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Deer Country Mod ([personal profile] reddosmod) wrote in [community profile] deercountry2021-11-08 02:50 pm

No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering.

NOVEMBER 2021 EVENT
IMAGE DESCRIPTORS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE

Prompt One
[Image One: Red mushrooms with white spots growing rapidly.]
[Image Two: Mushrooms on log with morning mist. ] Within Prompt: Orange mushrooms walking on small, greenfeet. Jellyfish-like mushroom with mini-mushrooms growing on top. Vine-like mushrooms with clear heads. Blue mushrooms.

Prompt Two
[Image One: Corpse pinned to chainlink fence with man standing in front.]
[Image Two: Limbless, headless, semi-naked bloody bodies wiggling in walls.]

Prompt Three
[Image One: Disfigured humanoid with skin stretched over eyes and chattering, exposed teeth.]
[Image Two: Large organ-like structure pulsating with a human head attached on top via metal contraption.]

MUSHABOOMING
WHEN: Month of November
WHERE: Everywhere
CONTENT WARNINGS: Poisonous mushrooms that induce paralysis and suffocation and violent hallucinations.


Come November, Trench is flourishing with a wide variety of mushrooms. Mushrooms can be found growing in the woods, around your house, and maybe even on your house if you're especially lucky...Or unlucky, depending on the type of mushroom.

The mushroom is considered to be arguably the most important food source in Trench. It's the easiest to find and grow, and one of the easiest to harvest. It's a dependable source of protein and can fill people up. They are filled with vitamins that directly help your blood and heart health and can help keep your digestive system on track. But not everyone is a mushroom farmer and most Trenchies wind up foraging for their own mushrooms. Woven baskets are sold just about everywhere to help forage. Omens are extremely good at scenting out edible mushrooms.

The following edible mushrooms can be found/grown throughout Trench: button, portobello, cremini, oyster, chanterelle, porcini, black trumpets, morels, enoki, shimeji, shiitake, and giant puffballs. If you are extremely lucky, you might even find rare truffles. Truffles can be exchanged for highly valuable goods such as magnificent jewels and specialized weapons. Or you can keep the truffles to yourself and use them in a nice dish.

It is said there are hundreds of unique species of mushrooms to Trench. The following mushrooms are permanent features in Trench and can be found most commonly during Bone Season:

WALKING TERRORS

These parasitic mushrooms seem to "walk" around the forest floor. Arcane scholars have determined that their motion is actually just a natural response to stimuli in the environment and helps the fungi to spread its spores onto living hosts. Once you have been exposed to a cloud of these spores, you will immediately begin to hallucinate the world around you warping into a terrifying hellscape. Some say that Walking Terrors have driven people to beasthood in a matter of minutes. But there is a huge benefit to finding Walking Terrors: their caps, once dried and crushed down, are an ample treatment option for corruption. The tricky part is actually getting them. Covering your entire body, head to toe, completely is one way of avoiding the spores and probably the easiest way. Does anyone have a hazmat suit? Another option is knowing a darkblood or someone with similar abilities who can manipulate the direction of the spores in the air by pushing them away. Once the caps have been removed from the rest of the mushroom, the spores seem to lose their nightmarish quality and, at most, will just make you sneeze.


FLOATERS

These mushrooms come out exclusively at night and float lazily through the air. They bob and bump around, their tentacles searching for something to cling to and settle on. They mostly search for tree branches but have been known to accidentally cling to animals and people. The tentacles paralyze any sentient being it lands on. The good thing is that the cap and the little mushrooms on top are completely harmless to touch so if you have a buddy around, they can pull them off with no problem. You'll regain the ability to move your body a few seconds after the tentacles have been removed. The paralytic quality of these tentacles do not impact vilebloods. These mushrooms dried out and cooked are said to amplify electric abilities in coldbloods for a short moment of time. They can also be used to enchant an item with paralytic properties.


WEEPERS

These rare mushrooms can pop up just about anywhere. Only one grows every hundred feet or so and they don't get any bigger than a penny. Weepers are highly sought after since they have been known to greatly reduce corruption. Consuming a Weeper raw will immediately calm someone down, get rid of any current anxiety, wash away depression and paranoia, and clear the mind of hallucinations. Weepers can sharpen the mind and help increase focus. The effect lasts for days and sometimes even weeks. It isn't a permanent cure but it sure beats having a panic attack. Weepers can be collected and saved indefinitely. There are no other uses for them than mental relief, and they must be consumed raw. Cooking a Weeper will get rid of its healing properties - but it does add great flavor to a dish! If a mentally stable person eats them, there will be no effect.


