MSPA fan-fiction

[Tenebrais]

Castlebound: Shadow of the Past

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Baroness Amelia of Rein was a busy woman. The affairs of the barony occupied most of her time, time she could not spend with her daughter. This left young Rose with little to do frequently. The manor was full of books on all manner of subjects, but these did not appeal her. She had taken up the craft of knitting - despite, or indeed because of, her mother’s protests that it was beneath her - but this could only occupy her for so long. She was always told it was dangerous to go into the town alone, and there was no fun to be had with a chaperone.
Instead, Rose had taken up a rather different craft. Under the house, in a room hidden behind the wine cellar, she’d set up what she called her atelier. Her favourite purpose for it was to spy on the townspeople, particularly her beau and his friends.
Dabbling in these arts was often bad for a person’s sanity. But addiction is a powerful thing.


Squires weren’t allowed their own horses. Dave had to borrow one belonging to the Order to accompany his brother and keep up with Big Cal. This was a standard enough practice. On this day, Sir Joseph had taken his brother out hunting. Ever since the incident with those two trolls and the dragon, the knight had been going to greater efforts to train his squire in the ways of the Order. While Dave was grateful for the experience, he felt as though he were being fattened up for the slaughter.
Big Cal came to an abrupt halt. Dave’s horse followed suit. Sir Joe pointed to some deer tracks.
“These ones are fresh. See how they’re still wet round the edges? Let’s follow ‘em and see where they lead.”
They followed the tracks through moorland and into a copse. The tracks were harder to find in here, but the knight had a keen hunting instinct that he assured his little brother would come naturally with time. Eventually, the deer was in their sights.
Silently, Sir Joe passed his bow to Dave. “Let’s see how good a shot you are,” he whispered.
Dave, somewhat nervous, drew it, arrow in place, trained on the grazing buck. While he was stronger than average, his strength wasn’t exactly trained. The arrow fell short by quite some distance.
His brother stifled a laugh. “Give it another shot.”
This time, Dave adjusted his angle higher, hoping to make a good arc. This time he overshot, and the arrow landed in the bushes behind. The rustling caught the deer’s attention.
“One more time! Be quick!”
Dave took aim once again, lower than before. He was quite sure he’d hit this time. But before he could release the arrow, the deer fled.
The horses were spurred into chase. The knight took his bow back, and, letting the horse do the chasing while he aimed, fired, and killed the beast in one shot.
“And that,” he said, “is how it’s done.”

“Hey,” Dave asked later. “How did our parents die?”
His brother looked at him. “Killed in the war. You know that.”
“Yeah, but, what was this war all about? Why did they get involved?”
The knight sighed. “Alright. Best sit tight, it’s a long story.”


As far back as anyone can remember, humans and trolls have never got along. Generally both races always kept to themselves, but the human and troll lands do have a border. Both peoples think it’s a little further into the others’ land than it really is.
People on the border have often been subject to trespass, thefts, vandalism and violence from those on the other side. Nobody really knows how it started, but tensions had been rising for years. The thefts got bigger, the vandalism worse, the fights more frequent. Before anyone knew it there were soldiers getting involved, and soon, armies.

A major cause of the tension was the shifting politics of the lands of the trolls. The ruthless Alternian empire, originally just a small county that nobody really noticed, had been uniting the disparate nations of the trolls by sword. Trolls looked at the humans’ freedom and peace with envy; humans looked at the trolls’ mercilessness with fear. When word of the border disputes reached the pointed ears of the Alternian emperor, he saw it as an excuse to put into action his designs on the fertile human land.
When human scouts and spies reported the mobilisation of the trolls to various human kings, an alliance was formed to repel the Alternian menace. Recruitment for a united human army began.
As a knight of the Order of Iron, Sir Constantine was given an immediate position as an officer on the field. He heeded the call of duty and departed for the front, leaving his wife and two sons, the younger of which, David, was newly-born. He promised his family that he would return victorious, to raise his boys well in the peace he would have fought hard to earn. He took the Rein regiment west, to the border kingdoms, to repel the invaders.

Four months passed without any news of the war. At last, a group of wounded soldiers, alive but crippled too badly to fight, rode into the town in search of the way home. The wife, Julia, recognised them as soldiers from Rein. She asked them the fate of her husband, to be told that he had died in battle. Julia refused to believe it. She left her sons with her brother, a blacksmith, until Joseph would be old enough to take care of himself and David. She then left west, to find her husband.

Julia never returned.

The war was costly in lives, but little was achieved. The trolls couldn’t break the human lines, and the humans couldn’t get through the trolls’. A series of battles claimed both lives and livelihoods, until the Alternians called for a truce. Both sides still keep garrisons at the borders now, but relative peace has since been maintained.
As the years passed, Joseph followed his father’s footsteps and joined the Order of Iron. Though he was young, he soon earned a reputation for his martial skill. David too hoped to become a knight, and became squire to his brother until the Order would accept him.


John took the western road out to Jade’s house. In hand, a hamper full of bread, meat, and vegetables. But mostly bread. He had two days off a week, and would spend at least one visiting his best friend. She didn’t go into the town much. Most people disliked her. Sometimes she simply had to, to sell her strange contraptions to earn enough money to live on. But often she could not get enough. Rather than let her go hungry, John brought her food with the money he earned, despite her protests.
As he turned onto the winding path up to her cottage, he was greeted by Archimedes, who took an immediate interest in the basket of food. He laughed, and petted the dog for good measure.
He didn’t even have to knock on the worn old door before Jade burst out and hugged him tightly.
“Hi John!” she squealed. “I haven’t seen you all week! How are you doing?”
“I’m fine! Dad’s keeping me busy. Dave too, actually. What about you?”
Jade’s stomach growled, as if to answer his question. She gave him a guilty look.
“I brought you some food,” he said, proffering the hamper. “It should last long enough if you’re careful.”
She looked sincerely grateful as she took the food and led John into the house. She put a kettle on the stove to make tea.
“Oh,” she said reproachfully as she looked in a tin, “I think I’m going to run out soon.”
“Why do you make tea every time I come round? Isn’t it really expensive?”
“It would be really rude to not make you tea! Besides, I don’t buy it. Grandpa usually brings it when he comes home.” She sighed. “I hope he comes home again soon.”
“How long has it been now?”
“Three years. It’s been a very long time.”
“Jade... what if he’s not going to come back at all?”
“Don’t say that!”
Her eyes were glazed with tears. He’d raised her for as young as she could remember, her mother having died in childbirth and her father having left her in his care and disappeared. Almost everything she did, she did to make him proud.
Harrison Harley was a famed explorer and cartographer. He had mapped out the entirety of the human lands, and a large portion of the trolls’, before Jade was born. He took a ten-year break to raise her, but once he decided she was old enough to look after herself, he started making small expeditions again. He always promised he’d come back and, after a few weeks or months, he always did.
The day after she turned thirteen, he left on another expedition. He hadn’t made his usual promise to return. She thought nothing of it at the time, but...
She shook such thoughts from her mind. Of course he’d come back. He was her grandpa! Even if he didn’t need to take care of her, he’d return. He had to. She hoped he’d be proud of the woman she’d become.

“He’s coming back. He will. Some day.”

Nothing really happens in this one, but it builds up the world quite a bit.

[Graven_Image]

Whew. It's done, with extra development of character.

HouseBand, Part 4

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>COORDINATE TEAM’S EFFORTS

You’re still Zoe. You, Jim, and Sam are currently TRYING NOT TO FLIP OUT over the fact that you are all GOING TO DIE in six minutes, barring some convoluted solution provided via this arcane machinery.

Charlie is still trying to divine the purpose of that WEIRD GREY THING Zoe gave him just now. Sharp as a tack, that one.

But still, you have a job to do. You and Jim make an attempt at MEANINGFUL CONVERSATION. It boils down to:

“So, what do we do now?”

“Let’s try to do what we did with the diamond suit.”

“Sounds about right.”

“I’m scared.”

“I am too but won’t admit it, so here’s my unmoving, sunglass-covered façade. Grrrr.”

The conversation takes about twenty seconds. You gain 2 points of CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.

>BE JIM

You are now Jim. You’re terrified as all get out, but you can’t FLIP OUT in front of the ladies. There will be time for that later.

>BREAK OPEN SPADE CAP WITH BASS

Ohhh, no no no. You saw what happened to Charlie’s guitar. You’re not trying it.

Besides, you have an AXEKIND SPECIBUS right here.

>EXAMINE SPECIBUS

Yeah, there’s the FIRE AXE you carry around. You wonder how you could have forgotten.

>USE AXE ON SPADE CAP

You take the traditional wood-splitting pose above the tube. You bring the fire axe into violent contact with the cover, neatly splitting it in twain. Another SPRITE pops out, but vanishes. Right behind it is another CRYSTAL CYLINDER, only jet black instead of grey.

>CAPTCHALOGUE CYLINDER AND CARD

You log both in your NUMERAL MODUS. The modus functions by adding up the letter values of each item’s name, then assigning each item to the slot that corresponds to its singles-place digit.

In light of recent events, you reflect that this was NOT THE BEST CHOICE. But you’re stuck with it.

The CYLINDER (90) occupies your 0 slot. The CARD (26) occupies your 6 slot.

Thankfully, the NUMERAL MODUS functions differently than the infamous HASH MODUS. Once an item is captchalogued, it can be retrieved at any time.

>INSERT SPADE CARD AND CARVE TOTEM

You do so. The BLACK CYLINDER seems to be more solid than the grey one was, emitting sparks as the LATHE bites down on it. You’re glad it looks so much manlier than Charlie’s. It adds another CHARISMA SLAB to your BARRICADE OF NON-EMOTION.

The BLACK TOTEM is ready, and the SPADE CARD disappears. You captchalogue the TOTEM (84).

>GO DOWNSTAIRS AND DO WHAT ZOE DID BUT FASTER

You slide down the banister in a suitably manly manner. Once downstairs and out of sight, you drop the BARRICADE and behave in a suitably panicked manner.

>BE SAM A FEW SECONDS AGO

You are now Sam. Jim is currently carving away at the LATHE, looking appropriately MANLY at the task. You and Zoe are currently debating what to do. Charlie is still valiantly trying to discern the purpose of the GREY ARTIFACT, in spite of the neighborhood’s impending doom.

>EXAMINE STRIFE SPECIBUS

You have KEYTARKIND and the amazingly versatile TOOLKIND. In TOOLKIND are a CROWBAR, a BATTERY-POWERED DRILL, and a SPADE.

You mostly use the CROWBAR and SPADE in combat. But hey. You never know, right?

>PRY OPEN REMAINING CAPS WITH CROWBAR

You pull off the CLUB CAP without difficulty. However, the HEART CAP seems to be stuck. The CLUB TUBE spits out a WHITE CYLINDER, but no SPRITE. I guess we’ll find that one later.

JIM runs out of the room and slides down the banister. Man, he is so cool.

>CAPTCHALOGUE CYLINDER AND CARD

You captchalogue the CYLINDER in your DECK MODUS. To retrieve it, you need to physically locate the CYLINDER’S CARD in your Fetch Deck.

The CLUB CARD isn’t around, for some reason.

“Zoe.... where’s the card?”

“Uhh, I think I have it.”

“I need to borrow it.”

“It’s stuck. I think I took one more thing than I should have into the Sylladex, and now it’s stuck...” She stammers a bit before you calm her down.

“Okay, never mind. Just try to get the last cap off. I’ll find something. How many spaces in is it?”

“Uhh... two.”

“Alright. I’ll be back in a second.”

>RUN TO CHARLIE’S SISTER’S ROOM AND SEARCH FOR ITEMS

You speed across the hall. You notice Jim is looking out the door, but you can’t worry about him right now. You enter CHARLIE’S SISTER’S ROOM. It’s really pink. And really clean. This might take a while.

>BE JIM A FEW SECONDS AGO

You are now Jim. The sudden urge to look out the door has overcome you, but you do it fast to save time.

The meteor has gotten even closer, cutting a swathe of crimson through the sapphire sky. The houses across the street have been abandoned. Actually, that’s a good idea. Why haven’t you gotten out of dodge yet? You close the door, returning to pick up the WEIRD BLACK THING the ALCHEMITER made.

>EXAMINE BLACK THING

It’s another quarter-sphere, like the one Charlie has. This one has a LONG RECTANGULAR PEG on one face and a SPIRAL-SHAPED PEG on the other.

>CAPTCHALOGUE THING

You captchalogue the THING (58) and run back upstairs. You hear a shattering noise, quickly followed by Charlie yelling. What’s going on?

>BE ZOE

You are now Zoe. The GUITARSPRITE and Charlie are still watching the GREY ARTIFACT, maybe waiting for it to do something.

>EXAMINE STRIFE SPECIBUS

You have MICROPHONEKIND, SPEAKERKIND, and SWORDKIND.

Don’t ask about the last one. Let’s just say that your Mom’s a bit of a traditionalist and leave it at that.

>USE SWORD TO PRY OPEN HEART CAP

You wedge your ANCESTRAL BLADE into the gap between the tube and cap. The lid pops off with a sound like a soda can being opened. No SPRITE appears from this one either.

A RED CYLINDER pops out of the tube. All QUADRUXTRUDER TUBES are now open and imprinted with their suit.

There are TWO MINUTES left on the timer.

>CAPTCHALOGUE HEART CARD AND RED CYLINDER

You grab the two objects. The GLASS DRAGONS fly out from your sylladex and impact noisily against the wall. Charlie recoils from the shower of glass, yelling.

“What was that!?”

“I’m sorry! I just... I need to do this, hold on!”

An ELEGANT SOLUTION presents itself to you as Jim and Sam enter the room. Jim’s holding something.

>EXECUTE ELEGANT SOLUTION

What, you can’t figure it out?

>WE DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS

Oh, fine.

You place the now-accessible CLUB CARD into the LATHE’S CARD SLOT. You insert the RED CYLINDER into the LATHE’S holder.

You quickly swap out the CLUB CARD for the HEART CARD.

There. Elegant enough for you?

>CARVE

You carve the RED TOTEM. The HEART CARD disappears. There are now NINETY SECONDS on the clock.

>INSERT CLUB CARD AND CAPTCHALOGUE TOTEM

Smart thinking. You probably saved Sam some time.

>GO DOWNSTAIRS AND ALCHEMITIZE

You run downstairs. As you pass Sam, you yell some panicked gibberish at her. You manage to squeeze out the word “carve” before you reach the stairwell.

>BE SAM

You are now Sam. Zoe just ran by you, yelling some nonsense. You found two more GLASS DRAGONS in CHARLIE'S SISTER'S ROOM to put in your FETCH DECK, but she seems to not need them.

You suppose she’s figured out her sylladex problem on her own. Good for her.

