BONUS ROUND 1

[hso_mods]

Bonus Round 1

Genre-Mixing

Hey, shippers! Welcome to your very first bonus round proper--we hope you have lots of fun with it! This time around we're going to be asking you to mix it up a little--each fanwork posted for this round will be a mish-mash of two different genres, blended together in a delightful incestuous slurry to create an UNSTOPPABLE CREATIVE CONCOCTION--er. Or. Something.

Yeah, we're genre-mixing. That's what we're doing this round.

Rules

1. Submit prompts! Prompts should consist of two different genres and one ship. This cannot be your team's ship! These are worth 5 points each, for a maximum of 100 points per team.


2. Look through the prompts and fill whichever you like!


3. You may not fill prompts for your ship, nor may you fill your own team's prompts.


4. Fills should be posted as replies to the prompts which they are for, following the format below. They may be any medium.

Title Format
If you are starting a new thread, please use this format in your title.
PROMPT: TEAM [YOUR SHIP]
Replace [YOUR SHIP] with the name of the team YOU belong to; please use the characters and quadrant, not whatever portmanteau or nickname you've come up with.
If your team name is not in this format and in the title we cannot guarantee that it will be counted.

If you are filling a prompt, use this format in your title.
FILL: TEAM [YOUR SHIP]
Replace [YOUR SHIP] with the name of the team YOU belong to; please use the characters and quadrant, not whatever portmanteau or nickname you've come up with.
If your team name is not in this format and in the title we cannot guarantee that it will be counted.

Posts not using this format in the title will be understood to be unofficial discussion posts, no matter what they contain. They, like all comments on the comm, are subject to the Wank Policy.

Scoring
For prompt posts: 5 points each (maximum of 100 per team)

For fills (as stated here):
First 5 entries in each post: 30 (per entry)
Entries 6-10 in each post: 20 (per entry)
Entries 11-15 in each post: 10 (per entry)
Entries 16+ in each post: 5 (per entry)

All scored content must be created/assembled new for this round.

If you have any questions, please ask them at the FAQ post here, or email them to us (homestuck.shipping at gmail). Otherwise, we cannot guarantee that we will see them in a timely fashion!

Comments

PROMPT: TEAM [Dirk<>Roxy]

[alymira]

Apocalypse + Cops -- Karkat<3Terezi

FILL: TEAM [Aradia<3<Vriska]

[mhpumpkin10]

http://s1086.photobucket.com/albums/j444/Mhpumpkin10/?action=view¤t=HSOBonusRound1prompt1-3.jpg

I'm not very good at creating magical girl outfits but I hope this will do~

FILL: TEAM KARKAT<3TEREZI

[xelfi]

I hope that +body horror is okay because welp my hand slipped.

...This probably isn't anything at all what you were hoping for and I only lightly touched upon the prompted genres. I'm so sorry ._.

Also, I am so terrible to poor Eridan here that it isn't even funny. Or does that make it funnier? IDK, this is just the strangest thing I've ever written, that's all.

---

When you wake up, it isn't to whatever afterlife long dead nautical aristocrats claimed was set aside especially for those of royal blood, but to unimaginable pain coursing through through your entire body, and you don't know how this is even possible. The last thing you remember is the chainsaw, and, oh god, what if death is reliving your last moments for ever, because that is what this feels like and it's just not *fair*...

Warm hands press against your cheeks, and her fingers are so warm against your tear-streaked face that you don't realize it's *her* until she speaks, because when you attempt to open your eyes, you're nearly blinded by the brightness that you should have recognized but didn't.

"You didn't actually think that I would let you go so easily, did you, Eridan?" You blink through the moisture and light just in time to see her leaning in close, fangs shining, then piercing your lip and drinking from you. It hurts, but it is a better hurt than the pain that is everywhere at once, because you are at least able to focus on that one part and drown the rest out.

You must have passed out at some point because the next thing you know--other than strange blurry happenings that may very well have been dreams rather than reality, anyway--the pain isn't nearly as bad and you're upright instead of lying down on the cold cement floor. Looking around, you don't recognize a thing, but the bright colors and fabrics scattered throughout the area along with the hazy pain filled maybe-memories-maybe-dreams makes it obvious whose respiteblock you're currently sitting in--if sitting is indeed what you're doing because you're kind of afraid to look down.

