[Fanfic] Momentum
Title: Momentum (Parts 5-6)
Fandom: Homestuck
Characters/Pairings: Aradia, Sollux, Nepeta, Vriska, Equius, Terezi, Eridan, Kanaya, Tavros, Feferi; Sollux?Aradia, Equius♥/♠Aradia, implied Eridan♠Vriska, implied Sollux♥Feferi
Warnings: Spoilers for Hivebent (Act5-1) I guess?
Word count: (total) 27,563
5
gallowsCalibrator [GC] began trolling arachnidsGrip [AG]
GC: H3Y VR1SK4
GC: PR3TTY CL3V3R US1NG MY LUSUS TO G3T B4CK 4T M3 L1K3 TH4T!
GC: 1 H4V3 TO 4DM1T 1 N3V3R WOULD H4V3 THOUGHT OF TH4T
AG: 8h my g8d why 8re you still here????????
GC: WH4T
GC: D1D YOU TH1NK YOU K1LL3D M3? >:]
GC: TH4T 1D B3 L3FT BL1ND 4ND W4ND3R1NG 1N TH3 FOR3ST UNT1L SOM3 W1LD B34ST 4TT4CK3D M3 4ND 4T3 M3?
AG: Yeah something l8ke that.
GC: GOOD TH1NG YOU LOST YOUR TOUCH TH3N
AG: W8s that supposed to 8e a joke? >::::(
GC: WH4T >:?
GC: OH H4H4H4H4
GC: H3H3H3H3H3H3!!
GC: WOW NO 1T W4SNT BUT TH4T W4S 4CTU4LLY K1ND OF FUNNY DONT YOU TH1NK??
AG: N8t really.
GC: OH COM3 ON DONT B3 SO S3NS1T1V3!
AG: How 8re you even typing 8nyw8y?
AG: How are you 8ven reading this????????
GC: 1 C4N SM3LL TH3 K3YS
GC: 4ND WH3N 1 L1CK TH3 SCR33N 1 C4N T4ST3 YOUR T3XT
GC: MS BLU3B3RRY BUBBL3GUM >:]
AG: Th8 sounds a8solutely gross XXXXP
GC: 1TS NOT GROSS! >:[
GC: MY LUSUS T4UGHT M3
GC: SH3 T4LKS TO M3 4LL TH3 T1M3 NOW
GC: WH1CH 1S YOUR DO1NG 1 SUPPOS3
GC: SO TH4NKS 1 GU3SS >:?
AG: This is the most disgusting displ8y of insincere gr8itude I’ve 8ver seen!
GC: 1TS NOT 1NS1NC3R3 1 M34N 1T!!
AG: Like h8ll you do.
GC: 4444UGH YOUR3 B31NG 1MPOSS1BL3! >:[
AG: R8 8ecause you’re 8n a8solute pl8sure to deal with!
GC: W4Y MOR3 TH4N YOULL 3V3R B3 >:]
AG: Wow look 8 that the short 8mount of time I have res8rved for arguing with 8 cr8zy 8lind girl has 8xpired.
GC: OH D4MN 1 D1DNT 4CTU4LLY COM3 H3R3 TO 4RGU3 >:[
GC: 1 C4M3 FOR 4 TRUC3
AG: Oh yeah r8!
AG: That’s possi8ly the thinnest v8il of su8terfuge in the h8story of 8ver.
AG: H3y Vr8sk4 l3t’s h4v3 4 truc3 8ut not r34lly! >::::]
AG: 4ctu4lly wh3n your gu4rd’s down 1’m go1ng to t4k3 your oth3r 3y3 so w3 c4n 8oth 83 8l1nd 4nd stuuuuuuuup11111111d!
GC: TH4T TOOK YOU L1K3 31GHT WHOL3 M1NUT3S TO TYP3 >:/
AG: That’s 8ecause you type l8ke a tool!!!!!!!!
AG: 8lso in case it didn’t occur to you it’s k8nd of h8rd to type with one 8rm! D::::<
AG: 8nyway screw you and your truce.
AG: I’m not f8lling for it.
GC: YOU TH1NK 1M LY1NG?
GC: L3TS STOP 4ND SM3LL TH3 F4CTS H3R3 MY F4VOR1T3 3X SCOURG3 S1ST3R
AG: You only h8ve one Ex-Scourge S8ster.
GC: WH1CH 1S TH3 ONLY W4Y YOUR3 MY F4VOR1T3 >:]
AG: Oh fuck you!!!!!!!!
GC: 4NYW4Y S3R1OUSLY
GC: 1N TH3 COURS3 OF OUR FR13NDSH1P
GC: HOW M4NY T1M3S D1D 1 4CTU4LLY L13 TO YOU
AG: Who knows!
AG: I 8et lots 8nd lots!
GC: WRONG TH3 4NSW3R W4S N3V3R
GC: WH1CH 1S MOR3 TH4N 1 C4N S4Y FOR YOU
AG: That doesn’t ev8n m8tter now.
AG: I know you’re capa8le of lying just 8s much as I am.
AG: If not to your fri8nds then to your enemies.
AG: Which you seem to 8e implying we 8re now.
GC: NOOOOO!
GC: OH W41T L3T M3 TYP3 OUT 31GHT OF TH3S3
GC: NOOOOOOOO!
GC: TH4TS WHY 1M SUGG3ST1NG 4 TRUC3 NUMNUTS
GC: 1M DON3 B31NG 3N3M13S W1TH YOU
GC: TH4TS HOW 1NNOC3NT P3OPL3 G3T HURT
GC: 4ND K1LL3D >:[
GC: 4ND KNOW1NG US W3D PROB4BLY JUST 3ND UP COMPL3T3LY OBL1T3R4T1NG 34CH OTH3R 4ND G3TT1NG LOTS OF OTH3R P3OPL3 1NVOLV3D
GC: SO 1TS GOT TO STOP
GC: 4R3 YOU ON BO4RD OR NOT?
AG: Wh8t 8re the t8rms of your stupid truce?
GC: S1MPLE
GC: TH3 CYCL3 OF R3V3NG3 3NDS H3R3
GC: 1 DONT G3T B4CK 4T YOU FOR WH4T YOU D1D TO M3
GC: OR 4R4D14 OR T4VROS OR SOLLUX
AG: Oh my g8d was th8 8ven n8cessary????????
AG: Why do you ev8n c8re th8yre just 8 8unch of cr8ppy pl8yers and stupid 8ipol8r shitty h8ckers!
GC: Y34H OK4Y WH4T3V3R BUT TH3YR3 MY FR13NDS 4ND TH3Y W3R3 SUPPOS3D TO B3 YOURS TOO AND TH3Y D1DNT D3S3RV3 3V3RYTH1NG YOU D1D TO TH3M! >:[
GC: NOW QU13T!
GC: SO 1 DONT G3T B4CK 4T YOU FOR 4LL TH4T
GC: 4ND YOU STOP US1NG YOUR POW3RS ON 1NNOC3NT P3OPL3 TO G3T TO 4CTU4L WRONGDO3RS
GC: 1 WOULD B3 H4PPY TO S3ND YOU TH3 PROP3R D3F1N1T1ON OF 4 WRONGDO3R 1F YOU L1K3 >:]
AG: Uuuuuuuugh!
GC: HOW 4BOUT TH4T
GC: DO3S TH4T SOUND F41R TO YOU?
GC: VR1SK4?
AG: Ok fine what8ver!
AG: You c8n h8ve your stup8d truce!
AG: N8w just le8ve me 8lone!!!!!!!!
GC: GL4DLY >:]
gallowsCalibrator [GC] ceased trolling arachnidsGrip [AG]
------
apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
AA: s0llux i f0und s0mething again
AA: s0llux
AA: are y0u there
TA: holy fuck what the hell?
TA: ii
TA: ii mean.
TA: you diied.
AA: n0t entirely
TA: what the hell ii2 that 2uppo2ed two mean?!
AA: n0thing y0u sh0uld c0ncern y0urself ab0ut right n0w
AA: the basic gist 0f it is
AA: i died
AA: but n0t really
AA: it d0esnt really matter
AA: the p0int is that i can still talk t0 y0u
AA: i f0und s0mething i need y0u t0 l00k at
TA: ii gue22 youre not goiing two a2k me two gue22 what iit ii2 thii2 tiime.
AA: what w0uld be the p0int 0f d0ing that
AA: 0_0
TA: …
TA: thii2 ii2 2eriiou2ly depre22iing me riight now.
TA: fiine what the hell ii2 iit?
AA: id rather y0u n0t be depressed
AA: its a game
AA: 0r m0re specifically
AA: techn0l0gy i acquired from the fr0g ruins near my 0ld hive
AA: 0ut 0f which i w0uld like y0u t0 make a game
TA: what iif ii dont want two make a game out of your 2tupiid technology?
