#hope it’s clear that feferi’s back is turned here

[kabutoden]

ur buggy troll designs r so good 😭!!!! I would love to see ur take on equius + feferi !

i got stuck on the seadwellers at first so i didn’t draw them in the initial batch, but here they are now!! eridan’s based on the anomalocaris and feferi is one of those very spiny trilobites. initially, I had their species flipped until I saw how cool some of the trilobites were!!!

(rq open!!)

[luna-almighty-god]

An Ampora doesn't cry n°5 [HumanStuck]

Click here to read on Ao3

Homestuck belongs to Andrew Hussie

Please don't refer to this fanfic if you are looking for canonical information.

Rating M : presence of lemon / threesome becoming a foursome

Enjoy reading!

=== ===

Previous chapter

=== ===

The following week arrives quickly, and Eridan is proud to reveal, for the first time, his apartment. He took the initiative to invite the three idiots -yes, he insists on calling them that- using the excuse that "Since Gamzee is going to move in, we might as well take a look to see how he's going to settle in. And by the way, the other two can come so they'll know where to crash now."

Sollux remains dumbfounded, as do Gamzee and Karkat.

" ... An apartment big enough for two, you say? Damn it Eridan, you could house the whole gang, this isn't an apartment, it's a castle!"

Eridan answers them with a big smile. Well, he admits it, he was very modest when talking about his home. His apartment takes up a whole floor of the building, one would almost believe in a real house! The entrance hall leads directly to the large living room, which is itself connected to the kitchen. American style kitchen, beware! There is only a counter to separate the two rooms, giving a large open space. The living room has a large couch located in front of a flat screen TV, and Karkat is the first to get outraged:

"Holy shit, you have a curved TV?! You're kidding!"

The smallest one leaves to rave about the screen, while Gamzee quietly goes to open the doors. There are no corridors, the living room is the place to go from one room to another. Gamzee just takes a quick look: an office, Eridan's bedroom, a bathroom - gosh, there's a shower AND a bath? - as well as a laundry room...

" ... Wow bro, this is so cool!" comments Gamzee, his eyes sparkling, even if he doesn't seem that surprised. He must have lived in this kind of place before his parents kicked him out.

Sollux and Karkat don't know where to look anymore. It's not only the luxury of the apartment that disturbs them, but also the impeccable cleanliness. The living room is so... pure, devoid of personal belongings. You'd think no one lives there, that it's just a picture in a design magazine.

Sollux looks at Eridan, searching for the right words before asking:

"...isn't this...too big, for one person?"

In other words: didn't you feel fucking lonely the whole time?

Eridan gets embarrassed, pouts, looks away and shrugs:

"Better too much than not enough, right?"

In other words: Yes, but now I'm not alone anymore.

This makes Sollux smile, and he decides to relax and make himself at home. He goes to join Karkat near the TV:

"I brought my switch. Shall we connect it to the screen? It can be really good.

- Oh yeah ! A mario party ! Karkat is delighted.

- No, more like Mario Kart.

- In your dreams, you killed the game! There's no fun in playing when all you do is win!

- Winning? I don't win. I DEFUND you."

Sollux approaches a mocking face and Karkat blushes with shame:

"YOU'LL SEE, IT'S ME WHO'LL DEFEAT YOU!"

Eridan holds back a laugh, deciding to let them settle in while he joins Gamzee in... shit, where did he go? He glances around the other rooms, only to find him in his own room, collapsed on his bed.

Eridan clears his throat, hoping his embarrassment isn't too obvious. Other than Feferi, no one has ever been in here, let alone a handsome guy who has ever touched him a little too intimately.

"Gamzee?"

The respondent, who was staring at the ceiling, straightens up on his elbows and smiles at him::

"Hey bro~ Sorry, your bed looked so comfortable, I couldn't resist~"

Eridan shrugs, continues to look at him in silence, before hesitating:

" ... Are you alright? What were you thinking about?

- How lucky I am to be here! Eheh, this is great, too great!"

The taller one grabs him, pulls him to fall on top of him. Eridan lets out a squeak, turns crimson. Shit, he definitely can't get used to this kind of gesture.

"You're the best Eridan, frankly the best bro of all time!

- Pff... obviously, yes."

Eridan tries to keep his head up, to swallow his embarrassment, but it's hard to stay calm when someone is hugging you like that, on your bed, in your room, and then comes to kiss you on the cheek, then on the edge of the lips... and on the mouth...

"S-Stop!" exclaims the host, placing his hand over Gamzee's mouth.

The taller man blinks in surprise, and Eridan bites his tongue before looking away:

" ... L-Listen... it's not that I don't like it, but there... no. Not there, not like that, not here.

- ... Like this? Here?

- ... I... both of us... In my room... it's..."

Gamzee stares at him again, trying to figure out what he means, and Eridan holds back from calling him names for causing him such embarrassment. Damn it, does he really have to explain it like that, out loud?!

Eridan desperately flees his gaze, and feeling his breath against his palm doesn't help.

"...This is...too intimate..."

Gamzee finally seems to understand, as his eyes widen slightly. But instead of stopping, he grabs Eridan's wrist to take it off his mouth, and offers a mischievous smile:

"You want to close the door? The bros won't bother us~"

Eridan jumps to his feet and his expression is one of laughter. He winces under the panic, the embarrassment, the intense embarrassment that clutches his heart and makes him want to run away:

"NO!!!"

He has lost control of his voice, his scream echoes throughout the apartment. That's the problem with having a big space: the echo is too good. He and Gamzee stare at each other, one dead of shame, the other stunned. Eridan takes off, rushes towards the exit, crosses the living room to the kitchen. Gamzee follows him, his big legs allow him to catch up easily although he does not dare to touch him:

"Hey, Eri, was that a joke?

- Your jokes are shit!

- Well, maybe it was not completely a joke...?

- It gets better and better!

- You know I'd never force you to do anything, right?"

Eridan didn't answer. The memory of the amphitheater comes back to him, but he refrains from bringing it up. It would be too mean to accuse him of having forced him at that moment, knowing that Eridan somewhat indulged and enjoyed the treatment. But damn... !

" ... You're fucking boring." he said, sulkily, as he walked around the counter and focused on making a hot drink, just to keep his hands busy and not have to look at the others.

That doesn't stop Gamzee from coming and sticking to his back and hugging him shyly, with the attitude of the one who made a mistake and is trying to be forgiven:

"Sorry... are you mad at me?"

Eridan glances at him, tenses at his puppy dog look, finally growling as he refocuses on his drink:

"...no. It's not that.

- What is it then...?"

Karkat looks at them from across the counter:

"He's embarrassed, you idiot! You can see he's not used to it!"

Gamzee pouts:

"Is that true Eri? Are you embarrassed?

- N-No, I'm not embarrassed! I'm just...I... Argh, yes, I'm embarrassed! There, happy?"

Eridan gets out of his grip and goes to lean against the worktop, his drink in his hands. Karkat rolls his eyes and looks at Gamzee:

"You have to take it easy, idiot. Not everyone is comfortable with physical contact.

- Like you?

- I'M VERY COMFORTABLE WITH IT!"

It' s Karkat who is now crimson, and Gamzee laughs. He goes around to join the smaller one, leans over, winks at him:

"Well go ahead, show me~"

Karkat swears, comes to kiss him, but with such vehemence that their teeth clash, and the noise makes Eridan wince, as well as Karkat, while Gamzee blinks and finally explodes with laughter:

"Ahah, too violent little bro !~

- S-Shut up!!!"

Gamzee pats his head, amused, then walks away to join Sollux on the couch. Karkat seems to be the one pouting now. He joins Eridan in the kitchen, hands in the pockets:

"Tch, how boring..."

Eridan hides his smile and just shakes his head. He then proposes:

"Do you want to drink something?

- ... Mm... water, for now."

The host nods and serves him a glass. Karkat grabs it, takes a small sip, before setting the container back down on the counter without seeming to care more than that. He looks at Eridan hesitantly, seems to want to say something but finally remains silent.

" ... Is something wrong?" asks the one with glasses.

Karkat twiddles his fingers, eyes glued to the ground, wincing as he desperately searches for words. And obviously, being unable to speak, to explain himself, frustrates him enormously, makes him blush with shame. He just seems to want to run away, but is tugged by his ego, which is pushing him to face up, trying to get him to talk.

"I..."

Eridan isn't sure how to help him. So he remains silent, attentive, patient. What could the smaller one have to reveal, that it seems so hard to talk about?

"FUCK!" swears Karkat, who gets angry at himself, at the words that still don't come out.

He stamps his foot, opens and closes his mouth several times. Eridan feels bad for him, guesses how humiliated he must feel to give such a show. But even if he would like to reassure him and to take him in his arms, he is afraid that it doesn't help, that it embarrasses his comrade only more.

But Karkat suddenly grabs his hand, squeezes it hard, shaking, before closing his eyes, taking a breath, and unpacking in one go:

"CanIkissYou?!"

He almost screamed, and now he remains frozen, eyes closed, waiting for his answer like an ordeal.

Eridan blinks, bewildered:

" ... Kiss me?" he repeats, fearing to have misunderstood.

Karkat empourpre, nods sharply the head without daring to repeat himself. Eridan remains silent, taken by surprise, he clearly didn't expect such a request.

Suddenly, Karkat lets him go, moves back, as if he had been burned:

"No, No forget it, forget it, it was shit, forget it!"

He goes to leave the kitchen but Eridan holds him by the hand, sensing that something is wrong, that Karkat is no longer just nervous but downright panicked.

"But no, I was just surprised!

- Rah, no, leave it the fuck alone! I shouldn't have asked, I don't even know what I was expecting! I'm not Gamzee or Sollux, I don't even know why I'm trying!"

Eridan widens his eyes, before frowning and pulling him up, forcing him to face him, to look at him:

"But you don't have to look like them to kiss me!

- Of course I do! I'm not... I don't have the same ease or the same fucking way of turning the head! Look at this, in front of them you lose control, in front of me you talk to me like I'm a kid!"

Karkat releases his hands and brings them back against him, crossing his arms, shoulders hunched, closing in on himself as he looks down feverishly:

"You all do this... always treating me like I'm a fucking kid! They don't even give me a chance to be ..."

But he pauses, bites his lip, so hard that Eridan already perceives a little reddish liquid appearing. He understands that this isn't just a problem with him, but a problem with Gamzee and Sollux of which he has no knowledge. Although... he suspects, deep down, the nature of the problem.

"...I'm borrowing the bathroom from you." growls Karkat before leaving the kitchen...only to blush when he sees his two lovers staring at him from the couch. Shit, yeah, it's true that this fucking apartment doesn't have the concept of "private space."

Gamzee straightens up, concerned:

" ... Karka..."

But the smaller one ignores him, slams the bathroom door behind him. He doesn't seem so much to be mad at the others but rather at himself.

Sollux grimaces and leaves the couch, moves closer to the shower room, knocks gently:

" ... Karkat, open please."

Silence. Sollux insists:

" Can I come in? Only me? ... If there's a problem, I'd rather we talk about it."

A click. Sollux opens the door and rushes into the bathroom, taking care to close it behind him.

Eridan leaves the kitchen in turn to get a visual on Gamzee but is surprised not to see him. He walks around the couch, only to realize that he has curled up on it after pulling his hood down over his head. He looks so small and vulnerable in this position, Eridan feels his heart clench. He gets closer, sits down beside him, comes to rub his arm gently.

"...I'm such a fucking bad friend, aren't I...?" asks Gamzee piteously, hiding under his hood.

- ... No. You're just clumsy, like anyone else."

Gamzee shakes his head:

"... no... no, I'm such a jerk, I do nonsense... I do nonsense for my parents, nonsense for my buddies, nonsense for my boyfriends... I'm sorry, I'm sorry I'm like this..."

Eridan would have cried about it. But it's not his place to be comforted now. He resumes a hard air, grabs the hood of the other without warning to pull it abruptly, revealing the defeated face of Gamzee. This last is startled, looks at him, the wet eyes, before remaining bewildered when he sees Eridan approaching and taking him a kiss. A long, voracious kiss, an experimental kiss too. Eridan has never done this, but he doesn't fancy a simple brush. No, he tries to devour his mouth, and this while pushing him back against the pillows.

Soon, the host finds himself astride his guest, breaks the kiss, breathless. Gamzee remains mute, breathes as fast as he does, and the situation seems so incredible. The taller man doesn't believe he's ever experienced this, no one has ever managed to just...submit him?

"F-Fuck bro..."

Eridan glares at him, and his voice becomes implacable:

"Apologize again for being yourself, and I'll slap you, is that clear?

- ... but...

- You're not an idiot, or a freak, or whatever the hell you've been told! You screwed up, it happens, but don't feel sorry for yourself for hours either!"

Because Eridan knows all too well that feeling of being the most laughable being in the universe, that feeling of shame and loneliness that makes you want to hide in a corner and never come out again. And there's no way he's going to let his loved ones experience the same thing.

Gamzee's laughter returns, more tender, more cheerful:

"Ahah... you're really... really the best."

Eridan relaxes a bit, finally laughing back:

"Yeah... Yeah, I know."

They take some time to calm down, before Eridan stands up, letting Gamzee straighten up. He goes back for his hot drink and takes the opportunity to bring one back to his comrade. They then sit down, one beside the other, in the sofa, waiting patiently for the two others to come back.

After about twenty minutes, Sollux is the first one to show up, very quickly followed by a Karkat with an elusive and slightly red look. Eridan and Gamzee hold back any comment but understand that he has probably cried.

Yet the smaller one stands in front of them, although he doesn't look directly at them:

" ... I'm sorry. I..."

He hesitates again, but this time he takes a breath, and suddenly glares at Gamzee:

"I WANT YOU TO LET ME DOMINATE! IT BORES ME TO BE ALWAYS PASSIVE! "

His face took again a beautiful red tint, but Eridan holds him in respect to be so honest on a subject which he considers so embarrassing. Gamzee, for his part, blinks before tilting his head, confused:

" ... Okay, yes.

- ... Seriously? You accept so easily? Karkat is astonished.

- We never tried, so yeah I'll try. Sorry little bro, I didn't think you were serious about it. I thought this 'want to dominate' thing was some kind of role-play where I had to submit you.

- BUT ARE YOU SERIOUS? I ASK YOU A MILLION TIMES!

- Yeah, every time we were in bed, so I thought it was a game?

- FUCK IT, I JUST HAD TO ASK YOU IN THE MIDDLE OF A CONVERSATION LIKE THAT? BUT HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO FIND THE OPPORTUNITY! IT'S FUCKING EMBARRASSING!"

Karkat plunges his face in his hands while howling of rage. Eridan realizes that Sollux, remained in the background, stifles a laugh behind his hand. He keeps himself from laughing, sympathizing with the poor Karkat who is dying of shame.

Gamzee opens his arms:

"Do you want to try now little bro?

- Wh- BUT NOT!

- Just a kiss?"

Karkat cusses, grunts, looks everywhere but at the other three boys. He finally gets closer to Gamzee:

"...If you mess with me, I'll take you apart...” he threatens.

He climbs onto the sofa, settles between the legs of the taller boy, puts his hands on his cheeks and looks at him shyly, seeming to gauge the situation, thinking about how he's going to handle it. Gamzee keeps his smile, curious and patient, while Eridan observes them from the corner of his eye with the embarrassing feeling of being a stalker.

Karkat finally comes to put his lips, much more lightly than the previous time, letting their mouths move one against the other. Without moving away he moves his head a little, changes the angle, presses harder while pushing Gamzee against the back of the sofa, coming to stick his body all against his. He comes to nibble the lower lip, licks it with the end of his tongue, and the bigger one shudders while opening gently his mouth. Karkat embraces his shoulders, deepens the kiss, slides his tongue against his sister in a hot sigh.

Eridan tears himself from his contemplation, the burning face. He fixes an invisible point, trying to ignore the movements of the couple, the wet noises which invade the room. Shit... Shit, they really don't know the term "privacy", do they?

He is startled when Sollux enters his field of vision, and he guesses at once that he has an idea behind the head. Difficult to ignore the one with the two colors of eyes when this one approaches you and that, in spite of his glasses, you feel his glance piercing your being. Eridan swallows, moves back by reflex against the back of the sofa. Sollux approaches an amused smile, takes him quietly his cup of the hands to put it back on the table, before climbing on the sofa and stuck it there.

"Relax..." he whispers.

He brings his face closer to his, and Eridan almost perceives a laugh when he asks:

"Can I kiss you?"

Even when Sollux whispers, his voice remains mesmerizing. Eridan struggles not to look away, especially fearing that the other two will continue kissing. My god, what is this situation? That appears normal to them, to them three, to kiss each other like that, in the middle of the living room? He raises his glasses feverishly, bites his lip, finishes by nodding gently.

Sollux loses his smile, becomes more serious while he puts his hands against the file, on both sides of the head of Eridan. He mimics Karkat and begins with a tender, patient kiss, to begin the contact, to feel their lips brush against each other, to caress.

"...open your mouth..." he whispers, and Eridan shudders and complies.

When he feels Sollux's tongue between his lips, he closes his eyes tightly and holds his breath. He thinks he hears the other laughing again, but he is too embarrassed to get angry right away. He is nervous, too nervous. The tongue brushes against his, wringing out a squeak, and Eridan opens his eyes in surprise, in a flinch that causes Sollux to back away.

"... uh... are you okay? " questions the one with the vairons eyes, a little worried to be gone too far.

Eridan hides his red face behind his arm :

"No! No, you irritate me, moron!"

Sollux finds his smile, takes his hand, obliges him to show his ashamed and shy expression. He comes back to kiss him, without begging the authorization this time. A muffled moan is perceptible, difficult to say who pushed it. Eridan wriggles, closes his eyes, the heat rising to his head. The tongue of Sollux returns to titillate his, their burning breaths mingle, and in this flow of sensation, Ampora seeks to what to hold on. He claws the sofa, but startles when he feels a hand taking his, intertwining their fingers. He half-opens his eyes, only to glance at it, to realize that it is Gamzee's hand.

But Sollux prevents him from thinking about it and pushes him to close his eyes, intensifying the kiss, tearing him another unspeakable noise. Shit ... He feels the hands leaving the file to settle on his shoulders, come to untie his scarf, exposed his neck to the free air. A shiver seizes him, followed by a weak whimper when the fingers come to caress his nape.

Sollux moves aside, and Eridan takes advantage of it to catch his breath. At least he thought he had the time, but he reopens his eyes abruptly as a groan, very strong, very real, escapes him and resounds in the living room. Sollux, that bastard... ! At what moment did he slip his face in his neck, did he have the audacity to come to put his lips there, to suck his skin?

Humiliated, Eridan tries to push him away with his free hand, the other still imprisoned by Gamzee's.

"Wh- Sto-StopAH!"

He finds himself unable to articulate, his throat is devoured, snatched up by greedy lips, pressed. Nibbled by teasing teeth, he squeals, twists, arches. Each corner of his skin seems to burn him, as marked by the least contact.

"S-SOL-UGH!"

He hiccups, his vision blurred, taken by a fever that he does not explain. He looks for air painfully, his heart beats too much, he hears almost only that. That and his indecent moans, those obscene noises he tries to keep quiet, in vain.

Is it good? He doesn't know, he doesn't understand, it's close to the sensations that Gamzee made him feel, he feels himself going just as crazy, and yet his intimacy is not touched, there is only his neck that is taken by assault. Is this normal? Is it normal to be in such a state for this, to moan like he does, to have this feeling of losing your mind?