BLUE CHEEKS

These radiant mushrooms grow in clusters on healthy trees and seem to thrive among vegetation. You might find Blue Cheeks in your own garden. They are certainly pretty, but you don't want to eat these. They will cause you to slowly suffocate - even if you don't typically need to "breathe" in the traditional way. It's an agonizing way to go. Your body will start to experience micro-seizures as it locks up, your throat slowly closing up, lungs squeezing inward. It will begin to feel like someone is sitting on your chest and there will be no relief. Your cheeks start to turn blue. Most who eat Blue Cheeks wind up dead, but if someone forcibly makes you vomit shortly after consuming a Blue Cheek, you may be able to survive. Some harvest Blue Cheeks and smash them up to coat their weapons in the jelly-like substance. This substance causes the same effect but must be used while the Blue Cheek jam is still wet. It will stay wet for an hour.

THE SLEEPER FARM
WHEN: Month of November
WHERE: Everywhere + The Sleeper Farm
CONTENT WARNINGS: Kidnapping, claustrophobia, harvesting blood/organs, imprisonment, temporary nerf of powers, blood sacrifice, brief amnesia, confusion, loss of time, breathing in blood, treatment of humanoids(?) like livestock, themes of meat markets, themes of torture, mutilated corpses, mutilating injuries.


The blood pollution is thick this month and the more a Sleeper is exposed, the more a Sleeper will find themselves falling into a strange stupor. You seem to forget what you were doing, where you are, what time it is. You will find it increasingly difficult to use your blood powers. Some may lose their new abilities entirely. It's like trying to wake up from a deep dream, everything's sluggish and hazy.

Then you blink. That's all. Maybe you went to sleep or wash your face. When you open your eyes again, you're somewhere else entirely and have no recollection of how you got there. Your body has a deep ache, you're filthy, hungry, and feel like it's somehow been days. You have nothing on you except a drab red jumpsuit. No shoes. No Omni. No weapons.

THE STALLS: 1st FLOOR


If you're lucky, you wake up in a stall with another Sleeper (or more). You can hear and feel the dull vibration of heavy machinery chugging around you; you can smell oil and something thick and musty fermenting.

You are in some way restrained upon waking, whether through shackles to the wall, one another, or some other means. Whatever put you here doesn't want you to escape. You can barely access your powers (for now), but maybe you can find help in nearby Sleepers.

Once you escape, you almost wish you had stayed in your stall. The stalls are the only thing that's farmlike about the Sleeper Farm. It's an architectural masterpiece of steel pistons gyrating, metal staircases heading in every direction, steam-powered doors that exhale open upon an approach. Oil drips continually from above, like filthy rainfall, but every now and then, so does blood of all kind. Never enough to detect the source immediately though.

Your only real option left is to...explore. And this metal palace is huge. You will find various tools for construction around: wrenches, hammers, saws, nails, anything you'd find at a hardware store. You could come across workboots, protective gloves, helmets with lights. The metal around you is boiling hot, and if you're not careful, getting burns is all too easy. You can hear something banging around above. You may even see movement through metal slots of humanoids rushing away. Then you start to find the source of the blood...

STORAGE: 2-9th Floors


Sleepers have been strung up in various locations. Maybe they are ones you recognize, maybe they are you (if you're unlucky enough to wake up like that), or maybe they are completely foreign to you, maimed beyond recognition. Many have been pinned up and mutilated in some way, whether fully skinned and bled dry, or body parts removed, skin carved into. Some have buckets beneath them to collect blood while others seem to have been decoratively destroyed. There is no saving some, but there is saving many. Some might have only just been strung up, still alive, still fully intact, and without any harm done just yet...But no matter what, most won't remember how they got there.

The further you go, the more bodies you come across. Some bodies have been rolled up into bags and tossed into empty rooms in piles. The floor is slick with blood, and the metal maze becomes increasingly complex with tighter turns and thicker blood pollution. It becomes difficult to breathe without ingesting in some kind of blood - but on the other hand...Your powers begin to work because of it. You can start to feel it coming back to you. You can feel yourself slowly start to regain your strength. Which is probably for the best, since you're not out of this hell just yet.

BLOOD HARVEST: 10th Floor


You enter a perfect, circular room built out of pure bloodstone from the different blood types, neatly flushed together in a mesmerizing display of artistry and architecture. At the center of a room is an enormous golden statue of The Tower, hands held out with palms open.

