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telematicsabiotrophy · 2 years

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==> The First Day

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 It was late february, and Karkat Vantas Strider had been badgering his pitch to come over for pitch ceremonies and rituals and who was he kidding, he just wanted to smooch his kismesis and give him a gift, a gift that happened to be a pair of socks. Not just any socks, though, a pair of socks that were in a very special box. See, one sock said, 'If you can read this' and the other sock said 'Bring me some coffee'. But they were in one of those fake product prank boxes- One which advertised a product called Cargo Socks. The box advertised a thick, durable cargo sock made out of genuine reclaimed softball jersey, with the slot between the first two toes slitted to fit flip flops, and of course, a large cargo pocket on the side.

He had been excited to give it to him, excited more still to receive his own gift, and now that all that was done, it had been time for lunch, lunch that was cooked by Cronus, who had made Lux's favorite- Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.

After lunch, of course, it was time for the main event- Karkat had wanted to take Nova back with him to the underpass house, with the other psions. He had been accumulating some stuff for them he thought they might need, and with Nova here, it was a perfect time to go back and deliver some goodies. For Karkat, he mostly had stories and such to deliver- The trolls weren't exactly low on money with Kahnans hobby, though they didn't flip cars SO often that they were really well off, and of course, they all ate a ridiculous amount... But, they appreciated it anyway. And he brought them stuff they might need anyway- Medicine and books and bits and bobs he thought they might need or might love...

Except this time, Nova had something to bring them too, something to pack away in the backpacks Karkat was currently filling full of stuff to give away.

Diggy — 01/02/2022 Nova actually had his gift in his own backpack, the battery was heavy and he was intent on carrying it and many bags of snacks on his back himself. His backpack was galaxy themed, and he was practically bouncing in his toes with excitement as he watched his kismesis pack things away.

He'd brought his kismesis a set of tiny four season paintings, of them being affectionate with each other- none of his paintings included fine lines, but this time he'd made stencils of the two of them to put in in gold and red.. and of course the chocolates with one hot pepper filling among them in a spade shaped box. He laughed when he got the socks out, delighted by them.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Karkat was quick with packing, he knew Nova was excited, knew Nova had packed tons of Alternian-themed snacks for The Guys, as Karkat called them...

Karkat had eaten one of the chocolates already, he had not realized the full extent of that gift, he was going to save them, he said, and eat one everytime he was thinking of Nova.

The presents had been nice and everyone had gotten a grin from the funny box and Dirk especially seemed to know Exactly What The Deal Was with the chocolates KK had been given, when Dave went to steal one he had gently tapped his hand and shook his head, and that was that.

Now, though, Karkat had his hand on the door and was just about to open it when... Lux's hand pushed his own away.

The little pawfoot was standing there, watching Lux and looking... confused, conflicted, and curious. The Three C's. 'Nova...' He began. 'Can I ask... What that thing is, you're taking?'

Diggy — 01/02/2022 He hesitated, perking his ears at Lux. "-II have a vehiicle battery and 2ome 2nack2." It wasn't like, a big deal or something he needed to keep hidden. Except it would be a big deal to guys, but still not in a way that needed to be hidden from Lux or anyone.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Lux looked briefly confused, he even looked taken aback. '--- A vehicle battery? Like for your runoff?' He lifted his shirt to show his belt, confused, Karkat's got his hand on the door, he's Also looking confused. Why is Lux......?

'It's not... gonna explode or anything if you put too much in it, right?'

Diggy — 01/02/2022 "iit2 rechargable but iit2 not for me." he wiggled his ears. "And nah iit wont explode iit can take a lot. -Everythiing okay?" Sudden worry, had Lux Seen something he hadn't seen? Was anxiety visions or just anxiety and excitment about seeing the guys? It was always hard to tell.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Lux shrugged gently. '-- I dunno, I,' He stopped a moment, thought hard for a moment longer. 'I guess so? It's just a bit... louder today, and I noticed you had something electronic in your bag, so I thought I'd ask.' He shrugs a little at Nova, and Karkat relaxes a tiny bit. 'I just wasn't sure if there was some interconnection or whatever, or if it's some tech that's throwing me off. We all know I'm sensitive an stuff.'

