FUTURE terminallyCapricious [FTC] 0:42:00 HOURS FROM NOW responded to memo. […]
FTC: HEY BEST MOTHERFUCKING FRIEND.
FTC: what all seems to be the motherfuckin problem? :o) […]
CCG: OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD
FTC: i'm in your future, best friend.
FTC: I KNOW WHERE YOU MOTHERFUCKING ARE.
FTC: and what you'll motherfuckin do. […]
FTC: and also. […]
FTC: i'm all about to be meeting up some friends. :o) […]
FTC: i wonder if you can all be at with me in time and make me get my reconsider on?
... is it just me, or does it kind of sound like Gamzee's asking for help here?
Instead of directly threatening his friend, he's asking if Karkat will help him 'reconsider' - almost as though there's a piece of him that doesn't want to be trapped in a murderous rage, and it's trying to make itself heard.
Do I spot some ominous purple text in the corner?
I do.
Well, Terezi isn’t the worst person for Gamzee to run into on his rampage. A Seer like her will immediately understand that he's snapped - and she's no slouch in the combat department, either, so I don't think she'll be easy pickings.
Things might get dicey, however, if Gamzee pulls out the power he used against the Black King. We have no idea what that even looks like - but Terezi does, so she at least shouldn't be blindsided by it.
Anyway, what does our resident detective make of the dearly departed Tavros?
Before the full investigation is underway, a legislacerator will always have a chief suspect in mind. The one she will hold guilty until proven otherwise, a process customarily taking place after the execution.
That sounds about right for the Alternian ‘justice’ system. I’d ask what happens if a suspect is proven innocent after their execution, but that presupposes that Alternia even has a concept of 'proving someone innocent'.
In any case, a stopped clock is still right twice a day, and Terezi's corrupt methods have lead her to the correct culprit. What's her next move?
Above, you detect faint traces of what you reckon to be special stardust, such as the kind left behind by the flapping wings of a mischievous fairy.
I knew Terezi’s sense of smell was impressive, but I didn’t think she could go full bloodhound. She really is the most well-equipped troll for this new, more dangerous Veil.
And not far from that, you detect bright trails of white light. It smells... hopeful.
All three killers are in the vicinity, then.
... look at me, already calling Gamzee a killer. To our knowledge, he hasn't harmed anyone thus far - but I'm fully convinced he intends to, based purely on the strength of his most recent Pesterlogs.
The writing there was genuinely impressive. In just a few dozen lines, Hussie has completely sold me on the idea that the funny meme clown is dead fucking serious about violently murdering his friends.
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Restless
Several months had passed since the Endsinger was laid low, and a sense of normalcy was returning to Eithirys.
In a private study room of the Sharlayan library, Kharia lifted an empty mug to her lips. After a brief, confused pause, she groaned and set it back on the table with a heavy thud. She briefly considered throwing the mug at the 'request mammet' button near the door. However, she realized that that would probably shatter the mug, and stood from the table with a groan.
"You should probably call it for tonight," a voice murmured in the back of her mind. "You aren't going to learn much half asleep."
"Are you a professor now?" Kharia replied, rolling her eyes.
"No," Ardbert chuckled, "but I've got a century on you in terms of experience."
"Being a ghost hardly counts for life experience," Kharia grumbled. He did have a point though - the clock on the wall read 1:28, and considering she didn't start her studies 'til after dinner, that meant it was far too late. She held the button, waiting for the telltale buzz to sound before releasing it. Returning to the desk with a yawn, she began stacking her notes and placing bookmarks into her tomes.
"Why did you sign us up for an accelerated course again?" Kharia's other self complained.
"First of all Red, we're not taking classes, I am," Kharia replied, "And secondly, the normal somanoutics course runs for a full year and I didn't want to wait that long."
"I still don't understand why the Source has so many regulations on healing magic," Ardbert mused. "Back on Norvrandt, you just... did it."
"Green wanted to do things the hard way," Red answered, "We could've gone to Gridania to learn conjury but no, we had to go to stuck up prick town instead."
"Fuck off," Green snapped, "you know damn well we can't do traditional magic. A sage's arts are the best shot we have at helping people."