Filling the palms of the statue and surrounding the base of the Tower are hundreds of organs, perfectly intact, given to the statue in sacrifice. The miraculous thing, however, is the fact that most of the organs still seem to be functioning - or at the very least, they aren't rotting the way they should be. It isn't something one wishes to look at for too long.

More importantly, are the five doors that represent the five different blood types. Each door is made from the same gray wood, but with a single bloodstone in the center. Beyond the door is where you come to discover the true horror of where you are.

You're in a Sleeper Farm. Sleepers have been organized by blood types into a vast room. Some cannot be saved, opened up on tables, their organs already carved out and given over to the sacrifice. Others are still alive, but hooked up to tubes, their blood being pumped into vats kept in the ceiling. More disturbingly are the bodies of Sleepers that barely look like Sleepers at all anymore - they have been stripped so thoroughly of everything, left like hunks of meat on hooks. There are fires stoked towards the back, with shelves of jars with blood vials and bloodstones.

It's probably time to wonder who did this to you. Who brought you to this place?

And probably how the hell you get out.

QUICK FACTS

1. To avoid this prompt, you can simply handwave your character getting lucky or Wearing a gas mask and full facial/bodily coverage to help keep the likelihood of blood pollution impact lower.

2. If characters don't have eyes, any variation of vulnerability will count (ie; turning away from something, putting on headphones, etc).

3. Characters cannot have their Omni or any other item in this prompt except items they find along the way. They can still summon their Omens. Omens can help guide Sleepers, and provide communication. One can use Omens to transmit messages to the Network. However, characters cannot find their way to this location from outside. This is a by-chance location.

4. You can choose your character's level of restraint (muzzles/handcuffs/etc) and how easily they can escape them (maybe the shackles can be broken apart with enough strength or you need a nearby key).

5. Those whose Patron is the Tower will be able to more easily navigate the Sleeper Farm and figure out its continually moving parts. They may get a "telepathic" swaying by the Tower to go in the right direction. They will also instinctively know that they are inside the Tower's body in some way.

6. Characters can wake up in any part of the Tower and experience this prompt multiple times.

7. To get out, one must sacrifice some sort of blood or an organ directly to the Tower whether their own or someone else's. This will transport a Sleeper back into town in a random location. Alternatively: Moon Presence will be saving Sleepers by "pulling" them out of this place at random. It will feel a lot like traveling through the lamps, but Sleepers will realize it's the Moon Presence instead. She will place them back in their homes. This can be done at any time.

8. This prompt is meant to go hand-in-hand with the third prompt, but it is not required to engage with both.

BLOOD CRAZED ZEALOTS
WHEN: Month of November
WHERE: ???? Everywhere and the Sleeper Farm
CONTENT WARNINGS: Severe disorientation, psychological horror, paradoxical horror, feelings of being trapped/lost, Cenobites/beings with extreme bodily modifications, themes of mental and physical torture.


You are not alone in the Sleeper Farm, and someone powerful has brought you here. It wasn't the Tower though. It was someone obsessed with the Tower. Or...obsessed with blood.

They lurk throughout Trench, never letting themselves be known until they want to be known. They abduct Sleepers in the blink of an eye, masters of reality-bending and experts of blood abilities.

Meet the Blood-Crazed Zealots.

Or, as you will come to learn through various interactions, ancient Sleepers who have been exposed to blood pollution for far too long and who have been completely corrupt by it. These are masters of their blood magic, darkblood magicians who can snap their fingers and rip a Sleeper off the streets. Palebloods who can make you forget who you are, where you are. Vilebloods who have mastered the exact skill of extracting blood and harvesting it for bloodstones and sacrifices. Warmbloods who have gladly given their bodies up to power the Tower. Coldbloods who keep the metal machinery of the Sleeper Farm running perfectly.

These are the Sleepers who learned to survive in a different way, Sleepers who learned to cohesively blend their skills together to not only survive but excel. Most have completely disfigured themselves, claiming it to be an act of religious commitment to the "Patron Pthumerians that guide us."

The Blood Crazed Zealots believe that they must continually sacrifice Sleepers to the Tower primarily in order to keep the city of Trench strong against corruption. And the thing is...They technically aren't wrong. The Bone Season is when Trench becomes the weakest, so the Blood Crazed Zealots work overtime to get the blood pumping into the streets.

