Getting back to the explorations of the Strider household, this is a fill of Rae's request for the brothers drawing together. Well, kinda. Annnnnd this is probably one of my longer fics.
Every once in a while, Bro suffered from some incredibly nasty bouts of insomnia. Like Bro was the Sandman's bitch, and the Sandman was too busy off porkin' other dudes to come back and pay attention to his side piece. Generally when Bro found himself (figuratively speaking) on his back but shit just wouldn't happen, Dave would find him in the morning planted at his computer desk, surrounded by empty cans of various beverages, staring with glassy eyes at his sweet as shit hella expensive monitor. At these times, Dave would patiently (and by patiently, comment continuously on his brother's feebleness at his old age) ply his older brother with successively caffeinated drinks until the guy was more alive than dead, while he scrounged around for breakfast.
On one such occasion, Dave had gone into the mostly-dark living room, far after midnight, to procure water from the fridge after waking up at ass-oh-hundred hours with a mouth full of pillow and no saliva. He had been quiet so as not to wake Bro, who was a notoriously light sleeper, because goddamn if he wanted to fight off a billion puppet assaults from the dark. But on the return trip Dave spotted Bro's lanky form in his computer chair, curled close to the monitor. The pale light of the screen threw the sharp angles of his face into relief, creating stark lines that made him look older than he really was.
Dave knew instantly what was going on, but was kind of at a loss for what to do. Normally there wasn't much he could do for his brother, short of shooting him up with horse tranquilizers, and Dave imagined he would get tired of that real fast. However, Bro didn't turn to acknowledge Dave's presence, and all he could hear was the steady click of Bro's mouse.
Dave crossed the dusky expanse of room, shuffling his feet to prevent any unwanted contact with wires or assorted hard objects. He knocked aside a few misaimed, listless flying puppets, but they got less frequent as he got closer, and stopped altogether by the time he drew even with futon. He stayed there, and regarded his brother. "Sup, man."
"Mmmm. Not much." More mouse clicking. Dave couldn't quite see what he was doing at that angle, since the flatscreen washed out.
"Mr. Sandman treatin' you bad again? I told you, you should just hit up Mr. Candyland, or somethin'. But what the hell do I know. I'm just a kid." He'd forgotten about the glass of water in his hand, which meant he'd been deflecting toys in the dark with only one arm. If Bro were more conscious, he might have commended Dave for that. As it was, Bro reached out and instead flicked his nose with the hand that had been propping up his chin almost absently. Fucker.
Dave almost managed to catch his hand and twist his fingers before it withdrew, and he glared at him. "You are so goddamn wiped, dude." He couldn't help sound a little growly; he was just a little concerned, and that made him angry.
"Nah. 'M just not trying. Why are you up, it's almost one." Finally his brother tore his gaze away from the monitor to level it at Dave. There still seemed to be a disjointed quality to it, and Dave kind of hated it that he could read his brother's expression for once. His eyes were the only place he regularly showed emotion, and with his shades off and in this state, he was almost easy to read.
Aw crap, and he wasn't wearing his shades, either. With his own shades off, he was an open book to Bro, to beat a hackneyed horse to death. But Bro didn't comment on whatever he could see in Dave's face. The older Strider gripped the edge of the slab of wood and wheeled himself to one side. "Check it out," he murmured, reaching up to rub at his eyes.
Dave ambled forward a little bit more, steeling himself for an onslaught of puppet ass whether by air or screen.
When he was met with neither, he was a little dumbfounded.
Paint was up, and it looked like Bro had been trying to fight the intergalactic sleep-stealing ass pirates by doodling. What had started as a scrawl, as evidenced by the color swatches lining the left edge of the page, had gradually morphed into an intricate and, for Paint anyway, beautiful picture. A pure white tree grew out of the bottom margin, articulated by pale grays, blues, and violets, its trunk twsiting and climbing like a thing alive. The leaves were a wash of reds and greens, mingling but never seeming to denote either spring or fall. The roots were a ghostly, luminous tangle, and it looked like they were struggling with-
"Are those tentacles."
"Yes."
"Tentacles. Really."
"Yes, really."
It gave the picture a vaguely unsettling feel.
"That is messed up, bro." And by messed up, he meant cosmically frightening and somehow beautiful. If he'd known his bro turned into some kind of bizarre Buddhist/Shaolin monk once he got severely sleep deprived, Dave would have considered staying up to watch the ensuing antics, because that would have been way better than hoping he didn't get smothered in the night by Cal in a come-to-Jesus moment.
"Yup." He swiveled, chair squeaking lowly, to take a gander at his work. "How would you change it?" The question didn't really have any tone behind it, so Dave couldn't grasp what he was getting at. If he were being genuine, that was kind of weird and unusual and Dave didn't really want to try and fit his head around serious critique of his brother's work. If Bro were just being... well, Bro, then he was being so totally lame. So lame.
The first thing Dave did was set down his glass (on one of the wrinkled copies of GameBro serving as varnish to the desk). This had to be done with precision. The second thing he did was bat away an anticipated light slap to the back of his head- seriously, dude? Now you're just getting crabby- as he moved forward. He reached over and hit Ctrl-S. The window popped up with the prompt for Dave to name the file. Jesus, Bro had been doing this without saving? That was kind of impressive, in a weird, anal way, but whatever. He then hit the fill tool, selected a vibrant purple as the main color, and plopped it into the interlacing tentacles.
There. The hideous monster from the deep was now sporting a dashing shade of plum.
Bro had leaned forward to watch, and actually gave a laugh as the ominous beast became a squiddle. "Sweet." He reached over Dave's arm to quick save it again. Dave gave an inner wince, because really what he'd done was deface a kind of intriguing picture, and now Bro had pretty much sealed it in stone. But he didn't say anything about that. He opted for, "So what's with the tree?"
"Yggdrasil."
"Egg-de-who-what?"
A small, automatic smirk quirked up one side of Bro's stubbled face. "Ygg-dra-sil. It's Scandinavian." He eased back in his chair, stretching out his long, skinny limbs.
Dave simultaneously hated it when Bro pulled out weird knowledge crap, and liked it because it was pretty chill to have a walking encyclopedia of weird shit on legs. "Okay. But why? And why does a tree have a name? That's gay."
Bro shrugged. The mysteries and impulses of his mind escaped him too, sometimes, it seemed, as well as those of long-dead cultures. "Well, the tree's pretty important to them, because it's got all of the worlds. And it's got a name 'cause they just liked namin' shit. Hell, your cat couldn't even shit without having to name it before you buried it."
"And why with Little Mermaid's rape squid?"
His older brother grinned, setting off his slightly crooked teeth in the cross lighting. "That motherfucker wouldn't look at no fin bitch, period. That badass homes is Niddhog." He regarded the picture. "Well, now he's a squiddle, but he's cool with it. Like... Niddles."
"Awesome."
"You know it. Like Cthulu met Martha Stewart up in this bitch."
"Cthulu?" It sounded like something Rose would be interested in.
"Forget it." He rolled his shoulders and neck, and something about his posture seemed to ease a little. "What day is it?"
"Friday?"
"Ah, cool. So I don't have to be on your case for being up so late before school."
"Fff! You were the one who told me to come over." Although he knew Bro was messing with him, he thought it was appropriate to point that out.
