Chapter Text
The night sky came into view in a blurry haze, sounds muffled by the slow rolling ocean waves that cradled a lone sea dweller as she came to her senses.
“glubbin goggles” Meenah Peixes grumbled, removing the fogged lenses, allowing her to see her surroundings.
Her eyes, grey with small hints of her fuchsia blood color creeping into her irises, stared at the twin moons of Alternia as they hung full overhead. The question hung on her mind, how could they tell if their plan had worked or not?
“WAIT” With a splash, she sat forward, breaking her float and staring more intensely at the smaller of the moons, her blood pusher thrumming.
It was different. It was not the bright lime green of Alternia as the Beta Trolls had known it. It was half lime and half bright, Vantas red.
A squeal passed her grinning fangs as she fell back into the ocean: real and solid and ALIVE. Their plan had worked!
She surfaced after a few ecstatic flips underwater. “OI you nerds seein this”
Meenah scanned the waves around her, silent and empty, and her stomach dropped. No one was in sight, not even Cronus.
“shit” She fixed her goggles and set out towards the shoreline to her north, diving and rising as she zipped through the water, checking for any signs of the eleven other trolls who were meant to be nearby.
“no no no shits the WORST part” she muttered as a disturbance in the water caught her attention and made her draw her trident.
In seconds, she was surrounded by a pack of ten trolls. Scanning their features and using her lessons in blood hierarchy identification, she quickly surmised there were two sea dwellers (who hardly missed the cut to be clowns), five river trolls (whose blood would lie somewhere between a Pyrope and a Serket), and three unfortunate bog dwellers (low blooded finned trolls often called muck breathers).
“Well, who do we have here?” the highest ranked of the bunch said, his voice skating roughly through the water. “I’ve never seen you around these parts before.”
“and what a it” Meenah barked. “i aint known for playin with trash like you anyhow”
She held herself in a straight but relaxed pose as she looked down her nose at their leader. Her 2x3dent rested in both hands but her grip was slack.
The other troll’s eyes began to grow darker as his companions hollered and gasped at her audacity. The moment passed and he grinned wickedly.
“Seems to me you don’t play well with anyone… No friends, no recognition… Blood superior or no, you won’t be missed more than the cost of your jewelry!”
Meenah gripped her trident and jammed it backwards, straight into the chest of the impatient river dweller who had jetted up behind her, prepared to strike. With his dying gurgle, he released a pale blue burst into the waves. Two more lunged forward, Meenah blocking their strikes by bowling their crewmate’s corpse into their path before diving away from the ring of predators and swimming away.
shit shit S)(IT gotta find the others fore they get theyshellves krilled Meenah turned and sank her trident into the shoulder of one of the muck breathers, piercing the base of his neck and sealing his fate in a puff of sunny orange. little shouty gonna flip if i cant keep it together
A sandbar rose up in the distance as she dodged and hugged the shore. Nearing the surface, she saw brilliant white flashes erupting from another hostile crowd. Taking her chances, Meenah dove down and increased her speed, slinging herself up from the ocean like a torpedo, piercing one of the mid-blood ruffians fighting on the sandbar through in a burst of cerulean, pinning her to the sand. Had the horns not been so wrong, the shade might have made her falter. As it was, she pulled her weapon out as crackling psionics sped past her head and fried a gaping plum hole into the mouthy leader who had launched blindly after her.
She made eye contact with Damara, sharing a nod before they each took their left to tear into the remaining four ruffians on the sandbar; the water bound attackers taking off as their head floated lifelessly down into the depths.
The entire ordeal had lasted less than ten minutes, and when the final sputtering gasp exhaled into the night air, the girls, despite past differences, fell warmly on each other’s necks.
The moment passed into teen awkwardness and they pulled apart, color dusting each of their cheeks as they both silently swore to march to their graves with the secret.
“you seen anyone else” Meenah asked, bending over to pull a cape off one of the corpses to clean her trident with.
“NO.” Damara said after a moment. “YOU HAVE.”
“nah maybe they beached near town”
“MUST BE CHECKED.” Damara suggested.
“right we gotta” Meenah looked down at herself, specked with blood.
Her first instinct was to hide it, get rid of it; on Beforus it would have been alarming, damning. Here it was a sign of victory, of strength. And if random ruffians were prone to swarm individuals and smaller groups, she needed all the evidence she could get of her prowess until her name and sign were known.
“hey gill i think we what the shell you doin” Meenah asked, turning back to her companion and cutting her initial sentence short at the odd sight she found.
“CLOWNS WOULD BUY IT.” she said matter-of-factly as she drained the still warm blood of one of their foes into a jar. “IS GOOD FOR A LOT OF THINGS. NO WORRYING. I TAKE THEIR MONEY.”
It was a shrewd business decision, Meenah had to agree. The deed done, some thirty minutes later, the girls arrived on the main shoreline of the port town. It was a sight to behold, structures that to them seemed unimaginably ancient rising up to touch the night sky.
Their factory-made clothing stood out, too, among throngs of cross-spectrum trolls in thick, handmade outfits who milled around the streets. It was hard to tell if that was buying them the multitude of stares and glares as they walked past market stalls, cast quick searching glances over slave sales, and entered and exited shops, or if it was the scandal of them doing it all shoulder to shoulder. Either way, they ignored it, both keeping their heads high and their weapons displayed readily as they searched for their companions in a world where sylladexes had quite clearly not yet been invented.