These beings are naturally sadistic, uninterested in compassion. Yet they show the potential for what Sleepers could learn, and if you're clever enough, you may even be able to get a Blood Crazed Zealot to pause and teach you a thing about your own blood type. They are ruthless and powerful, but far from irrational or stupid. Corrupt they may be, senseless they are not.

Some of you may wake up to one of these creatures torturing you or torturing a friend. You may catch them in the streets of Trench, turning a corner, and that may be your chance to follow them into the Sleeper Farm by stepping into the black holes they leave in their wake when teleporting.

The Blood Crazed Zealots can summon hooks from nowhere and snare you in their traps. They can get extremely creative and oftentimes will enjoy dragging out the agony. They know how to drain Sleepers of their blood and their powers...So how is one to even combat one of these?

Use their own game against them, of course. Blood is power and you might as well use yours. Blood Crazed Zealots are tied to their word and obey the law of the blood. If you create a blood oath with one of these Blood Crazed Zealots that's just clever enough, you may be able to protect yourself and a few others. But be careful. Blood oaths with Blood Crazed Zealots can have loopholes. Ask to be set free and they might let your body go, but keep your mind to drive you insane.

Despite their power, they are still limited in what they can do. They can't be everywhere at once, and one can hide from them. They can even be killed if a Sleeper properly regains their strength.

QUICK FACTS

1. You can create your own variation of a Blood Crazed Zealot. Their general concept is inspired by cenobites, but the general concept is a humanoid-being who looks like they have sacrificed a good deal of their body.

2. They will communicate this information openly to Sleepers who ask about it as well as tell Sleepers about other lore and facts about blood types/the Pthumerians.

3. Their powers are based on regular blood type powers (ie; a coldblood BCZ could torture people with electricity.) Some are much weaker than others.

4. They would not accept a new Sleeper who wanted to become "one of them" since they are created after decades of exposure to blood pollution.

5. People can run into these both in the Sleeper Farm and in Trench. One could convince a Blood Crazed Zealot to bring them to the Sleeper Farm in order to save others.
CODING
klawful: iconsprite (1185615 (8))

[personal profile] klawful 2021-11-14 07:47 pm (UTC)(link)
It probably helped. Karkat was far from an overly complicated alien - at least at a glance. He winds up resting a hand against his choice, mocking offense.

“I have never said a foul thing in my relatively chaste and pure lifespan,” he says, “I am practically a goddamn celibate with the purest, most innocent thoughts ever.”

As if he even knew what an innocent thought looked like.

“Do you really want to be debauched in your yard?”

Karkat doesn’t notice right away, digging his hands among the dirt to cut away some mushrooms. “I expect dinner later then.”

He turns his head over his shoulder and catches Kyle looking, his eyes brightening. “Keep looking and we won’t get through the hour.”
kyley_b: https://fmdinisio.tumblr.com/ (yup)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2021-11-14 08:04 pm (UTC)(link)
That's too much to bear and Kyle snorts so hard it almost hurts.

"We won't fuck in the yard, we can go inside for that part," he says. "And of course I'll make you dinner. I like making you dinner, actually. I feel like somewhere my mom approves of that fact." Maybe not so much the alien fucking, but then again it was hard to tell - his parents had a very creative sex life, something he wished he didn't know.

Kyle rolls his eyes and turns back to his oyster mushrooms. "Please. I'M the one with the self control, here."
klawful: iconsprite (𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔)

[personal profile] klawful 2021-11-14 09:00 pm (UTC)(link)
“Oh, so glad you are so civilized.”

The fact that Kyle liked to cook him dinner gave Karkat an unusual feeling. He wasn’t familiar at all with domesticity. It was baffling and Karkat was trying to categorize the exact emotion it made him feel.

“I think I really like you making me dinner. It makes me feel weird, but not in a bad way.” He would examine that more closely later.

He moves over to pick mushrooms next to Kyle. “It is actually super adorable you think that. You realize my body can be a total vice trap right?”
kyley_b: https://mcnuggyy.tumblr.com/ (hey)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2021-11-14 11:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Kyle beams. "Well, I'm glad. Equius told me human food tastes like shit, so I'm glad you're not just choking it down to be nice to me. And I'm doubly glad that I remember some of my mom's recipes."

He glances over at Karkat, eyebrows raised. "The fuck does that mean?"
klawful: iconsprite (2057735 (5))

Cw: mildly nsfw but also so is most of this thread probably

[personal profile] klawful 2021-11-14 11:49 pm (UTC)(link)
“Full offense but do I actually seem like someone who would lie just to be sweet?” Yes, actually. Karkat was arguably one of the more sensitive trolls. “Anyway, Equius is a snobby highblood. It barely shocks me he sneers at human food. That bulgemuncher probably hasn’t had good human food ever.”