>CARVE

You rummage fitfully through the deck. Ace of Dragons, Two of Dragons, aha! The EIGHT OF DOWELS. Dowels? Is that the name for these things?

You put the DOWEL into the LATHE, noting that Zoe kindly put the CLUB CARD into the slot for you.

You CARVE LIKE THERE’S NO TOMORROW, because if you don’t get this done in time, there won’t be. You notice a strange glow.

>BE JIM BEFORE YOU WERE SAM

You are now Jim, a few seconds ago. Sam is rummaging through her fetch deck for something, and Zoe just ran downstairs. The only unoccupied person in the room is Charlie, and he seems a little lost.

>COMPARE ARTIFACT WITH CHARLIE’S

You bring out your BLACK ARTIFACT, holding it close to Charlie’s. You notice that, in this light, the GREY ARTIFACT shimmers with a variety of patterns. That must have been what kept him busy for all these minutes.

You notice that YOUR ARTIFACT has a LONG RECTANGULAR PEG that would fit perfectly into the GREY ARTIFACT’S LONG RECTANGULAR HOLE.

>FIT ARTIFACTS TOGETHER.

You and Charlie slide the BLACK ARTIFACT into the GREY. They glow a blinding white for a moment, then reform. The new ARTIFACT is a solid half-sphere, one half black, one half grey. You let Charlie captchalogue it, since calculating the position of the BLACKGREY HEMISPHERE would just take too long.

There are currently FORTY-FIVE SECONDS remaining on the timer.

>BE ZOE

You are now Zoe. You’ve set the ALCHEMITER in motion, and take a quick peek outside.

The meteor is almost right on top of you now, and seems to be gaining speed. The glow from the space rock’s heat has turned the surrounding sky a dull shade of indigo. You really hope Sam's finished carving by now.

You see as she rounds the staircase, she is! She’s carrying the WHITE TOTEM right now.

>TRADE ARTIFACT FOR TOTEM

You take the RED ARTIFACT and toss it at Sam. She catches it, and throws the TOTEM at you in return. You fumble. You get the TOTEM off the floor and place it into the ALCHEMITER.

The device works its painfully slow magic. A WHITE ARTIFACT appears, and you throw that one at Sam too. You chase her up the stairs, yelling incomprehensibly at her.

>BE SAM

You are once again Sam. You’re currently running up the stairs, in hot retreat from a gibbering, panicky mess that may once have been Zoe. You have the WHITE and RED ARTIFACTS in your hands and out of your sylladex, because there JUST ISN’T TIME FOR SYLLADEXES.

>EXAMINE ARTIFACTS

The RED ARTIFACT has a spiral-shaped hole and a triangular hole. The WHITE ARTIFACT has a circular hole and a triangular peg. Hmm...

>FIT ARTIFACTS TOGETHER

You create the REDWHITE HEMISPHERE just in time for you and Zoe to burst through Charlie’s bedroom door again.

There are TEN SECONDS left on the clock.

>[S] MERGE HEMISPHERES

The roar of the meteor begins to become audible again. It grows in volume with every passing second.

9...

You gesture furtively at your HEMISPHERE and Charlie’s, hoping he’ll get the message.

8...

He seems to get the message, and runs over with his HEMISPHERE.

7...

He almost trips over the QUADRUXTRUDER but corrects himself just in time.

6...

He takes your HEMISPHERE, accidentally captchalogueing it.

You yell at him.

5...

He uncaptchalogues the REDWHITE HEMISPHERE, only for it to fall out of his hand.

Zoe yells at him.

4...

He picks the HEMISPHERE back up, and tries to fit the two together. He has one upside down.

Jim yells at him.

3...

He finally connects the two, and they slide together. It doesn’t seem to do anything.

You all yell at him.

2...

The COMPLETED SPHERE floats into the air. The roar of the meteor is almost deafening.

1...

A bright white glow fills the room.

Next time on HouseBand:

YEARS IN THE FUTURE, BUT NOT MANY...


EDIT: Wow. Tenebrais and I finished our stories at the same time. Weird.

[kmsumrall]

You know what sucks? Making titles. My next piece of work is almost done, and will have a title, but honestly, a cookie to anyone who can think up a better title. Once it is posted. Two cookies and a free white out pen if you think up a good title before reading it.

Edit: oh great, now I don't have any excuse to not include the royal trolls.

[Red Pen]

Call it: "The Exotic Extrinsic Oxymoron Escapade"

[Zuki]

Okay, arguably this should probably go in a separate thread because it's not necessarily prose, but then I don't really have the hubris to do so.

Ever since I heard the words "Alternian Slam Poetry" I've been thinking about this. And when I saw what happened that crippled Tavros, I started writing this. It wasn't until today though that I found the gumption to finish it and just post it, regardless of what I think of the damn thing. The thing is, I used to primarily write poetry before I came here. So I guess this is also an homage to my older stuff.

Here's "The Steepest Hill," from the perspective of Tavros.

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Beneath a windmill and the night sky
I dressed in an outfit of felt and a feather
Of hopes and dreams and the yearning to fly
Was flung off of a cliff because I could not decide
Between certain death and the absolute end.

And it wasn't, but it was, and if it isn't then it might have been
Because you don't need legs to fly but you need something, someone
To carry your dreams and if no one will do it for you
You must take them up in a wheelbarrow
And take them into town like crops reaped for the season
To sell them to spiders in the dark.

And she may tell you that she loves you, that she hates you
That she can't conceive of a world without you in it
Because she's in it to win it and you can't begin to win without a loser
She wants you to choose her because you don't have any choice
She wants to take away your mind and make you say yes with your own voice
But you know and she knows that the hate isn't there and if there's love it doesn't care
Because nothing prospers upon these strands of spider web.

Your feelings ebb and flow, why should you know what to do
Or where to go, why is it up to you to forever brave this thing
That has you wanting to run for home
This terror eightfold that makes you want to reach out and grab and hold of
Whatever it is, whoever it is, that knows the truth of how you deal
That knows those hard nights with your hands upon the wheels
Burning against the rubber when your grip slips away from it
As you push yourself up a hill so steep that it's a miracle you even see daylight
Above the crest of the grass when sun finally rises on another day of, what,
The solitude of your own room and the comfort of colored text
From miles away from friends who are there for you but aren't here when you need them
And you wonder then if giving up is the right thing to do.

You would get no satisfaction out of it but it would steal that feeling from her lips
That grin might fade away, that same one that haunts you in the day
Long after you awake and long after you fall asleep
So maybe that hill isn't so steep but instead just steep enough
But.

But there are friends, and they say friendship is a disease
But they don't say it with conviction, and sometimes they say please
Before they ask you to do things that would have the beasts run from your side
But your friends feel pride, you can feel it in the current of their thoughts
And know that when they ought to help they are frought with worry
Even when your eyes are blurry and you don't have the shoulder you need
Because you're diseased, but that's not the affliction that they see.

But you're not "you" because I am this, this restricted thing that longs for sky
I don't care if I have to become a verb incarnate just to fly
I am going to escape these damn confines
And meet the clouds with my own eyes.

Orange I am going to record me reading this for you. That will be how I show thanks and appreciation.

[Orange]

Orange I am going to record me reading this for you. That will be how I show thanks and appreciation.

Whoa what. Really? : D I am glad you liked it! Kind of weird, since I was actually going to see if I could ask what you thought of it. Most of my writing lately has been for Clusterstuck which takes up a lot of time, so working on something that not only wasn't prose but wasn't part of the RP sort of made me worrisome about it's quality.

I look forward to that, however. c:

[reclusiveAmateur]

So I was trying to work on three other things, and found myself finishing another go at the music meme. O_o I seriously have no idea how the hell this happened or why it took up my undivided attention for a couple hours. Including: continued evidence of my weird music library and dark twist of mind! Actual troll fic wtf! (if i got their typing shit wrong i so do not care) The original version of 'Tunnel of Love'! WV fic wtf! A goddamn Inception crossover for reasons passing understanding! Yeah, I totally lost it in the second half wtf. Just. Here.

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1. Rosanne Cash, Seven-Year Ache

-

don't bother calling to say you're leaving alone
'cause there's a fool on every corner when you're trying to get home

-

The apartment's empty, which is what any self-respecting teenage boy wants. Especially this late at night. Living the fucking dream, man. A life this cool is just unreal, it doesn't even happen most of the time.

Except you know where he is. And you know what he's doing. Way better than you want to know at all.

And you're getting just a little sick of this bullshit, even if you know he never asked for a kid brother/son. You're getting a little sick of buying the food, doing the cooking, cleaning out the bathroom, calling the landlord.

John's pestering you-- his dad's torturing him with baked goods again-- and you shake your head, wondering how the hell he still doesn't realize, after all this time, just how goddamn lucky he is. He's always been the one who gets all the emotional bullshit. But this one thing, this one thing, he's totally blind about.

TG: you know what we still got those magical transporter things and shit
TG: how bout i come around
TG: take some of the heat off you
EB: would you?
EB: that'd be pretty sweet!
EB: i can't eat this much cake, I mean damn.
EB: maybe you can distract him!
EB: are you sure you don't have anything else you're doing?
TG: nah man im just chillin
TG: bring some of my gear along
TG: wont miss anything
EB: holy crap, dave, sometimes you are the best friend ever.
EB: i'll tell him you're coming, so don't back out, ok?
TG: sure man whatever
TG: see you in a few

(-)

2. Coldplay, Green Eyes

-

cause I came here with a load
and it seems so much lighter now I met you

-

He's an idiot, really.

He'll strap on rocket packs just because some chick who wants him dead said it would be a good idea. He'll trust trolls and carapaced aliens and you, for fuck's sake, which really just proves he's nuts in itself. You're a lot of things, but trustworthy isn't really one of them.

But he won't go away.

You tried, a couple times, to push him away. He was just so goddamn stupid, you thought. Always with his dumbass jokes and his girly talk about friendship...

But he was always there. Always. And talking to him... always made you feel better, somehow. And not just 'cause of your obvious superiority like usual. Either some of that dumbass optimism rubs off, or... shit, there just aren't many people like that, anymore. There aren't many people who can see the glass half-full even when it's a glass of piss and apple juice, and sometimes you need that pretty fucking badly.

Now is one of those times.

"Sweet!" he says, beaming at his new hammer. "Hell yes. So, let's go kick some ass, right guys?!"

"Shit," you say. "Sounds like a plan."

(-)

3. Dire Straits, Tunnel of Love

-

in a screaming ring of faces, i seen her standing in the light
she had a ticket to the races: just like me, she was a victim of the night

-

Dancefloor like a goddamn carnival and you're the one leading the show. Vest and everything, hands at your turntables, man you're a turntech godhead or some shit right here, though try getting your boss to believe that. Shit gig after shit gig, and you never know where you're gonna be one night to the next, but you always know where you are.

She steps out into one of the spotlight, sparkles from the disco ball flashing on her face: she's not beautiful, but she's cute, in a nerdy way, all long dark hair and round glasses and overbite. She looks up, and she smiles at you, and you don't know why, but you smile back.

You turn away for a few moments and then she's right in front of you. "Can you ditch this scene?" she says. "'Cause you gotta be better than this."

"Sure," you say, and finish out the song. The bartender starts yelling at you on your way out but he can't make a scene, and you weren't getting paid shit for this anyway.

"Come on," she says, and takes your hand. She leads you through the neon glare of whatever the fuck city this is, crappy holes that call themselves bars, crappy bars that call themselves cafes; you wind up drinking coffee with her at one of those annoying college hangouts, all folk-art music and wicker chairs, but you don't even mind; you can't imagine why the fuck you don't mind.

She talks to you like an old friend, and you could almost believe she actually is.

"Anyway," she says, "I just wanted to catch up with you."

She kisses you: "It's just barely allowed," she says. "Once in a while."

"You know, you make no goddamn sense?"

She giggles. "You've mentioned," she says, and pulls you back over. Everything looks bright tonight, it all looks clean and shining; everything fits, all of a sudden, like it never has before. There's always been something wrong with your life. Sometimes you've been able to ignore it. Never for long.

"Come with me," she whispers, and you do.

You wake up, all ready to sneak away quietly, but she's the one who's gone, and you don't know where the fuck you are, what the fuck you're doing. And yeah, that's like any other goddamn morning, but just for a night--

--it almost made sense, for a second there. Fuck alone knows why, but just for a second, just for a second--

You open your hand; there's a ring tucked inside.

You know, for ten goddamn years you've been searching for something. Maybe you'll have better luck now you finally fucking know what for.

(-)

4. Matchbox 20, Disease

-

no one's ever turned you over; no one's tried
to ever let you down...

-

Okay, yeah, you're broken and you're doomed, but you try not to think about that too hard. Why should you? Usually you can forget about it completely, because there's so much else to think about-- there's your friends, and FLARPing, and musicals (wait what you didn't say that)-- there's good things to think about.

"You're not even ca8a8le of h8," she says, and she's right, really. You've tried, but you're just-- really not good at it, at all, and it comes so easily to everyone else. You don't understand what's wrong with you.

She pushed you down, she broke you, she fucks with your head every time she can; if you can hate anyone, it ought to be her, right?

But-- you can't. You just keep thinking about that lusus of hers, and how lonely this place is, and mainly you're just really fucking confused. Is confusion an emotion? If confusion were an emotion you'd be the best-adjusted troll ever.

You're okay at liking things. You like your friends, you like your lusus, you like a lot of things. You think you even love some of them. You've got pity fucking down.

But hate...

"i"M sORRY," you whisper, hands over your head. "i dIDN"T mEAN tO lET yOU dOWN."

It's your fault; you're broken and you're doomed. So she screams, and yells, and punches things, and you close your eyes, and dream of a world where it's okay not to hate anybody, not anyone at all.

(-)

5. Goo Goo Dolls, Broadway

-

a little bit weaker than you used to be

-

You think you see him at the end of the bar.

You think that often, actually; but after a second glance, and a third, you think you may actually be right this time. His hair's a little longer than it used to be; his sunglasses haven't changed. He's wearing a t-shirt and a suit-vest and you wonder what he's been doing with his life, these days.

You majored in Psychology and you're halfway through an MBA. They tried to make you forget, but they underestimated you. You have friends in low places, and a tricky, tricky mind.

You wonder if he's forgotten, too. You don't think he's capable of it-- but then again, he has a history of surpassing your every expectation.

He might have forgotten it; you don't enjoy the memory, yourself. Ended worlds and ended lives and what would you have to say to him if he's forgotten, if he remembers? Hello. I see we're both still alive, defying all logic or expectation. I see we're both still alone. I see I'm still half in love with you... and I see neither of us have any sort of future.

He was a Knight; he might have the strength to defy the very order of things, tilt at all the celestial windmills 'till they come crashing down, brick by brick.

You pay your tab and walk away.

You're not strong enough to play that game again.

