Chapter Text
Roxy sits up with a yawn, then a groan, as she rubs a few screws off her face. Damnit, she fell asleep at her desk again. She doesn’t want to make it a habit in the new game, but getting these voice changers up and working is her top priority, so she’ll tolerate it until she completes the project! Speaking of which, she reaches for her nearby phone to tell Jade about the progress- only to stop herself. Shit. She can’t simply tell her about the voice changers, not with what happened yesterday.
Yesterday, as much as she wished to be out and fighting the imps with her friends, she also didn’t want her absence to worry her guardians. Hell, she already worried them so much Roxanne put new software on her pesterchum! Software that would read whatever messages she sent… Or got sent to her .
Damn, she should really think about what she agrees to before agreeing to it.
But! Now is not the time to complain. As shitty as this situation is, she can totally come up with some haxxor solution. She can’t just turn the program off; total silence could make them suspicious! Oooh, if she wants to keep everything private, maybe something that can randomly generate conversations? But then she’ll have to make AI that can perfectly replicate her and her friends and she’s no Dirk Strider… Maybe have her friends go through normal conversations with her that she could copy and paste for the software to pick up? Or maybe-
Another screw falls off her face. She stares at it for a second before facepalming. No, no, a simple on/off switch would do. She runs her hands over her face to check for more screws before standing up and moving over to the closet. Sorry pretty pink cat pajamas, but she’ll wear you again tonight! Now’s the time for working clothes. AKA the exact same outfit she’s worn for as long as she could remember - a white off-the-shoulder t-shirt with her signature pink cat head, a hot pink skirt, and a lovely pair of black stockings!
She looks over at her mirror and twirls, smiling at the way her skirt flares out. Then she confidently puts her hands on her hips. Hell yeah, the day is hers . Yes, the past few days may have been an utter shitshow, and yes, she may not be the most emotionally stable right now, but she’s used to it! There’s no reason not to be positive! She can last for however long this game demands and then crash at the end of it all.
Then again, the previous game lasted 5 months and she could barely hold herself together long enough for the last fight. But she’s (kind of) got a grip on herself now, and she makes her way out of the room just to prove it to herself. She’s going downstairs and she’s going to be in front of three familiar yet strange people and she’s not going to freak out at all. Not like that first dinner she had with them.
So she confidently heads down the stairs - only to stop as she hears people in the kitchen. She’s on the third step from the bottom, she could simply step off. But something keeps her from doing so. No, it’s not fear! It can’t be! It’s just… a desire to eavesdrop, yeah! She shuffles to the edge of the step, tilting her head slightly to listen better. It sounds like two adults, and.. She thinks she hears Meenah’s name? But she’s going to have to get closer to tell for sure.
Roxy works up her courage before taking one long stride, bypassing the remaining steps to land on the floor instead. Then she silently pads over to the wall separating the kitchen from the rest of the house. The name Remora is mentioned and she decides to get a little closer. Who is that?
“Yeah, I told her. She deserves to know,” says one of the adults. Roxy’s still learning her guardian’s voices.
“Has she done anything?” the other person asks. With the comparison, she’s pretty sure this is Rosaline. Which means that the other person is Roxanne.
“Not that she told me.” A sigh and the clack of a ring against the counter. “I really wish she would tell me when she’s taking things seriously. Just once!”
“Technically,” Rosaline starts, “that isn’t the part she has to take seriously. It’s your threat.”
“I know, I know,” groans Roxanne. Another clack of the ring, then another. “But if she doesn’t do something this could actually get serious. You know how Derick would react if he found out the bully was Remora’s own daughter. My partner’s own daughter.”
The noise of the ring becomes a steady rhythm, something that echoes back to one of Dirk’s ancient jams, and Roxy can almost hear the sampled sound of waves in the background. Rosaline’s voice cuts through it. “I do. However, we’re doing well at keeping him distracted. I’m sure it won’t be an issue to enlist the youngest Strider’s help.”
“It could be! Dirk might be able to but they’re tight knit and Dave can’t keep a secret to save his life-”
“Apostrophe before the s. I meant only Dirk.”
“That’s a little better but-”
The rhythm stops and, for a moment, all is silent. Then Rosaline speaks up. “Calm down. Even if they find out and disapprove of your continued business with her, they won’t stand in your way. It will be okay.”
