047 ☠ [VIDEO] + action for whoever might be in the Villa at the time?

[bethehugejerk]

[Hello Vatheon. Were you enjoying your day? Was it nice and quiet? No? Whether or not that was the case, it's sure as hell not quiet now - especially for you Villa residents - as there is suddenly the shrieking voice of a not-a-death-god-in-a-death-god's-body ringing out across the network.]

WHAT THE GODAWFUL FUCK IS WRONG WITH MY VISION?! And nobody tell me this is normal, because I have been human before, and human vision is not like this. Any vision I've had is nothing like this. What is that?

[He swings the SFC over to Liz's sleeping form in a nearby bed, but--]

Wait, of course none of you regular viewers are going to know, because you're not the one stuck with this! There's not supposed to be some weird orb stuck inside her body, and I am seeing entirely too much as it is.

[Now he turns the camera back to himself, teeth bared for all the little it means without fangs.]

For the record, because apparently going through all this crap for two and a half years wasn't enough, apparently I have been hit with yet another repeat curse. This is Karkat Vantas in Death the Kid's freaky body, I am not even close to knowing how to handle this, and Kid--

Either you contact me right fucking now, or I swear to the death god responsible for your existence that I will trash your block.

Comments

video;

[symmetrophile]

You--you wouldn't dare!

[So prissy, so betrayed. So... absolutely not Karkat-like, for all that the response comes wearing his face (as well as a new set of clothing, consisting apparently of a crisp, white shirt, gray sweater-vest, and black bolo tie).

Also, it's pretty surreal watching yourself speak with a certain friend's unique vernacular.]

Wait just a moment, did you say you saw an orb?

video;

[bethehugejerk]

[Karkat stares for a moment.]

What the hell are you wearing?

[Then, back on track, he points one pale finger at the camera.]

But yes, I saw some kind of orb thing, and I would entirely dare. Make with the explanations or my next response will be the slow and deliberate destruction of all you hold dear about interior design.

video; 1/2

[symmetrophile]

Holding my impeccable sanctuary hostage when I would have freely given you the information... how incredibly rude.

[One delicate sniff, and--]

video; 2/2

[symmetrophile]

[--he explains, because what are friends for, if not to commiserate on curses and occasionally terrorize each other.]

It's quite simple. What you're experiencing right now is called Soul Perception, which is possessed by a very rare number of humans, but comes naturally to a reaper.

[Yeah, but how does he make it stop?]

video

[onlyasign]

Karkat?

[The voice and face are probably very familiar, if not the tone. Eridan's face peers into the SFC, squinting because he's not wearing his glasses, and his hair is a total mess, purple streak all mixed in with the other hair and standing up in bizarre tufts.]

It's Sufferer. Are you okay over there?

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[bethehugejerk]

[Karkat might actually focus on what he said if not for one thing.]

Grubfucking christ, why would you ever do that to your hair?! There's a streak right in the middle, right there, and you cannot tell me you haven't seen Eridan's vast collection of hair styling products by now, so why would you not style it the way it's supposed to be fucking styled? And you left the waves going every which way! Did you even try?! Would it actually kill you to at least run a comb through that abomination unto my vision receptors or are you just that incapable of a proper self-grooming regimen?!

video

[onlyasign]

... what?

[Sufferer is very taken aback by that reaction, and just stares blankly for a moment. Then he reaches up and runs a hand through his new crop of hair, which is longer and wavier than he's used to.]

Uh... sorry? I didn't think it would...

[And then he bumps his hand against one of Eridan's horns--much bigger than he's used to!--and winces, his face pinching in pain.]

Aaah!

action

[keepsthefire]

[Whoops there's a half demon leaning in the door way.]

I get that you're under a curse, but people are tryin' to sleep still. ... not coma sleep just regular sleep.

That's soul perception, by the way. And you're not gonna turn it off if you're panickin'.

action

[bethehugejerk]

[--Oh, there are a bunch of people living here, aren't there? Karkat looks over his way, breathing harder than would be normal, but it's hard to calm down when your ancestor in your would-be matesprit's body has committed grave crimes against hair care. He is not, suffice it to say, used to the weird genetic OCD.]

[Still, he takes a moment of staring. It is weird seeing souls, along with the other quirks of Kid's vision.]

