#somehow even though I draw Aradia the most I feel like she came out the least accurate to how I think of her

[forgetful-river]

The girlies!!

[luminescentlyricist]

♌ Tea Cups And Tenderness ♐

arsenicCatnip [AC] began trolling centaursTesticle [CT]

AC: :33 < *ac smiles at ct, swishing her tail and waving in a welcoming meownner*

CT: D --> Hello, Nepeta.

AC: :33 < *ac pounces on ct, glad that her meowrail is here to k33p her company*

CT: D --> I am glad you are here too, you make for e%cellent company.

AC: :33 < *ac asks ct how his day is going, hoping for a pawsitive answer*

CT: D --> I must confess that I am rather lonely.

AC: :33 < *furrowning, ac asks why, dropping off his back and nuzzling his cheek comfortingly*

CT: D --> Because you are not here in person.

centaursTesticle [CT] ceased trolling arsenicCatnip [AC]

~~~~

Equius knew that his love for the catlike troll was... morally wrong, just as his feelings for Aradia had been. To a lesser degree, yes, but to have feelings for a lowerblood of any level felt distinctly unbecoming, as did having feelings for a higherblood. He felt as if he had his place in the world, and he was determined to keep it as it was. He had feelings for no 'b100b100d', however, and thus was conflicted.

Nepeta stared longingly at her shipping wall for periods of time, often ones that were considered troubling. She was almost obsessive, the way she cared about the more-often-than-not imaginary relationships she had constructed and displayed, displayed as her pride and joy. She cared for Equius so, so much. But she couldn't shake the careful drawing that she hid from view, the one 'ship' that she wished for more than anything. She knew that the other didn't reciprocate feelings for her, but she persisted in her daydreams nonetheless.

~~~~

The two were moirails, and they couldn't have been better for each other.

Equius was strong, strong and steady. He was a protector, and though he could come off as too strong, almost... disgusting in his ways, he loved her and wished her the best.

Nepeta was soft. She was loving, understanding and the gentlest of souls. She helped him as much as she could, and although many cringed at her fascinations, she loved him and wished him the best.

They were capable of becoming more, so much more, but the roles they held in each other's hearts and eyes was enough. It made them happy. The joy that they felt could far surpass any doubts they might have had, shatter any negativity as long as they kept close. When they were separated, they had Trollian, but it would never be enough to satisfy their need to... be with each other, to have physical closeness.

The tea had been brewed in a hopeful, happy manner, as Nepeta had thought everything was actually going to be fine, despite the encroaching gloom. Equius' comforting, warming darkness was the only one she had expected. The catlike troll was ever the optimist, however, and that would serve to help her through the next events.

"Oh no! The Purrl Grey has been on for too long! It'll taste pawful!"

She hissed, tail lashing about - as opposed to its normal gentle sway - and running to check the lilac pot with a worried expression. She couldn't believe it had been steeping so long! She was so careless. Her tail slid motionlessly across the floor, shifting only when she herself moved. She felt downcast within moments, as she had tried so hard to make everything so, so perfect for Equius in her land.

She checked for a supply of sugar in the small dwelling she had made there, as she liked her Cameowmile nice and sweet, before giggling to herself. She was going nuts, being alone, surely. She spun around, gazing at the hills and mounds of Little Cubes, her eyes bright and filled with a childlike wonder. Even though it felt like she had seen it all a million times, it never failed to amaze her time and time again.

"Silly Nepeta! Your land is made of sugar!"

Nepeta murmured to herself, walking out of her dwelling and looking around. She soon collected a basketful of sugar cubes, and bent down to the green tea river running like veins through her land. Sticking her tongue out, she looked around just in case Equius had been able to come to her land so soon. She didn't want to make a fool of herself in front of him. Happily, as she did most things, she bent over and quickly lapped at the green tea.

It was bitter, and she stuck her tongue out in disgust. She decided that she'd have to topple a whole hill worth of sugar into it later; it would give her something to do while Equius wasn't there, and it would be a lot of fun. Sweetness, as well as being sweet, really improved everything, or so she thought. She stood from the banks of the tea river, humming to herself as she licked the sticky residue of the sugar off her hands.

Skipping, she made her way back to the dwelling, humming softly. Equius would arrive at any minute, and she wanted to be there when he arrived. She was looking forward to seeing him, very much so, but also wanted to make sure that his often untameable strength didn't cause him to break the door as well. She'd worked on the small hut for a while, if only to keep her fidgety 'paws' at bay.

The troll soon arrived, beads of sweat trickling down his face relentlessly. She walked and got him a fresh white towel - those she had stocked up on for this reason alone - from the cupboard. He walked into the door of the hut, taking the towel from her. Equius almost seemed too big for the small dwelling, but Nepeta wanted it no other way. His size bought her comfort. He wiped his face gratefully, a broken-toothed smile coming to his lips.

"Thank you, Nepeta. It is good to see you."

Equius stood in the hut, looking around at the home Nepeta had made for herself. He was proud of her for doing such a thing, even though his head grazed the roof when it sloped down on occasion. Judging by her shorter-than-average size, and the fact that sugar grains crunched under their feet at every step, she had used the stackable cubes as leverage. She would have spent far more time than was necessary on the dwelling.

It made his hardened heart full with warmth and his gentle smile stay, unwavering, to know how much effort his Moirail had gone to, even if it wasn't specifically for him. She obviously had a real passion for what she was doing, and her fingers were still sticking together due to the baking she had done. She had set everything up just so, but she had been rather busy. She had only just had time to clean up a little before he came.

"Just a meowment, please, Equihiss."

Nepeta chirped, scampering off and to the little sink. She hummed some more as she washed her hands. Her short fingers saw the light for the first time in a while, as her bright blue paw-gloves nearly always obscured them from view. She had liked baking, as well as licking the bowls when she was finished, but didn't particularly enjoy washing up properly. She usually took her time with it, nonetheless, but she hurried because she wanted to get back to her blue-blooded friend.

She slipped her gloves back on, wiggling her fingers in relief. Although her skin was grey, and was already rather light in colour, her hands were noticeably more pale than the rest of her skin because of her habit of wearing them. She had dyed the tail and gloves when her moirallegiance with Equius started, wanting the blue to remind her that he was always with her, even when they were not together in person.

Soon, the troll bought the things she had baked to the small table, setting the plate of steaming hot muffins down and setting out a couple of placemats so that the teapots wouldn't scorch the table. She had left the Cameowmile to sit and cool down a little while the Purrl Grey steeped further, as Equius had told her that he liked his tea 'E%TREMELY STRONG'. She didn't want to burn her mouth, however.

It was evident that she had used too much sugar in the muffins, presumably to try and deplete the supply that was naturally given to her by the Land Of Little Cubes And Tea. She hadn't known that the supply was nearly infinite, so as to prevent sugar-based land degradation from Nepeta using it all up. She liked everything she had nearly as sweet as she was, which was copiously, overly sweet. That said, Nepeta wasn't a stuck-up, and her positivity always seemed to be genuine.

She padded over to the long-brewed tea, bringing it over to the table and setting it down after pouring a cup for Equius. She had reinforced the cup somehow so that he wouldn't crush it, and the tea was piping hot. She had even added some of Arthour's milk to it, as Equius had bought it over with him. He said it kept his bones strong, and she didn't doubt it, but she thought to herself that he didn't need any more calcium. He was already too strong for his own good, and for others'.

Nepeta cherished him and appreciated him far more than most, despite his almost debilitating strength and his sweating problems. There were a lot of negatives to Equius, but most tended to forget about him completely. She had reason to believe that he was seen in a negative light by most of the other trolls that bothered to acknowledge his existence, and considered that extremely unfair. Even Vriska seemed to dislike him, and Aradia hold the blue blood in her robotic veins against him, even though he had done them a courtesy and replaced their body or body parts.

They talked over tea and muffins, and joy radiated from the two trolls. They had never shown such happiness unless they were together, and even then Equius had been... apprehensive about his feelings for Nepeta. In this small hut in an expanse of sugar, they had found cause to believe that they truly were moirails, and that they were perfect for each other. The guardian and the helper, the stoic and the empathetic.

Equius soon left, his hands clutching a basketful of muffins, the likes of which Nepeta absolutely insisted he take. She claimed that she couldn't eat them all herself, but he knew that it was a lie, and simply an excuse to share what she had made for him. It was lighthearted, and she watched him go with a small and satisfied smile lighting up her cheeks. Nepeta knew that she had made him happy, and that, in turn, made her the most gleeful troll in the whole of Alternia.

But that had been long ago.

