Rose awoke to the sound of several consecutive Pesterchum notifications, followed from the sound of something falling to the floor in the next room. It took her a few moments to remember where she was. Right, the meteor. She tried to sit up, but one of the pillows under her slipped with her movement and she almost ended falling off the pile. Rose sighed and tried to sit up again, this time maintaining her balance and managing to stay on top. After decaptchaloguing her hubtop from her sylladex, she opened Pesterchum and found notifications from Dave and an invitation to a group memo. Rose checked the hour in her computer and saw that it indicated 39:87, which of course was ridiculous but not surprising. Any device that could track time had been acting weird since they left the Green Sun and went deeper into paradox space. It was not clear yet if this phenomenon was a consequence of time being inconsistent here, or if her laptop had been damaged somehow when she died in the explosion that created the Green Sun. It had actually been quite a surprise to still have her sylladex with almost all her things after dying twice. She had lost some of her possessions though, like her useful hubtopband, but she had a strong suspicion that John took it from her dead body. Anyway, she probably should consider using some method to keep track of the passage of time, even if it had to be manually. She checked her Pesterchum again and accepted the invitation to the group chat.
arachnidsGrip [AG] opened time-locked bulletin board '8 is the key' at 39:83
AG: Hey loooooooosers!
AG: Time to get up and 8ring your little pathetic posteriors to the War 8lock for our first meeting!
AG: 8ring food and all your principal resources for scrutinizing
AG: we have a lot to de8ate
CG: WHAT THE FUCK VRISKA?! I WENT TO SLEEP JUST AN HOUR AGO! WHAT THE FUCK DOES A TROLL HAVE TO DO IN THIS GODFORSAKEN STUPID ROCK TO GET HIS DESERVED SIX HOURS OF UNDISTURBED REST?!
CG: WASN'T IT ENOUGH THAT I SACRIFICED 600 HOURS OF MY LIFE DURING THE GAME STAYING AWAKE TO MAKE SURE THAT ALL OF YOU FUCKERS HAD A PROPER LEADER READY AT ANY TIME YOUR STUPID SPONGES AND UNGRATEFUL BLOOD PUSHERS NEEDED SOME MINIMAL GUIDANCE?!
TG: wtf dude?
TG: i went to sleep at least ten hours ago
TG: u know at a respectable time for respectable gentlmen
TG: after i put the kids in bed and kissed my wife goodnight
TG: took the dog out for a last minute toilet emergency
TG: like of course u needed to go right now toby in the middle of the night when i was already wearing my gentlman pyjamas
CG: I'M NOT EVEN GOING TO TRY TO UNDERSTAND THAT SMELLY, NASTY PILE OF GARBAGE THAT YOU JUST TYPED OUT, STRIDER
TG: no really its all human standard procedure dont trolls do it?
CG: I'M GOING TO DO THE FUCKING MATURE THING HERE AND PUT YOUR CULTURALLY INSENSITIVE AND MENTALLY DEFICIENT PREVIOUS CONTRIBUTION TO THE DISCARD PILE AND KEEP ASKING ALL THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS HERE
GA: If I Might Contribute For A Moment It Would Be Advantageous To Have A Further Explanation Of The Main Objective Of This Mentioned Meeting And Of The Localisation Of This Aforementioned War Block
CG: YES, ALL SENSIBLE AND IMPORTANT QUESTIONS. THANKS, KANAYA FOR YOUR REASONABLE CONTRIBUTION TO THIS OTHERWISE SENSELESS MEMO IN A LANGUAGE THAT EVERYONE CAN UNDERSTAND, AVOIDING THE USE OF CONCEPTS THAT COULD ONLY BE UNDERSTOOD BY THOSE WITH THE DISGRACE TO HAVE A STUPID AND PRIMITIVE CULTURE
TA: chiill out, KK, for fuck2 2ake
CG: DON'T YOU START WITH ME, CAPTOR! WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN THESE LAST TWO NIGHTS?! YOU COMPLETELY DISAPPEARED AFTER YOUR FUCKING DRAMATIC DEPARTURE FROM TEREZI'S BLOCK!
TA: ii wa2 bu2y
CG: BUSY MY BULGE! WHAT COULD ANYONE FIND IN THIS DEAD ROCK TO BE REMOTELY DISTRACTED FOR MORE THAN TWO SECONDS?
TG: wooo dude, keep ur fetishes for urself
TG: seriously tmi
TG: also sorry for u man if thats all the time it takes
TT: As interesting as this debate is, and against the temptation to let this train derail to its metaphoric annihilation, I also think that a group meeting could be a good idea at this point
TA: what iis a traiin
TT: Everyone has had a couple of days to rest from their physical injuries and, while I am afraid that emotional and mental consequences will need more than time to mend, there are more urgent matters
TT: There are several topics that we should consider, like proper accommodations, resources, and some basic rules if we are going to survive three years together in this meteor
AG: that's exactly my point here, Lalonde
AG: while all of you losers have 8een slacking off and wasting your time these past days, I have 8een working in a detailed plan that will make our journey easier
AG: we need to know what exactly our current resources are and what we will need to sustain ourselves before we reach the next session
AG: so, quit complaining and c8me already!
GC: 1 4M GU3S1NG TH4T BY W4R BLOCK YOU M34N TH3 ROOM 1N YOUR S3CTOR W1TH THE N1C3 B1G W4LL
CG: THANK YOU TEREZI FOR YOUR INCREDIBLY USEFUL EXPLANATION! EVERYTHING IS CLEAR NOW EVERYONE! WE HAVE TO MEET IN THE BLOCK WITH THE NICE WALL! THERE IS NO DOUBT NOW TO WHERE YOU MEAN, ITS NOT LIKE THERE ARE AT LEAST FOUR FUCKING WALLS IN EVERY BLOCK IN THIS METEOR!
TA: eheheheh
CG: LETS EVERYONE GO TO THE BLOCK WITH THE WALL! HOW ARE YOU GOING TO DO THAT YOU SAY? ALL THE BLOCKS HAVE WALLS YOU SAY? ITS NOT MY FUCKING PROBLEM IF NONE OF YOU HAVE THE SPONGE CAPACITY TO FIND THE ONLY BLOCK IN THIS METEOR WITH, AND I QUOTE, A NICE WALL!
TG: seriously dude, chill out
AG: listen to the human, Kra8kat, don't make me 8lock you so soon in the conversation
CG: DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE BAN ME OUT VRISKA!
CG banned CG from responding to bulletin board
AG: look at that
AG: Krapkat decided to 8lock himself, how generous
CG unbanned CG from responding to bulletin board
CG: HAVE YOU FINALLY LOST YOUR MIND SPIDER-TROLL?! CONTROLLING ME TO BAN MYSELF OUT WONT WORK BECAUSE I CAN JUST UNBAN MYSELF THE SECOND YOU LET ME GO, YOU FUCKING RETARDED EXCUSE OF A TROLL!
GC banned CG from responding to bulletin board.
