MSPA Fanfiction VI: Trashy Rainbow Drinker Fanfiction

[ceruleanTresses]

I'm only halfway through Hold Your Color and I have to go, but I wanted to say before I leave that it's really awesome so far! You have mad writing skills.

[C20710]

I'm only halfway through Hold Your Color and I have to go, but I wanted to say before I leave that it's really awesome so far! You have mad writing skills.

Oh and also that naming after a Pendulum song is +100 bonus points. Go listen to it now. GO.

[lantadyme]

Ah, thanks for the kind words you guys. You are all so fantastic.

Oh and also that naming after a Pendulum song is +100 bonus points. Go listen to it now. GO.

It's a really good song.

[ProspitDreamer]

Oh, fanfic thread, it's been so long....*hugs computer screen*

Welp, that's what I get for actually trying to pass college. Enough of that nonsense, here's some fanfic followed by some comments (I wish I had time to read more stuff)!

What It Takes
Chapter 6

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John frowned as he hovered twenty or so feet above Skaia. No one was answering him. Well, Jade had replied earlier so that at least he knew she was safe, but he hadn’t heard a peep out of anyone else. Were they still surrounded by underlings? Did their troll friends arrive, as Vriska promised?

He only had a few seconds to contemplate these thoughts before a blur of blue and orange came at him from above and he had to create a small twister to blow himself out of the way in time. With a growl that he was at a loss to interpret, Vriska flew back around in a wide arc, ready to attack again.

“Stop dodging, you coward! You can dodge me, sure, 8ut you can’t dodge Jack! He can 8end space, dammit! You have to learn how to fight, John! Turn around and face me like the god-tier hero you’re supposed to 8e!”

John swallowed. He stared for a moment at the eight-eyed, angry face with bared, pointy teeth and had zero desire to get into combat with it. He was already sweating from trying to dodge Vriska for nearly half an hour, and he knew it was only a matter of time before she caught him again.

Remembering how it had felt last time she caught him, he had no desire for that to happen again.

“Grrrrah!” she shouted, slashing at his side with her claws, barely missing him by inches as he scurried himself away. She could fly better than he could; she had far more control than he did; but she couldn’t quite compensate for the speed he could attain from creating mini-twisters.

“John, come on! How are you supposed to defeat anyone like that? Take out your weapon, arm yourself!”

John swallowed. He knew Vriska had good intentions, but he also knew that those good intensions of her often wound up with people getting hurt, or dead…

“My weapon is a hammer, Vriska! I don’t want to hurt you!”

Her response was to perform a swan-dive at him. He dodged just barely in time as he felt the wind rush passed him, and she had a close call with the ground, skimming it’s surface by inches as she pulled up and corrected her flight pattern.

“John, I’m god-tier. I’m immortal! You can’t kill me, there’s nothing to 8e afraid of. You need to [i]practice[i/].”

She flew particularly far away in order to build up her speed. While she was distant, he desperately tried Pesterchum one more time…

: -- turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering ectoBiologist [EB] at 18:10—
TG: what
EB: dave! oh thank god!
TG: what do you want
EB: please hurry up and get here! i dont think i can survive vriska on my own!
TG: why what is she doing
EB: she said she wants to help me get stronger, but i dont think i can handle her training
TG: hahaha
EB: i dont see how this is funny
TG: its hysterical
EB: is terezi with you?
TG: yeah
EB: then what are you waiting for? why havent you been answering me?
TG: im busy
EB: doing what, while i fly all around skaia trying to dodge a crazy spider troll?
TG: read up five lines and you already answered your own question
EB: dave i dont have time, or the brain space, to think about riddles right now…

Vriska suddenly was very close and John scooted out of the way just in time.

EB: yaah! that was a close one.
TG: its not a riddle, numpnuts. you asked me if terezi was here, she is, and im busy
EB: okay well whatever youre doing can you please hurry it up and finish?
TG: holy shit john are you sure you want to be ordering me to do that already
EB: what?
TG: hold your buckteeth were on our way
EB: thanks, bro.
TG: you owe me

TG: -- turntechgodhead [tg] ceased pestering ectobiologist [eb] at 18:32—


John saw Vriska turning to make another pass at him. He swallowed his nerves; her razor-sharp claws had been only inches from his stomach the last time she’d passed by. He turned and dove for the ground, hoping that maybe he’d be able to find a more defensible position than floating vulnerably in mid-air. He sought out a giant boulder and scurried behind it, then watched Vriska overshoot him, the breeze of her flying so close to his head it ruffled his hair. She landed not far away, turned around, and walked towards him, brandishing her dice in her hand.

John put his back to the boulder and armed himself with his regular, plain hammer. He stood up nervously and held it in one hand.

“Please, Vriska, I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to fight you.”

She snorted.

“I’m only rolling three dice; it won’t produce any lethal attacks.”

John opened his mouth to protest, but before any words came out the dice tumbled from Vriska’s hands and he watched with horrified wide eyes as he had no idea what was going to happen when they landed. He gripped his hammer tighter as both of their pair of eyes followed the dice as they fell to the checkered ground. They fell with a soft thud onto the earth, a three, three, and two. John swallowed. Vriska grinned.

There was a deep rumbling sound, and then the ground cracked open around him. Hideous, hairy beasts half the size of John crawled out of them, with eight legs and mandibles snapping hungrily at his ankles.

“I couldn’t have guessed this?” he mumbled as he flew up to get away…and was grabbed by a string of webbing wrapped around his ankle. He came crashing back to the ground.

“Ooof!” he said, and was greeted by hideous spider-eyes the size of baseballs in his face. He rolled onto his stomach, pushed himself up, captchaloged his hammer and withdrew Fear No Anvil.

He swung at the closest spider, feeling a satisfying crunch reverberate up through the handle as the beast oozed icky blue blood from it’s squished center. The impact froze the two spiders nearest to it in time, and John made quick work of them, but as he was distracted the spiders behind him sprayed their webbing across the ground.

After John had swung his hammer successfully at the fourth spider, he went to turn…and found his feet cemented to the ground. He looked down and saw nothing but spider webs, anchoring his shoes. The four remaining spiders- of course there had been eight of them- crept hungrily towards him from behind. He couldn’t swing his hammer behind him, and he couldn’t turn around. He glanced around for Vriska but couldn’t immediately see her. He could hear nothing but the disgusting squishy noise of thirty-two feet crackling over the web on the ground.

John closed his eyes and concentrated on the wind instead. He created a small vortex around himself, increasing the speed, hoping to throw the spiders away- but they stuck too securely to the web. They hunkered down and remained perfectly immobile, and John bent over, exhausted.

The first one reached him and slashed out with a sharp, tooth-covered leg. It raked across his jeans, slicing a perfect cut in the fabric. John yelped.

“Okay, Vriska, game’s over! I lost, let me go now please!”

He looked around for her again, but she was nowhere to be found. More pointy legs squirmed towards him. John switched to the Pogo Hammer because it was lighter and he could swing it with one arm. He whacked at the one to his right and was able to knock it back, crushing its face in, but completely missed the one to his left. He heard the thud a second or two before he felt the hot fire of its needle-sharp leg puncture his calf.

“Yeagh!” he shouted, trying instinctually to pull his leg away, but of course it went nowhere…he was starting to feel very dizzy…

The world was spinning now. With his feet still anchored to the ground he made one last attempt to create a whirlwind to save himself. He gave it as much strength as he could, and as his eyes closed he thought he saw spider carapace fly past his vision…


John heard voices swimming in and out of his consciousness. One of them was far too perky…Jade, he thought. Another seemed extremely grouchy, and he couldn’t understand what it was saying. He tried to think of who it could belong to…but his mind was foggy…he wondered if his dad had company over? For breakfast? Seemed kind of odd.

A shrill cackle snapped his eyes open.

“Hell, Terezi, I like hearing.” he heard Dave’s voice complain.

Then more barking sounds.

Wait…Terezi?

John sat up quickly, holding his head. It was pounding.

“Oooh, John’s awake, guys!”

Jade ran over to him and kneeled beside him.

“Good morning, silly!”

He squinted up at her. She giggled.

“Are you okay?”

“Well, I was just attacked by eight alien spiders…I hope I got them all. Where’s Vriska?”

Jade turned to her side and pointed. John turned to see all of his friends, Vriska, and three other trolls all standing a few feet away. Everyone turned to look at him.

“Fuck, John, I rush all the way here to save your ass and find you sleeping like a baby.” Dave said.

“No, it wasn’t my fault, Vriska attacked me…”

Dave grinned.

“Yeah, she told us what happened. Her version of it, anyway. You should probably tell your own side of it later.”

Dave reached down his hand and pulled John to his feet.

“Come on, you get to meet everyone!” Jade said excitedly, pulling John towards the crowd as he limped over.

“Oh look, it’s sleepy boy.”

John was almost sorry when he opened his pesterlog with Vriska to read that. He had hoped it was an apology.

John did not like to feel angry. But that was what he felt when he looked at Vriska. He knew she meant well. She meant well…

“John, look! Everyone’s here! Here, meet Kanaya!” Jade said. John looked away from Vriska without saying a word. His mood was immediately lifted as he saw a very cute-looking troll girl, her skin really glowing like he’d heard about. She smiled and shyly lifted a hand to wave at him. He waved back.

“Hi, Kanaya. I…uh…you sure are bright…”

She stared at him blankly.

“Oh, right.”

He opened a pesterlog with Kanaya and sent his message. He waited as she held a hand to her ear and listened to the translation from Trollian. Then she looked up at him and smiled.

He heard a dry cackling to his right, and saw who only could have been Terezi with pointy red sunglasses on her face and a wide, grinning smile.

She started saying a long string of words he couldn’t understand and he hurried to open a pesterlog with her. She snorted with annoyance, and then repeated her message into the client.

“H1 JOHN!” she said. “L3T M3 JUST T4K3 TH1S OPPORTUN1TY TO 4POLOG1Z3 1N P3RSON FOR K1LL1NG YOU 1N 4 D1FF3R3NT T1M3L1N3.”

John laughed.

“It’s okay, really! That was one of the best pranks I’ve ever fallen for. It was a work of art, really.”

She grinned, and his spirits were lifted. He then heard Jade speaking softly next to him and he turned.

“Oh, stop, just say hello!” she was saying to a troll with a grumpy face, crossed arms, and nubby horns that could only have been Karkat.