A deep breath, then another. Roxanne doesn’t seem willing (or ready?) to speak again and her sister doesn’t push her. Roxy shifts further away from the doorway only to shuffle right back, caught between two choices. She could walk casually into the room like she didn’t hear a thing or she could walk in armed with questions about what she overheard. Both of them have some merit, and it takes a few seconds to finally decide to act innocent. She can’t undermine the trust her guardians have in her - or what’s left of it after sneaking out, anyway.
So she walks into the kitchen. She sees both her guardians at the kitchen island, Rosaline’s hand over Roxannes, and they look over at her in surprise. Then they offer warm smiles. (Roxy knows her own, from standing in the mirror and practicing expressions for people she thought she’d never meet, and she knows Roxanne’s is fake. A little strained. She doesn’t point it out.) Rosaline moves away from her sister to retrieve her coffee.
“We were just about to make breakfast,” she says. “How does pancakes sound?”
Roxy only had pancakes once, back when Jane tried to keep everyone in the same house for the sake of togetherness. That ended too quickly, but it makes her think of family. Shit does she want pancakes. “Yes please .”
Rosaline moves to pull the ingredients out, smiling to herself. “Sounds like a plan. Mind informing Rose?”
She nods. “I can do that.” The others smile at her and Roxy reflects it back before turning to head out. Now, where could Rose be? In her room? In the living room? She really doesn’t know her well enough, huh? Looks like it’s time to fix that.
So Roxy peeks into the living room. Nope, no Rose there. That leaves her room as the next likely place. She takes the stairs two at a time, turning down the same hallway as her room. Rose’s door, right across from the bathroom, is closed, but she knocks on it anyway. The answer comes immediately - a soft “come in”.
She cracks the door open and peeks inside. Dark purple curtains are drawn over the windows, casting the whole room into shadow. The only light is her sister’s screen, bright light making funny shapes. Rose glances over at Roxy before returning her gaze to the screen. “Is it time for breakfast already?”
Roxy, knowing that she has no idea what the social rules are for this situation, steps in despite her misgivings. “Pancakes are coming out hot ‘n ready in whatever-time-it-will-take minutes.”
Rose doesn’t react to her sister’s invasion. She’s too busy scrolling. “Sounds good. I’ll be down in whatever-time-it-will-take minutes,” she parrots.
Roxy peeks at the screen. It’s a forum filled with- wait. Wait a goddamn second. She leans in to take a closer look, squinting at the harsh light. Are those pictures? Of her friends in costumes?? Rose scrolls up, bypassing several paragraphs, and the name of the site is revealed on the top banner. Skaia.
She leans back as her mind reels. Is this some sort of sick coincidence or did one of her friends make this?? She hopes it’s the latter, she’s just about had it with sick coincidences. Her sister glances up at her again only to stop and turn her whole face towards her. “Are you alright?”
Shit, is she making a face? Roxy nods, turning her wide-eyed surprise into a smile that she can only hope conveys interest. “Yeah! Shit, uh, that forum’s really cool! Do you know who made it?”
Rose nods and backs out of that particular thread, titled thief = pirate so others are?? . There’s a pinned thread at the top named RULES FOR YOU SHITS . “Someone who goes by loudAuthority. An odd username for someone outside of pesterchum.”
Relief courses through Roxy. She doesn’t know the username, but she’s 90% certain it’s Karkat. Especially with the title. “Oh, cool. How long has it been up?”
“I believe it’s been around 36 hours.”
Surprisingly long, given they’ve only been in the new game for around 72 hours. “And it’s already so popular?”
“That’s to be expected - it’s capitalizing on a completely novel event.”
“I guess so.” A beat of silence. A notification appears when Rose refreshes the page and she follows it to the thread A Comprehensive Examination (Updated Regularly) . That title sounds just like her. “You’re on here?”
“I am. I find the current phenomena fascinating and the community is offering some very good insight,” she says, resting her chin on her hand as she reads a rather long response. Whoever wrote it has a sticky i key, considering that letter is doubled literally every time it pops up. It makes Roxy’s fingers itch to take that keyboard apart and fix it.
She pulls away instead of giving that compulsion any thought. “Huh, I might visit it sometime. Should probs run back down tho.”
Rose nods, already looking lost in thought. “Have fun.”
