The time has come, seahorsedad said

[onlyasign]

Who: Sufferer and everyone crashing at Dualscar's hive this week
When: throughout the curse week
Where: Dualscar's hive, which he's now sharing with two freeloading holy bros
Style: whatever
Status: pretty open

Freshly equipped with new hands--new hands with thumbs!--Sufferer finds himself taking care of multiple trolls who have been turned into animals, including but not necessarily limited to multiple cats, an aquatic hoofbeast, an Alternian bee, and a mute penguin. Of course, this being the party hive that it is, others drop by during the course of the week as well.]

[OOC: mingle, start threads with each other, have fun! Just let everyone know in subject header if it's closed or open or what.]

Comments

[feralfanatic]

"You flatterer, you always knew what to say. You are just as handsome as always, yourself." She momentarily relishes the feeling of him playing with her hair, but she could not delay entering any longer. "Yes, I would love to."

Nervously, she follows him in, not really sure what to expect from Dualscar or his hive.

[onlyasign]

It's pretty quiet in the hive right now. Dualscar is off elsewhere, and most of the troll-kids-turned-animals are either napping or stalking sunbeams, so for right now, it's just the two of them. The hive is tastefully, if opulently, decorated, and while there's a distinct ocean theme going on, there's also little glimmers that Sufferer has made this space his own too.

"Would you like some tea?" he asks, steering her towards the kitchen.

[feralfanatic]

"Yes, please, that sounds wonderful." Disciple followed her matesprit, getting steered to the kitchen.

Her mind was scattered at the moment, anyways. She was not really sure what to expect with Dualscar's hive, she almost felt a little let down that was not full-length mirrors everywhere to sate his vanity, or posters saying 'subjugate the lowbloods'. Great now she was being ignorant again, even thinking about Dualscar certainly could bring out her worst.

That wasn't really what had her mind working as much as something else. What had her distracted was that she noticed the little touches around the hive that clearly were the work of her Nubby. Just how long was he staying here? She did not want to push the issue, seeing as when he came back from, he might just need time. Disciple would be lying to herself, though, if she said it did not worry her.

She shakes away the dark thoughts as they approach the kitchen. She was, after all, just glad to see him alive again.

"I may require a little help. These cavebeast claws are a little unwieldy. I have made do so far, but they do not really do 'delicate'."

[onlyasign]

"That's fine. I'll make it." They're also well stocked with straws, since being handless didn't really lend itself well to holding cups, and he'll make sure to give her one.

Sufferer is quiet as he makes their tea. He knows she doesn't like that he's here instead of at their old hive, but the simple fact is that he wasn't capable of taking care of himself before. Neither was Psii, and they needed someone there to do things as simple as feed them or put straws in their cups. Not that she couldn't have done the same, but Dualscar was just pushier about it. He's also heard about all the shenanigans his moirail got into in his absence, and he's been worried about Dualscar and how he copes with the world for awhile now.

[feralfanatic]

Now if only she was capable of being rational in anything involving Dualscar. Last time the two of them had talked it ended... badly.

Unfortunately, her resolve to not hide from herself or other people was going out the window being presented with her returned matesprit. She was scared of the things she has done, some of them even in Vatheon, and the idea of talking to Nubby about them was too difficult. Even more so, now that he had returned as the Sufferer. He had already gone through so much, she did not feel right adding anything to that burden.

"Thank you..." She stands awkwardly in the kitchen, trying not to get in his way as he prepares the tea. His not saying anything was leading to her being quiet as well. Disciple was not used to feeling awkward this way when being around her matesprit.

[onlyasign]

Sufferer finishes making the tea and carries it to the table. He sets down a cup for her, complete with a straw, then pulls out a chair so she can sit down. The tea is perfectly blended to her liking; he remembers how to do that. Then he sits across from her and folds his metallic hands around the cup. He can't feel the heat any longer, but it's still comforting, somehow.

[feralfanatic]

Disciple joins him at the table, taking time to admire the addition of the straw.

"Oh! This will work wonderfully. I wish I had thought of this earlier." She may have had to clean up a spill earlier that could have been prevented with the addition of one of the thin plastic tubes.

She carefully slides the cup closer with her bulky claws, taking a careful sip through the straw. It was perfectly blended, with a bit of milk like she enjoyed. She never would have drank the stuff in the first place, if not for the insistence of Nepeta. The fact that he remembered how she took her tea, mixed with the warm feeling of said tea, helps to chase away her discomfort.

"So..." She throws a glance at her surroundings, before placing her gaze back on her matesprit. "... how have you been?"

[onlyasign]

Well, let's see... he's been fighting the horrible depression that comes with knowing there is no afterlife, and that everything he believed and fought for was wrong, and led those he loved the most into ruin and horrible pain. He's been trying to reintegrate himself back into a society that expects him to be a person that he isn't any longer, and feeling like a failure because he can't be what they want. He's still recovering from the wounds that killed him, and all he wants to do is curl up in a pile with his moirail, who is almost as broken as he is, and sleep the world away.