AA: are y0u angry with me
TA: …
TA: no ii dont thiink ii could be.
TA: e2peciially 2iince youre the one who 2hould probably be angry wiith me.
AA: im n0t angry
AA: i am 0k with what happened
TA: …
AA: m0re t0 the p0int it was meant t0 happen s0 there is n0 p0int in getting upset
TA: thii2 ii2 crazy.
AA: s0llux im sending y0u this file n0w
AA: y0ull kn0w what t0 d0 with it
TA: what the hell 2ort of game am ii 2uppo2ed two be makiing anyway?
AA: a game that we will play t0 save 0ur civilizati0n as we kn0w it
TA: holy 2hiit.
TA: 2eriiou2ly?
AA: yes
AA: it sh0uld be a game that will interest even y0u
AA: here take a l00k
-- apocalypseArisen [AA] sent twinArmageddons [TA] the file “weirdc0des.rar” --
AA: what d0 y0u make 0f it
TA: hang on thii2 ii2 goiing two take a liittle tiime.
TA: thii2 code ii2 kiind of crappy 2orry.
AA: 0_0
AA: thats the best I c0uld d0
TA: …do you ever get the feeliing that youre doiing 2omethiing youve already done before?
AA: n0 n0t anym0re
TA: …aradiia thii2 2uck2.
AA: what d0es
TA: talkiing two you.
AA: 0_0
AA: s0rry
AA: n0w that ive given y0u the data
AA: y0u can st0p if y0u want
TA: no waiit.
TA: iit2 fiine.
TA: ju2t.
TA: 2tay here.
TA: iit2 better than nothiing.
AA: 0_0
AA: 0k
TA: ok well ii thiink ii can fiigure thii2 out.
AA: g00d
TA: what am ii 2uppo2ed two do wiith thii2 game when iim done makiing iit?
AA: we will play it with 0ur friends
AA: and pr0bably s0me enemies
AA: in an attempt t0 save the w0rld
TA: that 2ound2 pretty 2tupiid iif you a2k me.
TA: why play wiith our enemiie2?
AA: because we will need them
AA: and because the v0ices said we w0uld
TA: oh 2o you can hear them loud and clear now two?
AA: very clearly
AA: they say they have been telling y0u f0r sweeps wh0 t0 play with
AA: adi0st0read0r carcin0geneticist arseniccatnip grimauxiliatrix gall0wscalibrat0r arachnidsgrip centaurstesticle terminallycaprici0us caligulasaquarium cuttlefishculler
AA: and me
TA: you mean two tell me all that yammeriing wa2 about thii2 2hiitty game?
AA: yes
AA: and saving 0ur race
TA: thii2 ii2 retarded.
AA: i am 0k with whatever its mental capacity is
TA: anyway fuck that2 a lot of people two be playiing one game.
AA: the game sh0uld acc0unt f0r us being split up int0 teams 0f s0rts
AA: i will leave that t0 y0u
TA: what iif they dont want two play?
AA: they will have t0
AA: 0r they will die
AA: 0_0
TA: FUCK aradiia what the hell??
AA: d0nt w0rry y0u will n0t have t0 d0 much c0nvincing
AA: just make the game
AA: ill make sure everything else falls int0 place as they said it will
TA: the voiice2 you mean?
AA: yes
TA: ok you know what fuck thii2.
TA: iive 2pent far two much tiime tryiing two iignore doiing what tho2e fuckiing voiice2 triied telliing me two do and iim not ju2t goiing two giive that up now.
TA: iim not doiing thii2 for them.
AA: but y0u will d0 it
TA: yeah yeah iill do iit.
TA: but iim doiing iit for you.
twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]
AA: 0_0
AA: 0k
------
Sollux stared at his screen. It was divided in two; half of it was filled with the shitty code Aradia had just given him, and the other half contained a decidedly less shitty code for the program to identify the bones she had found. It seemed so long ago that he had promised to work on it; it had gone on hold while he had designed the four-wheeled device Tavros was presently seated in, and now…
He sighed, sinking forward to rest his head on his desk. It was really pointless to work on it, now. The bones had probably been vaporized along with everything else, and anyway he doubted the new Aradia would even care about it anymore. She seemed to not care about a lot of things.
Fuck this stupid code, and fuck this stupid game. Fuck the voices and fuck fate and fuck all of this. He didn’t want to have anything more to do with the bitch who’d forced her way into his psyche and screwed up his life. He didn’t want anything to do with her entire set, those double-talking so-called high-bloods with not a drop of decency among them. Even Terezi had sold him out. And now he had to play a game with them, upon which the survival of their race depended? Well fuck that!
…Was what he’d like to say. But no matter how much he rebelled, no matter how much he wanted the voices to be wrong or to go away, they were unstoppable. And now Aradia was nothing more than their pawn, a mouthpiece for their goddamn prophecies and creepy predictions. And mind-control or not, if only he’d been stronger, better able to fend Vriska off, she would still be alive, still safe from their influence. Which would have been worse: if she had died normally, or that he was still able to talk to her anyway, a constant reminder of his failure?
It had been nearly a week since the incident, and since the toll of the injured in this seemingly endless cycle of revenge had yet again doubled. Tavros and Terezi seemed to be adapting to their situations fairly well. He couldn’t care less if she was. And Aradia…
Well, she had adapted. Which wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
He wondered if anyone else knew by now. Anyone else but him and Terezi, and of course the one who’d done it in the first place. She wouldn’t…tell anyone, would she? At this point, he wouldn’t put it past her. But…what would they say? What would…
Groaning, Sollux pushed himself up from his desk and refocused his eyes back on his computer screen. It was pointless to think about all this now. There was work to be done, he supposed. This game…
He closed his bones program work and allowed the data from the ruins to take up his entire screen. Picking through this was going to take a while. Everything seemed to be made as esoteric as possible, with strange symbols and animal hieroglyphs speckling the screen. He was going to need to parse this first, get it down on paper and start hacking at it the old-fashioned way. As he printed out large chunks of code, he thought vaguely about what to call this stupid game. A few different possibilities flitted through his mind before his gaze landed on the variety of game grubs scattered around the floor of his respiteblock. Grubs. Sgrub. It was utterly inelegant. The old Aradia would have hated it.
…But the new one wouldn’t care. So why should he? Sgrub it was.
6
There was a knock on the door. Lately, any sudden noise had Vriska on edge. It had been nearly a week since she’d been able to feed her lusus; losing an arm and seven of eight eyes made it a little difficult to hunt, much less FLARP…and anyway she didn’t feel much like FLARPing these days. But no hunting meant no tasty little troll sacrifices, and that meant good old Spidermom was starting to get hungry. And the hungrier she got, the more likely she was going to go after the closest source of food.
But the knock was just that: a knock, and nothing more. Even if it sounded as if it were close to splintering her door.
“I’m coming!” she called as the pounding sounded again, threatening to expose her to the cold night air of the early 12th perigee. “Geez Equius could you maybe not break my door down!?”
She knew it was Equius. Who else would it be?
“You look horrible,” was the first thing he said when she opened the door. She gaped at him at first while he slipped inside, something wrapped in a rag under his arm.
“Thanks, buddy,” she responded through fangs gritted in a false smile. “Sure was good of you to take some time out of that busy schedule of yours to come over.”
“Your present state is your own fault for playing games with scumbloods,” he replied calmly, turning to face her. “Though I must say it is a little embarrassing to know they got the best of you.”
“Screw you!” she exclaimed, annoyed out of her feigned geniality. “This was all Terezi’s doing!”
“I believe we have already discussed my opinion of that lowblood-chaser. Additionally,” he continued, the tone of his voice growing thin, “you will watch how you address your betters, and the one who is helping you out.”
She grumbled unintelligibly at him and attempted to fold her singular arm across her chest, failing spectacularly.
Equius watched this with a raised eyebrow. “Better, I suppose. Now, where would you like to do this?”
Out of the corner of her good eye, Vriska watched Equius watch her, his stare piercing the dark, cracked lenses of his shades to make her shudder as she one-handedly gathered a pair of chairs close together in a nearby block. As she positioned the second one, he sat in the first and began to unwrap a pile of tools from the bundle with which he had arrived. Eventually, she sat beside him, observing these motions without a word until…
“Oh god Equius, it’s beautiful.”
The prosthetic arm he produced last from the bundle glinted dully in the light of the setting red sun through her window, a mass of dark metal and cording and careful precision. He held it up close to his face, as if inspecting it for flaws. There were none.
“Of course it is,” he answered blandly. “Everything I build is absolutely perfect. Even you will find little to complain about.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she snapped, breaking her staring contest with her one-eyed reflection in the paneling of the arm to frown at him.
He didn’t answer but merely lowered the piece from eye level and turned his attention to her expectantly. “You will remove your jacket.”
After one last brief moment of frowning over at him, she slowly moved to comply, working the stump of her left arm from the torn jacket and depositing it on her lap before rolling up the offending sleeve of her T-shirt.