"We help people by chopping up bad guys!" Red exclaimed. She was going to continue when the argument was halted by a knock at the door. Kharia took a deep breath before opening it. A Sharlayan mammet stood at attention.
"What... is your... request..?" it chittered in a mechanical voice.
"We're done with the room for now," Kharia answered, "but need to keep the books on hold. Please index my things for later."
"Affirmative. Please... provide... student... identification... for... indexing..."
"Adarkim, Kharia. Student S121-24."
"Bzzt... Thank you... Miss... Adarkim... For using... the Sharlayan... Library!" The mammet said in the most cheerful tone it was capable of. Kharia gave it a small wave goodbye as she left for the Baldesion Annex.
As late as it was, Ojika wouldn't be at the front desk, but fortunately Kharia had her own key to the dormitory wing. Plus, his absence meant she wouldn't be getting an earful about proper sleeping habits, so perhaps it was better this way. The annex itself was still, and the only sounds were the faint click of Kharia's heels on the stone floor. She paused, briefly, outside of G'raha's room. He was probably sleeping, like she should be, and while he'd never complain about her dropping in, she didn't want to disturb him. She turned to leave when she heard a faint, frustrated voice from the other side of the door. She couldn't tell what was said, or if they were words at all, but it didn't sound particularly good. Quietly, she opened G'raha's door and peered inside. The room was dark, save the thin beam of light from the hall. It was enough, however, for Kharia to see that G'raha was sitting upright in bed, clenching at his arm.
"Damn it..." he winced under his breath, "Why..? How..? Agh-!" Kharia whispered the command word to her nouliths, and they dutifully floated up behind her. She stepped into the room, and the faint blue light from her tools lit the chamber. G'raha's face turned and he gave a forced smile. "Kharia? What are you doing here at this hour?"
"Did you hurt yourself?" she asked, taking a seat next to him.
"It's nothing," he lied, quickly adjusting his posture. "I'm fine."
"Raha," Kharia said firmly. The miquote sighed.
"I swear to you, I've suffered no injuries. It's just-" he winced, and took a breath. "Ever since returning from the First, I've had dreams of my time as the Exarch. It's not unexpected, or surprising, of course.... But sometimes, the dreams are astonishingly vivid. It's as if I'm there, as if I'm him." G'raha paused, as if surprised by his own words. "That's a bit silly, isn't it? I mean, of course I'm him. I..." he trailed off, unsure of where he was going.
"Raha," Kharia said again, gently this time. "Are you, though? Are you truly the Exarch?"
"What do you mean? You know what happened with the Tower. A- and the soul vessel. I can remember everything that happened on the First, I- of course I'm him! I have to be! To suggest otherwise it- it doesn't make any sense..." Kharia noticed his poor attempt to hide his rising panic. She took a deep breath, adjusted her posture, and squeezed his hand.
"You don't have to be him," she assured him. G'raha looked at her with a puzzled expression.
"You... your... What did you do? Something's... different about you."
"That's because I am," Red replied. "Different, I mean. We're..." she paused, trying to find the right words. "There are two of me. Two different souls, tied together, in our body. We call ourselves Red and Green."
"What am I, chopped liver?" Ardbert's voice laughed in the back of their head.
"We'll get to you later," Green scolded, "stop distracting Red."
"Anyways," Red continued, "the two of us, we share memories sometimes. And feelings. But in spite of that, we're still own people. Green can explain it a lot better, but we felt that I'd do a better job of getting the point across."
"And that point is..?" G'raha was clearly confounded by this information, but the tilt of his ears suggested he was eager to learn more. Kharia let out a reassured sigh and continued.
"Just because you share the Exarch's memories, his pain... that doesn't mean you're him. If a nagging feeling in your gut says those memories, those emotions aren't yours, then maybe they're not. Maybe the soul fusion didn't go as perfectly as the Exarch had planned. And that's okay." G'raha sat silently, though the nervous flicking of his tail belied his anxiety. After some consideration, he finally spoke.
"Supposing that's true... if I'm not the Exarch... if his feelings aren't my own... then does that mean the feelings for you..?" He couldn't bring himself to voice his fear in its entirety. Kharia saw the tears forming in the corners of his eyes. She cupped his cheek and tilted his head to face her directly.
