caughtinanetwork | > Nepeta and Gamzee: Ship all the things

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> Nepeta and Gamzee: Ship all the things

[When the recording starts the picture is moving along in a rather strange, jerky motion, up to a door that gets headbutted open by the feathery head that's holding the starfish in its mouth, revealing...

...what seems to be the low-lit interior of something more akin to a cave than a room, littered with messy piles of soft scraps and plushies and yarn and even the occasional teapot.

A monstrous shadow looms on the wall, a fearsome looking four-horned creature.]

You're the best, Gamzee! I'd nefur have been able to reach to use all that extra wall if you weren't here, nope nope nope!

[And with a squawk the chocobo drops the SFC, sending it cartwheeling until it points at the origins of that shadow, a messier-than-usual kitty troll perched on a clown troll's shoulders, various hues of paint staining her hands and clothes and even her cheeks, still dripping a bright red from an outstretched paintbrush that had been adding the finishing touches to a heart high up on:]

Oh, Pounce! Hi Pounce! I'm really glad that Gamzee brought you to visi...POUNCE WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?! OH NOOOOO...

[She attempts to leap at the wall to block it from view; this doesn't go well when instead it just makes both trolls topple over in a tangle of limbs.]

My wallllllll! [click!]

((ooc: image by our amazing Gamzee-mun!))

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WHAT THE FUCK?!

[ skdfalksdjfdjs flails!! ]

[Casually deals with the flailing to his face!]

Please stop that. Or at least remove my glasses and throw them in the nearest trash bin you see while your hands are there.

[ oh she is just going to glower at you, Darkleer. and pulverize those glasses in her fist. WHAT A DICK!!! ]

I never consented to this! I'm not going anywhere with you.

You said you didn't c-

[His words are broken by a hiss, just like his glasses are broken by Mindfang's fist. The sharp splinters of plastic dig into the skin against his cheekbone, right beneath his eyes. Blue blood slowly begins to leak down his face from the wound.]

[Darkleer just keeps walking.]

Please don't do that.

[ Just. Seethes in his arms, folding hers across her chest. ]

Fine. Fine! I'll humor you and then you can get back to your more important things.

Thank you.

[And away they go! Darkleer carefully avoids all of the traps like someone who is used to going through various danger-filled areas on a daily basis. When they finally arrive outside, Darkleer mentions quietly, under his breath-]

I don't have anything important today to focus on but you.

[And your traumatized descendent, but ssh.]

Liar.

[ There's always something more important than her. His robots, his Archeradicators, now the people here.

When did she get so terrified to lose him? When did she start resenting that he would want to build a life without her? When did she start giving a fuck, and why?

But if there's one thing this whole mess proves, it's that she was right. No one's worth it, no one can be trusted. ]

If that is what you want to believe...

[Then he's not sure what he can say to change her mind. In all honesty, he's not even sure what changed her mind enough for her to come back for him. What made her care again? Did she honestly care at all? Or did she just want someone under her thumb, someone who had a life debt to her and was actually bound to it? And his skills would be of use to her, they would, but... ]

[He wishes he knew what she was thinking.]

[But for now, he just continues walking, knowing all the small streets and side alleys that take him to the elevator. It's only when the doors lose does he carefully place Mindfang down. The blood on his face has dried, a brittle trail of blue.]

[ She doesn't like seeing the blood on his face. It bothers her, feels wrong to see him hurt. It bothers her even more that it's her fault he was bleeding at all. Why can't he just not exist, why does he have to make things so confusing and difficult?

It particularly sucks that, as an adult, she's slowly becoming aware that she keeps trying to reach out to him and sabotaging her own efforts. It feels awful. She doesn't like feeling that way, and a little bitterly blames him for making her feel like that too. Just one more inadequacy in a parade of them from Mindfang. Marquise Spinneret Mindfang. She'd wanted something impressive-sounding, something he'd hear and respect, see she'd made something of herself. She did make something of herself!

So why does she feel like a big pile of nothing? ]

Dumping me at the top and heading back, I take it?

[Attack after attack after attack. Even when he's kind to her. Any sane troll by Alternian standards would have left her long ago. He should leave her to her own devices, let her do what she wants to do because isn't that what she wants anyway?]

I do not recall saying that.

[But he doesn't. He just answers her back, quiet. He wishes he could sincerely blame her for being the thing which is dragging down the few times in his time in Vatheon where he's almost... content, but he can't. Because she's just as lost as anyone.]

