soul_logs | [open] Get over your hill and see what you find there

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[open] Get over your hill and see what you find there

Characters: Dolorosa and you!
Location: Holocaust Mall, the streets of the shopping district, or the City Park
Rating: G, I guess?
Time: May 21st, afternoon to evening
Description: Dolorosa is out and about, getting some shopping done and enjoying the sunlight. Feel free to have your character find her!

[Since her arrival and reunion with her family, Dolorosa has taken some much needed time to herself, choosing temporary isolation to put her thoughts in order. It works, and by the time she decides to finally explore Death City and see how much has changed since she left months ago, her thinkpan feels much clearer than before.

She heads for the Holocaust Mall, intent on finding nice fabrics to create new clothes for herself and her family, and takes a small detour through the City Park, to sit down and catch some sun for a little while.

It feels good to be back again.]

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[She feels very glad that Mindfang doesn’t press the subject of which point in her timeline Dolorosa comes from.]

Fair enough. I’m certain that you know better than anyone how to handle your crew.

[No matter how Mindfang made her feel in the past (or how she’s making her feel in the present), and no matter how famous or infamous she was in Alternia, no one could deny that she knew just how to play her cards right and how to lead her crew and her ship to glory.]

It makes it easier, yes, [She agrees, glancing at the journal the other troll flips open and then looking away when she begins to write; as curious as Dolorosa is, she doesn’t mean to pry.

The following words make her frown slightly, however. The jade blooded troll doesn’t understand; why would Mindfang worry about such a thing in the first place? If she were to be perfectly honest, Dolorosa would admit to having some trouble imagining her former Mistress having that sort of feelings for another troll, no matter how kind she may have been to her in the past.]

I must admit I don’t understand what you are referring to.

[She continues to let the scroll of her Alternian handwriting cover the page until the Dolorosa speaks. Well, at this current point, she isn't soft enough to take on any type of red romance. Mindfang simply isn't interested. Dualscar keeps her busy as is, and she enjoys the challenged that a black romance propose no matter how poisonous the relationship may be.]

I don't either. It had been mentioned to me in passing. It is a ludicrous idea to think I shall meet my end at the hands of another. I am reluctant to believe such tales of demise but then again the future is always changing.

[She's contemplating what to write when she glancing to the troll beside her.] Though I wonder what your tense nature is about. [Mindfang is blunt and tactless as ever.] You have called me Marquise and not Mistress. What have you to fear if you are embracing freedom?

[There is a mixture of resentment and indifference in that statement. Having this woman as property allowed her the joys of a different kind. She had no choice but to indulge her Mistress and that's what Mindfang preferred. It meant she never had to deal with the hang-ups of rejection. She could take what she wanted, when she wanted, no matter what. Some part of her missed that dynamic of their relationship.]

Yes… the future can change in ways that would have once seemed impossible.

[After all, if someone had come up to her when she was a young troll and told her that she’d leave behind the duties of her caste to raise a mutant grub, she would have seriously doubted the integrity of their thinkpan.

Mindfang’s bluntness and tactlessness don’t surprise her at all, but the predictability of her speech doesn’t make her any less tense. Dolorosa’s hands tighten on her lap.]

Nothing at all, [She begins, speaking just as calmly as before, and turns her head to look at the other troll. Is that resentment she can detect in Mindfang’s voice, or is she imagining things?] But if I am embracing freedom, as you so correctly put it, then I will address you as an equal and not as my owner.

[Dolorosa watches her former Mistress quite closely, gauging out her reaction. Those words could have gotten her culled in Alternia faster than you can say ‘hemospectrum’, not only because of their challenging nature (a slave speaking in such a way to the one who owns her? Ridiculous!) but also because of how it implies that her caste is equal to Mindfang’s.

(And it is, but Dolorosa is well aware that not every troll has accepted the Signless’s teachings as truth.)

She isn’t afraid of what Mindfang can do, or of being attacked, but she won’t hesitate to flee or strike back in return if needed be; sweeps of fighting to defend the Mother Grub and her progeny have turned her into an excellent fighter.]

[And there's that damn word again. Equal. Mindfang resists a sneer to the term. Equality is a delusion. Inequality is what allows her to move as she does within the ranks of systems. The general hierarchy and set up of any place can be penetrated if only those around do not think of each other as equals. This term may bring some kind of peace to their society, but it puts Mindfang out crew and out of a fleet.

This doesn't go to say that she agrees with their hemospectrum but she is comfortable in its vices. Mindfang just chuckles and shakes her head. How naive.]

I cannot argue with that claim as this society does not recognize blood caste quite like we do. [She pauses, a small smirk growing on her lips.] Though I offer you a word of caution; I would be careful whom you say you are equal to.

[Maybe she's a bit stuck in the comforts a high blood status allows her, but that delusion of power will soon come to an end. Death City runs by very different means and she must adapt to survive, as they say. She scribbles something down quickly, as if remembering a detail.]

I've always wanted to ask you something; who were you before I stole you from Dualscar?

[Dolorosa, on the other hand, has a very different view on things: she fully believes that a troll should achieve his or her own goals out of their merit and abilities, and not because their caste is superior to that of others.

Given the way Mindfang chuckles and shakes her head, the jade blood knows she is quite far from agreeing with that, and maybe that she’s even mocking her, but Dolorosa doesn’t mind. She has always had remarkable faith in her son’s teachings throughout her life, and even during her enslavement.

