Aradave, Aradia, Cronus, Dave, Rose, Sollux (Conversation #2)
Cronus: He looks at both of them very unamused. "Ha, ha, ha. Veru funny. I know you ain't gonna step on me because you two are actually stable together. That sort of killing shit is for losers. So I ain't going no where because I'm afraid." He then specifically looked at Rose. "I did see what the last fusion did, and those are two different fusions." He isn't going to compare apples and oranges here. He hopes they're at least going to see that in him. "So if you don't mind, quit treating me like a joke."
Sollux: "I-- shit. Holy fuck. Is. Is that Dave?!" he squeaked out, his eyes wide, clearly distressed by this situation. Great, Aradia fused with THAT guy. Well, at least SHE didn't seem too upset over it, so... maybe it wasn't that bad...? "Are you okay...?" he managed to get out, his brows furrowed and his lips turned down into a deep frown.
ARADAVE:: They frown and their wings droop for a moment disappointed that the famed master of seduction didn’t give them as big of a reaction as they had hoped for. Still some part of them found his smug attitude entertaining. Oh well, there was barley any room in their mind to think about it for very long. There were still too many thoughts, memories and question in there head at one time, And there were a lot of questions. They both still had no new information as to why exactly this was happening or more importantly happening to them.
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They blink for a moment and feel something that was similar to fear when Sollux asked if they were okay. Or at least part of them felt fear the other didn’t really know what to expect. The creature shrugs and gives a slightly awkward wave with their long lanky arms. It speaks in a deeper tone at first
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“yup, I’m here as weird as it might be” They have a moment where they try to shrug off how incredibly terrifying and wrong it is to have another person’s thoughts in their head before a second voice with a more upbeat tone speaks again. “Perfectly fine! Even a little better at least I’m more wake now or where more awake now?” the creature frowns and shakes there head slightly as if it would help there aching forehead and messed up thoughts. “Head sure does hurt though”
Rose: "I'll stop treating you like a joke when you stop supplying me with punchlines, dearest!" She says in a faux-honeyed tone, flashing a fake smile Cronus' way. There's more important things than to make fun of him, though. An Ampora might be right for once. ...Where can she even START, though? All the subpar reasoning Rose can manage in the face of such an event is to note their alleged migraine, unfortunately. She's starting to come to terms with the fact that it's probably impossible for anyone to refrain from being shellshocked in the presence of a combined force. Maybe it's better if this stays a mystery? Letting certain individuals in the house know how to parade around as a giant being together could be disastrous. "...Well, that's good to hear, for the most part. There's not much we can do about the headache though." A smile creeps onto her lips. "I doubt there's enough Ibuprofen in the house to supply your dosage."
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"Really, though. Do you have any idea why this happened?"
Cronus: Wow. What a bitch. At least he isn't the main focus of her sarccastic and witty wrath. He mumbles under his breath 'bitch'. He the looks up at the monster. "I think it is better that we don't know how this happens. Don't fix something that ain't broke, right?" He looks down at the ground. Why is he up here? It's clear no one wants him around. That big thing up there is more likable than him. BUt hey, at least he's getting in the action. He then looks back at Rose. "How about an ice pack for that headache? Keep you nice and chill while this whole shabang goes down." He thinks this is a decent idea.
Sollux: "Er... yeah, alright." he supposed he could buy that, though he wasn't entirely convinced everything was "perfectly fine." Fusing with a human seemed freaky to say the least, especially if they were in pain. "Seriously, though, what the fuck happened?" he asked, huffing a little in frustration. Was this just gonna be a THING now? The universe were just go, "lol, fuck these two losers in particular" and mash them together like troll play-doh and just leave them to fuck around in their new warped state until... who knew what? He wasn't even sure what they were supposed to do from here. How did they even seperate? He had no clue. "How did this happen? And what the hell are we supposed to do about it now?"
ARADAVE:: They twitch. Their head turns slightly to aim directly at Cronus. The wings stop beating and drop them lightly to the rooftop with surprising grace, five long fingers clenched into a huge fist. "Y'wanna say that a little louder?" Dave's voice says - but then they stumble and fall awkwardly to one knee, pain tearing at their skull as the more feminine voice cries, "No, no, it's not worth it! It's okay!" They clutch their head and their pounding horns and mutter, "We dunno, we were jus' talkin'," this time it's hard to tell who's speaking - both of them in consensus, most likely - "and then the lights started up, and fuck it hurts..."
