SECOND ♋ VOICE ♋ EARLY 17TH OF APRIL.

[crab]

Before I get into anything else, if anyone has any healers and/or narcotics handy, I'd appreciate it if they could be delivered to this [ insert .pdf attachment ] address. Thanks.

Now that's out of the way, let's get to the real purpose of this broadcast. I suggest you drop whatever vastly unimportant rubbish it is you're wasting your vastly unimportant time with and pay attention, as this greatly concerns all of you.

Most imPorts operate under the assumption that when you leave here, you go back to your native universe, resulting in the never-ending wave of newbies telling us that, no, really, the world is at stake, person nobody cares about is going to suffer a fate worse than death only I can prevent in approximately point three seconds, I left the stove on, my problems are unique and more important and time sensitive than any of my predecessors have ever been, so please, make history by making me the first imPort to ever be returned to the sorry butt crevice I crawled out of just through asking.

Most people will tell you that nobody decides when you go back. It just happens. It's random. No one can predict it. But you will go back! And, conveniently, it will be at the exact instant you left. With no memory of ever having arrived here. Sometimes you might come back from a different point in time, after a few days or years, with an influx of memory from your time here upon arrival. Sometimes you come back without it. That's random, too.

But nobody can prove that.

I've been over this before, but the gist of it is, your options in "going back", are either to be effectively erased from existence through having your memories of here erased, or sent back to a dead or dying timeline to await your inevitable doom. There is no going back. It's just a lie we tell ourselves to make ourselves feel better when one of our friends blips out of existence. Nobody goes back! Nobody is ever going to go back!

[ There's a pause, where he seems to catch his breath, something close to a groan, before he goes on. ]

I was serious about the healers or drugs. Sooner rather than later.

Comments

[glowsferatu]

Of course he did. Why wouldn't he have?

[centurybaby]

Because we're-- [ there's really not a good word for it, is there. not one either of them would use willingly right now, anyway. ] Ugh. Whatever. Let him get his stupid troll ass kicked again, see if I fucking care.

[glowsferatu]

[ there's something about that pause that has her narrowing her eyes. ]

Yes, I think it's rather obvious that you don't care. We've already established that Jenny Quantum's lack of care may just be the most obvious thing in the world.

[centurybaby]

[ bitingly: ]

Yeah, that's me. Jenny "Give No Fucks" Quantum.

[glowsferatu]

[ but enough of being stupid and sarcastic. ] I'm sure that story must run very cheaply now, given the lack of demand. Couldn't even be given it away.

All I'm saying is that you needn't take it personally. He didn't refrain from telling anyone as a slight against us, just from a bout of [ possibly self-destructive ] idiocy.

[ not that she has any idea why jenny would take it personally, she's a bit baffled there. ]

[centurybaby]

I'm about one hundred fucking percent allowed to take this personally.

[ though obviously she's not volunteering why. ]

[glowsferatu]

Well, far be it from me to tell you what you aren't allowed to do. But allowance isn't prudence.

[centurybaby]

[ hhhhh she doesn't really want to discuss this out loud at all, but. ]

Look. Now would be a great time for you to do that magic thing where you read between the lines and just get shit, because I'm not emotionally dealing with two fucking trolls at once.

[glowsferatu]

You're very protective of your friends and kind of demanding sometimes.

[ after a beat, she throws up a shrug. what's missing? she has no idea. ]

1/2

[centurybaby]

[ KANAYA PLS. ]

[centurybaby]

I like him.

1/2

[glowsferatu]

[ she spreads her hands beside her face, eyebrows raised. ]

Of course, what's not to--

[glowsferatu]

[ but then she cuts herself off, wrists flipping down to knit her fingers together as her eyes narrow.

this. is completely new information. ]

[centurybaby]

[ jenny eyes her back a long moment before finally glancing away, rolling her eyes mildly and digging around for a cigarette. she needs one. ]

[glowsferatu]

So you-- [ her brow furrows, bringing up a finger. ]

But he...!

[ she looks off to the side. off course he has to now if jenny is expecting something from it. and not only know, but... she looks back at jenny, her confusion mixing with frustration now. ]

And neither of you has said a word to me!

[crab]

But he what, Kanaya? [ He snaps, quickly enough to make it clear that he's been watching this exchange like a hawk. ]

[glowsferatu]

[ she's hasn't stopped being mad yet, so the look she gives him is a bit...impatient. ]

Perhaps you wouldn't mind filling in the blank?

[centurybaby]

What the hell was I supposed to say?

[glowsferatu]

Something? Anything! If it were literally anyone else you were pursuing some sort of entanglement with, I might understand if the news were just something you forgot not to leave unsaid.

But this is Karkat. You might think that given I am one of the closest friends either of you have, it might have come up!

[ this girl kissed her a few months ago and now she is macking on her little brother. kanaya doesn't know what to make of her life anymore. ]

[crab]

Kanaya, can you try not to make the situation any worse? Is that asking too much?

[glowsferatu]

The situation was worse already. Or did you think I'm not still mad over the same thing?

[crab]

If you're mad, then maybe you should try talking to me directly, instead of dragging Jenny into it in some bizarre passive aggressive display.

[glowsferatu]

I did tell you directly, for thirty minutes while I got the portal ready. I just told her that she isn't the only one you didn't tell.

[crab]

Okay, consider this: I have metal rods sticking out of my femur. I have entirely come down from the painkillers I was previously on! My patience is so far into the negatives it has become fucking anti matter, Kanaya. You're mad? Jenny's mad? Well, right now, I spectacularly fail to care! I'm incredibly sorry my misfortune inconveniences the pair of you so fucking much! I'll make sure you're duly notified in advance next time I nearly get myself killed!

[glowsferatu]

This isn't just some stroll to the market, Karkat, you walked nearly eight hundred miles! You could have been entirely killed! And then where would we be? How would we know?! All of a sudden you're gone without any kind of explanation!

What if you didn't come back?!