milliways_bar | (no subject)

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[OOC: OOM:

But it's all right now, i learned my lesson well.
You see, ya can't please everyone, so ya got to please yourself.

Thanks to Batya for playing Tavros!]

When Karkat comes down to the bar, he looks... different. He doesn't look happy, per se, but he definitely looks less pre-occupied and actively stressed than he has in the last little while. Maybe it's just having spent several days asleep, maybe it's the relief of trading one cryptic, insoluble problem for a brand-new and exciting cryptic and insoluble problem, but for whatever reason, he's downright jaunty, which in Karkat always seems to suggest some piece of bad luck for someone who isn't him.

Accordingly, he equips his jauntiest outfit--pinstripe grey suit, gleaming black shirt, crimson tie, pewter ♋ tiepin--and takes a seat at the bar. Not even the bar's refusal to let him sit on a stool anymore can get him down; he rolls from side to side on the ergonomic ball it replaces his stool with with aplomb.

In front of him he has a couple of tokens from his recent long dream that he's pondering--a bright red bubble that looks like blown glass but is actually congealed memory, and a green card the size and shape of a floppy disk.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I FOUND IT IN A DREAM BUBBLE," he says. "NOT ONE HE WAS IN, THOUGH. AND IT WAS WITH A TRAINING EFFIGY, AND A MEMORY OF HIS. MEMORIES FILTER IN THE DREAMBUBBLES, BUT THEY DON'T NORMALLY GET, UH, LEFT BEHIND." He holds up the red sphere.

Edited 2016-07-21 02:10 (UTC)

"Huh."

Ysalwen frowns slightly, leaning forward to look at the sphere a little more intently.

"It's a solid representation of said memory? Or -- I mean. You can use that sphere to access it again?"

"THE FIRST THING. HERE--" He holds out.

If she picks it up, she will experience the phantom memory of being a young troll in his respiteblock, having a fairly routine conversation with a friend. And then it cuts off, in a way that is somehow unsettling--the psychic equivalent of a torn edge rather than a clean border.

She hisses her breath in between her teeth as the memory cuts out, one hand coming up to touch her temple, very gently.

"Well, that's uncomfortable. Did it get ripped out, do you think? Of whoever's head it belonged to? The one with all the 9's."

Edited 2016-07-21 02:27 (UTC)

"THAT'S KANKRI, MY, UH, WE HAVE A BUNCH OF GENETIC SIMILARITIES. FROM THE OTHER TIMELINE OF MY PLANET."

"I TALKED TO HIM ABOUT IT... HE REMEMBERS IT, BUT HE SAID IT'S NOT ANYTHING SPECIAL, THAT HE JUST STOPPED USING THE SHIELD EVENTUALLY BECAUSE IT WASN'T EFFECTIVE WITH ALL THE MONSTERS IN THEIR SESSION."

"BUT IF IT'S NOT IMPORTANT, WHY WOULD IT BE PRESERVED IN THAT DUMB EFFIGY? I MEAN, THE VOID IS THE REALM OF EVERYTHING LOST OR DESTROYED, BUT THOSE THINGS DON'T USUALLY THEN GET *FOUND*, YOU KNOW? AND HE SEEMS PRETTY COMMITTED IN THE MEMORY."

Edited 2016-07-21 02:32 (UTC)

"Could someone have -- changed his mind? About what he was doing. Or why. If it seems like an abrupt sort of change, I mean."

Blood magic as Ysa knows could do it. And has, in the past.

For one.

"MAYBE. IT'S HARD TO SAY, THERE'S A LOT OF POWERS RUNNING AROUND IN A 12X PROTOTYPED SESSION. AND THEIR SESSION FAILING WAS CRITICAL TO LORD ENGLISH'S SCHEME." He frowns, and shrugs.

"AND HE'S... DID I TELL YOU ABOUT WHO HE WAS IN OUR WORLD?"

"No. No I don't think you did. Do you want to?"

Dammit, Lord English. He really does get everywhere.

Not really. But. He sighs, and spins the ball across the bar again.

