#eldergodstuck

[othercat2]

Fic Snip (they flow from form to form) 23

This chapter has been Very Hard to Do. I have had to redo this chapter opening several times.

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Not long into Ms. Pyrope's report, Karkat started to drift. It was late, the adrenaline from the battle had long since faded, and Karkat could barely keep his eyes open. Ms. Pyrope was talking to Dad,  something about needing his assistance as a seer, but Karkat couldn't focus on the words, it was too hard to pay attention. "Kid, hey kid," Dad says when he notices how sleepy Karkat is. "You should maybe go to bed."

"M'fine," Karkat says immediately. He stubbornly wills his eyes to stay open. This is less than an effective tactic.

Dad is smiling at him a little bit. "You're tired. Go to bed."

"I can get him to bed, Mister Vantas," Terezi offers, like a traitor. Karkat glares at her, but she just snickers at him.

"Thank you Terezi," Dad says.

"You have to go to bed too," Karkat says, frowning at his dad. "How much sleep have you been getting?"

Dad snorts, amused. "You are not the parent, I am. Go to bed.  Also, we have guests. Scram."

"You just don't want me to hear anything important," Karkat accuses but lets Terezi tug him toward the stairs.

"I promise to fill you in. Tomorrow." Dad says the latter with amused emphasis. "Bed, both of you."  He gives Terezi's mom a questioning look.

Ms. Pyrope shrugs. "Might as well make it a sleepover."

Karkat lets himself be shooed upstairs, where he and Terezi take turns getting ready for bed. This involves putting on pajamas and then pulling out an air mattress and tugging it into Karkat's bedroom. Karkat is almost too distracted to help make the bed, and Terezi pokes his forehead.  "What's going on in there?" she asks.

Karkat shakes his head. "I'm remembering the fight, the trip back, the talk with Avvram and Merril," he says. "I feel like my head is full of  I don't know, televisions, each showing a slightly different movie about the same story." He waves his hand. "If Dad's the seer, why do I see so many points and connections?"

"Are you seeing more points?" Terezi asks, lying on the mattress with her chin perched on her crossed forearms. Karkat sits with his back to his own bed.

"Yeah, I'm worried about Gamzee's dad, and I'm pretty sure most of the worry is actually coming from Gamzee and his grandpa. Then there's the update from your mom and the attack at the hospital. Am I a seer too or something?"

"Seers detect and perceive. You'll be more inclined to encourage connections you think will foster growth, and discourage connections that don't. Your dad would be more inclined to offer advice and educate."

"Like you're doing?" Karkat says, not quite jokingly.

"I am the best seer," Terezi says. She yawns. "Go to sleep," she says.

Karkat gets up and gets into his bed. "I'm not sure if I can," he mumbled around a yawn as he settled into bed. "Head's too full." When he closed his eyes he could see flickers of images; nothing like a premonition, unless he was having a premonition of heavy traffic along the interstate they took to get to Alba. I don't even know why that would be a thing. He also saw little flashes of the battle in the hospital and replays of the meeting with Avvram and Merril.

"...Centered breathing?" drifts sleepily up from the floor.

"Mmm?" Karkat moves just enough to peer over the edge of the bed to look at Terezi.

"Relaxation exercise," she says.

Karkat blinks. "Yeah...that's a thing that exists," he says and rolls flat onto his back. Terezi snickers at him. "What if you're too distracted to count your breaths or whatever?" Another snicker.

"Just do your best? It doesn't really matter if you lose count, so start over."

So Karkat does that. The relaxation exercise takes a while to work; he's still twitchy, while at the same time exhausted and fog-brained. It's easy to get frustrated when he loses count, even if the counting didn't really matter, except as a way to drown out whatever thoughts were keeping him awake.

Karkat floats more than walks through a foggy wood. The air is cool and the sound seems muffled. Up ahead, strangely unobscured by the fog is a white wolf roughly the size of a pony. Karkat stops in his tracks, and when he does, the wolf does too, looking over its--Her-- shoulder. "[Space]?" he asks,  (he doesn't say "Space." He doesn't know what name he just used) just to be sure. (Is that something he needs to be sure of?)

"Come on, let's go!" Space says, and continues down the path.

"Fine, okay. What's going on?" Karkat asks, breaking into a jog to catch up. It doesn't seem to work; his legs just don't want to move in a reasonable way. His were slow and strange, and he couldn't see where he was going for some additional reason besides the fog, as if he were stuck looking at things from a particular angle.

Space abruptly stops just before a white dome that curves through the trees. Karkat skids and almost knocks into it, the appearance of the dome is so sudden. He flails a bit but manages not to land on his ass. The dome is brighter than the fog and reminds Karkat of something. "The temple?" he asks.

"Not exactly," Space says. "Warded, sacred space."  She lifts a paw to scratch at the surface of the dome--it's not a pleasant sound, somehow combining the worse aspects of chalk screeching on a blackboard and a fork scraping a stoneware plate.

"Like that altar in the crow woods?" Karkat asks. He looks around at the flat white fog and dim shapes of trees. It looked a lot like where he and his Dad had gone camping--weeks ago. (So much had happened since then.) "Is that where we are?"

"No," Space says. "The forest is a metaphor." She turns to look at Karkat. Her eyes are vivid, glowing green. She's a dog and a girl with dark hair, green eyes, and glasses simultaneously. Then she's a girl with pointed dog ears on top of her head.

"Very anime," Karkat says. The girl grins at him, her teeth are pointed like a dog's. "What are you showing me?"

"How to find Gamzee's dad," Space says.

[othercat2]

"I feel like my head is full of  I don't know, televisions, each showing a slightly different movie about the same story."

Reblog with a random sentence from your wip.

[othercat2]

(they flow from form to form) for the fic writing meme, ☼☠?

...i tried to answer this previously, but didn't find the post, so here's the second try.

✴ The primary inspiration is a fan art by I think, Sybla Tortue. The art features a humanstuck Karkat having close encounters with trollstuck alpha beta trollstuck tentabulges. I reblogged thinking "hmmm eldergodstuck " and as is often the case, a bunny was spawned.

My primary influencers for the world building are Shirley Jackson for her grasp of mundane yet horrible/horrible yet mundane, and Nina Kiriki Hoffman's Chapel Hollow novels. (And of course very slight scribble scrobbling in the Mythos.)

Basic plot follows the format of "the new people don't know how weird the quaint little town is until suddenly there's altars in the forest and inhuman chanting under your window." And also, the elder gods think you're cute.

☠ Hardest part is usually the pacing. I have/had problems with the plot because stubborn muses and I am a Pantser by nature. So I have to take breaks, and work on other things until what happens next occurs to me.

.

[othercat2]

Chapters: 20/? Fandom: Homestuck Rating: Mature Warnings: Underage Relationships: Karkat Vantas/Beta Kids, Karkat Vantas/Alpha Kids, Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas, Jade Harley/Karkat Vantas, Dirk Strider/Karkat Vantas, Rose Lalonde/Karkat Vantas Characters: Karkat Vantas, Beta Kids, Alpha Kids, The Trolls (Homestuck), The Signless | The Sufferer, Rose Lalonde, Dave Strider, Dirk Strider, Jade Harley, Terezi Pyrope, Feferi Peixes, Eridan Ampora, Sollux Captor, Jane Crocker Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Godstuck, Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, The Alpha and Beta Kids are Elder Gods, Humanstuck, Karkat Is Stuck in A Horror Movie, Unspeakable Spooning, Tentacle Snuggles, Smol Angry Bean, Ancestor Cameos, Jade is a goddamn furry, Jade don't need a quad suit, A slowly growing list of tags, Crows are feathery assholes, Eldritch Cockblocking, Jake uses the term "mongoloid", Outdated terminology to go with outdated slang, Date Fail, Romance Fail ==>Karkat: wield the maybe-not metaphorical sickle of the one who defends

Karkat wakes up with a large black, four eyed cat sitting loafed on his chest. It blinks at him, the smaller set above, and then the larger set below. “Gah,” Karkat says intelligently. He manages not to flail around in surprise. “Hello there, I hope you know you weigh a million tons,” he says. He reaches out a tentative hand to give the weird mutant cat a skritch behind the ears. “Yes, yes you do. Super dense matter kitty,” he says as the cat starts to purr. “I really hope you don’t turn out to be super intelligent and make fun of me for baby talking you. That would suck.”

[othercat2]

18 20 22 24 for latula and mituna in eldergodstuck?

Mituna/Latula from (they flow from form to form)

18. What would be their love motto?

Mituna and Latula's relationship largely depends on them having each other's back in most circumstances. They literally interact as an informational power couple. Mituna is more or less in charge of the Temple computer/database and pretty much anything related to sys admin duties. Latula is a librarian. Specifically, she's the librarian of the Temple's restricted archives. Despite Mind and Doom not "working" well together, and despite not being able to get married because of same, they have a strong relationship. (The issue here is that Mind and Doom both have a tendency toward severe depression, and Doom powers affect Mind powers and vice versa in ways that makes the depression epic.)

This did not stop Mituna or Latula from being drawn to each other, or from having a relationship, which turns out to be very stable if they keep a certain distance/balance between themselves and their powers. (Finding out that balance was Fun.)

Because they are absolute dorks who love making their kids scream at them because of the cheesiness, it would be "I Got You Babe." (They would sing it a lot when the kids were small, so of course when Sollux and Terezi got older it became Embarrassing.)

20. What is a promise they have made to each other?

Essentially, to not let the restrictions of their Aspects, or not being able to get married because of same get between them and their relationship.

22. If their lives were what was originally intended at birth, would they have still fallen in love?

I am not if or how this question would apply to them. I'm also not really sure what this question means. The assumption here seems to be that the otp in question are star crossed lovers who were never otherwise intended to meet, I think? And they went under some fate defying experience together. Except that would be impossible in this case, since Mituna and Latula grew up in the same town together. And they're only "star crossed" in the sense that their Aspects don't interact well with eachother.

Otherwise, they are both doing exactly what they want to do/more or less what their parents hoped they'd want to do.

24. What is something they have each had to forgive the other for?

Mituna: Latula had a bad few months when she found out she was pregnant with Sollux and Terezi. She was very upset and angry and went into a depression spiral. She didn't want to see Mituna (or pretty much anyone) during that time and she said and did some things that she would not have done if she hadn't been going through a depression spiral.