Bro sent him an ironic hand flap, almost an air double slap. Dave responded with a shooing, get-outta-my-space gesture as he picked up his glass again. Which now had a puppet that was happily bathing the tip of its buttocks in Dave's water.
"Augh!"
Bro's laugh was already on the futon, close to the wall. He could see his brother's feet through the rungs of the side, twitching as he got comfortable. "Go to bed, man."
Dave complied, not wanting any more unexpected surprises. But left the soggy puppet to puddle on Bro's desk, and bleed the colors of the magazines onto the unfinished wood. Vengeance is sweet, bitches.
He went back to his room, his trip shockingly absent of puppet suicide attacks, in an apartment that somehow felt as if a long breath had been outspent.
Last edited by Sionnan; 01-01-2011 at 09:18 AM.
Strider brothers fics (many thanks go to egregiousBass for compiling them):
Musical Interlude- Dave tries to ironically score in the ongoing fight to one-up his brother. By joining the school chorus.
Trees and Tentacles- Bro's insomnia leads to inspired art and a little brotherly bonding time.
Undone- Dave tries to see his brother one last time.
Supermarket Shenanigans- in an early installment of the Striders, Bro looses Dave in a store. Cue panic.
My House- Dave butts heads with a lady friend of his brother's.
Binary- Bro's life and death are simple and convoluted affairs.
Climb- a brief look at where Bro is after he rocketboards off the roof.
Key- Bro teaches Dave the key behind being an ironic roof rapping ninja.
Parenthood- What Bro had to go through to make Dave what he is.
Parental Guidance- Parent teacher conferences are never fun for anyone involved.
Of Bathrooms and Beatdowns- The Striders' early morning rituals turn into unpleasant experiences at a party bro dj's at; aka roofies are never okay.
The Two of Us Are Dying- Bro has dreamt of his death sporadically for the past 13 years. Fallout.
Rap Battle!- One of the brothers' many sylladex hashrap battles. Chaos ensues.
If Illness was This One- Bro Strider is sick. Dave is not happy. The pumpkin shows up. [what pumpkin?]
Puppets and Porn- Bro Strider runs a faux/real puppet pr0n website from his home. With a minor in it. Of course someone was going to be totally not cool about it.
Puppet Porn pt II- Child protective services get called. Shit gets real. THE APARTMENT IS CLEAN OMGOMGOMGOMG
Voyeur- Jack Noir watches as Bro dies at his feet.
Surprise!- Dave wakes up on his birthday to the usual Strider shenanigans.
When "Puppets" Go Bad- Dave watches a clip of a video on Bro's computer of what looks to be a puppet trying to kill him in his sleep. Though, that's not quite the case.
Well I never expected to be posting here, but a few weeks ago I accidentally got assigned to write a Homestuck poem for my creative writing class.
Let me explain. To inspire us for our next assignment, our teacher wrote several colors on the board and asked everyone to write down the first thing they thought of when they read that color. The most popular thoughts were then attached to the color, ending up with things like Red Blood, Yellow Sun, Black Spider, etc.
Then, to make things more interesting, our teacher randomly switched the colors and words, then assigned the two to different students. As it was, I got assigned to write a poem about a Blue Spider. You can imagine what the first thing I thought of was.
Blue Spider
Oh blue blooded spider
always scheming your nefarious plots
weaving your wicked webs
the insignificant insects mean little to you
when you're an eight armed arachnid at the top of the food chain.
To get to the top you've manipulated others
deceiving and destroying all in your way
but was the result worth all that wrath?
At the top there are no equals
no peers or pals to pass the time of day.
It's just you, alone with your thoughts
while those beneath you
despise you.
You thought you had all the luck to make it this far
but the truth is, luck never mattered.
You alienated yourself, your actions were your own.
And that's why this blue blooded spider
is now just a blue, blue spider.
I made sure to not make it obviously a Homestuck reference, since no one else in my class reads it. Funny thing is, that wasn't even the only HS reference assigned. The topic I really wanted was the
♍
Why Do People Keep Clicking This Thing
Whatever
Quotes
Originally Posted by ooblagis
Nepeta is clearly alive.
However she will no longer appear in Homestuck, instead choosing to nap in her own blood for the remainder of the plot, and will never be referenced as anything other then a corpse.
This is the only sane and logical conclusion given the presented evidence.
Originally Posted by Aduross
Obviously, Rose is trying to revive John with her dark majickez. He'll be reborn as an undead abomination. And then he and Kanaya will have to compete to see which unholy, reanimated corpse can win Rose's affection.
Originally Posted by Greyscale
Just wait until someone tries to start a debate about Nepeta.
Did you know that her major tragic flaw was her naivety??? She is like Oedipus, if Oedipus was naive instead of fucking his mom.
Originally Posted by TheFinalWraith
I mean sure Vriska is self-centered, but Kanaya kept her feelings locked up so tight it might as well have been in her chastity modus.
Originally Posted by Triangle Man
Originally Posted by Tesseract
I think you could stick Terezi into pretty much any D&D alignment and it would make sense
Terezi is every D&D alignment at the same time.
Originally Posted by Nust
I just realized.
Another boardgame is being played here.
First, we started with chess.
Then it came to be poker, and billiards.
Now?
We're playing Clue. I mean for god's sake they're color coded!
Who killed Equius?
Gamzee! In the Laboratory! With a Bowstring!
Originally Posted by Canary
Necrophilia? In my MSPaint Adventures?
It's more likely than you think.
Originally Posted by Nocturne
MSPA: The only fandom that DDoS's its own site
Originally Posted by BlastYoBoots
Originally Posted by Shadow of the Lotus
GA: Why Did The Bipedal Fowl
GA: Unable To Fly But Covered In Feathers
GA: Most Closely Resembling An Earth Chicken Other Than Its Third Eye
GA: Navigate In A Fashion Not Solely Described By 'Cross' But Seemingly Conveyed In Near Totality By Its Phrasing
GA: A Pathway Dividing Two Distinct Land Elements Held Different From The Pathway Itself
GA: ?
TG: the fuck
GA: The Very Rationale By Which The Bipedal Fowl Navigated The Pathway Was Inherent
GA: In The Very Act Of Crossing
GA: This Is Humorous As The Rationale Driving The Action Could Be Expected As Being Something Other Than Obvious
GA: However As The Rationale Behind The Action Is Merely Self Evident
GA: The Bipedal Fowl Has Tricked You And Earned Your Scorn
GA: !
Trees and Tentacles- Bro's insomnia leads to inspired art and a little brotherly bonding time.
Undone- Dave tries to see his brother one last time.
Supermarket Shenanigans- in an early installment of the Striders, Bro looses Dave in a store. Cue panic.
My House- Dave butts heads with a lady friend of his brother's.
Binary- Bro's life and death are simple and convoluted affairs.
Climb- a brief look at where Bro is after he rocketboards off the roof.
Key- Bro teaches Dave the key behind being an ironic roof rapping ninja.
Parenthood- What Bro had to go through to make Dave what he is.
Parental Guidance- Parent teacher conferences are never fun for anyone involved.
Of Bathrooms and Beatdowns- The Striders' early morning rituals turn into unpleasant experiences at a party bro dj's at; aka roofies are never okay.