(-)


6. Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku

-

darkness over Sodom,
darkness ever glowing;
darkness over yonder,
darkness neverending--

-

"It's time," whispers Jade, and you look up. There's a checkerboard-patterned stairway leading up into the sky. There's a blue-and-white star overhead; and there's a multi-limbed dark figure standing on the platform below it, staring down at you. Jack Noir. Spades Slick. You've heard him called an awful lot of names, some you're pretty sure a thirteen-year-old shouldn't hear, but you're best friends with Dave Strider, so that doesn't really matter too much.

Dave Strider. You look over, one more time, just to see if he's okay; his eyes are still hidden, and the cut on his cheek's still bleeding, and his mouth's pressed into a thin, pale line; there's just a hint of orange-creamsicle glow around him, and you wonder if you're ever going to get up the nerve to ask exactly what the hell happened back there. It was different than what happened with everyone else's sprite, you're sure of it, even if you're all glowing just a little... Maybe you'll ask when you're older, or maybe you'll want to forget all this the second you can.

Your eyes drift past him to Rose, who nods, just once, catching your eye; she's pretty good at reading people, especially the four of you, and you trust her when she says he's good to go. There's something cold in her eyes, something just a little bit wild in the way she holds tight to the needles in her hands; but she is Rose, and she can handle anything. You have seen her tame weird tentacled beasts from beyond the mouth of hell and rise above it unscathed; you trust her to the end of the world, which is good, because that's kind of where you are.

You look back over at Jade, too, still with a flash of guilt; you're not sure if you'll ever forget that she died for you, even if it was in a dream. You still remember her dead body in your arms-- but you try really hard not to think about that. She says she's okay, and there's nothing dark in her smile at all, so you've got to believe her-- it's not like you all haven't died, once or twice. It's not like you might not all be about to die again.

But really, you can't believe it. With Jade, who knows everything? With Rose, who sees all? With Dave, who rewinds time like a broken record? As long as they're not all busy trying to save you from doing something stupid, you really can't see how you could fail!

"All right," you say, tightening your grip on the handles of your jetpack; as if they were waiting for you, Rose starts to glow with pink-and-purple fire, Dave's skateboard thing appears in a flash, and Jade hops sidesaddle over her robot broom with a giggle. "Let's win this thing."

As one, you ascend.

(-)

7. Yoko Kanno, See You Space Cowboy

-

Crossing over inside your heart, a voice speaks
"You can erase even unchangeable things"
Praying before the truth in the morning
Love will once again return to this place

-

"It was inevitable," your mother said. "We couldn't fight against it. It had already happened."

And you do understand where she was coming from. It must have seemed inevitable. From their perspective, it was; they had children to think about, after all, and it takes a certain kind of coldness to throw babies into the fire. Not when you're not even sure what's going on, what game is being played, or how to win.

However, you have no children to consider. None who are alive. And you know exactly what you need to do.

John's keeping watch, at the head of the line; you see him tense, and you nod at the row of children behind you, of more species than you've bothered to count. Kanaya is right behind you, as always, with Sollux and Nepeta and Karkat and those other two whose names you have never bothered remembering. Three from each side, naturally. How odd that it always ended so evenly.

You all finished your sessions, in the end; you even won, though some of you took a more roundabout path to get there than others. Even past that first shallow "victory", most of you even managed to get home.

But none of you escaped with your team of friends and relatives intact. And you know for sure there are planets that were never saved at all.

Sburb carried on, in its myriad incarnations. It would always carry on; it was a universal constant.

Somehow, someone expected you all to simply forget that you'd each been flouting universal constants for years. Even without the backing of the game's power-- even without the paradox protecting you-- you've all had time to regain the power you've lost, and more.

Your parents were unwilling to throw you to the fire. You're old enough now to go yourselves.

"It won't bring them back," Kanaya whispers. You know that; you've made it very clear to all involved.

But you say it again, anyway, one more time; "But it will never happen again."

She nods; everyone who hears you does. They've been shaped and changed and violated down to their very DNA; they've been fucked around with in every way imaginable, for the sake of utterly inadequate agendas that no one ever bothered to explain. Their friends are dead; and it is time that there was a reckoning.

"Do you think we'll live through this?" John whispers.

You shrug; it doesn't matter to you, not at all. Not after losing Dave, and Jade, and Jaspers twice over. Not like that.

"I know," he says, "but if we do-- are you going to be okay?"

A little empty, a little aimless; but you'll have time to cope with that if it happens. "Yes," you answer.

"...Okay," John says, and takes a deep breath. "Let's go."

The signal drops; power hisses through the air 'till it's tangible as water; and as one, you throw yourselves, screaming, at the walls of SBurb's metaphysical castle.

An irresitible force against an immovable object; and if you live to see nothing else, you will live to see this destroyed.

For the sake of everyone who won't.

(-)

8. Leonard Cohen, Democracy

-

But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags that time cannot decay;
I'm junk, but I'm still holding up this little wild bouquet--

-

It's been years since he's seen another living soul. Serenity was enough of a novelty; to see another pawn, alive, in the flesh-- well. He'd lost hope of ever seeing such a sight again, outside of dreams.

And here they are-- three of them, by some miracle, alive and well and not killing each other, despite being black and white. Okay, yes, there'd been a moment there when he was scared, but now they were around a campfire, eating and talking like civilized beings, and maybe they've got a chance, he thinks, his heart singing; maybe they can defy years of arcane history and meaningless destinies. Maybe they can make it right this time, just the three of them. Maybe they can rebuild the world, and do it right this time-- maybe democracy has found its time and place. He doesn't even have to lead. Serenity can lead. PM can lead, even that psychopath AR-- it'd be democracy, they'd all have a voice.

Then the world shakes, and for a second he can't see anything, his mind thown back to a checkerboard battlefield, black and white and blue and blood--

--and he blinks, and swallows, and blinks, and it's gone again, except it isn't, because there's another person here, an embarassment of riches, and she looks an awful lot like a queen.

She's got a crown-- and she's giving it to the Peregrine Mendicant. It's starting again, he knows it, and-- he will not be any party to it starting again, but--

It hasn't been long, but he's grown to trust her. He trusts her, and he can't be alone again, and the instincts are so strong.

Don't let it happen again, he thinks, unwrapping the tape that covers the ring he kept for reasons he never could explain. Maybe it was destiny; maybe he was doomed to play a part in this cycle all along. Don't let it happen again.

He takes out the ring, and all eyes are upon him; he takes a breath, and speaks, truly speaks, for the first time in what feels like forever.

"Don't let it happen again," he says, his voice coming out long-broken and rough; and yet strong, despite all that. If it is an endless cycle-- then there will always be another chance. And if he's screwing it up-- maybe someone else won't.

And maybe this will be the last act of democracy in their tiny new world; but each and every one of them nod their grim agreement.

Never again.

(-)

9. The Killers, When You Were Young

-

you sit there in your heartache, waiting on some beautiful boy to
save you from your old ways--

-

"iT"S kIND oF nEAT, aCTUALLY," he says.

You groan. "Oh Jesus Fuck, what the hell a8out living on this godfors8ken meteor is 'neat'?!"

"hUMANS," he says. "i lIKE tHEM, i gUESS,"

"You should've 8een one, you stupid asshole," you mutter. "You're a useless fucking troll, you would've 8een dead the second the--"

And suddenly, it occurs to you.

"i kNOW," he says. "i'M a sHITTY tROLL, eVEN tHE hUMANS kNOW iT,"

"You're not even ca8able of h8," you whisper, remembering.

"aND iT rEALLY iSN'T jUST mE! gAMZEE'S sO nICE, wHAT wOULD hE hAVE dONE? aND nEPETA? nOW nONE oF uS hAVE tO dIE."

"Plus, there's a whole planet of you freaks."

"eXACTLY,"

"...I'm sorry," you say, even though it burns like bile and fire coming out. "I kept trying to turn you into things you couldn't 8e."

"wELL, yOU kIND oF hAD tO hAVE sOMEONE tO hATE, dIDN'T yOU?" He shrugs. "iT'S oKAY,"

"Jesus, you are the worst troll ever," you mutter.

You've tried to love him, and you've tried to hate him, but those were equally stupid things to do.

Your lusus is gone, the whole of your society is gone, but-- maybe that means you can just let him be.

"That might 8e a compliment," you say.

"...tHANKS?"

(-)

10. The Killers, Read My Mind

-

The teenage queen, the loaded gun,
The drop-dead dream, the chosen one;
A southern drawl and a world unseen,
A city wall and a trampoline--

-

"So..." said John Egbert, only squirming a little on the barstool. "What do you mean, a job?"

"Heh, ain't no better way to get a college student's attention these days, huh." The man in shades smiled, sipping at a glass of-- something; John was bad at alcohol in just about every way imaginable, and he hadn't heard the guy make his order. "'Specially in architecture. The fuck were you thinking, anyway?"

"And computer science," John muttered, defensively. "It's just a minor, and I'm not even good at it--"

"Yeah, but for this job, that's kind of an asset."

John blinked. "How the hell can that be?"

"In this job, you're supposed to make shit that can't really exist."

"...Look... what?"

"We want you to be an architect," said the guy in shades. "A dream Architect."

"Wait-- wait, what?!" John jumped backward, clambering off the stool. "You mean, like, like Extraction?! That's not even legal!!"

"Technically, it is," said the guy in shades, "but no, not like Extraction at all."

John blinked. "Okay, I am totally lost here..."

"Have you ever wondered where the technology for shared dreaming came from in the first place? It was kind of out of fucking nowhere, yeah?"

"I..." John frowned. "Yeah, I guess... Why?"

"Truth is, it was stolen," said the guy. "It was stolen from someone's archive, when she was looking the other way. It's too late to take it back, but now she wants to try and make the best of it. Get defenses up against it... find ways around it. It's still a specialized field. There's ways to put at least a couple limits on it. Now, before anyone figures out the real rules."

"...That... I guess that'd be okay..." John frowned. "But why me?"

"We think you'd be good at it," said the guy. "Once you got the knack. For instance, learning how to tell you're in a dream, that's gonna be step one."

"How do you know you're in a dream?" said John, suddenly suspicious.

"They all start in the middle, right?" The guy started to smirk. "So tell me, Egbert-- how the fuck did we get here?"

"I..." John swallowed. "Oh, you son of a bitch!"

"Can't argue that one," he murmured, taking a longer pull of his drink. "But you suspected, didn't you?"

John ignored that, glaring around. "Well, how the hell do we wake up?!"

"You've got a choice," said the guy. "Either you can get yourself killed, or you can wait twenty-three seconds."

"Twenty-three seconds?" John blinked. "What happens then?"

"I'm Dave Strider, by the way," the guy said, extending a hand.

John stared at him, then shook it. "Seriously--"

She said I don't mind if you don't mind, cause I don't shine if you don't shine, put your back on me--

John jumped, looking around for the source of the music-- he had just a moment to see Dave's grin grow wider before the world jolted--

--and he was gripping the arms of a shitty lawn chair, staring at an industrially-tiled ceiling.

"Oh, you asshole," he snapped, fumbling for the needle in his arm.

"Careful, those can be a bitch." Strider grabbed his arm before John could pull out the needle, easily slipping it out and smoothing the tape over.

"I don't know what the hell you think you're doing--"

"Offering you a job," said a woman's voice, amused.

John whirled around; there was a blond girl standing at the counter, test-tube in hand. "Rose Lalonde," she said. "Multitalented. Sole handler of pharmaceutical enhancements."

"But--" John floundered. "Why me, anyway?!"

"Because I'm good at people," said another woman, behind him, and John turned around again, feeling utterly lost.

A dark-haired girl about his age grinned, adjusting round glasses. "I'm Jade Harley," she said. "This is my team. And I think you'll be great at it!"

"I..." John put a hand to his temple. "Holy crap."

"You can sleep on it, if you want," Jade offered. "Here's my card; you'll know where to find us."

"Look, I--"

"Just think about it?" She kept holding out the card, eyes wide and bright.

"...Okay," John said, and took it. "But I'll probably say no! This really shouldn't be legal."

"We're working on that!" Jade beamed. "And we really need your help. So whenever you decide, give us a call, okay?"

"...Right," John said. "Right. I'll, I'll just be--"

John beat a hasty retreat, ignoring the fact that he didn't actually know where he was, and especially ignoring the little voice in his head that said his decision was already made.

-

"So, what did you think?" said Rose.

Dave shrugged. "I saw Karkat running around in there; it's not buried deep. Plus, it's John. He'll remember quick enough."

"Yes!" Jade clapped her hands, giggling. "Then it'll be the four of us, again. That's how it was meant to be, you know. I think we could change the fate of universes, I really do."

Dave and Rose caught each others' eye as they turned away, shaking their heads, almost in unison. Despite their shared derision-- they weren't too far gone to realize that they both believed it too.

"The stars are blazing like rebel diamonds cut out of the sun..." Jade hummed, tidying up the equipment. "Can you read my mind...?"

(-)

[kmsumrall]

This is a different style from my earlier works. For one, it's not sad (i think) or frightening (i hope).

Title: The The Alternian and the Troll
(Title is subject to change if someone comes up with a better one.)

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The sky was an azure blue with hints of red and yellow framing the far horizon, punctured by grayish white clouds that floated lazily across the canvas that was the atmosphere. No threat of rain on this day, as the clouds weren't that sort of gray but the other sort of gray, and the bright sun wasn’t heating the land too much, merely providing the light needed for pleasantries. No, right now it was sunny and breezy and warm and perfect for strolling or sports or even just laying around in the periwinkle letting bad thoughts float away like pollen from plants trying to spread their kin.

But this wasn’t the type of place to have random glades of flowers or grassy knolls or even trees that weren’t situated by streets and Hawaiian restaurants. Just below the white fluffy clouds were the brown-black tops of tall building jutting into the sky like ancient obelisks of ancient worship, although most of those building were not anywhere close to being called ancient or even old. Old building had bricks and mortar as the sides whereas these towers were covered in mirror-like windows that reflected back the blue sky and its clouds like they could own the very beauty of nature itself. The great hubris of modern society was only a joke to the wonder that was everyday life.

People flowed in and out of these monuments to the great dollar bill like ants running to take small pieces of bread back to the mother hive only to rush right out again to do the same. But these were the not anthills or bread but high-class buildings for high-class people who had never so much as thought of bugs in their surrounding area or insects of any kind. No, where we are going is not as high-class, more run down, a little older, a little more personality and the life and energy that could only come from a people with an old, rich, long heritage.

While the streets of the self proclaimed higher class people were said to be of paved with gold these streets where lucky to be paved with cobbles or bricks. These streets carried cars no longer made, cars that new mechanics just could not figure out. Something about those tubes and fluids and sharp metal corners just confused modern degree of car repair and the convoluted tools that went with it. They could not understand that sometimes a wrench and a little oil was all that was needed to make an engine purr.

