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benigncancer for now - if one of their roommates would like to join, please start a new root comment so we can assume they had a chance to finish their conversation first!
Setting: Room 2-08, backdated to immediately after Ψiioniic's intro post thread with Mao
Format: Prose please, I suck at action tags
Summary: Signless is going to have a long, tough job to put his friend back together - AGAIN.
Warnings: probably lots of swearing, and mention of torture & abuse

Ψiioniic was still half doubled over in shock and pain as Signless hustled him into the room with their names on the door. 'Overlord' Mao was left out in the hall, and part of Ψiioniic's freak-out had a lot to do with the thought of potential punishments he might be suffering the next time he met the strange alien.

The rest of the freak-out was very much focused on the troll right in front of him. "You're dead," he gasped, choking on his tears. "You're dead, I thaw you die."

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Psiioniic had only just closed his eyes when Signless heard the door creak a tiny bit as it opened. He reached out and pushed a blanket off of his face, only to see a small, sea dweller face peeking through the door.

His fingers tightened on his friend, though he struggled to keep his face smooth. He was very sure that Psiioniic was not ready to deal with the girl, but she was only a child. She may even be the Condesce as a child.

He couldn't afford to be rude to her.

"Is this your room?" he asked, not unkindly, though there was a thread of tension he couldn't eradicate.

The unexpected sound of Signless speaking again roused Ψiioniic from his drowsy slumber, but he was tired enough that it was a real effort to force himself to focus. When he did manage to make sense of the words, they still didn't make any sense. Of course this was his room, and Signless already knew that...

Wait, they had potentially two other roommates. He went stiff in Signless' arms, but didn't turn yet to see who was there. He really didn't want to deal with anyone right now, and maybe Signless would chase them off.

"Oh, no, I'm sorry. I thought I heard a frond of mine glubbing in here..."

She moves a little more into the doorway, blinking at the sight of the other adult troll. "Did I wake you two?"

Other adult trolls. Huh. It was like that lady she met not too long ago, the Disciple... They didn't quite seem keen to cull.

Signless wrapped his arm around Psiioniic's neck, gently pushing his head down in a silent command not to move. "Yeah, my friend was just going to sleep, but it's fine. He's just not feeling too well. I don't think he's the friend you were looking for."

He shifted up a little, though not releasing his hold on Psiioniic. "I'm Signless. Who're you?"

It was just as well that Signless commanded him not to look, because the sound of those too-familiar sea-puns set Ψiioniic trembling in shock. The voice of the sea-troll was too high, too juvenile... but despite that, she reminded him far too strongly of the Condesce.

Tiny crackles of red and blue electricity started to gather between his horns as the panic set in. Even if this wasn't some odd younger version of the Condesce, it was still a sea-dweller, and he was away from his post.

"Feferi Peixes, I was in line for Empress before Alternia was destroyed and I showed up here..."
She would have continued on, questioning who they were and if they knew the other adult troll she had met, but the reaction of the troll that reminded her so much of Sollux alarmed her.
"Are you okay?"

Shit. Signless had thought Psiioniic wasn't visible to the girl, but the pile was too thin to totally cover them. He looked down as he felt Psiioniic beginning to panic.

"No," he said, a little more harshly. "He's not okay. Tell him it's all right and he's not doing anything wrong." If she hesitated even an instant, he barked: "Now. Tell him."

Ψiioniic appreciated his friend's attempt to help, because he didn't think he was going to be able to overcome this on his own. Not now, so soon after the massive panic in the hall...

And not with the heir, the next in line in absolute authority to the Condesce herself.

"Y-you're fine! You're not doing anything wrong at all!" Her eyes were wide and frightened, not quite used to a reaction such as this at her presence. Her friends treated her like any other troll, with the exception of Equius and Eridan, and most adults stayed away from her because of her lusus, so this was a little alarming.
"I, I'm sorry, did I do something wrong? Is he scared of me?" You worried her right out of her fish puns good sir.

"Not your fault," Signless growled grudgingly, stroking Psiioniic's hair. "He's been conditioned. He was the Condesce's Helmsman."

He didn't think that this Feferi seemed like the kind of troll to take advantage of that information. Nevertheless, his oddly-coloured crimson eyes narrowed warningly at her, and then he glanced down at Psiioniic. "See? She's a sweet kid. So sit up and calm down, Psi. Everything's fine."

"Tho... thorry," Ψiioniic said hoarsely. He followed the order to sit up reluctantly, but followed it nonetheless. Pushing himself up on shaking arms, he fixed his eyes firmly on the floor at the sea-dweller's feet. He couldn't make himself look up any further than that.

At least he was able to rein his powers in, now that he knew it wasn't an immediate threat.

"Uhm... You're Miss Disciples fronds, right? The ones who glubbed atrout an Alternia free of the hemospectrum?" She was still nervous, eyes averted and hands running through her hair.

Signless stiffened a little at the mention of Disciple. So she was here, too? But he couldn't worry about that right now, when Psiioniic needed him so badly.

He stroked Psiioniic's hair with one hand, his other one cinched tightly around him, still. It was almost funny, the way neither of them were looking at each other, each one more nervous than the other.

"Yeah, that's who we are. I'm Signless, and this is Psiioniic. How about if everyone just relax now, okay? We're all going to be bulge-bumping friends." His tone was still a little harsher than he would have liked, but he was trying to calm down.

Oddly, Signless' tension helped Ψiioniic to calm himself a little. Keeping Signless on an even keel was one of his jobs, after all, and he responded almost as reflexively as he did to his conditioning.

"It'th okay, SS," he said softly, resting one hand briefly on his friend's shoulder. "I just freaked out a little, I'm fine." He managed to raise his eyes briefly to look at Feferi, then quickly dropped them again. But there was real hope in his voice as he asked, "Disciple'th here, too? Really?"

