IT IS NOW THE MAIN PICTURE FOR ALL OF KARKAT'S ENTRIES.
ALL OF THEM.
Vriska's Diary JOURNAL
Just 8ecause Karkat has a stu8id diary that he won't let me re8d, I need something to do!
Vriska the gr8 and terrible dark lord of deviousness slowly ascended towards her tower. In her tower was her mortal nemesis, the one she hated the most! She hated him more than any8ody else, 8ecause he was the worst! He was far worse than whatever stupid thing Karkat was nemesising with. 8ecause she was Vriska, the gr8test! No8ody was gr8ter than her! No8ody!
She went upstairs and walked into her room, there, sitting in fr8nt of her, was her nemesis! He was of a nemesisy nature, and did nemesisy thin8s with her.
And she haaaaaaa8ed it!!!!!!!!
I just realized that Karkat calls his nemesis Satnav.
An hour left. Then we’d finally be free. We didn’t know where, exactly, we could go, but it was out of here, and we’d have some new friends to go with.
If I went and talked to the me of twenty hours ago, and told me I’d actually start thinking of the humans as friends, I’d have laughed and said I was full of it. I know, because I did. But past me has always been stupid. Nearly as stupid as future me. But maybe not. I can’t talk to the me after we all move on.
We were cutting it close as it was. The demon was nearly here. But we were pretty sure we’d have enough time. Terezi had been following his movements through the Incipisphere, and he was either still looking for us or just didn’t care. Though really, we all knew that last thought was just wishful thinking. He’d find us eventually. With any luck, we’d already be gone.
And Vriska was happy to tell us that she had all the luck in the world.
Everyone was in pretty high spirits. Nepeta was bouncing around the room. Sollux was on an upswing. I’d seen smiles on people that they really didn’t fit on, and I don’t really want to dwell on that. Even Aradia, though that was less weird since we brought her back to life.
Feferi had finally stopped rubbing in the fact that she went to sleep without going mad or anything. She was off cuddling Sollux or something. Instead, I got to talk to Gamzee. Which I guess isn’t as bad as it used to be. Terezi’s fucking lover boy was good for something after all.
“So man we should totally have a fucking party. Celebrate the fuck out of this bitch.”
“We have an hour. What the hell could we do?”
“I dunno, play some music, get some bites, kick the wicked elixir. You know what I’m gonna go get some now.”
“Sure, whatever.”
He kind of had a point. Things were finally looking up for us. We could all have done with a celebration, so I decided to pick out some music from things the humans had shown us. Backwards as their culture is, they certainly had a good sense for music.
“Heeeeeeeey, Karkat!” crooned a voice that I didn’t particularly want to hear. Not that there are many people I’m all that happy to talk to.
I tried to ignore her and focus on picking out a really good song.
“Whatcha doing?” Vriska persisted, not dropping the cutesy act.
“Putting on some music, what does it look like?”
“It looks like you have awful taste! Here, play this one.” She wrestled the mouse from me and put on some awful love song that I’m pretty sure John sent me. It was from one of his favourite films. I didn’t really care which one; they were all awful.
“This song sucks,” I told her. “You’re crazy, and stupid, and when we meet John we’re having a film night to prove it.”
“Oh you’re on, Kaaaaaaaarkat!”
“Don’t drawl my name like that,” I protested, though it was really for the sake of complaining. I couldn’t even hate Vriska. Not now, when everything was going so well.
Gamzee transportalised back, took a few steps, and collapsed onto the floor, getting everyone’s attention. This wasn’t really that unusual for him, until I noticed an awful burnt smell.
“He’s here,” he croaked, before slumping back down.
I ran over. “Gamzee? What happened?”
“That... demon motherfucker. He found us.”
“Are you alright? Did he hurt you?”
Gamzee’s eyes seemed to unfocus. He laughed a little. “Seein’ your face, Karkat... fuckin’ miracle...” he had just enough energy to poke my nose with a finger, before slumping back again, eyes glassy. I didn’t need to be told what happened.
“He’s dead,” Aradia announced.
“Can you bring him back?” I asked her. “With your weird spooky ghost powers.”
“We have to get out of here,” she said, ignoring me. “The demon will be coming. Let’s hurry.”
We hurried out of the room, then found ourselves at a loss. Gamzee being Gamzee, he could have come from anywhere. So it could be coming from anywhere, too.
“Seriously, hag,” I said, “bring him back. He can tell us where he was.”
“I’m not ok with that.”
“Why the taintchafing fuck would you not be okay with it?”
“He’s my friend. You don’t know what it’s like.”
“Well, have you got any better ideas?”
“Yes. We will wait until he arrives. Then I will hold him off while you escape.”
“But then he’ll kill you!”
“I’ve already died.”
“I’m thtaying too.”
We all turned to Sollux.
“Why?” Aradia asked.
“I’m not lothing you again.” He looked to his side. “Thorry, Fef.”
“It’s okay,” Feferi said, sounding only a little bit cheerful now. “But only if I can stay and fight with you.”
“Then so will I,” Equius butted in.
“No,” Feferi said firmly. “You need to stay with everyone else and keep them safe.”
“But-“
“That’s an order.”
Equius stood to attention. “Yes, majesty.”
She didn’t correct him this time. We all knew, then, that we wouldn’t be seeing any of them again. I’d have been more upset about it if I weren’t already so sure we were all going to die.
Aradia walked up to him. “I’m sorry, Equius. I’ll... see you on the other side.”
Equius said nothing, but, as gingerly as he could possibly manage - and he’d been practicing - he held her in his arms and gently kissed her.
She didn’t even bruise.
A green glow was visible at the end of a corridor. Eight of us fled away from it. Three stood firm.
Sollux removed his glasses for the last time. He tightly gripped Feferi’s hand, whose other held the Retiarius & Secutor, the most powerful trident at her disposal.
Aradia, in a living body, didn’t wield the power she once did, and she hadn’t managed to get her old whip back. But she could still command the dead. Straining her will, she brought up the souls of hundreds, thousands, maybe millions of deceased agents and consorts killed by Jack Noir in his short time in the Incipisphere. As the demon came into view, the spirits swarmed him, haunting, tormenting, showing all the evil he had wrought.
But the demon knew no remorse. No pity. Unperturbed, he continued his slow march, relishing every moment. A bicoloured burst of psychic power came at him through the cloud of souls, but it bounced off his impenetrable shell.
Once he was bodily in the room, the demon reached out with a lash of green paradox, and hurled Aradia against the walls, over and over, until she stopped moving. As one, the ghosts vanished. Desperately, Sollux and Feferi tried to distract him with their own attacks, attacking from both sides. Their attacks remained ineffective, but they seemed to give him some pause. His eyes, indistinct though they were, darted between the two of them, locked in indecision or possibly just amusement, for several minutes. He completely ignored the brutal attacks that couldn’t possibly affect him.
He made up his mind, and sent a dart of power at Feferi. Quick as a flash, Sollux was there in front of her. But the demon could not be stopped. The dart went clean through both of them, and together they collapsed.
Sollux had just enough life left in him to shift over to her, and see her face one last time.
“My hero,” she whispered, painfully.
They died in each other’s arms.
We were pretty sure we’d lost him by the time we’d slowed down to take a breather.
Equius was not remotely worn out. “Karkat, what are your orders? What should we do now?”
“How the fuck should I know?” I snapped. “We’re running from an invincible fucking demon! If you’ve got such a seed in your nook about it, you come up with a plan!”
He wiped the sweat from his brow. “Very well. Nepeta, scout out ahead and make sure we know in plenty of time if we’re going to run into him. If you see him, come back to us immediately, do you understand?”
Terror was writ large on her face, but she nodded anyway.
“Tavros, you have the most powerful legs, so hang behind us so we can know if he’s catching up. Can you do that?”
“Uh, yeah, I think so.”
“Good. Everyone else stay with me and stay alert. We have to find a way out of the facility. Terezi’s room can’t be the only one.”
We walked in a loose formation, Nepeta way out front, Equius leading the group, Eridan trailing with gun at the ready, and Tavros much further behind. Terezi walked by my side. We hadn’t had much of a relationship recently, and I don’t think anyone else even knew we had a thing going.
Without so much as glancing at me, she found my hand and gripped it tightly. I looked at her face, calm, resolute, and just a little scared. I could feel all the frustration and rage that had built up the last two days melt away. I couldn’t hate her. I squeezed her hand back.
“Don’t let go,” she whispered.
“Never,” I whispered back.
“Nepeta, report!” Equius called out.
She turned back round a corner to face the group. “All clear!”
“Good. Tavros? Any trouble?”
There was no reply.
“Tavros? Are you there!?”
“Uhhh...” came a feeble call from some way back. “I, uh, fell over. Now I can’t, get back up.”
Equius scowled and stormed over to his prone form. Some of us followed and crowded round. He grunted.
“Rendered inoperative again. This simply must be the worst time... I knew I should have disabled the pelvic magnetron...”
He began opening several access panels in the legs and adjusting things.
“Uh, I’m not sure if you have time to be doing that...” Tavros mumbled, pointing to the corner a way down the corridor. It was starting to look distinctly green.
“I’m not going to leave anyone behind.”
“You don’t really have a choice...”
“I’ll pick you up and carry you if I have to.”
“Then... I’ll just be waiting a little longer to die.”
Equius said nothing, hurrying in finding the fault with the legs.
“Equius. Just kill me now.”
He stopped, and looked at Tavros’ face.
“Kill me before the demon does.”
“Are you sure?” He was starting to sweat.
“No, but... I don’t think there’s a better option.”
Equius sighed. Then, steeling himself, he retrieved a bow and arrow - specially alchemised to withstand his great strength, but it then turned out he was an awful archer anyway. Still, he couldn’t miss pointing straight down at point-blank range.
