001 ❖ video/action

[uncorrupts]

--why are you taking your hands off the steering?

--because I have to get a good angle for my viewers! Duh.

[introducing your host, gamer girl extraordinaire.]

Listen, this isn't the time to be doing that. We need to reach the base on this radar, and we need to work together.

--she's working on her blog! Oi, listen to him!

[the video feed turns to focus on the other two aboard the ship; one’s a toothy young redhead who seems to be wearing nothing but swimming jammers for some reason, and the other is an older guy in some power rangers suit of sorts. welcome aboard S.S. Inappropriately Dressed]

--excuse you, it’s not a blog! It’s called a livestream! Anyway, the name’s D.Va, and the older guy to my left's not a bad pilot. Ignore the guy behind me.

--you're judging other pilots right now!? I’d give you a 0 out of 10! We almost just hit that reef, holy shi --

--rude! Seriously, chill out for a second, will you? I'd like to see you do better!

I'd like to see you do better too!

The two of you, stop! [shiro, the older guy, seems to have had it with their bickering, pulling the steering handle upwards to avoid a cluster of mushroom trees likely to ruin their ship] The seas are rough as it is, we need to work as a team right now. You can go at each other's throat once we're out of this!

Ch, if we get out -- fine, what do you want us to do?

You, in the back, buckle up. You’re going to get thrown about and hurt.

...A-ah... [a guilty click... safety first yo]

And you, D.Va, is it? Concentrate on piloting. It’s hard to see and the seas are pushing us around as it is, so try and keep the ship as stable as you can!

-- ...Okay, fine.

...I can livestream your stupid piloting if you want from back here.

-- If you know how to set it up, be my guest!

Hey, to your right!

[it seems like a crash, the lights going red on board, and the visual feed spinning as the ship spirals out of control under their hands. good thing shiro told you to buckle up, huh, rin? amidst this mess, some shouting and ordering about, the stream cuts off. will our heroes live another day?]

[yeah, they do]

-- ot it all. That was actually some really amazing piloting, both of you... [someone sounds a little starstruck... what sugoi he has witnessed, the world will never know, because rin did not in fact record that shit]

D.va, well done. That was really impressive--I have to say I wouldn’t have been able to pull this off without you. [turning around, he smiles at the redhead teen, even if wtf? at your lack of clothes, homie] Doing alright? Name's Shiro, by the way.

-- Rin. -- It's a girl's name, but I'm a guy.

[shiro gives him an odd look. d.va definitely does the same.]

-- Aww, you’re so sweet, Shiro! [d.va flashes a grateful smile at him, also thoroughly impressed.] Honestly, it was your quick thinking that got us out of trouble. I usually don't like being ordered around, but I'll let it slide. [she then turns to rin, sitting behind her--and he better have recorded all of that!!] See? Told you we'd be fine!

[shiro offers a smile at them both. thumbs up with his mechanical arm.]

Let's get out of here and see who we can find in the base. They might be able to help us out.

[little did our heroes know that upon opening that door into the base, they would be greeted by the sickness apocalypse. moans, groans, sniffles and hacks. what’s worse, the ocean going nuts outside because of a hurricane, or the dribbly-nosed zombies in the only place considered safe from the elements?]

...after all that, is this place haunted or something...? E-eh --

You guys might want to stand back--

[...was that your burrito of death our triumphant trio has just trampled, like those wildebeests over mufasa? remember... remember...]

Comments

[uncorrupts]

So she'll be willing to talk to us. That's good to know.

[he's just going to assume URSULA is a person]

[...glances down at the communicator on his wrist too. and, oh.] Through this?

[alienates]

Yeah, although there's a chance she's listening to us talk right now. Isn't that right, you gigantic blabbermouth?!

[ karkat looks at the communicator again, but also... glances around the hall they're in... when URSULA does not respond, he just scowls and returns his attention to shiro. ]

You can also talk to other people in the crew with it and do a lot of other junk. Telepathy is probably easier even if it's the creepier option.

[uncorrupts]

[is it possible he's unstable...?]

Ah, right.

[still weirded out by his random outburst]

I guess we'll figure our way around it as time goes by.

[alienates]

[ wow rude? ]

Well it's not like you're going to have anything better to do since you're stuck here and all.

[ karkat sure is making this huge change easier. ]

[uncorrupts]

It could be worse.

[let me get real with you for a sec] And it's not like it's impossible to leave this planet, right? If others already have, even if accidentally, there should be no reason to not be able to fly through the atmosphere with the right medium.

[but, with a smile and a shrug, he desist his otherwise farfetched idea]

I'll work on getting used to being here first, though.

[alienates]

Well, see, that's the other problem. How familiar are you with the concept of parallel universes and paradox space?

[ because karkat is unfortunately aware that most people do not deal with this level of bullshit on a daily basis. ]

[uncorrupts]

[crosses his arms]

Only in theory, but I've seen enough in different galaxies to not completely discard that as something possible.