He looks back at Kyle and gestures to himself. “My body is a fortress. It is a fucking temple. I don’t even need sexual gratification the way your horny little race does. I could go eons without getting off.”
kyley_b: https://skiesandrainforest.tumblr.com/ (seduction)

this thread was written by degenerates.

[personal profile] kyley_b 2021-11-15 12:13 am (UTC)(link)
"No, not really," Kyle admits after considering it for a moment. "Yeah, I asked if he could make me a pasta maker - he could, it's awesome - but didn't want anything to eat in exchange. More for you and me, I guess."

Kyle starts snickering. "I'm not saying that you couldn't. I believe you could. But I also remember you biting the shit out of me after I accused you of dripping. So. I'm JUST saying, while I'm sure you could... I'm not convinced you'd want to."
klawful: iconsprite (2002977 (1))

Gross together or not at all

[personal profile] klawful 2021-11-15 12:21 am (UTC)(link)
“Good. Let the bastard starve,” Karkat mutters, snorting at the idea of Equius being stubborn about that. He was completely unsurprised by that reaction. “That guy is a bitch and a half to deal with. You get used to it. We all have grating as hell personalities though.”

Karkat gives Kyle a shove. “Excuse you. You provoked me! And of course I wouldn’t want to NOW. But I could to torment you. That would practically be a gift to me and me alone. And maybe you. You are kind of a masochistic perv I think.”
kyley_b: https://mcnuggyy.tumblr.com/ (gah!)

<3

[personal profile] kyley_b 2021-11-15 12:35 am (UTC)(link)
"I dunno, he seemed okay." Kyle has a very high tolerance for assholes, though. "And you're not THAT bad."

"I did, although I didn't fully understand how badly at the time, I was just really mad at you." He shoves Karkat right back, then resumes picking the last ripe oyster mushrooms in the vicinity. He mulls over the assessment of his character, face flushing slowly. "...yeah," he finally says. "Yeah, I think you might be right. Which is a revelation I might have to sit with a while."
klawful: iconsprite (lb33)

[personal profile] klawful 2021-11-15 01:10 am (UTC)(link)
"He is not okay. He's an insufferable bigot." Karkat forces himself to calm down and takes a deep breath. "Okay, admittedly, he's better than he used to be. It seems he's matured. But he's still a prick. And so am I, for that matter, you just have delusional taste in your company."

Karkat cuts out his last mushroom as well and drops it into the basket. He wipes his claws off on his pants, considering Kyle's admittance.

"It's a good thing you're dating someone like me then," he says, the slightest hint of smugness in his voice. He gets to his feet and offers both of his hands to Kyle. "I'll step on you and make you thank me for it. It'll be great. C'mon."
kyley_b: https://skiesandrainforest.tumblr.com/ (seduction)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2021-11-15 01:40 am (UTC)(link)
Kyle makes a face. "Ohhhh, he was a higher caste. Fuck. Yeah, I get that. Fuck him if he still believes that shit, for seriously. I'll stab him in the throat if he gives you shit." Big talk, Kyle. But the sentiment is nice?

He takes Karkat's hands and gets hoisted up, cheeks still pink. "Oh will you? I guess this is after I pin you to the ground and make you eat dirt."
klawful: iconsprite (lb71)

[personal profile] klawful 2021-11-15 01:50 am (UTC)(link)
Karkat exhales slowly and nods. "Yeah. Not the highest, but a lot higher than me. Bluebloods, purple, to fuchsia are the highest. Then you get the lower casts which are all the ugly colors like piss-yellow and greens and then rust-red. Then whatever the actual fuck mine is." But Equius had said he didn't buy into the system anymore. So far, he didn't seem to, but Equius used to be one of the worst about it. "He hasn't said anything so far. I guess being on another world helped him realize what an asshole he was about it. Maybe he has gotten better. I don't know yet. It's hard to forget about though." He does smile at Kyle's violent offer.

It was flattering and most certainly nice. "Thanks. My ex-moirail actually murdered the fuck out of Equius, so I guess I can sleep well knowing that much." Granted...Well, now probably wasn't the time to open that entire can of worms.