But you look down anyway, and, oh, Kanaya stitched your severed upper body to a chair. A purple, velvet armchair, even. Your arms are the arms of the armchair. Ahahahaha...

You were probably laughing too loudly, because she appears suddenly from wherever she'd disappeared to since you saw her last, and smirks a bit at your reaction. "I'm so glad you like it, Eridan. I was concerned you would not approve, but lacking Equius's expertise in robotic prosthetics, I'm afraid that following your impromptutation, this really was the best I could do. At least my previous experience in relieving males of their lower halves allowed for a smooth and relatively pain free transition with the use of proper medication and care, and now no one has to worry about you wandering off and selling the rest of us out to the enemy. Not to mention that now there should be a significantly lesser frequency of you thinking with your bulge."

Her derisive tone has you shaking in rage. The chair legs are rattling against the floor. This probably isn't good for your stitches. "Fuck you, Kan; my plan wwas the only chance any a us had gettin out a this mess alivve, but nobody wwanted to listen--nobody evver listens!--an now Fef's dead an probably Sol is too, an you're a goddamn undead glowwin creature a the daylight, an I'm a fuckin chair!"

She's up in your face in a flash, tipping the chair--tipping you--backwards like some kind of heavy handed bruiser threatening a captured rival in a shitty action flick, except there's no one out there with any interest in rescuing you anymore. This would probably be a lot more exciting if the bulge thing wasn't so uncomfortably accurate. "If you had just set aside your selfishness for a few more hours and took into account that a much better plan than trying to join forces with the demon that wants to kill us was well underway, you would have known there was more to hope for than you realized and perhaps not sought to destroy all that remained before I finally stopped you."

She was still sore about the matriorb, obviously. As if she'd ever have the chance to restore the troll race anyway now that you were all doomed. Time for a reality check. "It wwas you wwho crafted the wweapon that destroyed it all." It had been yet another thing of yours she had broke clean in two; just like your ashen feelings thrown back in your face when she rejected your proposal and turned around to play auspistice for Vriska and Tavros instead.

The chair is--you are--righted roughly, swung around, and pushed up to a table, where several other chairs were prepared. They were just regular wooden dining block chairs with no trolls attached, though, or even any trolls sitting in them for that matter. They don't look all that comfortable, so you're not at all surprised when Kanaya chooses to sit on you instead--but you are incredibly pissed off. You can't even raise your arms to scratch her or tilt your head far enough to bite, and your neck is very clearly exposed and ready for her to feed from on her every whim. "I made a mistake," she finally responds, "and I took care of the consequences as best I could. You, on the other hand, continue to express a lack of growth in character and persist in blaming everyone but yourself for all the negativity that results from your actions." She pauses, and you seethe. "But that's all right, Eridan; now that you no longer have the ability to act on your own and make a further mess of yourself and your surroundings, you ought to have more than enough time to think about what you've done."

This is stupid; you've only ever done exactly what one with royal blood was meant to do all along. If anyone was to blame, it was the landwellers for corrupting Feferi so entirely that she actually started to pity the lowbloods instead of rising up to rule over them as the Empress she should have become with you at her side.

But Kanaya would never understand that, so you just keep it to yourself. She probably wanted you to keep talking so she could ridicule you some more, and you weren't going to give her the satisfaction.

She abruptly turns toward a clock on the wall and rises to her feet, her lips curled in a cruel twist. "Oh, would you just look at the time; our guests are going to arrive at any moment and I haven't even set the table. Make yourself comfortable, Eridan; there are several others who have been wanting to speak with you."

Fuck everything--you haven't even fully recovered from being chainsawed in half and she went ahead invited all the survivors over for a goddamn tea party.

PROMPT: TEAM [Dirk<>Roxy]

[alymira]

Teacher/Parent Romance + Romantic Comedy --John<3Karkat

Re:

[nikineon]

Wonderful!

I actually really like how the focus is not directly on the relationship. Thank you for the fill!

FILL: TEAM DAVE<3JADE

[portaling]

(( I'm not particularly good at family saga, but I tried! ))

When they're thirteen, they find the robots, half-hidden in the sand. Rose is quick to spout off facts - of course they'd be here, the people who used them have been long gone for centuries - but Dave can only think of one thing. He turns to Rose, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Lalonde, how do you feel about learning to pilot? We should start our own baby robot family, you and me, maybe Jade and John if they're up to it. Jade knows how to fix cars already, these can't be too different."