Diggy — 01/02/2022 "II'll be careful." he promised him. "Bad feeliing2 are iimportant two lii2ten two." Especially for a prophet

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Lux gave him a little smile, before whispering, '... Do you have any of those little powdered mealworms?' He'd ask, with a tiny little eyebrow wiggle. This made Karkat snicker and cover his mouth, he opens the door and waits for Nova to come with him. (edited)

Diggy — 01/02/2022 He waggled his eyebrows back. "II 2ure do." ..he slips him a little snack pack with a wink. Time to head out with Karkat

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Lux looks delighted, he takes the pack and flops over the back of the couch where Cronus is, and they can juuust hear the beginnings of a gentle bickering over the snacks before Karkat shuts the door behind them and off they go!

As they walk, Karkat grins back at him, "How much did ya bring? You know Mags is going to like, eat your whole backpack, right?"

Diggy — 01/02/2022 "Ehehe, ha2 he been a2kiing about the 2nack2? II brought a bunch" He was cheerful, a bounce in his step, and grateful that the weather has started to warm up, to give his achey joints some relief.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 "Not enough, but like, you know him," Karkat snickered. "He'll smell them on you from a mile away, I won't be surprised if he meets us outside. You know they really like you." He hasn't introduced them to Lux yet, or they'd be bringing Lux with them. "--- I seriously hope you're not too attached to that backpack though," He teases, and gently punches him on the shoulder. "Troll drool doesn't wash out."

Diggy — 01/02/2022 He snorted at him and hip bumped him. "II'm 2ure my backpack wiill 2urviive. - II'm glad they liike me." Soft and shy with perked ears.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Karkat hip bumped him back, giggling, then ran off. "Cmon. We're not taking the bus today. It'll take us longer, but I don't wanna worry Lux." It's not as warm as it could be, but the snow is gone from the streets and everything is just Dry. Dry and a little nippy in the air. "I had Stat stash something for me at one of the coffee houses down the street, it oughta help us anyway, and I've been meaning to see if it's a good method of travel for us."

Diggy — 01/02/2022 His ears perked forward with a curious chirp and he ran after him, trying to keep up just on foot, KK may have to slow down.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 KK isn't running too fast, just to the corner. He darts around a fence, there are people now so he has to be cautious, and he comes out- With a longboard! It's one of Stat's, Nova will notice, it's his yellow smiley face one. He sets it down, and motions to it. "Get on." uh

Diggy — 01/02/2022 Hes super curious, looking at the longboard, which hes never used, tilted his head, chirping, but then humoured him and carefully got on.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Karkat reaches his hands out around Nova's waist, and helps to steady him a bit. "Okay. Stat showed me this one time.... Self propulsion with psionics. All you have to do is make yourself go forward, and the longboard will keep you upright. Don't worry, I'll catch ya if you tip." He stood just next to him, watching, hovering his hands around Nova's waist just in case. "To turn, you lean into the turn."

Diggy — 01/02/2022 " 2hiit, okay-" he started out tentatively. pushing himself with his psii while balanced on the board, the turning was going to be the tricky part and he anticipated spilling a couple of times.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Karkat will grin and watch him, and gently take his hands and pull him about until he gets the hang of it.

He'll let him fall (once, and he'll catch him before he REALLY tumbles) before he hands him his backpack and opens it to a pocket where Nova can see Stat's heated knee and elbow pads!

Diggy — 01/02/2022 He made a face as he got back up with Karkat's help, and curiously held the back and- oh! The safety gear! His ears perked excitedly.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Karkat winked at him and helped him put the pads on, kneeling down to wrap the straps around his clothes. Those will help his joints with the walking and also stop him from getting banged up too much if he falls again. "Alright, ready to haul ass?"

