~~tantalizedCreation began trolling arsenicCullbait~~
TC: SuP kItTySiS?
AC: :(( did you find anypawdy?
TC: I sUrE mOtHeRfUcKiN dId.
TC: ThEm RoYaLs WaS aLl Up AnD aTtAcKiNg A cOuPlE mIdBlOoDeD bRoThErS aNd SiStErS sO i MoThErFuCkIn Up AnD sAvEd ThEm
AC: :33 did the royals s33 you?
TC: NoPe
TC: AlL ThEy sAw aNd hEaRd wAs mY MoThErFuCkIn wAr cRy aNd mY MoThErFuCkIn aNiMaLs
TC: I Up aNd sWePt oUt lIkE A MoThErFuCkIn mIrAcLe
AC: :33 who are the midbloods you have with you? are they furiendly to the clawse? i can't allow people in who might betray us.
TC: I'Ll uP AnD MoThErFuCkIn aSk tHeM
TC: JuSt a sEc
~~tantalizedCreation ceased trolling arsenicCullbait~~
Gamzee poked Eridan in the unhurt shoulder.
"Wwhat the fuck do you wwant?" the injured troll replied grumpily. "Wwhy don't you go back to your stupid husktop? And wwhen are we going to get to my hiwe anywways, this is taking wway longer than it should."
"I have a motherfuckin important question to ask you. What do you think about highbloods?" Gamzee asked, the whimsy in his voice replaced briefly by seriousness. Suddenly, Ahab's Crosshairs came out of nowhere to make Gamzee crosseyed as Eridan leveled it in his face.
"Wwe wwere just fightin 'em, wwhat d'you think I think about highbloods?"
"Honk," Gamzee replied weakly.
"Seadwwellers murdered my ancestor and they just tried to murder me. Do you think I wwould reply to that wwith appreciation? I don't care about the indigos and the blue bloods, but the seadwwellers have to die. All of them." Eridan's voice was filled with venom.
"I think you just motherfuckin went and passed the test," Gamzee declared, shoving the Crosshairs away from his face. "What about motherfuckin Teresister over there? She feel the same?"
"She doesn't wwant to kill them all. She just wwants equality," Eridan answered, the tone in his voice making it clear that he disagreed.
Gamzee didn't respond, just returned to the husktop as Eridan guided their transportation towards his hive.
~~tantalizedCreation began trolling arsenicCullbait~~
TC: ThEy'Re sAfE
AC: :33 good. get their things and take them back to base, you know to do that right?
AC: :33 the highbloods will be looking fur them meow, and they'll be culled now that they've b33n s33n with you.
TC: I KnOw
TC: It'S AlL TaKeN CaRe oF, wE'rE GeTtInG ThEiR ThInGs rIgHt nOw.
AC: :33 good work gamz33!
AC: :33 I'll be waiting fur you when you get back.
~~tantalizedCreation ceased trolling arsenicCullbait~~
Vriska was in a very bad mood, and it showed.
"You idiot!" she snapped suddenly at Tavros. "You were supposed to help capture them, not make them platonically hate you even more! And they would've been good minions, too. I need more land dweller minions."
"I…um…uh…"
"Shut up."
"I am fairly sure…that they wouldn't have…well, cooperated." Tavros hesitated, trying to get his words right. "Pyrope hates seadwellers, he wouldn't have even responded to reason. And that other troll seemed to share his opinion." Vriska rolled her eyes.
"Hence the word capture. Capturing someone doesn't require consent, you idiot!"
"Uh…um…uh…" Tavros stuttered.
"Shut uuuuuuuup," Vriska moaned. "Look, I'm giving you a new mission, and it's real nice and easy so a brainless idiot like you can't mess it up. I want you to go talk to Equius and get him to use his mind powers on Terezi."
"Why Terezi? And…what do you want him to do?"
"Oh, forget it. I'll just troll the sweaty idiot and make him sweat even harder into his disgusting towels full of dried-up sweat." Tavros had no way to respond to that, so he focused on a link in his mechanical left foot and tried to avoid eye contact with the irate Empress.
Vriska's husktop pinged as soon as she opened it.
~~gorgeousAntagonist began trolling arachnidsGoddess~~
GA: Vriska?
GA: Vriska Are You There
GA: Please Tell Me You Did Not Lose Your Husktop Again
AG: whaaaaaaaat?
AG: I was 8usy, jegus!
