A/N: A drabble. I vomited it onto the page and it just worked. I love the Lows, what can I say?
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rotten to the core
In what are to be the last seconds of his life, Low Rimmer is applying fresh holographic mascara, courtesy of Low Holly. Low Cat has picked out one of the least smeggiest pieces of meat from the broken icebox, and Low Kryten decides to spend his last few seconds imagining his worst day of that week. Low Lister already decided he doesn't want to stop being just yet, and he has boarded Starbug.
Low Cat swallows his second bite, and wonders what could be so Low about long, inconvenient under-evolved teeth. He scowls at the cross dressing hologram with irritated disinterest. "You hate pretty things."
Low Rimmer shakes his head. "Pretty things hate me," he corrects Low Cat, almost sadly, and turns to join the others in watching Starbug disappear into the shadowless black. "And soon I shall be nothing."
"You've always been nothing," he snaps a look in Low Cat's direction, and the creature stares back at him, inviting challenge. But Low Rimmer knows there is no challenging it. It is true. He always has been nothing, and for the next few seconds of his life, he always will be. Something is happening around them, and though the Lows cannot explain it, they know what it is. Low Holly remains silent in her monitor, glancing at some calculation she has long since stopped caring about. Low Rimmer wonders what Low Lister is doing right now. Low Kryten watches Starbug, and Low Cat tries to get another bite in.
Around them, the Red Dwarf shudders. A panel explodes and shoots into the air, as the floor begins to tremble and the walls fade. Low Rimmer stares at his reflection in the little mirror before him, and doubtfully turns the mascara tube over in his lifeless hands. "I don't mind being nothing," he says, mostly to himself. He looks up at the Low Cat. "I just want to be pretty. Like you."
Low Cat drops the meat, carelessly, and stands to face annihilation. He gives Low Rimmer a quick glance-over. "Your feathers look nice," he growls, and wipes some blood from his chin. "You are pretty." Low Cat disappears before Low Rimmer smiles, and Low Rimmer is gone before he realizes he did.
Aboard Starbug, Low Lister grips the controller and fights a giggle. He knows that soon, he too will return to nothing. But before long, he'll come back, like they all will. Lows always do.