The pleasure is being choked by the panic that grips his throat, by the apprehension of what is happening and what is coming next, what attitude he should have... what attitude is he supposed to have?

"S-STOP!"

Beyond the scream, it's the sob that petrifies Sollux and causes him to sit up, to look at Eridan.

Eridan who can't take it anymore, who gasps for air as he can. His skin is hot, his neck marked by hickeys and bites - not very deep, but still. Eridan, who doesn't even stare at him, but on the contrary flees eye contact, pulls himself out of Gamzee's hand to wipe his face, to try to dry the tears that have escaped him. He sniffs, feels ashamed to almost cry for that, does everything to regain his calm.

The silence strikes him. He realizes that he had to interrupt the other two, and guilt tightens his stomach. He didn't want to spoil the moment, he only wanted to slow down Sollux, to calm down the game. He doesn't dare say anything, doesn't even manage to apologize as the "sorry" itches his lips. But the silence that lingers scares him, he still doesn't dare to look at the others. Did he piss them off? Are they mad at him?

" ... Sorry, I scared you..." Sollux whispers softly to him.

Feverishly, Eridan looks at him out of the corner of his eye, and a wave of relief washes over him when he doesn't blame him for stopping him. But pride obliges, the Ampora bites his lip and crosses his arms, haughty:

"No! But we had said 'kiss', just 'kiss'!" he scolds, and this in spite of his glance still shining of tears, in spite of the traces that it left on his cheeks.

Sollux grimaces by observing him, doesn't believe for a moment in this false anger. He dares to stretch out his hand towards him again, Eridan tenses up but lets him put his hand on his cheek and caresses him gently with his thumb.

" Yes, excuse me, I rushed. Is that okay?"

Eridan hesitates, looks away, passes a hand over his eyes to wipe away the last of his tears.

" ... Yes.

- And the truth?

- But it's okay I tell you!

- Tell me again, looking me in the eyes."

Eridan gets annoyed, looks at him again, but swallows when he sees Sollux taking off his glasses, plunging vairish pupils into his own. It's unfair...it's really unfair, how can he answer with that penetrating look on him?

" ... I..."

Eridan purses his lips, and no matter how hard he struggles, he finally lowers his gaze. He tries to hide his weakness by taking off his glasses in turn, only to pretend to clean them, as he searches for his words, searches for a way to not humiliate himself further:

"...I just didn't expect you to do that, that's all. It's just surprise.

- Did I hurt you?

- Wh- But no, but it's not that!

- Fear then?

- No, no I wasn't scared!"

Sollux grabs one of his wrists, Eridan is startled and raises his head, and this time yes, this time it is well of the anger which starts to seize him and which pushes him to throw a black glance to his interlocutor:

" Let me go!

- Eridan, it's okay to be afraid, especially about this kind of thing.

- I am NOT afraid!

- You're shaking.

- NO! I'M NOT SHAKING!

- You're screaming.

- BECAUSE YOU'RE PISSING ME OFF!"

Eridan doesn't know with what strength he manages to straighten up, to push Sollux and make him fall from the sofa. Sollux who doesn't hide his astonishment by ending up with his ass on the floor, while Eridan stands up mad with anger:

"I DON'T NEED YOU TO THROW OUT THE OBVIOUS, I DON'T NEED YOU TO PATRONIZE ME, I DON'T NEED YOU TO MAKE FUN OF ME!"

Sollux frowns:

"What?! But I'm not making fun of you!"

And as he straightens up, he spits with deep annoyance:

"Stop being paranoid, shit!

- Paranoid?! No, but it's getting better and better! You're the first one to say I need to find the right partner, then you jump down my throat and I'm not even allowed to take it wrong?

- I didn't jump down your throat! And you should have stopped me earlier if it bothered you so much!

- I tried to push you away, you didn't want to hear it!!!

- Because you were moaning! You liked it, didn't you?!

- BUT I DON'T KNOW! I NEVER FELT THAT WAY BEFORE!

- I THOUGHT GAMZEE HAD ALREADY TOUCHED YOU?!

- THAT'S NOT THE POINT!

- YES OF COURSE! WHEN IT'S GAMZEE IT'S OK, WHEN IT'S ME I CAN GO FUCK MYSELF!

- THAT'S NOT WHAT I SAID!"

They are silent, only to catch their breath, their voices hoarse from yelling, but they continue to stare at each other. It's up to the one who will start again first, the one who will dare to break this brief moment of calm, the one who will provoke new hostilities...

But they are preceded by Karkat who interposes himself between them:

"Guys, seriously, calm down!"

And for it to be him who orders this, it is that they have to go. They break the visual exchange to observe the smaller one, only a few seconds, before Eridan turns away with a pest, putting a hand on his neck, hiding the marks on his skin. He makes about face and gains the bathroom, his steps clattering dryly on the ground, sign that his anger isn't appeased.

Karkat blows a blow, reassured that that doesn't start a fight... but it is Gamzee who makes the blow of grace by observing Sollux:

"Damn, he's the only one to make you scream so much."

Sollux chokes, blushes - of anger or embarrassment? - and retorts a magnificent "SHUT UP!"

Karkat rolls his eyes and gives him a blow of elbow:

"He's not wrong. First time I see you lose patience so quickly.

- Tch, I didn't ask you anything.

- Don't pout, Captor, and go apologize instead. Problems are best solved by talking, as you so aptly put it."

Sollux doesn't miss the mockery in the smaller boy's voice, though the latter is serious. He grumbles, massages the nape of his neck, before blowing and going in the direction of the bathroom, not without forgetting to put back his glasses. To believe that he is going to spend his evening in this room...

He knocks, but contrary to previously he opens without waiting for an answer, to fall on Eridan who stands in front of the mirror and who seems to disinfect some bites. There is a blank, the Ampora observes it in the mirror before simply ignoring it, frowned. Sollux enters and closes the door behind him, but the uneasiness is present. If he knows how to calm the game with Karkat, it is more difficult in front of Eridan.

"... I really thought you liked it." ends up saying Sollux, hands in pockets, without letting him out of sight.

The host grunts, continues to pat the slight wounds of his cotton, before taking out some cream and spreading a dab of it on his neck :

"... fuck you.

- I'm trying to have a conversation here. Can you be more open?

- To say what? To yell at you again that I DON'T KNOW? I don't know if I liked it, if I hated it, if you fucking hurt me and I want to do it again! I don't know, Gamzee drove me as crazy as you did, and if you must know I ended up crying in his arms! There, happy?

- ... But... Fucking happy about what?! I don't understand you, what's the problem exactly ? Are you angry with us ? Because we forced you ?

- No way! You didn't.. RAH!"

Eridan turns to him, annoyed:

"Forget it, get out, go back with the others, I'll join you!

- NO! Are you mad because you don't know what you feel? You always have to try new things, it's like with the motorcycle, you have to...

- I'M TIRED OF EMBARRASSING MYSELF!"

Sollux opens his eyes wide:

"...huh?"

Eridan nervously runs a hand through his hair:

"I'm tired of humiliating myself with every single thing I do, every single thing that happens! I'm sick of crying in front of you, saying stupid shit in front of you, freaking out over nothing, ruining the moment, just... shit, just shit, that's it! When I tell you that 'it's ok' can't you just accept it without questioning, without insisting and trying to do a fucking psychoanalysis? No because I have a shrink for that! Or I'll ask Lalonde, trust me that girl doesn't need a certificate to give you a full analysis!"

Sollux stares at him without a word, then massages his temples as he takes it all in:

"...no but...Damn it, Eridan Ampora, what's keeping me from hitting you?

- Wha...

- How do you expect me not to ask questions when you pushed me back to the edge of the tears? I forced you to the point of crying, and you want me to turn a blind eye to that? But who do you think I am, how can you expect me not to care if you cry? There is no humiliation! If anyone is humiliated it's me, me and my fucking guilt!"

Eridan further:

"Ok, I pushed you away too hard, but you were going too fast! That doesn't mean you should blame yourself, damn it! I don't need to be mothered at the drop of a hat!

- How should I know?! We've only been together for a week, let me learn to find the fucking balance, a relationship doesn't just work like that, at the snap of a finger!"

The tube of cream falls on the ground, surprises Sollux who is astonished, throwing a glance on the ground before looking again at Eridan who has the bewildered face.

"What? What?" he panics, fearing to have said a new bullshit which will start again a violent argument.

- ... We' re a couple?"

Eridan's voice was stunned. Sollux remained blissful.

" ... Huh?

- ... What?"

They looked at each other for a long time, equally confused.

" ... Eridan... We're... Yeah, we're together... ? No ?

- B-but I don't know, You tell me!

- What do you mean I have to tell you?! You should know!

- But how?! Well, kissing and touching me all the time doesn't mean we're a couple!

- Are you kidding me?! Do you let anyone touch you like that?!

- Of course not !! Only you!!!"

Eridan becomes flushed, brings a hand to his mouth as he looks away, suddenly more shy:

"B-But, it's just that... that I don't know, there was no... I never imagined... me, with you? It's...It's unthinkable."

Sollux frowns, takes a step forward:

"And why?

- But... But because it's me? I know you said you liked me, okay, but... Shit, look at me! Can you see yourself having a relationship with ME? A REAL relationship?

- Of course!

- I'm not talking about friendship or sex friend or..."

Sollux grabs his face, forces him to look at him:

"Eridan! I'm talking about being in a romantic relationship! Not just fucking!

- B-But...

- You, with me, Karkat and Gamzee! We all three agree, so..."

Sollux hesitates, bites his tongue:

" ... would you agree? You've already experimented a little... We thought you were already... okay?

- ... Honestly? I haven't thought about it at all...

- I mean, really... ? You let yourself be kissed without thinking?"

Eridan pouts, giving him a light flick on the forehead:

"Fuck you, it's hard to resist you..."

This time it wrings a smile from Sollux:

"Really? Why?

- Fuck you!

- We are irresistible?

- Damn it, Sol!

- Oh yes, sorry, you don't like my 'psychoanalysis' sessions ~ "

Eridan disengages with embarrassment to give him a blow in the shoulder, whereas that with the eyes vairons sneers. Annoyed, the Ampora picked up the tube of cream which he hastens to arrange, before passing his comrade to leave the bathroom. Sollux follows him with a smile in the corners:

" Come on Eri, say it! Say that you love us too~

- Rah, shut up!

- I won't let you go!

- I'm going to kill you Captor!"

Karkat and Gamzee see them return and exchange a look, holding back their relieved laughter. It's good to see that they've calmed down and are going to have a quiet evening again.

=== ===

Chapter 6

=== ===

My other accounts:

Twitter

DeviantArt

Ko-fi Account

[spidersfanfics]

Let’s Make the Most of the Night

Eridan x Karkat | Valentine’s Day | Angst

Happy Valentine's Day! I'm a monster so I wrote some angst :D Eridan goes on a date with Karkat for their anniversary. That's all :)

"Happy anniversary, Kar." Eridan said softly, handing over a bouquet of red roses. "I got you some flowers. And before you ask, no it's not a jab at your blood color. They're red for flushed feelings," he chuckled.

The sun shined down brightly as birds overhead chirped cheerfully. Eridan's stomach growled and he laughed sheepishly, "Let's eat why don't we?" He reached over and grabbed the picnic basket that had been prepared for the occasion.

Eager to get started, Eridan dug into the basket, pulling out sandwiches, salad and a bottle of wine. "Yes, wine," Eridan said with a playful smile, "I know sandwiches aren't exactly gourmet but it's a special occasion. Alright? We go over this every year."

A pause.

"And every year I win, don't I Kar." Eridan laughed as he poured out the wine. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

As he dug into his food and sipped on his drink, he began to fall deep into thought. A look of reminiscing painted across his face as he relaxed.

"Do you remember our first date?" He asked, breaking the silence that had briefly fallen. He smirked and shook his head, "No come on, let me tell it. I know I do this every time but that's only because it's cute every time."

He set down his wine glass and leaned back. His eyes grew distant as he cast his mind back. "Alright, let's see."

~ ~ ~

It was nearing the end of winter. No, not quite spring yet. That first date didn't count for the anniversary day, they'd agreed on that ages ago.

Eridan was handling the cold just fine as a seadweller, but Karkat's mutant blooded self always found the season miserable.

"GOG IM FREEZING MY FUCKING GLOBES OFF OUT HERE", Karkat texted Eridan. He'd just gotten off of work that day and was waiting for the bus to take him home.

Eridan texted back a moment later, "Wwe could go get some coffee together if you'd like. Might help to wwarm you up."

Karkat hesitated only a second before agreeing, "FUCK IT, WHY NOT. YOU KNOW WHERE I AM."

"Great, I'll pick you up in a minute. Don't freeze to death wwaiting for me."

"HA HA VERY FUNNY. JUST HURRY UP."

True to his word, Eridan was there not long after and the two of them drove over to a nearby coffee shop. They ordered their drinks and were just about to pay when Eridan stopped Karkat.

"Wait, let me pay for the both of us."

Karkat raised an eyebrow at him but let it slide and the pair brought their drinks to an empty table, tucked away in a quiet corner. Karkat took a slow sip of the drink and winced at the sudden temperature change.

After a long moment, he spoke up. "So, tell me Ampora. Is this a date?"

Eridan nearly choked on his drink. His face flushed a violent violet and he spluttered, "I mean. I was kind of hoping, that is I was going to ask at the end if. Well, do you want it to be one?"

Karkat stared forward evenly for a long while before rolling his eyes, "Yeah whatever. Why ruin a good thing right? This is our first date."

"Ah," Eridan said weakly, still coughing slightly. "Lovely," He gave Karkat a wary smile. When Karkat returned it without a trace of mockery, his fins fluttered excitedly and he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

Soon, they had both finished their drinks, as well as the slices of cake Eridan had insisted on buying for the two of them. "Well, I'd better head home for real now." Karkat said, gathering up their trash and sweeping it into a nearby garbage can.

"Yeah, do you need me to drive you?"

He shook his head and glanced at his watch, "There's a bus coming soon. I'll be fine." He paused then pulled Eridan into a hug, "Thanks for the food and drinks, Ampora. This was fun. Maybe we should do this again sometime."

When he pulled away, Eridan was blushing once more. "Yeah, we should," he agreed with a chuckle. He pulled his car keys out of his pocket and twirled them around his finger, "I'll see you around. Text me when you get home?"

"Sure," Karkat laughed and the two parted ways.

~ ~ ~

Eridan finished his reminiscing and his sandwiches at around the same time and he smiled lovingly. "The first of many lovely dates to come," he said.

He reached back towards the picnic basket and opened it up again. After some quick rummaging, he pulled out a couple of cupcakes. "They didn't have cake slices when I went this time but these are from that same coffee shop." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "Is that too cheesy? I thought it would be a nice surprise."

He unwrapped one and took a bite before thinking once more of another story to tell. "Oh, well of course if we're going to talk about our past, we should talk about the day you asked me out." He laughed, "Still can't believe you beat me to it. That's why I insisted on being the one to propose you know. Oh but that's a whole other story."

As if fearing the silence, Eridan launched into yet another story.

~ ~ ~

"AMPORA, WE'RE STILL ON FOR OUR DATE TODAY RIGHT?"

Eridan smiled at yet another text from a familiar number.  "Of course wwe are," he texted back, "Same thing I told you the last thousand times you asked. In fact, I'm gettin' ready right noww. Evverythin alright?"

It didn't take long for the response, "YEAH YEAH EVERYTHINGS FINE. JUST MAKING SURE. ILL BE THERE SOON, DONT KEEP ME WAITING FISHDICK."

"As if I evver do," Eridan shot back with a laugh as he fixed his hair, "You wwound me." Despite his words, he still smiled warmly at his phone. They'd been going on regular dates for some time now and he'd already decided he'd ask Karkat to be his matesprite properly soon. He couldn't wait.

A few minutes later, the ringing of the doorbell alerted him to Karkat's arrival. He ran eagerly to the door and opened it with a wide smile. "How's that for quick, Kar," he teased.

Karkat scoffed but still handed Eridan white rose, "Here, gift for you."

"Charming," Eridan laughed as he slipped it into a vase he kept by the door for this very reason. "Now let's get going. We don't want to be late for our reservation."

The two drove over to a fancy restaurant where Eridan had booked a table for them to enjoy. And after a delicious dinner, they decided to go for a stroll through a nearby park.

As the night drew to a close, Karkat stopped Eridan before they could start heading back to his car. "Hey Ampora," he said, taking both of Eridan's hands.

"What's up Kar? You've gone all stiff."

Karkat cleared his throat awkwardly. "I've got something important to tell you," he said, "So shut the fuck up and don't ruin it."

Eridan raised an eyebrow but stayed silent as he was told and nodded at Karkat to continue.

"We've been going on these dates for some time now," Karkat said, speaking quickly as if to stop himself from chickening out. "And I was wondering if you'd want to be my matesprite. Properly and officially."

"You're kidding," Eridan said his jaw dropping. He scrambled to keep talking before Karkat could snap at him for the less than optimal answer. "No wait, yes, yes. I would love to be your matesprite," he laughed, "It's just that I was thinking of asking you out soon and here you are doing it first instead."

Karkat tried for an annoyed look but ended up laughing along anyway, "Yeah well, guess I'm just better than you like that."

~ ~ ~

Eridan sighed, leaning back on his hands. "You should have seen your face when you thought I was about to reject you," he laughed, wiping away a tear.  "As if I would ever be that stupid."

He shook his head, "No. Never. And so many good days came out of that one yes, didn't it? God remember moving in together? And our wedding?"

Taking just a second to catch his breath, Eridan started talking again. Telling story, after story, after story. Before long, evening had fallen. The food he'd brought was long gone and in fact it was nearly time for dinner.

"Well," Eridan said softly. He gathered up various wrappers and tupperware to throw back into the basket before standing up with a grunt. "Should probably head home now."

His voice wobbled as he lifted his hand to his mouth and blew a kiss at the grave before him. "I miss you," he said. Tears flowed freely now, trailing violet down his face. "I'm doing alright though," he managed. "Kanaya told me to say hi. Feferi too."

With a heavy sigh, Eridan picked up his things and turned to leave. "Until next year," he said, glancing back one last time.

A pity lowbloods always die so young.

[jinruihokankeikaku]

Whenever you have the time (so no rush on this at all!) do you think you could explain your takes on the triads? (Time-Hope-Doom, Heart-Breath-Void, Rage-Life-Space, and Blood-Light-Mind) I'm really interested to hear your thoughts and opinions! Especially because I'm super into the idea of the triads but they're confusing to me lol

OMG anon.....i know u said no rush 8ut!!!!!!1! the Triads are one of my favvorite things to talk about and 8asically form the groundwork for ALL of my Classpect theories so I had to answer this one basically as soon as I read it. Here we go - fair warnin, this may devvelop into a Longpost.

I’ll start with Fig. 1 - The Canonical Classpect Wheel from the Extended Zodiac website with (apologies for the messiness) lines drawn to indicate the Introspective Trine in green, the Incipient Trine in gold, the Communicative Trine in red, and the Climactic Trine in violet.

So what do those terms actually mean with regard to their constituent Aspects? Well, each describes a set of tr8s certain Aspects share despite their diff’rences, and the way all three Aspects within a Trine contribute to the form8ion of a narrative. I’ll descri8e each one in turn... 8eloww the cut.