Latula: In high school, Before Mituna started taking medication for his depression and mood swings, he would go through periods of being a complete son of a bitch. This was highly stressful and unpleasant and came to a head when Mituna actually tried to get into a physical fight with Latula. (The fight was over Mituna's friendship with Kurloz Makara. The fight was stopped by Kurloz Makara, which caused Latula to reassess her opinion of Makara, even if he was hanging out with Damara.)

(In short, they have mostly had to forgive each other for things they did or said while having Depression or shit their Aspects have done in reaction to each other.)

[othercat2]

Chapters: 21/? Fandom: Homestuck Rating: Mature Warnings: Underage Relationships: Karkat Vantas/Beta Kids, Karkat Vantas/Alpha Kids, Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas, Jade Harley/Karkat Vantas, Dirk Strider/Karkat Vantas, Rose Lalonde/Karkat Vantas Characters: Karkat Vantas, Beta Kids, Alpha Kids, The Trolls (Homestuck), The Signless | The Sufferer, Rose Lalonde, Dave Strider, Dirk Strider, Jade Harley, Terezi Pyrope, Feferi Peixes, Eridan Ampora, Sollux Captor, Jane Crocker Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Godstuck, Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, The Alpha and Beta Kids are Elder Gods, Humanstuck, Karkat Is Stuck in A Horror Movie, Unspeakable Spooning, Tentacle Snuggles, Smol Angry Bean, Ancestor Cameos, Jade is a goddamn furry, Jade don't need a quad suit, A slowly growing list of tags, Crows are feathery assholes, Eldritch Cockblocking, Jake uses the term "mongoloid", Outdated terminology to go with outdated slang, Date Fail, Romance Fail Summary:

Karkat attempts to rescue a freshman from what he assumes is some kind of super horrifying Satanic Panic hazing ritual. Things go steadily downhill from there.

in which Karkat is a first level paladin and things go sideways.

[othercat2]

Chapters: 19/? Fandom: Homestuck Rating: Mature Warnings: Underage Relationships: Karkat Vantas/Beta Kids, Karkat Vantas/Alpha Kids, Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas, Jade Harley/Karkat Vantas, Dirk Strider/Karkat Vantas, Rose Lalonde/Karkat Vantas Characters: Karkat Vantas, Beta Kids, Alpha Kids, The Trolls (Homestuck), The Signless | The Sufferer, Rose Lalonde, Dave Strider, Dirk Strider, Jade Harley, Terezi Pyrope, Feferi Peixes, Eridan Ampora, Sollux Captor, Jane Crocker Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Godstuck, Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, The Alpha and Beta Kids are Elder Gods, Humanstuck, Karkat Is Stuck in A Horror Movie, Unspeakable Spooning, Tentacle Snuggles, Smol Angry Bean, Ancestor Cameos, Jade is a goddamn furry, Jade don't need a quad suit, A slowly growing list of tags, Crows are feathery assholes, Eldritch Cockblocking, Jake uses the term "mongoloid", Outdated terminology to go with outdated slang, Date Fail, Romance Fail Summary:

Karkat attempts to rescue a freshman from what he assumes is some kind of super horrifying Satanic Panic hazing ritual. Things go steadily downhill from there.

[othercat2]

Snippets!

The Sword in Exile

Shen Jiu wakes up from a dream of numbing cold and darkness, and the final sharp crack of his neck being broken.  The worst thing about this particular dream isn't the pain, it's the relief and abrupt cessation of it. And the cold. This is one of the dreams where he always wakes up feeling cold and wants nothing more than to curl up in a blanket and never emerge.

It's about a half hour until his alarm goes off and it's a Saturday, so instead of forcing himself to get up and get ready for school to take his mind off the dream, he turns the alarm off and meditates. Circulating his qi helps chase away the shivers, and warms him from the inside out. He allows himself to examine the dream from a distance. He thinks of all the minute details of the dream, the grit of the stone beneath his body, the hands that lift him, the feeling of his neck being broken.  And the cold. The utter numbing cold that feels like a strange and terrible kind of mercy.

(This is how he has been conquering his nightmares, one by one. He lives them and picks them apart one by one, and by doing so, they become less. He has so many nightmares, that he sometimes thinks he'll be at least ninety before he subdues them all.)

He comes out of the meditation to the sound of his adoptive father knocking on the door, and the amazing smell of cinnamon rolls. Home. Made. Cinnamon Rolls. "Hey John, I'm gonna eat all the cinnamon rolls!" he calls, and Shen Jiu can hear him walking quickly away from the door.

Shen Jiu gives in to impulse and rolls out of bed, rockets out of his bedroom, and dashes past his laughing adoptive father.  He slows a bit when he hits the dining area and settles into the chair. His adoptive mother is just starting to frost the cinnamon rolls, which are just barely starting to cool. She grins at him. "Want to help with the frosting?" she asks.

"Yes," Shen Jiu says, and smiles back. Karen shoves the bowl and a butter knife over to him, and he begins to frost the cinnamon rolls. 

"Don't he'll put the entire bowl on one roll," his adoptive father jokes.

Shen Jiu rolls his eyes. "Daaaad," he says. "I was six. And it wasn't the whole bowl on one." He pauses for effect. "It was a whole bowl on two."

His adoptive father snorts at this. "Ah, I stand corrected. You get that's not better, right?" he asks. "Your Mom's cinnamon rolls are almost the size of a plate!"

"A dessert plate," Karen says, amused. "And don't pretend John tried to eat them both, he handed me the first one," his adoptive mother says and shoos her husband toward the kitchen to make the rest of breakfast--scrambled eggs and bacon.

Breakfast conversation rambled between his adoptive father's recent novel, the latest in his Fidelity Nelson series, his mother's work as a pediatrician, and the usual questions about how his classes are going. Shen Jiu hurriedly eats his eggs and bacon before starting in on his cinnamon rolls in between answering or asking questions. "Any plans for the weekend, John?" his adoptive mother asks.

"I'm going to the library, and I have a game later in the afternoon," Shen Jiu says. "I'll be having dinner over at the Harada's if that's okay?"

"Not a problem," Andrew says. "Call if your game runs past nine."

Shen Jiu nods. "Okay."

((I was a little cranky due to some comments I've gotten, so I'm surprised I ended up focusing on *this* particular fic.))

Build a Life from Scratch

The previous times you woke up from these little excavations of your brain, you woke up in your bunk, with Meulin and Redglare sitting in chairs next to you. The three of you would hang out for a while you integrated whatever you'd absorbed from your splinter. Sometimes there were memories. Sometimes the memories were incredibly shitty. Other times, you suddenly had a new ability, or you leveled up on something.

This time around, you wake up against Highblood's chest, his arms around you and between him and Demoness, who's playing big spoon to Highblood's soup bowl. You feel hazy with something that's a little more than post-sleep fog. Not like you're on meds, more like your brain just isn't booting up right now. You try to work your way out of their grip, but they aren't having it. Their grip tightens around you, Demoness mumbles something in her sleep that you can't quite catch. "Hey," you say, and squirm around some more. "Let me up or there's going to be a golden shower up in here," you say.

"Kinky," Highblood mutters, and nuzzles against the back of your neck. You can practically hear the smirk.

"Pretty sure we never talked about watersports with Demoness," you say.

This gets you a questioning grumble from Demoness as she finally wakes up.

"I gotta go," you tell her, and they both let you loose to take a leak. It's pretty quiet in the hallway of the battletruck, and you don't see anyone. You can tell the truck is in motion though, and you think it's pretty late. You confirm the time with one of the hallway clocks. It's about two a.m.

((I worked on this last week, roughly. I'll try doing more tomorrow.))

molasses dark as pitch

There was a very tense air in the Huang Hua Palace. Sha Hualing found one of her retainers and asked what was going on. The retainer, an older female with a shape more or less conforming to that of a burrowing owl, though one with wide bat-ears, made a distressed noise. "Saintess, your co-wife Qiu Haitang forced her way into the Northern King's section and argued with Junshang's outer leaf. It almost came to blows, but the Northern King removed her by force and reported to Junshang.

"And then?" Sha Hualing asks.

The retainer's ears fluttered nervously. "Junshang and Lady Qiu argued. Lady Ning--"

"Is being horrifyingly pale with him right now," Sha Hualing finishes as the retainer's ears flush with embarrassment. "Where's Lady Qiu?"

"Under Lady Xie's supervision," the retainer says.

Sha Hualing looks to Liu Minyang, who is frowning. "Do you want to talk to husband, or do you want to try to calm down Qiu Haitang?" she asks.

((This has gone through several changes and will probably go through several more before I'm happy with it.))

Jin Guangyao attempts to be filial:

In the aftermath of Carp Tower's fall, he's kept busy coordinating the rehousing of disciples and the main family. (Not his family, not really. Given a name but still not wanted. Acknowledged but barely considered a shu son, more tool than anything else.) Surprisingly, there are no deaths from the collapse, though some cultivators are severely injured or even crippled.

He sees to it that his father is comfortable and avoids his father's wife as best he can. (He resents being his father's procurer as much as Jin-furen resents it. There's no common ground here: he is the son of a whore, and therefore might as well be a whore himself--or a pimp.) He organizes and arranges and ensures and smiles and smiles and smiles until his thinks his face will finally shatter like a ceramic mask.

There's an inquiry, but not much of one into the conditions of the Wen work camps. The tower's collapse overshadows the revelation of the conditions and experimentation with Wei Wuxian's methods. Jin Guangyao makes his excuses and defenses, for the poor management of the camps. "I regret the lack of security and defenses for the camp that led to its destruction, but our resources have been spread thin," he says. "this one did the best he could, and admits to having overreached."

(Never mind that Jin Zixun had been responsible for the camps themselves. Jin Guangyao had been responsible for payroll for the guards, rations, and other supplies. He was the one expected to take responsibility.)

"A-Yao, it's more than having overreached," Lan Xichen says. "Civilians were supposed to have been watched and resettled, not worked to death."

The disappointment shakes him for a moment, but Jin Guangyao keeps his tone blandly courteous. "Jin sect enjoys considerable resources, considering our more cautious approach to the war, but not so much that we support so much deadweight," He says.  He shakes his head. "I don't understand the outrage. It wasn't just the Jin who sacked Nightless City, was it? It was the Nie and even the Lan. It wasn't just the Jin killing civilians in all the days since the end of the war. No Wen has been spared by any sect, not even women or children. And why should they be?" Jin Guangyao asks. "Aren't they all as guilty as their Sect Leader? Surely they would have fought against him if they were righteous, just as I've heard Nie-zongzhu say.  It's only what they deserve--I'm sure that's what I've heard you all say."

