Cherubplay

🌀
Eridan was strangely attached to that table, and wondered if he could rind a way to re-purpose it eventually. For all they knew it could have some connection to the Screechland magic. Maybe he could cut it up into smaller tables or other pieces of furniture. He would make it a project for himself. "That sounds fine. Some of those are so nice, we'll have to transport them carefully. Especially that jade one. And the black fired terracotta. And the porcelain... I think we may have a lot of fancy tea sets."

"Hmm, I will have to come up with some sort of present, now," Gamzee smiled. "And obviously cake... chocolate, maybe with fresh strawberries, or something else that fruits early..." that sounded really good. Gamzee didn't like chocolate nearly as much as Tavros, and preferred the darker stuff, but with fruit it was always good. "You ever had chocolate covered strawberries? 'saurus got 'em once. They were fantastic." Really with all the sweets Tavros liked and Gamzee enjoying making them, he was just going to have to open a bakery or sweet shop if he was ever able to. "...do you want to live in Tulgey all the time? Or maybe somewhere else sometimes, nearer to everyone?"

2014-08-29 16:11:58
●
"More than enough," Vriska wondered what else they could take from the Screechlands. She knew they'd have to be someplace near the water, so she figured she could load up things onto her ship. It would be bothersome to get things onto her ship, but she assumed that it wouldn't take long once they knew just what to take. "If you have bigger items, we could put them on my ship. Temporary storage until we know what to do with it."

Tavros let out a hum in thought, playing with Gamzee's hair as he tried to think of the best place to be. He had always thought that he would live with Gamzee, along with Karkat, once things calmed down and were as ideal as they were going to get. He had wanted to be near everyone, but he didn't think that Kanaya would move too far from Sollux. Eridan seemed to be getting close to Gamzee and Vriska wouldn't stray too far from her ex-kismesis. "Um. I am not sure! I thought I would just be with you, and Karkat if he still wished to, once everything calmed down. I kind of want to be near the water, too, I like the beach! I don't know, I do not want to be too far from everyone else."

2014-08-29 17:14:51
🌀
"There's always smaller furniture. But maybe we should scope out a place before we really start moving things. It isn't like anyone is going to mess with our stuff there. Perhaps the others will want to join us in finding a new home?" We'll have to see after everything is settled. Certainly I think they'd all like to see your ship." Eridan felt like being more snuggly, so nuzzled in some, running his fingers through her nearly dry hair.

Purring lazily at Tavros's hair playing, Gamzee took up caressing his face again, kissing his opposite cheek lightly. "I suppose we'll just have to have a meetin' about it after everythin'. Can be our first lazy adventure. Maybe stick around Undlegire as a base, and go out from there to find some place near the ocean. Could still visit Tulgey in the summer for all the fruit, and can probably take a bunch of the plants with us for a garden. Could even take some of the singin' flowers if they want to go. That'll be easy to work out, I think." He nuzzled more at Tavros's neck, placing soft kisses on his cheek down to his collar. He liked this togetherness and how he could lavish Tavros with sweet attentions.

2014-08-29 17:59:28
●
While she didn't mind him playing with her hair and running his fingers through it, it did feel strange to Vriska. There was no room for her to complain or get angry at him, no reason for her to push him away and snap at him in irritation. It was going to take some getting used to. "You're damn right they would," She nodded, having great pride in her ship. When she spent more than a month out at sea, Vriska would employ fellow bluebloods or other lowbloods to man her ship and assist her, then she'd dish out heavy sums of silver and gold. She had more treasure and stolen goods than she knew what to do with, even when she did relocate it. "They're not allowed near my vault, though. Not by the treasure."

Tavros smiled widely, "Certainly easy compared to this." He agreed, humming in delight at the kisses to his cheek and a bit lower. He was reminded of their time at the inn, and how Tavros had attempted to get a bit frisky but it had ended up in a slight misunderstanding. He couldn't disguise the giggle at the thought, and he was swift to explain himself lest another rift in communication occurred. "Do you remember back at the inn we had stayed at? And when we were in the bathroom," He shook his head in disbelief, "I promised I would be more blunt with you, but I do not, uh, know how well I will."

2014-08-29 18:40:42
🌀
"Certainly not, just the captain allowed down there," he chuckled. "I won't tell them about it, you can keep it a secret." Eridan also liked her ship, and was probably the only one that when he saw it he didn't want to dent or otherwise damage. Usually they attacked landdweller ships, but he'd put some special writing on the bottom of hers without her notice to indicate it was a safe ship to other sea dwellers.