Climactic or Conclusive refers to the fact that Time, Doom, and Hope are all associated with endings/conclusions. This is obvious when it comes to the associations between Time+Doom and death, but the connections go beyond that. These are all “staccato” Aspects - they don’t do their work, on a narrative or meta-narrative level, continuously, but rather in short and clearly demarcated bursts. Time and Doom, in addition to being associated with death, are perhaps paradoxically also associated with survival - despite the various deaths and half-deaths and potential future and past deaths they experience, Aradia, Sollux, Dave, and even Caliborn/Lord English are Alive at the end of the text of Homestuck, and even Mituna - though he’s dead before the narrative even begins - survives his sacrifice/martyrdom within the subnarrative of the Dancestors’ session (albeit at great personal cost). While the same cannot be said of Hope players (A/N: *cries in Eridan kinnie*), Eridan never truly realizes his potential as a Hope player, for as a Prince he continuously manifests Rage (Hope’s Opposite) during his brief tenure on-screen. Time has to do with actual/literal endings and patterns - ie, literal Timelines, the temporal dimension (which unlike the three spatial dimensions in unidirectional), and clocks/machinery, as its symbol, the gear, symbolically evokes. Doom has to do with inevitability and deduction/reduction/loss - death, (deductive) logic and reasoning, sacrifice/burnout (see our two tragic heroes and canonical Doom players, the Captors), and binaries/computation (which, in addition to connecting back to the aforementioned Logic, also involves the clear demarcation of categories/organization. Hope, while perhaps initially seeming like an outlier here, also ties into this pattern - Hope is associated with Climactic bursts of energy/activity (see Jake’s “Hope Field”, which manifests when he is at the height of his Hope-related power (courtesy of Aranea) and in the events directly leading up to the climax of Act 6 Act 6 Act 5, or Eridan’s quiet resentment building up to his climactic confrontation with Sollux. Hope predicts the ending - and faith, a domain of Hope, is about pure conviction, conviction beyond reason in the certainty of this prediction. Finally, Hope, Time, and Doom all share an orientation towards the Future and an affinity for prophecy and prediction - there is no true present Time, and one can neither be Doom’d in the present moment nor Hope for anything to occur in it. (For the present, we’ll have to turn to the opposite Trine.) Hope and Doom are opposed within this Trine, as Hope represents conviction, faith, and overwhelming flares of power, while Doom represents resignation, doubt/weariness, and fading or waning power. Doom and Time are opposed within this Trine, as Doom is associated with surrender, exhaustion/burnout, and acceptance of the inevitable, while Time is associated with struggle and effort and accomplishing the impossible. Time and Hope are opposed within this Trine, as Time is associated with death, destruction, struggle, and impermanence, while Hope is associated with resurrection, invincibility, and the permanent efficacy of grace.

Incipient or Immanent refers to the fact that Space, Life, and Rage are all associated with beginnings, expansion, multidirectionality, and the present moment. Space represents the three dimensions of physical space, as well as the “long-view” of the narrative as a whole - the overture as opposed to the individual motifs within it. Life represents evolution, social status, vitality, and youth, and is associated with momentary positive feelings of overwhelming Joy and Ecstasy. Rage represents devastation, social disruption, and violence, and is associated skepticism/metanarrative awareness. Space represents vastness and the Oceanic, concrete physical space and expansion/distance/isolation, and is associated with ontogeny, Creation myths, and the formation of the universe (through the Game). Together, they all comprise Aspects of continuity, fluidity, and vast, ongoing currents of power and change, power which may ebb or flow but which never truly halts in its course. Life and Space share ties to biological life and (ecto)-biology, including literal ties to reproduction and birth - this may be link’d to the association of Space with frogs/tadpoles and the ultimate goal of the Game, as well as with Life’s ties to animals, plants, and food/consumption, all of which are symbolic of and intrinsically linked to the sustenance of literal life. Space and Rage are united in the breadth of their scope - Space often being linked to themes of an entire narrative, or the existence of an entire universe or species (see Kanaya and Jade’s central roles in the literal salvation of existence and their respective species), and Rage being linked to metanarrative awareness, and knowledge, and the fostering of disbelief/skepticism in grand narratives and established ways of understanding (see the knack Gamzee and Kurloz have for showing up in places and parts of the text of Homestuck that they really ought not to). Finally, Life and Rage, whilst seemingly in opposition to one another, are both heavily linked to themes of re8ellion, rejection of established systems, and contrarian ideas - Feferi and Jane are both born to positions of privilege that they end up rejecting, and Gamzee is a member of a religious movement that he later lashes out against during a crisis of faith. One’s own Life, the Space one occupies, and the feeling of Rage experienced in moments of crisis and indignation are all phenomena of the present moment, discrete altogether from the irreversible march of time and the drive to contemplate the past and future. However, as with the Climactic trine, there are oppositions present here. For example, Life and Rage are opposed in that Life is associated with surges of positive affect - ecstasy, joy, comfort, and sustenance - whilst Rage is associated with surges of negative affect - apoplexy, resentment, anguish, and dissatisfaction. Space and Rage are opposed in that Rage often leads to violence and devastation, and is tied to images evocative of burning, breaking, or killing, whilst Space is the Aspect of creation, new birth, and the value of all parts of a whole. Finally, in perhaps the least obvious intra-trine opposition, Space and Life are opposed in that Life has to do with individuality/diversity, connection to one another and to other discrete parts of the biosphere through mutual support and sustenance, and is strongly associated with society, while Space has to do with the Unity of all things, the establishment of a cohesive whole, and isolation from one’s fellows, usually due to vast physical distance.

Now that I’vve outlined the Climactic-Conclusivve and Incipient-Immanent Aspect Trines, those that I wwould consider Impersonal, I’ll movve on to those I havve term’d the Personal Aspect trines - the other half of the wheel, so to speak. 

Introspective or Internalizing refers to the way in which Breath, Heart, and Void all guide thought, attention, and action inward, toward the soul or essence of a person or an idea or a place or an object. Breath represents fluidity, motion, change, and individuality, journeys to the edges of the universe and journeys home - J. Egbert, our young person who took a seven-year odyssey from his bedroom to... their bedroom, Tavros Nitram, who went from a young idealist to a hero capable of rallying armies - these characters walked their own path, and they walked at at first clueless and vulnerable but ultimately on their own terms, liberated from social expectation and from all that had hitherto held them back. Heart represents the soul, the core or summation of one’s identity, the depth of romantic love and the love between the closest friends - Heart players and having or longing for relationships that transcend the Quadrants, and then our Prince struggling to unite the splinters of his soul and confront the prospect of touching a soul not his own - both come to mind. Void players know nothing, and are often avoidant of forming a coherent notion of self, but in this void of identity, the process of true self-discovery occurs - eventually; Equius sacrifices himself for a lowblood in (an attempt at) defiance of a highblood, and his (unwitting) martyrdom saves the Alpha Timeline; Roxy’s powers keep her session safely enshrouded in Void despite her own alcohol-enabled avoidance of addressing her identity, role, and fate. Heart and Breath share a focus on the individuals journey - first outward, and then returning to a home that they must make whole - Heart and Breath, in a sense, together comprise the soul or the spirit. Void and Breath represent the unknown, the sense of wandering or being adrift on forces beyond one’s control - surrendering to the journey as opposed to seizing control of the narrative. Heart and Void share what might be the strongest bond due to their deep connection with Feeling over Knowing, tapping into the actual essence of one’s identity and perhaps even reaching out to share that with another; Heart and Void bond over a shared sense of emptiness and a longing for fulfillment to match. Despite these bonds, however, conflicts also exist - between Heart and Void, there’s the contrast between Heart’s overflowing soulfulness belying a deep longing or feeling of emptiness, uniqueness, ability to stand out in a crowd, which stands opposed to Void’s knack for blending in, its players’ contentment with a blurred or faded identity, and their seeming shallowness or lack of distinguishing qualities which masks a hidden, but incredibly powerful inner core of identity. Void and Breath are opposed in that Breath’s prevailing sense of individualism clashes with Void’s tendency to blend in and conform to existing structures, and while Breath is constantly, almost involuntarily, self-aware and introspective, Void struggles to understand or think about their identity at all, and often, at least at first, tends to tie their identity to people, objects, or systems rather than having a strong inner sense of self. Finally, Heart and Breath clash due to Heart’s ties to romantic love, platonic love (and Platonic ideals), and the notion fixed or unchanging essence or Soul, while Breath tends to fluctuate, mutate, and transform when it needs to instead of tethering itself closely to any one concept, person, or thing - Breath is, in a sense, about the freedom that individual identity provides, whereas Heart is about the ways in which identity tethers us to the Universe and to one another.

