{Karkat,Aradia}

"Why the fuck did I think this would be a good idea?"

Karkat grumbled moodily as he followed the other troll down the winding narrow path. He looked apprehensively at the drop below and gulped. Aradia was having no such fears, skipping carelessly and whistling a merry tune.

"Don't worry! We're almost at the site," She grinned at him. "It's really interesting! You're gonna love it."

"Yeah yeah. I'm so fucking sure," He scowled back at her. "A bunch of old dirty crap. Fun."

She stuck her tongue out at him. They continues down the path, which gradually became wider in their decent. Eventually, they were walking side by side. There was less and less foliage as they continued on, and more and more of what appeared to be a staircase.

"Oh! Here we are!" Aradia cried out triumphantly, braking out into a dash. "This way!"

The perpetually grumpy troll let out a few curses, concerned by her ridiculous carelessness. He did follow her anyways, though.

By the time he caught up with her, she had reached the very center of the natural bowl of rock they were in. She was standing on what appeared to be some sort of stage, and she was hopping up and down excitedly.

"Calm down! You're going to fall and chip a horn if this keeps up."

"Pish posh!" She grasped his hand and pulled him up with her. "I've done this before you know."

Now on top of the stage, Karkat was actually able to get a good look at his surroundings. The whole thing, with the stage and the many stairs all over the place, actually looked like a stadium or something.

"The fuck is this supposed to be?" He asked the giddy maroonblood beside him.

"Hard to say! At first I thought it was a theater, but even back then acting and stuff was more of a highblood thing, and this was a mostly lowblood populated area. So then I figured it was like a meeting ground or something similar! Back when the adults still lived on-planet, they had to set new laws in place practically all the time to keep some semblance of peace, and the Empress simply was unable to address all of them by herself!"

She frowned, looking a bit troubled.

"But that was also more of a highblood thing. They had blueblooded trolls stationed everywhere lowbloods were more prominent, to write and uphold laws. Now I just have no idea what this place was! None of my usual sources are telling me anything. It's a real mystery."

Karkat studied the rock underfoot. It seemed too smooth to have been carved, or to have been formed there naturally. It would have to have been made with psychic abilities. Ridiculously strong psychic abilities. He suddenly noticed something.

"Hey, Aradia, look down there," He pointed to the section of rock in between where they were standing. "I think it's a footprint."

"Hmm," She crouched down and examined it, a happy glint in her eyes. "Yeah, looks like it. Weird. There aren't any other markings like this around here. I can't believe I missed this!"

As she began to babble on about what it might mean, a non-existant breeze caught her long hair and flopped it around all over the place. She quieted down for a few painstaking moments. Karkat shifted uneasily on his feet.

"Aradia?"

She stood up, her face suddenly serious.

"Karkat, I want to try something. Put your foot down on it."

He complied, though he was grumbling and more than a little worried about his companion's mental state. The rock sunk under his weight, which was surprising. There was a terrible sound, and suddenly a previously unnoticed hatch scraped open a few feet away from them.

Aradia broke out into a grin. What an incredible and exciting discovery! Finally, the voices of the dead were actually being helpful!

"Let's go in!"

Before the other even had a chance to respond, she had gone ahead without him.