The selfsame people that could repair their own cars without having to pay someone else to do it would work in small shops or push around little carts, selling fruits and knickknacks and curios, whatever those were. Regardless, they sold those all the same and bought them all the same and haggled with tomatoes and beef and whatever items they had laying around. The hustle and bustle filled the air with a joyful cacophony that might drive some insane but was a constant comfort to others.

Another sound could be heard under the chatter and cars backfiring if someone were to listen closely in the right place. It was a light precise sound, a tap tap tap tap. It was careful and measured, like a metronome, a slow playing drummer keeping a steady beat or a bad violin player. This sound was coming from a cane tapping from left to right to right to left over and over and over again. The red tipped cane was held by a gray toned hand which was in turn attached to a grey toned arm that resided in a black sleeve. The owner of all four also owned a pair of red tinted shades that currently rested on the bridge of her nose. She would tell people she liked the shade. It made her laugh. Lots of things made her laugh.

On this sunny day with only a few clouds the tap tap tapping was heading down the edge of the more rundown part of town with no real destination in mind. The young lady liked to follow odd smell and sounds that caught her attention, whether it be carnations in a meat packing plant or the sound whistling at a trauma ward. This day, however, she was not following the sound of doves or the smell of pigs but walking for the mere enjoyment of getting from one place to another.

Tap tap tap clang tap clang tap clang tap. Oh, it was the train tacks again, providing a new sound that rang pleasantly in the air. It wasn’t uncommon to end up near one of the sets of rails, as they run thought many parts of the city where rent was low and jobs were few. Hmm... the smells around here were rank and coaly. Must be coal. Which would in turn mean that once again she was at the train yard.

The young girl sighed and sat down. She had told herself she wasn’t going to go to this place again, but there you go. Sometimes the mind and the body didn’t match up and one of them was going to be really surprised at the results. This time, however, it wasn’t so much a surprise as it was a dull suspicion. Sitting on the tracks wasn’t as dangerous as one might first think, at least not to this young lady, as the sound of the trains would alert her to oncoming danger long before that danger became immediate danger.

Speaking, or perhaps thinking, of sounds, an unusual one could faintly be heard in the air. It was shouting and breaking and metal deflecting off of metal in the most discordant of ways. Well, that wasn’t actually too uncommon in a open train yard where youths congregated in a drunk and disorderly manner with not too much fear of repercussion if something was broken or damaged. But this yelling was different from the intoxicated yelling that came with running headlong into a defunct train car because you assumed there was actually a path between two of them. No, there was another sound on the wind, one far more distressing. Something sounded like an animal of sorts, perhaps a cat, or... perhaps someone trying very hard to sound like a cat.

The young lady got up and started quickly toward the ruckus at perhaps a pace slightly to quick for one who used a cane to see. The shouting was getting louder through distance being covered and their own antics. Yes, there was... four of them, young boys by the sound of it, trying to give commands to an unwilling participant. The fifth was the one being commanded and it was a she and she was crying. This would not do.

“Hey!” shouted the young lady, stepping out from behind a piece of sheet metal. “I think you should stop and then go.”

Everyone did indeed stop to size up this intruder, but clearly had no intention of going. One of the boys, bigger than the others, stepped over and said, “Whatsit to ya, troll?” he spat out the last word in obvious contempt.

The young girl smiled. “Oh, not much. See, I heard about this thing boys do in a circle, and I wanted to see what the fuss was about. Seems much to do about something so small.”

The boy sneered. “And how could you do, troll? Gonna use some mind trick? Gonna be all spooky and fly around? You’re blind as a bat, troll!” He started laughing and the other boys joined in.

Tap tapping, the blind girl stepped to the one being picked on. “ Are you ok?” she said with concern.

The boys pulled her back with much force. “This ain't none of your business, troll. But since you’re here, why not dance for us? I hear trolls like to dance.” He raised a fist. “Or maybe we can just teach you a lesson for messing in our stuff.”

“You wouldn’t hit a lady with glasses on, would you?”

“Hit a lady with glasses on!” mocked the boy in a high falsetto. “You ain’t no lady, you a troll.” He took off her shades and gasped.

It was hard to say what the boys expected to see under the red lenses. Closed eyes was a option, maybe the yellow hue know to trolls. Perhaps even pure white as some blind people had, or all black as was rumored by those who saw trolls as the devil’s work.

If one thing can be said about what the boys expected is that they did not expect to see big gaping holes.

The girl laughed and advanced. “Ooo! Now that you know the truth I will have to claim your eyes as my own! I see eight fresh morsels ripe for the taking! I am hungry!”

One of the boys, the larger one, stood his ground, at at least stood it not as shakily as the others. “Come on, mates! T-This is just one little troll! It can’t scare us! She’s blind, right?”

“Hehehe! We trolls have maaagic poweeersss! I’m blind but I can see all! You!” she said pointing, “Are overweight and have several missing teeth. And you over there, you used too much hair gel! Hehehe, it looks like a ducks bottom! You in the back are wearing special shoes because one leg is longer than that other! Hehehehehehe!” She got right in the face of the biggest of the bunch. “You just peed your pants.”

“Boo!”

With that the nerves finally broke and they ran away as quick as they could, leaving behind much of their dignity. The young lady cackled as they fled. Then she looked toward the one being bullied.

“Are you ok? They hurt you?”

“Ummm... meow?”

“You stop that right now, alright? My name is Terezi, what’s yours?” The young lady who apparently used the handle of Terezi helped up the other girl. She gave her a tissue to wipe her face. “Are you wearing fur?”

“Um, um, I had to put on a cat suit...”

“Jerks. Do you have anything else you can wear?”

“I’m, um... wearing my clothes underneath...”

Terezi smiled. “Ok, good, take off that cat stuff then. Don’t worry, I won’t look. Hehehehe.”

“Um, my name is Nepeta. Here are your glasses.”

Terezi gave thanks and put them back on. “Do you live around here?”

Nepeta didn’t answer. She was stating intently at her savior, trying to organize her thoughts. She was unused to people helping her, but moreso she had never seen anyone like Terezi before. Cautiously, Nepeta reached out and grabbed the blind girl’s horn and pulled. When it didn’t come off, she gasped.

“You-You’re like me!”

“Um, ok? I guess your Alternian too. But you shouldn’t just grab someone’s horn, that's just rude.”

“Sorry! I’m sorry! I just-just-well I’ve never-”

Terezi grinned and the stuttering girl and put a finger on Nepeta’s lips. “Don’t worry about it. Lemme guess war orphan? No place to live? Stealing food from dumpsters? Humans always on your case?”

“Um, um-”

“It’s alright! I was the same until Mother and Aunt Nancy took me in. Come on, we Alternians gotta stick together, right?” Terezi held out her hand.

Nepeta started to reach out, but then drew back. “Is... Is it really alright?”

“Come on, Nepeta. I’ll make it alright, ok? Let’s go home.”

The word home sparked a feeling inside that Nepeta hadn’t felt in a long time or even at all. She took Terezi’s hand, and the two of them crossed the tracks, down the streets, past the building under the mostly clear blue sky, tap tap tapping all the way.

The opening line may or may not have been influenced by neuromancer.

Edit: You know what? I like this world. Time to write a (part 2)

[PaulPower]

reclusiveAmateur: Those are really nice! I found it cool how I could guess which person was "you" each time pretty easily, so you did a good job of capturing their perspectives.

This bit spoilered out now because it's old:

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Anyway, I guess this is Light Part 2 (if Light is Light Part 1 and Knocked the Stuffing Out of Him is Light Part 0). John talks to Jade and Dave about Rose's decision to break the game, and it even ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, although whether I'll bother to resolve it or not I dunno.

I'll probably combine all three into one big fic when I get round to registering on AO3.

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EB: jade, have you read rose's walkthrough lately?
GG: no i think the last time i looked was when i was setting dave up...
GG: why??
EB: well just check it out again
EB: section zzzz

GG: .... oh...
EB: yeah.
GG: i feel bad for her....
GG: she was really trying to play this properly, and i messed it all up!!!
EB: yeah, even dropping my dad's car off a cliff was more down to her sucky internet connection than anything she did wrong.
GG: what are you going to do??
EB: well to be honest i already made my mind up while i was talking to her just now.
EB: i want to help her with this.
GG: really???
EB: yeah.
EB: i don't think we're going to talk her out of it.
EB: and i'd rather be there to keep an eye on her than have her going off on her own.
GG: yeah i see what you mean....
GG: we need to stick together!
EB: plus this session's already pretty broken, so what's a few more cracks?
GG: hehe yeah
GG: and i kinda feel like ive been betrayed by the game anyway....
GG: so ok i think ill help out too!!
EB: i was hoping youd say that :)
EB: i think i'd better talk to dave now, can't leave him out of the loop!

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EB: hey dave, how are the crocodiles?
TG: well theyre
TG: wait how do you know about them
TG: did GC tell you
TG: or did jade see it while she was dreaming or something
EB: actually, no, this one was all me!
TG: oh i get it your dreamself finally woke up
TG: well i say finally
TG: i only woke up because rose yarn bonked me
TG: and she only woke up because of future dreamself shenanigans
EB: wait... "yarn bonked"?
TG: she threw a ball of wool at me
TG: wash your mind out with soap at once young man
EB: um... ok.
TG: but yeah if all this had played out normally maybe youd have woken up before either of us
TG: although maybe not before me i still dont get this whole deal with my dreamself already being awake but not knowing it
TG: you might have woken up before rose though
TG: according to future me it took her forever
TG: but yeah i bet jades so proud of you or something
EB: ... yeah, she is.
EB: although i never got to meet her in-dream-person...
TG: dude are you kidding me shes like asleep half the time how did you miss her
EB: by her being dead, mostly.
TG: wait
TG: jades dead?
TG: shit egbert what did you do this time
TG: i guess id better get my timetables
EB: no, no, jade's ok!
EB: i even got her into the medium, although not without a certain amount of shenanigans.
TG: ok
EB: it's dream jade.
EB: she kind of got squashed when prospit's moon slammed into skaia.
EB: she died pushing my still-sleeping dreamself out of the way of it :'(
EB: i think the impact was what woke me.
TG: ouch
TG: you know you could probably stop that
TG: if you go to sleep and i travel back in time your dreamself should wake earlier like roses did
TG: and then you can both get out of the way
EB: yeah but i think it'd be a bad idea.
EB: real me kind of needed to be awake at that point because i was creating a bunch of paradox babies and sending them off on meteors so that we could all get born.
TG: you come out with the weirdest shit sometimes
TG: speaking of which what was prospits moon doing hitting skaia anyway
EB: well i'm not entirely sure.
EB: but i think its the fault of this guy called jack noir.
EB: it's a long story, but basically he's overthrown the black king and queen and has decided to start the endgame early.
EB: which consists of chucking meteors at skaia while we get 24 hours to stop him.
TG: 24 hours
TG: geez future me spent like four months in that other timeline and he still didnt get done with the game
TG: and hes me and im awesome so that was probably like record time
TG: so whatre we going to get done in 24 hours
EB: well, thats a vey good question.
EB: see at this point i need you to read a bit of rose's walkthrough.
EB: section zzzz.
TG: man do i have to
TG: reading that thing MAKES me zzzz
EB: it's important.
TG: ok ok get off my back jesus

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TG: huh
EB: yeah.
TG: yeah she did act pretty psycho after you left
TG: nice timing by the way genius
TG: she was looking forward to meeting you
EB: i know, i know, i'm going to make it up to her, i've got a plan.
TG: this is new
TG: so whats the plan
EB: we join her.
TG: hmm
TG: you really think its a good idea?
EB: i don't think there are any good ideas right now, dave.
EB: this is the least bad idea.
EB: i'd rather we all work together on breaking this thing than have rose go off on her own and we don't know if she's going to be ok or not.
EB: i've already got jade to agree, we just need you.
TG: this is just great
TG: first you three badger and pester me into playing this game when i dont want to
TG: and then once im getting the hang of it and starting to enjoy myself a bit you all change your minds and want to break the fucker
TG: first class irony right there
TG: bro would be so proud
TG: handing out rosettes for best in show
TG: first place goes to john egbert rose lalonde and jade harley for their outstanding efforts in trolling dave strider
EB: hey, you're still alive, that's better than most people!
TG: i guess
TG: ok i think youve got a point
TG: if shit just got real with this jack noir business then we may as well hack this game to pieces
EB: thanks dave, you're the best.
TG: wait hold on a sec
TG: this jack noir
TG: is he black with wings and tentacles and a weird spiky growth on his head?
EB: yeah, he threatened me while i was dreaming but jade's present scared him off!
TG: oh hey cool you got it then
TG: but thats not the point
TG: i think i see him flying around up in the sky
EB: oh nooooooo.
TG: oh yeeeaaah
TG: looks like id better get a move on
TG: GC gave me a map to gate 2 as well so i guess id better head off there asap
TG: turns out shes not actually that bad although shes still kinda annoying with her whole D4V3 1S TH1S YOU thing
TG: its weird i think she genuinely wants to make up for killing you
TG: maybe in a crazy branching timeline sort of way you were right to trust her
TG: but yeah later dude
EB: good luck, dave.