GC: SORRY K4RK4T BUT 1 C3RT41NL1 DON'T W4NT TO SP3ND 4LL D4Y 1N TH1S CONV3RS4T1ON
GC: 1 W1LL UNBLOCK YOU L4T3R
GC: TH3 W4R BLOCK 1S TH3 F1RST ON3 1N VR1SK4 S3CT1ON
GC: 1 B3L13V3 TH4T 3V3RYON3 KNOWS OR 1S CURR3NTLY W1TH SOM3ON3 TH4T KNOWS HOW TO G3T TH3R3
GC: L3TS 4LL M33T TH3R3 1N T3N M1NUT3S 4PROX1M4T3LY
AG: thanks, Tez for your thorough explanation
AG: don't forget to 8ring a list of your resources and food to eat, losers.
AG: it will 8e a long meeting
AG: now, get lost!
AG banned GC from responding to bulletin board
AG banned TT from responding to bulletin board
AG banned TG from responding to bulletin board
AG banned TA from responding to bulletin board
AG banned GA from responding to bulletin board
Well, there went Rose's plans for the day. Not that she had anything planned anyway. At least this way everyone would be distracted, the last 48 hours had not been exactly easy for anyone. On her first morning in the meteor, Rose was awoken by Kanaya, who informed her that she needed to go out to look for Karkat. Apparently, the troll had not been answering her messages for a while and she needed Rose to block the transportalizer from the inside once she was gone. Instead of doing that, they ended up waking Dave and going together to look for the troll.
He was not in his private section and, after a quick search, they finally found him in a room full of computers, cleaning suspicious colourful stains in the floor. From the various colours dyeing Karkat's pants, he had been on the floor scrubbing what were clearly blood stains for hours. Dave took a look around at the undoubtable consequences of a bloody battle and run away without a word. Kanaya also needed to go away from the potent smell of blood almost immediately, but Rose decided to stay and help Karkat. They worked in respectful silence for the two hours that it took them to clean that room. After that, they spend an additional hour wiping the yellow stains in the stairs within Karkat's sector, while the troll explained in a low voice how he had dragged Sollux's unconscious body to the ectobiology lab, afraid of Eridan or Gamzee deciding to finish the job. He summarized in a few words what had happened with Eridan in the room they had just cleaned up, and how he didn't know where Gamzee had killed Nepeta and Equius. He told her that as a warning, in the case that she found other blood stains needed to be scrubbed out, somewhere in the meteor. Rose had nodded without a word and tried to contain the sudden spike of fear that prospect brought her.
After that, Karkat invited her to stay in the lab to eat together, and they ended texting Kanaya and Dave to come over too. The trolls offered them several curious foods that were mostly made of bugs, or had bugs and larvae in it. Rose had decided to stay with her variety of cookies and other mundane human snacks, but Dave tried some of the troll versions, declaring them weird but not as bad as he had expected. He didn't get sick afterwards but he looked suspiciously green for a bit, so Rose decided to bring him back to the room he had been using in Kanaya's section.
After that, Kanaya stayed with Karkat in his section for a bit longer, clearly worried about him, and Rose decided to go exploring the meteor once she had left Dave in his room. She walked into dark corridors and abandoned laboratories full of monstrosities in tubes for a while, until she found Terezi in a hallway with several troll's decapitated bodies floating in strange yellow liquid in big glass tubes. She was in front of the body of a troll with brown blood and mechanical legs, looking at it with an immutable serious expression. Rose decided to leave her alone then, horrified with the visual image of those dead bodies exposed like trophies. In the end, she went back to Kanaya's section and she had not left it yet. The day before she spent some time with Dave in his self-proclaimed room, a bit more with Kanaya, and the rest of the time alone in her room, trying to process everything that had happened to her in such a short time. Neither she nor Dave mentioned a word about the dead trolls, but she was sure that he was also wondering what the hell had gone down in that meteor. Karkat had explained a bit of it, but Rose had the suspicion that it had not been even half of it.
Her stomach growled with hunger. She decaptchalogued a pack of cookies and took a look at her meagre supplies. She was almost out of food and she still had not found an alchemiter or anything resembling a kitchen anywhere in the meteor. However, she had not done much exploring after the incident with Terezi and the Hall of Horrors, and she had forgotten to ask Kanaya about it. Hopefully, there will be one somewhere. If not, they would really have a serious problem if they could not find food soon. She didn't want to check if dying of starvation was considered a Heroic or Just death. Kanaya had offered some of her food again the previous day, but it turned out that most of the troll's nutrition was based on bugs or larvae and after Dave's reaction she was not in a hurry to try it. She did not even know if human metabolism was able to digest bug's meat, and the last thing they needed was to fall ill. Even more reasons to have this meeting, there was a lot she had to ask the trolls about, beginning with the presence of an alchemiter in the meteor.
Rose allowed her body to slide down the pile of pillows and clothes to the floor. There, she inspected her God Tier clothes for stains or wrinkles, but they were impeccable. Fortuitously for her because those were simultaneously her only clothes and her only source of light in the dark meteor. She had all her possessions already in her sylladex, so she went directly outside her room and knocked on the next door.
"Dave?" she called, "Are you ready? We really should go to this meeting."
"Yeah, yeah, just a sec!" was his response from inside.
With nothing else to do, Rose opened Pesterchum again, thinking of sending a quick message to Kanaya, and saw again the notification from Dave's message. She had completely forgotten about it before. She sent a quick petition to Kanaya to meet them in the room with all the transportalizers and opened Dave's message.
turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering tentacleTherapist [TT] at 39:88
TG: did i tell u that i hate piles?
TG: i hate piles
TG: oh fuck i just realised the messed up time
TG: 39:88 seriously thats so dope
TG: is ur computer as crzy as mine?
TG: rose?
TG: oh karkat is being stupid again brb
turntechGodhead [TG] stopped pestering tentacleTherapist [TT] at 40:01
Rose blinked with confusion at that short monologue. Did Dave send her a message only to complain about piles? And the fact that he had rushed to the group chat only to verbally antagonize Karkat was also interesting. Then she remembered the sound she heard before, like something falling to the floor. The door behind her opened and Dave was suddenly there, leaning in the door frame with his Strider-patented coolness.
"Sup," said her ectobiologic brother when she turned towards him.
"Dave, did you fall out of your pile this morning?" she smiled sweetly at him.
His blush and the uninterrupted flow of stuttered, weird, and sometimes awkwardly suggestive words stayed with them all the way to the War Block.
"When I told you to bring your resources I was not talking about your stupid bees, Sollux!"
"Hey, don't mess with my bees, psychotroll!"
"Stop calling me that!"
"I will do it when you stop being a psychopath!"
Rose was observing the interaction between Vriska and Sollux with great interest. They had been at each other throats since the first moment they had seen each other. Rose looked around, trying to see if this was a normal behaviour for them, and she was quite surprised when she saw Kanaya and Karkat exchanging worried looks. That was not what she expected at all. A few days ago, when it had been Karkat and Sollux arguing in a similar way, all the other trolls had looked elated or disgusted at the display but not worried. She looked again and tried to see the difference. Maybe their expressions and body posture were more aggressive than how it had been between Karkat and Sollux, but she could not really perceive any clear difference. Could it be something that only the trolls were able to detect? Some kind of signal that was out of human's perception or something related to their culture? So fascinating. She kept observing while Kanaya finally decided to intervene and, with a few words, managed to calm down both trolls, who turned and went in opposite directions.
"Ok!" said again Vriska. "As I was saying before our local loser decided to be prissy about his stupid pets…"
"Watch it," Rose heard Sollux warn in a low voice.