Especially with not much better conversations on the metaphorical table. He keeps his hand in Kyle's after he's back on his feet. "As I've said, I'm flexible. I think it was me who pinned you against the tree and was getting you riled up. How did you put it? You popped half a chub, was it?"
Edited 2021-11-15 01:50 (UTC)
kyley_b: https://mcnuggyy.tumblr.com/ (gah!)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2021-11-15 02:19 am (UTC)(link)
"Your blood isn't ugly. Not now, and not before." Kyle reaches for Karkat's shoulder and touches it briefly. "Yeah. I get that. My old kismesis was a real douche about race stuff."

"Did they? Jeez, you guys really did have a bunch of timelines, huh? I'd be so fucking confused."

Kyle snorts and attempts to look calm and collected. He fails. "Yeah, well. So? Just because I get hard doesn't mean I have to fuck or whatever. Plus I could get you riled up right back! I can do that!"
klawful: iconsprite (lb83)

[personal profile] klawful 2021-11-15 02:30 am (UTC)(link)
Much like Kyle, Karkat had his own insecurities that were difficult for him to get his brain around. He looks briefly down, feeling flustered by the sentiment. He winds up saying nothing at all, his tongue suddenly too heavy in his mouth. He nods at the second part though, empathetic to the issue with obnoxious bigots.

He finally finds his voice and clears his throat. "Yeah, man, it was really hectic. That's what happens when you've got time players at the forefront. It could get really confusing. Honestly, I'm assuming I'm probably on some new doomed timeline. There are so many of those."

Which sounded bad in theory, but if Karkat thought it was something to be concerned over, there wasn't a hint of that in his voice.

He grins at Kyle and drops his hand to instead loop his arm through Kyle's so they could walk close together on the way back. "Uh-huh. Oh, I'm sure you can Kyle," he drawls, and although he sounds sarcastic and indifferent, he knew it was completely true. He wasn't about to say that. "Whatever makes you feel good about yourself, sweetheart."
kyley_b: https://mcnuggyy.tumblr.com/ (hey)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2021-11-15 03:07 am (UTC)(link)
"I hope not that doomed," Kyle says softly, telling himself not to be offended. In spite of having some kind of time related abilities himself, he can't quite wrap his mind around timeline things.

He walks close, dopily happy for the contact. "Sweetheart now, huh? Should I give you a pet name? Babe, maybe? Honey? Boobookittyfuck?"
klawful: iconsprite (lb79)

[personal profile] klawful 2021-11-15 03:24 am (UTC)(link)
Karkat looks up at Kyle and grins behind his mask, curling a hand around Kyle's bicep to squeeze. "Doomed timeline really just means someone didn't do something they were supposed to do, so the timeline didn't get properly closed. I created literally hundreds of doomed timelines. Anything can cause a doomed timeline. I'm just saying I wouldn't be that surprised if this version of me was from one of those timelines. It's really just a technical term. Although I guess for a lot of us it meant we died and our ghosts were indefinitely left to linger wherever they died. Which isn't as bleak as it sounds."

Realizing he's rambling and stops. Then he carefully admits, "It's really hard to think I'm out of the game altogether. I keep trying to hack through the network to figure it out. Or at least see if I can find any relics."

It was probably wildly boring. He scoffs. "Sure, Kyle. Call me boobookittyfuck. See how much you enjoy saying that mouthful on a regular basis."
kyley_b: https://lafiska.tumblr.com/ (laugh)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2021-11-15 03:51 am (UTC)(link)
"That many? Dude, you must have really been up in the universe's business at all times." Shyly, he adds, "It's okay that you might want to go back. Or figure out what happened. I'm not like... I'm really glad you're here. But I know that you had a whole life - a bunch of them even - before. So. You can talk about it whenever you want. I promise not to get butthurt."

It's a promise he's relatively sure he can keep.

"And if I can help, just ask."

That gets him snickering again. "Whatever, dude, I'm just saying."
klawful: iconsprite (2057735 (3))

[personal profile] klawful 2021-11-15 04:03 am (UTC)(link)
"Ugh, yeah, dude. Equius makes fun of me for arguing with myself all the time, and maybe I am a little crazy on that front, but trust me, when you're literally dicking around space with yourself that long and having to put up with different iterations of yourself, it's just something you devolve into." At least when you hated yourself as much as Karkat hated himself. There was no way he could ever have a civil conversation with himself. The habit was hard to break.

Karkat blinks in surprise though at the idea of going back and he slows to a stop, pulling on Kyle's arm because what.

