MSPA Fanfiction IV

[ceruleanTresses]

Video games kept me away from the thread for a couple days, but then I came back and read all of it. All of the fics are awesome, ALL OF THEM. I would give specific shoutouts, but this is like the fourth time I'm trying to write this comment and all the previous times the stupid page has refreshed on me because my keyboard is dumb, so I will just say that they are all awesome.

@Ganato: I know you asked this a while ago, but my input on the Little Sisters (I forget what you're calling them in the fic) is that Karkat wouldn't kill them all. He might kill the first one, regret it, and save the rest, as I think you suggested; or he might simply save them all; but he wouldn't kill them all. He's an asshole, but he's not evil. He'd probably be a dick about it, being all "YOU BETTER BE GRATEFUL AS S*** FOR MY F***ING BENEVOLENCE" or something, but he wouldn't murder little girls who can't fight back. That's Vriska territory. So that is my two cents, and I am loving the fic!

[SkaianRedeemer]

@Skaian: I didn't lose any drive, it's just that I'm paranoid....and rather ill...which don't work well together.

Bluh, well, that's certainly not going to help! Glad you got it out!

[Villainsocks]

HOLY HELL YOU GUYS I am the slowest writer, it is me. Sorry this took so long. HUGE THANKS to Decker for advice and writer's block removal services.


Flip it Four Ways

Violet

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He felt blind.

Even behind his glasses the light was such that his eyes stung and watered. He raised a hand to shade his eyes and searched, desperately, for some sort of shade. There was none to be found – it was so bright that he didn't even cast a shadow.

The heat, too, was intense; a desert's glare. High above Skaia was less a symbol of their goal than a baleful eye, searing all it touched.

The ground was sandy, some sort of pale crystal that shifted underneath his feet. The crystals, too, shone with a searing light – light above, light below.

Above all, it was silent. Eerily silent. He was so used to the constant ticking of LOHAC that the idea of silence was almost terrifying. Dave Egbert's LOHAW had been filled with constant whistling; Hellmurder Island had teemed with birds with the sound of the sea all around. Here?

Nothing. Even the shifting of the sand made no sound at all. There was only the heat, and the light.

Time had been recently an almost tangible thing to Dave, something he could sense and pull at, a rhythm. This had overridden his once utter lack of patience. Before, he'd fidgeted, he'd tapped his feet while sitting, he'd taken on more projects and hobbies than it was actually possible to keep up with in an effort to fill the passing of the hours. He'd since learned a little patience, subjecting himself to the flow and having a little patience.

But again, the lack of sound here meant that the hours seemed to pass with uncharacteristic slowness. No amount of fiddling with the timetables shook the feeling, and so it seemed like an eternity had passed when he stumbled upon the palace.

Literally. He was so glad that Terezi couldn't see him like this, she'd be laughing her ass off. He slowly felt around the base of the thing. Why couldn't he see it? Damn thing was right there, even if it was made of glowy shit it shouldn't be invisible.

His blind flailing found him a step, which he felt along, whacking it with his hands until he was sure it was there. The ascent was a shuddering, halting affair, each step an attempt to make certain it was really there.

This is stupid. What am I even looking for anyway?

After all, the last two Daves hadn't been very helpful. The first it turned out hadn't been able to use the Quest Bed either; the second had been out of his mind. And this one? Who even knew.


I should turn back.

He kept climbing. As he ascended, it actually grew darker, and he could see faint outlines of the building he stood on. He caught reflections of himself occasionally in its surface, until finally he could see himself beneath his feet.

There's one way to find the path.

This took him inside, where he was suddenly faced with a thousand reflections of himself – not time duplicates, but mirrors. Red and black Daves looked at him from every angle (and he was very glad, suddenly, that he hadn't changed into his Felt suit).

It was still bright inside – the glass was luminescent, like everything else on this planet – but it was at least a little darker than it was outside. He stepped forward through a patch of brighter light.

And immediately jumped back. He was lucky that his hand had hit it first – he sported a bright red sunburn across the back of his hand.

Heat and light. Gog damn Strider, you're an idiot.

He looked around the temple now with new eyes. There were numerous patches of white hot light, focused through lenses and reflected by the mirrors.

Jegus fuck, why are these places always crazy videogame deathtraps?

Maybe because this is a crazy videogame.

Stop talking to yourself.

He came to a hall of mirrors.

Here, the light had dimmed to something that seemed almost cool and dark, save for the few lances of white-hot light that pierced the darkness. Otherwise, everything was a pale violet. Strangely, the heat was more intense here.

