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“Hey, what are you— I’ve been looking all over for you!”
“Shhhh!”
Terezi stared.
Vriska smiled with a corner of her mouth – which still probably displayed like, an unnecessary amount of teeth (unnecessary fabulous, hell yeah), – and pointed to something behind her. Something she was watching intently before Terezi arrived.
Furrowing her brows slightly, Terezi shuffled closer, ready to make as much as ruckus as she could, just to keep Vriska on her toes a little.
She sniffed, then did it again.
“Oh my god.”
“Yessss,” Vriska hissed, and then smiled widely and triumphantly. Terezi bent closer— “No, wait, don’t lick them!”
“Just a little!”
“No-no-no, stop! They might wake up. I need to take a picture first.”
Terezi huffed, then turned away from the couch and stubbornly licked at Vriska’s cheek. She could feel her smile even more intensely like that, and it was wonderful. She tasted so joyful, it was contagious.
Not that Terezi herself wasn’t enjoying what was happening on the couch, but it was hard to decipher precise emotions without licking. Argh.
She must have made a face, because Vriska whispered, “I’ll let you do it once I take a pic,” and Terezi realised she was still close. It felt nice, being close like that. And that Vriska allowed it without questioning, asking, talking was even nicer.
This was one of the things she’s been missing.
“Stand here and watch them,” Vriska instructed, going into full planning mode. “I’ll get the equipment.”
She also didn’t shy away from not-really-applicable words, trusting Terezi to understand and make something of her own of it.
Terezi grinned. “Oh, don’t worry. They’re not going anywhere.”
“Can always trust you,” Vriska grinned back and absconded quickly.
Terezi slowly moved her gaze back to the couch. Time to study the scene of the crime.
Problem here was, she was bound by the fact that the “crime” was still in-progress, thus stopping her from truly engaging in it and picking the scene apart bit by bit.
But no matter! Such constraints were no setbacks for the Justice.
...Or, she supposed, a friend.
She slowly circled the couch and studied the space in front of it. Crouching on the floor, Terezi picked up a can and licked it. Blue chalk. Mayor’s handwriting. Nothing but a sad – no, wait, probably more like annoyed? – smiley face. Intriguing.
The husktop was also there in front of the couch. She knew, of course, what that husktop was, but she couldn’t resist a lick. Ahhh, purple. It was definitely one of her favourites— once. Too many nasty associations now.
She cringed and moved on. No purpose in dwelling on irrelevant things! The husktop has long since turned into sleeping mode. Judging by its temperature, it has been sitting unused for a while.
And now, to the main scene.
The couch emanated warmth and a sort of coziness. In fact, Terezi has already smelled these two on this particular couch on many occasions. Sometimes one was sleeping, even, but never before quite like this.
Now, two familiar red blood scents were interwoven, almost blending into each other. Bleeding, one might say. (Hehehe.)
Terezi bent closer over them, employing all her stealth so as not to disturb the scene. Red cape was hanging over the couch just a little bit, but most of it was safely tucked around the perpetrators. It hindered her perception somewhat, but it was quite easy to understand just how close and huddled up these two were.
She looked around for a witness, then sighed and de-captchalogued her primary helpful informant.
She then went through several theories with Senator Lemonsprout. First, this may have been the way and the location where these two chose to sleep. This theory was quite firmly rebutted – it was the first time anybody (that she knew of) saw this kind of thing happening, in the common room no less, and, moreover, the husktop and the presence of a can (evidence #1) clearly suggested some prior activity had been taking place here, i.e. Movie Time With The Mayor.
Second theory was that the Mayor was also somewhere under the cape, but it was laid aside just as quickly – the emoticon on evidence #1 (evidence #2) and the absence of his scent were quite clear.
The way they lay suggested some unconscious movement during sleep; it was not particularly uncomfortable, but it wasn’t the way one might prefer to fall asleep. Terezi estimated that the cape must have served as a blanket before the sleep commenced, but the sleep itself was an unanticipated development.
“Now, third version,” Terezi continued, looking firmly into the button eyes, “is that the couch had been just way too cozy, too warm, impossible to resist. And so they fall asleep, without any planning to.”
Senator Lemonsprout stared at her blankly.
“But that can’t be all,” she said in a stage-whisper. “Because, after all, as the jury already knows, the Mayor wasn’t— that is, isn’t with the perpetrators! If the couch was just that cozy, he would’ve just cozied up with them.”
The informant (and also, temporarily, her partner) was becoming slightly judgemental of those logical fallacies, but Terezi pressed on.
“No, what is happening is that they’re here together.”
She waited for any rebuttals, but none came, and she continued, triumphantly, “It has all been leading up to this. Time spent in each other’s company. The amount of unbearable media, both human and troll, consumed by both participants in unimaginable quantities. The slow, but impossible not to notice blending of smells. The physical contact, untypical for both parties. The constant presence of the Mayor, even, as a third party, necessary for hiding unbidden feelings of confusion and uncertainty – maybe, even, pity,” she declared in a whisper and then furrowed her brows. He might even be an auspiticizing party between them— she put that thought aside for later.
They did not really look like they needed auspiticizing.
She could smell it: softness, quiet happiness that’s been building for a long time, one arm pressing the other body closer, one arm buried in the hair just near the horns, vulnerabilities exposed and accepted.
Terezi smiled, quite content in her findings. Still, if she could just gather a little bit more information…
She tried to suppress the urge one more time.
Ah, what the heck.
She accepted her failure gracefully and bent down, opening her mouth.
“Didn’t I say no licking?!” Vriska’s scream pierced the air.
Karkat immediately jolted awake, sending Dave flying off him and right into Terezi, the husktop, evidence #1 and her partner in justice.
Crime scene: disrupted and utterly ruined.
Still, Terezi grinned.