"They're entirely different, Strider. Obviously you never caught up on your pre-devastation era history." Dave gives her a shrug and pulls a piece of rope out of his sylladex, tossing it to Rose. She looks at him blankly for a moment before going over to the red, rusted piece of metal sticking out of the sand and tying it on. "Fine. But only because this will make a glorious substitution for your long-awaited birthday present."

--

"Dave, get into your robot and fight me."

"Bro, it's three o'clock in the morning, I'm asleep, and we're in the ruins of a downtown Houston. How are we going to ride a robot dong across the sky if you don't have one of your own?"

"Always did. It's just a simple matter of keeping it a secret from you. Now, are you going to show me what the hunk of metal you found does, or let me push you down some stairs?"

"You're on."

Dave learned that day that no one challenges Bro to a mecha battle, not without a good mechanic on standby. Thankfully, Jade was already on her way to visit. (It took her a month to put Davebot back together. Best hundred dollars Dave ever spent.)

--

"Dear, you left your mecha parked in the front lawn, you're going to ruin the shrubs and then I'll have to do some more gardening! Won't that be fun?"

Rose looks up from her schoolwork to see Mom, in a mecha of her own (painted flourescent pink of course, how ghastly), holding Rose's comparably smaller one by the leg in front of the large windows of their house. She sighs.

"I do apologize for my horrible error. I'll fix it as soon as I'm finished with English. Now will you please put it down before you endanger yourself?"

---

At sixteen, on a "fun vacation where the Striders and Lalondes spend more time under umbrellas than actually in the ocean," Dave and Rose are in the middle of what might have been a purely platonic game of who could kiss for longer without gasping for breath when they heard the clank of metal over their hotel balcony.

"Bad guys, Lalonde. Also you lost."

"Should we go take care of them? And I make claims to no such thing, I recall you breathing through your nose that time."

"Yeah, why not. You're a bad kisser anyway." As Dave runs to the balcony and leaps off, landing squarely in the pilot seat of his (much better condition and well-maintained) mecha, Rose leaves herself a reminder to place something overly soft and comfortable in Dave's bed as a sincere reminder that she knew where he slept.

--

At twenty-one, saving the world's just become a regular routine. A whole lot of "oh, these guys again? I swear they get bigger every time, it's like Pokemon" and much more time in the guts of machines, working on wires while stealing kisses and glances from each other. Bro and Mom have gone off somewhere together - Rose found the note that said they were retiring their supermecha statuses to vacation in a different dimension Mom had found when punching the universe - so they were left by themselves to make due.

As they stand before yet another bad guy, Rose holds out her mecha's fist. Dave obliges, giving it a bunp in the most hardcore of manners.

"Pizza and booze and makeouts later."

"On the roof? Or in the apartment?"

"Don't care, let's just make this snappy. I'm an important dude with lots of stuff to do."

"As you say, oh magnificence, paragon of importance."

"Make fun of my ego one more time and I'll punch your mecha to Hong Kong."

"I seriously doubt you could do that."

"....yeah, me too."

FILL: TEAM DAVE <3 VRISKA

[simpleruser]

Warning: Bodyhorror probably.

You come to and there is a set of one thousand and twenty four different hedgehogs, porcupines and kina going to war between your ears all wrapped in a jellyfish. Everything about this is shit. Barely conscious enough to open your eyes you force them to do as you ask and the menagerie engages again. Shit stained, puss riddled everything. A voice by your ear croons "shoosh" and puts a cloth on your forehead, like you could make a single fucking sound as you are, like your body is capable of not making its way towards being a further sack of crap.

It's a while before you come to again, you think. You don't fucking know, you wouldn't put it past yourself to have turned into a piece of machinery, ticking over into a further amount of pain but you're no a fucking clock is the point. If you ever had a point and you're pretty sure you don't.