Roxy pulls back and leaves the room. She waits until the door clicks shut before groaning and running her hands down her face. It’s so weird having people theorizing and constantly talking about her! Well, she hasn’t seen anything specifically about her , but she knows it’s only a matter of time. What are they even going to think? Is she lame next to the others?
No! Bad Roxy! She hits her cheeks a couple times before puffing her chest out and putting her hands on her hips. She’s just as awesome as the rest of them! And if people can’t see that, well, why not make them? She wants to smile at that thought, but it’s hard with the memory of that weird void seizure still fresh in her mind. She’ll just have to find a way to look cool without messing with the portals, that’s all.
Or maybe she should mess with them more, Roxy thinks to herself as she takes the steps two at a time. Obviously not now, but her problem was the overload . If she can stop that, or stop herself from taking any void, she should be perfect. All it’ll take is honing her powers. She finally grins to herself. Just how hard can that be?
Roxanne glances towards her as she enters the kitchen again. “What’s got you so happy?”
Roxy realizes that she still has the grin on her face, so she wrangles it into a small smile. “I was just joking with Rose,” she lies, falsehoods coming easily after years of having to pretend to Jake and Jane. “Oh, and she said she’ll be down here when we’re done!”
“Done eating or done cooking?” Rosaline asks.
“Oh- shit, cooking,” Roxy stammers, embarrassed at the mistake. Of course she'd be called out, her mom- older sister, fuck- writes for a living. Rosaline is way better at words than her. Then she sees her guardian’s fond smile and the embarrassment lifts slightly. It’s still there, though. This is the person she’s looked up to her entire life and she’s made a mistake .
Maybe Roxanne sees something on Roxy’s face, maybe she’s reacting to her stammering, but the older woman pulls a chair out from the kitchen island and taps on the back. “C’mon, sit down while you wait.”
Those taps immediately call Roxy’s attention, and she offers a thankful smile as she sits down. Leave it to a version of herself to know how to break right through her thoughts. Roxanne settles in the seat beside her and pulls her phone out to point at a new article on AI development. It’s not quite the level Hal is- was?- but it’s still a welcome topic to talk about.
The minutes fly by. Rose comes in when the first pancakes are being served. She looks lost in thought, to the point where she doesn’t even react when Rosaline calls out a greeting. Roxanne only gets through to her by shaking her shoulder as she sits down. “Yo, what’s all that thinking for?”
The touch doesn’t surprise her - her expression is grim all the way down. “Did you happen to watch the livestream that was recorded last night?”
Livestream?? Roxy looks around in surprise as the two adults glance at each other and give careful nods. When did that happen? Shit, this is what she gets for laser focusing on her project. “Hold on, a livestream?” she asks.
“Yes,” Rose answers. “A man who goes by Pyros was there at the battle. He caught almost all of it, in fact.”
A stone settles in Roxy’s stomach. He better not have been close - does her sister’s expression mean something bad happened to him? “What happened?”
“General fighting. One of the creatures spoke.” Spoke?? “It had a rather flashy ending that cut off the stream.”
Rosaline leans back against the counter. “Yes. It was.. something.”
Rose picks at her pancake. “Someone screamed. Of course, the static at the end did a good job at covering it up, but Pyros posted about it later. It was near unmistakable when we knew what to look for.”
A beat of silence. Finally Roxy asks “do you know who it was?”
“The hero in the labcoat.”
It takes all of her strength not to curse and run for her phone. Fuck , she couldn’t even ask him about it if she wanted to! The fucking software!! Why won’t she think about what she agrees to before agreeing to it for once? That’s an important part of her group! Her mouth opens on its own to say something along those lines, but she shoves a pancake in it instead. They can’t know that she knows who they’re talking about.
She has two projects now, she thinks, as her family discusses the video and picks at their breakfast. Not only does she have to figure out the voice changers, but also how to turn off that damned thing reading her pesterchum. Her plate’s really piling up fast, huh? Though… shit, the voice changers should be top priority. Surely there’s someone taking care of Mituna. No one else is making the changers, and given the way things have gone? There’s going to be another portal opening later today.
Another portal…
John sits next to her under a blank sky. They’re waiting for it to change. Waiting to arrive at another, better time. They’ve reached a lull in their conversation, choosing to watch the fireflies instead. One lands in her hair. He laughs and brushes it off. She grins and lays down, resting her hands on her stomach.