Vriska, standing to the side, gave a smile. “Guess you did something brave after all.”
Tavros laughed, gently. “Yeah. I guess I did.”
For the second time, the floor was painted with brown blood.
The green at the end of the corridor seemed to dim.
“Looks like he’s backing off,” I said.
“So we could have saved Tavros?” Equius demanded.
“Maybe? I dunno, probably. It’s not your fault.”
He punched the wall, sending his fist clean through. Then a second time, and a third.
“Look, we should keep moving,” I said. “Try and get off this fucking rock while we still can.”
“Is this really the time for that sort of language?”
“Is this really the time to care? Move it, musclebeast.”
We marched on, now without a rear guard since we were pretty sure he wasn’t going to come up from behind. With Nepeta still scouting ahead, Vriska led our tight little group. The whole thing had put a pear up her gas vent and she wasn’t going to stop. Which was just as well, because Equius was badly shaken. I couldn’t tell whether he’d never killed a troll before, or just had bad experiences with it, though I think it’s the latter. I never cared enough to ask.
From around the next corner, Nepeta shrieked.
“Run!” I yelled.
All seven of us barrelled back along the corridor, Nepeta struggling to keep up, Equius uncertain whether to flee quickly or go back to help her. After some deliberation, he hung back to help her.
She hadn’t kept up.
There was a pregnant pause. A moment ticked by as he waited, then another. He almost fell out of my sight as I kept running, until we heard the scream. It was a very colourful scream. First it was lively and fearful - a warning to us as she tried to flee. It quickly turned into something more breathless and hurt, as she was caught up to and hit, before croaking into silence.
Equius just stood there, and listened. Vriska and I ran back to grab him and drag him back up with the rest of us, which wasn’t too hard once he’d decided he should run away after all.
We stopped to catch our breath at a crossroad.
“We should split up here,” I said. “At least some of us might get out that way. He can’t chase us all.”
Vriska agreed. Equius nodded.
“Alright,” I said, taking command. “Terezi, you’re with me, we’ll take the right path. Vriska and Eridan, you go straight on. Kanaya and Equius take the left.”
“No,” Equius interrupted. “I’m going back. To fight him.”
“You can’t win!” I shouted. “He’ll kill you in seconds.”
“I know. My matesprit and kismesis is dead. More than she was before. I couldn’t save Nepeta. And I am so. Fucking. Tired.” He took off his sunglasses - his eyes were veined with blue, and his lids heavy. True to my orders, he hadn’t slept a wink since we got here, and by the looks of it, not for days before either.
“Kanaya,” he continued, “are you alright alone?”
“Don’t do it!” she pleaded.
“Don’t bother. I’m going. I have nothing else to live for.” He stepped back to the way we’d come, then turned back to face us. He saluted me smartly. Not really sure what to do, I saluted back.
Never before had Equius been so angry. Not even when Vriska’s lusus had tried to eat him. This time, he could almost feel his rage tearing at the walls around him as he marched to face down his enemy. He didn’t expect to come back alive, but he hoped that he might manage to hurt it before he died.
That sickening green glow grew brighter, more intense, as the demon approached. Equius stood his ground, resolute. There was nothing left to fear.
A vile grin on his face, Jack Noir brought down the ceiling on top of the troll.
The shock knocked him to the ground, but Equius was not to be beaten so easily. He was the strongest troll alive even before the Reckoning consumed his planet; a few tons of concrete and steel was nothing to him. It took only a token effort to rise out of the rubble. With barely a grunt, he lifted a huge slab above his head and hurled it at the enemy. It smashed harmlessly a metre before him.
Enraged further by the futility, he jumped to the hole in the ceiling, into the space between floors. It was easily large enough to squat comfortably in, but it wasn’t his goal to sit still - he crawled over to the space above where the demon stood, and smashed the ceiling above him.
Peering into the hole, there was no sign of his opponent. He jumped in, to find himself face-to-face with the demon. Instinctively, he hurled a punch, which struck some sort of forcefield, firing him back with the force of a thunderbolt. By some miracle, he landed right at the side of Nepeta, who had just life enough to give him a weak smile. With the troll paralysed on the ground, Jack Noir moved in for the kill.
-- grimAuxiliatrix [GA] began trolling tentacleTherapist [TT] --
GA: I Am Going To Have To Contradict What I Said In My Previous Message
GA: Time Is Very Definitely Of The Essence
TT: I’ll hurry as best I can then.
TT: Might I ask what caused the circumstances to change?
GA: The Enemy We Were Fleeing From Has Found Us
GA: Several Of Us Are Already Dead
GA: The Rest Of Us Are Running
GA: We Are Trying To Escape Into The Incipisphere
GA: But I Am Not Hopeful
GA: And If We Do There Will Be Nowhere Else To Go I Think
TT: !!!
TT: Why didn’t you tell me sooner?
GA: We Were Too Busy Trying To Escape
GA: I Have Only Now Got The Chance To Talk To You Thanks To A Temporary Respite Due To Having Split Up
TT: So you’re on your own?
GA: Yes
TT: I’ll try to get there as soon as I can.
TT: That is to say, we will.
TT: I’ll let the others know to step it up.
TT: Kanaya, please stay safe.
GA: Ill Try
GA: Rose
GA: Im Scared
TT: Me too.
GA: I Wish Our First Meeting Could Have Gone Differently
GA: There Is So Much I Wish To Tell You
GA: That There May Never Be A Chance For
TT: I know.
TT: And, assuming my instincts are correct
TT: I’d have something similar to say to you.
TT: As it is, let’s just hope we have the chance to say it.
GA: Yes Lets
TT: I’ll not distract you any longer. Please be careful.
TT: I’ll see you soon.
GA: Goodbye
-- grimAuxiliatrix ceased trolling tentacleTherapist [TT] --
“I’m pathetic, aren’t I?”
“Yep.”
“I let Fef go without ewen sayin’ anythin’. Eweryone’s dyin’ around me and I’m just sittin’ there doin’ nothin’.”
“Ain’t arguing there.”
“Where did I go wrong, Wris? I’m noble blood! I’m a born general! I was gonna wipe out most of the population! And now I’m just runnin’ away from somethin’ with my head down. Didn’t ewen stop the girl I fuckin’ lowed from gettin’ herself killed.”
“Oh, shut uuuuuuuup!” Vriska turned to Eridan. “You wanna know why you suck? Because you don’t!” she jabbed a finger into his chest. “Stop!” Again. “Whining!” This time she pushed him back. “You gotta roll with the bad breaks! You don’t just sit there and feel sorry for yourself, you fix it! Sure, Feferi’s dead. So’s Tavros! I’m not here blubbing about it to anyone who’ll listen just ‘cause I couldn’t save the... only guy I’ve ever...” she trailed off, and slumped to the floor in a corner. “Okay, maybe it is the time to feel sorry for ourselves.”
Eridan sat beside her. “We’re gonna die down here. I know it.”
“Yeah,” Vriska agreed, resigned at last to her fate. She looked at him. “I don’t wanna die alone.”
“What?”
“We had a pretty good thing going once. Wanna relive our glory days?” She gave him a taunting grin he hadn’t seen in perigees. Death might have been stalking the halls that night, but Eridan was nothing if not a slave to his emotions.
Both found their energy coming back as they squared off to duel, one last time. Running on reflex, Eridan rapidly drew his gun, aimed, and fired, catching Vriska off-guard. Despite this, she managed to jump away, even somersaulting in the air. She was more acrobatic than he remembered. As she landed, her dice flew from her hand, seemed to hit something in the air, and fell to the ground.
All ones. A natural eight.
With a burst of blue fire, both combatants were blown clear.
Vriska, immobilised, helpless, couldn’t help but laugh as much as her winded lungs would allow her. “Gotta... roll with the bad breaks...”
Eridan, just as badly injured, looked over at Vriska with equal parts hate and pity. At least he wouldn’t die alone. He could deal with that. Just this once.
They lost consciousness as the passage started to shine green.
Terezi and I emerged cautiously out onto the bare rock. Our progress was slow, but wariness kept us alive. A tint of green, the slightest whiff of sour apple and lime, and we’d turn back. Somehow, we’d managed to reach the surface. Kanaya was waiting for us.
She smiled at us in relief. “Good to see you again.”
“You too,” I said. “Any sign of Vriska and Eridan?”
She shook her head. “I hope they’re alright.”
“After this long? Probably not. They’re good at this stuff. They’d have been out here straight away.”
“Yeah,” Terezi said, grinning, “unless they got caught up in fighting each other or something.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. They would do that. And Terezi could keep grinning like that through anything. I couldn’t tell if I loved it or hated it.
I didn’t have a plan for when we reached the surface. I didn’t even think we’d make it this far. We’d be safe out here for a while longer, if I knew Jack. Maybe it’d be enough time for the humans to arrive. Maybe we could take him down together.
For maybe an hour we sat there and worried. We couldn’t go anywhere from here. We’d all left our stuff within the base, and I didn’t want to send anyone back in there. Even if we could fly away, there was nowhere else to go, except a little further into the veil, where Noir would just catch up with us again.
There was another reason too. The humans were coming, and they knew to meet us here. If they just ran into him... I didn’t really want to think about it.
Luckily I didn’t have to. Green sparks turned into what I can only describe as a tear in the universe. The four of them emerged, and we got to see them in person for the first time.
“Holy shit!” John shouted. “Are you guys alright?”
The first thing that struck me was that his voice sounded weird. Humans have some kind of fleshy harmonic to their voices. But I stopped my train of thought, and composed myself before speaking.
“Do we fucking look like we’re alright!? There’s three of us left! Everyone else is dead and we’re just sitting here waiting to die too! And now you’re fucking here, great news, we have some pointless aliens to die with!”
John’s smile didn’t even flicker. “Good to see you too, Karkat!” His cheerful greeting shifted to a more sombre tone. “Is everyone else really dead? Even Vriska?”
