oh industry, whatever will become of me?

[geometry]

Characters: Equius/Shadoweq, Wriggle, Eridan, Gandalf, and whoever else would like to join in!
Setting: September 11, the place where the galaxy floor ought to be
Format: Whatever your little heart desires. Let's do this mingle post style.
Summary: Clearly Shadow Equius has been nothing but kind and supporting of Equius' problems up to this point, so it makes sense that he should want to take the original out of his misery, right?
Warnings: Obligatory Shadow warnings. Gonna be cursing. Gonna be blood. Gonna be awkwardness, probably.


There he was.

The Shadow's expression brightened, the first sign that things were about to get very unpleasant very fast. Now how did he know that he would find Equius down here? It was kind of a no-brainer after he realized it; where had he run when that guy (Gamzee, maybe his name was) had gone after him? Here. And he was more or less in the same place too; he was counting on the fog to obscure him, and had found the spot where it was thickest, in one of the far corners of the room. Clever... clever.

The fog swept away immediately.

Galaxies, churning on the walls, became visible; they were any color, size or shape one could imagine, but all of them were the same in one respect. They all worked. They all made sense, even as they reached their imminent destruction. Gravity and physics and all the other laws of the universe were crushing down upon them, but at least they were doing so in a considerate and orderly fashion.

Not anymore.

They began... changing, just by his mere presence. On one wall, a world was dying backwards; being reconstructed from the bunch of starstuff that happened to be lying around in just the right clusters. Impossible, of course. On the ceiling, everything just stopped -- the destruction, the galaxy, everything. One by one, planets and stars started dying. Though the whole room was luminous, for obvious reasons, that particular wall soon became dark.

Still grinning, the Shadow walked towards Equius. "There you are!"

"--What?"

"I've been looking all over for you," he continued, sounding as if this were some kind of joke. "It seems running really is the only thing you're good at."

Equius was facing him immediately -- but he had his back against the wall. It wouldn't make any difference in the long run, granted, but that was still a pretty bad call nonetheless.

"My god, look at you!" The Shadow keeps walking, slowly, taking his time. And he's laughing. A lot. "No... it wasn't the only thing you're good at, I guess. Since if you were any good at running, you wouldn't have boxed yourself into a floor like this."

The staircase disappeared. It was an illusion, of course, but there was no need to let him know that.

Still smiling.

"Come on, this doesn't have to be difficult. I'm sure we can come to an agreement here. There's something that both of us need within the other, and if you'd give me a chance for once in your worthless life, then you'd see that I'm only trying to help!"

In response, Equius pressed further against the wall.

"...The silent treatment. Of course," continues the Shadow, rolling his eyes. "Yes, yes. 'Let the highblood speak their part'. But it's not a highblood chasing after you now, Equius. It's you. Now come on, stop crying like a wiggler, huh? No one likes you when you're that way. ...I'm not sure if anyone likes you, period." The Shadow takes a moment to pause and think about this. "...No, getting off track. Here. Come on. We can make this work!"

He holds out his hands, still smiling that horrible eerie smile.

"One way or another!"

Equius presses his palms against the wall. It doesn't do anything for his position relative to the Shadow, but apparently it works for something else.

"...No."

The hands drop.

So does the smile.

"No?"

"No."

"No..." The Shadow repeats this, as if he's trying to figure out why such a word exists in the first place. "Why 'no'? Why is that, Equius? What is there that's so problematic about this?"

"I-I know what you are," he continued. "I know what you're trying to do."

The Shadow's face continued to be a neutral line. "...You didn't listen to him at all, did you."

"What?"

"You didn't listen to him. At all."

The Shadow blinked.

"I was so happy when he told you that, I hope you know. My god. It was probably the best thing that anyone's ever allowed to pass your worthless sponge clots, ever. It's so unhealthy, bottling. God. It's like your entire fucking chest cavity is being compressed. So uncomfortable." He folded his arms. "It's really sad, don't you think? All the sheer energy you put into rejecting these things. Look at me. Look at me!" The Shadow held his hands out again, fingers pointed back towards his chest. "I should be saying the same things over and over again. That's what a Shadow does. The parts of a personality that the outward side denies, the Shadow takes those and runs with it."

He dropped his arms again.

"I don't need to do that, though. There's no exaggeration here."

Nothing moved.

"Because fortunately for me, you've spent your life denying the entire goddamn THING!"

Comments

> Shadow Equius shuts up. > ... And there was much rejoicing.

[geometry]

Equius seemed unwilling to speak; the only indication that he'd heard Gamzee at all was quickly snapping his eyes over to look at the boy, almost invisible after you were a certain distance away. It seemed that he was very good at what he did, which was sit in the corner and stay very, very still while the grown-ups talked in the other room.