“Tell me more ‘bout your underlings! Can’t go hiding everything from Roxy Lalonde, brain haxxor extraordinaire~”
“Guess I can’t, huh?”
“Nop!”
He snorts and lays down next to her. “I dunno dude. They were just kinda normal?”
“He says to the gal that had skeletons. Tell me what normal means! ”
“Weeell.. Everyone got different ones to start with. I think they were based on what made the planet? I got shale, and it was just everywhere . Then Rose came and she got chalk, and Dave came in with amber underlings, and-” He groans and runs a hand down his face. “Jeez, then Jade came in! Hers were the worst!”
“Oh yee?”
“Yeah! I don’t know, maybe she was special, but I don’t think they had her planet’s materials. Or maybe it was all in the core?? We never really looked for it. But they were uranium. Man, that sucked.”
Uranium?
Uranium…
Roxy stands with a gasp, knocking her chair onto its back with a harsh clatter. Uranium is next! Fuck! The others gape at her in shock before Roxanne quickly stands with her. “Roxy? Dear, what’s wrong?”
She shakes her head. Shit, shit, shit, gotta warn the others! Gotta- fuck, gotta lie so they don’t know she’s leaving. They won’t let her leave, not with her history. Not with the attacks. “I just, uh-!” There has to be something she can think of. “One of m’projects! I’m doin’ it with Jade and I was suppos’ta finish my part las’ night!”
She’s squashing her words in panic, and she hopes against hope that no one sees through her lie. “How urgent is it?” Rosaline asks, concerned and reaching for her youngest.
Roxy offers a shaky smile as she backs towards the doorway. “Urgent! I’ll be’n my room! Uh- message me ‘fore ya come in!”
Rosaline regards her for a moment, concern melting into suspicion. It pins Roxy in place and keeps her from bolting. Eventually the guardian nods, but stands. She taps on Roxanne’s shouler. “I’ll follow her up.”
Roxanne gains a look of understanding. “I’ll hold down the fort.”
Roxy doesn’t know what any of that means, but takes it as her cue to hurry up the stairs. Rosaline follows more slowly, leaving her to anxiously pace around her room. Should she pretend to work on the project? Should she wait to have a chat with her guardian? She has no idea what’s going to happen and that’s making her panic just a little more. Eventually Rosaline comes in. In her hands, a pair of child window locks.
Rosy stops and stares as the locks are placed on her window. It’s almost insulting - she could blast through those in seconds even without powers. But the look Rosaline gives her says it all. She knows they’re no match for her. Just like she knows that, if Roxy sneaks out again, there’d be no way to redo them. It’s a message - you aren’t supposed to leave, and we will know if you do .
Roxy returns the gaze. Eventually Rosaline smiles, pats her on the shoulder, and says “Good luck with the project.” Then she’s alone and on autopilot. First: close the door behind her oldest sister. Check. Next: mess up her desk like she’s been working. Not too hard considering she didn’t clean it up this morning. Check. Then: stuff her phone in her sylladex. Check. Finally: the window. She has to tell someone now - no time to wait to crack the software open. Sure, she was basically just told not to sneak out, but would they ever really know? She has godtier powers. She’ll be back before they know it, child locks untouched.
She’s phasing halfway out of the window when she remembers an earlier thought. She can’t undermine the trust her guardians have in her . It makes her pause. Then she continues onwards, pushing it to the back of her mind in favor of a different thought. It’s not undermining if they never know.
After a couple checks of the map they made on the first day, Roxy wills herself invisible and flies in Jade’s direction. It takes longer than she’d like before she spots her friend’s house, but she drops and slides right through the front door with adrenaline-assisted ease. She’s greeted by the sight of Jake struggling down the stairs with an armful of squiddles, Jade’s arms wrapped around his waist as she’s dragged down with him.
“Jaaaake!” she whines. “Give them back! I need them for a very special super secret experiment!”
“No! I need them for my very special super secret experiment!”
“What, watching TV with you?? That’s not special or super or secret!”
“Covering yourself with them isn’t any of those things either! ‘Sides, I only took half!”
“Yeah and I need all of them for my very important scientific research of whether or not I can completely hide myself in plush squiddle cuddles!”
