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[cullscuttlefish]

[Feferi's gray skin looks pale as she steps forward, and it's clear that she's shaking. But she takes a deep breath, because this is too important not to tell everyone.]

My name is Feferi Peixes. Anyone who knows me knows I'm infamous for fish puns, but I'm going to hold off on them here, just so the message is as clear as possible. I don't want it to get twisted by a bad turn of phrase.


The message you all saw about the soul thing...it's true. I know, because...

[She takes another deep breath, swallowing hard.]

I went down the elevator, with some others, when we saw it open. We had to take the chance. We needed to know what was down there.

When the group I was with saw a soul being extracted from a dead person, we couldn't believe what we were seeing. More than anything, we knew what a precious thing that was. We didn't want it to be harmed, and so we followed where the retrieval unit was taking it.

...we didn't expect that it would be carrying the soul straight to Jason. We confronted him, we refused to give up the presence of the other groups that were in the administrators' area, and he punished us by forcing us to go through the soul extraction and re-implantation processes while we were still conscious.

Before I go on any further, I have to stress this point: DO NOT TAKE THIS AS AN INVITATION TO CONFRONT JASON. He will not hesitate to put you through that process, and no one should ever have to experience a thing like that. I don't want anyone to consider this as an invitation to take some kind of vengeance. That path only leads to pain.

I didn't think that he was actually capable of anything close to mercy until I went through that. Everyone in this tower has been through it while unconscious, and that is truly a mercy. When it happens, your body is taken downstairs and placed into a sphere. That sphere fills with a violet liquid, and then it begins to contract.

[Tears start to run down her cheeks as she remembers, and her voice cracks.]

It quite literally squeezes your soul out of your body, and that is like no physical pain in this or any other universe. I don't think there is a single word that is capable of describing it. Agony isn't strong enough, because the pain keeps going while you feel your body stop working.

And even when you are only that shining light, the pain doesn't fade immediately. It takes time.

Then, you're surgically put into - into a...a new body. I...

[She can't keep talking. She breaks down sobbing, and then the feed cuts.]

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[caliginous]

[Karkat watches her try and stammer everything out for a moment before he shakes his head gently.]

Get it together, Peixes. These shits aren't worth your tears.

[If she tries, she might find it a little easier to calm down, as Karkat focuses on trying to absorb some of her panic without making it readily obvious that he's helping. Because Karkat doesn't help, he's a shitbag.]

We won't get that second chance down there without Dax unless we got a plan. Who was with you?

perma-action;

[cullscuttlefish]

[She takes a deep breath, and that calms her down a whole lot more than she was expecting. Then another, and she's finally ready to speak.]

Hold on a sec.

[She ducks into the nearest restroom, pulling Karkat in with her. Not perfect, but better.]

That was too close to the terminal for comfort. Sorry.

There were around 20 or so of us that first went down there. The first part of the trip isn't really relevant to the soul-sucking part, and I got separated from that bunch when I went through a second set of elevators. That time, I was with the Gamzee and Tavros from my universe and a girl named Meiling.

[caliginous]

[He's a little startled by the sudden pull, mostly due to the emotion absorbsion he just performed, but all it takes is a quick step and a straightening of his tie and he's back to normal.]

I've had worse. Good call.

[And then he lets her talk, folding his arms and picking at the shredded cloth at his right arm. Gamzee and Tavros. So three of them had gone down there. She might notice the way his tongue traces his fangs thoughtfully the longer she goes on.]

Did Gamzee and Tavros make it back?

[cullscuttlefish]

Yeah, they did. We all did, after we got put back together again. I'm almost positive that everyone who went down the elevator to begin with made it back.

[She notices, all right, at least on one level. As he starts tracing his tongue over his fangs, she starts to play with one of the bracelets on her left wrist in basically the same rhythm.]

...Dave Strider, Suzaku Kururugi, Minato Arisato, and Ryoji Mochizuki. They were in the first group with me. We were each in a different admin's area.

I think Dax's favorite color was green. That was the color of the button we had to press to unlock the second elevators. We were in his area, and it was too easy, on purpose. I didn't appreciate that till it was too late.

[caliginous]

[Those were all names he recognized. Truly, he had been in this Tower too long. His eyelids lower a bit in sympathy for Feferi that he can't quite hide. Karkat is well beyond the point of being able to care for the admins, or anything going on around him, really. His friends were important. That they made this as hard as possible for those bastards -- that was important.

Everything else could go hang.

He tries to ignore the notation of green -- his collar color.]

...we can't do anything about him now. All we can do is make use of what he gave us.

[He lets his arms fall, hands sliding into his pockets.]

Look. I've been here a long time, and I think we might have gotten off on the wrong pedal stub. But if Dax is gone, that means we get Jason sooner and none of us can afford to be complete strangers.

[cullscuttlefish]

You're right. The most important thing we can do now is try and move forward.

[She keeps fiddling with her bracelet for a moment longer, then lets her left arm fall to the side. After tucking some of her hair back behind her shoulders - making an idle note to herself about how much longer it's gotten since she arrived - she lets her right arm fall as well.]

The past is the past, and what happened then? It's long since gone out to sea, as far as I'm concerned. I don't think either of us is saying that we need to grab all of the cushions from our sleeping squares, pile them up, and have a feelings jam, but forming something like an alliance? I am more than okay with that.

[caliginous]

[He takes a long moment to consider the prospect of making a pile with Feferi of all people and he can't help but scoff. In fact, it might even turn into actual laughter for half a second. He wouldn't even do that with Kanaya on most days.]

Good.

[He offers her a fist. Its about as far as he's willing to extend this proverbial olive branch.]

Did they fit you with a weapon when they dragged you to this dungheap?