MSPA Fanfiction IV

[Graven_Image]

Business as Usual

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It's done.

He doesn't like it.

But it's done.

She's dead. the mutant is soon to be dead. All is right with the world.

Except not, because there's a cacophony of anger, screams, and a whirring chainsaw behind him.

Idiots. They can't possibly hope to-

Oh.

Go for the wand. Genius.

The thing about science is, it's not volatile. A magic wand would flare and explode if you chopped it in half. A science wand like this one just sputters and dies.

No problem. He'd simply get Kanaya to-

No, wait. Kanaya was the one who destroyed it.

This presented a problem.

Karkat was bellowing harder than he'd ever heard him. He didn't understand most of it, but there was something in it about idiocy, betrayal, and a traitor...?

"noww hang on a damn second-"

He would keep talking, but he just couldn't, for some reason. He noticed the crabclaw scythe embedded in his sternum.

"PRINCE OF HOPE!? WHERE'S OUR HOPE NOW!?"

He didn't have an answer.

He didn't have the answer to anything all of the sudden.

He tried to take in a breath, but the sickle has ripped out and stabbed back in again. And again.

Business as usual for Trolls. Revenge. Death. Murder.

It doesn't mean he's ok it.

His entire body was numb.

His last conscious perception was of the bright red tears forming in Karkat's eyes as he looked over Feferi's body.

His last conscious thought, laying with a sickle through his lungs, was of the sheer irony of having someone like that kill him.

And then nothing.

[draconicAlgorithm]

Graven, Rae, I love you guys. I adore all these sadfics.

[draconicAlgorithm]

Sorry for the double post, but I'm in some kind of crazy writing mood right now. This is something like a continuation of both the Tavros death fic and now the Feferi death fic that I wrote. Admittedly, it's all pretty random.

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Terezi passed Eridan on her way back to the main room. She thought for a moment he might ask why she was covered in brown blood, but he ignored her completely. She paused for a moment, turning and sniffing.

Was that... grape tears?

Probably rejected again. She would have felt more pity for him, if she wasn't stained with the blood of a dead troll who demanded retribution and bearing in her mind the information that would turn this meteor upside down. She ignored him as well and stepped onto the transportalizer.

One deep breath told her everything she needed to know. Feferi was lying on the horn pile with a hole in her chest, the scent of her raspberry blood nearly stifling. The smell of it made her heart hurt. Karkat and Kanaya were rousing Sollux after he had apparently made a dent in the wall. What the hell happened in here?

Karkat and Kanaya looked up when she entered, both looking fearful for a moment until they realized it was her. Sollux groaned, finally beginning to wake up.

"Terezi, where the hell have you been?" That was Karkat, of course, covering up his grief by yelling.

"Terezi... What... what's that all over you?" Kanaya would be the one to ask that question.

"Blood," Terezi said bluntly. "Tavros is dead. Vriska killed him." Silence stretched for what seemed like hours.

"That... that fucking bitch." Karkat said finally. "Both of them. Gog dammit. Gog FUCKING DAMMIT. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ME?" He pounded the ground with his fist, but it did no good. Tears of sadness and frustration welled up in his eyes. Red tears.

Terezi had never seen him cry before. As their leader, he'd stayed strong through everything. Even when they lost, he'd just raged for a while. Finally, death brought him to tears. But she'd already spent hers. All she felt just then was numb.

And Kanaya. The shock and horror on her face was almost too much to bear. She was blaming herself.

They probably all were.

The silence went on, broken only by the steady crescendo of Karkat's fist on the tiled floor. It was bleeding now. No one tried to stop him.

"... KK. The fuck are you doing." Karkat froze mid swing. "What'th going on. Where'd that dumb fuck go." Still covered in his own blood, Sollux tried to sit up. Kanaya was at his side instantly, supporting him.

"Sollux, how badly are hurt?" She asked.

"Fuck if I know," he replied. "And gog dammit, why'th it tho dark in here? Did the fucking lightth go out?" Everyone was quiet for a long moment. Finally, Kanaya said, "Sollux. The lights are on."

Terezi stepped off the transportalizer and went to crouch right in front of Sollux. She sniffed. His eyes were definitely open. She detected a strong scent of appleberry. But if he couldn't see anything...

"I think you're blind." She said matter-of-factly.

"TZ? The fuck?" He started a bit, obviously having no idea that she was directly in front of him. "I gueth I knew it wath going to happen thomeday. Anyway, where'th FF? And where'd that fuck ED go?"

"... Sollux," Karkat said. "I need to tell you something."

Karkat told him.

Sollux didn't like what he heard.

---

Sollux wouldn't listen to anyone after that. He alternated raging and sobbing until, finally, he laid down with Feferi's body on the horn pile. None of them had the heart to try and move either of them.

The other three simply sat in a heavy silence, trying to find words to convey their thoughts and failing. Two deaths, so close together. It was hard for any of them to bear. No one thought that Eridan and Vriska would fall to this level. Now they knew better. Too little, too late.

"... Karkat," Terezi said. "Before Tavros died, he told me why Vriska killed him." She'd already explained to them both how he'd practically fallen on top of her with his own lance through his chest. Karkat nodded.

"He said that he found out that she had orchestrated the creation of the demon. He confronted her about it, and she killed him." Karkat sighed, putting his head in his hands.

"I'm not surprised," Kanaya said, though she gripped the edge of her skirt tightly in her fists. "She always had to be the center of attention."

"But she's gone too far this time," Terezi growled. "She's going to pay for all this. One way or another." Kanaya winced. Karkat just shook his head.

"No, Terezi. She's God-Tier, and it's obvious she doesn't care if she kills anyone. We just need to stay out of her way for now."

"Fuck God-Tier!" Terezi stood, baring her teeth, her rage reignited. "Fuck Vriska! This can't be allowed to stand! Justice must be—"

"Justice is pointless if you get killed before you dish it out," Karkat said. "Sit the fuck down, Terezi. You're smarter than this blind rage shit." The fire fizzled out. She knew he was right. But Tavros, lying dead in a growing pool of brown blood... She dropped back down onto the floor, feeling deflated.

"There's only one thing we can do now." Karkat stood. "I'm going to keep contacting Jade. We're going to get this fucking plan figured out. And then, we're going to get the fuck out of here before anyone else dies. And as for Vriska and Eridan..." His determined expression became a sneer. "They can fucking stay here and rot, for all I care." He went to his computer, sat down, and immediately began typing. He ignored the congealing blood that his injured hand was spreading on the keys.

"I... I need to place the Matriorb," Kanaya said hesitantly. "But I... I don't know if—"

"I'll come with you," Terezi instantly offered. "Two is safer than one." Kanaya smiled slightly and nodded, but her eyes weren't in it. Terezi wasn't really, either, but she needed to do something, before she snapped and started killing people herself. She knew who she wanted to see die, though.

The two troll girls stepped onto the transportalizer and disappeared.

The only sounds in the lab were Karkat's frantic typing and Sollux's strangled sobs.

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Also, Sollux was... blinded wwith science? ... Probably too soon.

[Sionnan]

Jumping on the sadfic bandwagon.

2cream2

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He should have listened harder.

He spent his entire life trying to ignore them, tune them out, cope with the terror and anguish and agony that coursed through his mind night after night after night.

But even when the cacophony had died down to little more than a handful of pitiful mewling, he hadn't paid attention. Later, he would reflect, with a sense of hollow horror, that the small scattering of voices, like leaves in wind, were actually the voices of the only twelve trolls left in the entire universe.

His friends.

He should have paid attention. He should have figured it out, but he was too caught up in the aftermath of their month long debacle, trying to deal with living in such close quarters with everybody. He was so used to the screams that he barely registered there were so few of them.

But if he had listened.

If he had paid just a little more attention.

Maybe he could have heard her.

Maybe he could have picked her voice out.

And realized what it meant.

Maybe he could have said something.

Anything.

"Look out."

"Be careful."

"I'm sorry."

"Thank you."

There were three words that stuck in his throat, three words he wished he could have said. Not that he felt particularly red toward her, but they were nonetheless true.

In retrospect, Sollux wished he could have said a lot of things.

In retrospect, Sollux wished he had listened.

[lucidSeraph]

Mmmgnh Sionnan, that's probably my favorite of the sadfic that's been posted so far. So sparse, so perfect, and I like that you brought in that power of his. It hasn't been mentioned in a while, and I've been wondering if he still has it.

(man and I shoulda waited to post my fic, nobody's gonna see it now XD)

[draconicAlgorithm]

@ Sionnan: So amazing and sad and fffff. I agree with Seraph. That's definitely one of the best so far.

[egregiousBass]

I'm being original by posting a Striderfic. It's somewhat rushed, and also the most evil thing I've written so far

Some Kind Of Monster
On second thought, no. If anyone wants a majorly unsettling vignette, PM me.

[Kassiopeia]

@Seraph I read your fic but was too distressed to comment. asjgsjhgdh
@Sionnan that's, yeah, like everyone said. Really sparse and beautiful.

okay here is my pathetic effort. Needed to get this out of my system. (I would strongly advise that you don't listen to this while falling down all this sadfic unless you want to get all blubbering-goddamn-pansy into your keyboard, argh.)

Sollux: Wake

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He surfaces from unconsciousness like a man scrabbling up from a marsh. Darkness seems to cling to him, and in the darkness he knows that something is dying. He can't open his eyes, but he feels it, a little way away, something fluttering and fading in the distance in a heartbeat in a wingbeat of translucent purple.

It is the last colour he sees.