Ultraviolet light, he mused. Darker it goes the hotter it gets. Just 'cause you can't see it doesn't mean it can't kill you.

Still, despite the dimness, the figure in the center of the hall stood out like a tarantula on a wedding cake. It was dressed all in black, its face obscured by a dark hood.

The figure stood slowly, drawing its sword - a piece that had even more of the tarantula-on-wedding-cake look than the figure itself. The blade didn't seem to be there: it was composed of a series of squares that seemed to shift along its length when it moved, but more than that it was black to the point that it looked like a scar on the world, a series of dead pixels on a screen.

“Stay where you are.

Dave stopped in mid step.

“What? Why?”

“I merely ask that you hold still.”

It was so fast Dave couldn't even see it. He could feel it though, a tug on Time's fabric, a skip in the beat – Lalonde was moving at the speed of light.

Quicker than thought he whipped out his timetables – no scratching back, that'd create a splinter timeline. He had just enough time to try something completely different.

The left disk, red, he spun back and forth, mentally making adjustments before spinning it as fast as he could. The right, violet, he slowed to almost stopping. He could feel the time-tables rattle with the effort of him bending them to a purpose they weren't quite ready to take on, feel them resisting his sudden improvisation. Gears ground and shuddered, and as he he turned to face the other boy he could see Lalonde flicker and turn nearly transparent as he slowed down, the actual light radiating from him slowing as it met Strider's eyes.

Lalonde was reaching one hand for his shirt, the other white-knuckled around that black blade. He was not okay with this. What the hell was the other Dave doing? He took a step backwards.

And into open air.

He couldn't even scream. He fell ten feet before hitting something hard and tumbling heels over head down a steep, curving incline. The timetables clattered the ground just after, one of them coming to rest far above and the other bouncing down behind him.

It wasn't there before it wasn't there what the fuck what the fuck...

He flailed out his arms and scrabbled, trying to stop himself, but all he did was push himself towards the edge... and fall off of it.

Open air.

Darkness.

He couldn't even scream. He couldn't scratch back to save himself; the timetables were lost somewhere in the abyss and it just

kept


getting



darker




time

s t r e t c h e d

D I A L A T E D

s

l


o



w




e





d

.
.
.

stopped?

ƃuıpuəun pəuƃıəɹ ssəuʞɹɐp əɥʇ llıʇs puɐ

someone wake me up

please god someone wake me up

bro
bro

bro where the hell are you

davesprite




somebody for the love of god




terezi











jade






no no no stupidest way to go out ever fuck fuck let me out


please just


no i dont want to be the doomed one








please

And then a hand closed around his arm.

“Do you want to live?”

“What kind of completely fucking stupid question is that!? YES, damn you, yes!”

“Oh good.”

Something warm and faintly violet wrapped around him, and he could feel Time compressing, slipping towards a singularity as their motion through space as everything, everything turned that same violent violet.

It was over in an eternity and an instant. He lay perfectly still, something heavy sitting on top of him, and he took in the fact that everything was full of light. God. He'd never noticed how lovely light was before. Man, what was this heavy warm thing on top of him? That was nice too. Actually yeah let's just. Lay here. Like a coolkid. This is cool, and what just happened was totally fine.

Man what is that warm heavy thing.

“... get off.”

“My apologies.”

The warm weight lifted.

“It's simply that you seemed so comfortable like th-”

“Please shut up.”

He lay there for a few long moments, trying to put himself back together. He was fine, really. Just fine. Long descents into an unknowable abyss with the threat of imminent death were totally not a problem at all.

Totally.

He was just lying here because.

Yes.

“Where are my glasses.”

“I have them. But, really, what's a little knowledge of unusual eye colors between alternate universe selves? Mine are violet, if you were wondering.”

“I wasn't.”

Totally fine.

He pushed himself up to a sitting position and put his palms on the ground at last.

“And the timetables?”

His counterpart sat a few feet away, also cross-legged. His hood was finally down, and, Strider could see, his eyes were indeed lavender. He had a pair of glasses in one hand, but his main digital communication device seemed to be a pair of headphones with a green visor. Something like Rose's headband thing, but with a bit more of a Dave-ish flair.


“Caught those as well.”

Lalonde retrieved them from his fetch modus (Hashmap as well, Strider noted) and lay them on the ground in front of him, along with the iShades.

“Which leaves just one more question.”

“What's that?”

“What the fuck were you doing back there?”

