Aradia Megido/Jade Harley
The newly-created Alternia was a lonely place. Only twelve trolls existed. However, there were also six human companions. If everything went well with the new Mother Grub, the planet would be repopulated. For now, Aradia was free to explore the planet with her matesprit Jade.
The two were well-matched. Jade had the adventuring experience of her Alpha version. Aradia didn’t have as much experience, having only explored the Frog Temple before. However, Aradia knew about troll history and culture. Her psionics were also useful.
They were currently spelunking in a cave deep under an empty city. Though they hadn’t had much luck that week, they finally discovered something. Jade found a small hole in a wall and looked in. Inside was a room, a real room. Judging by the red tiles and pillars, it was troll-made. After she fetched Aradia, Aradia used her psionics to carefully dig in. They set up lanterns and used their flashlights to walk around.
The room turned out to not be just one room, but two, and each were the size of a gymnasium. One room had red tile on the floor, while the other had black. On the walls were chipped frescos that seemed to show troll figures. The pillars had serpentine carvings on them. Each room was centered around an empty pool with a grate in the middle. Though the decor and motifs were different, the building reminded her of the Roman baths.
When they met again in the red room, Aradia spoke first. “I know what this place is!”
“Me too!”
Aradia’s smile turned to confusion. “You do? I thought humans had didn’t have these.”
“What? We have baths.”
Aradia shook her head. “This isn’t a bath. These are mating chambers!”
“Mating chambers?”
Aradia started grinning again. “Yeah, back in the night, before buckets, troll couples would come together and release their genetic material here!”
Jade felt her face go red. “Trolls had big orgies?”
Aradia waved her hand. “Oh, don’t make it sound so sordid! It’s a healthy part of the troll lifecycle.”
“Well, trolls decided to stop doing it, so I think it’s not too normal.”
“We got too ashamed, too far away from each other. It’s like how we stopped having funeral rituals. We need to bring both back!”
“I think you can just bring one. Big slurry pits are gross!”
“Some people say taxidermy is gross.”
“Not if you do it right!”
“And mating chambers can be done right! You have to admit this is a beautiful building.”
“It was beautiful when I thought it was a bath,” Jade muttered.
“Look!” Aradia dusted a wall. “Erotic art!”
Jade looked closely at the frescos she now realized showed not simply trolls but naked trolls. She felt as overwhelmed as she did when Aradia first showed Jade her body. Jade had grown used to Aradia’s genitals, even quite fond of them, but it was another thing to see them plastered on the wall.
“This is more Equius’ stuff than mine,” Jade said.
Aradia scowled. “My kismesis has terrible taste in art.” She smiled again. “This is real art.”
“You like this?”
Aradia shrugged. “Well, it’s of historical importance.”
Jade sighed. “I guess we should start recording all this.”
Aradia grabbed Jade’s arm. “We should make love in here!”
“In this cold, dusty room?”
Aradia looked off to the side. “No, two people won’t cut it.”
“Thank gog.”
“Instead, we’ll bring everyone down here! That’s how we should repopulate our planet!”
“Your kismesis would go for that, but I don’t think anyone else would.”
“Karkat’s a romantic, he’ll come around.”
“And his matesprit would think it ironic...no! We are not going to have an orgy!”
“We’ll see about that,” Aradia replied firmly.
The two matesprits spent the afternoon carefully recording the two chambers. That night, as they cuddled, Jade wondered if having sex in the mating chamber would really be so bad. She doubted they could arrange an orgy.
However, Aradia did manage to organize an orgy. It was a disaster. But that’s another story.