A/N: Happy Wednesday updating, right? It's only 56 minutes past the day after I was supposed to update... I figured that if you look at it like that, it's cool. Thank you for you wishes on my try-outs, I love you guys. Read, review, and enjoy!


For the past few days, Titaia was formulating any way and every way in which Sollux could explain himself. She narrowed it down to three possibilities; his obsession of duality is taking over, they were just friends (which she wouldn't believe even if he said did claim that it was the reason), and that he simply was bored of her and moved on. But, could one actually avert a conversation so easily? Titaia is never the one to start conversations, but every time she attempted, her tries would be nullified by the simple slip out of a phone, and a text message from whomever in the world it was. She would stop the words that were coming from her throat, and continue with her day because she knew time would've been wasted if she continued to talk to him.

Her friendships were affected, as well. Game was more on his own, now that Vriska and Tavros spent more time together. Eridan played as if nothing was going wrong in his life, when in reality he was breaking down possibly mentally because of Feferi. It may not seem like it, but the two have a history of friendship. The fact that she can easily dilute his importance from her life to nearly miniscule is beyond him, and breaks him. This is easy for Titaia to tell, his aura has changed since this meal business started. And granted, he can see the pain inside of her as well. But it was an unspoken truce between to that neither of them would utter a word about the others situation. And they were just fine, because they were both as stubborn.

The instructor's speech began to blend in with the background noises of the classroom; the squeaking of mechanical pencils rapidly writing on paper in effort to obtain a satisfactory grade for the work done in the class. Titaia, however, did not care for it at the moment. Her eyes hovered over the subject of the worksheet. The unit that they were covering at the moment was about stress, and Titaia had enough of it. The word nearly sickened her to her stomach. She looked at it with disgust, almost, and simply sat back with her arms crossed. She looked as if she were almost refusing to do the work, much like a child would repudiate the command of eating his vegetables. It was just like that. The fact that stress existed was nasty to her, she'd rather not touch it. So she didn't.

"Ms. Leosso." The teacher would tap her shoulder subtly, until the girl would look up at her. "Titaia." She uttered again to obtain her attention.

Titaia mumbled some colorful language to herself, she was aware that she was supposed to work. But, it wasn't something that she felt like doing at the moment. She never felt like doing it. But now, she had to. She nodded her head to ensure that she would continue with the classroom activity. Titaia's eyes ran through question one.

Name any factor(s) that cause any type of stress in your life.

Oh? Stress? Titaia could name a few, just as many as the grains of sand on existence on all the beaches in the world, if not the whole universe and beyond. Honestly, this was the heiress of this failed utopian land called stress, where the never ending thunder storms would eternally ruin the lives of others with every bright light that was flashed across the sky that was doing this assignment. Listing it would only take her three seconds. And it did. She began to write; trust, friendship, relationship, people, adapting to new surroundings, school, home, memories, thinking. As she wrote each word, she began to climb deeper within herself and bring out another reason for her stress. And then, she paused. The pause was due to the fact that she peered upon her second question.

Draw anything that relates to the factor(s) that were listed in the previous answer.

Now, this heiress of stress isn't an artist, but she could express herself through her beastly attempt. As soon as her pencil met the paper, it seemed to have a mind of its own. It was like she was only present of hold the pencil as it worked on its own harmonically, with perfect synch with her brain. It wasn't until she finished that she realized what her hand was creating. It was just a compilation of everything and everyone causing her stress. It was a self-portrait, or what she thought it looked like. She bore glasses like Sollux's, the glasses of Vriska, her family name tattooed on a shoulder, a lip piercing that was reminiscent of Sunday's piercing, and a wrapped up arm that reminded her of Achima. On her neck was a collar that seemed to choke her that had the words relationships and friendships embroidered on her. She sighed at the drawing. Her mind loves taking over her body, and one day she's going to royally fuck up. In her pocket, a vibration took place. It startled her, as the usual. She looked around meekly to see if anyone noticed her sudden jump. How pathetic, she looked as if she were struck by a sudden surge of electricity. But it seemed that no one noticed, so she proceeded to bring out her phone.

Sollux C.

1:57 p.m. :

2up.

Titaia had to glance at her phone a second time. And a third time. So, after nearly two weeks of not talking, does he believe he can clear it up by sending a three letter word— no. Not even letters. Apparently, Titaia didn't even deserve three letters. She received two letters and a fucking number. It wasn't a complete sentence. It wasn't even an official word. And she received the message. She contemplated as to how she'd reply to this message after class. Because her retaliation would be great, and spectacular. It wouldn't be one of those subtle attempts to tell someone that she's angry or disappointed with them. There was no way that Sollux could mitigate his punishment after that behavior that was just exhibited. He was fucked. And she couldn't wait. But then again, it might not matter much to him. Because Feferi was with him. And that still hurt our heiress of stress.

Sollux C.

2: 16 p.m. :

you u2ually reply fa2ter than thii2.

Sollux C.

3:05 p.m. :

are you goiing two an2wer?

Sollux C.

3:38 p.m. :

fiine, ii don't want you two. ju2t whatever.

And it was just 'whatever'. She figured that she'd ignore him, and then come up with something to say to him to make him reflect on his past actions. Of course, this was only from her conception of the matter, what she saw could've only been the worst things to the best situation; Titaia could simply be snooping on Sollux's 'affair' at the wrong times. But all the wrong times? Was it possible?

