Notes: More more more more. How do you like it, how do you like it? Okay, I'll stop that now.
Behind Blue Lies – Chapter 8
arachnidsGrip [AG] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
AG: Have you ever h8d someone so much you almost thought killing them was a good idea?
TA: fiir2t of all, you 2ound liike a bad piitch 2ong
TA: 2econd, have you even met kk?
AG: Come on, no need to joke like that.
TA: who2 jokiing? the a22hole biit me for iin2ultiing hii2 damn faygo berry piie
AG: Pie is all sorts of serious 8usiness, Sollux, Didn't you know?
TA: iit2 dii2gu2tiingly 2weet
TA: wor2e when you put that 2wiill iin iit
AG: I kind of like it. Listen, it's cause he's lonely I think.
AG: That's the kind of cooking that his m8sprit does. He hasn't seen Gamzee in a while. Give him a 8reak.
TA: ii don't tell you how two handle your quad2 don't tell me how two handle miine
TA: anyway what brought up your black lament?
AG: Same as usual. Apparently the 8rown8lood said my name to him.
TA: the brown a2 iin tavro2 niitram, one bea2ttalker you wont talk about?
TA: the one you want me 2pyiing on
AG: Are we really doing this again? Is this going to 8e a thing that happens?
TA: you brought iit up not me
TA: why are you 2o touchy about thii2 2hiit?
AG: You wouldn't understand.
TA: what ii2 iit that keep2 you around thii2 guy? and dont 2ay you arent
TA: iive got tracker2 iin your 2y2tem2 two iive 2een the letter2
AG: What? How could you?
TA: 2iimple ii ju2t open my program2 liike 2o and...
AG: Sollux, why the F8CK is my 8ackground displaying a picture of your dum8 smirking face?
AG: Arg! Why the F8CK is my text this garish shade of yellow?
AG: Dammit! F8X TH8S N8W!
TA: there, 2ee? all better
TA: liike ii 2aiid ii 2aw the letter2
Vriska sighed and pushed herself back from her husktop for a moment. Well, if there was any damaging evidence about her connection to Tavros, Sollux would have been the one to find it eventually. And he had in the form of the letters. The last three nights had been hard, and she'd missed the contact she'd shared with Tavros, the comfort of his words. So she'd written the things she would have said down. The stories she would have told. Secrets she would have shared with him given more time. Sollux having them meant he knew more about her than anyone was ever meant to know.
TA: you there?
TA: takiing your tiime proce22iing?
TA: ii can under2tand that
AG: You agreed to help me, when you started to monitor my husktop to protect our We8, not to spy on me.
TA: chiill already geez
TA: ii diidnt read much what do you thiink ii am?
AG: Sometimes I wonder. Why are you even telling me this?
TA: ii know iim goiing two regret thii2 but... iif you need 2omeone two talk two ii am here
AG: Like you'd really want to listen.
TA: what do you thiink the web ii2 goiing two do iif you lo2e iit?
AG: Look to your scrawny ass?
TA: the empre22 doe2nt 2eem two care abut fiightiing them and ii dont have your iin2iide iinfo two lead u2
TA: 2o we need you 2table and ready two put that conniing thiinkpan of your2 two u2e
AG: You mean cunning.
TA: ii dont youre a con plaiin and 2iimple
TA: at lea2t youre the kiind who u2e2 your eviil power2 for good liike iin that 2hiitty heii2t 2how kk watche2
AG: That show is ALL of the awesome. Don't insult Directed Application of Force. Oh, it's on this morning too. Can't miss it!
TA: ta2tele22 hethen2
TA: anyway what iim 2ayiing ii2 iif you need 2ome troll two talk two not a real 'raiil miind you ju2t tell me
TA: youre two iimportant two go mad iin your on damn pan becau2e you cant 2ee 2ome pathetiic bea2ttalker
AG: I'm not sure what's going on, 8ut I'm just going to file this away under confusing shit I will think a8out another time and for now pretend it makes sense.
TA: whatever ju2t dont complaiin that ii never told you
twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling arachnidsGrip [AG]
arachnidsGrip [AG] began trolling carcinoGeneticist [CG]
AG: Guess what time it is!