"What is your heart telling you?" she asked, wiping a tear away with her thumb. G'raha smiled, and began to cry tears of relief. He collapsed into Kharia's embrace.
"Thank you, Kharia," he wept. "I think I finally understand now, just a bit."
"We're here for you," she whispered. "If you want to talk about it, we'll be here to listen. And if you have questions, we'll help you find the answers. But for now, you can relax, and rest."
"Take your own advice," Ardbert suggested, "we need a bit of shuteye too." As G'raha's tears dried and his panic subsided, Kharia stood to return to her own dorm.
"Kharia, wait," G'raha called out to her. She turned. His blushing was visible in spite of the blue light of the nouliths. "You can sleep here. I mean, if you'd like. It's late, and your dorm is on the second floor, and I-"
"Of course I'll stay Raha" Kharia giggled at the miquote's awkwardness. G'raha averted her gaze, but he could do nothing to stop the twitch of his ears and the rapid flicking of his tail. Kharia returned to the bed, and snuggled up to him beneath the blanket. Though she could feel his heart racing, she knew this was the most comfortable either of them had been in quite some time.
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CCG: AUGH
CCG: THERE WAS ANOTHER LITTLE HONK
CCG: IT WAS SO FAINT
CCG: DID I JUST IMAGINE IT? I THINK I MIGHT BE LOSING IT.
Karkat’s pretty close to snapping himself, which would be an understandable reaction to the events of the last two minutes, let alone the last month. He doesn't deserve this.
Come to think of it, have we ever seen any incarnations of Karkat from beyond this point on the timeline? I don't think we have. That's understandable, I suppose - seeing a Karkat this traumatized would have given the game away.
CCG: GUESS I HAVE TO BRAVE IT FOR FEFERI'S SAKE.
PAST cuttlefishCuller [PCC] 380 HOURS AGO responded to memo.
PCC: For my sake? 38)
A ghost appears in chat.
This is just haunting, isn't it? Thanks to Trollian, Karkat can freely converse with his dead friends, but trying to save them will immediately doom the timeline. All he can do is dodge her confused questions, as her corpse lies not five feet from where he's standing.
Oh, the clown car is just full to the brim today, isn't it?
That’s what an angel looks like? I don’t know what the fuck us up with LOWAA, but I need to find out more.
PCA: are you busy
PCA: you said youd try to make it to lowwaa soon wwell howw about it
CCG: DUDE, ARE YOU AN IDIOT, YOU CAN PLAINLY SEE I AM FROM 300 FUCKING HOURS IN THE FUTURE, EVEN IF I WERE REMOTELY INTERESTED, WHICH TO THAT I SIMPLY SAY WHAT THE FUCK.
Methinks Eridan is just not a very observant person. The trolls have a lot of smart cookies on their team, but he's not one of them.
PCA: can you put in a wword wwith your past self maybe buggin him to make the trip wwhen he gets the chance
CCG: WAIT, WERE YOU HITTING ON ME BACK THEN?
CCG: *ARE* YOU HITTING ON ME?
CCG: LIKE AN ACTUAL RED SOLICITATION, IS THAT WAS THIS WAS???
I honestly think Eridan might be a bigger problem than Vriska.
With Vriska, there’s always been a sense that she at least regrets what she does. That doesn’t stop her from doing it, but it does mean there’s a seed of remorse inside her that could, in time, bloom into actual character development.
Eridan, on the other hand, completely lacks even the most meager shred of introspection. Not only does he not understand why his behavior is wrong, he doesn't even recognize it as wrong. He was remorseless in his harassment of Feferi, he was remorseless when he attacked Sollux, and I guarantee he’ll be just as remorseless as a full-fledged murderer.
CCG: I THOUGHT YOU LOVED HER.
PCA: wwho man wwhat are you talkin about
CCG: AND ALSO…
PCA: wwhat youre not makin sense
CCG: I CAN'T
CCG: I CAN'T EVEN TYPE HER NAME
CCG: SHE WAS MY FRIEND
CCG: SHE WAS MY REALLY GOOD FRIEND AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE HELL TO DO NOW THAT SHE'S GONE.
Can someone just give this kid a hug?
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