It's A Secret!

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/14803793.

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Category: F/M
Fandom: Hiveswap, Homestuck
Relationship: (PALE) Boldir Lamati/Vikare Ratite, (PALE) Mallek Adalov & Daraya
Jonjet
Character: Boldir Lamati, Daraya Jonjet, Mallek Adalov, Vikare Ratite
Additional Tags: Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, Boldir has an English accent in this
because I said so, Military Alphabetic Use, Libraries, First Meetings,
Moirails, Probably just a one-shot, cliff-hanger, kind of, Does Alternia
have libraries?, Written without much info on the characters so uhh??,
Social Class Tensions in which highbloods are dicks sometimes
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2018-05-30 Words: 2,371 Chapters: 1/1

It's A Secret!
by b_ndito

Summary

whiskey tango foxtrot?

Notes

Boldir is my secret squirrel detective child and i just lov her so much k thx bye

Boldir took a deep breath and smoothed out her coat. She was only here because Daraya had asked
her to be here. Being the recluse that she was, Boldir preferred not to be out and among other trolls.
She just felt so exposed and out of her element. If she wasn't such good friends with the jade, she
would've just declined.

The olive shuffled quickly up to the large glass doors of the library and was greeted by her
jadeblooded friend, who leaned against the wall in a cool manner. Next to Daraya was a tall
cerulean troll that Boldir had never met before.

"Lamati!" she said with a nod to Boldir. "Just the chick we've been waiting for. I'd like you to meet
my moirail. This is Mal-"

Boldir offered a slight smile, but continued past them and into the building. The quicker they found
what they were looking for, the quicker she could go back to her hive. "Formalities aside, Daraya. I
believe we've got business to attend to."

The cerulean laughed and nudged Daraya with his elbow. "She's in a hurry, huh?"

The jade nodded. "Always has been. C'mon, she's really good at finding stuff. Ladies first." Daraya
opened the door and extended an arm to the cerulean with a grin. The other troll lightly punched
her in the arm and ran into the building, only to be chased by Daraya.

Boldir cleared her throat and tapped a foot at the pale couple. "That is no way to behave in this
place, you know."

She just wanted to finish helping Daraya and be done with this, but a library was no place to search
for information. For all Boldir knew, all of the information in the books could be false or tampered
with. She'd read all about those conspiracies. She knew.

"Okay, okay." Daraya said, stopping to catch her breath. She beckoned to her moirail. "Let's find
that book."

The two followed Boldir down the aisles of books. Boldir pulled the books from the shelves, one
by one, scanning the contents of each before putting them back. The olive was looking for a
volume about the history of Alternia's hierarchy, and should have found it on the current shelf.

A topic like that didn't really spark Boldir's interest, but it seemed to be something Daraya was
hellbent on studying. The oliveblood adjusted her hat, subconsciously checking for the foil that she
had tucked in it, and turned to the other two. Daraya and the other troll were constructing a tower
out of some large books when they could've been helping. She sighed loudly to get their attention
and curled her lip in a pout.

"Perhaps the two of you should search in the hemohistory section, if you can manage such a task
without causing mischief." Boldir said sharply. "I'm not exactly here on commission, as you may
know."

"You know what? You're right." Daraya said with a laugh. "Just figured that you'd be better at this
than us, since neither of us really read. Me and Mallek will go look over there, and cause 100% no
trouble." At that, the cerulean covered his mouth to hold back a laugh and nodded.

Boldir looked at the two of them doubtfully. "Can you contract your claim? Because I already don't
wish to be here, and if you're just going to-"

The cerulean cut her off and raised a hand. "Grub Scout's honor, ma'am."

"Really, we can look too." Daraya added. She pulled her moirail by the arm and led them around
the corner of the aisle.

Boldir watched the two scamper to the other side of the library and rolled her eyes. How could they
act so care-free in a world like this? When there was so much going on behind the scenes? She just
couldn't understand.

With a huff, she returned to searching through the shelves for the book. "Hieroglyphic...
hierophantic... hierodules..." she mumbled, reading through the list of volumes. "Hovercraft?"

This book didn't belong here. She pulled the book from the shelf and examined the cover. It
featured an image of an Alternian spacecraft and a wrench symbol; probably a book about how to
construct or repair the large machines. Boldir looked around the library to see where it must
belong, and spotted a section titled "Off Planet Piloting Resources".

