Genesis of Apotheosis

[Tearen Wover]

Tearen grinned widely and clapped a friendly hand on the clown's shoulder.

"Come, there's something I want to show you." he said, guiding Gamzee down the steps of the pavilion. They walked a short distance into the forest before the elder Prime stopped abruptly, and motioned for the bard to come closer. Gamzee stepped next to the Shadow and looked where Tearen was looking. There, on the trunk of a mossy tree, was a river of black movement. Looking closer, Gamzee could see the stream of black was actually a column of tiny, marching bug things. Thousands of them, going up and down the tree, going both ways. Gamzee was, by default, delighted.

"I wanted to show you an example, because I'm not certain they have these on your world. These are called ants, Gamzee." Tearen said softly. Gamzee nodded and reached out with a hand before Tearen made a halting noise from his throat.

"Mm. I wouldn't. They're vicious little buggers. But here's the point; are you familiar with the concept of emergence?" Tearen asked. The clown thought about it for a moment before nodding.

"Yeh. I mean. I think so. Like when I'm done usin' the load-gaper and I all up and emergence outta the squat-chamber. Or like...when I emergence outta my slime-pod in the morning." Gamzee said, his yellow eyes shining brightly. Tearen chuckled softly.

"That's not exactly what I mean. Emergence is the idea that, from disordered components, and ordered system can emerge. Like these ants." Tearen said, gesturing at the crawling motes of life. "Taken individually they are...depressingly, hopelessly stupid. They just follow basic instincts and compulsions. A single ant can accomplish nothing, and sometimes ants from the same colony will work in opposition of each other for days. But! When you put thousands of the together, each living their own life, they form a larger system. A larger, hive organism capable of amazing things." Tearen said, casting a hand down at the ground. He reached out to Gamzee's sense of vision and allowed the clown to peer deep into the soil, catching a glimpse of the miles of tiny tunnels that wound down deep into the loamy soil.

"Whoaaa..." Gamzee said, his eyes sparkling. He flashed a toothy grin up at Tearen before speaking.

"So yeah about being God though?"

Tearen nodded.

"Yes. Taken individually, I am not a god. You are not a god. Each of these ants are not a god. But we together, all of us, the tree, the ants, you, me, Strazio, Maru...we are all God." Tearen said, giving Gamzee a moment to consider.

"Oookay. But then like...how come we all don't up and have the same thoughts in our thinkpans? If we all God, then God is one confused-ass motherfucker." Gamzee said, trying to be serious. Tearen clapped his hands together and laughed, loudly.

"Ah. Yes. Truer words were never spoken. But consider this; do you not argue with yourself? Do you have urges and desires that you must pick and choose, despite wanting several possibilities at once? God must be no different. We are all God, but God is...complicated. The universe is infinitely complicated. There's room for more than one mind, within the collective 'I'...and when we disagree or argue?" Tearen said, gesturing down at the scurrying insects, "...just ants. Dragging sticks the wrong way. The universe goes on, and we are allowed our internal differences. That doesn't make our collective identity as the supreme being any less real." Tearen said, with a tone that denoted finality. Gamzee was sitting down at this point, pondering. It was becoming a bit too much again.

"So then...what...do we...? What does God DO with all that? What do we do?" Gamzee asked softly.

"Finding that answer...is why we exist..." Tearen said.

[Gamzee Makara]

Man this is all so - It just is man. It is. 

I sink even further into the soft ground, lying on my back and staring at the canopy above. The criss-crossing branches, vines and leaves are arranged in such a way that the sunlight poking through the blanket of branches looks like stars. Shafts of soft, warm light breach through, painting the two of us in mottled luminescence.

"I uh..." Hm. I trail off for a second. My head rolls over to the right, eye level with tiny little creatures TearDude called ants. 

"But if we're all the same, if we all happen to be this collective you keep spreakin-" I stop myself, once again.

"I think I need to think," I say with a pleasant tone. I look up and behind me at Tearman, who was still standing there. 

"Thank you for expanding my mind horizon and shit."

Sorry for the short post, on my phone. Gonna do a solo post and may return around with more questions.

[Dane Regan]

It was an interesting concept, the intertwining of all things. Everything being connected. But Dane supposed that even with the nonexistence of the source of Tearen's abilities, such a thing would already be true - just on a much lesser scale in some cases. You could still push rocks and manipulate your surroundings by hand, for example. The ability to use his mind with no biological limitations to do just that was incredibly appealing. After all, he always considered his mind to be a strong point. That said, he did consider the possibility that Tearen was actually just trying to push that philosophy onto his powers, and the concepts and abilities were actually entirely unrelated. If what Tearen said about having doubts or being unsure was true - Dane reasoned it was best to stomp them into oblivion sooner rather than later.

And to do that, he wanted to know Tearen's potential, and then properly define it. Or, if he wasn't able to do such a thing, he wanted to know why it was impossible to define. For example, one divided by zero was undefinable (and not equal to some fancy number or 'infinity') but he was content with that since he knew why. Substituting x equal to one over zero would imply that zero multiplied by some number x had to be equal to one. Which was impossible. Naturally, finding a similar line of reasoning relating to Tearen's powers would be considerably harder. But for now, he deemed the best path to consist of learning and then replicating. He preferred to understand beforehand, yet his somewhat minor experience with alchemy mirrored the similar approach of experimenting to assist in comprehension. Some concepts were hard to visualise just from numbers, formulae, and words.

Yet, if he was sceptical, he wouldn't be able to learn in full. Thus, Dane deemed it was actually best to experience the effects firsthand. For this reason, Dane found himself imposing on the god-mind's break. Although, he noted that he wasn't actually the first to do so. 

Tearen turned smoothly, looking towards Dane. Unlike their first meeting in this verse, Dane made no attempt to hide his presence. The real question lingering in his mind was how to phrase his request. Pondering, he concluded that there actually wasn't a good phrasing to use that couldn't be laughed over later.

Tearen's eyes continued to watch him, waiting for Dane to speak.

"Do the strawberry thing to me too." Dane shuffled forwards after blurting out the words. The motion reduced the distance to a more suitable conversation range. "Please," he added, eyes flickering about awkwardly. He presented another uneaten strawberry. While much more skittish than his usual demeanour, there was a distinct interest and suppressed excitement in his voice.

Dane's suppression is disabled for strawberry purposes. Also, he'd totally eat it even if it hurt a lot. And if possible I reckon he'd play about to try to find and break the link.

[Tearen Wover]

"The strawberry was just an example, Dane. It's possible to extend this type of sensory connection to any conceivable thing in the world." Tearen said, raising an eyebrow at the red fruit. The bookish warrior's face had a worrying amount of stress buried beneath his usual staunch demeanor. It made sense the most dedicated logician out of all of his students would be the most troubled by the type of greater truth Tearen was professing.

