(A/N) uhhh happy late birthday karkat i guess
i literally had this chapter ready to go and then Ao3 went down and then when it went back up somehow the html got all fucked up and it took me forever to fix it soooo
-Sunday, March 24th, 9:27 am/Rose & Kanaya's condo-
Kanaya Maryam, although often referred to as the "mom friend" of her social circle, still was slightly enamored and/or confused with the concept of motherhood as a whole. Although she was technically the father of two yet to be born children, she was still—at least from a sexually dimorphic alien standpoint—very much female and tried to associate herself with femininity as a whole. Childrearing, although not entirely unheard of on her home planet, was still a concept that she found a bit difficult to wrap her thinkpan around. Because of the elusiveness of genetics and the fact that the main reason that there were infant trolls at all was due to a monstrous moth-like creature with a strangely Marilyn Monroe-esque face, before escaping to Earth, Kanaya had never really experienced any grubs or wigglers in the flesh. She knew that given the unfortunate anomaly of her hemotype, she would eventually assist the Mother Grub and tend to the young, but that destiny was crushed as soon as she set foot on the little blue and green ball light years away from her home planet. Now, after years of assimilation and appropriation, she was trying to convince another maternal figure to be at ease.
"Kanaya, I am not going to have a baby shower," said Rose, her cheeks flushed pink as she attempted to balance her laptop on top of her stomach. "We can just buy stuff ourselves, and I really don't want to go through the fuss of having people prod me."
"They won't prod you, Rose," said Kanaya, setting a plate overflowing with various breakfast foods in front of her wife. "And you've barely done any shopping as is in the past month, darling. Besides, isn't it a custom for the expectant to be fawned over by her nearest friends in her time of need?"
"Hardly," Rose snorted, pushing the plate away from her. "And besides, I'm not in need. It's completely unnecessary for you to make me a second breakfast. We're not exactly living in a Tolkien novel."
"But you only ate a bowl of those dastardly corn flakes," shuddered Kanaya. "You didn't even put fruit on them, and Dr. Browne said that you should be consuming at least—"
"I'm fine," interrupted Rose, waving a hand in dismissal as her wife frowned at her. She finally reached the perfect balance of computer and stomach, and she began to login to her account as Kanaya shut the laptop close and took it away. "Hey! What are you doing?"
"You need to eat," Kanaya insisted, disappearing out of the dining room with the laptop. She quickly retreated to her own personal study, which at that point was overflowing with designs for her new line and tiny custom clothes for the twins. She sighed and hid the laptop under a few yards of fabric before reaching out to touch the tiny green corduroy overalls that she had made for Oliver, complete with adjustable bits for what she assumed would be a quick aging process from newborn to toddler. For Évangéline, she had fashioned some equally small and adorable jumpers, but she wasn't quite sure if she had the proportions completely right.
Suddenly, she heard the telltale creaking of floorboards and immediately exited her sanctuary before trying to abscond back to the dining room. She was almost there when Rose stopped her—her face was red and she looked flustered in general, her hands placed in the small of her back as she struggled to support her imbalanced weight. "What the hell was that?" she demanded, wiping her forehead with her sleeve and making an unamused face. "Kanaya, give me my laptop, now."
Normally, Kanaya felt some kind of rational control of her emotions, especially when dealing with an incredibly hormonal and occasionally violent version of her wife. However, when she looked down into Rose's violet eyes, she felt the slightest amount of fear when the rage of something deep and incredibly human met her gaze. As much as she wanted to retort or even try to rationalize, Rose's glare was almost overpowering, and Kanaya simply went back into her study and retrieved the laptop. Rose barely smiled as she took it from her hands, nodding and giving a curt "Thank you" before waddling back to who knows where.
Swallowing, Kanaya quietly opened up the Pesterchum/Trollian extension she had installed on her mobile device before frantically beginning to message two people who she hoped could help her with her "situation."
