Welcome to Gaia! ::

Natash thought a walk in the desert might be fun. To really see all the tiny hives in Chittentown, and get to know some lowbloods! Or put on a show about being a big seadweller, to appease Angel. But, as the night wore on and the desert became unbearable, she just wanted to go back to real civilization, where it wasn't hot and dry and windy!

Behind her, the massive land-walking anglerfish lusus creaked and hissed. Just get into my mouth, Gnash, and I will carry you back. You are much too weak to be trekking the desert like this. Come, we will return swiftly. Your worthlessness need not be broadcast to the muckblooded outcasts of this sandy hellhole. She opened her mouth wide, beckoning her charge to rest inside her mouth, as they often traveled. Or, well, traveled like that much more before the incident.

Gnash waved her lusus off, firmly declining her offer. "I'll be fine, Angel. I just... I just need a small drink! And I'll be ok and we can go back later," she said, although she felt she needed much more than that. Just a short distance away, she could see a junky looking hive, with a large shuttered window. "That hive must have some water I can take," she said proudly, and she ran over, the sand squishing between her toes uncomfortably.

She looked at the large window, and opened the shutters with a bit of effort. She could just walk through here, and Angel could be right behind and she would just quickly borrow some of this nice hive's water. Gnash clambered in through the window, landing awkwardly inside the hive. Where was the sink? Lowbloods had those, right? Or maybe a bathtub she could drink from. She brushed sand off of her swim dress, and looked about in the hive.

Angel peered in through the window, eyes narrowed. She hissed and gnashed her teeth, trying to get her child to leave the hive. Do not expect much from the filth that lives here, girl. You are much better than this. Kill the hive owner and destroy this place. I will take you back to the ocean, where there is water aplenty for you to sully with your feebleness, without involving the taint of the landdwellers as well.

Natash lifted her head from the water spout attached to the sink where she was trying to figure out how to get her teeth around the water source to drink.. when what was presumably the hive owner burst in, screaming and wielding a 2 by 4 filled with nails, his intimidating lusus close behind. She blinked and wiped her mouth with the back of her metal hand. All she got from that was drool, no water.

"I'm friendly! I'm friendly! I was just trying to get a drink for my very big thirst because I am a seadweller and I am in the desert, and uhh..." she awkwardly tried to grin, standing in front of Angel to try and block her view of the orangeblood. She spread her arms out, palms up. That was a very friendly gesture, right?

Angel narrowed her eyes and hissed. I told you nothing good would come of this. If you are injured by this worthless garbage mudblooded troll, I will lay waste to this hive, and punish you severely. Kill him, and leave. She couldn't quite fit through the large window, but she was willing to force her way in if need be. Girl, you are above this filth. Simply murder him for his impudence in daring to disrespect you in such a way.

"No no, no murdering here today, just a friendly seadweller and her mom, meeting a new friendly lowblood and his mom who will lower his nail board, perhaps?"she said, clasping her hands together."My name is Gnash! Nothing scary and bad and intruding here at all, okay!"

She watched him stand there shaking, almost ready to flee before her lusus had to kill him and blame her for the debacle. Which, she guessed, would have been her fault for insisting to stay and get a drink from a random hive in the desert, or even being out here in the first place. But Gnash didn't have to, as the brownblood spoke at last.

"Okay you are not friendly and that is alright. Not friendly, okay, but... nice, maybe?"Gnash offered as an alternative, relieved when he lowered his weapon. Most lowbloods were nice enough she thought, but she was sure it was because of her lusus. Or maybe her blood status. They know you are ugly and stupid, otherwise. They'll never respect you. She caught the cup awkwardly in her pink hands and stared blankly at it for a moment. It was cute, like some sort of cable cartoon character was on it. Then she realized she was supposed to use it to get water from the tap.

She licked her teeth and messed with the sink until she got the water to turn on. Ah! The little knobs did it. Of course. Idiot. The seadweller filled the cup and turned the water off. She drank from it quickly, already feeling better now that she'd gotten some water inside her. The desert was just so... dry. Nothing like the beach!

Her lusus narrowed her eyes, waving her glowing bulb at the other lusus. Are you satisfied now, my dearest Natash? Enough water for your filthy mouth, drinking from the disgusting vessel a landdweller and lowblood offered you? Leave now, before he shames you further. Either that, or show him you are not to be trifled with. Maim him, slaughter his lusus. Spill their mud-colored blood.

