(no subject)

[crabbycustomer]

Well, he's done it. He's really been and gone and done it now.

It wasn't even that hard, with the algorithms Sollux developed, to work backwards from the code for the damaged artifact to the original. And now Karkat has a shiny golden shield.



It's round and heavier than it looks; there's a twisty braided sigil in the center, surrounded by the constellations of the zodiac and two beautiful cities full of people; in one a wedding and a law case are taking place; the other city is besieged by one feuding army and the shield shows an ambush and a battle. Around the edge something is engraved in the weird blocky letters of the Alternian formal script. It's sitting on a table and taking up most of it while Karkat decides how he feels about it.

Preliminary assessment: too shiny.

Comments

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen wanders up, well-mannered grey mabari at his heels. When he stops, so does she, sitting and blinking at Karkat.

"Karkat." A nod.

It would be rude to be like SO ABOUT THIS SHIELD right away.

[crabbycustomer]

"HEY CULLEN," he says, scowling down at his faint reflection in the gleaming surface.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?"

[howtoactfereldan]

"We were about to conduct training exercises out back," he says, gesturing to Ci. "But then -- is that new equipment?"

Not right away. But he said hi. That makes it okay.

[crabbycustomer]

"NEW TO ME," Karkat says. "AND A NEW STRIFE ALLOCATION FOR ME. AND... NEWLY DUPLICATED, IN WITH SOME SEVERE BATTLE DAMAGE MAGICALLY EDITED OUT IN THE DUPLICATION PROCESS. SO.... SURE."

"IT'S VERY BRIGHT."

[howtoactfereldan]

"It is," he says, eyeing it. "You could exploit that, at least for a while."

[crabbycustomer]

"IF IT WAS BRIGHT ENOUGH FOR THAT I WOULD NEED SOME SCINTILLATION GOGGLES MYSELF," Karkat says, although that's not a definite no. Just a probable one, because... Strider.

"THE PROSPITIANS WERE KIND OF HEAVILY INTO GOLD, AS A COLOR SCHEME."

[howtoactfereldan]

"Is it ceremonial, then?"

Cullen peers at the engraving. "That's a great deal of detail for something that exists to take punishment."

[crabbycustomer]

"I DON'T REALLY KNOW. I FOUND IT IN THE LABYRINTH ALREADY BEAT TO SHIT. IT SEEMS LIKE SOME KIND OF GEAR INTENDED FOR A SPECIFIC PERSON, THOUGH, THE WAY THE CELERES IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE SWORD FOR THE KNIGHT OF BLOOD. THERE'S AN INSCRIPTION AROUND THE EDGE. OR TWO, MAYBE."

He runs his fingers over the Alternian script running along the rim.

[howtoactfereldan]

"Any idea what they say?"

-- wait.

"A knight of blood?"

[nepetaleijon]

Just to clear up a potential faulty generalization, the narration would like to make it clear that Nepeta does not always drop from the rafters when meeting people in the bar.

On this occasion, she pops up from under the table instead.

"What is that?"

[crabbycustomer]

"GYAH!"


And the recovery.

"IT'S A... YOU KNOW, A THING FOR. FIGHTING."

Nepeta is rarely squeamish about dumb troll cultural stuff, but... still.

[nepetaleijon]

"Ohh. For like ... parrying?"

She's trying to be delicate here, okay.

[crabbycustomer]

"YEAH. WE FOUND IT IN THE LABYRINTH, REMEMBER? ALL BUSTED UP. I FIXED IT," he says, unnecessarily.

There are two inscriptions running around the edge; one goes clockwise and one goes counterclockwise.

We wait for one whose blood will move the wheels of history

We wait for one who will think how much blood it has cost

"I THINK IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN MEANT FOR KANKRI."

[nepetaleijon]

"Your Ancestor? How come?"

She tilts her head to peer at the inscriptions.

[crabbycustomer]

"HE USED TO HAVE A, UH, A SHIELD ALLOCATION. HE WAS A PACIFIST," Karkat mumbles.