CG: I FUCKING SWEAR IF YOU SAY WHAT I THINK YOU'RE ABOUT TO SAY I SWEAR I WILL LET TEREZI DO WHATEVER SHE WANTS TO YOU, QUADRANTS BE DAMNED.
AG: Wow, did you even notice you swore twice there Karkat? Well, three times if you could the cursing. ::::D
AG: Really know how to make a girl feel appreci8d, don't you?
CG: IT'S NOT MY RESPONSIBILITY TO MAKE YOU FEEL APPRECIATED. ALL I'M SUPPOSED TO DO IS KEEP TEREZI AND YOU FROM KILLING EACH OTHER.
AG: And here I thought you cared. What a shame to know you don't. D::::
CG: I HAD TO KEEP YOU FROM GOUGING HER EYES OUT OVER SPIDED.
AG: You didn't have to deal with her sanctimonious, self interested, red gru88ing attitude all the time. You weren't even aware it was there.
AG: Regardless, that is AAAAAAAALL in the past now. ::::D
CG: WHATEVER, WHAT COULD YOU POSSIBLY WANT THIS EARLY IN THE NIGHT?
AG: Early?
CG: YOU'RE FUCKING JOKING RIGHT? ONE OF THOSE STUPID, NO ONE LAUGHS AT THEM KINDS OF JOKES THAT EVERYONE FEELS AWKWARD ABOUT BECAUSE THE JOKE TELLER IS OBVIOUSLY LACKING IN THE PAN BUT NO ONE WANTS TO TELL THEM.
CG: THAT IS OBVIOUSLY WHAT YOU'RE DOING HERE BECAUSE YOU SURE CAN'T HAVE FORGOTTEN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SOLAR EXPOSURE HOURS ON DIFFERENT PARTS OF BEFORUS. AGAIN.
AG: Whoops.
CG: WHOOPS? WHOOPS? THAT IS ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?
AG: No. O8viously you are quite cra88y when you first wake up. Have you not even had a chance to get some Faygo in you?
AG: 8ecause man do you need to, how does Gamzee put it, 'all up and get your motherfucking chill on.'
CG: DON'T.
CG: JUST DON'T EVEN GO THERE. WHAT COULD YOU POSSIBLY WANT?
AG: Sigh. Fine. 8e that way why don't you. May8e I didn't even want to talk to you. May8e I have 8etter things to do.
CG: GREAT. LAST THING I WANTED. MY MORNING ROUTINE RUINED BY SOME FUCKING FUSSY BADGERING PEST WITH NO REAL REASON OTHER THAN TO GET A DAMN CHUCKLE. JUST WHAT I NEEDED. LET ME TAKE A MOMENT TO CELEBRATE. THERE, I'VE GOT A PARTY CELEBRATION DEVICE MY FUCKING HIVEMATE DECIDED WOULD BE FUN TO WIRE TO MY BLOCK DOOR TO SCARE ME WHEN I GOT BACK HOME LAST NIGHT.
CG: WHAT A DOUCHEBAG. AS IF THAT WOULD FREAK ME OUT WITH HOW MUCH GAMZEE HONKS.
AG: OOOOOOOOh, what is this I hear? Is that some 8lack in the air I see?
CG: NO. I AM NOT EVEN BEGINNING TO GET INTO THIS WITH YOU.
AG: Why not? D::::
CG: WELL, LET'S THINK ABOUT THAT. FIRST: ARE YOU A MAROON BLOOD NAMED ARADIA? SECOND. NO. FUCK THAT. THERE'S NO SECOND POINT. OR THIRD. YOU AREN'T MY MOIRAIL. SOMETIMES I DOUBT YOU'RE EVEN PITY POTENTIAL. SO DO ME A FAVOR AND GET OFF MY BULGE. I'VE GOT AN EARLY NIGHT AHEAD OF ME AND CYCLOS IS AS BAD ON TARDINESS AS GOATAD IS LENIANT.
AG: Fine, fine. I'll leave you alone. Geez. No one's any fun anymore.
