[week three - saturday]

[hypertoxic]

[ You know, it's funny how their paths bring them to the same place. Right after the trial Vriska went straight to the beach, and she's been there ever since. Sometimes talking to people, sometimes not; it's hard to imagine being cooped up indoors right now.

And it turns out for the best when her wandering through the surf brings her to Newt. She was going to look for him anyway, because she couldn't let him go into tomorrow without speaking to him. But still, seeing him, knowing what's going to happen, is...

well, it sucks. ]

Hey.

[ She's subdued when she calls out, leaving the water behind and stepping up onto the sand to approach him. ]

This fucking sucks, huh?

[ Straightforward as always. ]

Comments

[hypertoxic]

... I know how it sounds, Newt. [ she, on the other hand, sounds tired. ] It is tough to explain the many cultural differences between trolls and humans, but we view death very differently than humans do.

Anyway, yes, I was aware Laura wanted to die. I ... [ a beat. and then, very dryly: ] Frankly, I should have assumed from the start she was enough of a bitch to try killing herself to take Nino down with her! As much as I will miss her, this was probably for the best.

[ Vriska will glance at him, but then she ends up kind of ... not looking away. After a long moment, she will sigh through her nose. ]

... I'm going to fix this, Newt. All of this. i don't know how yet, but I will.

[completelycrazy]

How do you view death, then? [He's not sure he's in the mood to contemplate this particular philosophy, but his curiosity is getting the best of him. Man, he should've taken the time to get to know Vriska better. He'd like to know more about her species.

He nudges her knee with his elbow.] You know you're not carrying the whole island on your shoulders, right? You're not going to be able to fix anything, not alone. Don't put that kind of pressure on yourself.

[hypertoxic]

I don't want to say more casual, but it's ... more normalized? Trolls are a warlike race of conquerers! The weak die, and the strong thrive. In fact, the strong are expected to cull the weak! It would especially be expected of someone of my caste to keep the lower bloods in line. Killing any who insulted me would be considered no less than fitting! Failing to do it would be the real social faux pas. In fact, refusing to kill would make me such a useless disgrace, I'd probably be killed for it! That's just what it's like. Or what it was like, anyway.

[ What he says after he nudges her will get a long glance, inscrutable. Finally she'll sigh through her nose, and there's a faint smile on her face. ]

It might sound unbelievable, but I have done things like this to myself before. Shouldering this kind of pressure is nothing new. But whether or not I should is actually a pretty good question. I guess we'll have to see how that's going to work out for us.

[completelycrazy]

...Huh. [Yeah, that's way different. Vriska certainly doesn't look human, but then again, he's seen aliens before. She looks more like a human than a Precursor or a Kaiju, so it's strange to think she has a whole culture out there that's totally foreign to him.

Even if it still qualifies as death talk, he's interested.] So... How do you know that's different from human culture? I mean, it is, for the most part. We have some stuff like that in our history, I guess. But it's not exactly comparable, I don't think. This isn't your first time encountering humans then, right? And, uh, what do you mean you've done things like this before? Just because you have experience with it doesn't mean it should fall on you.