"BUT HE GAVE IT UP IN THE GAME EVENTUALLY. HE SWITCHED TO PISTOLKIND, UNDER CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH I WOULDN'T CALL SUSPICIOUS EXCEPT FOR ALL THE WEIRD CONTEXT. NAMELY, THAT I FOUND HIS STRIFE ALLOCATION CARD AND A VAGUE-ASS MEMORY ABOUT IT HIDDEN IN TAVROS'S DREAMBUBBLE. ALSO, THE STINK OF CLOWN."

[nepetaleijon]

"That's ... defurnitely weird, at least, even if it isn't susphissious."

She eyes the shield again, as though wondering whether it's complicit in the suspiciousness somehow.

[crabbycustomer]

"I FOUND IT IN AN OLD DREAD EFFIGY TAVROS HAD BEEN USING FOR LANCE PRACTICE," he says. "NOT THAT WEIRD, I GUESS. BUT I ASKED AROUND, AND KANKRI USED TO USE THEM THE SAME WAY TO PRACTICE WITH HIS PISTOL."

"KURLOZ GAVE IT TO HIM--SOME KIND OF RELIGIOUS RELIC. AND KANKRI BECAME OBSESSIVE ABOUT PRACTICING WITH IT. IN THE MEMORY I FOUND, HE IS REALLY DEFENSIVE ABOUT PORRIM WANTING HIM TO GIVE UP HIS SHIELD. BUT AT SOME POINT HE JUST... FLIPPED."

"AND THE MEMORY CUTS OFF RIGHT WHEN HE'S GOING TO HAVE DINNER WITH KURLOZ."

"RANCID-ASS CLOWN STINK ALL OVER THIS SHIT."

[freedom_is_grey]

"Is whatever you want to do with that perhaps easier to accomplish with a mirror?"

Ysalwen pauses on her way up to Karkat, shielding her eyes from the glare.

"Or a vast array of mirrors? Or a focus lens?"

Liranan, meanwhile, has dropped to the ground and hidden his eyes behind one outflung paw.

Someone here is very dramatic.

[crabbycustomer]

"NO, IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE A SHIELD. THE PROSPITIANS HAD A 'THING' FOR YELLOW CULTURALLY."

If he were a Derse dreamer, it would be purple at least. "IT'S KIND OF TERRIBLE, ISN'T IT?"

[freedom_is_grey]

"Situationally useful, maybe, but not -- all the time."

Um.

"Unless you want to blind your allies, too, I suppose."

Liranan whines. Quietly.

"Did you get it here?"

[crabbycustomer]

"I FOUND IT IN THE LABYRINTH A WHILE AGO, BUT IT WAS PRETTY WRECKED."

"I THINK IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN MEANT FOR KANKRI? BEFORE HE GAVE UP HIS STRIFE ALLOCATION. IT'S CLEARLY GAME-RELATED, AND THERE'S AN INSCRIPTION."

[freedom_is_grey]

"Oh."

Huh, that's -- huh.

A hint of animation leaves Ysalwen's face at that, and she moves closer, blinking hard twice before leaning over to study the shield.

"What does it say? If -- you know. If you don't mind telling me."

[crabbycustomer]

"WE WAIT FOR ONE WHOSE BLOOD WILL MOVE THE WHEELS OF HISTORY. AND THEN ON THE INSIDE, GOING THE OTHER WAY: WE WAIT FOR ONE WHO WILL THINK HOW MUCH BLOOD IT HAS COST."

[freedom_is_grey]

Well, then.

"Is it wrong if I'm hoping it doesn't mean a literal blood sacrifice? Spilling that kind of thing on stones just -- makes really unpleasant things happen, in my experience. Momentarily useful, perhaps, but the aftereffects -- "

She shakes her head, very slightly.

"That's you, then? I know you're very aware of the cost of things, at least. So."

[crabbycustomer]

"IT SOUNDS LIKE THE KIND OF CRYPTIC FATALISTIC THING THEY WOULD SAY, AND IT'S ABOUT BLOOD," Karkat says wearily.

"I'M NOT REALLY SURE WHICH ONE IS WHICH, BUT HE'S THE ONE WHO HAD AN INCARNATION DIE SPECTACULARLY."