Rogue of Heart

     The idea of some fresh meat was great. But if he wanted some, he’d go to the butcher and order some well cut, finely treated meat— not something right off the damn street. He didn’t need any pelts either.

     If he wanted a new suit, he’d go to the tailor!

     Carefully, Crowbar gently pushes Nepeta’s bloody hand back down with the blunt end of his crowbar, not even wanting to get himself bloody while not on the job.

”If I had a mirror I’d make things more clear for you, kid. Take a look at that hand of yours and you tell me what the problem is. You’re covered in blood.”

        “Uh...well of course I am. I did hunt, you know. How can you conduct a propurr hunt without getting a little blood on you, silly?” She giggled at his expense then titled her head to the side as he continued speaking.

【 Okay, so like I’ve been feeling rly sick and also super inadequate about my Nepeta muse lately, so I kind of let stuff get weird on this account cause I got overwhelmed and scared so I tucked my tail between my legs and ran. I’m trash.

He still misses her immensely. Still feels the aches in his bones. Perhaps the one true friend that he’s had — save for the brief matespritship he’s had, as well as the two Strilondes he’s had the pleasure of meeting in the Hive — Nepeta is his moirail. His rock.

Crash! Crash! Crunch! Green and gray consume the entirety of Equius’ vision, a blur overcoming him and bringing him back down against the concrete. Oof!

The situation presents itself as fight or flight at first. Arms raise upwards to punch his assailant, until—

“Equius!”

“Nepeta?” Hands gently pull the female troll away, just enough for him to garner a better view of the girl. Indeed, before his very eyes, and tacklepouncing him in her usual way, is his moirail. Tears of relief and happiness spring up at the edge of his vision, and if it weren’t for his strength, he would have tightened the hug further. “Nepeta, I’m here. I’m fine.”

He gently pulls away at Nepeta, so that he could have space to rise to his feet. At the shock of seeing his moirail again, he nearly forgets about the dialogue of her outburst. Nearly.

“Nepeta, you should watch your tongue,” he says firmly, but not particularly scoldingly. “But, I’m happy to see you again. I missed you. I — I apologize for what I—”

Guilt. She thought him to be dead. Not the dead-alive state that is the dream bubbles. Dead. He failed as a moirail. He died. And so did she.

        The short troll looked up at him, holding her hands near her chest as he started to cry. That was when she lost it herself, green tears sliding down her own cheeks. She threw herself at him, arms wrapped as tight as she could around him as she buried her face in her moirail.

        “No!  You do not need to apologise, because it was not your fault! You know whose fault it was!” She frowned up at him a little. “Please, don't beat yourself up about it because I never blamed you, kay? I missed you so much! I thought I would never get to see you again and you are actually here and...” She let out a small squeak, an attempt to keep herself from crying more but it didn't work and she started sobbing.

  ▓▒▓ ❝ That does sound a lot like Skipper, actually. I know he’s just looking              out for us and he can take care of himself, but… Sometimes we just need              to remind him that we’re there for him too. A-And that’s with anything! ❞

           The fact that they were making any progress at all with this quadrants talk              meant that Private was getting more comfortable more quickly than when he              had first found himself intimidated by the negative aspects to this new culture.              He hadn’t even realized he’d sat himself down a few minutes ago while liste-              ning, completely caught up in the conversation.

        “Then it is settled! I am deffurnitely putting you two on my shipping wall. And maybe even soon I will be able to mark it as canon! This is so exciting!”

        She beamed then moved to hug the little penguin, picking him up and purring excitedly. If there was anything that could make her very happy it was the prospects of a ship becoming canon! There were so many on her wall that sunk which made her sad, but the good ones that became real were great.

        “Well, if you ever need help explaining it to him, I can help you out! I know a lot about  the quadrants and also I like to share it. It is fun for me! And Equius iiiis...Equius. He is a bit hard for some people to get along with, but he grows on you. Maybe you should meet him some time! He more so likes hoofbeasts but I think he maybe might like you too?” She shrugged. 

She’s more like a weird grey cat if you would ask him. Now the next words that the girl had said terribly confused him and it took him a few minutes to analyze and finally come up with an answer to her.

"I’m going to assume that a hive for you is a house and a respiteblock is a bed…" 

He pulls out a city map from his pocket which he had gotten after waking up to this city. He shows it to her then points out how each different sectors were shaped and how they were arranged mirrors that of the city name’s shape.

        “What...is a bed?” She tilted her head to the side, wondering what that was. Though her attention was caught by the map he showed her, looking over it and nodding.

{♚}  While she seemed to also compliment her outfit, she would continue to stare down at them for some time, her eyebrow unmoving from its raised position. How was.. she even supposed to respond…? Other than very simply.. ” I.. Don’t Flarp. These are standard issue garments as I’ve said before. ” However, when she brought up someone known as the Condesce, she would shake her head. 

        "Oh, ok. So, well, then you're purrbably a real one and not one for fake or fun. Well, then...I guess you did say that. Oops."

        It was a small relief, even if she was still a little on edge. "Oooh! So you're purrtecting everyone in the city? I think that is noble of you and also kind. I purrbably won't cause you any kind of threat. I am just relieved to be alive again and to see my friends. But I am not one of the trolls who like to cause much trouble. So maybe we can be friends! I guess...I am not really that much of a child though. Like...I am not a wiggler, but I am really strong! So if I can help purrtect people I will too!"

"Rosie, I’ll remember that! I really, I miss the humans, even if they don’t remember us. I’ve been finding, a lot of old fronds— Aradia, I.. I saw Eridan. Can you believe it?" 

Her voice rattled nervously, Feferi looking left and right as the other spoke to her. 

        "Mr. Ampurra is here? Why? Did he do anything to you?" She let out a small growl, obviously aggravated by that surprise and the way she seemed nervous about it. "I can't believe that, but I did see Aradia! Do you think maybe everyone is coming here? It isn't where you go after you die, right? I didn't think it was but..." She paused and looked a little upset again, wondering about it was making her sick in her thinkpan but what could she do? She wouldn't know until she explored more or gained more knowledge on this place. 

"A pale quadrant…so a best friend, then? Well, a best friend forever? If you’re familiar with that term.”

        "Yes, I think. But it is still romance, so it is diffurnt from just a friend. But yes!"

        "Alternia was pretty cool, I guess. It was very dangerous, but most trolls are capable of withstanding it. We are kind of a tough species, I think. Most of us, anyway. I usually spent a lot of time with my lusus and we would hunt beasts down to eat. I am not like most other trolls though, I think that I sounded like our culture was really not advanced. But obviously we have computers and things." She lifted up her tablet to make a point. "Well, we played this game and it turned out the game destroyed our planet. Meteors came down and Alternia exploded. We all went into the game though so we survived for that time, well...my friends and I. The trolls outside of us were all doomed."

        "I think you should meet Rosie, I think she would be happy to meet you purrbably. She is very nice too even if she doesn't remember trolls. I don't think she'll remember you either, but maybe she will! I don't think that Rose knows much about trolls but I got to talk about some things and she's been teaching me about humans."