♋ 23

[crusthatecean]

[Phone]

You...

[For someone who is able to speak so angrily and prolifically on essentially anything at all, Karkat for once really seems to be at a loss for words. It's more than that, though; he's furious but frightened, and one of the only life lines he's been clinging to is gone. But his ability to speak returns quickly.]

Who sees a strange machine they know nothing about and fucking destroys it? Great job, there's no way that could have possibly been important, or possibly a trap? Hey, I heard the Mayor say something suspicious about your misshapen puss dripping seedflaps, maybe you should blow those up with wild abandon, too.

No, that's right, nothing is fucking important except your little choose your own fun wiggler exploration adventure games. Nothing fucking matters except finding a way out of here, and the best way to do that is to smash whatever you see in case it might trigger the explosion activated home teleportation device, is that it?

I'm done with all of your petty pointless 'resistances.' Did any of us ever say we wanted you acting on your behalf? It's unclear to me, please refresh my memory. Who is in charge of this again, and what do you do? As far as I'm aware, it seems to involve running around becoming engorged with self-importance until the weight knocks you onto your asses and basically nothing else! Have any of these little explorations and expeditions ever accomplished anything? If so, please enlighten me, I am waiting with bated breath to hear of the one positive thing that has ever come of you running into any place Mayfield decides to allow you to enter and poking things until they explode.

Thank you. Thank you for your fucking service! I'll just bend over in case you had any tentacle fronds you wanted to explore our cavities with, it is the least I can do considering the swelling gratitude fluid building up in my bloated tribute sacs! In case you weren't aware, my species expresses gratitude through expelling endless fountains of vomit everywhere.

Just ignore that, though. Most of us dying, even those of us who never wanted to fucking destroy this place in the first place, is a small price to pay for you bringing yourselves to completion because you may have found a clue!

I don't even know if I care who you are, but if you give even the slightest shit about what you did, then fix this. But of course, I doubt any of you do care about just some more dead trolls and humans and cat monsters or whatever this place holds, so fuck you and goodbye.

[Filtered to Friends]

[Following that incredible display of reasonableness, he sounds somewhat less angry for the following call, although he still remains tense and clearly on the verge of flying the fuck off the handle.]

All right, you idiots. I know most of you can't go outside without accidentally disemboweling yourselves.

I need all of you to tell me what's happening. Don't be the one asshole who decides to keep this shit to himself to satisfy some pathetic notion of pride. I need to keep track of everything that's wrong, and if I included you in this transmission, it's because my mental list of business I reluctantly have to be involved in says I need to keep track of whether you're bleeding geysers out of one auricular clot or two.

If any of you die, so help me, I will hunt you down and personally desecrate your sorry hideous corpse using nothing but a knife I carved out of pure hate.

[Action; 1338 Benny Road]

[> Be the one asshole.

Karkat has been scarce all day; disappearing frequently when he is around and wearing a heavy coat even indoors. But by evening on the 25th, he's disappeared completely, and unavailable by phone. Housemates or anyone coming to look for him will find the upstairs bathroom locked, but he won't respond to anyone trying to get inside.]

Comments

[phone; .......friend filter?]

[ceasetoexist]

But what else could they do?

Clearly, destroying something would be the best way to take care of matters. It's not like there's anything else they could have done when they got inside. And hey, the best way to deal with something you think is holding the souls of someone you care about is to smash it.

Can't imagine why you're pissed off.

[yes that's fine!]

[crusthatecean]

Yeah, neither can I.

How are you, are you bleeding out the ass yet?

[friends filter let me know if it's not okay]

[worstvikingever]

Actually it's usually someone else disemboweling me but hey, that hasn't happened for a couple months.

Anyway... are you okay? I mean obviously you're mad but... I dunno. Checking in should go both ways, I guess.

[it's fine]

[crusthatecean]

Whatever, that wasn't even an answer.

[Phone]

[sunnysnakeup]

I-it's the opposite t-than you think... p-people care about the o-others here and w-want to go h-home so they do so-something... It m-may not w-work but it's b-better than sitting around i-isn't it?

[crusthatecean]

How. How is it better? This didn't accomplish anything towards their goal.