He paused in his stream of kisses. "Hmm, you could just tell me whatever, no need to get embarrassed around me. Better than both of us gettin' all confused and you gettin' frustrated 'cause I can't get my understanding on proper." He continued up and then under Tavros's jaw, moving back to under his ear, really just kissing as much area as possible without moving much.

2014-08-29 19:05:41
●
Vriska had always thought it was strange that no seadwellers had attacked her ship and attempted to ransack it. She had seen plenty of landdweller-owned ships go down because of a few seatrolls, but they were usually the government's small, undercover navy ships that were prowling for God knows what. Vriska normally assisted them out of her mutual hatred for reds, but on the times in which she was alone and she knew seadwellers were around, they left her alone. "Ah, I miss my ship so much. There is still plenty that I have to do for it: new sails, waxed floorboards, and it definitely needs to be de-barnacled."

He purred, tilting his head some in the opposite direction. It wasn't often that they could spend so much time together uninterrupted, and Tavros wanted nothing more than to enjoy it to its fullest capacity. "I suppose," He murmured, then he grinned, "You are cute when you get a little flustered, though. Perhaps I will keep things from you, uh, purposefully, just for that fact. "

2014-08-29 19:51:54
🌀
"I can help de-barnacle while you do other things. I bet Fef could convince some sea creature or other that eats the things to remove them. Otherwise it'll keep you from having to heft that thing out of the water if I can manage underneath the waves well enough." It was awfully fun to sink those government vessels. Sometimes if they were close enough to the Screechlands shores he could use Hare magic to mess with the water, though as he wasn't normally magical otherwise, he often forgot he could.

He was a little confused at the simultaneous purring but also moving away, so tested closer areas which ended up being further down along Tavros's neck and along his collar bone. "But how am I supposed to know if you want to do something if you don't tell me?" He asked between kisses, smiling against Tavros's skin.

2014-08-29 20:34:49
●
"That would be /glorious,/" Vriska couldn't even begin to detail the massive hassle it was to get her ship out the water and de-barnacle it. It was time consuming work, and she normally just hired a team of lackeys to do it for her, but there were certain spots that she preferred to do herself. "It takes forever to get my poor ship all clean again."

He let out a somewhat shaky sigh of satisfaction, his neck and collarbone proving to be more sensitive than he had thought. "Hmm. What if I give you hints in riddles?" Tavros giggled, "Like the White Rabbit."

2014-08-29 20:46:31
🌀
Eridan giggled, surprised at how happy making her happy made him. He kissed her forehead and snuggled her closer with an amount of glee. "We'll get her clean in no time, and sailing smoother than ever."

"Hmm," Gamzee hummed along his collar bone, back slowly up his neck as he toyed with Tavros's shorter locks on the opposite side, occasionally with gentle scratches to his scalp. "I suppose that could work." The sigh had made him shiver a little, and it was nice to know Tavros liked what he was doing.

2014-08-29 21:13:35
●
Looking to Eridan curiously, she wrapped an arm around his waist loosely, questioning, "What about you? Any troublesome things you need help with? Surely I could put my luck to good use."

He glanced at him curiously, lowering his hands to hold Gamzee's hips and rub his thumbs against them. "Are you okay?" He questioned, having noticed the shiver and wondering if he had maybe done something unintentionally wrong, "You shivered a little..."

2014-08-29 21:52:24
🌀
"Not that I can think of, dearest. I suppose your luck could keep me out of the way of any stray assassination attempts. Otherwise I'm quite happy where I am."

His purring got louder with what Tavros was doing, and he kissed a little harder along his collar bone again. "Yea, I'm fine," he giggled between kisses, "your sigh was just cute, involuntary shiver, dunno why it happened, really.

2014-08-29 22:01:33
●
"Ugh, those fuckers. Just thinking about anyone trying assassinate either of you gets my blood boiling."

While Tavros did have any idea as to why he shivered, he wasn't going to give him any explanation; perhaps it would be better to just test boundaries like this, see where they were comfortable and what didn't work for them. He quivered some at the kisses to his collarbone, silently wishing Gamzee would incorporate his teeth, but he immediately chastised himself. What good would it be to get worked up in Sollux's apartment, and so close to tea time? To try to keep his mind off what would inevitably happen to him should he get any more riled up, he asked softly, "Hey, um. I hate to break the mood, but what time is it?"

