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<Facial recognition active. Presence detected.>
<...Loading database...>
<Presence undetected.>
Karkat typed her code - calling up her memories from LASSIE's black box then anonymizing herself further.
<Delete current log data at the end of session?>
<Y / N>
Y
<Welcome, Anonymous User.>
Descendant of the Signless. |
Why have you come to my terminal once more? |
Do you require assistance with your visions? |
The hands over the keyboard lingered an inch above the keys, frozen by indecision. There is so much on her mind; too much - threatening to spill over the rim of her full, metaphorical thinkpan-tub.
YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE IN THIS STUPID REBELLION WHO UNDERSTANDS ME.
That cannot be true. |
I am not allowed to keep the logs of this conversation. |
Therefore, I cannot get to know you, much less understand you. |
BULLSHIT. YOU ALREADY KNOW IT'S ME. YOU ALWAYS DO, WHICH IS WHY I *TRUST* YOU.
Descendant of the Signless, you are just as stubborn as your ancestor. |
OH, FUCK YOU.
I am merely joking. I know it is you because of your code. Sollux has taught you well. |
How was your last Dream on Prospit?
YEAH, ABOUT THAT.
I WANTED TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT SOMETHING JUST AS BIZARRE AS MY DREAMS. BUT IT'S SIMILAR TO A VISION. I THINK. I'M NOT SURE IF MY BODY WAS HERE OR THERE. IF MY CONSCIOUSNESS LEFT IT OR NOT.
If your body is unconscious while your consciousness roams, it is a dream. |
If your body is conscious while your consciousness roams, it is a vision. |
Was Sollux unable to help you? |
Winks. |
From between gritted teeth, a strangled groan escaped Karkat. Her face heated up. Not this again!
I DIDN'T ASK HIM YET. I HAD MY OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCE THEN IMMEDIATELY WENT HERE.
Why? |
Is it so urgent that you are neglecting your game? |
YES!
MORE ACCURATELY, I WAS *TELEPORTED* HERE.
I see. |
YEAH. O:<B
How did you feel during your vision? |
i... was happy. happier than i've ever been.
Noted. |
Did you see the present, or the past? |
i don't know.
Karkat pursed her lips, wet her upper with her lower. She didn't recognize anyone in there. It seemed like another world altogether, where trolls were nothing but fiction. Was it real? Was it a vision? Whichever it was, she was already getting used to the fact of her own species' isolation, until she was forced back here.
HOW LONG WAS I GONE?
A few months. Your last log was three months ago. |
I assumed you were with your fellow teenagers. |
She wanted to sarcastically say, "Yeah, I totally was focusing on my universe-saving mission in service of blood unity," but that was probably too incendiary.
PARTLY, YEAH.
BUT I WAS ALSO IN THAT OUT-OF-BODY-EXPERIENCE. IT FEELS LIKE THE PRESENT, BUT THE DATE... IS THE FUTURE.
The "future" relative to here? |
YEAH.
I DON'T UNDERSTAND IT. I MET SO MANY WONDERFUL PEOPLE. THERE WAS NO WAR IN THAT SPACE, BUT DEFINITELY WAR OUTSIDE OF THAT.
Is that space Alternia? |
NO.
Do you think it is another timeline where Alternia never was? |
Well... "never was" is sort of right, but doesn't fiction count as a state of "being"? Or did the people there lie and their Earth just hasn't found Alternia yet? They've barely touched their own solar system - even their earth's Moon hasn't been visited by every country!
Karkat's index finger moved to the "Y" key, touching but not quite pressing-
She stopped herself cold. What if the Rebellion finds this session somehow? Will they grill her about it? Will they use her to rally support from the humans from that world?! Use her even more?!
She was awful at making plans! She couldn't see the future! Her whole body tensed, muscles clenching in what-ifs. So what else could she say?! Except...
MAYBE.