The Two of Us Are Dying- Bro has dreamt of his death sporadically for the past 13 years. Fallout.
Rap Battle!- One of the brothers' many sylladex hashrap battles. Chaos ensues.
If Illness was This One- Bro Strider is sick. Dave is not happy. The pumpkin shows up. [what pumpkin?]
Puppets and Porn- Bro Strider runs a faux/real puppet pr0n website from his home. With a minor in it. Of course someone was going to be totally not cool about it.
Puppet Porn pt II- Child protective services get called. Shit gets real. THE APARTMENT IS CLEAN OMGOMGOMGOMG
Voyeur- Jack Noir watches as Bro dies at his feet.
Surprise!- Dave wakes up on his birthday to the usual Strider shenanigans.
When "Puppets" Go Bad- Dave watches a clip of a video on Bro's computer of what looks to be a puppet trying to kill him in his sleep. Though, that's not quite the case.
@Kat Hurray, another freeform Bec fic! Unfortunately might be the last, though, unless Jadesprite has the same sort of train of thought. Little sad.
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)
Trees and Tentacles- Bro's insomnia leads to inspired art and a little brotherly bonding time.
Undone- Dave tries to see his brother one last time.
Supermarket Shenanigans- in an early installment of the Striders, Bro looses Dave in a store. Cue panic.
My House- Dave butts heads with a lady friend of his brother's.
Binary- Bro's life and death are simple and convoluted affairs.
Climb- a brief look at where Bro is after he rocketboards off the roof.
Key- Bro teaches Dave the key behind being an ironic roof rapping ninja.
Parenthood- What Bro had to go through to make Dave what he is.
Parental Guidance- Parent teacher conferences are never fun for anyone involved.
Of Bathrooms and Beatdowns- The Striders' early morning rituals turn into unpleasant experiences at a party bro dj's at; aka roofies are never okay.
The Two of Us Are Dying- Bro has dreamt of his death sporadically for the past 13 years. Fallout.
Rap Battle!- One of the brothers' many sylladex hashrap battles. Chaos ensues.
If Illness was This One- Bro Strider is sick. Dave is not happy. The pumpkin shows up. [what pumpkin?]
Puppets and Porn- Bro Strider runs a faux/real puppet pr0n website from his home. With a minor in it. Of course someone was going to be totally not cool about it.
Puppet Porn pt II- Child protective services get called. Shit gets real. THE APARTMENT IS CLEAN OMGOMGOMGOMG
Voyeur- Jack Noir watches as Bro dies at his feet.
Surprise!- Dave wakes up on his birthday to the usual Strider shenanigans.
When "Puppets" Go Bad- Dave watches a clip of a video on Bro's computer of what looks to be a puppet trying to kill him in his sleep. Though, that's not quite the case.
A Storybook Story
Finale (Previous chapters in signature below)
And so, finally reunited after so many years, Butterjade and Kartley rode to freedom. As dawn rose, they knew they safe, and with that feeling of safety that approached each other...
Karkat stopped reading and glanced over at his daughter.
Kade was barely awake. Her eyes were heavy and the only thing she could do when he stopped reading was to move her hand in an obvious attempt to tell him, "Keep reading Daddy."
Karkat smiled at his pathetic little girl and continued.
"And since the invention of the kiss, there was never a kiss as passionate, as pure, as this one. The end."
And with that she was out. Karkat got up, disentangled her from her sheets and then tucked her back in.
He picked up her Crawdad doll and smiled at it. It was fitting that Kade loved it, he did when he got it for Christmas almost 6 years ago.
Karkat placed the doll next to his little girl and then for some reason, Karkat took a doll Jade gave years ago, a doll of her own pet, Bec. Karkat smiled at his sleeping girl and went downstairs.
Where his wife was feeding their newborn son. She looked up at Karkat and smiled. He did too. He did everytime he looked at her.
"How's our little girl?"
"Out cold."
"Poor thing. Did she enjoy the book?"
"Of course."
Jade looked down at their now-sleeping son as Karkat came up to stroke the boy's hair.
"Well then, how about you read that story to me next?
I've had a busy day and I think I need to hear a happy tale to help me sleep."
Karkat looked into his wife's green eyes and smirked.
"As you wish."
A/N:
That was short, but all I wanted to do was have a final scene with Kade, Karkat and then Jade.
I wish I could do more, but it's hard. Hard and no one understands that this was all I had planned.
A Storybook Story
Finale (Previous chapters in signature below)
And so, finally reunited after so many years, Butterjade and Kartley rode to freedom. As dawn rose, they knew they safe, and with that feeling of safety that approached each other...
Karkat stopped reading and glanced over at his daughter.
Kade was barely awake. Her eyes were heavy and the only thing she could do when he stopped reading was to move her hand in an obvious attempt to tell him, "Keep reading Daddy."
Karkat smiled at his pathetic little girl and continued.
"And since the invention of the kiss, there was never a kiss as passionate, as pure, as this one. The end."
And with that she was out. Karkat got up, disentangled her from her sheets and then tucked her back in.
He picked up her Crawdad doll and smiled at it. It was fitting that Kade loved it, he did when he got it for Christmas almost 6 years ago.
Karkat placed the doll next to his little girl and then for some reason, Karkat took a doll Jade gave years ago, a doll of her own pet, Bec. Karkat smiled at his sleeping girl and went downstairs.
Where his wife was feeding their newborn son. She looked up at Karkat and smiled. He did too. He did everytime he looked at her.
"How's our little girl?"
"Out cold."
"Poor thing. Did she enjoy the book?"
"Of course."
Jade looked down at their now-sleeping son as Karkat came up to stroke the boy's hair.
"Well then, how about you read that story to me next?
I've had a busy day and I think I need to hear a happy tale to help me sleep."
Karkat looked into his wife's green eyes and smirked.
"As you wish."
I don't post much, but that entire story was amazing.
Thank you for that.
That goes for all of you wonderful fanfiction writers.
“This is my brother,” Shaula said, as she led Aquila by the hand into Gamzee’s garage. They knew their way well enough around the obstacles, since Gamzee was a creature of habit when it came to his vehicles, and his most common habit was to not touch the things at all. Aradia and Shaula had holed themselves up behind a snowmobile he had alchemized that probably would have been useful on the hunt had it not been cornered in by summertime farm equipment and an inexplicable ice cream truck.
“Hi,” said Aquila, setting down his toys. His dinosaurs joined a crop of figurines, harlequins, dolls and blocks and marbles that the girls had smuggled out and past Ascell. So far, the Mutant and the New Girl had avoided being spotted but they had decided it was time to bring in an associate. “So what do you need, uh... ‘musclebeats’ for?”
“Everyone else is hunting so we were going to hunt too!” said Aradia, gesturing to the toys. She held a female, red spotted harlequin in one hand, representing herself in their bank of alchemized toys. She looked up to take a look at the new arrival, this strange-looking Troll with the frills on the side of his head and the lightning horns. He looked sort of like Rikisa, the girl that Aradia saw sometimes when Hyaden’s Human lusus came to visit Terezi. It was a complicated net of names and faces, but if Shaula said he was okay, Aradia was willing to give him a shot.