You've been staring at nothing. Nothing being a ceiling with a crack down the middle, painted the most horrible shade of green you've ever had pass through your corneas. You hear a scuffle as whoever has been looking over you returns to the room. You think she smiles, is she a she, you don't want to be a presumptuous dickstain but those appear to be tits wrapped in lace and not much else. You blink and suddenly they're a lot closer and covered in a lot more. You reach up, yeah, those are tits, probably a chick. She lifts your hand away from her by the wrist, even as you fade out you can feel her disdain. Well fuck her too. You didn't have another option with the sounds coming out not resolving into words.

You dream. If you can call the disorganized mess in front of your mind a dream. Green swirls tie themselves into knots and then into bows which feed into your mouth and burst out your skin in lines of binary seeping into punch-tape and catching on fire, tearing through your stomach and heart and burning your eyes until your world closes into lime fire and pain.

You wake and scramble to sit up and tilt your head off the side of the bed. Strings of code slipping from your mouth and onto the floor
1| for (i = 0; i < stomach.content; i++) stomach[i].expel();
3|
4| stomach.add(lArm);
5| stomach.add(rArm);
6| stomach.expelAll();


Bit by bit it resolves itself, arms and then legs, fingers flowing forth tipped with green polish, you reflect briefly on why that would be added and a card flips over blank, you cough a toe out and lace streams from your palms wrapping itself around the figure before you, curling into the features on her face. Pursed lips which bend to slip over yours and your eyes stream blood and despair to wrap around her throat while she is unperturbed and only slips her tongue into your mouth as you choke on pain.

You wake. Again. Sweat which is just clear streaming off you. The woman looks up as you gasp but returns her eyes to her novel again, turning a page and only frowning. You wish you could just die.

I hope this was something like what you wanted!

[thip]

+ fucking one omg this is cool

FILL: TEAM John<>Vriska

[jesscookie]

Can I just say, THIS IS A REALLY QUALITY PROMPT????

Re: FILL: TEAM DIRK<3JAKE<3JANE<3ROXY

[ex_lionpyh573]

OK, so I just started replying to this and then I scrolled up to see who had written it and then I sort of dithered about it because I don't want to sound obsequious and I think I've commented on like five of yours in a row, but THERE IS A REASON FOR THIS PATTERN and aughhhh they're perfect, I would read screeds of this. ♦_♦!!!

Re: FILL: TEAM DAVE <3 VRISKA

[andthus]

Fuck oh my god this is perf.
Thank you so much!

Re: FILL: TEAM ERIDAN <3 KARKAT

[angiie]

ghahgas i just read this, and it's absolutely adorable! <3 thank you so much!!

Re: FILL: TEAM KANAYA<>KARKAT (Warning: Cannibalism)

[wallwalker]

Ooh, that's twisted. I like it.

PROMPT: Team Aradia<3Rose

[galacticbishoujo]

Rose<>Davesprite:

ghost stories and whirlwind romance.

PROMPT: Team Aradia<3Rose

[galacticbishoujo]

Gamzee<3<Vriska: Arthurian legend and magical realism.

FILL: TEAM [Dirk<>Roxy]

[alymira]

sdkfjsa;df I HOPE THIS IS OKAY AHAHAH x'D It's sappy as all hell and probably really OOC but-- ;;u;; ENJOY~

----------

PROJECT START (Day 0)
Quick Notes: Specimen in astonishingly well-cared for condition.
We received the package today. The ice-man was well preserved and had minimal scarring. We have not yet defrosted him. Care must be taken. The conditions must be perfect.


Day 6
Quick Notes: Specimen unruly.
It has been almost a week since we first defrosted the ice-man. It took nearly two days for him to fully regain consciousness. Once awake, he proceeded to rampage around the lab. The obvious language barrier allowed no reasoning to be had. Subject had to be sedated.


Day 17
Quick Notes: Specimen progressing in terms of mannerisms.
Today marks the first day that the ice-man did not attack on of our own. We were able to introduce him to some familiar foods in person without just pushing them past his cell. He seemed to enjoy them. Perhaps we will next attempt to groom him. He seems quite intrigued by the shortness of our hair as he's always touching mine.


Day 29
Quick Notes: Specimen demonstrated various aspects of physique.
His hair's been cut and he's been shaved to the best of my ability. It had to be me to perform these tasks as he seems reluctant to let anyone else near him with any form of sharp objects. He also allowed us over the course of the days to test his strength, stamina and intelligence. I must admit, he's a lot brighter than I originally gave him credit for. Perhaps he may even learn our language one day. I will attempt to teach him to read.