“Karkat!” he said. “Hi, it’s me, John!”

Karkat turned and snarled something at him, and John laughed.

“I hate you too, buddy!”

Karkat said something else, and as John fumbled to open a pesterlog, he heard Terezi shout over his shoulder in response to whatever Karkat had said. Karkat responded with a loud spitting shouted response, jabbing a finger in Terezi’s direction. Terezi stepped up close to him and stabbed her finger into Karkat’s chest, pointing at John with her other hand. John tried to read what she’d said, but he had too many screens open, and in his haste he closed the pesterlog he’d had with her.

Now the two trolls were arguing in earnest. Vriska burst out laughing at whatever was said, and Kanaya rolled her eyes, looking slightly embarrassed that they would behave this way even in front of company.

“Gee, I can’t keep track of what anyone is saying…” he pulled his dad’s pda out of his pocket and started fumbling with it, trying to open pesterlogs with everyone. He looked up and saw Rose simply shake her head, pinching the bridge of her nose between two fingers like a teacher exasperated with a class full of idiot children.

“John, why don’t you create a memo so we can all talk at once?” she asked. John’s face perked up.

“Oh, that’s a great idea, Rose!”

He looked down at the pda in order to create a group memo. He then realized he had no idea how to do that.

“Oh, wait, Karkat knows how! Hey, Karkat, can you help…Karkat…Karkat?”

Whether his name didn’t translate properly from English to Troll, or Karkat was just ignoring him, John couldn’t tell. He tried pestering him, but got no response. He frowned and took a step towards him, but a yelling mouth full of sharp teeth and claws gesturing wildly kept him at a distance. John bit his lower lip and tried to think of what to do when he saw Jade step up and put her hand on Karkat’s shoulder.

“Um, Jade, I don’t know if…”

But his words were cut off when Karkat shut his mouth in mid-sentence. He shook his finger once more in Terezi’s direction, and she laughed as he turned to face Jade…and became…less angry?

“Stop arguing, silly.” she said, and John’s mouth dropped open as Jade reached up a hand to stroke Karkat’s cheek, and he leaned into it and closed his eyes.

Jade Harley had made Karkat Vantas calm down?

John heard snickering to his right and turned just in time to see Terezi lick Dave’s ear. This didn’t surprise him; he knew about Terezi’s habit of licking things in order to “see” them. What surprised him was when he saw Dave’s ear turn flushed red. Though his best friend’s face kept its usual deadpan expression, John could not overlook the fact that she’d gotten a reaction out of him none-the-less…

Nervously, John looked to Rose and Kanaya, and saw Rose slide her arms around Kanaya’s waist and rest her chin on her shoulder. Suddenly John felt incredibly awkward and out of place, and perhaps a little left out as he glanced over at Vriska and she shrugged her shoulders.

“What can I say? They’re all hopeless. That’s why I’m god-tier and they’re not.”

John opened his mouth to say something in protest, but decided against it. He did not want to argue with Vriska.

Instead he stepped up to Jade with confidence, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling of interrupting something.

“Jade, can you ask Karkat to show me how to open a memo, so we can all talk to each other?”

Jade turned and repeated the request, while John watched Karkat contemplate her words with an almost peaceful expression…

Karkat turned to look at John, and formed the scowl that John knew belonged there.

Karkat opened his pesterlog.

“YES, I WILL SHOW YOU HOW TO ACCOMPLISH A TASK THAT IS EASY FOR ANY INTELLIGENT BEING.”

Karkat ripped the pda out of John’s hands, and John smiled, then laughed. It felt really good to have things back to normal!

Karkat tapped the screen of the pda with a claw several times, snorting here and there, grunted, the growled.

“You seem to be having some trouble with it.” John said, trying not to laugh.

“I CAN’T READ THIS FUCKING INFERIOR LANGUAGE. IT’S ASS-BACKWARDS JUST LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE YOUR RACE DOES.”

John laughed, just as Karkat made a satisfied nod and shoved the pda back into John’s hands. The heir laughed at his old-yet-new friend’s expression, which only made Karkat grouchier.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Karkat.” he said. The troll snorted. John looked down and saw the memo was open, and then the message appeared.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling ectoBiologist [GG] at 13:04

CG: THE PLEASURE IS ALL FUCKING MINE


John smiled brightly. Despite the way it had started, today was definitely turning out to be a good day.

Every gang is immediately more threatening when they mimic the Joker. It hadn't occured to me just how fucking creepy John/Slick could sound when he's having a good time. Psychopaths who think they're stand-up comedians: best kind of crazy?

(Of course I don't think that. They're the second-best kind of crazy after humourless subtle psychopaths. Now you know why I can't leave Droog alone.)

It's okay Path, when I read this my mind immediately jumped to the Joker. It is so him. You're not the only Batman fan that hangs around these parts, worry not.

@battlerek- This series continues to be amazing.

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as well as a lack of Spades Slick and a lack of all-important macguffin.

was the best part for me. There are a few minor errors (mostly you tend to switch the she/he pronouns, which is completely understandable when you have a gender-switched character like Sleuth/Vriska), but they are so minimal and the story is so great I feel bad even mentioning it. Thank you for continuing to write this!

@MyCurrentObsession- I love anything with shipping, fluff, and cute, and this had all three. You have made my day.

@anonymousComrade-

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but he’d watched trolls get fed to a spider outside of his window for sweeps and never cared beyond making sure his moirail would not join the grim procession.

And now a scenario is playing through my head

A scenario that will inevitably be written

Every time I try to get away, this thread pulls me right back in

and I secretly love all of you for it

*makes an innocently baffled expression* Why...why would you try to leave?

[Kawa]

Troubled Little Bitch
Co-written by MayorSillyBiscuits and myself. Off-site because... well, for no good reason, really, as far as I can tell.

http://helmet.kafuka.org/trollslum/?story=lilbitch

But I've been wrong before.

[deathsbuddy]

Oh man, the nerves posting this thing. Um.

Hold Your Colour

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The game remakes the world when they win. It forgets one thing.

On AO3! Because it is really quite long and I don't think I can break it up without subtracting from the piece as a whole. But uh. Enjoy! :x

This is great.
Like, really, really great.

[Metaflare]

Oh man, the nerves posting this thing. Um.

Hold Your Colour

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hide spoiler

The game remakes the world when they win. It forgets one thing.

On AO3! Because it is really quite long and I don't think I can break it up without subtracting from the piece as a whole. But uh. Enjoy! :x

holy shit
just
holy shit
333333

[spaceyPsychologist]

Oh, fanfic thread, it's been so long....*hugs computer screen*

Welp, that's what I get for actually trying to pass college. Enough of that nonsense, here's some fanfic followed by some comments (I wish I had time to read more stuff)!

What It Takes
Chapter 6

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John frowned as he hovered twenty or so feet above Skaia. No one was answering him. Well, Jade had replied earlier so that at least he knew she was safe, but he hadn’t heard a peep out of anyone else. Were they still surrounded by underlings? Did their troll friends arrive, as Vriska promised?

He only had a few seconds to contemplate these thoughts before a blur of blue and orange came at him from above and he had to create a small twister to blow himself out of the way in time. With a growl that he was at a loss to interpret, Vriska flew back around in a wide arc, ready to attack again.

“Stop dodging, you coward! You can dodge me, sure, 8ut you can’t dodge Jack! He can 8end space, dammit! You have to learn how to fight, John! Turn around and face me like the god-tier hero you’re supposed to 8e!”

John swallowed. He stared for a moment at the eight-eyed, angry face with bared, pointy teeth and had zero desire to get into combat with it. He was already sweating from trying to dodge Vriska for nearly half an hour, and he knew it was only a matter of time before she caught him again.

Remembering how it had felt last time she caught him, he had no desire for that to happen again.

“Grrrrah!” she shouted, slashing at his side with her claws, barely missing him by inches as he scurried himself away. She could fly better than he could; she had far more control than he did; but she couldn’t quite compensate for the speed he could attain from creating mini-twisters.

“John, come on! How are you supposed to defeat anyone like that? Take out your weapon, arm yourself!”

John swallowed. He knew Vriska had good intentions, but he also knew that those good intensions of her often wound up with people getting hurt, or dead…

“My weapon is a [i]hammer[i/], Vriska! I don’t want to hurt you!”

Her response was to perform a swan-dive at him. He dodged just barely in time as he felt the wind rush passed him, and she had a close call with the ground, skimming it’s surface by inches as she pulled up and corrected her flight pattern.

“John, I’m god-tier. I’m immortal! You can’t kill me, there’s nothing to 8e afraid of. You need to [i]practice[i/].”

She flew particularly far away in order to build up her speed. While she was distant, he desperately tried Pesterchum one more time…

: -- turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering ectoBiologist [EB] at 18:10—
TG: what
EB: dave! oh thank god!
TG: what do you want
EB: please hurry up and get here! i dont think i can survive vriska on my own!
TG: why what is she doing
EB: she said she wants to help me get stronger, but i dont think i can handle her training
TG: hahaha
EB: i dont see how this is funny
TG: its hysterical
EB: is terezi with you?
TG: yeah
EB: then what are you waiting for? why havent you been answering me?
TG: im busy
EB: doing what, while i fly all around skaia trying to dodge a crazy spider troll?
TG: read up five lines and you already answered your own question
EB: dave i dont have time, or the brain space, to think about riddles right now…

Vriska suddenly was very close and john scooted out of the way just in time.

EB: yaah! that was a close one.
TG: its not a riddle, numpnuts. you asked me if terezi was here, she is, and im busy
EB: okay well whatever youre doing can you please hurry it up and finish?
TG: holy shit john are you sure you want to be ordering me to do that already
EB: what?
TG: hold your buckteeth were on our way
EB: thanks, bro.
TG: you owe me

TG: -- turntechgodhead [tg] ceased pestering ectobiologist [eb] at 18:32—
</span>

John saw Vriska turning to make another pass at him. He swallowed his nerves; her razor-sharp claws had been only inches from his stomach the last time she’d passed by. He turned and dove for the ground, hoping that maybe he’d be able to find a more defensible position than floating vulnerably in mid-air. He sought out a giant boulder and scurried behind it, then watched Vriska overshoot him, the breeze of her flying so close to his head it ruffled his hair. She landed not far away, turned around, and walked towards him, brandishing her dice in her hand.

John put his back to the boulder and armed himself with his regular, plain hammer. He stood up nervously and held it in one hand.

