(Untitled)

[crabbycustomer]

Karkat is doing something weird again

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[seat_five_girl]

That is a somewhat ridiculous set of piles.

"Where are you even getting all of those from?"

[crabbycustomer]

"FROM MY STRIFE SPECIBUS, OBVIOUSLY."

[seat_five_girl]

"Not obvious to me," says Ako, "I don't think I've even heard of a specibus before."

[crabbycustomer]

"YEAH OBVIOUSNESS IS RELATIVE," he agrees.

He sighs and stops; the sighing is mostly a show, he loves expositing. "I HAVE A SYLLADEX, RIGHT? IT'S A CARD-BASED INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM. YOU RETRIEVE STUFF FROM IT WITH A FETCH MODUS, WHICH IS USUALLY A BIG PAIN IN THE ASS> AND THE SYLLADEX LETS YOU SET A STRIFE SPECIBUS, A CATEGORY OF STUFF THAT YOU CAN PULL OUT WITH USING THE FETCH MODUS. MY STRIFE ALLOCATION IS SICKLEKIND. DID THAT ALL MAKE SENSE?"

[seat_five_girl]

"Mostly," says Ako.

Because, she thinks it does, but what if she's wrong?

"So all of these are different sickles and you can store other things too, but they are harder to get at."

[crabbycustomer]

"YEAH, EXACTLY," he says. "AND I HAVE JUST BUILT UP ALL THESE FUCKING SICKLES BECAUSE I HAVE THE SPACE SO I NEVER BOTH TO CLEAN UP AND NOW IT IS TIME TO MEET THE DRONE."

[seat_five_girl]

"What are you going to do with the ones you don't want to keep?"

[crabbycustomer]

"I DON'T KNOW, BREAK THEM DOWN FOR GRIST MAYBE. SOME OF THEM ARE JUST OUTCLASSED OR REDUNDANT, BUT SOME OF THESE ARE SERIOUS GARBAGE I NEVER SHOULD HAVE KEPT IN THE FIRST PLACE." He looks distastefully at a semihexagonal purple and black sickle that is leaking a viscous yellow fluid on the table.

[seat_five_girl]

Leaking weapons are the sort of thing you don't usually look for.

"I didn't even think there where this many different sickles anywhere," admits Ako, "But if that is what you fight with I guess you'd keep a better look out for them than I would."

[crabbycustomer]

"I MADE ALL OF THESE," Karkat says. "AS EXPERIMENTS, MOSTLY, EITHER FAILED ONES OR SOME OF THESE ARE TRANSITIONAL STEPS ON THE WAY TO SOMETHING LESS AWFUL."

[seat_five_girl]

Ako looks at the piles again and back at Karkat.

"How?" she asks finally. Between the different materials, strange side effects and sheer number it probably was not in a forge.

[crabbycustomer]

He rolls his eyes. "USING A FABRICATION DEVICE. WHEN THE SYLLADEX SYSTEM STORES AN OBJECT IT CREATES AN EIGHT CHARACTER REFERENCE CODE AS A POINTER. A WHILE AGO I GOT ACCESS TO A FABRICATOR THAT COULD COMBINE THOSE CODES TO CREATE NEW SHIT WITH OVERLAPPING QUALITIES AND WENT A LITTLE NUTS TRYING IT OUT."

"AND I DIDN'T BREAK DOWN THE USELESS ONES BECAUSE, FUCK, I DON'T KNOW, I DIDN'T NEED TO. HAVEN'T YOU EVER HAD FILES PILES UP ON YOUR DESKTOP BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T BOTHER TO TIDY THEM UP?"

[seat_five_girl]

"A little, yes."

Sometimes with real paper too. Textbooks just don't work as well in strictly
electronic formats. Add in assignments...

"Does it need to be something it made before you can break it down for grist?"

[crabbycustomer]

That gives him pause. "HUH. I DON'T KNOW, WE NEVER TRIED IT. IN THEORY THERE SHOULDN'T BE ANY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SOMETHING ALCHEMIZED AND ORDINARY CRAP, I MEAN IT'S PERFECTLY POSSIBLE TO JUST RUN OFF COPIES OF STUFF YOU ALREADY HAVE ON HAND. THAT'S HOW WE'VE BEEN EATING FOR THE LAST MONTH MOSTLY."

"BUT I NEVER TRIED JUST BREAKING DOWN SOMETHING FROM MY HOUSE. IT WAS ALWAYS EASIER TO FARM GRIST KILLING ENEMIES I GUESS. IT'S NOT LIKE WE EVER REALLY RAN SHORT."

[seat_five_girl]

"Well it's something to try if you ever start to run out," says Ako, "Are sylladexes expensive?"

Proper plurals are for people who already know what something's name is.

[crabbycustomer]

"GOOD ONES ARE. I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF YOU COULD GET ONE HERE, BUT THEY WERE ON MY WORLD. THE MORE INCONVENIENT THE FETCH MODUS IS THE LESS THEY COST. AND STRIFE SYLLABI ARE PRETTY MUCH IMPOSSIBLE TO GET UNLESS YOU'RE ROLLING IN IT OR TAKE THEM OFF SOMEONE."