and so we ran to the dawn [TG/GC]

[Dave Strider]

Fuck everything.

Sneaking his way through the woods, hoping he'd managed to shake off the worst of his pursuers, Dave stopped to lean against one of the massive redwoods, rubbing his eyes tiredly. The sun had set already; if he didn't find shelter, and/or a weapon soon, was severely fucked, not to mention the stories he'd heard of trolls oozing out of the wood works after sunset like some horrifying miasma of grey skin and candy corn twists of horn cartilage.

Of course he'd given Bro every last sword he owned, including the shitty thing you'd both ironically dubbed the Sord. 'Proper care of your blades' and all that good bullshit. Sighing again, Dave had decided long ago that he'd even take the Sord over being totally unarmed like this; awesome parkour skills only got you so far, especially considering that even getting within arm's reach of one of those gooey bastards was often a death sentence. Maybe if he continued trekking onward...

But the path that had lead from the city twisted and turned, a literal maze in the trees, and had gotten Dave so ass-backwards lost that it would have been hard to say what was up and down if Gravity loosened her grip on his ankles.

Punching a tree and getting no further than an angry chittering from one of the local freaky wildlife, he figured all he could do was continue, the trees gradually thickening around him and nearly blocking out the starlight that had become his only guide.

Fuck everything, he thought to himself again, very nearly missing the fact that the largest tree he'd passed thus far had a house attached to its branches, covered in overgrowth and, more ominously, nooses, many of which had stuffed animals hanging in them. Maybe this was his break. Or he could be royally screwed. Which is worse, Strider? A crazy ax murderer in the woods, or death by squishy dead people? Ignoring the ladder as he climbed up, heart beating faster from more than exertion, he pounded on the door, a little shocked when it simply opened.

"Hello?" he called, poking his head in. "Jesus, this is how every shitty horror movie starts," he muttered, scowling a little. "I hope no one's here to cut my heart out and eat it or anything. I just need to use a phone..."

[Terezi Pyrope]

[atrb=cellSpacing,20,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 300px; background: url(http://www.kazuya-akimoto.com/2004revised/2004revised_images/2459_Dark_Blue_Cave_Bat_Pattern.jpg); border: 1px double #008E00; background-position: center, bTable] w3 c4n m4k3 b3l13v3 th3 morn1ng sun n3v3r w1ll r1s3 4nd w3'll b3 4ll r1ght 4s long 4s you st4y w1th m3

[atrb=style, font-family: Tahoma; word-spacing: 1px; text-align: justify; background: #aaeebb; border: 1px double #008E00; color: 116633] Perhaps if she had been more awake Terezi would have been listening a little better. As it was, however, it was the crack of dusk, and the blind troll was just rising from her recuperacoon. Yawning lightly, she pulled the curtain down, drying herself off with it and going over to her dresser, pulling on some relatively light clothing. Summer was too warm these days, although on the ship it could get chilly sometimes thanks to the water. Maybe she would go down there today and pester Dualscar; she didn't have anything better to do anyway, and he was bound to be lonely. Not that her being lonely had anything to do with such an idea, but mother was asleep by now for certain, and no one ever came to see her, so there really wasn't all that much else to do. But first, some breakfast would do her good. Clear her head of such thinkings. Stifling another yawn, Terezi grabbed her glasses and put them on, habitually brushing her hair down over the edges before heading barefoot down into the kitchen. It was then that she heard the thump against the tree and the noisy beasts squealing in protest, but she didn't pay it more than a glance upwards. Her hand was on the control for the stove when she heard the footsteps, however, and that got her attention more than the screeching chitterbeasts. Frowning a bit, she concentrated, dimming herself and silently drawing her biggest kitchen knife from its block, just in case it was a zombie or some fuckass come to try and torch her house again. ...she really needed to hang around Karkat less. His vocabulary was getting to her. Speaking, or perhaps in this case thinking, of Karkat, when Terezi crept out of the kitchen to get a better whiff, she did indeed smell that delectable shade of cherry her oldest friend had coursing through his veins, and almost dispelled the invisibility. However, what sat atop the red was not licorice but coconut, and that gave the girl pause. What was a human doing this far out in the forest? She wasn't close enough to smell his intent, or anything more than the splotches of colour most prominent on his body. The black on his face, red and white aside, made her the most curious of all. Still quiet, she ducked back into the kitchen, setting the knife on the counter and making herself visible again, listening to him call out his request from the doorway. She almost felt bad for not owning a phone.

[atrb=style, font-family: Tahoma; word-spacing: 1px; text-align: justify; background: #aaeebb; border: 1px double #008E00; color: 116633]TAGGED: SOM3 HUM4N K1D WORDS: 432 NOTES: First irl meeting, aww yee. CREDIT: LunarFlowerAngel from OTE | Lyrics | Image

[Dave Strider]

Dave could feel the hairs rising on the back of his neck. Something wasn't quite right in this whole scenario. C'mon, coolkid, you're just gonna borrow a phone for ten seconds. Even without a weapon, you could probably escape Buffalo Bill if you had to.

"I'm sorry for intruding," he called quietly, the subtle twang in his voice somehow more pronounced through his nerves. "I'm lost, and if I can just borrow a phone for a minute, I'll be on my way after..." Everything inside the house was like Lewis Caroll's worst acid trip, splashed in shades of neon that would have put nineteen-eighty-three to absolute shame.