They finally make it down. Jake drops the squiddles in favor of trying to unlatch Jade’s arms, but she simply squeezes harder. Roxy’s heart squeezes in tandem. She really doesn’t have time to think about this, but shit does she miss Jake. The adventurous, blundering, stupid version of him that she’s known for three and a half years. This one’s too close yet too far for comfort. He’s Jake in every physical way, but where’s that silly slang? Where’s that fake confidence she could rag on him about? He’s so genuine in a way that isn’t him .
She takes a deep breath to refocus herself. Jake finally manages to step out of Jade’s grip only to gasp as she dives to gather as many squiddles as she can. He dives after her and the two start engaging in a truly Hungry Hippos style fight, each aiming to grab and shove as many squiddles under them as physically possible. It’s probably so the weight keeps the other from stealing anything, but that quickly goes bust.
Roxy gains a strained smile (why couldn’t she grow up with someone like this??) but thankfully no one can see it. A multicolored squiddle scoots out of the mini war ground and Jade reaches for it. At first Roxy steps back so the hand doesn’t hit her, but then a thought crosses her mind. She wills her foot solid, though still invisible, and taps Jade’s wrist with it. Jade blinks in surprise and glances upwards. Then Jake steals it right out of her hand and her focus is back on the fight.
“No fair!” she whines, pushing herself up to try to reach for it.
Jake laughs and sits up to hold it away from her. “All’s fair in love and war!”
Jade huffs and launches herself at him. Both of them go tumbling to the ground as they wrestle for the ever-cheery squiddle. At first Roxy thinks she’s going to have to find some way to physically break them apart so she can get Jade’s attention, but then someone walks right through her . She gasps and stumbles to the side, clutching at her chest as she tries to process the feeling she just got from that. It was some sort of weird simultaneous push and pull thing?? Note to herself: never stand in the middle of a room while invisible.
“What’s going on here?” a fond voice asks, and she turns to see the source of it. Grandpa English stands above his grandchildren, eyes twinkling with amusement. Jade and Jake stop and stare at him for a second before quickly scrambling to their feet. They don’t look alarmed though, and are grinning and nudging each other as they explain.
“He tried to take half my squiddles!”
“She wasn’t using them right!”
A particularly hard nudge makes Jake let out a little oof . “Yes I was, buster!”
Another hard nudge sends Jade reeling. “No you weren’t, uh, dummy!”
They stick their tongues out at each other and Grandpa laughs. “Come on Jade. I bought them for both of you, remember?”
Jake wears his smuggest smile (which is less smug and more adorkable. Roxy has to stop thinking like this). Jade pouts. “But I’m doing an experiment with all of them!”
Grandpa ruffles her hair. “Can’t it wait for later?”
She tries to maintain the sad expression but her lips keep quirking up in a smile. Go Starved For Attention Team. “ Maybe .”
“I knew it!” Jake cheers. “ ‘Sides, you have a million experiments to run anyway.”
Her eyes roll even as she lets herself smile. “Yeah, yeah. Like the one on how much of a dork you are.”
“ Hey! ”
She laughs and books it up the stairs to dodge the noogie that’s coming her way. Roxy follows her up. She’s happy for her, she really is, but… man. Jade’s really adapted to having a family quick, huh? She does her best not to take it personally as she accompanies Jade into the shared bedroom. Then she makes herself visible again and pushes the door shut behind them.
Jade’s head snaps towards the entrance when the door closes. “Roxy??” she exclaims, before facepalming. “Of course that tap was you. What are you even doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be home so your parents - sisters? - don’t worry about you??”
“Probably.”
“What do you mean probably? ”
“Look, you don’t gotta worry about me, I’m here ‘cause I’m pretty sure we’re gonna get fucked today.”
Jade straightens up. Her eyes get serious. “What do you mean?”
“You remember what order you guys came into your session, right? And what type imps you guys had?”
“Yeah, why?”
“The imps here have been appearing in the same order. And today’s the fourth day, and you were the fourth player, which means…”
Jade’s eyes slowly widen. “Uranium imps...”
“We need to warn the others,” Roxy starts, but Jade is already taking her phone out of her pocket.
She starts typing something out before pausing and looking back up. “Wait, but that doesn’t make sense.”
“What? Why not?”
“Didn’t you watch the stream yesterday?”
“No, what happened?”
“A basilisk spoke .”
Roxy’s brows furrow as she nods. Rose already mentioned it, but she didn't have time to look it up for herself. “Words that people can understand?”
“Yeah, it said ‘Knight next’! Wouldn’t that mean we get Karkat’s imps instead?”