Communicative or Connective refers to the shared association with society, dialogue, and community or connection that Blood, Mind, and Light share. Blood represents both literal physical bonds as well as the conceptual/metaphorical bonds formed by promises, relationships, and social obligations - it could be tied to the notion of “blood brothers”, or “the blood of the covenant”, as well as bloodlines or familial/genetic chains - consider Karkat and Kankri’s shared mutant identity, Karkat’s blood pact with his Universe’s iteration of Jack Noir, and the sacrifices Kankri makes (as the Signless/the Sufferer) to unite or bind together his species. Mind is connected to society in that it’s connected to ethics, conversation, and decision-making - Terezi, our Seer of Mind, is an aspiring lawyer/legislacerator, and her connections to Karkat and Vriska - both of whom share Trine Aspects with her, incidentally - are forged through the similarities and differences between their approaches to ethical leadership. While Terezi is never a Leader in the same way as Karkat and Vriska, she does, in her behind-the-scenes, Passive-Class way, lead the story forward from behind the scenes, and things would, needless to say, have gone very differently in the absence of her Mind-ful approach to team collaboration and, of course, her role in setting up the retcon through her agent, Egbert. Light, seemingly an outlier here due to its undeniable ties to individual ego and pathos, shares the same ties that Mind and Blood have to social relationship - Light’s domain of attention or focus, after all, cannot exist merely internally, as an observation (objective or subjective) requires both an observer and a person, thing, or notion to be observed. Light also, as mentioned above, is linked to leadership and the assumption of control, exemplified by Vriska’s becoming the team leader despite her loner status early on, and also by her and Aranea’s parallel plot-domineering arcs. Conflicts are here apparent as well - Mind and Light exemplify the contrast between objectivity, ethics, and analysis/indecision preceding decision-making, all of which are of course Mind-linked concepts, and Light’s connection to subjectivity, swift and decisive action, and softer ethical lines (Vriska’s exemplifying these traits is obvious, but consider also the way Rose Lalonde blurs the lines between her Aspect and its opposite through her association with Derse and the Horrorterrors, and their shared fascination with the largely subjective and only softly scientific (at best) fields of psychoanalysis and luck/fortune). Light and Blood contrast through Light’s connection to fixation, and to future possibility, which stands opposed to Blood’s being tethered to actuality, the present moment, and shared agreement/conspiracy rather than individual scheming and planning (essentially, the difference between leading through one’s bond to one’s followers and leading through the schemes or plans one has personally lain out). Finally, there’s the contrast between Blood and Mind, two Aspects both associated with plotting (both in-narrative and in reference to the meta-narrative plot) that conflict due to Blood’s association with subjective ethics, decisions made based on relationships and obligations to actual, concrete individuals as opposed to Mind’s association with objective ethics (i.e., legal ethics) and decision-making based on in-depth, abstract thought, and ideals that exist beyond concrete and individual bonds in the present moment.

~~~

....and that’s wwhat I’ve got, for noww!! Sorry for the delay, and for the ludicrous wwall a text - I hope it answwers yr questions, at any r8!! ^^^^v^^^^ do let me knoww, of course, if you’vve got anythin else a8out wwhich you’re wonderin!!

[lettersofsky]

Untilted AU Pre-Erigam Thing

Plot is a lie and I refuse to do anything like expand on any of my aus in anything but small ficlets and drabbles

~

It wasn’t often that Gamzee worked with other trolls, especially not for things Feferi or Karkat tried to get him to agree to for the young, new Empress. He just didn’t do it, didn’t trust anyone to watch his back and look out for him when he needed it.

They’d never given him a reason to before, he didn’t want to chance his life and safety on trolls he didn’t trust.

But this time, just this once, he was fine with setting out on the task that’d been offered to him. Fine with setting out with the troll they’d been asking to complete the task with.

Eridan Ampora was a troll Gamzee was more than fine with putting his trust into, always had been and he hadn’t been given any reason to chance that since their younger sweeps.

Gamzee was more then fine with this arrangement. To the surprise of a number of trolls, Eridan included.

“I hope you knoww that I’m more than awware of your reputation about matters like this,” Eridan was standing in front of him, grown some since their young sweeps but still much shorter than Gamzee was, broader though, no doubt of that. The seadweller’s eyes narrowed at him, fins flaring out in an impressive display. “Wwhat are you up to exactly?”

“Not up ta much of anything,” Gamzee shrugged, slow, lazy smile on his mouth as he watched Eridan in return. “Just here ta get some motherfuckin work done, just like you Eribro.”

“I knoww better than that,” Eridan growled, a low, thrumming sound that had a few of the lowbloods around them skittering off away from the two highbloods. “You nevver wwork wwith anyone. You expect me to believe that’s changed noww?”

“Course it motherfuckin ain’t,” Gamzee hummed, an answer that seemed to surprise Eridan for all of a second. “A motherfucker ain’t trustin other motherfuckers with my motherfuckin self, ya think I’m straight up stupid, yeah?”

There’s a moment of quiet between the two of them where Eridan just stares at Gamzee as he works through the clown’s round-about way of talking.

Then the seadweller relaxed completely in front of him, an easy confidence replacing the tenseness of his shoulders, his chin lifting in a jut that showed off the line of his throat and the curve of his horns.

“Good,” Eridan purred, remaining within Gamzee’s space but much more at ease about it, like he thought and believed that he deserved to be there. Gamzee grinned back at the seadweller, all of his teeth bared at once in a pleased grin as the other troll figured out exactly what Gamzee had known he would. “I wwill see you here before sundowwn, don’t evven dare to think about keepin me wwaitin Gamz, understand?”

“Clear as motherfuckin crystal,” Gamzee hummed, eyes half-lidded as Eridan nodded and finally took a step away from Gamzee, straightening out his cape and uniform before he turned in a dramatic sweep and strode away.

Gamzee rolled his head on his shoulders before pushing himself away from the wall he’d let himself be pushed into, turning towards his own hiveblock of the night with the confirmation that he and Eridan were on the same page where it counted.

[interrogatormentors]

Event Ten: Ghosts

Despite all of Eridan’s hopes to the contrary, life did not return to normalcy after the events aboard the HBC Condescension. The Reichenbach found its flight path altered a perigee later, rescheduled from routine patrols near the Syphoran border to instead orbit around the Empress’ ship in a listless rotation. Tensions rose within the ship as the crew grew restless with inactivity, with no answers from the higher-ups as to why their schedules had changed so drastically without warning.While hiring hadn’t been in his repertoire when he gained the position, Eridan had grown to take pride in his success in finding dedicated crew members as Head Admin. None of the people he hired had come to the Reichenbach seeking a cushy escort ship position. But how could Eridan even begin to explain the Empress’ sudden obsession with him when he barely understood it himself?

Another night saw another orbit around the HBC Condescension, and Eridan’s finger tapped an unsteady beat on his own arm held behind his back as he watched the ship pass underneath them from a viewport. Sometimes coming this close meant nothing, just that their hulls almost kissed with the two helmsmen aboard each ship playing a careful dance around each other. Most of the time, however, it meant an interruption to Eridan’s routine. If he waited by the airlock for a summons, odds were half the time that the Empress would keep him waiting for hours before sending him a flippant message that she had no need of him that day. If he tried to get any work done with the schedules or order forms, that was always when she needed him most.

Eridan reached into the breast pocket of his uniform as he watched the other ship, fumbling out a small flask he’d taken to carrying with him.  God, he hated this backup uniform. The pockets were so tight he had to shimmy out his flask with more than a little difficulty, garnering odd looks whenever he did so. He didn’t have a dependency or anything, despite the concerned glances the crew cast towards him. There was no shame in steadying his nerves. What did anyone expect? The Empress had an intimidating aura by virtue of position and maybe some pheromones; anyone would need a little help to withstand her presence. Besides, she seemed to like him better a little tipsy anyway. His jokes seemed to land more, eliciting tinkling laughs that echoed Feferi in the most pusher-pulling way. And when the Empress had trimmed and pierced his bitten fin with her own nails, setting golden rings and fuschia stones in the membrane, he had soldiered through the pain without so much as a whimper.

Bricks’ voice pierced through his musings, and Eridan hastened to stow away the flask before turning around. “Were you listening to me, Ampora?”

“What?” Eridan ran his fingers through his hair, mind struggling to catch up to the conversation. “Yeah, yeah, ‘course.”

“So you’ll be there in an hour?”

“Yeah.” Eridan glanced to the side, back to the other ship out the viewport. “I’ll be at…?”

“Shakes’ DnD session? You missed the last three,” Bricks said. “You doing okay?”

Eridan nodded, opening his mouth, but squeaked and jumped instead as his palmhusk buzzed. He fished it out, waving off Bricks’ questions as he opened Trollian.

[textileAperture [TA] has begun trolling caligulasAquarium[CA]!]

TA: 8< is this Head Admin Eridan Ampora?

CA: wwhat howw did you get this handle wwhore you

TA: 8< um

TA: 8< the Empress’ seamstress.

TA: 8< she said you’d be here at four for a new uniform fitting?

Eridan wracked his pan for any mention of a fitting, checking the time. Five. Upon drawing a blank he stuffed his palmhusk back in his pocket. “Sorry, gotta go,” he said, making for the airlock without hesitation and brushing past  Bricks. “Tell the others I can’t make it.”

“What?” The odd tone of Bricks’ voice rankled Eridan in a way that had him hunching his shoulders. “Hey Ampora, if you need to talk--”

“Get back to work, Bricks,” Eridan called back down the hall. If he sounded a little too quick, too agitated, that wasn’t anyone’s business but his own. He had his priorities in order. The Empress came first. Any thoughts to the contrary were tantamount to treason.

He broke into a run once Bricks was out of sight, speeding across the length of the ship until he came to a halt in front of the airlock doors. Eridan inhaled sharply to catch his breath before hammering on the intercom button.

“Oh my god, stop!” Shakes’ voice said from the intercom. “You wanna dock?”

“Yes! Of course! Hurry it up!”

“Do I have to? The Helmsman gives me the fucking willies every time I have to interface. He didn’t think entering the docking code in Wingdings was funny last time either. Everybody fucking looooves the Wingdings.”

“Fuckin’ dock now, Riesse!” Eridan pressed his face an inch away from the intercom, not bothering to swipe away the sweaty hair that fell into his eyes. How could he have forgotten? He was late, so fucking late, and the Empress would have his head if she found out.

Shakes swore under his breath, and the ship changed directions to align its docking bay with the HBC Condescension. Eridan bounced on the balls of his feet, every muscle tensed as he watched the other ship extend the docking corridor. “Come on, come on, come on,” he said, chewing his lips like a woofbeast worrying a bone. 

The moment the airlock opened Eridan sprinted off, footsteps clanging on the metal. The Helmsman’s voice crackled over the intercom as he ran. “Welcome back, Eridan. Do you know where you are going?”

“Not now, Helmsman. I’m late!” Eridan grabbed onto the corner of a wall as he slid past, swinging himself in a wide circle into the intersecting hallway without slowing his momentum.

“Late for…?”

“The fuckin’-- the uniform fittin’! Shit-- Okay, where’s the fuckin’ seamstress at?”

“Which one?”

Eridan stopped, boots squeaking once on the floor as he came to a standstill. “Uh. Fuck.” Had he forgotten another detail? What was happening to him? “I dunno. A jade- She had a scissor quirk or somethin’.”

“Ah, you want Marlen. Uploading floorplan to your palmhusk now.”

Eridan flinched as his palmhusk buzzed, but pulling it out showed only a message from torpidAnnihilator, with the map of the ship as promised. Part of Eridan wondered if anyone else was privy to such information. He could see every pathway, every escape pod, every crew member flitting about with their attached hex code. Eridan pulled his eyes away from the #77003C currently stationed somewhere in the upper decks, following the plan as it zoomed in without any input on a hexcode in the X74 zone of the ship. 

Eridan started running again, glancing down every time he rushed into a new corridor to assess his progress. He ignored HBC Condescension crewmembers he passed in their gilded uniforms, having no time to waste on the way they tittered as he passed. By the time he made it to the X zone of the ship from B, his lungs burned with a fire like switching from salt to freshwater without time to adjust.

Eridan slammed his hand on the pad outside the door, swearing when the pad flashed red. “No, fuck, this has to be the right block!” He slapped the pad a few times, breathing starting to catch in his throat before the door slid open to reveal a tall jade holding a bag.

“Oh, sorry,” she said, setting the bag down. “I didn’t get a response, so I was just packing up to go.”

“No, well, I’m here now,” Eridan said, pushing past her into the block. He turned his head, coughing into his elbow as his chest continued to ache. “You’re Marlen, right? Look, if you’re busy, you really shoulda told me so I could reschedule instead of bookin’ my ass all the way here for you.” He pulled his flask out again, draining the rest and stifling another cough around the burning soporific.

“Sir, you never--” Marlen stopped herself after catching the look Eridan shot at her, closing her eyes and taking a breath before starting again. “Of course, Admin Ampora. Just let me get set up again. Go ahead and get undressed behind that screen there.”

Eridan went behind the folding screen the jade indicated, starting to relax once he was both out of immediate sight and starting to feel the warming effects of the soporific he’d just imbibed back around Bricks. He smoothed his hair down, letting his fins wave freely to cool himself off before stripping. He donned the overlarge uniform that the seamstress draped atop the screen’s edge, eyes lingering for a moment on the fuschia strip running the length of his sleeve.

Eridan slid the folding screen back, stepping out into the room again once he stopped hearing his pusher beating in his eardrums. Kanaya was waiting for him, comparing two seemingly identical spools of black thread with a pin already pursed between her lips.

Kanaya?

Before Eridan could open his mouth to ask where Marlen had gone, Kanaya had vanished and Marlen was back. Her gaze lingered on him for a moment. “... Is everything alright, Admin Ampora?” 

Eridan cleared his throat and shook his head, closing his eyes. “Yeah, uh. Sorry. Shit. Where do you want me?”

And there she was again when he opened his eyes. Kanaya waved her hand in front of her and he obeyed, in a daze as he tried to figure out what was going on as he stood before the mirror she indicated. This wasn’t right.

But as Eridan closed his eyes and opened them again, Kanaya remained. She extended an expectant hand, and without thinking he stuck out his own arm. Kanaya plucked the pin from her lips, pinching his sleeve to judge the give before using the pin to close up the excess fabric. “I must say, Eridan, I was not expecting much upon meeting again and yet somehow, I am still disappointed in you. Is this really how you are spending your time now?”

Eridan swallowed, managing a strangled “Nnng,” that Kanaya quickly dismissed with an imperious upward quirk of her eyebrow. Eridan cleared his throat before trying again. “Nice to… To see you, Kan?” His voice was a trembling murmur, almost unintelligible. 

Kanaya let out a soft tsk, the click of her tongue echoing in the entire block. “Oh, do speak up if you have anything to say... though, I cannot say I can return the sentiment.” She held up a finger, looking down her nose at Eridan until his words shriveled like so much ash on his tongue. “You are well aware of what you did, and what you are doing now.”

“Do I?” Eridan flinched when Kanaya cast him a disdainful look, another pin coming dangerously close to piercing one of his torso gills. “Er, I mean, sure. I guess? I ain’t doin’ anythin’ wrong anymore, though.” His throat felt dry, a tickle itching at it and an increasing need for the bottles of soporifics starting to pile up in his block.

“Nothing legally wrong, perhaps.” Kanaya picked up her thread again, thumb running over the individual spools before selecting the thread on the right. She touched the end of the thread to her tongue, wetting the end. Her sharp fangs caught in the light, somehow so much sharper than Eridan remembered. She threaded the needle, getting to work tightening his sleeves. “But tell me, Eridan dear. How much dignity do you have left to you at the moment? I cannot imagine much, considering you are going belly-up faster than an inadequately fed pet fish.”

Eridan kept himself staring forward, focusing on the wall ahead despite the echoes of highblood rage gathering in his acidic digestive pouch. He tried exercising the control the Condesce had been doing her best to drill into him. You have to learn to control those feelin’s, guppy. Just turn them off, like a husktop. “You’re wrong.” Despite himself, his wigglerhood stutter almost lead him to stumble over his w’s, and he clenched a fist so tight his nails dug into his palm as he refocused his control.

“Oh, damn, I find myself helpless before the verbose defense you have placed before me,” Kanaya deadpanned, tutting again as she pulled out a pair of shears from her belt. The blades barely whispered as they cut through the excess fabric. “Why do you even bother denying this? You are only lying to yourself at this point.”

“I--”

Kanaya pointed her shears directly at him, and Eridan shut his mouth with an audible snap. “You know it. Your crew knows it. They whisper behind your back and it is only a matter of time before there is a mutiny against your authority that not even your captain will have the capability to suppress. The Empress will tire of you eventually, and you will be left to pick up the pieces should she deign to leave you anything.”

Eridan looked down at the ground, sweat dripping down the length of his nose again as Kanaya went back to hemming his uniform jacket. “No,” he said. “She’s thinkin’ of namin’ me a’ official consort, so I don’ know where you’re gettin’ all this talk of me bein’ some kind of throwaway lapwarmer.” He gritted his teeth, flinching to look away as Kanaya scoffed. “Really. I wanted this. I’m finally gettin’ the respect I deserve.” His nails dug even tighter into his palm, voice beginning to shake as violet blood started dripping down his knuckles to the floor. “I dunno where you’ve fuckin been, Maryam, but I’m makin’ strokes in the fuckin’ world all of you rebel fuckheads couldn’t imagine in your wildest dreams.”

“A gilded cage is still a cage,” Kanaya said. She almost sounded sad, then, but her tone quickly adjusted to reflect her earlier distaste. “Colors aside,” she paused, tapping the stripe of tyrian running along his sleeve before picking up her needle once again, “she marks you so shamelessly she may as well have you branded to finish the job.”

Eridan stiffened, suppressing a growl. “You don’ know anythin’.”

Kanaya sighed, setting down her needle and putting a hand on her hip as she gestured with the other towards his cut ear. “You know your history, Eridan, and you spend quite a bit of time with the last remnant of Ancient Alternian slavery practices.” She began to circle around him, leaning her cheek into her hand in exasperation. “You know why the Helmsman’s ear was cut, to identify him in the slaving markets. You know why the Condesce bit your ear, and why she failed to heal it back to functional status it despite her more than capable regenerative abilities.” Kanaya advanced on him, eyes narrowed to predatory slits as she reached out. “You’re nothing more than a lowblood slave playing at royalty.”

“Stop it! Stop it! Shut up!” Eridan lashed out before Kanaya’s fingers could touch his torn fin, digging his claws into the flesh of her cheek and flinging her away. 

Marlen slammed into the mirror behind her with a crack with the force of Eridan’s strike, falling to her knees as she raised a shaking hand to the fresh wound on her face. Eridan’s chest heaved, mind reeling as he attempted to reconcile what he had just experienced to the terrified troll in front of him. He shook his head so hard his glasses flew off his face, jade and violet speckles of blood spattering to the floor from his now quite injured hand. “Go.” When Marlen hesitated Eridan bared his teeth, screaming as he threw out an arm. “Go!”

Marlen scooted backwards before she found her footing, scrambling up and bolting for the door. She bobbed an awkward curtsy as she left, which Eridan for the most hopeful moment thought intended for him until he caught the scent of the sea. He sank to his knees, defeated and staring down at the floor as he caught the sound of heels against tile.

“Oh, guppy, what have you done to dearest little Marlen?” The Condesce extended her trident, tipping up Eridan’s chin with a prong to enforce eye contact. “She looks a right wreck of a wiggler.”

“I… I’m sorry,” Eridan said. His throat felt dry, so dry, but he knew all too well that he’d drunk his entire flask only a few minutes before. He wanted to disappear. “I didn’ mean it.”

The Empress reached down, hauling him up to his feet as if he weighed no more than a couple of grapes, grabbing his glasses almost as an afterthought. She took his injured hand in hers, swiping away a streak of jade from the puncture wounds in his palm. The skin glowed pink before healing over, pain fading to a memory. She pushed his glasses up his nose, tutting at him. “But I so hoped you’d appreciate my little surprise. Don’t you like your new uniform, little clam?”

“Surprise?” Eridan struggled through his panic, trying to fight through his sopored up fog. “But… But she said you scheduled me for four? I was late. I didn’ mean to disappoint you, I’ll make it up to you, really.”

The Empress tittered as she circled Eridan, smile widening into a wicked grin. “Oh, did she? I must have forgotten to let you know. How shelly of me!” She slid across his shoulders, giving them a soft squeeze.

Eridan choked back a whimper, but the Empress’ amusement immediately snapped into cold indifference at the sound. “What was that?” Her claws bunched in the loose fabric on his shoulders.

Panic ran through him but he couldn’t afford to show it. He couldn’t give her a reason to be upset, he had to be good. “Nothin’.” There was only a fleeting sense of relief that graced him for the fact that those words didn’t shake.

“Eridan, Eridan, you shelly, foolish buoy.” The Empress stroked his cheek before sliding a hand down his forearm, moving back around to hold both of his arms at the wrists. “What did I say about your feelin’s?”

“They don’t matter,” Eridan said. He swallowed. “I gotta… gotta control myself.”