"IT WAS IN ANCIENT TIMES, WHEN ADULTS STILL LIVED ON ALTERNIA. KANKRI HAS THE SAME MUTATION AS ME, AND HE LANDED FIRST ON MY WORLD, SO THERE WAS NOTHING... NO PLACE FOR HIM. BUT PORRIM--THE GREEN TEXT IN THAT MEMORY--WAS A MATRON IN THE BROODING CAVERNS AND SHE SAVED HIM AND RAISED HIM, LIKE A HUMAN MOTHER."

"HE GREW UP HAVING VISIONS OF WHAT IT WAS LIKE IN THE *OTHER* WORLD. OF A BETTER WAY THINGS COULD BE. AND HE STARTED TO TALK ABOUT IT. OBVIOUSLY, UH, THE HIGHBLOODS DIDN'T LIKE THAT."

"Highbloods never do."

Her voice is dry.

"Power is addictive to certain personalities, I think. And children can inherit them."

Alas.

"Did they kill him? And -- was he betrayed to that death?"

"YEAH, THEY KILLED HIM. THEY HITCHED HIS PANTS UP TO HIS ARMPITS AND HUNG HIM FROM THE HIGHEST FLOGGING JUT IN HOT IRONS. UH. LIKE, UM." He lifts his tie, pushing the cancer symbol into the light. "LIKE THESE."

"I DON'T KNOW ABOUT BETRAYAL. IF THEY WERE TRYING TO REWARD ANY OF HIS FRIENDS THEY HAD A FUNNY WAY OF DOING IT. BUT THE HIGHBLOODS ARE ALL ABOUT FUNNY WAYS OF DOING THINGS."

"Oh."

Her voice is a little quiet.

"Well, that sounds -- horrific. Is that why that symbol remains around? Because of what was done to him? Do you wear it as a reminder?"

Sweet Andraste, please say that's not why he wears it.

"Rewards for betrayers, if there are any, rarely seem to last for long. No one trusts them, after, and pragmatists tend to kill them simply to eliminate the potential future problem. So."

"HUH? NO, IT'S--WELL, I GUESS THAT WAS THE IDEA, BUT I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT ANY OF THAT. IT'S JUST MY SIGN. IT'S---RRRRH, THIS IS ALL SO... *CULTURAL*."

"TROLLS DON'T HAVE FAMILIES, BUT THERE ARE CERTAIN BLOODLINES THAT RECUR OUT OF THE SLURRY, RIGHT? SAME BLOOD COLOR, SIMILAR TRAITS. WE WERE ASSIGNED A SIGN AT PUPATION THAT INDICATES WHICH BLOODLINE OF OUR CASTE WE BELONGED IN. THERE WERE MILLIONS OF SIGNS, SO NOBODY NOTICED WHEN ONE OF HIS FOLLOWERS SLIPPED A NEW ONE INTO THE SYSTEM IN CASE HIS MUTATION EVER RECURRED. THEY BRED A SPECIES OF LUSUS, TOO. AND THAT'S WHY I COULD PASS AS NORMAL."

"THERE WAS A KIND OF MYTHOLOGY AROUND IT... LIKE THE IDEA THAT YOU WOULD SEEK OUT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR ANCESTORS, AND TAKE PRIDE IN IT, AND THAT YOU COULD INHERIT SOME KIND OF LEGACY. IT WAS PRETTY MUCH BULLSHIT SUPERSTITION, BUT FOR THOSE OF US THAT PLAYED THE GAME, IT WAS TRUE, BECAUSE WE *DID* HAVE SPECIFIC ANCESTORS. I MEAN, GENETICALLY, *WE* WERE--BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER."

"THE POINT IS, FOR *US* IT WAS REAL AS KRAFT GRUBSAUCE."

Edited 2016-07-21 12:39 (UTC)

"We all need stories. That sounds like as reasonable a way to come up with them as any. I -- I'm glad it -- protected you? What they'd put into place. As I presume if you weren't disguised as 'normal', something singularly unpleasant would have happened?"

She's making mental notes about troll culture, but some things don't get to be written down.

"Wait. Genetically you're your own ancestors? Is that what -- huh. Science truly is great and mysterious."

"YEAH, MORE OR LESS. AND YEAH, THEY WOULD'VE CULLED ME. STANDARD ISSUE KIND OF UNPLEASANT I GUESS."

