pull out the first cord

[thereisnopie]

Characters: Gamzee and YOU.
Setting: Over several floors. You can pick where you run into him.
Format: Starting in prose. Will match anything.
Summary: Gamzee wanders, believing he's attached to the machine again.
Warnings: Typical troll pottymouth + bonus. Also most of my icons are kinda cruddy placeholders right now.


It feels real enough. He'll give it that. But then, it had always felt real to him. There were times he wondered if he'd ever actually been removed from the program at all. Perhaps they'd just let him feel like he had while still keeping him securely under their control.

This was a little silly, though. Even for them.

Gamzee had found his clothes, changing into them gratefully as that tight white outfit just wouldn't fly. He even wore the straight jacket, buckles hanging loose and long sleeves falling past his hands as his arms hung at his sides. In a way, he likes what it stands for. And here even that is a small comfort.

Cal's arms are looped around his neck, tied in a simple knot so they stay in place, and the doll hangs down his back. His silent partner. He takes everything in as he quietly walks the halls. What's left of the sedatives from the ward make him appear a bit dazed, but they'll wear off soon enough.

Comments

floor 3 good?

[cullscuttlefish]

Feferi had started getting into something of a routine now that most of the upper floors of the tower were still in shambles. She missed that older routine, but things couldn't stay the same forever.

It started with waking up, getting cleaned up, changing, getting breakfast. Then, checking the network. She had just finished doing that when she heard footsteps behind her.

"Hey, you don't look too fresh. Are you okay? Do you need some kelp getting out of that fin? It doesn't look to me pike it's too comfortabubble..."

floor 3 is good!

[thereisnopie]

He stopped as well, and for a moment he just stared. Back in the machine it was, then. Trolls didn't exist. He didn't think they'd bother to be so obvious about it, but he wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of acting surprised.

"I'm perfectly comfy, fishsis. No need to get your worry on." Then he did a slow turn on his heel and immediately began heading off in the other direction.

Nope. Not even addressing this.

[cullscuttlefish]

Fishsis.

Only one troll ever called Feferi that, and so far as she knew, nothing had happened to Gamzee to turn him human. It wasn't entirely out of the realm of possibility that one of the admins was messing with people's bodies again, though, even after all the chaos in the place the past week. Still, it wouldn't be the first time she would be meeting a duplicate of another troll.

"Gamzee?"

It didn't take Feferi long to catch up. "Wade up a second! I need to ask you somefin. This is going to sound conchpletely insane, but hear me out: what's the last fin you remember? I promise I'll explain why I'm bassking this."

[thereisnopie]

He needed to keep walking around her. He needed to ignore her completely and just keep going so that he he wasn't drawn completely into whatever new illusion they had for him. He did keep walking, in fact, but he made the mistake of talking back.

"All the motherfuck up to my oc... eyeballs in my own little madhouse, sister. Ain't nothin' sane that can even be said anymore, I don't think."

[cullscuttlefish]

"What I mean is - have you ever seen this tower before? Seacause I'm trying to figure out if - cod, this sounds so glubbing stupid, but I'm trying to figure out if you're the Gamzee I know or not!"

That could have come out a whole lot better. Feferi sighed, crossing her arms across her chest.

"This plaice is weird like that. One big stormy sea with not even a little island in it to rest on if you wanted. I'm not gonna even glubbing try to skate around that. It's not sane, or safe for very long, or stabubble."

[thereisnopie]

"Seen a lot of things. Seen all motherfuckin' nothing even so." He shrugged his shoulders, causing Cal's little head to bob. "Ain't never seen this. Don't know how all that helps you."

Maybe this was the Feferi he knew. Maybe it wasn't. She was still hooked into the program just as much as he was, even so. This was just a new chapter. And he really needed to keep walking. Unfortunately his body had decided there was no place better for him to go, so he stood there, arms swaying slightly back and forth in their overlong sleeves.

[cullscuttlefish]

"It kelps me because it lets minnow that the people running this plaice didn't mess with you anemonemore than they mess with everyone they drag in."

This was going to be the hard part. She would normally suggest they sit down for this part of the conversation, but with that thing on him, that wasn't going to be so easy. So, she took a deep breath, let it go slowly, then decided the only thing to do was to talk.

"Okay. This plaice? We all just call it the Tower. Moist of the time, it looks a lot betta than this. It just got hit hard by some kind of monster, and the people running it are still fixing things up.

