4131019… 4131020… 4131021…
Terezi sat motionless in her chair, Sir Candy McGrump cradled in her lap. She moved her mouth slightly as she ran down the thread in her mind, watching it branch out into dozens and dozens of possibilities.
4131022… 4131023… 4131024…
The pathways reached out, curling around each other and becoming tangled between one another. Her hand tensed on the leg of the crab as she followed the thread lower and lower until—
Bad end.
Of course. She sighed and sat back, staring sightlessly up at the ceiling. Her hands relaxed on the faded candy apple body of the plushie. Her nose twitched as she gave it a once over. Maybe she was being a bit too rough with it. It wasn't a scalemate, after all—she only had one.
When this was over, she'd make Karkat sew it back up for her. Whether he wanted to or not.
It was the least he could do to repay her.
4131025…
She snorted at the number and spun her chair a single revolution. This was no time to be amused, cynical or not. Now was the time for work.
Terezi turned back to stare hard at the wall.
4131026… 4131027… 4131028…
But all she had been doing was work. The sheer number of possibilities was completely overpowering—there was no time to do anything else. Terezi had lost count of the days since they had decided to stay apart. Then again, she hadn't had reason to count them, or method; she hadn't slept more than a few brief hours since the break. There was no time for that. Calculations consumed her.
4131029… 4131030… 4131031…
For the most part, Terezi avoided looking at the possibilities as a whole. She knew it wasn't something she should do, but then...there were lots of things she shouldn't be doing just then. She didn't know how to stop.
All seeing the overall did was tell her how she hadn't even dented the majority of the existing pathways.
4131032… 4131033… 4131034…
Terezi clutched at the sleeves of the sweater she had acquired (stolen) from Karkat. She'd worn little else since the break, choosing instead to endlessly cycle through the shirts she had received (taken) from him. It kept her sane.
Sane.
But she wasn't sane, was she? She was sitting in her hive for weeks on end, staring blindly into space and running numbers in her head. And, as little as Terezi wanted to admit it, it was terrifying.
Not that Karkat was helping.
He'd barely typed two words to her since then, despite having promised to contact her every day. He should at least show the courtesy of telling her he was still alive.
Or dead.
If he was dead, there would be no point to the entire exercise. She'd be counting threads for nothing. She'd be seeing things that had already come to pass and she'd have nothing to show for it.
4131035… 4131036… 4131038…
Terezi froze, aeordic beatpump hammering a painful beat against her chest. She had just skipped a number, hadn't she? Had she done that before? Had she been skipping numbers all this time?
Frantically, Terezi ran her mind back up the thread, biting her lip hard enough to draw blood and gripping Sir Candy rough enough to nearly claw his leg clean off. No, she had only missed one possibility.
On this thread.
Would she have to go back? What if she had missed other branches along the way? What if—
What number was she on?
Trollian gave a loud shriek and she flinched. She had set the audio on full to alert her to any new messages from Karkat, but so far… none.
Had he decided to finally contact her?
But Terezi knew the answer before she even turned to the screen. It wasn't him. Of course it wasn't him.
[arachnidsGrip has begun trolling gallowsCalibrator]
AG: Hey, 8lindy 8itch!
AG: Don't 8other hiding, I know you're there!
AG: Or do I have to come over and drag you out?
AG: You've avoided me long enough!
AG: Oh, I get it!
AG: This is hilarious!
AG: I 8et you're just scaaaaaaaared to f8ce me after all this time!
AG: Poor little pup8 hiding in her stupid 8lindy hive!
AG: Come on, Pyrope, I thought 8etter of you.
AG: I really did.
AG: This is pathetic!
Terezi followed the conversation dully with her nose. She wasn't about to rise to Vriska's taunts. And yet…
Maybe she needed a distraction.
[gallowsCalibrator has begun trolling arachnidsGrip]
GC: 1 4M PR3TTY SUR3 YOU 4R3 LY1NG 4BOUT TH4T
GC: 1 4M PR3TTY SUR3 YOU DON'T C4R3 ON3 W4Y OR 4NOTH3R.
AG: Of course I c8re!
AG: When you flounder around like a stupid little wriggler, it gets 8oring for me!
AG: 8oring 8oring 8oring 8oring 8oring 8oring 8oring 8oring!
GC: SO
GC: L1K3 TH1S CONV3RS4T1ON TH3N.
AG: Oh, you think you can do 8etter?
AG: Talking to yourself isn't all that entert8ning!
AG: Oh, wait.
AG: Look who I'm talking to!
AG: M8y8e it does come easily
AG: to YOU!
GC: WH4T DO YOU W4NT?
AG: Gog!
AG: See, even that was 8oring!
AG: Can't you think of 8nything else to s8y?
AG: And I thought you were interesting!
AG: Guess I was wrong.
GC: 4S USU4L.
AG: Even for you, that was l8me.
GC: 1 DON'T H4V3 T1M3 TO T4K3 C4R3 OF WH1NY L1TTL3 WR1GGL3RS R1GHT NOW
GC: 4ND YOUR T4UNTS 4R3 WH4T 4R3 L4M3, SP1D3RTROLL.
