004 ♑ [fourth honk]

[hystericull]

Characters: Gamzee and you!
Setting: First-floor hallway, a few days post-Labyrinth.
Format: Action.
Summary: Gamzee has been a bad, bad alien. In the wake of his murder spree and after being revenge-fed to a gigantic spider, he's pretty whacked out. Time for some angst and nerves and possibly drugs. Oh, and Faygo Play-Doh. COME PLAY!
Warnings: Angst, talk of murder, drugs, Gamzee's mouth. And Play-Doh because I like saying Play-Doh.

[Gamzee Makara was, surprisingly, Not Happy. Well, "surprisingly", because there was never a time prior where the gangly thing wasn't beaming from sponge clot to sponge clot, flitting about like gravity was simply an option undeserving of his attentions.

"Unsurprisingly", because there really wouldn't be any other emotion left to have in response to cracking under stress and withdrawal, gruesomely murdering your friends, and finally getting mangled up on the end of a trident with a prong through your head. All on display for the entire Tower to see! So, the friends that had managed to escape his homicidal rampage were probably just as afraid of him as the ones who weren't as lucky.

Not to mention, after all was said and done, Gamzee had been thoroughly thrashed into submission by his roommates after awakening in a rampage. Shortly after that, as payback from one of the not-friends he'd ended up offing, he'd been manipul8ed, knocked out, and woken up only to find himself being eaten alive by a spider.

He was not having a very good perigree.

However! Being infinitely taxed and possibly having a taste or three of sopor since waking again from his death had left him not completely miserable (if only because he was too exhausted and high to be miserable, but, details.)

He'd managed to drag himself out to the hallway on the first floor, not being able to get much farther than that after being a recluse for a good portion of the day. When it came down to it, he really wasn't quite sure if he'd wanted to isolate himself, or desperately seek the attention of the rest of the Tower. The indecision was eating him up, so he'd decided to scoot up against one of the walls, pie in his lap, and a few plastic containers at his side. These the Tower had granted him for participating in the experiment - assorted colors of Faygo Play-Doh. He'd recognized them from his hive (which had been destroyed long ago, but one learned quickly never to question the Tower, and he was particularly good at that part!)

After another swallow of slime, a familiar haze began to fall over him, leaving him teetering on the edge of lucidity. In this state, tired and useless, he popped the lids off of the containers and began squishing the putty between his bony fingers, immersing himself in the motions which effectively distracted him from everything else going on inside his think pan.]

Comments

[papshooshing]

[ nope, fuck this shit. Karkat Vantas has been missing Sollux for a few days and also hasn't been able to see Gamzee lurking the hallways. specifically looking for either one of them without getting on the network.

and when Karkat DOES see Gamzee? so many mix of emotions. relief. anguish. then it all turns to rage when he sees Gamzee choking down sopor. no, it's not healthy and when the guy can no longer have it around, it will only make things WORSE. Karkat worries for him and the others so much that he'd rather deal with the insanity now, when Gamzee has more think pan cells than later.

but at the moment? Karkat couldn't care about it. he's just happy Gamzee is still around. which means that he crosses the distance, and clings to the taller troll's neck. ]

What a fucking shit head you are!

[hystericull]

[Yeah, shit head is probably the most accurate term to describe the situation! Especially since Gamzee had been the one to bludgeon Sollux to death. And... then he never came back. But that was probably the last thing that would ever cross his mind, because one, there was Play-Doh, two, there was Karkat, and three, there was this undeniable urge to start babbling at Karkat and never shut up and that was probably because of the talk they'd had before all of this shit went down, but he didn't even know if that talk still had any relevance after the crap he'd pulled in the maze and--

There were too many thoughts, still. That was a clear sign that not enough sopor was being consumed. Down the hatch went some more!]

Hahaha, yeah, think you're all up in the motherfucking rightness on that one, best friend.

[midgarhorizon]

[It wasn't his fault. Reno was just on his way to the elevator that would take him down to the cafeteria when he spotted Gamzee. The labyrinth experiment had ended a few days before but he hadn't seen the guy in a while.

Finally. He had something to tell the kid. Heading back to his room for a moment, he emerged from the staircase with a small box in hand.]

Hey, Gamzee.