Almost too long.

~~~~~~~~~~~

So, they sat together in the darkened lab, stoves and long-cold teapots providing a barrier to what lay beyond. The two had sought shelter from him as soon as they could, sought one another because they knew it would be even colder without that comfort. The two would have liked to meet like this in a more positive setting, but that was not to be. The time of tea and piping-hot muffins in a land of sugar was long gone. It was likely that they'd never experience such a thing ever again as long as they were trapped.

The clown was lurking in the cloaking dark, and that was terrifying to them both, but Equius didn't move a muscle as Nepeta shivered against him. His role in the moiraillegiance was to guard her to his dying breath, and to have an unwavering resolution and stoicism in the face of danger. He would fulfil that role to the best of his ability. However strong he was, when a distant smashing of a bottle was heard, Equius' fingers tightened around the wood of the bow that he held, and a crack rang out.

"Do not worry, Nepeta."

He murmured, feeling the troll flinch against his body from where she was curled, obviously scared out of her mind. Aside from this, he hadn't felt her move in a while. He thought it had been a long time, though he had no way of knowing. Equius had thought her dead, for she had become literally petrified with fright for some time earlier. Although he hated it, it was a relief to feel her shivering form. It was movement, at least.

He had left her sore in the back from his hugs many a time, and did not want to risk such a thing happening ever again, especially due to his moirail's emotional fragility. She already suffered so much, particularly in their current situation. A broken back would likely kill Nepeta, as she had not - and would not - gain the abilities and immortality that came with the highly coveted ascension to God Tier.

"I am here, and I will not let anything happen to you for as long as I live."

Equius spoke, though he expected no reply. He knew that she was feeling far too weak to even gain the energy to do so. All he had to go on, all the signs that she lived, were her wheezing breaths, and the gentle shudder of her every limb. He himself was fighting the urge to close his eyes, to slip into the comfort of fading away. The void that he held called to him louder and louder until it was a deafening roar in his ears, though he had no voices in his head as Sollux had.

The goldblood had never interacted with him, and he found that better than if he had. Equius was a troll who had followed the hemospectrum closely for all of his sweeps of life, and had thus forbidden himself from interacting with Sollux and his lowblooded... breed. Power didn't matter to him, though he was so fixated on his own, and paid no mind to the boy's psionic prowess, nor his hacking skills.  He wasn't self-absorbed, and he cared for those who cared for him, or that he felt he could trust.

One of the few people he felt he could trust was slowly, agonisingly dying against his body. Her breathing was so shallow that it became barely noticeable, and her chest barely moved. He provided her with all the warmth that he could, but had no idea if his efforts would be enough to save her. It was safer, he decided, for him to let her... he couldn't. He couldn't even think of the word. His Nepeta, dying. It was... preposterous. But it was better for her to fade in his arms than to die fighting that horrid, maniacal clown.

Equius brushed a strand of hair away from her face, his hands finally beginning to tremble. He didn't want her to die, even more than he feared death himself. He'd been lonely for so, so long. He'd finally pushed all that away and embraced his relationship with her, and he wanted to be safe and happy. With her. His stubbornness was a big downside when it came to socialising, but he refused to let her go even now, and it was sad that they were closest when she was so far away. He'd have his revenge, sure, but wanted to stay by her side until her very last breath.

She breathed it all too soon, and for the first time in his life, he felt a tear slip down his cheek.

[twitchesandstitches]

Dragonrezi Gets Even Bigger Comm

A commission for @alt-hammer, of the Dragonrezi from one of my earlier fic concepts of a fantasy AU that featured Vriska as a conquering giant sorceress and Terezi as a dragon monster girl she tried to wrangle into being her familiar,and Karkat as a plaything to placate Terezi; comm-er wanted to see some elaboration on it and Terezi getting even bigger! (A link to that earlier story!)

Featuring some implied JohnVris, this round!

--------

In the most magically scarred continent of the world, recent wars in the homelands of long-gone troll empires had left the whole place a chaotic mess, filled with ruins, warlords and all manner of danger. From one perspective, it was a bad situation; monsters formed from magic and taking shape from the most powerful spell-users around regularly came out of nowhere, most cities and towns didn’t last more than a few days, and it wasn’t uncommon for people to immobilize themselves by making themselves too busty to move with the wrong application of magic, which tended to have consequences for their villages.

But to those intent on putting some kind of order on the world, it was an opportunity. To build new empires, to uncover the mysteries of the old ones, and to grow strong.

(Terezi Pyrope felt it was best to bide your time, and steer the course of things. All of these things, she would do in time, but she would work with things first.)

Now, consider one of the more stable lands in recent times: the Cerulean Kingdoms, the Serket lands. Statues across its beaches, floating sea-cities and cliff-side realms portrayed the image of a sorceress queen, as impossibly curvaceous and busty as only the strongest of magic users were. In truth this sorceress and her friends, and rivals, were a hidden society and adventuring party when the times were right, and they all shared her distinctive figure as a consequence of sufficient magical power and expertise. Kanaya, scion of the vampires, her belly swollen with converts to vampirism… Aradia of the Megido necromancers, her own body eternally pregnant with the countless souls she gestated new bodies for in a form of resurrection. And the others, equally huge and curvy in their own unique ways, from Feferi the life-crafting witch to Jade the wolfish witch of the wilds…

And Vriska Serket, who hoped to be the biggest and most powerful to make her mark on the world, and trying so very hard to outdo her own dragon familiar, Terezi Pyrope.

The boundaries of her lands were easy enough to make out, as her magical palace flew over her lands. A grand construct of sapphire gems grown with her powers, black metal and shimmering stones imbued with raw magic, the gigantic citadel was unbelievably massive and it eclipsed some mountains as it flew over her lands and seas, though never past her boundaries, unable to move past the limits of her power. And, somehow, it was even bigger on the inside. Statues of herself stood at attention on the elaborately carved exteriors, a mirror to the ones in her towns and cities.

The statues did not quite do her justice; capturing the incredibly stylized robes, jackets and web-themed skirts of Vriska’s regal attire was a tricky enough affair, but to get across just how… buxom Vriska was? That was really not doable. You started with something shaped like a violin, made the wide bits as large as you possibly could, and then you made then even bigger than that… and by this point you gave up, because mere stone tended to crumble underneath the weight of such curves. She was thick, even by the standards of magical users.

To hear that Vriska Serket, queen of the sea-lands, might feel inadequate, was laughable. Who would she possibly feel skinny next to? And for an answer, they would point at the far, far larger statues of Terezi, which were not attached to the Citadel. They were the Citadel, at least its walls.

Within the Citadel, Vriska’s latest plan was coming to fruition.

Smirking in a way appropriate to the mightiest sorceress this side of the universities frequented by the Maryam Clan in their oasis on the other side of the known continent, she waved a hand at the twenty thousand undead soldiers carrying the artifact. She didn’t need to speak to command them, but she instinctively felt that there were some things you just had to do. “Put it down here.”

Zombies, mechanically-reinforced skeletons, the occasional feral ghost and a few enthralled mindless vampires (unrelated to the Maryam Clan, though possibly spawned from a similar process) all moved in a great mass and lowered the ancient arcane battery into a special pedestal. In a wave it clicked down, and they flowed away, their thousands of steps briefly obscuring the potent ritual patterns encircling the relic.

Here, in her floating citadel, Vriska was at her strongest. This was her place; arcane geometries channeled the power right into her, specially carved spires collected magic from the air and diverted it into the mystical foodstuffs that would be fed to her; the air itself rumbled with potential, and it discharged into her.

She smiled, fangs dimpling her thick lips, and strode off. Her undead minions (a gift from a friend, a necromancer called Damara Megido, who Vriska had helped with a serious academic question) trailed after her. It was difficult to tell if they could feel anything, but as her hourglass-shaped body moved, robes tightly conforming to her massive hips, their gazes were fixed on her. She went through a door shaped to permit her gigantic hips and breasts, and the undead followed, as did a small human all in blue.

Vriska stopped, and leaned down. Three hundred feet of troll leaned down, and her breasts hit the ground before her knees did. The human, John Egbert, stopped as a genuine valley of cleavage appeared before him and he peered up into the mightiest sorceress alive; famed for her ruthlessness, her limitless hunger for power, and so it might have been surprising for her rivals to see the indulgent look her face.