There was a loud sound and when she turned to the source of it, she saw the four-horned troll sending a venomous look to Karkat, who was sitting next to him. From the sound she had heard, she deduced that the short troll had slapped his friend. In vengeance, Sollux kicked the other troll's leg and it wasn't long before they were exchanging slaps and kicks like little kids.
"Oi!" yelled Vriska. "If you don't stop that, I will mind-control both of you until we are done!"
The threat sounded half-hearted and Rose doubted Vriska would really do it, or if she really could do something like that. However, Sollux's body tensed up when hearing her and, for a moment, he looked clearly terrorised about that prospect. Next to him, Karkat let go a low growl and yelled to Vriska in response to the threat.
"DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE, VRISKA!"
Vriska seemed as surprised as everyone else by his exaggerated reaction, but she clearly didn't like to be told what to do. She was about to say something in retribution when Terezi got up from the floor and went to her side.
"Nobody is going to control or seriously hurt anyone here," she said with a serious look directed first to Vriska and then to Karkat. "That is actually the first rule we are suggesting."
"Rules? Seriously? Why do we need rules?" complained Dave then with one of his more childish pouts. "I hate rules."
Rose noticed that his attitude had managed to reduce the tension in the room substantially. Vriska now looked more exasperated than angry, and Karkat had stopped making that threatening sound. Sollux, however, suddenly seemed smaller and a lot quieter than before. Observing him discreetly, Rose noticed that one of his hands was clutching Karkat's sweater's arm. Oh. He was seeking support in his friend in a subtle way, probably unconsciously, and Karkat was allowing it without making a huge scene. Rose frowned and looked at Vriska again. Something had happened between those three in the past, but she had no idea what it could be.
"I knew you had a criminal mind, Dave," smiled Terezi with her huge, creepy smile. "All societies need basic rules to be able to cohabitate, especially in restricted places like here."
"I agree that some rules could be beneficial for everyone's sake, but I don't like the idea of having my freedom limited," argued Kanaya.
"Your objection is noted, my friend," nodded Terezi. "We suggest some basic rules here and all of us will vote and agree to them."
"What will happen if someone breaks a rule?" asked Rose then, suspicious. "What consequences could be expected of them, then?"
"That's a very good question, miss Lalonde," answered Terezi then. "As the only one properly trained as a legislacerator, I will be the one deciding the punishment for the offenders."
Rose needed a moment to process that word. Legislacerator. She had no idea what it was, probably some kind of law-enforcement position in troll's culture.
"You know that that's not how lawyers work in our world, Terezi," argued Dave while rolling his eyes. "You can't be an investigator, a lawyer, and a judge at the same time."
So, Dave actually knew what that term meant. Taking into consideration that Dave had talked a lot with Terezi during the game, it was not actually surprising. It was clear that it was an important topic for the troll.
"Maybe it was like that in your world full of weaklings, but there are more trolls than humans present here," argued Karkat. "Also, your culture is primitive and stupid, ours is better."
"At least we are not expected to kill each other on a regular basis," the human counter argued. "That counts as a lot better in my opinion, maybe we are the superior race after all."
Clearly seeing that the topic was at a hair's breadth to transform into a political debate, Rose decided to intervene.
"Maybe before we argue about whose culture is the superior one, we should hear those suggested rules," she said with a recriminatory tone of voice before turning back to their other Seer. "Please Terezi, continue."
"Sure, we can have the debate at another time, Dave," said the blind troll before she turned back to Vriska. "Do you want to do the honours?"
The other troll seemed to grow a bit when given back the lead. She turned to point to a column labelled 'rules', under the 'Surviving Game' section.
"Okay, losers, as I was saying before this meeting was reduced to inconsequent stupid debates," she began, apparently unable to talk without insulting somebody in the process. "Our first rule is that we're not allowed to seriously hurt or kill another member of this team."
"Wait, what is considered seriously hurt for you?" asked Rose. "The simple fact that you found the need to make a rule against killing it's already quite alarming."
"Of course it had to be a rule, we don't want another murder spree," replied Vriska.
"Yeah, I completely agree on that, we can't afford to lose anyone before the next session," nodded Rose. "I just meant that, for humans, killing is already socially unacceptable in normal conditions."
Not like anyone made a rule book about the behaviour expected when trapped with aliens in an interdimensional game that was at the same time the cause of the destruction and the possible creation of a full universe. Maybe she should write it herself sometime, she would have lots of time to spare in her near future.
"I disagree," protested Kanaya. "There is a certain troll in this meteor that represents a serious threat to everyone, therefore he has to perish."
Everyone looked at Kanaya for a few moments in silence. She had not moved from her pillow on the floor, and her body remained calm and in an elegant posture. It was an intriguing contrast with what she was saying. Rose had not forgotten that Kanaya's weapon was a chainsaw and that she fed on blood, but her murderous words still surprised her.
"You are talking about Gamzee," said Karkat in a resigned voice. "I know he has done horrible things that have no justification or forgiveness, but does he really need to die? Where is he, by the way? I haven't seen or heard him since the dream bubble."
"He is restricted for now in one of my secret rooms," answered Vriska, for once without any insult. "It's connected to this one, actually, but he can't get out from inside. And even if he could, he will need to move THAT away."
She pointed to a huge machine full of tubes and empty glass containers that was resting against the wall near the stairs. It certainly looked heavy enough to block someone's way, but Rose did not really have a measure of the trolls' strength. Yet.
"He is in THIS room?!" yelled Karkat while he jumped out and a sickle appeared in his hand. "Are you fucking crazy?! Do you want us dead?!"
"For fuck's sake, KK, sit down and stop being so jumpy," complained Sollux next to him, grabbing the other troll by his sweater. "He's locked up and even if he breaks out, he can't do anything against all of us."
"You are one to talk!" replied Karkat, slapping the other's hand away from his clothes. "What will you do? Use one of your throwing-stars? With your prongs?! You won't even reach him with your laughable weak strength."
That seemed to hit a nerve because, with just a quick movement, Sollux supported all his body's weight with his hand on the floor and swept his long legs against Karkat's, making him fall back to the floor with a squeal. In the next second, he was sitting on Karkat's chest, holding the other troll's arms away with his hands. He was wearing a triumphant smile, clearly proud of himself.
"Who is the weak one, here?" he asked.
Rose noticed, amused, how Karkat's dark cheekbones turned even darker with a subtle tint of red. She heard someone cough loudly, and then it was Sollux's face turn to get a yellow tint. Rose was beginning to understand the difference between their relationship and the one between Sollux and Vriska. It was clear than Vriska and Sollux hated each other in the way the humans did; with resentment, murderous intent and hurt feelings due to some circumstances in their past that Rose was not privy to. However, there was not such hatred between Karkat and Sollux. They were not lovey-dovey with each other, either. In fact, they were bickering and fighting at any small opportunity, but there was clearly a massive amount of trust and respect between them. They looked more like rivals that pushed and poked at the other constantly, but that in the bottom of their hearts admired and loved the other. Could that be what the troll's dark romance was really about?
"Fuck off, Captor!" growled Karkat, sitting up and moving Sollux in a show of pure strength.