"I think she'th mad at me or thomething." Sollux blurted out, typing away at his laptop. "I thent her like thix tecktht methageth, and she hath yet to reply to them." Every so often, he'd look up from his laptop, and across the room to make sure that Karkat was actually paying attention to his whining, as opposed to texting Terezi, or something like that. God, it nearly burned him to see that even Vantas would be in a stable relationship before he could even imagine how the hands of the girl he yearned for actually felt. And just like he expected, the insomniac fucker didn't reply. "KK." He restated, hoping that the idiot would get the clue to even pretend like he's listening.

"Yeah, fuck, I heard you. I just don't really want anything to do with that girl at the moment." Karkat returned, his phone handy in his palm. He had recently gotten through sending a very angry text message to Terezi. It was unclear whether they were flirting, or really going at it with one another. Honestly, he didn't know for himself if he was insulting her or just playing with her. But, whatever it was, would be. "She's a waste."

"She ith not, KK."

"Ch'yeah. Okay, big shot. Maybe she lost her phone, and you're over reacting. What's the time span from when you initially texted her to when you sent your most recent text message?"

Sollux muttered mathematics, he said the numbers so quickly and easily that it seemed that the boy created a completely new, independent language of his own, and decided to practice it out, where everyone was. "Forty-one minuteth, and maybe a few fucking thecondth." He answered finally.

It wasn't anything surprising to Karkat. Sollux was a huge nerd in his eyes, so he expected his buddy to become some kind of rocket scientist as his spare time hobby, when he's not out finding the cure for cancer, and counting to the highest number in existence in ten minutes. He sighed, mostly because Sollux recalled how long it has been since he first texted her without looking at his cell phone. "You're pathetic, you sad fuck."

Sollux's face brightened up, he started to look around the room. "What? Did I heard a voithe?" He stood up to show off his height difference to his friend. "Oh, goodneth. It just mutht be the voitheth again." He muttered sarcastically.

"Suck these nuts, and choke on 'em." Karkat muttered.

"Or, we can call up Tthee, and she can do it for ya." Sollux returned.

Karkat's eyes widened. "Take that back, asshole!" What an immature idiot. Karkat could've even imagine— Were they even dating? He glared back at his 'best friend'. Geez, it was between him and Gamzee, and both of them were the cause of his constant migraines.

"Eheheh…" Sollux trailed, settling back down at his laptop once again. "I'll just thee how everything workth out…"

Karkat shrugged violently, and made an expressionless face. "Yeah? Well, have fun." He muttered.

"Do I really have to drink this?" Titaia asked, holding up a bottle of Faygo that was recently presented to her by her clown companion. She inspected it, just because she's never drank it before. She usually drank Sprite if she was drinking soda, or Fanta.

"Yeah, sis." Gamzee answered. "This wicked elixir will get you out of them feelings you seem to be having about motherfuckin' who knows what, you feel me, sis?"

Titaia nodded her head slowly. "I understand…"

"And the motherfuckin' fact that I won't let you smoke any of my motherfuckin' grass, because of what you all up and did last time, Titaia. You was on cloud motherfuckin' nine, and I couldn't get you down, ya know?"

She nodded again. Of course she knew. As well as she knew how many grains of salt she's consumed in her lifetime. Some of the things her companion mentioned were incredibly esoteric to those who weren't into his way of life. But, without that, her life would be bland, right? She twisted the cap of the drink and started to imbibe the substance inside of the bottle. After a long chug, she placed the empty bottle in the trash (after attempting to throw it in, and ultimately failing). "So, have you talked to Tavros today?" She asked, merely to ignite a conversation.

Gamzee didn't respond for a few seconds. His smile faded for a few seconds, and he almost looked angry. "Naw, I haven't spoken to that motherfucker since yesterday."

That made sense; Vriska stole Tavros for a day. She said something about keeping an eye on him better than Titaia possibly could. Whatever that meant. She glanced at Gamzee, who had a look of enmity plastered on his face for a split second, then it returned back to his placid look in a matter of seconds. It really worried her when he did that, because she knew that beneath that lethargic smile was an abyss of grudges that he'd hold against people. She suddenly remembered her first conversation with him:

"Sometimes, I get motherfuckin' angry, and dangerous"

"I'm usually a motherfuckin' sweet guy."

Somewhere along the lines of his life, some external force had to make him crack. He used weed as a balm for this anger that was hidden inside, but he wasn't completely out of it. Gamzee was probably aware when things were going on that weren't just. And this Vriska and Tavros thing wasn't right to him. Something about it just didn't smell right. And if he found a solid reason to distrust Vriska, and he was without his weed, the sweet clown would turn into a malicious, nightmare version of him, and prove to everyone why he was in this shit. As for now, he was smiling again.

Titaia nodded, and a silence fell between the two. By now, Titaia was used to these silences, and she learned to work through them. If a silence was to fall, and she was the cause of it, she'd simply stay silent until the other member of the conversation was ready to speak. And that's how she planned it to work out. But it didn't, because Gamzee eventually walked out of her room. She's really dumb for that, shit. She glanced at her phone again, and was reminded that she had to reply to Sollux's lame attempt to speak to her again. So, she began brainstorming. Searching for the perfect text message. Problem is, when she begins to brainstorm, the storm beats on her defenseless person until it dies out, which could take days.


A/N: Honestly, I hope school just collapses. That'd be great. Until next time~