[Reno just walks right up to him, as if nothing had happened. True, he didn't have any idea what happened in the labyrinth the last days, but that wouldn't have mattered anyway.]

[hystericull]

[To be quite frank? Someone acting like nothing had happened was the best thing that he could ever hope for. Leave it to Reno to be a dope motherfucker 'til the end. Never mind if he didn't actually know what had happened, the fact that he was still speaking to Gamzee, let alone being friendly towards him, was all he needed. Gamzee was selfish and a little fucked up in the fact that he hadn't really felt remorse for what he'd done. Not really. Only nerves about the reception his actions would get. Despite everything he wanted to be, innocent he was not. He grinned, half-hearted, but sincere.]

Heyyyy, brother! Long time no motherfucking peep on at a motherfucker. How you been up at, yo?

[chronomancer]

[Awkward shuffling. That was Eridan's modus operandi since the conversation with the guy who claimed to be running this show. Awkward shuffling from place to place, not really thinking, or rather, thinking too much and feeling miserable.

The nightmares wouldn't stop and every time he closed his eyes he saw the echoes of them, making his head spin. His powers hadn't come back yet... and he wasn't even sure he wanted them back. Fat lot of good they'd ever done him... but he was so useless without them. Just... feelings. And then, the labyrinth. Frankly, fuck the labyrinth. Fuck it repeatedly and with Kan's chainsaw.

His head was a mess of thoughts and feelings and a growing bitterness somewhere underneath his tongue, whenever he thought about those feelings and their cause. He had already been irritable and cranky before, but after talking with Jason... if the things he said were true...

It's understandable, then, why it took him a moment to realize he was staring at Gamzee. Hell, it took him a moment to recognize Gamzee.]

Oh.

[Because why not? Have another extra dose of feelings to kick the air out of your lungs, Eridan. He wanted to be angry, he'd been angry, before, and now he really couldn't muster the fire. So he just... deflated into a deadpan. He wasn't even afraid. He was reaching the point of contemplating death as a viable escape to the nightmares. Because... frankly, fuck the nightmares.]

Gamzee.

[hystericull]

[Oh, motherfuck.]

[The decision to stay holed up in the room or come out for socialization was swiftly made when the little jadeblood stopped in front of him and... didn't... say anything... for a little while. What do you mean it was too late to decide to stay in the room? He was sure he could crawl/roll/drag/whatever he did to get out here back into the safety of his human bed and under his human covers before Eridan decided to open his trap and--

Okay, well, fuck.

On to Plan B. Plan B was not really a great plan to move to, seeing as how it hadn't been thought up until right that very second. Gamzee briefly entertained the thought of slapping the Play-Doh over his face to potentially camouflage himself into the wall. ...That probably wouldn't work out. Not to mention, his face was already mostly the color of the damn wall, anyway.

He worried away at that putty in his hands like there was no tomorrow, rolling out shapes and squashing them between his fingers and palms, not having the heart to drag his eyes up to his probably ex-bro. He'd murdered the kid's friends, for Christ's sake. And if Eridan had been there, he'd have killed him, too. It was horrifying how certain he was of that. What was even more horrifying was that he couldn't bring himself to feel bad about it.

He didn't speak for a while, endlessly rolling and smooshing a hunk of Redpop goop.]

...Hey, Jadebr--

[...]

...

[...]

...Eridan.

[wwaterboy]

[And Eridan has no idea that Gamzee ever went sober, murdered anyone, or that he was even in the labyrinth. So when he sees Gamzee sitting there with playdoh all squishing around on his fingers, and a pie in his lap, he smiles and moves to crouch beside him.

A second look at Gamzee's face has him worried and he reaches out towards him, putting a hand on his shoulder.]

Hey there, brother. Wwhat's goin on?

[hystericull]

[At first, Gamzee's caught off-guard. When the hell did Eridan get here? And why was he suddenly so concerned about what was going on with him? And then fragments of the party came back to him. This was not his Eridan. Hey, at least he remembered? The events that transpired during the party were mostly masked by the large blob of sopor that had been his brain that evening.

He did remember that this Eridan was a chill motherfucker, though. They'd actually hit it off pretty well, if his gut-feeling was the only thing he had to go on. Which it was. He didn't seem to be harboring any animosity towards him, so that was... good? Better to not make the guy any more concerned than he already was. Gamzee squeezed his ball of Play-Doh in one hand, while serving himself another scoop of slime with the other.]