Sollux fell backwards in an awkward position, holding an odd expression while he watched Karkat get up and walk away from him, as if the other troll had weighed nothing. If Rose was pressed to put a name to that expression, she would say that he looked astonished, surprised, and maybe a bit aroused by Karkat's strength. That was just a supposition from her part, of course, she did not know any of them well enough to make an accurate interpretation. However, taking into consideration that, as far as she knew, Sollux was usually a quite powerful psychic, having his rival overmatching him with such ease was probably shocking for him. Rose couldn't repress her smile. Those two were quite an interesting couple.
"Can you leave your awkward black-flirting for your own private blocks?" asked Vriska, rhetorically.
"We are not… !" complained Sollux.
"Get into your fucking business, Vriska!" was Karkat's reaction.
Rose observed the subsequent brawl, amused, and looked around to see everyone's reaction. Terezi was still standing next to Vriska with a look of clear exasperation, while her friend mocked both Karkat and Sollux. The shorter troll was arguing back with her, but Sollux was ignoring both of them from where he was sitting on the floor. He seemed lost in his head and still had a clear yellow tint in his cheekbones. It was not hard for Rose to presume what the troll was thinking about. Next to her, Dave was murmuring to himself something that sounded like 'so homo' and a worrisome 'Bro would have killed them'. It was clear that the whole situation bothered her ecto-brother more than it should, she would need to talk with him sometime about it. Finally, still sitting on her pillow, Kanaya was smiling softly at Karkat in a maternal way. After a minute, however, Rose saw her exchange a look with Terezi, and both of them intervened to grab Karkat and Vriska, respectively. Terezi stayed with Vriska near the wall with the drawings, nagging at her about something, and Kanaya brought Karkat back to sit next to her with a gentle but firm hand in his arm. Neither Vriska or Karkat looked happy about being reprimanded for their behaviour, but they both sat on the floor with a pout and remained quiet.
"Okay folks, looks like I will be the one directing this meeting for a bit," exclaimed Terezi with a loud laugh. "Let's try to not diverge from the topic again, no more interruptions unless I ask a question!"
"So, what, do we need to raise our hands to talk now?" asked Dave in a mocking tone.
"That's a wonderful suggestion, Dave!" agreed the troll immediately. "From now on, if someone has anything to add, raise your prong, or hand in the case of the humans, and wait until I point to you before talking. No interruptions, and no more debates until the time we have already established especially for it."
"I was not serious," protested Dave, at which Terezi hit him with a piece of chalk.
"You didn't raise your prong, Dave," nagged her with a sinister smile. "If the rules of this meeting are clear, let's continue!"
For a moment, it looked like Vriska wanted to complain, but Terezi shot her a venomous look and she remained quiet. It was amazing how a blind girl could be so aware of everyone and everything surrounding her and be able to react to visual signs like facial expressions. It could be an interesting conversation to have some day.
"I will explain from the beginning," she began. "As you can see, we divided our plan in three separate blocks regarding what we consider to be the most important topics. These blocks are not definitive, and we can add more later if further ideas come to mind, or if our current situation changes."
She gestured to the three blocks written in chalk of different colours and separated by double lines between them. So far, it made sense.
"First we have 'Survival game' and it involves everything we need to survive a sweep and a half in this desolate meteor, until we reach the next session," she explained, pointing to the column written in blue. "The second section is labelled 'Killing Jack', as everyone but me can see, and it's literally about it: killing the last boss," she kept explaining while referring this time to a column in red. "And, finally, the last section, labelled 'Win game' focuses on everything we will need to make sure happens in the new session if we want to win the game this time," she ended, pointing to the last column which was in a violet colour.
Rose took a moment to check the three columns and noticed that all sections were divided in subsections, each with its own title and a list of things to consider. Excluding the fact that it was written in a wall with chalk in a rather childish style, it was a well organised and well thought off system. Near her, Kanaya hesitantly raised her hand.
"Yes, Kanaya?" asked Terezi.
"Is this the appropriate protocol?" she questioned. "I was unsure about the 'raising our prong' part."
"You have done a spectacular job so far, good citizen," replied Terezi. "Did you have a question or were you just testing the process?"
"As a matter of fact, I do," answered Kanaya. "I know you have not explained each section in detail yet, but I could not fail to notice that in the last section you have forgotten to include the fact that we need to somehow find a new matriorb."
Rose checked the column again and realised that the troll was right, there was no mention to it anywhere. It was not surprising that Kanaya had been the one to notice. Rose was not sure of what exactly was a matriorb, but she knew that it was related to troll's reproduction and it was especially important for Kanaya. She looked back to the trolls leading the meeting, and it was clear in their faces that they had just realised that Kanaya was right.
"I knew I was forgetting something!" exclaimed Vriska in a clearly frustrated voice.
"How could we have forgotten to add the matriorb?" was asking Terezi in an incredulous tone, before turning back to Kanaya. "Good catch, Kanaya, I guess we would have noticed it eventually but better sooner than later."
And with that, she decaptchalogued a box of Crayon chalks and threw a violet one to Vriska. The other troll changed into her God Tier outfit and, with a flutter of her butterfly wings, she flew to the subsection 'Need' under 'Win game' and added the word 'Matriorb'. A bit of pixie dust fell to the floor with each movement of her wings. It was curious how simultaneously similar and different the God Tier states were for trolls and humans, respectively. Rose had not tried to fly without her God Tier clothes yet, mostly because she didn't have other clothes, but now she was curious to see if she actually needed to be in that state to be able to fly.
"Okay, now that this is done, let's try to focus on the first section for now," directed Terezi. "It was a useful addition, Kanaya, don't get me wrong. However, if we try to do everything at once, we would need a full perigee. For now, let's focus on the first section, which is the most urgent at the moment."
Rose could fully agree with that statement. There was no point in worrying about killing Jack or the intricacies needed to finally win the game if they didn't manage to survive until then. There were different subdivisions in the first section and the first one was called rules.
"First of all, as Vriska already mentioned, we decided that some basic rules would be needed to ensure a pacific living arrangement in the meteor," explained Terezi. "Please, take a look at them and we can discuss together if they are appropriate or if we should add something."
Kanaya was already raising her hand again, clearly to insist on her previous complaint to the first rule, which was in fact 'no killing or serious injuries'. However, Terezi answered her before she could even mention her problem with the currently imprisoned troll.
"I know your opinion about our resident clown, Kanaya," said her. "But Vriska and I didn't want to rush into murdering a player that could still possibly have an important role to play in the new session. For now, let's consider him a special case to deal with in the near future."
Rose thought about it, she was not sure if the clown was needed or not for their victory. So far, she had only been able to use her new powers once to see that they needed to get to the new session and how to do it.
"I am afraid to say that I am still not completely adjusted to my new Seer abilities," she decided to say. "However, I will try to See if Gamzee is a vital piece needed for the path to our victory."
"There is no rush, Lalonde," answered Vriska. "He can stay where he is for now, but it will be indispensable to have any information of the future that you could get with your prognostication powers. Including Gamzee's relevance in all this."