She started towards the OPPR aisles, shifting her eyes around for Daraya and Mallek. The library
was mostly quiet, save for a few trolls here and there mutely chattering or moving books around.
Libraries were one of the few places safe enough for trolls of every blood color to gather and
commune with one another, especially a library in a tealblood neighborhood.

Both lowbloods and highbloods passed eachother through the aisles without batting and eye or
spilling any blood. It was nice.

Boldir, an oliveblood, hadn't faced too many hardships or life-threatening situations, but had
always been paranoid of them. There was so much to be questioned, so much to be discovered
about the background of her society: Where did all of the drones come from, and where were they
being manufactured? Was the sun somehow tampered to be dangerous, or was the DNA of grubs
being altered so that they couldn't withstand the sunlight? Who's idea was it to put the quadrant
system in place? Did trolls really feel four kinds of romance, or was it all just an idea that had gone
too far? What was Alternia hiding behind it's mask of confidence? What was really going on?

She turned into the aisle and scanned the shelf.

"Aha!" she exclaimed in a whisper. Boldir put the book on the shelf, right next to another book
about spacecraft mechanics. "Exactly as it should be."

She took a moment to glance about the other books before turning sharply and heading back
towards the other aisles of books. Before she had gotten very far, she ran right into another troll
who had been walking towards her and sent them both plummeting to the floor.

"My apologies!" she said quickly, gathering herself and turning to help the other stand. She looked
at the mess of books on the floor that the other troll had dropped in the collision and started
picking them up. "Allow me to lend a hand."

"Oh, it's only been a dinky pileup. Nilly as the crowbeast flies." The other troll chirped cheerfully.
He dusted off his coat. "Now, are you all hep and swell?"

Not entirely sure what he was saying because of his strange word choices, Boldir just gave him a
smile and handed the troll the books. "I'm quite alright, thank you. Not a scratch on me."

The other troll adjusted his goggles. Boldir was confused as to why he would be wearing goggles
indoors, but then again, she was wearing a hat indoors.

"So, you have a knack for the ships? Is that why you're over here?" He shifted the pile of books in
his hands.

Looking around at all the spacecraft books, she shook her head. "I'm afraid not. I was on a mission
to return a rogue book back to where it belongs." She turned back to him and his pile of books. "It
seems like you, however, fancy the ships. Is that right?"

He nodded maybe a little too enthusiastically. "Oh yes, I sure do! It's my favorite. Space travel
really doesn't interest you? Even a smidge?"

Boldir shrugged at him, folding her arms. "No, not really. I've always loved mysteries, though.
Detective works and..." And uncovering the truth about conspiracy theories. Spending hours trying
to piece solid evidence together to reach a solution. Studying every available resource for clues.

"... other things, but that's a secret."

"Seems fitting." He said simply, before walking towards the shelf.

The oliveblood looked at him curiously and took notice of the color of his sign, bronze. "Seems
fitting?"

The bronzeblood turned to her and grinned. "Well, yeah. Look at you, and your getup. The
covering, the cap. You're just like a bantam Delta Echo Tango, if I've ever snatched a gander at
one."

Boldir stared. "A... like a what?"

In her time, Boldir had heard some pretty strange ways of talking. She'd spent many nights
deciphering codes and signals, a majority of which were incomprehensible. This guy flat-out made
zero sense.

"I'm not sure I follow," she admitted. "Don't take this spitefully, but you're kind of difficult to
understand."

The other troll laughed, a light, happy sound. "Whoopsie! Sometimes I forget. It seems fitting that
you take such a liking to mysteries. You look a lot like a small detective. Alternatively, a D-E-T,
for abbreviation."

"Oh. Well. What can I say? Secrets are my favorite." She said, feeling proud. "And uncovering
them is my favorite."

The bronzeblood turned to her again. "Secrets, huh?"

Boldir nodded, maybe a little less enthusiastically than she would've liked to. "Yes, I love them."

"Do you actually like secrets, or is that just for good sport?"

She hesitated. "What do you mean? It isn't for show, I really do find interest in them. Why do you
ask?"

The other troll paused. Then, without missing a beat, he shifted the books into one hand and
extended the other towards Boldir.

"Vikare." He said with a smile. "What's your tag read?"