He grimaced.
“Did you cauterize this?” Equius demanded, distaste filling his words.
“Well you know I was gonna look into some safer and less excruciatingly painful methods, but I was kind of low on time. And limbs.”
Kanaya may have come over to help her, if Vriska had been humble enough to unblock her and ask.
“Then this, too, is your own fault. I need working nerves to attach this properly. You should have told me.”
Before Vriska could ask what he meant, he held her shoulder in a firm, painful grip and jammed the prosthetic into her stump. All words left her in the form of a long cry of agony. What felt like eighty giant buzzbeasts’ stingers shot into her shoulder, entertaining thoughts of breaking through to the other side, but the only blood came from where the arm had entered in the first place. Bright spots of blue (Blueberry bubblegum blue, surfaced in her pain-shocked mind, inexplicably) dripped onto the jacket draped over her knee.
“Oh great, like I didn’t get enough blood on the last one,” she managed to say through teeth gritted against the hurt.
“You will be quiet,” he responded coolly, pulling out a screwdriver. “It will benefit you in the end if you do not distract me.”
Vriska clenched her good hand around the arm of the chair but fell silent, turning away from his work despite her curiosity. Too much looking at her own blood lately. She didn’t want to have to get used to the sight of it.
And anyway with her face turned from Equius, she could let the pain paint itself onto her expression. Before the initial sensations of him gripping her shoulder and the needles jabbing into her arm could subside, they were now replaced with an intense, growing pressure while he screwed the arm onto the end of her ruined limb. As he tightened bolts into place, the squeezing sensation traveled up to her shoulder and began filling her chest with the feeling. It strangled her throat, her heart, her lungs. She felt the hollow echoes of it all the way down in her toes and in the gaping hole where seven of her eight eyes used to be.
He paused.
“You’re crying.”
She unclamped her good hand from the arm of the chair and quickly reached up to wipe off the pale blue tears streaming down her cheeks. “No shut up, what are you talking about?! Why would I be crying, it’s not like this hurts or anything!”
“You were also making rather distracting noises when I specifically told you not to.”
Vriska couldn’t remember making any noises, and she sure as hell hadn’t been doing it on purpose.
“Well geez sorry, let me just bite off my other arm and gag myself wi--AUGH!”
He had finished tightening one last bolt and reached into a tiny gap between two cords to flip an even tinier switch, and suddenly the pain from the wound numbed by time and intense heat redoubled upon her tenfold. He let her go and she fell out of her chair screaming, clutching at her shoulder with one hand and at the floor with the other, her single eye wide with shock and pain. Equius ignored her, and by the time her cries had subsided into whimpers, he had most of his tools packed up.
“This will, perhaps, teach you greater care in the future. A blue-blood is not indestructible, Vriska Serket, and the lower classes will only use that to their advantage. The more you show them that you can be harmed, the more they will come after you.”
“What,” she gasped out, “…are you getting at, Zahhak?”
“I am saying that in the state you are in, you are careless and weak. If you allow the lower classes to have the upper hand, they will not hesitate to take it from you. Or to take your own hand from you, I suppose.”
Vriska slowly slid up to a sitting position, trying to force her head to be still as she watched him slowly roll his tools back up into their bundle.
“Well yeah ok, great. Nice lecture, that’s definitely what I needed to hear right now.”
“It is one of the many services I offer to the less fortunate.”
She stared at him, open-mouthed, when she realized he was being completely serious.
“Crap, this is the reason I prefer talking to you online!” she exclaimed, cheeks turning a pale cerulean in her humiliation. “At least there I can pretend you’re joking about the awful things you say sometimes!”
Something very strong clamped onto her jaw and dragged her to her feet, so her face was inches from Equius’s now angry, damp features. “I came here and installed this arm for you out of respect for a fellow blue-blood, but you have been insubordinate to me ever since I arrived, and you will stop,” he ground out. “Do not believe I will continue to endure verbal abuse from you. I am aware of what you think of me, and I assure you the feeling is mutual. But do not forget that we are not quite equals. I hold the upper hand here and will continue to do so.”
Only then did Vriska realize that both of his strong hands were still wrapped around his bundle of tools, and that what was gripping her face was her own prosthetic, acting on someone else’s will.
“Oh my god what did you doooooooo?!” she cried, eyes snapping down to try and look at the offending limb.
“I merely figured there would be times when it would be necessary to remind you who made your arm. As you have just neatly demonstrated, I was correct in my assumption. You will do well to not forget it in the future.”
The hand released her, and she drew back, shooting glances between him and the thing attached to her shoulder. “You’re right,” she forced herself to say, restraining the sarcasm that was dying to creep into her voice. “I was out of line.”
“…” He watched her quietly, his mouth a thin, hard line. “Good,” he finally said, “I am glad you understand.” Equius didn’t fool himself into believing she meant what she said, but he knew the power of his threat was potent enough for her to keep pretending, and that was good enough for him.
Finally finding herself released from his gaze, she experimentally made the decision to lift her left arm. The idea traveled down from her bone nook on a trail of nerves to her shoulder, where it came into contact with metal spokes that knew how to take care of the rest. Her arm lifted.
Turned.
Bent.
Fingers wiggled dexterously, their exactitude greater than the ones they had replaced. She gripped the top of her chair and found that she could, if she wanted, break it to pieces with just a thought.
For a moment, her anger was fleeting. “Damn,” she mumbled appreciatively.
Equius would not smile in her presence, but his expression at least became less furious. “I take pride in all my work,” he told her, “no matter how little the recipient may deserve it.”
Vriska only had the briefest chance to be irritated at the charge before it was replaced by a more familiar and welcome cunning. Now was not the time to anger him further, not when she still had uses for him.
“That reminds me…”
Distrust bloomed within Equius again, but he held his expression in check. “What is it?”
“I may need your help with something else. One last project, what do you say?”
He raised an eyebrow at her but allowed her to continue.
“So that red-blood, the one I killed, right?”
“Which in turn incurred the wrath of your ex-partner. I recall. What of it?”
“I want you to make her a robot body.”
She spat out the words as quickly as possible so she could sooner get to the part where his face contorted into utter disgust. She was not disappointed.
“Why in heck would you want me to do that?” he demanded. “Aid a red-blood? The idea’s so far beneath both of us that the troll Empress may come upon it in her deepest caverns. Though I should hope she does not.” His face contorted further, much to Vriska’s surprise that it could. “In any case, the red-blood is dead. What would be the point?”
“She haunts me, though. It’s kind of a thing she does. Anyway, don’t see this as helping her. It’s more like…” She paused for a moment, considering the situation. “Put it this way: You make her a robot body. Her ghost goes into it. She can think and feel again and stop being incredibly boring and lame and starts being all useful and, I don’t know, peasant-like again. And then she goes, ‘0h vriska y0u are such a g00d friend! i cant believe i ever th0ught 0f y0u any 0ther way! i sure d0 feel bad ab0ut pissing y0u 0ff and causing y0u t0 kill me! and n0w i see y0uve changed y0ur mind ab0ut me being dead and useless and b0ring! let me sh0w y0u and y0ur str0ng bluebl00ded superi0r h0w very grateful i am by being l0yal and dedicated t0 y0u f0rever!’ Then boom, we both have a devoted robot slave girl for life, or something.”
She paused, then sighed.
“I’ll go get the towels.”
“That will not be necessary,” he choked out, “I have brought some of my own with me this time.”
Vriska sat down in her now broken chair and leaned her chin on her robot hand as she waited for him to mop himself up.
“This is an interesting proposal,” he admitted, sitting beside her and pocketing the damp, blue-stained towel once more. “However, I am having a difficult time wrapping my mind around this concept.”
“What, passive-aggression?”
“No. Trying to make a robot in the form of a peasant.”
She raised her eyebrows at him. “Aren’t you the one who said all your creations are perfect or whatever?”
“Yes. And they are.”
She leaned back, folded her hands behind her head, and shrugged, reveling in the fluidity of it all. “So make her perfect.”
Vriska almost tricked herself into thinking she had heard his brain crack. A fresh towel appeared out of his other pocket, and he was soon back up on his feet.
“I will need to think on the best way to go about this. In the meantime, it may be necessary to…converse with this ‘ghost,’ to get a proper idea of what I’m to be dealing with. She is haunting you, you say? I trust you would have told me if she were haunting you now?”
“Oh, no, she haunts me on Trollian,” she replied with a wave of her hand. “I can give you her handle if you wanna talk to her that bad.”
“That would suffice. Very well, I will take this idea into consideration. You will hear from me in a couple days.”
“Great!” Vriska jumped up, mood greatly improved, and showed him to the door. “Thanks, for that and for the arm.”
“You will take care of it. I do not relish making these hive calls.”
