CHAPTER 8
A.N. Wouldn't it be ironic if the moment people start showing interest in my story, and all
my stuff ends so I can pay attention, and start cranking out chapters, my report card
comes in? (I forgot to make up a test: F in Math. Mom Flipped the Frick out) So I'm
grounded... Sneaking on the computer in the morning, trying to write at school. I'M SO
SORRY GUYS! I promise this chapter will be a long one! With some... truth or Dare! And
the introduction of a new Character (Within the next 2 chaps).
Clambering up to her feet, Jade whips around to glare at the pumpkin she just KNEW
she tripped over, only to see an empty doorway taunting her mercilessly. She couldn't help the
frown cross her face as she tore her eyes away from the doorway, and at the staring trolls. Each
one, minus Gamzee, seemed to be standing in their respective doorways, peeking out, staring,
shocked, at her sprawled form in the middle of the hall. No one moved.
"Uhh..." She quickly scrambled up from her place on the ground, brushing off her clothes
as her face grows slightly green. "It's kind of hard to explain... but I tripped over a pumpkin... It's
not there anymore... but... uhh... Yeah..." She purses her lips for a moment.
Vriska stares, a small smile curling the edges of her lips. "You... Tripped?" She tilted her
head to the side a bit.
"Uhh... Yeah..."
"... BWAHAHAHAHAH!" She doubled over, grasping her stomach, her face turning
slightly blue. "Aha! ahhh... That's funny." She tilted back up, wiping a small tear from the corner
of her eye. "Ahh... why was that so funny? I have no idea... but it was funny! Oh man, You are
one entertaining troll."
"Oh shush! It wasn't on purpose!... But I'm glad I could entertain you! Smiles are always
good things!" Jade smiled back at Vriska, happy she was slowly regaining her normal
personality. She grinned happily at Vriska, faltering slightly when she saw the look of bored
disgust on Vriska's face.
"Bluh. Why are you so happy? No. Don't answer that. Forget I asked. You give off an air
of stupid happiness without even trying. Screw it, I'm going back to my room." She frowned
deeper, upset that her new toy took jokes in stride instead of getting her horns in a bunch. She
turned, retreating to her room to troll some random kid on her Pesterchum. the door clicked
closed behind her. Jade blinked a few times, unsure as how to respond.
"uhh... Okay then!" She turned to the other trolls who were still silently staring. "Shall we
get to know each other better? I want to know all of you! Do you guys have any kind of living
hive? Like... a hang out place? I wanna go there with you guys! Can we? PLEASSSE?" She
jittered a little, waiting impatiently for a response.
"Eh, why the glub not?" Feferi jumped forward, grabbing Jade by the elbow and leading
her to another door off to the side. She opened it, dragging Jade in. "Glub glub glub! Come on
guys! We're gonna have some super glubbing fun!" She flicked on the lights, and a rather plain
room lit up. The room seemed rather barren albeit 4 couches surrounding a rather large coffee
table, and a fridge in the corner. Without a beat, Feferi dragged Jade to a couch, tossing her onto
one of the cushions, and quickly leaving again, leaving Jade alone in the room for a few seconds.
Sollux cooly walked into the room, plopping down on one of the couches, pushing his glasses up
the brim of his nose, and leaning back.
"Thith may be entertaining. Pluth I'm here to hang with Fef. Don't think you're all that cool
becauth i'm here."
Jade couldn't help but giggle. "Alright. I won't."
"Good." Sollux nodded his head slightly, staring off into a random corner. Jade turned
toward the door, watching as a few more trolls wandered in. Nepeta was the first to pounce
through the door, bounding over to one of the couches, and curling up on the armrest like a
kitten. Equius followed Nepeta, sitting next to her protectively. Terezi followed shortly after, a
wide grin on her face, as if she were planning a devious game already. She plops down on the
couch opposite of Jade. Kanaya, Aradia, and Tavros walk in without incident, with some sort of
clamour starting in the hallway.