Rose turned to look at Vriska, surprised by her polite tone. She was not sure of what the troll was thinking, or what were her motivations. She was, after all, an individual full of contrasting traits. As far as she had seen, she was arrogant, egocentric, narcissistic and had a vicious need to stay in control and look superior. She had on several occasions threatened to mentally control the other trolls, which regardless of whether she was actually capable of it, was not exactly a polite thing to do. Additionally, Rose was sure that she was responsible for the death of at least one of the trolls, and possibly more in the past, if Sollux and Karkat's previous reaction was a hint. However, she was also the one suggesting a non-killing rule and she had obviously spent considerable time thinking about what they needed to do to survive and win. At this point, Rose was not sure if that behaviour was an indication of a complex personality, or if the troll only cared about beating Jack and winning the game, and they were her best way to do it. Regardless of her motives, the list of rules was quite generic.
SURVIVAL GAME
RULES
1. NO KILLING OR SERIOUS INJURIES
2. PRIVATE AND COMMON AREAS
3. NO HIERARCHY/LEADER
"What do you mean with no leader?!" protested Karkat. "We can't be without a leader, I stopped bossing everyone around for a few hours and look what happened!"
"There will not be another murder spree, Karkat," replied Terezi. "It would be against the first rule. If anyone begins hurting someone else intentionally, we will stop him or her, together."
"Maybe it would be beneficial for everyone if you elaborate on the full meaning of these rules and why you chose those in particular," commented then Kanaya. "I am particularly intrigued about the relevance of the second one."
"Yeah, do we actually need a rule about where we sleep?" agreed Sollux.
"Your protests have been noted, citizens, however we really believe in the importance of common spaces," answered Terezi. "But let's go in order if you don't mind. As we already mentioned, no killing or seriously fighting with other inhabitants of this meteor will be tolerated, with the possible exception of Gamzee."
That sounded like a reasonable rule, but Rose didn't like that it was a bit ambiguous.
"As I already asked before: what do you consider a serious injury?" she asked again.
"Everything life-threatening," answered Vriska immediately.
"Or something that causes major damage to the human or troll, such as the loss of an extremity or sense, or any internal damage or illness that can leave serious repercussions behind," added Terezi, slapping Vriska's head.
"Che, weaklings," murmured the other girl.
"So, small fights that don't have serious consequences would not be included?" asked Sollux with a pensive face. "We are going to a battlefield after all, and we will need to train for it at one point."
That was a good reflection from the troll's part. Rose also wanted to keep her fighting skills at her best, but it was hard to do it inside the meteor.
"It's not like we can fight here, in any case," Rose replied. "I wouldn't like to destroy our only transportation and living arrangements by accident when we are still navigating paradox space."
"As if you could do it anyway, human," was Sollux's mocking answer.
Rose turned slowly to him, offended by what the troll was insinuating. She had thought that Sollux was one of the almost-nice trolls, but it seemed that she had been wrong. Arrogance was apparently a common defect in their species.
"I beg your pardon?" she asked him in a cold voice.
"You heard me, human," he repeated, with a special emphasis in the last word. "I'm sure you believe that you are so strong and powerful, but your frame of reference is based on your weak species. You wouldn't be able to hold your own against the weakest troll for more than a couple of seconds."
Oh no, he had had to go that far. It was clear that this particular troll needed to be thrown off his pedestal. Rose decaptchalogued her wands and got up from the floor in calm and controlled movements.
"Would you like to have a demonstration?" she challenged him. "Maybe you would like to try fighting me? As I understand, you are currently the 'weakest troll' in this meteor, am I correct?"
At that, Sollux got up from the floor too, in a much clumsier way. It reminded Rose of the fact that he was still injured at the moment. However, he growled at her threateningly from his higher height. Rose kept her eyes fixated on his, and her body relaxed but ready to jump to action at any second. She refused to back down, she knew very well that she was currently stronger than him, so she was not scared at all.
"Oooookay! Let's everyone relax and drop our weapons!" exclaimed Dave, jumping to grab Rose's arm.
"Are you actually challenging me to a duel, human?" growled Sollux, completely ignoring Dave.
"As you wish, but it will have to wait until you recover your full power," replied her, also ignoring everyone else. "It would not do to have you using that as an excuse when you lose."
"Rose, stop it, please," she heard Dave whispering at her side.
"With my full power I could kill you without even meaning to," threatened the troll with an arrogant tone and a bored expression. "And then, I would be in trouble for breaking these damned rules."
"I am sure that if we have a referee and someone to stop me before I accidentally kill you, you will be alright," replied Rose with an arrogant smile of her own.
The troll didn't reply for a few seconds, still looking at her with condescension. Then, he broke into laughter, denying with his head in an incredulous expression.
"You have courage, I admit that," he said with a smile. "Fine, when I get my psionics back we will have our duel, and I will even try not to kill you. Even more, if you can actually endure me at my full power for more than one minute, I will recognize that I was wrong about your species."
"That sounds fair," agreed Rose, smiling too. "And if I fail to do that, I will recognise the troll's superiority, and even do whatever you want for a week. Deal?"
She put away her wands and offered her right hand for a handshake. The troll didn't doubt to accept immediately, but instead of shaking her hand, he actually grabbed her forearm. Rose also grabbed his, assuming that it was the way the trolls sealed pacts.
"Deal," accepted Sollux with a huge smile.
After that, they let go of the other and relaxed, only to be assaulted by Kanaya and Dave, respectively. Behind them, Vriska was looking at them with a raised eyebrow and Karkat was having one of his ridiculous tantrums.
"You are really crazy, Rose," was saying Dave then. "We have been here only for three days and you are already picking fights!"
"Relax Dave, it will be fine," she replied while trying to pass him. "You never saw me fighting during the game, but I am really strong. Also, it will not be a serious fight, I'm sure it will be fun."
"Fun!" he exclaimed, raising his hands to heaven. "There is nothing fun in fighting, Rose! Have you completely lost your mind?!"
Rose stopped then and really looked at him. Dave seemed really worried and maybe even scared for her, it was hard to say with his sunglasses hiding so much of his face. She thought about what she knew about her friend, the small glimpses of his life that she had managed to obtain with years of subtle interrogation. She did not know the exact circumstances yet, but what she had gathered so far was that Dave had been in a bad situation at home. One where he had had to fight regularly with his Bro since he was a child, and where he was constantly in a low-level danger. She could not be sure of anything because he had never said it directly, but she knew how to read between the lines. Thinking about it, her aggressive attitude might not have been the best one to show in front of her probably traumatised friend.
"It will be fine, Dave," she insisted, this time more seriously. "We will not be fighting for real; it will only be a competition. All of you will be there to intervene if something gets out of hand, right? And also remember that I'm conditionally immortal now. If anything, he will be in more danger than me."
"Oh, yeah, I had forgotten that part," replied her friend, a bit calmer now. "Promise me you will be fine?"
"I will be fine, Dave," she insisted.
Finally, her ectobiology brother nodded and released his strong grip in her arm. Rose doubted for a second, but finally pulled Dave into a quick hug. He didn't react to it, freezing up instead of reciprocating it, but she let him go anyway. They definitely needed to talk about Dave's past. Maybe Rose's past too, she would not be so arrogant to pretend that she didn't have things she would like to explain and get off of her chest, too.
"So, which part of no fighting, did you not understand?!" asked Vriska in an almost scream. "We were literally talking about it when you decided to throw a duel challenge in there, Lalonde!"