- grimAuxiliatrix [GA] opened memo on board Please Help -
- arachnidsGrip [AG] has joined memo -
- gallowsCalibrator [GC] has joined memo -
GA: Okay Im Sorry If Im Interrupting Anything At The Moment However Matters Have Potentially Worsened On The Baby Shower Front
GC: 1S L4LOND3 B31NG 4N 4NGRY BLUBB3R B34ST 4G41N? K4N4Y4 WHY DO YOU 3V3N TRY TO UND3RST4ND TH3S3 W31RD HUM4N OUTBURSTS?
GA: That Is A Good Question That I Am Beginning To Ponder Myself
AG: Terezi, stop 8eing mean! Kanaya loves Rose, and even though you're confused 8y this, please don't 8e an ass a8out it for once.
GC: STOP B31NG M34N S4YS TH3 G1RL WHO BL1ND3D M3 W1TH H3R CR4ZY M4N1PUL4T1V3 4CT1ONS WH3N W3 W3R3 CH1LDR3N
GC: 1 DONT KNOW 4BOUT YOU BUT VR1SK4 TH4T 1S COMPL3T3 4ND UTT3R BULLSH1T
GA: Can We Just Try To Concentrate On The Subject At Hand For Once
AG: Fuck that, Fussyfangs.
AG: Terezi, when we came to this stupid shit8all of a planet, we agreed to not 8ring up the totally fucked up past. Just 8ecause you're depressed doesn't mean that I'm going to put up with your horseshit.
GC: F1N3 SORRY
GC: C4RRY ON W1TH YOUR NOBL3 R4NT1NG M4RY4M
GA: Thank You Terezi And Vriska For Not Turning This Thread Into Another Scourge Angst Fest
GA: Im Just Not Sure How To Properly Engage Rose In This Traditional Earthling Custom
GA: Im Also Kind Of Distraught Due To The Fact That I Practically Have No Experience With Raising Offspring Let Alone Watching Children For More Than A Few Hours At A Time
GA: And There Are Two Of Them
GA: Although They Are Hybrids Im Not Sure If They Will Inherit The Territoriality That Young Trolls Are Hatched With
AG: Man, I completely didn't consider that.
AG: I mean, it's not something I've really had to worry a8out with Casey, 8ut...
AG: Either way, that's in the past, and I know for a fact that I am NOT in the position to 8e doing that again any time soon.
AG: Speaking of that topic...
AG: Terezi, how are things holding up?
GC: UM
GC: TH3YR3 HOLD1NG
GC: UP
GC: 1 M34N K4TR1N4 H4S PR3TTY MUCH R3TURN3D BACK TO NORM4L
GC: BUT L1K3 N31TH3R M3 NOR K4RK4T H4V3 4NY CLU3 1F OR WH3N M1TUN4 W1LL SHOW UP 4ND NOW TH4T 3LL3N H4S PUP4T3D 1M 4FR41D SH3 4ND K4TR1N4 4CTU4LLY M1GHT H4V3 1T 1N TH3M TO...R34LLY HURT 34CH OTH3R?
GC: WH1CH 1 M34N OUR SP3C13S IS PR3TTY N4TUR4LLY V1OL3NT 4NYW4Y BUT B3C4US3 OF 4LL TH3 W31RD STUFF W3V3 L34RN3D S1NC3 COM1NG H3R3 1M HON3STLY NOT SUR3 WH1CH TH1NGS 4R3 1NH3R3NT TO OUR SP3C13S 4ND WH1CH TH1NGS 4R3 T4UGHT
GC: B3C4US3 K4TR1N4 H4S USU4LLY B33N 4 TOT4L SW33TH34RT W1TH C4S3Y WHO 1S H4LF TROLL?