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EB: rose?
TT: Yes John?
EB: i've got good news and i've got bad news.
EB: the good news is that i got jade and dave to agree to this whole game-breaking venture!
TT: ... Thanks.
TT: I still don't know whether it's for the best to involve you three in this, but... thanks.
TT: And nice work.
EB: aww, that's ok.
TT: So what's the bad news?
EB: dave said he spotted jack noir flying around on his planet.
EB: somehow i don't think this counts as good news.
TT: No, it doesn't sound like it.
TT: The last thing we need is the Knight of Time getting taken out.
TT: Is there anything I can do?
EB: i don't know.
EB: i guess you could find your gate 2 and join him.
EB: but he says he's going to get to his gate 2 as quick as he can so you'd probably just miss each other!
TT: That seems to be happening a lot to me lately.
EB: yeah, i know, and those big hugs are still on the agenda but first we've got to make sure dave's safe.
EB: i'd better build jade's house up so he doesn't take a fall or something when he goes through it.
TT: Ok.
TT: Perhaps in the meantime I should experiment more with the game's boundaries.
EB: sure i guess, but keep in touch!
TT: Will do.

e: actually yeah, there's a lot of continuity issues but I think I can work them out for the long piece. I've even thought of a nice little twist for the end because of them! (not featured here)

e2: okay, I've put together the entire thing, complete with continuity edits and twist ending:

Light - Full Spectrum Edition

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EB: jade?
GG: yes john???
EB: i'm looking at your foyer right now
EB: in particular the stuffed body of a man named "grandpa harley".
EB: so, uh.
EB: how come you never told me your grandpa died?
GG: oh....
GG: well.....
GG: i didnt want to worry you!!
EB: you didn't want to worry me.
EB: did you told rose or dave?
GG: umm... no ._.
EB: i guess you didn't want to worry them either.
EB: how long has it been?
GG: about.... four years?
EB: let me get this straight.
EB: you've spent four years living on an island with only your dog for company.
EB: and your only contact with other human beings in that time has been pesterchum and the odd letter.
EB: well, and i guess trying to wake my dreamself up.
EB: please give me a moment while i screw my brain back in.
GG: john.....
GG: you arent mad at me are you?
EB: no.
EB: i don't think i could be, really!
EB: i'm pretty sad, though.
GG: how come?
EB: well, even if i didn't know you were my sister, you're still like my second cousin or something.
EB: i mean as far as i know dad and i are the only living relatives you've got!
EB: you could have come and lived with us.
EB: or hey, if you didn't want to leave your island, we could have come and lived with you.
EB: although i guess that'd be asking a lot of dad.
GG: youd do that???
EB: well, yeah!
EB: but i didn't know about it, and now i just feel like i've let you down again.
GG: ummm...
GG: how do you mean?
EB: oh jeez all sorts of stuff.
EB: not being able to get your present and the server disk from dad's car before it was too late.
EB: getting killed by that denizen in the alt timeline, leaving you dead and rose and dave stuck alone for four months.
EB: not being able to wake up even when i could see the graffiti on the walls of my room, and if i'd woken earlier we could have both avoided being squashed by that moon.
EB: connecting to you at like the eleventh hour and fifty-ninth minute, so that the only way out was for Bec to self-prototype and take the meteor out for us.
GG: john.....
GG: i dont want to put it like this but...
GG: you can be a bit of an idiot sometimes!!!
EB: yeah i know.
GG: no i dont mean it like that!
GG: i mean the way you beat yourself up about stuff and dont realise how much of a good friend you are!
EB: huh?
GG: youre my best friend!
GG: and id guess that youre daves best friend and roses best friend too!
EB: really?
EB: i'd've thought dave and rose...
GG: hehe yeah i know what you mean
GG: i know they like each other really once you get past all the "insufferable prick" and "flighty broad" stuff
GG: but im pretty sure rose finds it a lot easier to talk to you than she does to either me or dave
GG: about parents and stuff
GG: and even though dave tries to hide it you make quite an impression on him!
GG: what with ben stillers' shades and the apple juice!
EB: i'd ask how you know about all this but i guess i know how you know now.
EB: ugh, tongue twister.
GG: hehe yeah!
GG: and anyway most of that stuff wasnt your fault
GG: you werent to know!
GG: and the bits that were your fault kind of had to happen anyway!
GG: what really matters is that you tried and that you keep trying!
EB: ... thanks jade.
EB: it's just been a weird day.
EB: i guess you guys rely on me just as much as i rely on you.
EB: and even though i think you're all way cooler than me, you think i'm pretty cool too.
GG: :D
EB: anyway, are you sure you're alright with all this?
GG: john i know youre worried about how i coped all those years on my own
GG: but i wasnt on my own!
GG: i had you guys!!!
GG: and it doesnt matter that it was text on a screen
GG: you all more than made up for that
EB: aw, shucks.
EB: either way though, we need to arrange a meet-up.
EB: i know orange dave said we had to coordinate on this whole round-robin business but i think that went out the window when the game decided we'd got less than a day to beat it.
EB: if we can't see each other in our dreams we can sure as hell see each other in reality.
GG: thats the spirit!!!
EB: by the way, do you want me to try prototyping with your grandpa?
GG: sure!
GG: ill call bec over
EB: righto
GG: ok here he is
EB: damn he keeps dodging when i try to drop your grandpa into him.
GG: yeah bec what are you doing??
EB: now i think about it, i remember my harlequin sprite doing something similar when i tried to prototype with things that weren't nanna.
GG: maybe he wants something else?
EB: maybe.
EB: i guess we'll work it out later.
EB: will you be ok for a few minutes?
EB: i should really catch up with rose and dave.
EB: so much stuff i need to get them up to speed on.
GG: ok!
GG: but john...
EB: yes?
GG: when you talk to them, try and remember what i said here
GG: about remembering that we all think you're a good friend and not to beat yourself up about stuff
EB: ok, i'll do my best!
GG: besides i get the feeling rose especially might need you to give her some emotional support right now.
EB: did you see her in clouds back when your dreamself was alive?
GG: not this time! i have another source!
GG: besides i just have this general feeling...
GG: the games going all wrong and she doesnt know why...
GG: and well shes got her own issues that need dealing with!
GG: and i think you might be the guy to help her out!
EB: all right, i will friend her as hard as i can.
EB: but can i give you some advice as well?
EB: i'm not going to tell rose or dave about your grandpa.
EB: but i think you should.
EB: we don't really want dave showing up out of your gate 2 and going "well hey who's this fine corpse".
GG: lol i guess not!
EB: ok, see you in a bit.
GG:

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EB: hi rose!
EB: rose?
TT: GA put you up to this, didn't she?
EB: umm... no?
EB: i just thought, "well, it's been a while since i talked to rose and i've got a lot to catch up on with her" so here i am!
TT: Oh. Ok.
EB: why did you think that GA sent me?
TT: I believe she's been trying to give me psychotherapy.
EB: now that's just silly!
EB: no-one could beat you in a psycho-therapify-off.
EB: you're simply the best there is.
EB: oh wait, wasn't she the one i talked to when i was pretending to be you?
TT: Ha. Yes, she was.
TT: You confused her considerably when you did that.
TT: Well done.
EB: yeah, i think i'm getting the hang of some of these trolls now.
EB: take CG.
EB: he's a bit intimidating at first.
EB: but once you realise he's just an angry guy who talks backwards in time, he's not that hard to deal with!
EB: wow that sounds so weird out of context.
EB: anyway, sorry i didn't stick around until you woke up, and also sorry i've been kinda quiet lately.
EB: i feel like i've been on some magical tour of self-discovery for the past few hours.
EB: probably because i have been.
TT: Sounds like you've been busy.
EB: yeah!
EB: only just finished getting jade into the medium.
EB: good job bec was around to blow up the meteor for us, it'd've been really close otherwise!
EB: then before that i was asleep.
TT: Your dreamself woke up?
EB: yeah.
EB: i didn't know what was going on at first, but jade explained it all to me in her birthday letter.
EB: although i really, really wish she'd explained it all to me before now.
EB: because...
TT: Because what?
EB: i'm not sure how to put this...
TT: Spit it out, John.
EB: ... ok.
EB: jade's dreamself is dead.
TT: Oh.
TT: I... well, I don't know what to say.
EB: yeah, tell me about it.
EB: she was so excited in her letter about getting to meet me in her dreams and now...
EB: :(
TT: Is Jade ok?
EB: i don't know exactly.
EB: i think she's kind of scared about how she'll cope without skaia visions to tell her what she needs to do next.
EB: but she's putting a really brave face on it, and i reckon she'll pull through.
EB: i mean, at the end of the day she's still jade.
EB: seriously, first thing she wanted to know was if MY dreamself was ok!
TT: That's... touching.
TT: Is he ok? Sorry, I mean: are you ok?
TT: This dreamself business is somewhat messy grammatically.
EB: i think so.
EB: i had a close run-in with jack noir, but jade's present saved me!
TT: Jack who?
EB: oh right, you don't know about him yet.
EB: urgh there's so much stuff to explain.
EB: maybe i should write another thing for the faq.
EB: how's that coming along, anyway?
TT: Ah.
TT: I gave up on that, actually.
EB: shame, i was finding it really handy!
EB: ok it's like the complete wordy memoirs of wordy mcwordwriter, but it's still got some good stuff in it.
TT: Did you read my last entry?
EB: not yet.
TT: It's rather important.
EB: ok, give me a minute.

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EB: well.
EB: ... ok.
EB: rose, are you absolutely sure this is a good idea?
TT: No.
TT: I'm not absolutely sure anything's a good idea right now.
EB: fair enough.
TT: Doesn't it bother you, John?
TT: What's all this for?
TT: Why did humanity need to be destroyed?
TT: Why are we here?
EB: i dunno really.
EB: it is pretty weird.
EB: but y'know what?
EB: i think american sports legend charles barkley put it best.
EB: "we're here to help each other through this thing, whatever it is."
TT: Ha. I'd forgotten that one.
TT: So basically you're saying we're all in this together?
EB: well yeah!
EB: that's what friends are for, right?
TT: You want me to rejoin the team, as it were?
TT: Go back to playing the game by the rules with the three of you?
EB: hey, i never said anything about playing by the rules.
EB: i think the rulebook got thrown out the window a while back.
EB: and if we can't beat the game together, we may as well break it together.
TT: You want to help me with this?
EB: sure.
TT: Dave and Jade too?
EB: well i haven't asked them yet, but i think they'll agree.
EB: i think jade feels kinda cheated by the game right now anyway.
EB: from the sound of it she's been exploiting skaia visions and stable time loops for years.
EB: and dave only started playing to save us all from the meteors.
EB: seriously rose, until you blew that gate up you were probably the one playing most correctly!
TT: You aren't worried about what might happen?
EB: are you?
TT: ... Yes.
TT: That's why I wanted to go it alone.
TT: I feel like I'm about to descend a very dark path, John.
TT: I don't want to drag you down it.
TT: Or Dave or Jade, for that matter.
EB: see, that's exactly why we need to stick together.
EB: this dark path thing will be a lot less dark with the four of us.
TT: All shining our metaphorical torches of friendship at once?
EB: something like that.
EB: we really need to meet up once jade's got some items alchemitised, anyway.
EB: from the sound of it i need to take all of you out behind the woodshed and give you all big hugs!
EB: well, a hug bump in dave's case.
TT: We're doing it, man?
EB: where MAKING THIS HAPEN.
EB: besides, how dark's it going to get if we've got the seer of light on our side?
TT: I must admit, that title seems rather ironic now.
EB: i don't know, rose.
EB: you're a better person than you think you are.
TT: Seriously?
EB: said it when i sent you your birthday present, still say it now.
EB: only with fewer jokes about wet t-shirt contests this time!
TT: Thanks, John.
TT: Saying things like that makes me want to be that better person.
EB: hehe, don't mention it!
EB: i'd better check up on jade and dave and see how they're getting on.
EB: and ask them if they'd be happy to team up on this game-breaking thing.
EB: then maybe i'll get to finish telling you what i've been up to!

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EB: jade, have you read rose's walkthrough lately?
GG: hang on let me just check...
GG: which bit??
EB: section zzzz

GG: .... oh...
EB: yeah.
GG: i feel bad for her....
GG: she was really trying to play this properly, and i messed it all up!!!
EB: yeah, even dropping my dad's car off a cliff was more down to her sucky internet connection than anything she did wrong.
GG: what are you going to do??
EB: well to be honest i already made my mind up while i was talking to her just now.
EB: i want to help her with this.
GG: really???
EB: yeah.
EB: i don't think we're going to talk her out of it.
EB: and i'd rather be there to keep an eye on her than have her going off on her own.
GG: yeah i see what you mean....
GG: we need to stick together!
EB: plus this session's already pretty broken, so what's a few more cracks?
GG: hehe yeah
GG: and i kinda feel like ive been betrayed by the game anyway....
GG: so ok i think ill help out too!!
EB: i was hoping you'd say that :)
EB: i think i'd better talk to dave now, can't leave him out of the loop!

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EB: hey dave, how are the crocodiles?
TG: well theyre
TG: wait how do you know about them
TG: did GC tell you
TG: or did jade see it while she was dreaming or something
EB: actually, no, this one was all me!
TG: oh i get it your dreamself finally woke up
TG: well i say finally
TG: i only woke up because rose yarn bonked me
TG: and she only woke up because of future dreamself shenanigans
EB: wait... "yarn bonked"?
TG: she threw a ball of wool at me
TG: wash your mind out with soap at once young man
EB: um... ok.
TG: but yeah if all this had played out normally maybe youd have woke up before either of us
TG: although maybe not before me i still dont get this whole deal with my dreamself already being awake but not knowing it
TG: you might have woken up before rose though
TG: according to future me it took her forever
TG: but yeah i bet jades so proud of you or something
EB: ... yeah, she is.
EB: although i never got to meet her in-dream-person...
TG: dude are you kidding me shes like asleep half the time how did you miss her
EB: by her being dead, mostly.
TG: wait
TG: jades dead?
TG: shit egbert what did you do this time
TG: i guess id better get my timetables
EB: no, no, jade's ok!
EB: i even got her into the medium, although not without a certain amount of shenanigans.
TG: ok
EB: it's dream jade.
EB: she kind of got squashed when prospit's moon slammed into skaia.
EB: she died pushing my still-sleeping dreamself out of the way of it :'(
EB: i think the impact was what woke me.
TG: ouch
TG: you know you could probably stop that
TG: if you go to sleep and i travel back in time your dreamself should wake earlier like roses did
TG: and then you can both get out of the way
EB: yeah but i think it'd be a bad idea.
EB: real me kind of needed to be awake at that point because i was creating a bunch of paradox babies and sending them off on meteors so that we could all get born.
TG: you come out with the weirdest shit sometimes
TG: speaking of which what was prospits moon doing hitting skaia anyway
EB: well i'm not entirely sure.
EB: but i think its the fault of this guy called jack noir.
EB: it's a long story, but basically he's overthrown the black king and queen and has decided to start the endgame early.
EB: which consists of chucking meteors at skaia while we get 24 hours to stop him.
TG: 24 hours
TG: geez future me spent like four months in that other timeline and he still didnt get done with the game
TG: and hes me and im awesome so that was probably like record time
TG: so whatre we going to get done in 24 hours
EB: well, thats a vey good question.
EB: see at this point i need you to read a bit of rose's walkthrough.
EB: section zzzz.
TG: man do i have to
TG: reading that thing MAKES me zzzz
EB: it's important.
TG: ok ok get off my back jesus

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TG: huh
EB: yeah.
TG: yeah she did act pretty psycho after you left
TG: nice timing by the way genius
TG: she was looking forward to meeting you
EB: i know, i know, i'm going to make it up to her, i've got a plan.
TG: this is new
TG: so whats the plan
EB: we join her.
TG: hmm
TG: you really think its a good idea?
EB: i don't think there are any good ideas right now, dave.
EB: this is the least bad idea.
EB: i'd rather we all work together on breaking this thing than have rose go off on her own and we don't know if she's going to be ok or not.
EB: i've already got jade to agree, we just need you.
TG: this is just great
TG: first you three badger and pester me into playing this game when i dont want to
TG: and then once im getting the hang of it and starting to enjoy myself a bit you all change your minds and want to break the fucker
TG: first class irony right there
TG: bro would be so proud
TG: handing out rosettes for best in show
TG: first place goes to john egbert rose lalonde and jade harley for their outstanding efforts in trolling dave strider
EB: hey, you're still alive, that's better than most people!
TG: i guess
TG: ok i think youve got a point
TG: if shit just got real with this jack noir business then we may as well hack this game to pieces
EB: thanks dave, you're the best.
TG: wait hold on a sec
TG: this jack noir
TG: is he black with wings and tentacles and a weird spiky growth on his head?
EB: yeah, he threatened me while i was dreaming but jade's present scared him off!
TG: oh hey cool you got it then
TG: but thats not the point
TG: i think i see him flying around up in the sky
EB: oh nooooooo.
TG: oh yeeeaaah
TG: looks like id better get a move on
TG: GC gave me a map to gate 2 as well so i guess id better head off there asap
TG: turns out shes not actually that bad although shes still kinda annoying with her whole D4V3 1S TH1S YOU thing
TG: its weird i think she genuinely wants to make up for killing you
TG: maybe in a crazy branching timeline sort of way you were right to trust her
TG: but yeah later dude
EB: good luck, dave.