"Dude, no. I mean, yeah, I want to figure out what happened, but not really because I want to go back. That's just how my brain works. I want to be aware of everything at all times so I can be in control at all times. And so I know what the hell we need to brace ourselves against. I'm the leader for a reason and that's because I'm goddamn proactive about literally every single thing I ever do ever. I'm anal-retentive as fuck. I literally once stayed up for thirteen days straight just so I didn't fuck up a certain part of our game, and there's no doubt in my mind I'll pull that shit here trying to figure out something here too," he explains, his voice starting to pick up the pace with some edge of desperation.

He slows himself down, reaching a hand up to rest it on the side of Kyle's mask. "We both had lives before this. But we can have new lives here despite of that. Obviously, I miss my old boyfriend and my old friends, but I'm happy to be here. I wouldn't really change any of it." He sighs, dropping his hand before staring up at the sky, his red eyes bright.

"I don't know how to be normal or a self-contained organism anymore. My mind's always going to be up there." He points up to the sky, to the moon that had recently risen, washing them in its silver glow. "I think I lost the ability to think in terms of the linear-present only. Past, present, future. It's all the same piece of fabric just some of it has wrinkles...Shit, I'm getting sentimental." He looks back down at Kyle.

"Point is, don't let my obsessive, over-analytical ass make you feel like you're not enough or that I'm hoping to get out of dodge the moment I can. If anything, I just want to make sure I can track which timeline I'm from to gauge how much bullshit might follow me." Or something. It sounded right in his head, but maybe it really was all too vague and big. He shakes his head.

"Sorry. Thank you for your emotional support. I know talking about past relationships and past homes can be emotionally difficult to navigate and I appreciate your selfless offer. But if it ever does hurt you, please tell me. Reflecting on the past is not really worth damaging the present."
kyley_b: (bookish)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2021-11-15 04:44 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, I could see that. I learn, who else could possibly be more annoying to yourself than yourself?" Which sounds stupid, but it makes sense to him.

He slows, looking at Karkat with interest. "I understand," he says. "The way your brain works, I mean. Like that's just logical, you gotta be prepared and every single thing in your past has taught you to be this way."

He puts his hand over the one on his face. He feels a little guilty for prompting such a serious explanation, but also very glad because it's good to hear. "I'm sorry," he says. "I wasn't trying to like, beg for reassurance. I guess it's just that where I was before, the dude I was with, he had a boyfriend back on his earth, and like... he really loved him. If he'd shown up, I'm a hundred percent sure he'd have left me." He shrugs, not hurt so much as resigned.

He looks at the moon, silent, musing over what Karkat has said. "...it's NOT linear, though," he says. "I've seen that, now. So. Yeah. I feel like I'm going to understand you a lot better the more I learn."

He wraps his arms around Karkat and hugs him. "I promise, but you gotta do the same."
klawful: iconsprite (Default)

[personal profile] klawful 2021-11-15 05:14 am (UTC)(link)
"Exactly." To both those sentiments. Kyle always seemed to understand and his shoulders sink with some silent relief. He angles his head to the side at Kyle's apology, shaking his head.

"You don't need to apologize to me for your feelings ever, Kyle. You're allowed to want reassurance if that's something you need from me, and you're allowed to ask." Karkat didn't find that kind of communication insulting. He would reassure Kyle every single day if he needed it. That's what you did when you were with someone. He holds Kyle's hand between both of his own, listening carefully.

"I won't stand here and act like I don't love my old boyfriend anymore. I do. I always will. He was my best friend and my boyfriend for years," he admits, shrugging, "I don't have any interest in letting go of that feeling either. He's special to me."

He squeezes Kyle's hand tightly. "But so are you. And you occupy my soul now too, which means I don't plan to leave you unless some weird timeline fuck up happens to displace me from you. I want a relationship with you and that's what we're going to do. If I wasn't capable of loving outside of Dave, I'd never be so selfish as to date someone else. That's cruel to you and Dave both. You're not really a passing phase or filler-boyfriend that I'd drop the moment he shows up though. Like, yeah, it'd probably be awkward for a little bit and some conversations would probably need to be had, but Dave gets it as much as I do. Timelines are weird and sometimes things happen. You don't really ever need to feel threatened by any of that. If I didn't think I could fully commit to you, then I wouldn't have agreed to be with you." And it was really as simple as that to Karkat, his shoulders rolling up into a shrug.

Even if it was a suddenly serious conversation, it was also probably a conversation worth having. Ignoring their own realities wasn't going to help anyone, let alone their relationship. And he realized he never wanted to make Kyle sign in resignation at being second-rate or second-best.