"No! Stay the fuck away from me! I don't want to! I'm going to go hang out by myself! I
don't need your shit ass socializat-GAK! HEY! PUT ME DOWN!"
"Chill the motherfuck out, man. We're getting this show on the motherfucking road. I want
to chill with my trolls anyway."
"Thank you Gamzee."
"No Prob Fef. Go get the motherfucking hipster from his mopey corner."
"No glubbing problem!"
After that slight cuffuffle in the hallway, Gamzee walked in, Karkat squirming in his arms,
looking like a newly wed, very unhappy bride. Jade burst into laughter. Karkat glared as she
smiled at him. "Sorry! You just look so cute!"
"Shut up." He spat.
"Kay!" She fell silent, smiling to herself as Gamzee plops Karkat on the couch next to
Jade, and squeezes himself between the two, smiling widely to himself. Feferi walked through
the door shortly after, dragging Eridan behind her.
"but I don't wwant to socialize! Gamzee may still be mad at me! And Jade!"
"Oh stop glubbing and get in here! We're going to hang out for a while!" She sat down
next to Sollux, pulling Eridan onto the couch next to her. Jade looked left and right, smiling to
herself. Then she frowned.
"What about Vriska?"
"Oh leave her be! She'll be fine! If she really wants to, she'll join us later!"
"Oh alright then..." Jade frowned slightly, but was otherwise unaffected. "So what are we
going to do to get to know each other more?"
Before anyone could even think about speaking, Terezi silenced them all, pulling out a
bottle, her grin growing even wider.
"NO!" the other 9 trolls screeched in unison, staring Terezi down with death glares.
Terezi laughed slightly, sticking out her bottom lip.
"Oh but you KNOOOW it would be so much fun! And we have a new guest this time!
Come on!"
"Terethi. You get too theriouth with that game."
"Oh Come on! I won't do anything super bad! I promise! Cross my heart, hope to die,
stick a needle in my eye! Hehehehe!" They glared at her. She only smiled. "You are aware that
however much you glare, I still can't see it, right?" She stuck her tongue out at them. "Come on.
It can't hurt!" She turned to Jade. "Huh Jade! Do you wanna?" She poked Jade a little with the
bottle, grinning from ear to ear.
Jade smiled back. "Well sure! I don't see how it could hurt! It would help me to get to
know you guys too! Let's do it!"
"ALRIGHT! YOU HEARD HER! LET'S DO THIS!" Terezi almost jumped out of her seat
as she placed the bottle in the middle of the coffee table, taking Jade's acceptance of her game
proposal as the ultimate veto. The surrounding trolls sighed, but seemed to all sit forward,
accepting Terezi's game proposal. Terezi twisted her hand, spinning the bottle.
It spun.
And Spun.
And spun.
And spun.
Slowly, it came to a stop, the nozzle pointing clearly at one person.
"Oh fuck no."
"Oh yes!" Terezi laughed slightly as Karkat cursed at the nozzle, willing it to turn away
from him.
"Gog! Let's just get this over with!"
"Alright! Truth or dare?"
"Dare, idiot!"
"Kay! Fine. We'll start this off easy! I'll spin again, and whoever it lands on, you gotta
battle for 4 minutes!"
"Fine!" He retorted. With a flick of the wrist, the bottle was sent spinning.
Spinning.
Spinning.
It slowly came to a stop, the nozzle pointing clearly at Aradia. She let out the robot's
equivalent of a sigh, and stood. "Do we have to leave the room, or can I just kick his butt in
here?"
"Suuure!" Terezi grinned as Karkat stood also, cracking his neck. Terezi quickly pulled
out a timer. "KAYREADYSETGO!"