2014-08-29 22:05:09
🌀
Eridan rubbed her shoulder a bit to relax her some. "It is disturbing, I'm not all that fond of it myself. But we won't give them the satisfaction of any aggression. I was quite close to getting angry yesterday, though. Especially after that absolute /asshole/ started talking about you like that. How dare he!" He was getting a little mad about it now.

He didn't mind at all, scooting back up to give Tavros a few quick pecks up to his cheek before sitting up on one elbow and leaning his neck up to get a good look at the clock above them, "Uh, 'bout an hour before tea-time. Got a little more time to kill before we head out."

2014-08-29 22:12:47
●
Seeing him angry on her behalf was sweeter than Vriska would admit; she doubted that anyone thought as highly of her as Eridan did, and she was tempted to have someone else slander her a bit just so Eridan would show this side of him. To keep him calm, though, she patted his thigh, trying to suppress her smile, "Yes, I know, he's a scumbag. I went and scrambled his thinkpan, remember?" She grinned devilishly, "But I do not know the extent to which to talked about me. Do I even want to know?"

"That is much more time than I had thought," He mused, but he supposed they could use that time to figure out just what they were going to say to Aradia. Tavros guessed he would have to detail to her what their plans were, but he was still worried about something happening to Gamzee. "Do you want to keep cuddling for a while? Or, uh, should we figure out the plan for tea today?"

2014-08-29 22:18:32
🌀
"Yes, that was very amusing.... but UGH, he just acted like you could only possibly be a temporary thing! So impermanent, just because you were lower on the spectrum than him! And he came up to ask me about you and if you were available, as if you'd consent to him just because he was some fucking red. So I told him he needed to change his attitude...kind of not exactly like that, more elegant but probably ruder too," he explained, keeping his cool really only from her patting and because he wasn't here for him to rough up a bit.

"Why can't we do both?" Gamzee asked, settling back down next to Tavros to hold him as they talked. "We can talk right here, and keep snugglin' a while, if you wanna." He glanced at Tavros, waiting to see what he decided. "How long do you think you want to spend having tea?"

2014-08-29 22:29:26
●
"Good grief, Marchie," She reached up, squishing his cheeks between her forefinger and her thumb, "You're liable to giving yourself a bloodpusher attack with all that stress a' yours. I appreciate the sentiment, doll, but I didn't find him to be more than a one trick hoofbeast, if you know what I mean." She lowered her hand, "He could talk the talk, but he sure as hell couldn't walk it."

Tavros kissed the tip of his nose lightheartedly, "I will just get distracted by your cuteness if I cuddle more!" He joked, but the copper snuggled closely to him, planting light kiss to his throat and jaw, giving up on his thoughts of keeping them somewhat separated. He should have known from past experiences that that rarely worked. "Not long," He grimaced, "While I, personally, do not think anyone will come after either of us, one can never be too sure. If the Rabbit is around, I will ask about his judgement, but I mostly want to get in and get out, as quickly as possible."

2014-08-29 23:03:46
🌀
"Even if he could, he'd be unbearable and make it not worth a silver," Eridan huffed, settling back in the chair more so he could lean a little. He didn't want to be too intrusive, but he did like their new closeness. "I guess I'm glad I didn't have to deal with anyone bothering me about dancing or whatever /else/ they had on their thinkpans. Pity you got so harassed by boring people, though. We could have spent more time cutting a rug."

Gamzee grinned at the kisses. "Okay, what do you want to talk about most, then? Should get your thoughts straightened out about it. And I can talk some too about things, if you want. But I just kinda ramble, so you'll need to keep everything on track," he said, giving Tavros some more light kisses. "Oh, I forgot to tell you he said you were on the right track with translating the coins, so we'll have to work on that afterwards sometime."

2014-08-29 23:15:16
●
"Holy shit, I had the worst time with those patrons!" She looked annoyed just thinking about them. "The most irritating, tedious drivel just slides out their mouths with hardly any effort at all, like their lives are actually /interesting./ That's the horror of it all, they think their rinky dink tea times and some dinner party with the neighbors and their snotnosed brat was a legitimately /good time./ Can you imagine that? Watching a woman fan herself and drone about what her little 'darling' son Virenn is up to with his private tutor. I couldn't care less if I was dead." She huffed, throwing her hands up in exasperation, "What I wouldn't give to rip their dresses and ties and shove them on a ship in the middle of the sea, show them what real excitement is. How can you be so concerned about what color your claws are or what godawful piece of bullshit gossip is floating about your side of town when there are people suffering and culled over some law that everyone and their ancestors seem to be blind to? It amazes me how absolutely robotic these people are; when just one or two show some emotion, I almost cannot believe my auditory ducts or my optical globes. Fucking brilliant, these highbloods. So keenly unaware of everything that they don't even /attempt/ to understand the world around them. Doesn't it just disgust you, infuriate you?"