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For a moment Dave's half of the shared mind falters and the crushing weight comes down on them, before he re-centers himself and takes the burden again. "We're cool, though." their joint voice says, "Stickin' together for a while, we think." The sentiment is both of theirs, but Dave works to lighten the message so it doesn't sound like more than it is - they could separate at any time, they think, they would just have to reach for that pain and instability that marks the wavering border between their consciousnesses and - pull - but as terrifying as this is, neither of them can imagine wanting to - this is the first time one has felt truly awake in weeks, and the other cannot bring himself to abandon her.
Rose: "No, that was fair." Rose concedes casually, waving a hand in dismissal. "It was pretty bitchy." But, yet again, her focus is diverted from Cronus for the sake of the Time-combo in front of them. She's worried. "...In all seriousness, this might not be the best idea if you're in any sort of pain. We don't know the risks you two are taking, what consequences it could involve-- you don't even know how you came together in the first place! It's dangerous."
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Despite doing her best to focus on the massive migraine at hand, it's more than a little obvious that Rose is just as concerned over the inscrutability of the ability itself. They really have no clue what they're doing. Experimenting with it would probably be the best way to understand, but still! Maybe they could get some other pair to try it out. Ones that don't involve people she'd fret over, for instance.
Cronus: He puts his hands up, thinking the giant monster was going to make Cronus cakes and use his blood for syrup. But luckily everyone's attention was diverted from him on to more pressing matters. Cronus wasn't exactly sure about what to say but looks at Rose. "Listen, Rose. Does it matter how they came to be this thin-I mean this new form of life?" Smooth. "It isn't like it is killing them or anything, and they seem pretty happy by thiis weird shit. And is it that dangerous too? So far everything and everyone is intact." Everyone just needs to remain chill. Giants tend to get stomping if they're pissy.
Sollux: "Oh, yeah, right, why should we worry ourselves about dumb little details like HOW weird and should-be-impossible-things happen, or worry about their consequences! We should totally just kick back and chill and assume everything will be perfectly fine in every way, despite the fact that they're in pain and this is apparentlly a totally random thing that can happen to anyone at any random time with the chance of ill side-effects and we have no idea how to control it, stop it, avoid it, or use it our advantage. That is the attitude of a fucking WINNER, Cronus, AMAZING. Jesus, we should have just used that A-PLUS strategy during the game! Oh, there are monsters we've never encountered before that we don't know but could potentially hurt us and cause us pain? Eh, who REALLY cares. Might as well just shove a fucking paper stick in our mouths and see what happens. I mean, you know, if our fucking arms get bitten off by imps, that's just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes, am I right? CLEARLY can't prevent ANYTHING by being proactive and using your fucking THINK PAN." he snapped at him. Yeah he can do that ranting shit too it ain't just KK, come at me. He grit his teeth, taking a deep breath and focusing back on things that were actually important, such as not Cronus. "Seriously though. Are you sure you're alright staying like this? I mean I guess as long as nothing bad it happening, it could be okay for a while, but just... I don't think it's a good idea to just hang like this for two long. What if you, like, merge forever after a while or something? Or you de-fuse after a couple hours and have different parts or whatever? I dunno. Just don't... play it safe I guess." He really didn't fucking like this.
ARADAVE:: There is still some small sense of anger towards Cronus even after Rose is dismissal, they stand there just glaring at the sea dweller fist still clenched. But they can feel whatever anger pass by as soon as Sollux starts talking. They let out a small snort of laughter and begins to slowly clap after Sollux is done with his angry ramblings giving a wide grin the entire time. Despite a small part of them not wanting to cause any fights and another part pissed off at the master of seduction they both still found angry sass filled remarks directed to the High blood to be incredibly entertaining. After the moment of sardonic applauds there’s a tick a brief moment of panic when Rose and Sollux suggest the same thing about breaking up or defusing.
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The moment doesn’t last very long they immediately brush it off still desperately holding on to whatever weird comfort this was bringing them both. Pushing back any terrifying thoughts they can feel creep to the back of their subconscious. The cheery feminine voice spoke “you two really shouldn’t be worryin ! I doubt whatever risks that this might cause it would happen to damara and kurloz to right? And they both turned out fine. Really its all cool, where both tough enough to stick through this for a little longer!”
