Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Tavros watched as Aradia skipped forward, taking a look at another little stall.

“you said its a festival?” She asked aloud to the group.

“Yes, The Spring Equinox and then The Day of Harmony.” Rose answered.

A small group of them were walking around the market, Aradia seemed fascinated with all the new stalls being set up. Tavros, however, was mostly growing more and more frustrated with how hard it was to navigate the market. It had already been crowded before, but with twice as many stalls set up, many still empty, it was even more difficult.

“yeah last and then first day of the year” Aradia added. “i just didnt expect this level of decoration.

Tavros looked up when she did, taking in the various colors, twelve distinct ones. There were lines with pennants running between buildings above, large banners with certain aspects shown all over the place, Space was still the most prevalent, but he did see all eleven others around, including Breath.

“All Just To Celebrate The New Year” Kanaya asked.

“The coming of spring, the end of winter. It has great meaning to agricultural societies due to the start of the planting season.” Rose explained.

“and the general celebration of living another cycle.” Aradia added. “sweep or year it is important to celebrate life.”

“tHERE, uH, tHERE DOES LOOK TO BE A LOT OF, uM,,, sTUFF TO BUY,” Tavros chimed in.

“Do You Think There Will Be Clothing Stalls” Kanaya wondered.

“I suppose there might be. The Winter Solstice in the Empire had a large influx of all kinds of goods, and this should be twice as big.” Rose shared.

“wHY,,, wHY DO THEY ALL COME FOR THE, uH, sPECIAL DAY,” Tavros questioned.

“because people who are celebrating spend more money right?” Aradia answered, earning a nod from Rose.

“People also travel to the city from the countryside to celebrate as well, giving them an opportunity to purchase goods that they wouldn’t otherwise find.” She continued.

Looking around, he sort of understood, there were plenty of stalls with interesting things every day, but some of the new colorful temporary stalls looked very eye-catching. Tavros did wonder what they were going to sell by the time he finished looking over all the decoration. He would have to come back out during the festival and see if anything was worth spending money on.

Not that he even knew what he wanted, right now he was in a pretty good spot equipment-wise. Tavros either needed to upgrade things or just find new side things to add. The fact that they were limited in the number of bonded magic items really cut down on his opinions.

Maybe he should just spend his gold on something completely unrelated, but nothing had come to him so far, and they had been idle for four weeks. A handy unit of time when you only had one moon to measure things with.

“iT’S, uM, iT’S IN UH,,, tHREE DAYS,” Tavros asked to clarify.

Rose hummed before counting on her hand. “Yes, today is the eighty-eighth.”

She was interrupted by Aradia and Kanaya groaning, and he felt himself flinch slightly.

“Yes, yes, I’m sure she’s going to be remarkably insufferable today.” Rose added before continuing. “The holiday would be the equivalent of the ninety-first, as the zeroth day is always the solstice or equinox.”

“Is The Astronomical Anomaly Consistent Enough To Define Festivals Around It” Kanaya asked.

“On Tera I don’t know. On Earth, a solstice or equinox would generally vacillate around the same day of the year, perhaps someday they will have to adjust the alignment.” Rose answered.

Aradia chimed in. “i think its much more fun to adjust the timekeeping to keep alignment rather than explode a meteor to forcibly align a cycle”

“fUN,” Tavros said, feeling confused.

“yeah! fun! festivals are much more fun than perfectly aligned orbital bodies” Aradia explained. “everyone coming in having parties and ive never even heard of a marketplace like this”

“It Is Rather Colorful And Festive” Kanaya agreed as they all observed the deeper market.

“I wonder if there will be any entertainment?” Rose said.

“Should We Find Out” Kanaya asked. “We Can Ask One Of Our Contacts At The Temple Or Guild”

“That sounds like a good idea.” Rose said, looking at Kanaya flirtatiously.

Tavros was happy for them, though sometimes jealous, as his own matespritship was nothing like theirs or even like the others that had been developing. Reassuring himself with the thought that he and Gamzee were different people than them, so of course their relationship would be different. Though the attention would be nice, their normal interactions were a lot more like friends most of the time. But trying to talk to Gamzee about romance was challenging due to the troll always being too high to remember anything later.

He noticed Aradia peeking over at the other two as well, and Tavros wondered if she was jealous or something. He had always been surprised that Aradia and Sollux weren’t matesprits, especially when, before her coma, Aradia had hinted at feeling flushed for a friend. Given that the two had never become moirails, he had assumed it was them, but instead, after she awoke, the two became just strangely awkward friends.

Now that Feferi and Sollux were pale, that seemed to leave Aradia hanging loosely, and he felt bad for her and always wanted to include her in things when he could. It was hard sometimes, though, when some people were hostile to her, such as Eridan for some reason. He understood why she and Vriska didn’t like each other, that was obvious. Eridan or some of the others who looked at her suspiciously seemed odd to him.

“does anyone know where i can find hear duct plugs?” Aradia commented.

Kanaya looked surprised. “What For”

Rose elbowed Kanaya and whispered something to her before causing them both to blush.

“Jade said she picked some up at a general goods store in this neighborhood.” Rose quickly responded.

“oh good thanks” Aradia replied.

“If You Ever Need Anything Simply Knock On The Floor A Few Times” Kanaya said.

“its fine im just usually done first” Aradia answered, skipping away toward signage of a general store.

Rose snorted in surprise, a few half words escaping her mouth before Aradia vanished. The two women he was left with both looked shocked, as if Aradia had somehow just done something very embarrassing.

Urging his mount forward and leaving the other two, Tavros rode the braybeast through the crowd toward the clothing shop. He was picking up a few more clothes that weren’t much different than what he was already wearing, only occasionally adding clothes with blue trim. He was fond of the concept of his Aspect and wanted to lean into it a bit. Even if Breath hadn’t been as kind to him as it had to John.

He'd been thinking about this topic for weeks now but had gotten nowhere. Everyone he spoke to either was able to conceptualize their Aspect or had it come to them naturally. He and Eridan had both been bemoaning their comparative progress. Though he thought with Eridan, and he had told him so, that he was being too pessimistic for something called Hope.

In Tavros’s mind, Breath had to do with freedom, and he supposed flexibility. But no matter how he thought about it, all he saw were his own shackles, the legs he dragged around with him. He wished he could have afforded prosthetics before coming to Tera, but that simply wasn’t going to happen on a bronze stipend.

Some had advised him to speak to his Avatar, the terrifying flying serpent he had only ever spoken to once. Perhaps it was time to relent and attempt to converse with him tonight.

Gathering his courage for this had taken most of the evening, Jade's meal slipping past as he found himself lost in both his thoughts and fears.

When sleep took him, Tavros wasn’t surprised he found himself in the medium. Dave had said to expect the door that was there the first time, so he had been prepared for the blue door he saw in front of him.

He had forgotten how ornate it was, though, so stepping up and even knocking had taken a bit of his courage.

“Are you here to bother me or not.” Typheus voice boomed from beyond the strange entrance between realms.

He opened the door and floated inward, Tavros had long figured out that this place wasn’t real, so he could float if he wanted to.

Inside, the gargantuan serpent floated as well, only the tip of its tail lying against the ground.

‘UHM,,, yES,,,” He stuttered. “tHE UM,,, tHE OTHERS SAID I MIGHT UM, i MIGHT LEARN SOMETHING FROM YOU,,, iF UH,,, iF I ASKED ABOUT WHAT I WAS STUCK ON,”

The monster snorted. “That is generally the purpose of an advisor, even the stupid human has figured that out.” They replied.

“oH, uM,,, dO,,, yOU, dO YOU THINK YOU COULD HELP ME FIND OUT, wHY,,, wHY I CAN’T CHANNEL BREATH THE,,, tHE UM, wAY THE OTHERS CAN DO WITH THEIR ASPECTS,” Tavros asked, struggling to get the sentence out in front of Typheus.

Typheus bellowed, the sound hurting Tavros’s ears. It took him a moment to realize it was a laugh. “Tell me what you think keeps you from understanding Breath.”

“iS IT,,, bECAUSE I DON’T, uM,, fEEL FREE,” Tavros replied once he had relaxed after recognizing it as laughter.

“Do you know what makes you feel that way?” Came the probing question.

“mY, uM,,, mY LEGS, bECAUSE I CAN’T UH, i CAN’T WALK,” Tavros quickly answered.

A snort came as a reply. “Do you really think that to be the only thing?”

“yES,” Tavros said, already questioning it based on what Typheus was asking.

“You’ve already figured out that’s not the answer, so go figure out what all makes you feel like you’re not free.” He ordered.

Tavros wasn’t about to question something that could eat him in one bite, nodding quickly he floated back to the door. “uHM,, oK,”

“And come up with better questions next time, or ask them sooner if they’re that simple.” The Avatar called through the closing door.

Tavros floated to the far side of the platform before settling down to think. If there really were other things, then why hadn’t he thought of them yet? Were they just too small in comparison to his feelings about his legs? He sighed, racking his brain for any thoughts on the matter. Even to the point where he felt his pan throbbing. Frustration bubbled up inside him, was he such a failure he couldn’t even figure out why he thought he was a failure?”

Tavros woke in a burst of energy, the sound of a stringed instrument filling his mind, multiple strings being played at once. It sounded like a bunch of well-matched notes made at a time. More interesting than that, though, was the aura of bronze he saw around his legs.

Looking around, he saw fuzzy auras in every direction, multiple colors as well, including more bronze. Tavros wasn’t sure how long this would last and immediately transformed into a snake-rodent, bursting from his pile and jumping up to the handle of the dorm, escaping his block.