I will calm down when I feel like calming down, which is not anywhere close to just yet, and the rest of you can deal with it. Whoever that chick is there - [He points a thumb at Liz.] - hasn't woken up from it.

Kid already explained the soul whatever anyway.

[Pause.]

Are you actually Rin or someone else?

action

[keepsthefire]

[Rin's soul probably looks pretty damn interesting, too, compared to a human, or even a weapon like Liz. All blue with little flames... and a tail. Yup.

But Rin's been down this road before, so he knows what Karkat is going through at least. He can sympathize with just how weird and unnerving suddenly having soul perception is.]

Well yeah, Liz is in a coma, that's why. I didn't say you had to calm down I was just hopin' for a little less screaming.

[Oh, well at least he knows what's going on then.]

Me. Dodged a curse, for once. Guess the bubble felt like bein' nice to me after a week and a half of amnesia.

[paladaddy]

It's souls, probably.

[Yes, that sure is someone else in the Dolorosa's body right there.]

Just don't go punching people in the soul, that shit hurts.

[VIDEO]

[bethehugejerk]

[Karkat gawks openly for a moment. Did the Dolorosa just say "shit"--? At least her horns are fairly mild on the asymmetry scale, garnering a twitch of his eyelid as opposed to the full-scale freakout Signless-in-Eridan's body got.]

Who the hell are you? And I'm not going to go punching souls. Why would I do that? For the record, I have had my own soul attacked before, and I am not looking to perpetrate that on anyone else without some seriously good reason.

[VIDEO]

[paladaddy]

You know what they say, "with great power comes great temptation to use said power."

[No that is not what they say, but whatever.]

I'm Shiro, Rin's father. I woke up in Porrim's body this morning, and I'm guessing she's in mine.

[Stupid curses.]

[Video]

[shippingmath]

... Congratulations, you've been nominated for having the worst body to deal with this curse.

[Dirk doesn't bother with introducing himself. He's just busy with the feeling of shadenfreude he's getting here. It's pretty obvious what he thinks of Death the Kid, in terms of both mind and body.]

This coming from a guy who couldn't stop randomly barking the last time it hit, and had to deal with a former mouse with a hangover.

[Video]

[bethehugejerk]

Would it kill people to tell me who they are when they respond? It's a bodyswap curse, and even if I can see souls, that doesn't mean I've seen them before to recognize which belongs to who.

[What he said might have been a hint if memory served better. Hungover mouse sounds like Mrs. Brisby, but that doesn't tell him who this is.]

[Video]

[shippingmath]

Oh no, you ruined the guessing game. [As sarcastic as he can possibly manage.]

It's Dirk. I notice you didn't deny my point, there.

[heartandsoul]

[Well obviously Maka's going to investigate the sound of a fit in her own house, particularly if it's what sounds like Kid carrying on.

That's weird, Kid doesn't usually use so many expletives even when he's angry. But then--ah, he says it, he's Karkat, not Kid.

She sighs, taking comfort that at least she wasn't the only one affected by this.]

Karkat...

[A beat, then Maka gestures at herself because, hey, Karkat would have every reason to question the appearance of some purple haired girl that's acting like she knows him.]

It's Maka, I switched with one of my housemates aaand...well, now you're in my boyfriend's body.

[bethehugejerk]

[When Maka pokes her head in, she could be forgiven for not noticing that Karkat's busy changing clothes. He's most of the way dressed, anyhow, and it's not so easy to tell that his shirt's not buttoned when he's not facing the door.]

[Of course, hearing her interrupt him changes that. He jumps a good foot as he whips around to face this chick--who, thankfully, has the sense to identify herself. Unlike some people he's dealt with.]

Okay, fine, great, now get out for a second! And try knocking next time, would you?

[heartandsoul]

[Honestly, Kid's so pale she barely noticed, but once Karkat mentions it Maka flushes and immediately shuts the door.]

S-sorry. [Oh god...

Embarrassment at herself aside and the internal counterpoint that she probably won't knock "next time" Maka continues--]

Anyway... [Yes she's still speaking to him even through a door, nobody ever said Maka was nothing if not determined.] At least you're not somebody that I'd have to worry about messing around with him.