GA: I Merely Wished To Speak To You, Seeing As You Are My Matesprit And We Did Not Get Much Chance To Talk The Other Night
GA: How Have You Been
AG: Is that seriously what you 8othered me for?
AG: Reeeeeeeeally, Kanaya?
GA: I Presume You Have Other Things To Do Then
GA: Other Irons In The Fire As You Might Say
AG: All the irons, Kanaya.
AG: Aaaaaaaallllllll of them.
~~arachnidsGoddess ceased being trolled by gorgeousAntagonist~~
~~arachnidsGoddess began trolling centaursTesticle~~
AG: Eeeeeeeequiiiiiiiiuuuuuuuussssssss
CT: D- Empress
CT: D- What is your command
AG: Do you know a certain Terezi L8ijon?
CT: D- I do not believe so
AG: Do you know any8ody who does?
CT: D- My moirail may be of acquaintance with this person
CT: D- I do not know
AG: Ooooooooh, you have a moirail?
AG: Do tell 3::::)
CT: D- It is nothing
CT: D- The topic…
CT: D- Ah…
CT: D- It is making me
CT: D-
CT: D-
CT: D- Sweat.
AG: Oh gog that's disgusting, I soooooooo did not need to know that.
AG: Just go chat with your stupid moirail and get familiar with Terezi L8ijon.
AG: She's going to be your next target.
CT: D- Yes your Majesty
~~arachnidsGoddess ceased trolling centaursTesticle~~
Vriska turned away from the husktop.
"Equius is making contact with his moirail—I want that investigated, Ampora, since when does Serket have a moirail?—and he's going to find Terezi for me." A knock sounded sharply on the above-water throne room door. "Oh, and let Aradia in. I need to speak with her. You're dismissed." Tavros swam out of the room, opening the door for Aradia Makara on his way.
Aradia gracefully entered the throne room, perching delicately at the edge of the above-water platform. Vriska drained the water from the room with the press of a button, rising upwards until she was slightly elevated above Aradia.
"Have you located the rebels yet?" Vriska asked quietly.
"No, Milady, but not for lack of trying, and the rest of the descendants could be anywhere." Aradia's strangely hollow voice echoed through the large, sweeping room.
Vriska drummed her nails on the arm of her throne.
"What about the lead you got the other night? You told me you saw someone who you thought was their leader, that hemanonymous girl, have you been investigating the place where she disappeared?"
"Yes, Milady. So far, the search has turned up nothing."
"And no descendants either? This is so ridiculous that it's hard to even believe. I know they're alive, so where are they?"
"Alternia is a large planet. We have not finished searching it yet. Those grubs could have turned up here or the other side of the globe. It was only chance that Kanaya knew the jade-blood." Vriska groaned, rolling her eyes.
"Just leave. Get out of my sight, and don't come back until you find either the rebels or another descendant. Got it?"
"Yes, Milady." Aradia departed, and Vriska sank down in her throne. Her eyes flicked around the large, empty throne room, with her sign carved into every wall and worked into the sweeping double arch of the room.
Vriska's hunters were growing complacent, and Vriska herself was growing tired of relying on idiotic henchmen. She had an empire to run and a game to play, and she wasn't going to let either one slip out of her grasp.
Name: VRISKA PEIXES
Age: 8 SWEEPS
Blood Color: FUCHSIA
~~centaursTesticle began trolling arsenicCatnip~~
CT: D- Nepeta
CT: D- Nepeta, I order you to answer
CT: D- Nepeta
AC: :33 hi equihiss
AC: :33 i'm a little busy right meow, can we cat later?
CT: D- W001d you know a troll named 'Terezi Leijon'?
CT: D- It is very important
AC: :33 why?
CT: D- No reason
AC: :33 I don't think I do
AC: :33 leijon is an olive caste name, isn't it?
AC: :33 how come you're looking fur an olive blood?
CT: D-
CT: D-
AC: :33 tell me
CT: D- This is making me
CT: D- Sweat
AC: :33 ewwwww
CT: D- Just answer the question.
AC: :33 I already did! no, I don't think I know anyone named terezi
AC: :33 listen, I'm r33ly busy right now
AC: :33 I'll cat you later
~~arsenicCatnip ceased being trolled by centaursTesticle~~
CT: D- Fiddlesticks
~~centaursTesticle ceased trolling arsenicCatnip~~
"Nepeta? Nepsis, are you there?" Gamzee's voice called through the system of caves in the Cult hives. Nepeta looked up from her husktop.