"Christ, Strider, you really know how to pick 'em, don't you?" he muttered, examining what looked like an abstract sculpture. Or a piece of junk. It was hard to tell in a house like this, but for all he knew, it served some totally bass-ackwards purpose to whoever lived here.

Wandering in further, the bright colors and strange shapes only served to further disconcert him; it was dizzying in a way, like some visual assault on sanity and reason, or at the very least, conscious decorating. Poking his head around the corner, he peered around, squinting in the quickly-fading light. "If you don't want me here, just say so, and I'll be on my merry way out of this fun house."

[Terezi Pyrope]

[atrb=cellSpacing,20,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 300px; background: url(http://www.kazuya-akimoto.com/2004revised/2004revised_images/2459_Dark_Blue_Cave_Bat_Pattern.jpg); border: 1px double #008E00; background-position: center, bTable] w3 c4n m4k3 b3l13v3 th3 morn1ng sun n3v3r w1ll r1s3 4nd w3'll b3 4ll r1ght 4s long 4s you st4y w1th m3

[atrb=style, font-family: Tahoma; word-spacing: 1px; text-align: justify; background: #aaeebb; border: 1px double #008E00; color: 116633] She felt like she should know this boy. Terezi's brows puckered just slightly as he approached, inhaling a little more deeply to see if she could identify him further. He wore as much red as was under his skin, too. It was delectable, but not quite so much as the subtle cadence of his voice when he spoke. A musician, maybe? She tilted her head just a little at his exploration of her hive, barely catching a whiff of his unnerved aura, uncertain what to feel about such a reaction. It wasn't like anyone ever visited anyway, but having him snark on her decorating tastes – and oh how delicious her living room was! – galled her just slightly. ”1'm gl4d you th1nk 1t's fun,” the troll quipped from her place in the kitchen, a smirk pulling itself across her face. ”4nd for your 1nform4t1on 1 don't h4v3 4 phon3.” Straightening and stepping out of the kitchen, Terezi almost regretted the shorts and loose-fitting tank top; she hadn't exactly been expecting company, so she was relatively underdressed. And in front of a total stranger, to boot. A human stranger. She'd have to be on her best behavior, to make up for her outfit. Ah, there. It was faint, but she heard the rumble of his stomach. ”1 do h4v3 food, though. 4r3 you hungry?” A normal troll probably would have balked at minimum to the idea of breaking bread with a human, their races being sworn enemies and all that rot. A normal human would probably feel the same way about any troll, so despite being particularly odd in her offering of peace Terezi did brace herself for whatever entertaining reaction the boy would put forth. She just hoped it wouldn't involve fire.

[atrb=style, font-family: Tahoma; word-spacing: 1px; text-align: justify; background: #aaeebb; border: 1px double #008E00; color: 116633]TAGGED: SOM3 HUM4N K1D WORDS: 303 NOTES: CREDIT: LunarFlowerAngel from OTE | Lyrics | Image

[Dave Strider]

The sound knocked him backwards in shock, his eyes wide behind his sunglasses. Trolls. Of course. Only trolls would have such a batshit insane decorating tastes. She didn't look particularly dangerous, but her hissing words and sharp-looking horns didn't exactly soften the image she presented.

"I-I'm just here t-to borrow a phone," he stammered, much more afraid than he normally would have been with his swords. "Don't eat me, I swear, I'm stringy and unappetizing." Dave was trying to make himself look smaller than he really was, all gangly limbs and stringy muscles, but he knew if the troll decided to eat him, he was shit out of luck anyway.

It was then that he ran into a table, tumbling with a crash into the floor, and as he sailed toward the ground, Dave knew he was fucked. If he was caught off-guard, if she had the upper hand (which she very suddenly did), he knew he would never regain it, especially unarmed.

Falling with a shout, at least he managed to avoid hitting his head at least, holding his arms up to guard his face. "D-Don't eat me," he pleaded. If he somehow made it out of this alive, he was silently promising to rip the thing's throat out, to keep it from revealing to anyone else how pathetic he sounded.

[Terezi Pyrope]

Now this was just embarrassing for all parties involved. Terezi raised a brow, crossing her arms and shifting her weight to lean against the doorframe as she watched the human make a total braybeast of himself. And there went her coffee table too. She hoped it wasn't broken; after all, where was she going to find a new one in a post-apocalyptic zombie plague?

”1 don't 34t hum4ns,” she replied, a smirk pulling at her lips. ”1 34t norm4l food, wh1ch 1f you m1ght r3c4ll 1 off3r3d you.” Straightening again and brushing her hair over the edge of her glasses, she came down the small steps leading from the kitchen to the living room, bending down and offering him a hand up. ”1 won't hurt you, so you don't n33d to b3 sc4r3d.”

It was just too bad he stank of his own terror. She wasn't that scary, right? Especially compared to most others. Her horns were smallish, her teeth all fit behind her lips...sure, maybe the huge red specs might have been unsettling for someone who could see, but they just smelled so classy. If he could see what was behind them he might have license to be scared, but that wasn't likely to happen anytime soon.