[is an explanation incoming]

[alienates]

Oh good because it's totally possible. And it's most likely happening right now.

[ karkat looks very relieved that he doesn't have to fully explain the concept. he is so tired of explaining shit like this. ]

See, where I'm from, Earth got completely wrecked and there's only like nine humans left. [ the eight beta and alpha kids and jane's dad. ] The planet got fucked over sideways by meteors and a crazy fish troll empress. I am going to take a wild guess and say that none of that happened to your Earth.

[uncorrupts]

[shocku]

...yeah, that definitely never happened. As far as I know, anyway. Haven't been on Earth for almost two years, in all honesty.

[alienates]

Sucks for you.

[ he is trying to be consoling. is it working??? ]

But yeah. My point is, even if we did manage to get a spaceship working and leave this planet, we still most likely wouldn't be able to take everyone back where they're supposed to go because of paradox space and its dumbfuck rules.

[uncorrupts]

[no, but he didn't ask for ur pity..]

...there must be a way, though.

[alienates]

I mean, probably? I'm just saying that sticking us all onto a ship and blasting off into space is probably not it, unless you know a way to hop through different parallel universes?

[ on one hand, that could come off as karkat being a shit but like

he is genuinely curious of shiro knows a way to do this because it's not like it hasn't happened with karkat before. ]

[uncorrupts]

I realise it's a complicated process, and I don't mean to imply I know how to work it out, but there might be someone who could figure something out.

[but--]

But, she isn't here. I don't know if she'll ever make it here, either.

[alienates]

[ he shrugs. ]

She might. There are seven other people that I know from where I'm from here, so it's not that unlikely.

[uncorrupts]

Does the name Allura ring any bells, then?

[if chances were that high...!]

[alienates]

No.

[ he says, immediately crushing shiro's dreams. ]

But I also don't know everyone here. You'll more likely recognize everyone either by their face or voice.

[uncorrupts]

[good thing he lives under the perpetual crush of tragedy]

[can't say he's all too surprised]

Hm, well. I'll keep an eye out just in case she does arrive. Being Altean, she might understand all this a lot better than us humans.

[alienates]

Yeah, you humans don't know shit, so that would be understandable.

[ he doesn't know what an altean is other than it sounds slightly like alternia. ]

[uncorrupts]

[okay that makes him laugh]

Yeah, this kind of space-stuff is out of our league the majority of the time. We've just barely managed to scratch at the surface of exploring the farthest end of the solar system, yet ten thousand years ago another civilization was leagues more advanced than what we are now.

At least no one beats us in being stubborn. [slash stupid to a fault..]

[alienates]

[ he thinks about it and... yeah. all the humans he's dealt with have been very stubborn and also stupid, but it seems to have worked out for them because they all actually lived, unlike his troll friends? so they must have something going on for them. ]

I think your problem was that you're all too focused on your own bullshit to even start thinking about what else is out there until you show up super late and more than half the universe has already been explored and or invaded.

[uncorrupts]

That's definitely how we are.

[pauses, thinking about that...] Probably for the best, if you think about it. Our history in our own planet isn't exactly the cleanest.

[alienates]

Wait, really?

[ admittedly, karkat's knowledge of earth culture is limited to what he learned from his human friends and what he's seen on romcoms. like, sometimes he'd watch a different genre of movie whenever dave wins the argument, but most of his "earth gets fucked" knowledge comes from... trolls going to the planet and fucking up. ]

What the fuck did you guys do?

[uncorrupts]

A couple world wars with millions of innocents dead. A continued disparity between the rich and the poor. Countries that can't feed its people despite other ones producing enough to feed its people five times over. Discrimination based on race and religion and sexual preference. We are conscious of children dying in civil wars and yet our response is to do our best to not get involved, out of fear and misunderstanding and said discrimination.

[it's pretty fucked up.]

It's been better over the years in certain aspects, but we've still got a long way to go before becoming an exemplary race.

I know some alien races aren't exactly examples of dignity and fair play either, but I really just know my own's history.

[alienates]

[ karkat's first thought is, what the fuck why were the kids shitting on troll culture so much if they're like this. his second thought is... still more or less the same, because seriously, what the fuck.

when shiro mentions aliens not being that great either, karkat has to force himself not to roll his eyes. because yeah he is pretty aware of that fact? he is extremely aware of that fact. the condesce really screwed over a lot of species over the years, including her own. ]

You know, none of the humans I've hung out with over the past three goddamn years never really mentioned any of that?

[ they may have hinted at things sometimes, but it was always in passing and it was never enough for karkat to get an actual good picture of the situation. ]

[uncorrupts]

Many might not. I see this kind of thing more frequently, and it's part of my life in a way, so that's how I view things. My family doesn't share this view point, though, so we never got into it.

[karkat sounds a little betrayed, and that's the last thing shiro wants him to feel about... humans?]

I wouldn't blame anyone for not wanting to remember any of these things are happening, though.