“We don’t even know what it was talking about.”
Jade has to take a moment to think about this. She paces around the room, hands tapping at her legs, while Roxy plops down on her bed. Finally the other girl lets out a huff and kicks at the squiddles on the floor. “What else would it be talking about? Nothing but the underlings have happened yet!”
“Maybe something’s about to happen?”
“Then why not say ‘Knight first’? Or anything else more informative??”
Roxy groans and leans back on the wall. “It’s been what, ages?”
“Three days.”
“Ages. Surely something else has happened in that time. Liiiiike… glitching? What about that?”
“I don’t see why Karkat would glitch, unless… there’s information that even we shouldn’t know?” Jade starts tapping away at her phone, most likely making a list. “He could know where the others are, or maybe some weird behind-the-scenes connections between NPCS, or..."
Roxy, for a moment, tunes her out. There’s something nagging her, something about the first day, but it’s been so long. Uh, shit, what happened? She woke up, she went to the park, she messaged the others, she- wait. Stop. What were those messages about? She taps her head almost as if she could dislodge her memories and lay them out in front of her. They joined the chat, Karkat wanted to update them, they spammed until he did. What did he say? Think, Roxy, think! It’s right there! He split it up into parts. She remembers finding it funny that there were six parts for six people. She remembers forcing herself to read the rest after he mentioned The Condesce. She remembers that last part-
She straightens up so fast she almost falls off the bed. Jade’s head whips up and her hands, despite holding the phone, reach out as if to catch her. “What the fuck was that!?”
Roxy uses her momentum to spring off the bed and start pacing the same circuit Jade was earlier, barely paying any attention to the way her friend has to dodge out of her way. “Karkat said somethin’ on the first day! About accidentally messagin’ an alternate Eridan!"
“ He messaged him?”
“No, Meenah did!” Her excitement burns out any other feelings that would normally come with saying the name. “He jus’ used the evidence t’explain us swappin’ bodies with NPC versions of us, but what if that isn’t all of it? What if somethin’ else’s happenin’ there??”
Jade’s surprised gaze turns thoughtful. “You have a point. What if him coming ‘next’ is connected to that?”
“Or!!” Roxy starts, her voice rising in volume as the excitement only grows. “Or! Karkat isn’t the Knight it was talkin’ about!”
Jade gasps and pumps her arms. “Oh my gosh! Yeah!!”
Roxy can’t help flap her hands in return. Then her friend lifts her phone again and she rushes over to her side. They grin like twin maniacs when pesterchum’s loading screen appears, and Roxy can’t help but let out a breathless giggle as Jade opens a new memo. She hasn’t been this excited in a while! She almost can’t stand still!
-- gardenGnostic [GG] opened a memo on board alternate game bullshit at 10:25 --
gardenGnostic [GG] renamed memo UNNAMED4 to ideas!!!
GG: guys guys guys guys we mightve figured stuff out!!!
GG: good stuff about someone who may be coming! :D
GG: also maybe bad stuff about other things coming??
GG: gosh its a lot but we have so many ideas and potential things we need to prepare for!
GG: uurrrgg no ones here yet so im just going to
Knock.
Jade’s thumb slips and hits the enter key too early, but both of their eyes are trained on the door as Grandpa’s voice comes through the wood. “Jade? Is someone over?”
Roxy’s eyes widen. Neither of them respond for a long moment. Then Jade, sweet darling Jade, smiles and lies through her teeth. “Nope! Sorry, I’m on a video call and I think I had the volume up a little loud.”
The sigh of relief is faintly audible. “You’re okay, I was just wondering.”
“Yeah, I get it!” Jade calls. They wait as they listen to Grandpa’s footsteps as he travels down the hallway and the stairs. Then their grins come back in full force and Roxy snickers to herself as she plops down on the bed.
“Guess we gotta be more quiet, huh?”
Jade nods as she settles right up against Roxy’s side. “Mhm! But hopefully we’ll be more busy typing than fangirling over our own ideas.”
Roxy drapes an arm over her friend and rests her chin on her shoulder. Prime snooping position. “You never know~”
Jade laughs as she scrolls through the memo’s responses slow enough for Roxy to read. “I guess not!”
caligulasAquarium responded to memo
CA: wwhat
CA: youre gonna wwhat
CA: jade come on wwhats happenin
caligulasAquarium responded to memo
CC: youre never going to believe it
CC: someone interrupted her
CA: wwell duh obvviously
GG: not for long!!!