Vriska’s face softened even more as she picked him up, apparently on impulse; he didn’t seem to mind being held captive in a metallic prosthesis of magically resonant metals. Lips as wide around as a street to him pressed on him in a soft kiss, and he smooched her back as best as he could. Vriska put him down, and spoke. “John, gonna need you to stay here for a while until the ritual is complete.”

John nodded. “Okay, ma’am!” he saluted her, in the fashion he thought was expected of an apprentice to a magical teacher. “So… what do I do?”

Vriska made a grumpy noise. “Keep Terezi out of here! I just know that pain in my splendid ass is gonna show up and try to hog all the power boost for herself. So when, not if, when she shows up to, I don’t know, try to eat it or something, get her out!”

John saluted with a slightly worried expression. “I’ll… do what I can!” Vriska grinned, and left. Her building-sized heels clicked against the ground and her undead army followed. The door closed, with an appropriately satisfying bang. He had spent some hours weaving drama spells so get that sound just right!

He waited, dutifully, and marked the way the word-spells around the magical battery slowly increased. To pass the time, he tried to recall just where the thing had come from. Unfortunately history was not really his expertise; it was apparently a troll artifact from one of the bygone civilizations that hadn’t survived the sorcery wars of ancient times. He knew it stored magic (a truly horrific amount of it, and Vriska’s intentions were to deprive enemies of the chance to weaponize it, AND to also enhance her powers and beauty). And he knew that it looked a little bit like something he’d like to put on a stick and smack monsters around with. It had a cool look to it. It’d probably make a funny sound, too!

There was a small, teal lizard on the ceiling that had come there when he had been distracted. Privately, the lizard mused that maybe Vriska had a bit too much confidence in her human.

John contemplated the pros and cons of using it to make a magic hammer that would absorb magic but put some of that magic into making comedy sound effects whenever you hit something with it. The word-spell around it and all over the room were well along by this point, and they shone the liquid blue of Vriska’s magic.

He did feel the swell of enchantment, and he stepped back in surprise. The swell blurred his magical senses, and he experienced the mystical equivalent of something going ‘???’; all his more mystical senses went blank from overload, and he desperately stepped back as light flooded from the relic, briefly materializing into solidified wild magic. Fortunately, before it could erupt into any number of hazardous monsters or destructive disasters, it was grounded and safety channeled into the Citadel.

No, he thought, with a smile. Into the word-spell, and thus, into Vriska! He thought of all this power going to her… into her, and he goggled at the thought of when he’d see her next, at her full size!

She was three hundred feet now, and already such an hourglass-shaped beauty; he couldn’t imagine what she’d be like, but he did his best.

Thus distracted, he did not notice the lizard descending downwards and changing shape, expanding to a much larger form. He did hear, behind and above him, a very soft noise. He glanced up suspiciously, a faint suggestion of titanic movement drawing his attention, and saw nothing more. The walls and ceiling of the magic room vaulted high up, with many curving supports that would be ideal for strong claws to punch right into.

He paused. He didn’t recall that particular bit of ceiling looking so… leathery.

It unfurled, and the ceiling came down.

The world crashed about him, and as a looming force reached lazily for him, John squeaked as claws plucked him up. The ceiling hadn’t fallen down! Something really big, on the ceiling, just dropped down!

Or, to be specific, a really, really big someone.

The feminine form now filling up a good portion of the room was built on similar lines to Vriska but… bigger. Vriska had an hourglass body type, counterbalanced by her massive mane of hair, while the humanoid dragon, her gorgeous face a pleasing mix of troll and dragonish features, was… motherly. Girthy. A huge pair of wings swept around her, along with an enormously thick tail. Scales and golden shapes studded her body, from toe claws to horns, so that every inch of her shone, armored in her own splendor. A big belly propped up a pair of breasts even bigger than Vriska’s, and she had a lot of very solid muscles underneath the softness.

And oh yes; if Vriska was three hundred feet tall, than her dragon familiar, Terezi Pyrope, was… bigger. So much bigger, indeed. Terezi grinned at John, and around her the chamber telescoped outwards. There were potent enchanting spells to make rooms bigger to fit anyone who might be in them, but Terezi had a talent for pushing them to their limits. Her red eyes stared down at him, dull and blinded in some ancient paladin’s oath, but her smile was full of sharp teeth, and very snidely aware.

“So,” she said, as he realized too late that the little lizard in the room had been the exact same color as the teal monster girl sitting in the room right here. “You’re gonna stop me, huh?”

John wasn’t particularly scared, even in the grip of a dragon woman known to devour entire castles whole. Over five thousand feet tall from claw to horn bases, she looked very much like a troll; scales instead of chitin, her black skin tinted a vibrant shade of teal, and a thick dragonish tail sprouted from her massive backside just as a pair of huge wings furled around her so much like a fancy cloak. There were other signs; the crackling pathways of power along her throat and chest, where her breath weapons were powered up, the digitigrade legs just like a bird’s… and the big claws on her hands and feet. Bit funny to forget that, considering that he was pinched between them.

It was a bit like having some very pointy buildings hugging you into compliance. John wriggled politely. “Uh… yeah, absolutely! Let me up so we can have our fight!”

Terezi grinned at him. Leaning WAY over so he could see her. A truly buxom monster, she had to adjust herself so that her gold-studded breasts could shift out of the way, propped up on her big belly so they looked even bigger. Those boobs were huge, sticking out over five hundred feet out, the scales studded with the contents of an entire hoard to decorate her maternal body. She had to lean over just so he could see her, and his heart skipped a beat as she spoke, her enormous blue-green lips shaping so perfectly around her words. “Nah. Be a good boy and hold still so I can go do the thing.”

“Uh.” He lowered his fist. “Um. First, what are you planning on doing…?”

Terezi inclined her head at the artifact. “Guess.”

“...No way!”

She just grinned in reply, a clear ‘yes!’.

“Terezi, no!”

“Terezi yes!”

“I’ll stop you!” he cried valiantly.

Terezi smirked. “Vriska’s tiny hero rises to her defense! Honestly, I love it. You’re probably a great influence on her. Buuuuuut…. I don’t really wanna deal with that right now.”

She breathed out, and her breath was infused with the magic inherent to dragons. She cast a spell, not with lore or divine connection, but with her innate connection to the forces of magic, and her breath became a bubble. It flowed around John and he floated up into the air, yelling helplessly at her. The bubble contracted and twist as his wind magic tore at it from the inside, it bounced as he turned momentum into super speed and flight, but all his power wasn’t enough to overcome the micro-fraction of her power that she put into the bubble.

If she wished, she could have burned the continent to the bedrock without much effort. Sealing away an apprentice boy, even one in service to a living goddess-sorcerer, was hardly a challenge. But she liked to give herself something to test herself against later. “Tell ya what. As a present for standing up to me, I won’t just eat the damn thing. I’ll leave Vriska a TINY something. But all this,” and she gave one enormous hip a healthy, lusty smack, making various pats of her body jiggle enticingly. “Is a much better destination for its power than stroking Vrisky’s ego!”

“Kind of hypocritical for YOU To be talking about ego!” John said as Terezi lightly batted him with a finger that was, to him, larger than a building.

A claw bigger than a walkway smacked into him again and again, thoughtfully. “Okay that’s fair,” Terezi said, and then snorted. “But I don’t really care~!”

With a cheerful swagger, her tail smacking a few pillars around in such a way that she somehow carved her name into them like a signature, Terezi stepped right into the circle, so large that one toe filled up the whole thing. John beat and hollered at his little prison, and summoned forth the wind magic that was an expression of his fundamental tendency for powers of movement and direction both physical and abstract.

The bubble flew, at incredible force, right towards a patch of scales. Unfortunately that patch was on her butt, which was very well padded, and so he bounced off harmlessly. With such force that he impacted into the wall, cracking it, and there he was stuck. John’s powers just didn’t work if he was stuck!

Terezi’s thick, muscular tail waggled at him tauntingly, and swung up to slap her own butt. First the left side of one massive hip, and then the other, making it wobble and jiggle in hill-sized ripples; John blushed, angry and aroused at so much titanic butt. You could build a castle on all of it! And so, he was a bit too preoccupied with her dangerous flirting to realize that the blue magic lines were turning teal.

Magical colors were a personal thing. They indicated the influence of a magic user, the literal color of their soul as it entered the world. Reality WAS magic, shaped and codified into substance, concepts, forms. And color? Well, that was just light, but people saw color, and it meant things to them, and perspective was really all that counted in magic. So with magic users, the color of your soul shone forth when your power waxed mightily.

And when Terezi bothered to put even the slightest smidgen of effort, her magic made her shine like a sun.

Intricate patterns appeared on her scales and hide, mirroring the spell runes around her. (above her, Vriska on her interface throne froze up as she felt the trickle of magic being pumped into her assets dry up, and then only scraps being fed into her. Everything was teal.)