"I think that it would be better to assume that completely avoiding infighting would be impossible," intervened Kanaya. "However, I believe that Rose's suggestion to have a referee and everyone interested there to avoid serious injuries could be beneficial for everyone in the long term. After all, as Sollux has mentioned, we will need to train to keep our fighting skills ready for the final battle."
At that, Vriska deflated, clearly unable to refute her arguments.
"Fiiiiiiiine!" she conceded in the end. "But let's keep serious fighting in controlled environments that would not seriously damage anybody or this meteor, understood? Duels are restricted to the dream bubbles, once we are sure that it will not affect the meteor."
Everyone agreed to that and they finally could move to the second rule in their list. Everyone sat back on the floor again, and Rose noticed that the dynamic of the group had changed somehow. Now there was a more relaxed feeling in the air, as if all the previous small infighting had served to release a tension that no one had realised was there.
"Moving to the second rule," began Terezi. "Is evident that all of us need to have our own restricted, private areas where we can have our own stuff and be alone if we wish. However, it would be more productive if we also have a common section where everyone can interact."
"You mean like a living room?" Rose asked. "An area where we can all eat or simply spend time together?"
"I have no idea of what is a 'living room', Lalonde, but I'm guessing that is what you humans use instead of rumpusblock," intervened Vriska. "In that case, the answer would be yes."
"You mean that I would have to share some blocks with all of you on a regular basis?" complained Karkat in his usual loud voice. "Excellent, that was exactly what I needed in my life: spending my days surrounded by insufferable pricks, annoying me night and day!"
"If you need some time alone, you would always be able to go back to your private section, Karkat," argued Kanaya. "From my point of view, I believe that it is a good idea to share some areas of the meteor, it would facilitate communication between everyone.
Rose kept quiet while, in front of her, Karkat was clearly trying to come up with a new argument to refute Kanaya's logic. However, there was no reasonable way to do it, and it was clear that the troll had reached the same conclusion because he sighed and stopped complaining about it.
"Shall we vote, then?" asked Terezi with a huge smile.
Everyone agreed that it was a good rule and promised to respect each other's private areas. That didn't mean that they would not keep blocking their transportalizers from now on, but maybe with time it wouldn't be such a necessity.
"Rose and I will need our own areas, then," commented Dave. "We are staying in Kanaya's section for now, but it would only be fair. And she deserves to have back her private space."
"You could move to one of the empty sections," agreed Terezi. "Maybe to Nepeta's area, I think she mostly stayed with Equius, so it's probably empty. Or we could empty another section, like the one from Tavros or Feferi."
Right. As morbid as it was, Rose guessed that they would not suffer from lack of space if they were to take over the sections of all the dead trolls. She was not really enthusiastic about that idea, but they didn't really have another choice. They couldn't do anything to change the past, the only thing they could do was keep moving forward.
Half an hour later, they had outvoted Karkat in favour of not having a leader in the meteor at least until they reached the new session. The short troll argued and tried to force them into a dictatorship anyway, but in the end the majority decided against him. Rose didn't really understand why being the one in charge was so important for the troll, especially after everything that had happened to his friends. Maybe that was exactly the reason. She remembered that Kanaya had mentioned something about him feeling responsible for the tragic death of the rest of the trolls. Could it be possible that Karkat was thinking that somebody else would die the moment he relaxed and let his guard down? She hoped it was not that or, if it was the case, that he would eventually learn how to relax and stop holding everything on his shoulders. Putting all that responsibility on himself was not the healthiest thing to do, precisely.
With their basic rules agreed upon, they decided to take a break and eat something. Everyone had brought their own food, as Vriska had asked, and they ate together on the floor in small groups. Eating reminded Rose that she was running out of food, and that she still had not breached that particular subject.
"By the way, does anyone know if there is an alchemiter in the meteor?" she asked. "I am running out of food and it would be really helpful."
"Yes, there is a large room with four alchemiters in Eridan's section," explained Kanaya. "I can show you later."
"Thanks, Kanaya, that would be delightful," she accepted with a smile, happy to have one problem solved.
"That's what we should discuss next," added Vriska, moving from Terezi's side to be near Rose. "Resources, beginning for the most basic ones like food and drinks. We still have a lot of leftover food everywhere from having twelve bored trolls trapped here for hours with nothing else to do that alchemize junk food. We should collect everything and put it in the same place."
"I tried some of those, is all your food made of bugs?" asked Dave. "Because it wasn't exactly easy in my stomach, and it took me hours to find a single toilet."
That was another problem. During her exploration on the first day, Rose had managed to find only one toilet and it was nothing more than a hole in the floor, it had been repugnant. She did not know if carapacians didn't need to use the restroom with the same frequency as humans, or if the meteor was neven supposed to have inhabitants on it. Additionally, she still had not managed to find a single bed or a shower, and she refused to spend three years without showering.
"It's not only the food," explained her. "As grateful as I am for your help, Kanaya, I don't think that humans are made to sleep in piles as you do. We will need proper beds and decent toilets. I also could not find any bathroom with at least a shower, or any kitchen where we could make some food. However, I did not have time to fully explore the meteor."
"We have not been here much longer than you, either," explained Terezi. "We were here for a bit more than eleven hours, and a large part of it was spent talking with you, guys."
"Wait, all that time that you were talking to me happened in a few hours from your perspective?" asked Dave to Terezi. "We talked for years!"
"From your perspective, maybe, CoolKid," replied Terezi. "But if we put together all the time actually spending writing and reading, it was like six hours from our perspective."
"That's crazy!" insisted Dave. "I get the 'out of timeline' stuff, but how could you keep track of everything happening in our timeline and still sound mostly coherent in our chats?"
"Well, it was easier for those of us who actually trolled you chronologically following your timeline," explained Terezi. "Some stupider trolls, however, decided to make things more complicated for themselves for stupid reasons, and ended up frustrating themselves in the most absurd ways."
"I CAN HEAR YOU, TEREZI!" yelled Karkat from the other side of the room, where he had been sitting with Sollux.
"Wow, had he really heard us?" whispered Dave. "He is like a kilometre away."
"He has a sixth sense for people talking about him," whispered back Terezi with a conspirator shine in her glasses. "One time, Karkat…"
"OKAY! THAT'S IT!"
With that, Karkat walked towards them, Sollux lazily following after him. They sat near them, completing a circle that nobody had even noticed how or when it had been formed. Sollux looked at Rose momentarily with a strange expression, before avoiding her eyes and focusing on eating again. Curious. There was no sign of the arrogant troll that had mocked her race and accepted a duel with her minutes ago. Now, he was quiet and unassuming, he seemed almost shy and uncomfortable by the simple act of being there. It was almost like he was a completely different person. That was really intriguing.
"Stop talking about me, Terezi!" was saying Karkat at that moment. "I heard you say my name!"
"You really have a good hearing when it's most convenient to you, Karkat," replied Terezi. "It's a shame you don't listen when it really matters."
"Going back to my first question," interrupted Rose, trying to avoid another unnecessary drama. "Having an alchemiter is good news. I'm assuming that you also have a punch designix and a totem lathe, or an improved version of the alchemiter."
"Yes, there is a punch designix and a totem lathe in the same room," confirmed Kanaya. "However, now that we are out of the session, we won't have any way to get new grist, so we might be more limited than ever in the type of resources we can fabricate."