Now he lies propped against the unyielding steel wall. Kanaya wraps him in clean clothes and mops the blood from the back of his head. Karkat breaks the news. Their voices buzz in his aching head. I know what happened, he wants to say, but they don't stop talking about how there was nothing they could do, nothing anyone could do, is there anything he needs? They won't say Feferi's name, as if they want to pretend it's someone else who's dead.

He wants to crawl back into the horn pile with Feferi and curl up beside her and sleep forever, but they will only let him hold her hand. It's still warm, and he traces the outlines of her knuckles with his fingertips, trying to remember what it felt like when she clasped his hand in return. The delicate webbing between her fingers is perfectly undamaged and he thinks what an injustice it is that she never got to return to the sea. He wonders what he saw in her last moments. When he died he hadn't seen anything, hadn't been able to focus on anything but the pain and the hot blood in his throat, but maybe Feferi the bright-hearted had caught a last glimpse of light on waves before the end. He doesn't know exactly what Eridan did to her and the others won't tell him. He hopes it didn't hurt her.

At length one of the others comes to sit beside him. Karkat, by the way he stamps and kicks the floor in frustration. The vibrations send a shudder of pain through Sollux's neck, and he twitches, but he says nothing, grateful that his best friend seems content to be silent for once. Distantly he hears the creaking of the walls and the dying hum of the machines. A breeze blows through the ancient halls, smelling of electricity and burning plastic. One by one the lights are going out.

edit: @Bass jesus o_o That's chilling. Well-written but.... ajhgshgfd I don't even want to consider it.

[SkaianRedeemer]

@Ganato: I'm pretty sure Andrew hasn't updated because he updated in the middle of the day, which is apparently like 4am to him. That we have new formsprings is a miracle of terrible sleeping habits that I fully endorse. I'm not just the president, I'm also a member!

Sadfics. Sadfics everywhere. Can't contribute meaningful words, should probably just leave.

[Ganato]

What is this I see?
Amazing sad fics everywhere?
Why yes. Yes it is.
I wrote one as well, but you should definetly just read the others first.
I bet there are a bunch of gramma mistakes in here.
Also, Kass.
THAT
SONG.

@Skaian: I live in a completely different timezone so he usually updates when I'm asleep. Like, always. But I think it's pretty cool waking up to some new MSPA. I have no idea WHEN he actually updates.

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His head was burning, as if his brain had decided to spontaniously combust and it was buzzing as if all the bees he had ever had, had decided to make his head their new hive. He started to realize what had happened. He had fought the bastard Eridan and he had been overpowered. Who knew such a sad excuse for a troll could become so powerful just by getting a new weapon. If he strained his ear he could hear someone yelling and someone sobbing. The latter was probably Feferi. She seemed strong, but through their adventure together he had learned differently. Optimistic, yes, but also unable, or maybe just unwilling, to show her feelings. It felt like everything was spinning, even though he still had his eyes closed.

“Ff?” he groaked. He tasted blood in his mouth. He must’ve been hurt more than he original thought. That bastard was going to pay. Revenge and mind honey was two dishes best served cold and together.

The yelling stopped and someone put a hand on his shoulder.

“You okay, fucker?!” Karkat yelled. “Talk to me!”

“Geeth, Kk. Stop yelling. You’re thplitting my head open...” Sollux answered. “Where did the bathtard go?”

“He left pretty quickly after your fight! Where he went, I don’t know and I don’t care! We should probably check if you’re alright!”

Sollux strained his ear and heard that the sobbing was continueing.

“Hey, Kk. Why does Ff keep on crying?” Sollux asked. There was a pause before Karkat spoke.

“Sollux, that’s not Feferi.”

Sollux was both surprised and nervous about the fact Karkat didn’t actually yell that. He finally opened his eyes, but there was no difference.

“Then who ith it? Ky? Why would thhe be crying?” Sollux asked, trying to get up until Karkat’s hand pushed him down again. “And why the fuck are the lighth out?”

“Lights out? What the heck are you...” Karkat begun until it dawned on him. He quickly grabbed his comrades face and looked into his eyes. Where they were previously red and blue they were now both completely white. “Shit. Shit!” Karkat yelled.

“What?” Sollux asked, not having realized what was wrong. How much was wrong.

“Sollux, I’m pretty sure you’ve gone blind!” Karkat yelled, looking into the eyes again.

Sollux swatted him away. “Tho? I knew that would happen at thome point. I even told you about it,” Sollux said trying to get up one more time. “Now tell me, where ith Ff?”

“Sollux, you just got the crap beat out of you! Sit down! Don’t start moving around!” Karkat yelled, pushing him back again.
“Gog, Karkat, what are you? My luthuth? I don’t need to thee you to thtart flinging you around like a ragdoll!” Sollux yelled, getting up one last time. “Thtop patronithing me and tell me where Ff ith!”

Karkat held his breath and looked at Kanaya, who was sitting in the hornpile next to the fallen princess. He quickly looked away again. Blood really wasn’t something he liked to look at. Hell, he hadn’t even seen how she had fallen, which was quite fortunate since he would probably have passed out if he had. He turned back to Sollux who was trying to stand up with a good grib onto the table since he was quite unstable.

“She’s dead.” Karkat finally told him.

“What?” Sollux said, his head whipping towards the sound. “Kk, that thit ithn’t even funny. Don’t joke with that.”

“You THINK I would joke about something like that?! Feferi is dead, Sollux!”

“Shut the fuck up, Kk!” Sollux said, grabbing the other troll by the shirt. “Ff can’t be dead! Where ith thhe!?”

Karkat simply grabbed Sollux arm and pushed him into the horn pile. Kanaya jumped back a little by the sudden sounds of horns, but afterwards she sat still and watched Sollux reaction.

Sollux had landed right next to the body, his hand touching the wound. Blood, still warm, was covering his hand and he quickly withdrew it. He then began to touch other parts of whatevre it was. Face, body, hands. It began to dawn on Sollux what he was touching. He quickly got up, and by chance, managed to grip Karkats shirt again.

“How?” Sollux hissed, his face turning into an angry scowl.

“What do you think?” Karkat answered. “It was Eridan of course! Not that I get why the grubfucker would do something like that...”

“How!?” Sollux yelled, shaking his friend. “How could you let that happen?! How could you jutht let him walk out of here!?”

“How do you think?!” Karkat yelled back. “You felt how powerful that... Wand is! If YOU, the mage of fucking doom, couldn’t do anything, then why do you think WE would be able to do anything?!”

And it dawns on Sollux that he is right. He is blinded, both by revenge and by battle. He slumps onto the floor. He won’t touch Feferi anymore. He doomed her. It was due to him Eridan came for her. The Mage of Doom doesn’t only bring doom to his opponents, but to his friends and comrades as well.

The cries and wails of the yellow blooded troll echoes throughout the lab.

A/N:

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I don't think this is very good. But I just started writing without any idea first so of course it ends up bad.

[Twigwise]

:1 I have things I need to do but before I do them I'm just gonna toss this thing in with everyone's amazing sadfics >.>

No

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Pain.

That was the first thing that Sollux was aware of as soon as he opened his eyes. That, and that it was incredibly dark. Figuring that that bonebulge Eridan had blown the lights after he had kicked his ass, Sollux turned his attention instead to the pain.

It was deep and piercing, echoing through his skull. Vaguely he could feel where he had taken the brunt of Eridan's spell yes spell that nooksniffer didn't realize just how much power he had but it was nothing next to his head. He raised his hand gingerly, feeling it shake a little, to the back of his head. A sharp intake of breath. Fuck.

It wasn't nearly as bad as the Glub, but between the outer pain and bleeding, and the sharp, devouring ache that was trailing up through the delicate neurons of his brain and right up to the back of his eyes, Sollux was dearly wishing that he could have some measure of the relief that dying had given im before.

Fuck that nookthniifer for doiing that to uth.
At leatht he'th gone. II wath worriied... that he wath goiing to go after FF nextht.
That bathtard doethn't have the bulge.
Thtill... II have to fiind her. Even iif Erii diidn't hurt her, he thtill wanted to take her thtraight to the demon.
...Waiit.
Yeah, II hear iit too...
Cryin'.

So Sollux looked around, but like before, he couldn't make anything out in the darkness of the lab. His head hurt too much to try anything fancy with his psychic powers, so instead he stood up, shaking, and walked in the direction of the small, sniffling noises. He tripped a couple times, over the detritus littering the floor, and then finally over the transportalizer, but he reached the sound.

Aw glub, thiith mutht be how 'Rezii feelth all the tiime.
She'th a biig fuckiin giirl. Biig deal.

"Hey," he said, reaching his hand out blindly and feeling fabric and what appeared to be a shoulder. "Who'th thith? Why are you cryin'?"

And suddenly he was being hugged. Fan-fuckin'-tathtiic. "Oh Sollux You Are Still Alright! I Was So Worried When You Hit The Wall Oh Dear Skaia Are You In Good Health?" Kanaya then.

"Yeah, thure, Kan. I'm thorry t' cut thith short, but I need t' find FF. Eri thaid that he wath gonna take her to the demon and I can't let that happen."

Kanaya stiffened up and Sollux could feel her pulling away.

Thiith ithn't good. That bathtard purple... He'th done thomethiing...
Oh no... Oh no thiith can't be happeniing...

"Sollux... Do you Mean To Communicate That You Have Not Yet Looked Around?" There was worry-Too much worry-in the girl's voice. Oh no.

"What d'ya mean, Kan? Yeah, I looked around but itth too dark to thee anything. Eri blathted the lighth, I think."

Shifting fabric, the other troll walking around him. "No, Sollux... I Believe That The Problem Is Physical And Native To You. Especially Taking Into Consideration The Fact That I Can See You... Perfectly... Fine..."