The auras spread out in each direction, he was fixated on the bronze ones though. Heading down a floor, the largest visual was on the other side of the hive. As he ran down the hall, he froze when he found himself in front of Vriska’s block, the bronze aura indicating it was somewhere inside.

Turning around, as that one required no explanation, just more thought on what she still held over him. Backup upstairs, another aura head wavered over Gamzee’s block, more things to think about. That seemed to be most of the bronze auras that he registered as pertaining to him.

Still, there were more auras, some larger than others, but mostly all colors he could identify with the others, eleven other colors he was extremely familiar with along with four others, a new blue, a light purple, a red not unlike Karkat’s blood, and another green. He assumed those colors were the new humans, but what would that all mean? He assumed these colors all meant something, but what they meant was a puzzle.

As the auras faded, Tavros headed back to his own block. He needed to figure out why he was seeing colors for everyone else too and what this meant. Was that his power, to see bad things, or something like that? He didn’t understand it, but it was something he could work with.

“Do you think it’ll work this time?” Jade asked Sollux as each of them calibrated their individual crystals again. The last time the calibration and individualization weren't enough, and every message was sent to every receiver.

“iif iit doe2n’t ii’m goiing two two22 iit iintwo orbiit wiith p2iioniic2.” Sollux answered.

If this worked, then they were basically done, anyone could calibrate their own gem. They just had to sit it into the center module afterward and mark which one was theirs to register it.

She was so excited to try it out, as the previous test was disappointing in multiple ways. Not only were the messages being sent to every listener, but it was also looping the messages back. She had ended up unbinding it almost immediately as her mind was filled with her own thought spammed back at her, nineteen copies at a time.

Taking a deep breath and trying to prepare to be disappointed, she spent the five minutes required to bond with the small transceiver and inserted it into the first slot of the hub, registering her own slot and doodling a small dog head with a charcoal stick on the table below the large round hunk of metal.

Sollux was only a minute behind her as he did the same, borrowing her charcoal to label his own troll symbol in the second slot. “we 2hould make a ba2e for thii2 we can label.”

“If it works and we don’t have to reset it all over again.” Jade agreed. “Try it, send me something already.”

“Yes! It worked!” Jade said excitedly. “Any echo?”

“no, nothiing.” Sollux confirmed.

“I’m going to get Equius for the next test then.” She said, hopping up from her tall stool and dashing out of the lab and across the hall into the next room. Equius had been reinforcing his construct now that he was done with his portion of the enchanting.

“Equius!” She called as she went inside. “Can you come test again?”

He looked up from his metalwork. “Did you reach the testing stage already, Miss Harley?”

“Yup! No echoes this time, too.” She confirmed.

“Alright, I can pause this and assist the two of you.” Equius replied, pushing up from the ground. Jade looked around to see if any of the others were here, expecting either Nepeta, Feferi, or both, but saw neither.

Equius appeared to notice. “They are part of the noise coming from the rear lawnring.” Explaining their lack of presence.

“Ah ok, I was going to ask them to test next since I figured they’d be here.” She shared, explaining her curiosity.

“They should be within shouting distance.” He replied. “Though if this works well, it will be even easier to find each other.”

As they left the room and headed into the original lab, the two trolls greeted each other. “Captor.” “eq”.

“fiir2t 2tep ii2 the 2ame a2 la2t tiime.” Sollux said as Equius picked up the crystal and began the bonding process.

“We have to make sure to test for group messaging echoes and people not listening in to group conversations that don't include them.” Jade expressed while they waited.

“and make 2ure the iidiiot2 bond two the cry2tal2 correctly.”

Sollux added. “iif one of them cau2e2 u2 two cha2e down a bug due two theiir iincompetence ii’ll cull them.”

“We already made it as simple as possible, I don’t know what anyone could do other than registering in the wrong slot and overriding the last one.” Jade answered.

Sollux scoffed. “kk could fiind way2 two break any computer, ii doubt complex enchantment2 are iimmune.”

“Vantas’s inability to handle even the most basic equipment should not be the bar we measure these projects by. Even if we measured by the worst, the High-B100d would be it.” Equius stated as he bound the crystal.

“Well, I want it to be easy enough for everyone to use, even Gamzee.” Jade said, letting her frustration with the troll leak out into her voice.

Equius raised an eyebrow in her direction. “Miss Harley, if you are harboring pitch inclinations towards the High-B100d, I recommend rethinking it. Nepeta advised me that he would be a terrible kismesis and I think I agree.”

Jade exaggerated a gag, though the revulsion was real. “Oh, fuck no. Nepeta is right, I don’t think he’s a very good anything.”

Sollux sharply laughed. “anyone wiith half a braiin could 2ee that, exactly why ii que2tiion vanta2’2 2aniity.”

“You are probably correct, Miss Harley.” Equius said, looking thoughtful for a moment before becoming alert again. “I believe I’m done, what is the ne%t step?”

“put iit iin one of the unmarked 2lot2 and mark iit a2 your2, can’t have overriide2 or the old one get2 dii2connected.” Sollux answered.

Equius nodded and looked around for a writing instrument when he saw what they had each done. Jade popped the charcoal stick out of her inventory and handed it to him. “So primitive.” He complained as he took it and made his mark.

“Yeaahh.” Jade agreed. “But it’s what we have to work with, so unless you want to build a pen.”

“I could.” He answered as he finished registering the crystal. “But it feels like a waste of our valuable time.”

“Yeah? Did you two finish the other project you were working on?” Jade asked.

Sollux answered. “yeah, eq fiinii2hed the 2econd one earliier thii2 week.”

“Are you sure you don’t want a similar tower?” Equius asked her.

Jade shook her head, the towers were cool, but she had something else in mind, but she just wasn’t capable of it yet. “No, I’ll figure something out.” Though she wasn’t sure when she would be capable of it really, Jade considered pursuing a temporary solution.

“Alright, is that it?” Equius asked.

Jade attempted to think at him.

“What was that at the start of your message?” Jade asked, trying to understand the weird visual in her head.

“Part of my typing quirk.” Equius explained.

“Oh, like all those 2s Sollux uses?” She followed up.

“Essentially.” He replied.

“Do all trolls have things like that? Is that why you all have different accents? Wait, don’t tell me Karkat’s is all caps, isn’t it.” She rattled off.

“ye2, ye2, and ye2.” Sollux replied. “al2o ii diidnt receiive whatever eq 2ent you, 2o that te2t pa22e2.”

“What is ne%t then?” Equius wondered.

“Group message testing.” Jade answered. “Let me try.”

“Yippy!” She exclaimed, jumping into the air with glee and clapping her hands. “I’ll go get more test subjects.” Jade said as she skipped out of the lab and then the building into the yard.

Outside Nepeta, Feferi, Eridan, Dave, and Karkat were all talking. All except Feferi were exercising or training as well, Eridan being a relatively new staple of the group ever since the last mission. Equius had to make him a pair of targets to use for his practice, though, as one of the trees was pretty badly hurt.

“Feferi, can you come test something for us?” Jade called toward them.

“S)(ore!” She replied, turning to the group. “I’ll be rig)(t back, but I still t)(ink it's a bad movie.”

“Water we testing?” She asked Jade as Jade led her inside.

“We think we have the communicator working, the next test just needs more people. That way we can make sure that group messages don’t get sent to other people not in the group.” Jade explained.

“Oooo, i )(aven’t tried it yet, t)(ats exciting.” Feferi said as they walked back into the lab.

“Well, the last test was really, really bad.” Jade answered

“Mistress.” Equius said to Feferi as she entered the room with Jade. Jade had been surprised the first few times she had heard him call Feferi that, but after thinking through all the sounds she overheard, it made more sense. It wasn’t something she expected to hear still, but who was she to shame someone’s kinks? She did wish the place was better insulated, though.

“So water I do?” Feferi asked.

“Take a crystal.” Jade gestured. “And bind it, like any other magic item, then put it back in there and mark which spot is yours.”

“Alrig)(t, t)(at sounds easy enoug)(.” Feferi said as she began to follow the instructions, marking the spot next to the base early with the stick Equius had left on the table.

“Done!” Feferi declared, placing the crystal into it’s slot. “Now w)(at?”

“Now you keep it on you, try sending a thought to one person.” Jade answered.

Feferi looked intently at Sollux for a moment and smiled. Jade’s only sign that anything happened was Sollux rolling his eyes dramatically before Feferi started to laugh.

“Equius, did you hear anything?” Jade wondered aloud.

“I did not.” The big troll responded.

“T)(at’s good, rig)(t?” Feferi said, sounding mildly confident.

“Yup, now try sending a message to both of them specifically.”

Feferi looked back and forth between them and focused again.

Sollux looked over at her. “diid you 2ay anythiing yet?”

“Did you not get it?” Feferi responded.

“thiink of iit liike a trolliian group chat, you have two thiink of everyone at once iin2tead of two people iin a row.” He instructed.

“I’ll try!” She said back.

This time both Equius and Sollux seemed to receive whatever she sent.

“diid you get anythiing jade?” Sollux asked her.

“Nope, not a thing! That’s great!” Jade said, looking down at the stones. “I guess it’s time to get everyone set up?”

“I’ll go get t)(e ot)(ers!” Feferi cheerfully volunteered, heading out with the crystal in her hand.

Jade looked at the other two and concentrated on an expression instead of words.

“Is that a face?” She asked aloud.

Sollux just groaned. “ye2.”

At least Equius took the time to explain it. “Those are her horns and goggles, or so she says.”

“I get it!” Jade replied. “I guess that makes sense, human’s just don’t have anything special to add.”

“ALRIGHT, HARLEY, LET’S SEE THIS MONEY SINK.” Karkat bellowed as the small group all entered with Feferi.

