Chapter Text
“Hey, Fishbro!” Gamzee throws his arm around your shoulder, pulling you into the Grand Highblood’s palace.
You stumble forwards, catching your Ancestors smirking as you pass them. Great first impression to make on someone you haven’t seen since you were five, especially when you’re about to be a part of some important ‘meeting’ with him. Not that you'll have an input of course. You see Gamzee every so often, at parties or other gatherings, but his Ancestor never leaves his palace. Note to self, do not look him in the eyes because it is still terrifying no matter how old you are. Dualscar seems to agree, standing deathly still as he spends way too long admiring the hideous clown paintings for it to be out of genuine interest. Thankfully, you’re still too busy tripping over your own feet to look anywhere else.
Gamzee notices your struggling and drops his arm with a husky laugh, “Sorry ‘bout that man, I forget how tall a motherfucker I am sometimes.”
“It’s fine Gamz.” You straighten your back and force a smile.
You remember a time when Gamzee used to be the shorter one, but now there’s almost as much height difference between the two of you as there is between Dualscar and the Grand Highblood. You rarely feel inferior around other people, but right now you’re the shortest person in the room and it doesn’t help to know that any of the others could snap you like a twig if they wanted to. An outcome which, considering these ‘people’ consist of two stoned Purple-bloods, an older sea-dweller who you’re pretty sure hates you, and a bunch of Indigos who would quite happily off their ruler and his heir, is becoming more and more likely.
You’re doing this to see Karkat. You’ve got to remember that. Hoo boy, you thought a couple of sweeps worth of growing would mean you could at least look Gamzee’s ancestor in the pecks, but either he’s grown too or you were a lot smaller than you remember.
“Good evvening.” You say, nodding politely to the monstrous land-dweller in front of you.
He nods back. That’s good right? You mean, you’re both the royalty of your races, no need to go bowing to each other. Then he taps Gamzee’s shoulder, gesturing to a corridor with his thumb after the younger Troll looks up at him.
“Yeheah, you got it big man.” Gamzee gives the Grand Highblood a grin, then holds an arm out and ushers you across the room – without actually touching you this time, thank God.
You follow him without sparing a glance backwards, walking in silence until he leads you into a room at the end of the hallway. After the door is closed, both of you let out a sigh. Gamzee immediately flops back on his sleeping platform, and you lean against the wall nearby.
“Tough perigee?” You inquire.
“Yeah man fuck,” He puts an arm over his eyes, “motherfuckers expect me to do all kinds a shit now I’m seven, it’s like what’s the big deal? It’s just a fuckin’ number.”
“It’s ‘cause wwe’re important,” you tell him for what must be at least the fourth sweep in a row, “wwe can’t just livve off a other people all our livves.”
“Guess you’re right brother.” He rolls over and drags his claws through the tangled nest he calls hair.
Then he sits up and presses a button on the wall – several times in fact – until there’s a knock at the door, followed by a sheepish voice.
“You uh, called for me, sir?”
“I did indeed my little man.” Gamzee replies, a smile back on his face as the door opens and a Bronze-blood you vaguely recognise slips into the room.
His horns are fucking huge, draped in silver and purple jewellery that matches the embroidery on his clothes. Yeah you definitely know this kid. You think his name begins with an N. Or a T. Or maybe both. Not that it matters because he’s a Lowblood, but you pride yourself on having a rather decent memory so it’s going to bug you until you think of it.
Gamzee holds out his arms, now sitting on the edge of the platform. The Bronze-blood glances at you, then shuffles over and plops himself down on Gamzee’s lap, visibly relaxing as the Highblood wraps his long arms around him. You wish Kar would do that more often. Save for Dualscar, you’re the safest Troll on the planet to be around, let alone favoured by. Quite considerably favoured, actually.
“So,” Gamzee’s drawl brings you out of your thoughts, “I heard you’ve gone and got yourself a warm blooded companion of your own.”
Your back stiffens. Just how many people know about this? It seemed as if Dualscar was trying to keep it a secret. You’re both amused and sickened when you remember that the Makaras don’t always have to rely on physical persuasion to get information. Or any type of persuasion at all, in fact. You hope the Grand Highblood made your Ancestor suffer to get that out of him – although knowing Dualscar, he probably slurred it out after naught but a bribe of alcohol.
“I ain’t gonna judge.” He continues, petting between the smaller Troll’s horns – the kid looks so relaxed that he might fall asleep. You’re not jealous. You just… He shouldn’t be doing it in front of you. That’s like Dave papping you under the eyes of other nobility; it’s just not done. “All I wanna know, is when do I get to meet the little motherfucker?”
You’re taken aback for a moment, “Meet him?”
He chuckles, “Your little friend man, if he’s got you all flustered then I gotta congratulate him.” Another dry laugh has blood prickling in your cheeks.
“F-flust-! I am not fuckin’ flustered!” You certainly sound it though, much to your frustration. “An’ if it seems that wway it’s not ‘cause of him, it’s you bein’ all touchy feely with your ‘little friend’.”
The Bronze shrinks back against Gamzee’s arm, eyeing you warily as his… Master, you suppose, continues to treat him like a barkbeast. Good. He should be afraid of everyone else.