Day 43
Quick Notes: Specimen needed glasses.
I've been teaching him how to read. At first the process yielded no results. Turns out he could not see. It was foolish of us not to check his eyes. The glasses are a perfect solution. At first, he wanted ones like mine but I managed to motion to him that the type of glasses he needed would have to be un-tinted. It was amazing how thrilled he was about how clearly he could see after we gave them to him. At least, I think he was thrilled. He didn't say anything I could understand but... I... I just knew somehow.


Day 60
Quick Notes: We named him.
It had been long enough. We've been calling him the ice-man for an unreasonably lengthy period of time. I suppose the one good thing that came from waiting this long is that he can read and spell a little. He can even speak a few words, though he pronunciation is terrible. But I digress-- since he can do all that, he was able to choose a name to his liking. He chose Jake. Whether that was his old name or if he chose a new one that he preferred, I have no idea. I'd like to think it suits him though.


Day 94
Quick Notes: Jake picks up on things incredibly fast.
Jake and I have been spending a lot of time together as of late. Somehow he seems to trust me over all the others. Perhaps it is because I am one of the few who treat him as an equal. I don't do it for any reason in particular. He simply is. There is no denying his intelligence. He can already speak many simple sentences and phrases. Although his accent is still atrocious, the progress is remarkable and I frown upon any and all who dismiss his continuing success. In an example of his brilliance-- yesterday I showed him a film. He watched and seemed to learn that to give flowers is to show affection. I know this because, today, he presented me with a make-shift bouquet of dandelions. It was quite thoughtful of him.


Day 143
Quick Notes: He's lonely.
His language has advanced greatly. He told me the story of his home today. He related to me how much he missed it and how much he wished he could see everyone he used to know once more. He told me about all his friends. I didn't know what to say. For the first time since we defrosted him, I wished we hadn't. He's sad. He's lonely. It hurts me to see him like this. I don't know what to do.


Day 175
Quick Notes: N/A
I was stupid. Really stupid. I... I kissed him. He won't talk to me anymore. He refuses to see me.


Day 188
Quick Notes: Jake's laugh is amazing.
We're finally on good terms again. It took a little while. Jake explained to me that he hadn't been mad; not really. He had just needed a little time to process what had happened. I assured him that it was a stupid thing I had done. I was just worried about him. I told him he didn't have to worry about it ever happening again. He went silent for a while after that. I think he was considering what I said. It must have been the right thing to say though because he smiled and asked if we could watch another movie together. I was a little wary. He enjoys movies but he has really horrible taste most of the time. I told him exactly that and he just laughed in response. It's... not really a scientific note but... he has the best laugh I've ever heard.


Day 216
Quick Notes: Jake's very interested in my past.
He always was but it seems even more so that usual. He keeps asking me strange, intimate details. He wants to know if I'm married or if I'm dating. He's even asked about who I've been with in the past. He asked me what I look for in a person and what qualities I find attractive. I'm not to sure what to think of this. Part of me wants to believe it's because he's interested in me. But... the logical part remembers a month or two back when he completely rejected me. I guess it's far more likely that he's interested in one of the other researchers he interacts with. Some of them even enjoy the same movies as him... I'm sure I shouldn't be feeling as disappointed as I do thinking about it.


Day 287
Quick Notes: We're integrating him into the world.
Everyone's thrilled with the progress Jake's made. It's almost as if he wasn't from years in the past. He can walk and talk and act as the perfect modern man. Anything that doesn't fit just seems like a quirk on his part. We're moving the project to the phase-- real-world integration. The first part is getting Jake a new place to live where he can freely interact with neighbours and the general public. I've gone ahead and offered Jake a room at my place but, of course, I'll understand if he chooses to stay elsewhere. I mean, we've gotten really close over the course of the last few months but... I'm sure he's just being polite. He does that a lot. I just really enjoy talking to him. It's like having my brother back home again. Actually, it's better than that. Jake just... he... he makes me really happy.