“Please, Vriska, I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to fight you.”

She snorted.

“I’m only rolling three dice; it won’t produce any lethal attacks.”

John opened his mouth to protest, but before any words came out the dice tumbled from Vriska’s hands and he watched with horrified wide eyes as he had no idea what was going to happen when they landed. He gripped his hammer tighter as both of their pair of eyes followed the dice as they fell to the checkered ground. They fell with a soft thud onto the earth, a three, three, and two. John swallowed. Vriska grinned.

There was a deep rumbling sound, and then the ground cracked open around him. Hideous, hairy beasts half the size of John crawled out of them, with eight legs and mandibles snapping hungrily at his ankles.

“I couldn’t have guessed this?” he mumbled as he flew up to get away…and was grabbed by a string of webbing wrapped around his ankle. He came crashing back to the ground.

“Ooof!” he said, and was greeted by hideous spider-eyes the size of baseballs in his face. He rolled onto his stomach, pushed himself up, captchaloged his hammer and withdrew Fear No Anvil.

He swung at the closest spider, feeling a satisfying crunch reverberate up through the handle as the beast oozed icky blue blood from it’s squished center. The impact froze the two spiders nearest to it in time, and John made quick work of them, but as he was distracted the spiders behind him sprayed their webbing across the ground.

After John had swung his hammer successfully at the fourth spider, he went to turn…and found his feet cemented to the ground. He looked down and saw nothing but spider webs, anchoring his shoes. The four remaining spiders- of course there had been eight of them- crept hungrily towards him from behind. He couldn’t swing his hammer behind him, and he couldn’t turn around. He glanced around for Vriska but couldn’t immediately see her. He could hear nothing but the disgusting squishy noise of sixty-four feet crackling over the web on the ground.

John closed his eyes and concentrated on the wind instead. He created a small vortex around himself, increasing the speed, hoping to throw the spiders away- but they stuck too securely to the web. They hunkered down and remained perfectly immobile, and John bent over, exhausted.

The first one reached him and slashed out with a sharp, tooth-covered leg. It raked across his jeans, slicing a perfect cut in the fabric. John yelped.

“Okay, Vriska, game’s over! I lost, let me go now please!”

He looked around for her again, but she was nowhere to be found. More pointy legs squirmed towards him. John switched to the Pogo Hammer because it was lighter and he could swing it with one arm. He whacked at the one to his right and was able to knock it back, crushing its face in, but completely missed the one to his left. He heard the thud a second or two before he felt the hot fire of its needle-sharp leg puncture his calf.

“Yeagh!” he shouted, trying instinctually to pull his leg away, but of course it went nowhere…he was starting to feel very dizzy…

The world was spinning now. With his feet still anchored to the ground he made one last attempt to create a whirlwind to save himself. He gave it as much strength as he could, and as his eyes closed he thought he saw spider carapace fly past his vision…


John heard voices swimming in and out of his consciousness. One of them was far too perky…Jade, he thought. Another seemed extremely grouchy, and he couldn’t understand what it was saying. He tried to think of who it could belong to…but his mind was foggy…he wondered if his dad had company over? For breakfast? Seemed kind of odd.

A shrill cackle snapped his eyes open.

“Hell, Terezi, I like hearing.” he heard Dave’s voice complain.

Then more barking sounds.

Wait…Terezi?

John sat up quickly, holding his head. It was pounding.

“Oooh, John’s awake, guys!”

Jade ran over to him and kneeled beside him.

“Good morning, silly!”

He squinted up at her. She giggled.

“Are you okay?”

“Well, I was just attacked by eight alien spiders…I hope I got them all. Where’s Vriska?”

Jade turned to her side and pointed. John turned to see all of his friends, Vriska, and three other trolls all standing a few feet away. Everyone turned to look at him.

“Fuck, John, I rush all the way here to save your ass and find you sleeping like a baby.” Dave said.

“No, it wasn’t my fault, Vriska attacked me…”

Dave grinned.

“Yeah, she told us what happened. Her version of it, anyway. You should probably tell your own side of it later.”

Dave reached down his hand and pulled John to his feet.

“Come on, you get to meet everyone!” Jade said excitedly, pulling John towards the crowd as he limped over.

“Oh look, it’s sleepy boy.”

John was almost sorry when he opened his pesterlog with Vriska to read that. He had hoped it was an apology.

John did not like to feel angry. But that was what he felt when he looked at Vriska. He knew she meant well. She meant well…

“John, look! Everyone’s here! Here, meet Kanaya!” Jade said. John looked away from Vriska without saying a word. His mood was immediately lifted as he saw a very cute-looking troll girl, her skin really glowing like he’d heard about. She smiled and shyly lifted a hand to wave at him. He waved back.

“Hi, Kanaya. I…uh…you sure are bright…”

She stared at him blankly.

“Oh, right.”

He opened a pesterlog with Kanaya and sent his message. He waited as she held a hand to her ear and listened to the translation from Trollian. Then she looked up at him and smiled.

He heard a dry cackling to his right, and saw who only could have been Terezi with pointy red sunglasses on her face and a wide, grinning smile.

She started saying a long string of words he couldn’t understand and he hurried to open a pesterlog with her. She snorted with annoyance, and then repeated her message into the client.

“H1 JOHN!” she said. “L3T M3 JUST T4K3 TH1S OPPORTUN1TY TO 4POLOG1Z3 1N P3RSON FOR K1LL1NG YOU 1N 4 D1FF3R3NT T1M3L1N3.”

John laughed.

“It’s okay, really! That was one of the best pranks I’ve ever fallen for. It was a work of art, really.”

She grinned, and his spirits were lifted. He then heard Jade speaking softly next to him and he turned.

“Oh, stop, just say hello!” she was saying to a troll with a grumpy face, crossed arms, and nubby horns that could only have been Karkat.

“Karkat!” he said. “Hi, it’s me, John!”

Karkat turned and snarled something at him, and John laughed.

“I hate you too, buddy!”

Karkat said something else, and as John fumbled to open a pesterlog, he heard Terezi shout over his shoulder in response to whatever Karkat had said. Karkat responded with a loud spitting shouted response, jabbing a finger in Terezi’s direction. Terezi stepped up close to him and stabbed her finger into Karkat’s chest, pointing at John with her other hand. John tried to read what she’d said, but he had too many screens open, and in his haste he closed the pesterlog he’d had with her.

Now the two trolls were arguing in earnest. Vriska burst out laughing at whatever was said, and Kanaya rolled her eyes, looking slightly embarrassed that they would behave this way even in front of company.

“Gee, I can’t keep track of what anyone is saying…” he pulled his dad’s pda out of his pocket and started fumbling with it, trying to open pesterlogs with everyone. He looked up and saw Rose simply shake her head, pinching the bridge of her nose between two fingers like a teacher exasperated with a class full of idiot children.

“John, why don’t you create a memo so we can all talk at once?” she asked. John’s face perked up.

“Oh, that’s a great idea, Rose!”

He looked down at the pda in order to create a group memo. He then realized he had no idea how to do that.

“Oh, wait, Karkat knows how! Hey, Karkat, can you help…Karkat…Karkat?”

Whether his name didn’t translate properly from English to Troll, or Karkat was just ignoring him, John couldn’t tell. He tried pestering him, but got no response. He frowned and took a step towards him, but a yelling mouth full of sharp teeth and claws gesturing wildly kept him at a distance. John bit his lower lip and tried to think of what to do when he saw Jade step up and put her hand on Karkat’s shoulder.

“Um, Jade, I don’t know if…”

But his words were cut off when Karkat shut his mouth in mid-sentence. He shook his finger once more in Terezi’s direction, and she laughed as he turned to face Jade…and became…less angry?

“Stop arguing, silly.” she said, and John’s mouth dropped open as Jade reached up a hand to stroke Karkat’s cheek, and he leaned into it and closed his eyes.

Jade Harley had made Karkat Vantas calm down?

John heard snickering to his right and turned just in time to see Terezi lick Dave’s ear. This didn’t surprise him; he knew about Terezi’s habit of licking things in order to “see” them. What surprised him was when he saw Dave’s ear turn flushed red. Though his best friend’s face kept its usual deadpan expression, John could not overlook the fact that she’d gotten a reaction out of him none-the-less…

Nervously, John looked to Rose and Kanaya, and saw Rose slide her arms around Kanaya’s waist and rest her chin on her shoulder. Suddenly John felt incredibly awkward and out of place, and perhaps a little left out as he glanced over at Vriska and she shrugged her shoulders.

“What can I say? They’re all hopeless. That’s why I’m god-tier and they’re not.”

John opened his mouth to say something in protest, but decided against it. He did not want to argue with Vriska.

Instead he stepped up to Jade with confidence, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling of interrupting something.

“Jade, can you ask Karkat to show me how to open a memo, so we can all talk to each other?”

Jade turned and repeated the request, while John watched Karkat contemplate her words with an almost peaceful expression…

Karkat turned to look at John, and formed the scowl that John knew belonged there.

Karkat opened his pesterlog.

“YES, I WILL SHOW YOU HOW TO ACCOMPLISH A TASK THAT IS EASY FOR ANY INTELLIGENT BEING.”

Karkat ripped the pda out of John’s hands, and John smiled, then laughed. It felt really good to have things back to normal!

Karkat tapped the screen of the pda with a claw several times, snorting here and there, grunted, the growled.

“You seem to be having some trouble with it.” John said, trying not to laugh.

“I CAN’T READ THIS FUCKING INFERIOR LANGUAGE. IT’S ASS-BACKWARDS JUST LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE YOUR RACE DOES.”

John laughed, just as Karkat made a satisfied nod and shoved the pda back into John’s hands. The heir laughed at his old-yet-new friend’s expression, which only made Karkat grouchier.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Karkat.” he said. The troll snorted. John looked down and saw the memo was open, and then the message appeared.

: carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling ectoBiologist [GG] at 13:04

CG: THE PLEASURE IS ALL FUCKING MINE


John smiled brightly. Despite the way it had started, today was definitely turning out to be a good day.

Every gang is immediately more threatening when they mimic the Joker. It hadn't occured to me just how fucking creepy John/Slick could sound when he's having a good time. Psychopaths who think they're stand-up comedians: best kind of crazy?

(Of course I don't think that. They're the second-best kind of crazy after humourless subtle psychopaths. Now you know why I can't leave Droog alone.)