Diggy — 01/02/2022 "yeah, let2 do thii2, II'll try not two tiip u2 over and eat 2iidewalk" he snickered.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Karkat snickered back and stepped in front of him. "Right, I've actually ridden one of these before, so. Put your arms around my waist and just focus on propulsion, okay? Keep us going slow, but not too slow.. It's like flying, but skimming the ground probably I'll focus on turning." He steps onto the board and grabs Nova's hands and makes Nova hold his waist. "Get niiice and close," He teased at him.

Diggy — 01/02/2022 He squeezed and held on tight where his arms were placed- and kissed the side of Karkat's neck. "Liike thii2?" Thank fuck Karkat was going to be steering. "Tell me when on the 2peed."

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Karkat bristled gently, fluff standing on end as he blushed, and he nodded. "Yep, like that. Now bend your knees a little... and give her some gas," He said, and he used one leg to kick off, and they were rolling down the sidewalk. Slowly! But they were going, all Nova had to do was add a bit of energy to it. "Remember to keep your knees bent and lean into the turns, you ever been snowboarding or watched snowboardin videos? It's like that."

Diggy — 01/02/2022 "II havent but II wiill do my be2t." he bent his knees and leaned into Karkat, holding tight- and gave her the gas, ramping up the speed quickly, just slowly enough Karkat will be able to tell him 'enough'

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 They were zooming now, Karkat would focus on turning, he would tell them to slow down when they approached roads, how was this less dangerous than taking the bus?? He would enjoy himself though, they would be cruising along at a nice speed for a while, eventually Karkat would turn his head to ask if Nova was okay, could keep this up, etcetera.

Diggy — 01/02/2022 Nova Did love going fast recklessly down the sidewalk, slowing and stopping at crossing areas, he was grinning and assured him he could, easily.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 And then they were off again, this will take them some extra time, it will be an hour before Nova can see the overpass and the fenced yard of tires and junk around the warehouse underneath it, time to slow down and see Who will see them first.

Diggy — 01/02/2022 Talk about the long way, but it was fun, and he enjoyed himself, perking up when he spotted the warehouse, he slowed them down on approach without being prompted. They probably knew he was coming a mile to a half a mile away with his power signature.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Oh they definitely knew he was coming, Maggus especially. Maggus was sensitive to psionics, and he was slightly extrasensory. He had a very, very light precognition- He couldn't tell when something would happen within hours or even half hours, but minutes or seconds, which was really handy in a fight and not much else. He would have gotten excited, which got Venure excited, which obviously, you know, everyone's excited. Maggus is kind of a big fella to miss being excited... As they approach, the big guy is already doing laps on the upper floors, checking windows, a purple blur.

Diggy — 01/02/2022 That probably had made him extra valuable as a helm, there were probably higher rankings for Psions with precognition especially.

Termir was watching Maggus do laps with a grin. "You're gonna fall, brother."

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Maggus would stop for only a moment to straighten up and perk his ears, and look back to termir, he's vibrating in place. "Then fall be it, f'excited I be," He grinned excited. "Mine question to you, why be ya not excited on y'own?"

He paces some more, peeks out a window. They didn't come on the bus, they didn't, but he can sense them they're somewhere. Venure peeks out of his mane with a low chuckle, gently smoothing down the mane and patting at his mate's ear. 'Shh, shh,' He soothes. 'Don't worry yourself into a heap, lovely.'

Diggy — 01/02/2022 "Who says I aint?" He laughed. "-The kid's lighting up my radar."

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Maggus jumped and he shook the floor when he landed and he ran around again, peeking out of a window. His horns tesla coiled again and he yelped, "There, mine eyes see, there!" And down he goes, swinging down rafters and through holes and down electrical wires and beams, hopping down a crane's tow pulley and-

Bursting out the door again, to Karkat's apparent fright. "--- Shit shit shit- Stop the board, if he hits us while we're on it it's gonna hurt-" Here he comes! Excited Maggus is excited.

Diggy — 01/02/2022 He stopped the board! Here we go sliding off of it quickly before everyone goes ass over teakettle.

"Pour one out for the front door, it served us well." Termir got up and bounced over to look out at the boys.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Kahnan, from somewhere nearby, scoffed. 'What shall it be, whiskey or scotch?' He jokes. 'One of these days I'm gonna make it an airlock with reflexes fast enough to just, fuckin open when he does that.'