“Nope, you’re last!” Jade replied.

“yeah kk, you have two be the la2t one.” Sollux said, playing along.

“I’m so 8oooooooored” Vriska said as she flopped down onto Egbert’s reclining platform.

“Yeah, but you said all the quests at the guild were boring too.” Egbert replied.

“That's 8ecause they were.” She answered them, rolling over to be close. She had let herself into their respiteblock, something she wasn’t worried about doing since they didn’t have a matesprit or kismesis.

Egbert turned onto their side to face her, and the two curled inward, knees touching and foreheads coming close. Since they were the same height, they ended up making symmetrical shapes more often than she expected. “So what do you want to do then?”

“I don’t know, when is Harley going to 8e done with her little project? Isn’t thaaaaaaaat what's keeping everyone here at the hive?” Vriska asked.

“When I asked her about it yesterday, she said it was really close.” They shared.

“Good, then maaaaaaaay8e everyone will 8e up for going out for some fun.” She said.

Egbert chuckled. “And what, just run out into the wilds and look for trouble?”

“If I have to.” Vriska admitted. “8ut something tough to 8eat would 8e 8etter. Something with a challenge to it, with danger, with risk, at least for people less powerful than us.”

“Is that why you weren’t interested in the quests that were available?” They wondered.

“Yeah, who cares a8out a handful of go8liny things, if it was a whole army that would 8e fun.” She explained.

Egbert shook their head. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Wh8t? Why?” Vriska reacted.

“Wouldn’t most people want an easier job?” They replied.

“Not if you want to get stronger or level up.” She said. “We literally level up, it’s so eeeeeeeeasy to know when we get stronger, and that means that something is making us stronger. We might as well get as strong as we can while we can, you never know when the final 8oss is going to show up.”

“I guess.” They admitted, though still sounding unconvinced. “I think it’s still weird to think about real life like a game.”

“Noooooooo, no, no, no.” She corrected. “Games are just imitating real life, only way more o8vious a8out how things work. Think a8out it, practicing something always makes you 8etter at it, right? You just don't get num8ers and stuff.”

Egbert thought about it for a moment and nodded. “That makes sense.”

“Oooooooo8viously.” She stated. “You should have figured out I’m always right 8y now.”

“Uh huh, sure.” Egbert laughed, rolling their bulbs at her. After a moment of silence, they sighed, and she watched as they flickered transparent and blue. The first time she saw it, she thought it was just a Breath thing, but the alignment with their mood dips was way too precise to be unrelated.

“Eg8ert!” She called at them, pushing a claw into their chest, solidifying them quickly. “You’re doing it again.”

“Oh, sorry.” They answered, sounding almost more upset about the fading than they were before doing it. It had been occurring for the past three week-things, starting about a week after they got back from their demon mission.

“Do you still not remem8er when it first happened?” Vriska asked.

“It might have been shortly after we got to Amesh, that first little town we ended up in. I didn’t realize I was literally fading out of reality, though. I thought my thoughts were just getting fuzzy.” Egbert answered.

“Yeah, well, you get transparent and stuff, it’s veeeeeeeery not good.” She shared. “What were you thinking a8out this time?” She had taken to asking them each time what it was, and she was seeing an expected pattern, but Egbert still hadn’t picked up on it.

They closed their eyes, as if focusing. “My arm hair was catching the light.”

“And that 8othered you?” She prompted, knowing very well it did. Her observations of the other humans, most of the human Terrans as well, was that their weird body hair seemed to be more common on the male humans than the female humans. That made Egbert’s whole thing about shaving their legs back in the mountain cave make more sense. It was almost entirely a dumb gender thing that was basically human-specific.

“Yeah...” They trailed off without finishing any thought.

“So get rid of it?” Vriska said it seemed simple to her.

“But...” Egbert began.

She sighed. “8ut what?”

“I don’t know, it’s just, not...” None of their thoughts being completed.

“It’s 8etter than fading out of reality, isn’t it?” Vriska argued.

That got a small chuckle. “Heh, yeah.”

“Is it some stuuuuuuuupid human thing?” Vriska asked, hoping to get something out of Egbert in the explanation.

“I guess? I haven’t really noticed much, but on earth most, um... mostly only girls shave things other than their face.” Egbert answered.

“Ugh.” She exaggerated. “You already know what I’d say if someone told me I wasn’t supposed to do something, especially for some reason thaaaaaaat stupid.”

“That it’s ‘F8cking stupid.’” Egbert replied, imitating her accent, with a smile on their face.

Vriska thought for a moment before sharing. “When I was a little pupa, I was told to do plenty of things, and to 8e just as many things. While I did some of them for a while, I h8d it.” She paused, shaking off a nasty feeling associated with the memories. “I h8d it so much I’d rather die than do them.”

Egbert placed their hand on her side, resting it just above her grubscars. She twitched for a moment, but soon her pan realized it was just Egbert and relaxed instead of jumping into a protective stance. “So what did you do?” They asked her softly.

Vriska laughed at their tense tone. “I stopped doing them, I learned a8out something important, made a 8ig change, and 8ecame the awesome 8itch you see today. Sure, I made some mistakes on my way after that, 8ut most of that stuff is in the past now.”

“You just, stopped?” They repeated, confused.

“Yuuuuuuuup, sure did.” She answered. “Once I made my decision, eeeeeeeeverything felt, more right, and made a lot more sense to me. It took a 8it, I couldn’t just act on it right away, 8ut even just knowing I was going to act on it made things 8etter.”

“It was that easy?” Egbert said.

“No way, my lusus was a real pain a8out it, 8ut I convinced them, or rather 8artered for what I wanted. Then I had to go a8out getting what I wanted. 8ut knowing what I wanted, and then knowing how to get it, was the first most important thing.” Vriska explained, skipping over what she concluded deliberately, still not wanting to influence their own discovery.

“So the question is, what do you want, what do you not want, and what are you going to do a8out it?” She prompted before they could ask for more details. She didn’t mind telling them about her gender discovery quest, but there was still a chance, according to Light, that she was technically wrong. Vriska wasn’t about to fuck her moirail over like that if it wasn’t their real issue. Whatever it was that was bothering them was her enemy regardless of what the final answer was.

“I...” They began to answer, stumbling over their thoughts. “I don’t know.”

Vriska took the claw she had pressed into their chest earlier and placed it on their shoulder, pulling the two closer together. “Are you trying to think a8out it? Or are you avoiding it, fading out instead of thinking.” She said, proposing her theory for why they would fade out.

“You sound like Rose.” Egbert said, and she wondered if they were purposefully changing the subject or not.

Vriska exaggerated a gagging noise. “Ew, no, don’t compare me to Lalonde. And don’t change the su8ject either!” She bumped their nugbones together.

“Ouch!” Egbert rubbed their nugbone and she narrowed her eyes at them, drawing a sigh from her moirail.

“Are you?” She prompted. “Or are you avoiding the pro8lem? 8ecause I think the 8est way to deal with pro8lems is to kick their ass.”

“I don’t know!” They answered. “It’s like I can’t think about it, thinking about it is the problem.” She could hear the frustration in their voice as they leaned further in and put their head into the crook of her neck.

Slipping her hand up to the top of their head, she rubbed it back and forth. Vriska attempted to soothe her moirail as they pushed against her.

They lay like this for long enough for her to lose track of time, the soothing sound of Egbert’s breathing just below her ears as she let her fingertips trace patterns on their scalp. Vriska was glad to see they were at least fully solid. She considered the appearance of the issue and it not having appeared during any of their quests. Perhaps they had enough self-preservation to keep that in check when there were dangers around. Or maybe they were just distracted enough during that time, kept busy by their concerns and unable to think about it.

“Vriska?” Egbert asked, their voice calm, evidently having mentally recovered.

“Yeeeeeeeeah?” She responded.

“Do you want to go see how everyone else is doing?” They asked her.

“No.” She laughed. “8ut we can, I don’t care.”

They both got up, and Vriska adjusted her hair and shirt to fix things that had gotten tangled while they laid together. Egbert dusting out their top at the same time. Leaving their block, they walked down the hall, a rumble of people talking at the base of the stairs.

“What’s going on?” Egbert wondered.

“Let’s find out, it’s got to 8e more interesting than yesterday turned out to 8e.” She replied as they started stepping down, taking multiple stairs at a time.

“Karkat’s movie wasn’t that bad.” Egbert said, defending the terrible movie Karkat chose yesterday.

Vriska rolled her eyes and neck. “Whatever.”

“Okay, who’s next?” She heard Jade’s voice.

“What are we doing?” Vriska injected herself.

“Vriska, John!” Jade greeted them, way too excitedly. “Come register for your communication crystals.”

“You finished them?” Egbert said, sounding excited as well.

“Yup, most people have theirs, we only have a few more to give out.” Jade answered.

“Alright, give us one of the things.” Vriska said.

“You’ll have to come bind the crystal and mark your spot on the circle.” Jade shared, gesturing for the two of them to follow her.

Inside the back block, Captor was already there, sitting near a big, ring-shaped metal hunk full of magical doodles. There were seven crystals on the table, and she scooped one up. “Anything special, or just 8ind it?”

“no, 2tep one ii2 pretty 2iimple.” Sollux answered.

“What’s step two?” She asked, assuming there must be at least two.

“You pick one of the slots where no one has made their mark and make yours, and then stick the crystal in that slot and leave it there for a minute or so.” Jade explained.

“Alright, here goes.” Egbert answered.

Vriska attempted to follow the instructions, putting down her sign once she felt the item click. The ring had no start or end, so she figured any given slot was the eighth slot and just picked one. Vriska put the crystal in, having to flip it when it didn’t settle into the slot correctly.

