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edenfallingback to part 43
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Trollstuck: Make Her Pay, part 44
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====>Be Aradia
Davven's teleportation isn't anything like the FTL warp travel most ordinary psionics can create with the right biomechanical augmentation. It's just an endless non-moment of non-time and non-space and then suddenly you're in a strange respiteblock lit by an eerie purple-black glow that reminds you of Alonde's squiddleterror. To your left, flickering images are projected on a blank wall; to your right is an open door. In front of you--
In front of you Equius Zahhak is punching Vriska in the stomach.
You blink as Vriska flies across the room.
====>Evaluate the situation
Your dead potential future double is on the floor at your feet with potential future Davven's corpse wrapped around her, both gently smoldering. Current living Davven is hanging onto your right arm, apparently trying very hard not to vomit or collapse, and you have a firm grip on Sollux and the squiddleterror with your left hand. No real surprises there. You can't say the same for the rest of your surroundings!
Behind you and to the left, Jothan has just crumpled to the floor with blood running down his fingers and face from where it looks like he was trying to tear his ears off with his bare hands, so you're inclined to think that Equius just interrupted Vriska before she could add another murder to her list. Equius hurries over to examine the wounds. There are several dozen things wrong with this scenario -- starting with Equius caring enough to save anyone other than Nepeta -- but you're not going to argue with the evidence.
And speaking of evidence, you've just realized that the images on the wall are the burning remnants of your hive and the poor squiddleterror's slowly dissolving corpse. They're being projected from an eerie glowing sphere next to Vriska's computer.
Dark and eldritch majyyks aren't really your area of expertise, but in this case you feel safe assuming that leaving that sphere in Vriska's possession would be a Bad Idea.
====>Steal it
You let go of Davven and Sollux and focus your residual telekinetic oomph. The sphere flies across the respiteblock into your hand.
Vriska scrambles to her feet and snarls. "Fuck you, that's mine! Give it back!"
Is she crazy?
"No!" you tell her. "You were going to kill me. Actually, you did kill me -- see?" You point down at your own smoking corpse. "You crippled Tavros, you betrayed Terezi, and all I wanted to do was make you realize you can't do things like that to your friends. If you wanted to blow up my house, okay, maybe I'd deserve that. If you came to fight me myself, even that would make sense. But you sent Sollux to kill me! I can't forgive that."
You can feel your psionics crackling around you despite your exhaustion. Your head pounds. A thin line of blood trickles down from the corner of your eye. You don't care.
"You tried to kill me first!" Vriska says. "Do you know what it's like being haunted? Do you?! All the ghosts around me cold and hating and they never shut up and they never go away and I can feel them inside and it burns until there's nothing left to do but die!" She takes a wobbling step toward you, raises one hand to her head. "I can make you feel it."
A faint not-sound starts to gather at the edges of your mind. In your hands, the sphere goes pitch black and seems to triple in weight. You wobble on your feet at the sudden shift in balance.
====>Davven: Make yourself useful
If anyone ever asks you to transport another extradimensional eldritch abomination, technically dead or not, you are going to refuse with extreme prejudice. You feel like you scraped the inside of your head bloody and then coated it in raw zombie guts. It's taking all your concentration not to hurl on your own barbecued corpse.
Beside you, Aradia goes ominously silent. You glance up enough to see Vriska's hands in a classic psychic manipulation pose.
Fuck the world, not this again.
You contemplate grabbing a sword from your grief specibus and attempting a distraction. The idea makes your stomach lurch angrily.
Oh, hey. Idea!
You stumble forward and give up on trying not to puke.
====>Aradia: Take advantage
Well, that's certainly one way to solve a problem.
The sphere recovers its glow and loses the phantom weight as Vriska shoves Davven away, screeching about the watery orange vomit streaking her clothes.
You drop the eldritch sphere and dash forward while she's distracted. You probably shouldn't use your psionics any more tonight, but that's okay. Ripping Vriska apart with your bare hands will be just as satisfying.
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Next up is probably Jothan. Probably. (Multi-character scenes are such a logistical pain in the neck...)