GC: 31TH3R W4Y 1M STR3SS3D :/
GA: Thats Very Concerning But Nonetheless Thank You For Bringing That Potential Worriment To My Attention
GA: Have You Tried Looking Into It On The Alternian Education Sites
GC: Y34H BUT 4LT3RN14W3B 1S M41NLY CONC3RN3D W1TH T34CH1NG W1GGL3RS 4 SH1TTY W4T3R3D DOWN 4ND 4BR1DG3D H1STORY 4BOUT SUFF3R3R J3GUS 4ND HOW TO PROP3RLY P41L B3FOR3 D3PORT4T1ON
GC:NOT 3X4CTLY 4NYTH1NG 1 W4NT TO T4LK TO K4TR1N4 4BOUT 4T TH1S PO1NT
GC: OR 4NY PO1NT 4T 4LL R34LLY
GC: BUT L1K3 TH3 ONLY S3M1 D3C3NT 1NFORM4T1ON 1V3 FOUND ON W1GGL3RS 1S 4LL SUP3R D4T3D 4ND TH3 PDF F1L3S 4R3 SUP3R H4RD TO R34D
GC: 1 C4NT 3V3N UND3RST4ND WH4T FORM OF OLD 4LT3RN14N TH3YR3 US1NG :?
AG: That's weird. I thought Old Alternian was completely wiped out 8efore the time of the Sufferer?
GA: There Have Been Some Indigo Scholars Who Have Attempted To Keep the The Old Traditionalist Views Of Alternia Alive Through The Sweeps
GA: But Im Not Really Sure What Kind Of Philosophies Theyre Constructing As A Whole
GC: K4N4Y4 HOW DO YOU 3V3N KNOW 4NY OF TH1S W31RD H1STOR1C4L J4RGON?
GC: L1K3 1M D3F1N1T3LY 1MPR3SS3D BUT 1T S33MS L1K3 K1ND OF 4 W31RD SK1LL TO H4V3
GA: There Were Lots Of Interesting Texts At My Old Hive
AG: That's a reasona8le excuse, I guess. 8ut now we've forced the actual moderator of this conversation to devi8 from the main topic!
GC: GOD FUCK1NG D4MN 1T
GC: SORRY K4TR1N4S SCR34M1NG 4T M3
GC: 31TH3R W4Y K4N4Y4 JUST SP1T OUT WH4T3V3R YOU N33D H3LP W1TH
GA: Okay Um
GA: How Do I Throw A Baby Shower Without Completely Aggravating Rose
AG: From a completely logical standpoint...don't.
AG: However! Considering all logic has 8een completely thrown out the window l8ly, let's fucking do it!
GA: So A Baby Shower
AG: Yes!
GA: Okay
GA: Does Anyone Know When And Where I Should Make This Thing Happen
GC: WH3N TH3 FUCK 1S SH3 DU3
GC: L1K3 NO OFF3NS3 TO H3R OR 4NYTH1NG BUT 1V3 COMPL3T3LY LOST TR4CK
GA: It Is Fine
GA: April 28th Is The Due Date
GA: But With It Being Twins The Doctor Has Advised That They May Come Any Time Between Now And Then
AG: Holy shit!
AG: Kanaya, why haven't you said anything?!
GA: My Apologies Vriska
GA: I Must Admit I Have Been A Bit Preoccupied With A Combination Of My New Occupation My Heavily Pregnant Matesprit And The Impending Task Of Motherhood
AG: Jeez, sorry Kan.
AG: Anyway, it's crunch time l8dies!
GC: OK4Y SO L1K3...M4YB3 1N 4 W33K OR TWO?
AG: I can host!
GA: Vriska Are You Sure
AG: Of course! You're one of my 8est friends and I guess Rose is like, I don't know, also one of my 8est friends, at least by association.
AG: Oh my god! We should have a joint 8aby shower!
GC: VR1SK4 WH4T TH3 FUCK 4R3 YOU PR3GN4NT
AG: Terezi, have you even 8een p8ying attention to the convers8ion? I literally just said I'm not.
AG: I mean like even if I was, it would 8e waaaaaaaay too early to throw one for me. I mean for Roxy!
GA: Roxy
GA: As In Roxy Lalonde
AG: Well, yeah! She's Rose's mom, they're 8oth knocked up, whatever.
AG: Plus RoLal is super lonely right now. I think I've 8een her only consistent visitor.
GA: Are You Vaguing At Me
GA: Never Mind
GA: Sure I Guess
GA: Just As A Warning Though Rose Is Rather Irate
GC: WH4TS N3W PUSSYC4T
GC: G3T B4CK TO M3 WH3N YOUR M4T3SPR1T 4CTU4LLY D3C1D3S TO NOT H4T3 3V3RYTH1NG
AG: Gah, Tez, stop with the eternal negativity train. Does April 6th work for you guys?