She pulled on her best smile, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. Her wounds from her talk with Sollux were still too fresh, and the similar appearances between the two left it in the forefront of her mind. But Feferi tried her best nonetheless, directing her kind gaze towards Psiioniic. "Yes, she is. I just glubbed with her the other day, an alien was trying to harass her. She told me atrout you all because I believe in the same things. When I become Empress, I want to eliminate the hemospectrum and bring equality to Alternia. Someone shouldn't be judged by the color of their blood. And moist espeshelly, I don't want anyone else to get hurt by the Empress, not ever again." Her face got more determined as she continued on, fists clenching. Seeing the kind of pain the Empress had brought to this poor troll... it was sickening.

Signless nodded to Psiioniic, relieved to hear him say that, even if he didn't believe it.

But as Feferi spoke, his eyebrows rose so high they disappeared into his shaggy hair. "Good to hear you say that. I'd be happy to put you on the throne, Feferi."

Slowly Ψiioniic raised his eyes again as she spoke, and this time he managed to keep them up. He flinched when he actually got a good look at her face... she looked exactly like the Condesce, only younger.

But she sounded so earnest, and what she was saying could have come from any one of their devoted followers. "Do you... really mean it?" he whispered, not sure if he dared to let himself hope. "Do you even realize how powerful she ith?"

A blush rises to her cheeks, and she brings up her hands to rub at them.
"I... Yes. I do. But... once I'm older, with the help of my fronds and all the trolls I can reach with my words, I can do it. I'll be the first heir to dethrone her, to survive being culled, the newest Empress in sweeps. I wan't a brighter future for everyone in Alternia, one free of fear and castes.
I... I look up to you both, and Disciple, hearing of what you've done. I wish your words had been written somewhere that I could've seen them back home... My frond Karkat, he would have espeshelly loved it. You remind me a lot of him, Mister Signless. And Mister Psiioniic, you're just like my m..." Her voice breaks a little, but she shakes her head. "Sollux. You remind me of my, my frond Sollux."
They were inches away from being matesprits back home. It was practically established, all but confirmed except for them never particularly voicing it, partially due to having never met. If they had... it would've been settled, there was no way they could've resisted it.
But not this Sollux.
This Sollux was from a different world, a world where he still had Aradia, they were still together and there wasn't a place for Feferi...
But gosh, why was she worrying about this now? She had bigger things to concern herself with, such as the two trolls in front of her.
Be happy, Fef! Happy! Like normal!

Signless glanced sidelong at Psiioniic. He had a feeling that a lot of his awe of the Condesce had to do solely with his enslavement. But that didn't mean he wasn't right. She had stopped many attempts on her life, even by Signless' time.

But that really didn't matter one bit. Even if she was unbeatable, Signless had decided to fight, anyway.

"Glad to hear it," he said, smiling. "You're officially a member."

To find himself liking someone who on the surface seemed so much like the Condesce was messing with Ψiioniic's head. In fact, he even found himself feeling sorry for, her a little. She had no idea what she was really up against.

But she was young and idealistic, and if even a fraction of that idealism survived into adulthood - assuming she survived into adulthood at all - she would make a far better ruler than the current Condesce.

There was something about the way she talked about Sollux, too, that made Ψiioniic feel like there was more to her than the Condesce.

"I've met Sollux," he said, tilting his head at her and offering her the tiniest, shyest smile. It was getting easier and easier to look at her directly. "He thinkth he's my Descendant. Maybe. I'm... glad if you want to join uth. I apologize in advance for all the timeth I'm probably going to freak out on you."

Okay so. This was kind of cool. She was just inducted into a renegade of rebels from times much before her own, but with the same ideas of freedom and equality.

Feferi immediately shines back at Psiioniic, cheering up significantly as she talked to the two. "It would make sense! You two are the spitting image." And she shakes her head a little, clasping her hands together in front of her. "It's alright! It's understandable, since you had to glubbing serve the Empress and all. Our lusus, she's told me atrout her a little. How horribubble she is, beyond that of even common knowledge. She likes me betta, though." A grin. "I actually take care of her, keep her voice to a whisper." And her expression turns a little more shy, looking between the two of them. "I hope we can become good fronds."

Signless grew even more relieved when he saw Psiioniic smiling at her and talking almost normally. It gave him hope, even though he knew in the back of his mind that the slightest thing could still set the former slave off. He'd have to watch Feferi closely, because while he was convinced that she didn't intend to harm anyone, she could unwittingly hurt Psiioniic badly if she was careless about her words.

"Yeah, I'm sure we can," he said, offering her a grin.

"I'd... like that," Ψiioniic said, and he sounded surprised even to himself. Well, he thought he could be excused for that, considering everything he'd been through.

Her smile should have made him flinch, given that the only time he'd ever seen Condesce smile, it inevitably meant torture and torment for him. But this was a completely different expression from her smug, superior smirk. It was a hopeful, sweet smile, matching what he'd seen so far of this girl's attitude.

"What do you both think atrout this whole "saved" business, by the way?" Feferi inquired, still kind of lingering in the doorway in case being too near would make Psiioniic uncomfortable. "Apparently everyone already here think its all bullshark." She leans against the door frame, hands absentmindedly smoothing out her flowing, colorful skirt. "And there aren't any doors or exits."

Signless shrugged faintly. "I'm pretty sure it's impossible that our world's been destroyed, since it's apparently still around a thousand years later to hatch you wrigglers. How do you explain that?" He shook his head. "Plus the lack of explanation, the unnecessary danger, and the fucking collars. No, there's some other reason why we're here, and it's not a rescue."

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Sure!

The more the merrier!

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