Egbert was only a few moments slower than her, doing the same with their crystal across the ring.

“That should be good.” Harley said after a minute. “Take it and think about who you want to talk to, one or even more people,”

Vriska sighed. “You never finished thinking a8out that thing we talked a8out a few weeks ago, did you?”

Egbert shrugged. “Nope, sorry.”

“You’re terrible.” She grumbled.

Eridan had been basically there every time she hung out with a group of people in this big hive. Equius had been very, very busy with his enchanting, so she had been spending time with Feferi or Karkat and Dave. Eridan would then end up inviting himself along for almost everything. Only the time she went hunting with Terezi and Pyralspite outside the city did he ever leave her alone, and even then Nepeta was pretty sure it was because he was afraid of Pyralspite.

Having Pyralspite around had actually made her miss Pounce even more than before, but she was still happy for Terezi. It had to feel pretty great to have your lusus around, though she had to admit Pyralspite was pretty intimidating. Plus, according to her friend, the dragon was only going to get bigger.

She glanced over out of the corner of her eye and saw him staring at her almost blatantly with a creepy smirk on his face.

“Vantas, do you even know what movies you’re picking before you start them?” Dave asked. “I swear the file names are just nonsense.”

“IT’S A VERY WELL-ORGANIZED SYSTEM, I JUST CAN’T KEEP TRACK OF ALL THE SPECTACULAR FUCKING MOVIES THAT FIT THE SAME SHORTENED NAME, AND THE BLOODY OPERATING SYSTEM WON'T LET ME PUT IN THE ENTIRE FUCKING TITLE.” Karkat replied.

“That’s because those movie names are so dumb.” Dave answered.

Nepeta’s face twisted in thought before she shook her head, remembering to send it back as a message.

They were all crammed into one of the third-floor shared blocks, there was only one good one left on that floor at this point. The other one had been cannibalized for loungeplanks and other padded furniture, all dragged in here to allow for more seating to use people’s electronics together, like watching movies. Evidently Sollux had donated his projector in order to get Karkat to stop bothering him, but that meant the magical people had to use even more spells to power both pieces of modern equipment. Nepeta was almost kind of glad she couldn’t use magic, as sometimes they had gotten crazy looking for someone to power the magic item for them.

Nepeta had never watched many movies before, so she was kind of curious about them, but most of Karkat’s movies all seemed really similar. At least the redrom plots in some of them were mostly good, though she often shipped the main characters with someone else. Sometimes it just didn’t make sense to her why they put two people together when they had an obvious better choice right there. Other times she just didn’t like one of the main characters and wanted the other to get with almost anyone else.

Movies weren’t always great with their romance match-ups, in her opinion. Maybe it was because they were basing it on something other than good chemistry or pairings. Or maybe she just had different tastes in red romance. Nepeta knew some of her shipping tastes were odd, but she just liked what she liked.

Feferi, however, seemed to be into whatever muscular characters appeared on the screen. It was ganderbulb-opening sitting anywhere near her during a movie, as she would audibly appreciate characters at times.

Karkat seemed to root for whoever the main characters were, as if the narrative direction of the script was more important than the characters personalities. Most of the others weren’t obvious enough for her to pick up on, though.

Nepeta sighed, this movie was a little too overly dramatic. She felt like it was making drama just to make more drama, without it making any sense why the characters would do that. As if forcing the pair to vacillate was more important than if the vacillation made sense. She was getting antsy in general, things had been so calm and peaceful that she was starting to want something to be active just to move around.

“i’m going to go find equihiss.” She said, standing up and leaving. Hoping the announcement would keep Eridan from following her.

On the way downstairs, she heard Tavros and Aradia talking in the kitchen and decided to go say hi when she heard them mentioning their abilities.

“the colors were everywhere?” Aradia asked, Nepeta entered and saw the burgundy troll working on dinner.

Tavros turned to see who it was and seemed not to mind once he saw it was just her. Maybe he was worried it was someone else.

“uH,,, yEAH, iN THE PLACES I, uM,,, tOLD YOU EARLIER,” Tavros answered. “aND UM, hI NEPETA,”

“hey tavros, hey aradia.” She replied, waving to them. “did you get a new ability with colors?”

“hey nepeta!” Aradia added. “yeah he was just telling me about it we were trying to figure out what they meant”

Tavros was quiet for a minute. “iT UM, iT WAS HIGHLIGHTING,,, tHINGS, aND IT KIND OF MADE, uH, sOME SENSE, bUT KIND OF,,, dIDN’T,”

“did the diffurent colors mean diffurent things, maybe?” Nepeta suggested without knowing anything.

“tHE COLORS, i, uH,,, tHINK THEY WERE ABOUT,,, dIFFERENT PEOPLE, bECAUSE THERE WERE EACH OF,,, uH,, eACH OF OUR COLORS,” Tavros explained.

“all of our colors right?” Aradia clarified.

Tavros nodded to confirm.

“i wonder what it means.” Nepeta said, thinking about the implications but struggling to come up with anything. “maybe it’ll make sense if you tell meow what things were olive?”

“i COULD, uM,,, i COULD CHECK NOW, iF YOU WANT,” Tavros offered.

Nepeta shrugged. “sure, why not.”

“might as well check mine too” Aradia said, as if only mildly interested.

“i’LL UM,” Tavros shifted his position on the goat braybeast she had hardly paid any attention to. It was basically around anytime he was moving about, didn’t smell like anything, and vanished all the time, so she didn’t think of it as a creature these days. “i’LL PROBABLY CHANGE SHAPE AND UM,,, lOOK AROUND INCASE I, uH, incase I CAN’T FIND THEM NEARBY,”

“okay.” She accepted, not really sure what all that meant.

Tavros focused, and just like when anyone else channeled their Aspect, music started. It sounded like an instrument she heard in some of Dave’s music, maybe he knew what it was. It was calming though, and one of the better sounds the Aspects played. There was the blue energy of Breath gathering around Tavros’s head as he did this, before he shrunk himself down into a little furry prey creature and began scampering around the hive.

Nepeta tried to follow him out of the room but would have had to sprint to keep up. So she chose not to worry about it as he dashed down hallways before coming back and heading up the stairs. He seemed to run around for the entire length of the channeling, probably looking for something specific, she assumed, and didn’t come back until a minute or two after the music stopped.

When he did return, he jumped up onto one of the counters in the mealblock and transformed back into his old troll shape, dangling his legs off the edge of the counter.

“did you find it?” she asked.

“uM, yEAH, i, uH, i THINK SO,” Tavros answered, looking at Aradia strangely. “aRADIA, uM,,, yOURS IS JUST UH,,, yOU, tHERE WAS ONE ALL OVER YOU, aND TWO IN THE AIR NEARBY YOU,”

Aradia tilted her head and looked to the side, not at either of them but in their vicinity, before nodding. “but that’s basically what i expected”

Nepeta thought the phrasing was weird, but didn’t really want to make a big deal out of trying to understand what Aradia was saying.

“and me?” Nepeta wondered now.

“tHE UM, oLIVE CLOUDS WERE UH,,, tHE SIDE OF UM, yOUR HEAD,” Tavros said, gesturing to his own skull, between his ganderbulbs and hearducts. “aND THEN UM,,, sOME PEOPLE, aND UH, kIND OF,,, eVERYTHING OUTSIDE THE HIVE AND LAWNRING,”

“my head?” Nepeta wondered. “and the outside, but not the lawnring?” She pondered for a minute, not sure of any of it. “which people was it?”

“oH UH, eRIDAN,,,” He paused for a moment before continuing. “aND UM, eQUIUS,”

“ugh, that’s weird,” She replied. “and confusing. i don’t know what that all has in common?”

“do any two of those things have something in common?” Aradia asked.

Nepeta shrugged. “eridan and living in a big town are both annoying.”

“bUT, uH,,, iF IT WAS ANNOYING THINGS,,, wHY WOULD IT UM,,, iNCLUDE PARTNERS, uH, rEDDISH ONES THAT IS,” Tavros asked.

“were some of yours annoying and then one not annoying?” Nepeta wondered.

He nodded.

“then it must not be about being annoying” Aradia concluded with a laugh. “could you imagine a power that let you detect annoying things? its probably something complex, if it was simple then it wouldnt be a power”

“hmmmm.” Nepeta hummed to herself, pondering what those things could have in common.

“i think the first one you mentioned probably has the most important hints in it” Aradia suggested.

“do you already know what it is?” Nepeta asked her. Aradia often knew plenty of secret things that no one else knew yet. Nepeta assumed it was a Time thing, even if they were close enough for Nepeta to borrow her power, Nepeta would be a little scared of using it.

Aradia shrugged one shoulder non-commitally and Nepeta assumed that meant she did but didn’t want to say.

Tavros seemed deep in thought, looking down at his knees.

“well, it was nice s33ing you two, i’m going to go bother equihiss.” Nepeta told them, waving as she started to leave.

“oH, uH,,, yEAH,,, bYE NEPETA,” Tavros replied.

“bye!!!” Aradia called as she left.

Nepeta had always thought those two would make good moirails, she didn’t understand how that hadn’t happened. Especially since the only other troll Aradia was really close with was Sollux, and he was moirails with Feferi. Just like with movies, sometimes Nepeta didn’t understand why some people didn’t get together in various quadrants. She figured it was just another thing that made her brain different from everyone else's.

Nepeta let herself into Equius’s block, especially since she knew where Feferi was, so she didn’t have to worry about walking in on something strange. Equius had tried to explain to her how things had gone, but Nepeta had decided that she only wanted to know what she needed to know. It had just sounded strange to her, but whatever it was, he seemed to be happy about the wounds he was nursing the next day, and Feferi had been grinning from ear to ear as well.

