[video]

[zazz]

[He's been in the City a few days, and he still appears to be wearing the expensive suit he showed up in, though now it's all wrinkled and stained from days and nights of wearing it without wash. But for most people this is the first time seeing Pickles, and he seems to be standing in a lamp store, and he looks majorly peeved about something. Something imperative.]

Seriously?? Have none of yew fuckin' mouthbreathers even heard of Dethklahk??!

Comments

[necronomicod]

I... guess that makes sense! We don't call ourselves mermaids so that's just not a word we'd use, but that's kind of what it was.

[zazz]

Who killed ya? Was it bloody? Did yew deserve it?

[necronomicod]

*Oh wow, Pickles. She's visibly deflating.* I... I don't think I deserved it! It was... the person used to be a friend of mine, and he'd hurt someone I was really close to, so I tried to stop him.

I don't know if it was very bloody or not; I don't remember anything after it happening.

[zazz]

[Aw, but he thinks it's cool and interesting, buck up, kiddo!]

Did yew take him down with ya? Yew seem like yew could be scrappy. The cute ones're always deceptive like that.

[He learned that after seeing Toki smash a guy's face in. Life lessons like that are priceless.]

[necronomicod]

No, it was... a bit too quick for that! I had my 2x3dent all ready to go, but a hole shot through your cartilaginous cage kind of puts a stop to that...!

He got a friend of mine, too. But she came back as a rainbow drinker and dealt with him like he had to be dealt with.

[zazz]

Yeh, I guess that makes sense, I dun think I'd survive a hole like that in mine either and I'm very tough.

Rainbow drinker? Is that, like, a euphemism fer, yanno...do people turn gay when they die in yer world or...is it jest a euphemism fer eatin' Skittles.

[necronomicod]

No, no! It means, she, uh. She has to drink peoples' blood for food from now on!

We call them rainbow drinkers because of all the different blood colors on Alternia. Here you just have the one!

[zazz]

Sheesh, mermaids, vampires, murder and rainbow blood. That sounds like a real bitchin' planet, I'd wanna be a princess of it, too.

[necronomicod]

Oh, no! I didn't mean that we have rainbow blood - everybubbly's blood is only one color, like yours! But it goes all the way along the hemospectrum depending on what you're hatched with!

[zazz]

Everybubbly. Heh.

I see. I guess. What color're yew? It'd be hard to tahp red, that's a pretty brootal color. Unless yew have black blood, that'd be brootaler.

video + text; TLDR

[necronomicod]

Don't be shelly; trolls don't have black blood. At least, I've never heard of anything like that. And I've heard a lot of things from the one who raised me!

--here, I'll explain it to you! *There are going to be colors flashing on the communicator in text.* If you mean bright candy red like humans... that's not really a color on the hemospectrum, either! Trolls usually wouldn't have blood like that. *A pause.* It's happened before, though. Once or twice.

At the bottom of the spectrum you have burgundy or maroon blood! This is like my friend Aradia. Even though it's at the deepest depths of the hemospectrum, that doesn't mean anything; she's still really great and adventurous and fun to be aground, and trolls in this caste often have psychic powers!

Right above the burgundy blood is chocolatey brown blood! A lot of times, trolls with brown blood will be farmers. My friend Tavros has this blood, and he's really good with animals! One step higher on the spectrum, you have the yellow bloods! I have, um, a really good friend who has yellow blood. A lot of the time, trolls in this caste have strong abilities to whooosh, move things with their minds!

In general, if you're near the seafloor of the spectrum you're more likely to have psychic powers, but you're also more vulnerable to having the tides turn and having them used against you! It must be hard to deal with.

Those three are what people would call "lowbloods," but I don't really like that term. Next is... uh, whale, there used to be trolls with lime-colored blood once upon a time, but they're not around anymore. *She sounds a bit sad there for a moment before brightening up.* My friend Nepeta has olive green blood! You could think of this as sort of the middle troll caste; it isn't high but it isn't low either.

Hmm. I guess now that I think about it, the next caste up wouldn't be considered high either, but they're still really special! They have pure jade green blood, and they're really, really rare! I'm lucky enough to have a friend who's a jade-blooded troll; most people won't ever meet even one! Their only job is to care for the Mother Grub on Alternia, so it wouldn't be a stretch to say that they're responsible for the continuation of the troll race! Er, they used to be, I mean. Alternia was destroyed.

If you have teal blood, most trolls will start considering you a higher-caste blood, even if you're not all that high on the spectrum! A lot of trolls with teal blood end up working in troll government! My friend Terezi wanted to be a legislacerator when she grew up, for instance! Trolls with cerulean blue blood are the lowest caste that most people would consider "nobility." *Yes, she does the air quotes.* It's pretty rare, but some cerulean-blooded trolls can have psychic powers like the lower-bloods! I knew one who did, but... most of them wouldn't. It's just not common at all!

Glubbing up one step further, you have indigo blood! The indigo-blooded troll I knew, Equius, was really, really, super strong! But that's not all members of that caste; that was just him being unusual! And if you were at the very top of the land-dwelling hemocaste, you would have purple blood, like my friend Gamzee! They're usually called highbloods, and even if the Empress technically rules all the trolls, they're usually the ones who were actively keeping the rest of the population in line. *She frowns slightly.* Especially since they had some really cruel methods. ...but that's not important!

Any higher than that, and you'd be a sea-troll! Traditionally, sea-dwelling trolls and land-dwelling trolls don't like each other, but I think that whole thing's a bit shelly and kind of stupid! Almost every sea-dwelling troll has violet blood, except for one: Me! I have fuchsia, or tyrian purple blood! Only the Empress and heiresses to the throne ever have this blood color, because it's the tippy tip top of the spectrum!

Er, but that doesn't mean it's better than any of the others! Actually, if I'd ever become Empress I was going to just get rid of the whole thing. I shouldn't be considered better than any other troll just because of my blood color, no matter who they are!

*And she takes a deep breath and exhales.* Phew, that got long!

[zazz]

[While the player is impressed, Pickles is easily bored. He seems to be standing there, eyes glazed over. Silent.]

[necronomicod]

...hello?

Did you get all of that?

[zazz]

[Blinks; smirks.]
Oh, yeh, totally. Soooo, you still have yer black blood?

[necronomicod]

...I just explained everything about our blood to you. I just said mine's tyrian purple.

Maybe you need to clean the sand out of your ears!

[zazz]

[He frowns. You hurt his feelings, girl.]

Sahrry. I meant purple blood. Er, tyrian...purple blood.

[necronomicod]

Right!

...some of our judges in the courtblocks have black blood, though! You really don't want to get on their bad side. They'll eat you.