biiowiired: iim ok (plank)
The Ψiioniic / The Helmsman ([personal profile] biiowiired) wrote in [community profile] thearena2015-10-01 02:41 am

It's another tequila sunrise

Who| Commander Shepard [personal profile] earthborn, Karkat Vantas [personal profile] crabmunicator, and The Ψiioniic
What| Carnival, nerve gas, killing a bicyclops, death car ride, murderdeath sunlight, undead, thresher maw, and awkward conversations about clowns
Where| Alternian Carnival, Alternian desert, Earth desert, the Normandy
When| dawn of the second day (sep 29)
Warnings/Notes| gore decorations, PTSDness, mention of murder and torture including whipping, not!lusus death, aliens shrieking about the sun, a goddamn thresher maw
crabmunicator: (082)

wow I'm alive terribly sorry for the wait

[personal profile] crabmunicator 2015-10-08 05:58 pm (UTC)(link)
You know Imperial Drones? Those big, hulking monsters made of chitin and spikes? The terror and danger laced into every troll as a part of growing up and learning their place in society?

The thing about those was that, when one was after your heels, it was a bit hard to think of where to go. Karkat had only found one by chance, after an equally unexpected encounter with a Mother Grub. Being in this copy of the Alternia just meant he had to explore, though, and to explain to Maglev about where he came from. He hadn't been trying to find the literal origin of trolls; it had just been there, massive and white and bewildering as anything. But there were no Mother Grubs without Imperial Drones to serve them, and when the sound of one hit his ears, he didn't wait to see it before telling Maglev to run.

He ran, too, of course. He ran with such fear in his heart that it wasn't until bright colors and the scent of blood cropped up that he could think to stop. Stupid, stupid, fucking stupid--but a drone would have killed him, no question, just for being the mutant he is. Here, though, other fears swelled up like a wave he couldn't see until it was already arched over him.

As already proved, fear wasn't good for thinking straight.

He stumbled and blundered, breath caught seizing in his lungs, eyes blown wide at the sight of tents, bones, rainbows marked in blood paint. Reels of memories and babbling thoughts rolled through his head, your fault your fault all your fault over a background of Gamzee's face, Initiate's, the Grand Highblood from an encounter during the week of dreams.

On high alert for sight of twisting, orange horns, seeing a set made in pairs hardly stopped him long enough to remember his last conversation with the owner. Instead he scrambled over to the collapsed Psiioniic, dropped to a crouch, and took his hand to tug. "Move! Move! We have to get out of here!"
earthborn: (fall like a thunderbolt)

arrives at starbucks, late, with coffee from another starbucks

[personal profile] earthborn 2015-10-20 02:37 am (UTC)(link)
One thing Shepard never really parsed was the fear of clowns. Most people feared them because something outwardly cheerful, meant to comfort, to amuse, was too obviously an illusion, too clearly the strange man beneath the paint, and all his foibles and in-born violence. That made some people feel vulnerable, made them forget the illusion for the favor of vigilance.

Not Shepard, she knew the truth; you can kill men, but icons are immortal.

So, it was about the time that Karkat was coughing his way through a half failed rescue, surrounded by tentcloth and rising miasma, that Shepard arrived. The first sign of her arrival was a rising growl under the hiss of gas and the carnival atmosphere, rising like anger and fire. The tent stretched and tore, snagged on the rugged chassis of the vehicle, tent-poles were torn from the ground, and the air cleared in a venomous cloud as clean air rushed to follow the arc of fabric and exhaust. Commander Shepard was not the worse driver in the world, but it was a close competition, and she had never been the kind of woman to settle for second place; the real miracle was that, in tearing down the tent, she hadn't struck either of the trolls inside.

It wasn't a subtle entrance. But then, was she ever?
crabmunicator: (066)

[personal profile] crabmunicator 2015-10-26 01:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Holy shit, holy shit, fuck everything. Not only was the asshole at his feet not answering, but the rasping chokes suggested it was physically beyond him at the moment. Probably why it was beyond him to stand up at the moment.