“Hello, Nepeta.” He greeted her as she closed the door behind her.

“hi.” She answered, flopping down onto the big chair in his block. “are you going to be done enchanting every day soon?”

Equius nodded. “I was sketching out future ideas for Aurthour.” He said, holding up a diagram with lots of engineering notations she didn’t understand.

“does that mean we can go on a little adventure?” She asked him. “i’m going stir crazy.”

“We can visit the guild tomorrow and 100k if you wish.” Equius replied. “I could use more funds.”

“really? yay!” She declared, starting to feel a little excited about the prospect.

“FUCK.” Karkat shouted, standing up in the middle of the film right before the first climactic moment.

“Calm down, dude.” Dave said, looking up at him strangely.

“EVIDENTLY SOME MUSCLEBEAST-SHIT REQUIRING MY ATTENTION IS HAPPENING DOWNSTAIRS, AND THREE STUPID FUCKERS ALL MESSAGED ME AT ONCE WHEN I SHOULD BE ENJOYING THIS FILM.” Karkat yelled.

“Do we all need to go?” Dave asked confused.

“NO, YOU ARE GOING TO SIT YOUR ASS BACK DOWN AND FINISH WATCHING THIS MOVIE. YOUR HATCHMATCH AND HER MATESPRIT HAVE SUGGESTED THAT I WOULD WANT TO BE THERE FOR SOME REASON. AT LEAST MEGIDO WAS USEFUL ENOUGH TO FUCKING EXPLAIN HERSELF.” He explained, gesturing toward the screen. He wasn’t the one channeling the power to the laptop or the projector this time, so Dave could finish watching the movie.

This was one of the films he wanted to talk to him about regarding cultural differences. This film had one of the Moirailegance depictions that he thought even Stider would best understand.

“Sure dude, whatever.” Dave answered with a shrug.

“I’LL BE BACK ONCE I SORT OUT WHATEVER FUCKING NONSENSE THIS IS.” Karkat declared, slipping past Dave and out of the room, leaving him with Eridan and Feferi.

He stomped down the stairs, finding the three who messaged him in the entranceway to the hive with a black-scaled scalefolk. They were even wearing Temple of Space robes that told him where they came from. Behind him, as he reached the bottom of the stairs, he heard a ‘Pop’ sound and he spun around to see Harley, having not heard her sneak up on him.

“THE FUCK DID YOU COME FROM.” He demanded of her, trying to get his blood pusher to calm down.

“Rose and Kanaya messaged me, so I teleported over.” Jade said with a shrug.

“I thought she might want to be here since the temple came.” Rose added from where they were all talking.

“Should We Go Have A Seat” Kanaya suggested, gesturing to one of the side rooms with a table and seats.

“i think this is everyone” Aradia added, already walking into one of the rooms, the one he had even intended to go in.

“Please come in.” Lalonde said to the scalefolk as they all filed into the room and took a seat.

“Now could you please repeat what you said for the rest?” Rose directed.

“Of course, miss.” They said.

Rose cut in. “Please address us informally, none of us are comfortable with titles.”

“SPEAK FOR YOURSELF.” Karkat said

“Sure, Mr. Blood Lord.” Jade joked.

He grumbled but quieted, leaving space for the visitor to talk.

“Alright, well, in preparation for the Day of Harmony, Voice Scaleweaver spent a few days communing with Space and received a number of portents. One of which she felt you should be informed of right away.”

“Oh?!” Jade reacted, leaning in. “What did she hear?”

“In summer, on the thirty-third day of the season, four other Aspect-bound appeared near Zaaby and have been prevented from following their destiny since arrival.”

“Rose is that?” Jade asked a half-formed question.

Lalonde nodded. “That’s the day we arrived.” She pulled out a notebook and flipped through it. “Yes, arrived on the thirty-third, my first date note was the day after, on the thirty-fourth.”

“When did you guys arrive?” Jade asked, turning to face Karkat.

“SPRING?” He replied. “Aradia what day?”

“the fifty-eighth” She clarified.

“I thought you said something like that.” Jade replied. “That makes it kinda weird they arrived the same day as us.”

“I agree.” Rose stated. “It likely means something.”

“maybe theyre humans too” Aradia commented.

“Maybe” Kanaya remarked, sounding just as suspicious as Karkat was feeling.

“IS THAT ‘MAYBE’, RANDOM FUCKING IDEA, OR ‘MAYBE’, I’M BEING COY ABOUT MY SPECIAL KNOWLEDGE.” Karkat said.

She just smiled back at them, and he rolled his eyes, damn weirdo.

“That is the most likely pattern.” Rose agreed.

“Didn’t the temple think there were going to be twenty of us when you first came and found us?” Jade said suddenly, triggering the memory of an old conversation from the mountain road after leaving the orc’s domain.

“TWELVE ALTERNIANS, AND EIGHT HUMANS.” He repeated. “YOU GUYS THOUGHT WE ALREADY FUCKING HAD THE OTHER FOUR WITH US ALREADY BACK THEN, AND THE EXTRA FOUR BLOODY ROOMS.”

“I forgot entirely.” Rose admitted.

“Yes.” The scalefolk said. “We thought perhaps we had just misrecorded something, or the Voice had misremembered, but Space has seen fit to remind us.”

“So These Four Have Vanished” Kanaya asked.

“Yes, there have been no reports in the Hegemony, and our contacts in Zaaby have not reported hearing anything about them either. However, the already secretive government has been acting strangely since shortly after that time. So, given the wording of the revelation, we believe.” They continued.

“That they were taken captive?” Rose finished for them.

“That is what we suspect, though we do not know by whom, as the government there is entirely run by the Temple of Doom, rather than cooperating the way we do here in Edolas.” The scalefolk placed a satchel on the table. “Here is what we have on Zaaby, along with what we requested from the Edolas ruling Sages. We suggest you could ask the guild for more, but since we do not belong to them, they have refused to cooperate with us.”

Karkat eyed the unenviable stack of papers he imagined was inside. “FUCK.”

“We have to find them, right?” Jade suggested. “At least make sure they’re free of being kept captive or taken advantage of.”

“We should at least consider it.” Rose agreed.

“Four Aspect Bound Being Kept Captive Certainly Sounds Dangerous” Kanaya remarked.

“DO WE REALLY THOUGH?” Karkat challenged. “THEY MAY BE HUMANS LIKE YOU, BUT YOU DON’T FUCKING KNOW THEM, RIGHT?”

“think about what could happen if theyre wielded as a weapon against us later” Aradia cautioned.

“THERE ARE SIXTEEN OF US.” He argued. “FOUR FUCK-ASSES ARE NOT A CHALLENGE.”

“Yes, but we’re not beholden to any organizations.” Rose rebutted. “We don’t know what they may be told to do, or if perhaps they are caused to fall. Potentially even investigated until specific Aspect related weaknesses are found.”

“UGH.” He groaned in frustration. “SO WHAT, WE BUST IN, FIND THEM, AND BUST THEM OUT?”

“i bet if it was that simple the temple would do it” Aradia said. “thats three centimeters of notes that they brought us for a reason”

Their guest nodded. “We can’t even get new eyes and ears in, people are being turned away at the city gates if they don’t have a writ of entrance, and the city is fairly closed off in general.”

“Perhaps we should begin by reading through their notes and checking in with the guild.” Lalonde suggested.

Karkat leaned forward and put his nug in his claws. He certainly didn’t think he was making it back to the movie now. “Fucking nonsense.”

“weve not been doing anything for a while so im sure everyone will be happy to do something” Aradia offered.

“I Agree Because I Am Tired Of Vriska Running Around And Being A Nuisance Simply To Allay Her Boredom” Kanaya added, to nods and sounds of agreement from Aradia and Lalonde. Leave it to Vriska to piss off half the sensible people in the Hive. At least Egbert and Pyrope kept her distracted fairly often, he imagined an untethered Vriska would be much worse.

“WELL, PARTIES ARE GOING TO HAVE TO BE MORE FUCKING BALANCED GOING FORWARD, SO YOU MIGHT GET A BREAK FROM HER HOOFBEAST SHIT SOON.” Karkat said, just looking up from the inside of his claws. “OK, LET'S GET SOMEONE WHO CAN FUCKING GO GET INFORMATION FROM THE GUILD AND FIGURE OUT WHO ELSE NEEDS TO BE PULLED IN TO PROCESS ALL THIS BLOODY NONSENSE.”

“I suggest Terezi, she may have some useful insight.” Rose added, and he nodded along, Pyrope’s brain would be useful.

“I’ll probably bow out and work on preparations instead.” Harley said.

“eridan could be useful as well” Aradia proposed.

“I May Join Jade” Kanaya said. “Rose You Should Probably Stay”

Lalonde nodded. “I agree, I’m likely the more equipped Light-bound for this.”

“FUCK, NO WAY ARE YOU SWAPPING WITH HER.” Karkat grumbled.

“can i go?” Aradia began to ask.

“NOPE, YOU’RE STUCK HERE TOO, JUST INCASE YOU WANT TO GIVE MORE BLOODY ‘SPECIAL INFORMATION’” He said with claw quotes.

She just smiled and shrugged, as if expecting it, and honestly, she probably was. That made him, Pyrope, Megido, and Lalonde, the four of them should be able to get some decent understanding from all this information.

“If you could keep all of this to yourself and return it to us when you're done.” The scalefolk, who he had forgotten was still here, said. “Voice Scaleweaver said it would be alright to leave it with you, but it is still secret information that we have spent a lot of time, energy, and endured danger to gather.”