“You can pick somebody to be you, Aquila,” Shaula said, settling on her knees to collect her blue-clothed, princess-hat wearing wizard doll. “You can build a house for him too,” she said, with a sweeping gesture over the wasteland of blocks they had created. Those were really the magic words. A deep-set Troll instinct took over, built into quirks of their upbringing that had been unknowingly passed on from their lusii, once taught to them to prepare them for Sgrub. Shaula and Aradia tried for a moment to pick up their game where it had been left off, but soon the sight of Aquila pulling rough blocks into definable buildings drew them in inch by inch as though by instinct. As he set up a tower on the corner of his toy’s new home, his sister’s hand cut in seamlessly, adding circular blocks in form with him to a triangle top.
“Need to widen the bottom here,” Aradia said, pointing towards the pyramid they had built haphazardly between her complex and Aquila’s. The other Trolls peered over her shoulder, nodding as they took in this new idea, the dozenth that had been taught by one pair of lusii but not the other and since passed on.
Shaula reached over her shoulder. “Tipping,” she warned, and the others parted so that she could carefully swap in a block to replace one of the load-bearing dinosaurs that had somehow become absorbed into the structure. She fumbled for a moment, peered at the pyramid with her vision eightfold, for the first time without subtly or pretence, and then obsessively began to replace an entire unstable corner as the others passed her parts.
As they worked, voices, shouting, came through the garage door. “Didn’t I tell you I’d get you all home?”
“Open the glubbing door!”
“Looks more like we’re here in spite of you, Vriska.”
“Gamzee, OP-EN TH-E GLUBBING DOOR!!!!”
The garage door began to move on its engine (“Oh nice one, Joker, that’s totally the door she meant.”) and the grubs looked up to see shadows pull in from what had developed into a full blizzard.
“Jutht go that way it’th better we get warm.”
“aLRIGHT eQUIUS i THINK IT’S JUST OVER HERE, ”
One by one, adults began to appear through the snow, followed by a ponderous silhouette none of the grubs could make out. The first adult to get inside the garage shook herself vigorously, scattering snow across Gamzee’s dormant farming equipment, and rubbed at her sides for warmth. She spotted the grubs as she struggled to undo the velcro that held her hood about her horns, and waved. Shaula and Aquila waved back, Aradia noticing the same not-greeting she tended to use when confronted with Terezi, even though she saw her lusus’ matespirt every day of her life. But that reaction turned to screaming joy for Shaula when another Troll, one bound about the head like a mummy in no less than four multi-coloured scarves, followed after.
“Gamzee!” she said, jumping and clinging onto his leg.
“Whoa, hey there, Little S!” He pushed a scarf off of his eyes and hefted her up into his arms. Aquila walked towards him as well, not as in a hurry for physical attention but glad to be there. “I didn’t think my bro had set out the whole motherfucking family to see where we went!”
“Gamzthe, don’t block the door,” said another Troll, unwrapping the yellow scarf tied about his own face. Shaula reached out a tiny hand toward him, not otherwise removing herself from Gamzee, and he grasped her hand and set a hand on Aquila’s back as he pushed Gamzee out of the way. Feferi watched the family with a certain lonely detachment, but stepped away to clear the door.
“Holy carp that’s a great city you’ve got, kids!” she said more to Aradia than anything. “We’re gonna have to go around.” Aradia nodded, not sure if she was supposed to reply. She guessed this Troll looked a little like Aquila and Rikisa. She couldn’t be so bad.
“That was the best trip ever!” shouted a tiny voice, and Aradia looked up to see another grub running in out of the snow. She had already removed her gloves, which dangled from her wrist from single yarn threads. Shaula recognized her at once and hugged closer to Gamzee, but she had already been seen. “Hi,” Subraa said with a grin. “Are you still the mutant or are we not playing that any more?”
“Been playing some games, hon?” Gamzee asked, brushing aside her hair. Shaula shook her head, but Subraa continued talking prompted.
“It’s okay if we’re not but I wanted to be mutant next!” She began to walk foward as though on a balancing board, the very portrait of hyperactivity. “It looked like fun!” Shaula looked down at her, confused, and Subraa smiled up at her. “Did you know you have an eye just like Vriska?”
“Yeah, kiddo, she already knows.” A Human pushed in and tapped her with his foot.
Subraa laughed and ran up to Aradia. “Hi!” she said. “I don’t know you yet!” This was apparently very exciting.
“Gamzee,” said a female Troll that followed in next, “why are there kids all over your garage?”
“Fuck, bro, I don’t know.” Gamzee kept a hold of his daughter, who watched Subraa with confusion as she rattled off to Aradia like she’d explode if she didn’t let the words out. “There’s plenty of room for everybody!”
The Troll woman scowled and pushed past the Human to burst into the house through the adjoining door. Subraa, seeing her leave, perked up suddenly and made off in her trail without even finishing her sentence.
Last of all came the ponderous shadow, which seemed to mutter as it walked until it was close enough that Aradia could make it out. It was the body of a huge, deer-like creature, not that she knew the word, broad and tall and with multiple sets of cartilage spines running down its back. The thing was held aloft by a single adult Troll, with another on the opposite side just trying to keep it balanced.
“More to the left, Equius, more to the—no, wait, my left! My left!”
“Ugh... Nitram, I will remind you that if you direct me into a wall it will be you that hits it before the ’Beast.”
With the careful but utterly conflicted advice being shouted by all onlookers, it was remarkable that the two Trolls managed to carry their burden even past the first vehicle. Somehow they pulled it off, all of the adults pitching in to keep it from knocking everything and sundry off of the shelves. Aquila and Shaula ran under the beast at one point to rejoin Aradia, who was still trying to set blocks.
“Hi Equius,” she said as her other lusus walked past, face buried in the fat of the Hornbeast.
“A-Aradia! You’re out of your room?” Aradia nodded without realizing he was stuck looking in the opposite direction, but he spoke as though he had not expected a detailed reply. “Go into the house and tell Nepeta to clear the grubs away from the kitchen.”
Aradia knew better than to wait with Equius, even to confirm his request. She and the others ran back into the home ahead of the adults. Equius’ relationship with Nepeta was, for his daughters, far more natural than the one Karkat shared with Terezi as it did not overstep the bounds of familiarity. All the grubs knew Nepeta from their infancy and just beyond, even if she was the sometimes scary Cheshire Cat that appeared out of nowhere when they were doing something they should not. Perhaps that explained Subraa’s ease the past few days. The grubs found her pulling apart Ascell and Nahnos with both paws.
“Dave,” she said to the Human that had just arrived, dressed in snow-covered red coat. “Are Tavros or Feferi here?”
“Tavros has a face full of Hornbeast ass, but Fef’s trying to wave them in.” Rikisa ran up to one side and he scooped her up before she could say a word, as she was clearly trying to do. “What’s this all about?” he said, pointing to the siblings still struggling to get at one another’s throat.
“Ugh, they were playing Legislacerators as soon as I turned my back! even the sneaky kitty can’t be everywhere, dave!”
As it to prove her point, Samuel ran in with his red and blue glasses upside-down on his head, both eyes purple and shouting “I’m blind! I’m bliiiind!” Giedel and Zubene followed behind, spinning about and running intentionally into walls. Terezi rolled her eyes, reaching out to bump them away from the couch but otherwise letting them to their own.