Rose: "...But you don't know that for certain." Rose states, stubbornly retaining her position despite their admittedly reasonable retort. At least Sollux agrees with her. Together, she suspects that they could win nearly any argument. Solely through low blows and stamina, perhaps, but it'd get the job done. She takes the time to regard Aradia and Dave for a moment before turning to Cronus, eyes narrowed slightly more at the latter, then continues. "If there's nothing to fight, then what's the use? Especially if it's a mental tribulation. I'm obviously not an expert, but it doesn't seem to be fruitful in any sense?" It doesn't occur to her that it's recharging Aradia's portion of themselves, but even then, she would probably consider the cons to outweight the pros by a wide margin.
Cronus: "Look, I can tell you guys don't exactly consider my nicest guy of the year, but right now I haven't done anything to deserve it. Not saying I won't fuck up in a few minutes, but for now I think I'm good." He's going to address this bit by bit. "Captor and Rose. Look, everything is cool by the pool. Ain't no one getting hurt and shit so we're all good." He walks over to Sollux with his hands up in front of his chest and palms out. "Captor, thanks you for that very, very, very interesting speech about how much I'm stupid and bad at coming up with ideas, but maybe tone it down a little bit? I'm just trying to help out is all and you're not exactly cutting me some fucking slack here." He then looks at Rose. "While you make some good points here, I think you should turn it down a bit too. I agree with what you said for the most part, but your ignoring a couple things here. They're happy and this building is intact. I call that a win win on my part." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a cig. He hasn't had one in his mouth for awhile and it boosts his confidence and ego. He puts it in his mouth forgetting that he will probably get shit on for it. Then he looks at Aradave. "Look, sory if I'm speaking for ya a lot, because I obviously don't know what's going on in there. Just wanted to say something about that."
Sollux: "Wow, I'm so sorry, I totally forgot that you're in charge here and decide what we should do. Of COURSE we'll turn it down. Do you have any requests? Specific modifications to our tones, thoughts, or opinions?" he quipped, raising a brow. "And it's not my fault that you are stupid and bad at coming up with ideas. I just feel the need to remind the public every now and again, lest they forget and do something stupid such as fucking listen to you. And I'm just saying that we should be fucking careful, seeing how we have no god damn clue what this is. Last I checked, Kurloz and Damara were only together for a few minutes, and in that time they fucking slaughtered a hellmoose, had a fucking mental breakdown, and apparently got pretty close to violent? I dunno, but, I'm just thinking, gee, this the other fusion fuckery worked out SO WELL, maybe we should just try to NOT throw caution to the wind and actually think about this shit and be careful about what we do. Such as, you know, not letting these two prance around as fucking Monster Mash: The Return for however long. They're not a fucking science experiment, or a guinea pig. This isn't a "Let's just do whatever and SEE if there are any horrific, long term consequences, because it won't be my specific problem!" deal, actually." he growled out in annoyance, sighing a little. "... Seriously though. Just. Fucking defuse or whatever in a little while, this isn't really safe. And also try to take a step back and realize that the onlyperson supporting your current course of action is Mr. Fish Cancer Stick and think about what that says. Like, really, that's a pretty huge red flag in my opinion."
Aradave: As Cronus blabbers on and on, they observe with silence and a raised eyebrow, long arms propping them up on one knee, their anger slowly cooling into detached amusement as he digs his own hole even deeper (and then acknowledges it, not that it helps him any), rebuilding their composure and trying to center themselves, and brace themselves against the constant revelations of exchanged memories that batter their conjunction. By the time he wraps up and leaves himself open for Sollux's blistering return salvo they've almost regained their balance, and have also straightened up a bit and started tapping their double-sized foot patiently but emphatically.
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As Sollux rips into him, though, it's all undone almost immediately. One side's thoroughly entertained by the spectacular display of mockery and insults, the other blushing visibly at Sollux's outburst, and then that leads to thoughts of uncertain, awkward quadrant feelings, some of which are from the past few days and are directly connected to Davethem-
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Their body shudders from the inside and they clutch their head again as it feels like it's been split down the middle with a lumberjack's axe - they clench their teeth and try to force it down, to literally pull themselves together.