Terezi tilted her head back, a giantess big enough to destroy an army of demons with a single step or firm press of a finger’s claw, and breathed the power in. The artifact wobbled and then was violently tossed out of the magical circle as its power was promptly sucked out of it. Possibly by coincidence, it was flung right into John. It didn’t hurt him, just bounced off his bubble without any harm, but it was still loud and surprising enough that he was compelled to complain about it. He beat his hands against the bubble and yelled, but Terezi wasn’t listening.

(Upstairs, Vriska fumed as her body continued to grow, already five hundred feet tall by now, with boobs twice their original size… but she wasn’t getting as big as she expected. The power! The precious, delicious power… what had been river was now just a tiny stream, and where she should have been scraping against the clouds in her citadel’s magical environment, she was growing bigger so slowly that she could actually perceive things around her getting smaller. No! It was supposed to be bigger!

It was only through great force of will that she didn’t jump off and race downstairs to yell at Terezi. Who was absolutely, obviously behind all this! It was ALWAYS HER.)

Terezi was well aware of Vriska’s thoughts on the matter thanks to the magical link between familiar and sorceress that gave Terezi an insight into her thoughts. Unfortunately (from vriska’s perspective), this meant that Terezi could passively read her mind pretty much all the time, no doubt a reason how Terezi kept commandeering all her plans and sucking up her power gains. So Terezi ‘overheard’ Vriska’s complaints, and she gloated over Vriska’s shock at losing out on massive bust gains.

She blew a mocking kiss at John’s protests, and by sheer coincidence she started growing bigger, swelling upwards as her wiggling claws waved away the kiss. The magic flowered into her blood, bone and the core of magic at her center, and it flooded her with such power, so much that the only way to express it - was to grow!

The chamber rapidly got a lot more cramped as she expanded, slowly growing upwards. Already so large, Terezi grew right in front of John’s eyes, the magic pouring into her. Her tail slapped against the walls and cushioned her as her shoulders rose into the ceiling, despite the ceiling magically growing so you’d always fit into it; she was getting so big, so fast, she was outstripping it!

Four hundred feet, and upwards, her growth steady but very, very rapid. Her butt swelled up so that her fat tail was propped up, and several pillars were broken beneath its weight. Her butt kept swelling out, along with her hips, keeping pace with her expanding height; the expansion charms of the room were soon exhausted, and John could no longer see anything behind them but the lashing of her tail.

The magic flooded into her as she kept growing; another thousand feet piled on in a brief size burst, and by now it was plain to see that she was not funneling most of this tremendous potential into her size. Sure, she was growing larger, but… the growth was petering out surprisingly fast. As John watched, she wasn’t getting taller, her height getting more staggered. Where was it going.

The answer lay in her chest’s sudden explosive growth; her breasts swelled out faster than she was growing upwards, new scales growing to cover acres of new flesh between the patches of gilded scales. In moments, her breasts doubled in size, and she kept getting taller, her bustline not only keeping pace with her height, but surpassing its growth!

And they just kept growing; all the immense magic of the ancient battery, potentially to be used in war or some terrible misuse, now being pumped right into her bustline. Enough power to blow a country off the world was forced into her chest and milk production. Terezi cooed as her breasts hit the floor, rapidly growing so big that they were taller than she was!

The weight of her expanding bustline pushed her against the wall, her body rising up on her own bed-tier bustline. And since she was still growing physically more gigantic, this pushed her into the roof.

Terezi kept getting bigger, growing taller until she crashed into the floor, her wings and back cramped into the roof and too big to fit properly now, but she was still growing largely. Her breasts kept growing more rapidly by the second; John squeaked as a tide of teal filled up the room, a sloshing sound as if of an approaching sea getting stirred up as they smacked into place.

The walls creaked. Terezi and her boobs were still growing.

And though John could now see nothing, absolutely nothing at all but teal-tinted darkness, grow bigger she did. But now the last of the magic was greedily swallowed up by her magnificent body, her height finally stabilizing. Her breasts continued to grow in a few more shakes and wiggles, apparently hopeful for more, and at least they stopped. The room was now as good as a bra for her massive breasts, and Terezi sighed in contentment as her new body settled. Her butt pushing out behind her, her breasts big enough for her and a couple others of her to sleep on… a fitting temple to her glory.

Teal magical signs appeared all over her body, in languages no longer written anywhere in the world (so far as they knew). These two faded, and with that, the spell was done. The absorbed magic faded away, into Terezi’s rune-streaked body. She smacked her huge lips and licked a few scraps of quintessence off, patting a swell of breast bigger than some kingdoms. She kept growing, but in bits and bumps, not the smooth (if very fast!) expansion she had done before. About seventy-five hundred feet tall by now, and shrinking a bit as she willingly suppressed her power for the sake of it being really funny to spring on Vriska at the first opportunity, she cleared up some room.

Thusly, John was now able to see… well, not much, still. All he could see now was one toe-claw dominating his view of the universe, but he could feel her presence. In any case she picked him up, the tips of two claws neatly pinched his bubble and wrenching out of the wall.

“Well, check me out!” Terezi said sweetly, holding him like a little marble against the ceiling so he could see all of her. “How’d I do, huh?”

John saw nothing but… a sea of such massive, scaley, huge busty goodness… he clammed up, turning red. He loved Vriska with all his fierce heart, but… not even she was that big and gorgeous. He’d never admit it, but… he couldn’t lie!

Terezi giggled, and blew him another kiss.

The door slammed open and out came Vriska. With some difficulty, and at first there was a hint of massive breasts and a shoulder trying to force their way through the doorway, and then the doorway was magically transformed to allow her through, and through it came Vriska.

She was significantly bigger, John judged at once, with love in his heart and desire in his hips. Almost… a thousand feet tall, now! More than twice her original size, but compared to her original goal of approaching Terezi’s size, she still looked distinctly puny. Though it was hard to say that, when she now had a figure with hips that left the door way a ruin, and breasts with lower hemispheres around her hips. You couldn’t even see anything of her body above the waist, just two massive bouncy globes. They swelled up as Vriska drew in breath, and wailed: “TEREZI!”

Terezi flicked John right into Vriska’s cleavage, and somehow moved. In a flash she transformed, becoming a small lizard. With a cheeky slap of her tail she scurried away into the suddenly open hallways, leaving Vriska spinning head over horns with the impact of the John-projectile. “Thanks for the snack!” Terezi said, just to be cheeky. “Hope you don’t mind staying so skinny!”

Vriska howled in fury, and Terezi’s cackles echoed throughout the citadel as she exited it, and then her shadow eclipsed it, and all the kingdoms of the Serket was in awe as her buxom glory was revealed to them.

Dragons do love to show off their hoards, and Terezi’s body was a hoard for her!

[dahniwitchoflight]

Candy 18-21

oh, oh no

I’ve heard things about Jane x Gamzee

now I get to experience them, oh boy...

Gamzee gets, strangely serious about stuff for once, huh, who would have thunk it

yeah, It’s clear Jane’s political stuff seem to stem from some kind of fear that one day humanity won’t exist on Earth C for whatever reason

that over time, the population of trolls versus humans will eventually skew so much that there won’t be any adam and eve left to match up with each other

in her mind she really doesn’t hate trolls, cuz its not really about the trolls, not at all, but obviously her actions are equivalent to someone who does hate them and she just doesn’t get that

and like, yeah if you just left them to their own devices, maybe that would happen, but then (and I can’t believe I’m saying this) Gamzee has an extremely good point that they already did that when they plopped all the ectokids down and called it a day for a 1000 years, like, they managed to figure it out on their own just fine

and also

ectobiology will literally never stop being a thing so like, as long as some of the god kids stick around, eventually you can just make more humans it’s no big deal to restart the human gene pool since it will be identical to the first time they started it

there’s no reason to make sure this system runs smoothly the “natural way” it won’t, this situation is unnatural for both species

Jane’s just gotta realize that if she wants humans to keep sticking around, she just has to keep supporting the human population, that’s it, whatever trolls do or don’t do doesn’t matter for that goal

course it doesn’t help to compare trolls to animals when talking about their breeding rate and how it naturally evolved over time unlike the apparently non animal humans Janey

Also Alternian society is def not how troll society naturally is but like how could she know that? And how could any troll near her really explain that? 

aaaand I got so up in taking this seriously I forget who was talking

Jane’s into troll blackrom though that’s interesting and unexpected 