Natash put the cup down and turned to the brownblood. "Thank you very much for letting me get water from your hive and I am sorry for breaking in but I was incredibly thirsty as I told you before," she said, smiling. She'd have to fill the cup a few more times, really take her time before she would leave, just to spite Angel. She could play the game, her lusus didn't have to win every argument they had... "You didn't tell me your name even though I told you mine, and it is only polite that you too share your name with me so that we can be acquaintances as well, don't you think."

Natash stood in the hive, smiling blankly at the orangeblood while he got a cup for himself. Eventually, he pointed to the other side of the hive. Gnash looked at the pile of knick-knacks and hay that he called his lusus' bed. Angel didn't need a place to stay in her hive, because she didn't ever like to sleep or anything nice like that. She glanced at the window, where her lusus was furiously grinding her teeth and pacing around the outside of the hive.

Don't you dare sit in that pile of filth. Are you a noble purple seadweller or a common lowblooded imbecile? You will not take orders from this insolent child, dear Gnash. She tried to push herself in through the opening, but was too large to make any headway without breaking the hive. Make him come my way so that I can tear his head off, you wretched, ugly child! I won't let him corrupt you! Kill him, kill him, kill him, she hissed.

Gnash locked eyes with her lusus and slowly stepped over onto Ommy's bed, her bloodpusher thumping hard. She was going to be in so much trouble... The seadweller sat on the nest pile and breathed out slowly, as she held her cup carefully in her shaking pink hands, not wanting to spill it. She'd never really been in a lowblood's hive before. When she looked around, she saw he had all sorts of things... his lusus was probably a lot nicer than hers. "My lusus will not be joining me in the nice nest because she... is not very good at getting into buildings even when they are made for her size, and she wants to stay out there and she wants you to stay far away from her so you shouldn't come anywhere near her, just for no reason in particular," she tried to say casually, and quietly enough that perhaps her lusus wouldn't hear.

The orangeblood returned to h his shelf and pulled down another large container, a pitcher he filled with water."Ohhh that's really neat so I don't need to get up to get water! Very good, because..." she lifted her cup to her mouth again and sipped from it very slowly. "I am still quite thirsty, as anyone could imagine, and that is a very true thing."

"Oh!" she exclaimed and smiled. She almost forgot! "You said you would tell me your name if I came to your parlor, which is here and where I am now, so that means you'll have to tell me your name. And also, you should sit by me!" she added, patting the space beside her in the lusus bed of hay. That would help!

"Mahmud, then, that's a very good name I think it sounds very nice and also your lusus is nice too," she said with a blank smile. She was a little hurt he didn't want to sit next to her, but she figured it made sense even if it was hurtful to her feelings. She was still kind of scary and ugly with her grotesque teeth, and also Angel always said landdwellers hated seadwellers. She tried to prove that wrong whenever she could, though it did seem like their natural differences kept them apart for a reason... But, he seemed so nice to give her water and all!

"I was in the desert because I'm a very interested troll in the matters of all kinds of things," she began, leaning forward to look at him. That sounded dumb but it was kind of true. She did hope to find some good bugs, but it didn't seem like she would find any. Even the insects needed places to hide and eat, and this part of Chittentown seemed kind of empty. "I wanted to take a walk through the desert and see some hives and maybe catch some insects because that is one of my interests, but I didn't find any and also got sick from the desert and lack of water because I forgot the desert is really dry." She drank more of the water, chewing lightly on the edge of the cup. It was a lot cooler than she would have expected desert water to be. She wondered how they got it to be cool if it was so hot in the desert. "Have you ever seen a really big beetle or some other cool buggie outside and managed to catch it Mahmud? Do you like buggies?" She tilted her head.

Angel seethed outside of the hive. Gnash really hoped she would stop talking so she could enjoy a conversation with Mahmud. The filthy mudblooded landdweller doesn't care about your asinine interests. Even this creature doesn't want to associate with you. Horrible, shameful child. Are you royalty or are you no better than those insects you admire?