Aradave: "It's - it's fine," they say (though Dave really can't argue with that last point), "two brains are better than one," then the lighter voice comes to the fore and says, "And anyway Sollux you shouldn't be worrying about me like that, it's not your responsibility, okay? You - you have your own problems-" Their neck twitches and they wrap their fingers around their forehead as if trying to hold themselves together at the temple.
Rose: Their forced claims of contentment are what makes Rose decide that she can't stand for this for another second. "It doesn't sound fine. I don't know why you two are so set on this, but we care, alright? This is obviously detrimental to your mental stability! You're already in pain, who knows what could happen if you continue--" Rose takes a moment to try and even her tone, to collect herself some, then continues. "Sollux is right in all respects, but especially the last part. In all seriousness, Cronus doens't know either of you. Doesn't it speak volumes that the ones who are invested in your respective well-beings are the ones with the same goddamn stance?" You know that she's desperate when Rose targets the emotional slant of an argument.
Cronus: "Yikes, so much hostility to Ampora this time around. How about I just sort of fde into the bckground and let you three or four go about your business. It's clear you guys still ain't giving me a chance to show you I'm at least half competent so I'll just sit back and watch you guys solve this. Because beliieve me, I'll help but I'm sick of being treated like garbage." He just walked off and sat criss-cross applesauce style on the ground. Watching the show unfold. Damn, get this guy some popcorn. "You're right affterall, I don't have any place speaking for others when I don't know them. I apologize for stepping over my boundary. Please, continue without me so I won't be such a drag to be around." He was hald being sarcastic, half being genuine. Though at this point it probably just sounds as sarcastic as Sollux. And that is a lot of sarcasm. Almost too much.
Sollux: Please, you can never get on my level. But on a more serious note, Sollux pauses at Aradia's words, looking and feeling vaguely like he just got slapped. If that wasn’t a "I'm not pale for you, leave me alone," he wasn’t sure what was. It certainly felt like it, at least. He took a moment, gritting his teeth and setting his jaw slightly before just nodding a little. "Yeah, okay, fine." he muttered, a bit quieter now, faltering slightly in the Rose-Back-Up category, though he still totally agreed with her and rather obvious worry still sloshed around in his stomach uncomfortably.
Sollux: Cronus was ignored entirely, btw,
ARADAVE:: This still hurts, there’s comfort knowing that someone is just as terrified as the other there is comfort in feeling awake, so why does it still hurt. The pain just grows for the both of them, there head now pounding in pain. Their hands are still holding on tightly to their head as if it would stop the pain and bring back that shred of comfort.
~
As soon as Rose begins to speak in a tone that wasn’t her usual calm and even one. That’s when they both or he knew things where starting to get drastic. Part of them felt or knew that whatever Rose was saying it was right especially if she starts losing her cool. In this specific case it probably meant that this cosmic creation shit was starting to get to a dangerous point.
~
The other side feels weird and almost wrong about the whole ordeal, someone else caring for another or the amount of trust she or they can feel for Rose. She feels weird being in this situation or even seeing Rose act like that or feeling certain ways back almost as if she shouldn’t be watching this. She feels like her insides are being ripped in two and everything hurts.
ARADAVE:: But that was almost nothing when they see Solluxs reaction and his voice becoming quite. Part of them can feel her heart almost break at the fact that she had to see him this way. The other side can’t even focus there where to many thoughts to many scary memories and still trying to figure everything out. Both are trying to grit their teeth and push through the pain desperately trying to clear their head. Even though they feel small cracks forming on their skin.
Rose: Ohhhhh no. The moment she sees the cracks, Rose's face falls, she looks at them in complete absolute horror-- This isn't how it happened to the other fusion! What if something's going wrong, what if this is more dangerous?! It's slower, that's for sure, and she can't imagine it being anything about agonizing. "You need to stop holding on." She says, nearly matching Sollux's tone. "It's too much for both of you." She isn't sure if anything she's saying is true whatsoever, but fuck if she cares, as long as they get that expression of their face she's solid.