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EB: rose?
TT: Yes John?
EB: i've got good news and i've got bad news.
EB: the good news is that i got jade and dave to agree to this whole game-breaking venture!
TT: ... Thanks.
TT: I still don't know whether it's for the best to involve you three in this, but... thanks.
TT: And nice work.
EB: aww, that's ok.
TT: So what's the bad news?
EB: dave said he spotted jack noir flying around on his planet.
EB: somehow i don't think this counts as good news.
TT: No, it doesn't sound like it.
TT: You still haven't properly explained this Jack Noir fellow to me, but I will take it as read that he's bad news.
TT: The last thing we need is the Knight of Time getting taken out.
TT: Is there anything I can do?
EB: i don't know.
EB: i guess you could find your gate 2 and join him.
EB: but he says he's going to get to his gate 2 as quick as he can so you'd probably just miss each other!
TT: That seems to be happening a lot to me lately.
EB: yeah, i know, and those big hugs are still on the agenda but first we've got to make sure dave's safe.
EB: i'd better build jade's house up to her second gate so he doesn't take a fall or something when he goes through it.
TT: Ok.
TT: Perhaps in the meantime I should experiment more with the game's boundaries.
EB: sure i guess, but keep us posted!
TT: Will do.
TT: Thanks again, John. You're a good friend.
EB: well, you know... i try...
EB: oh yeah, that reminds me, i've got a story to finish telling haven't I?
TT: You certainly have...

And here's the twist... I dunno, you might not want to read it, it's a bit more shippy than the rest.

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CG: YOU LIED TO JOHN.
CG: YOU READ ROSE'S LAST WALKTHROUGH ENTRY AGES AGO.
CG: YOUR "OTHER SOURCE" AS IT WERE.
GG: that wasnt a lie!!
CG: YEAH RIGHT.
CG: YOU DON'T LIE BUT YOU DO HIDE TRUTHS.
CG: "HANG ON LET ME JUST CHECK" INDEED.
GG: yeah ok i guess that was a bit sneaky...
GG: but i thought itd be best if he found out for himself!!!
GG: that way his reaction to reading it was completely his own...
GG: and made it more.... spontaneous?? honest???
GG: more john-like i guess.....
GG: so rose'd be more likely to open up to him...
CG: YOU MACHIAVELLIAN MATCHMAKING MINX.
CG: YOU REALISE YOU'VE SENT THOSE TWO CAREERING OFF DEEP INTO MOIRAIL TERRITORY.
GG: hehe yes!!
GG: if not further!!!
CG: WHAT.
GG: oh come on karkat!!!
GG: whatever john might have told you human relationships arent any less complex than troll ones!
GG: they're just less... rigid!
CG: I THOUGHT YOU AND JOHN WERE BEST PUPA PALS FOR LIFE OR SOMETHING.
GG: well yeah he's my best friend and i really really like him but not in that way!
GG: besides hes also my brother!!!
GG: it just wouldnt be right...
CG: SPEAKING AS SOMEONE WHOSE SPECIES REPRODUCES IN ONE DIABOLICAL INCESTUOUS SLURRY, NO COMMENT.
GG: well either way rose needs him more than i do...
GG: and i think he needs rose more than he does me as well...
GG: this will help him far more than any amount of people telling him how proud they are or how much they believe in him!!!
CG: HMM.
CG: MAYBE YOU'RE RIGHT.
CG: SO WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO NOW?
CG: GO THROUGH YOUR FIRST GATE?
GG: not just yet!!!
GG: dave should be on his way soon...
GG: i wouldnt want to miss him!!

[VagabondRaiser]

Dropping in on a quickie; I was at a friend's house until the wee hours of the morning (it's 10 AM here in Fla-redda)and took the time to jot up a little drabble based on a certain picture by northernVehemence

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while everyone else was asleep there (yay for stealth iPod thread-checking!) and have decided to upload here, at least before I go die for half a day.

Blood, Sweat, and Tears
--

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The night was fast approaching, not that it changed much, out in the Veil. Things got a little colder, sure, but day and night meant nothing except abstracts; time. He only remembered so much about time because of Aradia's status as the Maid of Time.

He would get a chance to see her again soon. Very soon.

The battle that ended their session had wreaked havoc on her mechanical body; it was no longer functional, despite his best ongoing attempts at fixing it. No matter what he tried, he couldn't get that metal heart to beat... couldn't get those gentle eyes to open.

For once in his life, Equius' skill with machines had failed him, and he didn't know why. He took his anger out on boulders, rocks, every bit of detritus sitting around their laboratory on the asteroid; not a day passed when he couldn't at some point in the day be seen among the rubble, finding the largest possible rocks to slam his head into.

When there were no more boulders left, he would move on to other asteroids around them. It took but a single strong jump to propel him like a noble arrow to his target. Once the smaller asteroids were clear of debris, they too would be shattered, by the force of his exit.

When the sprites were banished from the session a week after their arrival in the veil, Aradia was no exception. Yet according to that yellow-blooded bastard Captor, she was still around; he could see her, and speak with her. She explained, through him, that she had been... 'un-prototyped'. Her soul was cast from the sprite as it dissipated. Only he could see her, through his Vision Twofold.

She was still there, yet Equius could not hold her. She could still speak, yet he could not hear. She could still see... yet he could not see her. She worked her knowledge and skill as the Maid of Time through Captor, directing him so that he could better allow the others to communicate with the humans.

She only ever came to Equius in dreams.

He would sleep, fitfully, and for a time, he could see her, hold her, kiss her tenderly; he was still as strong as ever, yet in his dreams, he could have her with him again. He was certain that it was indeed Aradia's spirit visiting him in his sleep; she loved him, after all... but every morning, he awoke alone. Her robot body sat in its' chair, unmoving, pristine, waiting as always.

He was too afraid to ask if she really was. Too proud to admit that maybe he was just unable to let go... to admit that maybe she had gone back to the one she loved before.

Another boulder crumbled underneath his fists. Even in the chill of the void, sweat dripped from every pore as he laboriously tore down rocks, one at a time. Nobody ever bothered to ask why. He wouldn't give them a straight answer anyway. They could never understand.

When you sweat that much...

...no one could see you cry.

And now, I sleep the sleep of the dead.
*bluh*

[Graven_Image]

So, Reviewdump. Get ready.

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@Tenebrais: That's a very good start. You've managed to cram all four in there, without making it seem like cramming.

@Graven_Image: Oh, wait. This is mine. Moving along.

@reclusiveAmateur: You're pretty good at all these oneshots. I think I speak for the masses when I say, We demand MOAR Homestuck/Inception.

@kmsumrall: Very good, with a few spelling and grammar errors near the beginning. I lol'd at Terezi terrorizing the humans. "I'M GOING TO STEAL YOUR SOOOOUUUUL!"

@PaulPower: I like it. I love it. I want some more of it. And Jade is just too cute, even when she's being manipulative.

@VagabondRaiser: It's alright, I guess. I'm not much one for angst fics, so my opinion doesn't really count.

[crash826]

Dropping in on a quickie; I was at a friend's house until the wee hours of the morning (it's 10 AM here in Fla-redda)and took the time to jot up a little drabble based on a certain picture by northernVehemence

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hide spoiler

while everyone else was asleep there (yay for stealth iPod thread-checking!) and have decided to upload here, at least before I go die for half a day.

Blood, Sweat, and Tears
--

show spoiler

hide spoiler

The night was fast approaching, not that it changed much, out in the Veil. Things got a little colder, sure, but day and night meant nothing except abstracts; time. He only remembered so much about time because of Aradia's status as the Maid of Time.

He would get a chance to see her again soon. Very soon.

The battle that ended their session had wreaked havoc on her mechanical body; it was no longer functional, despite his best ongoing attempts at fixing it. No matter what he tried, he couldn't get that metal heart to beat... couldn't get those gentle eyes to open.

For once in his life, Equius' skill with machines had failed him, and he didn't know why. He took his anger out on boulders, rocks, every bit of detritus sitting around their laboratory on the asteroid; not a day passed when he couldn't at some point in the day be seen among the rubble, finding the largest possible rocks to slam his head into.

When there were no more boulders left, he would move on to other asteroids around them. It took but a single strong jump to propel him like a noble arrow to his target. Once the smaller asteroids were clear of debris, they too would be shattered, by the force of his exit.

When the sprites were banished from the session a week after their arrival in the veil, Aradia was no exception. Yet according to that yellow-blooded bastard Captor, she was still around; he could see her, and speak with her. She explained, through him, that she had been... 'un-prototyped'. Her soul was cast from the sprite as it dissipated. Only he could see her, through his Vision Twofold.

She was still there, yet Equius could not hold her. She could still speak, yet he could not hear. She could still see... yet he could not see her. She worked her knowledge and skill as the Maid of Time through Captor, directing him so that he could better allow the others to communicate with the humans.

She only ever came to Equius in dreams.

He would sleep, fitfully, and for a time, he could see her, hold her, kiss her tenderly; he was still as strong as ever, yet in his dreams, he could have her with him again. He was certain that it was indeed Aradia's spirit visiting him in his sleep; she loved him, after all... but every morning, he awoke alone. Her robot body sat in its' chair, unmoving, pristine, waiting as always.

He was too afraid to ask if she really was. Too proud to admit that maybe he was just unable to let go... to admit that maybe she had gone back to the one she loved before.

Another boulder crumbled underneath his fists. Even in the chill of the void, sweat dripped from every pore as he laboriously tore down rocks, one at a time. Nobody ever bothered to ask why. He wouldn't give them a straight answer anyway. They could never understand.

When you sweat that much...

...no one could see you cry.

And now, I sleep the sleep of the dead.
*bluh*

Raiser you are awesome and this is good story best sadfic.
That's all there is to say on the matter.

[kmsumrall]

So, Reviewdump. Get ready.

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@Tenebrais: That's a very good start. You've managed to cram all four in there, without making it seem like cramming.

@Graven_Image: Oh, wait. This is mine. Moving along.

@reclusiveAmateur: You're pretty good at all these oneshots. I think I speak for the masses when I say, We demand MOAR Homestuck/Inception.

@mssumrall: Very good, with a few spelling and grammar errors near the beginning. I lol'd at Terezi terrorizing the humans. "I'M GOING TO STEAL YOUR SOOOOUUUUL!"

@PaulPower: I like it. I love it. I want some more of it. And Jade is just too cute, even when she's being manipulative.

@VagabondRaiser: It's alright, I guess. I'm not much one for angst fics, so my opinion doesn't really count.

Spelling and grammar? That's what I get for typing the story while way to tired. Thanks tho.

Tabehonest, I was momenarty thrown off by being called ms sumrall.

[Graven_Image]

Typoes. ARGH.

Also, having to keep track of four characters all doing stuff at once has given me a new appreciation for what Andrew does. Seriously, i've had to put up a document just to keep track of what everyone has, is doing, and is about to do. The time-hopping doesn't help.

I actually managed to lose track of two of my characters, and ended up with them in each other's place. Editing takes care of that, though.

[northernVehemence]

@Tene -- okay so um you're awesome? but you already knew that? I can't wait to see more Castlebound. I want to know how you deal with characters like Aradia and Sollux. Hopefully they make it in!

@rA -- whoa, nice job! 2nd person is really hard to write in (for me at least), especially when you're jumping from character to character, but you pulled it off really smoothly! (i don't really know any of those songs, but i'm sure they're great!)

@kmsumrall -- I liked this one, but thinking about Terezi just having two gaping holes where her eyes should be made me sad. is this going to be a series?? (please say yes -- I'd like to see this AU interpretation of Gamzee, Tavros, et al.)

@PaulPower -- I've really enjoyed this series, and i actually really liked the twist at the end. I think people underestimate Jade's deviousness.

@VagabondRaiser -- haha, i can't believe you wrote a fic about that image! I only drew him as a response to everyone's emo Karkats -- I didn't mean fo rhim to be taken seriously! But that was a really good fic -- it even made my (gasp) sympathize with him! Also, I'm really flattered that you made my image your icon. We match!

[Rastea]

HEY GET OUT OF MY HEAD I JUST FINISHED VACUUMING AND REARRANGING THE FURNITURE AND EVERYTHING. ^__^' You totally stole my idea, although what I had in mind was more involved and probably more depressing, though I can never write anything that doesn't have a happy ending. XP I was just about to try and a post a snippet to see what other people thought. But yours was really awesome too, so no worries! Plus mine was gonna be from Gamzee's POV, so yeah. ^__^

BUT IT'S COMFY IN HERE. >:U I DUN WANNA GO.
More involved and depressing sounds good! I have like, three other attempts at this and they all FAIL (though I still might finish the rando' pesterlog... I'm bad at pesterlogs :/ )
So where's this snippet huh HUH? :U Iwannasee. Even better: post the fiiiiic. Gamzee's POV sounds awesome. Same subject matter has never stopped anyone from posting stuff befooore. :3

[Graven_Image]

One a day, wow. It's almost like this thing writes itself.

HouseBand, Part 5

Also known as, "HouseBand: The Obligatory Fight Scene".

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>YEARS IN THE FUTURE

...But not many.

A band of LUCKLESS MERCHANTS ploughs through a swamp, doing their best to keep their wares dry. The de facto leader among them, a WARY TRAVELER, stops as she passes through a shadow. Above them, a massive shape extends into the midday sky.

>BACK IN THE PRESENT

...Within sight of the meteor’s impact radius, two SHADOWY FIGURES behold the spectacle.

“Do you think they got out in time?”

“I saw it. They went right as the meteor was bearing down on them.”

“It doesn’t set a very good precedent.”

The two unknowns watch the lightshow for a while longer.

