Dreamers and the Dead

[Angel]

Homestuck roleplay. Effectively private, I suppose, since I'm pretty sure me and Mo are the only ones on here who have an interest. Anyway:

Angel as Tavros Nitram and Meulin Leijon
Mo as Vriska Serket and Cronus Ampora

Dream bubbles, when one thought about it long enough, were an odd invention.

Tavros had been in this one long enough to draw this conclusion. Not exactly because of their ability to preserve one's consciousness after death; mostly... well, mostly because of meeting the... what were the called? Dancestors? Particularly finding out that Rufio(h) wasn't as fake as he'd always been told by Vriska but was actually really real. It had been an odd discovery on the young bronze-blood's part. Maybe that was just all that was weirding him out right now.

That, and he was still kind of put out about John somehow managing to take that ring with him when he woke up.

Yeah, that was a pretty big bummer, actually.

Tavros gave a sigh and glanced over at his unlikely companion. Vriska, he believed, was busy arranging details for her treasure hunt with her and Feferi's dancestors and he had declined to help with that for the moment. Instead, he had found himself sharing the company of Nepeta's dancestor.

He still wasn't sure quite what to make of Meulin Leijon. Well, he supposed, the same could be said for almost all the dancestors, but that aside... he had always liked Nepeta well enough, so he had been willing to spend some time with her dancestor (irregardless of his own cat allergies), but Meulin's frequent fangirlish squealing was starting to make his ears hurt. At least Nepeta had been a bit more calm and manageable. Still, she was giving him some solid advice as to his relationship with Vriska, even if she was giving it at a louder volume than he was strictly comfortable with.

"(^•ω•^) < YOU SHOULDN'T GIVE UP, YOU JUST NEED TO PURRSERVERE WITH LOVING HER, YOU TWO WOULD BE SUCH A PURRFECT COUPLE! IT'S PAWSITIVELY MEANT TO BE! I SHIP YOU TWO SO HARD!" The instant her mouth closed, Meulin's fingers were flying to communicate a choice selection of her many mimes.

"
"

Before she could comunicate any more of her memes, Tavros interjected quickly. "uH, tHANKS, i GUESS," actually, he wasn't at all sure that this advice was one-hundred percent satisfactory, but no way was he going to intentionally hurt Meulin's feelings by saying as much out loud. "i SUPPOSE i DID OUGHT, tO JUST KEEP AT IT, eVEN IF i DID LOSE THE RING,"

"(=^ω^=) < A RING? YOU WERE GOING TO HUMAN-PROPOSE??? MOG, THAT'S SO PERF!!!!!!!!!" Meulin's ecstatic squeal was so loud that Tavros couldn't help but wince and hope that Vriska hadn't been anywhere within earshot.

"cOULD YOU MAYBE, nOT FANGIRL QUITE SO LOUDLY, tHIS IS ALL KIND OF PRIVATE," he mumbled, staring pointedly at the ground as though wishing he could blend in with it.

[Mo]

Vriska kicked her feet up and leaned against a wall of one of the many hives scattered around this dream bubble, sighing deeply. What a drag. Meenah wouldn't stop being a stubborn bitch and dismissing every single one of her ideas; obviously because she was still sore over the fact that she'd lost, fair and square. Vriska had no patience for poor sports. When she had played totally fair, by the rules (her OWN rules, bute nonetheless rules), and Meenah was still being all butthurt about it - UGH. The cerulean-blooded she-troll could barely stomach it. So she'd slipped away, leaving Meenah and her own prissy dancestor, Aranea, alone to argue and bicker about gog knows what.
She was enjoying the light breeze on the wind ruffling her jet-black locks, but soon the serenity of the moment was shattered as she could hear a squeal loud enough to wake the dead erupt from behind one of the many hives. It wasn't coherent enough to make out any words from that shrill scream, but out of all the dancestors she'd met she could only guess it was that screechy weird dancestor of Nepeta's. Bluh. So many annoying trolls around. The most annoying. Maybe even more so than her fellow Alternian trolls. Well... maybe not that much. But still annoying nonetheless.
She kicked her feet down unhappily and plodded toward the direction of the scream. Somebody around here had to be keeping the peace.