Cronus: He looks at the situation. Man, he really wishes he had popcorn and probably a soda to wash it down with. His mind sort of wandered when he left the conversation. At least they stopped bugging him about it. He then saw Rose actually express some form of emotion other than bitchness. Quite the genuine surpriise. "You know, Rose has a point. If it is time to spilt, I think it's time to split. Otherwise you ain't doing anyone any favors." He still just sat there observing. Sure his input was probably not needed nor wanted, he had to at least say something.
Sollux: Sollux frowned deeply, hesitating a little. "Seriously, maybe just... diffuse." he mumbled, before cutting himself off and biting his lip. It was very, very hard to try to mind his own business and not worry about them when they were right there and clearly there was a lot of worrying that needed to be done for a lot of reasons! It was practically physically painful.
Aradave: Rose's face does it. The pain in their chest from Sollux's empty, deadpan tone was bad enough but that makes it just as bad from the other side, and even as they clench their fists to try and stay together their minds aremind is being flayed by whaplashing cords of memory, purple text in chat logs telling them to leave her to die, yellow text recoiling from the truth of the universe, disbelief turning to anger, and they are stumbling backwards, the memories are too much for either of them to bear, their body's balance failing along with the imbalance of their thoughts.
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Dave feels the weight of exhaustion bearing down on him, the weight of the world, and then he realizes that he can think for himself again and then-
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Their legs go out from under them as fissures open along their limbs and tears appear in their raiment of Time, deep red light shining out from inside their body. "Ray," Dave says with their mouth, "Dave?!" she gasps, Smeagol to his Gollum, and he replies, "Ray, no, no, no, I gotcha, wait, hang on-"
Aradave: The light, bright red like LOHAC's seas, erupts from their widening psychostigmatic wounds and consumes them. A flash lights up the forest and sends a howling wind of sparkling red fairy dust around at the onlookers as their wings disintegrate, beautiful in an unearthly way, violently incongruous with the anguished screams that emanate from the heart of the burst. Aradia is hurled to the edge of the pool and skids along the rim. Dave flies farther and goes in head first with a thick slap of water.
Aradia: There was pure panic desperately trying to find the comfort from before. She tries yelling out for Dave but there was a ringing in her ears that just kept droning on and on. Something else reaches out one last time trying to keep together, but she can feel something slip and everything crushing down on her arms and shoulders at once. Everything being ripped out from under her at once, feeling like every piece of her insides are being ripped in two and burning from the inside. It was like energy trying to break out of her chest. The rest gets blurry after that there was so much pain Aradia could barely think straight or move. There was still a ringing in her ears now just feeling sick to her stomach and every fibre in her body ache and her head feeling fuzzy with memories that where not her own.
Rose: If that smack against the pool's surface wasn't so loud, and if Rose already wasn't so high-strung, that would have been hilarious. Unfortunately, considering the premise of Dave's descent, it just results in her frantically rushing to the edge of the pool and giving him ten fucking seconds before she jumps in. "Are you okay?!" And she cringes at the hysterical edge of her own tone. They're not tearing each others' minds apart anymore, that's the big fat silver lining among this trainwreck, but that fucking explosion and those fucking screams and the red sparkles still stuck on her clothes make it a teensy bit difficult to think sunny side up. Rose decides that she might jump in after him either way, if only to get the mammoth wings' remnants off her. Eugh. It starts to melt away before she can move to brush the organic glitter off of herself, though, and her skin starts crawling a little bit less.
Cronus: "Holy shit my eyes!" He flash of bright light was fucking brutal to his eyes. He rubbed his eyes and saw he was covered in that fairy dust shit. Sure it isn't all bad but the glittery effect. He then saw Dave dive bomb in the pool with the loudest smack ever. That has got to hurt. Seeing Rose freaking out, he processed something. This was his moment to shit infront of those who hated him. The moment of glory he was waiting for. He quickly got up and ran to the pool. "Don't worry, I got this!" He jumped in like an olympic swimmer and dived right in. Quickly finding Dave at the bottom and brining him up to the surfaace. Swimming him over to the side of the pool and placing him next to Rose and getting out of the pool. "Sorry, Rose but I have to do this." He got down next to Dave and leaned in on his face. Preforming CPR on Dave. Thank god Cronus knew it due to his countless time tending to lowbloods back on Beforus. Helping some dumb idiots who decide to go to swim and nearly drown.
