{RL WITH ARADIA}

[bentflame]

A little while after finishing her text conversation with Aradia, Azula hopped on over to the Land of Quartz and Melody to pick up Aradia for another movie night. She wasn't in any particular hurry, so she just started to walk around a bit, figuring she'd run into the robot girl sooner or later.

Comments

[deathfangirl]

"Yes! Very ready," Aradia beamed and landed lightly on the hard ground, then reached out to take Azula's other hand. "Whew, it's been so busy the last few days. I'm so glad to take a break."

[peoplesprincess.livejournal.com]

Azula worldhopped them both straight into the living room of the hotel suite Cuddy lived in. "What's been happening?"

[deathfangirl]

Aradia was quite comfortable with the sudden transition - things like that definitely didn't throw her off anymore. She let go of Azula's hand and dropped down comfortably onto the sofa, reaching for her captchalogue to pull out the next movie of Troll Indiana Jones.

"Well, all I can say is, thank gog for having a computer for a brain. I've set up twenty-five more doomed timelines in the last day, and I doubt that my living brain could have kept track of it all," she said matter-of-factly.

[peoplesprincess.livejournal.com]

Azula let go of Aradia and took the DVD, heading over to the player. "'Doomed timelines'? What are those?"

[deathfangirl]

Aradia opened her mouth to give a quick answer, then paused and decided to rewind and explain a bit more fully. "Let's just say that you and I decided to watch this movie, but then I changed my mind. So then I went back in time and stole my movie disk so we couldn't watch it. Instead, we ended up watching something else. That timeline where we watched this one would be a branch, that isn't the real sequence of events."

She shrugged. "But what happens to the version of us that watched the movie after I went back and changed things? It's doomed. By some means, you and I would both die, probably within a day or two, and only the version of you and I in the alpha timeline would continue to live."

[peoplesprincess.livejournal.com]

"That's... strange," she said, frowning. "Are different timelines always like that where you come from? Or only the ones that you change consciously via time-travel?"

[deathfangirl]

Aradia cocked her head. "Just the ones changed through time travel, and possibly those foreseen and averted by a Seer. It creates a paradox, and that's why the timeline needs to be tidied up by snipping the branches."

[peoplesprincess.livejournal.com]

She put the disk in, then returned to the couch. "And you're a Seer?"

[deathfangirl]

Aradia smiled. "Oh no," she said with a shake of her head. "I'm the Maid of Time. Terezi is a Seer, though."

[peoplesprincess.livejournal.com]

Azula kept the movie on pause while they talked. "Do you all have titles like that? Are they a part of the game?"

[deathfangirl]

Aradia nodded. "Yes, part of the game, and we all have one. Terezi's full title is the Seer of Mind." She cocked her head knowingly. "Vriska is the Thief of Light, and Tavros is the Page of Breath, while Eridan is the Prince of Hope."

[peoplesprincess.livejournal.com]

"And what do they mean?"

[deathfangirl]

Aradia shrugged faintly. "I'm not really sure. I mean, I think that my job is to keep time on track, prune it, keep it clean, you know?" She waves generally. "What the others mean... I think it's part of the game to figure that out."

[peoplesprincess.livejournal.com]

"I suppose that makes sense." Sort of, anyway. How could you steal light? (Probably the same way that you could steal luck.) And "Page of Breath" was even stranger.

"... Should I turn on the movie?"

[deathfangirl]

Those were the questions they were all wrestling with. Aradia smiled and flicked a finger, and the buttons pushed themselves. "No need!"

[peoplesprincess.livejournal.com]

Azula leaned back to watch the movie. "That's handy."

[deathfangirl]

"I've been practicing," Aradia said with a giggle, then settled back and snuggled against her moirail comfortably.

[emberandash.livejournal.com]

She was always a little surprised when Aradia did that, but again, she didn't exactly mind. Azula gave her a light pat on the shoulder; you were supposed to reciprocate, right?

[deathfangirl]

Aradia glanced over at Azula, feeling the pat, and gave her an encouraging smile. She was sure Azula didn't mind her affection, but recognized the signs of someone who wasn't really used to such things and didn't know what to do about them. But that was fine with her. She was patient, and would train Azula up properly sooner or later.

"You can cuddle me if you want, too," she said lightly, turning her attention towards the movie.

[emberandash.livejournal.com]

"Is that what I'm supposed to do?" she asked, perking an eyebrow.

[deathfangirl]

"Only if you'd like," Aradia said, smiling faintly. "If it feels good."

[emberandash.livejournal.com]

"People didn't touch me at all until fairly recently. My former mother did sometimes when I was really little, but that's it."

[deathfangirl]

Aradia turned away from her movie and shifted to face Azula. Deliberately, she slipped her arms around the human girl, and hugged her. "Most lusi usually don't hug or touch their trolls unless it's to stop them from doing something really dangerous when they're very little," she said quietly. "I think every troll knows how you feel, Azula. If you want to hug me, then do. But you don't have to. I just do what I like."

[emberandash.livejournal.com]

"... All right," she said cautiously. "I don't really mind. You doing that, I mean. I'm sort of used to it from Lisa and Lilith."

[deathfangirl]

Aradia beamed and gave Azula another squeeze, then shifted back and settled back into her previous position, hands mostly to herself, but shoulder resting against the other girl. "Thank you."