“That’s right,” the Empress cooed. She squeezed his wrists once before releasing him, setting her trident upon the floor. She held a hand out, eyes flicking once to the shears. Eridan obeyed the implicit order, fumbling the shears once before managing to hand them over to her. “Good buoy.” The Empress stroked his hair, rubbing a hornbed until Eridan sagged and closed his eyes. “And what happens when you lose control of yourself?”

“I get… I get punished.” Eridan could hardly more than a whisper, his adrenaline from his earlier experience fading into dull resignation. “It’s what I deserve,” he continued when the Empress paused in her ministrations.

“You’re learnin’, good.” The Empress pulled her hand from his horn, lifting his hand. Eridan opened an eye a crack, muscles tensing as she raised the shears to his finger tips. The Empress began to cut his nails with the shears, agonizingly slow so the nails fell to the floor in perfect crescents. “You know I take no joy in this, guppy. I want you to succeed, I want you to rise above your baser instincts.” The shear’s blades cut into the quick of Eridan’s pinky, but he schooled back his expression into a blank mask. He was lucky he wasn’t losing a finger at the moment. “Until then, we gotta take these preconchions. I don’ like treain’ you like a pitiful little meowbeast, but I can’t have you savagin’ any more of my trusted workstaff. Do you know how much I must invest into a reliable member of my staff? Do you know how easily ranks can be infiltrated by traitors?”

“Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Yes, Mistress.” Eridan flinched as a cool hand touched his cheek, but relaxed when the Condesce only wiped away an errant tear that he hadn’t even been aware of. “I won’t do it again. I promise.”

He yelped as the Empress smacked at his face with the flat of the shears’ blades, his eyes shooting wide open. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, guppy,” she said, no sickly pretense of tenderness left in her voice. “We both know what you’re like. What are you?”

“A… A failure.” Eridan knew the answer she wanted by this point. There was no point fighting it, at this point. He’d learned.

The Empress lowered the shears, rage immediately dissipating. “That’s right.” She set the shears down, considering she’d clipped all his nails anyway, holding out her arms out. Eridan’s feet moved of their own accord, shuffling him forward into her embrace. She tucked his head into his chest, rocking him slowly in a rolling motion like the waves. “There we go. Should we retire to my blocks? We can get you a nice pick me up before you work to make up for what you’ve done. Do you like the sound of that, little one?”

“Yeah, yeah. I want to.” Eridan hung his head as the Empress pulled away, staring at the floor all the way back to the Empress’ bedchambers. After a few drinks, the panic his own mind had conjured faded into the background. His view shifted from floor to ceiling, the intricately gilded designs of the Empress’ ceiling tiles branding themselves into his eyelids. He saw nothing more.

[cravvdad]

>

You pull out a music player as you near the gate to your Time player’s land. Once you leave the Land of Angels and Grottoes, you won’t be able to hear your spirits anymore. And how could you keep going without them? You hesitate at the gateway, listening.

We’re with you now. Even when you leave, we will continue to sing through you. Salvation will come, and you will sing it into existence...

They say this and a million other things, sing-song and heralded by bells and trumpets. You still feel like you need them with you. You aren’t anything without these instructions explaining how to make things clear, what you have to do. You’re a tool of light in someone else’s hand, in a million other hands with the same holy purpose.

You turn on one of the tapes you made, a recording of the angels’ idle song. You don’t remember making these recordings, but every time you check your Sylladex it seems to contain a new one.

You step through the gate, to Sollux’s clockwork land.

Sollux had been MIA for ages, it seemed, along with his moirail Feferi. You had been hoping you would hear from him when you rejoined the group chat and started talking to your fellow players again. But he hadn’t reappeared.

You’d worried about him before, but now all you’re thinking of is how he could be jeopardizing the greater plan.

SGRUB planets are big, and Sollux could be anywhere. It could take you a long time to track him down. But you’re determined. You’re rejecting any thought that he won’t fall into the path of your benediction. If you will the impossible into happening strongly enough, it might just come true.

Especially now that your spirits are boosting your abilities, raising you to new heights. You find Sollux casually picking apart a puzzle temple. He doesn’t look much different from how he did sweeps ago, and with a twinge in your pusher you remember your days on Alternia. His musical inclinations meant that he was actually willing to put up with your passion for sea shanties, and the two of you would traipse around exploring ruins and then unwind while coming up with new lyrics. Sure, he would roll his eyes and tell you you had the worst taste in genres, but he still put up with it.

He doesn’t look interested in putting up with you now, as he turns around to face you. He looks shocked and confused, before recognition flashes across his features.

“KK? What are you doing here, and what’s the fucking noise?”

You can hear it, too. You turn the angel recording off and it’s still there, a music surrounding you. Fanfare. Bells and trumpets.

You know you’re here to fight, to kill him, you’re a combatant. But you aren’t sure how to answer his question.��“You like jazz?” you say, finally.

“Bitch, of course not,” he answers. You knew that, you realize. He was always more of a rock and roll troll. You’ll have to make him like the angels’ music. “The fuck is going on... is that blood?”

You smile, sheepishly, as if you’re admitting to stealing a cookie from the cookie canister. Your clothes are stained a deep, bluish-black from Kanaya’s dried blood. You don’t actually remember how it got there, and you can feel your pusher do jumping jacks in your chest every time you try to think about it. Kanaya... she was a friend, too.

But if you’re already a killer in everyone’s eyes, that only cements your place in the spirits’ plan.

“Why are you covered in blood.” Sollux is starting to sound less annoyed, more scared.

“It’s victory wine,” you say. You've been descending from your place in flight to join him on the ground, and finally your feet touch down. You take a step closer to him, noticing him squint in the light that pours off you.

“Okay, crazy, this is--” he sounds like he’s going to start hyperventilating. You feel the urge to shoosh-pap him. Shoosh-pap him with the holy fire, your head corrects for you. He’s still talking. “Doomed timeline, whatever, I’ll just go back and I can--”

You push him backwards with your repulsion powers. The white light that accompanies them is brighter than ever. “Nope! No more,” you let out another sweep of repulsion, grinding your rustblood friend against the sharp, cog-covered ground of his planet. “No more fucking time bullshit. Not from you! Not from anyone.”

You can hear Sollux cursing under his breath as he tries to pull himself back to his feet. He looks tired already. You aren’t sure why he’s been avoiding most of the group, but it must not have been healthy for him. Unlike you! You’re doing great on your own.

You’ve only made one strike and he’s already so bloodied, so many small cuts opening up on his face from where you grated him against his land’s terrain. “KK, I--”

Do it, do it, Singer of the Infinite Choir--

You let the angels drown out all other noise. You don’t want to hear this. You don’t want to think about how the body you need to wipe clean from existence had once sat shoulder to shoulder with you and laughed and told dirty jokes.

You prepare another Hope attack. You can feel the angel’s holy fire humming through you. You look at Sollux, cry out, and send it all crashing down upon him in a wraith of white.

[busterofbeing]

Aspect Analysis: Life

Greetings! I’d like to first apologize for the long delay in content; things have been crazy lately. Don’t worry, however! I’ve got plenty of ideas already in the works! As I mentioned in my class analysis of the Mage, I’ve decided to first analyze singular classes and aspects. This way when analyzing Classpects I don’t have to give the lengthy explanations of all the implications of the Class and Aspect; I can just provide a quick and to the point summary and provide links to these singular analyses. Alrighty! Here’s an analysis on the aspect of Life!

Summary

Life is the aspect of health, growth, nature, vitality, nourishment, and kindness. The challenge of the Life-bound is knowing how to balance helping themselves and helping others. The Life-bound tend to make great healers, helpers, cultivators, cooks, and therapists.

Extended Zodiac Definition and Analysis

“Those bound to the aspect of Life are the universe’s healers. They are concerned with the betterment of themselves and those around them, as well as the onward march of positive progress. Deeply empathetic, they have an intuitive understanding of others suffering and the best way of righting those wrongs. If you’re poisoned, chances are the Life-bound have something for what ails ya. This applies to both physical and mental suffering, though it might not be a cure you’ll like. They also have the tendency to put others needs before their own, which never ends well for anyone, because the Life-bound can grow bitter if they feel their own self-care has had to be shunted aside. At their best, they are great listeners, caretakers, and nurturers. At their worst, the Life-bound are passive-aggressive, and pushy-they’re certain they know best.”

In summary, the Extended Zodiac states that the Life-bound are healers (obviously), and that they care deeply about helping others, and/or growth (onward march of positive progress). However, they tend to put others before themselves (Jane with Jake, anyone?), which is what the Life-bound struggle most with. They can also be pushy, as they believe they know best. An extreme example of this point would be someone who would try to help others, even though they really don’t need to want help. However, the Life-bound are still generally good-natured, they just want to help others, kindness and growth are very important to them.

Analysis + Character Breakdown & Evidence

Life is the aspect of health, growth, nature, vitality, nourishment, and kindness.

JANE CROCKER, the Maid of Life. Jane is a maid, one who creates their aspect or creates through their aspect for themselves. Jane is at her happiest or full potential when she is creating life. Over the course of her narrative, her desire for “making babies” is very prominent. Heck, she even creates life (Nature!) on her planet when she initiates trickster mode, and has an affinity for baking, particularly as her pre-scratch iteration, Nanna. Jane really is a Nanna though; she wants children, and she’ll create more life; whether that’s making children, or making food and growing the existing ones. (I hope using two semicolons in one sentence doesn’t come off as too pretentious.) Overall, Jane is a kind character. She wants the best for her friends.

FEFERI PEIXES, the Witch of Life. Feferi is a witch, one who changes/manipulates their aspect or changes/manipulates through their aspect for themselves. Witches also tend to “break a rule” of their aspect. In this case, Feferi’s rule-breaking is the creation of the dream bubbles. These allow players to keep existing as ghosts after all of their selves die, which is basically cheating death to a degree. I’d argue the ending of her moriallegience with Eridan was effectively “changing” life for herself. By breaking up with Eridan, she changed her outflow of positive growth and emotional health for herself. Additionally, she wants to redefine culling as care for misfit trolls, not a death sentence. This belief would break the rules of the Alternian society Doc Scratch had established.

MEENAH PEIXES, the Thief of Life. A Thief steals their aspect or steals through their aspect for themselves. Meenah best demonstrates this when she uses the tumor to kill all of her friends at the end of their session so they may live on in dream bubbles. She’s “stealing” the lives of her friends, but in a typical, active “I’m going to mess some stuff up, just accept it.” thief way. Meenah is still nice (if she likes you), and she wants the best for her team.

Additionally, Meenah’s post-scratch iteration, the Condesce, “steals” the lives of the Alternian trolls in order to expand her own empire.

The Life-bound value kindness and/or growth.

Like I said, Jane Crocker is still a nice person. She’s kind to everyone unless they’re not kind to her. She helps Jake with his relationship issues because she wants him to be happy. Does it go over well? Of course not, because it’s compromising her own feelings. More on that later.

Feferi wants to be kind to everyone and does what she can to help Eridan and Sollux. She’s very good in redrom quadrants, with a particular knack for moirallegiance. Even in her assumed flushed relationship with Sollux, she gives him guidance, ghosting the pale quadrant. Maybe their relationship vacillates between flushed and pale…?

Meenah made some questionable decisions in her session. She pitted her friends against each other in an attempt to improve them. Keyword: improve. While the morality of her actions was questionable, she really just wanted to see them grow. It’s stated in the comic that challenges create growth and character development; Meenah wants that for her friends, but she tries to force it.

The main challenge of the Life-bound is learning how to balance the needs of others and themselves.

Jane really is the best example of this point. Jane is kind, and her helpful nature just ends up causing conflict. We see this first when Jake tells Jane about his feelings regarding Dirk. Of course, Jane likes Jake. But instead of telling Jake this, she instead bottles up her feelings and instead tries to be a supportive friend for Jake. She doesn’t want to cause conflict and hurt his feelings. This mess climaxes on Jane’s sweet 16, in which she can’t stand listening to and providing advice for Jake any longer. Jane putting Jake’s feelings above her own was bad for everyone; it made Jane unhappy, it allowed Jake to pursue a very destructive relationship, and it allowed Dirk (and his Auto-Responder) to carry out his manipulative plans and get into that destructive relationship. If anyone ever asks about the main challenges and flaws of the Life-bound, I’ll personally print them a picture of Jane Crocker’s bucktoothed face along with transcripts of her pesterlogs with Jake on the back.

Feferi demonstrates this point in a very simple way; in fact, I’d say she’s the only Life-bound player we see in Homestuck to effectively balance her needs with the needs of others. Prior to Hivebent, Feferi had been in a moirallegiance with Eridan. This relationship proved to be far too one-sided, however, and it was emotionally draining for Feferi. So, she rightfully ended her moirallegiance with him. We see afterward that she is still happy and nice, and she managed to have a quaint relationship with Sollux for a little while. Here’s where one could argue Feferi was a bit too selfish; Eridan became more and more emotionally unhealthy, and murders both Feferi and Sollux. Hussie even stated Eridan could be considered one of the villains of Homestuck. Maybe if Feferi had kept looking out a bit, she might have been able to keep Eridan under control? Or, the more likely, favorable and concise explanation- Eridan bad.

Meenah is the Life-bound in the story that demonstrates the opposite problem; she isn’t nearly kind enough to others. Sure, she wants them to be the best they can be, but she disregards their feelings and promotes growth in a very destructive and unkind way. Her methods of pitting her friends against each other just caused all sorts of chaos. If she had been more considerate and gentle, Kankri would’ve been able to lead better and Damara might not have gone off the rails. Much later in her narrative, she dates pre-retcon Vriska. We see Meenah actually gets really bored of the relationship, and she isn’t comfortable with handling all of Vriska’s emotional baggage. She eventually leaves her to fight Lord English, which is tragic for pre-retcon Vriska at first. However, both Meenah and Vriska find themselves much happier afterward. Meenah gets to be in some action and helps defeat Lord English, and pre-retcon Vriska finds pre-retcon Terezi. Meenah sticking up for her own self and feelings turned out to have a great outcome for everyone.

Alternatively, the Condesce is much more selfish. She uses the lives of the Alternian race to grow her vast empire and doesn’t care at all about the suffering that she’s put her people through. You could say she’s doing this to create a larger world for more trolls...but it’s made clear she just wants to rule it.

The Life-bound tend to make great cultivators.

Jane creates life and nature on her planet when she enters trickster mode, she is called to propagate and bring up a new civilization in the Condesce new hypothetical empire, and she (as well as Nanna) have a knack for cooking.

Nanna is also very supportive of John, more so than any other guide. She also gives him plenty of food and makes cookies for everyone. After all, John is a GROWING boy!

As stated before, Feferi wants a world where the unfit trolls are cared for. In place of this, she spends her time pre-Hivebent taking in various sea creatures and caring for them.

On pre-scratch Beforus, Feferi implements this system successfully, caring for the Beforan trolls and helping them grow up.

You could possibly say Meenah “grows” pre-retcon Vriska in the dream bubbles, by making her open to new experiences and fashion…? Eh, it’s a stretch. She also tries to “cultivate” her team in SGRUB, however, her execution is not exactly the best. Generally pitting people against each other isn’t a healthy way to make them grow!

The Condesce also “cultivated” the Alternian trolls in the same fashion by encouraging violence and culling weak trolls, cultivating stronger trolls through a twisted version of natural selection.

The Life-bound make great listeners; when they offer advice.

Jane struggles with this one a lot. She clearly wants to help her friends, but when it comes to Jake things go off the rails before the train goes 10 meters. Frankly, it’s because she gives bad advice. When Jake goes on a mega-rant to Jane later on, she holds in all of her thoughts, only replying with fake “Mhm!”’s and “Yes.”’s. Eventually, this builds and she has to let all of her feelings out. Jake naturally turned to Jane for relationship advice; I’m sure this hasn’t been the first time Jane was in such a situation. But we see that when Jane doesn’t consider herself and gives bad advice, things go south. When Jane doesn’t give advice and just listens, whoops, we’ve gone past South America and straight into Antarctica. I’ll expand upon this point in the general analysis.

Feferi was apparently a good moirail to Eridan. However, he kept complaining and wallowing in his problems, which exhausted Feferi. She doesn’t like him constantly complaining; she wants him to not kill everyfin, and wants to provide advice and guidance. Later, when she and Sollux are glubbing in the horn pile, we see her listen to Sollux while being kind and offering advice and encouragement. This is Feferi and in my opinion a Life-bound in general, at their best.

Meenah can’t stand idly listening. Aranea has to pay her to listen to her exposition, and Meenah isn’t happy when she is constantly listening to Vriska’s problems, and she wasn’t inclined to giver Vriska guidance and growth because she herself had her own problems.

The Life-bound tend to be in and/or want leadership positions.

Jane is declared the “leader” of the alpha session, which she is okay with. On Earth C, Jane becomes the CEO of CrockerCorp, which goes hand-in-hand with her Maid of Life classpect. (Creating food/life)

Feferi, as an heiress, is naturally in line to (potentially) become the new empress. Interestingly, the true aspect of the Fuschia-sign is Life, and if the Life-bound have this thing for leadership, and Life is even slightly present in all fuschia-bloods...well, that’s a topic for another time…

Meenah is in the same position as Feferi, only she is much more adamant to be a great(?) leader, a desire that is fulfilled by the Condesce. In her session, Meenah tried to “lead” and cause conflict between her friends to make them “grow”. Her attempts at “leading” the session undermined what Kankri could possibly have done to keep the session together, and was what led to making Damara snap.

The Life-bound have a unique or at times overbearing energy.

Jane has a personality like that of a cute and fun grandma...I wonder why. She has an enjoyment for her pranks and is a fun person, but as we see in her meltdown she’s got some intense emotions. Even then, the pranking system is very impactful on her!

Feferi is almost always full of Life and energy. Quite a character.

Meenah has a very powerful presence (due in some part to her thief class) and is a very chaotic force in general.

The main power of the Life-bound is healing.

God-tiered Jane has the power to revive any player once. 

Nanna, as a sprite, possesses healing powers. Hussie even suggests that Nannasprite had her healing powers because Jane is a Maid of Life.

A dead god-tiered Feferi revives the Mayor in the post-retcon timeline.

Meenah’s post-scratch self, the Condesce, is stated to have used powers to extend the life of the Ψiioniic, something no troll has been shown to naturally do.

Other Comments and Analysis

At their core, the Life-bound have good intentions. They are kind, value growth, and want to help. If you know a Life-bound, I’m sure this is fairly obvious.

Now, let’s wrap up their challenge. I feel the Life-bound typically fall in one of two categories; they help others so much they exhaust themselves, or they don’t help others enough. I’d say the former would be the more common challenge. The Life-bound do want to help, they just need to learn how to properly balance the needs of others and themselves. Learning this balance would make a Life-bound very effective, and they’d find themselves to be much more emotionally secure and happy. (As a Life-bound, I can attest to this).

Ooh! Leadership positions! As I’ve mentioned, the life-bound tend to be in or want leadership positions- they just might not be the BEST at it. Breath and Blood are the two primary leadership aspects. Players of other aspects can still be leaders, but typically a Blood or Breath player will lead unless there isn’t one in a session. Their helpful attitude and knack for growth would make them a decent leader, however. They just might be a bit too pushy about it. I’d say this is one the better aspects for a leader to possess, besides Breath or Blood.

Hobbies and talents! As I’ve said before, I’d imagine the Life-bound would have an interest or proficiency in cooking, gardening, and counseling. This is not a rule, keep that in mind. I’d say that their helpful nature would manifest itself in whatever their interests may be, though. For example: if a Life-bound loved to do a sport, they’d be the ones to encourage their fellow teammates; they might even bring snacks or water!

Parting Words and Thanks

Whew! One aspect down, 11 more (and 13 more classes) to go! Whoop.

Thanks again to optimisticDuelist for the life aspect card as well as his analysis of Jane Crocker. It helped a lot to better understand Jane and the aspect of Life!

Thank you for reading!

[spunkymaverick]

Fandom: Homestuck

Characters: Eridan Ampora, Tavros Nitram, Karkat Vantas (mentioned), Jack Noir (mentioned), Terezi Pyrope (mentioned), Feferi Peixes (mentioned)

Tags:

Prompt: Chained to a Wall

Word Count: 516

Rated: T (because of bad life choices I guess)

Notes: In my Google Doc, I named this “3R1D4N 1S CH41N3D UP FOR H1S CR1M3S”

* * *

Huh.

