Welcome to Gaia! ::

Psykgi had been intrigued by the fascinating violent purpleblood since the incident at the University, but seeing her at Bloodfest had not only reminded her of the absolutely delightful rampage in the computer lab, but had made finding her actually possible. All Psykgi had needed to do was check the booth registry. Or, rather, had Ma'am check because of the inaccessibility of the registry to the casual troll wiggler. Psykgi, alas, could not go everywhere. Maa'm was already everywhere.

The main point was, despite many a booth having been apparently registered the typical trollian answers of NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS or NOOKSTREET and worse, the empire had kept track of actual addresses as well. And so, Psykgi had learned that her fascinating case study was actually local – an inhabitant of her own Civisect city. It even had a rough address, one that Ma'am was able to quickly confirm.

Ma'am wanted her to meet the unstable highblood. They would be an amazing contact for Psykgi to have, far better than that blueblood she hung around. The Leeroi issue was still a sticking point for the swarm, but arguing got them nowhere – Psykgi was determined to spend time with him, and Ma'am knew when she had to (mostly) drop the subject and focus on what she could get her troll to do. It did help that Leeroi's lusus was a delightful monster – if she had been as insufferable and rude as her troll, Ma'am would have taken more extreme measures to keep her troll away.

But visiting this highblood, she had no problem with. She nagged Psykgi as she carefully packed away a set of cookies.

Did she brush her hair?
Did she wear a set of clothes? Were they clean? Were they good clothes? Was she sure they were good clothes?
She wasn't going to a highblood's house looking like a ratbeast's nest!

”Ma'am, See for yourself.” Psykgi said patiently, taking her notebook to take it out the door, ”I'm fine. You picked these clothes out for me, after all!”

She began to walk to where Ma'am had scouted out Tamiya's place.

Well that didn't mean anything, the swarm lusus insisted, Psykgi had to learn to differentiate these things herself. Did she feel confident in what she was wearing?
Had she studied that reading material she received at Bloodfest?
Had she done all the side research she was supposed to do?
Did she know what she was going to say to the highblood?

”Goodness, Ma.” Psykgi drawled, ”I'm not going to a job interview. I'm bringing her cookies.”

The cockroach on her shoulder chittered. Yes, but...

”And besides, yes. I did. It's good to be prepared, right?”

Yes. Right. Good girl. Ma'ams maternal anxiety did not diminish, but she focused on the task ahead, the swarm literally hovering over her as she found new things to worry about.

Psykgi was not worried at all, as she walked up to the entrance of Tamiya's hive. She shifted the package into one arm as she knocked at the entrance. Because that was the logical thing to do when faced with a door.

Ma'am chittered a warning and Psykgi turned, stabilizing the container of cookies on her hip. Oh, so she came from around the house, not through the door – how very clever. And unexpected. Psykgi felt that this boded well for her visit. What didn't bode well was the battle stance that the older, taller, and fiercer purpleblood was in. Or it could – fighting was interesting, after all, and revealed so much about a troll, or so she had read. But Psykgi was not ready for a fight, not particularly good at most aspects of a fight (besides dodging a lot) and she didn't think that a fight would give her the first impression she needed or wanted.

”Mentha,” she corrected cheerily, ”But yes, that's me! Good evening! Tamiya Aiguma, right?” she hoped she was pronouncing it correctly after reading it off the pamphlet. With Trollian names, it was hard to tell.

”Oh, Leeroi?” it wasn't hard to tell who that was from the description. Leeroi was pretty distinctive and he garnered a lot of attention... fun attention. Inconvenient attention. LOTS of attention. ”No, he's not with me.” she laughed. It was difficult to get him to stay more than a night or two, though she liked his somewhat explosive company. Apparently, her hive was too boring for him and to an extent she could agree – his hive was very exciting. Not only was it in Busthind, but it was full of video games – such fun things! ”It's just me and Ma'am.” she reiterated, just to make it clear.