"With the added difficulty that we don't have the punching codes for objects we don't already have," added Rose. "For example, human furniture like a bed or even a proper toilet."
Having an alchemiter was already a huge advantage, and between all of them they probably had enough grist of different types to be able to alchemize all their basic needs. The real problem there would be to obtain the punching codes of everything they might need.
"That's why we should compile all of our grist together and rationalise how everyone is using it," agreed Terezi. "We don't want to run out, especially of the rarer types."
"There are also some monsters in the labs," added Terezi. "Maybe they would still give us grist if we killed them. Or maybe there is even a machine to create more of them, that would provide us with a constant income."
"It's worth exploring the meteor further," agreed Terezi. "We should also agree to keep all the grist in the same place so nobody spends all of it in alchemizing stupid things."
"Can't we use the GristTorrent I installed into my computer for that?" asked Dave. "I used it mostly to take the excess of grist that John was not using, but I don't know if it will work now that we are out of our session."
"Hey, human, is that a program?" asked Sollux then, participating in the conversation for the first time. "That GristTorrent you mentioned, if it is a program, do you have it on your computer?"
Dave turned towards the troll with a pout.
"My name is not 'human', dude," he complained. "It's Dave Strider, Dave for my friends, but you can call me Strider or Mr. Strider. Sir is also okay."
"Or CoolKid!" added Terezi.
"Whatever you say," replied Sollux, rolling his eyes. "Would you answer my question? Is it a computer program or not?"
"Yes, and yes, I have it installed in my computer, but it's probably not working anymore," answered the human. "Why?"
"Show it to me," ordered Sollux. "I can modify it so we can use it here."
Rose's ectobiology brother looked at him with a doubtful expression for a moment, but he seemed to agree because he decaptchalogued his weird laptop. It looked like a mix between his timetables and a regular computer, and knowing how alchemy worked, that was probably exactly what it was made off.
"Here, I only have my Turntop or my iShades, though," explained Dave while he passed the computer to the troll. "It uses a weird keyboard; I can show you how it works."
However, Dave's offer was clearly unnecessary because the troll decaptchalogued his own keyboard and, after a quick look, he plugged it directly into the floating screen. Then, he began typing into it at an incredible velocity.
"Oh, wait, you will need my password," remembered Dave. "It's…"
"Predictable," replied Sollux and, without even reducing his typing speed, he figured up Dave's password on his own, and began opening files. "Wow, what a mess, you need to clean up your computer, human, it's so full of stuff that it's slowing me down."
Dave was looking at the screen with such an astonished look in his face that Rose had to contain a giggle. She had never seen him being so openly surprised.
"Holy fuck," he muttered then. "That was a twelve characters long password, and you figured it up like it was nothing."
"As I said: predictable."
Rose came closer to see what the troll was doing, and was shocked when she saw a window open in Dave screen full of weird symbols and numbers being typed at such speed that it was difficult to even see them.
"Did you add your own language to Dave's computer?" she asked him.
"Yeah, of course, how else I was supposed to use it?" asked the troll back, without even stopping typing. "It's not like I can understand your human language, I adapted trollian to change languages automatically and you are speaking alternian."
"Am I?" asked Rose, surprised. "It's not intentional, I can assure you."
"It's because you are a God Tier, Lalonde," she heard Vriska say from a few seats away. "It's the first badge we get, the 'Gift of Gab' in particular."
"There you go, I am not God Tier so I can't understand human language," repeated Sollux.
"Okay, fair enough," she accepted. "But how did you add a completely new language to a computer entirely programmed in a different language? Did you call it alternian?" insisted Rose. "It would have taken you longer if you had to add a full alphabet and its grammatical rules manually."
"Don't be stupid, of course I didn't add it manually," refused Sollux, his fingers flying over the keyboard. "I created it sweeps ago and preinstalled it to my keyboard, that way I can use it on any computer with simply plugging it in."
That was incredibly smart for his part. Rose spent a few more seconds looking at the screen, as astonished as Dave. In the black window, a code in red and blue was being written at an amazing speed, with some other program occasionally opening and closing next to it. She then looked at Sollux. He was wearing a relaxed expression and his eyes were not leaving the screen for a second, reading the lines of code at the same amazing speed that he was typing it.
"That's amazing," she couldn't stop herself from saying.
For her surprise, Sollux actually stopped typing and turned his head a bit to look at her for a moment, with clear surprise reflected in his eyes. He looked like he was going to say something, but Dave interrupted him.
"Oh, fuck! You are the troll's hacker!" he exclaimed, his brain finally making the connection.
Sollux rolled his eyes and focused back on the screen, his fingers moving again.
"Congratulations Dave, your deduction skills have reached the basic level 'Dense as a Brick'," she told him in a mockingly serious voice. "You can get your diploma in the secretary office."
"Shut up, Rose!" protested him, clearly embarrassed.
Just at that moment, somebody pushed himself between them and leaned on Sollux's shoulder to check on the screen, too. Somebody with small, rounded horns and a grey sweater.
"Two-coloured code, of fucking course it had to be a fucking two-coloured code!" exclaimed Karkat. "Your obsession with the number two is almost obscene, Sollux."
"Fuck off, KK!" protested Sollux, trying to push him back from his shoulder without taking his fingers out of the keyboard. "You made me mess up my code!"
"Like that would ever happen," he replied sarcastically. "How long would it take?"
"An hour, probably less if all of you leave me the fuck alone!" answered Sollux in an aggressive tone.
"Whatever, don't forget to send us the program once you are done," insisted Karkat, reaching down to leave a pink can on the floor next to Sollux, before pulling away from the other troll.
"As if," was all the answer he got from the hacker.
Rose noticed that the can was from some type of soft drink that she supposed was probably high in sugar and calories. Sollux reached towards the can with one hand without even diverting his eyes from the screen and found it easily, as if he knew exactly where it was even without the need to look at it. Altogether, it was pretty clear to Rose that this kind of interaction between the two trolls was not new. Apparently, Sollux focusing on something in the computer and Karkat coming to check on him and providing him with drinks was something they were used to doing. She smiled and decided to leave the troll work in peace, grabbing Dave on her way and bringing him with her.
Near the wall, everyone else was debating what resources were more important and, for that reason, more urgent. Things like food, drinks, and something called recuperacoon were circled twice. It was clear, though, that everything was selected with the trolls' needs in mind. She quickly decided to participate in the conversation, adding things to the list like beds, showers, water or even lights. Dave tried to convince them that they needed to add AJ and Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff comics to the urgent list, but Rose rushed to erase those words the moment he turned his back to the wall. They kept debating for a while, but eventually their major problem was clear.
"Our problem will be to get the punching codes for objects that we don't currently have," she declared. "Maybe we can take things out from the dream bubbles?"
"If we can captchalogue them it will probably be enough, right?" asked Terezi. "We only need the card code after all, we can write it down if needed."
"Wouldn't things from the dreams be just that? Fucking dreams?" protested Karkat. "Not like I would know, before the game I never dreamed."
"What? For real?" asked Dave. "How is that possible? I have had millions of dreams."
"Trolls usually sleep in slime, which prevents us from having any dreams and allowing us to be able to proper rest," explained Kanaya. "If we did not have slime, we would have ended crazy with the daymares induced by Feferi's lusus."