“Yeah yeah absolutely! Don’t worry about it! I’ll take great care of it! You won’t be hearing any complaints from me…so long as, you know, I’m in control of it,” she added, lips twitching into a frown.
“You will rest assured that as long as I am not given a reason to, I plan on leaving the dominion of it in your other hand.”
“Great. Perfect! Let me know how it goes with ghost-girl, ok?”
“I will do that. See that you do nothing that further lowers my esteem of you in the meantime.”
Equius left her hive on that note, with a slurry of mixed feelings swirling on both sides of the now-closed door. Ignoring the new spots of blood, Vriska shrugged her jacket back on and headed up to her respiteblock. Now that that plan was in motion, she had other things to worry about: namely, the hungry screeching that was beginning to sound from the cavern down below her hive. Beside her computer, she prepared another FLARP grub to hatch. Some habits were hard to break, but others were simply necessary.
------
centaursTesticle [CT] began trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]
CT: D --> You there
CT: D --> Peasant
AA: uh
AA: hell0
CT: D --> Your bewildered yet prompt response does you credit
AA: thanks
CT: D --> And you at least have some inkling of the proper manners involved when you conduct a conversation
CT: D --> Perhaps this was not such a terrible idea after all
AA: what
CT: D --> Messaging you
AA: 0h
AA: 0k
AA: was there s0mething y0u wanted
CT: D --> Your eagerness to attend to me is appre%iated
CT: D --> Though at the moment my intention is solely to converse with you
CT: D --> In the future I e%pect to take advantage of your e%ceptional server abilities
AA: yes
AA: that is s0mething that y0u will d0
CT: D --> You are being abso100tly agreeable
CT: D --> I may have been given the wrong impre%ion of you
AA: 0_0
AA: wh0 has been talking t0 y0u ab0ut me
CT: D --> I believe you are the one who imposed upon my moirail to parti%ipate in a 100dicrously immature game
AA: 0h
AA: yes i supp0se i was
AA: i have n0 interest in that anym0re
AA: i w0nt be b0thering her ab0ut it again
CT: D --> E%cellent
CT: D --> You understand now that games are merely the distra%ions of the juvenile and the f001ish and the mentally handicapped
AA: n0t all games th0ugh
AA: s0me games can have very high stakes
AA: surely y0u might find y0urself interested in a game that c0uld
AA: f0r example
AA: be played in 0rder t0 save 0ur very civilizati0n
CT: D --> If, for e%ample, I found myself confronted with such an e%tremely important game
CT: D --> I may consider parti%ipating in that e%c100sively
CT: D --> If such a thing does in fact e%ist
AA: it d0es n0t yet
AA: but it will
CT: D --> How do you know that
AA: because i have c0mmissi0ned 0ne
CT: D --> That was e%tremely thoughtful of you
CT: D --> Your foresight is notable
CT: D --> What is your name, peasant
AA: aradia
CT: D --> Good
CT: D --> I believe I have gathered enough information for the time being
CT: D --> I will take my leave now
CT: D --> Talking to you, while gratifying, has left me a little
CT: D --> Damp
AA: 0_0
CT: D --> I e%pect I will be contacting you again
CT: D --> You will plan accordingly
centaursTesticle [CT] ceased trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]
------
caligulasAquarium [CA] began trolling centaursTesticle [CT]
CA: equ
CT: D --> It is an honor to hear from you, my lord
CT: D --> But I have been meaning to ask for some time
CT: D --> How e%actly do you pronounce this nickname you have bestowed upon me
CA: thats not important right noww
CT: D --> Very well
CT: D --> Is there something I can help you with
CA: damn right there is
CA: i hear vvriss askin you to be collaboratin wwith her on some neww project
CA: but she hasnt been respondin to my messages in wweeks
CA: shes not makin another doomsday devvice is she
CA: because she nevver delivvered that last one i asked her for
CT: D --> My lord
CA: is she makin one for someone else
CA: that fuckin good for nothin doublecrossin backstabbin bitch
CT: D --> My lord please
CT: D --> I understand you are upset but this language
CT: D --> It is like a de100ge of waste and to%ins emitting from god’s mouth
CA: shut up equ
CT: D --> Yes sir
CA: tell me wwhat shes wworkin on
CA: wwhat are you helpin her wwith
CA: thats a order
CT: D --> Yes my lord
CT: D --> As you say, she is busy with a new project
CT: D --> I believe the last device I aided her with has indeed gone over100ked
CA: i fuckin kneww it
CT: D --> However if I may e%press my own opinion
CT: D --> I do not think this is due to any particular %%ing
CA: you wwerent givven permission to express your opinion
CT: D --> Noted, sir
CT: D --> Vriska’s new project is the consequence of a su%ession of f001ish actions which have managed to occupy much of her time
CT: D --> However, although this task was her con%eption it is a product of my own design
CA: wwhat do you mean
CT: D --> What I am trying to e%press is that while this project was her idea, the details and constru%ion are my e%c100sive responsibility
CT: D --> Therefore this particular undertaking is not the cause of any attention your kismesis may not be giving you
CA: this is fuckin ridiculous
CA: wwhy the hell is she ignorin me then
CT: D --> I do not know, sir
CT: D --> Additionally you have asked me to refrain from e%pressing my opinion
CA: yeah you can keep refrainin from that
CT: D --> As you wish, my lord
CT: D --> But if I may remind you, she is my neighbor
CT: D --> I believe I could e%tract the relevant information from her if you wished it
CA: fuck you equ i dont need you or anyone to be helpin me wwith my concupiscent issues
CA: that wwas so fuckin insolent i cant evven
CT: D --> My most abject apologies my lord
CT: D --> Without intending to I have %ed the line
CA: yeah you crossed all the goddamn lines
CA: all of them
CA: fuck
CA: this is glubbin depressin
CA: you just fuckin keep this to yourself equ
CA: if i hear one wwhisper a you flappin your gills about this convversation there wwill be hell to pay
CA: understand
CT: D --> Unequivocally, sir
CT: D --> Despite my unfortunate lack of gills this di%ussion will remain e%c100sively between us
CT: D --> My word and my b100d be my bond
CA: wwell ok good
CA: later equ
caligulasAquarium [CA] ceased trolling centaursTesticle [CT]
------
“Aurthour!” Equius raged, flinging a spare robot eye across the room. It sailed through his doorway and crashed into something out of his sight. His lusus, who must have ducked the projectile at the last moment, entered his respiteblock as quickly as possible, with a tall, cold glass of lusus milk perched precariously on a small, silver platter and a dry, blue-tinted towel balanced somewhat less precariously on an arm.
The thick liquid soothed Equius’s fury, if not enough to prevent him from breaking the glass it had come in, at least enough to keep everything else intact. He employed the towel to clean up the spilled milk and to dry off his brow, which had grown downright soaked with perspiration during his last two conversations.
Speaking with Lord Ampora was always a trial. Though not as infuriating as talking to Gamzee--the clown-worshipping nitwit could barely dredge up the mental ability to remember the order of the hemospectrum--if Equius had to be secretly honest with himself, Eridan was kind of whiny. And his use of lewd language was frequently baffling, much like the indigo-blood’s. Surely this was a mere oversight in his upbringing, though the failure it implied in his lusus was rather unfortunate. Still, at least Equius could vent his rage at Gamzee and experience no reprimand in return, no such strongly-worded criticisms or violent threats as Eridan frequently employed.
…Ah, what was he thinking! The purple-blood’s treatment of him was appropriate and expected, and Equius could always count on Lord Ampora to put him in his place. This was the way things had to be, the way they were meant to be. The way they should be. If he were insubordinate, he should indeed be scolded, threatened. There was some sort of security in that notion, even if it was at times excruciatingly frustrating. It was all so very confusing to the young troll.
But, not being on speaking terms with anyone of his own blood-caste, he supposed these perplexities must now and again arise.
On the other hand, this red-blooded peasant had been almost pleasurable to speak to. She had been perfectly polite and respectful and even showed promise in other areas as well. Vriska had sent a poorly-rendered drawing of her along with her Trollian handle, so Equius already had an idea of how to proceed, but his conversation with the peasant girl Aradia had been most enlightening.
He was almost furious with his neighbor for killing her, before he remembered how felicitous the whole thing was.
Aradia’s being was wasted on her blood. Such an elegant and proper creature should have been blessed with a fate more befitting her personality. Normally it was not customary for a troll to be furnished with the ability to move up in society; how lucky for her that he could now provide her with just such a chance.
“Aurthour,” he said again, words muted with thoughtfulness. “I will need a needle, and a tourniquet. …Perhaps two,” he added, eyeing the fading blue bruise on his lusus’s shoulder from last week. “This is a selfless act we are about to commit.”
What a curious notion. Altruistically bleeding himself and his beloved custodian for the betterment of some dead peasant girl he had just met. Positively depraved. And yet it felt so…so right.
“AND A TOWEL!” he shouted after Aurthour, shuddering as the sweat rolled down his neck.
