~~angelicApocalypse began trolling gorgeousAntagonist~~
AA: i believe i have f0und the general l0cati0n 0f their base.
GA: Good
GA: I Shall Notify The Empress
AA: n0. i will inf0rm her myself, 0nce i am certain 0f their whereab0uts.
AA: d0 n0t w0rry, kanaya.
AA: y0ur saw will taste bl00d s00n en0ugh.
~~angelicApocalypse ceased trolling gorgeousAntagonist~~
Nepeta crept cautiously out of the secret tunnel and into the moonlight. She looked down, double-checking that she had worn her symbol today in grey, not scarlet. She was safe.
She adjusted her cat helmet and ensured that its lenses covered her eyes, which were beginning to fill in with red. Today, she was going to see her moirail.
She sheathed her claws as she neared Equius's hive. As a blueblood, his home was much larger than it needed to be, full of twists and turns and random spare turrets. Nepeta made a buzzbeast-line towards it, careful to avoid his neighbors. The highbloods were very dangerous.
Equius lived in a sprawling manor in the highblood district. There weren't many other hives near his, but across the gulch there was another royal-blue troll.
Nepeta had never directly met Equius's neighbor, but she had been told that the troll, a certain Ms. Zahhak, was a loyal follower of the Empress. Nepeta was very careful to avoid that particular hive.
She reached Equius's hive and tapped on the door. Equius opened it and engulfed his moirail in a STRONG hug.
"Hi Equius!" she burbed.
"Hello, Nepeta." Nepeta followed Equius into his respite-block, narrating the adventure in a manner that Equius stated several times contained far too many cat puns.
"The playful kitty asks CT: 'So meow have you been?' AC bats at CT's shoe," she narrated once they had settled themselves into a pile.
"I have told you, Nepeta. This roleplaying is foolish." Nepeta pouted.
"But I like the game!"
"This is foolishness. You will stop now."
"Why are you so lame?"
"I am not lame. I am sane," Equius protested.
"Lame."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"You nefur play games with me," Nepeta complained. "You have to like games, though! Efurryone likes some kind of games!" Equius crossed his arms.
"I will play games with you when you will tell me your blood color." Nepeta frowned.
Equius had been her moirail ever since they'd met in the woods one night, nearly six sweeps ago. Nepeta had been stalking a great wild beast, and she'd accidentally pounced on Equius instead. He was lost, and when Nepeta helped him find his way back to his hive they decided to swap contact information.
She'd been hemanonymous even then, and it was always a sore point between the duo. Equius was very supportive of the hemospectrum, and if he knew that Nepeta was a mutant he would never speak to her again. He might even try to cull her.
"Equius, you know I won't tell you," Nepeta replied. "I just don't meow why you think it's such a big deal!"
"One day, I'll find out," Equius promised.
"Nope."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"You will tell me."
"Nope."
"Yes."
"Nooooooooooooooooo."
"One day I will order you to tell me."
"And I won't answer." They watched each other for a long moment, meeting eyes despite their mutual wearing of dark glasses. Equius was dripping with sweat.
"I will make you tell me." Equius took off his glasses, revealing his single seven-pupiled eye. He continued staring at Nepeta.
"You wouldn't," she gasped. Equius was psychic, and Nepeta had known that for sweeps, but he had never before turned his powers on her.
"I will if I have to."
"Bully!" Nepeta stood up, knocking their pile to pieces. "If you try, I'll leave. I'll leave befur you can find out anything!"
"You will tell me your blood color."
"No." Equius began to raise a hand to his temple, and Nepeta fled for the door. He couldn't know her blood color. He couldn't. She knew exactly what would happen if he did find out, and although she valued her moirallegiance she valued her life more.
"I will find out!"
"No!" Nepeta bolted back towards the woods, slamming the door behind her. Her stamina was incredible, and she didn't stop running until she reached the trees.
Back in the blueblood neighborhood, Equius crossed his arms and looked in the direction that Nepeta had fled. She would be back eventually, he knew that much, but when she'd return he couldn't say.
Name: EQUIUS SERKET
Age: 8 SWEEPS
Blood Color: CERULEAN
Gamzee had just left the grand hive of the Cult for the first time in over a sweep, and he was thoroughly enjoying it. The fresh air felt good on his face and horns, and he stared blankly up at the pink moon through the trees. It was a miracle.