CC: would you look at that
CA: oh hey
GG: oh hey yourself!
GG: wheres karkat and uhhhhh
CC: tuna
GG: mituna!!
CC: shell if i know
CA: jade arent you the one to knoww
CA: after evverythin that happened yesterday
GG: yeah i guess
GG: i just hoped they would be online by now
GG: then again mituna left in pretty bad condition...
Roxy tilts her head. She never did get an explanation about that. “What happened to him?”
Jade sighs and leans into her. “His costume gives him psionics, so he was using those in the fight. But something happened and he went way overboard and.. I don’t know much more than that? I don’t think he fried himself, but he really wasn’t okay. Karkat hasn’t texted us to let us know how Mituna’s doing so we’re all worried,” she finishes. After a small pause, she adds something else. “Well, I don’t know about the others, but I’m worried.”
“I’m worried too. Damn, that… that sucks .”
“I know, right?” Jade answers. “But hopefully he’ll come on while I’m explaining our ideas and tell us it’s all okay.”
“Let’s hope!”
CC: yeah it looked pretty bad from the vid
CC: but hell get up again
CA: howw are you so sure
CC: hes a trooper
CC: been through shell and high water and facing more like a fuckin champ
CC: mostly
CA: mostly
CC: yeah
CA: not gonna elaborate
CC: nah
CA: howw close are you guys
CC: why you askin
CA: wwell i mean
GG: okay i’m back!!!
GG: ill let karkat scroll up whenever he comes online
GG: its talking time now!
CA: you guys definitely have some history and it looked like the bad kind but you just spoke of him pretty nicely and im kinda confused
CA: oh
CA: uh
GG: :?
CC: go on
GG: uhhh okay!
GG: roxys right here but cant talk for reasons i already explained yesterday night
GG: also i see you typing meenah and if you make one mean comment im banning you
CC: woah woah dont i need to read the info too
GG: ill unban you when the chat ends
GG: dont test me
CC: you dont even know i was going to say anyfin mean
CC: maybe i was typin somefin nice
GG: well then we wont have any problems :)
GG: aaaaaaanyway
GG: roxy and i have been talking about what might be coming next
GG: also i hope you don’t mind roxy im gonna say the knight thing first for some good news
“Not at all!”
“Okay good!”
CC: the knight fin
GG: yes! remember when the basilisk spoke?
GG: it was all creepy
carcinoGeneticist responded to memo
CG: YEAH YEAH, “KNIGHT NEXT”, IT WAS CREEPY AS SHIT AND SOMETHING I NEVER WANT TO HEAR AGAIN.
CG: WHAT ABOUT IT?
GG: karkat!!!
CA: kar!
CG: JADE. ERIDAN.
GG: i was so worried about you and mituna how are you guys???
CG: I’LL UH. I’LL TELL YOU LATER.
CG: WHAT ABOUT THE KNIGHT SHIT?
GG: oh uh yeah!!
GG: so roxy and i were thinking...
GG: it has to do with something thats already happened
CA: because it said again
CA: not start
GG: yeah!!
GG: so we basically came up with two options!
GG: either were getting karkats enemy types next
GG: orrrrr
GG: infinitely more exciting........
GG: were getting another knight!!!
GG: like how we came in only its another friend!!
CG: WAIT.
CG: THAT MEANS
GG: dave!!!!!!!!
CG: HOLY FUCK
CG: I
CG: HOW LIKELY IS THAT
GG: we dont know but its a really exciting idea!!
GG: maybe the goal of this game is to last long enough that we take over our “normal” selves??
CG: WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT.
CG: WHAT WOULD THAT MEAN FOR THE ANCESTORS?
GG: oh uhhhhh
GG: oh
GG: hm
CC: just sayin
CC: condy wont be happy if she comes back rememberin shit
CA: yeah no shit
GG: especially after some of us defeated her...
CG: YEAH, THAT’S A FUCKING PROBLEM.
CG: AS MUCH AS
CG: I WANT DAVE
CG: MAYBE IT’S REFERRING TO THE IMPS.
GG: maybe... and that is kind of preferrable!
GG: because roxy realized that the enemy types are going in order of how my sessions players came in
GG: at least for right now
GG: and if thats really true then uranium is next
CG: GOG FUCKING DAMNIT!