Fandom: Homestuck
Characters/Pairings: Aradia, Sollux, Nepeta, Vriska, Equius, Terezi, Eridan, Kanaya, Tavros, Feferi; Sollux?Aradia, Equius♥/♠Aradia, implied Eridan♠Vriska, implied Sollux♥Feferi
Warnings: Spoilers for Hivebent (Act5-1) I guess?
Word count: (total) 27,563
5
gallowsCalibrator [GC] began trolling arachnidsGrip [AG]
GC: H3Y VR1SK4
GC: PR3TTY CL3V3R US1NG MY LUSUS TO G3T B4CK 4T M3 L1K3 TH4T!
GC: 1 H4V3 TO 4DM1T 1 N3V3R WOULD H4V3 THOUGHT OF TH4T
AG: 8h my g8d why 8re you still here????????
GC: WH4T
GC: D1D YOU TH1NK YOU K1LL3D M3? >:]
GC: TH4T 1D B3 L3FT BL1ND 4ND W4ND3R1NG 1N TH3 FOR3ST UNT1L SOM3 W1LD B34ST 4TT4CK3D M3 4ND 4T3 M3?
AG: Yeah something l8ke that.
GC: GOOD TH1NG YOU LOST YOUR TOUCH TH3N
AG: W8s that supposed to 8e a joke? >::::(
GC: WH4T >:?
GC: OH H4H4H4H4
GC: H3H3H3H3H3H3!!
GC: WOW NO 1T W4SNT BUT TH4T W4S 4CTU4LLY K1ND OF FUNNY DONT YOU TH1NK??
AG: N8t really.
GC: OH COM3 ON DONT B3 SO S3NS1T1V3!
AG: How 8re you even typing 8nyw8y?
AG: How are you 8ven reading this????????
GC: 1 C4N SM3LL TH3 K3YS
GC: 4ND WH3N 1 L1CK TH3 SCR33N 1 C4N T4ST3 YOUR T3XT
GC: MS BLU3B3RRY BUBBL3GUM >:]
AG: Th8 sounds a8solutely gross XXXXP
GC: 1TS NOT GROSS! >:[
GC: MY LUSUS T4UGHT M3
GC: SH3 T4LKS TO M3 4LL TH3 T1M3 NOW
GC: WH1CH 1S YOUR DO1NG 1 SUPPOS3
GC: SO TH4NKS 1 GU3SS >:?
AG: This is the most disgusting displ8y of insincere gr8itude I’ve 8ver seen!
GC: 1TS NOT 1NS1NC3R3 1 M34N 1T!!
AG: Like h8ll you do.
GC: 4444UGH YOUR3 B31NG 1MPOSS1BL3! >:[
AG: R8 8ecause you’re 8n a8solute pl8sure to deal with!
GC: W4Y MOR3 TH4N YOULL 3V3R B3 >:]
AG: Wow look 8 that the short 8mount of time I have res8rved for arguing with 8 cr8zy 8lind girl has 8xpired.
GC: OH D4MN 1 D1DNT 4CTU4LLY COM3 H3R3 TO 4RGU3 >:[
GC: 1 C4M3 FOR 4 TRUC3
AG: Oh yeah r8!
AG: That’s possi8ly the thinnest v8il of su8terfuge in the h8story of 8ver.
AG: H3y Vr8sk4 l3t’s h4v3 4 truc3 8ut not r34lly! >::::]
AG: 4ctu4lly wh3n your gu4rd’s down 1’m go1ng to t4k3 your oth3r 3y3 so w3 c4n 8oth 83 8l1nd 4nd stuuuuuuuup11111111d!
GC: TH4T TOOK YOU L1K3 31GHT WHOL3 M1NUT3S TO TYP3 >:/
AG: That’s 8ecause you type l8ke a tool!!!!!!!!
AG: 8lso in case it didn’t occur to you it’s k8nd of h8rd to type with one 8rm! D::::<
AG: 8nyway screw you and your truce.
AG: I’m not f8lling for it.
GC: YOU TH1NK 1M LY1NG?
GC: L3TS STOP 4ND SM3LL TH3 F4CTS H3R3 MY F4VOR1T3 3X SCOURG3 S1ST3R
AG: You only h8ve one Ex-Scourge S8ster.
GC: WH1CH 1S TH3 ONLY W4Y YOUR3 MY F4VOR1T3 >:]
AG: Oh fuck you!!!!!!!!
GC: 4NYW4Y S3R1OUSLY
GC: 1N TH3 COURS3 OF OUR FR13NDSH1P
GC: HOW M4NY T1M3S D1D 1 4CTU4LLY L13 TO YOU
AG: Who knows!
AG: I 8et lots 8nd lots!
GC: WRONG TH3 4NSW3R W4S N3V3R
GC: WH1CH 1S MOR3 TH4N 1 C4N S4Y FOR YOU
AG: That doesn’t ev8n m8tter now.
AG: I know you’re capa8le of lying just 8s much as I am.
AG: If not to your fri8nds then to your enemies.
AG: Which you seem to 8e implying we 8re now.
GC: NOOOOO!
GC: OH W41T L3T M3 TYP3 OUT 31GHT OF TH3S3
GC: NOOOOOOOO!
GC: TH4TS WHY 1M SUGG3ST1NG 4 TRUC3 NUMNUTS
GC: 1M DON3 B31NG 3N3M13S W1TH YOU
GC: TH4TS HOW 1NNOC3NT P3OPL3 G3T HURT
GC: 4ND K1LL3D >:[
GC: 4ND KNOW1NG US W3D PROB4BLY JUST 3ND UP COMPL3T3LY OBL1T3R4T1NG 34CH OTH3R 4ND G3TT1NG LOTS OF OTH3R P3OPL3 1NVOLV3D
GC: SO 1TS GOT TO STOP
GC: 4R3 YOU ON BO4RD OR NOT?
AG: Wh8t 8re the t8rms of your stupid truce?
GC: S1MPLE
GC: TH3 CYCL3 OF R3V3NG3 3NDS H3R3
GC: 1 DONT G3T B4CK 4T YOU FOR WH4T YOU D1D TO M3
GC: OR 4R4D14 OR T4VROS OR SOLLUX
AG: Oh my g8d was th8 8ven n8cessary????????
AG: Why do you ev8n c8re th8yre just 8 8unch of cr8ppy pl8yers and stupid 8ipol8r shitty h8ckers!
GC: Y34H OK4Y WH4T3V3R BUT TH3YR3 MY FR13NDS 4ND TH3Y W3R3 SUPPOS3D TO B3 YOURS TOO AND TH3Y D1DNT D3S3RV3 3V3RYTH1NG YOU D1D TO TH3M! >:[
GC: NOW QU13T!
GC: SO 1 DONT G3T B4CK 4T YOU FOR 4LL TH4T
GC: 4ND YOU STOP US1NG YOUR POW3RS ON 1NNOC3NT P3OPL3 TO G3T TO 4CTU4L WRONGDO3RS
GC: 1 WOULD B3 H4PPY TO S3ND YOU TH3 PROP3R D3F1N1T1ON OF 4 WRONGDO3R 1F YOU L1K3 >:]
AG: Uuuuuuuugh!
GC: HOW 4BOUT TH4T
GC: DO3S TH4T SOUND F41R TO YOU?
GC: VR1SK4?
AG: Ok fine what8ver!
AG: You c8n h8ve your stup8d truce!
AG: N8w just le8ve me 8lone!!!!!!!!
GC: GL4DLY >:]
gallowsCalibrator [GC] ceased trolling arachnidsGrip [AG]
------
apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
AA: s0llux i f0und s0mething again
AA: s0llux
AA: are y0u there
TA: holy fuck what the hell?
TA: ii
TA: ii mean.
TA: you diied.
AA: n0t entirely
TA: what the hell ii2 that 2uppo2ed two mean?!
AA: n0thing y0u sh0uld c0ncern y0urself ab0ut right n0w
AA: the basic gist 0f it is
AA: i died
AA: but n0t really
AA: it d0esnt really matter
AA: the p0int is that i can still talk t0 y0u
AA: i f0und s0mething i need y0u t0 l00k at
TA: ii gue22 youre not goiing two a2k me two gue22 what iit ii2 thii2 tiime.
AA: what w0uld be the p0int 0f d0ing that
AA: 0_0
TA: …
TA: thii2 ii2 2eriiou2ly depre22iing me riight now.
TA: fiine what the hell ii2 iit?
AA: id rather y0u n0t be depressed
AA: its a game
AA: 0r m0re specifically
AA: techn0l0gy i acquired from the fr0g ruins near my 0ld hive
AA: 0ut 0f which i w0uld like y0u t0 make a game
TA: what iif ii dont want two make a game out of your 2tupiid technology?
AA: are y0u angry with me
TA: …
TA: no ii dont thiink ii could be.