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[420]

[Gamzee knows they have broken up-- are on a break-- something, but when he sees Karkat kicked up such a fuss, he just can't resist the impulse to try and calm him down.

Which is why Karkat will end up with a rather pretty young girl (???) on vid, hair still in disarray, leaning in. Her (?!??) voice is soft, soothing, near impossible to resist.]

Hey, brother. I think you all oughta like settle down a little, aight? Just chill. Let your airsacks get filled up with some air here.

[Really, Gamzee is, for now, completely unaware of the strange new powers that came with his strange new body. Lets face it, he investigated the chest lumps but beyond that he didn't get much acquainted with his new husk for the week. Certainly not acquainted enough to know about his new abilities to charmspeak and influence people just with his words.]

video;

[bethehugejerk]

[This is a face Karkat's seen, but barely spoken too. If he could have recognized her before his jumbled memory has largely swept her away, and there wasn't enough of an impression to change to begin with. None of it's on his mind. Rather, the words sweep over him, pushing away the overwhelmed feeling of seeing souls (and all the rest of Kid's odd vision) and worries over what is or isn't symmetrical. This chick's hair would have him throwing up another fuss, otherwise.]

[He closes his eyes and finally, finally takes some slow, calming breaths. Air in, air out. Ease those nerves. After a moment he looks back at the screen.]

Ugh, I needed that. Who are you? Gamzee?

[The word choices sound about like it. He'd be more concerned if not for what just happened.]

[video]

[cephalopodcounselor]

Well, it is certainly a relief to hear I'm not the only one afflicted with the problem of waking up in the wrong body.

This is Rose, by the way.

[video]

[bethehugejerk]

[Wow. What an awkward swap there.]

Can I at least trust you know how to handle the rainbow drinker thing from knowing her long enough? I got turned jadeblooded for one curse... My sense of time is weird lately; it was a while back. It helps to know what you're doing, since it's pretty weird even with that much.

[circumsutus]

[It's somewhere in the dark hours of the morning, before anyone else is up and after everyone else has fallen asleep.

Karkat is probably awake, because he's a nocturnal troll in the body of a nocturnal death god. Stein is awake because he's completely insane. Completely insane, and slumping around the dark corners of the Villa.

If Karkat hasn't managed to turn off his soul perception, it will be easy to see Stein. His soul is an unbalanced mess of static, completely wrong.]

hopefully I'm not too far off the mark. if there's issue/error with how things work lemme know

[bethehugejerk]

[The trouble with wanting to spend the week in your own hive when you're stuck in the body of a genetically order-obsessed being is the act of getting there. He knows the way, sure enough; he could practically walk there with eyes closed and have no trouble at all. That is, if navigation were the only issue. As it stands, when Karkat went to head home earlier, he only made it as far as the front door of the Villa. The door opened, even! But outside, glaring and awful and utterly beyond his ability to ignore, was an absolute sea of asymmetry. Buildings lined up unevenly on the streets, random dispersal of trees and other plants, cracks in sidewalks, and god knows what else he'd find beyond his field of view. Kid would be able to put up with it, but Kid has something he doesn't: years of experience dealing with this obsession. Karkat's had only a day.]

[Suffice it to say he escaped back to Kid's room, waited out the panic attack, and stuck there the majority of the day. It is much easier to keep a hold of himself in a room where everything is lined up nice and neat, just so, perfectly symmetrical as it should be. He can work his way up to leaving. He'll get there eventually.]

[Just not yet.]

[That, really, is why he's here this night. For all he had managed to turn off the soul perception earlier, that freakout brought it back, and there it has stubbornly stuck ever since. But it's dark out, isn't it? Maybe he can make it now, with the lack of light obscuring the obscene imbalance of the city, and he creeps from Kid's room with that intent in mind.]

[What stops him is the sight of that soul. There are plenty here and he's seen others on the network, but none are like this. It's a complete affront to order, viscerally appalling in a way he hasn't experienced before. This doesn't inspire the same neurotic fretting he's experienced before; instead he tenses up, snarling, every nerve on edge. He wishes he had his sickles.]

What the absolute squealing hell? Whoever--whatever the fuck you are, get out here!

[This is a stupid, stupid move, but he feels compelled to do something.]