“Dave,” Rikisa said, “they said I was a mutant!” She pulled at his face to draw his eyes and then pointed to her frill.
Dave laughed and kissed her cheek to show that he did not mean it at her. “Equius better not find out about this or we’ll be short two grubs.”
“actually...” Nepeta leaned over, and whispered something into his ear that made him grin in a way that he made a point of hiding from Rikisa.
Ascell wrenched his hand free. “I do not! I don’t have a crush on anybody!”
“Eh?’ Nepeta said. “Strong hearing, eh?” She let Nahnos go with one hand and plucked his brother up with both, only all the levels of Sgrub giving her power over the clone of Equius. “one day you’ll be kicking yourself for pretending you don’t have crushes but for now I guess I just don’t expect you to understand that!”
“Dooown, shippy kitty,” said Feferi, coming in from the garage. She reached over and picked up her son. “He’s allowed to not have crushes if he wants! He’s still just little! Besides...” she said, leaning in towards Nepeta. “Except for her hair, she looks exactly like me!” Nepeta just took that in with a shrug. “It’s weird!” Aradia and the others took this opportunity to pass along Equius’ messages, and Nepeta set to work immediately.
“Dave. Dave. Dave,” Rikisa said, as Dave walked her to the side. “Sam says I put spiders in his hair but I didn’t.”
“Hah!” Vriska appeared out of the hallway with Subraa, now pulled out of her snow gear. “That was so awesome. You totally missed it, Dave.”
“Vriska, shut the fuck up,” he said, and turned to his daughter. “Now what the hell’s this about?”
“But I didn’t do it!”
“It’s true!” Vriska said, as Subraa ran off to join Aradia and the others, bouncing on her ankles. “She never had a single spider! She improvised, told the right lies, it was perfect manipul8ion! I’ve never 8een so proud!”
Dave leaned in towards her, shades and a frown meeting the Vision Eightfold and a smarmy grin. “Now what’d I tell you about teaching our kids to be like you?”
“Dave, manipulation should be taught manipulatively! I thought that’s what we were agreeing on! Besides,” she said, poking at Rikisa’s leg. “It makes way more sense than your stupid ninja shit.” She poked their daughter in the side, one, twice before Rikisa finally got annoyed and snapped her hand out like lightning to catch her finger on the way to a third. Aradia and the others exchanged looks of surprise, but Subraa just grinned and replied with a fighting stance and a crooked grin.
“uH, eVERYBODY PLEASE MOVE SOMEWHERE,”
“OH THANK FUCKING GOG, WHERE HAVE YOU PEOPLE BEEN?”
The room erupted in shouting and the sound of a dead Hornbeast being scrapped against the walls. The kids all shuffled off into two separate groups, and Subraa called over her sister.
“Hey mutant,” Rikisa greeted Shaula. “Guess we’re on the same side now?”
Aradia saw the discomfort brewing in Shaula’s eyes, so stepped in. “I don’t wanna play Legislacerators,” she said at once, hoping decisiveness would overstep the fact that half the people there did not know her. “We should go play... uh...”
“Animals!” Subraa said, nodding enthusiastically.
As they began to discuss the rules to their new game, at the other side of the room Zubene already had her eyes covered, having bullied the others like a good Troll girl into playing Hide and Seek. They were confined to the living room by the Hornbeast and Karkat’s voice, but there was room enough to try, even though the Troll version of Hide and Seek only ended with flying tackles. The kitchen staff, cleaning off so that the hunting party could take their place, watched them from the sinks.
“As only children,” Rose said, “I think we were lucky to escape this cacophony.”
“Eh, I can roll with it,” John said with a shrug. “I think I saw it all the time watching Home Alone, you know?”
Jade laughed and pushed him aside to get at the tap. “Home Alone, John? Are you sure?”
“…Okay, Home Alone 3, but all the same.”
They were out of the way in time to let the second catch past, and Equius, the sole victorious hunter of the set, took their place. He washed his hands from tip to elbow, and was interrupted by a familiar tug at his pant leg.
“Ah, Zeniah,” he said. “Has all been well while I was out?”
“We played King of the Cathtle,” she said, and after some thought: “...And Karkat made dinner.”
“Yes, I see,” he said, and dried his hands so that he could properly face his first daughter. “Aradia is out of her room now?”
“She was crying,” Zeniah said, “but Karkat got her to come out and then she calmed down. I talked to her for a while but her and Shaula went off to play with blockth and I didn’t...” She looked up, saw Karkat out of the corner of her eye and frowned before correcting her sentence: “...She and Shaula went off to play with blocks and I didn’t want to.”
Equius had never exactly known whether to be bothered that his daughter responded better to Karkat’s iron fist than his. “Any other news?”
“Nepeta and... and... and Eridan were kissing on the couch again.”
“Hrm, I have told her to keep her affectionate gestures more private, b-but I suppose Lord Ampora is allowed to set his own rules.” With a red-blooded daughter and co-lusus, Equius had stuffed much of his youthful prejudices, but he could not shake his unshakable respect for aquatic Trolls. “Thank you, Zeniah.” But Zeniah did not leave, and simply looked up at him, waiting for permission to speak again. “What is it?”
“Can I see the babies?”
“Hrm.” Equius scoured the room for the Humans, seeing Dave nearby. “Strider,” he said. “Can I take Zeniah to see the Human infants?”
“They’re probably asleep, doll,” Dave said to Zeniah, “but sure, knock yourself out.”
“Come along, then,” Equius said, reaching out his hand loose so that she could grasp it. . Together, they headed off past the kids and the rolling tackle Nahnos used to floor Geidel and up the stairs into the quiet of the second floor. As they approached, the quiet gave way to the sound of a soft gurgling, and they opened the door to find Kanaya playing with one of the two infant boys with a rattle.
“Hello, Kanaya,” Equius greeted.
Kanaya looked up and, at the sight of her horns clear and visible, Zeniah began to grasp Equius’ hand extra hard and he felt her take a step back.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Unnnh...” came the whimper, and then: “...wanna go.”
“Oh no,” Kanaya said, reaching down to pick up the baby. “Equius, I think I’ve scared her. I don’t want to get in your way, are you coming to visit the babies?” Equius nodded. “Well, I can step out for a bit, it’s all right. Here, take Gabriel for a minute.”
It was Equius’ turn to take a step back. “Kanaya, don’t be silly. You know I can’t handle an infant. My STRENGTH would do them permanent harm. Put it in its crib.”
Kanaya looked over to the cradle, but as it sank in that she could not really leave the babies with Equius – functionally unaccompanied to no fault of his own – she worked fast to come up with a backup plan.
“...Your name’s Zeniah, isn’t it?” Kanaya said, full aware. She had been trying to avoid her clone the entire day, mortified of this exact reaction. It was all she had ever feared in her own children, and seeing her own face looking back at her so frightfully was more than she could bear. Zeniah shied away another step, but nodded. “...Would you like,” Kanaya said, slowly kneeling down, “...to hold the baby?”
Zeniah froze, torn between her irrational fear and her want to see the strange thing her original held in her arms. She looked up to Equius for advice, but Equius was often useless as a source of advice to children. He just met his eyes across his broken shades, and all he could offer his confused little girl was a shrug of his shoulder. Zeniah smiled and, more to her original’s feet than face and whispered “Yes.”