Karkat nodded, and Lalonde replied for them. “Yes, we’ll keep it secret and store it in our dimensional storage when not using it, so it should be completely safe.”

The scalefolk raised their overbulb ridges, eyebrows? He guessed was the word they used. “Oh, yes, that should be quite sufficient.”

“Ok, I’ll go find someone to visit the guild.” Jade said. “Is Dave doing anything?”

“Watching a movie, so he’s fair fucking game to rope into this bullshit.”

“Perfect!” Jade said.

“I’ve already messaged Terezi and Eridan, so they should come by soon.” Rose added.

“Alright If That Is All Handled I Will Work With Jade To Make Sure Everyone Prepares For Another Trip” Kanaya said.

“ALRIGHT, GET THE FUCK OUT THEN.” Karkat shouted, waving his hands at them. “NOT YOU.” He said more calmly, turning to their guest. “YOU CAN STAY OR LEAVE WHENEVER YOU WANT.”

“Oh, thank you.” They replied. “Though I will go.”

Rose waved to them as they got up. “Thank you for bringing this to us.”

“We at the temple all hope that the other Aspect-bound are ok.” They shared before leaving.

“Alright, shall we see what they gave us?” Rose said, opening the satchel and pulling out scrolls and small notebooks.

“ill take this one” Aradia said, grabbing a notebook and beginning to leaf through it. He almost shouted at her to pay attention, and then realized she was probably skipping to things she already knew.

“YOU’RE FUCKING RIDICULOUS. JUST ADMIT YOU KNOW THE FUCKING FUTURE ALREADY.” Karkat said to her.

“just enough to stay out of trouble” She replied without looking up. “never enough to make much difference beyond avoiding complete disaster”

“AND WHAT DOES THAT MAGICAL FUTURE SIGHT SAY ABOUT ALL THIS SHIT?” He asked.

“that doing it is just as important as you visiting the mountains ninty-four days ago” Aradia said.

“Is that?” Rose asked.

“when they left to find you” Aradia finished.

“I see.” She responded, voice full of curiosity.

“i wasnt the only one with information that time” Aradia chuckled

Sounding curious, Rose replied. “What do you mean?”

Terezi took that moment to let herself in, Eridan not far behind her.

“1 DON’T KNOW HOW YOU 3XP3CT M3 TO H3LP 1F YOU’R3 JUST GO1NG TO R34D TH1NGS.” Terezi stated. “1 DOUBT YOU’LL L3T M3 L1CK TH3M.”

“I was going to ask you to filter and collate what we find into useful facts, so you can make your own notes.” Rose shared.

“P3RF3CT.” Terezi stated, pulling out two pieces of chalk, taking a bite of the red piece that made Rose wince.

Terezi twirled the blue chalk in her right claw while balancing the red piece between her lips.

When they had explained the news to her and Eridan she had immediately forced them to repeat the phrasing a few times to make sure she understood it.

‘On the thirty-third day of summer, four other Aspect-bound appeared near Zaaby and have been stopped from following their destiny ever since.’ Was what they all agreed on at the end.

The phrasing certainly sounded like they were either captured or tricked. She wanted to know more based on what they found in the notes before deciding further. She also was eager to know why none of their avatars had told them about this, yet somehow Space itself had told a religious leader?

Eridan had been put to task reading more notes from the local government, as Aradia, Rose, and Karkat had already started divvying up the rest. It was the information that Dave would supposedly bring back that Terezi was most intrigued by. Though that would depend on how successful Dave was at his task.

She was also curious what Aradia would find, that woman was suspicious as always.

“ok, here’s somethin.” Eridan broke the silence. “they started demandin wwrits of passage on the thirty-ninth of summer, shortly after the supposed arrivval.”

Terezi made a quick note on the wall with her chalk, including the date.

“doesn’t that sound like someone in charge wwas connected to their disappearance?” He continued.

“1T’S D3F1N1T3LY SUSP1C1OUS.” She agreed.

“WHO ELSE COULD EVEN PULL OFF THIS FUCKING SORT OF KIDNAPPING NONSENSE.” Karkat questioned.

“Here? Rich people, religions, governments, and suspicious organizations like whoever was behind all the demon summonings and poisonings.” Rose answered.

“4ND CR34TUR3S FROM OTH3R D1M3NS1ONS.” Terezi added.

“it looks like they suspect the religious government of zaaby of being behind that” Aradia said, finally slowing her page flipping.

“OF COURS3 TH3Y WOULD, TH3Y’R3 R1V4LS.” Terezi quipped. “THOUGH TH4T DO3SN’T M34N 1T’S NOT R3L4T3D.”

Rose picked up on her opinion. “But you aren’t convinced?”

Terezi hummed a confirmation. “1T M1GHT B3 R3L4T3D, BUT 1T 1SN’T TH4T S1MPL3. 1 TH1NK TH3R3’S SOM3TH1NG MOR3 COMPL3X GO1NG ON W3 DON’T KNOW 4BOUT Y3T.” She turned to face Aradia so the troll knew she was talking about them. “UNL3SS SOM3ON3 3LS3 H4S MOR3 1NFORM4T1ON 4BOUT 1T.”

“nope!!!” Aradia said without stopping what she was doing.

Terezi over-exaggerated a sigh, she had been working under the assumption that Aradia would only ever tell them things they would find on their own shortly. She had come to believe it was something related to cause-and-effect, but she wasn’t sure yet.

“Do you think a change in leadership two years ago is particularly interesting?” Rose asked.

“IS THAT THE FUCKING WOMAN WHO ALSO BECAME THE HIGH-PRIESTESS SHORTLY BEFORE?” Karkat questioned, Terezi making a note of it when Rose confirmed. A total change in both leaderships to a single person is worth noting.

“she doesn’t sound anymore cutthroat than any of their other leaders.” Eridan added. “typical upstart solidifyin powwer.”

“WH4T’S H3R N4M3?” Terezi asked for her notes.

“ssosall” Aradia answered. “messaging you the spelling”

“3XTR4 ‘SSS’ 1 S33.” Terezi vocalized as she noted it. “1F SH3S 1N CH4RG3, W3 SHOULD KNOW MOR3 4BOUT H3R 4NYW4Y, 3V3N 1F 1T'S NOT R3L4T3D TO H3R COM1NG TO POW3R.”

“I have a description of her.” Rose supplied. “Her skin is scaled, like all Yuan-ti, I think Vriska called them Slitherfolk. But her scales are almost pitch black, and her unscaled parts are a deep, sickly green. People say she’s a natural-born emissary of Doom due to that.”

Terezi was curious. “HOW 4BNORM4L 1S TH4T?”

“I’m unsure, we’ll have to ask around.” Lalonde answered.

Terezi then started ignoring the increasingly nonsensical replies that followed. “1 4DD3D 1T TO D4V3’S PL4T3.” She announced.

“Ah, that explains his new message.” Rose laughed.

“ok, this wwitch wwould make a proper sea-troll.” Eridan cut in. “after she did the normal powwer solidifyin by guttin all her rivvals in the govvernment and the religion thin, she took ovver the other big powwer in zaaby, the slavvers guild.”

“sounds like she can be considered to be in charge of everything there then” Aradia commented.

“Her policies are very Zaaby-centric and anti-diplomatic.” Rose added. “No one thought her kicking the majority of foreigners out was surprising.”

“1 4SSUM3 NO ON3 H4S FOUND 4NY R3M4RKS 4BOUT FOUR POW3RFUL N3W HUM4NS?” Terezi asked, so when no one answered, she took that as true for now.

Karkat spoke up. “WE’RE GOING TO HAVE TO BE REALLY FUCKING CAUTIOUS, THEY SEEM TO TAKE ALMOST ANYONE WHO ISN’T WELL CONNECTED AND ISN’T A SLITHERFOLK AS A BLOODY SLAVE.”

“Lovely.” Lalonde said sarcastically.

“their military is a bit strange, almost all specialists, no cannon fodder.” Eridan chimed in.

“I imagine if you went and looked into their equipment log, you would find plenty of slaves.” Rose suggested.

“NOT3D, BUT NOT 1MPORT4NT TO OUR CURR3NT R3S34RCH.” Terezi added. “F1ND M3 TH1NGS TH4T H4V3 CH4NG3D S1NC3 TH3Y 4RR1V3D 1N T3R4.”

“it looks like access to the palace went from only the powerful to almost no one” Aradia shared.

“WH3N.” Terezi asked.

“slowly over the week of the fiftieth.” She answered.

“THAT MUST BE WHERE THEY FUCKING ARE.” Karkat said, stating the obvious.

“the palace?” Eridan asked. “i saww that the main temple wwas shut dowwn instead.”

“It appears to be a complex, not a single building.” Rose shared. “It’s also built over the prison and a few other important facilities. Power appeared to be heavily centralized even before Ssosall took over. In fact, she sounds like she simply took Zaaby culture and dialed it up.”

Terezi continued doodling notes. If anyone cared that she was writing on the walk with chalk, they could paint over it later. Her thinkpan was starting to put things together, but it still felt like they were missing so much information. Let alone reconnaissance of the city and the palace complex.

They had been reading and discussing various little details for a while to get to this point even, only most of it felt irrelevant. Information like the city's economics, population size, military information, and class structure.

Though there were a few things that were mildly helpful. Population makeup was almost entirely Slitherfolk, even more monopopulous than Edolas, which would make infiltration more difficult. There were slave sacrifices to Doom, and to a lesser extent Rage, but she suspected that the Aspect-bound were known for what they were, thus, they likely hadn’t been sacrificed. Along with the fact that the guard was also their military.

By the time Dave returned from the Guild, they had nearly finished their first pass through the papers. Terezi had decided she would ask someone to read them to her in more detail later to find overlooked clues.