It's okay Path, when I read this my mind immediately jumped to the Joker. It is so him. You're not the only Batman fan that hangs around these parts, worry not.

@battlerek- This series continues to be amazing.

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as well as a lack of Spades Slick and a lack of all-important macguffin.

was the best part for me. There are a few minor errors (mostly you tend to switch the she/he pronouns, which is completely understandable when you have a gender-switched character like Sleuth/Vriska), but they are so minimal and the story is so great I feel bad even mentioning it. Thank you for continuing to write this!

@MyCurrentObsession- I love anything with shipping, fluff, and cute, and this had all three. You have made my day.

@anonymousComrade-

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but he’d watched trolls get fed to a spider outside of his window for sweeps and never cared beyond making sure his moirail would not join the grim procession.

And now a scenario is playing through my head

A scenario that will inevitably be written

Every time I try to get away, this thread pulls me right back in

and I secretly love all of you for it

*makes an innocently baffled expression* Why...why would you try to leave?

I must've missed something, but where is part 5?

[draconicAlgorithm]

Hey guys, remember this? That trashy rainbow drinker fanfiction that I started writing before Wizardstuck? Yeah, well, I finally got the initiative to write another chapter. Yay?

Thicker Than Blood 1

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Sweeps in the future, but not many...

The sun was setting. She was running out of time. And, worse yet, she still hadn't fed.

Kanaya Maryam raced across the open ground, ignoring the sunlight beating down on her from above. Even if she hadn't been oddly immune to the effects of the sunlight before, now that she was a rainbow drinker, she had absolutely nothing to fear. She could venture out in daylight without molestation, and, better yet, without running the risk of meeting another troll. Especially now, when she hadn't fed for at least a week. She was starving, and if she didn't carefully control herself, she might rip the throat out of the next troll she met.

Being a rainbow drinker had long lost the majesty that the idea had once held for her. There was nothing particularly romantic about draining a troll of their blood in order to survive. It was outright murder, but what choice did she have? If she didn't, she'd die. It was either her or them. In the beginning, she'd tried to fight it. Tried to starve herself. But Vriska would have none of that. In those first weeks, Vriska would make her feed, if she had to drag back prey herself.

Vriska. She had been perhaps the only silver lining to this new way of life. Even though the troll girl had made Kanaya into what she was, she couldn't hold a grudge. Vriska hadn't had a choice, either, and she just wanted a companion. And, after all, Vriska had spilled her own blood in order to keep Kanaya alive, rather than simply draining her. Kanaya owed her. But now...

She didn't know what to think anymore. At first, she'd thought that Vriska loved her. That she wanted the two of them to be together forever. That was why she turned her. However, half a sweep earlier, she had simply disappeared. Gone, with no trace of where she went or why. At first, Kanaya was sure something had happened to her. She searched, and searched, but never found a trace.

She was beginning to give up hope. She was beginning to despair of this life, stuck only in the sunlight, for the moonlight was poison to rainbow drinkers. Having to kill in order to survive. Being constantly alone.

She was sick of it. Sick to death of it. Maybe tonight, finally tonight, she'd let the moons have their way with her.

Yet she still ran towards the crooked shapes on the horizon that signified a lawn ring. Old habits died hard. And deep down, she didn't want to die.

The sun was still over the horizon when she reached the lawn ring. She picked the hive closest to the outside to enter. Easy access, and easy escape when the time came. All she had to hope for was that the lusus wasn't one of the particularly dangerous variety.

The hive in question seemed rather haphazardly constructed, but then, all hives were. It came from being designed by young trolls. What made this one a little more unique were the candy red tarps flapping in the gentle breeze. Not many people decorated their hive with a color like that. Most seemed to prefer to stick with gray, or perhaps using accents of their blood color. It made the house more noticeable. It reminded Kanaya a bit of her own home and her own tendency to rebel against conformity. Not that she had ever lived in an actual lawn ring, but still. Maybe that was what drew her to the hive. In other circumstances, she might have liked its occupant. Too bad she was going to kill them.

The door on the ground floor wasn't a problem to open. It wasn't even locked. It led into the kitchen, where she discovered exactly why no one bothered to lock it. A lusus laid asleep on the floor, its back facing her. Quietly, Kanaya slid the door shut before the sunlight had the chance to wake the creature up. In her ears, the click as the door closed seemed impossibly loud, but the lusus didn't stir. She tiptoed around it, working her way silently to the hallway while still keeping an eye on it. The white animal appeared to be crablike, if not in body then in its possession of large pincers in place of hands or paws. Even asleep, it looked quite menacing. Kanaya had no inclination to wake it up.

She made it to the hallway unmolested. She climbed the stairs to the next floor, keeping to the wall so as not to make them creak as she walked. Now that she was out of the kitchen, which was apparently the domain of the lusus, she could smell the troll that lived in this hive. The rich scent of blood was enthralling. The fact that she had gone so long without feeding only made it worse. Letting instinct take over, she followed the smell into the troll's room.

The dying sunlight spilled in the single window through a crack in the curtains, illuminating the otherwise dark room. A desk with a husktop computer sat nestled into a corner, and posters for movies that she recognized as romcoms lined the walls. She paid as little attention to all of this as possible. It only made it worse when she was done feeding and finally realized that the troll she had killed had a life and interests and had been a real person. It was so much easier to forget.

The troll was still asleep in his recuperacoon. She didn't look too closely at him, though she did notice that his horns were rather short and, well, nubby. It was sort of hard to miss. Oh well. It wouldn't matter much longer.

Her stride was silent as she crossed the room in a few steps. Soon enough, she was beside the recuperacoon, the rich scent of the troll's blood intoxicating. She touched his face with a gentle hand, careful not to wake him as she pushed his head back just enough to expose his neck. She bent down towards him and bit, puncturing the skin. She felt him start, the pain apparently waking him, but he wouldn't escape from her grip now. She began to drink.

When the blood first entered her mouth, she knew something was wrong. It burned whatever it touched—her lips, her tongue, the insides of her cheeks. It was like eating several of the capsicum fruits she used to grow at her hive in a row, one right after the other. She tried to stop, but the hunger was too great. Even that waned in the face of such fare. She only managed a few mouthfuls before she pulled away, gasping as she released him.

Her mouth was on fire. Even the cool air hurt. She felt the heat burning her lips, burning her mouth. She needed relief.

Without thinking, she pulled down her sleeve, exposing the glowing white skin beneath it. She slit a cut with her teeth and drank. To a rainbow drinker, the blood of another rainbow drinker was as satisfying as a drink of water to a troll with more water than they could ever drink but no food to go with it. It was still blood, but it held no substance. One could not live upon it. She knew this for a fact—she had tried it, when she first became a rainbow drinker and discovered she would have to kill all her victims. But just then, with the blood of the strange troll still burning her, her own blood was delicious. It quenched the heat quickly. Quickly enough for her to realize that something in the room was moving. She looked up.

The troll was dragging himself out of his recuperacoon. She stopped drinking, pulling her mouth away from the cut, at the realization that she hadn't killed him.

This had never happened before. Not once. No matter what she did, no matter how much she resolved not to kill this one, it always happened. Vriska had said it must be some kind of instinctual thing, to drink all the blood of their prey. The hunger wouldn't let them do otherwise.

But this troll's blood was strange. Strange enough to break the pull of the hunger, strange enough to allow him to survive. As he finished wriggling out of the recuperacoon and climbed to his feet, wearing nothing more than sopor slime and a pair of red boxes decorated with black spades, she saw the bite marks on his neck. They still oozed a little blood. And it was red. Candy red.

That was interesting.

The troll crouched into a fighting stance, drawing a pair of twin sickles out of his strife specibus to show he meant business. Even so, she saw that he was shaky on his feet. She had not taken enough of his blood to kill him, but she had taken enough to make him light headed.

"Who the fuck are you?!" He yelled, waving a sickle emphatically. "What the fuck are you doing in my hive, and why the fuck were you molesting me in my sleep?!" Although the situation was one that was certainly out of any of Kanaya's expectations, she could not help but smirk a bit at the last comment, well aware of the fact that her teeth were likely still smeared with her own blood.

"I assure you, I was in no way shape or form conducting sexual acts upon your unconscious body while you slept," she replied. "I came here with the intent of imbibing your delicious blood in such a way that would prove fatal for you and then leave. Fortunately for you, your blood was not so delicious." She stared at the wound on his neck. "I assume you are aware that your blood is a rather peculiar shade of mutant red?"

"Yes, I was fucking aware!" He snarled back. "I'm aware of it every fucking minute of every fucking day for my entire life, and you can just shut the fuck up about it, crazy fucking bitch!" He lashed out at her with a sickle, though she did not flinch. She sidestepped, albeit much more quickly than he ever could have, and circled around behind him, placing an arm on his shoulder.

"Perhaps you should calm down," she whispered in his ear. "I may not be very keen on drinking your blood any longer, but I am still more than capable of killing you." Kanaya moved out of the way as he turned to slice at her again. He missed.

"Stand the fuck still!" He growled, though she could tell he was getting tired and unnerved. She smiled.

"Come now, would you stand still if an angry young troll was coming at you with a pair of deadly sickles? I think not." She was enjoying this too much. She knew she was. But it had been so long since she'd talked to anyone else. She knew she should kill this boy, and that she would likely have to, but she wanted to enjoy the moment while it lasted. Even if he was livid and trying to kill her.

Maybe some of Vriska's sadism had rubbed off onto her.

He gathered the strength to chase after her a few more times, but his attempts were even more pathetic. Kanaya hardly had to move to avoid him. He finally gave up, panting.

"What the fuck are you?" He gasped, looking thoroughly exhausted.

"I should think that the answer to that question would be obvious by now," she said with a smug smirk. "I am a rainbow drinker." For a moment, it looked like he was going to protest, to say something about how that was dumb and that rainbow drinkers weren't real. But she could practically see the wheels turning in his head. There was too much evidence to the contrary, and he knew it. He might be angry and violent, but he was not stupid.

"Why me?" He finally asked. "Do you have a fucking grudge against me? Was I next on your hit list to drain of bodily fluids or something?" She shrugged.

"I have nothing against you. The choice was merely opportunistic, nothing more." She took a step towards him, now that it looked like he was too tired to object. He stared at her warily. "Unfortunately, now that you have seen me and know what I am, I cannot let you live. You understand, correct? I cannot let word spread that a rainbow drinker is in the area, preying upon young, unsuspecting trolls." His wary expression turned to an angry one again, though he didn't look surprised.