oh wow, Jake was there the whole time

Did they really name Jake and Jane’s baby Tavros??? oh jeesus

Yeah Kinda figured the Jane x Jake thing wasn’t gonna actually be happy

I’m really surprised Jane’s version of happiness apparently involves boinking a weird funny man I mean, she canonically likes clowns and jokes, so at the same time I’m not surprised, I mean, she WAS raised by the condesce, it’s just weird how that influence comes out in her sometimes versus how it doesn’t come out in her

literal Jake nightmare scenario though I think lol

really hammering home how the passions of youth don’t really translate well to happy adult relationships

Oh, so there’s the part where Jade reveals she has Bec biology, considering the fandom reaction you’d think we were gonna get some kind of gross M rated sex scene where she pegs Karkat or something

but all she does is talk about how she’d love a normal family and home life and lament that her circumstances ended up not really allowing that and giving enough hints that we can figure out why that would be

it’s not handled grossly at all, even if the subject matter is odd and it doesn’t come off as some sort of character sabotage

this whole time what we’ve known all Jade was that she was lonely and just wanted a family, not that hard to figure out why, girl’s got the same complex as Joey Claire about her family situation, but she’s more reserved about her feelings since she didn’t get to have a comparison of role models like Joey did with her babysitter and also Jade’s food and shelter needs were somewhat taken care by a planet guardian so the affect was somewhat lessened on the outside, she just didnt get the same chances as Joey to be able to articulate her emotional turmoil about it

aww Jade’s not happy either, well, that’s how it goes when you make relationship decisions based on flimsy passions that are more about fulfilling the needs of the self than about actually wanting good things for a partner

More like Jade’s sort of realized that Karkat and Dave don’t have a genuine romantic interest in her and she’s the only one keeping this ship afloat

oh shit, a dead younger jade, oh damn wait she’s the one from Meat that was trapped in the house juju and then immediately died from space razors

Yeah’s she’s a bloody symbol of meat that’s for sure, theyre making that pretty clear

“Her eyes go wide and she feels the breath go out of her for a moment. She looks directly upward. Where did this body come from?”

Again, if we take that symbolism circle of Breath = Sugar = Drugged up High =  Breath

This little dash of meat falling into wonderland would break the breathy haze for a bit wouldn’t it?

So if this kind of thing can happen to others besides John, there’s hope yet for something of value to come from Candy

“ There’s a peaked skylight at the top of the foyer that splits the morning sun like a prism, spilling multicolored dots across every surface below. Amongst those dots are drips of teen-Jade’s blood. It’s so dark on the spotless tile that it looks nearly black. “

I wish I could draw things, I’d love to draw this exact scene here, it’s pretty and morbid

Yeah, the relationship theme of Candy seems to be that everyone’s jumping into Kismesis plus Matesprite threesomes, that seem to be neither of what anyone actually wants in totality

There’s some realization that their Candy filled atmosphere is actually more a drug or a poison, teen jade can’t be revived, and it’s not because of what happened to her, but more because of the environment she is in now

Ah Roxy, ever the social chameleon people pleaser, not working this time though

Jade’s is easily explained already as she has the social graces of an elephant

It is kinda sad tho to see most of the human characters actually aren’t that good at being cool about troll stuff

“CALLIOPE: pUrple roses traditionally represent love at first sight, however these roses are actUally red roses that we prepared Using a blUe dye.CALLIOPE: the blUe rose is the most elUsive and mysterioUs of all flowers.CALLIOPE: the combination of red and blUe in this context is meant to evoke the dUal natUre of death, in that there is nothing more mysterioUs and impossible to comprehend than the vast void of the afterlife, bUt also there is nothing that makes Us appreciate the life and and love that we already have than the mystery of death.CALLIOPE: while death is terrifying, there is always joy to be foUnd among the sorrow. each time we witness death, we fall in love with the important people in oUr lives all over again.“

Why do I get the feeling Calliope is talking about actual rose here somehow?

Is it because she started off with “here’s the symbolism of Purple Roses”?

a Red Rose dyed Blue

Now if Cascade taught us anything Blue and Red certainly represent a mutual destruction of opposites coming together to create a third new thing in the blaze of the aftermath, but that thing was a Green Sun, not something purple, so why bring Rose into mind for all of this?

We have been seeing the effects of what happens when people in candyland awaken from their drug haze with a smattering of blood, but in that case why not make the symbolism more clear by saying a Blue Candied Rose dyed Red as if with Bloodied Meat?

is it more to mean that the correct path lies NOT in Candy being dyed Red, but in Meat being dyed Raspberry Blue?

I Mean, Candy!Rose certainly seems shaken here, having gotten jolted out of her drugged haze at some point, but unable to See, and she’s actually starting to be concerned about that and Meat!Rose is kind of out of commission at this point, So I guess to get things back on track, Candy!Rose would have to go back to the Meat somehow, or might be the influence needed to snap Meat Rose out of her daze

Though I don’t like how this is taking place in the context of a funeral, specifically bringing to mind how Dirk did the same thing using the vessel of Death, I hope Candy Rose doesn’t try to just, off herself

with Dirk taking control of Rose’s ultimate self in Meat, Candy!Rose might be the only true Rose left to take heroic action

Aww, Callie is still head over heels for Roxy, I’m really surprised with this theme of threesomes that nothing ever came of a John x Roxy x Callie, but then again all the threesomes so far have been painted Black and Red, and unless John or Roxy was to form a Kismesis with Callie, I don’t see it happening at all

OH SHIT SPEAKING OF RED AND BLUE

Damn, Sollux and Aradia are here

“KARKAT: MAYBE FUCKING NEPETA IS ABOUT TO POUNCE FROM BEHIND THAT GROTESQUE STATUE OF THE HUMAN SUFFERER T-POSING OVER THERE.”

Karkat don’t tease me about Nepeta but also again WHY is actual Jesus here.

Is Roxy a christian in this timeline? Was she legit just praying to actual Human Jesus? That’s so, weird, especially for Roxy to do, what the fuck in Roxy’s upbringing on an apocalypse earth would make her want to worship Jesus?

Oh wait, that’s obviously what she thinks that every other human sincerely does, since she only had human media to go off of, and like, technically no human has ever said they DONT worship christian gods to her.

“GAMZEE: wHeN tHe DoOr Of ThAt FrIdGe pOpPeD oPeN iT wAs LikE i Be AlL sEeIn ThE lIgHt AnD sHiT.

SOLLUX: well yeah

SOLLUX: that’s what happens when s0me0ne 0pens a d00r t0 a t0tally dark encl0sure.“

Gamzee has had a weirdly meta understanding of what’s going on so far, for some reason, I can’t fathom what could be the Lighty influence that he’s gotten

unless...

Dirk really IS starting to subsume Ultimate Rose, and that’s bleeding over to every Ultimate self connected to Dirk

the more Gamzee knows meta shit and says oddly correct things, the more we know Dirk is “winning” over Rose

Oh, that’s why Gamzee is really here isn’t he? I mean, storywise? He’s a Dirk thermometer/gauge/thing, he’s our way of measuring how far Dirk’s influences are going in Meat

“ARADIA: its so nice that you believe all that gamzee

ARADIA: i think i can honestly say

ARADIA: im reasonably happy for you?“

lol

“blue smoke”

You don’t really tend to describe Smoke as being Blue right? At least, I don’t think that’s usual

But if we’re straight up associating Candy with Blue  to complement Meat with Red now, it’s just making the whole Sugar = Breath thing that much stronger

*EDIT* DUH OF COURSE OF CANDY’S COLOR IS BLUE

BLUE GUSHERS. OBVIOUSLY. *end edit*

and I mean, what is Breath but a weird bluey smoke?

Roxy just wants to be happy with all her friends, that’s all

It is a good shake at trying to explain the nature of infinite possibility, that in reality, there isn’t really more weight put into one possibility over others, that’s how it works in real life anyway

unfortunately a storyline of canon is going to favor some version of events over others, and people make choices because they have preferences for that choice over other choices, something that seems kind of lost on Candy!Roxy who seems to just be okay with going along with anything because everything has an equal chance for having happytimes in this place

Roxy may be starting to lose her sense of self as well, and with her knowledge on things and how’s she’s been described as immutable so far, I wouldn’t be surprised at her having easily and subtly slipped into Ultimate Self hood herself and just being really okay with the idea that there is no one true Roxy, that she is just one piece of many, and not like, needing to delve into that further, not needing to connect with all her alternate selves, happy just being singular but at the same time completely malleable

Oh! Baby time.

Oh fuck, Al!Calliope in Jade time.

Why is Callie so afraid of Alt!Callie? That didn’t come across in their meetings in Homestuck as much, so why is that different here?

Is it because of Jade’s earlier comment of “there can only be one instance of a person here” and Callie doesn’t think she can win against Alltie?

Also, all these instances of Alltie appearing in Jade’s body is making me worried Alltie is doing something to both of their Ultimate Selves, like she’s subsuming Jade somehow like Dirk is subsuming Rose

I mean, they are fighting one another, so if Dirk’s doing something she has to keep pace right? In her mind, it’s probably totally justified

this is getting long enough for this post though, off we go again but I’m still reading