"That, then. Do that." Dane said, twiddling the berry nervously between his fingers. Tearen shook his head.

"No, you're not ready for that. Taking in the perceptive spheres of everything around you has the capacity to literally light your brain on fire. We seek to transcend our evolutionary limits, yes, but they did evolve for a purpose." Tearen said, crossing his arms firmly. A bird in the misty distance keened dolefully in the warming sun of late afternoon, and streams of sunlight speared through the canopy overhead. Dane sighed.

"Well, yes I can imagine that feeling the pain of one's prey would put a damper on the appetite, but...just for a moment. Just so I can...see. Understand. Please." Dane said, a pleading tone creeping into his voice. Tearen tilted his head back a little bit; this was starting to get a little creepy, so better to just indulge the man for an instant than be harangued indefinitely.

"Take a deep breath." Tearen warned, before holding a hand up towards Dane's face. The elder Prime didn't have to ask the spellsword twice; Dane sucked in a great volume of air before abruptly getting hit in the face with absolutely everything.




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"STOP!" Dane shrieked, falling to his knees and clutching at his head. He breathed heavily for a long minute, trying to hold down his lunch as the pain of a thousand deaths faded from his immediate memory. In hindsight, asking for total sensory connection inside a jungle had probably been a bad idea. Once he had regained a modicum of his composure, the enervated intellectual staggered to his feet and glanced at Tearen with sunken eyes.

"How...long...?"

"Approximately half a second." Tearen said softly. Dane was initially disappointed that he hadn't been able to endure more, but just trying to remember everything he had taken in in that half second abolished any sense of pride. He simply nodded his head and stared down at the strawberry, clutched in his sweaty palm.

"Your point has been taken. How about just this, though?" Dane asked, lifting the fruit up weakly. Tearen's mouth drew into a thin line, but waved his hand and wiped away the evolutionary blocks between Dane's mind and the strawberry's rudimentary sensory abilities. Dane flinched slightly, but steadied himself before squeezing the fruit and tossing it up into the air a few times. It was...odd...the feeling of wind against his bare skin from a few feet above his head. It wasn't unpleasant though...quite the opposite really. Dane was beginning to understand why Strazio had been so enraged by the interaction...but Tearen had described the sensation of the strawberry's consumption as 'agony'. It didn't stack up. Dane opened his mouth, and Tearen immediately piped up.

"Are you...sure you want to do that?" the Shadow asked, turning his head to the side, slightly. Dane shrugged.

"Can't be worse than my previous error." he said with a note of mirth. Tearen opened his mouth, then sighed.

"Do as you will, but I'll leave you two alone." Tearen said, with a different sort of amusement. Dane's eyes followed the teacher's retreat with a curious look before staring down at the fruit. Now that he thought about it...strawberries or any fruited plant relied on being consumed to propagate their seeds. It was an important part of their reproduction cycle. Dane stared at the berry harder.

The strawberry...wanted to be eaten.

Perhaps the agony that Tearen had been hinting at was not in the physical feedback, but in the social and emotional fallout implied in the previous circumstances of the luncheon. Dane wasn't sure he wanted to do this experiment any more.

Dane is free to break the connection with a little concentration, but I figure this would be more entertaining for him to write about.

[Dane Regan]

Dane stared at the red fruit. It didn't stare back. In his mind, it was a fairly simple thing, compared to other living creatures at least. It has a much smaller array of decision-making abilities, if any at all. Birds, cats, wolves, people, almost every animal and even some machines were more complicated in that regard. That said, the unique arrangement of atoms and molecules for a strawberry was much more complex than that of rocks - excluding the unverified, yet still plausible, myths revolving around some of the rarer composite ores from Dane's homeworld. Yet, from Dane's mental link, the actual complexity of the strawberry matter seemed to have no impact. His connection didn't give him any physical information about the fruit. There was nothing provided to describe the strawberry's height or mass or the molecules it contained. Instead, he received knowledge of its biological urges, and being eaten happened to be the next part of that process - it was a core stage that came prior to the spreading of seeds and thus its reproduction.

Besides that, there was information in the link concerning the general conditions and forces acting upon strawberry. Gravity pulling it downwards, the slight breeze, the reaction force acting upwards on the strawberry from Dane's palm, the warmth of his palm and the comparative coolness of the shady air. So, in general, Dane concluded that he was essentially being given data on the fruit's perspective. If he linked with a person, he'd get similar information - no height or measurements, and likely a much more complex array of thoughts to fit alongside it. Regarding Tearen's statement about there being biological limits due to the size and processing power of someone's brain, Dane debated that the seemingly one-way connection between him and the fruit was in actuality a back and forth exchange - just that the strawberry's mental capabilities were so incredibly small that it had no way to interpret the information given.

Notably, with this method, linking with another human - someone with a mind potentially as complex as Dane's - would require extensive mental capabilities to essentially store and process double the sensory information. And that didn't include thoughts. Thus, while Dane would definitely give linking with someone else a go, he concluded that for this technique to really be viable there had to be a way to limit or compress the flow of information. Although, it was notable that Dane was very much capable of having multiple conversations inside his head. A habit that came in waves. While all voices were imagined, he entertained the thought of how confused a potential invader of his mind would be should they try to interact with them. It was an interesting idea for a mental defence mechanism. Like the equivalent of a swarming mass of phagocytes. He considered that perhaps it could come in useful some time. Sooner or later people would begin to pick up Tearen's powers. Dane almost pitied anyone who might deem him as being a good test subject. Regardless of those musings, he had a date with a strawberry to continue.

There was a clear link somewhere in his mind. Dane knew that much. But, he was still partially considering whether or not it could be magical in nature. He assumed it'd probably be possible to at least replicate these effects with magic. From person to person, he knew of a similar telepathy spell. Here it would have to work by exchanging packages or magical waves. Except the strawberry would need to be capable of submitting its own for that to work - which it wasn't. While magic was everywhere, that didn't mean everywhere could control, direct, or influence it. Specialised machines theoretically could, a few less sapient lifeforms on Dane's world could, and so could all intelligent races if given proper training. He considered the possibility of a highly calculated wave being reflected back, but with changes corresponding to the strawberry, but was still unsure how any information regarding the strawberry's will would be obtained. Unless Tearen simultaneously planted his own self-sustained magical spell inside Dane and the strawberry, Dane couldn't see a way magic could have replicated the effect. Yet that wouldn't explain how Tearen has linked Dane with his entire surroundings. It could work of the natural magic in everything, but the changes in densities would screw everything up. Unless Tearen was insanely smart with highly fast and accurate computational abilities with a precise and accurate sensory system to go with it, Dane was near certain Tearen didn't use magic. Which meant Dane could now begin the fun part of testing for and trying to find exactly what Tearen did use.