Day 314
Quick Notes: The neighbours think we're a couple.
Jake's been living with me for around a month now. It's been great. I don't remember having ever having such a good time. We're always goofing off, watching movies, eating stupid junk-food, building robots, exploring-- I feel like a kid again. The only strange thing about it is that the neighbours seem to think were dating. I don't mind so much but I don't want Jake to feel awkward. I don't want to lose his friendship. It's been a long time since someone has meant as much as he does to me.


Day 355
Quick Notes: Jake's been acting really weird lately.
I told Jake his birthday was coming up. Well, not his ACTUAL birthday. His "defrost" day if we've going into semantics. He laughed and reminded me of that gift my brother sent me on mine. Jake thinks the puppets are creepy but my bro know I love them so every year he sends me a few new ones. This year, he sent me an orange one and a green one that were, err... arranged in an oddly sexual position in the box. I regret ever telling him what Jake and my favourite colours were. Brushing that subject off though, I asked Jake what he wanted for his birthday. He got really silent after that. He just smiled and said he already had everything he wanted. He seemed really uncomfortable... I didn't want to push him though, so I just let it drop.


Day 364
Quick Notes: N/A
There's like five minutes till midnight. Jake's sitting on the couch. I've got a surprise planned for him. He's been really down lately so I go this huge-ass cake in the shape of a gun. He's been really interested in those since I showed him how they worked. Heh. I can't wait to see his reaction.


Day 365
Quick Notes: Fuck.
Fuck.
No really.
I just.
What.
WHAT.
W
H
A
T
Okay. Quick recap.
12:00
I shove his skinny-ass towards the table.
I gesture towards the cake.
I smile and act cool. (Scratch that-- I don't need to act.)
He FUCKING TEARS UP.
He
tells
me
he
LOVES
me.
I. WHAT.
I DON'T
I


JOURNAL END -- (Day 366)
Quick Notes: N/A
This has been the best day of my life. Has it been a day? More than I day. I don't know. I frankly don't care. This has just... wow, I don't even know what to say. I'm just... I'm so glad we found Jake. I can't imagine my life without him. And now? I won't have to.

PROMPT: TEAM [DAVE <3 TEREZI]

[spacespecs]

Vriska<3<Terezi; MMORPGs and slice-of-life, please!

PROMPT: TEAM [DAVE <3 TEREZI]

[spacespecs]

Vriska<3Terezi; magical girl and dark humor.

PROMPT: Team Aradia<3Rose

[galacticbishoujo]

John<3<Aradia: Space opera + genre/trope deconstruction.

PROMPT: TEAM [Dirk<>Roxy]

[alymira]

Stranded on an island + Comedy -- Davesprite<3Jade

Re: FILL: TEAM Vriska<3Kanaya

[ex_lionpyh573]

AAAAAAAAAAAAA. ♥ This is such a perfect fable, both in the way it really sounds like it's being told to a child (...I guess it is a silly story) but simultaneously has a kind of formal, symbolically weighted cadence (the garden was nurtured by the queen's blood and body). The last line, oh my gosh.

PROMPT: TEAM [Dirk<>Roxy]

[alymira]

Medieval Times + Fantasy -- Dave<3Terezi

FILL: TEAM JADE<3ROSE

[myerfly]

[Warning for character death and depression!]

*



"So is she even still a troll anymore," Serket says, "or what."

You glance over in the direction of her voice. It's maybe the hundredth day in this bubble, and she's sitting on the counter in the sallow light of this human kitchen with bags under her eyes like bruises. You put down your knife -- down beside the pile of whatever you'd been chopping, some kind of human root vegetable, who even cares -- and turn to face her, leaning your sack of creaking bones against the counter at your back in turn. It's maybe the hundredth day, or maybe the first. You probably look as much like death as she does. Fitting.

"If you mean AA," you say, slowly, measured, "then I think you need to go get your thinkpan cleaned." You hop up on the counter behind you; the cutting board with your knife and vegetable seems to have blinked out of existence. Fucking dream bubbles. You spent a lot of time on that.

Serket is laughing, an ugly tired laugh. "Are you saying she's fine?"

"Only as much as we are." You cross your arms. "She's a dead troll. So are we."

"She's a soul bonded to a tin can," Vriska says, slumping. This is concerning. Usually, at her most desperate and tired, Vriska is a ball of nervous energy, a boiling vat of barely contained hysteria. Never is she so hollowed out. If you weren't so empty yourself, you'd be alarmed.