The inquiry doesn't come to much. Jin Guangyao accepts responsibility for what happened and the slap on the wrist that comes with it. His father is angry at the loss of the Stygian Tiger Amulet, but at least pleased that Wei Wuxian is out of the picture. A pause in further research into Wei Wuxian's methods is placed while Jin consolidates and rebuilds.

((Duende is proving super hard to write because it's so dark. Bluh. I'm determined to work on it though.))

(they flow from form to form)

Not long into Ms. Pyrope's report, Karkat started to drift. It was late, the adrenaline from the battle had long since faded, and Karkat could barely keep his eyes open. Ms. Pyrope was talking to Dad,  something about needing his assistance as a seer, but Karkat couldn't focus on the words, it was too hard to pay attention. "Kid, hey kid," Dad says when he notices how sleepy Karkat is. "You should maybe go to bed."

"M'fine," Karkat says immediately. He stubbornly wills his eyes to stay open. This is less than an effective tactic.

Dad is smiling at him a little bit. "You're tired. Go to bed."

"I can get him to bed, Mister Vantas," Terezi offers, like a traitor. Karkat glares at her, but she just snickers at him.

"Thank you Terezi," Dad says.

"You have to go to bed too," Karkat says, frowning at his dad. "How much sleep have you been getting?"

Dad snorts, amused. "You are not the parent, I am. Go to bed.  Also, we have guests. Scram."

"You just don't want me to hear anything important," Karkat accuses but lets Terezi tug him toward the stairs.

"I promise to fill you in. Tomorrow." Dad says the latter with amused emphasis. "Bed, both of you."  He gives Terezi's mom a questioning look.

Ms. Pyrope shrugs. "Might as well make it a sleepover."

Karkat lets himself be shooed upstairs, where he and Terezi take turns getting ready for bed. This involves putting on pajamas and then pulling out an air mattress and tugging it into Karkat's bedroom. Karkat is almost too distracted to help make the bed, and Terezi pokes his forehead.  "What's going on in there?" she asks.

Karkat shakes his head. "I'm remembering the fight, the trip back, the talk with Avvram and Merril," he says. "I feel like my head is full of  I don't know, televisions, each showing a slightly different movie about the same story." He waves his hand. "If Dad's the seer, why do I see so many points and connections?"

"Are you seeing more points?" Terezi asks, lying on the mattress with her chin perched on her crossed forearms. Karkat sits with his back to his own bed.

"Yeah, I'm worried about Gamzee's dad, and I'm pretty sure most of the worry is actually coming from Gamzee and his grandpa. Then there's the update from your mom and the attack at the hospital. Am I a seer too or something?"

"Seers detect and perceive. You'll be more inclined to encourage connections you think will foster growth, and discourage connections that don't. Your dad would be more inclined to offer advice and educate."

((I have rewritten this opening so many times I just want to scream. Somehow, someway I am going to complete this damn chapter.))

[othercat2]

WIP snips!

(they flow from form to form)

“So, you kids made up?”

“Yeah,” Karkat says, just as quietly. “Terezi, c’mon, wake up.”  

“No one tells a dragon to awaken,” Terezi says, voice muffled as she snuggles. “‘S Saturday anyway.”

“You’re not a dragon and it’s Tuesday, c’mon. There’s pancakes and bacon.”

Terezi stirs, and finally lets him go. “Good, bring me some,” she says, and rolls over.

“Haha, no,” Karkat says.

Build a Life from Scratch

“Disciple?” one of the Demonesses leaning against Highblood asks.

“Dirtblood heretic of a false--” Highblood mutters, glaring at you, for lack of anyone else to glare at. The Demoness in his lap reaches up and smacks his cheek Her hand lingers, stroking where she smacked him.

“Shhhhhhhhhhhhoooooooooooooosh,” she says, a humming vibration that manages to somehow send shivers down your spine.

“Stop that,” Highblood mutters.

“No,” the Demoness in his lap says. “Rub my neck.”

“I’mma break your neck,” Highblood says, but does what he’s told.

“Disciple?” The Demoness prompts, pouring another drink. This one she hands off to you.

“Catskin’s in one piece, and decided to leave me in peace instead of pieces,” you say, and take the cup. The contents are definitely alcoholic with notes of honey. You take a sip.

“Mead,” Demoness says.  

“Don’t drink it, shit’ll make you crazy,” Highblood says.

“It’s not mind honey,” Demoness says back. “Just honey.”

jam fic I wasn’t able to sufficiently make grotty or nsfw enough, tentatively titled (glaciers melting in the dead of night)

Posting the whole thing since it’s super rough

(Warning for mild dub con, body horror and some really gross biotech + depression/suicidal ideation +HIC being kind of Captain Bad Touch.)

So, disintegrating "I failed" Dirk from Game Over doesn't die or actually disintegrate, that would be too easy. Instead he gets pulled between multiverses and goes through a hole punched into reality by the Psiioniic who is going through a "rough patch" of space. (Because weird shit and I half stole this concept from roachpatrol.)

So he's in real, actual space and you cannot actually breath in real actual space even if you're a god. Dirk might have ended up a seagull slamming into the ports of HIC's flagship but HIC is curious enough she has Psiioniic pull him on board before he can like, die.

This particular iteration of HIC is curious about the strange creature that appeared and has him sent to the infirmary so they can figure out this new alien psiioniic. Dirk is unconscious and doesn't have much say in the situation. When he wakes up he still doesn't have much say in the situation, but it too depressed to care or even pull out the various tubes and IV-equivalents.

In a bid to commit suicide.

After a week of Dirk being semi-catatonic, HIC decides to check on Dirk herself.

This...doesn't go well. Dirk rouses out of his stupor and promptly attacks HIC. HIC defends herself, but does not actually want to kill her new pet so she has Psiioniic restrain him. Dirk tries to pull the soul stealing thing, and gets his ass knocked out and then drugged.

HIC is advised to put the psiioniic down, it's obviously some kind of assassin/trick/what have you. HIC does not agree. She also makes a habit of repurposing weapons used against her. As you do.

She has Dirk moved to her quarters, which actually take up a sizable chunk of the ships space. She takes care of him more or less by herself, with some assistance from Psii. Dirk is either non-responsive or tries to attack her, and she doesn't know why because she a) does not speak English b) Dirk doesn't do a lot of talking while he's attacking.

So, Operation Strange Alien Taming begins.

So, Dirk has been pretty much hunger striking since he woke up. He is not aware at first this is a different reality/universe's HIC, though the fact that this universe has trolls should have clued him in. He can understand what she's saying ("sugar grub, you don't want to have that tube worm made permanent do you? C'mon sprat, point at the picture and tell me what it is...") But she can't understand him, so he has that.

So he has a food tube and something like an IV for hydration.  There is also a catheter involved. He has made a few attempts to remove one or the other of the tubes, which are literally some variety of bioengineered worms because why not include some body horror.  Dirk basically ends up restrained because he keeps trying to pull them. Imagine a big gel filled bean bag chair that's too big to be moved or shifted and is possibly also alive. The restraints are bright fuchsia straps over his legs, arms and chest and hips.  The gell filled possibly also alive bean bag shifts and moves every so often, so he doesn't get bedsores or something.

HIC does not get bored or very annoyed in the face of Dirk's obstinance. She's very interested in the way he pretty much seems to understand her, and even recognize her. (In a weirdly personal way. Like she was something personal to him, part of a revenge cycle or something, which pointed in the direction of him being and assassin of some kind, but there's no species matching his description in the databanks yet, so what the hell?)

Dirk is kind of confused. And also angry. But mostly confused. He would have expected offhand culling or maybe torture, not this weird persistent demi-kindness.

He is also aware that there are other trolls here? He comes up with random theories he could probably solve by asking questions but he doesn't bother asking questions. Because he is also depressed.

He is more depressed than goddamn Shinji and there is no one to tell him to get in the mech.  He is more depressed (but less of an asshole) that Thomas Covenant. He is more depressed that someone walking through the Doldrums.

He thinks he might actually be in a dream bubble somehow.

Dirk talks, eventually. Staying quiet when you have oh, a decade or so brave speeches for when Confronting Fish Hitler At Last is pretty much impossible. And maybe he also wants to push, to figure out what the fuck is actually going on, because he's finally figured out HIC, this HIC doesn't speak English, and is apparently trying to teach him Alternian.

So there's a point where he declares that she won't wear him down with this. He'll defy her to the end in the name of the millions she drowned and tortured and in the name of his ancestor who defied her to his last breath and so on and so forth. It's a really good speech and doesn't sound at all like something he practiced in front of a mirror when he was oh, twelve or so.

HIC listens to  the Brave Speech, spoken in more or less good Alternian and is completely dumbfounded. "Guppy, water you e-fin talking a-boat?" she asks. "I've never met your species or been to your planet." On the other hand, he knows Alternian, and definitely has some kind of beef with her, so she's a little confused, and even more curious.

Dirk...is pretty sure that's genuine confusion in her voice. He's also pretty sure that HIC would have no reason to play at being confused, or like she didn't know who he was. He's pretty sure she doesn't actually know him at all, which makes him think in terms of  again, dream bubble, and she's dead-dreaming much earlier in her career.

The question is, does he want to remind her she's dead? The answer is: no, probably not. (Dirk also goes on a slight tangent on whether or not he's still alive, and kind of distracts himself and falls silent, pretty much ignoring HIC.)

HIC, who is actually alive, and likely to stay that way trying to think her way through various possibilities. "Maybe it's like that story where there's a time traveler trying to kill some fish before he can make a military mistake or some-fin."

"If so, who ever it was had lousy aim," Psii says.

"Whale, see if any explorers have found a planet with mammalian trolloid lifeforms."

(They haven't.)

What she's going to do once she finds the planet, she's not sure. Maybe keep them from developing time travel technology because she can't really sea that going whale. (Especially if you get dumped out in the middle of space.) Maybe this grub popping up is what directs her to find the planet.

She brings this up with the alien, who gives her the strangest look. He doesn't say anything, and she can tell he doesn't want to. "Whale, how about you introduce yourself, since you're talkin now?" She asks, and pets his hair. The alien turns his face away and doesn't answer. "Rude," HIC says. "I'm--"

"Your Imperious Condescension," Dirk says.