The thing to know about it, though, and I promise I'm not crazy, is that it likes to bring in more than one version of a perchson. Like - you know Eridan. Purple streak in his hair, glasses, wavy horns? There are two versions of him here. One's a jade-blood, and one is the one you would recognize.

I'm telling you this because you need to know that there's anotter version of you here. You're not mirror images. You got reeled in from different timelines. Different points in space that I'm no good at explaining. You need to know that there's a troll version of you around here, too."

[thereisnopie]

Gamzee stared at her, pretending to listen even though he stopped caring part of the way through. It was a complicated lie this time, and Feferi certainly believed it. But then, why shouldn't she? She never had any reason to think any of it hadn't been true from the start.

He shifted from one foot to the other, eyes trailing over familiar gray skin with no regard for whether or not this might make her feel uncomfortable. He'd stopped being able to describe things simply as surreal some time ago. It went further than that.

As she finished, he stepped closer, reaching out a hand (or rather a sleeve) to cup the base of her chin. "You ain't any more off the rocker than I am, girl. I'll break you all the motherfuck out just like the rest of them, aight?"

Then he pulled away from her again in order to attempt to continue on.

[cullscuttlefish]

Feferi wasn't one to flinch away normally, but her idea of normal had changed enough that the way Gamzee was looking at her made her shrink back a bit. She cursed herself inwardly for it a minute later, knowing it was only a reaction based on her own issues.

She started to apologize for it, but then he grabbed her chin. It wasn't that it hurt, but it surprised her. She was used to clownhugs, not this distance. Even when she had seen Gamzee in a similar state before, there wasn't this sense of holding people at arms' length. The words were confusing, but she wasn't sure how to feel about the distance.

Feferi let him take a step or two, blinking, before asking: "What the shell did they do to you?"

Floor 21? Or what's left of it....

[warriorscribe]

Gamzee may have seen this guy sleeping, still, when he left the room. He will come across him again in strange armor on the twenty first floor.

Normally, this would be a restaurant with good food and a sinister price. In the wake of the whale attack, it's in ruins, still. Enoch is apparently using the wreckage as training practice, tossing a piece of debris in the air and then leaping to catch it with a kick. Strangely enough, while he's actually kicking in midair, he doesn't seem to fall.

He lands after the latest round and notices the kid. He honestly hopes he's only exploring and wasn't looking for food here. Not here, not a child.

Works for me.

[thereisnopie]

Gamzee doesn't know what this used to be, nor does he particularly care. It's just another floor out of many in his trek up and around the building. It's a lot to take in, in more ways than one. Perhaps it's for the best that he still doesn't believe any of it is real.

To him, this man is just another sight to take in, and he stops to look at the blond with a dispassionate gaze until he realizes he's been noticed. At this point the edges of his mouth turn up in an unfriendly smile.

"Hey there, bro."

[warriorscribe]

He knows that smile. He's never seen it on anyone so young, however, and it shows in the tension in his body, his legs not having moved from their position in his battle stance, the tightness in his shoulders and arms, though for the moment they were at his side, still, not up as if to protect him.

"Why are you smiling at me that way?" He's no threat to the boy, and he can all but guarantee the boy isn't a threat to him. This is his tone: wary but not afraid.

[thereisnopie]

"Just getting my greets on. Ain't nothin' out of the ordinary, is it?" The smile falls back into something a little more natural looking, and the boy takes a few more steps into the room, looking around as if nothing it out of the ordinary.

"Shit got all knocked out of whack this high up, yeah? Wicked destructful masterwork is what this motherfuckin' is."

[warriorscribe]

It took Enoch a few moments to parse what he was saying - mostly it was the grammar, at least with the exceptions of "shit" and "wicked", but the first he'd found multiple times could be brushed off and not actually change a thing, and the second's meaning to him fit the situation anyway. At least it was distraction enough from the smile that he didn't address it.

"...Indeed. The tower was under attack recently, and our hosts are still working to repair it."

[thereisnopie]

"Got some fuckin' work cut out for them, then." He tilts his head back to stare up at the damage with little actual interest. He's simply stopped caring about anything he's shown, as there's no point in getting attached to it. None of it is real.

"Saw you gettin' your work-out on. Figure you're gonna knock all at some motherfuckin' heads?"

