> Animus: Assemble

[caliginous]

Characters: Members of Group A and YOU
Setting: Fourth Floor -- the white lounge.
Format: WHO EVEN KNOWS
Summary: Karkat attempts to pull everyone into one place for counter-resistance.
Warnings: MALFUNCTION MAY OCCUR, that means depending on who you tag and who tags in, your character may end up injured. Please check individual sub-threads for malfunction warnings! There's also obvious body horror warnings here due to modifications from the event.

[In a room full of white, its not hard to spot the various victims of Jason's latest experiments. Each sits or stands in their own corner on or off furniture talking amongst one another or simply staring at the door waiting for someone to approach them.

Some of them don't look all that approachable, even if it appears that they are completely sane at first glance. Some of them might even look like they don't want to be there.

You won't really know until you approach them.]

Comments

[cullscuttlefish]

[Feferi had gotten the letter, of course, and she'd been corresponding with Karkat as best she could. But you could only do so much through letters, and when she'd learned that Karkat wasn't actually able to write them himself, she'd stopped responding via text and decided to come up and see for herself.

If you had asked her before whether she thought she had seen everything the tower could inflict on someone? Between the month in Jason's pod and having her soul sucked out, she would have said yes. Her eyes widen in shock when she sees him, and her first instinct is to apologize, but she doesn't. She will never apologize for that son of a bitch Jason.]

...you weren't kidding when you said the bastard fucked you up something fierce.

[There's an 'I'm sorry you got the shittiest possible luck of the draw for something like this' somewhere in there, though, despite herself.]

wow my english

[caliginous]

[All eight eyes narrow a little further -- he looks more like his lusus than anything recognizable as a troll, but the only way he's been able to deal with it is to pretend nothing is wrong. Even when he nearly trips as he steps off the chair to address Feferi. Unsurprisingly, his voice seems to invade her subconscious, rather than come from any part him.]

You think? I kind of like being a walking physical comedy imagined by a self-important fuckwad.

[Eventually he seems to get his balance and forces himself to stand up as tall as possible with mismatched limbs. He somehow manages to look at least slightly humanoid with the attempt.]

Doesn't matter. If he wants to play Troll Picasso with me, he should probably make sure I ain't awake to see it. The important thing is that I ain't walking around witch hunting everyone like most of the others.

[cullscuttlefish]

[Feferi doesn't overtly offer a hand, but when she steps closer, her left arm is extended a little bit more than she'd naturally hold it. That way, it's easy enough to ignore, or easy enough to take if it's needed.]

It's taken a lot of holding myself back to keep me from trying to get down there and seeing how a culling fork would look sticking out of his auricular sponge clot. I still think it would be a good look for him.

[But she's still calm, even if she's making threats. Hearing that he was awake for the entire thing brings some bad memories with it, and Feferi tenses a little, but she's still pretty calm, all things considered.]

Yeah. I...yeah. It's bad out there, to put the wiggler fairy story spin on it. I'm fully anticipating someone's gonna try and krill me before it's all said and done.

[caliginous]

[One of Karkat's forelimbs stretches awkwardly up to his head to scratch -- he can't quite keep his physical quirky movements out of his posture, even as a spider.]

Well, maybe you'll get the chance. Turnout is a little less than I was looking for, but I figured a few things out about what he did.

[Eventually, he gives up on the humanoid stance as his weaker legs grow tired and he sort of...sits on whats left of his torso and lets most of the legs go limp.]

[cullscuttlefish]

You did?

[Combined with the words 'maybe you'll get the chance', it's all Feferi needs to hear. She's going to settle herself down across from Karkat, leaning in a little.]

...what's the bastard playing at this time? Besides the obvious chance to torture us all, of course. That's somefin he'll take any time he gets it.

[caliginous]

[Its the plus side to being a telepath, he doesn't have to whisper.]

I don't know what his goal is, but he's given us the ability to order the other drones around. I'm pretty sure he was trying to remake us into enforcers for the Tower and it didn't quite work.

[cullscuttlefish]

That motherfucker.

My matesprit...

[She shakes her head. It won't do any good, because it wouldn't clear her head (and she's talking with a telepath, so what would it matter?), but she tries.]

Sorry, I. Had a moment there.

Enforcers for the entire Tower. So everyone with those pink collars has to answer to you, in his little hierarchy...

[caliginous]

[Karkat shrugs softly on the ground, expression sobering when he picks up on her emotional swell. Somewhere in the pit of his stomach, he realizes he is hungry. It takes a lot of energy to ignore it and keep talking.

He misses Terezi.]

Seems that way. He's hoping people won't fight back against their friends.

[cullscuttlefish]

[Feferi can't even feign her usual bubbly personality now. She's worried and she's angry, and over the last few months, she's been letting the emotional instability that goes with her blood take over a lot more often than she would normally.]

Tch. More like he's trying to be even more of a control freak. Stomp out any thoughts of revolution by reminding us that we can be taken into a lab and modified.

[caliginous]

Why can't it be both?

[He's noticing her rising anger. Its interesting -- he kind of likes it. If he could make expressions, he might be smirking.]

Its gonna work, if we don't start rebelling back at him.

[cullscuttlefish]

It can be both. It's crappie either way you slice it, though. Using people to squash the seeds of uprest, knowing people won't want to fight back...

[And she visibly tenses, face fins flaring.]

...it's already started. Why else do you think I let my soul get sucked out down in the admin levels? I did it because my group wasn't the only ones down there and I wanted to protect them so they could find stuff to use against the bastards.

[caliginous]

[Karkat sits up a little and reaches up with one spidery limb to place it directly between her eyes in an attempt to settle her nerves. Maybe to make her a litle more agreeable. Feferi will feel her anger and frustration bleed out of her, along with all the righteousness that went along with him.

His eyes narrow a bit.]

So. Do you have an idea?

[cullscuttlefish]

[She would have appreciated a warning, but she can't bring herself to even get mad anymore. Instead, she takes a deep breath, letting her nerves settle.]

I'm convinced Dax wanted to back it. And downstairs? I didn't see, exactly, who split off into what groups. But Princess Zelda is my role model. She was down there, and I...I don't know, but I've always had a feeling I was protecting her.