The Shadow, meanwhile, kept looking between Wriggle and Eridan. He was clearly growing agitated, but doing his best to keep it off of his face. "...Whatever. I don't need any of you." He then addressed Equius; not as a spectacle to be laughed at like he had been earlier, but now with an intent that might be mistaken by some for an honest conversation. "Do you understand now? I've been doing it wrong this entire time, calling you a separate entity when I should have been bringing the shame upon myself. Why should I, though? I'm everything; you're nothing." His voice softened. "So, just stop trying, won't you? Everything in your life is ruined, and if you let me in I can fix it, and you can sit in the little black box marked 'Do Not Open' for a while. Okay?"

"...No."

The Shadow twitched.

"I... look at all this mess you've made." Equius looked around slowly. His voice continued to be meek and uncertain, not at all suitable for facing up to a Shadow. "You can't say things like that out loud. You just can't. It causes trouble, and... and we've all had more than enough of that." He shook his head. "I don't want you. There's just no way that I can be you. Please, just... go away."

Well, that wasn't a very smart thing to say, was it.

Light flooded the room immediately; not from the walls or ceiling, but from the Shadow, who had heard all that it needed to hear. Up from the ground shoots a rope, which wraps itself around the Shadow's neck, pulling it down through the floor; everything shakes horribly, and after a while, a little crack appears on the ground. Then a larger crack. And larger. And then it's a small hole. It continues to grow, small pieces of the floor falling into the dark abyss below, almost as if they're being pulled in.

Eventually it's a huge hole. And there's something crawling out of it.



[There's boss music for this battle, too, and there's really no other thing it could have been.]

[thereisnopie]

This was unexpected.

Gamzee had yet to see what a shadow looked like once it had transformed. He'd just been assuming that when someone fought their shadow it was just a nastier version of what they already knew. Apparently this wasn't the case.

Equius also didn't look to be an any position to fight his own shadow either. Would he be killed, or...? No, Gamzee could do better than that. He wasn't armed or exactly prepared for combat, but he could probably still do something. Even if he was so much weaker in his real body.

The boy brought his fists up in a somewhat comical gesture. "You two bitches better back me the motherfuck up on this."

A Wizard is never late--

[the_white_rider]

Admittedly Gandalf was a little bit "late" at the party, and he arrived right at the moment Shadow!Equius turned into that... Nameless being that would without a doubt have to be defeated. The White Wizard recognized Equius of course- thanks to the little discussion he had with his shadow earlier.

He also recognized Gamzee and Eridan, both of whom he briefly spoke with some time before- He didn't speak to Wriggle before but he'd probably spot her around the tower at some point in the past. He held in one hand his wizard staff, and in the other his old and faitfhul sword.

He looked nothing like the kind white wizard he usually was, instead he simply looked ready to fight this shadow; he may not have known Equius that much but it didn't matter, so he'd start by casting a protective shield around everyone that wasn't a shadow of some sort.

[wrigurun]

The moment the rope shot up Wriggle lurched back in surprise. She hadn't been prepared for this at all and as that thing... that machine several times bigger than herself clawed it's way out of the ground she almost felt that anxiety take over her. Just seeing the image of Equius swing limply like that was disturbing for reasons she couldn't quite piece together but it was clear it wasn't right.

This wasn't the time to become paralyzed though and for all the big talk she'd done earlier she was going to back it up. Shifting into a more aggressive stance, she wasn't going to hold back.
"You don't have to tell me!" she yelled in response to Gamzee. Extending her arms she conjured a spread of yellow and teal bullets, throwing them at the mechanical creature one after the other.

[chronomancer]

Eridan sighed, keeping a straight face as the shadow manifested. He summoned the rifle without much fanfare, but his sunglasses gleamed a little.

"Like I said," and he smiled humorlessly, "ain't one to judge a brother for doing what needs to be done."

There were soundless ripples in the air, as several other Eridans made their presence known. Inwardly, he was hoping for a single, stable loop. Hoping being the operative word, at least.

[geometry]

If the Shadow noticed that there was now another fighter on the opposing side, it didn't show it.

Wriggle's bullets sprayed a fair bit of its body, but they didn't seem to have any effect. (Good thing for the Shadow, too; trying to dodge them Touhou style with this giant target? No thank you.) Instead, it began by swinging one giant arm across the battlefield; Gandalf's barrier lessened the damage somewhat, but it's clear that this bastard has an Attack stat that's not to be trifled with.

I hope one of you guys learned Growl.