“Okay,” Kanaya said. Now, hold your arms up like I am. Okay, a little more with your right hand.” Carefully, Kanaya passed over Gabriel, who thrashed about in confusion as the change in form, but settled as Kanaya nudged and pulled at Zeniah’s arms until she had him held secure. “Now can you hold him safe?” she asked, and Zeniah nodded. Then Kanaya scooted back, away from Zeniah before she overcame the task of holding the baby enough to remember that her original was there. Gabriel looked about the room from this new, curious angle, and looked up at the stranger that held him. Zeniah laughed the second time he did.
“What is it?” Equius asked, knowing she would have to be cued before she would elaborate.
“He doesn’t have any... uh... horns,” she said, and smiled all the broader. Seeing that the baby absorbed all of the grub’s attention, Kanaya took a step back to check on Dustin, who had taken his cousin’s turn at sleep.
Zeniah was so taken in by her new charge that there was a moment of relative peace in the room, before without warning or apparent cause, Gabriel began to wail. Zeniah’s eyes went wide, luckily too dedicated to release the struggling baby, and turned to Equius who was forced to take a step back to prevent her from trying to pass him over. With no other course of action and with tears in her own eyes, Zeniah turned to Kanaya and raised the baby into her waiting arms.
“Oh, it’s all right, sweetie,” Kanaya said, more to Zeniah than Gabe. “He’s just...” She took in the scene and it was not long before the answer hit her nose. “He just went to the bathroom.”
Zeniah’s mouth fell open, conflicted between her fear and panic and deep-taught habit of never speaking without first being spoken too. “He... pooped his pants?”
“Yes,” said Equius, sounding upset as though the biology involved had disobeyed a direct order. “Infants are prone to such filth.”
Zeniah let out a tiny laugh, not sure if it would bother her lusus to do so, and she watched as Kanaya took Gabe over to the changing table. “...What are you doing?” she asked.
“Well I’ve got to clean him up,” Kanaya said, and Zeniah laughed again. Kanaya turned back to her as she set the baby down and looked back at Zeniah. She would never have said it, but she still remembered too well the early days when they each kept a careful watch over their own selves, a tiny little green worm climbing on her hand, across her desk, needing feeding and cleaning and an infinite need for attention. Though, or perhaps because, she had been apart from that little worm so long since she had bonded with Karkat and Equius, Kanaya found her laugh even more affecting than her previous fear.
“...Would you like to help?” she asked. “I need someone to help me powder him.” She opened the bottle of baby powder and dropped it down to the table so that a cloud of it puffed into the air. Zeniah looked up at her lusus, who nodded his ascent, and headed across the room and up on a footstool to help out. Kanaya tried to hide her smile, more proud that she had made it so far without calamity than anything else, and worked on, describing every step as she went. “...Any Questions?” she found herself asking from time to time, as she got used to Zeniah’s unique peculiarities.
“What’s that?” she asked, pointing.
Kanaya’s face fell from its former heights. “Uh... Equius, are you still there?”
“Yes, Kanaya,” he said from the door.
“Uh... anatomy question, Equius. Not... I’m not comfortable.”
“Oh for goodness’ sake, Maryam...”
----------------------------------
The group’s Twelfth Perigree’s Eve dinner went off without a hitch, beyond the fact that it was almost three hours late. There were two types of meat and all kinds of sides, grown by the sixteen farms and orchards and other setups they had arranged on their new homes with the help of alchemy and all the tools available to them. They managed to seat the grubs at their own table, the baby monitor on a shelf, and only had to check on either from time to time.
Zeniah, sitting just beside her sister, had just finished retelling her story about the babies.
“We’ve got to show you all the stuff the humans have!” Rikisa said to her new friends, a little bored by the story of the babies she had seen every day but just polite enough to listen. “They’ve got all these old movies and video games and it’s crazy!”
“But we’re all going home tomorrow,” Aradia said as they were cleaning their plates from their first serving.
“So?” Shaula said. “Just use your computer!”
“You just need to download Trollian,” Aquila said at her prompting. “And make sure your network is set up with the Captornet with a direct cable connection or a... a...”
Sollux, who had been refreshing their plates, muttered just behind his son. “Adaptor,” he said.
“Or a wireless adaptor,” Aquila said, as though it had been his idea. “It’s easy! We do it all the time!”
Sollux returned to the adult room and retook his seat between Feferi and Gamzee. “Grubs are talking about setting up Trollian,” he said.
“About time,” Vriska said, grabbing another drumstick from the octopod bird the first team had gathered and stealing another roll from John, who replaced it reflexively. “I was on Trollian when I was half their age.”
“Yeah, luring poor Trolls to their doom,” Jade chided her, and Vriska shrugged.
“What, are you going to sue me for being productive about it, too?”
“I’m just glad they’re finally making FRI---ENDS!” said Feferi, plate full of vegetables. “Soon they can start planning sleep overs, and hang outs, and go out camping or swimming in the ocean and it’ll be SO FUN!!!”
“Don’t get excited just yet,” Eridan said. “Half of them are starting to hate each other instead.”
“Good!” said Karkat, throwing his fork down to an empty plate. “They’re actually going to be like real Trolls in the fucking end, thank gog! I was worried we’d hit their first breeding season and we’d have jack shit. Which reminds me!”
“Oh no, Karkat...” Terezi picked up her chair underneath her and took a few steps away. “Okay, now they won’t hit me with food, keep going.”
“What are you... whatever. All right, all of you shits. A year and a month from now, I am fucking serious, the spring after next: bucket time.”
The table collectively groaned, and true to Terezi’s prediction Karkat was petled with dark meat and a mashed potato analogue. “I am fucking serious, you little shits! We have a planet to populate! The Humans know how it works! If I don’t see ecto grubs or a tub fulla each of your gross shit brewing by next summer I’m going to make it happen at the end of my gogdamned scythe.”
“SO ROMANTIC, K4RK4T”
“yEAH, i DON’T KNOW IF i’M READY FOR THIS WITH LIKE, aNYONE,”
The arguments went on into the evening, dessert served with a side of unreasonable debate points.
“Why don’t the Humans have to help?”
“What, did you not see the shit machines upstairs? No orders, no bitching about not having a proper matesprit, just getting the hell to business!”
“Not breeding is boring! Not breeding is booooooooring!”
“Could somebody explain to me how this all fucking works again?”
“gz ii am not giiviing you a 2ex talk over dinner”
They calmed down in time, over pie and a batch of cookies John had prepared. Complaints soon turned to acceptance, though only rarely open embrace. Many of the parents were unwilling to jump right back into this sort of series, some muttered something about talking to their own grubs and others worried about if they were going to be able to raise the new in the same way as the old. Kanaya, who had zipped up at Karkat’s pronouncement, sat in an armchair with Rose at her feet, a comfort from a friendship that had been strained by a near decade of physical separation. But they calmed down.
As the hours passed the grubs were set down for bed, polite goodnights and butterfly kisses on cheeks as the adults left them on their own and gathered in the living room, in sight of the great pile of gifts and out of place Christmas tree, waiting for the year to end. They waited in quiet conversation, trying to encourage the grubs to sleep.
“Do they really think they’re being stealthy?” Nepeta asked as she listened to them through the ceiling, talking louder and louder as the night went on.