"Of fucking course. Isn't that just the luck of Karkat Vantas? Blood tasted terrible, but he got killed fucking anyway." When he said his name, Kanaya froze. She stared at him, suddenly shocked and shaken and terrified. He looked back at her defiantly, daring her to try to kill him. His sickles were still at the ready. Finally, though, he grew impatient.

"What the fuck are you waiting for?" He growled. She blinked. She recognized the tone now, the way he spoke. It was exactly like how he'd typed, when they had been friends. Before she had become a rainbow drinker.

"Your... your name is Karkat?" She asked hesitantly.

"That's what I fucking said, wasn't it?" He snarled. "What? Does that name make you want to kill me slowly now or something?" She couldn't speak. She just shook her head, putting a hand to her mouth and stepping backwards.

Their conversations online came back to her, of all the times she'd talked to him when she was depressed. When she just needed to talk to a friend, not a moirail. Karkat had been a very good friend to her for a long time, and...

Oh. Oh god. She had very nearly just killed him.

What a wonderful way to repay friendship.

She hadn't even realized she'd started crying, not until she noticed that her cheeks were wet. She wiped away the jade tears hastily, but Karkat was giving her a confused look.

"What the hell?" He said aloud. She shook her head.

"Oh, god, Karkat. I... I didn't recognize you. I've never actually spoken to you off of Trollian, and we had never sent pictures of ourselves to each other, so I suppose it is understandable that I would not recognize you when we finally met in real life, but under these circumstances it still seems completely inexcusable—"

"Oh my fucking god," Karkat said, interrupting her. "Kanaya? Kanaya Maryam?" She nodded. How he had finally recognized the truth, she couldn't say, but perhaps it was her rambling apology. He had recognized her tone just as she had recognized his.

"I regretfully confirm that it is in fact my name, though I am ashamed to say as much," she told him. "I am so very deeply sorry, Karkat."

"Oh god. I... I need to fucking sit down." With shaking hands, he pulled the chair out from under the desk and all but collapsed in it, ignoring the fact that he was getting sopor slime all over it. He put his face in his hands, as if trying to hold his skull together under the pressure of the information that had just been dumped upon him. After a few long, tense moments, he lowered his hands, looked up at her, opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again, looking away. He did this several more times before Kanaya began to grow impatient herself.

"Please, Karkat," she begged, unable to find more words for once in her life. She wasn't even sure what she was begging for. Karkat took a deep, shuddering breath.

"Look, I... I know this a shock for both of us, okay? But would you mind just... just fucking sitting in the hall for a moment, or something. At least let me get cleaned up." She nodded.

"Of course. I understand." She stepped out the door and back into the hallway. She listened for a moment, but she heard nothing from inside the room. The lusus in the kitchen still snored away, oblivious to what was going on upstairs.

Feeling more lonely than ever and extremely guilty, Kanaya sat down on the floor beside the door. She started crying again, this time into the fabric of her skirt. What had she almost done?

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I still feel unsure about this. There are parts I like, parts I don't, but I'm not sure how to fix the ones I don't. I'm also not sure how well I tagged Kanaya's personality, especially with the bit where she was being rather, well, malicious, even though I guess you could chalk it up to a few sweeps of having to kill people to survive? Oh well.

I'm still afraid this is going to seem like Twilight. Like, mortally afraid. Please, someone, smack me if it is.

Also, I'm going to shamelessly plug my Wizardstuck forum adventure because I'm cool like that. I still intend to write fanfics, but I'm honestly starting to run out of ideas. A series of short fics with no real plot involved can only last so long. And I've always wanted to do a forum adventure.

[ProspitDreamer]

I must've missed something, but where is part 5?

Well I buried it at the bottom of a post underneath a slew of comments so it could never be found, bwahaha!
Even I had a hard time finding it :\ Uh, so yeah, I put links to all the chapters in my signature, like I should have been doing all along except I'm lazy.

Thank you for caring enough to notice a missing chapter! *heart feels warm and fuzzy*

[kaoticAntagonist]

@draconic

0u0. I love KarkatKanaya and this is great. I really do hope you continue this. As for being like Twilight, well so far I still enjoy it, and it's not the same plot is it? As long as the characters are changed I don't think any story will turn out like another. I mean Karkat and Kanaya sure as hell aren't Edward and Bella.

[lucidSeraph]

Oh man, the nerves posting this thing. Um.

Hold Your Colour

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The game remakes the world when they win. It forgets one thing.

On AO3! Because it is really quite long and I don't think I can break it up without subtracting from the piece as a whole. But uh. Enjoy! :x

I'm just gonna say again - my heart. God, my heart. All the baw.

[spaceyPsychologist]

I must've missed something, but where is part 5?

Well I buried it at the bottom of a post underneath a slew of comments so it could never be found, bwahaha!
Even I had a hard time finding it :\ Uh, so yeah, I put links to all the chapters in my signature, like I should have been doing all along except I'm lazy.

Thank you for caring enough to notice a missing chapter! *heart feels warm and fuzzy*

Hahahaha, that would explain why I couldn't find it. xD Thanks so much for putting it in your signature! Just read chapter 5, and I was squeeing all over the place and had to mute my mic so my Skype friends wouldn't hear me. JadeKarkat is such an amazing pairing and you wrote it wonderfully.

I follow this fanfiction almost religiously, it's not even funny and I feel like a stalker. XD So of course I noticed. >>

[ProspitDreamer]

Hey guys, remember this? That trashy rainbow drinker fanfiction that I started writing before Wizardstuck? Yeah, well, I finally got the initiative to write another chapter. Yay?

Thicker Than Blood 1

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Sweeps in the future, but not many...

The sun was setting. She was running out of time. And, worse yet, she still hadn't fed.

Kanaya Maryam raced across the open ground, ignoring the sunlight beating down on her from above. Even if she hadn't been oddly immune to the effects of the sunlight before, now that she was a rainbow drinker, she had absolutely nothing to fear. She could venture out in daylight without molestation, and, better yet, without running the risk of meeting another troll. Especially now, when she hadn't fed for at least a week. She was starving, and if she didn't carefully control herself, she might rip the throat out of the next troll she met.

Being a rainbow drinker had long lost the majesty that the idea had once held for her. There was nothing particularly romantic about draining a troll of their blood in order to survive. It was outright murder, but what choice did she have? If she didn't, she'd die. It was either her or them. In the beginning, she'd tried to fight it. Tried to starve herself. But Vriska would have none of that. In those first weeks, Vriska would make her feed, if she had to drag back prey herself.

Vriska. She had been perhaps the only silver lining to this new way of life. Even though the troll girl had made Kanaya into what she was, she couldn't hold a grudge. Vriska hadn't had a choice, either, and she just wanted a companion. And, after all, Vriska had spilled her own blood in order to keep Kanaya alive, rather than simply draining her. Kanaya owed her. But now...

She didn't know what to think anymore. At first, she'd thought that Vriska loved her. That she wanted the two of them to be together forever. That was why she turned her. However, half a sweep earlier, she had simply disappeared. Gone, with no trace of where she went or why. At first, Kanaya was sure something had happened to her. She searched, and searched, but never found a trace.

She was beginning to give up hope. She was beginning to despair of this life, stuck only in the sunlight, for the moonlight was poison to rainbow drinkers. Having to kill in order to survive. Being constantly alone.

She was sick of it. Sick to death of it. Maybe tonight, finally tonight, she'd let the moons have their way with her.

Yet she still ran towards the crooked shapes on the horizon that signified a lawn ring. Old habits died hard. And deep down, she didn't want to die.

The sun was still over the horizon when she reached the lawn ring. She picked the hive closest to the outside to enter. Easy access, and easy escape when the time came. All she had to hope for was that the lusus wasn't one of the particularly dangerous variety.

The hive in question seemed rather haphazardly constructed, but then, all hives were. It came from being designed by young trolls. What made this one a little more unique were the candy red tarps flapping in the gentle breeze. Not many people decorated their hive with a color like that. Most seemed to prefer to stick with gray, or perhaps using accents of their blood color. It made the house more noticeable. It reminded Kanaya a bit of her own home and her own tendency to rebel against conformity. Not that she had ever lived in an actual lawn ring, but still. Maybe that was what drew her to the hive. In other circumstances, she might have liked its occupant. Too bad she was going to kill them.

The door on the ground floor wasn't a problem to open. It wasn't even locked. It led into the kitchen, where she discovered exactly why no one bothered to lock it. A lusus laid asleep on the floor, its back facing her. Quietly, Kanaya slid the door shut before the sunlight had the chance to wake the creature up. In her ears, the click as the door closed seemed impossibly loud, but the lusus didn't stir. She tiptoed around it, working her way silently to the hallway while still keeping an eye on it. The white animal appeared to be crablike, if not in body then in its possession of large pincers in place of hands or paws. Even asleep, it looked quite menacing. Kanaya had no inclination to wake it up.

She made it to the hallway unmolested. She climbed the stairs to the next floor, keeping to the wall so as not to make them creak as she walked. Now that she was out of the kitchen, which was apparently the domain of the lusus, she could smell the troll that lived in this hive. The rich scent of blood was enthralling. The fact that she had gone so long without feeding only made it worse. Letting instinct take over, she followed the smell into the troll's room.

The dying sunlight spilled in the single window through a crack in the curtains, illuminating the otherwise dark room. A desk with a husktop computer sat nestled into a corner, and posters for movies that she recognized as romcoms lined the walls. She paid as little attention to all of this as possible. It only made it worse when she was done feeding and finally realized that the troll she had killed had a life and interests and had been a real person. It was so much easier to forget.

The troll was still asleep in his recuperacoon. She didn't look too closely at him, though she did notice that his horns were rather short and, well, nubby. It was sort of hard to miss. Oh well. It wouldn't matter much longer.

Her stride was silent as she crossed the room in a few steps. Soon enough, she was beside the recuperacoon, the rich scent of the troll's blood intoxicating. She touched his face with a gentle hand, careful not to wake him as she pushed his head back just enough to expose his neck. She bent down towards him and bit, puncturing the skin. She felt him start, the pain apparently waking him, but he wouldn't escape from her grip now. She began to drink.