“We split up, to meet back here. We’ve been out here for an hour now. If she was alive she’d have got out here.”
“She always said she was going to kill him herself...”
“Yeah, well, I guess she didn’t. I hope she hurt him, though.”
We really were a pitiful bunch. The three of us, last survivors of our species. Kanaya was already fussing over Rose, and Terezi was chatting up the Dave human. And there, at the back... there was Jade. I could already feel my anger melting away as she turned from patching up the hole in spacetime to join us.
“Uh, hi,” I said, lost for words for once.
“Hi,” she said back, shyly. It was probably weird for her to meet new people at all, never mind aliens.
Rose spoke up. “We think we have a way to defeat Jack.”
It caught our attention. “What is it?” I asked.
“The First Guardians might be near-omnipotent, but the Gods of the Furthest Ring are even more so. With their power, we could set a trap to kill him, or at least depower him.”
“That’s great!” Kanaya said, more enthusiastically than I was used to hearing from her.
Rose even blushed a little. “It’ll take all seven of us to maintain the trap, but we should be able to do it. Do you think you can tell where he’ll be next?”
The trap was laid, and we were all the bait. The demon could really have come out of anywhere, but he only needed to get close to one of us as long as we stood in just the right place. She’d woven some sort of magic thread around us all, and was keeping it tight. I didn’t really care how it worked. All I cared about was how good it would feel to make him pay, slowly, painfully for what he did to all of us.
There! On top of that structure. The unmistakable green flicker of the first guardian. Of the demon. And that meant he could see us too. He launched himself into the air, and made a dive for the centre of the circle we’d all formed in, just as the plan went. The moment he landed, Rose cast her spell.
The thing I remember most was the pain. It fucking hurt. It hurt all of us, except for Rose herself holding the ends. I looked at the others. Jade looked like she was about to pass out. I wanted to go over to help her, or Terezi, or hell even John. But we had to hold our positions, and that we did. The weave tightened around Jack Noir, and I could feel that familiar, terrible presence washing over him. Oglogoth came to reclaim his Thorns.
Immediately, the pain subsided, and when I’d got my balance back, Jack Noir was crouched on the floor. The green glow was gone; all that was left was a twisted aberration of an agent - black wings, a dog’s head, and a sword sticking through its stomach. No, not in its stomach, in its hand. His back was to me, so I could only imagine the rage on his face as he bore down on a now defenceless Rose. As we scrambled for our weapons, he brought that terrible sword down into her shoulder.
We fled.
As everyone else ran away, Kanaya took to Rose’s side. The cleave was unrecoverable. She was coughing up blood, which started to mix with green tears.
“Rose,” she sobbed, “I... I never...”
Hazily, Rose raised a hand to Kanaya’s face, and stroked her coarse skin. A genuine smile - not a smirk, nor a grin, but a smile - formed her final expression.
Kanaya buried her face in Rose’s robe, unable to hold despair back any longer.
She accepted death without resisting.
We regrouped on the other side of the asteroid.
“He... he killed her!” John stammered.
“We know!” I snapped. “She’s not the first. Let’s hope she’s the last. Jade, can you get us out of here with your space thing? I don’t think he can follow us now.”
“I can try,” she said, quietly. She was holding back tears. I’d have yelled at her about it too, but I just couldn’t. Not now. Not to her.
We all stood guard while she took out the weird knife thing and started working on a hole in reality. I didn’t know where she planned to take us, and I doubt she knew either - anywhere was better than here.
I don’t know how he slipped past us. All I knew was that there was a scream and then he was there and he stabbed Jade. Not the playful stabbing, either; this was the internal-organs-bleeding-out kind. The hole was left there, too tiny to be of use to anyone, as she collapsed into Dave’s arms.
Once she realised what had happened, her face contorted in terror. She wasn’t a troll, conditioned from birth to expect death, nor was she like Rose, who meddled in the forces of the darkness in full knowledge of the consequences. She was a little girl, who grew up in a sheltered paradise. I couldn’t imagine how she felt to stare down death from her state. I left Dave reassuring her. I didn’t like to see her in his arms like that but I couldn’t help her now.
She looked at me, pleading with her eyes. I came over and took her hand. She seemed... a little less scared. If I couldn’t heal her, I could at least try to let her die comfortably.
If I couldn’t heal her...
“JOHN!” I screamed. “GET THE FUCK OVER HERE!”
I finally paid attention to what was going on around me. John and Terezi were, together, holding off Jack Noir. Fury red as fire burned in my veins, and without heed I drew my sickle and charged, catching the agent off balance.
“John!” I yelled again. “Go and fucking heal her! You’re a doctor, aren’t you?”
Once it got through his thick skull, he ran back to her under my cover.
Jack was a more competent fighter than I’d realised. Even with the most powerful equipment our specibi could allow, he fended both Terezi and me off with just the sword from his chest. I decided to press him a little harder by attacking from opposite sides, but he sprouted tentacles from his sides and attacked with those.
I risked a glance over at Jade. John had been unsuccessful in healing her, and now cradled her lifeless body. The distraction allowed Jack to disarm me, and on the other side he started to strangle Terezi.
I could only watch as Dave stood before him, sword raised. He normally fought with a businesslike pose, but this was just icy. Then, there were five Daves, all heading in to the fray. One of them ushered me out of the way, and I went over to check on the blind girl.
Jack had let her go, but it was too late. Her windpipe had been cracked, and it’d take equipment far beyond what we had here to fix that. The first girl I’d ever loved was dying in front of me, just like the second.
I couldn’t stop the tears any more. I don’t know why it only started now, but once it did, it kept going. Everyone was dead, or dying. I was the last of my species to survive, and even then, I probably wouldn’t last much longer. Everyone I’d ever loved, or hated, or been friends with, or even just passed by. Dead. Only the two human boys were still alive, out of everyone I’d ever known, and ever would knew.
In the afterlife, I’m going to kill Sollux for writing that virus.
“Told you,” a hoarse voice said, “cherry cough syrup.”
I looked down. I’d been crying right over Terezi’s face, and she was tasting my tears. She laughed. She couldn’t even breathe, and she could still laugh.
She’d never changed. And I’d never been more grateful for it.
“We had a good run,” she croaked.
“Yeah,” I agreed, quietly. “We did.”
She choked. There was no point. No air getting in now.
“See you... on the other side.”
A drop of teal dripped from the end of her tongue, and Terezi Pyrope was gone, just like the others.
John came over. “Is she...?”
I looked at him. He shut up.
We watched Dave fight. He wasn’t managing too badly - there were enough of him to save any copies that got in danger - but he also wasn’t managing to do any damage. And he was getting tired, especially the ones that I guessed were later in his timeline. Jack was getting more openings, and he took the advantage. He forced a couple of them to rewind once they couldn’t dodge his attacks. Soon, only one was left. Too tired to go on.
John cried his name. A strong gust blew across the arena - strange, as the Veil had never had wind before. It intensified until Jack was forced back, but not until he had managed to take Dave’s head clean off.
I could see the tears well up in John’s eyes. But he didn’t stop. He advanced, pushing the wind with him, forcing Jack Noir back before trapping him in a vortex. He got closer, pulling the wind in tighter. It kept the agent in place, but couldn’t hurt him.
Jack was making wild thrusts out from his wind prison, but couldn’t get a mark. John had his hands full keeping the wind up. It was time to put an end to it.
I drew my sickle.
I charged at the whirling maelstrom, and flung my weapon into it. It was flung around in a ring at a speed I couldn’t keep up with. John let the wind drop, sending my blade whirling into the void and giving me a view of Jack, now covered with gouges and cuts and bleeding heavily. To finish, John heaved his gigantic hammer and crushed the agent.
Both fell to the ground. Jack Noir was dead. John, was bleeding heavily - he’d got too close to the sickle.
I didn’t even need to see that to guess he wasn’t going to make it.
“Karkat,” he croaked, spitting blood. “Did I do well?”
“Yeah,” I said, resigned. “I’m proud of you, John.”
“I think I’m alright with that.”
*
I spent the next few days finding the bodies. I’d learned about funeral rites from the humans, and seemed like the only way I could hang onto my friends. They were all dead, all gone. Every last one.
Fifteen makeshift graves stood forlornly on the highest point of the complex. I’d left a space in the middle.
Everyone is dead, and there is nothing left for me. I’ve considered taking my own life, but I can’t do it. Not yet. I’m not ready to fill that sixteenth place.
When I do, though, at least I’ll have my friends around me. In the end, we were together. And now we always will be.
None of us died alone.
Author's Notes:
Finally! I've been working on this fic for far too long between all my coursework. Good to see it done.
It's probably badly in need of a proofread and will probably see some editing before I put it up on AO3. But for now, it is done and it is here.
I've probably got the highest death-scene-to-other-scenes ratio of any long fic in this fandom here.
oh man
can someone write something really happy
I will draw you anything you like I just
@Author I giggled IRL for a full minute. Can think of no greater end for my scribblings. :3
EDIT
HEY. HEY BURDGE
I DON'T KNOW IF SHAMELESS CUTENESS COUNTS AS HAPPY, BUT I HAD THIS SAVED IN MY SCRAPS.
what i did on my holidays by casey von salamancer age 4 1/3
toda i met a boy colled jon. he is nise. we went flyin on a eciting rokit thing. i sow a gril colled rose. she gav me a clok and a skarf. she is a majic girl. and i sow the sea! it was very big and also blue? ther wer pink tutls. it wos the best day.
spelling is more or less drawn entirely from my baby sister's homework.
Last edited by Kassiopeia; 12-06-2010 at 10:45 PM.
Hey Author, do you mind if I use the EPIC AWESOME POSTER as my avatar? (Or at least as much of it as I can fit, lol.)