“Sadly?” Dave said, getting up to shush them. “Yes.”
Maybe it was the grubs that reassured them, the way they were all kept up as one in a unity of parenthood, but things felt better when the clock struck midnight. It had been an exhausting day, an exhausting sweep, but it was over. Three sweeps, or six years, done and accomplished. John broke out some drinks, Karkat and Terezi kissed at the Humans’ insistence, Eridan and Nepeta kissed and disappeared. The rest of them exchanged hugs, a glad-to-see-you in their shared partnership, the team that rebuilt the world. Some hugs lingered. A stop-being-a-stranger met here, an I-miss-you-still holding tighter there, but no one said a word, too exhausted to let the day go on. Things weren’t okay yet. There was a whole new sweep to confront, new challenges to face, and even the holiday could not convince them that they’d be all right.
But they would be all right.
I think I could or should have set this just a year or so further back given how I portrayed the kids. Oh well.
And the Epilogue to the Grublings storyline is right here.
Last edited by SkaianRedeemer; 12-31-2010 at 05:45 PM.
Your name is RIKISA STRIDER. It just so happens that today is the day of your ectobiological spawning! Though it was six long sweeps ago that you were given life, it is only today that she has acquired a bed! Your lusus has been fairly adamant about you sleeping in a pool of FILTERED WATER but that doesn’t mean you haven’t wanted to just LIE DOWN AND CHILL from time to time. Your MOIRAIL agreed, so you and she snuck out and stole one from the HUMANS so that you could ALCHEMIZE it. It was the perfect act of REBELLION, which you appreciate on an aesthetic level. GIEDEL says that you and ARADIA were just trying to get into bed together but he wouldn’t get relationships if ARADIA kissed him on the fucking lips. Hint, hint.
You have a variety of INTERESTS, mostly centred on your BITCHIN’ SIX-STRING and varying collection of SPEAKER SYSTEMS. You have an extensive collection of ROCK ALBUMS created by DECEASED HUMAN REBELS and consider yourself the sole spiritual successor of ROCK’N’ROLL ITSELF. You have a number of TATOO DESIGNS on your east wall until you or your friends manage to REVERSE ENGINEER the needle. You also possess a small collection of training equipment you use to practice with your CHAINWHIP, like the punk rock warriors of old. Your primary lusus understands your need to ROCK OUT from time to time you don’t exactly see eye to eye in terms of music, often leading to one of your CROSS-GENRE FATHER-DAUGHTER MUSIDUELS.
He doesn’t know it yet, but you’re not going to see much of him today. After all, you and your friends are now SIX SWEEPS OLD, the same age you lusus and his friends CREATING THE MOTHERFUCKING UNIVERSE. You’re pretty sure that means that today, none of you are GRUBS any more, and the TWELVE of you are going to have a AWESOME PARTY to celebrate. You don’t know what’s going to happen once everyone’s out of sight of their lusii, but you’re all six now, and you just know that it’s going to fucking RAWK!! ,\m/
All right. No more babies. Except for Kawa. Annnd anyone else that wants to. But not from me. For me, it’s time to go back to Rose at the DAWN OF THE THIRD DAY.
New Alternia, around noon. A few years into the future, but not many.
"But mamma, why do I gotta wear teh stupid sunglasses?"
Shula, one the one hand, was happy that the "stupid sunglasses" weren't as obnoxious as her mother's, but on the other hand any pair of sunglasses would be "stupid". Except maybe, maybe uncle Dave's.
"You're still just a vulnerable little wiggler, strawberry", Terezi answered sweetly. "Mommy burned her eyes out from being out in the sun back on our old planet and really? I'm just worried. Besides, these are nice, right?"
"But mamma! It's noon outside! It's not that bright, I can take it!"
Terezi had nothing to say against that.
"Okay, but at least give the sunglasses an honest try for me sometime? No better kid than a coolkid!"
That seemed reasonable enough to the little tyke, who nodded in agreement and pocketed the sunglasses into one of the two blank cards she had acquired for her wriggling day.
"Are you sure about this", Karkat asked as he brought the coats. "The humans may not be so friendly if a whole bunch of us go out, and you know we can't hurt anyone without getting the whole colony blown up."
"Oh, relax Karkles. It'll be fine. After all, they tolerate Gamzee of all people, and the first thing he did when he arrived was hunt down and kill two guys!"
"Yeah, that was kinda impressive. But then we are talking about those two guys, and you were there to defend him in court", Karkat reminisced as he pulled on his coat.
"Fun times, fun times. Gotta admit, I nearly soiled myself when I took the stand..."
Shula giggled at the idea.
"But hey, is Nepeta ready to go?" Terezi inquired.
"She should be. In case you feel like asking, no her grub is still pupating. But it shouldn't finish until next week."
There was a wholly expected knock on the door. Karkat opened and promptly got hugged by the girl he had spoken of just then. In turn, Nepeta got pried off quite literally with a white-red cane. This only served to make Shula laugh even more.
"Hi auntie Nepeta", Shula greeted.
"Hi cub! You ready for a pawsome night out to town?"
"YEAH!"
~~~
As Karkat, Terezi, Nepeta, Sollux and Shula walked through the streets of the nearby human city, they overheard many opinions, stated in hushed tones.
"Look at that, Martha. Honest-to-God aliens, right 'ere in Nevada!"
"The hell is that guy wearin' three-dee glasses for anyway?"
"They gotta be secret invaders, Joe. Just look at that guy in the middle -- I ain't never seen a scowl like that." "HEY, HUMAN ASSHOLE! YOU WANNA SAY THAT TO MY SCOWLY FACE?"
Please don't let him take out the Regisickle...
Karkat did not take out the Regisickle, or any other variant he had. It would've seemed that the human asshole hadn't expected Karkat to have heard that. The fact that Karkat's scowly face looked even more dangerous from the front probably helped.
"I don't know Ethel. The little one looks perfectly harmless to me." "Don't let that fool you. I'm sure they're just tryin' to look harmless."
Terezi nodded at Shula who, with the flick of a wrist, took out her brand new scythe just long enough for this Ethel human to see, then put it back. Including the disturbing grin she had learned from her mother.
"If you ask me Todd, I'd totally tap the girl in the green coat." "Are you even sure she is a girl, Matt?" "Well duh, have you seen that rack? Ofcourse she's a girl!" "Just sayin' Matt, how can you be sure?"
Nepeta took cover behind Sollux until the scary jocks were out of sight.
"Oh hey mister Jones. Isn't that the young alien man who always shops here?" "Why yes, yes it is. Hello mister Captor!" "Oh hey, thup mithter Joneth! Thee ya neckth week?" "I'll make sure all the stuff's in stock sir, don't you worry." "Well well Thollucks, getting chummy with the shopkeepers? H3H3H3H." "Ith all good buthineth, TZ. Joneth ith happy to therve hith... how'd he thay? 'Hith gray-thkinned candycorn overlordth'?"
~~~
The trolls found themselves at a toy store, where Nepeta and Shula stopped to look at the stuff in the windows.
"What. Is. That?" Shula asked in wonderment as she stared at a stuffed animal toy in the window. Nepeta looked over to see what it was.
"I caught one of those once. It's an Earth hopbea-"
"Bunny rabbit", Karkat interrupted. Nepeta gave him a confused look.