When the blood first entered her mouth, she knew something was wrong. It burned whatever it touched—her lips, her tongue, the insides of her cheeks. It was like eating several of the capsicum fruits she used to grow at her hive in a row, one right after the other. She tried to stop, but the hunger was too great. Even that waned in the face of such fare. She only managed a few mouthfuls before she pulled away, gasping as she released him.

Her mouth was on fire. Even the cool air hurt. She felt the heat burning her lips, burning her mouth. She needed relief.

Without thinking, she pulled down her sleeve, exposing the glowing white skin beneath it. She slit a cut with her teeth and drank. To a rainbow drinker, the blood of another rainbow drinker was as satisfying as a drink of water to a troll with more water than they could ever drink but no food to go with it. It was still blood, but it held no substance. One could not live upon it. She knew this for a fact—she had tried it, when she first became a rainbow drinker and discovered she would have to kill all her victims. But just then, with the blood of the strange troll still burning her, her own blood was delicious. It quenched the heat quickly. Quickly enough for her to realize that something in the room was moving. She looked up.

The troll was dragging himself out of his recuperacoon. She stopped drinking, pulling her mouth away from the cut, at the realization that she hadn't killed him.

This had never happened before. Not once. No matter what she did, no matter how much she resolved not to kill this one, it always happened. Vriska had said it must be some kind of instinctual thing, to drink all the blood of their prey. The hunger wouldn't let them do otherwise.

But this troll's blood was strange. Strange enough to break the pull of the hunger, strange enough to allow him to survive. As he finished wriggling out of the recuperacoon and climbed to his feet, wearing nothing more than sopor slime and a pair of red boxes decorated with black spades, she saw the bite marks on his neck. They still oozed a little blood. And it was red. Candy red.

That was interesting.

The troll crouched into a fighting stance, drawing a pair of twin sickles out of his strife specibus to show he meant business. Even so, she saw that he was shaky on his feet. She had not taken enough of his blood to kill him, but she had taken enough to make him light headed.

"Who the fuck are you?!" He yelled, waving a sickle emphatically. "What the fuck are you doing in my hive, and why the fuck were you molesting me in my sleep?!" Although the situation was one that was certainly out of any of Kanaya's expectations, she could not help but smirk a bit at the last comment, well aware of the fact that her teeth were likely still smeared with her own blood.

"I assure you, I was in no way shape or form conducting sexual acts upon your unconscious body while you slept," she replied. "I came here with the intent of imbibing your delicious blood in such a way that would prove fatal for you and then leave. Fortunately for you, your blood was not so delicious." She stared at the wound on his neck. "I assume you are aware that your blood is a rather peculiar shade of mutant red?"

"Yes, I was fucking aware!" He snarled back. "I'm aware of it every fucking minute of every fucking day for my entire life, and you can just shut the fuck up about it, crazy fucking bitch!" He lashed out at her with a sickle, though she did not flinch. She sidestepped, albeit much more quickly than he ever could have, and circled around behind him, placing an arm on his shoulder.

"Perhaps you should calm down," she whispered in his ear. "I may not be very keen on drinking your blood any longer, but I am still more than capable of killing you." Kanaya moved out of the way as he turned to slice at her again. He missed.

"Stand the fuck still!" He growled, though she could tell he was getting tired and unnerved. She smiled.

"Come now, would you stand still if an angry young troll was coming at you with a pair of deadly sickles? I think not." She was enjoying this too much. She knew she was. But it had been so long since she'd talked to anyone else. She knew she should kill this boy, and that she would likely have to, but she wanted to enjoy the moment while it lasted. Even if he was livid and trying to kill her.

Maybe some of Vriska's sadism had rubbed off onto her.

He gathered the strength to chase after her a few more times, but his attempts were even more pathetic. Kanaya hardly had to move to avoid him. He finally gave up, panting.

"What the fuck are you?" He gasped, looking thoroughly exhausted.

"I should think that the answer to that question would be obvious by now," she said with a smug smirk. "I am a rainbow drinker." For a moment, it looked like he was going to protest, to say something about how that was dumb and that rainbow drinkers weren't real. But she could practically see the wheels turning in his head. There was too much evidence to the contrary, and he knew it. He might be angry and violent, but he was not stupid.

"Why me?" He finally asked. "Do you have a fucking grudge against me? Was I next on your hit list to drain of bodily fluids or something?" She shrugged.

"I have nothing against you. The choice was merely opportunistic, nothing more." She took a step towards him, now that it looked like he was too tired to object. He stared at her warily. "Unfortunately, now that you have seen me and know what I am, I cannot let you live. You understand, correct? I cannot let word spread that a rainbow drinker is in the area, preying upon young, unsuspecting trolls." His wary expression turned to an angry one again, though he didn't look surprised.

"Of fucking course. Isn't that just the luck of Karkat Vantas? Blood tasted terrible, but he got killed fucking anyway." When he said his name, Kanaya froze. She stared at him, suddenly shocked and shaken and terrified. He looked back at her defiantly, daring her to try to kill him. His sickles were still at the ready. Finally, though, he grew impatient.

"What the fuck are you waiting for?" He growled. She blinked. She recognized the tone now, the way he spoke. It was exactly like how he'd typed, when they had been friends. Before she had become a rainbow drinker.

"Your... your name is Karkat?" She asked hesitantly.

"That's what I fucking said, wasn't it?" He snarled. "What? Does that name make you want to kill me slowly now or something?" She couldn't speak. She just shook her head, putting a hand to her mouth and stepping backwards.

Their conversations online came back to her, of all the times she'd talked to him when she was depressed. When she just needed to talk to a friend, not a moirail. Karkat had been a very good friend to her for a long time, and...

Oh. Oh god. She had very nearly just killed him.

What a wonderful way to repay friendship.

She hadn't even realized she'd started crying, not until she noticed that her cheeks were wet. She wiped away the jade tears hastily, but Karkat was giving her a confused look.

"What the hell?" He said aloud. She shook her head.

"Oh, god, Karkat. I... I didn't recognize you. I've never actually spoken to you off of Trollian, and we had never sent pictures of ourselves to each other, so I suppose it is understandable that I would not recognize you when we finally met in real life, but under these circumstances it still seems completely inexcusable—"

"Oh my fucking god," Karkat said, interrupting her. "Kanaya? Kanaya Maryam?" She nodded. How he had finally recognized the truth, she couldn't say, but perhaps it was her rambling apology. He had recognized her tone just as she had recognized his.

"I regretfully confirm that it is in fact my name, though I am ashamed to say as much," she told him. "I am so very deeply sorry, Karkat."

"Oh god. I... I need to fucking sit down." With shaking hands, he pulled the chair out from under the desk and all but collapsed in it, ignoring the fact that he was getting sopor slime all over it. He put his face in his hands, as if trying to hold his skull together under the pressure of the information that had just been dumped upon him. After a few long, tense moments, he lowered his hands, looked up at her, opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again, looking away. He did this several more times before Kanaya began to grow impatient herself.

"Please, Karkat," she begged, unable to find more words for once in her life. She wasn't even sure what she was begging for. Karkat took a deep, shuddering breath.

"Look, I... I know this a shock for both of us, okay? But would you mind just... just fucking sitting in the hall for a moment, or something. At least let me get cleaned up." She nodded.

"Of course. I understand." She stepped out the door and back into the hallway. She listened for a moment, but she heard nothing from inside the room. The lusus in the kitchen still snored away, oblivious to what was going on upstairs.

Feeling more lonely than ever and extremely guilty, Kanaya sat down on the floor beside the door. She started crying again, this time into the fabric of her skirt. What had she almost done?

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I still feel unsure about this. There are parts I like, parts I don't, but I'm not sure how to fix the ones I don't. I'm also not sure how well I tagged Kanaya's personality, especially with the bit where she was being rather, well, malicious, even though I guess you could chalk it up to a few sweeps of having to kill people to survive? Oh well.

I'm still afraid this is going to seem like Twilight. Like, mortally afraid. Please, someone, smack me if it is.

Also, I'm going to shamelessly plug my Wizardstuck forum adventure because I'm cool like that. I still intend to write fanfics, but I'm honestly starting to run out of ideas. A series of short fics with no real plot involved can only last so long. And I've always wanted to do a forum adventure.

I greatly enjoyed this. It was both moving and funny at the same time (though anything with Karkat in it is inherently funny to me). And no, it is nothing like Twilight. If you ever get concerned, just switch the names and you'll see how not Twilight it is.

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Edward: "Unfortunately, now that you have seen me and know what I am, I cannot let you live. You understand, correct? I cannot let word spread that a rainbow drinker is in the area, preying upon young, unsuspecting trolls."

Bella:
"Of fucking course. Isn't that just the luck of Bella Swan? Blood tasted terrible, but she got killed fucking anyway."

[draconicAlgorithm]

@kaoticAntagonist: I know, I love KarkatKanaya too. :3 But yeah, I know what you mean. I'm probably just too paranoid. xP At least Kanaya isn't creeping on Karkat and watching him sleep.

Yet.

@ProspitDreamer: Oh god, I... I think I needed that. I laughed for about five minutes straight. I think you're right. xD Though I agree, Karkat is inherently funny, no matter what situation you put him in. I mean, those boxers.

Also, I just wanted to say that I just caught up with What It Takes, and oh my god, I love you. Like, a lot. It is so adorable and just, nngh. (Still holding out for John/Vriska too! :3 Silly John, she only sics spiders on you 'cause she looooooooves you.)

[DJ-P0N3]

Oh hey fanfic thread
I am overdue.
here
have some horrible shit.


Poker Night in the Incipisphere

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Jade strolls along across her Land of Frost and Frogs, she has already completed the ectobiological cloning of yet another frog and was about to get another done. Until she spotted something peculiar in the distance, a door that had four symbols upon it, familiar symbols as well. Quite clearly was a heart. She approached it and could better make out the other symbols. A Spade, a Diamond, and a Club. It was the four symbols of troll romance, or so she had learned from the trolls. She reached for the handle of the doorknob and entered it cautiously.

A faint glow of light blinded her temporarily, and then she was greeted by Crowbar of the Felt. He extended a hand for her to shake, she nervously looked left and right before taking his hand and shaking it heartily.

She asked politely, “Where are we?”

Crowbar responded promptly, “We are in a pocket dimension where various passer-bys come to sit back and relax away from their doomed timeline.” He escorted her down a staircase as they continued to speak, “I assume you are here because yours is doomed as well.”