Also, anyone know if there any rules against having a swear word in one's avatar? Cause I definitely want to keep that part in if I can make an avatar out of this.
Originally Posted by Author
I just realized that Karkat calls his nemesis Satnav.
Vantas is Satnav backwards.
:headbonk:
YAY! YOU APPRECIATE THE NUANCES!
Edit: Sparkly!Vriska is GLORIOUS.
Last edited by ceruleanTresses; 12-06-2010 at 10:57 PM.
Oh man I really hope the launch of a new ship and a new installment of Servers is enough funny to laugh all that sad away.
This Is A Rather Disturbing Interlude
carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
CG: HEY, ASSHOLE.
TA: gee, thank2 for greetiing me 2o poliitely, iim 2ure iit wiill help you two get thiing2 accomplii2hed
CG: OK, MAYBE I SHOULD TRY TO TONE DOWN MY RAGING CONTEMPT FOR YOU ALL A BIT WHEN PERSUASION IS MORE NECESSARY
CG: BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT POLITENESS IS WHAT'S TAKING PLACE HERE.
CG: GOT IT?
TA: whatever you 2ay, kk
CG: OKAY EVER MIND, STFU
CG: AND IN ACTUALITY, DON'T STFU BECAUSE I NEED YOU TO TELL ME SOMETHING.
CG: THAT IS, IT'S BECOMING PRETTY FUCKING OBVIOUS THAT YOUR BULLSHIT ABOUT ME PLAYING SERVER FOR YOU TO MAKE THINGS GO SMOOTHLY
CG: IS
CG: BULLSHIT. COMPLETE BULLSHIT.
TA: by the way, thank2 for that, you diid 2uch a fanta2tiic job there
TA: ii mean iive never diied before, that wa2 pretty amaziing
TA: 2o thank2
CG: OH MY GOD, STOP THANKING ME, IT'S DEMEANING.
CG: AND DISGUSTING.
CG: YOU'RE DISGUSTING.
TA: wa2 there a glubbiing poiint to thii2?
CG: GLUBBING?
TA: uh
CG: AHAHAHAHA DID YOU REALLY GET FLUSHED DOWN THE LOAD GAPER WITH FISH PRINCESS, THAT'S FUCKING HILARIOUS
CG: THE KISS WAS JUST SOME MAGIC CRAP THAT BROUGHT YOU BACK TO LIFE, ASSHOLE.
TA: the what?
CG: AHAHAHA THIS KEEPS GETTING BETTER
CG: I'M NOT GOING TO TELL YOU WHAT I MEAN, THIS WILL JUST BE HILARIOUS LATER.
CG: WE'RE GOING TO GET BACK ON TASK.
CG: WHY DID I REALLY HAVE TO PLAY SERVER FOR YOU?
TA: man kk ii dont even know
CG: ALLOW ME TO REITERATE:
CG: BULLSHIT. COMPLETE BULLSHIT.
TA: ok 2eriiou2ly iit2 pretty confu2iing
TA: mo2tly iit had two do wiith aradiia and her fate 2henaniigan2
TA: ii thiink ii have two tell you now that youve completely faiiled to gra2p the obviiou2
CG: I'M NOT GOING TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT DIG
CG: BECAUSE IT WAS AWFUL.
TA: kk there2 only one team
CG: DO I NEED TO SAY IT AGAIN?
TA: waiit let me gue22, bull2hiitcompletebull2hiit
CG: DING DING DING! CAPTOR GETS A BRAIN POINT!
CG: OH MAN, I NEED TO WRITE THAT DOWN FOR LATER.
TA: 2ee the thiing ii2 that weve all been iin the 2ame 2e22iion
TA: and we all eventually connect two the other2
TA: two complete a double mobiiu2 chaiin to briing about 2ome crazy future 2tuff that aa wa2 on about
CG: WOW THAT'S RETARDED.
CG: YOU NEED TWO NOT GET PUSHED AROUND BY THOSE GIRLS AND THEIR CRAZY MURDER GAMES.
TA: ii 2ee what you diid there
CG: WHAT, THE MOCKERY?
CG: YEAH THAT WAS PRETTY COOL.
CG: SO IF I HAD TO CONNECT TO YOU FROM THE END OF OUR CHAIN, WHICH BLUE TEAM DIPSHIT WAS IN CHARGE OF KANAYA?
TA: uh
TA: 2hiit
TA: youre goiing two get angry about thii2
TA: ii mean iit
CG: YEAH THERE'S PRETTY MUCH NO WAY THAT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.
TA: yeah
TA: 2o
TA: look2 liike 2he had equiiu2
CG: ...
CG: FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
centaursTesticle [CT] began trolling grimAuxiliatrix [GA]
CT: D --> Hello, grim au%iliatri%.
CT: D --> I am upset.
GA: I Would Return Both The Greeting And The Sentiment, Were I Not Loathe To Type Your Trolltag Into This Conversing Prompter.
GA: But I Will Indulge In Asking You What The Thing Is That Upsets You Is.
GA: Why Are You Upset? And Why Have You Decided That I Would Be The One To Go To About This?
CT: D --> I am upset for a number of reasons, not the least of which is my presence on my moirail's e%orbitantly saccharine planet
CT: D --> Or that my finest creation has been absconded with by a vile peasant
CT: D --> But the ine%capable dilemma in which I find myself is that I am forced by the po100ted logic of this game to connect to you as your server player.
GA: Yes This Is An Outcome That Seemed Likely Given What The Puffy Oracles Have Revealed.
GA: But I Remain Confused As To How This Is Possible Given Your Membership In The Blue Team
CT: D --> Yes, this is a STRONG factor in my present befuddlement.
CT: D --> I was led to believe that I would be in a position of dominance over the yellow-b100ded twin armageddons
CT: D --> But he is asleep and thus is incapable of sustaining a conne%ion.
CT: D --> I have received instru%ions from our leader
CT: No not our leader because our leader is me, i have decided this myself
CT: D --> That I must complete the chain on the other side.
GA: Are You Sure That You Should Be Divulging Your Team's Secrets So Readily?
CT: D --> What secrets
GA: That Sollux Captor Is Asleep And Incapacitated, That You Are Currently On The Planet Of Nepeta Leijon, And That You Are Not The Leader Of The Blue Team.
CT: D --> What is this 100dicrous nonsense, I am certainly the leader of the b100 team.
CT: D --> How do you know the names of my comrades?
GA: I Like To Keep Myself Well-Informed About The Things That Are Happening, Equius Zahaak.
CT: D --> This is
CT: D --> It's
CT: D --> B100dy ine%cusable is what it is.
CT: D --> How c00ld my subordinates be so la% as to allow the enemy to gain such intelligence?
GA: All Of What I Just Said I Gathered From The Words Immediately Preceding My Comment Regarding Your Secrets.
GA: And Your Names I Gathered From Your Neighbor
CT: D --> This is all maddeningly maddening.
GA: Events Have Led Me To Believe I Have A Habit Of Causing Such Situations.
CT: D --> Do not think your b100d e%cuses you, au%iliatri%.
CT: D --> Despite the privilege and standing conferred to you by the circumstances of your jade heritage, I remain inarguably superior to you.
GA: No You Are Not.
CT: D --> What, what is this, of course I am.
CT: D --> My b100d is a noble b100, which I would remind you is higher upon the hemospectrum than your freakish green.
GA: I Have Little Regard For The Hemospectrum, Which I Would Remind You Is For Insecure Wrigglers Who Stain Their Gapers With Excremental Grub Leaks
CT: D --> Such profanity
CT: D --> I believe I am beginning to sweat.
CT: D --> I admit I did not e%pect such impudence from a jade
CT: D --> Why do none of my acquaintances honor the rank of their b100d
GA: That Would Be Due To The Aforementioned Insecure Wrigglers Comment
CT: D --> Enough of this f001ish black solicitation
CT: D --> In any event I believe I have already found a suitable kismesis.
GA: Have I Ever Told You That Everything You Say Is Completely Reprehensible
CT: D --> I believe I have ordered you to cease your spaded flirtation.
GA: Ugh
CT: D --> Shall we dispense with the unpleasantries and connect, au%iliatri%?
GA: My Name Is Kanaya Maryam
CT: D --> Then I will connect to you, Maryam.
GA: ...
GA: Equius.
GA: Why Are You Taking So Long To Connect You Insufferable Worm
CT: :33 < kanaya!!!
GA: Equius?
CT: :33 < no, you silly person!
CT: :33 < *ac growls in disappointment that her meanie moirail has locked out the name change button!*
CT: :33 < *and she hopes he gets a nasty hairball*
GA: Nepeta I Believe That This Is An Inopportune Time For A Tackle-Induced Computer Hijacking
GA: Equius Reprehensible As He Is Must Serve As My Server Player In Order To Complete The Chain
GA: And Might I Add Rescue Me From Meteors
CT: :33 < oh noooo you don't want that to happen!
CT: :33 < he was just being a big fat jerk again and trying to ruin efurrything!
CT: :33 < *the ct neighs in a big evil snarl about sabotaging the red t33m!*
CT: :33 < *but ac rolls on her tummy and tells ga that she purromises not to sabotage her!*
GA: Equius' Conduct Is Not At All Surprising
GA: How Is It That He Has Not Wrested His Grubtop Back From Your Grip
CT: :33 < the answer is that he is verrrry strong, but he is verrrry bad at climbing slippery piles of little cubes!
CT: :33 < you don't want that pooplord's help anyway!
GA: That Is Acceptable
GA: In Order To Make This Hapen As Smoothly As Possible I Suggest You "Purruse" The Relevant Sections Of This Walkthrough
-- grimAuxiliatrix [GA] sent centaursTesticle [CT] the file "AChronicleOfInevitableSuccess.Txt" --
CT: :33 < these are a lot of big words!
GA: You Do See the Instructions, Correct?
