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  If Tavros were to be honest with both himself and Gamzee, living in Alternia was not all it was cracked up to be. He had landed a decent job as a gardener for the royal family only because he had a couple higher blooded connections, and was living off of relatively good wages, especially for one of his blood. There was the quiet fear that one day, his job would be taken from him, and where would he be then? Stuck in a slum hivestem with other poor, run down trolls just barely making it with scarcely enough food to make a mouthful. While he doubted that he would be thrust into such an area of poverty so quickly, a lowblood was a lowblood and no one cared for someone with a short lifespan. As he had heard one blueblood woman remark, 'Don't they just remind you of flies?'

  Listening to Gamzee's description of Wonderland made him think of his home even more; the monarchy thing especially. Alternia was ruled by an empress whom he had never seen in person but often saw her heir located at the castle. He commented, "Yes, Alternia is much like that. But, you know, perhaps it is good that you are isolated," Tavros smiled some at the more natural scenery, his browning eyes carefully watching his feet to avoid any missteps, "War is an awfully malicious thing, and that is coming from someone whose entire nation is supposed to be aggressive and intimidating."

  2014-04-18 23:10:06
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  "Yea, it's good to avoid that, though I don't really have a fuckin choice to live out here or not," Gamzee leads them to the house, retrieving some firewood from the rack on the nearest side of the house to them. The house itself is made of the wood from the trees in the surrounding forest. It's mostly undecorated except for a few wooden or bamboo looking wind chimes which clunk and clink nicely in a much lower pitch than the metal variety. There are also some colorful mushrooms similar to the ones along the path growing around the house, as if they were like flowers.

  Gamzee takes his armful of firewood and leads Tavros left around the corner to the front. He opens the door and holds it open, following Tavros inside. It's a good sized room, with two doors off to the right; from what he can see through the open doors one is a bedroom and the other the bathroom. This room has the fireplace in the middle, which Gamzee is currently setting up and lighting, and a modest kitchen in the corner left of the fireplace. There are oil lamps hanging on the wall, and after getting the fire to start in the fireplace, Gamzee lights these, as there aren't any windows to let in light. There's a small table and some chairs, and a cushier chair near the fireplace with a throw over the back which Gamzee leads Tavros towards after finishing lighting everything. "Why don't you sit down and warm up and I'll start getting things together?"

  2014-04-19 00:07:05
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  He tilted his head, ears flicking as he listened to the clunking of windchimes, and he smiled a bit at the sound. He always preferred the more natural noise to bamboo over metal, and Tavros seemed to be relaxing more as he got used to the woods as opposed to how nervous he was beforehand. His eyes traced the mushrooms that he likened to flowers, and he started to miss the blooms of tulips and daffodils that accompanied springtime, and Tavros sighed wistfully before walking into Gamzee's home.

  The first thing that he noticed were the doors, then the fireplace. Immediately, he was drawn to it, having momentarily forgotten his coldness for favor of fungi. Delicately, he tucked his dress beneath himself and sat down in the chair by the fireplace with a satisfied hum. He felt at home already, and he commented to Gamzee, "You have a lovely place. Thank you for opening it up, to me," The hospitality was greatly appreciated, and the warming troll purred in content as he stretched his arms over his head and listened to his stomach growl a second time.

  2014-04-19 02:30:20
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  Gamzee's light purplish-blue blush was visible sparingly through the couple unpainted parts of his face under his eyes and on the highest part of his cheeks. "Thanks; it's not fuckin much but it's home. My house is your house, and all that shit, too." At Tavros's stomach growl, Gamzee kind of jumps a little and goes to the kitchen, opening the pantry cabinet beside the oven, "Totally forgot about eating and all that. Let's see what we got all up in this motherfucker."

  He rummages through for a while, opening hidden drawers, occasionally pulling something out. "Well, I don't know what you motherfuckin like, but I got some yams, should be some smoked salmon--here that is, or there's probably pheasant in the ice box. Rice? Miso? Beans? I don't know bro, what do you think?" Gamzee looks over to Tavros in his chair as he holds a couple of the foodstuffs mentioned absently.