NO!!
Oh gog thiith iithn't happeniing thiith can't be happeniing no no no no....
That nookthniifiing liittle fuck! That piilweef! II'm gonna riip hiim liimb from liimb!
FF where'th FF she can help wiith thith oh gog II can't thee anythiing no no no...
Bliind!!!!

Sollux shook with fear and anger, sparks of psychic energy flailing off and curling into nonexistence. Vaguely, he felt tears running down his face from his now-useless eyes. After a few minutes he calmed down just enough to strangle out something to Kanaya.

"Fef... You gotta tell me where she ith... She can make thith better... She can, she can..." But he was only met with silence. A horrible, gutwrenching silence.

NO! NO II'LL RIIP THAT BATHTARD TO THREADTH FOR TOUCHIING HER! FEFERII! NOOO!!!!!
Gone gone gonegonegone no thiith can't be happeniing agaiin nononono fiirtht my matethpriit and now the only moiiraiil that ever lithened nonono II'm alone agaiin no......

Plip.
Plop.

Tears hit the floor a second before his knees did. And there were not any words left to say. Stripped of his love and buried in his own wrath and sorrow, there was nothing left to do but cry.

A/N

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Bluh. Sorry for the bad sadfic mixin' in with your good sadfic. Just wanted to try writin' 2ollux :1

EDIT: Gog darnit wrote this and then there was more amazing fic. And... Good god Bass I really ugh just no. Squick'n me out here, bro. I'm going to retreat to Sinnonan's happy Striderfics. ;n;

[lucidSeraph]

@Seraph I read your fic but was too distressed to comment. asjgsjhgdh

Haha that's what I meant. My timing was completely fucked because everybody's gonna be too baww to say a word XDD

anyway, fic was lovely

@Bass: ... I gotta admit, actually, that made me really uncomfortable, and not in a good way. Like... just... no, just no :\

@TwinTempo: I like how you worked in the bifurcation

[DJ-P0N3]

@everyone
I normally don't care for Feferi and Sollux, this update made me hurt a bit inside.
These fics made me, ow..There goes my smile.
0n0

I have been working on this on and off, I am so out of the loop now.

Romance Eight-fold

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Rose stood in her room and reflected upon many things. She held a magic eight ball in her hand, it was colder than usual. Its rainy exterior scratched her hand slightly. It had been collecting dust and dirt for years since she was but a child. Back then she had used the magic eight ball to help her make difficult decisions. Her mother had told her it was enchanted by wizards. She regretted ever believing such nonsense, even more so how she let it control her.

But now.

Now she needed it more than ever. A difficult decision had been plaguing her mind like did disease to an ill gotten farm. She wanted answers but wasn’t sure, she was clueless. Taking up a wet rag she slowly wiped off the magic eight ball. She shined it till it was spotless, looking as good as if it had just left the conveyor belt on which it was crudely crafted.

She shakes it calmly, “Can you answer my questions?”

Yes.

“Will you be as honest as possible? No tricks?”

No.

“I guess I deserve this, for leaving you alone so long don’t I?”

Yes.

“I am sorry.”

No.

“I really am, please just answer these few questions I have.”

Try again later.

The eight ball was just being, no, it was just being an inanimate object that shouldn’t have any hold over Rose or her decisions. This was stupid, she reeled her arm back to throw the eight ball, when a ringing noise came from her laptop. She set the eight ball down on a velvet pillow and went down to answer the impatient messenger.

Oh dear, it was her.

Show Trollog

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-- arachnidsGrip [AG] began trolling tentacleTherapist [TT] –
AG: Hey!
AG: Helloooooooo!
AG: Answer meeeeeeee!!!!!!!!
TT: Hello Vriska.
AG: There you are!
AG: Wh8t have you 8een up to?
TT: Just asking for advice from an old friend.
AG: Who would th8t 8e?
TT: Is that really any of your business?
AG: 8ut of course it is!!!!!!!!
AG: If you don’t w8nt to tell me it just means it must 8e a really 8ig secret!!!!!!!!
TT: It’s not that it’s a big secret.
TT: It’s just not someone you know.
AG: Is th8t so?
TT: I wouldn’t lie to you Vriska.
AG: ::::
AG: Weeeeeeeell okaaaaaaaay.
AG: I’ll give you the 8enefit of the dou8t.
TT: Thank you Vriska.
AG: Oops!!!!!!!!
AG: I already know who it is!
AG: >::::D
TT: No you don’t, I know your mind games Vriska. I am not telling you anything.
AG: Don’t 8e like th8t!
AG: I thought you and I were closer than thaaaaaaaat!
TT: What do you constitute as close?
TT: What happened between us before was just a mistake Vriska, that’s all. If you really took what I said to heart that day, you are the one who is easily manipulated.
AG: 8oo hoo hoo!
AG: 8oooooooo hoooooooo hooooooooo!
TT: That’s nine o’s Vriska.
AG: ::::O
AG: Oh uh, th8t’s just 8n accid8nt!
TT: I know I am getting to you Vriska, don’t deny it.
TT: What is bugging you so much about the fact I refuse to accept what happened?
AG: I am fiiiiiiiine!
AG: I just don’t see wh8t you are so upset a8out.
AG: It wasn’t your first time was it?
TT: Of course not. I mean, it’s not like I had ever really wanted to do that before but, look, you are just trying to misconstrue what I say and make me doubt myself.
AG: Well duh!!!!!!!!!
AG: Th8ts wh8t I do 8est!
TT: You can just leave me alone Vriska, I don’t want to have to block you.
AG: Don’t you d8re!!!!!!!!
TT: My cursor is nearing the button.
AG: Rose don’t do th88888888t!!!!!!!!
AG: I didn’t me8n 8t!!!!!!!!
TT: My finger is rubbing the left click button.
AG: D8n’t d8 8t!!!!!!!!!
AG: Pl88s8!!!!!!!!
TT: Oops, my finger is slipping!
AG: R8s8 D8n’t do 8t!!!!!!!!

-- tentacleTherapist [TT] blocked arachnidsGrip [AG] –

She will regret doing that later. Right now she couldn’t let that mistake get in her way. Rose returned to the magic eight ball, she lifted it gently and shook it carefully. She asked quietly, “Is now a better time?”

Yes.

“So you will be honest with me now?”

Yes.

“…How does she feel about me?”

Please ask again.

She forgot that it can’t answer such a vague question, it needs to be specific. Rose takes in a nervous breath and asks. “Does she like me?”

Who?

This eight ball is bothering her just as has the very person she wishes to ask about. Rose is feeling herself getting worked up over it. Its just a stupid magic eight ball that she asked to help guide her in hardships. This is not a hardship! This is just a young, confused teenage girl desiring to explore her feelings once again. Just like before.

Rose takes another breath in and settles herself down, she begins to ask quietly, “Doe-“

The ringing noise is coming from pesterchum again. Rose sets the eight ball down yet again, she tells it softly, “This will only take a minute, I promise.”

No.

“Oh be quiet…” Rose thinks for a moment, “Sorry.”

Rose sits back down and answers her new messenger. She isn’t exactly happy about this, its taking so long to get to ask what she wants to, and the answer itself may not be clear. She sighs.


Show Trollog

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-- arsenicCatnip [AC] began trolling tentacleTherapist [TT] --
AC: :33 < hi rose!
TT: Hello Nepeta, is there something you need?
TT: I am a little busy.
AC: :OO < with what?
TT: I am trying to figure something out with the help of an old friend.
TT: I am just too nervous to figure it out myself.
AC: :33 < oh! i get it!
TT: You do?
AC: :SS < well I think so!
AC: :33 < i was just messaging you because a few of us missed you guys!
TT: Really?
AC: :33 < *the lioness nods her head heartily.*
TT: That's sweet in a way.
TT: But I haven't exactly missed all of you.
AC: :(( < is it because of what happened?
TT: You mean between me and Vriska?
AC: :(( < no, what happened betw33n you and kanaya.
TT: What happened?
TT: I wasn't told something happened.
AC: :OO < but vriska told me that you and kanaya had a fight!
AC: :(( < then she said it was why the two of you broke up.
TT: Vriska said this?
TT: You believed her?
AC: :SS < well if it wasn't for what happened to kanaya i wouldn't.
TT: What happened to her?
AC: :(( < she's kind of dead.
AC: :(( < all dead.
TT: Youâre sure?
AC: :(( < very.
TT: That can't be right.
TT: Check again.
AC: :(( < i checked twice now! she's just not getting up!
TT: She might just be asleep!
AC: <:ss < alright, i will check again.

-- arsenicCatnip [AC] ceased trolling tentacleTherapist [TT] –

Kanaya isn’t dead, is she? Once again Rose finds herself confused an unable to answer any of this in a calm and well-thought-out manner. She returns to the eight ball, a new question in mind. She shakies it slowly, “Is Kanaya alive?”

Yes.

“….Will she be alright?”

No.

“Did I do something to her?”

Maybe.

“Why can’t you ever be more specific!”

Ask again later.

Rose can feel her blood boiling; this eight ball was simply infuriating. She continues to question why she is relying on this useless knick-knack. She would smash it now if it weren’t for the fact she knows as well does anyone else whom would see this situation that Rose needs an answer. She wants to know whether or not it will be right, will it be fate, and what it will be.

Maybe she could ask a magic cue ball. Those are much more accurate, but impossible to see the answer to. Except of course….for Vriska.

But Rose just blocked Vriska, unblocking her so soon would be strange and wouldn’t make sense. Although it seems like Rose lacks many other options. The messenger is ringing again, two trolls are trying to garner her attention.