Bracing, he squeezed the strawberry slightly. Despite this, he still flinched. It was hard not to, regardless of any mental willpower to prevent it. Especially when he couldn't locate the specific place in his conscience where it came from. He pinched his arm, and unsurprisingly the strawberry didn't react. If he could note when, where, how, or anything about the information transfer he reasoned it could be trackable. This connection was in his mind, after all. His domain. He'd be remiss to simply allow it to stay there. God-mind thing or not, Dane wouldn't lose a mental challenge in his own head. Poking the strawberry again, he still flinched. He gave it a light shake. He could distinguish enough to know it wasn't his own senses, yet it was still hard to track specifically where it came from, even by inducing the information transfer...

...which was exactly where he was going wrong. The link was constant. An endless stream of information. A continuous dump of knowledge and data regarding the strawberry's state. Which was likely why simply prodding it a bit didn't help him find the connection.

Dane closed his eyes, trying to clear his usually cluttered mind. An organised mess, he liked to call it. A visual representation would look something akin to a library after a tornado had drifted through it. In reality, Dane's "clearing" of his mind simply consisted of ignoring the mess, but that still served a useful purpose. With his own thoughts ignored, there was a clear foreign object, concept, the connection. Assuming he was correct in that breaking it would sever the link, there was something else he wanted to try first. Namely, could he filter the link's output? I.e. cut out things he didn't want to know, nor care about. In this case, that would typically mean everything, since he didn't care about the strawberry outside of eating it. But for the sake of argument, he considered only wishing to know the strawberry's "feelings". Nothing about motion, forces acting upon it, or information from its senses.

Now that he'd found the link, it wasn't particularly hard. He knew where it was in his mind, so it was simple enough to put it through irrelevant information through his own mental block. Especially when feelings and thoughts were clearly distinct from physical sensations. He squeezed it again, this time receiving nothing. If he focused, he thought he could tell that the strawberry was being squeezed, assuming he didn't just think that because he expected that to be the case. 

Lastly, there was one final thing for Dane to do here. Eat the fruit. It still wanted to be eaten. He felt it. Its urge didn't feel like a "true" thought, more like a sign left up on a door saying "please take the trash out". Regardless, Dane was happy to oblige. He wasn't particularly hungry, but it was a sparsely available food back at his home.

And with that last rambling, Dane tossed the fruit up into the air, catching it in his mouth. As he lightly chewed it into a smooth reddish paste, the link slowly faded away before he chose to cut the remainder completely out of his mind.

[Strazio Rockwell]

In just the span of a few minutes Strazio had managed to punch a softball-sized hole through the bark of a nearby tree. In his tantrum he had stormed a good distance away from the campsite and was now busy chucking rocks against the poor defenseless plant. With every throw he held out his hand and tried to exert his willpower over the projectile. And with every throw he grew more and more frustrated. His skin fizzled and his hands trembled. He threw another rock, held out his hand, and cursed when the stone followed its expected trajectory. Try as he might he could not keep the gaze of his mind’s eye focused on the task at hand. His gibbering monkey mind kept oscillating between his rising hatred at the absurdity of Tearen’s teachings and his own inability to grasp them properly. His thoughts turned to the Strazberry and his flaring temper led him down a path that ended with Damien. Hundreds of howling thoughts ricocheted off the inside of his school each of them screaming for attention. He threw another rock. Another failure rebounded off the smooth underside of the tree.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” he growled, “what is the fucking problem?”

As if to answer his question something rustled the underbrush behind him. He whirled around to greet the noise.

“You don’t have to sneak up on me,” Strazio growled.

Tearen stepped into view and raised his hands in deference, “I did not mean to sneak up on you, I just came to make sure you were okay.”

With as much venom as he could muster Strazio answered, “I don’t need you to check up on me.”

Tearen simply nodded. For a long while neither of them said anything. They stood no more than a few feet apart. Strazio’s eyes darted across Tearen’s frame, while Wover’s seemed to stare off at some imperceptible point. The Shadow offered a smile and Strazio looked away.

With a huff Strazio broke the silence, “sorry, I know you mean well, it’s just… so frustrating”

Wover nodded, “I understand.”

“I’m not sure you do,” Strazio answered.

For a moment The Shadow said nothing eventually he shrugged, “well, maybe not completely, but I understand well enough to empathize.”

“Well…” Strazio started, but let the sentence die on his tongue.

After another wave of silence Wover spoke, “we should probably head back, I’m sure the others are ready to start again.”

Strazio threw one more rock before turning to follow Tearen. The two walked carefully through the jungle. Night was falling upon them and were it not for Tearen’s impeccable senses they probably would’ve gotten lost. As they walked Strazio asked a question.

“So, I’ve been thinking, you say everything is interconnected, one piece of some greater cosmic whole, and you can exert your willpower over rocks and bugs and things like that” he said, “but what about a person? What’s stopping you from zapping my brain and turning me into a puppet? And what about Omni, is he connected as well?”

[Tearen Wover]

"Well, Strazio..." Tearen said, looking up at the stars that were peaking coquettishly through the cloud cover, "...if we were in my native universe, nothing could stop me." the ex-enigma said in a tone that made the statement more than honest. A silence fell across the two men as they crunched through the damp underbrush. Tearen could feel Strazio's discomfort wriggling free from his poorly-tended emotional filter, and decided to assuage it.

"...not that I would, such that I am. Or, potentially, you could stop me, if you had enough conviction. Otherwise, you are the universe and I am the universe, and our thoughts are one another's. This is one of the more...advanced lessons of my previous tutelage, and not entirely relevant to the Omniverse, so I was planning on omitting it for these proceedings." Tearen said softly. His voice was coated with a veneer of calm and reassurance, but Strazio still felt his skin crawl at the thought of anyone having that sort of power...even himself.

"What's the Omniverse got to do with it?" Strazio asked. It was an obvious question, and one that Tearen probably would have answered anyway, but Strazio wanted to feel as if he had at least a morsel of agency in this conversation.

"That sort of leads into your second question; what of Omni?" Tearen said trailing off. The rage mage had anticipated the Shadow to have a ready answer for this, but Tearen's honesty was disarming.

"I don't really know about Omni. On the surface, he reminds me of one of my betters in my homeworld; a fragment of the universe so intimately self-assured that it decides to assume dominion of the rest of creation by placing himself above it."

Strazio thought for a moment.

"So...wouldn't that actually mean he's disconnecting from the universe? Wouldn't that make him less powerful?"

Tearen smiled warmly, but facing away from Strazio. It pleased him that the irate man was allowing his mind to settle down and absorb part of a larger picture. Tearen had never doubted Rockwell's capacity for this; he was strikingly intelligent once he was able to work past his emotional blockages.

