111613BalishNullar

 CCT: "You're AWAKE, then. Good, I was STARTING to get WORRIED."

 CAG: Nullar opens her eyes slowly, going to rub her head. "Owwwww. wooow, you're creepy."

 CCT: Balish scowls deeper than usual. "CREEPY? You think I'm the one who is CREEPY? You almost got everyone KILLED, you know that CORRECT?" With a free hand, Balish rubs his temple slightly overdramatically.

 CAG: "Everyone? You mean your shitty alien girlfriend?"

 CCT: "As IF he would stop THERE..." Balish glances over toward the other teammembers, who look like they are harassing the octopus crewmember. "Are you REALLY that..." A heavy sigh breaks the sentence.

 CAG: Nullar sits up and leans back against the guard rail of the ship, knees to her chest. "Pfff, we could afford to lose a couple of them, too."

CAG: "I mean, I'm kidding. ..............I guess."

CCT: "Some of them SURE, but Maenam? She's a FRIEND."

 CAG: Nullar raises an eyebrow at that choice of words.

 CCT: "... Do you REALLY trust him that much?" The aggressive scowl is now a worried frown.

 CAG: "I mean, he's the only one around here really being honest, so."

 CAG: "Including you, including all of the aliens."

 CAG: "I mean it's a weird psychopathic kind of honest but it's honest nevertheless."

 CCT: "Honest can HARDLY redeem that intense need to MURDER..." Balish sighs again, and walks beside Nullar, leaning on the railing, a hand covering the top half of his face. "You are CORRECT though, I have not been HONEST, I NEVER have been. You want ANSWERS? I'm WILLING to provide."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: (~*tsundere*~)

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CCT: ((why do people keep saying that))

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: "Intense need to murder? You mean, like, just about every troll ever?" Nullar asks, scoffing. "I mean besides our ragtag little band of effeminate bozos."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: ((Balish leans against the railing, shielding his eyes against the harsh rays of the magically produced light. His hair ruffles in the wind, making delicate curls around his sweeping horns.))

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CCT: "Every troll EVER? What about YOU? Wouldn't you rather CREATE life in your garden than END it? I don't think our race is BLOODTHRISTY by nature, but only by HISTORY." Balish removes the hand, turning toward Nullar with a cock of his head.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: ((lol u said cock lolol))

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CCT: ((=_=))

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: "As long as there are gardens there are going to be assholes stomping all over them who need to learn their place," Nullar insists stubbornly, glaring up at him.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CCT: "You THINK so? None would have DARED to step on the EMPRESS'S private garden, on the OTHER hand. " The stubbornness is familiar, and although it's not warmth, Balish can't help but smile a little. This is the Nullar Balish knows.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: "Yeah, well, I'll never be empress, that's for damn sure," Null snaps back.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CCT: "Not YOU, Maenam. What, did you THINK I introduced you two for FUN?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: "You... want me to tend the heiress's garden?" Null looks annoyed, and a little offended.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CCT: "It WOULD have kept you on planet, if Maenam would have SURVIVED. A risky GAMBLE but it was the ONLY OPTION to keep you alive. Until this GAME, of course."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: Nullar looks pointedly at Maenam. "Yeah, *if* she survived. And what about you, then? You still would've been hoisted off planet. Maybe you could've become a cartographer but then where the fuck does that leave me? Alone for another two or three sweeps before I kicked the bucket!" Nullar's cheeks are a little red with anger.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: ((lol kick the bucket sounds way dirtier in troll culture)

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CCT: "My PRIORITIES were in place. You said you WANTED to stay on Alternia, that is what I wished to FULFILL. Besides, I never PLANNED on avoiding my OWN deployment. Overlooking a Maroonblood is UNDERSTANDABLE, but overlooking a Purpleblood? There was NO WAY that could happen. One way or ANOTHER, I'd be BROUGHT to war."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: "Well, that's shitty, and you're still a dick, and it's all a huge moot point now," Nullar insists stubbornly, beginning to pick at her claws to relieve some of her anxious tension.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CCT: Balish chuckles. She's deadset, that's for sure. "Our lives were ALL pretty shitty back then, there was NOTHING any of us could REALLY do against it, now COULD we? Make a few FRIENDS, feed your lusus, then get JETTISONED into space for the rest of our NATURAL LIVES. Not exactly something to LOOK FORWARD too. Well, none of that really MATTERS anymore, you are right, it's all MOOT. Except for the "dick" part, I