GA: Deploy The Alchemiter, Totem Lathe, and Cruxtruder
GA: Open The Cruxtruder With A Heavy Object
GA: And Present Me With The Pre-Punched Card
CT: :33 < kanaya i knooow! *ac just had to do all of this for aa*
CT: :33 < *who did you know is a spirit now!*
GA: A Spirit
GA: You Mean Like A Ghost
CT: :33 < yes like a ghost
CT: :33 < *but ac did not even get to the fun purrt! she just put down all the the stuff and then she and equius had romaaaaantic shenanigans together!!!!!!*
CT: :33 < oh my god it was sooo exciting
CT: :33 < it was the kind of thing where maybe the will, maybe they won't, is it black or red, slap slap slap SMOOOOOCH!!!
CT: X33 < !!!!!!!!!!!!!
GA: Your Enthusiasm And Equius' Depravity Notwithstanding
GA: I Need You To Place The Corpse Of My Dear Lusus Into The Kernel
CT: :33 < *omg ac remembers having to do the same thing with pounce*
CT: :33 < at furst it was sad but then the fishy guy popped open the magic sparkly ghost crux thing
CT: :33 < and guess what else!!!!
GA: What
CT: D --> This is completely disgusting.
CT: D --> Ignore her garbage, nothing is happening.
GA: So You And Aradia Are Not
GA: You Know
CT: D --> Blast and damnation
CT: D --> Have you su%essfully prototyped your 100sus?
GA: Yes
GA: And Here Is My Cruxite Ring
GA: It Seems It Is Too Small For My Finger
GA: I Wonder What Will Happen If I Try To Shove It On
CT: _L --> No
CT: _L --> F%ING G%DD%MN SH%T F%CK N%
CT: _L --> G%DD%MN R%D F%CK%NG T%%M
CT: _L --> NOT SUPPOSED TO F%CK%NG S%RV%V%
GA: My My
GA: What Is This Place?
GA: It Appears To Be The Land Of Rays And Miserable Sad Failed Sabotage
GA: Thank You, You Worthless Creep
CT: _L --> F%CK%NG SH&T Y%% %SSH%L% GR%%N FR%%K
CT: god fucking damn it
Aaaaand finally, I'm back! Here is a chapter in which people talk about feelings, and also do other things. The title is a pun, you see.
Conquest
Chapter Nine: Clubbed to Death
"So, have any idea if Serket has been trying to betray us lately?" Karkat asked, catching Kanaya offguard. He was about to laugh at the stunned look on her face, when that same element surprise caused her hand to jerk so hard it tore the last stitch she had sewn right out of his chest.
"What," she asked, staring at him.
"Ow, fuck!" he cried. He slapped his hand over the damaged area, hoping to ward her off from doing further damage. Kanaya blinked, glancing down at the stitching tool in her hand, only now realizing that she's snapped the length of biothread she'd been working with. "Watch it!" he snarled.
Kanaya raised her eyebrows, moving to reload the stitcher with materials from the nearby trolley without missing another beat. "I'd advise broaching uncomfortable topics with a bit more caution, if you would like my medical attention to remain flawless."
They were in his respiteblock which, while perhaps not the ideal location to received treatment, was definitely preferable in terms of privacy. As far as Karkat was concerned that was first priority, considering the fact that he'd spent the first thirty two stitches - in between curses and grunts - explaining what he understood of 'the plot thus far.'
Location wasn't a big deal for Kanaya's style of work, anyway. Over the years, he had seen the unflinching nerves of steel that had once been used to amputated the legs from Tavros's sleeping body be honed into the unshakably steady technique of an Alternian medical professional. Of course, while she did her time in the ship's medical bay during slow periods, her real calling was on the battlefield as a combat medic.
Emphasis on the combat.
Freshly back from on-planet duties, she had been taking in the news of Feferi's potential dethroning with the same level head she handled almost everything with - everything but her own relationship problems, that was. He guessed that torn stitch was his own damn fault for prodding that bullseye of a soft spot.
"Honestly," Kanaya added moments later, "I don't see why you didn't have this stitched up properly in the first place. Sealing gel works fine for emergencies, but given the circumstances a more complete treatment would have been appropriate."
"I wasn't in the mood." The reality was that Kanaya was one of the few doctors he could stand being fondled by for long enough to get the job done. If one of those idiots had tried to put the stitcher to him the other night he probably would have punched them unconscious about five minutes in. "Anyway, you never answered my question."
"Why are you treating me as if I'm an expert on the subject?" she replied, finishing her reloading of the stitcher and starting where she'd left off. "She's not my moirail." Karkat, having now learned from experience, decided to ignore the unspoken 'anymore' on the end of that sentence.
"Yeah. Sure. But I know how much she likes to flap her fangs in your direction anyway. I thought something useful might've fallen out for once." His tone was lower as he added, "like what her deal with Terezi is."
"Ahh," Kanaya said, in a tone that was so full of understanding that it set Karkat's teeth on edge.
"What? What the fuck is 'ahhh'? It's not like I made some kind of revolutionary statement there. There had been nothing said to give you such a rapturous fucking sigh of enlightenment. I am asking you because I think Vriska is trying to get us all killed."
Kanaya just smirked, and ignored his question. "Well, I suppose since she felt the need to tell me this despite my harsh words advising against it, there's no reason for me to keep it secret. As far as I know, their relationship has nothing to do with political betrayals. I believe Vriska is simply feeling scorned by Terezi's lack of commitment in their black flirtations."
"What?" That comment made his blood boil more than it should have. "Well fuck. Duh, she's not flirting with her. Terezi already has a kismesis, hello?" He paused. "Okay, well, she's probably flirting, but in a way that is dangerous, insincere and to be avoided. Though I'm not surprised that Vriska wouldn't understand that. Oh shit, Vriska Serket ruins a relationship due to overwhelming ignorance, stop the fucking presses!"
Kanaya smiled faintly, shaking her head as she worked. "Karkat, from the looks of things," she said as she finished up the last of the stitches, "her flirtations with you are not precisely safe either."
"I'd say this has passed 'flirting,' Kanaya. She tried to murder me."
"Here I thought you would be flattered that Terezi is apparently willing to indirectly betray us all just for the sake of taking a shot at you."
Karkat grit his teeth, exhaling slowly. "Why is it that all of you seem to think I'm such a suicidal masochist? Sollux said the same fucking thing when I told him."
Kanaya finished cleaning the wound and pulled away, frowning. What had previously been an expression of gentle mockery had transmuted to sympathy, and the lack of explanation for it was making Karkat wish Vriska wasn't the only one that could pick people's brains apart. He gave her a questioning look, eyebrows furrowing with an increasing amount of agitation as she stayed silent. "What?" he demanded.
"Do you want my honest opinion?" she finally asked, crossing her arms. "If you're going to get angry and ignore me, please just say 'no' and save us both the trouble."
While unable to guarantee himself that what she was going to say wouldn't just send him spiralling in a frothing rage, there was no way he could turn down a challenge like that. It was a chance to prove could handle uncomfortable information in a calm and rational manner just like anyone else.
"Would you just spit it out already?"
Kanaya took a deep breath. "I think that Terezi's continued interest is more important to you than the quadrant it takes place in. However, I also think the current state of your relationship is not your ideal, and, in fact, makes you much more uncomfortable than you're willing to admit. I think this has been true since far before your encounter with her the other day."
"The fuck?" he blurted, before reigning himself back. Think. Breathe. Don't let it get to you. "I…what? Are you saying you don't think I'm actually black for her? That's…that's retarded. I have more reason to hate her than anyone. Just being in the same room as her makes me want to stab myself!"
She broke eye contact. "Grief and hate are not the same emotion, Karkat."
"What?"
"You know how this works," she said. "When a concupiscent pair ceases to match, it's not uncommon for one side to flip in order to accommodate the other. But that doesn't mean it will be pleasant or stable."
His mouth was already open to retort, but nothing would come out. What did he counter with? Why was it so hard to tell her that she was wrong?
"I hate her," was all he said, staring at the floor. Kanaya sat down next to him. He was expecting her to contradict him, but she didn't.
"When Vriska…" she began tentatively. The second time she tried, it was stronger. "When Vriska snubbed my more…flushed affections, there was a time when I hated her. I think I thought that if I blamed her, that if I hated her enough, that at least there could still be something. Even if it wasn't what I had originally wanted."
Karkat said nothing. He was frustrated. He was always frustrated - but once again it had lost its bite. He didn't want to argue the point with her, and she didn't seem to either. She made no effort to explain her story's connection to him, or to fight over who was right, or to tell him he was lying to himself. Instead they just sat in silence, watching the minutes pass by, until she finally spoke.
"One thing at a time though, right?" Her hand was on his knee. "I believe we have some work to do."
"So, you're in?"
"Did you really have to ask?" she said, and started putting away her tools.
Their words were brief as they got ready to leave. He replaced his shirt and uniform jacket over a fresh set of bandages. Kanaya said she would dig into her sources to see if she could figure anything out, and to see if the treatment of Terezi's injury had been logged on any of the medical servers. She would be on call if any of them needed help. Karkat mumbled a gruff thanks, and they parted ways.
Sollux was waiting for him in the computer lab.
"How did it go?" he asked, looking up from whatever he was wildly typing into the computer. His fingers notably didn't stop moving as he did so.
"She's in. She'll be ready for orders as soon as we have a strategy, which is the tragically missing component of this arrangement so far. Where's Aradia?"
"Back in the shuttle. She said that if we were only going to be here for a while that someone should stay with it. In case...you know." He gesture to what appeared to be everything but themselves, and oddly enough Karkat understood the sentiment. He would have liked to believe they were safe on his own ship, but obviously that wasn't the case.