"In here, Gamzee," she called back.
She sighed; her moirail really had the worst sense of timing. She'd forgiven him for his threat earlier that week, but she still refused to go see him in person. Terezi Leijon…no, she hadn't ever heard of someone called Terezi Leijon. Why was Equius looking for this Terezi person?
Gamzee entered the room.
"Wanna meet our new motherfuckin recruits?"
"Sure," Nepeta replied instantly—anything to stop her thinking about her moirallegiance. She followed Gamzee into one of the Cult's smaller reception halls, in which two injured trolls were waiting. Nepeta's eyes fell first on the teal-blood, a confident-looking troll with lightning bolt horns and enormous glasses. He was dressed in a FLARP outfit, with an extravagant cape the color of his blood and a turquoise scarf. Two more scarves were tied around his injured shoulder and arm to form a makeshift sling—just how many scarves does this guy have, anyways? His symbol was vaguely familiar to Nepeta, although she couldn't place why.
Next to the teal-blood was a female troll wearing an olive sign. Around her eyes, old dried blood was flaking away from where it had obviously been painted on. She was also dressed in FLARP clothes, although her costume was much more subtle than her partner's. But what stood out the most to Nepeta was that the female troll's eyes weren't normal troll eyes—gold sclera with pigmented irises. They were completely filled in with scarlet, almost like…that was it. This troll was light-blinded, it was obvious. Nepeta had seen cases of blindness before in her followers, most of whom then became dependent on others to help them: basically, cullbait.
"So what are your names?" Nepeta asked in a friendly manner, smiling at them.
"Eridan Pyrope," declared the teal-blood. He had a very weird accent, almost similar to that of a seadweller. Nepeta decided to ask him about that later.
"Ooooh, you smell good," declared the olive-blood. "Cherries. Candied cherries."
"Um…okay. What's your name?" Nepeta asked again, slightly unsettled. The olive-blood just kept sniffing in her direction, and it was more than a little creepy.
"I'm Terezi Leijon," she declared.
Well, then. That was an unexpected turn of events, Nepeta thought to herself, rolling the information around in her head. She decided to be blunt.
"Terezi, do you know Equius Serket?" she asked, doing the best she could to make eye contact with the blind troll.
"Can't say I've had the pleasure," answered Terezi blithely, "but I've heard the name. Why?" Terezi looked directly into Nepeta's eyes despite her blindness, and the effect was very unsettling.
"He asked me if I knew you," Nepeta answered. No point in not being honest.
"You smell too mutant to be allied with the highbloods. Do you know why this Equius guy was asking for me? Do you know what he's planning?"
"Um…" Nepeta was saved from answering by the timely entrance of Sollux Megido, looking more than a little bit annoyed.
"TZ, you idiot, what are you doing here?" he demanded. "You thaid you were too buthy to vithit when FF and I needed your help, and now you arrive?" Sollux was lisping pretty hard, and it was obvious he was annoyed.
"Sollux, I presume?"
"Who the fuck elthe were you eckthpecting?" Sollux demanded irately.
"Shenanigans," Terezi replied mysteriously. "Listen, the game needs to be ready early." Terezi continued talking to Sollux quietly, completely ignoring the presence of Nepeta, Gamzee, and Eridan, all three of whom were very confused.
"Do you know how they know each other?" Nepeta asked Eridan, who shrugged in response before wincing and clutching his shoulder. "Oh, damn, you need to get to the infirmary. Gamzee, take Eridan to the hospital so he can get his shoulder fixed, okay?" Gamzee honked in response and led Eridan away, leaving Nepeta to listen in on Terezi and Sollux's conversation.
"…tho it can't pothibly be ready until necktht week. Tell the Empreth she'll have two wait," Sollux was saying impatiently to Terezi.
"She blinded me over a minor intrapersonal spat. She'd cull you for making her wait, if you weren't needed to finish the programming," Terezi warned. "As is, she'll take it out on me."
"My programth are good but they can't tranthlate and interpret an entire unknown language in three dayth. That'th impothible," Sollux raged, his lisp forcing him to spray spit all over Terezi's face.
"She'll find you."
"She'th been trying thinthe forever, it'th not happening any time thoon. I'm a rebel and a dethendant, and I've avoided her thith long." Terezi hissed at Sollux to be quiet, noticing Nepeta's curious expression.
