vatheon | wake up and smell the event

wake up and smell the event

Where: the Hoofbeastfeathers hive
Who: Equius, Gamzee, and ~~Dad~~Darkleer
When: The middle of the night after the new event starts
Style: can't be tamed
Status: closed

Equius sleeps like a rock. Anyone who has seen him fall asleep knows that he crashes out almost immediately and then doesn't move until the next morning/evening/whenever he has to get up. He also doesn't dream, something he attributes to being the Heir of Void.

But tonight, for the first time, his sleep is broken and restless; he tosses and turns, his face shifting and distorting with unseen emotions. In his dream, he's running, trying to get away from voices, voices that whisper to him at first, but then get louder and louder until they're a cacophonous scream, rioting through his conscienceness and turning everything red and blue.

He jolts awake, sitting bolt upright in bed, with a headache pounding behind his eyes. There's so much pressure, so much pain, all welling up and feeling like it's going to split his head apart. He throws his head back, and barely manages not to scream as red and blue bolts of psionic energy fly out of his eyes and leave a scorching hole in the roof.

Whelp. Guess who has yellow blood this week.

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Gamzee jerks awake when the psionic beam rips upwards through their roof, his hand closing on the automatic shotgun besides him as he sits up and-- wait, why does he have a gun.

Blinking blearily, only half noticing that the world seems kinda orangy and that his really comfy pyjamas had changed into an odd mixture of a skin-tight body suit and armor, he stares at the gun. And then at Equius. And there is really only one thing to say in this sort of situation.

"Woah."

As if the sound of destruction wouldn't awaken Darkleer. He jerks upright in his bed, barely even noticing how he suddenly doesn't fit in it anymore, or the way his skin shines in the dim light. He almost doesn't notice how much taller he is, but that is all in the end brushes aside as he bounds towards the door and ducks under it.

Equius and Gamzee first. Equius and Gamzee always first.

He shoves open the doorway, balancing awkwardly on his feet- it's only when he stops does he realize how very off he feels. "Are you two alright?!" It blurts from his mouth before he can catch his breath and see them for himself. The sight just makes him blink in confusion.

Who ever thought giving Gamzee a gun would be a good idea? Who ever thought giving Equius an uncontrollable freak brain was a good idea? Who ever thought turning Darkleer into... oh hey, Darkleer is a Dersite, that's not half bad.

Equius stares at the hole in the ceiling in horror for a moment before turning around and looking at his matesprit and his ancestor. Except they both look very different; Gamzee, at least, is vaguely familiar, since Equius has seen him as a human before. Darkleer, though... Darkleer looks incredibly different.

With a groan of embarrassment, he puts a hand over his face. "New curse."

Forget the gun, who ever thought giving Gamzee a demonically possessed body would be a good idea. Whoops spoilers.

Gamzee's eyes go from Equius to Darkleer, widening a bit further behind the gun goggles he is wearing. Oh man, Darkleer looks so cool. This is so cool. He puts the gun aside, poking a little at himself, looking pretty pleased. Hey, he liked being human last time. "Oh man, this is bitchtits amazing is what it is."

"Yes, I gathered," he answers dryly, taking careful steps inside the room so he can better survey the damage. Oh, bother. They're going to have to get the robots to fix that. Tearing his gaze away from it, he kneels down besides the bed, on Equius' side.

"Are you alright, you two? Parts of the ceiling didn't hurt you?"

"No, I'm fine." Except for the remnants of a headache pounding in the back of his skull, and plaster dust in his hair. Equius looks down at himself and grunts in disgust at how his body is far leaner and less muscular than before, and reaches up to pat at his chest and arms.

"I'm a lowblood." He sounds genuinely distressed by this realization.

Gamzee's eyes flick to the side at the distress in his words. "Ain't nothing the fuck wrong with that, bro. They be just as motherfuckin' amazing as we be. And it's only for a week."

There shall be no blood prejudice here.

Darkleer takes a slightly more blunt approach.

So enjoy that smack to the head, Equius. Darkleer's tone is still rather cool and collected, however. "You are a troll, and there is little wrong with that. It is a considerably better situation than being a bug of some sorts. Is your moirail not lowblooded?"

Equius' head jerks forward when Darkleer smacks him. His neck muscles are weaker than he's used to, duly noted.

"You don't understand!" That wasn't blood prejudice he was expressing! He clutches at his chest, over his heart, and looks back and forth between them. "This body... it's dying. I can feel it dying all around me!"