"Wait, you actually had a horrorterror living on your planet?" asked Rose, intrigued. "How is that possible? They are supposed to only reside in the deepest parts of paradox space. And would it be a problem now that you don't have slime?"
"I don't believe it will be a problem anymore, now when we sleep we go to the dream bubbles instead of having daymares," explained Kanaya. "And regarding Gl'bgolyb, it has always been in our old planet, as far as I know."
"Yeah, the legend says that the Condesce brought it to Alternia with her, millennials ago," explained Vriska. "It's how the old fag managed to stay in power for so long, she only had to threat everyone with letting her lusus fuck the minds of half the troll population, and suddenly everyone turned submissive."
"That's a fucking legend, Vriska," refused Karkat. "Legends don't exist, it's like your stupid fixation with your Ancestor. She is not real, get over it already."
"It is real!" protested the troll. "And she was! I have her journal!"
"Regardless of the veracity of that particular legend, we have diverted from our original topic," interrupted Kanaya. "We were talking about ways to obtain punch codes from objects we don't currently possess."
"Oh, wait! I almost forgot!" said Dave, then. "I had a camera that created new cards with ghost images of everything that I photographed. Let me see if I still have it on my sylladex."
He looked through his sylladex and finally decaptchalogued a camera that looked like something made in a videogame with bad graphics. It was orange and yellow and it had a large, thin slot in the back.
"Here it is! The Captcharoid Camera!" he declared to everyone.
"Wooo! Soooo cooool!" exclaimed Terezi.
"That is a messed up camera like I have never seen before," protested Karkat. "It doesn't even seem real; it looks more like a joke camara from a shitty cartoon."
"You're the real joke here, dude," replied her ecto-brother.
"Dave?" she called him, "What does your camara have to do with our current problem?"
"I will show you," he told her. "Pass me your cookies, please, but don't captchalogue them."
Rose did as she was told and grabbed the half empty pack of cookies with caution to not captchalogue it into her sylladex. Dave used his camera to take a picture of the pack and immediately a new captchalogue card with a ghost image of her pack of cookies appeared through the camera's slot. Dave turned the card, and in the back there was a captchalogue code.
"Ok, now captchalogue them and we will compare the code," he instructed her.
Again, Rose followed his instructions, and once she had her captchalogued card in her hands, she turned it and put it near Dave's. The same code made of random letters and numbers was present in both cards. That was it! It was the perfect way to get codes from rudimental objects directly from the dream bubbles.
"That's great! We can get codes from a lot of big stuff with it!" exclaimed Terezi. "CoolKid saved the night again!"
"He only took a fucking picture," protested Karkat with a pout. "It's not like he killed Jack or something like that."
"Don't be so jealous, dude," argued Dave with an arrogant and satisfied smile. "Not everyone can have the coolness of a true-born Strider."
"Coolness my fucking bulge!" protested Karkat, as usual.
"Strider, I have an important role for you," interrupted Vriska. "You are responsible for obtaining as many codes as possible, so I want you taking pictures of absolutely everything you see. It doesn't matter if it looks like a stupid, random object, I want a picture of it. You never know what code combination could make the ultimate weapon!"
"Sir, yes Sir!" saluted Dave before realising his error. "I mean, Ma'am, yes Ma'am. Or do you prefer Sir? Or any other title?"
"I don't caaaaaaaare, Strider," sighed the troll. "Just bring me the pictures."
"Sure!"
Rose looked at her captchalogued cookies card. This could work. If they managed to get pictures of some raw ingredients they might even be able to actually cook something themselves. They would need a proper kitchen, but that was something relatively easy to get the codes of. Now, they just needed to pass through another dream bubble, and they would begin incrementing their supplies exponentially. She was not sure what was going to happen in the near future, but she had the sensation that it won't be long now until the next bubble.
"We should make a list of the codes we already have and add the new ones we get to it," she proposed. "That way, we will avoid repetitions or losing a code that might be useful at a later time."
"Are you offering yourself for the job, Lalonde?" asked Vriska.
Rose thought about it. It was not like she had anything else to do and she actually enjoyed playing with the alchemiter. Sounded like a fun job, actually.
"Sure, I can take care of it," she agreed. "In addition to any information I might gather from the future with my powers."
"Perfect!" smiled the troll. "For my part, I believe I will take the job to explore this meteor in detail, I know for a fact that there are some monsters that might provide us with some extra grist and in any case it would be safer for everyone if they are dealt with. Maybe I will be lucky, and end up finding a hidden treasure or some additional information that could help us win the game."
"Sounds fun! I can help you with that!" added Terezi. "But before that, I just got a great idea. Hey, Sollux!"
Terezi had to call the other's troll name a couple of times more before she got any response from him. Even when he did, it was with his yellow eyes still fixed on the screen.
"What do you want, Terezi?!" he asked back. "I'm still not done with the new program, so stop bothering me about it!"
"It's not that," replied the troll while finally approaching her friend. "If we had a list of captchalogue codes, do you think you could predict the code of stuff we still don't have? Like what you did with John's rocket."
That seemed to grab the other troll's attention because he stopped typing and turned to look at her. He had a pensive look.
"I guess?" he answered. "I can make an algorithm that predicts some codes, but do you have any idea of how many trillions of possibilities there are out there? If you are going to ask me the code of specific stuff, I will need a huge database of codes to begin with."
It was a reasonable petition, one that they could actually accomplish now that they had Dave's camera, and the possibilities if it worked were astronomical. Was it really possible? Could Sollux provide the code for any random object she could think of, simply using a computer program? That sounded almost impossible, but, at the same time, hadn't they left the meaning of impossibility behind them ages ago? He was clearly an amazing programmer, so if Sollux was saying that he could do it, Rose believed him.
"I will make a list with all the codes we obtain," she told him. "When you have a moment, could you send me a template of all the information you would need to create an appropriate database of codes? If you are interested in it, of course."
"Are you really asking me if I will be interested in creating an algorithm that will allow me to alchemize anything and everything I want?" asked Sollux rhetorically. "Because if you are, my answer is fuck yeah! And now, if you are done, leave me the fuck alone!"
Rose let out a surprised laugh at the contrast between the honest enthusiasm of the troll with the new project and his posterior sour attitude. It was totally unexpected to see those contrasted emotions so close together, especially after his previous act of superiority, when he was arguing with her. That troll had her completely confused, she could not figure him out at all. One moment he was bickering with Karkat or fighting with Vriska, but the next he was acting all scared and awkward. In the short time they had been here, he had also shown traits of superiority and arrogance, mixed with honest joy and sadness.
She was not trying to imply that an individual couldn't be arrogant and feel sadness or joy at the same time. Humans, and she guessed also trolls, were not such simple creatures. They were full of complex and contradictory emotions, and everyone expressed them differently. But with Sollux that contradiction was almost tenfold, to the point that sometimes he seemed completely different beings. It was not a criticism per se, she actually liked that in him, it made him so much more interesting and harder to understand than the rest. She went back to the wall, where everyone else was still arguing about roles and things that needed to be done. Rose already had her role and a new personal project in mind: she was going to help Sollux with the code's database and use that excuse to learn more about the troll. She was going to figure out the enigma called Sollux Captor.