Sollux: Sollux jumped slightly in alarm, his eyes wide, because holy shit suddenly there were all these noises and everyone was yelling and he wasn't sure at all what was going on anymore, at all. "What the fuck is happening?" he bit out, fighting to keep his voice level, just barely daring to wander closer to all the commotion, a bit nearer to the edge of the pool, but keeping his distance. He didn't feel like drowning, but regardless, anxiety and absolutely desperate worry tore at his chest like claws, edging him forward.
Dave: He can't swim.
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It's just honestly never been relevant before. His quest certainly didn't require it. Going through Rose's land was a little weird but not really any different from his own where swimming would have just gotten you incinerated.
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When he goes under, at first he doesn't notice; suddenly he only has one brain with which to process two sets of memories and by the time he remembers where he is and that breathing is a super cool thing that people love doing to stay hip and not dead, there's water in his mouth.
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Then he's thrashing around in the wate, gasping and spluttering, this is the uncoolest he has ever been in his life, he can't breathe and he can't talk and he can't even really think, his head is still full of flickering red-blue lights and Spidertroll flying through the air over an endless blue sea, and then there are hands closing around his arms, too strong to be Ray or Rose, and pulling him up towards the light.
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There's a pressure on his chest and then on his lips and then his head jerks up, hacking and coughing, spitting water into Cronus's face, and his jumbled brain works desperately to try to figure out what all just happened, cogs spinning and failing to mesh, and he just flops onto his back and looks over at Aradia.
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"Sorry," he mumbles.
Dave: He suddenly realizes he doesn't have his shades and averts his eyes from everyone, his face flushing violently red.
Aradia: She gives a soft groan, her muscles still ached from being a part of whatever cosmic entity that was. She slowly started coming too opening her eyes and looking around, she couldn’t see much and the loud ringing in her ears made it impossible to tell what was going on. Her insides still felt gross, her head still foggy with things she never wanted to remember and things she never was supposed to know.
~
Their where so many memories blinding light of the green sun and fear of a countdown timer or memories of feeling nothing but guilt for not being better, memories of earth and crows and training memories that didn’t belong to her. Not that it changed the fact that there were still floating around in her head.
~
She slowly sits up, or tries to it feels funny to move around in her own body again for once. Funny was probably the wrong word for it. All she can really do is hold her head in her hands and wait for any of the pain to pass.
Rose: "What the hell are you apologizing to me for?" She asks, not even angrily. Cronus just saved her friend from asphyxiation, why in the world would Rose have a problem with that? If anything, she decides privately, he should be apologizing to the recipient of his aid for being in contact with his off-color fishy lips. Ugh, nevermind, that was an awful train of thought. Even as a joke. She kneels down as the procedure goes on, looks at Cronus once more, and sighs. There's no thank you, no 'nice going!'-- but her expression isn't completely malicious, and that means a helluva lot. Dave's sentiment to Aradia's a little painful, sure, but it'd be near-impossible to miss the vivid shade his cheeks are taking on in favor of the important bits. Of course, his lack of eyewear doesn't escape her, either. She averts her eyes instinctively. It feels wrong, almost, like she walked in on him changing or belting Celine Dion at three in the morning. Or maybe that's just his expression? It's clear that he's not himself, he seems positively disheveled-- that's it. It won't fix everything, but Rose turns to the hero of the day, almost reluctantly.
Rose: "Could you get his sunglasses? ...You're already wet, so."
Cronus: After the CPR and getting covered in vomitted water he looks at Rose. "You know what, fine. I'll get the freaking shades." He gets up slowly and just jumps in the water. Looking around for them he begns to feel a strange burning sensation. Oh fuck. The god damn chlorine! He quickly tries to find the glasses and grabs theem. Putting them on so he can swim the hell out of their faster. He practically scrambles to get out of the pool. Lying on the ground in a spasim of pain. "Fuck the fucking god damn chlorine!" He then sort of fades out and chills. Still in pain. He manages to get up and hand Dave his shades. "Here you go, champ. I hope this extreme pain was worth the shades." He then just sort of collapses on his back. Still concious but that was really painful.
Sollux: He frowns a little, biting his lip. God fucking dammit. Yeah, sure, just ignore him. "Seriously. Guys, what's going on? AA...?" he pressed, his wings quivering nervously.
