thearena | Look who makes their own bed / Lies right down within it [Open]

Entry tags:

Look who makes their own bed / Lies right down within it [Open]

Who; Rose and Eridan, Rose and Bro, Rose and Open
What; Rose explores the mall, tries to stay out of trouble somewhat and fails. Then seeks help.
Where; All over the mall.
When; Through Week Two
WARNINGS; Violence in some threads.

The Locker Room

The scavenger hunt had just been something to pass the time for Rose, and in truth she hadn’t really expected much to come of it. She just had an itch to do something, anything, even if it was childish and pointless, and in the end it was better than killing. Right now she was merely waiting the others out, keeping an eye on Dave and Bro from a distance, but never interfering. Not yet, they were both functioning quite fine by themselves.

In truth, after those few weeks in prison, Rose is still finding herself quite rattled. Hence she tries to move quick and early, and as soon as the shutters go up she makes her way swiftly to the locker room. She’s noticed the one with her name on it, and even though nothing has appeared yet, it’s still worth checking.

And she’s glad she has today when she finds the and the box of ammo, Rose quick to push both into her satchel. It’s not her weapon of choice, and she has plenty of needles strapped to her person, but a weapon is a weapon and she may need it. Even if she didn’t, she wouldn’t leave it here for anyone to take.

The Food court

The food court is the next stop, but Rose holds back. She lets others pick over things, waits until everything's almost gone, food and people alike before moving. She’s used to eating little, prone to going into intense states of writing where she forgets about her basic needs, and prison only helped to shrink her stomach some more. So she doesn’t need that much, she can survive on the left overs.

But as soon as she’s happy with how clear the coast is she moves, quick and light on her feet as she races to get what little left there is.

The bookshop

The bookshop is another pointless shop but Rose’s curiosity finally wins out and she slips in, scanning the shelves for what she wants. It’s not that hard to find it, not when the cover is emblazoned with her face and Rose resists the urge to roll her eyes as she picks her biography up, guard still up even as she opens it.

It’s really nothing new to her, Rose used to rumours and lies around her. An accusation of witchcraft here, a cry of evil lesbian there, all of it is very mundane to her. Still she skims the pages, a slight smirk of amusement forming for just a second, twisting the brand on her cheek slightly. But just as soon as it forms she sees it, the words Roselyn and her nose crinkles in disgust. Ugh. Ugh, they just had to do that, didn’t that?

The sound of the page being torn out is a risk, but Rose takes it all the same, dropping that first book to pick up a second and turn to the same page, repeating the destruction again.

The Homestuck shop

The bookshop gives her a thought, and so Rose seeks out the other shop she knows of. Searching the bookshop hadn’t turned up any copies of her series, and it’s a long shot perhaps but she’s curious all the same. And so she goes to the shop that seems to cater to those of her universe, casting a look of disgust at the troll themed merchandise as she passes it. It’s childish perhaps to reach out and push a stand of horns on headbands over, but there’s no denying the urge and it did make her feel a little better. Slightly, but still something.

Up the back she seems to find things that cater to her. Lipsticks of varying shades of black and blackish purple, which she pockets a few of. Needles of varying kinds, cat plushies and wizard things. Even a martini glass or two, but she finds what she wants all the same. Complacency is a series of thick tomes, just like she planned them to be, and she can’t help but smile sadly as she pulls one from the shelf. Part of her life’s work is in her hands, and even though she knows it all by heart, knows what will happen in the volumes she hasn’t yet published she can’t help the shred of homesickness that hits her.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

She hadn’t actively been seeking the troll out, but she’d be lying if she claimed she hadn’t been paying attention to where they all are. But in truth she’s mostly been avoiding them, if only to keep Dave off her case. Let them get picked off by others for now, she’ll deal with whatever’s left in a week or so.

And perhaps in truth, she has softened slightly. Prison had shown her Terezi was just a young girl in truth, so she’s reconsidering her views somewhat. Only in regards to the youths of course, she doesn’t trust a single of the older ones as far as she can throw them.

The sea trolls is new though, and so when Rose does look up and see him there she just raises a brow, studying him with a neutral, blank expression. She doesn’t go for her needles, not yet, but she’s aware of them, and if need she knows she can draw them as quick as one can blink. But she gives him a second of doubt, speaking up.

