#cacogenicgrum

[aligerousathanasy]

[[ giiiiiiiifts

@geminidoomed got a hand drawn map to a whole bunch of ruins that would be perfect to put legendary artifacts in

Grum got a stuffed crab that she saw in the market and looked so cute, she had to get it for him

and @elaboratehappenstance got an artifact of a sword-equivalent that she found in her adventures that probably belongs in a museum or s/t but whatever! ]]

[doomedgemini]

[[ Everyone knows these gifts but record keeping is a thing

@geminidoomed got several framed texts that are, as a group, Derse's last coding attempt, meaning they're bug filled and terrible and just fucking stops where he got too pissed to continue, and gave Derse a broken space ship with the non helm engine from him and @trolljacksparrow

@elaboratehappenstance got a t-shirt with one of his awful jpeg artifact riddled pictures on the front and a note with a time and place and nothing else, where Derse will be waiting to spar with him

and Grum got a clockwork heart pendant that has a secret switch that when pressed makes the heart open and reveals a picture of Grum and Derse being happy and gay ]]

[doomedgemini]

==> Derse: Finish that submarine.

It's taken you for fucking ever, but you do: a functioning model/toy that floats and sinks and has a little propeller that goes forwards and back and little buttons that control all of it. All of that didn't take too long. Pretty simple really.

What took so long was the detail on this thing. The crocodile was a mechanical wonder; this was an artistic one. It was a scale model and you'd crammed in as much as you could to the outside, every bolt and plate as far down the hideously small scale as you could physically make them. Not all of them are actually bolts since you still wanted this waterproof, but you tried.

It joins your previous gift in his moat, and you send him a message on Trollian rather than stick around. The somewhat good mood you'd had earlier is fizzling pretty quickly into being pissed and you just want to sulk.

[doomedgemini]

cacogenicgrum replied to your post “debatiing makiing an appearance.”

YOU SHOULD MAKE AN APPEARANCE IN MY BED. (;B

REALLY I AM VERY DESPERATELY LONELY AND I WANT A FUCKING HUG.

> !!!!

> ABRUPT HALT IN THE MIDDLE OF A HALLWAY

> TURN THE FUCK AROUND

> HEAD BACK TO MATESPRIT'S ROOM

> YOU THOUGHT HE WANTED TO BE ALONE THIS IS THE BEST YOU BEING WRONG EVER

> SHUT UP YOU'RE NOT PURRING ALREADY THAT'S DUMB

that'2 your own damn fault you know.

[doomedgemini]

==> Sollux: Where the hell have you been, other than work?

Figuring out your damn room.

You've done it, though, you've finally figured out what your room should look like, what would feel right. That is where you've been: gathering everything together.

Bit by bit, though, you've finally gotten yourself something respectable. A social block right inside the door for entertaining the people who won't leave you alone, a sparse bedroom reserved for hiding from the world, a workshop to stretch your crafting legs in, a bathroom that's not really important but makes this list into four instead of three. They're not done, but they're better, more whole.

They're not done yet because you got distracted by workshop.

That's where the other half of your time has been spent: tinkering, sketching, littering the walls with designs and drawings, and building. The building was the best part, making little useless one-off just to prove you could until inspiration struck. Your matesprit had a moat, and what's a moat without something to guard it?

It takes you a long while, but you make a toy out of rustproof metal: a two foot long mechanical crocodile, with four buttons disguised as scales on the back. Each one does something different, from making the legs and tail skitter and sway to cranking open the jaw and letting it drop closed to making it float and sink. It took a lot of trial and error, and some memories that you're ignoring otherwise, to manage it, but you're proud and grinning when you put it into the pool outside Karkat's door, knocking before darting off.

You hope he likes it.