"Yes...after a fashion. After all, a God is that which is able to exist apart from the system they control. Above the law, as it were. In the process of doing so, they free themselves from the laws of the universe, but also forfeit direct interaction with it."

There was another crunchy silence, and the song of a thousand frogs shimmered deep into the darkening sky. Tearen let out a long sigh.

"...at least, that's my working theory. Like I said, I don't know for sure."

The Shadow paused to see if Strazio had any follow-up inquiries.

[Strazio Rockwell]

Strazio ran a hand through his hair. This was beginning to become too much. Sure he came from a universe where magick offered all sorts of miracles, but there were limitations. There were rules. Even the most adept of mages would struggle to exert their will over someone as completely as Tearen claimed he could. The white haired mage bit the inside of his cheek. Such power was unimaginable to him. Even necromancy, which he witnessed first hand, was a precise and costly magick and even then the resurrected were little more than semi-sentient meat puppets. Strazio shivered. He tried to think of something else, knowing full well that his mind was an open book to the Shadow.

“I think I see the campsite,” Strazio noted, pointing ahead of them.

Tearen simply nodded in response and lead the way.

[Malon]

"So... 'God' is not him or me or... well, any single one of us, but the entirety of all living beings... And this 'God' has absolute power to do anything", Malon, still under the guise of Maru, gathered. She mumbled it to herself rather than to anyone in specific, having been mostly quiet and staying in the background as Tearen taught the others. While Dane, Gamzee and Strazio were each to their own devices she had been pondering Tearen's words and explanations from a seat at the table they had enjoyed their meal at, trying to find analogies and to connect it to that which she had experienced in her life - her life in Hyrule, and her experience thus far here in the Omniverse. She looked up when she heard the rustling of leaves and saw Tearen and Strazio coming back to the campsite, talking to each other. She waited for an opening to speak up.

"Tearen... can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"If we are all part of a bigger whole... does that mean that the other way around, a little bit of the 'Big Whole' is inside us?"

"I can see why you would ask that question", Tearen said. Was that a hint of amusement in his voice? "The nature of your... abilities stems from a different source than the one that I am here to discuss, but the concept is much the same, I believe: Omnilium composes everything in this world, from us to the ground we stand on, and even an abstract concept such as an ability." Malon noted that Tearen had manoeuvered around mentioning the nature of her abilities with Strazio standing right by them, and the others possibly being within earshot too. They were smart enough to suspect that she may have changed her looks if he brought up that she was able to shapeshift. "I think that you were going somewhere else with that question, though."

"I am. You showed us about how we can perceive the world through an object or smaller beings... I wonder if that is due to that we all have a small piece of the 'Big Whole' within us, that connects us, on some level?" She paused to catch her breath and, when Tearen didn't respond, she went on: "And something else: what about... I mean, a strawberry, insects, birds and other small animals don't have the intelligence to resist us if we plunge into their minds, but what if... what if say, I tried to get into your body, or Strazio's, and perceive the world through your senses? Or do other things!" Her cheeks heated a bit as she felt as if a dam had broken inside her and let out the questions that had piled up. "Like reading into one's memories. Would that person be able to feel the intrusion, and resist it? Could they fight back, as one can in the physical realm, except mind-to-mind?"

[Tearen Wover]

Tearen's mouth drew into a thin line as Malon now too beset him with questions of minds and domination. Perhaps he had been too hasty with his invitations. Perhaps indeed the mortal minds of the Omniverse were not open to the fruit his teachings bore. Oh certainly, these here gathered had the intelligence to comprehend the secrets he had thus far divulged, but there again he could not be sure they had the wisdom to wield them where they might bring beneficence in the manner in which he had designed.

Malon gave the Shadow's face a concerned stare as Tearen swept up to the platform of the granite gazebo with his disciples eagerly in his wake. All at once, he snuffed the light of the green beacon, plunging the jungle clearing into darkness, save for skittering light from lamps hung in the distant living quarters. The assembled Primes blinked in the darkness, and stared at the tiny viridian glow that the ex-enigma's eyes emitted. The sounds of the jungle seemed to fade away, and grow distant. Replacing them was some...noise. Like the rushing of a river, but deeper and yet more shrill. Gamzee sort of thought it sounded like the noise his gawk-screen made when its signal went bad.

"I'm afraid I may have mislead you all..." Tearen murmured, somehow audible over the hissing din. Karkat scoffed.

"Imagine that."

"...however unintentional it might have been. I have shown you great power, and I have opened your minds to the path, but now you must answer one of my questions..." Tearen continued, his eyes unblinking against the inky veil of night. Dane immediately stood a little straighter; ever sure that he could at least riposte whatever inquiry might be imminent.

"...why is it that you desire this power?"

[Strazio Rockwell]

Strazio frowned as he turned Tearen’s question over in his mind. He glanced over at Gamzee, scanning the troll’s dimly lit face. After a few moments of contemplation, Strazio stepped forward.

“I’m going to be honest with you,” Strazio said, locking his eyes with Tearen’s, “partly because I think you’d see right through any attempts at dishonesty, and well, I suck at lying anyways. Up until now my every action has hinged on a single solitary purpose -- revenge. Every decision I have made, every battle I have fought, and everything I have learned has been leading up to this purpose. Damien Alabaster killed my family, friends, and left me buried beneath my kin. I aim to be his reckoning. I aim to annihilate him.”

He let the words hang in the air for a moment before continuing. He thumbed at the crest of Darkshire that hung around his neck.

“However, I am not so blind as to be oblivious to the fact that my revenge would be, and is, quite small in the grand scheme of things,” he admitted, though it pained him to do so, “and I’m not so blind to see that those tenants you’ve listed on the dataverse run counter to my general disposition, but since I’ve come to the Omniverse I’ve seen a great many atrocities. I’ve seen innocent people driven to slaughter as if they were nothing more than livestock, and if what you say about the Underverse is true everything I’ve seen so far is child’s play. I can’t lie and say that any power or knowledge you invest in me won’t be used for vengeance, because it will. I can say that it will also be used as a bulwark against beings like Damien and anyone that would neglect basic human dignity. So I ask for this power, not just for myself, but for the benefit of the entire Omniverse.”

[Gamzee Makara]

I lick my lips, waiting for my amethyst eyes to adjust in this low light. Ain't too much different than living underground back home. Little green sparklies shimmer in and out of view, every now and then. Or maybe I'm just seein' things, iunno. My ears perk up at Straz' little monologue, but there really ain't much to say about it. He said his piece. It's his, and he owns up to it. Ain't my place to judge it, only be there to help him tear shit up. Or something like that. I'm really not all beknowinst about the intricacies of friendship, I just stick with the dudes and dudettes I take a likin' to.

It's quiet for a while, after my Straz' spiel.