Thought you weren't going to be showing me what's up there.

[ She says it quietly too, subdued now, not looking at him. She doesn't know how to deal with this anymore. He's always been able to strip away her layers like cheap paint just by sitting there and weathering her rages and waiting, and she's on the verge of the terrifying concept of him seeing right through her again like he used to, and she doesn't know what to do about it. ]

That was when the children were in danger and I could not afford to let anyone here.

That has changed.

[Simple logic. Yes? Who is he kidding, this is Mindfang.]

This place... is not Alternia. There is no need to harm one another, save for black romance. I just want those children to be safe.

No need? Those children are trolls, like you or me, and perfectly prepared to kill if they have to.

Besides, I never took you for an idealist. You know it's not that simple. It's never been that simple. Someone will always kick over the sandcastles.

[ The elevator comes to a halt; the doors open. ]

If they have to. But in this place, where death isn't permanent, there are so fewer reasons to do so.

[Idealist... He never considered himself one either.]

[As the doors open, he steps outside and slips off his glasses, tucking them away. No use in keeping them where they are. That done, he looks back to Mindfang.]

I am simply... very tired.

You can go down now, if you really want to.

[But his eyes never could hide his thoughts or feelings, and the look he's sending her is very tired indeed, and wishing she wouldn't run for once.]

[ She should go back. She should. It's not safe up here, with him looking at her like that, just waiting for her, always waiting. She always tried to run ahead, yet he was the one waiting for her to catch up, every time.

Instead, she bites her lip, takes a halting step out of the elevator, then another. She doesn't meet his eyes because she knows how vulnerable and small she looks right now, and she hates it. She hates being less than the legend all these people seem to know her as. ]

[He's always waiting because she's always running in circles.]

[At least, that's how it sometimes seems to him. But does he know, fool that he is? And he can't even say that it's reassuring to know she'll always come right back around again. Because sometimes that means coming back around with a scimitar at his head.]

[This time, he doesn't take her hand, although his down kind of awkwardly veer near hers before backing off.]

It's good to come up here. Away from the others.

[ She stares at the ground, unable to even think of what to do. ]

Why are you doing this? Why do you keep trying? You know me, Chiron. You know all I can be trusted to do is bite you in the ass for it.

[ She's a bitch through and through, and she doesn't even know any way to be besides desperate and wild. ]

I don't know.

[And that is the truth. Darkeer starts to slowly walk down the beach, not sure what to do with either of them.]

That is a definition of insanity, you know. Repetition, but expecting a different outcome.

Pretty sure everyone'll say you can't be any crazier than I am.

[ She follows along with him, not really having anything else to do. ]

You could leave right now, and all anyone would say is that I'm beyond help anyway. As if help is something I need from any of them. No one would say you could be blamed for any of it. You could even kill me and they'd probably justify it.

[An abrupt pause, and Darkleer looks back at her.]

Any who would say that either do not know you or are lost causes at any rate.

[ Something in her snaps. ]

Stop it! Stop it, you know me better than anyone, stop acting like I'm a better person that I am-

[ She sinks to the sand, shaking, her face in her hands. ]

Fuck you. Why do I have to feel like this? This is the stupidest shit-

[ Her throat closes around her words, choking her voice. ]

[There is a high chance that just getting close to her will mean another scimitar at his throat, the shallow wound on his face being torn open further, more blood staining his skin and clothes.]

[Darkleer kneels down besides her anyway. He feels weighed down.]

I don't think you're a better person than you are.

[And before she can twist it-]

You are simply yourself.

[ And that's just too much, and abruptly she feels exposed and raw in a way she hasn't in sweeps. There's too much going on and then Darkleer has to come in and be so infuriatingly himself.

She rests her small weight against the bulk of his body and abruptly starts to cry, in a manner almost as if she doesn't quite know how to do it anymore. ]

God, just- fuck all of this. All of it.

I know...

[Because he's hardly been able to refuse her anything, life debt or not, Darkleer lets her stay where she is. He adjusts, just like he always has, and wraps himself around her.]

I'm sorry.

[ She lets out a choked, tiny whimper of a sob, and she slumps into him, helpless. ]

I don't...know what to do. I don't know, Chiron, I don't even know myself.

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welp this is the only crying icon i have

where she's macking on his boyfriend, SWEET /dying

SOMETIMES IN LIFE YOU MAKE HARD ICON DECISIONS OK