GA: Sure
GA: Ill Begin To Subtly Warn Rose Of The Impending Party
- grimAuxiliatrix [GA] has closed memo on board Please Help -
Kanaya exited the Pesterchum application and pushed her bangs out of her eyes. She was really in need of another haircut, but she hadn't really found the time to schedule an appointment, nor did she really even know where to begin with any of that. Dealing with the horrible-terrible side effects of Rose's condition was beginning to put a strain on her once again, and she wasn't completely sure how to go about telling her beloved and somewhat irrational wife that she was planning yet another dreaded social outing.
That conversation would have to wait.
-Monday, March 25th, 7:30 am / John & Vriska's house-
Ring!
John nearly rolled out of bed and collapsed on the floor in order to get to the phone on time. "Hello?" he croaked, rubbing his aching elbow. "Um, this is John?"
"Hey, John!" chirped Jade, and he sat up. "How are you?"
"Um, pretty okay, how about yourself?" he asked. Next to him, Vriska was rubbing her eyes and blinking, making a 'who's on the phone' gesture. John mouthed "Jade" and waved his hand, eager to get back to the conversation at hand. "Are you guys coming into town again or something, or—"
"Actually, we're moving! To Seattle!"
"What? Jade, that's great! I thought you weren't financially—"
"John," breathed Jade excitedly, "Dave wanted to tell you himself, but he's taking one of his 'alone time' showers right now and deemed me secretary, so...he got a record deal!"
"What?!" John blurted in shock. "How did—is that even possible? I mean, his stuff is really good, but, like, it's an independent label or something, right?"
"Interscope, actually!" exclaimed Jade, still surprised at the situation herself. "I'm...not exactly sure how he got it either, but we're moving to Seattle now, and, um, yeah! I just wanted to tell you that—wait, hold on just a second."
"Okay," John replied, still recovering from the image of Dave rapping for a living. He could hear a bit of commotion on the other side of the line, then what sounded like someone grabbing the phone, complete with a loud crackle that made him shrink away from the phone.
Finally the crackling and general phone-manhandling-noises stopped, only to be replaced by a voice speaking at a volume John had rather not have heard that early in the morning. "Egbert! What is up?"
"Dave!" John replied in the most cheerful voice he could muster at half past seven in the morning, pulling the phone away from his ear a little. "Jade told me the news! Congrats, that's amazing!"
Vriska gave him a perplexed look as she checked her own phone, but John simply mouthed "later" before listening to what Dave had to say. "Yeah, okay, funny thing is, I really don't remember even sending any of my stuff in, but who cares?!" Under Dave's cool kid persona, John could actually hear tinges of genuine excitement, which was a good sign. "They gave me a fuckin' huge sign-on bonus, and Bro's been a major pain in my dick literally my entire life, not to mention he's been leaving his nasty puppet porn out in the open, so I was like 'Hey, why not just up and leave the fuckin' cowboy sauna that is Houston, Texas?'"
"Yeah, that's…that's great!" said John, unsure of what to make of the last part. "Do you know which neighborhoods you're going to look at? I mean, I obviously don't live in Seattle proper so I can't say much about actually living there, but I've heard good things about—"
"I'mma cut you off right there, dude. La Nueva Casa del Strider has been signed off on and officially purchased!"
John could practically hear Dave beaming through the phone, but that didn't help his slight confusion any. "Wait, you bought a place without even looking at it in person?"
"Ya gotta do what ya can in this housing market, my man," laughed Dave, scooping his son up into his arms. "Anyway, we fly out this Friday, so Blake can see Uncle John in the flesh!"
John could hear baby giggles from his side of the line. "Dave, I've already met him before—"
"—Pretty sure he don't remember it," Dave simply said, cutting him off. "Anyway, our new place's real close to Interspecies Lesbian Headquarters, but Rose's basically been a beached whale with a hormone problem, so not sure how that's gonna work out for now…"
John took this as a cue to finally get out of bed, and he unplugged his phone from the charger before walking into the bathroom. "I mean, she said that technically she could go into labor any time now, but she's not counting on it since the due date's not for another month or so," he told him, turning on the sink and splashing some water onto his face with his free hand. "Oh! That reminds me! Rose's baby shower is going to be on April 6th, so let Jade know! I know Rose'd be really happy to see her!"