Lalonde gave a thin smile. “David, you silly thing,” he said. “I was merely attempting to warn you about the stairs.”

Strider stared for a moment in blank disbelief, then started laughing. He rolled back over onto his back and laughed so hard he nearly convulsed.

“Warned me, oh kicking christ, warned me about the stairs, you were trying to tell me dawg...”

He laughed until he couldn't any more. Lalonde simply tilted his head slightly, his gaze distant but calculating. After a while, silence descended on them and stretched into a middle distance. Lalonde shifted slightly. Strider rotated his shoulders.

“So - ”

“Well...”

Another long pause.

“I believe you have the right of way here, David.”

“Dude, the name's Dave. Not David. Dave.”

Lalonde raised an eyebrow. “Merely 'Dave'? My goodness, Mr. Strider is even less creative than I thought. An expression of your flawed perception of irony, perhaps?”

“[color=#e00707]Jegus, 'Mr. Strider?' Are you fucking kidding me? You make him sound like some dude in tweed and a bow tie, and lemmie tell ya, Bro would only ever wear that shit ironically.”

Again, that thin smile. “For some definitions of 'irony', of course.”

“Oh man, spare me the grammar lesson, okay? Okay.”

The silence fell again between them, and stretched on. Lalonde shifted in his black armor, pulling a little at his collar. Strider wondered how the guy wore that thing in this heat. It was bad enough in a tux; six pounds of chainmail must have been stifling.

“Nice duds.”

“Do you really think so, or is that yet more of your peculiar idea of irony?”

“Nah, that's honesty. Seriously. You look the part. Just like Rose's got the mumbo jumbo crazy girl thing down, you got the crazy Monty Python knight templar thing down.”

“Thank you, I suppose? I made it myself. Well, rather, there's alchemization involved, but it came from a bracelet I made. You can still see my handiwork in the weave.”

“Wait, so you make chainmail instead of knitting? Dang, and here I thought you really were gay. You got one shred of manliness left in you. Nice job.”

“My sexual proclivities are none of your concern. No, not even as an alternate of myself,” said Lalonde before Strider could protest. “Goodness, one would think you were a shipper. We're much too young to be certain of those sorts of things, and in far too dire straights for it to be a pressing concern. Leave the question of romancing until after the war is won.”

Well, Strider didn't have much to say to that. There was that strangely uncomfortable silence again.

This time, it was Lalonde who broke it.
“Why are you here, David,” he said, softly, looking at his hands.

“Man, deep question. Why are we here, man? What could possibly be the -”

“Spare me your quaint sarcasm. Give me truth, Strider.”

Strider sat back up and considered. Why was he here, after all? It was a surprisingly good question. After the incident with Harley, he'd almost forgotten.

“Power,” he said at last. “I wanted to see what other me's were like, if any of you had hit the god tiers. Needed to know if I could get strong enough to...”

“To win.”

“Yeah.”

Lalonde closed his eyes, and sighed, just a little.

“But power always has a price. And I don't believe you'll find what you seek, though you may find what you need. It seems that even with the influence of environment, there are still certain things we fear.”

“Sorry, but I have a hard time believing that a Lalonde gives a damn about the price of things.”

Lalonde opened his eyes and gave Strider an icy glare. “[font=courier]I know not what deals with demons your Lalonde – is it Rose? Rose, then, oh, gods, I shudder to imagine what being raised by our mother has done to her – point being, I know not what demons she has dealt with. I will say this, though. There is a reason this palace is filled with searing light and hidden stairs, there is a reason this house is a labyrinth”

Strider nearly covered his ears at that last sentence. Something... hollow... echoed in it. He kept his expression neutral, of course. Stay cool.

“Fair 'nuff, he said. “New topic: how were you doing what you did back there? I thought only the Time player could pull those kinds of slick speed shenanigans.”

“Light is a tricky element,” said Lalonde. “Far more than most realize. Many seem to think that Light equates to Good, and this is far, far from the truth.”

He lifted one hand, and summoned a pale white light to it. “Light can illuminate...”

It flashed brightly, leaving spots on Strider's vision.

“Or it can blind. It can enlighten, or it can sear. What you see with it might be valuable, or it might drive you to madness and despair. Light is not good or evil; it is, quite simply, knowledge. Some would call it fortune, but I take a different path. There is, after all, no such thing as luck - odds, certainly, but in the end we are playing chess, not dice. A Thief might steal another's ability to see the whole board, might use their light to blind, thereby changing their 'fortune'. A Seer might simply see the whole board, to know all there is to know - for ill or for good. And a Knight? A Knight will have to use their light to burn, to defend. In addition - ”

“Dave, I'm real happy for you and I'mma let you finish, but I asked how you were movin so fast, not for some lecture on metaphysics.”