Dave: His head is still spinning, and as he gradually becomes aware of what's going on around him, raising a hand to swipe his shades almost rudely from Cronus's hand, he realizes that he is exhausted. Monstrously so, enough that he can barely move, he could just about fall asleep right there on the roof, his head pillowed on his bunched-up, soggy cape. Ray's weariness has followed him back into his own body, he realizes, the price of holding up his end of the fusion.
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Worth it?
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Yeah, probably.
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"'m in your debt, boss," he drawls, drunkenly, at Cronus, "call f'r a favor'n I'll travel t'your side 'cross all'a time t'be your wingman at th'shitty bar'a your choosin'," he slides his shades back onto his face and gets his arms underneath him and pushes himself partway up, Christ, it feels like he weighs a million tons. "'f y'fail t'get laid at th' time this favor is cashed, may I fall on my shitty Welsh sword or go int' eternal dishonor..."
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He looks up at Rose, unable to suppress a sick feeling at the concern on her face, and then back over at Aradia, his head still pounding.
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"Nothin' goin' on, bro," he says tonelessly to Sollux, not looking at him. "'s over. We fucked it up."
Aradia: She groans again, she still hurt all over but it was slowly starting to get better she was still grateful to think by herself again. She can feel the ringing in her ears fade, she shakes her head and looks up from her hands taking all the panic in. Rose looking almost grateful or at least less sarcastic to Cronus which was a weird experience all together. Rose showing any kind of emotion that isn’t calm cool and collected was weird, or maybe it’s the fact that she’s now able to recognize that kind of emotion.
~
She watched Cronus coming out of the pool with sunglasses she immediately recognises and she can feel flickers of Dave’s memories run through her head again. She groans again and clutches her head, Her head was pounding and the heavy feeling in her skull hasn’t gone away yet.
~
She looks over at Dave and notices how bad of a shape he is in. She figures whatever pain she might be feeling is probably worse for a human, she can’t help but feel a little guilt. This was bad, this was really bad and Dave was right they fucked up. She sits up a little straighter facing Sollux finally speaking from her own separate body again. “We separated or defused or whatever the right word might be and now this is just a huge mess and that’s putting things lightly.”
Rose: Alright, as much as she dislikes Cronus, someone of his biological design being exposed to chlorine had to be dangerous. There's too many people in pain here, and not enough people to help her get them into less sorry states. Sollux has got Aradia, she can keep her out of her radar with a sound mind. It's still overwheling that someone who's arguably her closest friend and someone who's arguably her least favorite person are both splayed out on the roof, sopping wet, like roadkill baking in the sun. On one hand, Dave's her priority, this is absolutely unquestionable. On the other, it would be incredibly unjust to leave someone who had just pulled legitimate heroics to fend for himself. She pauses. It's obvious that Dave won't be honest if she asks him how he's faring. It'd be best to just do what she thinks is necessary and ignore his input completely. Which sounds awful, but whatever. She could care less at the moment. But as for Cronus... she can't see him being as selfless, admittedly. "Do you need any help?" She asks the seadweller, in a purely innocuous manner.
Cronus: He hears Dave's offer and laughs a little. "Thanks man, I'll consider it for sure. And same goes for me. I'm surprisingly good as a wing man believe it or not." He looks around and sees just how fucked up the situation is. Though he isn't gonn die, his respiratory system and eyes feel like their on fire. Jesus, even he admits what he did was fucking stupid. But at least he helped out. Maybe that could get him some points with these guys. He then hears Rose's offer about help. He turns his gaze to her, he is looking pretty pathetic right now. So he decides to get up, barely being able to stand. "Mind getting me some water? I'm wicked parched." He then takes out his pack of cigs in his pocket and chucks them off of the roof. "Damn things were soaked anyway."
Sollux: Whoa whoa. Sollux has got Aradia? When wad THAT decided? At this particular moment, Sollux doesn't especially feel like he's "got" anything. He feels a lot more like "useless" or "helpless," hovering off to the side, a few feet away from the edge of the pool where everyone else is gathered; unable to safely approach without the risk of tripping over someone and–or falling in the pool. And drowning. His ears twitched up and down nervously, a frown strung across his face as he cautiously shuffled a bit closer, unsure of what he actually ought to be doing. The only thing he says is a little, "oh," feeling vaguely shut down, even though he knows he shouldn'texpect much. Regardless, he's left worrying violently off to the side, an air of awkard tension absolutely draped around him.