TA: e2peciially 2iince youre the one who 2hould probably be angry wiith me.
AA: im n0t angry
AA: i am 0k with what happened
TA: …
AA: m0re t0 the p0int it was meant t0 happen s0 there is n0 p0int in getting upset
TA: thii2 ii2 crazy.
AA: s0llux im sending y0u this file n0w
AA: y0ull kn0w what t0 d0 with it
TA: what the hell 2ort of game am ii 2uppo2ed two be makiing anyway?
AA: a game that we will play t0 save 0ur civilizati0n as we kn0w it
TA: holy 2hiit.
TA: 2eriiou2ly?
AA: yes
AA: it sh0uld be a game that will interest even y0u
AA: here take a l00k
-- apocalypseArisen [AA] sent twinArmageddons [TA] the file “weirdc0des.rar” --
AA: what d0 y0u make 0f it
TA: hang on thii2 ii2 goiing two take a liittle tiime.
TA: thii2 code ii2 kiind of crappy 2orry.
AA: 0_0
AA: thats the best I c0uld d0
TA: …do you ever get the feeliing that youre doiing 2omethiing youve already done before?
AA: n0 n0t anym0re
TA: …aradiia thii2 2uck2.
AA: what d0es
TA: talkiing two you.
AA: 0_0
AA: s0rry
AA: n0w that ive given y0u the data
AA: y0u can st0p if y0u want
TA: no waiit.
TA: iit2 fiine.
TA: ju2t.
TA: 2tay here.
TA: iit2 better than nothiing.
AA: 0_0
AA: 0k
TA: ok well ii thiink ii can fiigure thii2 out.
AA: g00d
TA: what am ii 2uppo2ed two do wiith thii2 game when iim done makiing iit?
AA: we will play it with 0ur friends
AA: and pr0bably s0me enemies
AA: in an attempt t0 save the w0rld
TA: that 2ound2 pretty 2tupiid iif you a2k me.
TA: why play wiith our enemiie2?
AA: because we will need them
AA: and because the v0ices said we w0uld
TA: oh 2o you can hear them loud and clear now two?
AA: very clearly
AA: they say they have been telling y0u f0r sweeps wh0 t0 play with
AA: adi0st0read0r carcin0geneticist arseniccatnip grimauxiliatrix gall0wscalibrat0r arachnidsgrip centaurstesticle terminallycaprici0us caligulasaquarium cuttlefishculler
AA: and me
TA: you mean two tell me all that yammeriing wa2 about thii2 2hiitty game?
AA: yes
AA: and saving 0ur race
TA: thii2 ii2 retarded.
AA: i am 0k with whatever its mental capacity is
TA: anyway fuck that2 a lot of people two be playiing one game.
AA: the game sh0uld acc0unt f0r us being split up int0 teams 0f s0rts
AA: i will leave that t0 y0u
TA: what iif they dont want two play?
AA: they will have t0
AA: 0r they will die
AA: 0_0
TA: FUCK aradiia what the hell??
AA: d0nt w0rry y0u will n0t have t0 d0 much c0nvincing
AA: just make the game
AA: ill make sure everything else falls int0 place as they said it will
TA: the voiice2 you mean?
AA: yes
TA: ok you know what fuck thii2.
TA: iive 2pent far two much tiime tryiing two iignore doiing what tho2e fuckiing voiice2 triied telliing me two do and iim not ju2t goiing two giive that up now.
TA: iim not doiing thii2 for them.
AA: but y0u will d0 it
TA: yeah yeah iill do iit.
TA: but iim doiing iit for you.
twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]
AA: 0_0
AA: 0k
------
Sollux stared at his screen. It was divided in two; half of it was filled with the shitty code Aradia had just given him, and the other half contained a decidedly less shitty code for the program to identify the bones she had found. It seemed so long ago that he had promised to work on it; it had gone on hold while he had designed the four-wheeled device Tavros was presently seated in, and now…
He sighed, sinking forward to rest his head on his desk. It was really pointless to work on it, now. The bones had probably been vaporized along with everything else, and anyway he doubted the new Aradia would even care about it anymore. She seemed to not care about a lot of things.
Fuck this stupid code, and fuck this stupid game. Fuck the voices and fuck fate and fuck all of this. He didn’t want to have anything more to do with the bitch who’d forced her way into his psyche and screwed up his life. He didn’t want anything to do with her entire set, those double-talking so-called high-bloods with not a drop of decency among them. Even Terezi had sold him out. And now he had to play a game with them, upon which the survival of their race depended? Well fuck that!
…Was what he’d like to say. But no matter how much he rebelled, no matter how much he wanted the voices to be wrong or to go away, they were unstoppable. And now Aradia was nothing more than their pawn, a mouthpiece for their goddamn prophecies and creepy predictions. And mind-control or not, if only he’d been stronger, better able to fend Vriska off, she would still be alive, still safe from their influence. Which would have been worse: if she had died normally, or that he was still able to talk to her anyway, a constant reminder of his failure?
It had been nearly a week since the incident, and since the toll of the injured in this seemingly endless cycle of revenge had yet again doubled. Tavros and Terezi seemed to be adapting to their situations fairly well. He couldn’t care less if she was. And Aradia…
Well, she had adapted. Which wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
He wondered if anyone else knew by now. Anyone else but him and Terezi, and of course the one who’d done it in the first place. She wouldn’t…tell anyone, would she? At this point, he wouldn’t put it past her. But…what would they say? What would…
Groaning, Sollux pushed himself up from his desk and refocused his eyes back on his computer screen. It was pointless to think about all this now. There was work to be done, he supposed. This game…
He closed his bones program work and allowed the data from the ruins to take up his entire screen. Picking through this was going to take a while. Everything seemed to be made as esoteric as possible, with strange symbols and animal hieroglyphs speckling the screen. He was going to need to parse this first, get it down on paper and start hacking at it the old-fashioned way. As he printed out large chunks of code, he thought vaguely about what to call this stupid game. A few different possibilities flitted through his mind before his gaze landed on the variety of game grubs scattered around the floor of his respiteblock. Grubs. Sgrub. It was utterly inelegant. The old Aradia would have hated it.
…But the new one wouldn’t care. So why should he? Sgrub it was.
6
There was a knock on the door. Lately, any sudden noise had Vriska on edge. It had been nearly a week since she’d been able to feed her lusus; losing an arm and seven of eight eyes made it a little difficult to hunt, much less FLARP…and anyway she didn’t feel much like FLARPing these days. But no hunting meant no tasty little troll sacrifices, and that meant good old Spidermom was starting to get hungry. And the hungrier she got, the more likely she was going to go after the closest source of food.
But the knock was just that: a knock, and nothing more. Even if it sounded as if it were close to splintering her door.
“I’m coming!” she called as the pounding sounded again, threatening to expose her to the cold night air of the early 12th perigee. “Geez Equius could you maybe not break my door down!?”
She knew it was Equius. Who else would it be?
“You look horrible,” was the first thing he said when she opened the door. She gaped at him at first while he slipped inside, something wrapped in a rag under his arm.
“Thanks, buddy,” she responded through fangs gritted in a false smile. “Sure was good of you to take some time out of that busy schedule of yours to come over.”
“Your present state is your own fault for playing games with scumbloods,” he replied calmly, turning to face her. “Though I must say it is a little embarrassing to know they got the best of you.”
“Screw you!” she exclaimed, annoyed out of her feigned geniality. “This was all Terezi’s doing!”
“I believe we have already discussed my opinion of that lowblood-chaser. Additionally,” he continued, the tone of his voice growing thin, “you will watch how you address your betters, and the one who is helping you out.”
She grumbled unintelligibly at him and attempted to fold her singular arm across her chest, failing spectacularly.
Equius watched this with a raised eyebrow. “Better, I suppose. Now, where would you like to do this?”
Out of the corner of her good eye, Vriska watched Equius watch her, his stare piercing the dark, cracked lenses of his shades to make her shudder as she one-handedly gathered a pair of chairs close together in a nearby block. As she positioned the second one, he sat in the first and began to unwrap a pile of tools from the bundle with which he had arrived. Eventually, she sat beside him, observing these motions without a word until…
“Oh god Equius, it’s beautiful.”
The prosthetic arm he produced last from the bundle glinted dully in the light of the setting red sun through her window, a mass of dark metal and cording and careful precision. He held it up close to his face, as if inspecting it for flaws. There were none.
“Of course it is,” he answered blandly. “Everything I build is absolutely perfect. Even you will find little to complain about.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she snapped, breaking her staring contest with her one-eyed reflection in the paneling of the arm to frown at him.
He didn’t answer but merely lowered the piece from eye level and turned his attention to her expectantly. “You will remove your jacket.”
After one last brief moment of frowning over at him, she slowly moved to comply, working the stump of her left arm from the torn jacket and depositing it on her lap before rolling up the offending sleeve of her T-shirt.