There was that thin smile again.

“Striders. Always so cagey about themselves, and always so direct with others. Simple – I can move as light, or with light. As for the illusions and burning pillars here, I can control light. The curious thing about light, you see, is that it sets the speed limit for the universe. It is the absolute fastest you can move within the fabric of space-time, and, thus, as you grow closer to it, time slows for you. In a way, the faster you move along the space axis, the slower you move through time. Simple relativity.”

So that physics shit Bro had drilled into his head really did have a use. That was... actually kind of interesting. It fit in with what Dave Harley had said about space and time being the same thing.

“Okay. So how do you do that without a focusing item?”

“To put it like a Strider, 'shenanigans'.”

“Gotcha.”
“Then, another question, if I may: what have you gained, David?”

Not what he was seeking, certainly. But perhaps...

Through a house of mirrors...

“Knowledge of self.”

This time, Lalonde's smile was not thin at all.

“Then it was not a worthless effort.”

“Nah. Sometimes we gotta look into the glass.”

Lalonde frowned almost imperceptibly at that phrase, but said nothing.

“Anyway, catch ya on the flip side, Lalonde. It's been real. Be quicker 'bout the stairs next time and maybe I'll listen.”

“It's unlikely I will; it has indeed been real; I'll do my best; and no, you won't. Though... speaking of warnings.”

They both stood. Lalonde handed the iShades and timetables to Strider. However, Lalonde kept one of the vinyls in his hands, turning it over.

This one was orange.

He knew he shouldn't have made it, he knew. But a part of him had burned with curiosity. Part of him had needed to know. So he'd taken a handful of orange feathers and used them to alchemize the disk.

It held so many answers. Maybe more to that question – knowledge of self – than he'd get anywhere else.

“Take it from one who walks in light; the razor's edge between knowing and madness. There are some things one is not meant to know; some histories best left in dust. If you are indeed anything like my dear Jade Strider, and if this record represents the timeline I think it does...”

He sighed, and handed it over.

“Power has a price. And knowledge, too, is power.”

“You get that one from a fortune cookie? Nah, I'm good. Take care of yourself, aiight?”

He put the red record on and set it to play.

A/N

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IF YOU MISSED IT - THE LARGE BLANK SPACE IN THE MIDDLE HAS WHTIETEXT IN IT! GO BACK AND HIGHLIGHT IT FOR EXTRA LAYERS OF DELICIOUSNESS

There's a reason that David Lalonde speaks in Courier font. Kass is not allowed to explain what it is because she probably knows already

I hit a HUGE stumbling block here and had to revise like CRAZY. Originally there was a kicking sweet fight scene between the Daves showing off their powers which I cut entirely, and also we saw more of Lalonde's special brand of crazy. I decided to make his crazy a bit more subtle. Also bluh I really lost Dave's voice there for a while, but I'll pretend it was him having a problem with stairs and being a bit rattled by that.

FINALLY! I could, at this point, do another chapter - another iteration of Orange - but I am feeling a bit burned out. Still, if people really want to see it and are willing to wait, I could give it a shot.

So. Who wants to see Orange - Dark Cover?

This is just, completely awesome to read oh my god You wrote all the Daves wonderfully - I especially loved this chapter. There's something just so, unsettling about Lalonde!Dave that makes him really fascinating to read.

A Davesprite chapter would be pretty interesting (and undoubtedly sad), and I would definitely read it, but I don't think it needs to be done or anything, this feels like a pretty good place to end it.

[egregiousBass]

Seraaaaaaaph. You and Kass have, like, my two most anticipated fanfic series at this moment.

Also yes to orange

[lucidSeraph]

Noticed some minor formatting errors and open BB tags; hopefully I've caught all of them this time.

@villainsocks: Thanks! Purple Dave is by far my favorite to write - I've got massive backstory in my head for him (down to how he alchemized everything on his person, whoops) and if he came off as vaguely unsettling, then I was doing it right Ah, Laldones, y so cray-cray?

@bass: eeeeee I think I will then. I have some Fo Realz Serious Business Non Fanfic writing to take care of for a while, and I think I might do the next chapter of reVisions first, but yeah, Davesprite wants his own chapter of extreem angst.