Better answer the new troll first.

Show trollog

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-- apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling tentacleTherapist [TT] –
AA: hell0 r0se
TT: Aradia, it’s nice to hear from you again.
AA: yes
AA: i am als0 happy ab0ut this
TT: So did you come to check in?
AA: i wanted t0 ask y0u ab0ut whether 0r n0t y0u enj0yed 0ur little game
TT: Oh that.
TT: Well, Vriska has been a little bothersome about it. She seems to think I was being serious when I said it.
AA: that is n0t 0kay
AA: are y0u sure she think y0u were seri0us
TT: Absolutely.
TT: She hasn’t ceased bothering me about it.
AA: well did y0u try explaining the situati0n t0 her
TT: I did! Multiple times!
TT: Do I have to tell her eight times or something?
AA: that w0uld make sense
TT: Really?
TT: She is so obsessed with that number she won’t listen to me if I don’t tell her it eight times?
TT: That is just a preposterous and utterly stupid thing!
AA: its 0kay r0se
TT: Ugh, I just can’t believe that one thing, caused all of this.
TT: God, excuse me while I unblock Vriska and finally settle this.
-- tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased pestering apocalypseArisen [AA] –

Show pesterlog

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-- tentacleTherapist [TT] unblocked arachnidsGrip [AG] --
-- tentacleTherapist [TT] began pestering arachnidsGrip [AG] –
TT: Vriska, It meant nothing to me.
TT: Vriska, It meant nothing to me.
TT: Vriska, It meant nothing to me.
TT: Vriska, It meant nothing to me.
TT: Vriska, It meant nothing to me.
TT: Vriska, It meant nothing to me.
TT: Vriska, It meant nothing to me.
TT: Vriska, It meant nothing to me.
AG: ::::(
AG: Did you really un8lock me just to th8t?
TT: It has to go through your thick, horned skull eventually.
AG: Excuuuuuuuse me, princess!
AG: You were the one who started it, so don’t 8itch at me a8out this.
TT: Are we going to make this a more serious matter then, Vriska?
TT: I will not hold back.
AG: >::::D
AG: Try me!

Show memo

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-- tentacleTherapist [TT] opened a memo RIGHT NOW about SRS BSNS --
TT: Will everyone who was there that night please enter the chat?
-- arsenicCatnip [AC] responded to memo --
-- apocalypseArisen [AA] responded to memo --
-- arachnidsGrip [AG] responded to memo --
AG: You didn’t.
TT: Yes I did.
AC: :oo < *the lioness raises her ears in confusion*
AG: This is just taking it too far Rose!!!!!!!!
TT: Hush, not everyone has arrived.
-- gallowsCalibrator [GC] responded to memo --
GC: H3Y 3V3RYON3
GC: WH4T 1S TH1S 4BOUT
TT: I am trying to make Vriska understand why she means nothing to me.
AC: :(( < *the lioness lowers her ears and ceases wagging her tail, she frowns*
AA: I am 0kay with that
AG: Rose you 8itch!
AG: Le8ve th8m out of this!!!!!!!!
TT: They have the right to know you crossed the line.
AG: Crossed the line????????
AG: All I did was h8ve fucking feelings for yoooooooou!!!!!!!!
TT: That’s not all you did.
AA: did we miss s0mething that night
GC: WH4T D1D YOU DO VR1SK4
AG: Shut up 8oth of you!!!!!!!!
TT: Vriska thought what I had said was serious.
TT: She actually thought I loved her.
GC: H4H4H4H4H4
GC: OH WOW VR1SK4
GC: HOW TH3 M1GHTY H4V3 F4LL3N
GC: OH W41T
GC: YOU W3R3 4LW4YS 4 B1TCH
GC: >:D
AG: F8ck y8u Terez8!!!!!!!!
AC: <:(( < *the lioness doesn’t like where this is going, she slinks off back to her cave*
-- arsenicCatnip [AC] ceased responding to memo --
GC: OH GR34T
GC: 3XCUS3 M3
GC: 1 H4V3 TO GO CH33R UP N3P3T4
GC: WH3N 1 G3T B4CK VR1SK4 B3TT3R B3 CRY1NG
-- gallowsCalibrator [GC] ceased responding to memo --
AA: i am n0t sure if i am 0kay with this
AG: C8n’t you just fucking le8ve too?
AA: 0kay
-- apocalypseArisen [AA] ceased responding to memo --
AG: So wh8t?
TT: This is not what I expected to happen.
AG: Can you please just admit it!
TT: No, I can’t.
AG: Why th8 f8ck n8t????????
TT: Because if I do it will break her heart.
TT: I don’t want her to be in pain.
AG: So you l8t m8 g8t to 8e a sad and w88py 8itch????????
AG: Geeeeeeee thanks Rose.
TT: Fine, invite her to this chat.
TT: Whatever happens is not my fault.
-- grimAuxiliatrix [GA] responded to memo --
GA: Hello Rose and Vriska
GA: How Are The Two Of You
AG: We’re just fiiiiiiiine.
TT: Don’t lie Vriska.
AG: Okay, we are having a 8unch of trou8le!
GA: Why Is That
AG: Tell her Rose!!!!!!!!
AG: >::::D
GA: Rose
GA: What Is This
TT: I am sorry Kanaya, so very sorry.
GA: Sorry For What
TT: We’re through.
GA: What
GA: If This Is An Attempt At Being Funny I Assure You I Am Not Laughing
TT: No, its not a joke. It’s the truth.
GA: Why
AG: Weeeeeeeell we were Flarping and Rose was 8eing such a s8xy damsel I couldn’t heeeeeeeelp 8ut have to rescue her.
AG: Then one thing leads to another. >:::;)
AG: And th8n we smooooooooched all niiiiiiiight!!!!!!!!
GA: Is This All True
TT: Yes, Vriska may be over-dramatizing this, but it is true.
GA: I
GA: Rose
GA: How Could You
TT: It was just a simple game of Flarp at first, but it became so tempting. Just the way she handled everything and her powers it was so…so…what’s the word?
AG: Irr8sisti8le.
TT: That’s the word.
GA: Well Now I Am Crying
GA: If It Is Any Consolation Prize Guess All Of Whom Were Just Reading Over My Shoulder
TT: What?
-- carcinoGeneticist [CG] responded to memo --
-- apocalypseArisen [AA] responded to memo --
-- adiosToreador [AT] responded to memo --
TT: Oh god Kanaya, why couldn’t we keep this calm and talk about this?
CG: BECAUSE YOU HAD TO BE A FUCKASS AND GO FOR THE FATTEST BITCH IN THE WORLD BECAUSE YOU SWOONED OVER HER IN A GOG DAMNED GAME FOR PILLWEEFS AND LITTLE GIRLS.
AA: i was playing with them karkat
CG: PRESENT NOT-A-BITCH EXCLUDED THEN.
AT: i, uHHHH, tHIS IS A VERY UNEXPECTED TURN OF EVENTS,
AG: Jealous Tavros????????
CG: SHUT UP RIGHT NOW VRISKA BEFORE I STRANGLE YOU WITH THAT STUPID FLARPING OVERCOAT OF YOURS.
TT: Can all of you please just shut up?
AG: Come at me Karkaaaaaaat!
CG: I WILL FUCKING SHOW YOU WHOSE BOSS.
AA: this is 0kay
AA: i am 0kay with this
AT: tEACH HER A LESSON KARKAT,
TT: I said shut up.
AG: W8nt to lose more th8n just your l8gs Tavros?
AT: uHHHHHH,,,,
GA: Leave Him Out Of Your and Karkat’s Fight
TT: I said shut the hell up all of you!
AT: }:O
CG: \:B
AA: 0_0
AG: ::::O
GA: What Is It Rose
TT: I didn’t want this to get out of hand, I admit I brought this on myself by even making this stupid memo.
TT: I was just hoping you wouldn’t find out Kanaya.
GA: You Expected Me Not To Find Out About This
GA: Were You Hoping To Have Me And Vriska To Yourself
TT: No, its not like that.
TT: I didn’t want to hurt you.
CG: IF I CAN INTERUPT THIS FESTIVAL OF CRYING LOVE BULLSHIT!
CG: HOW IS KEEPING SHIT SECRET NOT HURTING SOMEONE?
-- tentacleTherapist [TT] blocked carcinoGeneticist [CG] from responding to memo --
AA: that was n0t 0kay r0se
AA: he had a p0int
-- tentacleTherapist [TT] blocked apocalypseArisen [AA] from responding to memo --
AT: uHHH, lET ME SAVE YOU THE TROUBLE,
-- adiosToreador [AT] blocked himself from responding to memo --
GA: Well I Have Good News For You Rose
GA: I Am Going To Make Sure I Never Hurt Again
TT: Kanaya, don’t do what I think you’re about to do.
TT: This is overdramatic and idiotic!
GA: I Guess I Should’ve Figured I Would Never Get The One I Love
GA: I Just Didn’t Expect My New Love To Be Taken Away By My Old Crush
TT: Kanaya don’t do this!
-- grimAuxiliatrix [GA] is now an idle troll --
TT: God fucking dammit.
AG: Cheer uuuuuuuup Rose!
AG: We still have eachother!!!!!!!!
TT: Not right now Vriska.
TT: Sorry.
-- tentacleTherapist [TT] closed memo –

Rose went back to the eight ball. She needed it now more than ever, she shakes it gently, fighting back a few tears. She was feeling guilty and foolish, she had been so wrong. “Will you help me?”

Yes.

“Please…please….what should I do?”