He had been sitting for a while, honking softly at the sky, when Nepeta broke through his daydream.
"Gamzee? Gamzee, you should be inside," Nepsis told him. Her words barely pierced his trance-like state, and he turned, a blank look on his face.
"Honk."
"Gamzee, go inside. It's almost daylight." Nepeta took the absent-minded brownblood by the wrist and dragged him inside as he continued to stare at the moons. As soon as they stepped into the Cult's hideout, they were practically jumped upon by the Speaker.
"Lady Vantas, where hath thee been? Thy people hath been waiting. Thou ought to speak for them," Speaker petitioned. Nepeta rolled her eyes.
"Furst of all, you sound stupid. 'Hath' is singular. Secondly, go away." Nepeta glared at Speaker, and the olive-blood was forced to back down.
"Thou hast won this battle, but the next shall be my victory."
"Go away, Speaker." Once Nepeta was sure that Speaker was gone, she turned back to Gamzee, who had spaced out again. She poked him slightly and he jolted back to attention.
"Hey Nepsis. So where've you been?" he asked.
"Hunting," Nepeta bluffed. She knew that Gamzee wouldn't see though her—
"You were with Equius again, right?"
"WHAT?" Nepeta nearly shrieked. Gamzee let out a long, low honk. "How did you—how do you—WHAT?" Gamzee's only response was yet another 'honk.' "Gamzee, tell me how you know about Equius. Now." She unsheathed her claws, and the spaced-out troll relented.
"Saw you," he muttered, almost too quiet for Nepeta to hear.
"You saw me? How? When?" she demanded.
"While ago. I was in a treebeast, and I spotted you in the highblood neighborhood." Nepeta relaxed slightly, but still didn't hide her claw gloves.
"How long ago?"
"'Bout a sweep." Nepeta sighed. He'd known that long? Well, at least she knew that he wouldn't give her away. If he hadn't already, then she was probably safe.
"Why were you in the treebeast in the first place?"
"I was all up and lookin' for Kalamine," the brownblood explained. "That was when she disappeared, and Speaker had me track her. Then I saw you."
"Ah." Nepeta was still spinning the scenario around in her head. She knew what Gamzee was talking about, of course—Kalamine had been one of the first trolls to find Nepeta, back before she knew her destiny in the Cult. About a sweep ago, Kalamine had mysteriously disappeared while on a mission. The investigation revealed nothing for several perigees until it was found out that the adult troll had been captured and culled for remaining on Alternia after her conscription.
Nepeta left, satisfied with Gamzee's answer, but Gamzee stayed behind, watching the sky grow slowly lighter through the doorway.
He honked one last time before making his way back to his respite-block.
Name: GAMZEE NITRAM
Age: 8 SWEEPS
Blood Color: BROWN
A/N: Yay this chapter is longer. I apologize for the brevity of the introduction, but I'm not that incredible at beginnings (yet). Just as an FYI, these chapters will start to get longer and longer as I get into the stride of my writing. If you like really short chapters, then good for you. Get out ;). Some might not get much longer than this one, but as I continue there will be chapters in the multiple-thousands of words. I write original novels in my spare time, and I can state from experience that my average chapter is somewhere around 8 pages in Microsoft Word, and well over five thousand words. Expect some chapters like that in the future.
In other notes, thank you SO MUCH to my reviewers, favoriters, and followers. You guys are great! XD
Just for the heck of it (and more for my benefit than anyone else's), here is a basic layout of how this story is going to work for the first few chapters. I will try to introduce two new characters each chapter, but that rule might bend a little eventually. The bloodswaps were chosen for irony, humor, and the pain of Alternia. Expect some actions that are different from how the canon characters would behave. I've kept most of them as close as I could to their canon counterparts, but certain characters are going to behave very differently simply based on the change in their upbringings (Feferi and Tavros, I'm looking at you here). Obviously, I kept first names with the characters, and surnames with their blood castes. Feferi, Sollux, Tavros, and Vriska will probably see minor changes in their typing quirks.
Oh, and there WILL be Sgrub. Just wait. I think that's about it :)
Oh, and constructive criticism is always welcome.