exsiliumlogs | (no subject) (part 2)

[Disciple has no idea what's going through her mind - no one has explained to her yet about all adults being sent off planet in the time of these particular trolls, so she doesn't suspect that the jadeblood has any reason to fear her beyond a natural wariness around an older troll.

And even if she did suspect it, the thought would be overwhelmed by the surge of fondness as she gets a closer look at her, and sadness at the thought of how far away Dolorosa is right now. Oh, how she'd love to meet this young descendant of hers! It would mean so much to her, Di's sure.

The sympathetic smile turns kind and gentle.]

No, not all of the time. It's strange, they don't seem to pay much attention to females here. [She pauses, hesitant all of a sudden.] Are you Kanaya? Karkat mentioned you to me.

I'm sorry to tell you. But human culture is like that for some reason. I don't know why. [Her mood sinks. Deep down, she rather hates Earth. What she's seen of it has been so dystopian she's never really gotten a coherent picture of the fashions in which it's a better place than her home. Far away from her planet, culling seems like a small price to pay for the fashions in which her culture was better. If she heard without adequate preparation that her ancestor worked to overturn Alternian culture, she'd probably turn hostile.]

At any rate, I am. Kanaya Maryam. What does that mean to you? [...in spite of herself, she is pretty curious.]

Edited 2013-01-15 15:05 (UTC)

Really? All of it? That's strange. They didn't seem so bad to me back in the city.

[Di is wondering if perhaps she made a mistake approaching her so soon, right after she'd been obviously annoyed by the people ignoring her.] Oh, it's just...some of the trolls I spoke to when I arrived were rather abrasive. But Karkat was very helpful, and he said you were okay to talk to, if I wanted to try approaching more trolls. That's all, really.

[And it was true, she'd known Kanaya was a jadeblood, but she'd never expected to find her the spitting image of Dolorosa. She needed to get used to it herself before broaching the topic with the younger troll.]

The transports are specially selected individuals. Their planet's culture in general I can't say the same for. For the most part - [She glances around to make sure there are none of her human friends nearby.] You can't trust a human by default without the binding of the initiative.

[She's very matter-of-fact about all this, sadly.] Most of the trolls here really aren't so bad. We're just awful at relationships.

[Kanaya's words appear to trouble Disciple; she frowns, but it's hard to tell the reason for it. Even she's not sure, whether it's because now she has reason to doubt the friends she's made among this new race, or perhaps because Kanaya seems so very different from Dolorosa.

That's not fair, though, and she knows it. Karkat is hardly like Signless outside of the physical similarities. They're not the same people, and Disciple owes it to them to get to know them as individuals.]

Most of you are still quite young though, right? Relationships take time to work out sometimes. I still argue constantly with one of my best friends and I've known him for sweeps now!

Oh, of course. You'll get nowhere if you think everyone has to cooperate one hundred percent of the time. [One of human society's many, many flaws if you ask her.] We're just temporarily out of temporal harmony to the point of hardly communicating. It's taking time to resolve.

[She continues to stare curiously at the disciple. She wishes she were wearing her jadeblood's makeup on her lips and eyes right now; it would compromise her disguise, but her confidence needs cementing. Can she ask the troll woman for her identity outright without being gored through the throat? We just don't know.] So... [Surely the woman will disclose something about herself soon, something to tell Kanaya what course of action comes next.]

[Disciple isn't sure she understood half of what Kanaya just said, and the confusion probably shows on her face - someone had mentioned something about timeline shenanigans, but really she's in the dark on almost everything to do with the younger trolls.

She sighs.] I'm sorry, I'm being rude, I haven't even introduced myself when I already knew your name. I'm the Disciple. I just...wanted to say hello, really.

[D - I - S - C - I - P - L - E. Well, it's certainly eight letters. (Disciple of what??? To whom???) Though still looking up at the Disciple with full attention, Kanaya avails herself of this opportunity to take a small step back.]

Well, you've done that now, ma'am. [A small part of the back of her mind is pointing out that if there are adult human women she's trusted in the past, it's not entirely out of the question that a (lowblooded) troll woman could be the same way. But she really has no idea whatsoever what to expect here. The Disciple? Is that some kind of job? Actually, considering her tunic, is it possible she's just a professional cosplayer?]

Oh, there's no need to call me ma'am! You can just call me Disciple. Or Di, even. My friends do.

[She sees the way she's backing away from her and worries - she's messing this up, isn't she?] Am I upsetting you? I'll leave if I am. I only wanted to talk.

Ummmmmm...

[It is at this moment that it clicks for Kanaya that the Disciple has been nothing but cordial to her. This is a surprising but not unwelcome realization.]

N...... o? I'm really sorry, m-ma--a--Disciple. I... you must understand I[e never met an adult troll before.

You haven't...[Realization seems to dawn on her face.] No, of course you haven't. You don't need to apologize! I'm so sorry, I forgot some of the others told me there aren't any adults on Alternia any more. I didn't realize it would be shocking to you, I'm still used to there being young ones about there.

...Really?

[She sifts through the facts she has and vaguely recalls how, when you get down to it, trolls' fleetbound nature is imperially imposed.]

That is so many millennia ago.

Millennia?!

[Now it's Disciple's turn to look taken aback.]

I was told it was far in the past but not that far! Dear light, no wonder things have changed. [She frowns.] Even if whether it's for the better is debatable.

It would not entirely surprise me had that era of our history been twenty thousand sweeps ago, no.

[Give her a moment, Kanaya, she's having trouble comprehending the enormous length of time that separates them.]

But all the rest of you, you're from the same time! Aren't you? So why me, from then, and Psii... [A horrible, impossible thought occurs to her, and she shudders. It can't be, can it? No yellowblood could live even a fraction of that length of time...]

Psii??? [She doesn't recognize the name at all, though it sounds sort of like the start of Psionic. She does not exactly have access to a lot of history.]

Psiioniic. His title is the Psiioniic. A very dear friend of mine. He's here as well, but...not the same as I remember him. He must be from a long time after I am.

I.......... see...

[She is fighting the urge to shrug because she has just a hunch that might not be very polite.]

[Disciple smiles ruefully and shakes her head.]

I'm sorry, I'm bothering you by talking about people you've never even met. Don't worry about it. I think...I think I should probably be going now.

If you want... [Begins awkwardly shuffling away, which turns to proper walking when she glances at the town clock.]

I, I have a shift of work to resume anyway.

Okay. I'm glad I got to meet you, Kanaya. I hope we'll speak again.

[She smiles and gives her a small wave of farewell, making no move to follow her.]