“Woah, holy shit, Rezi, is this a conspiracy board?” He said as he stepped into the room.

“NO, TH1S 1S 4LL 3NT1R3LY F4CTU4L OR D3DUCT1V3, 1’LL DO MY 1NDUCT1V3 R34SON1NG 3LS3WH3R3.” Terezi insisted.

“How did your trip go?” Rose questioned.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, uh, well, at first they were all close-lipped about it.” Dave began. “But when I told them I had friends who went missing in Zaaby they were a bit more helpful. That’s not too wrong? right?”

“CLOSE E-FUCKING-NOUGH.” Karkat answered him.

“Cool, so yeah, did you know they do the slave thing there, like a lot, not like debt slaves even. People get sacrificed and shit too.” He began, getting off track.

“Y3S D4V3 W3 KNOW, D1D TH3 GU1LD KNOW 4NYTH1NG 4BOUT TH3 C1TY’S R3C3NT ONGO1NGS?” Terezi cut him off.

“Ah, um, sorta, evidently the reports from the city and surrounding towns have gotten more and more generic and bland. Finding reasons to replace people left and right, always hiring a snakeperson to replace them. They actually said if we bring back information bout what’s going on, they’ll pay us depending on how bad it is.” Dave said, sharing actually useful information.

“when did that happen?” Aradia prodded.

“Oh, for years, but really sped up late summer, as of fall, they were getting jack shit.” He answered.

“Did they have any records of new human adventurers around that time?” Rose wondered.

“Nope, nothing, might be because reports are shoddy, but might just not have registered with the guild.” Dave answered.

Karkat prompted him. “DID THEY HAVE ANYTHING FUCKING ELSE FOR US?”

Dave thought for a second. “Oh, uh, they said they, or rather the guild’s around Zaaby, could get us in if we showed up and did quests and stuff for a bit. Made it sound like getting into the city was hard or something.”

“Yes, they have stopped letting people in without written paperwork from people they trust.” Rose explained to him. “It does sound like that could be our way in.”

“GR34T JOB D4V3, NOW WH4T 4BOUT MY OTH3R QU3ST1ON?” Terezi asked.

“Oh uh, people were saying greens and browns, though tons of patterns, sometimes some bluish greens at most.” He provided.

“SUFF1C13NT.” She answered, adding more notes to her wall.

“Is that a black snakeperson?” He asked, looking at her drawing.

“Obviously.” She answered, turning to face where he was looking.

“Uh huh, nice drawing Rezi.” He said, stepping back as Karkat snickered and Aradia laughed slightly as well.

Terezi turned to face the table and narrowed her eyes. “F1N1SH R34D1NG!”

“Uh, I’m gonna, go... get everyone else up to speed.” Dave said. “Rescue mission, humans from somewhere else just like us, sneaking into snake town? Am I missing anything?”

“That is a sufficient summary, anyone else can message me for more details.” Lalonde offered, Terezi was pleased with that since she didn’t want to explain this to everyone. She would get Vriska up to speed later and pick her brain for some probabilities.

“4LR1GHT, POW3R T1M3, K4RK4T, 4R3 TH3R3 ST1LL TH3 S4M3 NUMB3R OF THR34DS 1N YOUR POW3R? ROS3, 4NYTH1NG SP3C1F1C W3 H4V3N’T DON3 YOUR V1S1ON 1ND1C4T3S? 4R4D14, 4NYTH1NG W3’R3 4BOUT TO F1ND BUT H4V3N’T Y3T, OR 4NYWH3R3 W3 N33D TO LOOK? 3R1D4N, L34RN HOW TO DO WH4T3V3R YOUR HOP3 CR4P 1S.” She rattled off instructions to the group, trying to think of who else needed to do something for her.

Egbert was useless, Jade could get them a map when they were close, Tavros also was useless. Sollux would normally be useless, but she wanted him to ask his Avatar something, she would go bother him later to explain in detail. Nepeta and Equius were useless here, Kanaya was likely useless here as well. Gamzee, Feferi, and Dave were also useless. She was pretty sure that was everyone.

Terezi herself would have to wait until she had more information to really make the most of her ability, but she would likely try after speaking to Vriska.

The room filled with two types of music as they activated their powers. She faced Aradia expectantly, but the troll said nothing.

“NOPE, JUST THE SAME STUPID FIFTEEN AS ALWAYS.” Karkat said, before immediately stopping his ability, the electronic sounds stopping.

“ROS3?” She asked, as the human woman’s fancy music continued.

“Evidently we need to finish reading, but that’s all, or at least the three of us other than Aradia do.” Rose answered.

“perfect” Aradia said, standing up and heading out. “good luck ill let you know if i find anything else important”

“OR MAYBE ANYTHING AT FUCKING ALL.” Karkat called after her.

“fiine.” Sollux said after Terezi finished explaining and pestering him to talk to his Avatar, Moros. “ii’ll talk two the featherbea2t.”

“TH4NKS.” She replied, looking a little tired.

“wa2 iit that bad?” He asked, looking back down at his computer, which he had powered up to begin working with now that the enchanting was done. He intended to check if he could repurpose his wireless network to pick up any stray signals or look for satellites just in case there was something fishy and technical afoot.

“1T’S 3XTR3M3LY SUSP1C1OUS, 3SP3C14LLY 1F 4N 4SP3CT R34LLY 1S 1NVOLV3D 4ND NOT JUST P3OPL3, TH4T’S 4N 3NT1R3LY D1FF3R3NT SC4L3.” Terezi explained.

“do you thiink iit’2 true?” He wondered, not picking up anything with the first network device he began to probe around with.

Terezi’s voice cracked as she laughed. “NO, OF COURS3 NOT, BUT TH3 R1SK, 1F 1T 1S, 1S MUCH TOO H1GH.”

“oh, 2o thii2 ii2 ju2t iin ca2e.” Sollux realized. “yeah, ii’ll cover your edge-ca2e.”

“P3RF3CT, TH4NKS, 4S LONG 4S DOOM 1SN’T 4CTU4LLY WORK1NG 4G41NST US, TH3N 1 DON’T R34LLY C4R3.” She replied, picking up her cane and stepping out of his block.

Even with all four network devices he had, there were no signals being picked up, even nonsensical ones. He had expected the most out of his satellite backup receiver, but they found absolutely no signals in the electromagnetic band. It was so extremely strange, especially coming from Alternia where every band was filled with compressed signals.

Eventually, after having scanned as much as he could, he shut down the machine but left the power spell running to charge the battery until it ran out. Then he could use it later without having to pop a spell if it was just for a few minutes. The scaling for the power spell was quite interesting so far, but he wasn’t sure how it would continue. It was fairly linear so far, ten minutes, thirty, sixty, to one-twenty at the fourth. His understanding was that this would scale to nine levels.

Flopping into his pile, he grabbed a snack Feferi had dropped off for him from his inventory, munching on something she called a granola bar. Evidently, Harley had taught her how to make them, and she had prepared a bunch for him to eat when he didn’t want to go anywhere, which he often didn’t want to do. Having someone care about him who didn’t want to bring sex into the equation was nice, honestly.

Nothing against Megido, she was still a close friend, but she wanted too much from him that he had negative interest in. He did hope she found herself partners, as he felt a little bad she was still mostly single, ashen with Vriska hardly counted for anything in his opinion.

Sollux sighed, sinking further into his pile until it fully embraced him. Sleep was something he had to actively pursue if he wanted to meet it before it had been a good two days. And since Terezi wanted him to talk to Moros, that meant he was going to have to.

He had only talked to the feathery asshole once, back when they first arrived, and hadn’t been back since. There was never a reason until now, it wasn’t as though embracing the feeling of Doom was unfamiliar to him. Long, deep breaths, his mind slowly slipping as those voices he normally had to filter out invaded his pan. It was an unfortunate state he had to go through to let his mind slow down enough to sleep on purpose. It was much easier to just run until he was about to crash and let it happen.

His mind was assaulted with people’s thoughts, complaints about being sick, feelings of hurt, both physical and emotional, and one or two just sobbing. Those voices were also so disruptive to his own mind, but he continued to bear it as he always had.

Eventually he stopped thinking long enough to sleep, or so he assumed, because next he knew, his consciousness was in the medium. The inky blackness surrounded him with the typical table and chair. The deep green door was the only thing he normally didn’t see, but he would have been disappointed if it wasn’t there, wasting his time with sleep only for the Avatar not to be present.

Sollux opened the door, assuming its presence was invitation enough. Something as powerful as an Avatar would just not show its door if it wasn’t willing.

“Here at last?” He heard the skin-crawling voice, the corpse house the thing lived in was never the most comfortable place.

“yeah, had a que2tiion for you about doom and 2tuff.” Sollux replied casually, operating normally in front of a powerful being was second nature to him. Older high-bloods would be just as terrifying if he let it affect him.

“Whenever, as one of the few with only a single Aspect-bound in this relative context gives me plenty of time.” Moros replied, the massive biped with its folded wings turned to observe him.

“oh, one of them ii2n’t doom?” Sollux wondered aloud, his curiosity getting the better of him.

The tall creature nodded. “no, none of them were compatible, which is fine, two technically aren’t required.” He was taller than what even a very old high-blood would be based on what he knew, not that he’d ever seen one. But having prepared himself to be an engine, he had assumed one of them would claim him someday.

“oh, got iit.” He answered shortly before returning to his goal. “ii wa2 twold two a2k you iif doom ii2 behiind the whole thiing wiith the dii2appeariing a2pect-bound.”