[dilldaydreamer-blog]

Crystal Clear

((In which PI has a meeting with Droog about Aradia’s Death.  Starring @talldarkloathsome​ @undertakinggraveshift​ ))

Your name is Pembrooke, and you're currently sitting at a table in Moreli's Diner at 5th.  The diner is fairly empty around your area...a detail most likely because you pulled badge and rank and told the staff you wanted it so.  It's a very surreal feeling, having enough authority to be able to pull moves like that.  You almost can see why the mobsters love it so, it is certainly thrilling. Your morail is with you, as you may have flung him into the car the second you got the reply so you could get there pronto.  The last thing you wanted to be was late.  And the earlier the arrived, the more likey you could get your anxious social speaking bees under control.  The pressure was on, this was not a simple casual meet n greet and not even close to the D&D game you had just a month prior been chattering to Droog about running. In the back of your head you are already re-arranging that because that may be off the table depending on how things go. You sit, and wait. Unsure if you really have the means to stop a mob from tearing the city apart but also ready to do what you can to prevent this city you love from turning into a pile of ash.

Death

Good thing Death was already dressed in his Sunday best, because to him, appearances were important no matter the situation. He was meeting a grieving mobster after all, and the situation required looking professional. An apology was given to the staff as they were vacated, and Death did his best to assure everyone that everything was okay, meeting with the manager even to exchange information to let them know when it was fine to come back. Patting Pembrooke on the shoulder and giving him a smile, Death settled near the door to the diner instead, waiting to meet Droog there so that he could open the door for him and lead him to the chosen table once the mobster had arrived.

DD

You arrive, for once in your life, underdressed compared to those around you.  You trudge in from the snow without so much as a coat or a scarf, though you do not look the least bit cold.  The tie Slick had brought for you hangs loose about your unsecured collar.  Your hair, air dried, has not been brushed, and looks it.  No jewelry, no expensive color to announce your presence three feet ahead of you. Just you.  Hands shoved deep in your pockets, cigarette hanging from your lip, looking the very picture of a man who has not slept in nearly three days. When you enter, your deadened eyes look to Death with something that cannot be called mild interest.  A blip in your line of vision, seen once, and then fading from view.  You nod to him, and you say nothing.

PI

You look up, see him, and immediately know this meeting is going to be short.  You had taken the time to have coffee prepared at the table but even this you expect won't get touched.   At least the staff will not be busy.  It doesn't go past your notice that this is perhaps the most raw and perhaps even vulnerable you've ever seen Droog...and that is saying something considering you were there at the Festival when his arm was removed. The script you had planned was already crumbling as you realize you are not going to be talking to the proverbial Dignitary...the savvy silver-tongued business man who once even according to history smooth talked his way to the Prospitian Court and turned the tides of a war.  You're talking to a man who lost something more precious than any wealth this city could provide and has the means to make this city pay for his loss in blood. Your posture stiffens, you give him a nod.

"Afternoon.  Thank you for your time and this meeting." The tone of your voice is unwavering, a small miracle you will thank later after you have your customary 'oh god social speaking heebidy jeebidy' anxiety release dance.  It is best to just keep things to the point, you have no doubt he cares nothing right now for condolences from you.

Death

Death nodded to the man who looked the part of death more than Death himself. His expression was sympathetic and with a motion of your hand after waiting for Droog to slip inside so  Death doesn't unceremonially slam the door on his ass, the coroner lead him to the table for him to take a seat. He settled in beside Pembrooke after, feeling it best to take a seat rather than loom over the two.

DD

You slide into your seat unceremoniously as well, a lackluster thump of flesh on lacquered wood than a graceful slide one might expect from the former Dignitary himself.  You do not give the men before you the courtesy before taking a cigarette from your breast pocket and lightly it with a flick of your prosthetic fingers together.  The end of the black pill glows purple. At least you blow the smoke toward the ceiling and not toward them.  But you don't talk yet, not even to return the greeting.  Even as you drag the ash tray across the table toward yourself, you simply stare, blankly but not without something distinctly sour drawing across your brow, between the two men. For a long moment, the silence grows in the air.  And then you say, with a voice uncharacteristically gruff, "Gentlemen." As good of a 'Out with it without being outright rude' as they were going to get.

PI

You watch the man quietly, taking in the details and memorizing what you can of his bodylanguage.  The hairs on the back of your neck prickle, a sensation that even after over a decade in this form still feels like a surreal novelty at times.  The combination of disheveled without regard concerns you.  Droog had always been a man of composure, a creature who had always tried to strive for a flawless demeanor.  To be in such a state yet uncaring who seems him... Your posture straightens and you clear your throat as the smoke drifts upwards.    "I'll cut to the chase.  You and I both know whoever did this is a dead man.  Even if my men were somehow to arrest him, put him in the farthest cell on another planet...I have little to no doubt you and yours would get ahold of them.  Which isn't to say I condone the action, but I'm not a fool." Exhale, inhale.  "What I am though is concerned you and yours are going to tear this city apart  trying to track down whoever was responsible.  And I'd like to avoid a witch hunt or a riot where innocent people get caught in the middle. So I'm asking for some kind of way to help sort this with minimal casualties.  What happened was and is deplorable, and I do want to see the ones responsible paying for their deeds. But I don't want this city to burn over the actions of one man.  We want to help, but I have no doubt that the biggest leads to what happened are yours to give."

Death

This is about what Death had expected. He had seen what this man was capable of time and time again- he had seen what all of what Droog and the Crew were capable of, but at the end of the day, they were still people who felt love and pain as anyone else. Why would Droog act any differently than any other parent at the news of their child's death... especially something so... outrageously brutal. And to be the one to carry her... Death had definitely lingered as the flames had been lit. He continued his silence, lacing his fingers together on the table. If the time called for it, Death would have praised Pembrooke's way of handling the matter, but that would be for another time.

DD

You listen, or at least do a passable job of pretending you're listening, with all the world still stifled and distant as it had been that night in the snow.  Deadened.  You can't even make a show of looking at him; distracted as you are, your eyes have drifted off to the grey skies and the snow drifting down onto the blanketed cars and the streets run a disgusting grey with dirty slush. After the Inspector lapses in his speech, the silence creeps in once more.  It coils about the lazily circling ceiling fan as the smoke does and descends between the lot of you.  You can't stop thinking of the freezer. You shift, after some time, opening your suit jacket to pull out your cell phone.  It is certainly nicer than regulation allows, but the image gallery you pull up and hold out to show to them now are far more pressing.  There is so, so much red.  Wordlessly, you flip through the photos:  the trail and the rose petals, the photo strips in the blood, the writing on the wall. Aradia, as she was displayed for you. Lingering there on that last photo, you turn the phone away from them at last, staring down upon it.  It's all you've done for over two days.  You say, around the filter of the cigarette chewed into a nasty mess between your teeth, "All due respect, I already know who did it.  But it isn't just the actions of one man that lead to this moment, and I think you know that full well."

PI

Since this whole ordeal began, there had been a pit in your stomach. Like a small seed evergrowing and tilling the soil as more information became relevant and the clues started falling into place.  As the phone is pulled out and you see the visceral montage, you can feel the pit in your stomach blossom as it churns your insides and you aren't able to hide the expressions that cross your face.

Some people say that it gets easier, seeing death or the scenes of the crime.  Perhaps they were just lucky, as it had never been the case for you.  Never been the case seeing the face of those who came across the scene and would never be the same.  Seeing what some of the sickest minds sometimes do in this city. As the phone turns away, you close your eyes and turn away for a moment as you process this information. Damnit. This was about as much as you expected but also more than you wanted.  Nevermind the fact Droog has technically destroyed an entire crime spree and did public property damage. Or the fact he has all the evidence on his person.  There has and likely never will be a way to ask a grieving father for well...that. You remove your glasses to set them on the table as you rub the bridge of your nose. "I..." You inhale deep and look back to him. "I'm not going to make a fool of myself giving some lecture about justice to one such as yourself.  But I am going to ask if there is anything we can do to keep blood from spilling on the streets.  What has happened is deplorable. And I and my fellow officers do want to not leave this deed unpunished.  But what we can or cannot do depends on you and yours.  Right now you do have the law on your side Mister Spektor. But if you take things into your own hands..." You put your glasses back on, trying your best to not think about how you'd feel if this had been Jude in those photos. Or Elliot.  "Mister Spektor. Please believe me when I say I genuinely want to help."