He really hadn't seen this particular turn of events coming. He barely remembers how it happened in the first place. Thankfully, ‘barely’ is the key word here as he does in fact remember what happened up until he woke up just now. Who's to say he's actually awake though? He supposes he's to say if that sharp digging in his wrist of the metal cuffs are anything to go by.

Maybe if he thinks back on the previous events, he'll be able to get himself out of this bind.

He'd been with the others, sulking over the fact that they had lost. They were about to win, the universe was created, and they just had to step through that door. But Karkat, their (terrible) self-proclaimed leader, had been too slow. If he'd just threw the doors open and waltzed in, everything would've been fine. But no. He meandered and savored the moment. And Jack came through and attacked. They barely got away with their lives.

He'd been walking around, trying to think of some way to salvage what they had. He was the Prince of Hope after all. He got to decide whether there was hope or not. And there most certainly wasn't. So he needed to strategize because if there was anything he was hood at, it was strategy.

And when he'd finally come up with his idea, his friends didn't understand why it was such a great idea. And a bunch of their opinions he didn't really care for. And things had escalated quickly. And he'd gotten in a fight with Terezi and Feferi. Somebody had intervened with a bludgeoning to his head.

And then he had woken up shackles behind bars. He hadn't even been aware their little meteor hideaway had a dungeon.

So he just has to wait for someone to come by and convince them to set him free. It seems as if there's a science behind thinking of someone coming because he can hear approaching footsteps.

Ugh. It's Tavros. The sad sap thinks he's so great now that he has legs. Eridan would point out everything that's wrong with at mindset, but Vriska does it well enough.

"Uh, are you awake?" Tavros asks, hesitation clear in his voice. Good. He should tremble before his superiors. Lowbloods.

"What does it matter?" he inquires with a wobbly W and the final consonants barely pronounced. It's a dialect, he tells everyone who asks. It most certainly is not a stutter. It's just how he speaks.

"I brought food," Tavros says, voice so full of…

"I don't want any of your glubbing food!" he spits at the bronzeblood. He feels a little better when Tavros flinches away and drops the tray of food in the process. Tavros sighs and leaves.

Idiot. Idiot! What was he thinking? Why did he say that? Ugh! He just heard how hopeful Tavros sounding, and he hated it. Because it wasn't fair. Because he was upset and miserable, so why should everyone else be?

Next time, he'll do this right.

That is… if there is a next time.

[momestuck]

Epilogues: Candy, Ch 22-26 [Epilogue 5]

/So a lot of heavy shit has happened, though worse is yet to come (I’ve been warned of an onscreen sexual assault in chapter 32).

Everyone’s been having babies and funerals! It’s a busy time.

(note: csa mention in chapter 23, though it does not occur in the narrative)

Chapter 22

This is another John-Terezi text convo chapter. There’s been a three-year timeskip. And... it’s raining ghosts now.

So I guess that’s what became of the whole ghosts in the Furthest Ring thing?

We also learn that, on top of the breeding restrictions, trolls are banned from rising beyond certain levels in government. Jane is, we learn, pretty much running the government behind the scenes, because what makes fascist movements tick is one evil person, obviously.

Karkat’s the one with a backbone at least...

JOHN: and karkat...

JOHN: he’s gone completely off the grid!

JOHN: at first we all assumed that the reason he ran away was because he got fed up with his shitty poly relationship.

JOHN: which was probably part of it, honestly. but now i keep seeing his face on all the resistance posters!

JOHN: i think they may have actually put him in charge?

TEREZI: H3H

TEREZI: 1 4LW4YS KN3W H3 H4D 1T 1N H1M

This situation is only exacerbated by the ghosts. So that means characters who were very definitely dead in the main storyline can show up.

Gamzee has been apparently spreading this religion of ‘redemption arcs’ by ‘making out with people’, and doing some kind of milk-based ‘baptism’. John, meanwhile, asks about the ethics of kidnapping baby Tavros from his horrific parents...

We get to bare witness to Gamzee ‘redeeming’ the ghosts of Feferi and Eridan. Which involves Eridan going on about Feferi’s feet and Gamzee mashing their faces together to make them ‘kiss and make up’.

Jane, it seems, is going full Condesce in more ways than one:

Just then, a dark shadow passes over the park. The crowd falls silent as they raise their heads to watch a drone ship pass by overhead. Its design is insect-like, splitting into many jagged branches, each decked out with weapons and cameras. It’s completely silent, and encased in armor with a bright red finish, smooth and seamless. It’s often cited by Jane as the crown jewel of Crockercorp’s various military contracts with the government.

...including literally building her spaceships, and sending them out over the Troll kingdom.

So we’re basically going to have the Holocaust allegory in here I guess? Fucking hell.

chapter 23

We get more words towards Roxy’s steady character dissolution...

It’s not like Roxy had ever been argumentative, exactly. He just seems to remember someone from his youth who was somewhat more contrarian in spirit than this person he’s married to now.

Back when they were dating, John thought she was acting a little off. Not quite in a bad way, but perhaps a little too “in love,” too fast. At least she still seemed like herself most of the time. But since the wedding, every year that goes by, she seems to become just a little more conciliatory. Not just toward him but toward life in general. She indulges Harry Anderson liberally and almost thoughtlessly. She doesn’t care that her best friend is slowly turning into an executive overseeing the corporate arm up the puppet ass of a ruthless dictatorship. She still thinks Gamzee is being sincere about all this “redemption” bullshit, even though he’s been casting an increasingly dark and hungry shadow behind Jane: a malicious royal vizier to her burgeoning imperial persona.

So John’s going to do something, and hopes that it will make things feel ‘real’ again... which is to say obviously what he talked about with Terezi, kidnapping/rescuing Tavros Crocker. Well-intentioned, but... I do not anticipate this going well.

We learn a little such as... Jane’s planning to outlaw human and troll marriage, which would retroactively hit Rose and Kanaya. Which I guess is the final straw for them. (Frankly it should be well past the final straw for all of them. They should all be with Karkat by this point!)

Also Jane and Jake are in ‘auspistice counselling’. We witness a loud row, in front of Tavros...

TAVROS: It’s fine,,, my parents are kismeses after all,,,

like, fuck.......

It’s a birthday party for Harry Anderson (John and Roxy’s kid), and Jane’s gift is, well, a fucking imperial drone!

sometimes I picture V’s gleeful face as we see the next thing she’s got for us... and now you lick the clown’s armpit... jane’s making the Holocaust but for fictional space aliens...

John awkwardly finds an excuse to be alone with Tavros, to convince him to run away. The kid dialogue is convincingly naive.

The possibility of child sexual abuse (by Gamzee) is raised, but it’s made clear this isn’t the case: what ever else Gamzee is in this version, he doesn’t rape children. However, that the situation is overall abusive in just about every other way is more than clear. Tavros, on his part, seems to be very keen to leave once he’s convinced John can escape Jane’s security.

I have a feeling the imperial drone may become relevant again shortly.

Jade, however, witnesses what John’s trying to do. She insists it will just make everything worse... (also Jake has an ‘execution dance off show’ because yeah...)

Whatever weird character corrosion has hit them is finally raised...

JOHN: if there was another way we would have found it by now!!!

JOHN: but there isn’t one, because everyone’s been all... brainwashed by marriage, or whatever the hell happened over the last few years that made things be this way!

JOHN: it’s like everyone just talks past each other all the time!

JADE: john...

JOHN: i’m the only one who ever seems to realize that something...

JOHN: that something’s WRONG!

Tavros sadly can’t get a word in edgewise as they start having a go at each other - John calling out everything that’s wrong, the way Jade forced a relationship on Dave and Karkat, and... and the noise is loud enough that Jane arrives on the scene.

John finally has a go at her with all the latent awfulness that’s been building up to this point. The fascism, the way she’s treated Jake, the Gamzee thing... the narration has put us very much on his side, centred his perspective, but his friends won’t hear it. And his windy powers destroy the room. So that’s something.

John runs away.

Comment: the mostly strict John viewpoint makes me wonder if there’s any degree of unreliable narration. All the same, most of the stuff is pretty undeniable.

chapter 24

This one begins with an interesting exchange:

JADE [alt-Calliope]: the timelines are interacting again.

ARADIA: ooh do you hear anything interesting

SOLLUX: don’t be s0 n0sy aradia.

To me the implication is that a lot of the ‘arrivals’ in this timeline - alt-Calliope in Jade’s body, the ghosts - are as a result of things that might be happening in the Meat story.

Through alt-Calliope’s eyes, we see Terezi and John’s conversation. Terezi is lost, in more ways than one, in the dreaming void searching for Vriska. She’s also experiencing derealisation... John, apparently in a mood for dropping harsh challenges, tells her point blank that Vriska is either dead, or, not worth her time for leaving her in doubt for so long.

alt-Calliope explains that what is at stake is not the destruction of this universe - but those of them here are ‘the lucky ones’, who live ‘beyond the reach of the prince’. She doesn’t bother to explain what is at stake.

Meanwhile, John and Terezi talk depression. There’s some really vital Terezi dialogue here...

JOHN: please. please come home.

TEREZI: TH3N WH4T

JOHN: umm, i dunno.

JOHN: we hang out and stuff?

TEREZI: JOHN YOU ST1LL DONT G3T 1T

TEREZI: 34RTH C 1S *NOT* MY HOM3

JOHN: do you really miss alternia that bad?

TEREZI: 1 D1D FOR 4 LONG T1M3

TEREZI: MOR3 TH4N K4RK4T 4ND K4N4Y4 D1D 4T L34ST

TEREZI: BUT 1 H4V3 NO 1D34 4NYMOR3

TEREZI: 4LT3RN14, VR1SK4, SGRUB

TEREZI: 1M SO CONFUS3D 4BOUT WH4T 1 W4NT

TEREZI: UGH, 1 THOUGHT TH4T NOT K1LL1NG H3R WOULD M4K3 M3 F33L B3TT3R

TEREZI: BUT 1NST34D 1TS L1K3 1 R3TCONN3D 4 HUG3 CHUNK OUT OF MY SOUL

TEREZI: 1 3R4S3D 4N 4CT1ON OF R3GR3T 4ND GR13F...  

TEREZI: 4ND JUST TURN3D 1T 1NTO SOM3TH1NG 1 C4NT STOP CH4S1NG 4FT3R

TEREZI: M4YB3 WH4T 1 D1D W4S N3CESS4RY TO S4V3 3V3RYON3 3LS3

TEREZI: BUT 1T SUR3 D1DNT S4VE M3

oh terezi....

terezi is giving up. she tells john she texted, echoing his words, to ‘give him the courtesy of closure’. and that she’s going to let herself die, alone in the Furthest Ring.

this is the ‘sweet fluffy’ branch huh

chapter 25

finally an update on what’s going on with Karkat!

he’s been somehow appointed ‘Commander’ of the rebellion, with good old Swifer Eggmop as one of his comrades! I’m so glad Swifer is having a role. Karkat is not all that pleased about the successes of his rebellion:

KARKAT: SO FAR ALL THIS “TROLL REBELLION” HAS AMOUNTED TO IS A WHOLE LOT OF DICK ALL, WITH AN ADDITIONAL SIDE SERVING OF JACK SQUAT, FOLLOWED UP BY A FINAL COURSE OF GETTING TO WATCH OUR TOP ANALYST, CLIPER BORDEN, BEING FORCED TO DANCE TO AVOID LIFE IMPRISONMENT IN A LABOR CAMP ON LIVE TELEVISION AND MAKING A COMPLETE ASS OF HIMSELF.

It’s all a weird mix of surreal and grimdark, much like the Alpha kids’ backstory in Homestuck proper. There’s hard labour camps... making cake; a ‘pastry-based shadow dictatorship’.

Rose and Kanaya are at least involved somewhat in the troll rebellion, and transport of the Mother Grub has been arranged.

Anyway, Karkat’s typically grumpy internal monologue is interrupted by the sudden arrival of Meenah from another dimension. A living Meenah - equipped with a Ring of Life. John asks if she got it from Calliope, but Meenah insists she did not. (Possibly she got it from Andrew Hussie himself? I’d have to watch Cascade again probably...)

Meenah, it seems, is fresh from battling Lord English - apparently without success. But her massive army of ghosts arrives with her... and she’s willing for Karkat to take charge and order her around, as long as he does it with a suitably commanderly demeanour. Does this mean the rebellion now stands more of a chance? Meenah is ruthless (she was the Condesce in another life), though capricious... Karkat is honest and direct and angry about the right things, but rather prone to getting lost in it.

Also he still won’t text Dave, and won’t let Rose talk to him about it.

chapter 26

Back to John, who’s thinking about messaging Terezi again - presumably in the hope that she is not, in fact, dead?

He’s getting a good old mope on about the seeming fakeness, non-’canonicity’ of life on Earth C. But after some ‘melodramatic contemplating’ in this vein, he’s interrupted by his dad’s car.

I’m going to be very curious if the Meat route explains how all this stuff got into the Earth C universe.

Unfortunately, what John finds in the car is... not his dad, but a bit of Terezi’s blood. From which he concludes... he’s never going to see her again, there was never even a possibility of it.

Feeling derealisation more than ever, John just screams a lot.

Damn lol, this story is making me care about John Egbert of all people!

epilogue 5

This is the episode where the whole idyll comes crashing down. Things aren’t ok, things weren’t going to be ok, trying to pretend things were ok just made everyone miserable.

I am sufficiently depressed that that rather appeals as a narrative - much more than a ‘happily ever after’ ending. But it’s not over yet.

Hopefully there’s yet hope for the characters I like to find some manner of escape from this latest hell, develop out of the worst selves they’ve built... Roxy, at least, I hope can change, stop being this non-person...

[voidequine]

The First Adventure of Team Seahorse

In which Horuss and Feferi are partnered together to assist with the incoming weather crisis relief.

@fishprincessofthelaw

Feferi

CC>AJ: ) (ey ) (oruss! So we're paired up! > Well that wasn't awkward. Not sure what to say are you.

Horuss

AJ>CC: 8=D Greetings to you Feferi. It would seem that we are insteed. 8=D Did you hoof a particular place you wished to start the relief efforts? > You are going to allow her to make the decision here as you hoof neigh idea of your own where to even consider beginning. Differing to the superior and all.

Feferi

CC>AJ: W) (ale I was thinking my old neig) (bor) (ood would be a nice place to start if you're okay wit) ( it!

Horuss

AJ>CC: 8=D That is certainly mare than agreestable with me, feel free to direct our course as you please.

Feferi

CC>AJ: Okay! I'll ) (ead to the precinct to meet up wit) ( you?

Horuss

AJ>CC: 8=D Of horse. I shall meet you there.

Feferi

CC: Sea you soon!!!

You are Feferi Piexes. You are ready to help your community! You just have to meet up with your winter storm safety buddy first. Horuss. The Zahhak you think you might have spoken to the least so far. Not from lack of want, after all he had amazing puns. Life has just left you two barely crossing paths. UNTIL NOW! You reach the precinct and you arm yourself with shelter information flyers and decked out in warm clothes you wait for him.

Horuss

You are the Horuss Zahhak in question and you are prepared to get to work yourself, garbed in your own thick winter gear to help ward off the cold you are still unused as of yet. You are currently waiting at the precinct for one Feferi Piexes, the one you hoof been assigned as the partner of for the duration of the storm relief efforts, someone you hoof spoken to very little, then again that could describe all your new workmates you hoof been very slow in your adjustment to the new climate, that is your usual though so you need neigh worry about it too much. You notice her stepping inside the precinct and collecting the information pamphlets for the shelters, so you stride forward to meet her. Calling a gentle greeting as you get within speaking distance of her. "Hello Feferi, are you ready to make hay?"

Feferi

You hear him speak and turn to flash a bright smile, "Whale hay! Yup! I am good to go! It's a pretty far walk from here but at least walking will keep us warm!"

Horuss

"We will be walking?" You are fine with that, walking is good exercise and will only help you accumulate to the weather quicker. "Alright, that is mare than agreeable with me. Let us set off then?"

Feferi

"Shore!" you beam. "Team seahorse is off!" you laugh as you lead the way to the door and hold it for him politely.

Horuss

'Team seahorse?' Well that is certainly an amusing way to view this. And then she's holding the door open for you which is neigh something you are used to, neigh so much due to blood colour or caste-system, but mare so due to your sheer size and the intimidation that affords. You follow her out of the precinct, stepping into the rapidly dropping weather outside, tucking your nose into the collar of your jacket momentarily before lifting your face to the world once mare.

Feferi

You follow after and brrrr! Cold! "Wow it's nippy! Hee hee! Maybe folks can make snow people when it warms up later!" you chatter as you start to walk the old familiar path to where you used to live.

Horuss

"Perhaps," you agree, falling into step behind her and allowing her to lead the hay to their first destination. You hope that you will neigh be finding any actual 'snow people' after the blizzards clear but it is neigh a very STRONG one, inevitability and all. "I am sure there will be many relishing in the chance to escape the confines of their homes and shelters once it is over."

Feferi

"For shore! I was always super happy to get out when the weather allowed during the winter when I was little," you say. "Were there bad winters where you grew up?"

Horuss

"Neigh," Alternian winter's weren't quite anything close to those experienced on Derse. "Winters on Alternia did neigh e%perience such storms, at least neigh for as long as is expected here, the sun is harsh throughout the entire year, even if a snowfall was to occur during the night it would be gone by the next midday." At least where you had grown up it had, the heat from the sun had been a constant all year round.

Feferi

Oh geez that's some intense sun. "Wowie! That's pretty strong sun. So... on Alternia it's switched right? People sleep for the day and do things during the night?"

Horuss

"Yes, it's much safer that way, hence our tendency towards nocturnal lifestyles," the sun was... neigh something to tread lightly with, neigh at all. "The night cycle is a much easier time frame to exist and work in."

Feferi

"Sounds interesting! And also explains why I'm not a morning person at all," you joke. "My lusus though, she's a morning gal through and though." You glance at the land marks and smile, "We're almost there."

Horuss

"My lusus used to be mare of an early riser as well, a great help during my youngest years, before I got settled into the training schedule given onto me." You take a note of your surroundings as well, mare to help your own mental map of the city than anything else. "Good, we will hopefully be able to get the information to everyone soon enough then?"

Feferi

You nod, "Since I used to live here till recently I know most of the homeless folks, so they'll listen to us. It's kinda why I wanted to come myself cause whale... I want them to be safe and okay..."

Horuss

"An understandstable motive and reasoning, people tend to listen mare to someone they know than a stranger," you take in your surroundings with a closer eye, it is neigh one of the better ones you hoof seen during your time here but that is fine, individuals should neigh be judged for where they grew up, else you would hoof to be judging your own diamond quite harshly. "Let us get to work then so that they can start their journeys to safety before the worst of the weather sets in, neigh?"

Feferi

You nod eagerly. "Yeah!" You lead the way to the places where those you know are at giving them the flyers and explaining the situation. One old man who's always loved to tease looks at you and Horuss and chuckled, "Traded in the lil fish for a side a beef, ay lil lady?!" You blush and tell him firmly no not at all this is your partner Horess. After he heads off you look at Horuss, "Sorry about him. He likes to think he's very funny."

Horuss

You give out flyers and though you can neigh make yourself appear smaller or less threatening, you offer close mouth smiles and allow Feferi to do mare of the talking, you are neigh the best with such situations anyhay. Neigh for you at all. You snort an amused noise at the elderly man's words, what a humorous thing to say. "There is neigh need to apologize," you assure once the man has left hearing distance. "I did neigh take offense to his joke, and you did neigh do anything to foster or encourage it, so you do neigh need to hay sorry. I do neigh mind."

Feferi

You sigh a little relieved. "I'm glad. He's nice fella. I've given him food before only to see him turn around and give it to stray animals," you tell him.  "There's only a few more places left here. Which is probably good cause we shouldn't stay out in the cold too late either," you admit. "Night's here are yeesh. Especially near the desert where the wind is the worst."

Horuss

"That certainly does sound like a kind individual," kindness and foalish often go hand in hand, you feel neigh need to point that out. "Let us continue then, as quickly as we are stable too," you admittedly do neigh like the sound of anyone staying out here when you two can at least give them the opportunity to escape the worse of the elements, whether or neigh they accepted it was aneigh-ther matter all together.

Feferi

Nodding you lead the way one last time. You are extremely glad you find everyone you know and a few people you didn't. One troll refuses to talk to you staring pointedly at your fins and will only deal with Horuss. You can't help but be crestfallen because of it as it's time to head back. You wonder how you went so long without noticing... Maybe it was because back then you'd been too busy with your own survival to pay attention.

Horuss

The two of you end up working through the entirety of the stack of flyers you had brought with you, which is a hopeful end to the task you and Feferi had set out to complete. You are neigh a praying type but you shall offer what little value your thoughts hoof towards a safe continuing to these individuals and their lives, insteed of the slow cold end at winter's uncaring claws. The troll that dismisses Feferi is beyond rude, towards her and then you in kind, you are cold enough to be distainstable but warm enough to be tolerstable to speak with. You give it neigh mind, you neigh-ver hoof, why would this nameless neigh-body be any different, but it seems Feferi does neigh hoof the same willingness to ignore and continue on that you do. "You need neigh pay mind to individuals such as that," you offer once the two of you hoof started the journey back to the precinct, your longer, STRONGER stride assisting you in traversing the snow already starting to build up on the streets. "It is their choice to see blood colour over an individual's own merits and baring, neigh-thing you need to be concerned with."

Feferi

"But... It feels like... I don't know... Like I'm trapped in the shadow of what people expect a fucshia to be..." you admit, feeling quite vulnerable. "Not everyone does that but... Cod it's not even just a troll thing. It's like I'm either a monster or a failure........ even someone at the Precinct thinks I could be a threat to his race... That it's in my nature to kill and conquer..." Looking away and down you say, "I think I'm most afraid they could be right on some level..."

Horuss