"Whale yeah, boat I like you," HIC says, still petting Dirk's hair. "And you're a pitiful little ship, so you can call me by my hatch name, with is Meenah Peixes, when it's just us."

Dirk starts into his "you won't break me" speech. Meenah is not actually impressed. Amused and a little baffled, maybe, but not impressed. She covers his mouth with one hand, and shooshes him. "You're all ready a broke up wreck, sugar grub, either trying to krill me or yourself, maybe both I don't even fucking know, I'mma more curious about how to put you together."

Dirk starts into his "you won't break me" speech. Meenah is not actually impressed. Amused and a little baffled, maybe, but not impressed. She covers his mouth with one hand, and shooshes him. "You're all ready a broke up wreck, sugar grub, either trying to krill me or yourself, maybe both I don't even fucking know, I'mma more curious about how to put you together."

This is where Dirk gets scared. She has, as far as he can tell, called his bluff. (He did not in fact have a bluff.) He also gets an inkling now that this is not an HIC he knows. This is not Betty Crocker, but she no less dangerous, and he has no fucking clue about what to do. Nothing is going according to script. He just kind of stares up at her.

Meenah can see that he's scared. Which would make sense if he's some kind of rebel of a planet she hasn't found yet, whose gone back in time to defeat her. ("'Tuna, why is my life suddenly a really bad sf movie?" she asks. "It was bound to happen sooner or later, Empress.") "You're already talking to me, sprat, you might has well tell me your name, before I make one up."

Dirk does not want to be called "Fluffy" or the Alternian equivalent. This is a feel that emerges from the bleak gray sea he's been floating in. "Dirk Strider," he says. Meenah pretends a shocked gasp. "The notorious rebel, Dirk Strider who I never even fucking heard of," she says. "What an honor! Except not, because you were mostly a flitterbug on Tuna's windshield."

She tries to get him to talk some more, but Dirk is not a great conversationalist at this point. She eventually heads off to do Empress Things, but leaves Dirk with an entertainment unit and a remote control. ("Tuna see how well he can read the menus and shit." )

Dirk does end up watching movies! Someone of the medical persuasion comes in to check on him. Dirk does not actually try to fight them. He's offered food, which he refuses. Medical person sighs fills up the UV worm, the food tube worm, and cleans up the colostomy bag worm. (Dirk is both grossed out and fascinated by the biotech.)

Meenah works up a steady campaign of bringing food, little snack foods and drinks with her when she visits Dirk. She asks him questions related to the time travel theory she has concerning his presence. (Dirk lies a lot. Meenah is pretty sure he's lying. Sometimes he tells the truth and she's still pretty sure he's lying.)

HIC typically offers food or drink, then tries to get Dirk to talk. Sometimes she can get him to eat. Occasionally Psii comments. "This is weirdly pale Your Imperious Condescension."

"Sometimes a beach is just weirdly pale, 'Tuna," Meenah says. She pets Dirk's hair, which is starting to grow out. She also strokes his cheek, which makes him shiver. "Lying around all day ain't good for you. Want to get up and move around?"

Dirk has not idea what to do about this, or about this weirdly honest sounding question. "If you're going to bribe me into betraying my family, why don't you do it with questionable sugar coated rosewater candies?"

"Wouldn't know where to get that. Want a deep fried water beetle?" Meenah pops one in her mouth and chews. "So, family, you're ancestor who I don't know but apparently cacked and...?"

Dirk talks a little about his Bro, but he's hesitant. Part of him really does think talking about Bro is a betrayal, like he's giving away details. He's pretty sure by now he can't do that, that he's somehow in a completely different universe, but it's still in the back of his head despite jokes about betrayal. "Your ancestor and his--moirail I'd guess--sound like they'd be bitchtits opponents," Meenah says. She finishes off her deepfried water beetle and offers him one. "Haven't found your world yet, but I guess we can find out?"

The idea of HIC going to Earth, invading Earth even an alternate Earth to find out what kind of opponent his Bro was makes Dirk's stomach flip. It cracks whatever reserve he's been able to maintain. (Not much of one.) "Please no," he says, even though he knows on a certain level it should be (hopefully) impossible. Alternia's universe created the Beta universe, after all.

"Sugargrub, from my end, I got attacked first," Meenah points out reasonably. "A beach has to snap back or no one'll respect her." The look of sheer horror on Dirk's face is at once hilarious as fuck and pitiful as all hell. Meenah almost laughs, but it looks like Dirk might throw up, which wouldn't be funny at all. "Aw, sprat, no," she says and goes for the nearest trash receptical.

She almost doesn't catch it in time. Also, the position is pretty awkward given how he's strapped down. The poor grub turns almost gray-white and heaves up a bunch of bile and nutrient solution. "Shoosh, Dirk," she says. "Fuck, you're a wreck, I'm almost sorry for doing that, you don't blink at half the shit I say sprat. Is that actually what happens?"

"No," Dirk gasps, voice hoarse and raw. "No." And in a voice like he doesn't even know that he's saying, it. "I don't want anything else to be my fault.

Meenah spends some time shooshing Dirk though most of what she's doing either only works for trolls or would only work for humans who are not Dirk. She does eventually get him settled down, making no promises of course that she won't conquer his planet if she happens to find it. "I had a little surprise planned for you on the recreation deck, maybe let you exercise some, but you look like carp, so maybe not," she says. "I have something that might calm you down though" She pushes a needle into the UV worm and presses a plunger.

"It's drugs," Dirk says.

"Just something to keep you calm," Meenah says. "We can go another day."

Dirk tries hard not to have his interest piqued. He's not all that successful. He's been watching the entertainment screen, mostly and he's at the point where he'd be wanting to build something, or take it apart and put it back together. "Really?"

"You'd be restrained because I don't trust you not to attack me or run around like an untrained barkbeast, but yeah."

"It's a dog park isn't. You were going to take me to a dog park," Dirk says. Meenah stays with him till he goes to sleep, feeling weirdly hopeful at the prospect of being able to walk around, even if hobbled. It's another couple of days, but Meenah makes good on her offer of an outing. She dresses him in a black uniform with orange trim. He tries to dress himself, but she smacks his hands. she cuffs his hands and ankles, and links them with a chain. The final item is a choke chain collar and a fuchsia leash. She grins like a shark as she puts the collar around his neck. "If you're good, I won't have to hobble you in the future," she says.

"I notice you don't say 'won't put me on a leash'," Dirk says.

"Whale, parading rebels around on leashes is just how it's done."

So, Dirk gets walked. Meenah occasionally stops to talk with courtiers. Courtiers stare at him and delicately question the uniform, which turns out to be a standard dress Threshecutioner uniform. Meenah does not answer questions about the uniform or about why an alien that tried to kill her is wearing a Threshecutioner uniform.

The entertainment deck has restaurants, theaters, gyms, pools and a large parklike area. Meenah walks through the park, eventually finding who she's looking for: Her Chief Threshy. Said Chief Threshy takes one look at Dirk as asks in a pained voice, "Empress, why is an alien assassin wearing a Threshecutioner uniform with tabs for my goddamn flaysquad?"

Dirk stares back and tries not to react. The troll is not especially tall, but he's broad, with short hair that just barely long enough to curl, and short rounded horns. The uniform's trim is bright red, and so are the troll's eyes. He's pretty sure he's seen this troll before.

"I ain't so shore he's an alien assassin Carpkat," Meenah says. "Water you got for me?" She asks.

What he has is a picnic lunch. A cold roast bird, fried beetles, a tray full of rolls of meat and cubes of cheeses and something that might be potato salad if it wasn't blue. There's also bottles of some kind of beverage. "Carpkat" makes a plate for the Empress.

"Are you mute or something, asshole?" the troll asks Dirk.

"He's just shy," Meenah says. "He don't talk much aboat anyfin unless I make him." She pokes Dirk. "Say somefin."

"So, why am I wearing a Threshcutioner uniform?" Dirk asks.

[othercat2]

fic: (they flow from form to form) 17/?

==>Karkat: meet the new friend

Breakfast and arguing wakes Karkat up the next morning. His head hurts a steady throb just behind his eyes. He can smell eggs, bacon, pancakes, and hear a conversation about whether or not to call the police and why that isn’t going to happen. Karkat recognizes the voices of Ms. Pyrope and Si, as well as his dad.  His arm has fallen asleep and Terezi is clinging to him like a lemur. He tries to pull free, but this  just results in Terezi frowning and clutching at him.

“Heh, cute,” Mituna says quietly. He’s sitting in a nearby chair, watching the news, but also watching them. “So, you kids made up?”

“Yeah,” Karkat says, just as quietly. “Terezi, c’mon, wake up.”  

“No one tells a dragon when to awaken,” Terezi says, voice muffled as she snuggles. “‘S Saturday anyway.”

“You’re not a dragon and it’s Tuesday, c’mon. There’s pancakes and bacon.”

Terezi stirs, and finally lets him go. “Good, bring me some,” she says, and rolls over.

“Haha, no,” Karkat says. He sits up with a stretch and gets up out of bed. “Anyway I think your dad wanted to yell at you.”

“That was at least half the plan,” Mituna agrees.

“Uuuuuggggh,” Terezi says, and throws a pillow that could have been aimed at anyone.

“Do you have a headache?” Mituna asks Karkat. “Do you still feel tired, dizzy?”

“Not really dizzy,” Karkat says. “Maybe still tired? And a headache. Also I’m hungry.”

“Let Feferi take a look at you,” Mituna says. “You might need to take a nap, later.”

Karkat nods, and heads for the bathroom. Behind him he can hear Mituna talking to Terezi, and Terezi not being very cooperative at all. He’d be a little more worried if he didn’t know Terezi wasn’t a morning person. After a visit to the bathroom he heads into the Pyrope’s kitchen.

Si is at the table drinking coffee, as is Feferi. Dad and Ms. Pyrope are over by the stove, arguing, with occasional comments from Feferi or Si. In addition to Ms. Pyrope, Feferi, Si and his dad, there’s a kid sitting at the kitchen table sullenly glaring at the plate in front of him. The kid’s maybe twelve, his clothes are tore up and dirty, and his eyes are the darkest blue Karkat’s ever seen, and his hair’s a rat’s nest tangle of black curls. “Hey, you’re the kid who wrecked my bike,” Karkat says, suddenly and completely sure. He hadn’t actually gotten a good look at him, but this was definitely the kid. The kid just glares at him.

