Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Beforus

Years in the past Present

A young troll stands in his respiteblock. It just so happens that today, the 12th bilunar perigee of the 6th dark season's equinox, is the day of this young troll's larval awakening, also known as his wriggling day. Though it was six solar sweeps ago he was given life, it is only today he will be given a name!

What will the name of this young troll be?

> Enter name.

Insufferable Asshat X

> Try again.

Your name is KANKRI VANTAS. As previously mentioned, today is your wriggling day, though you honestly find the importance your society places on age highly problematic and plainly discriminatory of those who might identify as a different age than the one which they physically display, as well as leading to the silencing of those of lower lifespans. Your friends tend to groan when you get to this part, but you’ll get them to believe in your dream eventually, you’re sure of it.

> Kankri: Examine respiteblock.

The walls of your respiteblock are covered in various PRIDE FLAGS, the majority of which don’t really apply to you, but are simply meant to indicate your allyship. The only ones you personally identify with are the RED BLOOD PRIDE FLAG and the VOLUNTARY CELIBACY PRIDE FLAG, but you don’t actually like to make a big deal of them. You’d rather focus on helping others better understand their particular identities. On the floor are your RECUPERACOON and your DAYSTAND, and of course your computer at the other end of the room.

> Kankri: Examine nightstand.

Well, it’s not a nightstand, it’s a daystand. You can hardly see why an object next to your recuperacoon would be designated for the night, though that way of thought might be insensitive to those who identify as diurnal, including the so-called “rainbow drinkers”, though you find that term deeply problematic. Thinking about it, the very term “daystand” carries inherent assumptions of what is considered “normal” and is thus highly inappropriate and discriminatory. Yes, you have decided that from now on this piece of furniture should be described simply as “stand”, and you will make sure to correct anyone that calls it otherwise.

> Kankri: Examine stand.

The stand next to your recuperacoon holds a BOOK ON THE HISTORY OF BEFORUS. It also contains a drawer.

> Kankri: Examine book.

You find the name a bit problematic, as it implies the single author is qualified to analyze the history of the entire race, and the text contains blatant highblood bias. Still, it’s the best you could find. You make sure to read it every night in order to better understand the origins of the many social issues that concern you. Of course, this often requires reading between the lines of the skewed narrative the book presents, but you’ve long become proficient at seeing through the powerful’s narratives.

> Kankri: Open drawer.

You open your drawer. It contains only a single FADED PHOTO.

> Kankri: Examine photo.

It wasn’t easy to obtain it, especially without anyone finding out. Not that it’s banned or anything, you were just embarrassed and didn’t want anyone to know. It’s the only surviving picture of your ancestor. Despite your usual distaste for ancestor culture and its inherently discriminatory and nepotistic nature, you couldn’t help yourself.

Throughout most of your life you had refused to learn about your ancestor. As previously mentioned, the whole concept seems deeply insensitive to you. On Beforus, any health institution offers DNA analysis to identify the identity of your biggest genetic contributor, what is referred to as an ancestor. Nevermind that this is deeply disrespectful of the other many genetic contributors that are required for the gestation of a troll, this often leads to trolls boasting of their ancestors achievements and using them to position themselves over others whose ancestors might not have had as many chances for success. Not to mention the foolish superstitions that trolls are somehow “tied” to their ancestors and fated to mirror their lives. That idea you especially despise. That’s why you decided to check out of the whole thing.

However, about a year ago, you had a dream. Not a normal dream, but a vision. This has occurred throughout your entire life. Visions of past and future events, sometimes of other yous entirely. But that vision wasn’t of you, it was of… him.

Your ancestor had intense candy-red blood just like you, of course. The very offensively nicknamed “mutant blood”. “Mutant bloods” are extremely rare, and as such find themselves without a role in Beforus' highly insensitive societal structure. As a highly educated savant of social justice, you recognize this discrimination for what it is and refuse to bow down to the system, proudly displaying your blood color, but it seems your ancestor wasn’t blessed with the same opportunities to examine his condition. He instead chose to hide from discrimination by impersonating a lime-blood, something highly insensitive to those that truly identify as a different caste than their physical one. His situation does not excuse this problematic behaviour, though you may mourn how his lived experience drove him to it. It’s also illegal as fuck. Long story short, his actions resulted in a terrible incident which cost many lives and led to his life imprisonment. After receiving this vision, despite yourself, you decided to get a DNA analysis and gained access to all public records on your ancestor. In the process you discovered that many details of the incident had been covered up, including your ancestor’s true blood color. This measure leaves you divided, as it was evidently taken to avoid discrimination towards hemodivergent folk like yourself, and yet the fact that it was achieved by hiding the truth that the people have a right to know really rubs you the wrong way and seems inherently patronizing and discriminatory. At the end of the day, your ancestor’s story does somewhat make you ashamed for his actions, but it also lights in you a righteous fury at the system that caused it. It only reinforced your commitment and pride to your blood color, within acceptable lengths that don’t undermine other individuals, of course.

In fact, it only goes to show that-

Your thoughts are suddenly and rudely interrupted by a beeping from your computer. It seems one of your many compatriots is messaging you.

> Kankri: Examine computer.

Your computer sees much use. You’re what some people might call “terminally online”, but you decry how that term understates the depth of the online world. You own a dedicatedly maintained blog as well as a less maintained Chittr account. However, the current alarm originates from the Trollian chat client. Your chumroll is pretty exclusive, or so you’d like to think. It contains a selection of 11 individuals of various levels of problematicness. A couple individuals on the lower edge of this metric are what you consider “pet projects”. Your attempts to awaken them to the problematic reality you all inhabit are rocky, but you know it’ll be worth it when you see them blossom into better trolls.

The issue at hand, however, comes from quite the opposite. A ♍︎ symbol flashes in a corner of the interface. It’s the sign of one of your closest debate partners. Despite your disagreements on many topics, and her tendency to interrupt you to talk about much less important “issues”, you appreciate her openness to debate. It’s something some other people could certainly learn from.

> Kankri: Answer chum.