Sollux finished up whatever it was he was doing, and the two of them of them began heading back towards the docking bay. It was in the lower portion of the ship, which tended to be the more inactive one, so the only other trolls they encountered were threschecutioners going to and coming from their shuttles. They walked in silence, both obviously busy thinking about something important. At least, until they were interrupted.
"Well, well, well," someone purred from down the hall, and Karkat recognized her insufferable smugness almost instantly. "What do we have here?" He looked up, scowling, his heart already pounding. Oh fuck. Not now. Please not now.
"Candy, candy red," she said. "I can smell it straight through your skin." There was Terezi, about twenty feet down, striding towards them like she owned the place. She was dressed in a sleeveless shirt and army fatigues, her cane tapping uselessly at her side. Sollux froze in place, but the only way Karkat could react was to charge ahead.
"Pyrope," he snapped, cashing in on an authoritative tone reflective of his position. "Where have you been?"
She grinned something vicious, all malice and fangs, and took a bee line towards him. "None of your business, Vantas. I do what I want in my leisure hours."
"TZ, watch it," Sollux said tensely, but it didn't do any good. She was on full invasion-of-privacy mode before either of them could blink. She swept up to Karkat, pressing as close as she could without actually touching. Refusing to back down, Karkat held his position. She breathed in deep, sighing with satisfaction.
"Then again, you've been very nosy lately," she added. "Why don't you stop sending your friends to fight your battles and face me head on?"
Karkat snorted bitterly. "You have no idea what you're doing, do you? You are seriously too fucked in the head to even realize what's going on."
"Something's going on?" Her shit-eating smirk implied to him that she was being facetious.
"Fuck, you are unbelievable. You're going to destroy everything we all worked for sweeps to accomplish, and you don't even give a shit."
"Well, from the looks of it, 'all we worked to accomplish' isn't worth a hell of a lot, now is it?"
"Fuck, TZ," Sollux growled from behind them. "Since when are you-" She held out a hand to silence him.
"Hold that thought, Sollux, because I don't want to hear it. This doesn't concern you." He opened his mouth to speak again, and she continued even more forcefully, "Would you just fuck off for once?"
"That's it," Karkat snarled, pushing Terezi away from him. "I have had it up to here with your fucking bullshit, Terezi. You're delusional. A Goddamn mental patient. You're fucking up all over the place, and you're the only one who doesn't realize what a mess you are."
For the first time in ages, Terezi's smirk was gone. There was no more teasing or laughing. The only thing left was anger.
She planted her hand hard against Karkat's chest, right over his freshly stitched wound, and slammed him back against the wall.
"Shit!" he yelled as she kept on pushing to hold him in place.
"You have it backwards," she hissed. "I'm the only one who realizes a lot of things. I realize what you are Feferi are doing. I realize how you're lying to all the others. I realize what you deserve."
Something occurred to Karkat as she spoke. He really had no idea what she was talking about.
"Terezi, stop it!" Sollux shouted from somewhere Karkat wasn't entirely cognizant of. At his side, he balled his hand into a fist. He proceeded to dig his knuckles as far as he could into her side, right where he remember stabbing a certain midday assassin. Her whole body convulsed in agony, and she fell back, releasing him.
"Like you thought you could fool anyone," he growled, just as she came lunging back, bringing a hand full of claws straight across his face. Four streaks of too-bright red lit up across his cheek, but he was already at the point of no return. He didn't even pause to flinch before striking back with his own nails, shedding teal blood down her shoulder and chest.
He was almost certain Sollux was screaming something at them - probably for them to stop what they were doing - but Karkat didn't even hear it anymore. He struck again, this time with a fist, but was caught off guard when she grabbed him by the horn, dragging him down to her level.
She drug her tongue across his cheek, lapping up trails of spilt cherry blood. Then she used that momentum to throw him to the floor, licking her lips as she did.
It was after that moment that all sense of reason was lost.
Karkat vaguely remember tackling her to the floor and falling in a mess of curses and claws, the two of them kicking and punching and screaming at each other in a pile. Time was indeterminate, but it couldn't have been longer than a several seconds. Sollux wouldn't have allowed it.
They were wrenched apart by a blast of intangible energy and left hanging in the air, meters apart. In between then was Sollux, eyes blazing, holding them captive in auras of red and blue.
Sollux was panting, apparently hoarse from yelling, his arms extended as he focused on keeping them in place. "UN-FUCKING-BELIEVABLE!" he gasped.
"Put. Me. Down," Karkat demanded, similarly breathless. He struggled uselessly against Sollux's hold, suspended in a glow of red, while Terezi finally gave up trying to fight against a similar cloaking of blue.
"No," Sollux snapped, glaring at him, his patience completely gone. "Shut up. Sit the fuck down!" He threw his hands down and they both collapsed to the floor, bloody and beaten from their strife. "You two are completely out of control! What am I even seeing here?"
"You would not understand," Terezi grumbled, surprising calm considering what she's just been doing.
"You're right! I don't understand! I don't understand any of this!" Sollux went on. "I don't even know what I'm supposed to say. It's like you've gone completely insane. What the hell happened to you?"
"Wish I could tell you, Sollux," she muttered.
"Why don't you?"
Having lost her glasses in the fight, Karkat could see her glare at him with those pure red eyes of her's, filled with a level of hate even he was unaccustomed to dealing with. "Guilty by association, I'm afraid."
"You are so full of shit," Karkat spat back.
"Think we could talk without all this verbal sniping bullshit?" Sollux asked. "We're all in danger here. What is it going to take for you two to get that through your heads?" He looked back to Terezi again, almost pleading. "Could you maybe try talking to me?"
"No," she said simply, picking up her cane and getting to her feet. "I'm out of here. If you don't want him hurt, Sollux, you better keep him out of my range. That's my promise to you."
Neither Karkat or Sollux had the energy left to pursue her. As she left, Karkat sank back to the floor, breathing slowly. It wasn't until Sollux came to his side and pulled him up by the shoulder that he got to his feet.
"Idiot," Sollux muttered.
Karkat just grunted, wiping some for the blood off of his face and nails. Eventually, something occurred to him.
"Come on," he said, storming in the direction of the docking bay.
"What are you going to do?" Sollux asked as he moved. Karkat scowled.
"So, she just came from the docking bay, huh? I've got an idea."
These ladies are going to make Karkat's head explode one of these days. I swear, eventually people in this story will do things besides talk about feelings and have fights in hallways.
Conquest: Future-fic. Four sweeps after Sgurb, the trolls have been recruited into various facets of the Alternian imperial army. Assassination attempts, black romance, and political unheavals. Captain Vantas's day just keeps getting worse. (In Progress.)
ffffff damnit my fic got wedged between Exposure and a new Conquest. BLUH
That was great, Quixotic. Now I want to know what Terezi thinks Karkat's doing with Fef- there are some serious feelings and problems going down on this starship. (come on chapter ten chapter ten)
ha ha what's all this old crap Past Me put in his signature, get that stuff outta there
@Quixotic oh god I've been meaning to read this thing for the longest time. I'm on chapter three now and it is delicious. Romantic shenanigans just what I needed to cheer me up :3
@SpacetimeCounselor Interesting :3 You play Equius a lot meaner than I've seen him written, but I approve of the reaction it elicits in Kanaya. Nice.
EDIT
HEY. HEY BURDGE
I DON'T KNOW IF SHAMELESS CUTENESS COUNTS AS HAPPY, BUT I HAD THIS SAVED IN MY SCRAPS.
what i did on my holidays by casey von salamancer age 4 1/3
toda i met a boy colled jon. he is nise. we went flyin on a eciting rokit thing. i sow a gril colled rose. she gav me a clok and a skarf. she is a majic girl. and i sow the sea! it was very big and also blue? ther wer pink tutls. it wos the best day.
spelling is more or less drawn entirely from my baby sister's homework.
Kass, keep reading Conquest for it is glorious.
Also, Equius' demeanor in TIARDI (hey, a pronouncable acronym) is due largely to his situation here- his attempts to usurp control of the blue team have failed-ish, immediately after his plans to make Aradia love him failed he gained a new kismesis, who immediately disappeared, he's being forced to help the enemy team progress, and the client on the end of his pent-up frustration is lower on the hemospectrum than he is and is outspokenly insulting his belief system. Once said client bypasses his sabotage plans, he (and his bow, do u c what i did thar) snapped.
BLUH BLUH
HUGE RATIONALIZATION
EDIT: OH MY GOD ADORABLE CASEY VON SALAMANCER BEST BEST BEST THING
ha ha what's all this old crap Past Me put in his signature, get that stuff outta there
@Spacetime Oh no I think that's a pretty good rationalisation :3 Honestly, while I enjoy the general characterisation of Equius as creepy-but-harmless to the point of endearing, there's definitely a vein of (racist, super-strong, robot-building genius, EXTREMELY CREEPY) darkness/meanness in there to be mined.
@Quixotic gog daaaaamn I do not want to spam up the whole thread with my thoughts on Conquest so far, but maaan. I am on chapter 5 and it is just really really good. I love the Ketchup and Mustard squad and I love how firmly Terezi has Vriska wrapped round her little finger, and I especially love how you manage to create such a clear picture of the community and hierarchy and atmosphere of the world you're building in such an economical way. Absolutely ace. (It's nearly 6am here and I should probably go to sleep at some point, but aaaa I want to keep reading!)
DAAAAAAA
YOU GET THAT TO THE FANART THREAD THIS INSTANT, SIR/MADAM
"ths has ben my best
day
everrrrrrrr"
Sorry, had to get that out.
Your chumhandle is quizzicalDraconian. You don't like to talk much because you're often busy, or maybe that's just how you troll people. Also you are sorta kinda indecisive about some stuff sometimes and use way too many weird emoticons. :B :V :'
Check out my Forum Adventure Jumpcat!