Heyyy, nice Fishbro from that one motherfuckin' time. How you all been, motherfucker?

[He grinned lopsidedly at the hand on his shoulder. It was completely undeserved. He didn't fucking care.]

Crazy shit be the haps as of motherfucking lateness, all is what's to be going the fuck down with this motherfucker.

[He grinned, a little ruefully. The sopor was helping, though. He took another bite.]

What's all my fine fishy motherfucker been gettin' his bad self up to since we all last got to shooting the proverbial motherfucking shit?

[firststep]

[Yori's been...tired, ever since the Labyrinth. After three days of nonstop wordswordswordswordswordswords (all the words and feelings and everything), he's surprised his brain didn't just fry itself out. And there was everyone else's nightmares on top of all that. Sleep has become a rare commodity for Yori, at least for now.

It's probably why he was just...staring blearily at Gamzee, like he hasn't registered who it was despite being a mindreader and everything.]

[hystericull]

[Bleary staring he can understand. Bleary staring he gets. You are not alone in the bleary staring, because he's doing it right back at you until-- Oh, fuck. It's the quiet kid from before. From before all the shit happened and Gamzee ended up killing him. He... almost felt bad. He was willing himself to. The kid was so soft-spoken and such an unassuming sweetheart. The thoughts in Gamzee's head, should Yori choose to pay attention to them, wouldn't be as silent as the first time they'd met, and not nearly as cacophonous as the second time. They were jumbled and uncertain, followed by periods of quiet where he'd just stare back down at his Play-Doh guiltily.

After a while, he'd lift his heavy head, kneading the putty with all the nerves in the world.]

Uhh... hey, brother...

[pushedaround]

[ Okay, so apparently Vriska hates his guts and her spidermom, too. I guess there is no pleasing the spider family. Needless to say, he's not entirely happy with being eaten alive, but he's not really bothered to do anything about it. Not right now anyway. Possibly in the future when he's calm enough, but for now- he'll happily accept any distractions.

Speaking of distractions, his best brother will probably do. But it seems Gamzee is going through his own share of misery. The whole Vriska drama was forgotten almost immediately as he approached the other troll. ]

Gamzee?

[ He stares at him for a few seconds, and it's confirmed. Yup. Gamzee is not a happy troll today. Man, he's not sure if he'd want to be left alone or not, but here's Tavros, moving to settle on the ground, facing him with his legs crossed. He's worried about him, and he's not being subtle about it. ]

What's wrong, bro?

[hystericull]

[Here was a fish. This one was supposed to be a shell he saw one time that looked pretty. It didn't really look all that pretty when it was rendered in Play-Doh. He tried making the umbrella on top of his hive, but... that was too hard to make, too. And then there were these legs in front of him that quickly sat down and crossed themselves, and a voice that came shortly after and...

Oh, please, no.

Not the one person he didn't want to be afraid of him. Not the one person of many that abandoned him in those recurring nightmares. If he didn't look at him, maybe he'd go away. But, he didn't want him to go away, not really. Actually, he wanted anything but. His little bro did not deserve to be ignored, especially not by him, and especially not when he was trying to help. Gamzee looked up, rolling a small piece of Play-Doh between his fingers and offering a toothy smile.]

...

[Does he lie, or does he tell his bro the truth? Lying was never his strong suit, but he really didn't want to fill Tavros in on the filthy details if he hadn't heard (or seen) them yet.]

Ain't all been a very bitchin' motherfucking perigree I've all to been having, brother.

[Still grinning!]

But it's all fuckin' chill now, 'cause I got you here!

[ofdewandglass]

[Feferi catches sight of Gamzee when she's heading out to grab some food. He looks to her like he needs some company, so she scraps her plans and sits down next to him.]

Hey, Gamzee.

[hystericull]

[Holy...! Was that who he thought it was!? When did the little fishy princess get her finny butt here!? Gamzee's mouth quickly upturned to a beam. Feferi was always bubbly and energetic. It would be good to have her around the Tower, for sure!