Atonement? Ma'am chittered, bristling a little and Psykgi hummed, intrigued. What did she have to apologize for? The redblood had no idea, but maybe she could find out. ”Well, atonement... I don't know about that, but I did bring cookies.” she held out the box towards Tamiya, grinning as she displayed the handiwork of her offerings through the clear top. They were mostly red cookies with some purples and whites mixed in, and some even had faces ddecorating them, simple ones. Psykgi had felt like giving decorating a try for this occasion and the results were not half bad. ”And I'd certainly like to talk to you.” she added, ”About you.”

No real risk of being 'destroyed for her deception' – Psykgi was certain that Leeroi was not in the area. Aside from knowing that he had left her hive and gone home, Leeroi was terrible at hiding. If he made a sudden appearance, he would have to smash down from the sky. Hmm! Skydiving! He'd like the idea. Psykgi stuffed it in the back of her mind for later.

Unphased by the threat, not entirely because of the unlikely nature of it's triggering, Psykgi happily followed Tamiya behind her hive. She took a moment to admire the garden before sitting down. It looked intricate but purposeful, like a map of the thinkpan she had found in one of her books when she was a little wriggler. Of course, here as now, it was not the object itself, but it's result that mattered. She sat and Ma'am perched next to her at various points on her person, wary and ready to comment if need be.

“Oh yes!” Psykgi said enthusiastically, leaning forward, her eyes bright in the moonlight, “I think you're fascinating!” She grinned eagerly, “I want to know anything you're willing to share about yourself. I want to know what you think, what you feel, why you do the things you do. I want to know about your past, about what you hope for the future... That sort of thing.” she finished, smiling modestly, “It's a little nosy, I know, but I just like to know, you know?” the word play may or may not have been intentional, and her tone was playful, but behind the smile, it was clear that Psykgi was serious – she really, honestly, wanted to know more about Tamiya.

The swarm roiled at Tamiya's tone, summoning its members to defend against a potential danger to her troll's life, chittering insistently that Psykgi needed to GO. NOW. Highbloods were great to interact with and potential rungs on a very long social ladder, but if she had offended one, even Ma'am knew that young lowblood trolls were supposed to get out of there. They could try again later – highbloods were, after all, volatile – but right now...

Psykgi ignored her. ”Well, you won't believe me” she said, stretching casually as she watched Tamiya intently. That she could elicit such an intensifying reaction with mere nosiness, with words not intended to inflame, was intriguing. ”But it is curiousity.” Psykgi was not running from it. If anything (and this was likely why Ma'am's movements increased in insistence as the roaches tugged at Psykgi's clothing) she was going to see just how far she could go.

She watched as Tamiya took her elegant, almost choreographed, bite of the cookie - It was as if there was some code to be broken and interpreted in each of her movements, a code that Psykgi didn't know. Not yet, anyway... but she really, really, wanted to find out.

She perked up at the mention of Tamiya's Moirail. ”Ooo, you have a moirail?! Oh! Were they the fabulously dressed redblood at your booth?! Goodness! I'd like to meet him – I'm sure he's fascinating too!” It might be good to have another highblood-lowblood moirallegiance to observe in-vitro, as she built her own with Leeroi. And, well, for her own fun too.

Then again, if the purpleblood thought that she – a little bitty wiggler lowblood who she barely knew– was trying to horn in on her pale quadrant with mostly innocuous questions, she might not be completely secure in her moirallegiance! Which would mean that it would not be a good example for Psykgi.

Then again, it could mean something entirely different. Either way, the comment was certaintly meaningful, and Psykgi filed it away for a hopeful later session, when she could make up a proper probing question.

”Oh, but back to you – or rather, to what you think of me. I just want to say that I don't think I'm being that sly and certainly not trying to be your Moirail or anything! Goodness no!” She laughed a little, ”I'm just a strange little wiggler. With many many inner eyes. I've only just met you.” Ah, yes, her mask, her unexpected, brief, and furtive glimpse into the depths of her own mind. She wondered what the significance was to all the eyes she had drawn on there. There was one, that much was certain – she hadn't just been fooling around - but she was blind to it herself. Funny, that.