[Sionnan]

@Lucid- CHILLS MAN. I GOT MOTHERFUCKIN' CHILLS READIN' THAT. Also damn you for slipping in the house like that. Playing the the text format like that wad phenomenal, and really worked for me. And sadface whitetext. Poor kid. Great Dave!voices, as always.

[Tenebrais]

Hey look, I finally got some of this done! Or, as some would say, fuckin finally.
Eridan's story was last chapter, though.

Windows: Chapter 11
Read the rest on AO3

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-- carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling caligulasAquarium [CA] --
CG: WE NEED TO TALK.
CA: kar this is really not the best time
CA: i dont wwanna get caught
CG: ARE YOU SNEAKING UP ON SOLLUX?
CG: YOU’RE SNEAKING UP ON SOLLUX, AREN’T YOU.
CG: ANSWER ME, YOU COLOSSAL STEAMING TURD!
CA: fine yes i am
CA: i think ill actually get him this time
CG: SEE THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED TO TALK ABOUT.
CG: STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING AND LISTEN TO ME.
CG: YOU NEED TO STOP GOING AFTER THAT GUY.
CA: kar i knoww hes your friend and all but a guys got to defend his honour
CA: that pukeblooded landdwweller stole my girl
CA: so im goin to reduce him to yelloww paste
CG: YEAH RIGHT.
CG: HE COULD BEAT YOU WITH HIS EYES CLOSED, GET REAL.
CA: stop talkin out your ass kar it doesnt suit you
CG: OKAY, THAT’S IT, TIME OUT NOW.
CG: SHUT UP AND LISTEN.
CA: okay fine what
CG: THAT’S NOT SHUTTING UP.
CG: OKAY.
CG: I DON’T REALLY CARE IF YOU KEEP TRYING TO KILL SOLLUX.
CG: I KNOW YOU’RE NOT REALLY GOING TO MANAGE IT AND YOU’LL REGRET IT IF YOU DO.
CG: BECAUSE IF YOU DO I’LL CUT YOUR STUPID GILLS OFF.
CG: THAT SAID, FEFERI REALLY WANTS YOU TO STOP TRYING TO KILL HIM.
CG: SHE’S MORE WORRIED THAN I AM.
CG: TALK TO HER ABOUT IT.
CA: are you done noww
CG: YEAH, THAT’S ALL I WANTED TO SAY.
CG: I KNOW YOU TWO HAVEN’T SPOKEN SINCE YOU ENTERED BUT YOU REALLY NEED TO.
CA: fine
CA: ill talk to fef
CA: but im tellin you this is a prime chance here i could take him dowwn
CG: NO YOU COULDN’T.
CG: GOODBYE.
-- carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling caligulasAquarium [CA] --

“This must be how it feels like to be Kanaya,” Karkat said to himself. “I hate it.”
Speaking of Kanaya, she was the last troll to spy on. Well, last before himself. But he had a feeling he knew what that screen would show, and it was something he’d really rather forget.
For the time being...

======> SWITCH 6


Kanaya liked to travel light when she could. On those occasions she chose to venture out to other trolls, she packed only a few changes of clothes, a single book, and paper and pencils in case a particularly intriguing pattern occurred to her on the way. Seeing Alternian nature in the daylight was a constant source of inspiration, and she always found it a shame that other trolls couldn’t seem to stand it.
The hordes of the undead tended to mar the essential beauty of the world around her, but she could deal with that.
But she wasn’t just out here for inspiration. She was visiting a friend. Well, calling her a “friend” at this point would be dishonest. They weren’t that close, not really. But her dreams told her they would be. Skaia knew how. For now, she honestly thought Vriska wasn’t all that pleasant. She was rude, and aggressive, and so very rash. Perhaps all she needed was a good influence.