"ANYWAY, THE POINT IS, A LOT OF PEOPLE GOT REALLY WOUND UP ABOUT IT. TEREZI AND VRISKA WERE COMPLETELY NEUROTIC ABOUT THEIR ANCESTORS, FOR INSTANCE. AND THEN... WE MET THEM. SORT OF."

"BUT KANKRI IS NOT THE SIGNLESS SUFFERER. AND AS MUCH AS A TWERP AS HE COMES OFF AS IN THAT MEMORY, HE IS A MILLION TIMES WORSE NOW AS A GHOST. HE CARES A WHOLE FUCK OF A LOT MORE ABOUT SAYING THINGS THE WAY YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO, NO MATTER HOW HEINOUS THE SHIT YOU'RE ACTUALLY SAYING IS, THAN ACTUALLY DOING ANYTHING ABOUT ANY REAL SUFFERING. HE IS NOT READY TO GET KILLED FOR THE IDEA THAT YOU SHOULDN'T KILL PEOPLE. HE IS JUST A SELF-RIGHTEOUS SHITHEAD."

And if somebody did that to him--if somebody deliberately set out to convince him to lay down his shield--

Then maybe somebody needs to pick it back up.

"Seeming more than substance. I hate that."

Hmm.

"Though it can be a difficult balance -- this Kankri's story aside -- between being willing to die for an ideal and being willing to live for it. Sometimes one is more appropriate -- and useful -- than the other."

"YEAH, WELL... I AM NOT READY TO BECOME A PACIFIST, BUT IT MIGHT BE SENSIBLE TO ADD A SHIELD TO MY STRIFE PORTFOLIO. LIKE, TACTICALLY. REGARDLESS OF ANYBODY'S LEGACY."

"I approve of sensible tactics. No warrior wouldn't, honestly. Or no good warrior."

Not that Ysa is one, but.

Still.

"SO.... THAT'S MY NEW PROJECT. I ALSO HAVE AN INTRIGUING-ASS MAP TO GET TO GRIPS WITH. BUT I WILL HAVE PLENTY OF TIME TO DO THAT BECAUSE I HAVE *FINALLY* MANAGED TO FIND SOMEONE ELSE TO EAT THE SHIT SANDWICH OF MANAGING THE GHOST ARMY."

"I'm going to ask about that map in a moment, because I'm curious, but -- "

Liranan's head lifts, too, at the sound of Karkat's voice as he relates this news.

"Will they be good at it, do you think? This person that's taken over? I always find that to be the greatest relief. Not just someone else, but someone else capable. I'm glad to hear it, honestly. Strong-arming the truculent is a pain in the ass."

Edited 2016-07-21 18:23 (UTC)

"I DON'T KNOW, BUT HE'S GOT TO BE BETTER AT THAN ME, BECAUSE I WAS TERRIBLE. HE SAYS HE IS GOING TO TRY WORDS, AND SMILES, AND UH, FRIENDSHIP, I GUESS."

Karkat sounds non-plussed but not scornful. Maybe it will work. If you can't take chances with a futile last stand, when can you?

"THE GREATEST PART IS THAT IF HE *DOES* PULL IT OFF, WHEN VRISKA FINALLY BOTHERS TO SHOW UP HER NUB IS GOING TO FUCKING EXPLODE. HE WAS HER DESIGNATED THROTTLING BUNDLE FOR SWEEPS AND SWEEPS AND THERE'S BASICALLY NO ONE IN PARADOX SPACE SHE RESPECTS LESS."

"There's something to be said for words and smiles and friendship."

And the ruthless application thereof, some days, but --

"It worked in Thedas. Shockingly."

Anyway.

"Someone should take a picture of her face. For posterity. Just to prove that once she was totally caught by surprise, because the way you talk about the Serkets, that makes it seem as if it's a very rare occasion when that happens."

"WE WORKED ON SOME REPRISAL CHOREOGRAPHY BEFORE I LEFT," Karkat, says with a particularly nasty grin, which is the only kind he keeps in stock.

Ysalwen raises an eyebrow.

Is she impressed with Karkat's thoroughness?

(Maybe. Or maybe she is amused. Or both.)

"Do you want to demonstrate?"

"NNNNNNO," he says. "I DON'T THINK I CAN DO JUSTICE TO THE 'TAVROS FINALLY DID SOMETHING USEFUL' CHARLESTON."