”But, I really just like to know about people and what they think. Honest. And I think” she smiled, ”We could be friends. Or, barring that, you know, I could be your recruit.” she idly waved one of the pamphlets, as if fanning herself against the cloying heat of the Summer-touched seashore.

Okay, she thought, maybe she was being a little sly.

”I do want to know more about that, too.”

It was very interesting that Tamiya Aiguma was so fixated on her relationship with Leeroi. She wouldn't call him precious, certainly, and it surprised her that the purpleblood thought as much. Why was she so fixated on Leeroi? What had he done to them that Psykgi hadn't witnessed? Psykgi supposed he did make an impression on people... and sometimes literally on himself... but, still... It was very interesting.

However... ”Hmm.” she was quiet for a time, watching Tamiya as she seriously – really truly seriously – thought on what she had said, and why indeed she had come. It really had all been, to some degree, a game up til this point, based in curiosity (of Tamiya Aiguma) and not in desire. But if she considered it, actually considered it. ”You're right: I don't know myself.” she said, cheerfully surprised by this revelation. ”You've described me so well, though... I guess you're right there too, I'm not looking for miracles...” her gaze drifted, contemplatively, to the crumbs on Tamiya's hand and then to the elegant abstractness of the rock garden. ”And gosh, I guess when you describe it, I don't sound very 'mirthful' at all!” she laughed, letting it trail away thoughtfully. She hadn't expected her meeting – a primarily social one, aimed towards learning more about this interesting juggalo – to lead to so much thought. But, how could she turn down an opportunity to glimpse into herself, especially when it was presented by such a perceptive troll? Perceptive... She'd have to make a note of that.

”But I think... I'd like to find miracles.” It did sound like a cold world without them, after all. ”Ah, I'm sorry!” she said suddenly, as if surprised, ”I don't think I'm really ready to be a recruit yet after all! So sorry!” She laughed lightly and brushed her hair out of her face with honest embarrassment, blushing a little behind her freckles. The revelation made her feel odd... But the time of understanding was gone now, and she was only left with tantalizing new fragments of what she was at the dark little core of her being. ”My interest is really that of an outside observer – someone who wants to see it, not be it – but, you know, if I see enough, that might change!” she smiled. ”So, maybe, I'd like to observe, if that's all right with you.”

Ma'ams scuttling became very agitated. The swarm didn't know what the purpleblood might do next, and that bothered it, in so much as it could be bothered. It wanted Psykgi to leave, now. And, to some degree, Psykgi wanted to go, though not for the same reasons. She wanted to write down what she now understood about herself somewhere where she could reference it later, and wouldn't forget it. But she also didn't want to cut her visit prematurely short, if she could help it. She had, after all, come to talk to an interesting purpleblood, and she was not disappointed.

”All right, then!” Psykgi said cheerily. Well, that was why she'd asked. Normally, she didn't ask before she started poking into someone else's business and of course that didn't mean she would stop observing and nosing around a little, but... well... she was capable of not sitting in the metaphorical bushes and spying, wasn't she? Who had the time for that? ”I understand your sentiments completely!” She was ready to take that as her cue to leave, when instead she was invited inside. Ma'am was reluctant to allow her, but Psy was excited and intrigued by the opportunity. Tea? Games? A chance to establish some sort of a**-backward friend-like maybe not quite relationship? Sure! Why not! Psykgi stood, bowing lightly. ”I would be delighted to accept your invitation!” she said. The best part was that it was unexpected.

~~~

A surprisingly enjoyable set of gruesome games and some good tea later, Psykgi somehow didn't get herself killed and left feeling pretty happy about the night in general. Of course, she gave Tamiya her address in the city and went home. Though she respected Tamiya's wish that the cult not be observed like animals in a lab, but Psy coudn't help observing Tamiya like she would any other troll. It would be remiss of her not to have a notebook for her, after all. She knew that Ma'am would be scolding her something awful, but Psykgi was looking forward to staying up late scribbling down all the countless things of interest she had stored in her head. It had been, she felt, a productive night.