GC: YOU SHOULD WORK ON YOUR P1CK UP L1N3S
GC: M4YB3 3R1D4N C4N T34CH YOU!
GC: YOU BOTH S33M TO H4V3 TH3 S4M3 L3V3L OF ROM4NT1C 4B1L1TY, 4FT3R 4LL.
AG: Fuck you!
AG: See, this is what I'm talking a8out!
AG: You didn't even do your stupid laugh.
AG: Is your stupid valve not in it or something?
GC: 1 TOLD YOU 1 W4S BUSY!
GC: OR D1D YOU NOT S33 TH4T?
GC: TH3 L4ST T1M3 1 CH3CK3D 1 W4S TH3 BL1ND ON3 1N TH1S R3L4T1ONSH1P
GC: OR D1D YOU M4K3 4 M1ST4K3
GC: 4ND G3T WH4T W4S COM1NG TO YOU
GC: L1K3 L4ST T1M3?
AG: Oh, that was witty.
AG: Let me just take a minute and revel in the wit that was in that st8ment.
AG: Gog how did you get to 8e so 8oring?
AG: I am seriously rethinking this.
GC: 1.
GC: 4M.
GC: BUSY.
AG: Fine! 8e like that!
AG: See if I give a shit a8out your stupid pup8 pro8lems.
AG: All you do is 8itch and whine and compl8n anyw8y!
AG: Gog!
AG: Even humans are more fun than you!
AG: And that is s8ying a lot!
GC: 1 THOUGHT YOU L1K3D TH3 HUM4NS.
GC: 3SP3C14LLY TH3 W1NDY BOY.
GC: D1D TH4T NOT TURN OUT?
GC: D1D YOU NOT H4V3 SLOPPY M4K3OUTS W1TH H1M L1K3 YOU H4D PL4NN3D?
GC: OH W41T.
GC: TH4T'S R1GHT.
GC: 1 K1LL3D YOU.
GC: 4ND TH3N YOU D1DN'T M33T H1M!
GC: OOPS.
GC: H3H3H3.
GC: S33?
GC: 1 D1D TH3 L4UGH.
GC: 4R3 YOU H4PPY NOW?
GC: B3C4US3 1F YOU 4R3
GC: 1 4M OBV1OUSLY NOT DO1NG TH1S R1GHT
GC: 4ND W1LL H4V3 TO R3TH1NK MY CURR3NT COURS3 OF 4CT1ON.
GC: BUT 1 KNOW YOU
GC: 4ND 1 KNOW YOUR M1ND.
GC: 1 KNOW 1T B3TT3R TH4N YOU KNOW 1T.
GC: SO 1 KNOW TH4T 1T BOTH3RS YOU!
GC: OR SHOULD 1 S4Y
GC: 1 KNOW TH4T 1T 8OTH3RS YOU!
AG: Shut the fuck up!
AG: I don't see where you get off pretending to 8e soooooooo much 8etter
AG: When you clearly did something stupid.
AG: And yet, you go around 8ragging a8out it like some stupid one-sweep!
AG: Didn't they ever tell you, Pyrope?
AG: It's not good to kill your kismesis!
AG: Where would the fun 8e in that?
GC: OH 1 4M SORRY.
GC: P3RH4PS 1 SHOULD H4V3 JUST 4LLOW3D YOU TO L34V3.
GC: OH, W41T.
GC: 1 D1D TH4T.
GC: 4ND YOU F41L3D.
GC: 4ND 3V3RYON3 D13D.
GC: 3V3RYON3.
AG: What are you talking a8out?
AG: You sta88ed me right in the gogdamn chest!
AG: How is that letting me leave?
GC: 1 DON'T 3XP3CT YOU TO UND3RST4ND.
GC: 1 4M 1MPR3SS3D TH4T YOU'V3 3V3N FOLLOW3D 4LONG THUS F4R.
GC: UNL3SS YOU 4R3 ONLY PR3T3ND1NG TO UND3RST4ND
GC: WH1CH 1N TH1S S1TU4T1ON S33MS TO B3 TH3 C4S3.
AG: I understand perfectly!
AG: You're the one that's spouting 8ullshit!
GC: OK4Y
AG: What kind of a response is that?
AG: "Ok8y"?
AG: That's fucking l8me!
GC: OK4Y
AG: You just did it again!
GC: OK4Y
AG: Ok8y, now you are just doing it to piss me off.
GC: OK4Y
AG: I swear to gog, Pyrope, s8y that one more time and I'm coming over there!
AG: I'll m8ke it so that you're never "OK4Y" again!
Terezi paused over the keyboard, weighing her options. She didn't have time for this. She didn't have time for anything, really.
The choice was obvious.
GC: OK4Y
AG: That's it!
AG: I'm coming over!
AG: You had 8etter prep8re yourself, Pyrope, 8ecause I'm not going to go easy on you!
AG: I'm going to teach you who really has the upper hand here!
AG: Warning!
AG: It's not you!
[arachnidsGrip has ceased trolling gallowsCalibrator]
For the first time in a long, long time, Terezi smiled.