This breaks up the ongoing conversation between dad and the others. “Karkat?” dad asks turning to Karkat with a frown. “You’re sure?”

“Yeah. I mean, I didn’t see him, but…I’m really, really sure he wrecked my bike,” Karkat says. “Why is he here?”

Dad sighs. “He was one of the assailants who attacked Ms. Pyrope and Mr. Captor while they were attempting to help me. When I realized they were about to imprison a minor without even calling the police--”

“He was going to be taken to Ivy House with the other prisoners. He would have been questioned, nothing more,” Terezi’s mom says.

Ivy House was the home of the High Priestess, Karkat recalled. Feferi was living there part time, studying her Great-grandmother’s grimoires and the works of previous High Priestesses.  Apparently, Ivy House had a dungeon, which was weird, disturbing, and about what you’d expect from a secret cult.  

“Without the presence of a parent or guardian, or even a lawyer? And you’ll forgive me if I don’t feel comfortable about anyone being taken to this Ivy House of yours,” dad says.

“I hinted really broadly Kankri could take the kid into custody, which he did,” Si says, and drinks some more coffee.

“Maybe I should tell him what that custom is actually about,” Terezi’s mom says crankily.

“Believe me; I’m aware,” dad says darkly.

“Yes we’re terrible and take battle captives and bind them as servants!” Feferi shouts in sudden exasperation. Her voice cracks a little, and Karkat notices that there are dark smudges under her eyes, and her hair is in a slightly ratty looking twist. “And slavery is illegal unless you’re in prison where you can be forced to work!”

Dad frowns at Feferi. “And I find both abhorrent Ms. Peixes,” he says. “I only took the boy ‘into custody’ as Mr. Captor says because I didn’t want him to be ‘questioned’ by your priests.”

“I’m fine with that, Mr. Vantas,” she says around a sudden yawn. “But you can’t assume he wouldn’t be disappeared by the cops either.”

“It’s kind of our town, Vantas,” Osiris says. “Any of them could be part of whatever faction’s targeting the High Priestess--and you.”

Dad rubs at his face with one hand. “I wish things were less complicated,” he says. “Are you all right Karkat?” he asks with concern. “They attacked this place as well.”

“We’re okay,” Karkat says. “We--it was mostly Terezi--were able to hold them off til help arrived. Um. Mituna says Feferi should check me out,” he says, looking uncertainly at Feferi.

“Shore!” Feferi says, looking a little brighter. She pushes back on her chair, gets up and comes over to Karkat. “Checking out” involves holding the palms of her hands just over the sides of Karkat’s head for a few minutes, occasionally asking him to move his head. She’s not touching him, but he can still feel her, Karkat thinks. It’s not exactly warmth or pressure, but something a little like both. “I think you’re all right, for your first battle,” Feferi says. “I’ll go check up on Terezi!” She heads out of the kitchen, and Terezi’s complaints get a little louder.

This leaves him in the kitchen with Terezi’s mom, his dad, Si and the angry kid. Karkat does not feel particularly comfortable about this, but he takes a seat. “So, what happened,” he asks, sitting down at the table. He ends up sitting across from the kid.

Dad sighs, and sits down at the table next to Karkat. As he does, Terezi’s mom sets a platter full of bacon on one side and piles of fried eggs on the other. Then she sets down another dish, this one full of pancakes. “Thanks for helping with the fried eggs, Kankri,” Terezi’s mom says.

“You’re welcome, Latula,” Dad says. Karkat can feel that he’s distracted and uncertain. “Why don’t I get the coffee--” he starts to get up again.

“The coffee’s handled,” Terezi’s mom says, sounding amused. “Don’t worry about it. Talk to your kid.” She pours coffee for Si, herself and then Dad.

“You make it sound easy, where there’s an audience,” Dad mutters.  

“It would be just as hard without. Do the thing, Kankri.”

“Right, do the thing,” Dad mutters. Karkat can feel his Dad’s distress and self-blame over what he had happened. “What happened was that I tried to use a spell that would predict the best outcome for…leaving town,” he says. “I’ve been worried about you, worried about what’s been happening, worried about…everything basically. So I used a spell that I wasn’t ready for and it got out of control, and drew you in,” Dad continues. He glances over at the kid. Karkat finds himself doing the same. “I’m told I was ‘influenced.’”  (The kid sneers back.)

“When Si and Latula had just freed me from the spell, at a critical moment, they were attacked,” Dad says.

Terezi’s  mom sits down and snags a few pancakes and some fried eggs. “It wasn’t something we hadn’t expected,” she says. “I don’t think anyone expected you, however.”

“Uh. What happened? Karkat asks. He senses a sudden wave of guilt, combined with a sense of, I was defending my home I have no reason to feel this guilty from Dad. He catches images of burning figures, and the sound of ambulances, and does his best to pull away from his dad’s headspace.

“Kankri stumbled out of the house and set fire to the attackers and most of the lawn,” Si says, also serving himself. “Rage kid over here wasn’t line of sight and managed not to get burnt.” (The kid scrunches down in his chair like he expects to be hit or something. When nothing happens, he straightens up a bit.)

“Jesus,” Dad says, looking uneasy. How can you be so calm about this? He thinks. Just as quickly he says, “sorry.”

“That was either apology for blasphemy or an apology expecting us to be repulsed by the name of Christ,” Terezi’s mom says in in an almost cheerful tone.

“Of course not; I’m agnostic anyway, as ridiculous as that might sound to you,” Dad says. He starts to fill his plate with eggs and pancakes.

“Sounds fake, but okay,” Mituna says as he enters the kitchen, followed by Terezi and Feferi. “Sol and Aradia are still sacked out in Terezi’s room,” he says. He collects a hug from Terezi’s mom and sits next to her. It’s pretty crowded, but the kitchen table is the kind with an insert to make it larger, so everyone pretty much fits.

“My exclamation was mostly because of how blasé you all are about this kind of…feuding,” Dad says. “You even bring children into it.” He gives Terezi, but also “the Rage kid” a pointed look.

“Not sure we could keep them out,” Mituna says. “The older kids anyway.” He looks over at “the Rage kid,” who still hasn’t gotten himself anything to eat. “Teeny kids like this on the other hand…”

The kid glares back at Mituna, and something nasty and dark starts coming off of him. It’s like being alone and knowing you’re being followed. It’s like a shadow where there shouldn’t be a shadow. It’s a shape in the dark that’s watching you. “I can take you,” the kid says, voice a weirdly distorted growl. “I can take any one of you, you think I can’t?” The kid’s voice sounds menacing all out of proportion to the kid’s actual size.

Karkat can sense the way the kid is pushing hard against Mituna, against everyone at the table. Everyone is frozen, tense and breathless, even Si. He can feel it too, it slips around him, surrounds him. He shivers with the malevolence of it. The only one not affected is Dad, who frowns at the kid. “Stop that right now,” he says firmly.

The kid tries a sneer. “Try and make me,” the kid says. “Got in your head before.”

“Only because I didn’t expect it,” Dad says. “Now I know what to look for, so stop it.” There’s a burning force to the last few words that seems to make the air crackle.  

The building dark collapses like a soap bubble, and the kid flinches back. (Everyone else startles, like someone banged a book down hard on their desk.) There’s a look on the kid’s face like he’s trying not to burst into tears, and he scrubs at his eyes with one hand. Karkat can see the kid’s shaking like a leaf; can sense how scared he is.

“Settle down and eat,” Dad says in a more gentle voice. “Did you think I put the plate in front of you as a joke?”

“Not hungry,” the kid says. He curls in on himself, and Karkat has the impression that yeah, the kid thought it was some kind of joke. (Miserable at having been captured, terrified about what might be in store; angry and trapped and a fuck up besides.)

“I’m not convinced,” Dad says. “You’re skin and bones. Humor me, have one pancake, one strip of bacon and one egg.”

A lot of hostility goes out of the kid. He gets the required bacon, pancake and egg and eats them almost angrily. Then he gets seconds, a few more of each. The kid looks at Dad before he takes anything, and Dad nods, silently encouraging him.

The rest of breakfast is questions directed at Karkat and Terezi about their defense of the house. Si wants a report on the fray motif Karkat performed with Terezi. This wanders into a general lecture on attempting fray motifs with an inexperienced user. (This was apparently a bad idea usually, though Si admits that it sounds as if they had formed a solid duet.)

“Sounds like I wasn’t the only one attempting dangerous magic,” Dad says frowning at Karkat.

“For values of dangerous,” Si says. “Terezi pushed herself very hard. It’s good that Karkat was able to support her.”

“Not for long though, I think we would have gotten knocked out or worse if Terezi’s dad? Hadn’t shown up,” Karkat says.

“Half-dad,” Terezi says immediately.

Dad gives Mituna a curious look, but doesn’t ask the question.

“She’s Sol’s twin sister. They split pretty evenly Doom and Mind,” Mituna says. “It wasn’t safe having them together until they were a little older, and a little more in control of themselves. She’s pissed off she doesn’t have a cooler adult male role model slash bio dad.”  

“Yes, that’s totally why,” Terezi says. “Not because I thought you were just my mom’d dorky boyfriend til middle school.”  

“It would have been a little better if they’d been both Doom or both Mind,” Terezi’s mom says. “But an even split doesn’t play nice, traditionally and apparently actually.”

“It’s a mystery why we’re such a cool couple,” Mituna says, pushing his chair back. “And why the kids are besties fistbumps forever.”

“It’s because we’re awesome babe,” Terezi’s mom says. She settles into Mituna’s lap with a grin. “It totally cancels out the Doom and Mind together thing.”

“I’m going to go check on Sol and Aradia,” Terezi says, rolling her eyes and getting up from the table. “Before you guys start singing ‘I Got You Babe’!” She yells as she absconds.  

“I will play it on repeat forever!” Terezi’s mom shouts back.

“Seems like the kid’s feeling better,” Si says.

“Yeah, I’m relieved,” Terezi’s mom says, leaning against Mituna.

After breakfast, Dad tells the kid to get up from the table, which the kid does, a little woodenly. “If you need to use the bathroom, go do that. Take a shower. Don’t leave the house, break anything, or try to communicate with your people, okay?” The kid nods, and heads off.

“Dad?” Karkat asks, remembering Feferi’s comment about “binding servants.”

Dad sighs. “He’s a minor; I doubt his caregivers are taking care of him if he’s apparently a child soldier. And I didn’t want him to be locked up in Ms. Peixes cellar, or disappeared by Ms. Peixes enemies.”

