caughtinanetwork | ♎

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♎ | 001

[~~through the magic of time shenanigans~~ It has been several hours since Redglare's arrival. Hours she spent investigating, scourging the brochure from top to bottom for every fragment of information, and even checking up on as much of the network as she reasonably could. She's even created a folder of notes on her personal palmtop dedicated to this strange, underwater prison. She is, above all, a professional after all, and it wouldn't do for a member of Alternia's Cruellest Bar to simply run around like a beheaded cluckbeast.

For now, it is time to change the focus of her investigation. Certainly there is much more to be found from investigating the place itself, but it would be a mistake to ignore the people living in it. And Redglare does not make mistakes. She has questions to ask, answers to discovered, and a network to start up, regardless of how long or short her stay may end up being.

She opts for a friendly approach. Catch more flies with honey, after all.]

OH NO! >:[!!!
1 H4V3 F4LL3N 1NTO 4N UND3RW4T3R BUBBL3 4ND 1 C4N'T G3T OUT.
WH3R3 1S TH3 CL3V3R WH1T3 B4RKB34ST TO R3SCU3 M3?
4 BR4V3 KN1GHT TO WH1SK M3 TO S4F3TY SO 1 M4Y SWOON 4MOUNTS TH4T COULD ONLY B3 D3SCR1B3D 4S TRULY OUTR4G3OUS!

H4H4H4, HON3STLY, 1 KNOW 1 D3S3RV3 4 V4C4T1ON FOR MY S3RV1C3S TO TROLLK1ND FOR 4PPR3H3ND1NG TH4T SCOUNDR3L, BUT TH1S W4S NOT WH4T 1 W4S 3XP3CT1NG.
WOULD 4NYON3 B3 W1LL1NG TO H3LP 4 L4DY OUT 4ND 4NSW3R 4 F3W QU3ST1ONS?

Oh no! >:[!!!
I have fallen into an underwater bubble and i can't get out.
Where is the clever white barkbeast to rescue me?
A brave knight to whisk me to safety so i may swoon amounts that could only be described as truly outrageous!

Hahaha, honestly, i know i deserve a vacation for my services to trollkind for apprehending that scoundrel, but this was not what i was expecting.
Would anyone be willing to help a lady out and answer a few questions?

If you want to opt out of me using her text, just comment here.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Is that so? I am presently awed and amazed by your no doubt very impressive skills. I might even be swooning a little again!

[She isn't technically at the plaza, having already retreated from such open ground, but she can work with the directions given.]

I will meet you there.

[Oh, look at that gesture.]

And I might just be flipping you off for the bad joke. Gee, how did that happen.

[Add in an eyeroll.]

See you there.

[Click! And he'll head on his way.]

[Seriously. Adorable. Can she keep this one? She will get him a nice leash and everything.

With the conversation over though, she moves to head to the park, her sponge a jumbled mess of thoughts and questions. Her eyes are sharp, keeping look out for Karkat.]

[Karkat has picked a spot near the edge of the park in line with the directions he gave her. Easy to find, he should hope, and they can always find a better spot from there. That said, a nubby grey kid in grey, grey, and more grey should not be that hard to spot. And Redglare? Impossible to miss. He waves as soon as he sees her.]

[He does his best not to look intimidated, but she's still kind of imposing in person.]

[Of course she is imposing. She is so very fuckin' rad, after all.

From her end, she is experiencing pretty much zero intimidation. Karkat is only six sweeps, after all. And regardless of what skills he might or might not possess --probably more awww inducing than argh inducing-- to her the idea that a six sweep old might defeat her is simply laughable.

She crosses the small distance between them, planting her cane on the ground in front of her, and folding her hands over the top, regarding him with a grin.]

Karkat.

I must say, you are even more adorable in person than over the network.

Edited (I swear i will stop editting now.) 2012-11-23 22:55 (UTC)

[Scowl.]

No. You do not get to call me adorable. I'm adorabloodthirsty if anything, but I bet you would just twist that into some patronizing cutesy bullshit, too, so shut up.

[He turns and starts walking, with a sharp motion to follow.]

Come on. I'll find us a good spot, but if you annoy me too much I'll call the whole thing off.

[But Karkat! How can she make it into some cutesy bullshit when you've already made it adorable.]

Haha, you should learn how to take a lady's compliments, Karkat! I was being nothing but complementary, after all. But all right, we can do this exactly like you want, Mr Leader.

Edited 2012-11-24 15:51 (UTC)

I take compliments in their merited contexts, and this isn't one. You're Terezi's weird ancestor woman and I don't completely know what to make of you yet.

[More open than he might be, but what's the use of hiding that around a legislacerator? Not much. He keeps walking, not really looking for anywhere particular - just some spot out of the way.]