Transportation across Alternia was not easy without access to the extraplanetary shuttles the adults had. She left at dawn, not long after she got up, and the sun had already set by the time she arrived. At least this way Vriska would be awake to greet her. Kanaya’s diurnal habits could be difficult to live with sometimes.
She had thought she was heading for a village. Settlements on Alternia rose and fell too quickly to have names, but there was definitely supposed to be more than two hives here. She wondered what had happened, and whether the chasm that hadn’t been on the map had anything to do with it.
She identified Vriska’s hive and, a little hesitantly, knocked on the door. There was no reply. She knocked harder and called out. Could she not hear her?
“Don’t bother,” came a gruff voice from behind her ear. “She’s not in.”
Kanaya turned to look. This boy was familiar, somehow. Had she dreamt of him? Yes, that was it. He was one of them too.
“Who are you?” She asked.
“I am Equius,” he said, “and it would be fitting for you to be more polite to someone of my blood.”
Great, she thought to herself. A chromist.
“Vriska is out roleplaying,” he explained. “Be thankful. Take my advice and leave her well alone. I assume she invited you here?”
“Yes, she did.”
“She wouldn’t have intended on letting you leave. Come with me.”
She followed him to the edge of the gorge the two hives sat over, and invited her to peer in. Below, distant but incredibly large, sat a pearly-white spider easily twice as tall as either building.
“That,” he spat, “is her lusus. It eats trolls. Vriska will have brought you here to feed it. If you were hoping for more personal interaction, I’m afraid you will be disappointed.”
She rubbed her neck. It was a habit she’d developed when she was nervous. “I can’t go back now. I think I’ll just have to take the risk.”
“Then I hope you have a strong will.” He walked back to his hive, leaping the chasm to his house easily. In his doorway, he stopped, and seemed to wrestle with himself. And lost. He turned back to her. “Vriska won’t be back for the rest of the night,” he said, his powerful voice carrying far. “You should spend it here. You will be safer.”
“No, I think I will wait for her. Thank you for the offer.”
He shrugged. “Then you’re none of my concern.”
She couldn’t help but wonder about Equius’ motivation. Altruistic trolls were few and far between. It was probably a trick of some kind. But was the trick on her, or on Vriska? Could he be telling the truth about her, and wanting to rob her of another victim? Or of a potential friend? Was he himself a killer, just looking for a likely target? He had the bearing, if not the look, of a noble blue-blood, so he probably wouldn’t have outright lied to her. On top of all that, he looked to be about her age, the sort of age where romance starts to become a real option. Perhaps he’d got caught in pale throes and was trying to impress a moirail. Or a potential moirail.
There were too many possibilities. Despite her words, she didn’t particularly want to spend the night in front of Vriska’s hive waiting for her to return from a game. She should really have planned her trip better.
Or perhaps this was part of Skaia’s plan. Equius was destined to play the game with her, so whatever happened both would come out of it alive, and probably friends. Perhaps she needed to establish a relationship now. Perhaps, through him, she’d meet more people she needed to meet?
All this second-guessing was giving her a headache. She might as well just go for it. She had her chainsaw if she needed it.
“Wait! Equius!”

Inside his hive, she started to wonder if she had made a mistake. Lewd, if unarguably artistic, pictures adorned every wall. Metal scraps littered every surface. His lusus, some kind of centaur musclebeast, gave her a stiff bow, and she didn’t know how to respond. She went with an awkward curtsy when Equius had his back turned.
Whatever his motivation for taking her in had been, it didn’t appear to be interest in Kanaya. Once it was clear that she was safely inside he’d gone to work on a half-built robot, leaving her at even more of a loose end than when she was outside. Certainly there was nothing in here that could inspire an interesting pattern. Not one that she would ever wear, at any rate
“Why did you bring me here?” she asked him.
“To keep you away from that monster,” he responded in a matter-of-fact way. She couldn’t tell whether he was referring to Vriska or her lusus.
“But was that for my sake? Or to spite her?”
“Nepeta wouldn’t have wanted me to leave you to it,” he mumbled. Then, in a clearer voice, “besides, I have wanted to see that thing starve to death for sweeps.” He brought a hand to his broken horn, as though remembering something.
“Is Nepeta your moirail?” she asked, hoping to distract him from the giant spider.
He shot her a dark look. “No”
“How come? It sounds like you have that sort of relationship.”
“We do not, understand? One of her blood is... inappropriate.”
“You put a lot of stock in blood, then?”
“If we cannot define our place in society then where would Alternia be?”
“Feferi wouldn’t approve.” Kanaya coolly dropped the name. If she had judged him right, that would impress him.
She couldn’t quite see behind his dark glasses, but it seemed to have caught his attention.

It was strange, spending the night with someone like Equius. He wasn’t the most pleasant boy she’d met, but once she’d gained his respect she at least found him to be cordial. He struck her as reliable, although he held himself to the treacherous standards of his caste. It would take time, but he would become part of the twelve.
It was getting hard to stay awake. She’d been up all day, and now spent the night talking to this boy. She didn’t want to sleep in his hive. He might have proven to be not hostile, but she didn’t trust him that much. Though considering the matter, she didn’t particularly want to sleep with Vriska either. She could stand to not return to Prospit for at least a little longer.
Equius had gone off somewhere, leaving her on her own. She peered out of the window into what was once a village. From this vantage, she could see the signs of old hives torn down, once by a colossal monster then the job finished by construction droids. The mighty crevices in the ground met at a point not all that far from the two remaining hives. She wondered what sort of story was behind all that. She would probably never know.
She was a little surprised to see Equius outside, arguing animatedly with someone. Vriska! She’d returned.