“It really is the best way for him to not get disappeared,” Si says. “You can help him this way, and find out who his masters are.”

Dad frowns, then sighs rubbing his face with one hand. “I’m more interested in helping him, to be honest.”

“And part of that will be finding the people who turned him into a child soldier,” Si points out.

The kid’s name is Gamzee Makara. He’s about twelve, and is apparently a prodigy when it comes to Rage. He’d apparently “gotten into” Dad’s head and inspiring him to use the scrying spell that filled the house with weird red vines and branches. Gamzee had been up in a tree for a few days “pushing” at Dad, who hadn’t really noticed with all the other uneasiness he was feeling. After Dad, Terezi’s mom and Si had taken care of the other attackers, Gamzee had tried and failed to make a run for it.

(Karkat spends some time kicking himself for not talking to his DAD about learning how to tell when someone was messing with his head. Dad is amused and reassuring about it. It doesn’t really help. Past Karkat is an idiot.)

Where Gamzee is going to be sleeping is as much of a concern as where Karkat and Dad were going to be living. Peixes invites them to live at her grandmother’s house. “Are you sure you should be offering Dr. Foster’s home?” Dad asks. And then she offers Ivy House. “I’d rather not take you up on that offer,” Dad says. “Is there any way my house can be made safe?”

“Si and me can walk you through the protection and alert spells,” Latula says. “If that’s okay?”

“We can also work on combative spells,” Si says.

“Agreed,” Dad says. “I’d rather not accidentally cast fireball while defending my home.”

<==

==>

[othercat2]

Turn left: (they flow from form to form) karkats dad decides not to go camping, cuz I gotta know what the normal procedure is for this marriage thing and if it's just as awkward as the main time line

So Kankri Vantas mentions his plans to go camping to the right person. The right person being Feferi Peixes who has come to ask him questions after class. She quickly tells him that there’s a church youth group that goes up there during this time of year, and it’s more or less off limits! So: no camping trip. (She does intuit that someone dropped the ball in not warning him away from the crow woods and lets some adults she trusts know so they can investigate.)

No one figures out that Karkat and Kankri are Blood until roughly July. No humans that is. The Gods realize that the Vantases are Blood and are very pleased/excited about this. Heart decides to investigate, posing as a Normal Teen ™ because his Human Suit is the best and befriends Karkat who he feels a connection to. 

The other Gods meanwhile are also feeling connections and a definite Interest in the Vantases. Lots of little windfalls and good luck type things start happening to/for the Vantases and the Cult becomes aware that The Gods Are Showing Favor, but they aren’t quite sure why until they discover/realize that the Vantases are Blood, and there for kin to their little closed religion, though they appear to be from a family that had forgotten the rituals. There is some Controversy about what to do, which feeds into the political situation that Feferi is in. ((Blah blah your grandmother would have blah blah.)

Heart wants to ease Karkat in, the other Gods want to get a piece of the action, where “action” is Karkat’s attention. This goes about as well as you can expect it to. Heart successfully asks Karkat out on a date and it gets interrupted/crashed by the other Gods. Not enough to Reveal Themselves, just enough that Heart is glaring at empty spaces at lot during the evening.

(Cultists on site immediately freak out and there is more controversy and flailing in Feferi’s direction. “Do something High Priestess!” the cultists shout. “Do what? Tell Them They should report to me when They court someone?!” Feferi texts her half sister a lot. Meenah tries to be sympathetic, she really tries but she’s laughing her ass off.)

The Spouses are consulted, and since Terezi is Karkat’s friend, she gets picked to break things to Karkat. (After some conversation with the Gods, asking Them how They want to play this.) Heart is reluctant, the other Gods want to go ahead with it.

So Heart and Terezi explain things to Karkat. Karkat is understandably skeptical, but not to the level of a character who is dropped into Fantasy World and decides to Disbelieve Everything. Just on the level of “did you put something in my drink Terezi?” Heart is able to successfully prove it’s True. Karkat is a bit weirded out, because Eldritch Kaiju Really Like Him And Are Also Poly–Surprise! Heart is willing to let Karkat Think About Things.

The other gods however hang around Karkat. And Kankri can sense them, which goes about as well as you can expect. Poor guy is an agnostic and laughingly used to state that the reason why his Pagan friends couldn’t sense the color of his aura was because his aura was clear. (It’s not. His Pagan friends didn’t have the frame of reference to explain what the hell they were seeing.) And suddenly he’s sensing things. He eventually finds out (because Time) and is more than a little alarmed. He wants to speak to an adult! (no, gods don’t count) Terezi’s mom, Feferi’s grandmother and sollux’s dad decide to speak to him. He’s still alarmed, but willing to learn more about what the heck is going on.

[othercat2]

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

==>Karkat: be the parfit gentil knight

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Your poetry is a felony,” Karkat retorts.

“My rhymes got mad flow

Wherever I go

I drop sick beats

Bring sizzle to the pan

Grilling your meats,

Like you know I can,” the crow says.  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Depressed,” the crow says.

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

“Because of what happened?” Karkat asks.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TA: thii2 ii2 ju2t ba2iic two A22pect Work kk

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

TA: we’re not even  gettiing iinto fray motiifs

CG: THE FUCK IS A FRAY MOTIF?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What about m’dad?” Karkat says.

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

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

<==

==>

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[othercat2]

Next day reblog!

Chapters: 22/? Fandom: Homestuck Rating: Mature Warnings: Underage Relationships: Karkat Vantas/Beta Kids, Karkat Vantas/Alpha Kids, Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas, Jade Harley/Karkat Vantas, Dirk Strider/Karkat Vantas, Rose Lalonde/Karkat Vantas Characters: Karkat Vantas, Beta Kids, Alpha Kids, The Trolls (Homestuck), The Signless | The Sufferer, Rose Lalonde, Dave Strider, Dirk Strider, Jade Harley, Terezi Pyrope, Feferi Peixes, Eridan Ampora, Sollux Captor, Jane Crocker Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Godstuck, Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, The Alpha and Beta Kids are Elder Gods, Humanstuck, Karkat Is Stuck in A Horror Movie, Unspeakable Spooning, Tentacle Snuggles, Smol Angry Bean, Ancestor Cameos, Jade is a goddamn furry, Jade don’t need a quad suit, A slowly growing list of tags, Crows are feathery assholes, Eldritch Cockblocking, Jake uses the term “mongoloid”, Outdated terminology to go with outdated slang, Date Fail, Romance Fail Summary:

Karkat attempts to rescue a freshman from what he assumes is some kind of super horrifying Satanic Panic hazing ritual. Things go steadily downhill from there.

[othercat2]

fic: (they flow from form to form) 15/?

==>Karkat: consider the possibility that the dragon is metaphorical

He doesn’t really know what to do with himself once Ms. Pyrope leaves. Is he just staying put, out of danger? Is he technically babysitting Terezi who “isn’t doing too well?” Probably not babysitting, he thinks, even though Si seemed to be implying that when they’d spoken. Latula had been so careful about letting him know that he didn’t have to stay if he didn’t want to.

The Pyrope living room is stuffed full of bookshelves with furniture and an entertainment center shoved in as an afterthought. The books are a mix of mythology, criminology, sociology, mystery, history, fantasy, science fiction novels and roleplaying manuals. He grabs a book at random and settles on the couch. The book turns out to be about a prince who goes off to rescue his boyfriend, also a prince, and has various adventures while trying to unlock his Untapped Powers of Magic. Karkat’s up to the part where the prince rescues a fire elemental from a rainstorm when he feels that he isn’t alone in the room.

He doesn’t see anyone at first. It’s the same nebulous not-quite-there “shape” the other Gods assume when they aren’t bothering with a human form. There’s a sense of presence, limbs and dark green eyes arranged around a central column. His brain kept trying to make sense of what he wasn’t really seeing. One moment he saw a tree with eyes, the next he saw a winged lantern shaped like a skull with coiling tentacles.

Karkat set his book on the arm of the couch, open and face down to mark his place. “Hope,” Karkat says. “Hello.” He might have said “hey,” but he wasn’t sure how that would go over. He’d seen and spoken to Hope before, but only briefly. (And the last time he’d been pretty snarky so it might be a good idea to tone that down a little bit this time around.)

“Hello yourself,” Hope says in a voice that sounds like a smile. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your reading. I probably shouldn’t have been watching you so closely. I only meant to take a peek.”

“Why were you?” Karkat asks.  

“I could hear you being uncomfortable and unhappy,” Hope says. “And well, you’re here.”

“Is that a problem?” Karkat asks, frowning.

“Oh no,” Hope says, brightening in an uncomfortably literal way. Karkat feels a sense of cheerfulness radiating from Hope, as if all the morning people in the world hopped out of bed and flung open the curtains and wished all of the songbirds good morning. “Quite the opposite, really. It’s good that you’re here, though the reason leaves much to be desired.”

“Yeah,” Karkat says. “So you’re here because I am?”

There was another sense that Hope was smiling. “That should go without saying. I may not be as forward as other members of my family, but rest assured we are all much taken with you, Mister Vantas.”

“As usual I have no idea of what to say to something like that,” Karkat says. “It’s kind of terrifying.” Karkat was willing to admit to something the Gods probably already knew.

“Due to circumstances, we weren’t able to reveal ourselves in a more gentle way,” Hope says. The column-shape pulses and contracts, then folds up into a dark haired boy with glasses wearing a yellow long sleeved shirt and green short pants with suspenders. Hope’s feet are bare and strangely shaped, more like paws than feet, with sharp claws.

“Circumstances involving me being chained up in a freezing cold cave,” Karkat says.

“Not the most romantic first meeting,” Hope says, sitting on the other end of the couch. “I would have preferred, oh, to be some strange and mysterious creature you followed into the woods or a stalwart chap drawing you into strange adventures.” He smiles. “Or you brought to Us as an offering instead of for judgment.”

Karkat can see what He means; Hope is showing him what He means. A gaudy and brilliant temple, and Karkat in gold chains and not much else, chained to an altar. The Gods appear in almost human forms to surround him on the altar. They bend to kiss him, Their hands sliding over skin that feels heated, electric as an aching urgency begins to build within him. He can’t stop himself from arching up, from making soft needy little sounds, begging for more.