“ugh this shit takin FOR-EV--ER” Meenah groaned as midnight drew near. “aint no one beta die afore i get to em ain’t lettin us all split again”
With one eye closed, Damara seemed to be puzzling the message around in her mind. As the seconds ticked by, Meenah began to worry it had been too full of slang to understand. Before she could try again, the rust blood gave a derisive snort.
“YOU TALK AS IF WE NEVER DIE.” she said.
“you wont so long as you dont go gettin krilled i can keep beaches swimmin as long as i want”
“THE CONDESCENSION.” Damara corrected.
“she was just a me an i can do it too”
Damara scowled her disbelief.
“oh S)(OR-E dont believe me or nofin come on ill prove it”
Meenah grabbed Damara’s wrist and pulled her along as she scanned the crowds for a target. She spotted them within minutes, a blue blood with an olive standing too comfortably in his shadow to be anything other than a quadmate, despite the apparent age difference that the shorter lifespan had given to the still-sturdy mid-blood male.
It wasn’t long before the pair turned off of the main road, giving Meenah an open opportunity to pounce. With a silent flourish of an expert, she had blindfolds tightly tied around both trolls’ eyes and her trident pointed at the nape of the neck of the blue blood before he could make a move in their defense.
“good evenin” she said, pulling out the tone she had been taught to use around courtiers by her ancestor. “how much would you pay for a lil extra time with your morayeel here”
“Anything.” The answer was immediate. “Take anything, just don’t hurt him.”
“good answer” Meenah nodded.
“Now hold on,” the olive protested. “I’ve only got a handful of sweeps left, don’t lay down and surrender what you have for that.”
Meenah balanced her trident so it was resting against the blue blood’s neck and pushed solidly but gently down on his diamond who seemed to have plenty of fight in him despite his self-proclaimed fragility.
“dont shell yourshelf short old salt an hold still”
Without waiting for a reply, Meenah brushed the fingers of her right hand into the hair of the troll that knelt before her, keeping her left on his shoulder. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and pulled on a blinding green energy. Ancient words flowed from her lips in a song none of the listeners could understand. In a flash, grey hairs vanished, replaced by thick black locks, and wrinkles plumped out to smoothness once again.
“sea” Meenah asked proudly, turning the youthful face for inspection.
“はい˳” Damara nodded, satisfied.
“good now you two count t ten so we can get outta the alley I aint got time for every pity struck duo to be trackin me down an if you like it don’t go crazy or anyfin but id appreciate a tip”
The pair agreed, thoroughly confounded, until their count was over and the gift they had been given brought to light. When the girls reentered the empty alley, the found a handsome sack of coins nestled against the walls of one of the shops.
“thatll come in handy” Meenah said with a shark-toothed grin. “lets get some lunch afore we starfishin again”
It quickly became apparent that one of the most difficult things about being sent to live in the distant past of a violent world would be convincing themselves it was safe to eat from stalls of food that did not in any way meet the strict health regulations they had grown up with. A short argument later, they finally spotted a stall selling eastern food that didn’t appear to be squeak beast infested or covered in grime and got in line.
“Feh, I’m sick of all these outside sea dwellers crowding our streets,” someone commented, causing both girls to snap to attention.
“Shh! There’s literally one right fucking there,” his companion hissed, nodding in Meenah’s direction. “This happens every month, you’re going to have to get over yourself and get used to it.”
“Why can’t they use some other town for their feeding ceremony?” the first asked, dropping his voice even lower.
“Because the royal lusus lives here? I don’t see how you haven’t picked up on that after three sweeps.”
“ITS F-E--EDING DAY” Meenah shrieked, causing everyone to jump and stare. “oh fuck oh glub gill we gotta go S)(IT”
Grabbing Damara’s hand, Meenah dragged her out of line and began racing down the streets back towards the port.
“there aint no way gl’bgolyb dont know im here” Meenah said as she pulled along her floating companion. “she knows every brainwave every heiress an if I cant find somefin to give her by three shell let out a protest”
She reached the docks and climbed up on a stack of boxes, scanning the multitude of boats sitting around just offshore, waiting for the ceremony to begin.
“PROTEST.” Damara questioned, landing next to the other.
“a single blip a her words enough t wipe out a score of BOUYs easy an if she mad at me it screws my chances at becoming empfish AN i dont know whos where and kankri will haunt me foreva if I get him krilled by glub so soon”
“NOT GOOD.” Damara agreed. “I WILL HAUNT YOU TOO.”
“then help me find a ship an expendable lusus O)(” Meenah’s look of terror melted away as she pointed out to sea. “look a that nerd he did it alreedy”
Damara followed her claw towards a small, flat bottomed boat with a single white triangular sail. It was nearly lost among the massive ships around it, and looked like it belonged in the rivers as opposed to the ocean. Lashed to the side under the heading “FUTURE HOPE”, was a narwalrus lusus leaking boysenberry blood into the water. A black cloth marked with Meenah’s sign in her color and her trident in red signaled who the catch was meant for.
“cronus you idiot you done whale” she praised as she dove into the murky waters and rushed towards the vessel as Damara followed behind.