“They’re going to be very good, you know.”

“No. They’re going to be the best. If they aren’t destroyed first.”

>SOMWHERE ELSE ENTIRELY

The lights dim, then come back on again. The COMPLETED SPHERE hangs in the air, spinning slowly.

You have all survived. You know not at what cost, nor how this crystalline ball has facilitated it. But you’re alive.

You all collapse from the shock of what transpired over the last ten minutes. You take a good solid twenty to recover from the adrenaline crash.

>BE CHARLIE

You are now Charlie. You’re the first out of your little band to get yourself up and moving again. You’re badly shaken, but in the back of your head, you’re almost ecstatic how you and your friends have stared death in the face and lived.

What will you do?

>EXAMINE FRIENDS

You walk around the room, making sure everyone’s alright. Zoe seems to be the worst affected, but she assures you she’s okay.

Everyone’s present and accounted for, but you can’t shake the feeling that something’s missing...

>OPEN WINDOW

You reopen the portal to outdoors. A turbulent gust blows in, producing an ethereal howl from somewhere outside. You lean out of the window, trying to discern the source of all this wind.

Outside is a brightly-lit meadow, sparsely broken up with humongous trees.

You hear a distinctly guitarish noise behind you.

>LOOK BEHIND YOU

The GUITARSPRITE has reappeared. It no longer glows, but it’s still strumming fitfully. If only you could attach some sort of voice-related guitar doohickey onto it.

>SEARCH ROOM FOR VOICEBOX

Oh, look. Here it is. You knew you kept one of these around here somewhere.

>ATTACH VOICEBOX TO SPRITE

The GUITARSPRITE extends a cord from itself and plugs into the box. You’re pretty sure your old guitar couldn’t do that.

The attention of everyone in the room is focused on it as it begins to speak.

“Charlie? Is this thing working?”

“Um... yeah. You’re, uh... you’re talking.”

“Oh, I know. I’m alive now. Isn’t that amazing?”

“That’s... That’s not supposed to be possible.”

“That’s the amazing part! You, your friends, and I have entered a new world. A world where things take place that shouldn’t, and can’t in our own.”

“And how do you know all of this?”

“It was all revealed to me when you prototyped me with that sprite. Also, hitting me on that metal thing really hurt.”

“I’m, uh, sorry about that.”

“Well, I wouldn’t trade for it now. I’m all shiny!”

The SPRITE spins around happily. It seems to have the mental state of an eight-year-old. Which is appropriate, since it was made eight years ago.

“So, where are we?” asks Sam. “Is this heaven or something?”

“No, not heaven. Quite different, I’m afraid. Let me tell you a story... a story of two worlds and the eternal war between them...”

The SPRITE lays itself down, and begins to play.

“Years ago, before this time
The worlds were peaceful and sublime
But war erupted ‘fore too long
And such is the subject of this song.

“A stalemate at first, no wins or losses
No soldiers either, just the bosses:
The Skaian kings, White and Black,
Seeking to gain what the other lacked.

“Then you arrived, and so did I
A change occurred in the empty sky
An army appeared, to fight ‘til the end
And against each other, they now contend

“But all is not well in the Incipisphere
(By the by, that’s ‘our’ universe, right here)
The White army isn’t equipped to choose
Their path, and thus they are fated to lose.

“You are the only hope, alack!
You must defeat the armies of Black
Before Skaia falls into their grasp
And is used for their unspeakable tasks.

“You must find artifacts sevenfold
That will grant you amazing powers untold
But you must hurry to the Black Queen and King
Then you may return home, to retell everything.”

You stare dumbly at the SPRITE as it concludes its poem. Armies? Good versus Evil? Artifacts sevenfold? This makes no sense.

You tell the GUITARSPRITE so yourself.

“It will all make sense in time, Charlie. Until then, I’ll be here to help you and your friends.”

Jim stands up, readjusting his glasses. “So... what do we do now?”

A crash resounds from the KITCHEN.

“First things first,” you say, “We go greet our visitors.”

Dramatically unholstering your TWIN PISTOLS, you kick open the door to the hallway. Jim and Sam join you. Zoe remains near-catatonic on the floor.

“Umm, Miss Sprite? Guitar? Whatever your name is?”

“Yes, Charlie?”

“I need you to stay here, with Zoe. Just until she shakes it off.”

“Absolutely.”

>MEET YOUR GUESTS

You, Jim, and Sam run downstairs. You pass the ALCHEMITER, which has apparently been shifted by the house’s teleportation. The MASTER BEDROOM is now accessible.

You turn left into the KITCHEN. The walls are coated in a grey, chalky substance. You hear a chattering noise behind the BAR.

>EQUIP WEAPONS

You already have your guns out. You motion for Jim and Sam to take their weapons out, as well.

>APPROACH BAR

The three of you step slowly and quietly to the bar. Behind it, a group of STRANGE GREY CREATURES are rummaging through the SINK CABINET. One of them takes a gulp of the DRAIN CLEANER, noticing you out of the corner of its eye. It jabbers at its cohorts, and they all turn to face you.

It is only now that you notice they have face paint. One of them is also carrying a guitar.

An evil, grey guitar.

>[S] STRIFE!

The monsters jump over the bar, forcing you back into the dining area. You, Jim, and Sam assume the TRADITIONAL GROUP BATTLE POSE.

The guitarist among them plays a quick, scratchy riff. Waves of electricity emanate from it, impacting against you. You check to make sure Sam and Jim are alright. They’re up by the time you can finish asking.

>ATTACK

Sam and Jim wade in with their weapons. Jim neatly cleaves one of the beasts in two with his axe. Sam brains one with her spade and impales another with her crowbar.

You climb up on the table with your pistols. Taking aim at the guitar-player, you snap off several precise shots. They have the same appreciable effect as a heavy punch to the face. He’s not dead, but he’s hurt. And boy is he mad.

He wades through the melee and right to you. He attempts to clamber up to your vantage point.

>PISTOL WHIP THE IMPUDENT MIDGET

You jump down, pinning the monster under your knee. You take several vicious swipes at his face with the handles of your pistols. His head now resembles a melted candle.

The remaining three monsters, seeing their leader fallen, quickly scurry out of the broken KITCHEN WINDOW. You shoot one in the back for good measure.

It doesn’t take this time, either.

>VICTORY

You, Jim, and Sam have leveled up in your respective field!

You climb the ECHELADDER to the rank of “STRICTLY RHYTHM”. You can now use RIFT RIFF: RING OF FROST.

...Once you get another guitar, that is.

Jim ascends to the rank of “BILLY-OH BASSPLAYER”. He can now utilize DOUBLE-NECKED BASSES and TWO-HANDED AXES in combat.

Sam climbs to the rank of “DISCHORDANT HARMONIZER”. She gains 20 points of KEYTAR CONCORDANCE, and now has access to the SECOND TIER of TOOLKIND.

>EXIT KITCHEN

Yeah, there’s nothing left in there. Stupid monsters ate everything.

You hear another crash, and Zoe’s screaming. That’s not a good sound.

>RUSH UPSTAIRS

You rush up the stairs as fast as your feet can take you, hoping your friends are following behind.

You hear an explosion.

Next time on HouseBand: YEARS IN THE FUTURE, AGAIN...

[Sushi Database]

Dang, I really want to see some fanart of HouseBand. :O Especially of instrument wielding rock imps.

[Graven_Image]

You're not the only one, trust me.

Instrument-wielding, face-painted rock imps.

[VagabondRaiser]

Was out longer than I figured I would be, not counting two or three brief 'get up and check if the world's exploded' moments. I've some reading to do.

All that aside, though, two quickie review/response things:

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northernVehemence: I wanted a way to say 'thanks' for the fanart, saw your Equius picture while I was checking up on things from my iPod, and couldn't get the thought outta my head. Soon as I got home I logged on and typed all that up, then plorp, dead to the world.

Well, I typed that up, saved the picture, snipped it down into an avatar, and -then- plorp, dead to the world. (I'll confess, I actually fiddled with Gimp to get the sizing right so that they'd match. Was going to ask if that was alright, but by the time I finished making the edit I forgot about that entirely and just uploaded it.) Either way, I suppose you could link the idea into Flavors in a way-- makes Equius deciding he wanted to 'spend some time with his beloved' a little less d'aww and a little more baww. (And then Karkat has to go and have a screaming fit and keep him from actually falling asleep. Insensitive jerk.)

Graven_Image: I never was one for 'MSPA inspired' (IE original works done in the style of MSPA) fiction, but I figured I'd give reading yours a shot anyway. Two things:

1) MOAR.
2) SamxCharlie OTP.
3) Suppose now that Charlie's at STRICTLY RHYTHM he doesn't wanna make a cry or scene? I'd figure an OLD GUITAR is all he can afford, when he gets up under the lights to do his thing.

(Sorry, had to get that outta my system. It was either that or trying to do up the entirety of Sultans of Swing with the HouseBand characters, or something. Wonder if anyone's ever done a fanfic for a fanfic?)

[breccia]

@northernVehemence: i will try harder next time

@sarasvati: i hoped it wouldn't bother too many people. i'm not really a fan of the couple, but they're both fun characters and I can't help myself sometimes.

@tenaciousApologetic: Thank you for not hating my usurpation of your fanart idea! Also, yes, read the fanfic thread. DO IT!

@Ember: Ugh, yeah. I am rewriting the first fic I posted here because I really didn't like my characterization at all. I'm glad they're getting better though! Also, I changed it to load gaper because YES. I always get that mixed up…

[Domoz]

So, what the hell is this?
Like, what the hell?

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Nepeta's shipping wall had remained untouched for months. Not the old wall in her cave, that had collapsed long a long time ago, but the new computerized version that she had alchemized along with all kinds of other neat stuff.
When the trolls had first entered the Medium romantic tensions had been high, and Nepeta had been updating her shipping wall constantly. Eventually new relationships stopped forming, and in time even the strongest pairings crumbled, leaving Nepeta's electronic shipping wall blank and uninteresting.
It seemed that without the threat of the Imperial Drones looming over their heads, that the trolls didn't much care for romance.
That wouldn't do at all.

Although time had no meaning in the Veil, most every-troll was on a similar sleep schedule. It was a simple matter to take advantage of this and move about unseen, and so Nepeta did. Calling back to the expert stalking skills she had taught herself back on Alternia, she moved unobserved through the hallways.
Eventually she reached the only room in the lab with an apearifyer. It was already powered on and humming gently, the screen seemed to be focused on a beach somewhere, probably Eridan's or Feferi's doing. Fighting back the urge to snoop in her friends lives, Nepeta began searching for something that would speed up the boring love lives of the trolls around here substantially.

Several hours later, the apearifyer's camera was locked onto an Imperial Drone, and Nepeta was hovering over the blue button. After a few moments more of hesitation she pushed the button.
There was a bright flash of light, and there before her stood an Imperial Drone that could only be described as confused, although it was hard to tell. Nepeta took it's momentary distraction as a cue to flee the room.
This was for the good of her friend's social lives, right?

If this gets good feedback I'll continue it I guess?

[Bardic Feline]

>83
I COMMAND THEE TO CONTINUE WITH THIS LINE OF THOUGHT, GOOD DOMOZ.

[Tenebrais]

Domoz that's looking like a recipe for WACKY HIJINKS!

I'd love to see what you do with that. Keep going!

[Cakepan]

Uh, hi. I wrote some stuff for the request meme, and I figured I may as well post them here. And so... yeah.

An Important Part
Characters: WV, PM, AR, WQ, Jack Noir
Original Prompt: Assuming Noir somehow gets exiled instead of killed, and weakened and dazed from weeks without food or water, he ends up stumbling into Team WVPMARWQ's camp.

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On the silent desert landscape of a land once known as Earth, a Scurrilous Straggler shuffled his way forth. Presently, it was night time; the world just barely illuminated by a waning moon. That was just fine for the Straggler. He liked nights; nights were cooler; nights didn’t dry and shrivel him like a fruit left too long in the sun. Not that it mattered much; he was always dry in this barren wasteland. He attempted to swallow with what little saliva he had left, and absently turned his gaze upward in thought. The stars were shining brightly, almost seeming to twinkle in sync with each other as the moon bobbed and danced with each step he took. If it were a different situation, and if he were a different person, he might have even said it was beautiful.

But it wasn’t, and he wasn’t and any beauty that he saw, real or imagined, was likely caused by delirium from lack of food or water. That was what he would tell himself, because he had no room in his heart for anything but bitterness at the moment. The bitterness was something he had to hang on to. It was the only thing that kept his beaten and weathered body moving from day to day. Whatever strength he had mustered up for today was quickly waning, however, and his feet kept stumbling over one another no matter how hard he tried to get them to move properly. Another person may have seen this as a signal to set up camp for the night, but not the Straggler. Not the once mighty slayer of sovereigns.

No, he’d keep on walking until he dropped, just like he always did.

In the distance, something flickered. At first he supposed it was just his mind playing tricks on him, or a flash of dizziness. Yet, even minutes later, it had not disappeared and, in fact, only appeared to be getting closer. Now that he was on the verge of approaching it, he could see that the mysterious light was orange – most likely a fire. He stopped in his tracks, falling over into the soft sand from the sudden change of momentum.

Angrily gritting his teeth, the Straggler managed to pull himself up. He stared at the distant flames. This was the first sign of civilization he had seen in all of his time wandering. There could be food there, and water. Yet, even in his addled state, he knew whomever he would find there would recognize him. He had made certain of that.

It didn’t take him very long to decide that the risk was worth it, however, as he tugged up on the rags he had swathed himself in, taking care to cover every inch of his face except for his eyes. Even if he was recognized; even if they hated him and wanted to kill him; even if they did kill him, anything was better than continuing to wander this desolate piece of dirt for the rest of his life. It was with this thought in mind that he approached the campsite.

The sounds of warm conversation accompanied the warm light as the Straggler grew near. Whoever they were, they were somehow finding a way to enjoy themselves despite the circumstance. This was something he didn’t understand at all, but saw no need in questioning it. The only thing he cared about at the moment was whether or not they had food and water. In fact, he figured himself close enough to them by now to ask but all that came out of his mouth was a hoarse squeaking sound.

Thankfully, this served his purposes well enough. Despite the extreme hoarseness in his voice from lack of use, the campers seemed to have heard him. The conversation had stopped and they were looking toward him. Or, at the very least, he thought they were looking toward him. The glare of the fire was an assault on his eyes after nothing more than the soft glow of the moon. He was still for a moment, before cautiously continuing forward. None of them had made any sort of hostile movement, so he could be assured that they had not realized who he was. At least, not yet.

“Hello, wanderer,” said a soft voice. The Straggler’s eyes darted toward the origin of the noise. It was a shapely female with a shiny white carapace. She was sitting with an air of regality unbefitting of her clothes and her surroundings. “Would you care to join us?” she gently inquired, indicating to an empty spot beside her.