Oh, I'm certain that as long as you are not some devilish law-breaker, you and I will get along just fine.

[Just fine is when you want to take people and put them in cages and coo at them cause they are just so adorable, right? This is how you deal with kids, right?]

Again with mentioning my little descendant. Tell me about her! Is she the coolest thing you have ever seen? I bet she is.

[This is why trolls don't raise their young, Dolorosa and the Signless excepted.]

Considering your beliefs, lawfulness isn't a steel-strong issue here, Redglare.

[He glances back at her. Seriously, do you expect him to buy into that when he could be culled just for existing? When he played the game that ended the world? Really now - not that she knows about the latter yet.]

She has your horns, your sign, your glasses, and a cane like yours. She's also blind from a lengthy revenge chain, but gets around just fine by smelling her way in some weird ass schizophrenic color bonanza. Red is her favorite color, she eats chalk, loves dragons, and drubbing people with canes despite protest. You may also gather that she's annoying as hell when she wants to be, and has had utterly retarded slapfight arguments over keyboard use with me before.

We traveled together for a while in this game we played - I'll tell you about that later - and she's pretty damn capable. Smart, and she's a mind player, which is basically the game granting you a big pat on the back for having a big think pan. She's also into Alternian law and justice, doesn't judge by hemocaste, and makes tough decisions when she has to if it means it helps us as a team.

She's... She was gone from Vatheon for not quite half a sweep, but she's still an important friend to me.

[The romantic history he leaves off for the time being.]

[And anyway, they've arrived. Small clearing between some trees, not all that close to paths. He stops and turns to her.]

Will this work?

[To be honest, Redglare was still a little too young to start thinking about legacies left for potential descendants just yet. Also, perhaps, a bit too teal-blooded to put entirely too much stock in it! She has just been pre-occupied with being awesome because she was, trying to earn a reputation because she deserved to be known, and just maybe trying to change some things because Alternian would do well by it. Nothing done with the idea of setting up something that could be carried on sweeps down the line after her death.

Still, what Karkat is telling her about Terezi pleases her nonetheless. Certainly there were some differences, but to be honest, she sounds very much like Redglare did herself at that age. A plus in your favour, Terezi!

It almost keeps her from noticing where they have ended up. Almost. She glances around with a trained eye, lingering on some spots that could potentially house a no-good, spying individual to ascertain there is in fact nothing there, before she nods faintly, and turns to Karkat with a smile.]

This will do!

And thank you, Karkat.

[Hey, as an off-spectrum mutant, he put even less stock in it than her! He just got proof quite viscerally by meeting the Dolorosa.]

[He nods once to her thanks.]

Go ahead and ask your questions, then. I can tell you whatever I know and have learned about Vatheon, Alternia, and the game my team played, so the most hindrance will be if it's something from my future or a subject I'm not at liberty to know the whole of.

I will. But first let me ask you this. Would you mind if I took some notes while we talk?

[She can't quite treat this like a normal confession and record it. But she rather not lose valuable information.]

[Karkat legit raises an eyebrow at that. Notes?]

You actually want to write this down?

[He's not even mocking.]

I mean, yeah, sure, go right ahead. There's a lot, so if you want to make sure you remember it, that's fine with me.

I have a feeling you will be telling me very many new and important things. Things that I will need to know. It would be very inefficient if I had to bug you over and over again just because I forgot!

[She'll find plenty of other reasons to bug him.

She moves to draw her little palmtop out of her sylladex, then pauses and reconsiders.]

Or perhaps... would you be comfortable with me recording your voice?

[She does also have a recorder on hand --what legislacerator worth her salt wouldn't have one!-- but she had not thought it wise to offer that straight of the bat. Most trolls weren't comfortable with their words being recorded. But with how chill he was with her taking notes, he might very well be chill with this too.]

No shit it's important. It's three whole kinds of important on different, huge subjects, and I could ramble on for hours if you let me and asked the right questions and I didn't forget anything along the way. We've got tons to cover here. Other people listen, sure, but I'm just impressed that you actually give enough of a fuck to want to record it down--and hell yes, voice is fine.

[Hey, he spent their session making memo after memo. Self-arguments aside, recording doesn't bother him half near to what it could. Listen, Redglare: that's honest gladness in his voice.]

[Oh no, what is this?! Is it?! Oh my, might Terezi be losing out again on the spot of favourite little troll? Is public opinion swaying again-- haha, of course no, Terezi is a solid number one, all due to her remarkable awesomeness.

Karkat and his adorable everything is in a solid second place though.]

Then I guess most of the other people you talk to are absolute idiots!

[She draws the small recorder from her sylladex, checks it over for a moment, before she gives him a nod.]

I'm ready when you are. What would you like to start with?