...Aaand, then he remembered he was supposed to be feeling upset. Gosh, he couldn't even feel the right emotion even when he wanted to! The sopor was working its magic, it seemed. He really was happy to see her, however, so the smile stayed on, even if it faltered a bit.]

Feferiiii! When'd a little fishy girl get her bad self all up in the motherfucking Tower noise, huh?

[tsunball]

[ Leon was slowly trying to get used to this place and all the weird things in it, really. And he was already doing better on that (unlike on other things like his paranoia thanks to a certain bear). But this sight still went way above the level of weird things he could just randomly accept this far. Some sort of grey-skinned alien with pie and.. was that Play-Doh? Really?

Forgive Leon for just standing there and staring for a little while. He didn't even speak up at first, partially due to a general lack of tact and partially due to not having a clue what was going on with this.. person.. or thing. He wasn't even bothering to hide the fact he was pretty obviously staring from pretty close by, really. ]

[hystericull]

[Leon, you have caught this strange alien on a very bad day. Normally, he'd interpret staring as a flowery, blooming friendship of miracles waiting to unfold with sparkling wonder. Right now, though, he kind of wanted to punch you in the face.]

You got somethin' to motherfucking say at a brother, motherfucker? Them lookstubs seem to all be workin' over-fucking-time for your motherfucking disgrace of a protein chute.

[caliginous]

[Karkat hasn't bothered to leave his room, aside from the occasional visit to Terezi or Kanaya, but even those were kept to a minimum until he managed to wrangle his emotions back under his control. Now that he had some time to suck it up like a big boy, Karkat spent this evening skulking about like a hungover asshole.

The cerulean stops when he spots Gamzee in the middle of the hallway, halting his entire body to stare like a deer. Surprisingly enough, it seemed his expression was absent of terror -- there were bags under his eyes, he hadn't slept almost at all, succumbing only hours prior to this current meeting. Despite that, his suit was still impeccably pressed and wrinkle-free and his hair retained that sort of artful mess, save for a few strands being out of place.

He's just so tired of being tormented, he almost can't waste the energy to be scared of the indigo in front of him. His hands are in his pockets, just in case -- but considering the state of the other troll, he wasn't all that interested in culling him again, which was fine with him.

The rampage was reminiscent of Feferi's freakout, though not quite. In fact, compared to Gamzee, Feferi's episode was almost tame. It made something unpleasant crawl down his spine when he thought about it.

But the cerulean said nothing. He just stared, almost accusingly, waiting for the other troll to react or say something.]

[hystericull]

[It was true - Gamzee was in no mood to cull anyone right now. Well, let me rephrase. He would have been perfectly fine with slaughtering any motherfucker that so much as breathed offensively in his general direction, if every part of his body didn't feel like it was filled with lead. God, he was so tired.

His movements were too precise, too careful as he hilariously went about playing with the stupid wiggler's clay. He'd longed for the sweeping fluidity of a dreamlike state, one which was so easily attainable simply by finishing the slime in front of him. Instead, he kept working. Methodical, focused. Things he never wanted to be.

Until he sensed a presence. Karkat really didn't need to be sensed, since he wasn't making a huge effort to conceal himself, but Gamzee'd been aware of him before lifting his head to meet the cerulean's accusatory glances with a listless grimace.]

What?

damn lookit this post, you are so popular

[guiltapalooza]

[Willow is idly walking down the hall, caught in her own thoughts, when she stumbles across him and pulls up short. She blinks for a couple seconds. What... is that pie, exactly? Pie really shouldn't be bright neon green. It was unnerving, and there he was, eating it.

But wait-- that other thing, was that--] Is that Play-Doh? [She might be older, and more mature, and have way more issues weighing her down now, but Willow's still excited to come across Play-Doh.] Mind if I join you? I haven't seen you in a while.

[She's completely ready to set herself right on the ground there next to him if he says yes. Though she might have to ask him what he's doing in the hallway, and what's going on. He definitely looks off, compared to when she'd met him at the party.]

[hystericull]

[Despite being not-quite baked out of his pan, Gamzee hadn't noticed Willow approaching until she'd spoken, which ended up scaring the shit out of him. Unable to suppress a] HONK! [of surprise, he jolted upright, closing his hands so fast around the putty that it squashed whatever he'd happened to be working on.]

Holy fuck!