"Will do," Dave said, grunting as he sat Blake back down on the floor. "Anyway, I gotta run. Gotta get packing!"
"I'm sure," John said, chucking. "Good luck, and I can't wait to see you! We should all have a get-together or something when you and Jade finally get up here—I guess we can talk about it more when you actually get here?"
"Sweet! See ya soon."
They exchanged goodbyes, and John nearly ran into Vriska as he attempted to exit the bathroom. "Jade?" she asked, a bit confused.
"And Dave, too!" John exclaimed. "He…got a new job, and they bought a place up here, actually!" Vriska shot him a perplexed look as she grabbed her toothbrush off the counter, so he took it upon himself to explain further. "They're actually flying out here on Friday? Super short notice, I know, but Jade will be able to come to the shower!"
Vriska breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God," she mumbled through a mouthful of toothbrush and toothpaste. She spit into the sink before continuing. "I was super worried about pulling it off with just Rose's 'friends by association' there, so I'm happy someone she actually considers to be, like, an actual friend will be there too."
"Well, your prayers have been answered," laughed John. "Anyway, I was gonna scramble some eggs for breakfast. Want some?"
-Evergreen Forest Mobile Home Community, 9 am-
Nepeta rolled out of the weird, flat, squishy surface humans called a "bed," and glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table. Equius had already gone to work roughly an hour and a half earlier, and she didn't have to be at her own workplace for a few more hours.
She roughly brushed the hair out of her face with her fingers and exited the bedroom she shared with Equius. "Tavros?" she called, walking down the small hallway into the kitchen. "I'm going to make breakfast; do you want anything?"
There was no response, so she simply shrugged and opened the pantry to see what foods there were. On one of Vriska's previous visits, she had reorganized the pantry, labeling all the shelves by the mealtime, "snacks," and "ingredients," and organizing the food accordingly.
Nepeta reached around the "breakfast" shelf before finally landing on a box of dinosaur eggs instant oatmeal. "Tavros!" she called again, taking a few packets out of the box and throwing them onto the counter. "I'm making oatmeal!"
It was kind of odd he hadn't even acknowledged her, but she simply shrugged as she followed the instructions on the packet and popped the bowl into the microwave. She couldn't blame him for wanting to sleep in; after all, it wasn't like he was absolutely free from any responsibility at the moment.
Nepeta sat at the table and ate her oatmeal in silence, almost absentmindedly scrolling through a social media news feed to keep her occupied in lieu of any of her housemates' presences. Admittedly, for her, it was fairly easy to absentmindedly scroll through any type of human social media—it wasn't like she knew who any celebrity was, anyway.
By the time Nepeta had finished her breakfast, however, she was beginning to get worried. Tavros was usually up by eight or nine, especially now that Regina had developed a schedule of her own, so it was extremely odd that he hadn't even acknowledged her calls out to him.
"Tav?" she repeated, quietly knocking on the door to his bedroom. "Dude, you okay?"
After a few seconds, there was still no response, and Nepeta sighed. "Tavros, I'm coming in," she said matter-of-factly, despite the aching thought in the back of her head that something might actually be wrong.
Upon opening the door, however, Tavros nor Regina were nowhere to be found.
What could be found, however, was a small cocoon nestled between the corner of the bedframe and the wall.
"Shit," Nepeta sighed to herself, instantly running out of the room to reach for her phone to call for Tavros, wherever he was. "Dude, pick up, pick up," she mumbled, listening to the dial tone while she walked back into the bedroom to get a better look at Regina's cocoon.
What she did get a better look at instead, though, was Tavros' cell phone ringing on the floor next to his bed.
"Tav, come on!" she whined, picking the phone up off the ground while she ended the call from her end. On the lockscreen, she scrolled through the notifications, which she noticed stretched back to three that morning.