"It's called a bunny rabbit. Not a hopbeast. Those are almost, but not entirely similar."
"...I want one", Shula said slowly, her eyes wide.
Terezi pushed Nepeta away to get a whiff of what the others were talking about.
"You want this bunny rabbit?" she asked in a carefully calculated tone.
"I want it!"
Memes were a beautiful thing, the adults decided.
"Then let's see if the place is still open", Karkat announced as he went for the door. The toy store was indeed still open, and it was relatively brightly lit inside. Shula was quick to put her sunglasses on.
"Hello Nevada human toystore employee", Karkat said. It was something the humans had come to expect, probably from watching too many cheesy science-fiction movies. It was just a courtesy, and he didn't say anything else while Nepeta and Shula tried to find the shelf with the bunnies. Karkat and Sollux found themselves puzzled by some of the recent videogame releases.
"It's not there yet, isn't it, bro?"
"Yeah. But it thouldn't be too long now."
"I wonder how Vriska would take it if sales sucked. I mean, she helped a lot."
"Probably worthe than I would, KK. Muthh worthe. And hey, tho did you. That wath a pretty thweet catth with the collitthionth."
"...gog DAMN they're still making these Final Fantasy games!?"
"There it is", Shula called out. Nepeta came over in a bounce.
"Let me see how much it is... Terezi, do you have this much?"
"Girl, I didn't even bring my wallet! Ask Karkles."
"Oh hell no! I ain't paying for no gog damned half-assed Con Air refere-- ah geez again with the eyes..."
A/N:
It is not the same kind of stuffed bunny, ofcourse. That'd be too cheap to even consider. Also, the "teh" at the start is not a typo -- that's just how Shula talks. She says "mistah" and "teh". I also have a quirk worked out for her:
GP: but th3n mist3r gamz33 ki113d a11 t3h scary c1owns
Can you see the hidden meaning?
Invitations for details regarding Nepeta's kid are still open -- the only constant is that it's Leijon, not Vantas, and that it's not Blaise -- he's for much later. And why not throw in the potential Captor twins?
I need to stop getting inspired by every update. BT
Wrong
Wrong.
Wrong wrong wrong this was all wrong this felt so wrong this WASN’T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN.
----
First Guardians. Cornerstones. Take it out, or change it, and the whole structure topples.
Only, this stucture isn’t a building. It’s a planet.
----
It fizzles under your skin, the power, and as you scream, you realize you can’t control it.
----
The planet wasn’t supposed to die.
Stop.
Before you make a comeback, I’ll explain.
Destruction of a species does not mean destruction of the underlying planet. THAT was always supposed to remain.
----
There’s hardly any humans left to see the end. Great earthquakes and storms rage across the surface, the dying screams of a murdered world. As Earth shudders in her death throes, green lightning arcs across the sky.
----
Wrong wrong wrong wrongwrongwrongWRONGWRONGWRONG
----
It hurts a little, the wrongness of it.
----
What did you do?
This update and this new thoughtfic make me sad. :c
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)
Pardon me, as I'm still fairly new here....this intrigues me, but I must first ask (lest I make a bigger fool of myself than I feel this post will); are stories of a....romantic....nature allowed? I do not mean to imply anything sexual, of course, nothing as such. Simply, to use the vernacular, ships. If there is a more appropriate thread for that, then direct me and I'll be on my way. Sorry to be a bother.
Thank you. Then I'll drop this here for consideration. I'm not very happy with Rose's character, but she's hard for me to write.
-- grimAuxiliatrix [GA] began trolling tentacleTherapist [TT] --
GA: Rose? Do You Have A Moment?
TT: I suppose.
TT: After all, I doubt that I will get a moment's peace until I do answer you, will I?
GA: I'm Sorry. I've Barely Seen You Since...Well, Since We Met. It's Been Nice Having You All Here. John Has Proven To Be Quite Amiable. It's Quite Interesting Watching Him Interact With Karkat, Particularly.
GA: I'm Not So Sure About Dave. I Can't Help But Feel That He's Watching Me. Me Specifically. I Can't See His Eyes Behind His Shades...But Even When He's Occupied, He's Watching Me.
GA: Perhaps I'm Simply Losing It. I Should Have By Now. And I'm Rambling Again, Aren't I?
TT: Dave's more protective than he lets on. He Cares A Lot For Me.
GA: What? Really?
TT: That's probably why he's watching you. Like he watches Vriska.
GA: Oh. I Think I See.
TT: Do You Now?
GA: But Why Have You Hidden Yourself?
TT: I'm Not Hidden. I've taken up residence in one of the many unused rooms in this facility. You Could Find Me Easily.
TT: It's hardly a permanent arrangement. Everyone seems to have forgotten that we still have an unkillable omnipotent demon after us. Possibly two.
GA: I Don't Think Anyone's Forgotten. Perhaps They're Simply Relishing The Time We Have Left.
GA: Why Aren't You?
TT: Who Says I'm Not? Have I not earned a moment's rest, after all it took to reach this point?
GA: But You Really Wouldn't Rather...Well...
TT: That's Just It. Rather what? I've never even spoken to half of you. What would I do? Perhaps get mixed up in an awkward interspecies romance like the rest of them?
TT: Don't they understand it could never work? And what if one of them dies? Don't they understand how painful it would be, how they would never forgive myself if anything happened?
TT: Dammit.
GA: Rose...
TT: No, Kanaya. Whatever you're typing, stop it. Stop It Right Now.
GA: I Think They Do Know. Furthermore, I Think They Know Something You Also Know.
TT: Enlighten me, then, to what I supposedly know they know I know.
GA: They Know That It Can Work. And That Even If It Doesn't, They Still Couldn't Help Themselves. That It's Too Late. It's As Inevitable As Everything Else In Paradox Space...And Yet, Somehow, All The More Freeing.
TT: You're a horrible romantic, Kanaya.
GA: I Know.
GA: But I Also Know I'm Right. And I Know That That's Why You're Hiding. But, Rose?
TT: Yes?
GA: I'm Done Hiding. I'm Done Hiding Who I Am, And More Importantly, How I Feel.
GA: But What I Have To Say To You, I Want To Say It Face To Face.
TT: That's What Made It So Hard, You Know.
GA: What?
TT: This would have been a lot easier if...
TT: If...
GA: If?
TT: If you hadn't been so damn beautiful.
TT: I'll Be Right There. I think I have a few things to say to you now as well.
Be gentle.
At least I'm forthright with my insanity
Sigquotes:
Originally Posted by InnerRayg
TT: I am not a lesbian
GA: Not Yet
Originally Posted by corwinblack
This update is what the inside of my dream bubble is going to smell like...
@Diophantian: Well, we do have separate Rom and Fan art threads, but until December we didn't have enough fics to fill even just the one thread so that probably would have been extreme. As for the fic, I always enjoy a quick pesterlog. I'm curious about your use of Kanaya's quirk in Rose's text. I've done something similar and I'm wondering if you were too.
As for punctuation, I actually went about eight chapters in a fic before I realized that Kanaya didn't use punctuation but did use contractions. Drove myself nuts trying to avoid using any.
Last edited by SkaianRedeemer; 12-31-2010 at 10:20 PM.
Originally Posted by Sionnan
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 :'
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