[Okay, wait, let him... gather his thoughts for a second. ...Who am I kidding, there were no thoughts to gather. Let him at least catch his breath?]

Uhhh, dunno what the fuck Playdope be, but a brother whipped all the shit out of this fucking magical bitch after he all got to finding some crazy recipicial textualosities on his motherfucking husktop.

[Don't... even try to think too hard about the made-up words. He pauses.]

Back home, I all mean. Tower bros be thinkin' I'd all want a piece of the old hive back what's with me here, I fuckin' guess. Some shit like that.

[Oh, he was rambling again. He looks back up at Willow with a weak grin.]

Sure you all can, motherfucker! Never all got to be gettin' a brother's gratitude on proper for the bitchin' groove you all were to be up and throwin' whenever the fuck that all was.

this is gonna go horribly

[morituramfides]

[Gamzee certainly wasn't the only one feeling like crap after getting out of the labyrinth; it'd been a few days since they had gotten out, but everything about their weird ass punishment nightmares was still bugging him.

(no the murder during the actual event was no big deal.)

So Jin was surprisingly pretty mentally pre-occupied as he was walking through the hallways, to the point where he didn't immediately snark at Gamzee when he spotted him sitting on the ground. He stopped to...stare derisively, yes. But he didn't say anything yet.]

...Are you playing with Play-Doh?

[Much more pressing questions, yes.]

oh my god rubs hands together

[hystericull]

[If there was one person that could make this day even fucking worse- Well, there were a handful of people that could make it worse, actually. And... probably worse than this little fucker could. But seeing that dope didn't help much, for fucking certain.]

[Yes, he was playing with motherfucking Play-Doh.]

The fuck is that!?

[He made this shit, okay!? The Internet told him how! They don't have fucking Play-Doh on Alternia, dumbass!]

[Gamzee looked up from happily playing with his clay, plastering a frown all over his clown-face. Really. Really, did you want to mess with him right now.]

You wanna play, too, motherfucker?

[myblueskies]

[Romeo had been avoiding Gamzee, because he was scared. Because Gamzee was his friend but he had killed lots of people and because he was scary.

But Romeo was Romeo and he would (and had in the past) forgive even his own murderer. He felt bad that mister Ghirahim had beaten Gamzee up, even if Gamzee had been very angry.

He came and sat down opposite Gamzee, crossing his legs and resting his chin on his hands. He watched for a while, not sure what he was doing or what the strange thing he was playing with was.]

I'm sorry Gamzee... For head butting you...

[hystericull]

[For a long time, Gamzee said nothing. He squashed the Play-Doh in his hands like it was going out of motherfucking style, stretching and pulling and pushing it into various shapes and sizes, intent on keeping his attention on anything but the boy who'd chosen to plop down in front of him.]

[After a while, he couldn't bring himself to say much, but he still opened his trap. He didn't trust the words that might come out of his mouth just yet.]

...Did what was mother fucking RIGHT, you all fuckin' did. Ain't hardly no one what's was doin' the shit like you and diamondfucker was to all up and motherfucking do.

[Squish, squash, squish went more clay.]

[nomnommom]

[Well, well. Wasn't this a sight. Ridley watches the little troll for a few moments before moving into view. There's a terribly schadenfreude-laden sneer on his face as he chuckles a bit at Gamzee's expense.]

Something finally quell your fervor, child?

[hystericull]

[No.]

[No, this isn't who he wanted to see ever again. To be totally honest, the image of this fucking beast had been put out of his mind by more current events - and that fact just served to make him more angry. He didn't know what he was angry at anymore - himself, the Tower, the event, the Dolorosa, Ridley, his fucking daymares, or the fucking fact he'd been uprooted from his reality and dropped on his motherfucking skull here only to have his pan scraped clean with a pain like razors.]

[He was angry at everything at once, and he was too fucking spent to do a thing about it. So he sat. Sat there like a damn wiggler and bore a hole into the clay with his stare. He tried calming himself, clenching his jaw and fumbling his now-shaking hands. There was never any hope to settle himself down.]

What the mirthful motherfucking hell make you motherfuckin' think it all be a good idea to shove your fuckin' frond IN MY MOTHERFUCKING BUSINESS, MOTHERFUCKER!?

[...Again. But that hardly needed to be added.]