Aradia didn't move as Karkat bounded over the coffee table, ramming straight into her,
knocking her over the couch. They tumbled on the floor for a few moments before Karkat
bounced off, pulling out his sickle. He stood, spinning the sickle nonchalantly around his wrist,
waiting for Aradia to stand. She slowly got to her feet, brushing some flakes off her metal
carcass. After a few motionless seconds, her eyes flicked up, gazing straight at Karkat. He
sprung again, swinging the sickle toward her neck. She parried, stopping the blade with her bare
wrist. It left a small indent as she pushed it back. Karkat twisted it in the air, swinging it again,
with the speed and agility of someone who had been practicing with a sickle for 6 sweeps now.
She blocked.
Again.
And again.
And again. The battle that was supposed to be an epic battle of Robot VS troll was slowly
just becoming quick hand movement. Karkat attacking, and Aradia blocking. Nepeta yawned,
stretching a bit before hopping into Equius's lap, purring quietly. Jade stared silently, her eyes
growing wide.
"BEEP BEEP BEEP!"
"Aww! Times up! Guess the dare's over!" Terezi groaned a bit, upset that the battle was
so uneventful. Aradia and Karkat quickly stopped, Karkat rubbing his shoulder as Aradia returns
to her seat, unfazed.
"Oh, what? You thought we were actually going to battle the fuck out of each other? No
shitting way!"
"WOW YOU'RE SO COOL! THAT WAS AWESOME! I'VE NEVER SEEN SOMEONE
MOVE SO FAST! SHOW ME HOW YOU DO THAT!" Jade jumped from her seat, jittering
excitedly, looking at Karkat, eyes wide as saucers. Karkat stared at her, dumbstruck.
"Huh?"
"I'm a long ranger! I've never seen someone use short range so fast and cool like! You
gotta teach me! Please please pleeeaaasse?" Jade begged, tripping over the coffee table
as she tried to reach Karkat, grasping his hands in hers, looking up at him. "PLEASE?"
Karkat leaned back a little, his face growing red. "Huh? You want me to teach you?"
"YES!"
He fell silent for a moment, his cheeks light red as he stared down at her. He faltered
over his words for a moment as Jade stared up at him. Finally, he spoke. "WHY WOULD I
WASTE MY TIME ON YOU? YOU'RE JUST A STUPID TROLL WENCH! GET OUT OF MY
FACE!"
Jade's eyes drooped a little, and she quickly retreated to her seat. "Sorry. I'll ask
someone else..."
"No it's just... I just... Ahh fuck. Never mind. Let's continue this shit ass game!" He
plopped down on the couch, now in an utterly pissed mood. (err... a mood slightly more pissed
than normal).
Terezi spun again. The bottle whizzed around the table, rolling from side to side as it
spun, scratching up the wood of the coffee table. As it spun, it twisted slowly to the side, halting
just a few millimeters behind the edge, the nozzle pointing at Tavros. He blinked a few times,
staring at the nozzle.
"Oh..." He mumbled, staring at the small nozzle. "I guess it's.. uhh... My turn."
"YUP!" Terezi giggled a bit. "And Karkat chooses the dare!"
"Can't I choose truth?"
"NOPE! hehehehe!"
"Why not?"
"Cuz i said so!" Terezi giggled even more. "Karkat! Choose his dare!"
"Why do I have to choose?"
"Cuz you were last! Come on!"
"Fine! Gog." He looked up at the ceiling for a few moments, going through all his options
of dares. Finally, a small grin peaked his lips as he thought about his romcoms. "Kay. You have
to kiss the person that the bottle lands on next."
Tavros's face blanched. "I don't know if I... uhh... can do that... That would be rather
awkward. And I... uhh... I've only ever kissed one person... and... uhh... that wasn't really... uhh...
pleasant... Do I have to?"
"YUP! Hehehe!" Terezi reached out, and spun the bottle again. Jade couldn't help but
giggle slightly at the antics of the group as the bottle swirled on the coffee table.
"Haha! You trolls are so much fun! This is helping me get to know you guys so much!"
She giggled some more, smiling at them.
Terezi giggled also. "Well it seems you are going to get to know Tavros a bit too! Look!"
She pointed at the bottle.
"Oh..."
"Uhh..."
"Hmm..."