Ask again.

“Please…tell me what to do.”

I thought you didn’t need me.

“Well…now I need you, I am repressing back to my helpless childish self. Please tell me what to do!”

Play the violin.

“Wh-what?”

Play the violin and never stop.

“I…I don’t understand.”

Play it till your fingers bleed, till you can no longer stand or move.

“…”

Play it.

Rose sets the eight ball down and gripped her violin firmly in her hands. She began to play it softly, the tune comforted her. The melodic tune veered through her mind, establishing a sense of understanding. She began to come to terms with what she did. However, she got lost in thought, thinking how she could fix this and make amends. How she could get Kanaya to forgive her, and how she could forgive herself. Playing the violin, playing it and not noticing time fly by. Her fingers began to blister and ache. Her arms felt limp and sore. Though she did not stop playing the instrument.

The eight ball told her not to stop and what Vriska wants, she gets.

Author's notes

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I have no idea.
I really don't.
Rose<3Vriska
OTP(?)

[draconicAlgorithm]

twinTempo, Ganato, quit saying it sucks, 'cause it doesn't. D: Sad, sad Sollux.

Also, after all these people writing blind Sollux fics (myself included), watch it not happen yet. xP

@ Mayor: Oh. Oh damn. I did not see that coming. At all. Oh Kanaya. ;-;

[SkaianRedeemer]

@Mayor: Ugh, I am up to my neck in cheating fics. Well, two, but they sting, darn it! I have wounds!

Also, your Nepeta pesterlog's apostrophes appear to be exploding.

[Twigwise]

;u; Thanks, dA, Lucid

Oh gog MSB I almost forgot you said you were going to write that o-o Goodness! Both scary, and strangely fitting~

[DJ-P0N3]

@draconicAlgorithm
Yup.
Didn't see dat coming, did ya?

@Skaian
Well fuck
Let me go fix that.

@twinTempo
Amazingly this is INCREDIBLY FAR OFF from my original plans.

[AppleTree]

@Seraph I read your fic but was too distressed to comment. asjgsjhgdh
@Sionnan that's, yeah, like everyone said. Really sparse and beautiful.

okay here is my pathetic effort. Needed to get this out of my system. (I would strongly advise that you don't listen to this while falling down all this sadfic unless you want to get all blubbering-goddamn-pansy into your keyboard, argh.)

Sollux: Wake

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He surfaces from unconsciousness like a man scrabbling up from a marsh. Darkness seems to cling to him, and in the darkness he knows that something is dying. He can't open his eyes, but he feels it, a little way away, something fluttering and fading in the distance in a heartbeat in a wingbeat of translucent purple.

It is the last colour he sees.

Now he lies propped against the unyielding steel wall. Kanaya wraps him in clean clothes and mops the blood from the back of his head. Karkat breaks the news. Their voices buzz in his aching head. I know what happened, he wants to say, but they don't stop talking about how there was nothing they could do, nothing anyone could do, is there anything he needs? They won't say Feferi's name, as if they want to pretend it's someone else who's dead.

He wants to crawl back into the horn pile with Feferi and curl up beside her and sleep forever, but they will only let him hold her hand. It's still warm, and he traces the outlines of her knuckles with his fingertips, trying to remember what it felt like when she clasped his hand in return. The delicate webbing between her fingers is perfectly undamaged and he thinks what an injustice it is that she never got to return to the sea. He wonders what he saw in her last moments. When he died he hadn't seen anything, hadn't been able to focus on anything but the pain and the hot blood in his throat, but maybe Feferi the bright-hearted had caught a last glimpse of light on waves before the end. He doesn't know exactly what Eridan did to her and the others won't tell him. He hopes it didn't hurt her.

At length one of the others comes to sit beside him. Karkat, by the way he stamps and kicks the floor in frustration. The vibrations send a shudder of pain through Sollux's neck, and he twitches, but he says nothing, grateful that his best friend seems content to be silent for once. Distantly he hears the creaking of the walls and the dying hum of the machines. A breeze blows through the ancient halls, smelling of electricity and burning plastic. One by one the lights are going out.

edit: @Bass jesus o_o That's chilling. Well-written but.... ajhgshgfd I don't even want to consider it.

Omigosh I did exactly what you told me not to do.
**SOB**

[JudgeDeadd]

Sorry for the double post, but I'm in some kind of crazy writing mood right now. This is something like a continuation of both the Tavros death fic and now the Feferi death fic that I wrote. Admittedly, it's all pretty random.

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Terezi passed Eridan on her way back to the main room. She thought for a moment he might ask why she was covered in brown blood, but he ignored her completely. She paused for a moment, turning and sniffing.

Was that... grape tears?

Probably rejected again. She would have felt more pity for him, if she wasn't stained with the blood of a dead troll who demanded retribution and bearing in her mind the information that would turn this meteor upside down. She ignored him as well and stepped onto the transportalizer.

One deep breath told her everything she needed to know. Feferi was lying on the horn pile with a hole in her chest, the scent of her raspberry blood nearly stifling. The smell of it made her heart hurt. Karkat and Kanaya were rousing Sollux after he had apparently made a dent in the wall. What the hell happened in here?

Karkat and Kanaya looked up when she entered, both looking fearful for a moment until they realized it was her. Sollux groaned, finally beginning to wake up.

"Terezi, where the hell have you been?" That was Karkat, of course, covering up his grief by yelling.

"Terezi... What... what's that all over you?" Kanaya would be the one to ask that question.

"Blood," Terezi said bluntly. "Tavros is dead. Vriska killed him." Silence stretched for what seemed like hours.

"That... that fucking bitch." Karkat said finally. "Both of them. Gog dammit. Gog FUCKING DAMMIT. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ME?" He pounded the ground with his fist, but it did no good. Tears of sadness and frustration welled up in his eyes. Red tears.

Terezi had never seen him cry before. As their leader, he'd stayed strong through everything. Even when they lost, he'd just raged for a while. Finally, death brought him to tears. But she'd already spent hers. All she felt just then was numb.

And Kanaya. The shock and horror on her face was almost too much to bear. She was blaming herself.

They probably all were.

The silence went on, broken only by the steady crescendo of Karkat's fist on the tiled floor. It was bleeding now. No one tried to stop him.

"... KK. The fuck are you doing." Karkat froze mid swing. "What'th going on. Where'd that dumb fuck go." Still covered in his own blood, Sollux tried to sit up. Kanaya was at his side instantly, supporting him.

"Sollux, how badly are hurt?" She asked.

"Fuck if I know," he replied. "And gog dammit, why'th it tho dark in here? Did the fucking lightth go out?" Everyone was quiet for a long moment. Finally, Kanaya said, "Sollux. The lights are on."

Terezi stepped off the transportalizer and went to crouch right in front of Sollux. She sniffed. His eyes were definitely open. She detected a strong scent of appleberry. But if he couldn't see anything...

"I think you're blind." She said matter-of-factly.

"TZ? The fuck?" He started a bit, obviously having no idea that she was directly in front of him. "I gueth I knew it wath going to happen thomeday. Anyway, where'th FF? And where'd that fuck ED go?"

"... Sollux," Karkat said. "I need to tell you something."

Karkat told him.

Sollux didn't like what he heard.

---

Sollux wouldn't listen to anyone after that. He alternated raging and sobbing until, finally, he laid down with Feferi's body on the horn pile. None of them had the heart to try and move either of them.

The other three simply sat in a heavy silence, trying to find words to convey their thoughts and failing. Two deaths, so close together. It was hard for any of them to bear. No one thought that Eridan and Vriska would fall to this level. Now they knew better. Too little, too late.

"... Karkat," Terezi said. "Before Tavros died, he told me why Vriska killed him." She'd already explained to them both how he'd practically fallen on top of her with his own lance through his chest. Karkat nodded.

"He said that he found out that she had orchestrated the creation of the demon. He confronted her about it, and she killed him." Karkat sighed, putting his head in his hands.

"I'm not surprised," Kanaya said, though she gripped the edge of her skirt tightly in her fists. "She always had to be the center of attention."

"But she's gone too far this time," Terezi growled. "She's going to pay for all this. One way or another." Kanaya winced. Karkat just shook his head.

"No, Terezi. She's God-Tier, and it's obvious she doesn't care if she kills anyone. We just need to stay out of her way for now."

"Fuck God-Tier!" Terezi stood, baring her teeth, her rage reignited. "Fuck Vriska! This can't be allowed to stand! Justice must be—"

"Justice is pointless if you get killed before you dish it out," Karkat said. "Sit the fuck down, Terezi. You're smarter than this blind rage shit." The fire fizzled out. She knew he was right. But Tavros, lying dead in a growing pool of brown blood... She dropped back down onto the floor, feeling deflated.

"There's only one thing we can do now." Karkat stood. "I'm going to keep contacting Jade. We're going to get this fucking plan figured out. And then, we're going to get the fuck out of here before anyone else dies. And as for Vriska and Eridan..." His determined expression became a sneer. "They can fucking stay here and rot, for all I care." He went to his computer, sat down, and immediately began typing. He ignored the congealing blood that his injured hand was spreading on the keys.

"I... I need to place the Matriorb," Kanaya said hesitantly. "But I... I don't know if—"

"I'll come with you," Terezi instantly offered. "Two is safer than one." Kanaya smiled slightly and nodded, but her eyes weren't in it. Terezi wasn't really, either, but she needed to do something, before she snapped and started killing people herself. She knew who she wanted to see die, though.

The two troll girls stepped onto the transportalizer and disappeared.

The only sounds in the lab were Karkat's frantic typing and Sollux's strangled sobs.