"Really?" The coins had been bothering him for a long time, and it excited Tavros that he was finally getting somewhere with them. He sat up, giving a clap of enthusiasm, "Excellent! I think, with the princess, I will start broadly and get to specifics. She understands the hugest picture, so far, but I think we still need to pinpoint her in the right direction. Maybe we will talk about, uh. The mixed cities - the highbloods there seem to know a lot about legislature and laws and all, but the highbloods here, unless they are directly involved with the government, do not, which leads me to believe the highbloods out in the mixed cities are receiving some type of brainwashing? Well, um. Brainwashing that is much more severe than what those out here are exposed to."

2014-08-29 23:26:04
🌀
"Hmm, they were so different with you. I didn't get any of that daily life crap at all. They just kept asking about the Screechlands and 'aren't there loads of monsters there', 'do those barbarians live among them', 'isn't that place arid and without water how do you live there', 'somewhere I read or heard some erroneous hemo-ist information, care to confirm or deny?'. Or 'why is your purple friend so close to Alice?', 'how did you meet', 'is that blue a pirate?'. I guess I was supposed to be an encyclopedia about all of our lives and everything about the Screechlands. I suppose it was more interesting but I got a little tired from repeating myself so often. Though it did seem to bother some of them at least that there is abuse to other castes, though I can't be sure if they were serious or not anymore."

When Tavros sat up he kind of simultaneously whacked Gamzee in the head and tangled their horns for an instant before the purple blood turned away, flopping onto his back on the bed in a slight daze. "If they know a lot in mixed cities," Gamzee said he felt he could, "they sure don't tell everyone about them. At least not right away." He thought for a minute about what he and Kanaya had talked about. "I guess there are more mixes, but I dunno if they're all as corrupt. Tulgey City was pretty bad... though I guess everywhere there's some hiding of information, of the proper histories and stuff. You know what I told you in the Screechlands about purple history? No one knows that anymore. They got rid of a lot of books at one time....." he glanced at Tavros, whispering then, "'Saurus saved some real sneaky like, and hides 'em. She's actually pretty old, remembers a lot of stuff that happened and all that. Said she couldn't let everything get destroyed so if things got better they'd be able to teach the real stuff again."

2014-08-29 23:52:18
●
"I suppose since I'm so close to a midblood, they thought I could relate to their mindless talk," Which was not true at all and Vriska could not be any farther from their lifestyle if she tried, "It probably bothered them because the shit they learned from an early age is that everyone else is dangerous but safely away. Think about it, they don't ever see anyone lower than a yellow on a daily basis, very rarely a midblood, and never a lowblood. They were probably horrified at the brutality because they think that everyone's separated the same way they are in Starnette. Highblood cities, midblood cities, lowblood cities, and then those sanctioned off spots for seadwellers and general problem castes. Or whatever the hell. The abuse is shocking when you've never experienced it."

The smack of their horns made him wince, and he apologized immediately, raising his hands as if he were ready to soothe what he had hit. "Sorry, sorry, oh gosh, are you okay?" Listening to the hidden information the Bibliosaurus had, he mentally smacked himself - the information may have been useful, but there was no use beating himself up about it now. "No one knows anymore? There is such a huge disparity between mixed and solitary cities," Frustrated, he rubbed at his temples, "I feel stupid for being so unaware. There is still a lot that I do not know about, even now."

2014-08-30 00:08:25
🌀
"I suppose; it is still very narrow minded and stupid though. And disgusting, cordoning everyone off like that. Perhaps they should just be plopped into lowblood sections so they can see what happens there, and what it's like, and how we aren't brutes or monsters or anything. Not when we're not trying to be, anyways. Maybe if they got dressed up as lowbloods and experienced what happens first hand. But that would take too much coordination and they'd never consent to it," he sighed. "It would be easier if there was not such widespread ignorance and misinformation."