Edited 2012-11-24 18:11 (UTC)

[Karkat's face quirks. It's not a smile, rare as those are, but it's definitely pleased. Redglare has landed her own self a good spot in ancestor rankings.]

Yes, they absolutely are.

But I'll start on Vatheon. Alternia will just lead into the game, which is a subject that will take ages to explain if just from the the time loops. Besides, the Vatheon explanation is one I'm actually used to giving, so I can just run down the list. And yes, I am going to do this all at once, so keep in mind what questions you come up with and ask me when I'm done.

[He clears his throat, then draws a deep breath.]

First, you're in Vatheon. That's the name of this city in the bubble. The planet itself exists in a different universe than you and I have ever been in before arriving here, and no, I don't know how they got us here. They, in this case, are the scientists in charge. We've only ever seen one, named Carol, but we have seen others who work for them - the head nurse at the local clinic, other authority figures, et cetera et cetera. We've kind of had to scrounge information as we can, namely from discovered papers - I can show you those - or information hacked from a lab some people found a while back, or the rare bit of info gotten from the people themselves. They're stingy about it, either for personal safety or just to be dicks. Carol's not bad from what I've seen of her, but the head nurse is a bitch who thought a fake murder in the Plaza made a good holiday prank earlier this sweep.

Now, why we're here is an experiment. I'm kind of fuzzy on the details, but this is what I've cobbled together from the aforementioned sources. First off, it involves these things called curses. They happen occasionally - anywhere from every other week to a few weeks apart - and last a week each, meaning seven days, from Monday through Sunday. Get a look at a human calendar when you can and learn it; it's how time is measured here. For reference, a sweep is two years and two months, with a year itself being comprised of twelve months.

Now, these curses manifest in a number of ways. They have been known to repeat, but it's impossible to predict what the curse is going to be until it happens. There have been weeks where people have changed species temporarily, been made to act differently by rumors coming true or personality-altering hats, theme weeks where the whole city changes to look different and so do we. One week was games, another fairy tales. We've been followed by literal thought bubbles that show what we think. Most recent was a week that showed us horrors based on our fears. They vary from tolerable to terrible, as that last one might suggest, but most of the time they're just annoying.

Carol told me the curses themselves aren't the experiments, despite my interpretation of those papers I found, and some hacked info kind of corroborated what she said. It's something about emotional energy - farming it from us via the curses, which makes sense with the reactions they inspire.

And you've seen the coral, right? That big thing in the Plaza? That's called the Lamufao, and through the curses, I think they're trying to experiment on that. I don't really know how or why. By the way, the natives--the locals here--will try to tell you it's a god, but that's bullshit. The scientists put it there just like they set up this bubble in the first place. The natives are also useless at giving you any information. Not out of lack of knowledge, necessarily, but because they refuse to discuss it at all.

I have no clue how or why they pick who they do to be brought here, or why the bring us in or send us back when they do. Obviously they control whether or not we remember things. The usual idea is that the longer you're gone, the less likely you are to remember your previous stay, but this is not hard and fast. Sometimes people forget even if they've been gone briefly - or remember a stay from ages back, but not the one in between. Terezi also showed up once only remembering part of her previous stay, but not all of it. Currently she doesn't remember anything of her previous times here, though.

Speaking of which, new arrivals usually come in around the end of the month, trailing off into the beginning of the next, but there are occasional blips where people come back mid-month after disappearing. There's no predictability to if someone will show up a given month or not, nor to when or if they're going to send someone back.

Also, as you might notice, time doesn't match up linearly. Just because you're from a given point of the timeline doesn't mean everyone else will show up from the same point. People can come from before or after you, or the same time, even if they show up at a different time here than you did. If someone's gone, the time spent in their home universe does not match up with the time passed here. I was gone for a few days once and only spent a few hours in our universe - and others have been gone for days or months or whatever, and spent years back home.

At the same time, don't worry about what's happening while you're gone. If or when you return, things will continue as if you were never gone, and you won't remember anything of your time here. If you want proof, see how you had no clue you were here, yourself.

There are also comas. Someone falls asleep, won't wake up, for no apparent reason. They're unpredictable, like a lot else, but they're harmless. The person will wake up eventually and be just as fine as they were before they fell into it. I have no clue why they happen.

The last worry is invasions. They happen infrequently, which is a good thing. I've been here almost two years, or a little less than a sweep - the first year, we had four invasions, and this one, we've only had one so far. Basically, something shows up and starts attacking. In order I've experience pirate ghosts, these big scaly creatures called dinosaurs, rotting fish monsters, a giant tentacled monster called a Kraken, and a giant transforming orb of darkness. That last one stands out because it specifically came from the world of someone here, but the others weren't specific like that.