"Fuck, come on, we don't have time--"

Not the least before tearing fabric and a roar took over his hearing, tearing a bluntly terrified scream from Karkat as he scrambled off to the other side of the Psiioniic. He couldn't just leave him, but oh god, oh god, what if it was the Grand Highblood, come back to kill him for real instead of just in his dreams and here he was fucking up someone else's life in the process and--

Car. It was a car. A big, spiky, monstrous, fuck-off car. Karkat choked audibly on his surprise, coughed, and straightened to see what Psii was already saluting: Commander Jane Shepard behind the wheel.

He let go of Psii's hand and stomped over to the door.

"WHAT IN THE MOST BEFOULED SLAUGHTERHOUSE TORTURE PIT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, YOU CRAZY HELL BITCH? My blood pusher is currently clawing itself viscerally from the tatters of my rapidly expanding and collapsing bone cage in a grand virtuoso fuck you performance dedicated to the stunt you just pulled. You could have killed us! You could have run us over, or impaled us on the absolutely superfluous amalgamation of death spikes dotting the surface of the murder machine you just drove in here like your crackle-skinned husk owned the place! Do you even know where you are? Do you know what the actual hell is going on? I am sick of insane women nearly murdering me to death with their scuttle buggies!"

Here at the end he turned to the side, arms splayed out, eyebrows raised in a silent can you believe this shit? to Psii.
earthborn: (now is the time to fight)

[personal profile] earthborn 2015-10-26 05:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Shepard considered this mutual tirade with all due solemnity.

It was pretty good! A little weak around the overly-verbose description of Karkat's belabored ribs, but over all, not much to complain about. Psii added a lot of style with the interpretive fuck you dance, a classic, and the kid had a talent for saying shit that Shepard would have paid good credits to see printed on a mug. Scuttle buggies. Heh.

"Are you gonna get in, or are you two going to keep bitching until I leave your skinny grey asses hanging out for the clowns?"
crabmunicator: (053)

[personal profile] crabmunicator 2015-11-02 08:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Karkat's belabored libs were the best part, you tasteless swine.

As for Karkat himself, he would have gotten in the car but for the twitchy mustard packet and his troubles with the stairs. He found the handle, got it open, but getting in? Not with this douchebag eating up attention.

Not that he was mad at him for it. The Psiioniic was just a douchebag anyway, as a default state of being. Karkat was sure of it.

"I don't understand a word you're flapping at me. Come on, let me help you. Shepard, come drag this loser with me."

After locating the handle for one of the back doors, Karkat popped that open, then want to Psii to grab and try to haul him into a position of support. How much it would work depended on whether the spindly stick pile would cooperate, but if he wanted to struggle and be left for dead, that was his own problem. With any luck (and if Shepard would indeed come aid the process), they might be able to lurch him over into the back of the death machine.
earthborn: (warfare is based on deception)

[personal profile] earthborn 2015-11-02 09:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Ever-helpful, Shepard stretches out her arm and snags Psii by one limb. He's a stick figure made of bones, and his edges are made of papercuts, but despite his alternately limp and flailing nature, she's able to drag him into the back seat by dint of main force. All those chin-ups weren't for nothing, after all; he's not heavy enough to stop her.

"C'mon, let's move, Vantas! Trust you two to find the world's shittiest camp-out on day one."
crabmunicator: (020)

[personal profile] crabmunicator 2015-11-08 09:59 am (UTC)(link)
Thank fuck that went easy, or as easy as things ever got around here. Karkat huffed after slinging the Psiioniic in, but wasted not further time before climbing into the front. Doors shut tight, seat belt... Did this thing have a seat belt? If it had a seat belt he'd cinch it tight, but otherwise he'd set himself up to pray for easy death if death were incoming.

