Nepeta/Eridan
CA: sorry that took so long
CA: but had some uh
CA: reely important highblood business to attend to and all
AC: XOO not to be rude but i dont really care!
AC: :33 there are a lot of meteors falling outside my hive right now and after efurrything i had to do to pull aradia into the game i dont even know if theres time!
CA: hey dont worry about it
CA: im not some text rper like you im a fuckin flarper
CA: i wwill get you into this game if its the last thing i do
CA: only it wwont be
AC: :33 well that would sure sound more impurrsive if you would actually start!
CA: im gettin to that part
CA: ok im settin up the connection now
Nepeta taps her fingers quickly across the top of her tablet, biting her lower lip as the Sgrub loading logo flashes on the screen. For quite a while, now, she's heard nothing but the falling meteors, making landfall not far from her hive. She knows its only a matter of time before one of them hits her home and she's nothing but a crater in the ground.
To make matters worse, there's been nothing to do but sit and wait for Eridan to connect to her. Nepeta had her work cut out for her at the beginning with making sure she pulled Aradia into the game, but since then, it has been nothing but waiting. Most everybody else is too busy with their own Sgrub woes to humor a bored catgirl, especially Karkat, who has the added paranoia of believing she's trying to spy on his team. Still, now that her moment is here, she's nervous. The meteors are only increasing in frequency – who's to say she'll even make it in time?
CA: alright got it set up
CA: wwoww your hivve is a fuckin shipwwreck
AC: :33 well sorry but there was a cave in earlier if you didnt notice!
AC: :33 i havent had time to clean up really
AC: :(( or... move her body
CA: yeah wwell i can do that look
A few rocks begin to fly around the room as though they're possessed – out of instinct, Nepeta hisses at them.
AC: :33 stop that!
AC: :33 youre causing efurrything to shift around and it might make another cave in if you arent careful!
CA: wwell sorry
AC: :33 just deploy the machines already!
CA: yeah yeah
CA: but stop bossin me around landwweller or maybe ill just let you die
AC: :33 you wouldnt!
Regardless of what Eridan said, three familiar machines appear. Nepeta jumps in surprise, but immediately walks around to check on them all. She stops at the cruxtruder, running her hands along the smooth edges, simply admiring how real it feels. The moment is broken by another meteor collision outside, just a little too close for comfort.
AC: :33 anyways, i need your help right now
AC: :33 could you use something to hit the top of this machine?
AC: :33 like maybe one of the rocks around here or something?
CA: oh i sea
CA: noww you wwant me to play with the rocks
CA: wwell maybe i dont wwant to noww did you think about that
AC: XOO rawr! just do it!
It takes a moment that Nepeta isn't sure she can spare, but soon enough, one of the rocks from the cave in opens the hood of the cruxtruder, releasing the kernelsprite, just as had happened with Aradia. A few more rocks tumble down, revealing the body of Pounce de Leon. Her face falls.
CA: alright i did it
CA: and cod stop lookin so sad
CA: you can just prototype your lusus again and itll be fin
CA: look
And just like that, Nepeta watches as the bloodied corpse of her lusus is hoisted through the air, dripping bits of green blood onto the floor of the cave. She wants to turn away in disgust, but part of her is simply so mesmerized by the sight that she can't quite take her eyes off of it. Then, in a blinding flash of light, the bloodied corpse is gone and in its place is a floating, glowing Pouncesprite. Nepeta's breath catches in her throat, and though she doesn't want to give Eridan the satisfaction of being right, she can't help the fanged grin that breaks out across her face.
AC: :33 oh
AC: :33 thank you eridan
CA: yeah wwhatever
CA: anywways wwhat am i supposed to do from here
AC: :33 well i guess all you really need to do is deploy the punch card!
Almost as soon as she says it, a large punch card is captchalogued in her sylladex.
CA: and thats it
AC: :33 i think so!