It was getting really hard to ignore her lusus, so instead of doing that she focused on Mahmud and his words. The bugs were hiding...That made sense. Gnash was used to checking in the forested areas of Four Fronds by lake, where of course they were hiding under logs. Why hadn't she thought of that before? Because you're an idiot. Still, he knew about buggies! That made her very excited, she hadn't ever really met someone who liked bugs like she did (it was almost always for money reasons trolls were interested). She glanced at her lusus, who was still seething, angrily huffing and salivating. See, Angel, it wasn't a stupid hobby, she wanted to say to her. Though she'd just turn it against her like always, and say of course it's dumb, because even though he was agreeing he was only a lowblood. She wished her lusus was an insect sometimes. Besides being a better creature all around, she'd be smaller, easier to fight against. So simple to crush.

Gnash realized she was squeezing the cup too hard and loosened her grip. She'd spilled a bit of water. An hour? Until she could find the buggies? She was ready to say something else but was interrupted by Mahmud and his lusus yelling suddenly. She stiffened, until he yelled about beetles and bugs again. "Well if it helps I mean I can give you the currency beetles in exchange for taking the exotic and cool kind that are not used as currency and I can have the cute kind that I like and collect, and you can have money because that is something I assume is wanted," she said, wondering if he said food because they also ate the buggies. The big bird lusus definitely looked like she ate buggies.

"The buggies in the ocean are really different! Well, mostly they are not like land bugs at all, and are more like crustaceans that are very similar to a buggie. Like an isopod or a woodlouse and I really like the ones on land because they are very colorful and shiny and I think that is very cool, and sometimes I like to pretend my arms are colorful and shiny because they are made of beetle-shells or something fun and silly like that which isn't stupid at all to think," she said. Did they still count as buggies if they weren't actually insects? Probably not but she wasn't a scientist, just a hobbyist. "I get all sorts of land buggies that fly to my garden though, and they eat my things but I don't mind because I am not very good at gardening and then I could just eat them I guess if I wanted." Her lusus often tried to pressure her into hiring someone to do the gardening for her, but Angel didn't understand the idea of having an interest that didn't further her career goals or something. Even if she was bad at it, she enjoyed sitting in her garden and eating what few fruits came about from her labor.

"But is it really okay if I am here that long... my lusus..." she trailed off, unsure of how to finish that sentence. Angel was definitely going to punish her, and she might try to fight Mahmud and his nice mommy too if she stayed that long. At first it was fun ignoring her and the hissing and spitting she did, but it seemed like it could get dangerous. It was all her fault though, for being so stupid and demanding this trip in the first place, and then breaking into someone's hive.

As though she had heard her thoughts, Angel spoke up again. We could leave now, and nothing has to happen. I will forgive your transgressions and we can go back to finding your filthy insects elsewhere. Are you so selfish you would rather continue to prostrate yourself in front of this mudblooded creature than listen to your lusus? I know what is best, Natash, she said. Liar. Gnash looked at her again, frowning.

Okay, they could go outside. It could be okay. Gnash could be quick, and do that thing where they dug up the buggies and grabbed them really quick, and then maybe she could apologize to Angel and just go back to their hive without Angel hurting anyone else. She couldn't show that she was afraid though, and couldn't let Angel know she'd already given up. "Yes that sounds like a great idea and once I have my buggies I will leave Mahmud and then maybe I can see you later but it is okay if you decide that is not a thing you want anymore but let's be quick okay," she said quickly, putting her cup down and walking towards the door.

Mahmud's lusus was standing there, pushing herself through the door first, going towards her lusus. She swallowed thickly, terrified about what her lusus might do. Angel wasn't unpredictable... it was the opposite, that Gnash knew exactly what she'd try to do. And she probably couldn't stop it.

Angel wasn't moving, but her low gurgling could be heard from the doorway as Gnash poked out and looked at her lusus. She stepped outside into the nighttime desert heat anxiously, and tried to look for the wood pile that Mahmud had described. If she was just fast enough... "I am going to start moving the wood now okay Angel you can just stay there and not move and I will be done soon!" she said, reaching for Mahmud's hands, pulling gently to try and hurry him along.

As soon as Angel saw her outside of the hive, she charged, large feet stomping awkwardly into the sandy ground with a shhhhthwap, her slobbering mouth screeching loudly. She wasn't as fast on land as she was in the water, but her jaws were strong if she could catch them and she was scary and awful and ruined everything all the time. "Run run run run run run!" Gnash said urgently to Mahmud, letting go of his hands to instead try pushing him at the shoulder. She looked between him and his lusus, and her own very loud, very angry and very murderous incoming lusus, her eyes wide.