Link to webcomic and unnatural Bec Noir love under spoilers:
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ^ In my dreams, I am the Eridan in this picture. It's me. ^
(Picture done by NatDragon)
@Quixotic gog daaaaamn I do not want to spam up the whole thread with my thoughts on Conquest so far, but maaan. I am on chapter 5 and it is just really really good. I love the Ketchup and Mustard squad and I love how firmly Terezi has Vriska wrapped round her little finger, and I especially love how you manage to create such a clear picture of the community and hierarchy and atmosphere of the world you're building in such an economical way. Absolutely ace. (It's nearly 6am here and I should probably go to sleep at some point, but aaaa I want to keep reading!)
Only four chapters leeeeft! You can do it. =O But seriously, thanks so much! Playing around with troll society is one of really fun things about writing this, because adult troll life is so vague in actual canon material. I've been allowed to extrapolate a lot based on a few mentioned details (troll rom in general, the fact that EVERY adult troll is in the army, etc) and it's been pretty cool imagining how the trolls we know would grow into that situation given the chance.
So yeah! I'm super glad you and all the other wonderful people that have commented have been enjoying themselves so much thus far. You guys are the best motivation a girl could ask for.
Last edited by Quixotic; 12-07-2010 at 12:12 AM.
Conquest: Future-fic. Four sweeps after Sgurb, the trolls have been recruited into various facets of the Alternian imperial army. Assassination attempts, black romance, and political unheavals. Captain Vantas's day just keeps getting worse. (In Progress.)
In light of the recent spritelog, you'd think Dream!Jade plus THAT would have a bit of trouble mixing:
JADE has now prototyped DREAM!JADE. Open Spritelog:
GG: so, how do you-
JADESPRITE: HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!
GG: ._.
GG: are you ok??
JADESPRITE: THIS IS REEEEALLY FUCKING INTENSE RIGHT NOW!!!
JADESPRITE: I MEAN
JADESPRITE: THIS IS UNCOMFORTABLY ENERGETIC I FEEL LIKE IM GONNA EXPLODE!!! D8
GG: is it like, gonna calm down or... D:
JADESPRITE: OW OW OW
JADESPRITE: REMEMBER WHEN WE, I MEAN YOU
JADESPRITE: DRANK LIKE A GALLON OF MOUNTAIN DEW WHEN WE WERE SIX
JADESPRITE: AND THEN GRANDPA GAVE US THAT 'MOONSHINY' STUFF ON TOP OF IT???
GG: oh god that was horrible!! :(
JADESPRITE: WELL PUT THAT IN THE FUCKING COOKALIZER
JADESPRITE: AND SET IT TO NUCLEAR OVERLOAD!!!
GG: O_O!!
JADESPRITE: WE'LL TALK LATER, MAYBE I'LL FEEL LESS LIKE I'M HAVING ALL OF THE SEIZURES
JADESPRITE: AFTER I'VE SHOWN A COUPLE THOUSAND FUCKING IMPS THE BRIGHT SIDE OF SOME ASSORTED FUCKING RADIUM ISOTOPES!!!!
GG: um ._.
JADESPRITE: FUCKING WOOF!!!!
End Spritelog
Just got caught up on the thread, and I have a few comments to make:
Kass, Quixotic, Skaian, your fics are excellent as always, and it's great to see new installments popping up all over the place.
Tenebrais...
I honestly don't know what to say. That's possibly the saddest fic I've ever read, including Veil Death. I salute you.
Avatar by Adoxographist! Fanfiction in spoiler! Lots of shout poles!
Oh god Conquest. I don't think my heart can take this much freaking excitement!
I had been oh so looking forward to Terezi/Karkat meeting post-murder attempt. Beautifully executed, every chapter the suspense multiplies. Keep on writing about hallway fights and feelings
Last edited by mewtant-307k; 12-07-2010 at 01:25 AM.
Aaaaand finally, I'm back! Here is a chapter in which people talk about feelings, and also do other things. The title is a pun, you see.
Conquest
Chapter Nine: Clubbed to Death
"So, have any idea if Serket has been trying to betray us lately?" Karkat asked, catching Kanaya offguard. He was about to laugh at the stunned look on her face, when that same element surprise caused her hand to jerk so hard it tore the last stitch she had sewn right out of his chest.
"What," she asked, staring at him.
"Ow, fuck!" he cried. He slapped his hand over the damaged area, hoping to ward her off from doing further damage. Kanaya blinked, glancing down at the stitching tool in her hand, only now realizing that she's snapped the length of biothread she'd been working with. "Watch it!" he snarled.
Kanaya raised her eyebrows, moving to reload the stitcher with materials from the nearby trolley without missing another beat. "I'd advise broaching uncomfortable topics with a bit more caution, if you would like my medical attention to remain flawless."
They were in his respiteblock which, while perhaps not the ideal location to received treatment, was definitely preferable in terms of privacy. As far as Karkat was concerned that was first priority, considering the fact that he'd spent the first thirty two stitches - in between curses and grunts - explaining what he understood of 'the plot thus far.'
Location wasn't a big deal for Kanaya's style of work, anyway. Over the years, he had seen the unflinching nerves of steel that had once been used to amputated the legs from Tavros's sleeping body be honed into the unshakably steady technique of an Alternian medical professional. Of course, while she did her time in the ship's medical bay during slow periods, her real calling was on the battlefield as a combat medic.
Emphasis on the combat.
Freshly back from on-planet duties, she had been taking in the news of Feferi's potential dethroning with the same level head she handled almost everything with - everything but her own relationship problems, that was. He guessed that torn stitch was his own damn fault for prodding that bullseye of a soft spot.
"Honestly," Kanaya added moments later, "I don't see why you didn't have this stitched up properly in the first place. Sealing gel works fine for emergencies, but given the circumstances a more complete treatment would have been appropriate."
"I wasn't in the mood." The reality was that Kanaya was one of the few doctors he could stand being fondled by for long enough to get the job done. If one of those idiots had tried to put the stitcher to him the other night he probably would have punched them unconscious about five minutes in. "Anyway, you never answered my question."
"Why are you treating me as if I'm an expert on the subject?" she replied, finishing her reloading of the stitcher and starting where she'd left off. "She's not my moirail." Karkat, having now learned from experience, decided to ignore the unspoken 'anymore' on the end of that sentence.
"Yeah. Sure. But I know how much she likes to flap her fangs in your direction anyway. I thought something useful might've fallen out for once." His tone was lower as he added, "like what her deal with Terezi is."
"Ahh," Kanaya said, in a tone that was so full of understanding that it set Karkat's teeth on edge.
"What? What the fuck is 'ahhh'? It's not like I made some kind of revolutionary statement there. There had been nothing said to give you such a rapturous fucking sigh of enlightenment. I am asking you because I think Vriska is trying to get us all killed."
Kanaya just smirked, and ignored his question. "Well, I suppose since she felt the need to tell me this despite my harsh words advising against it, there's no reason for me to keep it secret. As far as I know, their relationship has nothing to do with political betrayals. I believe Vriska is simply feeling scorned by Terezi's lack of commitment in their black flirtations."
"What?" That comment made his blood boil more than it should have. "Well fuck. Duh, she's not flirting with her. Terezi already has a kismesis, hello?" He paused. "Okay, well, she's probably flirting, but in a way that is dangerous, insincere and to be avoided. Though I'm not surprised that Vriska wouldn't understand that. Oh shit, Vriska Serket ruins a relationship due to overwhelming ignorance, stop the fucking presses!"
Kanaya smiled faintly, shaking her head as she worked. "Karkat, from the looks of things," she said as she finished up the last of the stitches, "her flirtations with you are not precisely safe either."
"I'd say this has passed 'flirting,' Kanaya. She tried to murder me."
"Here I thought you would be flattered that Terezi is apparently willing to indirectly betray us all just for the sake of taking a shot at you."
Karkat grit his teeth, exhaling slowly. "Why is it that all of you seem to think I'm such a suicidal masochist? Sollux said the same fucking thing when I told him."
Kanaya finished cleaning the wound and pulled away, frowning. What had previously been an expression of gentle mockery had transmuted to sympathy, and the lack of explanation for it was making Karkat wish Vriska wasn't the only one that could pick people's brains apart. He gave her a questioning look, eyebrows furrowing with an increasing amount of agitation as she stayed silent. "What?" he demanded.
"Do you want my honest opinion?" she finally asked, crossing her arms. "If you're going to get angry and ignore me, please just say 'no' and save us both the trouble."
While unable to guarantee himself that what she was going to say wouldn't just send him spiralling in a frothing rage, there was no way he could turn down a challenge like that. It was a chance to prove could handle uncomfortable information in a calm and rational manner just like anyone else.
"Would you just spit it out already?"
Kanaya took a deep breath. "I think that Terezi's continued interest is more important to you than the quadrant it takes place in. However, I also think the current state of your relationship is not your ideal, and, in fact, makes you much more uncomfortable than you're willing to admit. I think this has been true since far before your encounter with her the other day."
"The fuck?" he blurted, before reigning himself back. Think. Breathe. Don't let it get to you. "I…what? Are you saying you don't think I'm actually black for her? That's…that's retarded. I have more reason to hate her than anyone. Just being in the same room as her makes me want to stab myself!"
She broke eye contact. "Grief and hate are not the same emotion, Karkat."
"What?"
"You know how this works," she said. "When a concupiscent pair ceases to match, it's not uncommon for one side to flip in order to accommodate the other. But that doesn't mean it will be pleasant or stable."
His mouth was already open to retort, but nothing would come out. What did he counter with? Why was it so hard to tell her that she was wrong?
"I hate her," was all he said, staring at the floor. Kanaya sat down next to him. He was expecting her to contradict him, but she didn't.
"When Vriska…" she began tentatively. The second time she tried, it was stronger. "When Vriska snubbed my more…flushed affections, there was a time when I hated her. I think I thought that if I blamed her, that if I hated her enough, that at least there could still be something. Even if it wasn't what I had originally wanted."