Dave: Dave coughs a few times, spitting out a little more foul-tasting water, leaning back on his palms. "Sounds good, dude," he says hoarsely, still staring at Aradia. His rambling trails off and he's mildly upset that Rose is paying more attention to the Master than him, considering everything that has just happened, but he can't bring himself to care all that much for once.
-
Abruptly the pressure in his head reaches an unbearable level and he forces himself to his feet. There are far too many people near him right now, as in more than zero people, and also one of those people sort of doesn't count as a separate person anymore, kinda, a little bit?
-
"Arright," he says, "good time, I"m out," and he staggers towards the door from the roof, too tired to run, but desperate to reach his room and lie down and not have to think any more for a while.
Aradia: She tries to sneak a glance at Dave for a moment, It was weird to think about whatever cosmic fusion happened in between them, or the fact how well she can understand him and rose and reading people. Her head starts to hurt again and she looks away staring out straight ahead of her. It was the first time she felt hyperaware of every twitch or nervous tick people around her where giving. She felt awake again not from getting sleep but more of the upload of information in her head. Seeing little details in people she never would have noticed, thinking things in different ways, it was weird to say the least.
~
She tried not to pay too much attention to whatever odd issue was happening in between Cronus and Rose but she did feel like Rose knew what she was doing. Her heart sinks a little hearing Sollux upset and acting so nervous and unsure. She had to weakly remind herself that it was better this way, even if it was hurting them both. She brings her attention back to Dave hearing him speak and stagger off, he must have been a lot more exhausted from the fusion thing than her. She gives a small nod “I think I might go too my room too, try and think things over.” She mumbles trailing off a little, emphasis on try after all there was a lot to think over and figure out.
Rose: It takes all of her willpower not to applaud as the cigarettes plummet to the ground. She manages it, though, and silently pats herself on the back for managing a feat of such magnitude. Five stars, Lalonde! You've completed your daily requirements of good deeds for the day, 1/1 slots filled. Sure, she should avoid going against his word and get Ampora a glass of water, but do you know what's a lot more important? Trailing Dave to make sure he doesn't collapse on his way downstairs. She's not obligated to, right? It might keep him from getting someone to kill her in her sleep, but abstaining from mocking him for losing his addictive accessory had already filled her quota. Hell, bothering to ask at all did. She musters up the most apologetic look she can manage. "Ah, my bad, I think I'd better go make sure he's alright. Have a good one." Instantly, she turns on her heel and rushes down the stairs before anyone can protest.
Cronus: He watched his precious smokes fall down off the ceiling and on to the ground below. Rest in piece pack 104. You will be gone but not forgotten. He can still feel his throat and eyes burning a little bit. "Yeah, later I guess." He watches Rose takee off like a bullet while just leaving him to dry. Well great. He needed some fucking water and the one person who actually offered to help bailed on him. He then looked at Captor, still looking like his pumper was pulled out of his chest and stepped on repeatedly. Cronus knows that feel. "Hey, you alright over there man? I don't mean harm, I just thought if you needed to talk it out I'm here for you." Hopefully Sollux would get the memo that Cronus was trying to help out. But then again Sollux is still probably gonna be a pissbaby.
Sollux: I hate to break this to you, but Sollux is a piss baby. He keeps quiet while makes hurried exits, including Aradia, frowning but trying not to look too much like a kicked puppy. He just sighs a little, shrugging. "I'll be okay. What about you?"
Cronus: He walks over to Sollux and plops right down next to him. "I'll be fine too. THough I can't say the same for parts of me. I feel like neck up is on fire." He pats Sollux on the back very friendly like. "If you ever need to talk look me up, chief. You may not like me but I'll grow on you." He gets up and walks down to his room and plops in his bed. Nighty night douchebag.
Sollux: He just huffs a little at that, rolling his eyes. Yeah right. It's a kind enough sentiment, but he doubts it's true, or that Cronus would be the right person to go to anyway. Sighing, he just flops back, frowning a little. Going down stairs seems like way too much right now; he's emotionally strung out and tired and just wants to sleep... his eyes flutter shut as he sighs. Fuck it. Maybe he just will.
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