"No," he agrees after a beat, "It's not linear. Nothing is." He hugs Kyle back, tightly. "I can do that. I suck at lying anyway."
kyley_b: https://mcnuggyy.tumblr.com/ (hey)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2021-11-15 05:46 am (UTC)(link)
Kyle shrugs, aware that the vulnerability he's feeling is probably good but still nervous about it. "Okay," he says. "I'm not used to that. But I'll be honest with you always." That's something he does intend to do, for both their sakes.

His cheeks burn progressively pinker the more Karkat speaks. He can't think of anything to say for some time, because he's never had anybody tell them he occupies part of their soul before.

"I'm okay with that," he finally says. "That you'll always love him. I'd be upset if you didn't, honestly." Best friends are supposed to be forever, so he can only imagine the connection true quadrant-smashing love must be so much more so.

"But thanks for being honest with me, and for like... not hypothetically ditching me. That means a lot to me, which is a little pathetic feeling, but whatever."

"Me too." He tugs his mask down and leans in to kiss Karkat's forehead. "You're the best, dude. For real."
klawful: iconsprite (lb55)

[personal profile] klawful 2021-11-15 06:16 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, I know you will be." They were already so good at this communication thing, he thought. Karkat watches Kyle, not pushing for a response, not pushing for anything. It was a lot to take in.

But what really hits him is Kyle's effortless acceptance of his feelings for Dave. His eyes widen, some part of him maybe bracing himself for...For something. It would have been easy for anyone to use that as an easy excuse out of a relationship with him. And it would have been easy for someone to ask him to try and get over Dave too. Something he hadn't even realized was tight inside of him loosens entirely.

"Thank you for understanding," he says, his voice wobbling just the slightest bit. "It's not pathetic. Honestly, I'd freak out if one of your old boyfriends showed up too. I think that's pretty normal when you want to be special to someone."

Karkat tugs his own mask off so he could stand up onto his toes and kiss Kyle on his mouth, holding his face for a few seconds before breaking the kiss. He grins, eyes bright. "You're even better, man." He kisses him a few more times, quick pecks in succession before kissing the tip of Kyle's nose.

"C'mon. We can go back to yours and fight and then maybe do another f-word thing."
kyley_b: (sappy)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2021-11-15 06:26 am (UTC)(link)
Kyle laughs. "I have exactly one old boyfriend," Kyle points out. "And we weren't at the undying love stage or anything. But I get it. It'd be like if my old kismesis showed up, or my moirail. It makes you go, 'whoa, hey, is there still room for me? What if they're better at this than I am?'" Or at least, that's how Kyle's anxiety over the idea works. "But yeah. If I think about it that way, it's not like I'd ditch you, either, so. Yeah. We're cool no matter what."

As is now usual, tension just melt out of him with every brush of Karkat's lips.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that. And cuddling. GodDAMN you're the best cuddler ever." He hooks his arm through Karkat's again. "Thanks for helping me with the mushrooms."
klawful: iconsprite (1230948)

[personal profile] klawful 2021-11-15 06:53 am (UTC)(link)
"Less competition for me," he states with a grin, "And honestly, I only really have one old boyfriend too." He wouldn't necessarily use the term 'boyfriend' to describe what Gamzee had been to him, and outside of that, his list of genuine relationships was practically nonexistent. He had always had way more crushes than anything.

"Glad we cleared all that up," he says, and while he sounds like he's teasing, he's entirely serious too. They weren't in a typical situation. Fretting over the past catching up felt reasonable.

"You're pretty topnotch at cuddling too. We've got our cuddle game down pat." He holds onto Kyle's arm, starting to walk once more. "Sure. Next time I'll bring goggles so I don't have such a stupid reaction."
kyley_b: https://mcnuggyy.tumblr.com/ (luv)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2021-11-15 07:09 am (UTC)(link)
"Me too." Perfectly serious. He walks alongside Karkat, finally taking off his mask fully once they're back on an actual path.

"We really do," he muses. "Hey, it could have happened to either one of us. Don't beat yourself up." A grin. "That's my job."
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[personal profile] klawful 2021-11-15 07:38 am (UTC)(link)
He takes off his own mask, dropping it down around his neck. He laughs, glancing up at Kyle. "That's true. I'll leave my ass unbeaten until you decide to grace my body with a healthy, consensual smackdown. I quiver in anticipation."

Which was actually kind of true.

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