“If your pursuing a fight, it's in your best interest to leave now.” She shifts, still studying him again. "I won't warn you again."

Stupid. So incredibly stupid. She should have buried a needle in that stupid troll as soon as she saw him. Should have drawn her gun and let the bullet fly. Through gritted teeth Rose hisses, one hand pressed to her shoulder. The black turtleneck hides the blood at least, but she can feel it on her skin, warm and sticky, and she knows she needs to dig the bullet out if she wants to last in this stupid game.

So she goes to the one place she can think of. Carefully she makes her way to the lingerie shop, hoping that some small shred of luck is on her side and that he’s still there as she makes her way through the doors. Ignoring the throbbing in her shoulder she keeps her gun drawn, though she doubts she can do little more than look slightly threatening with it at the moment.

“Bro?” She tries to be no louder than she must when she calls out, scanning the shop and her shoulder pulses again, warm and painful and the blood is slick on her fingers, matching the streak of purple across one cheek. “Are you still in here or am I just making myself look like an idiot?”

Eridan knew about there being a Rose here, though he wasn't privy to the fact she's far older than the one he once spoke to long ago. When he does see her, she's almost unfamiliar due to age alone, but the hair, the facial structure, it all rings familiar and he puts the pieces together fairly quickly.

It leaves him with the taste of bile in his mouth just looking at her.

His hands tighten on his gun, and he's left considering just taking her out then and there, a nice clean shot right at her, a spray of blood from the wound would be pretty fucking satisfying, he thinks. Her, crumpled over in pain, eventually dying before him like the worthless sack of flesh she is--

His train of thought interrupted when she calls out to him. He can't help but sneer at her, as if he'd ever heed her warning. Please.

"I really don't think a ape like you knows what's in the best interest of a seadweller." He retorts sternly. He wastes no time aiming his gun, and firing. He's gotten better, at least, more accustomed to the lighter weight of the gun, and lesser kickback. He's not aiming to kill right now, of course, no. He wants to watch her suffer.

As it happens, luck is on her side for once. He's there, doing his usual thing. It's become his home away from home, so he's pretty much made the place into his own little paradise. His presence isn't immediately apparent, bending behind the counter where he keeps his scavenged loot. So it's only when she speaks up that he really notices she's there.

Of course he doesn't realize she's actually injured or anything, so he'll take a moment to be a dumbass. "This is Bro's automated messaging service. He is currently away being fucking awesome."

He throws his voice and everything, making it sound distant.

Dave has spent a good portion of this Arena bouncing around and bumping into people. It's felt more like a social mixer than a death match so far, even accounting for the punch ups and fights. All teen drama, really. And who better to involve in teen drama than Dave's good friend Sollux, who he finds wandering around with a bottle of gin

With some pestering, he has the troll wandering up to the Homestuck store in the hopes of finding something to embarrass him with. He's pretty much yammering the entire time whether Sollux likes it or not, but he falls silent to peer around and into the store carefully. He spots Rose quickly and he feels a hunch of awkwardness, both for the fact that he hadn't seen her since jail and the fact that he has yet another troll with him.

The fact that he steps forward despite someone being in there is a solid indicator that this person is an ally, he honestly doesn't know if Sollux will know her, but he gives his sleeve a pull forward anyway.

"Hey." Ah, the ever eloquent starter. "This one is good too." He points at Sollux before they can even ask about it.

She gives him a little more of her time, studying him closer and she spots the weapon. A gun, of course. She has her own sure, a pistol, but she still finds herself preferring needles. Guns can make it quick and clean sure, and while she knows she can use one, she still doesn't find the same confidence in it as others may.

But he has her full attention now, Rose aware he may not have her same uncertainties, especially not with the way he seems to hold it with such ease. She's thankful for that when he fires, her reflexes quick as she jerks to the side to avoid the bullet and she follows the movement through, twisting to put a bookshelf between them.

She knew it. She always knew it, despite what Dave has tried to say. Trolls, they're just as violent as the batterwitch is, and a part of her half wonders if that's just a trait this type shares. Seadweller he called himself, and it seems fitting to describe the one she knows.