“I still wanna meet him.” Gamzee mumbles, staring at the floor as he twists his fingers through the Troll’s hair. Then his gaze snaps back up to you, “Ah fuck man, I’m talkin’ about meetin’ your friend when I never even introduced mine.” He stands up, forcing the other Troll to find his feet. “This here is Tavros.”
Tavros. Tavros. You definitely know that name. You squint and picture him with wings, and then suddenly it clicks. “As in Tavros Nitram? Descendant of the Summoner”
The kid looks petrified; his hair practically standing on end and hands quivering at his sides.
“The very same mi amigo.” Gamzee, by contrast, is completely calm.
Yet even as he drapes himself over Nitram’s shoulders in an attempt at reassurance, smiling in that dopey, unnervingly unreadable way, the other Troll remains still as a statue. Does he think you’re going to cull him? In the Makara hive and with Gamzee right there? He must be an idiot. Either that, or he’s been taught to fear every Highblood who so much as looks at him. Last sweep you might have thought it a good thing, but now it just makes you think about Karkat being that way and… It’s almost sad.
“He’s got his powers too.” Gamzee says, after a few moments of silent eye contact between you and his little ‘friend’. “He can talk to all those motherfuckin’ wonderful critters out there, ain’t that right Tavbro?”
Tavros nods sharply. So he’s a mutant too. Not as much as Kar, obviously, but mind abilities aren’t exactly common. You feel a strange pride, knowing that you’ve got the rarer mutant. But you haven’t ‘got’ him, have you? Yes, his papers may have your sign on, but you told him that he wasn’t just a possession in your eyes and you believe that. You think. Ugh. You know the way Dualscar wants you to think isn’t right, but this internal war you fight every time you go against his views, it almost makes you wish you’d never changed yours in the first place.
Gamzee, as expected, hasn’t noticed your silence. He’s too busy fussing over Nitram, who has apparently found his voice now.
“I should go, uh, help prepare dinner.” He mumbles, so quietly that if were just a regular land-dweller you probably wouldn’t have heard.
Oh, right, you’re staying for dinner. Excellent. More opportunities to make a fool of yourself in front of arguably the most terrifying authority figure, bar your own Ancestor. Actually no, even if Dualscar was in the running, he still wouldn’t be at the top of your list.
Why couldn’t he have just left you back at the palace?
***
Dinner is an… Interesting affair. The Makaras have an unsurprising lack of basic table manners. So much so, that you lose your appetite after the first course – and not just because the food all smells like it’s got a little something extra in it. Dualscar tries to impress the Grand Highblood with tales of his conquests, but the guy’s so impassive that you can’t tell if he’s tolerating it or thinking of ways to strangle his guest. Gamzee pipes up every so often, talking to you at a completely inappropriate volume considering that you’re seated opposite each other. He rambles about clowns, and miracles, and all the usual poppycock that you’ve learned to nod at but ignore. You like to think you’ve perfected your expression of passive interest, because even when your mind wanders you can keep your eyes from getting too unfocussed.
Overall, it’s not as bad as you expected, but still a monumental waste of time as far as productivity goes, and you're not even sure what their 'meeting' was about or if it even happened at all. Then as you’re waiting for Dualscar to finish sucking up already so you can leave, Gamzee does something useful for once. He draws you off to one side and pulls a tatty piece of paper from his pocket.
“I was gonna tell you this earlier, but I all up and forgot,” He chuckles slightly and hands you the paper, “I found this in some old book, it’s about your little warmblood’s Ancestor and lemme tell you, he was one crazy motherfucker, challenging the Empress and shit.”
Once you get over the horror at realising he tore this directly from what appears to be a rather ancient tome, you scan your eyes over the page. You’ve heard the history of this guy – the Signless, he was called, some crazy preacher who thought he could change the world – and by the looks of things, the general story is all here. Written in common Alternian too, which must mean it was a book meant for the masses, or those who could read at least. But why?
“An’ wwhy are you givvin’ it to me?”
He shrugs, “Thought you might be interested is all, might come in handy with the permits and whatnot, y’know?”
You frown, “Permits?”
“For your friend, you do want him in the palace, right?”
Oh. You thought you could just walk him in, seeing as you’re the heir apparent, and he hasn’t got any abilities. If anything you’d be there for his protection, not to keep him from posing a threat. Still, it’s good to know in advance – Dualscar would no doubt try to twist everything and either derail your plans, or tell you they didn’t work without even trying. Well not tonight, because for once, you have the upper hand. Or a level playing field anyway.
You thank Gamzee – and his Ancestor – then silently get in the carriage back to the palace. Dualscar talks about himself the whole way, so you’re guessing he has no idea what Gamzee told you. Regardless, you’re sure to hide the paper under the loose floorboard in your block as soon as possible, just in case someone decides to go snooping. It fits in with a bunch of silly raps Dave wrote for you – he uses common Alternian too, and for once you’re glad of it – so even if someone did look, it wouldn’t be that obvious.
Hopefully he’ll be back soon so you can talk all of this out. The sooner you can get Kar out of that place, the better.