Karkat said nothing. He was frustrated. He was always frustrated - but once again it had lost its bite. He didn't want to argue the point with her, and she didn't seem to either. She made no effort to explain her story's connection to him, or to fight over who was right, or to tell him he was lying to himself. Instead they just sat in silence, watching the minutes pass by, until she finally spoke.
"One thing at a time though, right?" Her hand was on his knee. "I believe we have some work to do."
"So, you're in?"
"Did you really have to ask?" she said, and started putting away her tools.
Their words were brief as they got ready to leave. He replaced his shirt and uniform jacket over a fresh set of bandages. Kanaya said she would dig into her sources to see if she could figure anything out, and to see if the treatment of Terezi's injury had been logged on any of the medical servers. She would be on call if any of them needed help. Karkat mumbled a gruff thanks, and they parted ways.
Sollux was waiting for him in the computer lab.
"How did it go?" he asked, looking up from whatever he was wildly typing into the computer. His fingers notably didn't stop moving as he did so.
"She's in. She'll be ready for orders as soon as we have a strategy, which is the tragically missing component of this arrangement so far. Where's Aradia?"
"Back in the shuttle. She said that if we were only going to be here for a while that someone should stay with it. In case...you know." He gesture to what appeared to be everything but themselves, and oddly enough Karkat understood the sentiment. He would have liked to believe they were safe on his own ship, but obviously that wasn't the case.
Sollux finished up whatever it was he was doing, and the two of them of them began heading back towards the docking bay. It was in the lower portion of the ship, which tended to be the more inactive one, so the only other trolls they encountered were threschecutioners going to and coming from their shuttles. They walked in silence, both obviously busy thinking about something important. At least, until they were interrupted.
"Well, well, well," someone purred from down the hall, and Karkat recognized her insufferable smugness almost instantly. "What do we have here?" He looked up, scowling, his heart already pounding. Oh fuck. Not now. Please not now.
"Candy, candy red," she said. "I can smell it straight through your skin." There was Terezi, about twenty feet down, striding towards them like she owned the place. She was dressed in a sleeveless shirt and army fatigues, her cane tapping uselessly at her side. Sollux froze in place, but the only way Karkat could react was to charge ahead.
"Pyrope," he snapped, cashing in on an authoritative tone reflective of his position. "Where have you been?"
She grinned something vicious, all malice and fangs, and took a bee line towards him. "None of your business, Vantas. I do what I want in my leisure hours."
"TZ, watch it," Sollux said tensely, but it didn't do any good. She was on full invasion-of-privacy mode before either of them could blink. She swept up to Karkat, pressing as close as she could without actually touching. Refusing to back down, Karkat held his position. She breathed in deep, sighing with satisfaction.
"Then again, you've been very nosy lately," she added. "Why don't you stop sending your friends to fight your battles and face me head on?"
Karkat snorted bitterly. "You have no idea what you're doing, do you? You are seriously too fucked in the head to even realize what's going on."
"Something's going on?" Her shit-eating smirk implied to him that she was being facetious.
"Fuck, you are unbelievable. You're going to destroy everything we all worked for sweeps to accomplish, and you don't even give a shit."
"Well, from the looks of it, 'all we worked to accomplish' isn't worth a hell of a lot, now is it?"
"Fuck, TZ," Sollux growled from behind them. "Since when are you-" She held out a hand to silence him.
"Hold that thought, Sollux, because I don't want to hear it. This doesn't concern you." He opened his mouth to speak again, and she continued even more forcefully, "Would you just fuck off for once?"
"That's it," Karkat snarled, pushing Terezi away from him. "I have had it up to here with your fucking bullshit, Terezi. You're delusional. A Goddamn mental patient. You're fucking up all over the place, and you're the only one who doesn't realize what a mess you are."
For the first time in ages, Terezi's smirk was gone. There was no more teasing or laughing. The only thing left was anger.
She planted her hand hard against Karkat's chest, right over his freshly stitched wound, and slammed him back against the wall.
"Shit!" he yelled as she kept on pushing to hold him in place.
"You have it backwards," she hissed. "I'm the only one who realizes a lot of things. I realize what you are Feferi are doing. I realize how you're lying to all the others. I realize what you deserve."
Something occurred to Karkat as she spoke. He really had no idea what she was talking about.
"Terezi, stop it!" Sollux shouted from somewhere Karkat wasn't entirely cognizant of. At his side, he balled his hand into a fist. He proceeded to dig his knuckles as far as he could into her side, right where he remember stabbing a certain midday assassin. Her whole body convulsed in agony, and she fell back, releasing him.
"Like you thought you could fool anyone," he growled, just as she came lunging back, bringing a hand full of claws straight across his face. Four streaks of too-bright red lit up across his cheek, but he was already at the point of no return. He didn't even pause to flinch before striking back with his own nails, shedding teal blood down her shoulder and chest.
He was almost certain Sollux was screaming something at them - probably for them to stop what they were doing - but Karkat didn't even hear it anymore. He struck again, this time with a fist, but was caught off guard when she grabbed him by the horn, dragging him down to her level.
She drug her tongue across his cheek, lapping up trails of spilt cherry blood. Then she used that momentum to throw him to the floor, licking her lips as she did.
It was after that moment that all sense of reason was lost.
Karkat vaguely remember tackling her to the floor and falling in a mess of curses and claws, the two of them kicking and punching and screaming at each other in a pile. Time was indeterminate, but it couldn't have been longer than a several seconds. Sollux wouldn't have allowed it.
They were wrenched apart by a blast of intangible energy and left hanging in the air, meters apart. In between then was Sollux, eyes blazing, holding them captive in auras of red and blue.
Sollux was panting, apparently hoarse from yelling, his arms extended as he focused on keeping them in place. "UN-FUCKING-BELIEVABLE!" he gasped.
"Put. Me. Down," Karkat demanded, similarly breathless. He struggled uselessly against Sollux's hold, suspended in a glow of red, while Terezi finally gave up trying to fight against a similar cloaking of blue.
"No," Sollux snapped, glaring at him, his patience completely gone. "Shut up. Sit the fuck down!" He threw his hands down and they both collapsed to the floor, bloody and beaten from their strife. "You two are completely out of control! What am I even seeing here?"
"You would not understand," Terezi grumbled, surprising calm considering what she's just been doing.
"You're right! I don't understand! I don't understand any of this!" Sollux went on. "I don't even know what I'm supposed to say. It's like you've gone completely insane. What the hell happened to you?"
"Wish I could tell you, Sollux," she muttered.
"Why don't you?"
Having lost her glasses in the fight, Karkat could see her glare at him with those pure red eyes of her's, filled with a level of hate even he was unaccustomed to dealing with. "Guilty by association, I'm afraid."
"You are so full of shit," Karkat spat back.
"Think we could talk without all this verbal sniping bullshit?" Sollux asked. "We're all in danger here. What is it going to take for you two to get that through your heads?" He looked back to Terezi again, almost pleading. "Could you maybe try talking to me?"
"No," she said simply, picking up her cane and getting to her feet. "I'm out of here. If you don't want him hurt, Sollux, you better keep him out of my range. That's my promise to you."
Neither Karkat or Sollux had the energy left to pursue her. As she left, Karkat sank back to the floor, breathing slowly. It wasn't until Sollux came to his side and pulled him up by the shoulder that he got to his feet.
"Idiot," Sollux muttered.
Karkat just grunted, wiping some for the blood off of his face and nails. Eventually, something occurred to him.
"Come on," he said, storming in the direction of the docking bay.
"What are you going to do?" Sollux asked as he moved. Karkat scowled.
"So, she just came from the docking bay, huh? I've got an idea."
These ladies are going to make Karkat's head explode one of these days. I swear, eventually people in this story will do things besides talk about feelings and have fights in hallways.
Man, it sure is annoying how characters walk away before they can spill more juicy exposition, and then you have to wait for the next update :P
In light of the recent spritelog, you'd think Dream!Jade plus THAT would have a bit of trouble mixing:
JADE has now prototyped DREAM!JADE. Open Spritelog:
GG: so, how do you-
JADESPRITE: HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!
GG: ._.
GG: are you ok??
JADESPRITE: THIS IS REEEEALLY FUCKING INTENSE RIGHT NOW!!!
JADESPRITE: I MEAN
JADESPRITE: THIS IS UNCOMFORTABLY ENERGETIC I FEEL LIKE IM GONNA EXPLODE!!! D8
GG: is it like, gonna calm down or...
JADESPRITE: OW OW OW
JADESPRITE: REMEMBER WHEN WE, I MEAN YOU
JADESPRITE: DRANK LIKE A GALLON OF MOUNTAIN DEW WHEN WE WERE SIX
JADESPRITE: AND THEN GRANDPA GAVE US THAT 'MOONSHINY' STUFF ON TOP OF IT???
GG: oh god that was horrible!!
JADESPRITE: WELL PUT THAT IN THE FUCKING COOKALIZER
JADESPRITE: AND SET IT TO NUCLEAR OVERLOAD!!!
GG: O_O!!
JADESPRITE: WE'LL TALK LATER, MAYBE I'LL FEEL LESS LIKE I'M HAVING ALL OF THE SEIZURES
JADESPRITE: AFTER I'VE SHOWN A COUPLE THOUSAND FUCKING IMPS THE BRIGHT SIDE OF SOME ASSORTED FUCKING RADIUM ISOTOPES!!!!
GG: um ._.
JADESPRITE: FUCKING WOOF!!!!
End Spritelog
I can't tell you how happy this makes me. My favorite part was
Originally Posted by Author
Oh my gog I am such a terrible person
I'm on chapter three now and it is delicious. Romantic shenanigans just what I needed to cheer me up :3
Equius would be an awesome ship. Also this was highly amusing.
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