I absentmindedly swipe at a little green speck of light, trying to catch it in my palm. No luck, which is ironically just my luck.

"I don't even want it."

Heads turn. I feel some more green on me. Tearan's peepers, so it were. Them little emeralds were locked on me, makin' me feel a little queasy and such.

"Do elaborate, my clownish friend."

I roll my head around, trying to get a crick out of my neck. I suddenly am very much aware of all the eyes, veiled by the darkness though they may be, trained right on me. Ain't a good feeling, lemme tell ya.

"I didn't come for no power. I came because Strawso thought it was a chill idea. Then, once I got here, I was so fo sho mysterified by," I take a bit of a deep breath, dank and moist air filling my lungs with some much needed refreshment. "Well...by errything here, really. You, tearman, this place, your blue haired friend, and everything in the motherfucking between. I love it man. I love the crazy shit you've shown me, and I got this weird vibe telling me I'm gonna love the shit you'll show me down the road."

Everyone is still starin' at me. I can't really cognitize if they're understanding what I'm sittin' down.

"Look, this is a shitshow man. Said it yourself. Things didn't go the way you planned. But that's what I'm here for, you know? To make with the learning and putting that learning to good use. And I'm hoping the learning part will help me identify what exactly is a good use, feel me, brother?"

Again, can't stress enough that everyone is motherfuckin' staring at me.

"That's all I really got to say, I guess. I just wanna open my eyes to whatever crazy shit it is you got to show me."

Silence, just suuuuper quiet.

Tearan's eyes shift on Kar-Bro, and he opens his mouth to say somethin' but my feisty friend cuts him off.

"I'm a secondary. I doubt anything I 'learn' here could be put to any use, if my assumptions about my status are correct," Karkat says, emphasizing the word learn with visible hand gestures. Enclosure talons, I think he calls 'em. There's a tint of something a little rough in his voice. "Besides, I'm not sure how much imaginary currency I'd put into this mystical bullshit just yet. Sorry not sorry. "

Tearbro's features shift in the darkness, but he's too far away for me to make anything out, even with my well-adjusted occular orbs.

[Dane Regan]

Dane paused for a moment, letting the others speak first. There were many reasons he came here. Boredom lied among them, followed by a sense of 'why not'. Tearen also beat him in Dante's Abyss and was apparently an experienced and strong prime. Dane didn't care for the typical 'respect your elders' concept - some old dudes were ignorant fools - but based on what the guy had apparently done, Dane still looked up to him to an extent. He didn't understand the nature of the god-mind's achievements, nor fully agree with his philosophy, but it would have been stupid for Dane to ignore this.

It wasn't like he had any other pressing matters to attend to...

...besides the Pegasus he'd almost forgotten about.

He should really get back to Camelot for her at some point. After this, of course.

Noticing silence in the air, he deemed it was probably best to speak. He considered lying. Not because he had something to hide - just for the sake of it - to see if anyone would call him out on it. Particularly Tearen himself, who apparently had some telepathic abilities.

"My reasons are fairly simple. If I can have this, then I might as well take it. Not because I'm greedy or because I long for great power or strength. No, I kinda just wanted to know how it works. Even if that knowledge isn't directly useful, I still want it. Like trigonometry. There's a vast number of identities and proofs for them, most of which I'll never use." 

He stopped talking for a second, recomposing his thoughts. He'd noticed he'd been doing this fairly often recently. Usually, in the past, he'd just let his tangents take their paths, but now he was generally trying to stop them and stay focused - at least when talking to others. It was a change, but probably not a bad one. Although divergence in his speech only tended to happen when discussing things he didn't usually talk about - like this for example. 

"Anyway, my point is, I want to know stuff. I'll probably still use the powers at points because I can use them, and the same goes for the knowledge, but I don't see it taking me down a path had wouldn't go without it. Or maybe it will, but that's part of the fun."

Maybe his reasons weren't highly moral, or even logical - although they weren't immoral, nor illogical. He wasn't really sure what Tearen was looking for, but even if knew, and lying would have gotten him further through the training, Dane would still have chosen to say the same thing. Partly out of a stubbornness that his reason was obviously the best reason, and anyone who thought otherwise was kidding themselves. But also because he had enough respect for Tearen to say the truth.

[Malon]

Malon looked back and forth as, one after another, the other Primes voiced their answers to Tearen's question and he listened to each in turn.

"Outside of the revenge part, my goals are the same as Strazio's", she said when Dane finished laying out his reasoning. "I realize that I'm... how did you say it?" she asked, looking at the man in question. "'Quite small in the grand scheme of things'. I'm neither a Queen nor a Great Witch and my understanding of this world doesn't compare to someone who has spent here longer than me. In that regard I'm probably the one with the least experience in this group." For a moment she collected her thoughts, then she continued. "That's the first reason why I'm here, because I hope to learn more about the threats that you warned us of. And what you are offering to teach us - I hope to be able to use them some day... somehow. I don't know what for but it's never wrong to be prepared."

As she said that she thought back to her capture and imprisonment by the Silverhand bandits. Would things be different if it happened again? No matter. Tearen was still looking at her. "Besides! In Hy- ... the land I'm from we have a saying: 'A balanced scale is tipped by a Cucco feather.' I don't mean to imply that I picture myself as the decisive force were the things you foretell to happen, and the forces of Diablo were in balance against those who defend the Omniverse, but if there is any way that I can contribute towards preventing the worst, then I will. I once trusted that a Hero would appear and defeat the evil powers as they reached out, but when nobody came that evil took over the world. It was a nightmare that lasted almost seven years, and yet it's little compared to the things that you told about the Underverse. Especially the idea that we would have no way of escaping it, not even through death.

So... I want knowledge and strength so that I can spread the message and warn people, and so that I can be a hero. Not THE hero, but one of many. What I don't know yet is what exactly I would use these powers for."

[Tearen Wover]

Tearen took a deep breath, and upon exhaling, the world around them seemed to slip away. What took its place was Hell, in as literal a term as possible. Craggy spires of black rock ascended into a bruised red sky full of sundered, cracking moons. Poisonous fog rolled over the landscape as herds of pale, naked slaves plodded over the cutting stone ground. They were driven by hulking, infernal beasts dressed in the skins and skulls of children, cackling and hooting loudly as great demonic vultures swooped down and disemboweled the lollygaggers. In the black distance, the sullied and charred ramparts of Minas Tirith sat hollow and empty on the barren mountainside. Tearen's students blinked and gawked before steeling themselves against the terror. It was implicit that this was a vision the Shadow was broadcasting to them, but that didn't make it any less viscerally upsetting.

