.001 ♒ chronicAugustus began pestering...? [TEXT]

[chronomancer]

i think this is a stupid thing to ask
but i cant think a any other wway to phrase it
so

wwhat are wwe evven Supposed To Do here?
just
not get culled by monsters at night an eat wwhatevver they feed us an just
survvivve





thats it?


[...someone is not taking well to being "aimless". Help? Also, if you want to run into him he's in the Network terminal closest to 1-10. I'm cool with action tags.]

Comments

[tortileghostwriter]

Fine. It's hardly the fucking point, anyway.

[Less criticizing her, more...venturing that she was involved.]

All of it had happened before.

[chronomancer]

[He didn't sit down again, though the snarl toned down a little. Then he snorted.]

All of it has happened far too many fucking times.

[Eridan dug his fingers into his hair, trying to get himself under control. Focused. He does not let himself be taken by anger. He dooms himself when he gets angry. He needs to be focused and calm and cool headed and it's very hard, when David is setting off every single self-preservation instinct he has and he talks so casually about Fef--]

So Jade and I said fuck it. Fuck it, David. No more going back, no more trying over and over again. We were done with the fucking game.

[tortileghostwriter]

[Fuck the game.

We contend that there is a choice.

He laughs again, low and harshly and entirely without humor.]

You scratched, I take it? Oh, yes, very good, an excellent way. Go out like a flame, defy it all, hmmm?

It's an excellent idea, but it's hardly the way to be done!

[chronomancer]

We both Scratched it.

[Eridan snarled, skirting the edge of feral. But no, no, hold back, keep it cool. Keep it together.]

So you and us are gone, gone, and fuck the Game and those who have to play it, at least it wouldn't be us.

[tortileghostwriter]

I suppose you both did well, if it was the two of you.

[and time to drop this little bomb outright.]

Or at the very least, it makes our end result somewhat less abysmal on this go!

After all.

I did it alone the last time.

[chronomancer]

[And it goes as well as one could expect!]

...wwhat.

[tortileghostwriter]

Oh my. Have I stuttered?

[chronomancer]

[Your name is Eridan Ampora and you have just lost all your shit. All of it.]

Shut your fucking wordflap, Lalonde.

[You also look like you're contemplating violence of the feral kind on the closest thing available.]

I'm trying to think here.

[tortileghostwriter]

Oh, my apologies, Eridan. By all means! Find a solution. I'll stand by and let you figure it all out.

[He crosses his arms, leaning against the wall. David fixes Eridan with the same deadeye expression as before, almost challenging him.]

[chronomancer]

Are you this much 'a an asshole on purpose or does it just come out naturally?

[Eridan snarled a little, then scowled, thoughts rolling lazily in his skull.]

[tortileghostwriter]

Column A, column B... Oh, I don't know at all, it's far too difficult to really say.

[chronomancer]

Never mind.

[Eyeroll. He's quiet for a moment, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt, and possibly ruining it with his claws as he thinks. There are... in fact, several possibilities at work here. And there's one he's studiously avoiding to even consider.]

Say, David. Why do you remember the Scratch?

[tortileghostwriter]

That would be due to the influence of a certain white-texting omniscient douchewad who I had the misfortune of relying on as an informant.

[chronomancer]

[That earns him a look for a moment, before he shrugs.]

What do you remember?

[tortileghostwriter]

[he hesitates, briefly.]

... I remember enough. Our previous placement. What bonds formed. Lands, titles, my upbringing. My friends. Most of what happened.

It's... rather unpleasant to think about, and extremely fragmented. It hardly even feels like I am remembering things that happened to me, though I know that I am.

[chronomancer]

...I wonder about that.

[But he didn't say anything else, instead thinking hard on this. It was so odd... but then again, David was involved and he had a feeling the human boy enjoyed complicating things so much it almost happened naturally around him.]

[tortileghostwriter]

[...he can tell some additional explanation may be in order.]

... I carried out the Scratch on my own. I was the only one left.

It was not done properly, as far as the game was concerned. I bypassed the typical measures, I reshuffled and resorted the gears of that damned thing, trying to maximize our chance of survival... the original data was never deleted, it remained on the disc, so to speak.

[chronomancer]

[Eridan offered his roommate a crooked, wry smile.]

Trust you to do that.

[He shook his head.]

It was... different, this time. What Jade an' I did. We deleted all data entirely, but... measures were taken to protect it all the same, just... remove it from the Game.

[He sounded both bitter and relieved, in the end:]

So it's really not our problem anymore.

[tortileghostwriter]

So then whoever the game is left to, it won't be us.

... I appreciate the spirit behind the gesture, but it's meaningless and it is not enough.

[he shakes his head. the cycle wasn't broken, they just scored a solid chance of it not being them this time.]

[chronomancer]

...you misunderstand.

[Eridan smiled, showing off all his fangs.]

We didn't do this for you. Or for anyone else. We don't care if it's not enough for you, or whoever. It's not our problem anymore, that's all we care about.