  2014-04-19 22:41:52
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  "Oh, rice would be lovely, thank you." Impeccable manners displayed themselves when in the home of the other male, and Tavros slipped off his shoes for now to fold his legs up close to him for further warmth. He felt heated and content in the other's home, still hearing the clinking of the wind chimes and a couple tweets of birds as he watched the fire with brown eyes.

  Back at home, rice was a common food. It was so cheap that Tavros could buy it in bulk and use the saved money on other things he needed, like taxes and bills. With a hum, he glanced over at the kitchen and questioned, "Do you really think, the Bibliosaurus will help me get out of here?"

  2014-04-19 23:09:48
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  Gamzee feels the need to be a little fancier than plain rice, with such a nice guest in his home, and since he never gets guests out here. He decides on fried rice, so chops up some carrots and ginger to saute while the rice cooks, and gets out a couple eggs for later.

  He's a little sad that Tavros seems to want to leave so badly, but he guesses he can understand; he wouldn't like being in an unfamiliar place either. Especially for as nice as Tavros is, Gamzee figures he must have a lot of friends back home. "If that's really what you want to all up and do, and if she knows how. She's really very helpful, even to lowbloods." Gamzee is referring to himself with this comment; he's had a number of run-ins with the Bibliosaurus, and she's always been very kind and helped him out of a number of jams. In return he's taken to helping her if he can, and visiting her just for fun, as she doesn't tend to get out much, too absorbed in her studies to be bothered.

  2014-04-19 23:55:01
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  The brownblood raised an eyebrow, "To lowbloods?" He supposed he should be thankful that she was kind to all, and he shrugged a bit to himself as his nose twitched. The smell of cooking food started to enter his nostrils, and Tavros smiled to himself. Everything was so comfortable and home-like, and he figured that if he could not figure out a way to leave, at least he had a friend and things would not be so bad. He would definitely miss Alternia, no matter how terrifying it sometimes was or how discriminatory others tended to be; it was his home, the only place he ever knew, and he loved it dearly.

  He never realized how tired he was until his lids grew heavy and the warmth of the fire almost made him fall asleep. To keep himself awake, Tavros sifted through his pockets again and pooled the items on his skirt. He counted out four gold coins and looked at the cloth pouch again. Apprehensive about opening it, he called, "Gamzee, have you happened to see a white rabbit, at some point?"

  2014-04-20 00:49:16
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  Taking Tavros's first comment as a sort of question, Gamzee replied, "Heh, yea, like, you know, colder blood colors? Purples and blues and all that. Though I guess she's somewhere in the middle so it's not all that surprising; guess I don't get out that fuckin much either!" he chuckles a little and adds the eggs to the now cooked rice, mixing it evenly before sauteing it and mixing with the vegetables. It had some browning to do before it was ready.

  "A white rabbit? I don't think so, though something did almost trample me that I'm pretty sure could have been a rabbit, right before I found you on that field actually. Didn't see what color it was, though. I was curious what all up and got that bun in such a fright, not being many predators except for those shitty ants and motherfuckin giant bitchbirdmonsters. So followed back the way he came and found you sitting there." Gamzee gets out bowls and utensils for them, nearly ready to dish out the food.

  2014-04-20 01:23:28
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  "What? So..." That meant that instead of him being at the bottom tier, he was suddenly higher up in society. Was that why he donned this more lavish outfit? It reminded him of the higherstanding ladies and men that tended to wear more lavish clothing. Tavros furrowed his brows but kept his suspicions to himself, opting to listen to Gamzee further.

  With a huff, he closed his eyes and tried to think. The whole reason why he was here was because he went after some rabbit that was so odd he couldn't help but follow it. Or him. Or her. He wasn't entirely sure, but the creature was quite dapper and had a penchant for tardiness, even if it was accidental. "The rabbit was rather peculiar," He began, "Running about and muttering that it was late, though I have no clue as to what."

  2014-04-20 02:41:03
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  Gamzee shrugs as he dishes up the finally fried rice. It steams in the bowls as he brings them over, sitting next to Tavros on the floor after handing him one and utensils. "I don't know of any such rabbit. Maybe we'll see him in the forest on the way; or someone else might know who the fuck you're talking about."

