[mingle post!]

[cavedwellers]

Boy Valentine's Day was sure an adventure, wasn't it? Gosh, it's a good thing all that's over with.

Have a mingle post! If you're starting a new thread, mention where you are in the subject line. Tag each other, hang out, do whatevs.

Comments

[bythehorns]

Oh, um, I'm sorry, that was, very rude, for me, to take them.

[you remember a little bit more about that whole adventure, and the things she said, and oh dear. your face is so brown right now.]

Y-you can. Have them back!

[sei_what]

...his face is seriously brown, is that healthy?

First things first, though, she causes another crapvalanche pulling her robes out of the heap but she sure does feel better once she's got them over her shoulders and is standing around in more than her skivvies. Oof.

"A new-molted crab / its shell like a steamed dumpling / knows this gratitude / to those who consume it not / to those who overlook it."

She beams. "We can dress you up later, can't we?"

[bythehorns]

If you want, to play dressup,
I'm sure we could make up,
Some kind of occasion,
For fancification,
If that is a word, which,
I think it might not be,
But your every stitch,
Looks impressive to me.

[you give her a hopeful smile.]

[sei_what]

Sei claps her hands delightedly--verses! Misshapen foreign verses but aww, seriously, awwwwwwww. It wasn't just the lemonade, clearly, because he still seriously makes her want to, like, play with his toes, and put adult hats on him that are too big, and feed him little bits of things, and SWEET CRAP IN A SOCK, HE'S JUST SO FUCKING CUTE.

"Right now!" she enthuses. "The garments you wear / their too-simple stuffs / befit not a prince." Tee-hee, screw it that he's not even a dressup prince, 'chamberlain' doesn't fit the verse.

[bythehorns]

From a page to a prince, is,
Quite a promotion,
But if that's what your wish is,
I'll second the notion,
And that is, a pun,
On the subject, of sewing,
Cause i think it sounds fun,
This offer you're throwing.

[you do wonder what she plans to dress you up in, since apparently that entire collection of dresses is for her to wear at the same time.]

[sei_what]

"I have," she says, ridiculously enthused, "the most marvelous sprout green shibori," and she grabs Tavros's hands and all but drags him off.

"My nook isn't far," she reassures him. "Come on!"

[bythehorns]

[you sputter and flail and any thoughts of further rhyme completely flee the premises because she wants to -- to show you her --]

Um, that is, okay, I don't think, I should be, seeing that, if you don't mind, I mean!

[sei_what]

"You're just a child," Sei coos, patting Tavros on the cheek and brooking no nonsense about nook-related reluctance. "You don't have to be so formal with your Auntie."

Isn't it sweet that he has such nice manners, though? Precious.

"You could scamper in and out all day if you wanted. It'll be delightful fun, we can do your face even!"

[bythehorns]

I-I might be only six sweeps, but, I am not, so young that, I don't know what that means. I-I don't think, I should go, anywhere, with you.

[sei_what]

"...what?"

And the nice lady is all sad now.

Sei's hands flutter up to her mouth, a nervous and awkward gesture. "Is there something wrong? Did..." She tries to think of some little scrap of proverb, something about the cruelty of children maybe, but nothing comes and she just sort of makes a few little face-noises. And then she hides her face in her sleeves.

"You don't have to," the sleeves say, miserably. "I'll just go."

[bythehorns]

I-I'm sorry, I'm not, trying to be mean, or anything, I just, am not quite comfortable, going that far.

[who is a big jerk? apparently today it is you.]

[sei_what]

Sei recovers her composure a little bit and murmurs a little scrap of verse she just came up with: something really wistful and profound about the sharp milk teeth of kittens and how the mother cat purrs anyway. It's chock-full of the most classical filial guilt-tripping and she's quite proud of it, but she'll have to think about the characters a little bit before she bothers writing it down.

Also, TOTALLY making a list. Dispiriting Things. ITEM ONE: WHEN CHILDREN DECIDE THEY DON'T LIKE YOU EVEN THOUGH YOU GAVE THEM CANDY.

"It's not that far," she says, once she's got all that being cultured out of the way. "Just past the pond with the moss. You...don't have to come this time, certainly."

[bythehorns]

...Um. You just, want me, to go to, your respitecave? Because that is not, at all, what I thought you said, before....

[sei_what]

"My nook," she clarifies. "Not a whole cave, your auntie isn't important enough for that."

Who knows, it's a big cave, maybe she COULD just take over one of the big vaulty rooms further in, but that's less important and much less satisfying than being a bit of a jerk and laying on another delicate layer of GUILT 'N' SHAME.

"Did she speak poorly? She does that sometimes."

[bythehorns]

[there is that word again! you blush furiously and your voice is more than a little squeaky when you try to explain]

That is a word, that, um, means, something very different, to trolls, and is not, a cave, so much as, a body part, that, I guess, this is, only fair, after I had, a recuperacoon, that looked like, human parts, but wow, I feel really, embarrassed now.

[sei_what]

What Tavros doesn't know is that Sei, briefly drunk not long post-arrival on the heady realization that people can say and do things here that would normally get her shipped out to the provinces to live in a grass-thatched hut for the rest of her sad, sad life--she figured what the hell, if this is a place where people bathe in vaginas made by fuk dwarves THEN IT'S A PLACE WHERE PEOPLE BATHE IN VAGINAS MADE BY FUK DWARVES, GOD DAMN IT.

Hers has a nice woodgrain.

"My...parts? Oh dear. Which word? Shibori?"

[bythehorns]

No, uh, I don't know, that word, at all.

But, um, "nook" is, a word for, one of, a troll's intimate parts.

[sei_what]

...well! Isn't this a charming place? The sort of place where you can invite demon children into your funny business by accident.

"...Tavros," she says, very gently chiding, "I'm old enough to be your mother. Both of our nooks are safe."

[bythehorns]

A mother, is, another human thing, isn't it?

But, um, thank you, for the reassurance.

[sei_what]

She forgot the poor thing didn't have one, didn't she? There's been a lot going on, but that doesn't stop being awfully sad.

"A mother is the person who made you," she explains, "and who loves you most in all the world. So I'm your auntie instead, because you probably already have someone who loves you most. Don't you?"

[bythehorns]

Well, uh, I used to have, Tinkerbull, who took care of me, when I was just, a little wiggler, but I think now, the person who cares about me most, is Gamzee, who is, another troll, who is here.

[sei_what]

How had she not noticed there were more of these little darlings? That's delightful news. New list: Endearing Things. Item two: Gamzee.

"I might have enough layers to dress you both up," she smiles, "If you'd like. I'm sure he'd be just as pretty as you."

[bythehorns]

Haha, I think, it is likely that, he would trip on, a fancy dress like that. It sort of looks like, it must be hard, to move around, wearing so much dress, all at once.