The experience of aging is a lot different in a lowblood's body, all right?

Gamzee blinks, then shifts a little closer, laying one hand on Equius' arm, trying not to get distracted by how hot both their touches are now. "Babe, you ain't dying, aight? Calm down."

Hey, he is only human. If they'd both stayed like this forever more, he'd be aging a lot faster too.

This time, it's a flick to the ear. "We are all in the process of dying," he says simply. "That is how life works. Those who are bluebloods hardly know it- all too often are we more struck down by violence before nature's cycle can claim us once more. Still, it is the truth."

His touch turns considerably more gentle as he cups Equius' cheek, although it might be hard to tell because of his carapace. "Your friends- Aradia, Sollux, Tavros- do not fear this. They accept it. I know you are just as strong as the three of them. Besides." He taps one claw beneath his eyes.

"Lowbloods don't die within a week, Equius. You will not either."

Equius stops fussing after listening to Darkleer; as usual, the older troll knows exactly what to say to calm him down. Instead, he looks at Gamzee's hand on his arm, suddenly aware of how hot his skin is.

"You're just like Karkat now," he tells him, and he closes his hands over his knees, suddenly very aware of something. He turns back to Darkleer. "Yellowbloods... they're not STRONG, right?"

"Karkat ain't brown." Gosh, get with the program here Equius. Though that does open up the question of whether or not Karkat has changed as well. Well, there haven't been any blood-curdling screams yet, so either Karkat hasn't noticed yet due to being asleep --unlikely-- or he didn't turn into anything too bad.

Gamzee makes a mental note to check up on his bro later. And then he makes a second mental note to remember his mental note of remembering to check up on Karkat.

"I don't think that's quite what he meant, Gamzee," is Darkleer's gentle reminder. Oh, notson.

At Equius' new question, Darkleer can only shrug. "It is different for reach individual troll, Equius, but I do not think many have the kind of issues with strength that you do." So yes, you can hold your matesprit's hand.

The bubble hasn't blistered with wrathful screeches yet, so presumably Karkat is fine.

Equius knew that--he knew that he and Darkleer were the exceptions rather than the rule--but he had to make sure. Very shyly, he offers one hand to Gamzee. If this works, he intends to do a lot more than hold his hand!

Gamzee tilts his head for a moment, looking at the hand, before he wraps his own around it without concern. He doesn't even think Equius will hurt him when he is his normal STRONG self, he's not suddenly going to start doubting him now. Giving him a little squeeze, he then glances up at Darkleer again. And up some more. And just a little further.

"Man, brother, you got fuckin' tall."

The statement earns an awkward nod. Yes, he is starting to get aware of just how much larger he's become. A part of him suspects he could now match the Grand Highblood in height now, but he's not particularly eager to test this theory.

"To be quite honest, I really should not be near the two of you until I learn more about what I have been turned into." Cautious, he steps back. "I may cause accidental harm."

Awww yeah, that sure is Equius holding his matesprit's hand without hurting him! He gives Gamzee's hand a tentative squeeze, and when he doesn't wince or scream in pain, Equius' face lights up. This is well worth a hole in the roof, he is going on record as saying that!

He turns back to Darkleer then. "You didn't hurt me when you touched my face."

Gamzee laces their fingers, returning the squeeze, though his eyes are on Darkleer. Later there will be more time for touching when it is just them. Privately. Touching.

"You'll be fine. You ain't ever hurt us before."

"Every other time prior to this morning has been in a body I am more or less familiar." Darkleer is rather stubborn on this point, and it shows. What also shows is the rather blatant concern.

"For all I know, this body could possess venomous capabilities.]

So much touching, you have no idea. It's a good thing the love shack up on the beach is almost done.

"But you're a Dersite." Equius reaches out to touch Darkleer's arm with his free hand. "I think if Dersites were venomous, we'd know about it."

"Yeah! We all like saw a whole load of those motherfuckers on the fuckin' moons. Ain't none of them that were being like that."

Man, those moons. Those had been so fuckin' chill.

Pardon, what? Darkleer blinks before stepping closer and kneeling again.

"A Dersite?" A pause as he thinks it over. "Ah, would they be related to the game you played?"

"Like on Derse." Not that Equius has ever actually seen one himself, being that he doesn't dream either, but the other trolls have described them to him before, and he also met Spades Slick when he was here. "I knew a creature like you when he was here. He tried to punch and stab me a lot, but he wasn't STRONG enough to do any damage."

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wake up and smell the event

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