Wherever Tavros had gone, he'd been there a long time.
This is super weird, she thought, briefly panicking while she thought about her next steps. Okay, if I were Tavros, what would I do, where would I be…
She began to rummage through his room, looking for anything that might be of help. Both the dresser drawers and underneath the bed gave her no leads, so she turned her attention to the closet.
Upon opening the closet doors, however, she saw something that made her blood run cold.
Vriska groaned when she checked the caller ID on her phone, then felt around on the couch for the TV remote. "Nepeta, I'm kind of busy right now," she said through gritted teeth, hitting "pause" on the show she was currently watching. "What's up?"
"Vriska, I doubt watching dumb human entertainment programs counts as 'busy,'" snapped Nepeta on her side of the line.
Damn, no cat puns. "Okay, I don't really think that The Umbrella Academy is a 'dumb human entertainment program,' but whatever," Vriska sighed. "Seriously, though. What do you need?"
"Regina's pupating."
Vriska slowly stood up. "Huh, wow, I guess it is about time for her to," she said, quickly going over the mental timeline she had created based off of what little information she had gathered from Katrina's and Ellen's own grubhoods. "Anyway, as long as she's in a safe place, she'll be fine! It'll probably be another perigee or so until she's finished, but—"
"Vriska, Tavros is pupating too."
"I'm…sorry?" Vriska froze in her tracks. "Did you just… Tavros?!"
"Yeah, Tavros," replied Nepeta, and Vriska finally heard the fear in her voice. "Like, he wasn't up this morning, and I got up later than usual, and I thought he went somewhere but I noticed he left his cellular communication device in his respiteblock, and he's literally in a giant cocoon in the closet. I think"
Vriska didn't know how to respond. "Um. I…literally don't know how to help."
"What do you mean, you don't know how to help?! You know more about grubs than I do!"
"Casey wasn't a grub, dipshit!"
The two trolls began simultaneously freaking out, and Vriska physically jumped when John touched her shoulder. "Is everything okay?" he asked, visibly concerned as Vriska said a few words to Nepeta. "I heard you freaking out upstairs."
"Just some weird troll biology stuff that I have absolutely no idea how to deal with," Vriska told him, walking him to the door. "Just, have fun at work, I'm trying to get this straightened out, love you."
John was extremely perplexed, but gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before grabbing his backpack and heading out the door.
"Sorry about that," continued Vriska, beginning to head upstairs. "Look, if you need me to, I can come over, but I'll call Karkat and Terezi's friend—y'know, the one who actually knows a decent amount about troll biology—to see if she can come with me. Oh, and I'l have to bring Casey too since I can't get anyone to watch her. Just…stay calm until I get there, okay?"
"This is…oddly familiar," remarked Augeth as Vriska turned the car into the neighborhood. "Why are all your friends so…interesting?"
Vriska scoffed. "No they're not. Besides, I'm sure you've always been plenty occupied, even on Alternia."
"There's literally like, what, twenty members of our species on this planet, I've been here for like half a sweep, and your friends seem to always have some sort of medical emergency. I think your friends would qualify as 'interesting.'"
Vriska only rolled her eyes and pulled into the parking space in front of the trailer Tavros shared with Nepeta and Equius. "Alright, let's check this shit out," she grumbled, mainly to herself, as she got out of the car and walked around to the back seat to get Casey out of her carseat.
No one even needed to knock on the door, as it was immediately opened for them by Equius, who looked a bit flustered at the group on the front doorstep. "Everyone is in Tavros' respiteblock," he told them, stepping aside to let them in.
"...Everyone?" Vriska furrowed her brow at him, but she couldn't quite read his facial expression underneath his sunglasses.
Before he could answer, Casey yawned and tugged on Vriska's shirt. "Mommy, tired," she mumbled, looking up with tired eyes.
"Yes, Peanut, I know," Vriska told her. She paused for a moment before looking back up at Equius. "Is there somewhere I can put her down?"
Equius froze, becoming even more stoic than Vriska had usually seen him. "You…want to euthanize your own offspring," he reiterated.