"The Underverse, or more accurately, the Omniverse, should Diablo ever have his way with it. I aim to prevent this, or its approximation. You must understand, I pass on knowledge of these powers at great risk to the Omniverse." Nealaphh said softly, at last switching the vision away from the torturous vista. What took its place was, perhaps, even worse in its own regard. It was a long city street, shadowed under the light of an eclipse. Buildings were frosted over, and frozen, lifeless alien corpses lie strewn in the street. The silence was apalling, save for the chilly wind. Tearen pointed gravely up at the orbital body blocking out the sun, dooming the planet to a slow, icy death.

"That...is me." Tearen continued. "...or rather...what I was before being brought to the Omniverse. I spread death and disaster with impunity at the behest of one I thought was greater than myself. I used the same power to kill these people that I use to levitate rocks. Scale means little when you are attuned as I was."

He turned back and looked at their chilled faces, grim and stunned in disbelief.

"I committed genocide, atrocities untold. I cared little for why, even less for who. Given the perspective of infinity, I thought myself free from the bondage of guilt and accountability. I became this, though, not because I had the power in and of itself. I became this because I took it out of desperation and ignorance. I was ill prepared for the temptations of godhood."

The visions finally ended, and the normal light and warmth of the jungle returned, though the memory of deep cold lingered in the other Primes' bones. Tearen could no longer look them in the eye, and turned to face the trackless, foggy forest. He could feel their confusion and anger intermingling. This would be the real test to their commitment.

"When you ask me questions of 'can peoples minds be controlled by this power', you must think in more literal terms. Yes, you can influence the thoughts of others with sufficient practice, that much is trivial. The true danger is allowing your own mind to be controlled by this power. Grasp your place in the universe, by all means. It is your birthright, but understand this..." Tearen said, shifting his form to the glassy, emaciated body he was created with. Glowing scars from the underverse still glowed on his naked back, festering and gleaming with malice.

"...to walk this path is to court becoming what you hate. I was saved by being returned to mortality by force. I thank Omni for that. Your answers just now have gladdened my heart, and I trust that you here would not intentionally use this birthright for malice. Ask now but two things; that you dream deeply tonight and journey within yourself. Take stock. Reflect. If, in the morning you are confident in your resolve and..." Tearen paused and swallowed hard, "...can still stomach the thought of my presence, I will unlock the first stepping stones of these talents in your minds. I would have preferred to teach them at length but...I have my own doom to fufill, and the time draws near."

With that, Tearen took the form of a crow and flapped away into the night, leaving his erstwhile disciples in flabbergasted silence...

[Strazio Rockwell]

“Well that was a grim fucking note to end the night on,” Strazio noted and scanned the faces of his fellows for a response.

Each of them seem absorbed in their own thoughts or unsure of just how to respond. Without another word Strazio left the group to their own devices and wandered outside. The crisp night air wrapped around him like a refreshing blanket. The defender made his way to the edge of the campsite and found a tree stump to plant himself on. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. Overhead the pale moon shone through the curtain of vines and tree limbs that hung lazily overhead.

He turned Tearen’s words over and over in his head, examining each statement as one would examine a rare gemstone. What he mentioned was as terrifying as it was tantalizing. To have access to such unbridled power, but at the cost of one’s own humanity intrigued the young magus to no end. After all that’s all magick really was if you boiled it down -- wish fulfillment at a measured cost. Were one willing and able to sacrifice enough they could accomplish anything they wanted to. Once it was no longer a question of ability it then turned into a question of sacrifice. At the end of the day, just how much was he willing to give up in pursuit of Damien?

Prior to his abduction into the Omniverse he would’ve sacrificed everything, no questions asked. But now things weren’t so cut and dry. He sighed and thumbed at the crest of Darkshire that hung around his neck. Were he given the choice several months ago to enact his revenge or save Darkshire it would have been an easy choice. He silently cursed Rumford for making this so difficult. He also cursed the approaching Makara that seemed intent on ruining his self-reflection.

“Hey there Strazberry,” the lovable thorn in Strazio’s side spoke, “you gettin’ all philosophical and shit out here?”

Strazio shrugged.

“Yeah, lotsa things kickin’ around in my braincase too,” Gamzee noted.

The white-haired boy sighed and glanced away before saying, “yeah, I don’t know, things are just so damn complicated now, I’m not sure what to think.”

Gamzee cracked open a can of his wicked elixer and drank. He exhaled, burped, and then spoke, “you’re too much like a rock man, and I don’t mean that buff sunglasses wearin’ motherfucker, I mean like a motherfuckin’ stone.”

“What are you talking about?” Strazio asked.

“I mean, think of a river, and imaginate that there’s this big ol’ rock just chillin’ in the middle of this river,” Strazio raised an eyebrow, and Gamzee continued, “and, like, that motherfucker ain’t going anywhere right? He’s strong as fuck. Even though the world is moving around him he ain’t. You’re the rock, brother, and sometimes the only way you can get anywhere is to let the river break you up and move you. You can’t just be all stagnant and shit, sometimes you just gotta trust the motherfuckin’ miracles and go with the flow, you dig?”

“Did you,” Strazio paused for a minute and rubbed his eyes, “did you just say something that makes sense?”

Gamzee shrugged, “course I did, I’m a prophet of the Mirthful Messiah, brother, I’m laying down all kinna whimsical words.”

“Right, well, I need some time to think, you mind giving me some space?”

“Sure thing Strawso, I need to catch up with Karbro anyways,” he said before taking another swig of his Faygo and heading back to the others.

[Malon]

Malon followed Strazio's example by walking away from the area where Tearen had gathered them, to the outskirts of the camp. She must've looked like an idiot, because she was so sunk into her thoughts, absorbed why the knowledge that Tearen had imparted to them, that she didn't realize where she was headed, and walked square into one of the tents's support beams. The pain and shock had her stumble back several steps. "Ow! Agh, damnit..." She checked her forehead, but there was no blood, and the jolt of pain had dragged her back to the here and now, even though she was far from having processed the visions she had been shown.

Because her disguise as Maru had flickered when she'd hit her head she checked her surroundings, but Strazio, Karkat and Gamzee were nowhere to be seen and she caught a glimpse of Dane facing away from her, across of the encampment. It was unlikely that he'd seen anything. Again she rubbed her forehead. That would probably throb for a bit and leave a red mark.

The images Tearen had shown them came back to her mind - an entire planet frozen over through the actions of a single... creature. What Tearen had done. A hellish landscape where slaves were driven through barren, poisoned lands by powerful demonic creatures. One was a picture of complete genocide, of death and destruction. The other was an image of absolute domination, of a land where Evil had won and subjugated its opponents. Both were horrifying. She could not grasp who would do that, and for what reason.

"You're not evil, that's why." The lookalike leant against the beam that Malon had walked into earlier.

"... Assassin? It's been a while", said Malon.

"And I brought you some company", Assassin said with a grin. At these words, a blue-haired girl turned the corner made by the tent. She looked exactly the same as Malon in her disguise.

