002 ♍ In Which Our Correspondent Discovers The Function Through Which To Visually Broadcast

[mamadonna]

[ The video clicks on to show Dolorosa fussing with the computer. Well, most of her. Only the bottom of her head is visible, as whoever used this terminal last is far shorter than she is. After a few moments of this, the camera shakes and refocuses to show her face, and after double-checking it against the display on the monitor, she smiles and places her hands in her lap.

She looks tired, and the bags under her eyes have deepened from getting very little sleep this past month. ]

Well, I'm pleased to see they have heard and followed my suggestion to improve the cafeteria menu! The recent state of affairs has been simply atrocious, we can't have growing children expected to receive their necessary sustenance from such negligent offerings.

More than this, it allows little excuse for one to not eat healthfully, so I must encourage you all to observe your proper nutritional schedule each day. Should you require assistance, or perhaps more direct motivation, [ ie. her pulling you by the ear to the cafeteria ] my services remain available.

I'm glad to see local operations improving following the dreadful events of the past weeks.

[ Of course, she...doesn't know about the puffer fish soup... ]

Comments

[mutab1e]

Which... services are these, ma'am? [Shoot him, he's curious. Equius is already abundantly aware that there is finally good, sane, normal food in the cafeteria. He's already spent several hours cooking, despite the fact that he's only been back for two days... unfortunately, whether he eats any of that is debatable. Case in point: the fact that he's six feet tall and thinner than a matchstick.]

[Video.]

[hystericull]

[Fucking around on the Network was the only thing keeping Gamzee's mind together. That, and the copious amounts of slime he'd ingested immediately after finding himself in tact outside of the elevator, after being kidnapped for a second time. It had been hard to respond to people via text, fingers shaking all the while, making his usual quirk even more illegible. Everyone was trying to find one another after the terrible month-long experiments. He couldn't bring himself to get invested in them, however, only able to flit his eyes over the text distractedly. He clicked around a bit before seeing her.]

[She was alive.]

[The last he saw her, she was crumpled in a pool of jade, a hole ripped in her stomach, staring up at him with empty eyes. It was the last thing he could remember vividly before everything started running chaotically together.]

[All he could do was stare at her, mouth falling open slightly in an obscene display of crooked fangs and a dry, sopor-stained tongue.]

[moontothetide]

[You don't know about the puffer fish soup?

Allow Tara to educate you. From her end of the network, she looks horrified at this news.]

Y-You're responsible f-for the food?

[mamadonna]

[ She looks the video over for a moment with some concern. ]

The certainty that you are partaking of a nutritious meal. A service you appear to be in dire need of!

[Video.]

[mamadonna]

[ GAMZEE HONEY MAMA IS NOT VERY CONFIDENT IN THIS SIGHT ]

Gamzee, you don't look well. Child, have you been eating more than that detestable slime?

[mamadonna]

[ Dolorosa frowns at the response. ]

Not as such, no. I merely voiced my concerns regarding its inadequacy when that brutish warden had seen fit to broadcast prior to the recent outages we've suffered.

...You appear less than pleased.

[moontothetide]

W-Well, yeah. I, I mean...m-maybe you should have specified. Some of that stuff...I guess, m-maybe it's not poisonous to you but it, i-it could kill a lot of people here.

[hystericull]

[Pretty sure he doesn't have any state of being to feel confident in.]

[That being said, he couldn't really find his voice for a fair amount of time, choosing instead to keep staring like it wasn't already getting creepily uncomfortable. Once he did, however, her inquiry had been long-forgotten.]

You didn't stay dead?

[mutab1e]

M-me? [Blink. It's evident that this thought does not often cross his mind.] ...Um, no, that's fine, really. I'm fine.

[mamadonna]

Poisonous?! Well, this is intolerable! We'll need to make it better known, that no one will ignorantly fall prey to the trap!

[mamadonna]

I awoke in full physical health some days afterward. [ A few miserable, nightmare-filled days. ] I had been...somewhat less social following that. Until the light was dispelled from the Tower.

I had sought you when that time came, but was met with no luck whatsoever.

[mamadonna]

Yet, I'm inclined to believe otherwise. On what occasion had you last eaten?

[mutab1e]

Yesterday... [He had been busy this morning okay!!! ...yeah, no he hadn't.]

[hystericull]

[It seemed like no one had really died "for good" after they'd been killed in the labyrinth. Except, Sollux hadn't come back since... well, since Gamzee had dealt with him. He couldn't find it in him to care all that much about it, though. What was wrong with him?]

[That question had a multitude of convoluted answers. Better off not touching it. Gamzee was about to talk about the power outage, before he realized what a sullen expression he'd been wearing. That wouldn't do at all when reuniting with someone you'd been separated from! He looked down for a moment, tracing swirls and smiley faces onto the terminal with a slime-coated finger. The camera's view had surely been obstructed by his mass of hair and giant horns as he bent his head. After a short vandalism session, and a few deep breaths, he looked back up at the monitor, a weak grin breaking across his face.]

Oh, uh. That's probably 'cause... they all were to be motherfuckin' taking me again. Meaning, like, a brother wasn't here. Or, uhh... I think? Don't really fuckin' know where I was all at 'til I got back here again.

[mamadonna]

Well, that settles it then. Where is your terminal located? [ SHE IS TAKING HIM ]

[mutab1e]

[Oh um no, no that's not necessary, he sees where this is going--]

...The first floor of the dormitories, ma'am.

[She's an adult jadeblood, what else was he supposed to do?!]

[mamadonna]

You were taken once more? [ Her expression grows sterner. ] What occurred on this occasion?

[mamadonna]

[ She stands up from her terminal to see if she can spot anyone at the other terminals on this floor, which leaves nothing on the screen but the black and jade of her skirt.

She leans back down to the camera after a moment. ]

Perhaps you could do me the favor of holding your arm out toward the hall.

[hystericull]

[All of the surgeries were still so fresh in his mind. Did they really have to go there right away? He pinched the tip of his tongue between his teeth to keep from falling into the sads again.]

Uh... bad stuff.

[He took a scratch behind his ear shamefully. That answer should suffice, right?]

Just all glad they up and got their decide on to leave you the fuck behind, this time.

[mutab1e]

Um, of course.

[And cautiously, he does so, holding it there for what he hopes is long enough before pulling it back in. That was silly, that was incredibly silly...]

[text]

[fallen_stage]

How rare, to find someone so invested in the well-being of everyone around them.

[aka woah lady what gives you the right to meddle?]

text, he's less embarrassed in text, always and forever

[chronomancer]

...you look tired

[iron_infidel]

[He comes onto the network. After some time finally figuring out how the thing worked and allowed him to respond.]

Being as helpful as ever lusus. This is a pleasant sight.

SUDDENLY ACTION

[mamadonna]

[ She glances back over the monitor, then closes the transmission. Taking up her staff, she walks down the hall to his terminal and stands right next to him with an expectant smile. ]

Come along, then. We'll get you something to eat.

[mamadonna]

I imagine there is some fortune in that, though the Tower was entirely neglected in that period. We were left without power or food, and the Hounds would stalk these halls, even in the daytime.

I fear circumstances may have been worse elsewhere.