The Mother of All Logs

[steelweb]

WHO: Anyone and Everyone
WHAT: All the kissin's
WHEN: Dec 16 - 18
WHERE: Wherever you want!
WARNINGS: Affection, freak-outs, possible R ratings


Ok! Here is the post for collecting all your kissing logs! If you want to do individual Network posts and then lead in to kissing that way, that's fine, but if you're looking to do a straight up log, this is the place to do it. That way we don't flood the community with all the log posts.

Instructions:

1. Post your character's name. One reply per character so that they're all neatly organized.
2. When you tag to a character's thread, put your participating character's name in the subject line.
3. ???
3a. Feel free to edit the post tags to include your character name for easier activity reporting
4. PROFIT!

Comments

[maiditoutalive]

[Poor Loki. Aradia's eyes go big for a moment, her eyebrows raising in surprise, her mouth falling into a silent oh- and then she falls back to earth, her feet connecting with a soft thump, and bursts out laughing.

It's not smooth in the least. It's not kind either, and she tries to cover up her mouth and keep it in check, but it's too late. Her head thumps against his shoulder, and she shakes, he's probably going to be so embarrassed but of all things to say that was so unbelievably, indescribably Loki that she can't make herself stop.]

Oh! [She says, gasping and giggling, patting his shoulder in sympathy.] Yes, except for that, you were doing so well until then.

[badnewsboy]

[luckily he's quite good at recovering his ego, it manages to damage him at all. there have been worse things said to him, and worse things said about him, and those had all cut far more deeply. this was nothing in comparison. this is simple to brush off, if he notices the cut at all.

he looks at her, quirking his lips, still wide-eyed. his face is covered with lipstick. he says, in and incredulous, scholarly tone, glancing about as she laughs at him.]

There are no Fire Giants! And they're not running after us! That is doing well!

[maiditoutalive]

[She shhhhhs at him, still giggling under her breath. They should probably try to wipe that off, somehow, it looks even more stunningly red on his pale face and so obvious how it got there. But it's almost hard to believe that they actually just did that. They kissed. Her stomach fills with butterflies just thinking about it.]

How lucky for us. I'm not sure I would have noticed if they had.

[Whoops that's flirting, isn't it?]

[badnewsboy]

[if it's there, he doesn't seem to notice. instead he just continues to talk with make-up all over his face.]

So I was smooth!

[maiditoutalive]

[Aradia rolls her eyes at him; boys. And she steps back to dig in her pockets for some Kleenex, to wipe away the smeared and blotchy red at her own lips, revealing natural black underneath.]

Are you having trouble believing it?

[badnewsboy]

[he runs a hand over his mouth and just smears the lipstick further. he does nothing for himself.]

I'm flawlessly confident. Though things like that usually don't happen to me unless I'm being chased by Fire Giants. Do you know how unpleasant it is to be chased by fire giants?

[a pretty lie, but one well executed in an amiable tone. it was hard not to say something about himself after that. he was still getting used to the idea that someone wanted to kiss him at all. the idea of friends, people trusting him, that was all still sinking in. the idea that he might be here to stay was sinking in.

and he offers her his arm.]

[maiditoutalive]

[She can only assume that kissing him has put him in a state of babbling shock, and so the best thing for her to do is let him get it out of his system. What do fire giants have to do with being smooth, or kissing an alien girl? Nothing, as far as she can tell. Unless he kissed a fire giant?

No it's probably more likely that his brain has temporarily come unhinged. Funny, she hadn't realized she could have that effect on people.]

I don't know, but I imagine it must be very unpleasant?

[She takes his arm. And, after a moment's hesitation, reaches to take his hand again, without fumbling it this time.]

[badnewsboy]

[fire giants were always a good topic of conversation.]

Luckily for us it doesn't happen much in this realm. We'll conveniently stay out of theirs.

[he looks a bit surprised when she takes his hand again, but settles pleasantly with their fingers woven. he's still feeling a little buzzed from the intimacy.]

[maiditoutalive]

[Too much, too soon? She doesn't know, and he doesn't shrug her off. And he offered! So it should be fine. It's nice, getting to hold someone's hand.]

I imagine it'd be difficult to reach from here. Where are we going, anyway?

[badnewsboy]

[and he still had lipstick on his face.]

I thought a leisurely stroll was in order.

[maiditoutalive]

[She's just going to let him figure it out on his own. He has to notice eventually, right?]

To take in the sights? I hadn't realized you were so fond of trees.

[badnewsboy]

[one would think, but his mind isn't necessarily there right now.

Trees? ...Oh yes, of course. The trees.]

They are very green. It's a change of scenery, and everyone needs one of those once in a while.

[maiditoutalive]

[Oh Loki. She squeezes his hand, trying to be reassuring; she can't tell if he's nervous or still in shock or what, and doesn't want to call him on it, in case it wounds his pride somehow. And she has to admit, if it were up to her to make the conversation and not just tease him about it, she's not sure how well she'd carry it off.]

I rarely saw this many trees before in my life or death, before coming here. I grew up on the plains. You had to go far, far away to find any jungles or forests that deserved the name.

[badnewsboy]

And now that you see them, what do you think?