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Also, Sollux was... blinded wwith science? ... Probably too soon.

Out of the sadfic wave, I especially loved this one. Random? Didn't get that feeling.

[AppleTree]

All the sadfics. ALL OF THEM.

I can't pick favorites. You are all too good at having me never ever abandon my horn pile.
Not that I mind.
MY OTP IS TORN APART. 8luh.
I'm surviving off of the sadfics.
*sigh*

[Zerovirus]

And now for something completely unexpected and different. Well, kind of different but not completely different.

It's not sadfic but is still update-related, in case you were looking for a reprieve (yeah who am i kidding you all are probably loving the sadness everywhere)

The Rationale of Hope

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She found him hunched over one of the dark gunmetal alchemiters of the asteroid, surrounded by schematic drawings.

“Eridan?”

“Hey, Fef.” He didn’t turn- just kept doing whatever he was doing. The dim lighting only served to further underline the singular lightsource, enclasped in his hands- and once in a while, an errant spark would burst out in an incandescent flare before burning out. “How’d you get in here?”

“Eridan, you haven’t been out of your rooms for, well, since we got here! What have you been doing?”

For a second there was no response, and Eridan remained still, his lean frame obscuring whatever source of light it was that stood behind him. The silence reminded Feferi of introspection, of meditation- Eridan’s focus had been quite complete, apparently. Maybe she shouldn’t have come and interrupted him?

“…Eridan? I guess if you’re not… I’ll be leaving now…”

“Nah, Fef. Stay a bit, I guess. I’ve been getting bored here, don’t really want to admit it but I could use some company now. Where’s Sollux?”

“I didn’t tell him I was coming… to see you. You know it would have made him mad.”

Eridan gave a low, dry chuckle- the kind of laugh that comes only when one hasn’t been hydrated for days, and shrugged. “Well, that’s all the better for me. Can’t have low-bloods disturbing me now. Still, I guess he’s not all that bad once you learn not to antagonize him too much.”

He still hadn’t turned towards Feferi, who was now cautiously advancing forward, careful in her steps not to make too much sound or to break the air. There was a sacred feeling to Eridan’s chambers, she realized now- she’d never been in here, but somehow the light emanating gave the entire scene a supernaturally dramatic feel.

“…You’re taking this well, Eridan.” With a few more steps, she nimbly leapt and took a seat atop the alchemiter, legs dangling over the edge, and looked down at the light enclasped in Eridan’s hands, curious to see what he was so engrossed with.

“Yeah, I guess I am. I just found something that’s more important, you know?” Eridan turned to look up at her, with a slight blush, and quickly retreaded his words- “Uh, not to mean you’re not important or anything, that’s not what I meant-”

“It's okay, Eridan- is that-”

Eridan was holding a fusion blowtorch in his hands, and he was cutting the alchemiter’s side open. He looked down at the searing hot edge of plasma, cutting a neat series of right angles through the armored plates, making sure that nothing was going wrong- and looked back up with an abashed grin, something that reminded her of the old days, sweeps past, all those times where he injured himself and it was always her who patched him up-

“It’s nothing, just a project that I’m interested in, I guess, if you want to think of it that way.”

“You’re using that without any form of protection- you’ll damage your eyesight permanently if you keep doing that!” She leapt down and put her hand on his shoulders, and with just a slight jolt he spun around-

“Don’t do that Fef, you really scared me there-”

And while he wasn’t completely focused on his work, his hand slipped- and he dropped the torch.

It fell with a whoosh-crack, and from its shattered position on the floor, a small wafting sinusoidal glow trickled out, exploding into fire towards Eridan in the presence of oxygen, scorching his foot- and he bounced back, hopping up and down in the way Feferi knew so well. It was just part of him, she thought- every single time he’d skinned his knee or broken his arm or dislocated his shoulder, he never made a sound, he’d always bitten his lips and held it in. He had always been like that- trying his best to be as hard as the emperors he looked up to.

“OW FUCK OW FUCK FUCK OW OW BLISTERING FUCKWADS FUCK.”

“Eridan!” She leapt down- one sweep from her trident sent the shards flying out through a transportalizer into space- “Are you alright?”

“...Dammit. That’s just… I’ll have to start over.”

The path cut by the torch as it descended had scraped through the finely detailed incisions Eridan had made, scarring the inside circuitry and mechanisms, and with a single look Feferi realized that there was no way that the alchemiter was still functional.

“…I’m so sorry, Eridan, I should have warned you-”

“Nah, Fef. It’s cool, I have a dozen more to work on anyways and there’s no way I’d have gotten through them all anyways.” With a shrug, he pulled another torch out without putting on any eye protection, it’s like he didn’t even pay attention to her- and stooped down at the base of another alchemiter, methodically beginning to cut his way through the metal again.

“Eridan! I’m serious, you have to put on some eye protection, you’ll blind yourself this way!”

“Sorry, Fef. I can’t go alchemize a makeshift visor that’ll work well enough, that’s too much time for me to spend.”

“What’s so much more important to you than your own eyes that you’re spending days in here without even coming out to talk to any of us? Eridan, even Sollux is weirding me out looking for you!”

“So he is, huh? Tell him I’m not interested in a duel with him, or anything like that anymore.”

“…What the glub, Eridan? What happened to you? It’s like you really don’t care about, well, anything anymore!”

She was getting worried- for all she knew, he’d been brooding up in his area for all this time about her and Sollux, and he had never been that tolerant in the first place-

Eridan, for his part, turned off the torch like a responsible person who was working with power tools, and turned around to face Feferi once more.

“I guess I should probably answer your first question, so that you know what I’ve been doing in here all this time.”

“Okay, Eridan, you can talk.”

“It’s one of those things I never got, Fef. It’s what you never got either, and what the others never either. I used to think that because we were royalty, we belonged together- but that’s not really even the point here. You’ve never really been interested in that anyways and that’s fine.”

“Eridan, I-”

“Remember the last time we saw each other? I asked you then if you wanted to come with me, and you said no, because you wanted to stay with Sollux even after he kicked my ass, and that’s fine too. It’s what you really wanted to do at the time, even if I was too much of a blithering idiot then to get it.”

She didn’t say anything- and she knew that in the dim lights that he probably couldn’t see it, but her eyes were starting to water up.

“I really didn’t want anyone to show up here before I was done, but… Well, I’ll just give it to you straight.”

A moment of silence as Eridan fidgeted with his royal signet ring, nervously twisting it around and around.

“I’m going to go find Jack Noir as soon as I finish the setup, and I, I really won’t tell you to come with me. I don’t want you involved.” But I wish you would come with me, I wish you cared and trusted me enough…

“…Eridan, you’re not really serious about going to find Jack, are you? Aren’t you overestimating your abilities?”

“Of course I am, and you should go now and tell everyone else. I’ve got nothing to fear now. It’s do or die at this point, and empirically speaking I’m the strongest of all of us, even Vriska with her luck powers, whatever those may be defined as mathematically, and I’m the most well-equipped to deal with Noir.”

“…”

“Fef?”

“…You shouldn’t go- you can’t beat him and you know it- I don’t want you to die, we’re all fine here and he won’t find us- Jack Noir is insanely powerful, Eridan, I don’t want you to do anything foolish by fighting him-”

Ah crap, she’s really tearing up now.

“Fef, can I tell you a story? It’s a great story with a great lesson at the end. I’m sure you’ll love it.”

“…Sure, Eridan, go ahead…”

“Alright, here goes. Once upon a time, there was a purple-blooded grub, prince of all trolls, who had become used to his position. Though he was a brilliant scientist and a master of logic, he was a tyrannical being. He used his great intellect and power to dominate everyone and make their lives miserable by killing their lusii.”

He turned on the blowtorch again.

“And sweeps later, he found himself trapped, without any of his past authority. The girl who he had loved had left him for a peasant, and no argument could convince her, for she followed her heart.”

The superheated plasma cut through the darkened metal plates easily.

“The troll was despondent and even fought the peasant, but he was defeated. The more he tried to impose his past existence on his new one, the more he found that he was without vigor and life.”

The first metal plate fell away at Eridan’s feet.

“He retreated to his private chambers with nothing to do but think and pity himself, when a good friend arrived.”

Eridan shunted aside the piece of metal with his feet as he continued working.

“The good friend bore a small, marble stick, and spoke to him with care and wisdom. She said that she brought forth a great tool of power, but that its power was only equal to that of the wielder’s hope and soul. It would only create as much goodness as the user had goodness inside of him.”

He put the torch aside, and, reaching through the white-hot molten edges, extracted several multicolored wires.

“She said that she hoped that it would make him understand the true value of hope once more, but the prince was confused and did not understand how he could make such a thing work for him.”

Wires were cut, and reconnected. Red to green, purple to yellow, brown to blue.

“But as he pondered the question, he began to understand a thing that he had, perhaps, known all his life but never truly paid attention proper to.”

Eridan shoved the new tangle of wires back into its metallic cage, like the heart of a mechanical organism.

“The arts he had adored were not for only his selfish good. It was for the unselfish good, the good that belonged to everyone. Science was the art of hope, of wanting something and working towards it with all the power that he had.”

Eridan grabbed the metal plate and resealed it with his torch, slowly fusing the edges together once more.

“And at that moment, Fef, I was reborn. I’d never really understood my title as the Prince of Hope, thought it was just some stupid lofty name without any real meaning.”

He stood up without turning around, bending over the alchemiter as if it were some sanctified altar.