"Hehhehehe!" Terezi giggled some more as Jade stared at the nozzle, pointing straight at
her. Karkat sighed.
"This is turning into a super cheesy redrom sitcom harem faster than I can think of the
stupid plot for it! What's next, GAMZEE falls head over heels for our green blooded freak Troll?
And watch! due to some sort of fucked up events, Jade falls for Gamzee too, and we have
ourselves a fucking clown party!"
"That would be a motherfucking miracle, my bro." Gamzee pitched in, tilting his head
toward Jade, plopping it on to her shoulder and grinning. She tensed up slightly, some color
reaching her face as she looked down at Gamzee.
Karkat's jaw dropped open. "... you've gotta be kidding me. Oh fuck this shit, I quit!" He
quickly stood, storming out of the room with quite a loud huff.
The room fell silent as Jade twisted her head to look at the door as it slammed shut. After
a few more moments of awkward silence, she turned around again. "Uhh... Okay... what was
that about?"
"No idea, bra." Gamzee mumbled, closing his eyes, still resting on her shoulder. She
looked over at him, laughing slightly.
"Uhh... Gamzee. Can you sleep elsewhere?"
"No way. You're comfortable."
"But... Gamzee..." She pouted a little, not liking the awkwardness of the situation... She
scrambled around for a reason to get away, her face growing more green by the second. "But...
Oh! Tavros was dared! I have to go sit next to him so he can..." She faltered a bit. "So he can...
you know... kiss me."
"Uhh... we don't HAVE to kiss, you know..." Tavros mumbled, his face a light brown.
"YES YOU DO! HEHEHEHEHEH!" Terezi giggled, sticking her tongue out at Tavros. He
looked at his thumbs, shyly mumbling.
Jade smiled slightly. "It's okay Tavros. You don't have to kiss me on the lips. It can just be
the cheek if you'd like."
"Uhh... Okay... Uhh... here I come..." He stood quietly, shimmying past the coffee table to
reach her.
He tripped. (Or more likely, Terezi tripped him, but Jade didn't see because she was too busy scrambling to catch him as he tumbled toward her). Jade scrambled to catch him, standing quickly, slamming her shins into the coffee table. She swung her hands outward, wrapping them around him, attempting to stop his fall. It didn't work. He slammed into her,
knocking her over onto the coffee table, his lips slamming into hers. The room fell silent as they
both lay on the table, Tavros supporting himself with his elbows, hovering a few inches away
from jade's face. They stared at each other for a few moments before both of them burst into a
bright blush.
"Oh Uhh... sorry! I'll.. uhh..." He shoved off the table, walking away from teh
couches, his ears bright brown. Jade sat up, staring at her knees as sshe twidled her tumbs.
"Uhh.. it's okay." She fell silent for a few moments, and then turned to Terezi.
"Can we not have any more of those kind of dares? That's rather awkward..."
"but that was so much fun! and entertaining!"
"no. Let's do something like... Oh I dunno. Tavros! It's your dare turn! Why don't you
choose something a little less... quadrant tastic."
Tavros, still bright brown, turned to jade, smiling slightly at the idea that she wasn't
furious with him. "Okay... uhh... how about the next person the bittle points at has to... uhh...
Uhh..."
"battle a Lusus!" Terezi pitched in, laughing a little as she spat out her dare. "Kay it's
decided! Let's spin!"
"Wait! What? Hey!"
"Spin spin spin!" Terezi shouted, cutting off Tavros's cries of complaint, flicking
the bottle, and laughing as it tumbled around the coffee table. It slowly petered to a stop, pointing
straight at Nepeta, who was sleeping on Equius's lap, eq's hand resting lightly on her head.
Equius looked at the bottle, frowning slightly.
"Is that pointing at me, or Nep?"