Instead you just stare back evenly. "She's still AA." You don't even have the energy to sigh. "And she was dead before either of us, besides."

Vriska eyes you with one of her milky white oculars. "You know it's not the same."

You know. You remember perigees and perigees of cajoling, desperate prodding, grasping in vain for a reaction. You remember trying and trying and blaming and shunning, pumping yourself full of bitter indignation so that you'd never have to turn around and think that maybe, maybe, she was never coming back. That she had never come back. You know.

You don't tell Serket that.

"She's still AA," you repeat instead. "She's just dead. Just like we're dead. You think that Alpha You spends her time shitting around in run-down human hives, watching antenna beasts frying themselves on exposed illumination pods all night? Hell no. She's got irons in the fire, or whatever your stupid catchphrase even is. But not you. Not us. We're husks."

You want to go on, but Serket's face is all crumpled. You should tell her case in point; there was a time when she would have challenged you or anyone to a swordfight on a bridge over roiling lava for saying something like that. But you're too busy fending off a thought at the back of your mind, one that wants you to worry, what if it's been more than a hundred days, what if it's been more than a hundred sweeps.

You can't think that. You can't bring yourself to entertain that it's been an eternity, trapped in this bubble, drifting listlessly around through the yellow rooms and the yellow light, peeling at the wallpaper, setting the table for no particular reason. Maybe it's only been a day. But you remember pulling Serket off AA, once. You remember because you had to find a hammer to work out the dents in AA's bodywork. That was forever ago. If it happened. Didn't it?

You're concerned enough that you look over to check. Serket follows your gaze, though probably not your train of thought.

But there, yes. Her hands are folded neatly in her lap, obscuring some of the areas of damage, but you can definitely still see faint traces of imperfection. You weren't very handy with that hammer; your psionic powers don't work in the dreambubbles. The evidence is there. You almost want to heave a sigh of relief.

Almost, but something about the sight of AA, sitting demurely reactionless in her chair against the wall in the corner, kills the feeling. You have to stop yourself from watching her chest to check for breathing. At least her circuits seem to be humming.

"Do you think--" Serket begins, and it sounds far too cautious. "Do you think it's because she made so many beta selves. That some of them don't work? In the dreambubbles?"

"She works." Your voice comes out harder than you meant it to. "Her eyes are still lit up."

Vriska raises her gaze from her lap at that. Her face is unreadable, her mouth a thin line. For several seconds -- several hours, your brain whispers -- you stare at each other in silence. Finally, she blinks, and slowly levers herself down from her counter.

You're stupid for not predicting what happens next. But you're set in slow-motion and too quickly, she's over at the wall in the corner, punching AA in her motionless metal face.

You try to shout, but there's too much clanging, and the dead little kitchen echoes in ways that living physics don't allow. Your body moves like a garbage bag but eventually, finally, you get from point A to point B and get your bony fingers closed around Vriska's wrists. She throws herself against your grip, but weakly -- you could be made of paper towel and still you wouldn't break. You wait her out in silence and pass the time by wondering how you got from willing this girl out of existence to wanting to twist your hand up in her matted hair and tell her to slow her roll. Eventually she sags, and the yellow cage of your afterlife falls back into quiet. Neither of you cry.

The silver filigrees of AA's lashes shutter once over the embers of her visual receptors, slowly.

"Thanks, Sollux," Aradia says.

On second thought, maybe this is the first day after all.

FILL: TEAM JADE<3JOHN

[buttonhole]

http://imagescale.tumblr.com/image/1280/m61qxeoxN31r9sa19o1.png

I don't know how to draw ballerinas (everything I know about ballet comes from an anime I watched over 5 years ago) or body horror or feferi but here is an art fill I hope it doesn't suck

Re: FILL: TEAM Vriska<3Kanaya

[kolkhozi]

Hee. ♥ I read about a million fairy tales and fables as a kid (the various colored fairy books fell apart), and the thing that always struck me was the weight of symbols, the sort of... magical realism and the importance of patterns and the particular way the words fell heightening the feel of it? I don't know it's 1 AM I'm probably incoherent. My point is - I'm glad that came across, I tried to make it feel like the sort of thing I read growing up! I'm really glad you like it!