“People don’t really understand what science means as an idea. They think of trolls in laboratory suits, or complicated math equations, or weird-shaped beakers of colorful fluids. Science isn’t that. Science has always been how we rescue ourselves from the world, it’s always been about having hope for a brighter future and working towards that better world. Science has always been about helping others, helping everyone. At the core of science is the hypothesis that implies the expectation of a new future- at the core of science is the hope for success. And for those who use science as a sword, not a chisel, those who use it as a weapon and think of it as such, there’s nothing left for them but their inevitable ends. I guess I used to be like that, before I figured it out.”

“…You’ve really changed, Eridan. You really have.”

“Yeah, I guess. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I didn’t figure it out- would my story have ended in tragedy and death? Fef, you know, back when we were still moirails, I think you must have spent every waking moment worrying that I’d do something stupid.”

“Eridan, you… It took you this glubbing long to figure that out? Of course I was worried about you! And the worst part of it was you couldn’t even tell I was worrying about you!”

“But now, Fef, now we both get it, right? There’s something purifying in the quest for truth, something that drives away foolishness and bias like light drives away darkness. For the first time in sweeps, I have hope for the future- you have no idea how gratifying it is, you bouncy glubby girl, you.” He turned and grinned at her-

She was smiling at him.

How long had it been since she had truly smiled for him- for him, not just smiling at him and his failures or laughing at him in her usual effervescent tone?

“…Feferi.”

“You know, Eridan, if you’d been like this your entire life I think… I think things would be different.”

They probably would have been, but he’s not the player of Time, and he can’t really do anything about it.

And after a minute of silence, Eridan quietly turned around again, back to the alchemiter, poking at buttons and knobs, and spoke again.

“I slaughtered enough angels to know their limits and how to kill them best, and the lord of all angels prophesized will be no different. As the Prince of Hope, I am uniquely qualified to exercise unbounded idealism in such scenarios like this in which all hope has been lost. I will kill Noir with science- namely, a scientifically modified alchemiter, changed in ways no alchemy could ever achieve.”

“You know, you never answered my question. What did you do to that alchemiter?”

Eridan grinned.

“Oh, that? I’m just trying to rewire it a bit to have infinite grist in all categories and to compress it into something more portable for battle. Jack Noir will be very surprised when I crush him under an infinite stream of acid or that oxygen-ignited plasma from my blowtorch or something else like that.” He kicked the machine. “Haven’t gotten it to work, though. I’m sure science will prevail sooner or later.”

“Eridan, you’re so glubbing crazy, hehe.”

“Oh, and Fef? Forget what I said about telling everyone. When you leave, don’t tell anyone else any of this stuff. They’ll just think I’m being my usual weird self again. Especially Sollux, there’s no way he’d believe you.”

“Heh, I guess you’re right, Eridan. Are you still planning to go ahead and hunt Noir down?”

“…You know, before you showed up here, I really was going to leave as soon as possible without telling anyone. Now, though… Well, now I’m somewhat reluctant to leave. Thanks for coming all the way down here, Fef.”

“No problem, Eridan! Bye!”

And with that, she bounded away to the transportalizer, vanishing in a flare of murky silver light.

“...You know, I don’t believe for one second that she’s not going to have spilled this entire conversation to everyone in the radius before the hour ends.”

He shrugged, and went back to his work.

“Meh, better her telling everyone than Kanaya doing it instead, I guess.”

Author's Notes:

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I suck at writing emotions, to be honest. I've always been more of a rationalist and doing Feferi wasn't incredibly difficult but it did provide something of a challenge. Apologies if any of it sounds forced or disjuncted.

[Twigwise]

And now for something completely unexpected and different. Well, kind of different but not completely different.

It's not sadfic but is still update-related, in case you were looking for a reprieve (yeah who am i kidding you alla re probably loving the sadness everywhere)

The Rationale of Hope

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She found him hunched over one of the dark gunmetal alchemiters of the asteroid, surrounded by schematic drawings.

“Eridan?”

“Hey, Fef.” He didn’t turn- just kept doing whatever he was doing. The dim lighting only served to further underline the singular lightsource, enclasped in his hands- and once in a while, an errant spark would burst out in an incandescent flare before burning out. “How’d you get in here?”

“Eridan, you haven’t been out of your rooms for, well, since we got here! What have you been doing?”

For a second there was no response, and Eridan remained still, his lean frame obscuring whatever source of light it was that stood behind him. The silence reminded Feferi of introspection, of meditation- Eridan’s focus had been quite complete, apparently. Maybe she shouldn’t have come and interrupted him?

“…Eridan? I guess if you’re not… I’ll be leaving now…”

“Nah, Fef. Stay a bit, I guess. I’ve been getting bored here, don’t really want to admit it but I could use some company now. Where’s Sollux?”

“I didn’t tell him I was coming… to see you. You know it would have made him mad.”

Eridan gave a low, dry chuckle- the kind of laugh that comes only when one hasn’t been hydrated for days, and shrugged. “Well, that’s all the better for me. Can’t have low-bloods disturbing me now. Still, I guess he’s not all that bad once you learn not to antagonize him too much.”

He still hadn’t turned towards Feferi, who was now cautiously advancing forward, careful in her steps not to make too much sound or to break the air. There was a sacred feeling to Eridan’s chambers, she realized now- she’d never been in here, but somehow the light emanating gave the entire scene a supernaturally dramatic feel.

“…You’re taking this well, Eridan.” With a few more steps, she nimbly bounded, and sat atop the alchemiter, legs dangling over the edge, and looked down at the light enclasped in Eridan’s hands, curious to see what he was so engrossed with.

“Yeah, I guess I am. I just found something that’s more important, you know?” Eridan turned to look up at her, with a slight blush, and quickly retreaded his words- “Uh, not to mean you’re not important or anything, that’s not what I meant-”

“Eridan, is that-”

Eridan was holding a fusion blowtorch in his hands, and he was cutting the alchemiter’s side open. He looked down at the searing hot edge of plasma, cutting a neat series of right angles through the armored plates, making sure that nothing was going wrong- and looked back up with an abashed grin, something that reminded her of the old days, sweeps past, all those times where he injured himself and it was always her who patched him up-

“It’s nothing, just a project that I’m interested in, I guess, if you want to think of it that way.”

“You’re using that without any form of protection- you’ll damage your eyesight permanently if you keep doing that!” She leapt down and put her hand on his shoulders, and with just a slight jolt he spun around-

“Don’t do that Fef, you really scared me there-”

And while he wasn’t completely focused on his work, his hand slipped- and he dropped the torch.

It fell with a whoosh-crack, and from its shattered position on the floor, a small wafting sinusoidal glow trickled out, exploding into fire towards Eridan in the presence of oxygen, scorching his foot- and he bounced back, hopping up and down in the way Feferi knew so well. It was just part of him, she thought- single time he’d skinned his knee or broken his arm or dislocated his shoulder, he never made a sound, he’d always bitten his lips and held it in. He had always been like that- trying his best to be as hard as the emperors he looked up to.

“OW FUCK OW FUCK FUCK OW OW BLISTERING FUCKWADS FUCK.”

“Eridan!” She leapt down- one sweep from her trident sent the shards flying out through a transportalizer into space- “Are you alright?”

“...Dammit. That’s just… I’ll have to start over.”

The path cut by the torch as it descended had scraped through the finely detailed incisions Eridan had made, scarring the inside circuitry and mechanisms, and with a single look Feferi realized that there was no way that the alchemiter was still functional.

“…I’m so sorry, Eridan, I should have warned you-”

“Nah, Fef. It’s cool, I have a dozen more to work on anyways and there’s no way I’d have gotten through them all anyways.” With a shrug, he pulled another torch out without putting on any eye protection, it’s like he didn’t even pay attention to her- and stooped down at the base of another alchemiter, methodically beginning to cut his way through the metal again.

“Eridan! I’m serious, you have to put on some eye protection, you’ll blind yourself this way!”

“Sorry, Fef. I can’t go alchemize a makeshift visor that’ll work well enough, that’s too much time for me to spend.”

“What’s so much more important to you than your own eyes that you’re spending days in here without even coming out to talk to any of us? Eridan, even Sollux is weirding me out looking for you!”

“So he is, huh? Tell him I’m not interested in a duel with him, or anything like that anymore.”

“…What the glub, Eridan? What happened to you? It’s like you really don’t care about, well, anything anymore!”

She was getting worried- for all she knew, he’d been brooding up in his area for all this time about her and Sollux, and he had never been that tolerant in the first place-

Eridan, for his part, turned off the torch like a responsible person who was working with power tools, and turned around to face Feferi once more.

“I guess I should probably answer your first question, so that you know what I’ve been doing in here all this time.”

“Okay, Eridan, you can talk.”

“It’s one of those things I never got, Fef. It’s what you never got either, and what the others never either. I used to think that because we were royalty, we belonged together- but that’s not really even the point here. You’ve never really been interested in that anyways and that’s fine.”

“Eridan, I-”

“Remember the last time we saw each other? I asked you then if you wanted to come with me, and you said no, because you wanted to stay with Sollux even after he kicked my ass, and that’s fine too. It’s what you really wanted to do at the time, even if I was too much of a blithering idiot then to get it.”

She didn’t say anything- and she knew that in the dim lights that he probably couldn’t see it, but her eyes were starting to water up.

“I really didn’t want anyone to show up here before I was done, but… Well, I’ll just give it to you straight.”

A moment of silence as Eridan fidgeted with his royal signet ring, nervously twisting it around and around.

“I’m going to go find Jack Noir as soon as I finish the setup, and I, I really won’t tell you to come with me. I don’t want you involved.” But I wish you would come with me, I wish you cared and trusted me enough…

“…Eridan, you’re not really serious about going to find Jack, are you? Aren’t you overestimating your abilities?”