Then he’s out of it, back in the living room and shivering with left over sensations and a sense of acute embarrassment. He’s breathless for a second, the sound of his heart beating loud and fast in his ears. “Is that how the wedding thing usually goes?” Karkat snaps when he can speak. It feels as if his entire body is blushing; a rush of embarrassed and aggravated heat.

Hope laughs. “No. But it might be fun to play at.”

“I think that’s a little too kinky for me just yet,” Karkat mutters. “Holy shit.”

“The marriage would take place in the Temple, that part’s true,” Hope says. “You walk to the altar, which is up on a little stage. You say your piece, and the High Priestess says her piece, and then there’s a party.”

“Do You say anything? Any of You?” Karkat asks. No one had really brought up the wedding yet. Not in any kind of detail.  

“Not really. The ceremony is acknowledgement and blessing for the people, not the part that binds.”  Hope wiggles his eyebrows. “We’re there for the wedding nights of course.”

“Nights?” Karkat asks, not able to help himself. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know about “wedding nights,” plural. At the same time, if he didn’t it would just be kind of lurking there in the background.

“Nights,” Hope says. “At least eight. Maybe more. Like a honeymoon!”

He can’t help wondering how that would go. Would it be one of Them each night, or all at once? He’d really like to ask Kanaya or Si about what it was like. (This was in no way going to happen. He’d die of embarrassment before a word got out.) Where exactly would this “honeymoon” be taking place? His face heats as he thinks of the “temple,” image Hope showed him. The “temple” reminded him of old sword and sorcery movies from the eighties; villains with slave girls hanging off of them, or lounging around on cushions.

Then he finds himself in a big room with fountains, huge arched windows and a bed that’s mostly pillows and furs that he’s lounging in the middle of, naked except for an elaborate gold and ruby necklace, gold bracelets, and two panels of bright red fabric embroidered with gold thread, held in place by a jeweled belt. There’s also something resting on his brow, wrapped around his head. He takes it off and sees it’s a circlet set with diamonds and rubies, the Blood symbol suspended from thin beaded wires between the arches of stylized thorny branches. He blinks and he’s back in the living room. “The hell?”

Hope gives him a look that would be almost innocent if not for the thin, wicked grin that stretches his mouth a little too wide. “People who make virginity sacrifice and harem jokes shouldn’t be surprised to find that their words were inspirational.”  

“So my honeymoon is going to be on the set of Conan the Barbarian?” Karkat asks, face heating up.

“It could be on the moon, if you wanted,” Hope says with a brilliant smile.

“What if I don’t want a honeymoon, or a wedding?” Karkat asks. “What if I don’t want any of this?”

“I’m afraid you’re a bit stuck with us,” Hope says. “As We’re a bit stuck on you. You could leave, but we’d follow after you.”

“That kind of showed up a lot in the spell Dad cast,” Karkat says. “You following us if we managed to leave.”

“Even if you wanted nothing to do with Us, never spoke to Us again, never touched Us or allowed Us to touch you, We would follow you,” Hope says.

“Is that even an option though?” Karkat asks. “The no contact thing.”

“It’s an option, though it would be unpleasant for both sides,” Hope admits. “Is that what you want?”  

Karkat thinks about it. It wouldn’t be as if everything had gone back to normal. They’d still be there, and he’d be aware of Them. There’d still be figuring out his “Blood” powers. “What I want is that we hadn’t gone camping in the crow woods,” Karkat says carefully.

“Not ‘I wish’?” Hope asks with a grin. “I’m not a monkey’s paw, you know.”

“Yeah, I’m not taking any chances,” Karkat says understanding the reference after a second. He read the story in junior high. Wishing seemed to be something that was inherently dangerous. At least it was in stories.

“‘I want’ could be just as dangerous,” Hope says. “And we would have noticed you eventually, even if you hadn’t gone camping and stumbled onto an initiation.”

“Yeah but it would have been a completely different pile of bullshit. Not the pile of bullshit where--” Karkat breaks off, voice shaking. He scrubs at his eyes, which were watering now. “Someone I’m friends with leaves me tied to a rock so I can get ‘judged.’ She just left me. Like that was an okay thing to do. Like we weren’t friends at all.”

There’s a noise from the hallway then, a sound like a sob or gasp, and then a couple of thumps. Terezi. She had heard him, had been listening for who knows how long. Karkat scrambles off the couch, heart thumping away in his ears. It’s half guilt that she heard him, and half embarrassed that she heard him almost start crying that makes him head for the hallway. He gets there just in time to see Terezi running for her bedroom door in a blur of white robes and bare feet. She slams the door behind her, and shouts something incomprehensible, a series of sounds that he can’t chop up into individual words.

“She says, well, it would translate loosely, ‘he shouldn’t be here, why did you bring him?’ ” Hope says, coming up behind Karkat.

Karkat feels a chill at that, like ice down his spine. He knows how careful and respectful the Believers are about their Gods from what he’s studied so far. A flat “why did you bring him?” like that should have been unthinkable. Karkat glances back at Hope, more than a little worried about Terezi.

“She’s a bearcat, isn’t she?” Hope asks cheerfully. He doesn’t sound angry or the least bit insulted.

“So, no smiting?” Karkat asks cautiously. “Could smiting be a thing that doesn’t happen?”

“Why would there be smiting?” Hope asks with a sort of wide eyed innocence Karkat immediately doesn’t trust.

“It seemed kind of blunt. And from what I’ve read that kind of blunt usually results in someone becoming a greasy smear on the pavement,” Karkat says.

“There are a few who can get away with being ‘blunt,’” Hope says, a spark of amusement in His green eyes. “Or even irascible!”

Karkat stops himself before he can respond to the teasing. Hope is talking about him, Karkat’s pretty sure of that. He’s also pretty obviously hinting at something. It isn’t hard to figure out what He’s hinting at. Who generally gets away with being blunt? “Is.” Karkat pauses for a moment. “Is Terezi like me? A chosen bride or whatever?”

“You’re a bridegroom, not a bride. Well, if you identify as masculine you’re a bridegroom,” Hope says.

“How do you acknowledge transgender identity and still use the term ‘mongoloid’?” Karkat asks, distractedly.

There’s an odd sense of confusion coming from Hope, paired with a frown. “What you wear doesn’t have much to do with whether you’re masculine, feminine, both or neither. It’s an Outsider notion that Our People can’t help but be at least a little influenced by, but really it doesn’t matter.”

Karkat rubs his face with one hand. He had a strong feeling Hope was conflating terms, and if he tried to explain (when he wasn’t exactly an expert) things would just get more confusing. “Okay,” he says.  “Is Terezi a bride?”

“We’ve been courting her,” Hope says. Hope looks toward the closed door, radiating affection and concern. “She and my priest found you, you know. She was ready to grieve, but you were alive, surrounded by flowers and marked by Our Favor.”

“Ready to grieve,” Karkat echoes. He remembers Terezi and Eridan taking him to the Temple. The way they talked about what was going to happen to him. Eridan trying to be sinister and the matter of fact way Terezi made sure he knew he couldn’t escape. He remembers hoping that Terezi would help him, and her saying, “You committed a spiritual crime, and the only way your soul can be cleansed is through sacrifice and the blessed intervention of the Gods.”

“You were friends, and she had to send you to judgment,” Hope says. “She did what she had to, and blames herself for what happened.”

“It wasn’t her fault,” Karkat says immediately.  “It’s the fault of whoever set me and Dad up.” It felt strange to defend her so automatically. He was still angry--still felt the sting of betrayal--but he couldn’t help defending her. It wasn’t her fault, and she hadn’t come to school or said anything to him since, but he hadn’t said anything to her either. Hadn’t tried talking to her, hadn’t even called her up to yell at her. (He wasn’t going to feel guilty about that. He wasn’t.)

“You could tell her that,” Hope says. (Hopefully?)

“I don’t think she wants me to talk to her,” Karkat says. Despite his words, he finds himself moving toward the closed door. Hope follows after him, silent now. As he gets closer to the door he can sense where Terezi is, in the room. She’s sitting on the floor in front of her bedroom door, leaning against it. He puts his hand on the door. “Hey Terezi. Um. Dad tried to cast a spell and it kind of backfired. Si sent me here while he and your mom fix things. Ms. Pyrope didn’t tell you?”

There’s a silence, stretching into several minutes. “I was asleep. I didn’t know you were here until I heard voices,” Terezi says, her voice muffled by the door.

“Yeah,” Karkat says. “Are you okay?” It was a stupid question to ask. Obviously she wasn’t okay. “I mean, do you want to talk, or should I go away?”

“You want to talk to me after what happened?” Terezi asks in return.

Karkat presses his forehead against the door. “Yeah. I mean, I’m still talking to Sollux after all.”

“Sollux didn’t leave you chained up in the dark,” Terezi says.

“But if he’d been there instead of you, he would have done the same, right?”

Terezi says “yes,” so quietly Karkat almost couldn’t hear it.

“Sollux was pretty sure I’d hate him, you know? Just because he was one of you guys. But I didn’t. I told him were still friends.”

Karkat hears a soft thump against the door. “But I actually did leave you for judgement, which could have killed you or worse,” Terezi says.

“Worse being hallucinations, dementia and permanent brain damage, which you don’t really try treating. Give me a minute; I can come up with a Dad-style rant about ableism,” Karkat says.

There’s another thump, a little louder against the door. “I don’t want to hear it.”

Karkat sighs. “Yeah, I’m not sure I could really manage it. I’m tired and apparently had a really weird Groundhog Day weekend.”

“Groundhog Day?” Terezi asks, as if she can’t help herself.

“Have you seen the movie? The main character keeps repeating the same day over and over. Dad tried some kind of ‘scrying’ thing I guess? It didn’t go so well. Breath pulled me out and I called Si and he sent me to get your mom. I could have gone to Sollux’s house I guess but…I wanted to see you.”

“Even after what happened?” Terezi asks.

Karkat swallows, throat suddenly dry. “Yeah.”

“That’s not what you said before,” Terezi says. “I heard what you said.”

“I figured,” Karkat says. He thumps the door. “Let me in? I don’t want to talk to the door.”

There is a pause, and then he could hear Terezi get up. Karkat steps back as the door opens with a click. Terezi looks pale, her eyes bloodshot and tired, her hair tangled and sticking up. She is wearing the same kind of clothes that Feferi had worn when she’d gotten back from the Temple, and her feet were bare. She stepped out of the doorway to let him in.