But there's no real time to ponder as she starts to slip further down the row of shelves, drawing her needles. Her gun is still in her bag, her bag she so stupidly left on the floor, but these are strapped to her thighs and these will be enough. And even though it's not wise she speaks up, pausing just a second. "Don't I? Because really, right now it seems in your best interest to either leave or expire right here." And she moves quite quickly after that, not leaving the chance of him pinpointing where her voice is out there.

There's a throb of annoyance that flares with him with his casual remark, Rose gritting her teeth and burying her temper as she puts more pressure to her shoulder. "I don't have time for games right now, sorry, so will the real Bro please stand up."

All the same she heads to where she thinks the voice is going from, eyes peeled for either him or anyone else who may be hanging out in this place. And honestly it pains her pride a little to admit it, but it may be the easiest way to get him to show up so she calls out again, feeling too exposed in this store with all it's hiding places. "I need some help."

Sollux still has his weapons from him on this outing. He went off to the lockers to check in case Feferi got anything more this week, and checked his own on a whim; to his surprise, there was the gin and a note from Jolie. It tasted fucking awful and he failed to understand why anyone would want it.

Still, if it had some use, he might as well bring it around, which is why he had it in hand when Dave found him. He still had his bucket of ice skates (which also served home to his box of bullets) and the revolver he'd received from the scavenger hunt, tucked stupidly in the waist of the jeans he'd nabbed most recently. He's armed and ridiculous.

This whole trip was Dave's idea, by the way. Stupid fucking Homestuck store, stupid nubslurping human dressed up with one, stupid goddamn fake ass crap. The journey's been spent with much complaint from his end, but compliance nonetheless, and now he finds himself gazing with boredom at the displays. He'd be more on edge, but after a couple weeks of no worse than angry roombas and a shock he brought on himself to worry about, it's hard to be as paranoid as he started.

Well, until he spots a chick there. Sollux joins Dave in that hunch, and his eyebrows scrunch up when his friend actually walks forward--and tugs him too? He'd swat at his hand if it didn't mean smacking him with a glass bottle or his bucket (gleaned from this very store, no less).

"What?" He looks between them, stubbornly not stepping forward, tug or no. "Who ith thith?"

He doesn't know what 'this one is good too' means precisely, but he doesn't protest it. As far as he knows it's a generic this-person-won't-try-to-kill-you, which is accurate.

There are rare times when Bro can cut his shit out and get serious, and when he hears her vaguely annoyed tone he realizes that there's probably something up. It's only clarified when she says as much, so he pulls himself up from behind the counter and rests his hands on the counter. "What happened now?" he asks, his voice a little unimpressed. "You just can't stay your ass out of trouble, can you?"

His voice throwing trick naturally threw her off into the wrong direction, so she turns sharply when he speaks up again. She draws breath sharply at the way it makes the world tilt and she's more and more aware that she needs the bullet out as soon as possible, her blood all over the hand pressed to her shoulder, giving away what the black sweater does not.

"Would you believe that I didn't even start it this time?" Her smile is too sharp, one that's half made of pain. "I didn't hit the troll first, he hit me. Surely that counts for some sort of growth. An I told you so at least?"

Complacency is strangely enough the thing to make her feel some measure of homesickness. Complacency was part of her life's work, a series of length tomes filled with whatever clues she could work in there. Subtext regarding the Batterwitch and her goals, woven into the tapestry of her novel with great care. But with even more importance is the references to the game, references few will pick up on. It's her life's work because it's supposed to be Roxy's inheritance. Supposed to be the help Rose won't be able to give in person.

She's still flicking through it when they come in and she supposes that's why she misses Dave come in at first, her body snapping to attention when he speaks up and she slams the book closed between her hands with a sharp snap. Quickly the mask of passive indifference slides back into place, and she's careful to place the book as she glances to them, her instinctual hackles raising at the sight of a troll.

"You're collecting quite a group," she says casually, glancing to Dave before back to Sollux and even if it's slight she nods all the same. "But fine."

She fixes Sollux with more of a look, studying him carefully, trying to put the pieces together and bring back a vague memory. "Rose," she says after a moment of consideration, frowning slightly. "Different timeline to Dave's and assumably, your own?"