  "Did you have a question earlier Tavros? Sorry if I cut you off or something," he looks up curiously at him, deep purple-tinted indigo filling in grey irises in rays from the pupil. His expression goes from curious to shocked as he sees the bronzing of Tavros's own eyes for the first time due to the close proximity. He sits stock still, waiting for whatever Tavros's reaction will be to finding out his own blood color, if he hadn't previously.

  2014-04-20 03:29:36
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  Thanking him kindly, Tavros can feel his mouth water. He was much hungrier than he previously thought, and while he mostly wanted to dig in and say to hell with table manners, he took a more refined approach. A small bite was taken and he chewed thoughtfully as Gamzee directed a question towards him.

  Cinnamon-tinted eyes flicked over to the other troll, a brow raised as he finally noticed the indigo hue coloring his gray eyes. He supposed that he had always had mild suspicions, but his top priority was never investigating the Makara's blood color but trying to find a way out of that mysterious world. He chewed, swallowed, and began, "No, nothing, I haven't any inquiries that have not been answered already." He didn't particularly want to confirm what he already knew, and definitely did not want to put a slight strain on their friendship. It seemed that he didn't care at all about Gamzee's blood color, as he doesn't comment on it or address it, "Though, I do wonder what is in this cloth pouch. I have not yet opened it for fear, of what may be inside..."

  2014-04-20 13:55:11
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  Gamzee relaxes again, leaning against the front edge of one of the chairs arms, resting his bowl on his upraised knee. He's relieved Tavros doesn't seem to care about his status, and that he can keep acting like himself, at least when they're alone. The social implications in public aren't lost on him but he figures they'll come to that when they do. He takes a bite of his own food, surprisingly hungry himself.

  Gamzee glances back at the pouch in question. "Looks pretty nice. What's it feel like is in it? Can't be too big, whatever the fucks inside, unless it's magic, I guess." Gamzee looks contemplatively at the object for a minute. "Could try to open it after lunch if you want. But certainly don't motherfuckin have to. A bit worryin' not knowing where it came from." Gamzee continues eating and glances back at Tavros a couple minutes later, "How's the rice?"

  2014-04-20 16:01:44
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  "It feels very light," He murmured, and it was a little bit relieving. The pouch felt light enough that it always seemed as though nothing was inside. At the inquiry directed towards him, his ears flicked up and he smiled some down at Gamzee, "Oh, yes, it is very good, thank you. I certainly do not cook like this, back at my hive." He wondered why Gamzee seemed so relaxed when he noticed that Tavros wasn't going to treat him any differently because of his blood; he thought that much should have been expected. What right did he have to judge or discriminate?

  Tavros mulled it over for a few moments but didn't contemplate too heavily. Instead, he focused on the little cloth bag and figured that the pouch must have held the gold coins and he hadn't anything to be frightened of. So he opened the pouch and peered inside, then gently plucked out a folded piece of paper. On it, it said, 'YOU ARE ALICE' and Tavros furrowed his brows before unfolding it. The paper looked to be a map of sorts, but all the words, even the legend, were in some kind of code that he could not readily decipher. His first thought was that maybe the Wonderland language was written differently than his own, but he could not be sure. "Gamzee?" He looked over at him, holding out the map, "Can you read this?"

  2014-04-20 16:23:46
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  Gamzee takes the proffered map and looks it over carefully. The symbols looked weirdly familiar, but he couldn't place where he had seen it before. He figured it was probably something his friend had in her collection, or something he might have seen in passing somewhere in the city. He hands the map back to Tavros. "Sorry, I can't. But I think I've seen that shit somewhere before. We can ask the Bibliosaurus about it tomorrow, she'll know. Might even have something like it."

  Gamzee finishes eating quickly, gets up, and puts his dish in the sink for now. He heads to the bedroom, "I'll get some shit packed. After you're done you should pick out a sweater; it can get motherfuckin cold at night." He heads in and gets out his sleeping bag, and pretty much as many blankets as he owns to use as a second, which he ties up with rope together with the sleeping bag. He retrieves a knapsack from the closet, then starts packing camping essentials, saving clothes for last so Tavros can pick out what he wants, if he wants anything. He'll have to bring his nicest coat for Tavros for when they're in the city, and maybe the whole time; who knows who they could run into on the path while traveling.

