Event Thirteen.

[awashmods]

To love a human face was to discover The cracks of paint and varnish on the brow; Soon to distrust all impulses of flesh That strews its sawdust on the chamber floor, While at the window peer two crones Who once were Juliet and Jessica.

t's a regular morning here in the Town. The sun isn't shining at all, snow is falling like crazy, and...there may be the sounds of shouts coming from the well, thoroughly muffled. Okay, so it's not a regular morning at all, but you'd better go help those people! The newcomers are here again. Of course, once you get to the well, you'll notice that there's actually no real help you can offer -- it's totally frozen over. As for the newcomers, well... hopefully being suddenly dumped into freezing cold water in the middle of November in a dark, damp well is your idea of a good time, because that's your life now! And that's not even taking into account the mirrors in everyone's homes that are about to wake up and start chattering... Welcome to Awash's thirteenth event log, everyone! Further information on this event can be found here at the OOC post. Please keep in mind that while this is a general event log, it is also an intro log; be sure to pay plenty of attention to our newcomers! If there are any questions, please ask them here. Thank you!

Comments

[hypertoxic]

That would be great! [ all this energy. wow!! friends!! having friends is amazing!!! ] I mean, if that's cool with you.

[inheritance]

Serket-san. [That gets a little chuckle from him, though Izuku tucks his chin into his bright yellow scarf a moment later, like he's trying to hide his smile.] I'm the one who offered.

Ah, you can go on ahead--you know where it is, right? I should hand the rest of these towels out first.

[He doesn't want to make you wait!]

[hypertoxic]

[ !

!!

Vriska makes a noise that is mostly a snort and briefly hides her face in the towel, but she's also kinda laughing. ]

Shut the fuck up, no one asked you.

[ A sideways grin at him. ]

You sure? I would honestly stay and help, but my hair is mostly ice.

[inheritance]

I'm sure. [He'll even make a shoo-ing kind of gesture at her with his stack of towels, grinning at her in return.]

It shouldn't take too long. Go dry off and make yourself at home--oh! [Izuku pauses, blinking as he suddenly remembers something that's definitely changed since she disappeared.] Um, do you like cats? Because we have one now. Shouto and I, I mean.

[hypertoxic]

[ Vriska honestly just kind of stares for a second. ]

Are you guys like, human-married now, or what? That's so domestic. [ FLAPS A HAND ] I got it, I got it, it's fine. Thanks for the warning. See you soon!

[ she's gonna leave you with that, deku, and go crash in your house. that you share. with your human-married husband. ]

[inheritance]

[He's definitely red and sputtering when she leaves him, and if she glances back she might even catch him burrowing his face in the towels out of embarrassment. You can't just say stuff like that, Vriska!!

Anyway, despite Vriska's attempts to kill him, Izuku manages to finish helping out the newcomers and then hurry back to his cottage. Carefully, he opens the door and steps inside.] Serket-san?

[hypertoxic]

[ hahahahahahaha call the cops this is an attempted murder

Vriska's pretty pleased with herself for quite a while, even after she gets warm in Izuku (AND SHOUTO'S) house. He'll find her plopped on the floor trying not to get his things wet. Which is a bit of a lost cause, as there's a small puddle of now-melted ice around her. Her clothes are gently steaming in the relative warmth.

Izuku gets a hangdog smile. ]

Hey. Sorry about your floor.

[inheritance]

Don't worry, it'll dry off. [Izuku joins her on the floor, plopping down with a sigh. There's a soft "meow" somewhere in the room, and then a fluffy brown cat comes padding over to greet him.]

Hey. [Izuku manages to get in a scratch or two behind the cat's ears before he cat moves on to investigate Vriska instead. Green eyes, startling similar to Izuku's own, stare up at Vriska curiously. Izuku smiles between the two of them.] I'm surprised he wasn't already bothering you before now.

[hypertoxic]

[ A cat! Vriska seems ambivalent, more or less, but a tiny smile will tilt up one corner of her mouth as she extends a few fingers for Izuku to sniff. ]

I haven't seen a purrbeast in a long time. This girl I used to know had one for a lusus. What's its name?

[inheritance]

Purrbeast...is that what you call them back home? [It's kind of cute, to be honest.] What's a "lusus" though?

[There's a flash of embarrassment as Izuku glances down at the cat who's doing his best to suck up to Vriska at the moment.] Ah... his name's "Deku".

[hypertoxic]

Yup. Honestly, I mostly try to use the human terms these days because some people give me shit, but sometimes the words I know slip out. The simplest explanation of a lusus is that they are the troll equivalent to human guardians. "Mothers" and "fathers" or whatever.

[ Okay, okay. Vriska can't help actually smiling at the cat. ] He's cute.

[inheritance]

Yeah...he is. He's really good at getting attention when he wants to. [As if Izuku doesn't spoil the cat with affection all the time.]

Wait... [Back up a sec. He's just realizing what Vriska said, and wondering if he heard that wrong.] Someone you know had a cat as their parent?

[hypertoxic]

Sure. My mom was a spider.

[ Vriska flashes him a grin. ]

Lusii are very different from human guardians. We do not have a concept of family, as we don't have any direct genetic relations. Instead, our lusii choose us. And yes, one of my friends had a lusus that looked like a purrbeast!

[inheritance]

[Izuku blinks at her, question marks written all over his face. It's fascinating, the way Vriska talks about parents...maybe he should take notes.]

Then... if that's the case, how do you find them? Or do they just come to you?

[He has so many questions. So many.]

[hypertoxic]

[ waves a hand, the gesture casual. ]

It's the second one. There's a lot more to it, but it will get into a lot of bizarro alien culture and biology, which I'm sure you're totally uninterested in!