The only reply her initial question gets is a skeptical grunt. On one hand, he wants to believe her but on the other, she doesn't exactly have a sunny disposition. Anything is possible when it comes to Rose. But his expression darkens when she mentions a troll. A male troll. He feels like he must already know who it is, but he'll let her tell him. "Which one?" is all he asks, stepping out from around the counter so he can get closer. "I ain't got jack shit to perform surgery with, I hope you realize." He's acquired some stuff, of course, but not a full medical kit.

Dave keeps relaxed, even as Rose snaps to attention. He trusts Sollux not to start shit by doing something crazy like, who knows, biting Rose. The only cause for concern is the fact that he feels bad for taking this long to find her.

"I spent three years alone with them, my examination process is airtight." He won't mention that he deems one that was minutes away from trying to kill him as a 'good one', but he will offer Sollux a look that implies he'll explain better later.

"Yeah, old Rose." He tacks onto Rose's introduction, leaving Sollux to introduce himself without any preemptive interruptions.

Sollux looks between them as they give their answers in turn, and wishes Dave could unload the info now just so he wouldn't feel so lost.

"Thollukth, and don't copy the lithp," he says, finally stepping forward the way Dave tried to pull him earlier. "I've never met any Rothe tho thith ith frankly going over my head."

Different timeline does... help? It gives him a little comfort in being the odd one out on the understanding front, but as he said, he never did meet Rose. Dave's the only one he even bothered to observe much before Terezi shoved him off to claim him for herself.

She had been trying at the very least, if only to keep Dave off her back. Sure most of that had been her generally avoiding the trolls in the tower, but she had made an effort to talk to Terezi when they were taken in. It was more than she had would have been willing to do before she came here, and she should at the very least get points for that. "Purple in his hair. Stupid fins like the Batterwitch so I suppose that would make him high up." She steps closer to him in turn, hand still pressed to shoulder and the smile she gives him seems a little too raw. "Not even a needle and thread? But how will you plague the people with pornographic puppets here?"

"I know how well you examine things, I'll chose not to trust them completely." Not so much in regards to trolls, sure, but she can make an extrapolation from the Alpha Dave's methods and her memories.

Again she turns her attention back to the trolls, frowning at his request. Thollukth, without the lisp so... Sollux or Solluxs she assumes. Assumes and doesn't really care that much, she can always wait for Dave to say it, or just not say it herself. There are other things to focus on right now, like the fact he doesn't know her but does know Dave and Rose's brow quirks in surprise.

"Well then I guess introductions are both needed and pointless, aren't they?" She sighs softly, because she really doesn't care about explaining to a troll who she is. "I was one of the other humans who played in Dave's session. You guys still bothered me, but I believe it mostly came from one with green text? Kanaya, I believe." She knows, rather, but she choses not to acknowledge how much the other Rose knew that particular troll. "Of course that is an alternate version of myself and I am in fact from another version where I was supposed to be the guardian to a different player."

All it takes is for the word "Purple" to leave her lips and he knows exactly who it is. He's getting real sick of this troll's shit and he's gonna have to try and do something about it one of these days. But not now, because Rose needs him to fix her up and that's the priority right now. "Well, that's my secret ain't it?" he asks, giving a small smirk as he says so, trying to force a little normalcy to the situation. "But yeah, hang tight." He's moving to grab the needle and thread and whatever else he can to clean the wound with. "Siddown, too. That's probably a better idea than standing."

She can tell by his expression that he recognises the description, and it only makes her grimance again. So it wasn't just a one off, not that she really entertained that line of thought. But at least now she has something to shove at Dave to prove that perhaps she's a little justified in feeling the way she does.

Snorting at his response, Rose goes to take a seat, pushing satin lingere off a bench before letting her weight fall into it. "I look forward to your triumphant victory as the masses drown in plush ass. It will truly be a victory for the ages, will bring a tear to man woman and child." she's trying to make it as normal as she can too as she shifts a little, peeling the fabric of her shirt away from her skin with gritted teeth, her face whitening slightly at each little tug the dried blood makes.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Look who makes their own bed / Lies right down within it [Open]

Locked to Eridan

Locked to Bro

no subject

no subject

homestuck store

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject