its pale digits in a wave.

N.A:: So there we have it, woop. I'm satisified that I finally got this one out after sitting around in an open Word document for a while and this scenario in general might just be another head-cannon I'm developing. ouo I know that Kanaya has her lipstick and Gamzee his clown paint but think about just how much of an assortment we have, not hard to imagine it's a bit more extensive right? xD This may have also been a half-assed attempt at Rose x Kanaya which I am very fond of ._. Well then, thoughts? Pairing requests? Crazy prompts? I look forward to it all~

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