"Then do neigh let them be," it really is that simple, at least for you it is. If she does neigh wish to be those things then she should simply ignore what others wish and continue her life how she wants too. At least you believe it is that simple. Mind over matter and all that neigh-sense. "You will find it... difficolt to change what others believe about you so it is mare often than neigh better to simply stride towards actions that make you happy with your own self. They do neigh hoof to live with the person you become, only you really do." You hoof said similar words a number of times to your palemate, you do neigh understand what about the concept is difficolt for others to grasp but apparently it is.

Feferi

Glancing at him, you feel grateful for his words even if you're unsure how well that advice may work as if you choose the path to become empress, the feelings others have about you will matter a lot. "Thanks, Horuss," you say with a smile to him.

Horuss

You blink, "it is neigh matter," you do neigh think so at least. Either hay, time to drop the subject and continue back to the precinct. "We should hurry along before the streets become too untraversstable and I need to assist you over it." By that you mean carry her above the snow, something you are STRONGLY confident in your ability to do.

Feferi

You laugh, "Hey now, I'm not as tall as you but I've delt with this before." You forge your way past him to prove your point. "I am Derse hatched and scrappy!"

Horuss

"Of horse you are," It takes neigh effort and two-and-a-hoof paces before you past her. "I was marely stating a worry, neigh offense meant to you."

Feferi

You take this as a challenge and start trying to outpace him as you grin. "None taken. But I whale hoof to prove my stuff!"

Horuss

"I am sure you will hoof mare than enough opportunities to," you believe that your partnership with one Feferi Peixes will be a enjoystable one, for however long it lasts.

[lovethemamporas]

budding moiraillegiance

I hope you don’t mind if I make it a pale-date anon. You didn’t really specify which quad, so I’m gonna go with the one I ship them in! >:3c I haven’t had a lot of experience writing Gamzee, so bear with me please uwu;. 

Eridan is nervous. Of course he is, it’s the first pale date he’s been on, well... ever. Past relationships were never very fruitful in the past. This one, even though he’s stooped so low as to date a clown of all trolls, and this clown especially... His pusher thumps in his chest and it’s all he can hear as he knocks on the door of Gamzee’s hive. Eridan adjusts the sleeves of the sweater he’s wearing. The collar seems too tight. He’s abandoned the warm wool of his scarf and the comfort it usually brings and he feels naked without it. He fights the nervous bile rising in his protein chute and swallows heavily as he can hear Gamzee crash around behind the closed door. 

The nerves dissipate as annoyance takes over. He can hear Gamzee shout in surprise as he falls down the stairs. Horns squeak, and Eridan can hear Gamzee’s frustrated growls as he lands. He rolls his eyes, sighing as he waits for the clown to get to the door. He’s warned him about stairs. Told him shit get’s dangerous when you never clean up after yourself. Gamzee has to fight against the clutter behind the door, grumbling as he wrestles it open. Horns and plastic bottles creak and groan as he looks up at Eridan. The boy’s face is serene, the heated activity in his eyes cooled through the influence of sopor. Gamzee smiles up at him and he seems genuinely happy to see Eridan. He reaches out a thin hand and clasps Eridan on the shoulder. Despite his wasted frame, he can feel the strength laying dormant in Gamzee’s small frame. 

 “What is UP, pale bro!” Gamzee’s voice is rough with disuse, but not unpleasant. “Come on the fuck in!” 

“Thanks.” 

Eridan follows the boy in, eyes adjusting to the dark of his hive. Eridan is releived at the dim; even the light of the moons overhead are sometimes too much on his sensitive seadweller eyes. He might not actually need the tinted glasses while visiting Gamzee. 

He realizes that Gamzee has been chattering the whole time as lead him through his messy hive. “So yeah, that’s my hive bro!”

Eridan sneers inwardly at the mess and clutter and disaster of his moirail’s abode. “Don’t’ ya have any pride? It ain’t healthy to live in so much garbage, Gam.” He kicks an empty bottle to the side. “Don’t ya throw any shit away?” 

Gamzee looks confused for a moment, pulled into reality. Concern creases the paint of his brow, but it is smoothed as the cloudy haze slips back over his eyes. Something grips Eridan’s chest as he watches this change, and as he watches Gamzee turn away and pad barefoot into the kitchen, he realizes it’s pity. White-hot and pale as mid-day sand. Pity floods his bloodstream and he swoons a little at the force of it. 

“Gam... Gamzee.” Eridan follows him into the room. He’s digging through the cupboard and shifting through empty snack boxes. He looks at him questioningly, a vague expression on his face. Eridan wanted to say something about cleaning his moiorail’s hive, about trying to get him back on track, but Gamzee doesn’t need a scolding. Eridan knows that it won’t do any good, that it would also make him feel guilty. He swallows the comment. 

“So... What did ya want to do today? We can... watch movies or somethin.” Eridan is grasping at straws. What do moirails do on pale dates? All he and Feferi did were meet up for strategy talks, about the yield of his hunting and Gl’bgolyb’s growing appetite. All he and Karkat would do is talk about Eridan’s problems. He had a feeling that, when moirails are in person, strategy and venting isn’t all there is to pale dates. 

Gamzee reaches into the box he was looking through and pulls out a crumpled snack cake. He offers it to Eridan but he declines. The thought of greasy frosting sticking to the roof of his mouth is enough of a deterrent to eating the junk food. Gamzee shrugs and unwraps it, shoving the cake whole into his mouth. No wonder he’s so unhealthy; all he eats is junk. 

“Well. I been watching this one movie the past few days. Karkat recommended it to me.” Crumbs spray from his mouth and Eridan has to resist the urge to wipe at Gamzee’s chin. “From what I remember, it was pretty good. How about that?” The look he gives Eridan is hopeful and sheepish and he subconsciously wipes at his dirty shirt. 

Eridan wasn’t particularly exited about sitting in that god-awful horn pile. The pain of the horns combined with the mind-dumbing awfulness of Karkat’s rom-coms set the corner of his mouth twitching, but the genuine expression of hope on Gamzee’s face flames the pity again and Eridan agrees. If this is how true pity feels, no wonder he felt unfulfilled in his past relationships. 

The pile is just as uncomfortable as he thought it would be. Gamzee doesn’t seem to mind as he grabs the remote and plops down. The pile squeaks and something large and blunt presses uncomfortably against Eridan’s side. He reaches in and pulls out a juggling club. Something dark crusts the heavy end and he flings it away with disgust. Gamzee doesn’t seem to notice. He’s too focused on rewinding the movie to it’s beginning. 

Gamzee smiles over at his moirail, expression hazy and just a little nervous. Eridan can see the hint of a blush at the neck of his paint. His chest tightens again as the white-hot pity rushes through him. Gamzee isn’t even aware of how utterly, nauseatingly adorable he is. Eridan fights off the urge to lean over and squeeze the other boy against him, instead tucking his arms against his chest and slouching into the pile as the movie begins. 

They’re almost halfway through the first act when Eridan realizes Gamzee has fallen asleep. His head is tilted back, throat bobbing with his breaths. His utter trust in Eridan bewilders him. Here Gamzee is with a strange troll in his hive and he’s fallen asleep and bared the most vulnerable part of his body. All Eridan would have to do is lean over and he could bite his throat out. He doesn’t know whether it’s exhaustion that’s letting him act so recklessly, or whether Gamzee really doesn’t care about his safety and well-being. Eridan wonders if he had ever been taught that other trolls couldn’t be trusted. 

He knows that Gamzee had a less than wonderful wrigglerhood. He knows that he never really learned how to take care of himself. But this. This is extreme. What if Eridan didn’t really care about him? What if Gamzee had invited just anyone over? They wouldn’t hesitate to kill him and take what little valuable objects he has. And his lusus, that damn goat, would never know what happened to his charge. Hell, Eridan would never know. It wasn’t unusual for Gamzee to disappear for days at a time, and if he had the absolute stupidity to fall asleep on the beach or invite some stranger over and if he got killed, no one would ever know... The thought that his moirail’s life could so easily be dispatched angers him. He reaches over a ringed hand and shakes Gamzee awake. 

“Wha-What’s happening? Did I miss the movie?” Gamzee rubs at his eyes, smearing his paint out of it’s neat lines. 

“Ya fuckin fell asleep is what. Ya shouldn’t be so careless Gamzee. What if I were someone ya couldn’t trust? What if I aimed ta kill ya in ya sleep or somethin’?” Anger reddens Eridans eyes, burning hot in his chest. 

“Aww brother, I know you’d never do that to me.” The smile Gamzee gives Eridan is soft and trusting and it does nothing to quell the rage in his chest. 

“But you wouldn’t know that, would ya! YOU’RE JUST A DRUGGED UP STUPID CLOWN WHO DON’T CARE ABOUT HIMSELF! You’d rather eat that fuckin poison than think about the people that care about ya!” Eridan stands from the pile. The discarded horns cascade down around his ankles. 

Gamzee has the gall to look surprised. His eyes are wide and worried, his face no longer soft and hazy with the cloud of sopor. He stands to join his moirail. 

“Eridan... You care about me?” 

“OF COURSE I DO YOU FUCKIN’ NITWIT! That’s why I’m here! THAT’S why I’m so fuckin’ mad at you!” He grabs Gamzee’s thin shoulders. His hands seem to dwarf his scrawny frame and Eridan realizes just how bad he is. 

“I’ve been watchin’ ya waste away for sweeps, Gam. It breaks my pumper ta see ya care so little about yourself.” 

Gamzee looks up at him with a clarity he’s never seen before. Like he’s just realized the mess his hive is, how hungry and wasted his body is. Eridan expects him to break. To start crying or yelling or something, even get angry at him for shouting at him or calling his moirail all those names. But Gamzee is collected, calm even. His eyes are clear and Eridan can tell he’s finally present in the moment for the first time in a long while. And instead of slapping him for his dramatics, Gamzee brings his head down to his chest and shooshes him.

Surprise jolts through Eridan’s body. He half expected to get hit or scolded for yelling at his moirail. He’s never felt pity like this, like his diamond genuinely cares about him. It shocks his system and the two of them slump back into the pile. Gamzee caresses the back of his head, careful not to tangle his fingers in Eridan’s curls. He’s humming something below his breath and Eridan can feel the vibrations in his fins and the tingling running through his scalp is the best feeling ever. 

“I didn’t know I was botherin’ you that much man. You’re right. I... I need to stop eating that shit. I don’t want to hurt you anymore.” 

Eridan can feel something wet drip onto his cheek and he pulls away to look at Gamzee. He’s crying, great tears falling down his cheeks. Eridan wipes them away with his thumb and brings him close. He presses a kiss to Gamzee’s forehead, not caring if his paint gets everywhere. 

“It’s not about me, Gamzee. It’s about ya learnin’ ta take care of yourself. You deserve better than this shit.” 

Eridan’s chest aches with the power of his feelings. The pity is painful and overwhelming, but so damn good at the same time. It’s as blinding as sunlight and just as hot but the heat is welcome. Gamzee looks up at him and the tears are happy ones as he smiles. He reaches up to poke at his cheek, and Eridan realizes he’s smiling too. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile, moirail. It looks good on you.” Gamzee’s voice is soft, almost as if he’s afraid to break the moment. 

Eridan tosses his head back and laughs and it feels so good, so natural to do it. He crushes Gamzee close and buries his face in his tangled hair and purrs so loud it could break glass. This is what all those trashy novels are about. This is what true, genuine pity is. Eridan feels warm and cared for in the the horn pile and both boys feel at peace at last. 

[thelifetimechannel]

ROSE: And it's been hanging over our heads the whole time. JAKE: Hold on a tick! JAKE: I may be a newcomer to all this cosmic mythology but i recall being informed that skaia was one of the good guys. ROSE: Informed by who? JAKE: Well... by our sprites and some of the carvings in the ruins and things like that. HALSPRITE: Everyone knows we game guides are completely trustworthy. DIRK: Wait, are you working for an even bigger bad? HALSPRITE: No. But there are certain things I can't say, or have to be party to. HALSPRITE: We've been over this, remember? HALSPRITE: My ectoplasm is still sore from your Emperor Palpatine tantrum. KANAYA: Skaia Controls The Narrative We Are Privy To KANAYA: Especially For Prospit Heroes Who Gain Glimpses In The Clouds During The Eclipse KANAYA: I Thought Those Images Were Random KANAYA: But JADE: but its pretty suspicious that it kept so much of the bad stuff from me! JADE: i might not have been so eager to play otherwise JADE: even if its not like we ever had a choice :/ JADE: and the other calliope said she had a hand in choosing those images soooo DAVE: i thought skaia "sees and knows" and couldnt do jack shit DAVE: howd we get from there to here JADE: we didnt know until today that skaia had a "cherub behind the curtain" :o CALLIOPE: after her speech i'm not sUre whether skaia reflects her will entirely or is only inspired by it. CALLIOPE: bUt it is not a neUtral actor. CALLIOPE: and she admitted to having a hand in the rUles of the game that broUght Us here. ROSE: Feferi mentioned the gods might have had something to do with it as well. ROSE: Aradia, do you know anything about that? ARADIA: i suspected something like it ARADIA: it made sense, considering derse dreamers role as emissaries to the noble circle and each incipispheres presence nestled within the furthest ring ARADIA: how they struck that deal or what it involved i dont know though DIRK: The point is, this game didn't come out of nowhere. DIRK: Someone had to make it. KANAYA: So To Clarify KANAYA: If The Other Cherub Is Skaia You Wish To Depose Her KANAYA: But If She Is The Consciousness Guiding Skaia You Would Replace Her Instead CALLIOPE: hold on. CALLIOPE: i don't trUst myself with that kind of responsibility. JANE: I'm not sure anyone should be! JAKE: Yes its like galadriel getting the ring! JOHN: if you don't make yourself the person in charge, but skaia has like... what did you call it? JOHN: a consciousness? JOHN: could you give it a conscience? KARKAT: HOLD UP. KARKAT: I KNOW ROSE ALREADY CAME TO ME PEDDLING THIS LATEST HERESY BUT I THINK IT OUGHT TO AT LEAST COME TO A VOTE. KARKAT: THIS COULD HAVE SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES, AND THE DOOR IS RIGHT THERE. KARKAT: IF ANYONE DOESN'T WANT TO RISK THEIR LIVES FOR THIS, SPEAK NOW. JANE: Could we get a description of what this plan actually /is/? ROSE: We'll need to work the details out. KARKAT: SHE WANTS TO MEDDLE WITH THE GENESIS FROG'S DNA. KARKAT: LIKE THAT WENT SO WELL LAST TIME. DAVE: the tadpoles already flown the coop on that one DAVE: unless you want to send john all the way back to our breeding session JOHN: oh come on, i can't be the solution to EVERYONE'S problems. ROSE: I wasn't going to suggest that. ROSE: Once we have a better grasp of what we want to change, we have someone with an even better skillset for reshaping reality to our liking. CALLIOPE: my other self got Us into this mess. CALLIOPE: i don't know how exactly bUt it's only fitting i get Us oUt of it. ROXY: soooo ROXY: we need 2 come up w/ a world we like ARADIA: without breaking too much ARADIA: this system works for what its designed to do ARADIA: you cant abolish it entirely without some kind of replacement SOLLUX: she's saying maybe d0n't torch the place with0ut at least reading the manual. ROXY: so we gotta reverse engineer it ROXY: sounds like a plan 2 me JAKE: I could take another look at those carvings... JANE: /clears throat/ JANE: I think Karkat is right, we should have a show of hands. JANE: Everyone in favor of pursuing this? ROXY: this game sux ass ROXY: if i can stop more doomed ppl gettin axed just bc they were in the wrong place then im gonna do it ROXY: count me in DAVE: wait i thought english was the guy behind most of our doomed timelines DAVE: with his alpha timeline forcing everyone to make one set of decisions DAVE: didnt we beat him and get rid of that JAKE: I think its fair to say calliope did! CALLIOPE: ^U^ ARADIA: its true that his influence generated far more fruitless offshots than would exist otherwise ARADIA: and constricted our paths to prioritize a single narrative ARADIA: but timeline dooming is always a mechanism available to players ARADIA: and the game sets up certain loops on its own ROSE: Lord English isn't the one who sent meteors to destroy our planet. JOHN: no he isn't. JOHN: and that's not fair, that is not what any of us signed up for. JOHN: i've been rewriting rules all day, and this sounds like a great one to get rid of. JOHN: i'll help you guys out. DAVE: well then DAVE: might as well go two for two TEREZI: SK414S T4ST3S 4R3 DR4CON14N 3V3N FOR M3 TEREZI: WH4T K1ND OF JUST1C3 SO W4NTONLY T4RG3TS 1NNOC3NTS TEREZI: 1 WOULDNT M1ND T4K1NG 1T DOWN 4 P3G JADE: i dont know how long ill have my first guardian powers back, but im willing to use them JADE: no one should be treated like pawns no matter what your justification is ROSE: My anti-authoritarian streak is already common knowledge. ROSE: I guess they were right warning you away from dreamers from the wrong side of the tracks. ROSE: Derse is a hotbed for radicalism. DIRK: It must run in the family. DIRK: Why do away with a good tradition? HALSPRITE: There's no way I'd turn down an opportunity to fuck with a fundamental component of the universe. KANAYA: Creation Is Under My Jurisdiction KANAYA: But Creation Pursued At Any Cost Can Be Just As Destructive As Intentional Violence KANAYA: Maybe I Can Put My Inclinations To Pacify Dangerous Forces To Good Use JAKE: Im through with being shoved around! JAKE: If this will help some other people out there in the multiverse who might get saddled with all this games expectations then i think its our duty to try. JANE: What kind of Empress would I be if I didn't try to secure the best possible future for whoever comes after us? JANE: Besides, I've sat back in the face of tyranny long enough. NANNASPRITE: I have too. DAVESPRITE: my programming wont allow me to participate in this DAVESPRITE: nah im just fucking with you lets kill the suffering orb ARADIA: ive spent a long time doing things because they had to be done ARADIA: to fulfill some time loop or the will of the game ARADIA: it would be nice to make a momentous decision on my own for once CALLIOPE: my other self said i woUld never be a proper mUse, bUt i take issUe with her methods. CALLIOPE: i think it's proper to set them right. SOLLUX: i feel like i'm c0ming into this discussi0n missing a lot of c0ntext but if it means we'll get a move 0n, sure. SOLLUX: sgrub 0r skaia or whatever cosmic f0rce we're ganging up on can suck my bulge. TEREZI: COM3 ON K4RK4T YOU KNOW YOU W4NT TO KARKAT: I GUESS MY REVOLUTIONARY ANCESTOR WOULD BE ASHAMED OF ME OTHERWISE. KARKAT: EVEN IF HE WAS KIND OF A JACKASS. KARKAT: AND THIS GAME HAS BEEN PRETTY TERRIBLE. KARKAT: LET'S JUST TRY NOT TO GET ANYONE KILLED THIS TIME. KARKAT: OK, WE'VE ALL GOT OUR HANDS UP NOW. KARKAT: THIS STIRRING SHOW OF CAMARADERIE WILL MOVE THE HEAVENS. KARKAT: "LOOK, THEY HAVE THEIR HANDS RAISED! WE WERE WRONG. GIVE THEM WHATEVER THEY ASK FOR, AND PASS ME THE TISSUES." KARKAT: GOOD JOB TEAM. I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY WITH YOURSELVES.

====>

[water8itch]

Witch Familiars

All The Witches we’ve seen have been associated with some powerful beast that granted them an equally powerful aspect related boon. Jade packed up their entire session thanks to Bec. Damara shaped the history of an entire planet thanks to Lord English. Feferi was able to set up stable dream bubbles thanks to Gl’bgolyb. I wondered how this would work out for other witches so here’s my brainstorm under a read more cause it gets long.

A cool familiar that works for a lot of aspects is a fox/kitsune. This idea was brought to me by @conceptualarchitect and I’m just gonna copy/paste what they said

Imagine someone doing some dreamself-protoyping with a thing that represents the kitsune - fox spirits (giving them the animal ears, and maybe tails, for the sake of looking cool (and cute)), and depending on aspect (Heart or Mind), they could momentarily 'separate' that kitsune part from themselves, like an astral projection, allowing control of it to do remote attacking and actions (almost like a Stand - from JoJo) as well as using it to 'possess' others and control them. When the fox spirit part is separated from themselves, the animal ears and stuff seem to disappear for the duration. (And will return once it's back.)

They went on to describe a whole bunch of powers that have been attributed to kitsune and it was just a pretty cool idea that I had to share.

Time

Lord English

An automaton who has a built-in clock that counts down to an important event like the perfect time to scratch. Or the clock is stuck at a specific time the Witch needs to travel to in order to save the session.

A fire elemental creature that forces the Witch to use special gear to care for it. This makes the Witch the perfect person to dive into the lava/plasma/hot liquid and retrieve The Artifact™ that will allow the Witch to [powerful time/ish thing]. Like a Juju that will make the witch powerful enough to stop/change the judgment clocks, effectively seizing control of the clockwork majyyks that tie them to god tiers.

Space

A first guardian

A basilisk that teaches the Witch to sculpt. Later the witch sculpts a giant frog scaring away the Dersite army and making it easier to take down the Black Royalty.

Their guardian is the world's greatest fashion designer and forces the witch to learn about fashion. The Witch uses this knowledge to create god tier outfits early on in the game. The underlings are intimidated by the players who seem extremely powerful so soon causing them to stay out of the way and let everybody quest.

Heart

A pet chipmunk with the power to duplicate itself received from their mad scientist guardian. Witch tries to call up it’s spirit Patronus style. Since all the chipmunks are the same she instead calls up their giant merged souls to crush the enemy.

The Witch is haunted by a powerful ghost.

The exiled White Queen that landed several years in the past, but not many after running from her duties. The Witch recognizes the younger version of them in the Medium because [ insert quirky thing here that the carapace always does]. Convinces the WQ to abdicate the throne, preventing the war from escalating.

Mind

Their house is sentient and communicates with them telepathically. After entering the medium it’s consciousness spreads to the whole planet due to [appropriate sburb shenanigan]. This allows the Witch to seize control of the planet and force their Denizen to make a Choice.

The Witch has been in contact with the highest commanding officer of the Dersite army their whole life. When they enter the game they find that the Black Royalty was assassinated by the sessions Jack. Unfortunately they hid the location of their ring and staff. Without them the reckoning can’t start. The Witch takes over for the Dersite army and wins the war. Using the ships to tow meteors, the Witch also performs a manual Reckoning.

Hope