  2014-04-20 17:47:51
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  After all the essentials were packed, he went back to the kitchen to gather some food for dinner and breakfast tomorrow morning, and a little extra for lunch if they got to the city later than expected.

  2014-04-21 16:42:15
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  "Uh, yes, okay, thank you," He nodded and watched as Gamzee departed, and he looked over the map as he finished eating. The map was extraordinarily detailed for something so small, the trail outlined in black on the parchment and the forests and bodies of water all drawn specifically. He peered down at it with confusion marked on his face; it had to have been something important if it was in the pouch in his pocket, but he was starting to have his doubts.

  When he put his things away, he looked up as he saw Gamzee return in the kitchen. "Oh, I suppose I should go and pick out a sweater now," He began thoughtfully, smoothing out the wrinkles in the apron of his dress as he looked up at the other troll. Part of him assumed that most of the other's clothing would be too long on him, but he figured that at least he would be warm. "I doubt that you have anything, that is brown? Wearing something purple would probably give off, the wrong idea..." However, he was just assuming that wearing the blood color of one's matesprit displayed just how much one loved them was a universal type of thing. "Perhaps it is different here."

  2014-04-21 20:26:41
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  The chuckle that follows is not exactly amused, "No, no brown; but no purple either. No fucking advantage in that shit now is there? Stuff's mostly black and grey." He pauses in his food gathering to lead Tavros over to the bedroom. "This one's the nicest, good for at night when it's really motherfuckin cold and for going around in the city. Fuckin longer than it's supposed to be on you but if we use a belt or scarf or something 'round the waist should look proper over your dress," the coat in question is quite nice in a plain black, by far the nicest thing Tavros can see, and drapes enough in the shoulders that it shouldn't look too much like it's engulfing him, and just like the sleeves are too long.

  "For the rest of the time any old one of these should work fine," he gestures Tavros's attention toward a few knits. Two stood out most, a dark grey button down with some spiraling designs, and a lighter colored turtleneck with sleeves hemmed in such a way that they would probably stay on his wrists instead of sliding down and being obviously too long. The yarn on this one seemed to have some slight variation, so there were some dull flecks of various color every so often. Both were warm enough for fall or spring weather, and pleasantly soft. "Anything else you might be needing feel free to pull out too, gonna finish up in the kitchen," Gamzee leaves to let Tavros decide, and goes to finish packing edibles and clean up the dishes.

  2014-04-21 21:24:42
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  "Oh, no, the coat in itself is just fine. Thank you." Even if the coat is a little fancier than something he'd typically wear, and not particularly his style, Tavros figured that he'd have to play the part in a way. He didn't want the class difference between himself and Gamzee to be so startling but the disparity was there, no matter what world they were coming from. His fingers pluck up the button down rather than the turtleneck, as he was sure that he'd end up ripping it on his horns, watching as Gamzee departed.

  Alone in the room, he looked over the sweaters and the coat, then slipped on the button down to see how it fit. The sleeves were too long and it draped some over his frame but followed the outward curve of the ruffles of his dress. Figuring that the coat would be the same way, Tavros refrained from trying that on as well and peered around for anything the other may have missed or they would need. When he saw nothing, he left the room and inquired, "Gamzee? Does the name 'Alice' mean anything to you?"

  2014-04-23 23:59:47
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  "Umm, there's an old story about an Alice. A bitchtits legend." Gamzee has his sleeves rolled up and had pulled his hair back from his face as he washed the dishes from lunch. He saw Tavros in the darker sweater and was slightly baffled, it looked really nice. He'd never been terribly fond of it himself, but it suited his new friend.

  "Said she came from Somewherelse and that she came and fixed stuff up a bit, used to be darker times when there were monsters everywhere. And I guess she made places safer; defeated the fuckin' Jabberwock and Bandersnatch, and a bunch of other stuff. Then she helped make the government work right, because it was all messed up from them not doing shit about all the fuckin' monsters, and then after all that, she disappeared or went back to Somewherelse. That's the only Alice I've heard of. Why, what's up?"