He grimaced.
“Did you cauterize this?” Equius demanded, distaste filling his words.
“Well you know I was gonna look into some safer and less excruciatingly painful methods, but I was kind of low on time. And limbs.”
Kanaya may have come over to help her, if Vriska had been humble enough to unblock her and ask.
“Then this, too, is your own fault. I need working nerves to attach this properly. You should have told me.”
Before Vriska could ask what he meant, he held her shoulder in a firm, painful grip and jammed the prosthetic into her stump. All words left her in the form of a long cry of agony. What felt like eighty giant buzzbeasts’ stingers shot into her shoulder, entertaining thoughts of breaking through to the other side, but the only blood came from where the arm had entered in the first place. Bright spots of blue (Blueberry bubblegum blue, surfaced in her pain-shocked mind, inexplicably) dripped onto the jacket draped over her knee.
“Oh great, like I didn’t get enough blood on the last one,” she managed to say through teeth gritted against the hurt.
“You will be quiet,” he responded coolly, pulling out a screwdriver. “It will benefit you in the end if you do not distract me.”
Vriska clenched her good hand around the arm of the chair but fell silent, turning away from his work despite her curiosity. Too much looking at her own blood lately. She didn’t want to have to get used to the sight of it.
And anyway with her face turned from Equius, she could let the pain paint itself onto her expression. Before the initial sensations of him gripping her shoulder and the needles jabbing into her arm could subside, they were now replaced with an intense, growing pressure while he screwed the arm onto the end of her ruined limb. As he tightened bolts into place, the squeezing sensation traveled up to her shoulder and began filling her chest with the feeling. It strangled her throat, her heart, her lungs. She felt the hollow echoes of it all the way down in her toes and in the gaping hole where seven of her eight eyes used to be.
He paused.
“You’re crying.”
She unclamped her good hand from the arm of the chair and quickly reached up to wipe off the pale blue tears streaming down her cheeks. “No shut up, what are you talking about?! Why would I be crying, it’s not like this hurts or anything!”
“You were also making rather distracting noises when I specifically told you not to.”
Vriska couldn’t remember making any noises, and she sure as hell hadn’t been doing it on purpose.
“Well geez sorry, let me just bite off my other arm and gag myself wi--AUGH!”
He had finished tightening one last bolt and reached into a tiny gap between two cords to flip an even tinier switch, and suddenly the pain from the wound numbed by time and intense heat redoubled upon her tenfold. He let her go and she fell out of her chair screaming, clutching at her shoulder with one hand and at the floor with the other, her single eye wide with shock and pain. Equius ignored her, and by the time her cries had subsided into whimpers, he had most of his tools packed up.
“This will, perhaps, teach you greater care in the future. A blue-blood is not indestructible, Vriska Serket, and the lower classes will only use that to their advantage. The more you show them that you can be harmed, the more they will come after you.”
“What,” she gasped out, “…are you getting at, Zahhak?”
“I am saying that in the state you are in, you are careless and weak. If you allow the lower classes to have the upper hand, they will not hesitate to take it from you. Or to take your own hand from you, I suppose.”
Vriska slowly slid up to a sitting position, trying to force her head to be still as she watched him slowly roll his tools back up into their bundle.
“Well yeah ok, great. Nice lecture, that’s definitely what I needed to hear right now.”
“It is one of the many services I offer to the less fortunate.”
She stared at him, open-mouthed, when she realized he was being completely serious.
“Crap, this is the reason I prefer talking to you online!” she exclaimed, cheeks turning a pale cerulean in her humiliation. “At least there I can pretend you’re joking about the awful things you say sometimes!”
Something very strong clamped onto her jaw and dragged her to her feet, so her face was inches from Equius’s now angry, damp features. “I came here and installed this arm for you out of respect for a fellow blue-blood, but you have been insubordinate to me ever since I arrived, and you will stop,” he ground out. “Do not believe I will continue to endure verbal abuse from you. I am aware of what you think of me, and I assure you the feeling is mutual. But do not forget that we are not quite equals. I hold the upper hand here and will continue to do so.”
Only then did Vriska realize that both of his strong hands were still wrapped around his bundle of tools, and that what was gripping her face was her own prosthetic, acting on someone else’s will.
“Oh my god what did you doooooooo?!” she cried, eyes snapping down to try and look at the offending limb.
“I merely figured there would be times when it would be necessary to remind you who made your arm. As you have just neatly demonstrated, I was correct in my assumption. You will do well to not forget it in the future.”
The hand released her, and she drew back, shooting glances between him and the thing attached to her shoulder. “You’re right,” she forced herself to say, restraining the sarcasm that was dying to creep into her voice. “I was out of line.”
“…” He watched her quietly, his mouth a thin, hard line. “Good,” he finally said, “I am glad you understand.” Equius didn’t fool himself into believing she meant what she said, but he knew the power of his threat was potent enough for her to keep pretending, and that was good enough for him.
Finally finding herself released from his gaze, she experimentally made the decision to lift her left arm. The idea traveled down from her bone nook on a trail of nerves to her shoulder, where it came into contact with metal spokes that knew how to take care of the rest. Her arm lifted.
Turned.
Bent.
Fingers wiggled dexterously, their exactitude greater than the ones they had replaced. She gripped the top of her chair and found that she could, if she wanted, break it to pieces with just a thought.
For a moment, her anger was fleeting. “Damn,” she mumbled appreciatively.
Equius would not smile in her presence, but his expression at least became less furious. “I take pride in all my work,” he told her, “no matter how little the recipient may deserve it.”
Vriska only had the briefest chance to be irritated at the charge before it was replaced by a more familiar and welcome cunning. Now was not the time to anger him further, not when she still had uses for him.
“That reminds me…”
Distrust bloomed within Equius again, but he held his expression in check. “What is it?”
“I may need your help with something else. One last project, what do you say?”
He raised an eyebrow at her but allowed her to continue.
“So that red-blood, the one I killed, right?”
“Which in turn incurred the wrath of your ex-partner. I recall. What of it?”
“I want you to make her a robot body.”
She spat out the words as quickly as possible so she could sooner get to the part where his face contorted into utter disgust. She was not disappointed.
“Why in heck would you want me to do that?” he demanded. “Aid a red-blood? The idea’s so far beneath both of us that the troll Empress may come upon it in her deepest caverns. Though I should hope she does not.” His face contorted further, much to Vriska’s surprise that it could. “In any case, the red-blood is dead. What would be the point?”
“She haunts me, though. It’s kind of a thing she does. Anyway, don’t see this as helping her. It’s more like…” She paused for a moment, considering the situation. “Put it this way: You make her a robot body. Her ghost goes into it. She can think and feel again and stop being incredibly boring and lame and starts being all useful and, I don’t know, peasant-like again. And then she goes, ‘0h vriska y0u are such a g00d friend! i cant believe i ever th0ught 0f y0u any 0ther way! i sure d0 feel bad ab0ut pissing y0u 0ff and causing y0u t0 kill me! and n0w i see y0uve changed y0ur mind ab0ut me being dead and useless and b0ring! let me sh0w y0u and y0ur str0ng bluebl00ded superi0r h0w very grateful i am by being l0yal and dedicated t0 y0u f0rever!’ Then boom, we both have a devoted robot slave girl for life, or something.”
She paused, then sighed.
“I’ll go get the towels.”
“That will not be necessary,” he choked out, “I have brought some of my own with me this time.”
Vriska sat down in her now broken chair and leaned her chin on her robot hand as she waited for him to mop himself up.
“This is an interesting proposal,” he admitted, sitting beside her and pocketing the damp, blue-stained towel once more. “However, I am having a difficult time wrapping my mind around this concept.”
“What, passive-aggression?”
“No. Trying to make a robot in the form of a peasant.”
She raised her eyebrows at him. “Aren’t you the one who said all your creations are perfect or whatever?”
“Yes. And they are.”
She leaned back, folded her hands behind her head, and shrugged, reveling in the fluidity of it all. “So make her perfect.”
Vriska almost tricked herself into thinking she had heard his brain crack. A fresh towel appeared out of his other pocket, and he was soon back up on his feet.
“I will need to think on the best way to go about this. In the meantime, it may be necessary to…converse with this ‘ghost,’ to get a proper idea of what I’m to be dealing with. She is haunting you, you say? I trust you would have told me if she were haunting you now?”
“Oh, no, she haunts me on Trollian,” she replied with a wave of her hand. “I can give you her handle if you wanna talk to her that bad.”
“That would suffice. Very well, I will take this idea into consideration. You will hear from me in a couple days.”
“Great!” Vriska jumped up, mood greatly improved, and showed him to the door. “Thanks, for that and for the arm.”
“You will take care of it. I do not relish making these hive calls.”
“Yeah yeah absolutely! Don’t worry about it! I’ll take great care of it! You won’t be hearing any complaints from me…so long as, you know, I’m in control of it,” she added, lips twitching into a frown.