[thereisnopie]

Gamzee had thought Gandalf was a pretty cool dude before. Now he was just outright awesome in his book. Later, when they weren't fighting monstrous shadows of (alternate versions of) their friends, he'd have to ask him what was up with all that magic he had going on.

Maybe he should try using a staff at some point.

Also, it looked like trying to run up and just smack the thing with his fists would just be an exercise in futility. So with that option not available, his only real choice was to fall back and look for a better opening that probably wouldn't be coming.

It was a graceful retreat, of course, if failing to somersault backwards and falling into a roll that landed him against the nearest wall counted as graceful. He really needed to get better used to this human body.

[the_white_rider]

Gandalf tried to strengthen the barrier's effect around the four of them then, although the damages would still be consequent no matter what. Even though he moved out of the way it did manage to hit and harm him--

The next one of Gandalf's move would be to help the attack efforts of the others- Cast a Lightning Strike on the monstrous shadow. First summon the lightning with the staff, channel it into the sword before casting it unto the monster.

At this point White Wizard would fight only with his staff- And he noted Gamzee's difficulty to reach the monster with his bare fist, so Gamzee could see Gandalf's sword sliding at his feet. That's a weapon as another and it may help him is to to chose using it or not.

[wrigurun]

When her initial attack had no effect she tensed. Even if it was only an opening attack and not particularly strong it should still have more effect than that, especially considering she'd landed so many hits. Wriggle was about to lash out again when the shadows attack came hurtling towards her. Lurching upwards she attempted to dodge, only to have it clip the bottom of her leg.

Tumbling back she steadied herself upright again. The sting was lessened, thanks to the barrier but it did nothing to help Wriggle's increasing rage. Once she'd found her bearings she finally noted the sudden appearance of even more figures and she silently cursed to herself. It would definitely be harder to fight like this, she wasn't used to having so many people she had to avoid hitting.

With little other choice she launched herself at the mechanical beast. With one fluid motion she aimed her heel at the side of it's head.

[chronomancer]

Eridan let himself focus on two things, shooting the monster, and making sure he didn't shoot someone he shouldn't. There were a couple of them stationed within the barrier, but a few appeared outside of it.

"Don't mind me," he told Gandalf, over the roar of lightning and lasers being shot. "Just don't freak out if I die. I tend to die a lot."

He wasn't about to sit down and explain, especially when he could use his doomed selves to distract the shadow and lessen some of the load on the barrier. He'd died enough this week, what was a couple more to the list?

[geometry]

Fortunately for Gamzee, that opportunity came pretty quick. Literally as soon as the Lightning Strike hit it, the Shadow gave off a horrible noise like metal being ground together, and when Wriggle hit its head, it began to stagger. Even though it wouldn't fall down in one hit like most onlookers would be led to believe, it was pretty clear that magic was this boss' weakness. It became unsteady on those giant legs, and tumbled forward, forced to kneel.

And there it was; an unprotected chest cavity and the scrawny troll inside, just asking to be roughed around.

[thereisnopie]

He was totally going to adopt that old man. Or however that worked.

The sword slid over and Gamzee was quick to scoop it up with one hand. He didn't know how well this would work, really. In the program, he'd been able to use any weapon eventually, but that knowledge may or may not have been something that transferred over to his real self.

Perhaps he was just good at adaptation, or getting a feel for the way the weight of an item moved in his hands. It helped that it was a sword. Swords weren't made to be all that difficult to use. Soon he had the weapon gripped in both hands, eyes set on their enemy.

The opening wasn't going to last long, and it would be stupid of him to waste it, so he ran at the creature when the opportunity presented itself, slashing downward toward the opening, all the while the mental image of the death of a similar figure flashed in his mind.

Maybe he'd actually succeed in freeing him this time.

[the_white_rider]

Don't freak out if I die? Well he certainly wouldn't freak out but that was still not an acceptable option. The mere copies were certainly within acceptable loss, but the original one? No. Either way there was no time to argue about the issue, so the white wizard simply returned a nod to Eridan.

When the unprotected chest cavity gt revealed, Gandalf took a step backward- This was something best left to the three others taking care of.

Meanwhile he would focus on intensifying the shield and powering up another lightning in his staff- Electricity apparently was the weakness of that creature and would the opening close, he would strike with the lightning once again.

[wrigurun]

As the beast was made to kneel, the smug smile on her face was brief. There he was again, she still couldn't explain why the sight made her feel ill.

Unsure of what to do, the sight of Gamzee charging in gave her a sense of resolve. That wasn't the Equius she knew, right? It was the other one, the one she was angry at. Kicking it in the face seemed to work well enough the first time so she was sticking to that tactic. Wriggle dived in once the other fighter had made his attack and aimed her kick towards the troll's chest.