Without so much as a nod he sat down beside her, or perhaps collapsed would have been more appropriate. His legs had buckled beneath him, absolutely refusing to remain upright for an instant longer. Stupidly, he already found himself feeling sleepy, eyes nearly drawing themselves closed every few seconds. He didn’t even know these people, let alone trust them. Although, as his exhausted mind processed his new companions, he couldn’t help but feel that some of them were familiar. Unnervingly familiar, although he couldn’t quite place where he knew them.

The other female… he knew her… somehow…

----

“All I’m saying is, is that we don’t know if he has a permit.”

The Straggler awoke startled to the sound of voices, irritated with himself for falling asleep in the first place and leaving himself unawares.

“A permit to what?”

The two that were talking were obviously male, he concluded, keeping his eyes shut as he listened. Though he loathed to admit it, he was comfortable at the moment and didn’t mind taking his time getting up.

“Wander! Parade around the desert like he owns it!” the voice was gruff, and maybe a little high strung about this business of permits.

“We didn’t have a permit,” was the much calmer reply.

“Well, alright, but you of all people should know that this kind of stuff is what makes the government work.” There was a hearty smack, as though the person talking had brought the back of his hand down upon the other for emphasis. “You can’t run a democracy without the law!”

“I’m aware of this!” the other insisted vehemently. “Indeed, as mayor it would be my responsibility to keep those noble citizens that voted for me safe and protect them from all manners of villainy!” There was a pause. “It is just my opinion that permits are not really necessary.”

Groaning lightly at the idiotic conversation the others were having, the Straggler finally opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was that someone was watching him - someone that had a sword. It was the familiar female from before. Her eyes were narrowed upon him, and her grip upon her weapon tightened visibly once she noticed he was awake.

“You’re awake,” she stated coldly.

He did not respond to this, instead staring at the sword. Even if he didn’t immediately recognize her, he could recognize that weapon anywhere. It was a regisword, one of the many he gave out to the people who visited his office. Abruptly, it dawned upon him that this was the Parcel Mistress from so long ago. He chose not to voice this, however, instead delivering a curt nod. There was still no guarantee she recognized him; perhaps she was merely suspicious.

There was a long, awkward moment where the two did nothing but stare at one another. The former Parcel Mistress was the first one to concede, roughly shoving a can of Tab and another mysteriously unlabeled can of something toward the Straggler. “I guess you’ll be wanting these,” she said tersely.

He said no words of thanks, yet nevertheless hastily made a grab for the comestibles. He quickly popped the Tab can open, paying no heed to the strange hissing sound it made. Hastily he brought it to his mouth, remembering too late that it was still covered with shroud wear. Growling as some of the dark liquid stained his clothing, he huffily turned away from the persistent female watching him. He tugged the tab soaked clothe away from his mouth, still trying to keep it mostly covered as he poured the sweet brown nectar down his throat.

Tossing the used can aside, he immediately went for the unmarked one. This enigma of a can, however, had no easy way to open it. There was no tab to pull. He glowered down upon the hateful metal container, as though it was purposefully spiting him. Hesitating for only a moment, he brought this can up to his mouth as well, before attempting to open it by viciously biting it.

His attempt was an overwhelming failure as pain ripped through the nerves in his teeth. “Shit!” he croaked, covering his hands with his mouth and dropping the can in the sand. There were tiny dent marks in it, but no actual punctures.

“So you can talk,” the female behind him said, apparently amused.

Despite his apparently new found speaking ability, the Straggler only responded with an irritated grunt as he once again picked up the can. He glowered at it for a bit, before grumbling something to his companion. “You have a sword.”

“Yes.”

The Straggler shoved it toward her. “Open it, then,” he demanded.

She made no movement toward the can. “No. Ask more politely.”

Gripping the can more tightly, the Straggler resisted the urge to throw it at her shiny white head. Who did she think she was talking to, anyway? “Do you expect me to say please or something?”

“Yes, I do,” the female countered, narrowing her eyes.

“Fine. Please,” he spat, jabbing the can in her direction again once more. “Open it.”

The can was ripped away and punctured rapidly before being pushed back into the Straggler’s arms. “Here.” Ungratefully, he snatched it away from her again and soon its contents were emptied, despite the fairly disgusting taste they had to them. It was better than nothing.

Exhaling with mild relief, the Straggler began to pick himself off of the ground. The Parcel Mistress imitated his actions, watching him carefully every step of the way. “Is there a problem?” he questioned, not enjoying being under constant watch like this.

She backed off slightly. “Not yet,” she responded, “But I don’t know who you are and you haven’t given me a feeling that I can trust you.”

“Hmph.”

“So I’m going to be watching you. Understood?” her voice was calm, but the regisword was being held in a decidedly threatening manner.

His only response was an unimpressed frown before he began walking away from her. Really, he could leave now if he wanted. He had gotten what he had come for, after all. Maybe it would be a good idea to steal some of their supplies, however. Who knew the next time either food or water would be available?

Casting a backwards glance at the ever-nosy female, the Straggler searched around the campsite for their victuals. Unfortunately, the majority of them seemed to be stationed around the two idiotic males. Getting close to them and their stupid conversation was not worth it, and he turned to leave.

“Hey! Hey you! Sir!”

There was someone yelling. It was probably one of the males. And they were probably calling for him. Growling in frustration and questioning why he was even answering, he shouted, “What?”

“Come here post haste!”

Aggravated, he rubbed his face with his hand. This was stupid. Was this other party truly trying to order him around? Him? “Why?”

“You appear familiar to me!”

The Straggler wheeled around to face the speaker. “Do I?” he questioned. It occurred to him that this was likely not the best course of action and, in fact, this was probably a pretty awful course of action. He had to know, however. Did this Dersite really recognize him?

“Yes, I seem to recall your face from somewhere,” the vagabond answered carefully. The tone was laced with a bit of suspicion but nothing more than that. “What do you call yourself, sir?”

The Straggler exhaled, irritated, as he shuffled toward the two males. “None of your business.”

“Identify yourself!” the other male interjected, annoyed by this clear miscarriage of justice. “All agents are required to identify themselves when asked!”

“We’re not really agents anymore,” he answered, obstinately refusing to give them a name as he took a seat near them.

“Polite apologies, sir! I was not aware it was not my business.”

Leaning back into the sand, the Straggler stared up at the still mostly darkened sky. The light of dawn was approaching somewhere from the East, turning the dark blue into a hazy grey wherever it touched. “Mm. I’m a Scurrilous Straggler, okay? Just call me that.”

“Very well, sir! My title is Wayward Vagabond, and this gentleman here is called Aimless Renegade!”

“And the white carapaces?” he grumbled, shifting his head slightly to try to get the meddlesome one back into view. She was still watching him, no doubt.

“The kind mail woman calls herself the Peregrine Mendicant, and the lovely maiden is the Windswept Questant.”

The Renegade cleared his throat forcefully, nodding in that he was apparently satisfied with the identification given. “Good. Good. I guess a citation won’t be necessary then, Straggler.” He patted the bazooka that was planted next to him. No doubt this wouldn’t have been a citation in the typical sense.

Regardless of the meaning intended, the Straggler still couldn’t help but scoff. “A citation?” The very word gave made his hackles rise. He had been forced to process so many of those things that by the mere mention of them he already found himself wanting to stab the Renegade until he was nothing more than a bloodied corpse. Sadly, that wasn’t really an option at the moment. There was a severe lack of shiny bladed weapons on hand. “Never mention citations to me again. Ever,” he growled.

“Ah, a lawbreaker, were you?”

At this the Straggler allowed himself to give a razor sharp smile, hidden to the others by the stained rags still draped over his face. “You could say that.” Regicide was typically described as a ‘crime’.

“Got your fair share of citations, then, eh?” the Renegade looked particularly proud of this. “I’m glad I gave out so many! Giving criminals like you a firm slap on the wrist!”

“Do you really think those citations did anything?” the Straggler grumbled, “Most people didn’t even pay them.” The majority of them just ended up as his scribble paper.

“Don’t be silly, of course they did. It would have been an infraction of the law if they didn’t!”

The Straggler shifted where he lay, turning to face away from the Renegade. There was clearly not going to be any reasoning with this law obsessed ninny and it was a waste of his energy to try.

“Straggler, sir,” the other male – Vagabond, was it? – attempted to get his attention. He had been staring at him curiously during the entire conversation about citations, but hadn’t said a word. “I’m almost certain I know you.” He paused, waiting for a response. When there was none, he continued. “But to be certain I request that you remove your shroud.”

“No. My shroud is staying right where it fucking is.” The Straggler sat up, fixating a glare at his fellow Dersian. He looked familiar to him, too. So did the Renegade. In fact, they all looked familiar, he just couldn’t place most of them and he figured himself damn lucky that he had managed to place the Mendicant before she had placed him.

The Wayward Vagabond seemed surprised for a moment, before his expression gave way to distrust. “I do not believe I like you much, sir,” he stated, reaching down somewhere beside him for something. It was only a sharp piece of metal attached to a meter stick, but the implications of him picking it up were quite clear.

Abruptly, the Straggler stood up. His fists were clenched at his side but he made no movement toward the Vagabond. He wasn’t stupid; it was obvious he was outmatched. There were two of them, three with the Mendicant, and one of them was heavily armed. Instead, he swiftly turned away and began to trudge off into the desert once more. It was something he should have done sooner. He didn’t need them after all. He had gotten what he wanted and no doubt he would find food and water again sometime. Even if it took weeks or months or years, he would find some and hopefully then he wouldn’t have to be surrounded by suspicious pawns.

“Are you leaving?” a soft voice questioned from beside him. It was the Windswept Questant, she had been watching the approaching dawn some distance away from the firelight.

There was no response, merely more shuffling through the desert expanse. This seemed to be fine with the Questant, who began to keep pace with the Straggler. “It would be better if you stayed.” Again there was no response. He didn’t even turn his head to look at her.

With a sigh, the Questant placed her hand upon his shoulder, which he quickly shrugged off. “Do you even know where you’re headed, Mr. Noir?”

The Straggler stopped walking, silent as he stared forward toward the growing light in the East.

“I see. You don’t,” the Questant gently surmised. “You’re going to keep going anyway, though.”

“Don’t tell me what I’m going to do,” Noir said with quiet venom.

“But you will.” There was a sort of resigned certainty in her voice. She turned back toward her companions, now all huddled around the dying light of the fire. “I’d like you to remember something, though.”

“Oh, really? What’s that?”

“We all have an important part to play, Mr. Noir. Even you.” With that said, she began to walk away, making a trail of footprints back toward the campsite.

Jack Noir didn’t move. He gritted his teeth. He clenched his fists. He glowered and he growled but he didn’t move for the longest while. He could only think on what the Questant had said. She had told him that he was going to keep going, as though she knew him. As though she could predict his actions with any certainty. She was a fool. He controlled his own destiny, not her. Not anyone.

Maybe she had been right about one thing, though. Maybe he did have an important part. But if he did, it was going to be on his own terms. Forcefully, he took a step forward, making his own trail of footprints in the sand.

The fact that they happened to run parallel to the Questant’s was irrelevant.

Little Lapin Noir
Characters: Jack Noir, BQ
Original Prompt: If the bunny didn't work...
(Note: This is ever so slightly shippy, even though I didn't intend to write it that way. Just as a warning.
Also Note: Lapin means "rabbit" in French.)

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It was now or never. With the Queen’s tentacles wrapped around his throat and with her sword making its way there, too, there was no other option. Jack had to use the object in the green box; his would-be savior. It wasn’t as though he didn’t want to kill the BLUH BLUH HUGE BITCH, anyway. Quickly, he reached over to retrieve it, placed his hand in the box and –

It flopped onto the floor liked the stuffed bunny it was. Useless. Harmless.

Shit. Shit. SHITSHITSHITSHIT.

The bunny wasn’t doing anything! It was just sitting there! Jack’s breath hitched as he glanced from the pathetic bunny back up to the Queen, who seemed almost as confused as the archagent about the situation. At the very least she wasn’t cutting his head off. Yet.

Slowly, not releasing her grip around Jack, she picked up the bunny using her spare tentacle. Turning over in her grasp she narrowed her eyes. “What is this?”

“It’s…” Jack began, brain working furiously to find a way out of this situation. He could try to grab those weapons. You know, if he were an idiot and wanted to get beheaded. Okay, so maybe he could just try to go back to his desk and continue doing his job. That could work, but not without an explanation for the cyborg bunny equipped with ridiculously powerful weapons.

“A… gift,” he finished tartly. Seriously? A gift? STUPID STUPID DUMB. FUCK. Of all the things he could have said, he quickly concluded that this was one of the shittiest possible.

“A gift,” the Black Queen repeated dully, staring at the stuffed rabbit. Mirth was visible in her eyes, predatory and disturbing. “For me. From you. Is that right, Jack?”

The archagent gritted his teeth, resisting the urge to stick out his tongue in disgust. Just play along with this damn façade. It’ll be over quicker. “…Yes,” he grunted.

Growing ever more amused, the Queen released her grip around Jack’s neck, gently stroking the side of his face as she did so. His resulting chagrin only amused her further and she couldn’t repress a small throaty chuckle. “How sweet. I didn’t think you cared.” Carefully, she inspected the plush animal. “Does your thoughtful gift have a name?”

Jack wasn’t even looking at her anymore; instead he was drilling holes in the floor with his glare, fists clenched impotently to his sides.

“No?” She shook the doll back and forth in front of his face. “I should name it then.” She paused thoughtfully. “How does Jackrabbit strike you? Hm?”

“Uuuugh,” was the only thing that Jack could manage to spit out.

“Glad you like it,” the Queen purred, “Because I’m going to make sure everyone knows what a softie you are, Jack.”

Jack was shaking with just barely contained rage. He could hardly think, let alone create a coherent response. The Queen didn’t seem to need one, however. “Put a new uniform on,” she ordered. When he made no movement to do so, she snapped her tentacle in the air like a whip. “Now.”

Jerkily, he did so. His movements were tense, as though this was causing him some horrible pain. Robotically, he sat back down at his desk, mindful of his pretty princess dress as he did so. He glowered forward at the broken fenestrated wall.

“Good,” the Black Queen cooed mockingly, beginning her departure with the bunny firmly in hand. “Oh, and I’m thinking of redesigning your office. I was unsure of a theme, but now that I know of your fondness for rabbits-”

Jack slammed his head against his desk, cutting off the rest of the Queen’s sentence. He wasn’t going to hear the rest of that. He was done with this horrendous bullshit. Being beheaded would have been better than this.

The Queen shot the archagent a warning look, but continued her way out of the room, regardless. “Behave yourself until next time, little lapin noir.”