What you fail to understand is just how many of us there are here who don't have a home to go back to. All I fucking want is to be able to stay here with my friends who are fucking dead back home and have them not die all over again, but it doesn't matter to these selfish assholes pretending to be heroes who think they can destroy this place for their own gain.

[Friends... filter???]

[cawtier]

Will totally let you know when I'm dead. Might have to call collect though. Fucking service from the afterlife is abysmal.

[haha yeah]

[crusthatecean]

Oh. I don't actually care about you.

[phone]

[king_of_figaro]

What was done was reckless and foolish. I don't agree with it, either. That said, I believe there was the potential to gain knowledge about how this place operates. Maybe even a chance to return for those who wish to go home.

Yelling won't solve anything, though. What's done is done. All we can do now is move on, and learn from our mistakes.

[crusthatecean]

Move on from our mistakes?

My friends are going to die because of this. They're going to die and not come back. You fucking shitpile! I don't want knowledge about this place, I don't want a chance for return. All I ask if that everyone stop breaking everything and acting like it's for all of us benefit!

phone;

[cueball]

My thoughts exactly.

[And he'll just hang up right after that, before giving the troll any chance to do it. Just wanted to let Karkat know he is running on the same mental wavelength as the white text douchebag.]

[crusthatecean]

[Wow he doesn't care but good for you!]

action

[echidna]

[ Knocking.

She has probably been knocking for a while now.

Don't think she won't break down the door because she is getting dangerously close to that point. ]

[crusthatecean]

I'm in here, fuck off.

[He sounds kind of weirdly muffled.]

Phone

[silver_soldier]

[There are a lot of people sending out their own variations of this message right now, but this one catches Sephiroth's attention purely for the amount of furious invective in it. That, and the frequent references to what sounds like the most grotesque slang he's ever heard.] Perhaps the ability to defy death has been taken too much for granted here, if being returned to the natural order of things is so unwelcome. But most of us should have years of practice surviving, correct?

It could be the absence of death that made people so reckless to begin with. If that's the case...then you should be pleased, now that further investigation will have to be more circumspect.

[His voice is calm, clipped, and just a bit chilly in tone. He actually agrees with Karkat that destroying a mysterious machine was the height of stupidity, but he doesn't consider ranting about it productive or professional.]

[crusthatecean]

Oh, you're right, I've been completely taking life for granted! I don't understand anything about death or surviving. It's all about me learning not to die so easily, I see that now.

[He actually seems even more angry.]

Fuck you!

[darrrling]

I'm sure they were only trying to help, but diving right in doesn't solve problems most of the time, it's true.

Are you all right, darling? You sound pretty worn down. [ She heard his voice on the phone when he talked to Psii, so presumably this boy is one of his little troop's "kids," right? No harm in taking an interest, anyway. ]

[crusthatecean]

I'm fine. It doesn't matter.

[He's not; he's hurt himself badly, but he's much more concerned about his friends.]

Friend Filter

[adventuretime]

Some injuries suddenly started appearing!

I have them all wrapped up though, so I should be okay. I think! They're just scratches and bites for now. But I haven't gotten bitten and scratched at since that one time during the holiday with the gobblefowl.

[crusthatecean]

Okay. Okay. That doesn't sound so bad.

You'll tell me if it gets any worse, right?

phone;

[foretaste]

I'm fiiiiine.

[doesn't really sound okay.]

[crusthatecean]

Terezi, don't even start shitting me. I'm not going to deal with it right now.

filtered;

[cullscuttlefish]

I - I'm the one asshole who went in just to take a look, not to touch anything or blow up things, that wound up in the hospital. Didn't get out of the dairy before the explosion hit. Said I should be okay and didn't take too much damage, and I just hope that holds.

[crusthatecean]

Oh god. Feferi, are you okay? What happened?

phone; tl;dr's oh my!

