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“Araaaaaaaadiaaaaaaaa!”
The rustblooded girl blinked at the drawn-out sound of her name, looking up from the bottom of the hole in which she was excavating currently. A familiar figure stood there, something large and shiny in her arms. “Vriska? What are you doing here?”
“Whaddya think, Megido? I brought you something! And of course you’re going to be so grateful, you’ll invite me to stay for dinner!” Vriska shook her long hair back, her eight eyes glinting a bit in the moonlight. “Now come up and greet me properly!”
Adjusting her sweet new hat on her head, Aradia clamoured out of the hole she’d dug for her excavation. “No patience to cook for yourself today?” She asked with a wry smile before inspecting the thing Vriska held with both of her arms. “What’s this?”
“Found it with Dualscar when we were FLARPing tonight. We divvied up the loot like usual, and I got this, but it doesn’t really look like proper treasure to me! Kinda old and boring and laaaaaaaame! So obviously I thought of you!” Vriska shrugged and held out the bronze sphere for Aradia to take. She did, looking at it, marvelling at the intricate patterns engraved on it. It was big enough that if it was hollow, Tinkerbull could have comfortably fit inside.
“Ooh, it kind of looks like the sort of thing I’d expect from the sixteenth incarnation of the cult of-“ Aradia started to remark, fascinated by the gift, but stopped talking when Vriska groaned a little, rolling her strange eyes dramatically. “Oh, sorry Vriska. This is just the sort of thing I love to look at, it was just perfect for you to think of me!”
Vriska smirked, preening a little as she tossed her hair back over her shoulders. “I am the best gift giver, it is me. Eeeeeeeeveryone knows that!”
“You know, I was just about to head in and take some grubloaf out of the oven. If you’d like to stay for dinner…?” Aradia offered, the way Vriska had made clear she was expecting Aradia to. After all, Aradia knew that while Vriska might be able to keep her lusus fed, feeding herself was something she didn’t put nearly as much effort into. Aradia wouldn’t mind if she just asked to come over for dinner, but, well, that was Vriska’s pride for you.
“Well, it would be ruuuuuuuude if I didn’t accept.” Vriska flashed Aradia a fang-filled grin and Aradia had to laugh as they set out towards her hive. Vriska walked a bit ahead of her, stretching her arms out and letting her arms fall behind her head as she walked backwards so they could continue to talk. “Where’d you get the snazzy hat?”
Aradia beamed, adjusting the present in her arms. “I found it on a dig the other night. Found a few other things too, even a new computer! I don’t know who the douchebag is that’s on it, but it’s really different from other husktops.” She chattered on for a while about her newest finds, knowing Vriska was only half-listening to her by the glazed-over look in her eyes. The Scorpio was not good at remaining focused on things that weren’t irons in her fire.
Vriska did hold the door to the hive open for Aradia though, even as Aradia started to talk about what period she thought the large bronze ball might be from and who might have created such a thing, and for what purpose.
Aradia placed the bronze ball next to the table as Vriska sat on a chair, pushing back so her feet were on the table and she was balancing on the back two legs. The grubloaf was fetched from the kitchen by the troll girl that was didn’t seem to notice the layer of grime she’d accumulated while digging. While Kanaya would have made a fuss and insisted Aradia at least wash her hands, Vriska failed to notice at all.
Plates and two cups of sweetplant juice were brought out as well, and Aradia cut each of them healthy slices of grubloaf, handing Vriska her plate and leaving hers on the table. A third slice was cut and placed on a dish, Aradia placing it on the floor where her lusus could easily get at it. She tossed her hat onto the counter before taking a seat across from Vriska, next to the present she’d brought.
Vriska grinned and dug right into the food. Aradia took a small mouthful before inspecting the gift once more while her lusus curled around her legs and feet while eating its’ own dinner. Her lusus was always so pleasantly warm, due to the maroon blood that it shared with her.
"Where'd you find this?" Aradia inquired curiously, looking over at Vriska, smirking a bit to see a chunk of food held in Vriska's left hand waiting to be shoved into her maw. "And when was the last time you ate?" She couldn't help but chuckle with the second question.
"It wasn't that long ago, it was just a loooooooong FLARP session and took a ton of energy. Don't fuss, Aradia, I am up to my neck in fussing and meddling from Fussyfangs, I don't need it from you as well!"
Aradia stuck her tongue out. "Sorry for wondering why you were eating like Karkat yells. Anyways, seriously, any clue where this was?"
Vriska shook her head. "Nope, sorry. It was on the ship of some other FLARPers that we raided. And they didn't exactly give me a list of where they got all their stuff." The piece of grubload was finally shoved into Vriska's waiting mandibles.
Aradia sighed and shrugged, returning her attention to her newest aquisition as she too had another bite of their meal.
“Part of why it made me think of you.” Aradia heard Vriska say through a mouth full of food, “Is that your symbol repeats itself on it a bunch of times.”
“You’re right…” Aradia observed, looking at one of the carvings. They almost got lost in the rest of the carvings, which was why she’d not noticed them herself. She let one claw touch the symbol on the artefact that matched what she wore on her shirt. “How strange…”
“I thought…well, I thought maybe that might be connected to your ancestor.” Vriska said, and Aradia didn’t know if she could identify what that note was in the other girl’s voice.
Her claw absently followed the curve of the symbol as she took another bite of grubloaf. “I don’t really believe in ancestors, Vriska! I know you’re happy to have found out about Mindfang, but… well, who knows if you really had the exact same blood shade, or any of that?” Aradia shrugged as she caught sight of Vriska’s scowl. “Look, it makes you happy, and that’s great! But I don’t really care about finding my ancestor. I mean, it’s not like a rustblood could have had that much influence. It’s different for you, you always talk about all the cool stuff Mindfang did.”
Vriska only scowled more. “Megido, you’re so dumb! Blood colour’s not thaaaaaaaat important. I bet you did have an ancestor and that she totally wrecked some shit.” The spider themed girl tossed her hair over her shoulder. “After all, you’re my friend, which means that your ancestor had to be at least somewhat cool!!!!!!!! I bet you’ll find out about some kickass lowblood bitch in one of your excavations sooner or later. And she’ll be your ancestor.”
“…Thanks, Vriska.” Aradia was oddly touched, and not quite sure how to respond. Changing the subject was the easiest route to take, really. So as she cut another slice of grubloaf for Vriska, who’d already finished her first piece, she asked “what new irons do you have in the fire?”
“All of them, Megido! Aaaaaaaall of them!”