Death

Death knitted his brows, and for a moment it took him a second to figure out what to do from there. He saw this, handled his reaction then... mentally and mostly focusing on Aradia's spirit. What would be a normal response now? In the end, he decided it was better to keep a controlled look of pained sympathy rather than retching. However, he did want to reach out and take Droog's hand. He also refrained from that too. He gently bumped the side of Pembroke's thigh to Pem's own. You're okay.

DD

Help. The word brings a small breath of laughter to your mouth, but the sound falls flat as it trips over your tongue.  You sniff once, palming at your mouth, as you swallow the sick that's been ever-present in your throat since that day.  You've already gotten all of that out, Diamonds.  You can't be doing this shit again, especially not here in front of these guys. Swallow it all down, and sigh deeply. "You're good people, Ingleton.  For as much shit as I give you, you really do have my deepest respects, for a law man."  The cigarette is smoldering between your fingers, and you ash it.  "And for what it's worth, I appreciate the kindness you are extending me.  So I'll extend a kindness to you in turn, by telling you this:" You stand from the chair and you lean forward over the table, palms spread and splayed across the table.  You're close enough to see yourself in his eyes. "Pursuing this is going to get you hurt, Ingleton, and it ain't gonna be me doing the hurting.  Those green motherfuckers are too fucking stupid to realize that you putting that salt-encrusted shit-for-brains in the clink for life would be in his best interest.  Because when I finally get my hands on him, he's gonna wish he'd been given the chair, cuz that's gonna be quicker and less painful than what I intend to do with him and all the rest of his sorry fucking organization." You straighten yourself once more.  "Are we clear, Inspector?"

PI

Some say this city has a way of changing people, and you cannot even argue it.  Here you are, a far cry from your first few months on Derse as a bright eyed bushy tailed investigator.  You're quite certain your former self would have withered on the spot being in this situation, face to face with one of the biggest crimelords as he says all the things you both dreaded and expected. He's right.  In all of it.  And you're almost upset at how true that will all play out.  That despite this kindess extended, you and he both know you're still going to try anyways. And fail. And get hurt. Scratch that, you are rather upset. No almost about it.  The temptation bubbles up to through out all pleasantries.  Bring up how Droog's fire destroyed so much evidence. That him holding onto Aradia's body and those photos could count as obstructing justice and tampering with evidence.  Hold him accountable to arson....just something to momentarily pretend this situation isn't so far out of your hands. But instead your face is emotionless, not even a nod given as you respond. "Clear as diamonds....Droog."

[thedoctor-and-his-trolls]

Calm Consumes Me

((  This has been a long time in the making as I’ve been busy caught up with shit SHIT man just shit. I’ve finally got part two, hopefully the rest comes as smoothly as this part has. Thanks to all of you who have been patiently waiting for this, and all you new comers, you’re in for a ride.

part one so you can click through and also find links to the original 3 stories!))

You don't even bother eating this morning. You just leave. You don't feel like dealing with slimy relationships. Hell you don't even know why you bothered with thoughts of John.

But this will be the first time you really spend time on the new world you and he created. You try to avoid it, especially during sun hours. Why shouldn't you enjoy this strange cross between human and troll? You worked hard for it. Harder than John or Rose or Dave. You died for it. And so did a lot of people you cared for. Including but certainly not limited to Nepeta. Equius and Aradia; Sollux. Sollux... How could you let them do that, how could you let Gamzee kill Nepeta..? Just like your stupid Ancestor couldn't stop his friends from being prosecuted, you couldn't either. You just barely skimmed out of there with your Mother- Kanaya.

"Why do I keep doing that," you grumble to yourself.

When you meet the door you're a bit nervous. You'd never really felt the sun before... Would it burn? You grab the handle, twist, and push the door outward.

What were you worried about again? Sun? Due to an unusually wet season, the sky is still looming with rain, only dark clouds the color of your skin are visible in the sky. No rays of heavy sun in sight. You step outside. It's cold and foggy, a somewhat unusual feeling.

Not that you hadn't felt it before, but that was on Alternia where trolls didn't go out in the daylight. With your old unadjusted bodies. The feeling of being out midday in this rainy weather was... Lonely. At night it was socializing time, time to go out and preach!

Well, if that is something you personally would have done (it's not.) (you'd rather die than be like Kankri, with all his goddamn trigger warnings.)

But the Sufferer... He was different. He's someone you feel compelled to look up to, rather than Kankri who you're somewhat ashamed of.

You wander through the spacious yard you and your compatriots have the pleasure of building a hive on. It's more like woods than anything but at least there's a path. And you're following it. Until then you'll be alone with your thoughts of the Sufferer and the Disciple and the Dolorosa-

"Karkles where you goin? Can I come?!"

"John?!" His name is almost disgust in your mouth. Mainly because you are finding his existence at this current moment repulsive and uncalled for.

"Here and accounted for!"

He's too cheerful when he comes beside you to link your arm with his. You scowl.

"Yes it's just FUCKING FINE! Invite yourself that's perfect!"

"Oh good! I'm glad I can join you!"

"You're so DENSE!"

You stop walking and look at him directly. He rolls his eyes and mutters that he's not stupid.

"I knew you were being sarcastic asshole. But I'm coming like it or not."

You push him away.

"You owe me considering you let me fall off the bed. I'm gonna find bruises now-" he points to random places on his body "-all over..." He gives you a wide eyed look.

"Please Karkat?"

You hate yourself. He makes you soft, your heart is soft. The way Terezi would sometimes. The way you did for Nepeta. You groan.

"Fine," you say low.

His soft pink lips give you a just smile and his eyes shine lightly. He leans in ever so slightly but you turn away to continue walking.

"Why do you do this to me," you mumble.

"What?"

You're startled by yourself. You didn't intend for that to be out loud and you surely didn't want to have to explain yourself.

"Why are you always such a nook licker?"

"Depends upon the nook," he chuckles.

You can almost feel your eyes dilate. Your body is drooling for him. Why is he so goddamn flirty?

"Karkat?"

Your name in his mouth all innocent makes your heart beat with anticipation.

"Yes?"

He leaves you in silence and then shakes his head.

"Aw nevermind," he says with a chuckle.

He hooks his arm around your shoulders and pats you on the head. You growl lowly, so as to not let him hear you. You roll your eyes at him. Seriously how could a single person be so infuriating? You shake him off and walk up ahead, admiring the world around you. Eventually he catches up with you, humming all the way.

"Why are you always so rude? I'm trying to be nice to you... I want you," he trails off and glances at you with a tease in his eyes. But even still...

You quiver at the sound of that. You want him, red and black; pale and ashen.. Your heart is racing. One twist to the next, John Egbert was toying with you and you just gave him permission to mentally do so as well. What were you thinking? Especially since you knew that he was messing with you...

"...As my friend," he finishes off laughing.

You know exactly what you were thinking. You wanted him, in expert sexual euphoria. You wanted him to make you feel full and empty all the same. You wanted him to want you fully and completely. You wanted him to need you the way Dave once needed you, before he lost Jade.

Now Dave was a different story. Sometimes he would tease you intellectually, implying maybe he was interested, but you weren't. Not emotionally at least. And then eventually, he just, he kissed you... And that was that, those were a long three years, and having him... It just made it shorter. He would sleep beside you, on top of you, beneath you... He would pull your hair and beg with his soft pink lips, his hips pressing into yours, his boner practically ripping through his clothes when he humped you. Dave was something else. He used and abused you and you were more than  willing to be his slave. But it was just a game, nothing more or less to either of you. That was a realization that came after you had landed yourselves in this new world... And you and him drifted far apart.

Not that most of it had anything to do with your relationship, but you think almost one hundred percent had to do with the loss of Jade. Jade what a precious girl. The two of you could have been the best of friends, and of course she would have kept past, present, and future you pacified. That wasn't something that anyone else was capable of doing. Or not as well as she was.

John was the most difficult loss, especially where you thought he was dead for most of that time. And to be honest, he was, just a different more successful version of him emerged through time shenanigans. And boom, a somehow older and more attractive version was placed in front of you. Destroying the very need that had been previously replaced when Dave waltzed in and took your virginity, like the savage he was.