AC: :33 the rest is up to me, so i guess you can go back to your "reely important highblood business" now
CA: oh yeah
CA: that
And Nepeta leaves her computer for the time being as she busies herself with entering the game. The process goes as she remembers from Aradia – using the punchcard to carve the cruxite, and then using the cruxite to power the alchemiter to make her trial. Sitting on the center of the platform is a light green wingbeast, preening its feathers.
Nepeta draws her claws, ready for the hunt.
Once Nepeta leaps towards the glowing creature, it quickly flutters away, out of reach. Nepeta growls and whips around on the platform to get a better view of the wingbeast. It lands near the rock pile, and returns to preening its feathers. Nepeta readies herself once more, but as she leaps for it a second time, it flies away again, finding a new spot in which to rest in the cave. The pattern repeats, with Nepeta narrowly missing the wingbeast every single time. It steadily gets more and more frustrating, and though Pouncesprite offers her sympathetic looks, Nepeta finds herself with no help.
After another loud explosion outside, Nepeta lets out a frustrated growl and retracts her claws, returning to her computer. She doesn't know what good it will do her, but she's certain that the meteors are going to crush her at any second now. She decides she'd rather spend her last moments talking to her friends than trying to catch some impossible tiny green animal.
When she opens Trollian again, her window is a flood of purple text.
CA: hey nep
CA: i can see youre havvin trouble there
CA: and im not wwatchin you because i dont havve anythin better to do
CA: but i wwant to see this servver player thing through
CA: ok so obvviously youre not goin to respond to me because youre tryin to catch that thing
CA: wwhatevver it is
CA: so um i guess ill just wwatch
CA: but you knoww i wwould shoot that thing wwith my rifle if i wwere you
CA: its obvviously just goin to movve evvery time you get close to it
CA: so get it from afar i guess
AC: :33 but i dont have a rifle
AC: :33 my strife specibus is my claws :((
CA: wwell then you just have a shitty strife specibus then
AC: OO hey!
CA: but it doesnt matter just throww somethin at it
For a moment, Nepeta considers throwing her computer at it, but she decides that Eridan does mean well. She picks up a stray pebble, readies her throwing arm... and misses by a mile. She bites down on her lower lip, doing her best not to think about how, if she can't do this one thing right, this could very well be the end of her.
CA: wwoww
AC: :33 shut up!
AC: :33 im just nervous is all
AC: :33 and there are all these meowteors around and its really distracting!
CA: wwell that should just be more reason to get it right
CA: come on nep wwe got the wwhole game in front of us
CA: you cant just givve up here because you dont havve a rifle
CA: besides youre like a fuckin cat right
CA: wwhat sort of cat lets itself get wwon ovver by a wwingbeast anywways
It is perhaps the worst inspirational speech that Nepeta has ever read, but right here, right now, with a meteor imminent, it works. Adrenaline pumps through her veins, and she shoots up from where she was sitting, claws drawn again. Her eyes pick out where the wingbeast has landed and, carefully, slowly, she picks up the stray rocks thrown around by Eridan minutes ago, and she takes careful aim.
The first shot misses, and the rock bounces off of her shipping wall, accidentally taking out Eridan's face in his blackrom with Kanaya. The second shot misses too, but it lands more innocently next to the cruxtruder. The third shot – the supposed charm – well, that misses too, and it scratches up her alchemiter. She's left with one more rock and not much time.
But she sneaks up close, carefully, quietly, and with a lucky throw, the wingbeast bursts into feathers. And more than that, her entire world bursts into light. She has to shield her eyes for a few moments, but finally everything begins to dim.
She dashes to the exit of her cave and pokes her head outside to see a marvelous world splayed out before her. It's made of gorgeous white mountains and yellow skies.
It's beautiful.
Nepeta can hear trollian chime before her once again, and with a bright grin matching the cubes of sugar surrounding her, she goes to answer.
Homestuck is property of Andrew Hussie
(And again, Nepeta's typing quirk got eaten a little bit by fanfiction dot net. Once again, know it's there in spirit and the original document.)