GG: i know right??
CC: wait
CC: im missing somefin
CG: LET ME.
CG: THE URANIUM IMPS ARE JADE’S IMPS. JADE ALSO PROTOTYPED A FIRST GUARDIAN. SEE THE PROBLEM THERE?
CC: a fucking FIRST GUARDIAN
CG: YEAH!
CC: okay hold up
CC: a first fuckin guardian
CG: *YES*.
CC: cod
CC: okay so
CC: no hope of any easier prototyping on those things huh
CG: YEAH NO.
CC: thought so
CA: wwait
CA: wwhy wwouldnt there be any chance of non first guardian prototyping
CA: ivve seen imps take on multiple different prototypings
CG: JEGUS ERIDAN, I REALLY THOUGHT YOU PAID ATTENTION MORE.
CA: wwell fuck i wwas kinda busy killin angels
CG: AND DOING FUCK ALL IN THE DREAM BUBBLES, APPARENTLY.
CA: i wwas tryin not to think about the game thank you vvery much
CG: RELATABLE.
CG: ANYWAY, EACH PLAYER RECEIVES A CERTAIN GRIST/ENEMY TYPE THAT CORRESPONDS TO THEM. THAT ENEMY TYPE WILL ALWAYS CONTAIN WHATEVER PROTOTYPE ITS RESPECTIVE PLAYER HAS, THEN WHATEVER OTHER PROTOTYPES IT FEELS LIKE. SO JADE’S URANIUM ENEMIES WILL *ALWAYS* HAVE FIRST GUARDIAN PROTOTYPING WHILE EVERY OTHER ENEMY TYPE WILL *OCCASIONALLY* HAVE FIRST GUARDIAN PROTOTYPING.
CG: I TOOK NOTES ON THIS ON NIGHT FUCKING ONE.
CG: OR MAYBE TWO.
CA: jegus
CG: YEAH.
CC: so a uranium enemy is basically a death sentence
GG: i mean
GG: ive killed a couple before
CC: wait you have
GG: well okay that was with becsprite
GG: but i didnt have the powers i do now!!!
GG: its going to be space against space i bet i can do something
CC: hell yeah
CC: thats a good fuckin attitude
CA: so
CA: are we so sure its uranium enemies comin next
GG: no but it cant hurt to be on the lookout for them!
GG: and then well have a possible answer to the knight question when we see what types of imps we get!!!
CG: SPEAKING OF ENEMIES, THE PATTERN SUGGESTS THEY’RE COMING TODAY. WE SHOULD STAY ON THE LOOKOUT.
GG: yeah!!!
GG: though i think all we can do is check the internet or news...
CA: better than nothin
GG: yup!
GG: so with all that out of the way
GG: karkat... can you tell us how mituna is doing?
CG: YEAH.
CG: HE’S BETTER, ACTUALLY.
CG: I THINK HE’S STILL A LITTLE OUT OF IT BUT THE SLEEP DID HIM SOME GOOD.
GG: thats good!!! is he still sleeping?
CG: NO, HE WOKE UP A WHILE AGO. THEN PROCEEDED TO CLING TO ME AND KEEP ME FROM USING MY PHONE UNTIL HE WAS CALLED DOWN BY OUR PARENTS.
CC: awwww
CG: I THINK THEY WANT TO CHECK IN ON HIM THEMSELVES.
CG: DON’T FUCKING “AWWW” HIM!
CC: yeah yeah
CC: glad hes not brain dead or somefin
CA: me too
GG: im glad hes doing way better!!
GG: but if theres a fight later today you shouldnt let him come
CG: I’M NOT PLANNING TO.
GG: good
Roxy watches as the four of them keep talking away. They transition to planning for the fight and her thoughts can’t help but drift off. First to wonder if her friends really will come back soon, then to wonder how the hell she’s going to manage sneaking out for the entire day. Fuck, she’s going to have to sneak back in after this visit over anyway. The voice changers need to be completed. She watches Jade’s face as it transitions between a determined smirk and a wide grin, and she feels her body all tucked up against her own. Maybe she can wait to do that. Yeah.
It’s an hour and a half before Roxy finally waves goodbye and ducks out the window. It’s after lunch, but when she phases back into her bedroom, no one seems to have noticed her absence. Good. She has work to do.