You stumble and trip over your feet. You catch yourself before full on falling. John grabs your arm and the two of you stop walking.

"What was that... Are you okay Karkat?"

His voice almost sounds genuine.

"It was nothing, I just got lost in my thoughts and wasn't paying attention. I'm fine."

You can feel his icy eyes on you and you look up into them. You stand up straight and break away from his clutch. You brush yourself off and continue forward. He doesn't immediately follow but you hear when he does, your ears twitch at the sound. He runs to your side, his shoes lightly scuffing on the pavement.

"Isn't it beautiful out though Karkat? The rain, when was the last time you felt it?"

You shake your head.

"I was hoping to experience the sun actually. I didn't realize it was so... dreary out," you respond, quite normally.

"Oh. Have you still never felt the sun? I didn't realize..."

You glance over and see him pull his phone out of his pocket. He stares at it for a moment then smiles.

"Karkat do you wanna watch the sunrise tomorrow?! Then you can feel the sun on you and experience it and stuff. It's going to be nice and warm and... Trust me its beautiful."

He looks at you and smiles widely. You regretfully smile back at him.

"S-sure, John, but you're gonna have to get me up."

He nods erratically and laughs. "Of course I can! I'm good at waking you up!"

You stare back at the path in front of you. He moves closer to you.

"I promise you'll like it, Karkat."

In accordance with many romance movies you've seen since inheriting the space on this mishmash of a planet, sunrises can sometimes be... Romantic. Maybe tomorrow morning would be the day you'd tell him how you feel. Express yourself. And maybe he'd finally understand.

As the two of you walk there's more silence than there is chit chat which is good because you barely wanted him there in the first place. You pass through woods, swing sets, a park. Eventually you come to a cave.

"Oh this is that cave that was discovered, it was all over the news about two years ago. Do you want to go check it out? They say it's haunted and you can hear the screams and cries of women and children. I think it's just the wind though. It does have some peculiar drawings on the walls-"

"John, would you shut up," you interrupt him.

Something about what he just said struck a chord so you decide to make your way in. The further away from the entrance the closer you get to a light illuminating the dark cave. In the corner of your eye you notice the walls, but don't pay them much attention.

"See Karkat, look, look at the drawings. I wonder who made these... They can't decipher the symbols as it's not a language anyone recognizes. But from the pictures, they've been able to surmise what it probably says."

You pause, and on closer inspection, you see a lot of letters, all familiar to you. Old Alternian, any one of us trolls could decipher this... You move closer, along the walls and cringe. It's your story. You look to the opposite wall. The story there is that of the Sufferer. You pull at your hair, why is this happening? Whats the point of ancestral relevance now? The game is over! They're not important!

But Karkat, we are. Exclusively to you. You were the only person who didn't accept us.

You look around confused. Where did that come from? Who said that? You feel like you're gonna puke.

"See did you hear that screaming?" It's only clear to you, Karkat. "It just did it again... This place is creepy man." He can't hear us. This is meant for you.

"Who's there," you call out.

"Karkat there's no one here. It's just the wind."

You don't answer him but continue down the narrow cave checking every inch of the walls. No doubt, it's Alternian. This history should have been erased but here it is and always will be. You gasp. Further down the story shows John's planets history.

"John have you seen this?"

He shook his head.

"I didn't know about-" He pauses at the image of his own father being killed. His posture falls. "Does.... Does that mean the rest is your story then? I guess I didn't put it together."

"Yes it was our story..." You hear him choke and cough. At a glance you see his eyes overwhelmed and spilling over. "John are you okay?"

He shakes his head. "I miss him. I miss my dad so much..."

You press a hand on his back, rubbing circles. You suggest you continue on down the cave, if he's up for it. He nods and wipes his face with his hands. In the end of the cave, the survivors of a big green monster (Caliborne) are revered as gods, with no names or specific details. Hell Dave was portrayed as bronze rather than pale and red eyed. It was very roundabout as to who was who, but if you knew, you knew.

But you guys aren't gods, just a bunch of kids who created a world in harmony with each other. You aren't gods, you're just a bunch of kids who suffered at the hands of great evil to create a universe that would consist of trolls and humans, the genetics mixing and creating a new race as well. The whole thing was making your head spin.

You sit down from nausea. Who knew these things, who could have drawn this-this... What was this? You clench your eyes shut and think. Did Nepeta survive? No. But.... Maybe there would always be someone like her... Who did these cave drawings?

"Aggghhhh." You put your head down.

It was starting to pour again outside the opening of the cave; it came down and echoed into the space around you, filling the cave.

"Are you okay," John asks.

"Just a bit dizzy..." You rest your head on the wall behind you.

John eventually joins you on the floor of the cave and puts an arm around you, pulling you close to him. He's wet and cold from the wind in the cave and the rain from outside. Compared to you, you're actually warm. He pulls his arm from around you and rests it on your knee. He lays his head against your shoulder and closes his eyes.

"Sorry, you're just... You're just so warm..."

You find yourself wrapping an arm around his shoulders and he rests his head closer to your heart. He could hear it and you couldn't control it's heavy thumps of anticipation. But he didn't say anything.

"We should go back," you whisper.

He shakes his head. "But I'm comfortable."

You sigh. "Yes but I'm sure you'd be just as comfortable and warm at home John. Actually probably warmer. C'mon."

He clenches your knee cap and slides it up your thigh a little bit. You push him off and stand up. Your vision cuts out from moving too quickly and you put a hand on the wall.

"W-we should probably get going John. Oh and John?"

"Yes?"

"I-... I can't see. I need your help..."

You hear him get up and feel his arm under yours and around your rib cage to support you. While your vision is spotty, he hangs onto you and you cling to him.

"Don't worry, I'll get you home safe."

The two of you hobble out of the cave as you slowly regain your vision. You lean over and support yourself on your knees dry heaving. What was wrong with you?

"Karkat?" His voice comes urgent as he places a hand on your back. "Karkat please we're not too far from home, I'll get you home safe."

His playful demeanor had left him when he came and found you leaving this morning. He was very serious today and you weren't sure why. He put an arm around you again. A soft wind came and swept you up quickly. The two of you start to sprint. Somehow it didn't make you feel sicker, but you didn't feel better.

Do you understand now why you must learn your story? In order to progress you must accept your past, Karkat. We will guide you.

You slipped and fell in the wet grass. The voice put you off balance and made you lose your footing. John wasn't far behind you.

"Ah! Karkat! A-are you-"

"John are you okay, I'm so sorry-"

You break out into laughter. You were so stupidly clumsy. Nothing even hurt, you just embarrassed yourself in front of him.

"I'm sorry. Haha, I'm just so clumsy John."

He smiles back at you. His eyes are wide with wonder. You shake your head and roll onto your back to stare up at the sky. John boosts himself up and reaches a hand out to you.

"C'mon we're almost home and I'm cold and a little hungry for lunch."

You grasp his hand and he pulls you up. The two of you take it slow home. When you get there you slide your shoes off beside his. The two of you chat your way to your room, shutting the door behind you. He begins to disband his clothing, down to his underwear. You can't help but watch. His skin is so pale, especially in comparison to your own. He catches you watching and you begin to take your clothes off too. You both change into dry clothes, him keeping relatively close to ensure you don't fall over.

"John, I'm fine don't fucking worry."

He shakes his head and keeps a hand on your side.

"Buuut, you could fall over though. And I don't want you getting hurt. I told you I'd get you home safe, and I intend as well on keeping you safe while I can..."

You wonder why he's being so nice to you. Did it finally click with him? The two of you finish getting dressed and then he follows you closely to the kitchen.

"Now do you want soup sandwich or what," he asks, assisting you to a seat at the island in the kitchen.

"Umm... Soup I guess seems safe," you respond. He smiles at you and begins cooking up some soup for the two of you. You lean your head on the counter top.

Before you know it hes pressing a hand on your shoulder and softly whispering your name. You shake yourself out of a sleepy stupor and perk up at the smell of soup. He thumbs at your cheek wiping something away.

"Why were you crying," he asks.

You pause and think. You honestly don't remember. You don't even remember falling asleep, just the sensation of his warm hands on you to wake you.

"I.. I don't know."

"Don't worry about it then, I'm sure it's nothing."

God he was being so sweet and kind. Why was he being this way. What did he want? You pulled the bowl he had placed in front of you closer. You spoon at it and eat. It rushes down your throat and into your stomach. It warms every inch of your body, from your nose to your toes. While you eat it's silent. Afterwards he walks you to the room and lays down beside you.

"I'll be here until you fall asleep," he whispers. He rubs your stomach and nestles his face into your neck. His breathing is calm and sets you to sleep.