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> SUPPOSE that still applies." Balish slides down into a sitting position, resting his arms behind his head in an overly relaxed manner.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: Nullar looks at him, her expression comically suspicious, and scootches a full two troll-feet away from him. She suppresses the urge to hiss.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: She doesn't respond for a moment, glaring back down at her claws, before she finally mumbles, "Man and what is even the point of making a new world if it's just going to be that awful."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CCT: "Probably because we can MAKE it DIFFERENT." The answer is simple, but Balish has been thinking about this for some time. He shoots an irritated glance toward Nullar, the simply rolls his eyes. Everyone deals with things in their own way, no need to be nitpicky on how childish it seems. "We are due to BECOME GODS, and if we CREATE a new world, then I will MAKE SURE it does not suffer the same repetitive idiocy."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: "I don't want to live in any world where some of these bozos get equal say in how it goes. And ugh, can you picture Tlaloc as a god? Pass."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CCT: "You think that IDIOT will make it? I'll be SUPRISED if more than FIVE of us remain alive, if you ASK ME. We ARE going against not ONE, but TWO deity-like BEINGS, after all." Balish lets out a sigh, suddenly feeling the weight of his eyelids. It's been a while since he's gotten anything but scattered naps. Maybe there will be someplace to rest on this strange ship.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: "We're going up against four, probably. Do you think even your shitty alien girlfriend won't try to twist this shit to her own ends?" Nullar appears to be trying to do her best impression of a turtle, trying to hide her face in her knees, her voice muffled, as she continues to angrily pick underneath her claws.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CCT: "You MIGHT be right... while Libby has given me nothing but reasons to TRUST her... She can PROBABLY hear me too, so ADMITTING this comes rather difficult." Ugh, too many options. Balish rubs his temples, shifting hie weight forward.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: "Yeah, nice job picking the one person more voyeuristic than me to date," Null mutters sullenly.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CCT: Balish frowns. "Come on, Nullar, are we having a CONVERSATION or not?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: "You're talking, I'm talking, sounds like a conversation to me."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CCT: "Then SPEAK UP, I'm not in your knees, am I?" Frustration is getting the better of him, and he knows it, but it feels good to vent a little, even if it is toward Nullar.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: Nullar purposefully says something like "Mmmhrr fffreeh ddrfffrmm" to spite him, curling up further.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CCT: Balish sighs, then scoots over. "You're rather CHILDISH, you know that? I offer to answer your INQUIRIES, and yet we dance around the aetherial being neither of us know much ABOUT, then insult our teammates. Don't you want ANSWERS, at LEAST?" Balish's annoyance has faded, more replaced with dry worry.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: "Oh yeah sure, please explain how the skank is better than me and why you went behind my back to go with her after we made fun of Tlaloc for doing the same shit, that'll make me feel better about my life." If she's noticed he moved closer, she certainly doesn't respond to it. Her horns are poking pretty uncomfortably into her breast bone, but she doesn't seem to notice.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CCT: "I don't think SHE is better than YOU. I care about you two the SAME AMOUNT, even if it's in a DIFFERENT WAY. I did not REALIZE it was behind your BACK, I've been meaning to SPEAK to you about it, but FINDING OUT about Scarlet became MORE IMPORTANT than my relationships, especially after she threatened you. Besides, you don't think I ENGAGED this without thinking, as Tlaloc did, do YOU? He professed flushed