Meanwhile, a certain violet-blooded male troll was also lurking around, kicking his feet along the gravel path, the unlit cigarette clenched tight between his shark-like teeth, with a self-satisfied grin stretched along his face. Cronus had been pretty excited from this recent turn of events; so many new trolls Meenah and Vriska had sided with... a fair amount of them moderately to insanely attractive. He was sure among them all, there had to be at LEAST one of those cats that he'd score with. These Alternian trolls were fiesty and of a fairly different mindset... the adventrous type... frisky... all ripe for the picking. Just the way he liked it.
Meulin's screechy cry of delight ripped through his thoughts, eliciting a flinch from the violetblood. But a moment later he composed himself and ruffled his own hair lightly, an idea forming. Leijon was at it again, it seemed. Could hear that girl coming a mile away. He'd never really got around to talking to her much, he realized. On Beforus or otherwise. He didn't know all too much about her, other than that she was Kurloz's ex-matesprit... he didn't even get why she'd been so attracted to such a creepy guy, but then again, who was he to question romantic motives. They had ended their matespritship as far as he remembered... fair game? But of course. Even if they hadn't broken up, he'd still consider her fair game. What harm could a deaf shipepr kitty-girl do, anyhow?
He rounded the corner to see Tavros and Meulin huddled behind a hive wall, smiling that sly greaser-esque smile, the cigarette still cluthed in his grinning maw.
"vwell, vwho do vwe hawve here?" he crooned, crossing his arms and cocking his head seductively. "vwho's your friend, meulin? one of them nevw kids on the block?" He eyed Tavros closely, sizing him up and checking the bronze-blooded troll out. He was pretty cute, he supposed. Had kind of a wary look in his eye. Seemed the naive type. Fair game.

[Angel]

"uH," Tavros hadn't properly met Ampora senior yet, and hadn't been at all sure that he wanted to at all; though with that accent there was no escaping that this was who had found them. Turning to look, Tavros had to admit that at first glance, he didn't think much more of this one than he had of Eridan. And since Tavros had never much cared for Eridan, he didn't think he really wanted to strike up conversation with this guy either.

Seemed he wasn't going to be left much of a choice, though. And Meulin evidently didn't feel the same way. "(=˙•˙=) < CRONUS! THIS IS RUFIOH'S DANCESTOR! WE WERE JUST MEOWING ABOUT HIS ROMANTIC LIFE!" For a horrible moment, Tavros was afraid she was about to invite the violet-blood to join the conversation, but it seemed not even Meulin quite wanted that. Still, the Mage of Heart seemed oblivious enough to his discomfort to add "(=^•ω•^=) < HE WANTED ADVICE FOR A MATESPURRITSHIP WITH---"

Tavros' eyes widened. No way did he want his pursuit of Vriska to become public knowledge. "iT'S NOT, iMPORTANT," he interjected hastily, glaring at Meulin with not quite enough force to convey his meaning. Stepping away from the cat-girl, he squinted at Cronus, taking in the sea-dweller's slicked hair, human cigarette, and general appearance. "sO YOU'RE, tHE aMPORA sENIOR," he observed, sounding generally unimpressed. Maybe he ought to give Cronus the benefit of the doubt, but Tavros didn't honestly expect him to be any more pleasant company than Eridan had been.

"(=^•^=) < WHAT ABOUT YOU, CRONUS? ANY NEW ROMANTIC PURROGRESS, HMMM? IT'S BEEN SO LONG SINCE I'VE HAD THE MATERIAL FOR A ROM-FIC ABOUT YOU..." Meulin apparently had taken Tavros' hint, but her shipper's mind would not be derailed. If she couldn't talk about Tavros' love life, then she'd talk about Cronus' instead. She'd always found him a hard one to match in any quadrent, but if maybe he'd found a potential interest in one of the scratch-post trolls...? Or even one of the human kids on the meteor... if the latter was the case, she would almost certainly be found drowning in wave after wave of feels for at least the next hour.