"I wasn't planning on it," he snapped back to Shepard. "I--"

Could talk another time. He froze, hearing the same footsteps Psii did, then added an emphatic nod to his rough order. Better silent than dead.
earthborn: (a warcrime in progress)

[personal profile] earthborn 2015-11-12 12:44 am (UTC)(link)
She had a good one all lined up, but when the Psiionic panicked, and Karkat followed suit, Shepard didn't say a damn thing. There was being an ass, and then there was just plain old cocky, and that second one wasn't survivable.

Shepard pushed the pedal down until it clicked and the buggy took off as if it had been kicked. Dust and turf flew up in their wake, and the tentcloth flared away like a demented pair of wings, briefly snagged on one of the spiked protrusions before it tore and flew away. Shepard took a corner around one of the carnival tents like a madwoman, skidding in a wide, wild arc.

"Do I get to know what's chasing us, or is this some kind of surprise party," She snarled over the engine's growl, "Because I hate surprise parties."
crabmunicator: (107)

[personal profile] crabmunicator 2015-11-14 05:42 am (UTC)(link)
What was after them? A good question, but not one Karkat could clearly answer. Clowns said his brain. Subjugglators, indigos, maybe the Grand fucking Highblood come to murder him for real this time. He shuddered in his seat and tried to find his tongue to answer with, but Psii piped up first.

Karkat craned his neck then, turning as he could with the seat belt to try to see, and indeed, he knew the same. Two heads, tall, eyes in Captor red and blue. Then Psii was saying to stop, scrabbling at the door, and--

"No! Nonononono, we don't stop, we're not stopping! This is the Carnival, you panblasted fuck! That's not your real lusus, it's--it's a copy, there's several, I've seen more of them already--" His head whipped back to Shepard, eyes wide and panicky again. "Don't you dare stop. I'm not dying here!"
earthborn: (you're damned right)

[personal profile] earthborn 2015-11-14 04:15 pm (UTC)(link)
"Sure you are," She grit, under her breath, leaning against the suspension and the pull of inertia. Life was so much easier with mass effect engines, have no doubt-- Shepard raised her voice above the engine, "Vantas so help me you will get a grip, or I will drive this car into a wall!"

Or into another tent, as the case may be. Momentarily blinded by brightly-colored canvas and bright lights beyond, the buggy fishtailed to a stop, facing the direction they had come. The ten was enormous. Well, it wasn't the biggest one here, by some margin, but it was large enough that their screeching halt had landed them precisely in the center, with room to spare.

The hole in the canvas gaped in front of them, ripped right up to the tentpoles, and the scraps waved at them like loose teeth, ready to be torn. Shepard revved the motor; it was all academic now.

Whatever was chasing them, it was about to come.
crabmunicator: (082)

good job guys, the crab is useless with panic

[personal profile] crabmunicator 2015-11-21 01:36 pm (UTC)(link)
If there was one thing to shut him up, it was yet more Carnival. Karkat scrunched down in his seat as if the tent fabric could attack him itself, and the swerving of the car on through didn't raise his hopes. Still, somehow, none of them died.

It didn't mean Psii wasn't making a valiant attempt.

Karkat jolted back up. The car was stopped, the door open, the Psiioniic outside and trying-but-failing to yell at his ersatz lusus. Karkat quaked.

"Shep--Shepard, no, Shepard, we can't, we can't, go, go get him back, make him come back. We have to leave!" Not looking at her, he reached over, trying to latch hold of her arm or sleeve. She could just as easily have slipped out in the meanwhile, but even then he wouldn't stop yelling. "It's not safe here, we can't. We can't stay. They're, th-they're going to come for us, I don't, I don't want to die, there's subjugglators. They'll send in the Grand Highblood again, he was right, but I don't, I want to die, I don't want you to die!"
Edited 2015-11-21 13:36 (UTC)
earthborn: (batton your hatches)

itp: "Mica stop listening to the Fury Road soundtrack on repeat."