At that smirk, Dolorosa smiles serenely in turn.]

I’m not afraid, and I will stand for what I believe in.

[Spoken firmly, but not defiantly, with the certainty of one who fought and suffered for what she believed in.

She’s surprised that her former Mistress wants to know who she was, but she has no problems with enlightening her about her past. Dolorosa’s posture doesn’t change when she speaks again, but even so, it’s as if she sits up straighter than before, and there is a hint of something else in her voice, in the way she holds herself now: pride.

Not the pride of someone bragging about the actions of their past, or wanting to take credit for what they’ve done, but the strong feeling brought on by having raised a small, special grub to adulthood. The pride a mother feels for her son.]

I am the one who protected and raised the Signless to maturity. His first follower.

[Wait, did she hear that right? She raised the Signless? As in, actually mothered a grub? That sounds absolutely preposterous. How would she have even come by him in the first place?]

I'm sorry, what? [That's going to take a second to click in her brain. Adult trolls just...didn't raise grubs. They weren't meant to. Mindfang does take note in the air of pride, but she's still terribly confused. It's not so much that the idea itself is odd, but being a Mother?]

There's no way. You have to be joking.

[This time it’s Dolorosa’s turn to chuckle. She means to leave it at that, she really does, but her chuckling turns into a soft laugh, and Dolorosa composes herself before she ends up laughing even harder. Mindfang’s expression is simply speechless; she’s never seen her like this before, and it feels just as liberating to see her so incredulous as it does calling her Marquise instead of Mistress.]

I apologize, I-- [She takes a deep breath before continuing, and it’s clear that she didn’t mean to mock or make fun of the other troll; the look on Mindfang’s face was just too priceless, that’s all. But on the other hand, her body is significantly less tense than before.] I meant every word I said. I’m not lying.

[Quite obviously the Marquise is failing to see how this subject is amusing though she isn't glaring at Dolorosa, she's more so upset at her own ignorance. It isn't something you hear of; an adult troll raising a grub. How embarrassing it is to be laughed at be a low blood.]

But why bother? If they aren't chosen by a lusus they are meant to be culled.

[Even for low bloods that's just a way of life.]

Yes, I am aware of that. Jade bloods like myself are hatched to watch over the Mother Grub and her progeny, and to protect her with our own lives if needed be. We cannot interfere with the journey of a grub after it hatches, however.

[She isn’t bothered or annoyed by Mindfang’s words. She’s right, and Dolorosa knows it, but how can she even begin to explain how special that little red grub was?]

He didn't hatch like the others. I found him in a crater, while running an errand, and I realized he was very different from every other grub I had ever seen. [She doesn’t notice the fondness and warmth in her voice, but it’s quite obviously there. Dolorosa looks down at her hands, seemingly lost in her own memories.] To this day, I don’t know what made me take that grub into my arms and leave my duties behind me, but I don’t regret a single thing.

[She can hear the fondness and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why but somehow Mindfang is incapable of understanding her sentiment. Possibly it is the way their culture is raised that the idea of a . . .troll as a lusus just seems so odd.]

You really are influenced by him. [She comments, but this isn't to be taken offense. The Dolorosa is the best choice for such a thing if she does tend to the Mother Grub.] I saw that when I first met you.

[The Dolorosa, unlike any slave she had owned, never once had a lack of pride or dignity. Breaking her spirit proved nearly impossible and there wasn't much need for it when she willingly preformed most duties that Mindfang requested. The others were. . .influences by unseen forces but the Cerulean blood couldn't help herself. The Dolorosa was and still is one of the most attractive trolls she has come across, blood caste aside. Her lust got the best of her and she almost wished she treated her better. Almost.]

What was it like to travel with him? I can't imagine too many were happy to hear his revelations on a system that is strictly enforced.

I am. I have always been, [She explains, a soft smile forming on her lips. The fact that she calmed down and managed to relax when talking about her son, while sitting next to the one who manipulated her and owned her so completely as a slave, is proof of that.

The Signless has always been both her greatest source of strength and her greatest weakness, after all.]

He was always very careful, [Dolorosa began, thinking back to those days. It wasn’t hard to do so; her memory was flawless, especially when it came to her life as a nomad, travelling throughout Alternia with her family.] He knew who to speak to, and how to speak to them. And he always started out with very few trolls, and then they would spread his word themselves, because they in turn would know who to speak to. And then we would return to that same place, perigees or sweeps later, and they would greet him like a hero and welcome him into their own hives.

[For the most part, Dolorosa had let him preach and speak to villagers personally without interfering, but she had always kept a careful eye on him, never letting her guard down.]

[For some reason got the feeling that though this had the appearance of a normal conversation, the Dolorosa was still mocking her in some way. The thought brings a bit of annoyance to her think pan but she dismisses it to listen. That's the least she can offer this troll.

Some part of her wondered, idly, what would have happen should the Signless have succeeded in professing the truth of his teachings to others. What sorts of different lives would they live? She smiles for a second, though its not sure why. She also wonders how that angry little brat Karkat would have turned out in a world that didn't condemn his mutant red blood.]

I can imagine they would. Eventually someone will grow tired of living in hierarchy enforced by their Empress.

[Or they'd be culled. There's that option too. Must of the uppity ones were.]

I'm surprised any of you managed to evade authority as long as you did.

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[open] Get over your hill and see what you find there

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;w; dat icon awwweee babies

I love it so much! c:

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