“Of course I am, and you should go now and tell everyone else. I’ve got nothing to fear now. It’s do or die at this point, and empirically speaking I’m the strongest of all of us, even Vriska with her luck powers, whatever those may be defined as mathematically, and I’m the most well-equipped to deal with Noir.”

“…”

“Fef?”

“…You shouldn’t go- you can’t beat him and you know it- I don’t want you to die, we’re all fine here and he won’t find us- Jack Noir is insanely powerful, Eridan, I don’t want you to do anything foolish by fighting him-”

Ah crap, she’s really tearing up now.

“Fef, can I tell you a story? It’s a great story with a great lesson at the end. I’m sure you’ll love it.”

“…Sure, Eridan, go ahead…”

“Alright, here goes. Once upon a time, there was a purple-blooded grub, prince of all trolls, who had become used to his position. Though he was a brilliant scientist and a master of logic, he was a tyrannical being. He used his great intellect and power to dominate everyone and make their lives miserable by killing their lusii.”

He turned on the blowtorch again.

“And sweeps later, he found himself trapped, without any of his past authority. The girl who he had loved had left him for a peasant, and no argument could convince her, for she followed her heart.”

The superheated plasma cut through the darkened metal plates easily.

“The troll was despondent and even fought the peasant, but he was defeated. The more he tried to impose his past existence on his new one, the more he found that he was without vigor and life.”

The first metal plate fell away at Eridan’s feet.

“He retreated to his private chambers with nothing to do but think and pity himself, when a good friend arrived.”

Eridan shunted aside the piece of metal with his feet as he continued working.

“The good friend bore a small, marble stick, and spoke to him with care and wisdom. She said that she brought forth a great tool of power, but that its power was only equal to that of the wielder’s hope and soul. It would only create as much goodness as the user had goodness inside of him.”

He put the torch aside, and, reaching through the white-hot molten edges, extracted several multicolored wires.

“She said that she hoped that it would make him understand the true value of hope once more, but the prince was confused and did not understand how he could make such a thing work for him.”

Wires were cut, and reconnected. Red to green, purple to yellow, brown to blue.

“But as he pondered the question, he began to understand a thing that he had, perhaps, known all his life but never truly paid attention proper to.”

Eridan shoved the new tangle of wires back into its metallic cage, like the heart of a mechanical organism.

“The arts he had adored were not for only his selfish good. It was for the unselfish good, the good that belonged to everyone. Science was the art of hope, of wanting something and working towards it with all the power that he had.”

Eridan grabbed the metal plate and resealed it with his torch, slowly fusing the edges together once more.

“And at that moment, Fef, I was reborn. I’d never really understood my title as the Prince of Hope, thought it was just some stupid lofty name without any real meaning.”

He stood up without turning around, bending over the alchemiter as if it were some sanctified altar.

“People don’t really understand what science means as an idea. They think of trolls in laboratory suits, or complicated math equations, or weird-shaped beakers of colorful fluids. Science isn’t that. Science has always been how we rescue ourselves from the world, it’s always been about having hope for a brighter future and working towards that better world. Science has always been about helping others, helping everyone. At the core of science is the hypothesis that implies the expectation of a new future- at the core of science is the hope for success. And for those who use science as a sword, not a chisel, those who use it as a weapon and think of it as such, there’s nothing left for them but their inevitable ends. I guess I used to be like that, before I figured it out.”

“…You’ve really changed, Eridan. You really have.”

“Yeah, I guess. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I didn’t figure it out- would my story have ended in tragedy and death? Fef, you know, back when we were still moirails, I think you must have spent every waking moment worrying that I’d do something stupid.”

“Eridan, you… It took you this glubbing long to figure that out? Of course I was worried about you! And the worst part of it was you couldn’t even tell I was worrying about you!”

“But now, Fef, now we both get it, right? There’s something purifying in the quest for truth, something that drives away foolishness and bias like light drives away darkness. For the first time in sweeps, I have hope for the future- you have no idea how gratifying it is, you bouncy glubby girl, you.” He turned and grinned at her-

She was smiling at him.

How long had it been since she had truly smiled for him- for him, not just smiling at him and his failures or laughing at him in her usual effervescent tone?

“…Feferi.”

“You know, Eridan, if you’d been like this your entire life I think… I think things would be different.”

They probably would have been, but he’s not the player of Time, and he can’t really go anything about it.

And after a minute of silence, Eridan quietly turned around again, back to the alchemiter, poking at buttons and knobs, and spoke again.

“I slaughtered enough angels to know their limits and how to kill them best, and the lord of all angels prophesized will be no different. As the Prince of Hope, I am uniquely qualified to exercise unbounded idealism in such scenarios like this in which all hope has been lost. I will kill Noir with science- namely, a scientifically modified alchemiter, changed in ways no alchemy could ever achieve.”

“You know, you never answered my question. What did you do to that alchemiter?”

Eridan grinned.

“Oh, that? I’m just trying to rewire it a bit to have infinite grist in all categories and to compress it into something more portable for battle. Jack Noir will be very surprised when I crush him under an infinite stream of acid or that oxygen-ignited plasma from my blowtorch or something else like that.” He kicked the machine. “Haven’t gotten it to work, though. I’m sure science will prevail sooner or later.”

“Eridan, you’re so glubbing crazy, hehe.”

“Oh, and Fef? When you leave, don’t tell anyone else any of this stuff. They’ll just think I’m being my usual weird self again. Especially Sollux, there’s no way he’d believe you.”

“Heh, I guess you’re right, Eridan. Are you still planning to go ahead and hunt Noir down?”

“…You know, before you showed up here, I really was going to leave as soon as possible without telling anyone. Now, though… Well, now I’m somewhat reluctant to leave. Thanks for coming all the way down here, Fef.”

“No problem, Eridan! Bye!”

And with that, she bounded away to the transportalizer, vanishing in a flare of murky silver light.

“You know, I don’t believe for one second that she’s not going to have spilled this entire conversation to everyone in the radius before the hour ends.”

He shrugged, and went back to his work.

“Meh, better her telling everyone than Kanaya doing it instead, I guess.”

Author's Notes:

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I suck at writing emotions, to be honest. I've always been more of a rationalist and doing Feferi wasn't incredibly difficult but it did provide something of a challenge. Apologies if any of it sounds forced or disjuncted.

;u; WHY COULDN'T THIS BE TRUUUUUEEEEE????

So very wonderful.

[Domoz]

Ach
Zero that makes me more sad than any of the sadfics and I wish it were true ;;

Bravo

[Graven_Image]

We're back with number... wait, what number was this? Number Short, that's what number it is.

Indystuck

Chapter 21

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OPEN PESTERLOG

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incognitoInstigator began pestering bootStrapper

II: You talked to Steve, didn't you.
BS: mmmmmYEP
BS: so what if i did?
II: Well, normally I'd congratulate you on a job well done
II: But I'm trying to get in contact with him and he's gibbering like an idiot, searching his house for "Creepers".
II: Have you seen his house?
II: It's a big house.
BS: well SORRRYYY
BS: I'm just having fun with him
II: Therein lies the problem.
II: You have no idea when to stop.
II: If I don't keep a watch on you, no one else will.
II: Certainly not our "fearless leader".
BS: HEY
BS: don't go badmouthing him!
BS: he did more for this team than YOOOUUU ever did.
II: I'm not debating that.
II: But as of right now he's a bit of a wreck.
II: And thus it falls to the Rogue to get stuff done around here.
II: Stuff like keeping you from rendering my next target catatonic with paranoia.
BS: FIIIINE
BS: i'll leave steve alone
BS: But YOU stay quiet about HIM.
II: Got it, princess.
II: Now go play with your air brakes or something.

incognitoInstigator ceased pestering bootStrapper

OPEN MEMO

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redMeat joined the memo

RM: alright i know no one's looking at this right now
RM: but this is serious
RM: tim
RM: i know you put the ring in
RM: and i'm just saying that is probably the most retarded thing ever
RM: i'd like to be able to kill more than two imps per minute thanks

neckwearAficionado joined the memo

NA: Sorry to spoil your fun.
NA: But temporal certainty cannot be denied.
RM: how do you know this
RM: how can you justify our agonizingly slow ring-induced torture
NA: Well, if it makes you feel better, I'm going to give you the alchemy recipe for a negating device.
NA: Only maybe I won't, since you're being such a whiny, complaining pillock.
RM: ok
RM: give them all an ability that we can effectively negate in five minutes, I like that
RM: but why did you give it to them in the first place?

newGuy joined the memo

NG: DUDE didn't you LISTEN
NG: somehow he saw the future
NG: and apparently that was what HAD TO HAPPEN or else SERIOUSLY BAD JUJU
NA: The Kid, crudely as he put it, is correct.
NA: Variance in what this timeline has established would send us careening into oblivion.
NA: We would all be dead within a matter of hours.
NA: The past is immutable.
NA: Likewise, the future has effectively already happened.
NA: We just haven't seen it yet.
RM: how do you know all this?
NA: Time reversal powers.
RM: oh of course
NG: DUDE
NG: you HAVE THOSE?
NA: Here it comes.
NG: what number am i thinking of
NA: Sixty-two.
NG: HOLY CRAP
NG: how did you DO that
NA: I asked you two seconds in the future and you told me.
NA: Now, if you're quite finished...?

mischeviousRobot joined the memo

MR: Guys
MR: Alchemy
MR: Is
MR: AWESOME.
NA: ...
MR: What?

[lucidSeraph]

oh good, nonsadfic! moar tim! yay!