Jade thought for a moment, she frowned and nodded, “I guess so, yeah.”

“Well you’re in luck.” He grinned, “A game of a few of our regulars is about to start, and I think they could use one more player.”

Jade stepped up to the table and took a seat, she stared at those that sat across from her. She was startled to see a Crocodile consort, Bec Noir, Doc Scratch, and even Vriska Serket. Her mouth stayed agape for a few minutes before she could regain her composure. She then initiated some conversation.

“Uh, hi.” Jade muttered.

“Nak nak nak!” The crocodile shouted.

Jade looked confused, she raised an eyebrow. Doc Scratch turned to her and explained, “He says Hello to you, and I do as well. It is not your fault you don’t understand him, its hard to speak animal. its hard and no one understands.”

Bec Noir chuckles softly, “Hah, double meaning, get it?”

Jade shook her head, Bec Noir face palmed and sighed. Crowbar stepped up to them and made an announcement.

“Alright ladies and gentlemen, tonight’s entering price will be ten-thousand boonbucks.” He stated flat out.

Bec Noir, Doc Scratch, and the Crocodile all paid up in a moment. Jade checked her savings and spotted she did not have enough. She raised her hand and hoped to ask, but then then she saw that Vriska seemed to be a similar situation.

Vriska sighed, “Ha, normally I have this all prepared with HUGE STACKS of boonbucks ready, but seems I am out! I’ll put my rocket boots up for wager instead, I hope that’s allowed.”

Jade shuffled through her Sylladex and tossed Ahab’s Crosshairs onto the table. She shouted, “If its okay I will be entering the game with this!”

Everyone at the table gasped, that was much more than enough for the entry fee. To be fair, they each ponied up a bit more, through the form of more material possessions. Scratch lifted up one of his special cue balls and placed it on the table.

“I hope this will do.” He said.

The Crocodile raised an eyebrow and wagged its tail, it removed its iShades and placed them upon the table, it spoke aloud, “Nak nak nak nak. Nak nak.”

“Uhhh…..?” Jade stammered.

“He is betting the shades.” Doc explained.

“Oh.”

Bec Noir glared at them and whispered something too soft for anyone to hear, he reached into himself and pulled out Cal, placing him onto the table along with the ridiculously sweet shades he had been wearing, “This ought to cover it.”

Vriska groaned and reached under the table, she then pulled out and placed Tavros’ legs upon the table, “This should do!”

Everyone at the table were rather surprised, Vriska stammered. “Wh-what is it?”

“What kind of person carries around the severed lower extremities of their ex-matesprit/kismesis?” Doc Scratch asked rhetorically.

“I don’t know. Someone creepy?” Bec Noir asked in response.

“Nak nak nak. Nak nak nak nak nak! Nak nak nak!” The Crocodile stated.

“Oh my,” Doc gasped slightly, “That’s a bit inappropriate wouldn’t you agree?”

“Nak nak.”

Vriska simply flushed blue, rolled her eyes, and looked away. Crowbar stepped up and shuffled the deck. “Since no one has any legitimate objections, I would believe we can get this game started.” He handed out 20,000 boonbucks worth of chips to each of the participants and dealt the first hand. Jade checked her cards and found she had a 7 of <3, and an Ace of <3. She looked at the others hoping to find some sort of tell.

Bec Noir barred his teeth slightly as he looked at his cards, either he had a bad hand or he was just an angry creature period. Vriska didn’t seem to making much of anything, she tapped her fingers on the table, that was it. Doc Scratch, he, well he had the best poker face Jade had ever seen. The Crocodile was naking loudly, whether he was angry or excited was very hard to tell.

The game started from Scratch, he sighed, “These cards are worse than a doomed session of Sgrub. I fold.” He tossed his cards face down onto the table.

Then it came to Jade, she looked from side to side, with the blinds as 100 and 200, she had to do something. She decided to call, “Here, this is good. Right?”

Vriska grinned and took her chips and tossed them onto the table, “I’m raising this higher than Gamzee on sopor.” She had raised it by 1000. She must have a good starting hand, but with two cards, its unlikely.

The crocodile called it, he simply naked loudly as he smacked a few chips in with his tail, no one bothered to check to see if he had put in the proper amount.

Bec Noir called it as well, “Calling…”

Jade nervously called it as well, “I’ll call…its not as bad as calling Karkat only for him to swear at you anyway.”

Three cards were placed on the table and flipped, it was a 7 of <3<, a 6 of <3< and a King of <>.

jade looked from side to side, “Check, please.”

Vriska sighed, “Bluh bluh huge check.”

The crocodile began to nak loudly, “Nak nak nak! nak nak nak nak nak nak nak! nak nak nak nak nak! nak nak!”

Jade asked politely to Doc Scratch, “What is he saying?”

He responded post-haste. “I am not perfect on my consort lingo, but I believe he said something about your collective asses and going all in.”

The crocodile proceeded to smack all his chips into the center of the table. Everyone gasped aloud. Bec Noir took a peak at his hand and nodded, “I’ll call that AND call Deuce and tell him to blow you sky high after I win this hand.”

Jade shook her head and tossed her cards, “I fold.”

Vriska blinked, and shook her head. “No way, I fold.”

The Crocodile flipped over his cards, he had an 8 of c3< and a 2 of <>. Bec Noir flipped over his cards, he had a King of <3< and a King of <3. Another card was placed face up, it was a 3 of <3, the next card placed was a 5 of c3<.

The Crocodile had King high, Bec Noir had three of a kind. Bec Noir won the hand, and the crocodile was eliminated from play. Bec Noir pulled in the chips close to him and laughed as he put on the iShades. “Looks like that croc…just got rocked.” He laughed at his own joke, everyone else groaned.

The Crocodile stepped away from the table; he simply shook his head and scuttled away with a saddened look on his face. Jade made a mental note to give him a hug later.

A new hand was dealt and Jade took a quick peek at her cards, she had a 4 of <3, and a 4 of c3<. She smiled slightly, but then covered her face in embarrassment. She was afraid she had just given her good hand away, she peeked out to see the others. Bec Noir’s ears were drooped down slightly; he must have a bad hand. Vriska continued to tap her fingers and Doc Scratch still had the best poker face ever.

The blinds were now on Sratch and Bec Noir, it was Jade’s turn to start things off. She decided to call and toss in the chips accordingly. “This Is a good start, right?”

Vriska grinned, “Bluh bluh HUGE BET.” She raised it by 5000, Bec Noir and Jade looked a bit shocked, to make a bet like that so early on was risky and intimidating to say the least.

Bec Noir lifted up his cards, “This reminds me of the time I slaughtered an entire family for no particular reason, except make me the family and this hand me. I fold.” He slammed them down on the table.

Doc Scratch chuckled, “I’ll call.” He tossed in his chips.

Jade shook her head, “Again, folding. At this rate I might want to start doing origami instead of poker.”

The three cards were placed on the table, a 9 of <>, an 8 of <>, and a 10 of <>. Jade was relieved she had folded so soon.

Vriska and Scratched agreed to check.

A Quen of <> showed up next. Vriska clenched her fist, she raised by 3000, she tossed in 8200. Scratch was unimpressed and called it. Vriska checked, and so did Scratch. The final card to show, it was a 3 of <3<. The two checked again and flipped their cards.

Vriska swore under her breath, she had 3 of a kind with a 3 of <3 and a 3 of <>. Scratch had a straight. He raked in the pot and would have probably had a giant smile across his cueball head if he actually had a face.

A new hand was dealt, and tension was starting to run high. Jade peered at her cards, she had a pair of Aces from the start! Holy crap! She tried to hide her smile, she tried so hard and just watched the others to see their reactions. Bec Noir barred his teeth, he might have a good hand. Vriska wasn’t tapping her fingers, she was twirling her hair. Jade wasn’t sure what to think. Scratch, god dammit, does she even need to look at him to know he has the best fucking poker face ever or what? The blinds were now on her and Scratch, so Vriska started the hand.

She smiled, she went all in! “I bet all of my chips, all of them!”

Jade raised an eyebrow, was this a bluff? She wasn’t sure. Bec Noir rebuttled with a hearty, “I have chewed on bones, chewed on kibbles ‘n bits, and even my own ass. And none of them were as shitty as this hand. I fold.” He tossed his cards down.

Doc Scratch looked down at his cards, then at Vriska, “I may be omnipotent and suicidal, but I’m not stupid. I fold.” He tossed his cards face down onto the table.

Jade grinned, her buckteeth showing. “I fold…..letters that I sometimes send to my friends. Especially when I give them a birthday present. That has nothing to do with the fact I am calling your bluh bluh huge bluff and going all in.” She pushed her chips in and chuckled. Vriska seemed psyched out.

The three cards were flipped, a King of <3<, a Queen of <3<, and a Jack of <3<. Vriska smiled, and Jade pulled on her hair nervously. As the next card was flipped, it was a 2 of <3. The two of them both sweat with nervousness, Jade crossed her fingers. The final card was an Ace of <>. Jade threw her hands up in the air. She had called Vriska’s bluff, and she was eliminated from play.

Vriska stood up and sighed, “Mother of god…can’t believe I got beat by a dork like you.” She walked away from the table. Bec Noir looked at Scratch and grinned.

He joked, “There is irony is what she just said, in fact, a decent amount of it. Get it? Get it?” Scratch merely shook his head, and waited for the next hand to be dealt.

As the cards were being passed out Scratch split his winnings in two and handed half to Bec Noir, and the other half to Jade. He stood up and sighed, “I was going to go all in anyway, and you two are going to have the same hand. So farewell, I’m off to try a toaster in the bathtub. According to human media it’s a popular AND successful method of suicide.” He strolled off, presumably to the bathroom.

It was just Jade and Bec Noir now. He snarled at her, but he stopped and seemed to whimper as if to apologize. Jade reached across the table and pet him. Bec Noir wiggled an ear and smiled widely. He looked at his pile of chips, he then begrudgingly gave the remainder of them to Jade. He stood up and walked away without a word.

Jade was so very confused. “Did…did I win?” She seemed disappointed she had won on the technicality that everyone else had either busted out or quit. She strolled away from the table, Crowbar approached her and gave her a hearty thumbs up.

“Good work little lady,” Crowbar said, “You did good.”

“Yeah but…” Jade sighed, “What do I do now? I mean, I am doomed, right?”

“Well yeah, but who says you can’t enjoy it?” Crowbar inquired.