"What game?" Nepeta asked, deciding that honesty was probably the best option now she'd been spotted spying. Sollux groaned.
"I gueth we have two tell now," he declared, preparing to tell a story.
"Are you sure we can trust her?" Terezi demanded warily.
"She'th fine," Sollux assured her. "Yeah…Nepeta, remember the other day when we were working on hiding thothe documentth over at my hive?"
"Yeah…"
"And FF came in two talk two me. Well, the game ith what we've been working on. It'th a thort of immerthive thimulation-type thing bathed on an old language I found written in thome ruinth. The Empreth ith among thothe I chothe to beta-tetht the game; she heard about it from TZ here and demanded to try. You're part of the group ath well," Sollux explained. "I wath actually thinking I might let Gamthee and that other guy Eridan try two, thinthe they're here."
"Sounds fun!" Sollux sighed.
"Actually, no. It'th probably terrible thinthe I'm the one programming it, after all. I bet it thuckth. It probably won't even work."
"It'll work fine," Nepeta reassured him. "Actually, it sounds really cool! So who do you have lined up to beta-test, anyways?" Sollux thought for a moment.
"Me, you, Terezi, Feferi, the Empreth, thith jade-blood I'm friendth with called Karkat, Karkat'th friend Kanaya, and now Gamthee and Eridan. And the Empreth demanded three copieth, tho there'll be more. Tho eleven people." Sollux ticked them off on his fingers until he ran out of fingers. "There are two teamth, a red team and a blue team, and I need one more perthon two make them even."
"Teams? Who's on which team?"
"Eh, I wath thinking highbloodth verthuth lowbloodth and mutant. Tho me, you, GZ, FF, KK, and I gueth TZ verthuth everyone elthe, athuming TZ ith okay with playing againtht that Eridan guy. KK will flip hith thit if he doethn't get two be red team leader, and the highbloodth can choothe their own leader."
"I thought I was going to be the red team leader, but I guess it doesn't matter," Terezi stated, shrugging her shoulders and rubbing her eyes. "As for playing against Eridan, it sounds like a heck of a lot of fun. He'll have to watch his back." She sniffed around. "Nepeta, right? You smell goooooood," Terezi declared, licking her lips. Nepeta took a cautious step backwards. "Cherry candy."
"Lady Vantas? Lady Vantas, where art thou?" Just then, the Speaker made his way into the room. He appeared more than a little exasperated, and there was a pair of underwear tangled up in the points of his left horn. He looked rather the worse for wear.
"Oh. Speaker. It's mew."
"Thy words are sought by thy people. Thou ought speakest to them as I speakest to them, giveth them thy blessings and thy council."
"I'm assuming that means you want me to give another speech," Nepeta translated, rolling her eyes. "Well, I'm busy. Go away and I'll go preaching later."
"Thy people flockest to thee, wishing to hear thy words of wisdom. They are faithful, true and believing in thy greatness. Thou art their beloved, their savior, their idol. Speakest to thy people," Speaker commanded in frustration. Nepeta facepalmed.
"I will lock you in the clawset again if you don't get out of this block right meow," Nepeta threatened, unsheathing her claws.
Speaker left.
"Sorry about that," Nepeta apologized. Terezi snickered.
Nepeta's palmhusk started making noises again, signaling that somebody was trying to contact her. She pulled it out of her sylladex, grumbling. Whoever was trying to contact her was using her secondary chat name, the one she gave to Equius, but she didn't recognize their username.
~~arachnidsGoddess began trolling arsenicCatnip~~
AG: Ooooooooh, gr8y.
AG: So what 8lood color are you hiding 8ehind this lovely sl8 text of yours?
AC: :33 you're the empurress?
AC: :33 :?
AG: And you're Serk8t's mystery moirail 3::::)
AG: Glad we got that figured out.
AC: :33 why are you clawntacting me and what do you want
AG: Ooh, snappy.
AG: I was just curious who could actually put up with that sweaty jackass as a moirail.
AG: Pro8lem? 3::::)
AC: :33 maybe
AC: :33 well, you've talked to me, so you can go now
AC: :33 goodbye, good day, nice talking to you.
~~arsenicCatnip attempted to cease being trolled by arachnidsGoddess~~
AG: You can't leave until I let you.