[Mo]

Cronus chuckled, cigarette twitching as his grin widened. So Leijon was giving the little Nitram some quadrant advice, eh? Of course she'd be willing to do that... likely for that ulterior motive of, to quote her, "the shipping feels". Whatever the fuck that meant.
"yeah, that's me, allright," he nodded to Tavros, still sizing the bronzeblood up silently. "you got a problem vwith that, rufioh junior?"
Before he could make any further comment, Meulin was asking him about the nonexistent lovelife of his, which hit a bit of a sore spot deep down. He'd been pining after Meenah since day one, but to no avail, even still. The Bard of Hope, however, tried not to show his displeasure, even if the slightest signs of a scowl wrinkles his nose. "vwhile i'm flattered you asked, truly flattered," he muttered with the slightest hint of sarcasm he knew she wouldn't notice. "i can't say i'wve had much luck. quite a shame, too; those poor suckers are seriously missing out on some serious quality romance. vwith a guy like me you can't go vwrong." Cronus quickly recovered from his moment-long pout with yet another arrogant grin. He was a nice guy. He always was. It was just everyone else's misfortune, to not want to go out with -
Before he could finish his thought, however, a new voice chimed in from farther off
"T8VROS!!!!!!!! Wh8t the fuck 8re you doing 8ack here??"
Vriksa was pissed, anger gleaming even in her now soulless white eyes. She stomped up to Nitram and yanked him toward her by one of his large horns. "I was ATTEMPTING to rest, after a loooooooong, hard day, and all I hear is a 8unch of scre8ming 8nd yelling!"
She trailed off with a glare seeing Cronus and Meulin there. Ugh. More of these Beforan weirdos. "And wh8t in the hell are YOU two doing here?"

[Angel]

"uH, nOT REALLY i, jUST DIDN'T LIKE eRIDAN MUCH, wAS ALL," It was instinct as much as anything else for Tavros, backing down from a potential confrontation. And besides, he really didn't have anything against Cronus besides that. "i SUPPOSE, i SHOULDN'T CARRY THAT, aCROSS TO YOU," he admitted, shuffling his feet with some discomfort. Didn't want to offend any of the dancerstors, after all.

"(^•n•^) < THERE HAS TO BE A SHIP FOR YOU IN SOMEWHERE, MR AMPURRA! YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE ON MY GRID WITH FOUR BLANK QUADRANTS, AND THIS IS NOT AT ALL AN ACCEPTABLE STATE OF AFFURS!" Oblivious to her volume, as always, Meulin scrutinised Cronus closely. "MAYBE YOU'RE NOT CONSIDERING ALL YOUR QUADRANTS? AS A SERIOUS SHIPPER, I REFUSE TO BELIVE THERE IS NO-ONE YOU CAN PURR UP WITH!"

Though Meulin couldn't physically hear Vriska's voice, she was in no way oblivious to the younger Serket's arrival on the scene. The other half of her newest ship was present... though even she could tell that fangirling aloud over them wouldn't quite be appropriate now, and had to bite her lip to keep herself from squealling aloud. Watching a ship play out in front of her eyes was always a treat... instead of speaking for now, Meulin just began to silently mime.

""

"oH, vRISKA! i, tHOUGHT YOU WERE BUSY, wITH YOUR PIRATE SHIP AND EVERYTHING," Tavros was sure he must be reacting like a wriggler who had been caught with a hand in the cookie jar by his lusus. "i WAS JUST CATCHING UP WITH, nEPETA'S DANCESTOR,"

"" Meulin mimed behind them. Tavros really hoped Vriska wasn't noticing her.

"hOW IS, pREPARING FOR THE TREASURE HUNT GOING?" he asked quickly. "(pLEaSE Don'T pAy anY AtteNTIoN, tO meULin)" he mumbled under his breath.

(ooc: finding places to fit cat puns is hard. It's hard and nobody understands ^^")