"uhh... I Don't know! hehehe! I guess you oth could battle it! Hehehe! But it would
have to be a big one! Super big! Yeah! Let's go outside!" She quickly jumped up, almost skipping
out of the room, leaving everyone to follow behind. They glanced back and forth at each other,
and decided taht Terezi would not let them just be. Slowly, each person stood, walking out of the room, following Terezi out the back door. Jade was the last to leave, hopping easily out of the back door, her feet landing firmly on the ground underneath her. She looked around to see each of the trolls minus Vriska and Karkat, waiting patiently, Gamzee standing right next to her. She smiled at him. "So are we going to get this show on the road? I want to smell Nep and Eq kick some lusus ass!" Terezi jittered. Nepeta was still sleeping, Equius carrying her like he would a cat. He squeezed her slightly, and she woke, stretching in his arms, and hopping to the ground.
"Mreow? What's going on?"
"You've been dared to battle a lusus with me"
"ohh! Sounds fun! Lets do this!" Nepeta grinned, stretching some more before loping ahead of the group. "I'll even find us a really big one!" With that, she wiggled her nose a bit, smiling as she sniffs the air.
Ah! Caught one! This way!" She lopes forward, hot on the trial of a scent. "It seems to be running around a lot! Like it's in a frenzy over something! Should be really fun to battle! Come on, slowpokes! This way!" She kept running as the other trolls attempted to keep up. Jade stumbled behind, tripping over her feet, cursing her "Only good at long range" mindset. After a while, though, she caught her rhythm, and began running more easily, but still behind the rest of the trolls. Someone came up next to her.
"Hey Bra. You looked lonely as a motherfucker back here. Need a running buddy?"
She looked up at her savior to see the familiar paint and smile of Gamzee. A wide grin fell onto her face. "Ahh. Thanks!"
"No prob Bra! I got your back!" He kept running, smiling wide. "This should be fun, watching Nep battle."
"Yeah I guess." Jade smiled a bit, looking onward to the loping trolls in front of her.
"Speaking of fun, how was that kiss, bra?" He inquired, winking at her.
She tripped, stumbling over her feet for a few moments before catching herself. She looked up at Gamzee. "It was… uhh.. surprising."
"And?"
"And what?"
"Was it good?" She stumbled again at his words, laughing slightly.
"Haha! Well I can't say it was the most amazing kiss in the world. It was more like a light…. Slamming of faces together. I barely consider it a kiss. Yeah. I don't consider it a kiss. I refuse for that to be my first kiss." She was now more talking to herself rather than Gamzee, Gamzee just listening intently. At "first kiss," Though, he turned his head to face her.
"First kiss?"
Jade caught Gamzee's eye for a second. "What? I've been living alone since I hatched! You expect me to have kissed before? Nope! I'm kiss free!... till now I guess…. No! That does not count as a first kiss! I refuse! I still have my-" Her babbling was cut off by Gamzee's lips.
It was a quick, light kiss. He had turned around while she babbled, and quickly snagged her head in his hands, bringing her face to his. A small peck. It tasted of Faygo. Jade, eyes wide, stared at him as he released her, leaning back cooly, as if nothing happened. "Well now you can't say you haven't had a first kiss." With barely a smile, he wiped his lips with the back of his hand, and turned back, loping to catch up with the trolls, who had stopped at a small opening in the forest. Jade, eyes wide, stared at nothing in particular for a few more moments before her face realized what happened, turning bright green. She touched her lips lightly, her heart screaming in her chest.
*What was that?* She thought to herself for a quick second before shaking it off, and running to join the group of trolls. She stopped near Aradia, attempting to keep a few yards between her and Gamzee as her mind spun crazily, trying to figure out what just happened. Her thoughts were interrupted, though, by a sharp jab in the ribs. She turned to Terezi, who was on her other side, and Terezi motioned to the clearing. Jade glanced, and her breath caught in her throat. She opened her mouth to speak, closed it again, and then re opened it. "Oh my."
