maskormenacelogs | bite your face to spite your nose.

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bite your face to spite your nose.

WHO: rose lalonde & jenny quantum.
WHERE: on the streeeeets.
WHEN: the weekend.
WHAT: two members of the ruin-eridan's-life club meet.
WARNINGS: potty mouth.

[ in her torn jeans and leather jacket, she looks like one of those delinquent teenagers that skips school to loiter around shopping malls-- the kind of adolescent that makes anyone middle-aged murmur something about kids these days as they hurry by. truthfully, she is skipping school, pointedly failing to follow through with whatever assignment she'd been given by Holiday and his system.

still, wandering out gets a little boring after a while, idle hands and all. she pauses outside the mall, leaning up against the building near the front entrance to light up a cigarette. passersby give her disapproving looks as she exhales curling grey smoke.

that's when jenny spots her. she's familiar in a way that takes a moment to turn into full recognition. the ugly christmas sweater girl. kanaya's squeeze. jenny eyes her a moment before calling out: ]

Hey. It's Rose, right?

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[Rose is dressed in what can only be described as 'Former Teenage Goth Trying To Impress Fashion Foward Girlfriend'. There is some pink, some black but overall there is a lot of black. She turns at the call of her name, freezes midstep and blinks. It takes a moment to place Jenny's face as Julian's Enthusiastic About Ugly Sweaters Friend.

Then she thinks Julian and then tries not to think about him at all.

She smiles. ]

Yes, it is.

[There's a moment where Rose's fantastic memory tries to make sure Jenny is actually Jenny's name, and not Jessie or Jessica or Jemima. ]

You're Jenny, aren't you?

[Nailed it. ]

[ jenny's mouth quirks slightly upward at the sound of her own name, probably as a side effect of ego-- pleased to be remembered. ]

One of many. [ she responds a bit dryly, approaching with smoke trailing behind her. ] I was kinda wondering if you'd made it over. Never forget someone who offers you a shitty sweater.

What the fuck's up?

[Her lips twitch - barely restraining a grin. The sweaters were her greatest achievement. She's almost heartbroken Kanaya's is lost forever. ]

Ah - adjusting.

[Adjusting and - coping? Rose has gotten lost five times already. She wants to ask how about you but also it must be nice not being in super jail anymore. That might be rude. ]

What about you? Did you register?

[ jenny makes an exhaling noise that would have been a scoff if she'd tried a little harder. she remembers her conversation with captain holiday-- the man had a vaguely paternal vibe to him that just made her want to rebel against him more than anything. ]

No. Fuck that. [ her voice comes mildly despite the choice of words. ] Like hell I want some strangers telling me what do to. I don't even let my dads tell me what to do.

[ a beat, before she goes on: ] Did you?

Yes.

[Rose has her self preservation out in full force. Making up for all those bad decisions she made in the city, probably. She shrugs. ] Better to play along until we know more about what's to become of us.

[She pauses, and then with a vague smile: ] The perks also help.

[ and it is smart. jenny gets that-- she understands why people are choosing to sign their souls over to the system. but it isn't something she can make herself bend to. ]

Yeah? Perks like what, the fucking housing? Maybe if you're not stuck living with Eridan Fish-Up-The-Asspora.

[Rose winces. The look on her face is one of pure, unadulterated sympathy. ]

You got stuck with Eridan? My condolences. I had thought they might toss him in the river.

Yeah, I wish. I keep dunking his toothbrush in the toilet to make myself feel better about breathing his air.

[ she shrugs a little though. it's actually not that awful-- mostly because she enjoys antagonizing eridan. but it's not like she'd pass up an opportunity to bitch about him either. ]

I have a love-hate relationship with the trolls. Mostly hate, for His Royal Asswipe.

No-one likes him. I recommend burning all his scarves, too.

[is that too harsh? maybe. ]

Or at the very least, hiding them all.

[ she quirks another amused half-smile. ]

What, you mean I'd have to fucking touch those? The only reason I'd ever do that is to strangle that fucker. [ probably, anyway. ] What's his fucking deal, anyway? Half the trolls have stick up their asses, but his has to be at least ten times longer.

[She wants to argue, but - Kanaya can be a little ... cold? Stiff? And Karkat is Karkat.

Eridan wouldn't be on her radar if he hadn't hit on her, really. Dryly: ]

He expects us to fear and revere him because of his blood color, as far as I understand.

[ jenny's relationship with kanaya is-- simply put-- complicated. it wouldn't do it justice to classify it from jenny's end as basic stick-up-the-ass syndrome. and karkat, well. that's complicated too. and getting more complicated as they go. ]

What the fuck is with all the non-human royalty around here? Everybody's got a fucking complex. [ she rolls her eyes, but only lightly, and mostly for show. ] Or maybe it's just a troll thing. Guess you'd know, since you're stuck with one.

They're a hyper-aggressive race. The royal blood colors are the most aggressive of all.

[With ego's to match. ] I lucked out. Kanaya's ego is entirely about her clothes.

Could be worse, I guess.

[ she's had her rough patches with kanaya, but things are starting to smooth out. knock on wood though-- with their personalities, it's only a matter of time before they find something else to fight over. ]

Don't know how you put up with that shit all the time though.

Not all of the time. She's - growing. We both are.

[They're probably due a fight, she thinks - but it's been mostly smooth. ]

Cute.

[ that doesn't come out as wryly as she means for it to, though she wouldn't have been able to say why. she pauses a while, then at length, casually: ]

What's it like dating a troll anyway?

Fairly normal, really.

[Rose thinks it over. There's no pretending that it has been easy. Though maybe that has less to do with Kanaya being a troll and more to do with their personality's and issues clashing. ]

I don't have much to compare with. Kanaya is - very regular. Eccentric, but normal. I imagine it would be an entirely different story if I had, for example, been taken with Feferi or even Aradia.

[She pauses. ] Er, I'm assuming you met them. While they were here.

We didn't talk much. But I knew of them.

[ though she supposes even then, having at least some brushing experience with the majority of the trolls, her frame of reference is still fairly skewed. she'd had some kind of borderline amicable hatred with eridan-- and her relationship with kanaya had been fraught with conflicts, which had less to do with kanaya being an alien and more with jenny's issues than anyone else's.

then, of course, there's karkat. ]

Are you guys happy?

Yes, we are.

[She says it with unwavering certainty. Are they happy together? Absolutely. As individuals? Probably still works in progress. There have been minimal tears since arriving in Florida. Rose is keeping track. ]

I love her. She's -

[She provides stability. She doesn't let Rose get away with lying or being a smart-ass. She cares. ]

She's been very good for me.

[ Jenny might've argued that Kanaya cares a little too much sometimes-- a flaw, but a tolerable one. One that Jenny minds less than she makes a point of acting like she does. The truth is Kanaya has always been good at looking out for her, even when she didn't want it. It's something she could probably stand to recognize out loud, but probably never will.

Jenny exhales, absently brushing hair back from her face before answering at length: ]

Love's a strong fucking word.

[ Cynicism. But she pauses, then amends at length: ]

But I'm glad. You're probably good for her, too.

I fear I'm an unnecessary point of stress for her. But she's tolerating my rebellious teenage phase with outstanding patience.

[She's careful to keep her expression half-fond and half-sheepish. There's a keen eye of Jenny, though. Kanaya's been in this city longer than Rose has - arguably, if she puts the timing together, maybe Kanaya's known Jenny longer than she's known Rose. Long enough that long suffering comes to mind whenever they mention one another.

Rose feels that. ]

I'm glad she has someone else out there who cares about her, too.

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bite your face to spite your nose.

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