#just fucking take this. and I'm sorry in advance to folks who have readmores broken.

[creativegeneric]

Karkat - Alright, everybody, I know that tonight is definitely not the night we normally do this. I wasn't able to do the one for the last week, and I'm sure I speak for everybody when I say we'll all be too busy to pick up on the one tomorrow. But our discussion tonight is going to be an important one, and one we definitely can't skip out on. After a short debriefing of the last week for everybody, we'll have a big one to talk out, and it's an important one. I'll gladly answer questions, but I want everybody to hold on to em until the end, for just in case they get answered during our talk.

Karkat - For the weekly debrief, we have good news, at least! The temporary hivestem has been finished, and furnished, and just in time, too, as it's being put to use. Fifteen new incoming trolls who have suggested they're up for scoping out staying here with us. The orphanage is finished, and similarly being put to use for some grubs who need assistance, and the mediculler's office is nearing done, and also being put to good use. Finishing that is one of our higher priorities, but it's been knocked down the list a little bit by my next topic. Before we get on to that, I'd like to thank everybody for doing an amazing job at the construction work, and for being so patient and dilligent. Y'all are doing amazing, and I'm very proud of you all. Thank you.

Karkat - On to the big, new, difficult, important thing...you're all aware of the Beeper I found last week that prevented me from working on the last properly scheduled get-together we normally have. I stumbled across them in the forest, same area I found Ceteus perigees ago. Marked both down on my map, because I wouldn't remember where otherwise. Dad, Felide, and myself all went to the area to have a good look around. And we found exactly what we feared we would find. Can you guess?

Karkat - I'm sure everybody has noticed a specific trait that our newest residents share. They're all Jade-bloods, and all definitely refugees from the caverns. We found them. And after we got the Jade Mothers calmed down from the sudden intrusion, we asked them how things are going, sat them down with food and talked about things. And things aren't good. The latest batch of grubs will be the last, unless we do something now. Other caverns, the situation could definitely be different. The last brood could have been perigees ago, or may be a few perigees away from now, but the Jade situation will be the same across the board. No supplies or genetic material being delivered, no care for the lusii being administered, and no news from the outside world. Scouts sent out never coming back, whether because they ran into those wonderful gangs we all love soooooo much, or because they caught a wind of freedom and took the fuck off, nobody but them specifically knows. They're a mess, and it's due to a single thing I'm sure everybody also recognizes as missing from our night-to-night lives.

Karkat - The cause of it is the drones deactivating. The drones delivered supplies and material to the Jades, wrangled and bred and coordinated lusii, and a running idea of how well things were going outside of the caverns. At this point, we have a big choice to make, and it's not gonna be a fun one. If we wait too long, restarting the caverns will cause a lot of casualties, result in a lot of grubs requiring assistance, and could even kill the Mother Grubs involved. Quick decision-making is required, and from what I can tell thus far, we have three options out the gate. First is the literal worst of the lot, which is nothing. It's the safest and easiest, but it'll ensure the extinction of our species as a whole on the planet. I'm not even considering that one, so don't bother suggesting it.

Karkat - The second and third options. These are hard ones, but in the end, if we pull it off, our species will continue after this final generation, and we can work through the problems facing the lot of us at a good pace without worrying about the imminent demise of our kind on a whole. They consist of restarting the drones and slowly implementing code changes to them, making them more lenient and less murder happy, and instead of single-pairing-mandatory donations, also accepting solo or multiple partner donations, as well as making the delivery to the caverns less stressful, and lusus care more thorough and appropriate...and making new drones from scratch.

Karkat - I will admit that while, yes, I very much do want new drones from scratch, building enough of them to do what we need them to do is going to take a long time. Time we may not have. While new drones would be ideal, we need to do something right now, to prevent us from being one of the final generations of our species to exist.

Karkat - I don't like it any more than the next guy. But we have to do something. And we have to do it now, or else we may never be able to.

Karkat - I did ask everybody to hang on until I was finished to ask questions, and now I'd be happy to answer or discuss things you're concerned about or confused over, before we vote over what to do as a group.