"I believe the word for this is more like 'Damn.'" Equius pitched in, staring at the clearing. It appeared that someone had tossed 4 different lusus into a blender, set it on Puree, left the cap off, danced around in the multicolored blood pouring from the top, and then left, taking his blender with him, leaving the sweet mess behind to scare the shit out of the next trolls to stumble upon it. Unfortunately, those trolls were these trolls. The trees were splattered from top to bottom in 4 different colors of blood, lusus chunks scattered everywhere. Jade had a slight flashback to her own lusus encounter, but realized that whatever happened here involved more…. Blades. She swallowed.
"Yeah. That. Do you think whoever did this is near?"
"Probably. That brings up a good question. Do we find this person, or avoid him/her? They could be a pretty awesome person… or a very dangerous fuck." Aradia spoke.
"True. I say we find him." Equius pitched in.
"We can split into purrfect groups of… uhh… 2?" Nepeta replied.
"And one group of three. Thoundth good to me." Sollux spoke up, being rather quiet until this moment. Jade jumped a bit at his voice. "I'll go with Feferi."
"Glub glub glub!" Feferi agreed.
"Allright. I'll go with Equius and Nepeta." Aradia pitched in. Equius and Nepeta nodded.
"I'll go wwith Jade! Dibs!" Eridan spoke up, almost tackling Jade as he snagged her arm, staring Gamzee down. Gamzee only shrugged.
"Do what you want, motherfucker. I'm chill with hangin with Tavvy." Gamzee smiled at Tavros, and Tavros gave a shy grin back.
"Okay! Hehehe! I guess that means Kanaya and I are sticking together in this one!" Terezi laughed.
"I'm fine with that. Let's get going. I am rather curious about this mysterious troll."
The trolls began to walk in their separate ways, Eridan still clinging to Jade's arm. Jade quickly spoke up. "Wait! Shouldn't we have some sort of way to get everyone's attention? Like, a call or something?"
"Nah we'll be fine! Hehehe!" Terezi giggled some more, walking off. Jade sighed at Terezi's light hearted will. She pulled away form Eridan, picking a random direction, and walking that way, Eridan following loyally behind.
The time past by rather quickly as she walked, enjoying the scenery of the trees more and more as she got further and further away from the lusus chunk clearing. She began to hum to herself, forgetting completely that Eridan was still with her. After what she thought was about an hour, she decided a small break might be a good idea.
She dropped to the ground, asleep instantly.
Eridan stared at her for a moment, blinking. A small grin crossed his face, and he crept closer to her. *Is she narcoleptic?* He thought, staring at her sleeping form. He bent down, staring at her. After a few seconds, he crept a little closer, his face a few inches from hers. *Wwhat she won't knoww wwon't kill her* he thought as he bent in for a kiss. *It's not like I'm ever going to get any buckets or anything…* He depressed himself with his own thoughts, and quickly bent closer to her, attempting to steal the only "Action" he would ever get.
His lips touched. His eyebrows squinted for a second, wondering why her lips were so cold. And so hard. Like he were kissing a….
He opened his eyes to see his own reflection in the shiny surface of what he immediately knew was the flat of a katana. As he stared at the shiny metal, a deep, calm voice spoke. "You're one fucked up shit head kissing a troll while she's sleeping. A special breed of dumbass fuck faces. You're the king of the new highblood breed of jackasses. It's like you were fucking genetically engineered to be a horny douche. Now back away, you little fucker." Eridan did as he was told, scrambling away from both Jade and the blade. He looked up at his assailant, shaking slightly in both anger and embarrassment. The troll flipped his sword away from jade, resting it on his shoulder, his dark shades reflecting the gleam of the blade. He nodded slightly at Eridan. "Good boy. Good boy." He captchalogued his sword, and easily sat on the ground. "Now you stay there. And I'll stay here. Watching your sorry little purple ass. Fucking high bloods think they piss on shit and not expect a hella ass terrible smell." The last line the mysterious glasses man mumbled to himself.
Eridan spoke. "Wwho are you?"
"Me? I'm the fucking ironic Dave Strider. Nice to meet a sharp ass douche like yourself!"