CG: NEWS FLASH: I'M NOT HERE TO FUCKING ENTERTAIN YOU. NONE OF US ARE. SO GET SCHOOLFED ON THE WICKED TRUTH.
AG: Oh geez, you are getting waaaaaaaay too much from Gamzee. Spare me. One of him hanging around my hive is enough!
AG: Remind me not to pester you when you've just woken up in the future.
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling arachnidsGrip [AG]
carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling arachnidsGrip [AG]
CG: CAN'T YOU EVER LET ME GET IN THE LAST FUCKING WORD?
AG: Nope ::::D
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling arachnidsGrip [AG]
carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling arachnidsGrip [AG]
CG: FUCK YOU!
AG: Oh Karkat, you can't win!
CG: WHATEVER. FUCK THIS.
AG: L8r, Karkat!
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling arachnidsGrip [AG]
Vriska smiled at the final sign off of her friend on the trollian window, and shook her head. What an ass. That said, he'd earned it. He'd gone through so much, put up with so much, and finally been able to free himself from it. All the anger of their wrigglerhood, righteous and aimed at the world that let a mutant like him exist, had changed into something else after Spided was put away. Maybe it was more habit than anything. More than once she'd seen him soft and quiet with his moirail or matesprit. She didn't doubt there was a gentle, feeling troll under all that aggression. If there wasn't, how had Goatad been able to convince the eminent Cyclos Anders to take Karkat for training? How would he achieve his dream without that deep down pity?
This was what she was fighting for. Trolls like Karkat and Aradia being given the freedom to follow their dreams despite their blood. To protect Sollux from having to watch the trolls he cared about die because they weren't strong enough to protect themselves in the ways he could. So Remium would never have to suffer through what Spided had done to them ever again. To keep Tavros from ever having to feel a hate guided blow from someone other than his future kismesis, if he even chose to have one. The cost to her wasn't important, not if she could give them the peace they deserved. The peace ALL of them deserved. Kanaya, Gamzee, Eridan, even Equius deserved a Beforus they could be proud of.
Beforus wasn't going to become that kind of world on its own. There were always bigger 'fish to fry' than some 'made up' revolution, or so Eridan claimed. Which was true enough. The planetary guard was damn good at keeping it under wraps, but it wasn't like Beforus's closest neighboring planet was all that friendly. The Empress had too much to focus on to give her attention over to only rumors. There had to be proof. There had to be something that could be taken before the Empress and the Heiress to make them see just what Veruna was doing, just what she meant to do.
And Vriska was going to find that thing if it killed her.
With a sigh she pushed herself back from her husktop, taking a moment to power it down before standing. Her friends would still be here when she got back if she handled things properly. And she would. Nothing would stand in her way. Not violets who dared raise their hands against seemingly defenseless brown blooded. Not a psychotic fuchsia who thought Beforus should dance to her tune. Not all the psychotic hierarchists on all of the planet. She had a reason to fight. A reason to win. And there was no way in the world that Vriska was going to let anyone beat her.
"Vriska! Dear, what a wonder to see you," Veruna called as Vriska slipped through the crack in the rock and into the meeting room. "I have a little gift for you for your kindness of doing away with that useless piece of flesh last time. Come. Come see it my dear."
With a sigh Vriska continued further into the room, half thankful and half annoyed that the others present all gave her wide berth. At last she came to stand before the crazy fuchsia, forcing her eyes not to search for the hints of violet on her blood splattered white gown that were from Calgor. Veruna was smiling, far too wide for Vriska's liking, and behind her was arranged a selection of indigo and purple bloods, all looking at something behind the would-be-Empress, but also blocking whatever it was from Vriska's sight.
"Move!" Veruna barked once Vriska reached her side, and sure enough the trolls moved aside.
"It's for you, my dear. Do with it what you will," Veruna said, her voice a low, musical purr.
All Vriska could do was watch and try to hide her horror as the beaten and bloody face of the maroon blooded troll sprawled on the floor turned toward her and looked up in terror and resignation.
"Do have fun with it."