Karkat enters and looks around. Terezi’s bed is unmade, and her room was a mess of schoolbooks and looseleaf paper and binders. Karkat sits down at her computer desk, and Terezi sits down on the edge of her bed. Hope enters as well, a diffuse sort of presence that somehow seems to indicate both concern and a desire to not interfere. (Terezi’s shoulders hunch, and her fingers tangle and twist as she stares down at her feet.)

“I’m sorry I didn’t come see you sooner,” Karkat says after a silence that felt long, but might have only been a minute. “I was angry, and then I was trying to figure things out. There was too much happening all at once, and then psychic kaiju are looming over me and crows are screaming ‘Blood for the Blood God,’ at me.”

Terezi chokes on a thin little laugh. “So you’re okay with me almost getting you killed?” Terezi asks, her voice tired and brittle.

“No, that was pretty messed up,” Karkat says. “But it wasn’t your fault. You got set up.”

“I should have seen it,” Terezi says sharply. She look up, and her blood shot eyes are vivid, tear bright teal-green. “I should have seen you! I should have known!”

“You got set up, Terezi,” Karkat repeats. “Me and my Dad got set up. Neither of us blame you for what happened.”

“You should,” Terezi said. “I didn’t See anything about you. Even if a more powerful priest or adept interfered with the ritual and set you up, I should have known about you.”

“About me?” Karkat asks, a little surprised.

“If I’d known, if I’d realized what I was sensing from you, I would have told Feferi and she would have made contact, and this wouldn’t have happened,” Terezi says. “You and your Dad wouldn’t have gone up to the crow woods, and I wouldn’t have had to leave you for judgment.”

“Feferi’s enemies would have just done something else to try discrediting her,” Hope says. “They would have set someone up who wouldn’t have survived judgment at all, and that would have been worse.”

Terezi hunches her shoulders again and the words But I wouldn’t have hurt Karkat! ring in Karkat’s ears. For a moment he sees the line connecting him and Terezi, it pulses with a rapid, almost painful beat. She’s twisting it, it’s hurting her. (It’s hurting him.)

Karkat  touches the line--

--he slips out of the chair settling on his knees between Terezi’s feet. He reaches out and catches Terezi’s hands. “Terezi,” Karkat says. “You know I’d be just as freaked out as I was when you left me.”

“I thought about it. I thought about it a lot,” Terezi says, her voice broken into pieces and full of tears. “I could have made it work. You wouldn’t have known.”

“Want to bet I wouldn’t have?” Karkat says. “I’m seeing a lot, just from here.” There was so much. Terezi’s mind was ticking along in tightly wound circles, trying to figure out where she went wrong. She saw him, over and over again, in the Temple, taking him to the Chamber of Repentance. In her mind she had ruined everything, destroyed the sacred marriage before it could even happen. Karkat would never come to love the Gods (the way she did). She had done the unforgivable; she was a false Seer, a false Beloved. She tried to pull away from him, wanting to escape him (her thought).

“Terezi. Terezi no,” Karkat says. “Terezi, stop it!” His throat ached with the force of the words. Terezi froze, wide eyed, staring. (There’s a sense that she’s fighting him. He has a sense that teeth are bared and wings mantled at him, a fierce and terrible something-that-is-her-and-not-her.)

“Please, Terezi, it’s okay. Stop beating yourself up. You already did all the penance crap. You don’t need to do more.”

Terezi drew in a breath to start protesting, but Karkat squeezes her hands--

--and runs right over her with his own words.

“I mean it Terezi. You don’t need to fix me. You don’t need to fix whatever mess you think you made between me and your Gods. I probably would have been just as freaked out if Light gave me a tentaclehorror Valentine’s Day card, or I don’t know Hope put Green Mansions in my Netflix queue. I don’t hate you, I don’t hate Them, okay? What happened was fucked up and weird and I am not okay with it but I am also not okay with you holing up in your room like this because of me. I mean, you can hole up if you think you need to, but it’s been a long time and I’m worried and confused and I can feel how bad you feel about what happened.” He tries a spell, a small one, sending calm through the connection while he talks, half begging half bullying. He shows her how he feels. He visualizes the frantic pulse slowing, the tangles coming out smooth and straight. It was slow, very slow going, but he saw/felt the tension and misery fade, go hazy and blunt.

“I’m so sorry,” Terezi says finally in a small, miserable voice.

“I know,” Karkat says. He rises to sit beside her on the bed, and pulls her into a hug. “You want to get something to eat?” he asks.

“Yeah,” Terezi says.

She doesn’t move to get up, and he doesn’t move either for several minutes.

<==

==>

Books referenced: I make a reference to Karkat reading Diane Duane’s The Door Into Fire. It is a very good book.

I also make a reference to Green Mansions which is a book that has been thrown across the room because the ending is sad and I want to kick the protagonist in the balls until he walks with a permanent stoop for the rest of his miserable life. It’s also a movie. I have not seen the movie due to my antipathy for the novel. (And the protagonist. Who I despise.) Hope would like the movie because it’s ~~Romantic~~

I have a Patreon! If you like my writing, please consider becoming a patron! Or you could buy me a coffee! Donation links are in the sidebar of my blogs! I am having a Continuing Financial Crisis and could use the help as being homeless = no writing.

[othercat2]

i dont have my thoughts together but here are a few questions that popped up, any you cant answer/dont want to due to spoilers or w/e just leave blank. if the answer is already in the story feel free to call me a dummy lol. Questions that include a follow up will be surrounded by [ ]. How omnipotent are the gods on a whole? what would the gods do if a favored person's parent just went "nope, no dating until you're at least 18 because they're too mature"? more to come im running outta room-

I’ll be snagging the questions from both posts.

How omnipotent are the gods on a whole?

That would be difficult to gauge. And I don’t feel inclined to supply them with a power level because then there’s limitations I have to abide by. Basically, gods are gods and discussions of power level are irrelevant because gods. Their abilities are omni-something in the area of their Aspect. Any weaknesses are not weaknesses that a mortal would generally be able to leverage. They are not actually as human as they are trying to appear.

what would the gods do if a favored person’s parent just went “nope, no dating until you’re at least 18 because they’re too mature”?

This is not something a favored person’s parent would do. Because they are are Believers and they might be mildly freaked out, but they are not going to forbid their kid–or the gods–to court/be courted. Unless they are Kankri, though his objections wouldn’t necessarily involve “maturity.” (The poor guy feels like he’s stuck in the Jerome Bixby story “It’s a GOOD Life,” with eight teenaged Anthony Fremonts.

Does being favored work like a soul bond thing or a “you grew into someone we would like” kinda thing? 

It more like the latter. They are outside time/space so they see everything all at once. They select believers who are able to interact with them on a more intimate/personal level than their ordinary worshipers or the priests. Why they need this this level of interaction has a lot of theories the Spouses aren’t talking about it. 

in theory, if someone who was favored was born, and they knew of them, would the parents just be suddenly flooded with favors? Or would they politely wait around until they were dating age?

The kid would have invisible friends that are actually gods. (the children of priests and some adepts also have invisible friends that are actually the gods so it’s not actually a key indicator that the kid will become a spouse.) Then at some point, once the kid was old enough, the gods would begin their courtship.

[othercat2]

PlayLists!

In somewhat belated response to a question from an ask meme: I do put together playlists for fics I’m working on, though usually some time in the middle, rather than at the beginning, because heck if I know what kind of mood I’m looking for. However, they asked me about a fic I hadn’t yet put a playlist together for, which meant I literally had to figure out a playlist for it.

two for mirth

Thunder: Imagine Dragons | <==This is mostly a Dave song. It doesn’t quite match up but it felt very gladiator!Dave like.

Soldier: Fleurie| <==Karkat song 

Best Day of My Life:American Authors | <== Also a Karkat song though more of a GamKar song

Weapon of Choice: Fatboy Slim| <==Dave Song of course the weapon of choice here is actually *words* but it’s definitely a Dave song rather than a Karkat song.

Achilles Heart: Stiff Little Fingers|<==Dave Song, but kind of also a Karkat song. Maybe a kind of “they don’t know they’re doing a duet,” duet?

Seven Nation Army: White Stripes| Karkat-ish song, but also a Dave song. The inner similarities thing.

Water: Pentatonix| Karkat is a ridiculous romantic who is trying very hard not to be a dumbass about it.

Dog Days Are Over (2010 ver) Florence and the Machine| <==Karkat and Dave Song

Black Crows: Boiled in Lead  | <==(this is my go to Dave Strider track) It is a “Strider’s Bro Issues” kind of song.

Ready, Aim, Fire: Imagine Dragons| <==Karkat Song

Listen: Stiff Little Fingers| <== Relationship song.

The Crow: Dessa | <==Dave song/relationship song (thank you to @asukaskerian for introducing me to Dessa’s music!)

That's When Your Blood Bumps: Stiff Little Fingers  | Karkat and Dave song (I put in a lot of SLF this time around.)

Feel Good Inc.: Gorillaz | Dave to Karkat song I think.

This playlist is for (they flow from from to form) and I actually made it a couple months ago.

(they flow from form to form)

The Call of Ktulu: Metallica| Yeah, you know I almost had to.

Way Out: Yeah Yeah Yeahs| No real commentary for this one, I just thought it fit.

Come Undone: Duran Duran| Mood/thematic music

Plague Dance: Faith and the Muse| More mood/thematic music

Quick Sand: Incubus| Mood/thematic music

Fear of the Dark (Iron Maiden Harp Twins cover)| So very, very appropriate for the story. Probably a Light song.

Galaxies: Owl City| Hello Space! The song initially makes me think of Jade, but also the other gods and Karkat’s rather confused feels.

Fighting Fish: Dessa| Ahahahahahah This is kind of Karkat? I was thinking of one of those fighting fish in a tank, and the fish was Karkat, all angry fins with the gods all going <3 at the angry little fish in a tank. The thought doesn’t quite match the song, but the song matches the story, I think.

Underground: David Bowie| The song kind of thematically matches the story, and also the Temple is literally underground in a cave, so.

Under Your Skin: Luscious Jackson| The gods really want to get with Karkat, okay? They really really do.

Clint Eastwood: Gorillaz| Thematic/mood song.

I’m Not From Here: James McMurtry| Kankri and Karkat being newcomers in this strange town which is way stranger than they anticipated, boy howdy.

Sun: Live| Mood/thematic song!

Shadows: Lindsey Stirling| mood/thematic instrumental