An angel like the ones on Eridan’s land. It whispers a prophecy to the Witch where they are the hero. During the session the Witch encounters the same prophecy but finds that another player is destined to fulfill it. The Angel reassures the witch that the destiny is theirs. After a group of players from a void session try to invade their session, the Witch’s belief in themselves allows them to alter the prophecy and be the hero they knew they could be.

An “imaginary friend” who turns out to be very real.

Any mentor who teaches/encourages/grows something unique about the Witch that comes in handy later.

Rage

A magic mirror that never lies. The Witch eventually asks it a question that it chooses to answer similarly to Rose and the Cue Ball.

Light

An extremely lucky rabbit. It hops it’s way in and out of several situations that leaves the Witch in the perfect position to unearth their ultimate weapon early.

A crystal golem. The Witch refracts the light through the golem turning it into a blinding disco ball and clearing a path through the horrorterrors in the Furthest Ring

Void

Something along the lines of the Cheshire Cat.

A horrorterror

A [thematically appropriate being] that speaks exclusively in nonsense riddles. As time goes on the Witch figures out that they aren’t nonsense riddles but normal sentences out of context. She pieces them together and finds the Highly Irrelevant Object™ and glamours it to match the Extremely Important Item™ derailing the evil plot of [player determined to ruin everything goes here]

Life

A sentient plant.

A goldfish with dubious majyykall powers. The Witch merges with the fish and gaining it’s Mida’s touch the Witch turns the tumor-esque bomb in the center of their Skaia to gold, preventing the annihilation of their session.

Doom

A powerful government created AI hitches a ride on the Witches computer into the Medium. The Witch uses the AI’s programming to delete the orbs from the royal Staffs and Rings. This makes defeating there previously unstoppable black king much easier.

Breath

Sentient Weather

The worlds greatest lockpick

Blood

A Vampire

[othercat2]

fic: (they flow from form to form) 16/?

==>Karkat: be the parfit gentil knight

From Terezi’s bedroom, they wander into the kitchen. Terezi sits at the table, and Karkat rummages around in the fridge. “So there’s left over homemade macaroni and cheese and meat loaf. In the freezer we have Salisbury Steak, Swedish Meatballs, Sweet and Sour Chicken and some pot pies.”

“Mac and cheese and meatloaf,” Terezi says. Her chin is resting cupped in one of her hands as she watches him. She’s smiling, a little bit.

Karkat heats a plate for himself first. (Terezi: “Rude!” Karkat: “I’m a guest; you should be making something for me.”) Then he heats a second plate up for Terezi, setting it down in front of her, along with a can of soda. “So, I guess I’m going to be here, at least until your mom and Si fix whatever Dad did,” he says tentatively.

Terezi is quiet for a moment, poking at her mac and cheese. “We could watch a movie, maybe,” she suggests, voice just as tentative. “Or play video games.”

“We could do that,” Karkat says. He eats some of his meatloaf. He notices--becomes aware somehow--that Hope isn’t around anymore. “Huh. He’s gone.”

“Wanted us to settle this ourselves,” Terezi says.

“Yeah,” Karkat says. “I think we did, though. You were setup, it’s apparently lucky the Gods think I’m cute or whatever, and everything is kinda fucked up because weird religious shenanigans.”  

Terezi’s laugh is rusty and sad. “And I shouldn’t blame myself?”

“Not really no,” Karkat says. He’s silent for a moment, concentrating mostly on the contents of his plate. Finally, he asks, “So, when did the Gods start passing you love notes, or whatever?” He was more than a little curious about how it might work for an “insider” as opposed to well, him.

This time Terezi’s laugh sounds a little more like her usual self. “Before the school year,” she says. “It was just little hints, a song I liked coming up more often on the radio, visions being a little clearer, little gifts showing up on my dresser. I was nervous? And I didn’t want to read too much into it, you know? Sometimes the Gods show favor, and it doesn’t mean anything except They’re in a good mood and They like you. I didn’t get the nerve to actually ask until the end of September.”

“How did they let you know?” Karkat asks.

Terezi grinned. “I woke up with frost all over the window, the next morning, leaves, flowers all over the glass and the answer to my question; ‘yes, we would court you.’” She pokes at her food, takes a bite. “Then there was a lot of awful poetry,” she says in a deadpan critical tone.

Karkat laughs, feeling brighter, lighter somehow at the comment. “Awful poetry seems to be a thing,” he says.

“Ohhh?” Terezi asks with lifted brows. “How bad are we talking?”

Karkat shrugs. “Pretty bad. Uh. He was trying to reassure me I think? In rhyme.” He felt a little reluctant to share the details, given how annoyed Feferi got about his tentacle god jokes. He didn’t want to upset Terezi, when they were just starting to talk again.

Terezi’s eyes widen. “--butthole squid babies?” she asks, and cracks up laughing.  

Karkat felt his face heat up. “What the heck?”

Terezi points behind him, and at the same time there’s a sharp caw. Karkat turns, and sees the crow perched up on the refrigerator. “Just sharing a rhyme, ain’t no crime,” the crow says.

“Your poetry is a felony,” Karkat retorts.

“My rhymes got mad flow

Wherever I go

I drop sick beats

Bring sizzle to the pan

Grilling your meats,

Like you know I can,” the crow says.  

“I’m really impressed,” Karkat says. “No really, I’m impressed you could say that, and have no idea how stupid that sounded.”

“They’re better when he gets warmed up,” Terezi says. “But that was not your best,” she says to the crow.

The crow preens its wing, and Karkat immediately thinks of a cat grooming itself all nonchalant after embarrassing itself. All, “I meant to do that.” Though in this case, Karkat suspected the crow really had meant to do that. “You get visited by the crow a lot too?” Karkat asks.

Terezi shrugs. “The crow’s showed up, and usually Time Himself. Breath, Light, Space, Hope a lot recently.” The last is said with an irritable frown and a glare. Not at Karkat though, but at some point space off to the side. There’s nothing there but a countertop and cabinets as far as Karkat can tell, however.

The crow makes an almost human sounding chuckle, and flaps down to perch on one of the kitchen chairs. He eyes the meatloaf on Karkat’s plate.

“Don’t even think about it,” Karkat says, and puts his hand up to protect his plate from marauding crows.

“A little bit won’t hurt him, Karkat,” Terezi says.

“I’m not worried about him getting hurt, I’m worried he’ll steal it,” Karkat says. “You don’t like Hope?” Karkat asks.

“I’d like Him better if He’d leave me alone,” Terezi mutters. The next bite of mac and cheese is definitely aggravated. “He’s here because I’ve been…sick.”

“Depressed,” the crow says.

“Depressed,” Terezi echoes, and flips the crow off. The crow laughs again.

“Because of what happened?” Karkat asks.

“And because I get depressed,” Terezi says. “Though what happened didn’t help. I stopped taking pills during my fast, even though they’re permitted and when I got back I spent most of the time asleep, pretending to be asleep and ignoring texts from Sol.” Terezi sighs. “Then Hope manifested and I’m suddenly taking my pills and He’s being cheerful at me and argh.”  

“Did he uh, make you take your pills? Or just tell you to?” Karkat asks, a little uncertain about that last.

Terezi tilts the palm of her hand side to side in a “either or” gesture. “Well, He manifested and His Aspect made me feel better, and therefore made me more likely to take my meds? But it wasn’t like mind control which is what I think you’re implying?”

“Yeah, kinda. Sorry,” Karkat says, feeling a little guilty about asking despite it being a legitimate concern. Then he’s distracted by the crow, which has swooped in on his plate. “Dammit!” He catches the crow and almost immediately he lets go of it, surprised by the almost burning heat, the fast beat of its heart, and the sense he’d gotten of the molten Blood beneath skin and feathers. The crow takes advantage of his surprise to snag a chunk of meat loaf and abscond for the countertop.

Karkat half expects his fingers to be blistered and singed by the heat, but they’re unhurt. “That doesn’t happen when you land on me,” Karkat says accusingly to the crow.

“Did you try to grab him?” Terezi asks. “Well, there you go then,” she says when Karkat shakes his head.

“Is the crow actually Time? He hasn’t been to clear on that,” Karkat says.

“Time speaks through the crow sometimes,” Terezi says. She grins. “And sometimes Time takes the shape of a crow.”

This didn’t exactly explain if the crow at this point in time was “the crow” or Time in the shape of a crow. Karkat glances at the crow, which is poking around at appliances on the countertop. He had a feeling that a straight answer wasn’t going to be a thing in the immediate future.

“I kind of wish I’d known about all of this sooner,” Karkat says, after poking at the contents of his plate for a while. “I get you needed to keep things hidden, but I’m still kind of upset you didn’t tell me anything.”

“So do I,” Terezi says. “I kind of wanted to, but I wasn’t sure if you’d be staying. I mean it seemed like you might settle, and Mister Vantas is a really great teacher, but it’s usually years before outsiders see what’s going on in the town.” She frowns. “You saw a lot anyway. I wonder how much you did see through, just because you’re Blood?”

Karkat shrugs. “I figured you were pagan? My dad has pagan friends.” Terezi grins at that. “Anyway I mostly noticed the lack of those little cardboard Pilgrim and Native American pictures in stereotypical costumes around Thanksgiving and that the Christmas decorations didn’t show up until December,” he says. Also, it had mostly been Christmas trees, Santa Clause and candy canes, with maybe doves and stars being as far most of the décor around businesses got to religious symbolism. Homes had more religious symbolism, but they didn’t show up till the first week of December.

“Oooh, usually outsiders notice the lack of churches, and they have to go to the next town over,” Terezi says.

Karkat shrugs. He had noticed, and it had seemed strange, but it wasn’t nearly as strange as Christmas decorations neatly confined to December first through to the twenty fifth, except at the Walmart. “I was raised mostly agnostic,” he says. According to the town history he’d read, there had been a few churches up until the 1930s. Then there had been a couple of church burning incidents, after which the high priestess decreed the remaining churches would be burnt down. (“And the arsonists should be glad I don’t burn their homes, with themselves and all their family besides.”)    

After dinner, they put the dirty dishes in the dish washer and head into the living room. Neither of them really have a lot of interest in watching a movie, or going back to Terezi’s room to play video games. Instead, Karkat talks about school, about what he’s been learning from Feferi and Si. At first he tries to hide the parts where he’d been deliberately provoking Feferi, not wanting to offend Terezi. She gets the details out of him anyway, and cackles about it.

“Soo, not offended that I was disrespectful to your high priestess?” Karkat asks.

“If she was really angry about anything you said, she doesn’t need me to defend her honor,” Terezi says. “And if you were being a complete jerk I’d be mad you were hurting Feferi’s feelings, not that you were being rude to the high priestess. I kind of wish I’d been there. Poor Fef!” She giggles. “Was anyone offended on her behalf?”

“Um. Eridan, Equius I think Kanaya a little bit, and also Sollux.” Karkat pauses. “I think he has a crush on her?”

“Eridan and Equius are both from super traditional families,” Terezi says. “They are both super preppy.”

“Eridan seems more like a Goth,” Karkat says.

“Goth-Preppy hybrid,” Terezi says, and snickers. “Goppy? No, that sounds like one of Fef’s puns. Equius’ only redeeming quality is that he’s friends with Nepeta--though okay, I lie, he’s been much less of an asshole after he got the part time job at Benson and Quill Auto.” She grins. “Kanaya is the mom-friend and Sol has had the stupidest crush on Feferi since forever. Sollux is a dumb butt.”

“A dumb butt who’s been pretty worried about you,” Karkat can’t help but say.

Terezi’s eyebrows lift. “Are you the dad-friend, Karkat? Gonna make me text Sol?”

“Do I have to?” Karkat asks. “I mean, he’s your friend and he’s worried about you, right?”

Terezi makes a disgusted noise. “You sound like your dad,” Terezi accuses, and goes to get her cell.

She comes back into the living room, and spends some time texting with Sollux. Sollux meanwhile texts Karkat and they have an awkward three way conversation via until they get on a Pesterchum memo together. Sollux yells at Terezi in the memo, and asks Karkat for details about the emergency. This leads to them both explaining Mind and Doom interactions when collaborating on a Working.

CG: I AM PRETTY SURE THIS IS ADVANCED LEVEL STUFF I HAVEN’T GOTTEN TO YET GUYS.

GC: H33 H33 H33 W3’LL DUMB 1T DOWN FOR YOU!

TA: thii2 ii2 ju2t ba2iic two A22pect Work kk

TA: waiit tiil you have two figure out quint2 and 2extet2

TA: we’re not even  gettiing iinto fray motiifs

CG: THE FUCK IS A FRAY MOTIF?

Sollux doesn’t give an explanation. Instead he types KK DUCK, which is echoed out loud by Terezi, and in some weird internal way by something in his head. He rolls off the couch just as something smashes against the window. The glass cracks, but doesn’t break.

Terezi joins him on the floor. She shouts a word, and bright patterns flicker across the floor, up the walls and meet at the ceiling. Karkat recognizes some of the symbols, almost makes sense of what they mean before they make his eyes water and he has to look away. “What the fuck?” There’s nothing but a crackle of static from the phones.

“Stay down,” Terezi says. “Sol’s gonna get his dad, and call Feferi. Hopefully we don’t have to hold the fort for too long.”

There’s another crack against the window, along with a bright flash. “Okay, we’re being attacked. No shit, Karkat. Who’s attacking us?”

“I can’t see clearly,” Terezi says. “And I’m kinda hoping the attack isn’t two pronged.”

“Two pronged, you mean my Dad?” Karkat asks with a sick sort of feeling. “Why?”

“Outsiders, corrupting influence who the fuck knows,” Terezi says, voice brittle and frustrated. She takes a breath. “Okay, you want to find out about fray motifs?” She asks, and lights up bright teal, a three armed spiral appearing around her head. “Let’s try some firsthand experience.” She holds out her hand. “Take my hand.”

Karkat hesitates for less than a second, then grabs her hand. “I have no idea what you want me to do--” he says, but then he knows, because Terezi has dropped the information in his head. He activates a Blood sigil, and wraps the lines of a defensive pattern around Terezi’s mind sigil.

The defensive pattern spins, and then separates into three-limbed, curved blades of light dark red and bright teal. They split again and again.

(The lights go out, but they can still see. Indistinct shapes on the other door linked together and somehow shielded.)

Two shuriken or whatever they were spin toward the indistinct shapes. The shapes dodge.

that was your only warning, Terezi says. Her voice has a strange tonality to it, sharper and weirdly crystalline. back off or be cut down.

The only answer from the shapes is a bright flash that crashes against the door.

She shows him where and how to direct the blades, he can show her there are ten people in total, six in the front of the house, four in the back. He can also show her where the leader is, and that’s where they direct most of their attacks. They are perfectly in tune with each other, and the “tune” part is literal. Music is rising between the shifting combinations of their patterns, music that almost tells them where to go, where to face.

They can’t do this for very long. Karkat has no training, and Terezi is worn down and sick from being depressed. Karkat almost drops the sigil patterns when he senses (allies) approaching. no they’ll be waiting for you to drop your guard, she says and he holds onto the patterns.

He keeps it together until Mituna, flanked by Aradia and Sollux let’s himself into the house. “Hey,” Karkat says in greeting, then “oh, that’s why you have a key.” Then he and Terezi kind of tip over onto the floor, and the sigil patterns collapse. “Mr. Captor’s your dad?” he asks, feeling lightheaded and strange.  

“Half-dad,” Terezi mumbles. “Step-dork.”

“Love you too, honey,” Mituna says, squatting down next to both of them. “It’s complicated, says so on my Facebook and everything,” he says to Karkat, his mouth twitching at the corners. Karkat gets the sense that Mr. Captor is trying not to fall apart in front of them. He lifts both of them, with telekinesis, and then folds out the couch bed. “When I’m not so freaked out, I get dibs on screaming at you,” he tells Terezi, or maybe the both of them.

“What about m’dad?” Karkat says.

“He can yell at you next,” Mituna says.

That wasn’t at all what Karkat meant, but he was too tired to try to explain. He falls asleep, curling up next to Terezi. The last thing he thinks he hears is Aradia Megido mentioning something about pictures.

<==

==>

I have a Patreon! If you like my writing, please consider becoming  a patron! Or you could buy me a coffee! Donation links are in the sidebar of my blogs!

[ask-sickstuck]

could we get a continuation of the Fairy Aradia and Fairy Feferi story where the two of them decided to help sollux and equius after they start to get sick.

Ooh, yeah, it’s been a long time, but this would be a fun one to continue, even though the sick part’s gotta clear up.

I’m curious who you are, anon. The original fic did horribly. Only one person liked it, and they’re not afraid to message me off anon, so I know this request isn’t from them.

Also, I know part one was weird. I was trying something new. This chapter’s way better, I swear.

“I’ll stay here with the girls,” Sollux whispered, not wanting to wake the invisible, sleeping faeries in a blanket in the back seat.

Equius had pulled them through some twists and turns by a lake to a tiny shop that read ‘The Village Witch’. There was no clear place to legally park, and from as close as they could get, Sollux couldn’t even see the shop. He could only see a circus school beside it, some trees and the back of the Irish pub in front of them.

“What a weird-ass place,” he thought. “I wonder what the inside’s like…Couldn’t really tell anything from the split second on the road…”

Equius got out of the car and disappeared as he walked on the broken pavement in front of the shops.

“Excuse me, do you have any books on care for the fey?” Equius asked the Wiccan woman with long red hair.

“Care?” She asked as she lead him to a shelf.

“From a veterinary perspective,” Equius explained.

“Well, they can get ill and die, but I’m not sure we really have a lot on how somebody would tend to one of the fey,” she walked to the shelves. “These books focus on health, though. Let me show you the stones we have, too.” There were descriptions, elements and star signs printed out next to bowl after bowl of shiny stones. Equius grabbed the ones that the witch pointed out, feeling overwhelmed with the intake of information available in the store. He scooped up a handful of agate, remembering Aradia’s earlier mention of them.

“Bonding with a crystal on the full moon could also help. The crystal will work with your body to heal it the way you like if you charge it in moonlight,” She gently touched a crystal hanging with many others on display. “The crystal will tell you what it’s good for after you bond it, but some stones are more likely to heal than others. This one would be a good start.”

“I’ll take these books on healing,” Equius hoped that she thought he was just writing some novel. He had trouble believing that she could suspect him of actually capturing a faerie, but he was still nervously sweating.

“We’ll also take these stones,” Sollux insisted.

“They’re elegant,” Equius said with a smile.

The witch smiled and rang him up.

Sollux and Eridan rested in their beds, each with a book in hand from The Village Witch. Aradia and Feferi had instructed them where to place the stones for their use. The controlled temperature of the dorm was clearly helpful for their comfort, and all of the glitter sneezing seemed to have been toned down. Things were looking up.

“So, you won’t have class for 2 days when the moon is full?” asked Feferi, feeling much better.

“Correct,” Equius nodded, trying to explain their schedule. “Although, we will drive you back to the forest if you need to return sooner.”

“I’m used to all-nighters,” said Sollux.

“We’re not in any rush,” said Aradia. “We still haven’t even repaid you for your kindness.”

“Yes, speaking of that…” Equius made eye contact with Sollux before continuing. “We’re quite fortunate, actually. We’re lucky to not have any problems that need divine intervention.”

“Yeah,” Sollux frowned. “I know a lot of people who would do anything for a little magic, but we’re doing pretty good. We couldn’t trouble you with our ridiculous little problems.”

“How much do you really think we’re capable of?” asked Aradia.

“I have no idea,” Sollux said with a blush. “But you 2 are the most amazing creatures I’ve ever seen.”

“The most I’ve done is throw up in your hand,”

“You don’t even know how special you are,” Sollux continued. “You turn invisible and bond with rocks. You draw those symbols to cast your spells, and I feel more than paid back just to have met you and spent time with you. I’ll never forget you 2.”

“If you ever need anything else, we would love to help you.” Equius felt himself getting sweaty as they humbled themselves to the faeries.

“Humans usually want better health and more money,” said Aradia. “Are these not problems for you?”

“I guess Sollux has his loans and migraines,” said Equius. “However, you must understand this building is a university. It’s serves for the education of very privileged people…”

“You get migraines?” asked Feferi.

“Sometimes,” said Sollux. “It was more of a problem when I was a kid. I was really sick in middle school, but I’m better now. I’m hoping I’ll stay better.”

“We’ll make sigils for you!” Feferi grinned and nodded. “You can copy them down in one of your notebooks and make them again to burn whenever you want!”

“But you have to charge them,” said Aradia. “So either show them to someone before you burn them, sleep with it, or pray to it.”

“I’ll put them in my phone case and sleep with them every night,” Sollux gratefully decided. He handed them a notebook and a pencil, and the girls got busy drawing.

“As for the loans, I have a spell that will make you rich.”

“You do?” asked Sollux.

“Oh, Aradia…” Feferi frowned.

“It’s just a simple throwing a stone in the river spell,” said Aradia. “Nothing too difficult for them.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Feferi shook her head.

“No, tell me how I do this.” Sollux eagerly listened.

Feferi sighed and let Aradia talk. She stopped drawing and grinned.

“First, you’ll need a pearl as your stone. You take the pearl, and you throw it in the river. You’ll be rich. It always works,” she smirked. “It has to. You would have to be rich to throw a pearl in the river.”

“Okay, okay,” Sollux chuckled. “Now let’s get to Equius. Maybe you could help him with his bodybuilding. He has this fear that —“ Sollux paused, worrying he was overstepping his bounds. Equius clearly looked anxious, but Sollux knew that Equius was too proud to admit it to the girls.

Sollux sighed.

“I know that Equius has this fear that he won’t be able to protect the ones he loves.”

“Protection spells would be easier for that,” said Aradia.

“I really don’t need anything —“ Equius sweat.

“We’ll make you some sigils, too.” Feferi smiled and started drawing. “When will we get to see you again?”

“Wow, whenever you want to see us again,” Sollux started to blush. “We’ll make the drive out to the forest. Hell, I love camping now if that means I get to see the 2 of you.”

Aradia and Feferi exchanged smiles.

“You didn’t think receiving payment would be the end, did you?” Aradia asked with a teasing smile.