"Oh my god, no!" exclaimed Vriska in horror. "No, I meant like, for a nap. Put her down for a nap."
"Just put her in our repsiteblock," a voice said, and Vriska looked to her left to see that Nepeta had joined the conversation. "I mean that's purrobably the quietest place right now." Vriska heeded her words and went to tuck her daughter in, and Nepeta turned over to Augeth. "Augeth, right?"
"That's me," confirmed the gold-blood, taking off her raincoat and tossing it on the back on the couch. "What do you need help with?"
Vriska finished tucking Casey in and kissed her on the forehead before going to join the others in the other bedroom. "Holy shit, did you invite everyone?" she exclaimed, and the other trolls in the room turned to look at her.
"Vriska, darling, it's not every day you get to see an adult troll pupate," Porrim drawled, stepping aside to reveal the large cocoon hanging from a shelf in the closet. Vriska shuddered at the sight. "Anyway, please be careful; his offspring has coincidentally decided to go through primary pupation at the same time, and she is over near where you're standing."
Vriska turned and noticed the much smaller cocoon a mere foot or so away from where she was standing; she quickly stepped further away in fear of hurting Regina. "Maybe we should block that off," she suggested before turning back to the others. "Okay, what's the deal?"
Aranea took charge of the conversation. "Well, as I am sure you are aware, the younger adult Nitram seems to have unexpectedly entered a third pupational stage." As she made eye contact with Vriska, Vriska's own vision eightfold briefly burned with a twinge of pain before quickly transforming into a dull ache. Something was definitely up with her relative—her disheveled appearance in comparison to her normal refined elegance was already indicative of that—but the feeling Vriska picked up from her manipulation was more so a cry of help than anything else.
Despite her curiosity, Vriska had more important matters to attend to. "Well, yeah, that's been established many times already," she said matter-of-factly, sitting down on the bed. "I'm not really sure what I can do to help, if I can do anything to help."
"Well, I, fur one, want to know how the fuck this even happened in the furst place," said Nepeta, crossing her arms. "That's why I wanted you to bring Augeth."
Augeth looked up from examining Tavros' cocoon and stood up, brushing off her pants in the process. "I don't have any of my medicull textbooks on hand (or anywhere I can easily access them, really), but if I recall correctly adult pupation is not entirely unheard of," she told the group. "Usually it happens to trolls whose normal puberty cycles were disrupted in some way, usually in the form of a major bodily injury, or severely stunted growth, or a major mineral deficiency—"
"So, like, paralyzation," interrupted Vriska, beginning to feel nervous.
"Precisely."
Great, so this is my fault, thought Vriska before shaking herself out of her thoughts. "Okay," she continued. "Is…is he gonna be okay, at least?"
"He should be," confirmed Augeth. "Now that I'm thinking about it, from a biological standpoint, it does make sense his body would be doing this now, of all times. That is, if egg-laying was the catalyst for the process to begin." She paused for a second before lighting up. "Oh, that's good, I need to write that down…"
"I mean…the last couple times I've hung out with him I've made fun of his voice for cracking like a pubescent boy's, but I thought he was just being a dork, not that anything was…actually happening," said Vriska apprehensively. The entire situation felt like it was completely her fault, and it didn't help that she didn't even know if he would come out of it okay (or at all, for that matter).
"Huh," remarked Augeth, typing a few more notes into her phone before locking it and putting it back into her pocket. "Honestly, though? I don't think we can do anything other than wait."
"And how long will that be?"
Augeth put her hands on her hips, briefly savoring the quick realization that despite being the lowest-ranking person in the room blood caste-wise, she was still the head of authority in the situation—not like it mattered anymore, of course. "I'd take it just like a grub," she told everyone. "Give it a month, then we'll see."
(A/N) anyway sorry for not upd8ing since 2020 lol i lost motivation
also i'm in grad school now. guess where i go to school lmao i totally didn't apply there for somewhat ironic reasons and ended up getting half my tuition paid for by the federal government nooo that totally did not happen
maybe i should do field research for this fic
fic tumblr: newplanetnewlife
fic wikia: newplanetnewlife but add the fandom suffix
personal tumblr: merryvrismas