“You will rest assured that as long as I am not given a reason to, I plan on leaving the dominion of it in your other hand.”
“Great. Perfect! Let me know how it goes with ghost-girl, ok?”
“I will do that. See that you do nothing that further lowers my esteem of you in the meantime.”
Equius left her hive on that note, with a slurry of mixed feelings swirling on both sides of the now-closed door. Ignoring the new spots of blood, Vriska shrugged her jacket back on and headed up to her respiteblock. Now that that plan was in motion, she had other things to worry about: namely, the hungry screeching that was beginning to sound from the cavern down below her hive. Beside her computer, she prepared another FLARP grub to hatch. Some habits were hard to break, but others were simply necessary.
------
centaursTesticle [CT] began trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]
CT: D --> You there
CT: D --> Peasant
AA: uh
AA: hell0
CT: D --> Your bewildered yet prompt response does you credit
AA: thanks
CT: D --> And you at least have some inkling of the proper manners involved when you conduct a conversation
CT: D --> Perhaps this was not such a terrible idea after all
AA: what
CT: D --> Messaging you
AA: 0h
AA: 0k
AA: was there s0mething y0u wanted
CT: D --> Your eagerness to attend to me is appre%iated
CT: D --> Though at the moment my intention is solely to converse with you
CT: D --> In the future I e%pect to take advantage of your e%ceptional server abilities
AA: yes
AA: that is s0mething that y0u will d0
CT: D --> You are being abso100tly agreeable
CT: D --> I may have been given the wrong impre%ion of you
AA: 0_0
AA: wh0 has been talking t0 y0u ab0ut me
CT: D --> I believe you are the one who imposed upon my moirail to parti%ipate in a 100dicrously immature game
AA: 0h
AA: yes i supp0se i was
AA: i have n0 interest in that anym0re
AA: i w0nt be b0thering her ab0ut it again
CT: D --> E%cellent
CT: D --> You understand now that games are merely the distra%ions of the juvenile and the f001ish and the mentally handicapped
AA: n0t all games th0ugh
AA: s0me games can have very high stakes
AA: surely y0u might find y0urself interested in a game that c0uld
AA: f0r example
AA: be played in 0rder t0 save 0ur very civilizati0n
CT: D --> If, for e%ample, I found myself confronted with such an e%tremely important game
CT: D --> I may consider parti%ipating in that e%c100sively
CT: D --> If such a thing does in fact e%ist
AA: it d0es n0t yet
AA: but it will
CT: D --> How do you know that
AA: because i have c0mmissi0ned 0ne
CT: D --> That was e%tremely thoughtful of you
CT: D --> Your foresight is notable
CT: D --> What is your name, peasant
AA: aradia
CT: D --> Good
CT: D --> I believe I have gathered enough information for the time being
CT: D --> I will take my leave now
CT: D --> Talking to you, while gratifying, has left me a little
CT: D --> Damp
AA: 0_0
CT: D --> I e%pect I will be contacting you again
CT: D --> You will plan accordingly
centaursTesticle [CT] ceased trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]
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caligulasAquarium [CA] began trolling centaursTesticle [CT]
CA: equ
CT: D --> It is an honor to hear from you, my lord
CT: D --> But I have been meaning to ask for some time
CT: D --> How e%actly do you pronounce this nickname you have bestowed upon me
CA: thats not important right noww
CT: D --> Very well
CT: D --> Is there something I can help you with
CA: damn right there is
CA: i hear vvriss askin you to be collaboratin wwith her on some neww project
CA: but she hasnt been respondin to my messages in wweeks
CA: shes not makin another doomsday devvice is she
CA: because she nevver delivvered that last one i asked her for
CT: D --> My lord
CA: is she makin one for someone else
CA: that fuckin good for nothin doublecrossin backstabbin bitch
CT: D --> My lord please
CT: D --> I understand you are upset but this language
CT: D --> It is like a de100ge of waste and to%ins emitting from god’s mouth
CA: shut up equ
CT: D --> Yes sir
CA: tell me wwhat shes wworkin on
CA: wwhat are you helpin her wwith
CA: thats a order
CT: D --> Yes my lord
CT: D --> As you say, she is busy with a new project
CT: D --> I believe the last device I aided her with has indeed gone over100ked
CA: i fuckin kneww it
CT: D --> However if I may e%press my own opinion
CT: D --> I do not think this is due to any particular %%ing
CA: you wwerent givven permission to express your opinion
CT: D --> Noted, sir
CT: D --> Vriska’s new project is the consequence of a su%ession of f001ish actions which have managed to occupy much of her time
CT: D --> However, although this task was her con%eption it is a product of my own design
CA: wwhat do you mean
CT: D --> What I am trying to e%press is that while this project was her idea, the details and constru%ion are my e%c100sive responsibility
CT: D --> Therefore this particular undertaking is not the cause of any attention your kismesis may not be giving you
CA: this is fuckin ridiculous
CA: wwhy the hell is she ignorin me then
CT: D --> I do not know, sir
CT: D --> Additionally you have asked me to refrain from e%pressing my opinion
CA: yeah you can keep refrainin from that
CT: D --> As you wish, my lord
CT: D --> But if I may remind you, she is my neighbor
CT: D --> I believe I could e%tract the relevant information from her if you wished it
CA: fuck you equ i dont need you or anyone to be helpin me wwith my concupiscent issues
CA: that wwas so fuckin insolent i cant evven
CT: D --> My most abject apologies my lord
CT: D --> Without intending to I have %ed the line
CA: yeah you crossed all the goddamn lines
CA: all of them
CA: fuck
CA: this is glubbin depressin
CA: you just fuckin keep this to yourself equ
CA: if i hear one wwhisper a you flappin your gills about this convversation there wwill be hell to pay
CA: understand
CT: D --> Unequivocally, sir
CT: D --> Despite my unfortunate lack of gills this di%ussion will remain e%c100sively between us
CT: D --> My word and my b100d be my bond
CA: wwell ok good
CA: later equ
caligulasAquarium [CA] ceased trolling centaursTesticle [CT]
------
“Aurthour!” Equius raged, flinging a spare robot eye across the room. It sailed through his doorway and crashed into something out of his sight. His lusus, who must have ducked the projectile at the last moment, entered his respiteblock as quickly as possible, with a tall, cold glass of lusus milk perched precariously on a small, silver platter and a dry, blue-tinted towel balanced somewhat less precariously on an arm.
The thick liquid soothed Equius’s fury, if not enough to prevent him from breaking the glass it had come in, at least enough to keep everything else intact. He employed the towel to clean up the spilled milk and to dry off his brow, which had grown downright soaked with perspiration during his last two conversations.
Speaking with Lord Ampora was always a trial. Though not as infuriating as talking to Gamzee--the clown-worshipping nitwit could barely dredge up the mental ability to remember the order of the hemospectrum--if Equius had to be secretly honest with himself, Eridan was kind of whiny. And his use of lewd language was frequently baffling, much like the indigo-blood’s. Surely this was a mere oversight in his upbringing, though the failure it implied in his lusus was rather unfortunate. Still, at least Equius could vent his rage at Gamzee and experience no reprimand in return, no such strongly-worded criticisms or violent threats as Eridan frequently employed.
…Ah, what was he thinking! The purple-blood’s treatment of him was appropriate and expected, and Equius could always count on Lord Ampora to put him in his place. This was the way things had to be, the way they were meant to be. The way they should be. If he were insubordinate, he should indeed be scolded, threatened. There was some sort of security in that notion, even if it was at times excruciatingly frustrating. It was all so very confusing to the young troll.
But, not being on speaking terms with anyone of his own blood-caste, he supposed these perplexities must now and again arise.
On the other hand, this red-blooded peasant had been almost pleasurable to speak to. She had been perfectly polite and respectful and even showed promise in other areas as well. Vriska had sent a poorly-rendered drawing of her along with her Trollian handle, so Equius already had an idea of how to proceed, but his conversation with the peasant girl Aradia had been most enlightening.
He was almost furious with his neighbor for killing her, before he remembered how felicitous the whole thing was.
Aradia’s being was wasted on her blood. Such an elegant and proper creature should have been blessed with a fate more befitting her personality. Normally it was not customary for a troll to be furnished with the ability to move up in society; how lucky for her that he could now provide her with just such a chance.
“Aurthour,” he said again, words muted with thoughtfulness. “I will need a needle, and a tourniquet. …Perhaps two,” he added, eyeing the fading blue bruise on his lusus’s shoulder from last week. “This is a selfless act we are about to commit.”
What a curious notion. Altruistically bleeding himself and his beloved custodian for the betterment of some dead peasant girl he had just met. Positively depraved. And yet it felt so…so right.
“AND A TOWEL!” he shouted after Aurthour, shuddering as the sweat rolled down his neck.