[personal profile] earthborn 2015-11-25 02:35 am (UTC)(link)
That would have been sweet, if Shepard had heard it. Later, when she was reviewing the footage, it'd be downright adorable. But for now, Shepard's blood was up, and all she saw was this;

The creature leaned into its run with arms extended to grab, a face (faces) grimacing with rage. She could hear the aggression in its voices, the timbre of stance and the distance between them. Velocity, attitude, attitude, distance, speed, inertia. Her spacer mind knew without math that it wasn't going to stop. It was going to kill him, if she didn't do something.

If.

The roar of the motor leapt up her legs like an extension of her will, pain forgotten, and the sound of Karkat's terror was lost under the current. The brave fear many things, but in courage lives that special ignorance shared by all petulant children; she ignored him, and released the brake.

And the car snarled into motion, throwing up sawdust and sand as it did, like a battering ram, like an onrushing bull made from steel and gasoline. And Shepard, her face was a death-mask, a rictus of bloody-minded triumph. Either that thing would die, or they all would; but damned if it weren't going to end in glory, either way.
earthborn: (win and then go to war)

[personal profile] earthborn 2015-11-30 02:54 pm (UTC)(link)
"Hate me all you want, you're not getting--"

You don't ever forget your first encounter with a Thresher Maw. There's a terrible, awkward sort of fluidity to the way they move, hoisting themselves above the ground like a snake, up, up, impossibly far up. How large must the underground portion be if the part you can see is more than twice as long as the car? No eyes, not a one, but it sees you all the same, turning the blind head and oh, the roar, the incandescent mouth, splitting open like no natural thing should. The grossly bulbous swell, preparing to spit deadly, acidic venom.

The moment she heard it, she knew. You never forget it.

"Thresher Maw! Brace for evasive maneuvers!"
crabmunicator: (053)

[personal profile] crabmunicator 2015-11-30 08:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Karkat didn't feel much better. Space ships said his first arena - first full arena, that was - and that one held too many unpleasant associations. Injuries, people dying, that fatal moment where he had let the Initiate into his mind. He wasn't jumpy but he was tense, and he couldn't resist scanning whatever room he went into like danger would find him if he didn't.

This room was fine. He didn't see anything apt to jump out, and he didn't hear anything else moving within the ship but Shepard and the Psiioniic.

He looked over as Psii settled beside him, then raised an eyebrow. "Helping you? What did I do but panic over something that didn't happen?"

Clown attacks, he meant. Even though nothing came of it, he still wouldn't want to go back.
Edited (better wording) 2015-11-30 21:03 (UTC)
crabmunicator: (013)

[personal profile] crabmunicator 2015-11-30 09:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Karkat had settled from hands pressed tight over his eyes to slumped in his seat. The sun wouldn't kill or blind him here, but the continued sand meant only that they had wound up on the exact opposite side of where he wanted to go. He wouldn't find Maglev any sooner if he'd just gone further from where he started. And who knew which way she and Luna had ran? He hadn't looked, hadn't watched, had been too scared by the imminent threat of what he thought he heard to even make sure they stuck together. How was he supposed to keep her alive like this? At least he was alive, but he wasn't the kind of troll to let that stop him worrying.

It took the noise to rouse him, but the sight of what followed easily cast off his mood for later. Like something out of a movie, the kind of horrible alien creature on a world being colonized, not yet wiped out by the noble Alternian forces - it looked almost unreal, but he knew better than to doubt it. The rattle of its emergence proved that enough.

"Oh my sweet Mother Grub's perpetually chafed taint, what the fuck--" Karkat yelped as the reason he should have braced himself hit him before he could do so, and his shoulder slammed against the car door. He did better then, found grips to hold onto, lodged his feet against what he could to help that way. His eyes, though, stayed wide, glued to the Thresher Maw so long as he could follow it.

"What the hell is that?! Shepard, what--how the fuck do we avoid that?"

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