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> feelings within HOURS of meeting the human. I've THOUGHT about this for a WHILE, Nullar. You were just something I overlooked factoring IN, really." The sarcasm isn't lost, but Balish feels like she needs an explanation. Or he did, either way, it was out there now.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: Nullar lifts her head to groan her displeasure and disbelief at that statement and ends up doing it so quick she smacks the back of it against the guard rail. "HHAAAA FTW," she hisses, rubbing the back of her head. She still manages to turn to Balish, fix him with a very pointed glare, and then theatrically roll her eyes at him. "The SAME AMOUNT? HSILAB I EVAH NWONK UOY ROF SPEEWS UOY GNIKCUF KCID," she yells, still clutching her head as she gets to her feet. She looks ready to pounce him again, to be honest. "EV'UOY NWONK REH ROF EKIL A KEEW WOH SI TAHT YNA TNEREFFID NAHT COLALT?!"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CCT: "Well, first of all, be CAREFUL, you were knocked out, we don't want you to become unconscious again. Yes, we've known each other for SWEEPS, but Libby's seen my life, and she ARGUABLY knows me BETTER, despite that NOT being what you want to hear. On Tlaloc, you know me NOT as a fool to just TOSS around emotions. Have you known me to show ANY warmth to ANYONE? I put up with Maenam's idiocy and Jossik is nothing but an  <span style="color:rgb(116,8,158);">amusing failure." Balish closes his eyes painfully. This is not something he wishes to discuss, but it must be said. It should have been said a long time ago, if he is honest with himself, but talking about it always leaves him in a... less desirable mood.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: "A week is no different than a couple of hours and you are a FUCKING. HYPOCRITE," Nullar spits out, insistent, and towers over him, danger in her eyes.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: "You're just a stupid adolescent boy who doesn't know anything and you are NO BETTER THAN TLALOC!"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CCT: "Hehe, your EYES, so familiar..." Balish almost looses it there, but a quick shake of his head clears it. "I SUPPOSE you hold truth in your SPITE, yes, I am a young male troll who felt the SAME selective pressure of us all. I'm SORRY I cannot read between the LINES when dealing with you, it's ALWAYS been difficult to read what you are thinking."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: "It's not the same selective pressure if you SELECT OUTSIDE YOUR FRICKING RACE, BALISH," Null insists. "I should have known better, though, that's for sure, I should have known a violet blood would never go for a piece of shit rust blood like me!" And with that, she seems to deflate a little, looking defeated instead of angry, and maroon liquid inexplicably wells up in her eyes.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CCT: "You ACTUALLY this the caste system means ANYTHING? Sure, we LIVE LONGER, but other that that damned MONSTER in the deep, it doesn't really MATTER. People are SUPERIOR or INFERIOR because of their PERSONALITY rather than their BLOOD." Balish glances sidelong at Nullar, and seeing the tears, immediately moves closer. "Nullar, NO, it's NOT like that, it was NEVER like that. Not even on Alternia was it LIKE THAT.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> It's not you AT ALL, Nullar."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: Nullar flinches and takes a step back for every one of his steps forward, arms held awkwardly and defensively in front of her. "What, so you're a blood traitor too, now? Our world gets destroyed and you want to raze our society from the ground up?! What the fuck kind of bullshit has that bitch been feeding you?" she demands, hurt. "And pardon me if I don't believe your lies, I /read/ the /logs/," she snarls at the end.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CCT: "LIES? Someones been FEEDING you information. And you KNOW as much as I that me turning TRAITOR was bound to happen. You expect me to, what, place our FUTURE with the likes of our Empress? Her answer for EVERYTHING is to kill off lowbloods. It's IDIOTIC to say the LEAST." Balish stops advancing, sighs, and looks at down at his hands. "I just KNOW I could do SO MUCH better..."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: "Ah, Balish the Grand Highblood, overthrower of the Empress," Nullar mocks unkindly, her face twisted into a mask of disgust and anger despite the tears still lingering in her lashes. "You're right, I obviously don't know you that well. You're a liar, and a blood traitor."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CCT: "G-GRAND Highblood..." The words still hang in the air, and Balish's heart beats. That damned title... Why did she have to bring it up? "Someone told me that ONCE. That I had WHAT IT TAKES t-to be... THAT." Balish squeezes his eyes shut and furiously rubs them, and when his gaze returns to Nullar, it's cold. "I killed her for that REMARK. Don't say it AGAIN."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: "Or what, you'll kill me, too?" Nullar asks, just as cold.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CCT: "IGNORANT-" Balish blinks hard. Libby said I needed to embrace this, but not here, not yet. He can't. "I-I don't think I CAN kill you. Not AGAIN."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: Nullar's blood starts racing at the insult, and her lips curl into a snarl, taking an aggressive step toward him, the movement aborted just as he holds back the rest. "Again?" she repeats, a low growl in her voice.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CCT: Balish's head snaps back at the word. "N-no, not AGAIN, n-never mind that, just a slip of the tongue, that's ALL." Balish blinks hard a few times, trying to keep in the present, his gaze snaps back up, right into Nullar's eyes. "Sorry, Nullar. Do what you WANT, but I won't fight you. I'm here to TALK."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: Nullar takes a step back, stops her growling, and then does a flourishing, theatrical bow, like the male actors of old. "Of course, Sir," she mocks coldly, then returns to a normal standing position. "If I may take my leave...?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: (damn I missed my chance to call her 'the very picture of mocking obsequescience' or however you spell that)

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: (obsequiousness*)

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CCT: Balish takes a long breath out. "So, this is IT then, you are choosing your anger. I can't BLAME you, I've just seen it HAPPEN too many times to too many GOOD TROLLS. Yes, you may take your LEAVE Nullar. Just..." Balish can't continue, but his mouth does hang open, and his eyes go back and forth, looking of the words. He gives up a while, closing his mouth and lowering his head.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: Without another word, she walks away from their semi-private area, her steps clipped and resounding on the wood deck, before she appears to vanish altogether in one of her parlour tricks.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: ((what's really funny))

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> CAG: ((is that that stunt stops working the moment she takes a step. so basically she just started walking and then stopped and disappeared and is sulking invisibly xDDDD))