  2014-04-24 00:39:02
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  None of those names meant much to him, but he assumed that it was definitely a humongous feat to overcome the Jabberwock and Bandersnatch. "On my map," Tavros began, "There was a phrase written on it: You are Alice."

  "I am not entirely sure what that is supposed to mean," He admitted with a slight shuffle of his feet, "I assumed that it must have, uh, a deeper meaning, considering my name is not Alice and that it does not follow the normal six-letter approach that trolls use in names. I do realize that this world is quite unlike my own, but everything that has happened, uh. Is a little too eerie. Especially my clothes and such changing, that is creepy in of itself..."

  2014-04-24 00:46:25
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  "You don't normally dress like that? Well, there's a book about her on my bedside table with a few pictures if you want to look at it. Maybe she wore a dress like that in one of them." Gamzee finishes the last dish and washes the suds off his hands.

  "I know as much as you do, pretty much. But we can get you new clothes in the city if you want. I know a nice seamstress. Oh, we should pick some mushrooms to sell in the city tomorrow, too." Gamzee pulls out a few medium sized sackcloth bags from the pantry, each embroidered with a different letter: G, S, and H. "I just grow them behind the house, it shouldn't take any time at all."

  2014-04-24 01:13:58
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  Just as he was moving to go back into Gamzee's room, he stopped at Gamzee's talk about heading into the city for new clothes. Feeling as though the other male had done so much to help him, Tavros quietly refused; the clothes he wore now were more than fine, honestly.

  "Okay, sure," He agreed, not minding picking mushrooms in the slightest. So long as no weird insect or hazardous animal came stumbling about to hurt him, he would be more than happy to assist Gamzee in his mushroom picking. His eyes fell on the cloth bags, tracing over the letters and wondering if the other troll had a middle name. While trolls in Alternia never operated with middle names, he figured that there was always the possibility that things were different here, as they had a tendency to be, "Are those your initials?"

  2014-04-24 23:00:27
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  "Huh? The letters? No, they stand for the types of mushroom I put in each. G for Grow, S for Shrink, and H for Heal or Help. They do different things, like, I used some Grow mushroom when I first met you," Gamzee explained as he leads them outside and around the back, where three distinct plots are set up, each labeled with a sign corresponding with the letter on one of the bags.

  He shows Tavros what the ripe ones look like in the S plot and gives him the bag while he harvests the G plot. There is significantly less in H than the other two, and the mushrooms there, a pleasant burnt orange color, are much smaller than the nearly indistinguishable Shrink and Grow fungi.

  2014-04-24 23:24:57
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  The memory of Gamzee's eating of something that looked more like a sponge than a mushroom vaguely returned to his mind, but Tavros had been so overwhelmed as the time that it didn't stick very well. "Um. I suppose so," He agreed halfheartedly, then nodded and hiked up his dress to avoid getting any dirt on it. Tavros crouched delicately, leaning over as he deftly plucked the mushrooms.

  It was pretty mechanical work, and he soon fell into a rhythm that allowed him to zone out some. Lost in his own thoughts, he wondered what the Bibliosaurus would tell him; what if there was no way for him to return home? He figured that he would really have to try to make a life for himself in Wonderland, though part of him prodded that it would not be entirely difficult. Unlike his life back in Alternia, he probably had many more options here. If anything, Tavros told himself to prepare for the worst when meeting the Bibliosaurus.

  2014-04-25 21:15:31
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  "That's good, Tavros," Gamzee said, seeing that Tavros's bag was near full. He had already gotten enough of the others, and took the bag from Tavros, tying all three together by the drawstrings. He led them back inside, and secured the bags to the knapsack along with the rolled up blankets and sleeping bag.

  He returned to his room, and put on the other sweater Tavros had seen, and folded up the nice coat carefully and put it in the knapsack too, before grabbing the book about Alice. Checking that he had gotten everything they needed, he slung the bag over his back and left the bedroom, handing the book to Tavros with a smile before picking up the bag with food, checking that room for anything he'd missed. The last thing he did was grab some things from the bathroom, which he shoved in his pockets, before holding the door open for Tavros. "All up and ready to go if you are."

  2014-04-25 21:39:33

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