All that chaos aside, living here isn't actually that bad. Most everything is free, including food, clothing, and shelter. You should have a mark on you--

[He holds up the back of his left hand, displaying the curled symbol on it.]

--and if you show that to whatever native is in charge of the place, they won't charge you. But note how I say most things. There's an area called the Nostalgia Nook - the humans named it, so blame them - that sells things from the universes of the foreigners. That's us, by the way. Ours is called GrubMart, and has things like recuperacoons, foods, sylladex stuff, and so on. Also an alchemiter but I'll get to what that is when we talk about the game. Anyway, things in those stores cost Starfish Tokens. You should have a card with you that keeps track of them, and you can earn more by working a local job. It's totally possible to get by without using it or the Nostalgia Nook stores, though, if you don't mind being cut off from troll stuff.

Also, it helps to know that humans tend to use highblood terminology for appliances and hivehold fixtures, though they have a lot of other words that are just plain different from ours. You'll get the hang of it eventually.

Let's see... The device you used to access the network is called a Starfish Communicator. I mentioned the contact list on there: if you look at it, it lists every foreigner in Vatheon. If you can't find someone and you suspect that the scientists sent them back, check the list. If they're on it, they're fine, but if they're gone from the list, then they aren't here, simple as that.

There's also an island. Ask around for a map and it should show you where the elevator is. There's a man called the Station Master who operates it, and apparently he's the only one who can. I don't know how or why, but when he let me try it myself, it wouldn't respond. The ride is a long one considering you have to go through the ocean up there, but it's worth it if you want to see the sky. The sun's harmless, by the way, and this planet only has a single white moon. I think it might be an iteration of Earth - there's more than one - but I'm not positive. And yes, I'll explain about Earth and the humans more later.

The island's pretty big, so if you want to explore, it'll take a while. There's an abandoned village and a lighthouse, and an abandoned lab where people got that info they hacked a while back, which was discovered after some damage that orb thing did. Long story, which I can also tell you about if you ask.

[Why shouldn't he want to brag about the time he was a god?]

There are only a handful of trolls here, all interrelated in some fashion or another. Which is to say, everyone is either part of my team or the ancestor of somebody on it, and they've never brought anyone unrelated in. There is apparently another group of trolls that might show up in the future if my guess is right, again related to us, but that's a whole other can of dirt noodles and related to the discussion of Alternia and the game. If you want, though, I can list who's here now.

I think that's everything. Questions?

Edited 2012-11-24 19:12 (UTC)

[She is so glad for her recorder. So glad. She wasn't even expecting that long a speech. She needs to let that sink in for a moment, let it digest before she can ask questions. Perhaps it is easiest in the meantime to ask an easy to answer question.]

Another source of mine already gave me a list of who is currently present. Mind checking it over? I do not expect him to have been untruthful but it never hurts to check.

[He raises an eyebrow. Another source? Bunch of options there.]

No, I don't mind. If he left anything off I can explain more.

[She has so many sources. She is falling down all these sources!]

Starting at the top of the hemospectrum, the current list of adult trolls is: Orphaner Dualscar, the Grand Highblood, Expatriate Darkleer, the Marquise, the Disciple, the Psiioniic, a brownblood called the Summoner apparently, your own ancestor and me!

As for the trolls of your age, there is: Feferi Peixes, Eridan Ampora, the Grand Highblood's descendent, Equius Zahhak, darling Terezi, a jadeblood by the name of Kanaya Maryam, Nepeta, the psiioniic's little descendant, the descendant of the Summoner, and you.

Correct?

So that means the Summoner is from after your time? More to explain there, then.

But yeah, that's right, though apparently you're missing names. Maybe some connections, too. Feferi is the empress's descendant, Eridan is Dualscar's, Gamzee Makara is the Grand Highblood's - and don't mistake him for being like him, either, because he's far from it - Equius is Darkleer's - who I'd sooner call the Executor than Expatriate... Marquise Spinneret Mindfang is the ancestor of Vriska Serket, who's absent, but has been here before and will likely show up again. Kanaya is the descendant of the Dolorosa, also absent. Nepeta Leijon is the Disciple's, the Psiioniic's is Sollux Captor, the Summoner's is Tavros Nitram, and you already know my name. My team and the ancestors also include twelfth members, currently missing: a maroonblood by the name of Aradia Megido, and the Handmaid. Yes, that Handmaid.

Karkat, I know I have made disparaging comments about your sense of humour to other people, but this is really not the time for jokes.

[Pfft. Handmaid. Suuuure.]

Continue to doubt me and I'll look up and exchange with her to prove it.

[He really is serious. Look at that face. Does he look like a good liar?]

All right, Mr Vantas, I call your bluff. Show me one of these exchanges with the very Handmaid of Death himself.

Edited 2012-11-24 23:10 (UTC)

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