"All right," he allows, holding up his new hands and flexing the fingers. "Darkleer made me new hands."

[feralfanatic]

All of those being legitimate reasons for concern, and things they could talk about. Except that Disciple was now no longer the only damaged soul in their matespritship. They were more kindred in that particular spirit now more so then when she first came back. Unfortunately, it also made it harder for them to open up in the first place.

"That is nice, he makes really good prosthetics." She says, idly twirling a tip of one of her claws in her tea. "Are they... working okay?"

[onlyasign]

"They're fine." They do everything that's required of them, but they're cold, and all the familiar scars and blemishes are gone, and he can't feel things as well as he did before. They beat being handless, but he misses his hands, as strange as that sounds. He wants his old body back, the way it used to be. "Good thing he got them fixed, too, since everyone is different this week." He glances up at her, and almost smiles. "I'm one of the only ones here with thumbs, it seems."

[feralfanatic]

Wanting his arms back would not sound weird to her at all, she for one would rather feel his hands as well. It heartily beat the cold, unyielding metal. Not to mention neither of them would have the constant reminder of what transpired That Night.

"Well, that is good. Possessing thumbs does seem to be a rare talent this week. I am just fortunate to not have been completely changed into a beast, myself." Not entirely true in her eyes. The beastly features were just serving to remind her of what she ended up becoming in the wilds. She almost would have preferred to become a furbeast like a lot of the bubble's residents had.

[onlyasign]

Yeah, the constant reminder of his torture and death is not exactly fun, either.

Sufferer looks up at her. "Do you remember the curse where you were some kind of electric furbeast? You liked that one a lot." They cuddled and he scratched her belly and it was lovely.

[feralfanatic]

"Yeah, but having you there really helped. Nobody else could really talk with me or come withing a foot of me. You could do both, it really made that week." That week had started off awkward and lonely, then she met the embodiment of death, and he made everything okay. He had a habit of doing that to her.

"It really was a strange week. I am never sure what to think when they throw one of these transformative curses at us."

[onlyasign]

"I don't know." Sadly, he was gone from the bubble when Sollux made his discovery about emotional manipulation powering the coral, so he has no idea that is what's going on here. "There must be some reason behind it, but it is beyond me."

[feralfanatic]

"It just makes no sense." Disciple shakes her head resignedly and sighs. She always wondered how whatever gained from the curses could outweigh whatever it is they spent to physically alter an entire city's inhabitants, or swap their minds, or any number of seemingly impossible feats. She was now also wondering why she was sitting here forcing small-talk with her matesprit. They used to talk for hours on end about anything, even if a lot of the time it was just her listening to him speak. Disciple could happily listen to him speak forever.

There is a brief, hesitant silence as she stops to take a sip of her tea. Not really sure where to go next she stares at her drink. Finally, though, the burning ache sitting in the pit of her stomach overcomes her anxiety and forces itself to the surface.

"I missed you... I... I am glad you returned."

[onlyasign]

"I don't know."

The problem is, Sufferer can't think of why she'd want to hear anything he has to say right now. Everything he said was wrong, and led them down a path of ruin and destruction. They would have all been better off if they'd never listened to him in the first place.

He looks up though, at her comment, and his eyes are wide and damp. He doesn't deserve her, he doesn't deserve any of them. "Th-thank you, I... I m-missed you too..." Then he has to hide his eyes with his forearm, to hide the tears that are threatening to fall.

[feralfanatic]

Disciple wears a slight, fixed smile on her face. She was having a harder time watching him deal with seeing him like this then she cared to admit.

She cannot read thoughts so she does not know just how badly the failure of the movement had damaged him. It was a mournful loss she had gone through, and never really recovered. That is, at least until recently, when she found out about the Neophyte and the other small ways which his words had managed to live on. Even if it was not a full recovery, just having that knowledge made it seem worthwhile to her.

Caught off-guard when he speaks, and ultimately hides his face, Disciple hesitates once again. He was hiding his face and stumbling over those words, she grew frustrated with her own inaction. She was up from her chair, and around to the other side of the table before she really conscious of her own movement. Sliding in behind him, she wraps her awkward cave-beast arms around him, pulling him close. As of yet, saying nothing, just wanting to hold him.

[onlyasign]

He doesn't deserve her comfort; he doesn't deserve what she's giving him. But he'll take it, all the same.

Sufferer turns against her, hiding his face against her shoulder and clinging to her with his metal hands.

[feralfanatic]

Signless/Sufferer has an extremely long way to go before he runs out of comfort he 'deserves'. Then again, she may be a little biased.

Nothing else needed to be said at the moment. She stands there holding him, like he did for her. Disciple just wanted him to be alright; to protect him, no matter how. Her tender embrace, a warm blanket, meant to keep out the world. As long as they had this, everything could be okay.