AG: It's one of the 'perks' of my 8eing the ruler of all Alternia 3::::)
AC: :33 …
AG: Since Serk8t is 8eing all c8gey, I want to ask you myself—do you or do you not know a troll n8med Terezi Leijon?
AC: :33 I'll ask you what I asked equihiss—why do you want to know?
AG: Is that resistance?
AG: Are you actually d8ring to refuse to comply with the dem8nds of your Empress?
AC: :33 just tell me why you want to know about terezi
AG: I d8n't h8ve to t8ll y8u 8nyth8ng!
AC: :33 …I see.
AC: :33 so I won't tell you anything either. fur enough.
AG: T8LL M8 WH8T Y8U KN8W A8OUT T8R8Z8 L8IJON!
AG: N8W! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
AC: :33 …wow. that's a lot of shout poles.
AC: :33 and I'm afuraid I can't tell you anything about this terezi purrson.
AC: :33 I have no idea who she is.
AG: T8LL M8!
AC: :33 have a nice day, vwhiskers
~~arsenicCatnip ceased being trolled by arachnidsGoddess~~
AG: W8, wh8t?
AG: Th8t's n8t p8ssible!
~~the user arsenicCatnip does not exist~~
AG: WH8T? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
~~the user arsenicCatnip does not exist~~
~~arachnidsGoddess has smashed her fist through her husktop~~
"So what have you done to offend the Empurress?" Nepeta asked Terezi, who had attached herself to one of the scarlet banners on the sides of the chamber and was licking it enthusiastically. She looked up.
"Huh?"
"I was just trolled by the Empurress, demanding to know if I mew you. I don't even meow how she got my handle," Nepeta said. Terezi groaned.
"It's all about the game."
"Huh?"
"The game, Sgrub! The one that Sollux is making. The Empress wants to play and she wants to play soon, and it's not ready yet. She blinded me out of anger and she really hurt Eridan too, and now she's looking for me. She'll probably sic one of her mind-controllers on me if she finds out where I am," Terezi explained, extricating herself from the red banner.
"Why does it matter so much to her?" Terezi grinned, and for a lowblood her teeth were incredibly sharp.
"The Empress loves games. In fact, she thinks life is a game—and she's also pretty confident she'll win at it. I don't know her entire plot, but I know more than she thinks I do, and the gist of it is this: the game isn't just what Sollux thinks it is."
"What do you mean?" Nepeta demanded.
"Did you know that Feferi hears the voices of the soon to die?" Nepeta wordlessly shook her head. "Well, she does. And lately, her head has been ringing. We don't know exactly what's coming but whatever it is, it's huge, and almost the entire population of Alternia is doomed." Nepeta gasped, a sharp intake of breath.
"Mew mean—efurryone?"
"Yeah," Terezi confirmed, "everyone—except for us. The game is what will allow us to survive the end of the world, and Vriska Peixes wants in."
"I don't see how that's pawsible." Terezi only grinned.
"Come with me to the red temple in the desert, and I'll show you."
A/N: Lots of chat logs in this one. Sorry about the wait (as usual)! To beat the dead horse, I have a very busy summer schedule. I'll be taking another approximately two-week break soon, and then my update schedule should even out a little bit. I'd like to post one chapter a week, but that schedule may not prove consistent due to my various obligations.
So what did you guys think about the chapter? Yes, I know, I didn't introduce Tavros, but I don't think I'm going to. I couldn't find a way to shoehorn him in there. We all know his stats at this point anyways: He's Tavros Ampora, he's eight sweeps old, his blood is violet. Blah blah blah.
Ehehehe I'm being mean to my various characters, but don't worry. I don't think I'm going to kill off anybody else any time soon; I have this weird problem with killing off characters. It bothers me, even when they're not my own.
Exposition next chapter. Maybe. Vriska's plot is confusing and convoluted, and mostly based on vague nonsense and weird theories that only fuchsias are privy to. And I still have to figure out how Sgrub is going to work, since the teams are different in this AU (but everyone dreams on their canon moon). The red temple is where it was in canon, out in the desert with Karkat. The blue temple, though, is not near Sollux. Instead, I've placed it a bit south of Kanaya and Equius. There will definitely be an explanation for why this is later, as well as how Sollux accessed it.
Thanks for the reviews, everybody! Last time I looked, I only had ten, but they're all very thoroughly appreciated. They swell my writing ego in the loveliest of ways.