"Well, a lot of everybody doesn't know about stuff. You've got an excuse! You're from somewhere totally different and only got dumped off here a little while ago. It's a lot to learn all this stuff about a whole new place. And you know a helluva lot more than a whole mess of people." He rubbed all over Tavros's back with one hand to comfort him, massaging a bit at his shoulders and between his scapula. "You're so tense, Tav, you should let me try and relax you sometime," he mumbled. He wasn't much better himself, but it was easier to worry about Tavros and try and take care of him; and it also made him happy to do things for his love.

2014-08-30 00:34:00
●
"Our work's cut out for us," She laughed bitterly, "But think of the pay off! I used to think this was all a load of nonsense, that it would just be something for me to do before I ran off to my ship again, but I can see how this journey could shape up to be something monumental." Vriska settled against his side, her head against his shoulder, "I'm tired of people making comments about you or looking at Alice and his matesprit weirdly just because they're in love."

He shook his head, though it was a careful action to avoid hitting Gamzee again, "Oh, there is no time for that," Tavros dismissed, though he did kiss his lips in gratitude, "Thank you for offering and worrying about me at all, but the moment I am relaxed is the moment something, uh, will happen, and I cannot afford to be caught offguard. Especially with this talk of assassination and having a direct link to the Queen now."

2014-08-30 00:38:52
🌀
The violet's arms encircled her comfortably. Her attitudes had changed so much since the beginning of the journey. She didn't seem to mind Gamzee much at all anymore, and her caring about himself and Alice was honestly relieving to Eridan. "It will be wonderful if things work out swimmingly." He giggled a moment later at the sort of pun he'd made; ha, seadweller, swimming. "People make comments about me?" he asked curiously. He didn't think he lingered much in the minds of others.

He accepted the nice kiss but he grumbled at Tavros's declination. "Maybe not /now/ but later. I'll squash you with love if you're not careful just so I can massage the knots outta you," he 'threatened' from his prone position on the bed. "And then feed you fruit. And kiss you more. And more cuddles in front of the fire... do I need to keep bein' all aggressively lovin' or do you get the picture?" he smiled.

2014-08-30 00:50:35
●
It was true, Vriska was much different now than she had been at the start. She was more open and forgiving, able to be somewhat vulnerable but there were still components to her that were tough and abrasive. She may have been more agreeable, but she was still cocky and prone to fits of annoyance. The joke was not lost on her, and she managed a smile while remaining in the topic of conversation, "Yes, unfortunately. Just passing things while we were in town, or they talked about you at the ball. 'What do you think of that seadwelling fellow, Ms. Hatter?' or 'Is he as monstrous as the books say, Ms. Serket?' or even 'I'd advise you to steer clear of any more of /them./' And yes, that particularly stress on 'them' more often than not. You did get some compliments, though. Some were backhanded, but that is to be expected."

"Oh /no,/" He gasped, his hands flying to cover his mouth, "I have never seen this side of you before! Since when have you been so, uh, assertive?" Tavros questioned, a giggle on his tongue as he played along, "Please, Gamzee, try to contain your threats, my little bloodpusher simply cannot take it."

2014-08-30 01:29:09
🌀
"Hmm, that's not as bad as I thought. Certainly could have been worse. And aren't just a tad monstrous? Look at these shark teeth, and you know how I like to upturn a boat or two," he laughed. And compliments are nice, I suppose. I'm going to guess about by impeccable taste in clothing, yes? For a seadwelling violentblood, that is," he scoffed, making a mockery of it all. It was ridiculous what all of these reds thought and he didn't take any of it seriously. They didn't know anything and their petty shallowness was truly something to behold. "They act like such herd animals, just following whatever they're told and not thinking for a moment. Perhaps it will be easier when there is a new ruler they will just follow them instead of thinking still."

"It must be my purple finally comin' out," Gamzee determined, crossing his arms over his chest and nodding sagely. "Turns out I /am/ all aggressive an' such. Just had to find the right medium in which to express my motherfuckin urges. Turns out I must be from the Snuggler berserker clans, famous for their ability to be lovable." He glanced up at Tavros, remarkably keeping a straight face. "You're really in for it now, you know. Their victims never escaped. It's in the book this is all real legit shit I'm spillin' right here. You're takin' notes, right? Gotta tell the princess all this crazy knowledge I'm layin' down," the very side of his mouth quirked up, and he couldn't quite get it back into place.

2014-08-30 01:49:23