Boldir took a moment to understand what he was saying and pondered why he'd ignored the
question. "Oh! My name?"

Vikare nodded. "Yes! Your name. I'm Vikare, and you are...?"

She extended her own hand to shake his. "Boldir."

Boldir heard Daraya and her moirail's voices echoing from across a few aisles. The two were
obviously causing trouble when they'd promised not to. Figuring that she should probably get a
hold of them before they got kicked out, she excused herself for a moment from Vikare and went
on her way.

To her surprise, the other troll followed her down the library while she searched for the rogue
moirails. Boldir kept glancing at him, as though to say, " What? ", but he paid her looks no mind as
he continued to tag along. The oliveblood eventually caught sight of Daraya's moirail - she couldn't
remember his name - and walked as quickly as she could towards him with her short legs.
"Hey!" she whisper-shouted. "Have you found the book? Because you've certainly found the time
to raise your voices and goof around, haven't you?"

The ceruleanblood dropped the book in his hands and raised his arms in mocking surrender. "
'Raya, we've been caught."

"Won't you spare us, Detective Lamati? We're just kids." From behind a tower of books
constructed like a castle, Daraya emerged and followed her moirail in suit, raising her arms. "Just
kidding. Nah, we didn't find it."

Boldir wiped her hands down her face in annoyance. Daraya's moirail looked first at Boldir, and
then behind her. He pointed past the oliveblood. "Do you know him? He's been standing there and
it's a little weird."

Turning around to follow the cerulean's finger, Boldir saw Vikare standing behind her with his pile
of books. He gave the three other trolls a small wave. "Oh. This is Vikare." The oliveblood
informed them. "We ran into each other by mistake a few aisles down."

Vikare nodded, as if to confirm this. Daraya raised a brow at the bronzeblood, who offered a smile.
"Okay... You got somewhere to be? Or are you just going to stand there?"

At that, he frowned, and shrugged. Before Boldir could intervene, a tealblood clad in a librarian
uniform walked up to the four trolls.

"Aha! There you are! Leave! You must leave immediately for disrupting the peace in this library,"
he spat in a scratchy voice, as though he had just reached puberty that very day. "This building has
a professional reputation to withhold. If you four can't respect that, you'll have to go elsewhere."

"What about me?" Daraya's moirail inquired, making sure his sign was in view. "You can't make
me leave."

The young teal immediately tensed up. A sweat was visible on his forehead. "A Scories! I
apologize for the accusations. Please, you stay as long as you'd like."

Boldir frowned. Tealbloods, always giving in to the upperclasses. And highbloods, always flouting
their privileges.

The librarian turned to Boldir, Daraya, and Vikare with a glare. "The rest of you must go, or the
consequences will greatly outweigh the fun, I assure you."

Daraya's moirail piped up again confidently. "And she," he pointed to Daraya, "we're dating. She's
my moirail, so she gets to stay too."

The teal was visibly agitated by this. He glared holes into Daraya, who smirked triumphantly, and
agreed to the terms out of fear. "Then, if you would, please keep her in line. If you'll excuse me,"
he turned to Vikare and Boldir. "Out!"

Vikare tried to defend the two of them, stating that they had done nothing wrong, but the teal was
unable to decipher the bronzeblood's words. Boldir was met with a slammed door in her face as she
turned to the other troll.

"I have only known you for no more than fifteen minutes, and I've gotten you into unjust trouble."
She frowned. "My apologies."

She thought he'd be more upset, but he just shrugged it off. "Nilly as the crowbeast flies, as my
lusus always chirps~!"

"I'm not sure if one could call that 'nilly'," Boldir commented. "but I'd hate to argue with you and
all of your jargon."

Vikare laughed and adjusted his coat. "Looks like I won't be reading those books."

The oliveblood slouched. "My apologies for that as well." With a sigh, she added, "I'm not sure if
they have libraries with those kind of books where you must live. Spacecraft mechanics must be a
costly thing to study." Boldir cringed at the pity she was accidentally displaying.

"No harm! I didn't want to read them anyways."

She looked at him, wide-eyed, as though she had picked up a new clue to solving some case. "You
didn't? I thought you said-"

He put his hands on his hips. "-And you thought right!"

Boldir stared, questioningly. "What were you carrying those books around for, then?"

Vikare beamed. "You're going to love this," he chirped. "It's a secret!"

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