Jade looked around for a moment, and tried to think. She focused on things, and considered it. She realized, there really was no reason she couldn’t enjoy this. Being doomed, maybe it wasn’t so bad. She soon had a large smile upon her face and dashed after the crocodile, proceeding to give it the biggest hug she could.

You thought she would forget, didn’t you?

[Sporkaganza]

Don't worry dA. It's not like Twilight. Neither the content nor the writing style reflects the shittiness of Twilight. Actually, it's really good and I'd like to see more.

[catastrophicGenesis]

@SkaianRedeemer

Um. I can post what I first thought when I read the chapter, will that help?

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Sober Gamzee is the real Gamzee who should exist and is part of the whole Sgrub predestination thing. Sopor Gamzee is a mental construct who shouldn't exist, but somehow has managed to screw fate and make his own place in the game. And he is awesome for it. The Horrorterrors have some part in this, although admittedly I'm confused as to which Gamzee they side with. And then there were metaphors and mindscrew and lo, my mind was screwed XD.

@draconicAlgorithm: Vanpaya Karkat is like my favourite pairing ever and I offer you a round of applause for writing it in a way that is nothing like Twilight on the grounds I didn't want to claw my eyes out after 3 paragraphs and, in fact, do look forward to more. =3

@Sebastian: The problem with that is paradox clones. If Karkat gets culled, who has to be the ectobilogist? and how does the game work if the ectobiologist is dead? And why am I trying to work this out, seriously?

[ceruleanTresses]

Troll Henry Travers takes over the ectobiology.

[Path]

I'm going to cry and eat your cookies. No, that wasn't a metaphor.
Your discourse is inelegant, and unbefitting our audience.

God, I almost don't want to post this just to spite you, and I made it as a present just for you. So stop acting so outrageously. If you ate those cookies, you asshole...

For everyone else, the porn ruse was a... DISTACTION. Have some Ancestorfic. It is basically a songfic, except without the lyrics.

Dance

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Marquise Spinneret Mindfang winds her story to a close in the manner of the best of anecdotes, a simple nod to an early point in the tale, refreshed, recycled, made light through repetition. She smiles indulgently at her audience, a pair of cull-waiting lowbloods she'd never bother speaking to if there weren't a particular image she wished to cultivate tonight.

She reclines in her chair, a glass of champagne between the fingers of one hand as the lowbloods laugh as if their lives depended on it, which of course they do. Her hair is piled atop her head, and she wears a glittering dress of blacks and midnight blues, shivering in motion whenever she laughs or takes a drink. It is far from her usual and she does not enjoy it for its own merits, no more than she enjoys the company of lowbloods or the mediocre refreshment. Like everything else tonight, it is the effect of it all Mindfang enjoys, and not the reality.

A servant is at her side; he is not hers. A tray is held out, a cloth and silver plate bearing a tiny morsel. She does not need to ask; when she regards it, the man gestures across the room, lowering his eyes politely. She glances, and yes, there he is, a figure in silhouette, posed comfortably in a high-backed chair and waiting for her eyes to fall on him. As second after they do, he shifts, the lights catching his face, filling his eyes and horns with goldenrod and shading his gills, his fins deep violet. He looks up lazily, a smile cutting a third scar across his face.

Mindfang takes the appetizer, just a sliver, from the plate, and the servant backs away bowing. She places it on her tongue, allows flavour to dance and nearly send shivers through her. It is not poisoned, of course; tonight is not a night for that sort of manoeuvring. It is of a different sort. Her eyes, for that moment, do not leave his. She can see them perfectly, as clearly as if he sat across the low table and not across the room. Their eyes meet for only that moment, and then he glances away as if dismissing her.

As she looks away in turn, he stands. He cannot bear to miss her attention, even staged as it is. His move, and he comes to reclaim her, tossing his violet cloak over his shoulder and adjusting his military uniform; the high neck, sharp shoulders, double row of buttons a tribute to his accomplishments. She cares not at all for them. His deeds are worthless. His merits, nothing. He knows the only way he can impress her, and so he stands, and begins to cross the distance to her.

She mirrors him. She slinks through the club as if the lights there were made for her passage, the rest of the world rotating around her in a storm-spiral. Nearby, as she nears the center of the room, a girl trembles among the many watching lowbloods. She has no badge, no symbol to indicate her rank or status. Mindfang changes course, draws the girl towards her magnetically. She runs her hand through the girl's hair, raking her power through the girl's mind with the same casual carelessness. The girl is in her arms in seconds, Mindfang's mark on her brow, and Mindfang does not care who sees it, as long as he does. Her lips caress the girl's, slow faked urgency on Mindfang's part and no resistance whatsoever from the lowblood. She knows he will be disgusted at her wantonness, horrified at her casual disregard for standards. The girl might be green-blooded or she might be brown, and he will have no more clue to it than Mindfang does.

She pulls the girl into the light, puts the two of them on display for him. A long, endless instant later, she discards the girl, allows her to stumble back into the club's shadows and reel there. What she does now is immaterial. Not so far away, now, her opponent rips a golden brooch from his chest, and allows his cloak to fall to the floor behind him. He pushes his sleeves up, strips his gloves from his hands, tossing them too to the side. His fingers are also a violet hue, fading into grey where they touch his hands. He balls one hand in a fist, cracking knuckles in one hand, then the other. He wears a look of contempt; his usual look, but tainted with something more. That is hers.

Mindfang steps into the center of the room, and he is there, matching her, waiting, and trying not to curl his lip too much in disdain for her shameless actions. Still, his eyes flare brightly beneath the lights, fierce delight and enjoyment as he revels in his hatred for her.

"Well, well, well," she croons. "If it isn't Orphaner Douchescar."

"I don't appreciate you slandering my name, Spiderbitch," he replies. They are so close, a breath away.

"Thank you for the snack," she offers, blue lips curving in a smirk. "It was quite delicious."

"My pleasure," he returns. Neither blinks. The world is suspended.

"Is that Muenster cheese tickling my flavour receptacles?" she inquires.

"Of course," his voice savours their interaction, caresses it. "Muenster is like edible lactose gold."

"Agreed," she says. She enjoys this, the chance to exchange pleasantries before the inevitable. It makes it so much more fulfilling, if they pretend to civility first. But still, she cannot hold in her ecstasy, the full extent of her passion for him, for long. The night is too young to waste it on idle talk. "Shall we dance?" she asks, and a lesser man might mistake her tone for innocence. Her eyes are wide.

"Let's," he says, and she knows more than ever how badly he has wanted her, how difficult it was for him to follow his careful plans and staged images, and not merely rush for her throat with his fangs.

And then they do rush for each other, as Mindfang hurls her dice and Dualscar's harpoon is in hand. Glittering points of light make a kaleidoscope of eight-sided refraction; one white-violet beam opposes. They do dance, then, positioning and turning and repositioning through the club, and thoroughly and passionately try to murder each other. She feels a thrill coursing through her, that none other could provide, a racing shivering light blossoming within her as explosions of white energy bloom around her.

Blood from red to green spatters the walls as lowbloods are caught in their fire. Dualscar is screaming curses at her, teeth grinding against teeth, and Mindfang howls her fury like the Mother Grub's wrath. Finally she has him, a die lodged in his shoulder on the luckiest of rolls, the 8 barely visible through the welling violet blood. He falls, grasping for his harpoon, but her boot is on his wrist before he can reach it.

A second passes; they pant, eyes wild and hungry amid the screams of the lowbloods. Finally, weaponless, Dualscar gives. "....Truce," he says.

Mindfang can only laugh as she falls on him.

[SkaianRedeemer]

@SkaianRedeemer

Um. I can post what I first thought when I read the chapter, will that help?

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Sober Gamzee is the real Gamzee who should exist and is part of the whole Sgrub predestination thing. Sopor Gamzee is a mental construct who shouldn't exist, but somehow has managed to screw fate and make his own place in the game. And he is awesome for it. The Horrorterrors have some part in this, although admittedly I'm confused as to which Gamzee they side with. And then there were metaphors and mindscrew and lo, my mind was screwed XD.

At this point I'm not going to comment about Gamzee's nature so to encourage speculation, but I will say that I take it as a good sign that you're wondering about that and not something that was supposed to be clear .

[C20710]

@Path
This is delicate business. And that fic is screaming for rebuttal.

Will have to re-read when I'm more awake (ie. tomorrow).

Anyways, I don't know what's got you so wound up. It's not as if you didn't do what we both knew you would. We're moirails, remember?

[Graven_Image]

What is a Sylph

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Do you know what a Sylph is, Kanaya?

It is an angel.

It's a spirit of the air, untouchable and intangible. It is perfectly suited to what you would become.

A Sylph is like a fairy, magical and mysterious.

So allow me to be the first to apologize.

I made you into an angel.

And we all know how much Eridan hates angels.

[battlerek]

@Path- Friendship fics are the best fics

@Lantadyme-that was delightfully heartwarming.

@DA- Don't beat yourself up about your fic being twilight-ish. No writer worth his/her salt could write something like twilight unless they were doing it ironically or is a fan of the series themselves. And on a scale of Tavros to Bro your story's irony level is a Karkat.

[Shadow of the Lotus]

I was looking through some old files on my computer today and stumbled upon one labeled simply 'untitled.' I don't know if this is something I was once working on? I don't remember writing it. Does someone here recognize this bit of text as their own? Whatever it is, it actually sounded kind of interesting. I hope it isn't something of mine; shame if it is as I don't remember what I was trying to do with it. It does sound like my writing, though.

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Day 1: 18 hours 13 minutes

Right on time, a familiar ding rang out as message after message was received. The first three-day period had been odd. Dave was bombarded with messages constantly through his pesterchum account. Messages would appear from different friends talking to different iterations of himself. Some conversations he was meant to respond to; others only watch. Some he wasn't even supposed to open. A constant cascade of messages flowed across the waves of time and Dave would have drowned if not for Terezi. Trollian had more advanced time features. Although the trolls could access any point in time in Dave's session, that didn't guarantee following subjective temporal realities. Luckily, trollian DID allow for personal time-line pesters.
Another ding. Pesterchum, however, did not. As such, any conversation Dave had would show up every time he passed by its objective temporal reality. Conversations would appear on his ishades fully formed outside missing his own input. Another time, another Dave, a conversation he would have, or already had. Terezi kept it all straight. Dave hadn't even