vatheon | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who:Nepeta Leijon and Equius Zahhak
Where: Casa de Highbloods
When: During the unable to lie curse
Status: Closed
Style: Third person

The effects of the current curse are well-known by now, and have led to some very interesting happenings over the network for Nepeta to follow and giggle over. As for herself, she doesn't exactly make a habit of hiding anything, so it's hardly been the calamity some other people were treating it as. If anything, Tavros was getting complimented and fussed over and told how cute he is even more than usual, but after a day or two of this she realizes she shouldn't leave her other quadrant out of all of the fun.

She needed to go visit Equius!

She was pretty sure she'd find him in his hive, possibly still working on fixing the damage done by the flood, or else buried in one of his projects. Either way, he was sure to be fully focused on it and ripe for a good old pouncegreet! Now where could her meowrail be...

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"I try to be," he tells her. Once they're in the kitchen, he starts carefully making them tea, using the silicone cups that he can handle easily.

"They're fine. Nothing too exciting has been happening here recently. How is Tavros?"

And Nepeta, unsurprisingly, hovers around him instead of taking a seat and sitting quietly like a proper guest should. She looks into the teapot and all the cups, sniffs the milk and the sugar and the tea, and finally goes hunting for the likelihood of baked goods squirreled away around the kitchen.

"He's okay! He's been pretty happy since the last curse - having loads of real confidence of his own was good for him! I think some of it rubbed off and he has more now than he used to!"

She won't have to look too hard; given Gamzee's love for baking, there's certain to be some delectable treats hidden away somewhere. Equius lets her search, knowing better than to try and interrupt the mighty huntress during a stalk.

"Really? That's good to hear. I've often thought that troll needs to think more highly of himself, so he can be a better matesprit to you."

Ah hah! A delicious, crumbly-crust looking pie. A careful sniff assures her that it's sopor-free, and she hunts up a pair of plates to serve some out for the two of them.

"I don't think he can be a better matesprit than he already is! He cares about me and loves me and plays with me all the time! He lets me cuddle up on him in our pile every night, especially when I'm feeling cold! He's a lovely, lovely matesprit!"

"I didn't mean it like that!" Stupid curse, making his filter even less sensitive than it is normally! "I simply meant that you are a brave, confident troll who should only have the very best, and that you deserve a matesprit who can be brave and confident with you."

"He is, though! He was brave enough to ask me to be his matesprit even when he was really afraid I'd say no, and he's confident in his own way too! People just can't always see it," she insists. "Last curse he might have been full of the normal kind of confidence, so that he wasn't too worried to talk about things like the time we pailed, but even without that he still has his own kind of confidence!"

Give it a second until she realizes what she just said. Yep, there it is. The look of horror.

And here is the corresponding look of shock. "You did what?!"

It's probably good Tavros isn't here right now, or he'd be in danger of being punched.

What no, no punching her matesprit, Equius, she likes him in his normal shape and not as a smear embedded in the wall!

"Uhmmmmm..." If ever a kitty troll looked like an antlerbeast caught in the headlights...

"Well, it's not like you and Gamzee haven't either!!" Probably not the best way to deal with this, but it's not like he'll be able to lie about it.

"We only did it once, and that was when I was actually able to touch him!" Well, look at that, suddenly there are TWO trolls who look like antlerbeasts caught in the headlights in this kitchen. "I mean... oh, fiddlesticks."

"Oh my paws! I knew it!" Nepeta is more or less hopping from one foot back to the other, looking like a near-crazed meowbeast now. "You can't get mad at me for it if you did it too!"

"That would be hypocritical of me, but I'm going to do it anyway and ignore the hypocrisy!" Yeah that's right, he said it! "When did this happen? Tell me at once, and do not, I repeat, DO NOT, give me any details."

"If you're going to be like that then it's none of your business! I'm not going to tell you it was during that curse that made people want to pail!!" ...oh crap, can she just tape up her mouth, that might help.

Equius is good at math, and it doesn't take him long to run the calculations in his head. "You... pailed before I did?"

He doesn't know why that is important, but somehow it is!

"...we did?!" Somehow this is a surprise to Nepeta as well - she'd been so very sure that Gamzee and Equius had been getting up to these things for ages already!

"You did!" For some reason, her surprise irritates Equius, and his ears flatten out in irritation. "We can never do what we want because I'm afraid I might crush his pelvis on accident!"

She whacks him in the arm - not hard, just enough to let him know she thinks he's being stupid about this. "And my matesprit lost half his body and doesn't even really feel anything with the replacement he has now, you know that! He only ever offers for us to do things when he thinks it's what I want, because he doesn't really get anything from it!"

"Then why haven't either of you talked to Darkleer about that? You know he can fix it so there's sensation down there!" Way to throw your ancestor under the bus, Equius. "I didn't even know Tavros had gotten his upgrade, because that is not something I am interested in knowing, despite a vague curiosity about the size he requested!"

"He hadn't got his upgrade back then! And we didn't talk to him about it because it's really not like it's something we do all the time! I thought you were mad that we did do anything, why are you trying to make it easier for us now?! And why on Alternia do you want to know details like that?!"

...If Darkleer is anywhere in the hive, she's shouting loud enough for him to hear anyway. Whoops.

"Because I pity you very, very much and I want you to be happy, even if what makes you happy makes me extremely uncomfortable to discuss! And boy trolls want to know things like that, don't judge us!" Saying nice things while yelling, the Equius and Nepeta edition.

"But it's a silly thing to want to know! And why should it make you uncomfortable?! Thinking about you and Gamzee pailing doesn't make me uncomfortsble!" Sharing too much information while yelling is a thing that's happening too.

"Why would you think about Gamzee and I pailing? It involves a lot of me laying on my back and him doing all the work, and that is not a sexy thing to think about!" Ignoring her other questions to share way too much information... while yelling. This is going so well.

"Well, you know I get curious about people in relationships when they're people I like! I didn't know it was that difficult fur you still, though..." she says, her voice finally quietening down a little as she reaches out to pat his arm, looking contrite.

"Well, it IS." Equius crosses his arms grumpily over his chest but allows himself to be soothed. "It's still really hard, and frustrating, and now I'm worried about you too and having to think about how to improve Tavros' lower body even though I don't want to think about that."

"It's something you'll have to work at, like shooting arrows. You're getting better at that too! And you don't have to worry about me and Tavros, really. We're happy the way things are! He's not really interested in pailing, only when he thinks I am, and most of the time I'm not, I just want to spend time with him and see him being happy." She sighs, slumping against her moirail. That was quite a bit of truth to blurt out all at once.

Equius sighs, letting her lean against him. When he speaks again, his voice is much softer and less aggravated than before. "If you want to pail your matesprit, you should be able to. I'd rather have you ask me to improve Tavros' legs and... lower bits, than to have you feel deprived."