"Chef?"

"That's right", the blue-haired girl said with a motherly smile. "You're wearing my skin very well, Malon."

"Thanks... what are you two doing here?"

"Moral support of course", said Assassin. "I just told you, you're not evil. If you were you'd react very differently to the images Tearen shared with you." She pulled out a dagger and began to pick her nails. "I've met people who are evil. I know what they're like, and I know you're not one of them. Lovely fellas, I tell you. I had some nice chats with some of them... they thought they're doing the right thing until the end."

"Until you slit their throats", Chef corrected her with a cheerful laugh.

"Shaddap, Grandma."

"Wait..." Malon looked back and forth between them. Those two both looked like they were in their early twenties at most. It was hard to not forget that they were generations apart. "You're Assassin's grandmother?"

"Great-great-great-great-grandmother, actually. My grandchildren's grandchildren were Malon's grandparents - of this Malon here, who you nicknamed Assassin. But it'd be too long to say the full term every time."

"The point is", Assassin interjected, "that you aren't like them. You COULD be evil, but everyone could. Tearen... maybe he was evil. He said it himself, that power corrupted him. You know the drill: with power comes responsibility, yadda yadda. He lost the power and the corruption, and he realized what he'd done. If a Lady kills a slave because she can, she's going to realize what she's done if she becomes a slave, and regret her actions. But while she's a Lady she is disconnected from someone that much lower than her. Tearen's made sure that you guys know what it is like to be on the bottom, before he pushes you up the rungs on the ladder of power."

Malon looked to the ground. "I see." There was a very heavy feeling in her stomach. Her thoughts of Tearen were a complete mess. She admired him for wanting to save the Omniverse, even at the risk of his own safety, but then he had revealed that he'd committed such horrid actions in his past. He felt remorse but that did not change what he had done. How was she feeling about this?

Chef put a hand on her shoulder. "You need to take your mind off of things. Your mind is full of conflict and emotion right now, don't make a hasty decision about how your stance towards Tearen is. Do something else."

"... I will. Thank you, Ch- Malon."


Some ten minutes later Malon returned to the center of the camp, pulling an apron over her head and tying her hair back into a knot. Dane was still lounging around nearby... perfect.

"Dane?" she called out to him. "Could you give me a hand in the kitchen? I want to cook some dinner for us." She had already summoned everything necessary that they didn't have, to cook a light sweet dish - discus dough cakes, as the Gerudos called them. Or pancakes, as they were known to modern Omniversians: something sweet and light to end a difficult day. But perhaps Dane had a suggestion too?

[Dane Regan]

Dane wasn't unphased by Tearen's reveal, but he didn't react much. Tearen's past was his own, and it wasn't something he particularly cared about. Sure knowing about it could allow Dane to better predict Tearen's future actions - but it was obvious the god-mind had changed much from how he'd claimed he used to be, making such knowledge near useless. Due to changes in the Omniverse itself, it couldn't even be used as a benchmark for Tearen's powers. Dane found it interesting how the abilities could influence the mind of the user and wondered to what extent they might manipulate him. If anything, it posed an amusing challenge - he was fond of mental battles, generally staying logical should the situation demand it, Dane usually had a surprising amount of justification behind even his more spontaneous and irrational decisions.

Part of him actually wanted to learn the powers just because it would, or could, influence his mind. If not so he could shrug it off and show the power its place. If he used it, it would obey him and do as he wanted. Dane proposed that such a mindset was probably dangerous for him to have if the power itself would simply change what he thought he wanted, or skew his thought process slightly to make slightly weighted decisions. Presumably, it was actually a slow process. He didn't know much, but gathered Tearen was a fairly old being back at his homeworld.

He pondered a few similar and linked lines of thought for a short while, internally talking to himself. As usual, it was quite an erratic and incoherent process, leads only being followed as long as they interested him, with other temporarily interesting ideas quickly overshadowing previous concepts. Usually, he remembered most of the important stuff - or thought he did. He had no way of knowing the importance of anything he'd forgotten or discarded. It did occur to him that it was probably fairly unhealthy for him to get used to being able to have such a short attention span, even when talking to himself. When conversing with others he could usually talk to himself in unison, sometimes causing him to miss parts of the conversation and thus making him appear forgetful should he ask something related to them later on. While he made a conscious effort not to do that, sometimes he couldn't help it. It was a bad habit he'd gotten into over the past year or so.

Important or otherwise, the mention of his name prompted him to straighten his back slightly, listening to hear the context.

Dane fell backwards intentionally, reaching his hands out behind him to stop his back hitting the floor. His lower body remained relaxed on the log he was using as a chair while his neck bent, allowing his now upside-down head to examine the speaker. He'd forgotten her name, not remembering being told it but assuming he probably hadn't been listening at the time - likely being more focused on Tearen, or maybe Strazio.

He shrugged, blonde hair flailing about as he did so. It wasn't long enough to get in his eyes at the moment, so he didn't take much note of it. The back and sides were beginning to get long though. Grinning from the twisted and uncomfortable position, Dane answered in what he hoped was a friendly tone - even if he looked like a lazy shit, "Sure, happy to be of assistance."

Awkwardly spinning to the side, Dane pushed himself to his feet, somewhat amused by his own actions. "So," he clapped his hands together, brushing off some of the dirt, "what's on the menu?"

[Malon]

"I thought we could have something light after today's... after what Tearen showed us. If we wrap the day up with something heavy we'll have nightmares", explained Malon as Dane got to his feet and brushed his clothes off, then began following her towards the tent with the kitchen in it. "We can even make some extra so we have leftovers for tomorrow, in case that anyone doesn't feel like summoning. As for the recipe, I was thinking Gerudian Discus dough cakes."

"Gerudian what?"

"Oh! I'm sorry, I keep forgetting that the Omniverse isn't home. Uh, how do I..." She thought for a moment on how to best summarize it for someone who didn't know about Hyrulian kitchen. "Basically it's a simple cake mix of Cuccoo eggs, milk and wheat flour, which you then season with sugary things, like jam. Some people also like to put salted stuff on it. The recipe is very simple but to have two people working on it makes it faster."

"Sounds tasty. We could put small bowls on the table with stuff to put on each cake for people to pick and match."

"That's a great idea!" She handed Dane an apron so he wouldn't get his clothes dirty and rolled up her sleeves, then produced a large bowl and measuring cups. "We already have all the ingredients. Tearen did a great job with the provisions for our time here. Anyway, let's start. The first step is to mix the flour with the..."

Dane was a skilled aide in the kitchen, giving Malon time to think. In a way it caused Chef's suggestion to backfire, because now she was doing a monotone task that did not require her to focus and thus let her go back in her thoughts to the very memories she had hoped to put aside until her mind had settled enough to deal with them properly.