[godaime]

Don't you think you're painting everyone in the resistance with a broad brush? Tch. While I'm a member of it, I don't fucking know or have any involvement into who blew it up, and, believe me I'm irritated about that too. [ There's a bit of an irritable growl before she resumes. ] The last I heard the machine was used to store the souls of those that have been droned people probably blindly attacked it thinking it'd be the same exact machine. That doesn't make it right, but it shows they were thinking at least something out there. I went out merely to investigate the machine. A girl I talked to doubted that this time it'd be the same since the previous time seemed to be an April Fool's gag. Even I could have probably found a way to free the hypothetical souls without breaking the damn machine, and since I come from a place where that thing that cooks bread for you is a pleasant surprise, it does say something. [ Yes, Karkat this old lady has no idea what a toaster actually is. ] Not to mention, someone in my home was droned recently so I was intending to find their soul first to verify their claim.

Regardless, to answer your initial question now that my tangent is done, the resistance has one goal, but even I admit there's something flawed with it at the very least. People like you and some other children seem to insist that this place is better than wherever you came from. I'm not doubting this or anything, but, with those voices in mind, I've been trying to make the message adapt into a more common goal. A goal that involves giving everyone the freedom to choose to go home or stay, or at least overthrow the people here and have the city be reformed by people who aren't total bastards.

[ Here Karkat let this old lady keep the last thread of faith you have in humanity by being cut with the scissors of stupidity before the kid with terrible luck runs with them. ]

[crusthatecean]

Thank you. Not that it isn't far too late for this kind of reasonableness now that we're all slowly dying, but I don't see why this is too much to ask for!

If it matters, the reason why this place is better is that 'home' has been destroyed by asteroids and where we're holing up for the time being, we're just as likely to be killed only more permanently. But I'm sure others are in similar sinking rotted boats.

[Phone]

[noluckduck]

Wait, wait wait. I know how some guys fucked up, but... what's this about people dyin'? Is the Mayor doin' that?

[crusthatecean]

The thing they broke was the revival machine that brings us back to life when we die. Now people are having their old fatal wounds come back.

[action]

[miraculls]

[sits outside the door like the world's saddest abandoned puppy]

Bro. Bro. Broooooooooooooooooooo.

[crusthatecean]

Gamzee, I'm fine. Go away.

[He sounds weirdly muffled.]

Phone

[wrench_and_ruffles]

Hey, it's bad but goin' around bein' that mean ain't gonna fix anything.

[crusthatecean]

It sure as fuck won't, and neither will being nice. But it sure makes me feel at least marginally less awful.

Friend Filter

[chastesaw]

Thus far, nothing of consequence has yet occurred. I feel as though I should count myself blessed.

[crusthatecean]

I'm so glad to hear that, although I don't think you've even died, so it's not like you had anything to be concerned about.

Died here, I mean.

[Assuming friends filter?]

[frothymilk]

I could say the same for you, Vantas.

[yes trolls always included]

[crusthatecean]

Are we really pretending you're giving that many fucks?

You haven't actually died here and are therefore not in danger, so I don't care either, the feeling is mutual. But I've heard you got your ass involved in the shit down at the dairy?

[phone;]

[nosigntospeakof]

[He's usually so good at this kind of thing. Psiioniic is always joking that Signless was pale for their entire species. Shoosh papping his way across the world, one troll at a time.

So why is it so hard for him to get up the nerve to talk to his own descendent?]

Karkat.

I understand that you're angry but they were only trying to help all of us. Far from the best tactic though... [He's really not helping things, is he?]

[crusthatecean]

What the hell gives you the idea I want to be lectured by you?

You know what, go ahead and spend your time worrying that I might have hurt someone's feelings when they didn't mean to do anything bad. I'll worry about my friends bleeding to death, how about that? I will be like we're taking shifts, each caring about exactly 50% of the things worth caring about. Maybe your side is slightly more important, I don't know, I'm not the fucking expert.

((Oh, by the way, if you're around I shot you an IM!))

[phone] /backtags forever

[polariity]

Don't do anything thtupid and thelfleth.

[Psii doesn't have the time for this- he can't protect everyone, and it's frustrating. Him and Milla chose the worst damn time to get hurt.]

At leatht keep it to the minimum.

[crusthatecean]

What exactly do you think I'm planning on doing?

[Yeah he sounds genuinely kind of hurt, since he's assuming Psiionic is saying this because he thinks badly of him.]