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Hey look, I'm still working on this story! We are inching ever-closer to a hopefully dramatic conclusion. :-)
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Trollstuck: Make Her Pay, part 44
---------------------------------------------
====>Be Aradia
Davven's teleportation isn't anything like the FTL warp travel most ordinary psionics can create with the right biomechanical augmentation. It's just an endless non-moment of non-time and non-space and then suddenly you're in a strange respiteblock lit by an eerie purple-black glow that reminds you of Alonde's squiddleterror. To your left, flickering images are projected on a blank wall; to your right is an open door. In front of you--
In front of you Equius Zahhak is punching Vriska in the stomach.
You blink as Vriska flies across the room.
====>Evaluate the situation
Your dead potential future double is on the floor at your feet with potential future Davven's corpse wrapped around her, both gently smoldering. Current living Davven is hanging onto your right arm, apparently trying very hard not to vomit or collapse, and you have a firm grip on Sollux and the squiddleterror with your left hand. No real surprises there. You can't say the same for the rest of your surroundings!
Behind you and to the left, Jothan has just crumpled to the floor with blood running down his fingers and face from where it looks like he was trying to tear his ears off with his bare hands, so you're inclined to think that Equius just interrupted Vriska before she could add another murder to her list. Equius hurries over to examine the wounds. There are several dozen things wrong with this scenario -- starting with Equius caring enough to save anyone other than Nepeta -- but you're not going to argue with the evidence.
And speaking of evidence, you've just realized that the images on the wall are the burning remnants of your hive and the poor squiddleterror's slowly dissolving corpse. They're being projected from an eerie glowing sphere next to Vriska's computer.
Dark and eldritch majyyks aren't really your area of expertise, but in this case you feel safe assuming that leaving that sphere in Vriska's possession would be a Bad Idea.
====>Steal it
You let go of Davven and Sollux and focus your residual telekinetic oomph. The sphere flies across the respiteblock into your hand.
Vriska scrambles to her feet and snarls. "Fuck you, that's mine! Give it back!"
Is she crazy?
"No!" you tell her. "You were going to kill me. Actually, you did kill me -- see?" You point down at your own smoking corpse. "You crippled Tavros, you betrayed Terezi, and all I wanted to do was make you realize you can't do things like that to your friends. If you wanted to blow up my house, okay, maybe I'd deserve that. If you came to fight me myself, even that would make sense. But you sent Sollux to kill me! I can't forgive that."
You can feel your psionics crackling around you despite your exhaustion. Your head pounds. A thin line of blood trickles down from the corner of your eye. You don't care.
"You tried to kill me first!" Vriska says. "Do you know what it's like being haunted? Do you?! All the ghosts around me cold and hating and they never shut up and they never go away and I can feel them inside and it burns until there's nothing left to do but die!" She takes a wobbling step toward you, raises one hand to her head. "I can make you feel it."
A faint not-sound starts to gather at the edges of your mind. In your hands, the sphere goes pitch black and seems to triple in weight. You wobble on your feet at the sudden shift in balance.
====>Davven: Make yourself useful
If anyone ever asks you to transport another extradimensional eldritch abomination, technically dead or not, you are going to refuse with extreme prejudice. You feel like you scraped the inside of your head bloody and then coated it in raw zombie guts. It's taking all your concentration not to hurl on your own barbecued corpse.
Beside you, Aradia goes ominously silent. You glance up enough to see Vriska's hands in a classic psychic manipulation pose.
Fuck the world, not this again.
You contemplate grabbing a sword from your grief specibus and attempting a distraction. The idea makes your stomach lurch angrily.
Oh, hey. Idea!
You stumble forward and give up on trying not to puke.
====>Aradia: Take advantage
Well, that's certainly one way to solve a problem.
The sphere recovers its glow and loses the phantom weight as Vriska shoves Davven away, screeching about the watery orange vomit streaking her clothes.
You drop the eldritch sphere and dash forward while she's distracted. You probably shouldn't use your psionics any more tonight, but that's okay. Ripping Vriska apart with your bare hands will be just as satisfying.
---------------
---------------
---------------
Next up is probably Jothan. Probably. (Multi-character scenes are such a logistical pain in the neck...)
---------------------------------------------
Hey look, I'm still working on this story! We are inching ever-closer to a hopefully dramatic conclusion. :-)