[though if he were to admit it, it would be easier just to say that he wanted her company, and it didn't much matter to him where they were. they could be running from Fire Giants, and it wouldn't change his mind. well, maybe a little.]

[maiditoutalive]

I think it needs more booby traps and ruined temples. A couple of dangerously large snakes couldn't go amiss either.

[If it was just the plants, surely they've moved out of the radius of effect by now. And she still wants to be holding his hand, and that giddy, lightness of being feeling hasn't left her stomach. ]

[badnewsboy]

A heart that cries out for adventure. We could run from Fire Giants or large snakes, but we would need outback hats.

[he leads her up onto a fallen log so they can balance their way across it.]

With a log as a bridge.

[maiditoutalive]

[For once she doesn't cheat, and climbs up properly instead of simply floating her way up.]

I wouldn't worry about the hats, I have plenty. You know they just sell them in stores, here?

[badnewsboy]

[he helps her up, remembering his manners, holding her hand as they balance along the log.]

They don't sell them where you're from?

[maiditoutalive]

[Aradia thinks he's just looking for excuses to keep ahold of her hand; she could navigate this just as well as he could, if she needed to.]

Not the way you're thinking of, no. Young trolls grow up on Alternia, and all the shops and stores that you can visit yourself are with the adults, way out on ships and in colonies. We get allowances, according to your place on the hemospectrum, and then you can use them with some of the drones left behind to assist, to get schoolfeed modules and what you can't find or make yourself. I never had enough to buy things I didn't desperately need, like hats, so I had to wait until I found one for myself in one of the ruins I was excavating.

[Now that she thinks about it, did she ever really tell him she's pretty much lowest of the low, where trolls are concerned? She doesn't think she has.]

[badnewsboy]

[yes, and she could also float—that had definitely crossed his mind. but hand-holding was quite nice, even if he wouldn't say it out-right.

well that sounds completely different from anything that he's ever heard before. there were words in there that he could guess, but couldn't place. being Loki also came with being able to make things out enough to get a good idea of what was going on and then, if called for, bullshit appropriately. (this wasn't a bullshitting time, but it came with the territory.)]

I take it that whoever gifting you with this endowment found you lower on this Spectrum of Hemo.

[maiditoutalive]

[He's good at making her laugh unexpectedly, with little things like that. She squeezes his hand again, more to reassure any potential... something, on his part. Disappointment? Irritation, for what she has to say, even if she says it without bitterness?]

It's a caste system based on blood color, Loki. Did you not notice? There's one of us left for each possible tier, and rust is the lowest you can be and still have a place somewhere. [Said calmly, with nothing but a sort of indifferent acceptance; she's had her whole life to reconcile with this, even though she knows its a bunch of bullshit.]

[badnewsboy]

The colors that you use to express yourself on the forum?

[with his free hand he takes the sleeve of her robe curiously. he looks a bit thoughtful.]

This. It's on your Spectrum?

[maiditoutalive]

[She looks confused for a moment, like she doesn't understand- but then she remembers oh yes, time colors are red and red, it's easy to see how he'd draw that conclusion.]

No, my Maid of Time clothes are incidentally red. It doesn't always match up like that. Vriska- I don't know if you've met Vriska, types in blue, rather dramatic, all her words are full of eights- her clothes would be orange, but she's a blueblood. If Dave ever shows you his clothes, the ones like the ones I'm wearing, they'll be the same color because he's the Knight of Time, and he's human. The colors for our aspect just happen to be shades of red.

[Aradia concentrates, like flipping a mental switch, and the clothes and the hood and the wings go away, replaced by her regular winter clothing. Which are all...still mostly red. And black, because black is safe.]

But that is why I normally wear dark red. It would likely be considered, mmm, presumptuous? To prominently wear a color that wasn't mine to claim.

[badnewsboy]

[he watches with a hint of curiosity, though there's no shock or noticeable change in expression when she changes. there's not any judgement, he just seems to want to understand. it was a good step to take, after all.]

So depending on the blood color you were born with, you can lay claim over colors? Then those with green blood would feel slighted if we switched.

[maiditoutalive]

[And she's willing to try to explain, though it's hard to find a way to put it in terms he might understand. Or so she thinks, anyway.]

It's less like a claim, more like a requirement? You are expected to stay within your boundaries, which includes not trying to rise too far above your station, so most people stick to the color of their blood. I could wear green if I wanted, probably, but I would still have to announce myself as a rustblood somehow. If that makes sense.

[She unbuttons her coat a little bit, though it's cold to her, pulling it open just enough to show him the burgandy Ares symbol embroidered neatly on the shoulder of her cardigan.]

It gets a little more complicated than that, too. Each troll has a symbol that belongs to them, and their ancestors. Which are hard to explain- they are to us what your parents are to you, in that they are our close genetic matches, and they come before us, but so far in the past we never knew them. Anyway. So say I did wear green! I would probably just find a way to stitch my symbol into my clothes, in my blood color, where people could see, so they would know I wasn't trying to pass myself off as higher up the spectrum than I am. People used to get in real trouble for impersonating other hemochromes. It was considered treasonous. Does all that make sense?