“Don’t act so goodly!” the scruffy girl yelled. “You’re just out to steal away my friends!”
“You don’t have friends, Vriska. The last three you claimed to be friends all went to feed the spider.”
“That was a trick! A trap to get them here. And they fell for it! But this is different! I wasn’t gonna kill her!”
“I have no reason to believe you.”
Kanaya stepped out, and crossed the makeshift bridge to Vriska’s hive
Vriska turned to her. “And you! You came here to see me! ME! And then you go off making out with this hornless, muscle-headed...”
“Vriska, you weren’t here!” Kanaya pleaded. “And I wasn’t making out, I would never-“
“What else would you be doing with him when you’re meant to be here for me? You’re here for me, so you should have waited for me! You should love me! LOVE ME!”
There was something, in her head. Kanaya could feel it. It was like it was drawing her to... she hadn’t realised how good Vriska looked before. She was right, she should have waited. She could have spent more time with...
Her thoughts not entirely coherent, Kanaya draped herself over Vriska’s shoulders, not quite hugging, but happy to be touching her all the same. Then, as though someone hit a switch, she fell asleep.


The screens didn’t display dreamselves. Whatever Kanaya was up to on Prospit next, Karkat couldn’t see. He saw Vriska carry her unconscious body into her hive, then lost interest and pressed the button. Obviously she didn’t kill her that night. The green slimy shape of a sleeping Kanaya was kind of adorable, he guessed.
There was only one jar still empty. There was no more delaying it.

[Katrika]

Bec

show spoiler

hide spoiler

Girl!

Jade girl best girl have food girl.

Steak fall steak catch Jade clap GOOD DOG!

Good dog good Bec best friend best dog.

Protect Jade love Jade raise Jade remember?

Jade small man dead worst dog worst friend not Harley worst dog whine whine Jade sad.

Jade love Bec Jade hug?

BEC LOVE JADE!

Lick girl wag tail back to now.

Steak eat nose sniff dead dog dead Harley man loved Harley Bec not Harley but man loved Bec.

Lip lick nose sniff dead girl dead Jade but not RIGHT Jade.

Jade clap GOOD DOG!

Remember?

Not same Bec changed now sprite protect Jade love Jade.

Know more know game Bec strong but not smart Bec loyal Bec love man love Jade.

Lick girl wag tail BACK TO NOW.

Dead Jade fall dead Jade catch Jade clap GOOD DOG

GOO

D D

O

G

c h a n g e

c h a n g e

change

[Sionnan]

Katrika- possibly the best free form representation of a dog's line of thought ever. In my head, I'd always pictured him thinking in some dry, emotionless voice like a regular human, but this is too cute to say no to.

@everybody: would you guy mind giving me a little critique on the Bro-Dave relationship I've been portraying in my Strider!fics? Because with this new update, I'm seriously considering that I've been making them too lovey/chummy/nice towards each other.

[KilroyWasHere]

Seraph: That was a work of fuckin' art. Lalonde does not seem like the sort of person I'd want to play any sort of game with.
Ten: Yaaaaay more Windows! I was a bit confused there at the end - was she being manipul8ed, or was it just a "ohey" moment?

[DJ-P0N3]

@Sionnan
I think Dave might be hiding how he really feels about his brother's death. Because he has to seem chill no matter what.
Honestly, I love your portrayal of the Strider Bro's.
You're doing a great job.
Don't change a thing.

[raequiem]

@Sionnan

@Sionnan
I think Dave might be hiding how he really feels about his brother's death. Because he has to seem chill no matter what.
Honestly, I love your portrayal of the Strider Bro's.
You're doing a great job.
Don't change a thing.

This. Thisthisthis.

A coolkid would never admit how much he's hurting.