Moros shook his head. “Not everyone who is associated with an Aspect is doing the Aspect’s will. You’ve already met the fallen. It’s hardly a surprise even mortals would latch onto this power and use it for their own goals.”

“yeah, we kiind of fiigured that, but iif iit wa2 doom’2 doiing then that’2 a whole diifferent thiing.” Sollux explained.

Moros sighed, crossing his arms and stretching the wings for a moment before refolding them. “Don’t take that to mean they don’t have the power of Doom or any other Aspects. You don’t have to be an Aspect-bound to wield it. Others it simply doesn’t come naturally to, much like those who must study magic and those it comes to without effort.”

“yeah got iit, thank2.” Sollux said, preparing to step out. “anything else i should know.”

“Don’t get complacent.” Moros replied. “Most of you have reached the second level of integration with your Aspect, but don’t assume that’s the limit. If you truly want to survive, you’ll have to reach the inevitable end of this path.”

“ugh, 2eriiou2ly?” He complained. “yeah, ii’ll tell everyone.” Sollux sighed as he opened the door and let himself out. Moros not saying anything more.

Sollux had heard you could throw yourself off the edge to wake up easily, so he just stepped off the platform to find himself in his pile. Rather than get up, he relaxed further into it and began to send a few messages, it would be easier to answer all Terezi’s questions that way.

Sollux let that conversation fade from his mind, not wanting to pay attention to anymore of Vantas rambling or Ampora’s whining. Though the fact that Nitram beat him to it was pretty funny.

He heard someone open his door and peeked his head out long enough to ensure it was Feferi.

“)(iiii!!!!” She said, coming into his respiteblock in a long robe and plopping down into the pile that he kept on the reclining platform.

“hey.” Sollux responded, more subdued.

“Sooooo, w)(at can we do?” She asked. “I )(eard t)(ere’s a festival going on.”

Sollux did some counting. “ii dont thiink that 2tart2 untiil twomorrow.”

“W)(AT? Reelly!” She pouted. “Awww, we )(ave to go tomorrow t)(oug)(.”

“or the next day, iit’2 a two-day fe2tiival.” He reminded her, hoping that one of the days would be less busy than the other.

“You promise?” She asked softly.

Sollux nodded, placing his hand on her nug right between the horns, rubbing his clawtips across her scalp.

She hummed and purred, curling into him, her mass of hair tangling around his talons as she pushed her head up into his claw. Feferi then put her arms around him and slowly squeezed him tight.

Sollux rolled onto his side, turning to face his moirail. This caused her face to squish against his chest, and she nuzzled in, causing him to have to pull back his own head to dodge her horns.

“careful.” He said to her, pulling back on a horn to protect himself.

“Sorry.” She apologized, sounding genuine. Feferi often forgot how long her horns were, growing ever longer with every sweep.

He leaned back in and rested his forehead against her nugbone, his own horns nestling each pair on either side of hers. Sollux slid his palms across her back, rubbing softly to soothe her.

He breathed in the scent of her hair, salty and sweet, whatever she used to wash it added some sort of fruity scent to her natural salty scent.

“So water you want to do today t)(en?” She asked, murmuring against him.

“no iidea, though we 2hould probably thiink about what we need for a new que2t.” Sollux answered.

“Reelly? is t)(at w)(at everyone was carping about yesterday?” Feferi said, surprising him that she didn’t know yet.

He sighed, resigning himself to having to explain it.

Rose poured over more documents, she had held on to them all for the group. And after she finished one, she moved on to the next, committing herself to consuming as much as she could. There was something about all this that tugged at the back of her head and didn’t make sense.

Firstly, the association with the four missing Aspect-Bound. Simply being human didn’t feel like a sufficient enough tie with their group for the coincidental arrival date. The trolls were not only all Alternian, but also friends, or at least connected through chains of friendships.

If these were humans, even if from Earth, which she didn’t take for granted, she would have expected another tie. Yet, for the four of them, there were no others they counted as friends. Even John, who attended public school and lived in a neighborhood, didn’t have many connections. Let alone her and Dave, who barely had any routes to meet people, or Jade who had literally none.

So if these people were associated with them, who were they?

Rose turned the page, flipping through more tedious information, much of it similar to the last notebook’s content. Rose looked for clues that pointed to anything about these four, or even signs of their presence. So far all they had was the implication they existed, but nothing beyond the word of Space. She didn’t want to doubt the Aspect, or rather, she did, but wanted to be wrong.

Rose could feel the familiar distrust of authority and desire to rebel roiling up in her chest but shoved it back down. Having to stop, close her eyes, and breathe deeply.

“Rose” Kanaya spoke.

Rose turned to notice the woman was looking up from her sewing to watch her. “Yes?” She replied.

Kanaya hummed to herself in indecision for a moment. “Are You Well”

Rose smiled, recognizing the issue. Kanaya always worried about venturing into pale territory. “Yes, love, I’m fine. I simply caught myself struggling with an internal issue that I'll have to work out. Nothing for you to worry about.”

“Do Talk To Someone If You Need To I am Sure Someone Will Want To Listen To You” Kanaya added, Rose noting the mentioning of someone else instead of her.

She leaned back from the desk and stared at Kanaya. The thin troll’s beautiful face gazed back at her. A flash in her mind overriding it with a vision of Kanaya’s face twisted in pleasure from one of their bedroom explorations.

Kanaya must have seen something on her face as her eyebrows raised. “Rose”

“Sorry, a stray thought.” Rose smiled, feeling the blush that must have given her away continue rising.

“I See” She answered, a suppressed smile bursting through on the troll’s face.

Rose sighed happily at the vision. “You’re beautiful.” Happy to see Kanaya blush at her.

“And You Are A Flatterer” Kanaya responded, pulling her lips between her teeth in a strangely intriguing facial expression. “A Lovely One Though”

Eridan felt disconnected, all around him he was surrounded by his old friends and acquaintances bonding with each other in new ways, or with the humans. However, he felt listless and unanchored, as none of this involved him. He had thought for a bit that Nepeta had a pitch crush on him, but it had slowly become less likely as he felt a familiar frustration build.

It was so similar to his old situation with Feferi that he wanted to break things. One more stupid woman who didn’t see his value and took him for granted.

Yet somehow he couldn’t help but want to be around her, another parallel that made him want to vomit even though he couldn’t resist. There would be nothing for so long, and then suddenly she would glare at him with such vitriol that his aquatic vascular bladders would each skip a few beats. Pitch feelings growing in his chest and then washing through him. He wanted to find a way to get through to her but struggled, as there was nothing that was working.

He wandered through the marketplace that morning, trying to get inspiration, hoping something useful would come to him as his ganderbulbs roamed over all the stalls. The problem was, he had no idea what he was looking for, but there had to be something he could use or gift to get her attention.

Eridan didn’t understand what the problem was, she clearly hated him. She had taken the time to threaten him instead of killing him, she snapped at him in just the most enthralling manner. There was no way in his mind he was mistaking this for platonic hatred, there was too much intention from her side from what he could see.

What did you even get a prospective Kismesis, so much of his time had been spent in the past imagining what to do to win over someone’s heart that a spade was new. The childish pitch fling with Vriska was entirely different, and neither of them had put enough effort into that for it to count for anything.

He looked up to see a couple walk past, their public display of affection curdling his stomach as he felt the pain of being lonely and single overwhelm him again.

The other thing that drove him to feel disconnected was his relationship with his Aspect. Everyone, including those he both had mistakenly thought were weak and those he knew were weak, had already connected well enough with their Aspect to channel it. Yet he, he was stuck wondering what the fuck Hope was even supposed to mean.

What did Hope even mean to him, when had Hope ever done anything for him. He had never gotten anywhere when he hoped something would work out. It had always let him down, disappointed him, and that only told him it was pointless. What did that all mean for his connection to this aspect?

All this news about new Aspect-bound had surprised him. He had never considered before there might be more, and then they met the trolls. Then, the whole thing repeated, and now there were four more somewhere.

What did that mean next? Were there even more? Did they ever stop? He felt bad for these four and for any more who came after this. Getting sucked into all this bullshit, away from their real lives, and having everything taken away from them. He didn’t think this stuff was nearly as great as some of the others did.

They were tossed into a world that wanted to kill them and told to fix someone else’s problem. Dave felt this fact cause his skin to crawl, a feeling too familiar in all the worst ways.

Not that any of this would stop him from showing up and rescuing whoever got kidnapped or whatever. Better them than someone who wanted to use them.

Dave finished the last movement of his sword forms. All the movements that Jefsin had taught him had become second nature at this point, he hoped that the old dark-skinned elf would at least give him a nod of acknowledgment at this point. He looked around to see who he could spar with today, Nepeta and Karkat were his more common sparring partners on most days.

Today those two were already brawling, and he accepted that he was going to have to sit the day out. He had tried to spar with Terezi, but she wasn’t big on sparring for practice, she got way too vicious for comfort. Vriska and Gamzee were two more of the melee fighters, but neither of them were someone he wanted to spar with.

The only other option was John, but he rarely came out for exercise, typically sparring with Vriska at other times. The rest of them were all casters or archers, even Feferi and Tavros who would sometimes fight close up, weren’t really worth sparing with unless they were needing help. Technically Equius was an option, as the archer did sometimes fight in close combat. But the one time Dave had sparred with him, he had to take three days off afterward, the big troll had no sense of strength control. He wielded his strength like Karkat used volume, unregulated.

If he wasn’t going to spar today, he figured he’d do more information gathering in preparation for the festival. He’d already figured out what performances were going on and written up a schedule in the dining hall for everyone. Dave figured if they were gonna go off into a shitty town that wanted to kill them, then they should all have some fun first. He had a suspicion that they would be leaving soon after.