[warriorscribe]

The poor child seemed far, far too weary for his age... It's enough that he falters a bit in trying to parse his sentences again. After a pause too long while he puts "work out" and "knock at heads" together with the context, he finally shakes his head.

"If I need to. Monsters sometimes appear in this tower, particularly at night."

Of course, being able to use this room's furniture to train was something of a bonus. Enoch isn't a vandal by any means the grand majority of the time, but something in the situation has warranted a rare moment of pettiness. Sometimes, petty defiance is the only kind of defiance that works.

[thereisnopie]

"That right?" Learning this doesn't seem to bother the kid either. He almost expected it, really. Why not have monsters? They had them in the SGRUB program, so it only made sense. He supposed it would be a bit more difficult to fight them, given that they'd taken away the abilities he'd had before, but he just couldn't find it in himself to be worried.

"Guessin' you're all kinds of prepared to be taking those bitches out, yeah? Ain't as squishy as some..." Humans. Oh right. "As I am, bro."

some nondestroyed floor. idk which those are anymore sob

[restitchtime]

Rose doesn't take much notice of the boy coming down the hallway towards her at first - considering the way this place was, the straitjacket wasn't particularly out of place. It's when she takes a second glance and just who is piggybacking on him registers in her mind that she can't help but give an unpleasant little chuckle.

"I'd watch out about wandering around with that." she calls out, pace never quickening. She doesn't really care if he doesn't realize which 'that' she's talking about - a misconception just means more opportunity to antagonize.

[thereisnopie]

Honestly, it doesn't matter to Gamzee what she's talking about. He turns his head just enough to see her over his shoulder. They were either getting clever or losing it with this one. The blonde girl human is all wrong. Thankfully, he has no shits to give about this either.

"Sure thing, sis. I'll be as careful as is possible." He doesn't honestly look like he means it, but he's not mocking her either. He just continues walking after he's spoken, as if there's all there is to say on the matter.

[restitchtime]

She chuckles a little, unperturbed by the dismissive reception. It's a hell of a lot less stress to just toss one last jab at him (she can't resist not throwing a parting shot) than to dig in for an emotionally charged struggle like her last few conversations with people have been. At the moment, less stress is exactly what she needs.

"Good to hear. I'd hate to have you caught by surprise when some asshole shows up and pounds the shit out of you just because you puppetnapped his fuckbuddy."

[thereisnopie]

Gamzee does stop again at that, eyes narrowing only slightly. One sleeve covered hand automatically reaches up to grasp one of Cal's arms.

"This bro don't all belong to no other motherfucker but me. Was all made special for me, you dig?" Even if perhaps it wasn't real either. Even if that whole experience had also been in the machine. He can't get himself to not want to hold onto it. "So I'll just pop any motherfucker good what all tries to take it. Ain't nothin' else to be sayin' on the matter."

[restitchtime]

"Maybe in your timeline, but I know for a fact there's another douchebag here with just as good a claim on him as you've got."

Rose shrugs a little, obviously amused. She's got no idea why paradox space would want to bump Cal of all things around like that, but she's learned that there are some things it's better not to question. He's just a puppet, after all. There's no harm in it.

"Although you don't have to let that stop you from picking a fight. I just hope that I'm around when it happens."

[thereisnopie]

The boy tilts his head, regarding her carefully. She's the Derse girl Kanaya obsesses over, with Dave's attitude. It's as though the programmers had gotten their own characters mixed up somehow. He doesn't think Kanaya would like it, though her opinion had never mattered much to him. In this case, however, he isn't sure he likes it either.

"Liked you better in fuckin' pink," he mutters before he starts walking again.

[restitchtime]

"Aw, that'd probably hurt my feelings if I fucking believed that. If you were really that fond of her you'd have hurried your ass up and dropped in while she was still around."

She's not sure who he's supposed to be, although he's obviously related to one of her universes somehow. Probably some iteration of a troll she's never encountered here, which meant she wasn't obligated to do any timeline management on him. Thank god.

[thereisnopie]

"Ain't my fault when all I get here." He shrugs. He thinks he likes the attitude better off her male counterpart too, but that probably has to do with all the girls already being the dominating personalities in his group.

Not that this matters in the long run, since this girl isn't even real. He shouldn't have to keep reminding himself of this.

"You just here to fuck with a brother as usual?"