Please keep doing what you do, as every time I see you post it's like getting a hug (or a punch in the gut for the sadfics, but you know)

[lucidSeraph]

@Sionnan - I may be biased, but I'm going to agree with everyone else. Let's look at the facts of the update: this is several hours (possibly even weeks, for Dave) after he's seen his Bro's body; he's talking to someone who he constantly tries to impress / be the cool kid towards, to whom he tries to seem totally unflappable. Regardless of shippiness, he has an interest in not letting Jade see him as the kind of guy to be phased by anything. He's gotta be cool. Smooth. Also, think about the way the other kids react to their parents - Rose interprets her mother's genuinely loving gestures as passive-agressive, John is irked by his dad's constant encouragement and cakes. While Bro is undoubtedly the most trollish/dickish of the Guardians, I think it's safe to assume that Dave might also do the same thing.

Bro just does the tough love thing. And if you want any evidence, go back and look at the sequence with Bro raising Dave. Weird, but come on, it's adoribl.

*e* ALSO YES YOU CAUGHT THE HOUSE reference >3 PurpleDave is all about Houses (as opposed to Rose's tentacle beasties)

[Tenebrais]

Ten: Yaaaaay more Windows! I was a bit confused there at the end - was she being manipul8ed, or was it just a "ohey" moment?

Yes.

[Dermonster]

Wasn't there a fic a while ago that predicted dreamjadesprite?

It was like jade on powerthrist.

Where was that?

As soon as I saw the update my mind flashed to that fic and all I could think about was SO FUCKIN' HYPER.

[Kawa]

Dermonster, is this the fic you're after?

[egregiousBass]

While Bro is undoubtedly the most trollish/dickish of the Guardians, I think it's safe to assume that Dave might also do the same thing.

I'm going a step further and say that Bro's constant challenging has given Dave a dependancy complex. Whereas Mom and Dad have given their respective kids the freedom to work out their interests, Dave got everything shoved onto him since birth. As a result, he has no will of his own; pretty much everything he's done in Sburb so far is taking commands from others (ironic considering no exile has fussed with him yet). He's lost his role model now, and when/if the streamlined environment of the game ends, he'll either cling onto the other kids while they try to find a new walk of life, or do like a motherfucking pirouette off the existential handle. Like in Character, as if anyone even knows that book/film except when it's part of the high school curriculum.

I also watched a documentary about Metallica yesterday. It really shows what happens when you don't deal with dead people well =P

[JordanTH]

Seraph: Yes to Orange.

[X15lm204]

Note to self:

When getting up in the morning afternoon, check Homestuck, then check Homestuck fanart/fiction.

seriously it took me like half an hour to figure out that all the suddenly jadesprite was not a new meme i'd missed the beginning of but something that had actually happened

[lucidSeraph]

While Bro is undoubtedly the most trollish/dickish of the Guardians, I think it's safe to assume that Dave might also do the same thing.

I'm going a step further and say that Bro's constant challenging has given Dave a dependancy complex. Whereas Mom and Dad have given their respective kids the freedom to work out their interests, Dave got everything shoved onto him since birth. As a result, he has no will of his own; pretty much everything he's done in Sburb so far is taking commands from others (ironic considering no exile has fussed with him yet). He's lost his role model now, and when/if the streamlined environment of the game ends, he'll either cling onto the other kids while they try to find a new walk of life, or do like a motherfucking pirouette off the existential handle. Like in Character, as if anyone even knows that book/film except when it's part of the high school curriculum.

I also watched a documentary about Metallica yesterday. It really shows what happens when you don't deal with dead people well =P

Yeah, I agree with this; though I also think part of Dave's plot arc is moving beyond his dependency complex and becoming more his own person. Davesprite (I think) even said as much.

[sebastian]

Dermonster, is this the fic you're after?

I think it is this.

[Kawa]

I think it is this.

I don't think so. It's not powerthirsty enough.

[sebastian]

I like Dave lalonde, I like the idea that there is a essential core of Dave-ness that is modified by whom riased him, I'd like to see the same concept applied to the other kids, It is especially hard to imagine how John Strider could be,can John be cool and still be John? I think 'irony' and John are antithetical.

[Kawa]

I got a John Strider in my archives. Bufu wrote something about it.

[Sionnan]

@EB & LS: The points you're bringing up are also ones I've come to determine about Dave, so I'm glad I'm not misinterpreting him. Given these kinds of behavioral patterns, I always kind of figured he'd have bit of resentment for Bro, but there's the obvious admiration, and as lots of people in the series have pointed out, as skilled as he is, he's heavily dependent on Bro. These are all things that go through my head as I'm writing them, so...

I'm glad that I haven't been taking liberties.

And Mayor, Rae, thanks as well, I'm always glad to hear that it doesn't feel off.