The visions Tearen had imparted to them returned to her mind. The visions of an Omniverse controlled by evil. The visions of slavery, misery, desasperation, hopelessness, death and decay. Except that now she saw herself in those visions. She was there, among the slaves, chains around her neck and wrists and forced to summon as her tormentors stood behind her. Bloodied streaks covered her back where the whips had struck, ashes and dirt stained the rags that had been clothes long ago, never-healing burn marks on her skin tortured her with every movement she took. Someone laughed, and it was a deep, inhuman sound that chilled her veins.

Then the scene shifted. The destroyed, enslaved Omniverse turned into a gloomy, dead Hyrule. The sky above was a dark brown, tainted by the dark will of him who was in power, even dimming the very sun to a yellow disc. The peak of Death Mountain was surrounded by a bright orange halo hinting at the horrid creature that lived within, and a scent of decay wafted over from Hyrule Castle City. But Malon was looking at something else: forced to look up by the rough hand that pushed against her chin, she was meeting the yellow eyes of a man whose skin was a sickly green, but who stood tall with perfect health. On the back of his gloved hand a glowing Triforce pulsated dimly, with one of the triangles brighter than the two others that were barely more than hinted at. Under his reddish eyebrows he looked at her, and smiled smugly.

"Malon, wasn't it", he said with a voice as rough as his martial physique suggested. "I am almost tempted to take you back to the castle. You would make a fine maid... or stable girl."

Her body screamed for her to back away, to shove his hand aside, to scream. To do something. But she was paralyzed under that gaze. The King of Hyrule, Usurper of the Throne and Subjugator of the Land, was keeping her frozen with fear like a rabbit before a wolf.

"Heh heh heh... then again, Ingo wouldn't be able to do the work on the farm by himself." He withdrew his hand and Malon inhaled sharply. Only then did she realize that she had held her breath all that time. The man turned towards Ingo, the owner of Lonlon ranch who subserviently bowed, and asked him: "When will you have the gift ready?"

"M-my lord", Ingo said, "my most humble apologies, but the mare is presenting herself to be a difficult one: she refuses to let anyone mount her. I assure you though, that she will be ready within the year."

The man was about to reply to that, when Malon heard her name being spoken and blinked herself back to reality. She realized that her hand was gripping the wooden spoon she was stirring the cake mix with so strong that her knuckles were almost white. Dane was standing next to her, and he was touching her lower arm. He was strangely pale, too.

"What? Huh? Where... oh! Dane! I'm sorry, I think I drifted off into a daydream..." She blinked the pictures away, trying to focus on reality again. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Dane took a few moments to reply as the color returned to his cheeks. "You too, though. Or maybe we just got flour on our faces", he added jokingly, and broke the awkward tension. "Mal- ... Maru, was it? Did you want to take a break? I can finish the cakes."

"Oh, no. I'm okay! Actually the mix is just abut done, we just have to pour it into a pan and make portions."

Though she wondered why Dane had looked so pale Malon soon dismissed that thought simply because she had no as they made a large stack of cakes and set the dinner table, then ate. Strazio and the others could come as they pleased, and if they didn't the cakes would just have to sit out during the night and be there tomorrow as leftovers. She went to sleep not knowing that Dane had seen everything.

Had it been Tearen's teachings that had opened their minds to a form of Telepathy, if not the complete power? Was it his presence or one of his workings here in the camp that had awakened a dormant power in them? Whatever the reason was, Dane had peered into Malon's mind, purely by accident, and the physical contact had empowered the mind-reading so that he had seen, heard and felt every detail of that scene - of Malon meeting the Usurper for her first and only time - as cleanly as it was burnt into her memory.

[Gamzee Makara]

~Gamzee~

I scritch-scratch the back of my nappy head, shifting my gaze over to Kar-bro. I could see them gears turning in his head, fumes all a smokin' off his hair and out his ears. Heheh, well I mean, not really. That'd be kinda goofy. But ya know what I mean. I nod and take my leave from Straz. He'll be aight, the big ol' softie. Lots stuff running through my head, probably twice as much running through his. I drain the rest of my fruitalicious beveravicious and regroup with my other softie, the shorter one. I rustle Kar's hair, which elicitizes a swat and a weird sound of disgruntlement.

"Welp," I start with a yawn, "You heard the crazy wicked green-eyed motherfucker. Time to go night-night."

I get an incredulous look from my Karkat companion. "You fuckin' kidding me, Gamzee? Really? After all that shit he just spilt out for all of us to see and hear and understand like for fuck's sake you moron do you really think that-"

I kinda just let him ramble for a bit. He needs to get it aaaalllll out of his system. There there. Attaboy. I'd let him keep on keepin' on, but he's been keepin' on for about ten minutes or so.

"Alright alriiiiiight, Kar-Bro. You're being historical." He opens his mouth to respond to that, but can't seem to get them words out.

"Eheheh. Karkat got your tongue?" I tease. He doesn't seem to think that very funny. In fact he uh...Doesn't seem to be doing much of anything. I wave my hand in front of his face a couple of times, but don't get shit out of him.

"Hrrrrmmm..."

I shrug, and wrap my arms around his waist, hoisting him up over my shoulder as I do so. He's as stiff as a motherfucking board, all straightened out and shit. His face is still deadpan, mouth still a tad open like he was about to say sumfin. I ain't really exactly sure what to do about this, so I just kinda plod around, looking for- ey that'll do.

I plop Karkat down on a nice, soft little bed of moss and lay next to him. It's really nice to be able to stare up at the night sky and see all them pretty, twinkly stars. I bonk my head against his softly before settlin' and nestlin' into my slice of the moss.

"G'night Kar-Bro. Sweet Dreams."

-----

-Karkat-

This is just perfect. No, really, as if SBURB and SGRUB didn't already have enough eldritch psychopathic deities. This Omniverse place just chucks 'em at you left and right. At least the games had the decency to let you level up before your shit got fucked by some deity- oh wait. No, it really didn't even give you that. Okay, I guess this guy is at least a step up from Jack Noire and the Cue Ball and the other ridiculously overpowered deities. He did/is trying to redeem himself. I think? I'm really not sure. For the first time in a long time, I'm more confused than angry or agitated. That might take a little getting used to. Quite frankly I fucking hate it and would very much like to not be confused ever again.

 I turn my head to face Gamzee, but find that he's already clocked out. Fine, I suppose. Maybe some sleep will help me sort this out. God only knows if I'll be awake to find out, though.

Gah fuck I think I just punned. What is this existence doing to me? I dig my nails into the porous material that can vaguely be passed off as a bed. Really ain't all that bad, I suppose. Kinda itchy, but at least its soft.

It's really nice to be able to stare up at the night sky and see all those stars.