Maggus stops right short of them and grins wildly with all his sharp teeth, 'Good mornin,' He says, 'Aye, y'trip wen well then, did it?' Venure pops his head out too, giving a little wave.

Diggy — 01/02/2022 "Maggu2!!" Nova enthused at him an floated up to hug him and grin at Venure. Does Ven want a hug, he has plenty of affection to go around.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Ven floats out of Maggus' mane as Nova hugs the big troll, and he too stands and offers a hug. He's not out of Mag's mane much- He's a thin, spindly troll, with not much brute force to him. Almost a quarter of his body volume is his hair, waist length, and his horns curl back into a tight spiral above his head- Almost like Irken antennae, just a bit more compact, his left arm from the elbow down is cybernetic but he's usually got some sort of latex band, or fur over it so you can't quite tell.

It's not wholly metal- There's just Compartments in there he's had installed, mostly with a wrench set and some tools for on-the-go needs, or breakouts if need be, but three of his fingers are completely cybertronic, one of them (He's real proud of it) is even a drill head. He boasts this saves his wrists a lot of time and energy.

Diggy — 01/02/2022 Hell yeah time to hug Ven as well with a happy little chirp Did he not have a sleeve on the cybernetic arm today? "Hii Venure!" He was almost as free with his hugs and touching as Fex was not.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 He did not! They weren't going anywhere, he's even still wearing his pajamas, they're fleece because he's always cold, which is why he's in Mag's mane all the time. 'Heyo, my lad,' Venure grins at him with those purple/green eyes, and hugs him and pets his head. 'Traveled well?' He asks him, and Karkat is distracted now by Kahnan leaning in the doorway, motioning for them to get in.

"--- Cmon guys," The redblood says, and he takes Maggus' hand and begins to pull the whole party inside.

Diggy — 01/02/2022 "Yeah the triip over wa2 fun a2 hell- oop" he grabbed the long board and headed inside with everyone. He was grinning and happy. Vague feelings of forboding could fuck off this was excellent.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Venure chuckles a bit and slips back inside Mag's mane to hang out, and also, get his slippers where did they go?

Once they're all inside, Karkat calls out, "Oi! We're inside, ya'll can come on out now," He grins as he watches Kahnan send up a little maroon firework, and Cerras pops up from the cushions of the conversation pit, she is sneaky sneaking up behind Karkat, shh no one tell him.

Diggy — 01/02/2022 Termir leaned against a wall, grinning at them. "- hey little brothers."

Nova waved excitedly at him and Kahnan- oop Cerras is being sneaky whats she up to?

"II come bariing 2nack2 and 2omethiing II thought you guy2 miight get 2ome u2e out of." Nova tells them happily "II've been keepiing iit 2tored tiill II came back out."

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Karkat went up to Termir and gently leaned against him. It was the closest approximation to a hug anyone could get who wasn't quadded with the surly redblood.

Cerras still snuck up but stopped when she saw Karkat being affectionate, she gave him an Awwwh look, shrugged at Nova, then sat back down in the pit. 'Oh yeah?' She called, putting her feet up, and starting the fire with a small flip of her hand. 'What snacks? Pleease tell me you've got somethin' covered in cream, like those, ah... chocolate coated pretzels or somewhat.'

Diggy — 01/02/2022 Ter patted his head gently, good lad. "Hmm,, a couple of them are chocolate dipped." he wiggled his ears and headed over to the pit to take off his back pack and set it down, then start taking out a whole pile of insect based snack packs he knew you couldn't get on Earth. "You guy2 get two fiight over who get2 what though."

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Maggus was instantly over there where the snacks were dumped out, he ripped one open and shoved it in his mouth, this prompted an ear-swat by Venure, 'Oi, big guy, watch y'manners, why don'tcha?' This made Maggus grin and slow down, Cerras caught a pack flung at her and she opens and sniffs at it, Karkat leaned against the wall next to Termir. He always liked Termir. Wasn't as.... hyper as the others could be. Or as loud. Plus, Karkat suspected he was way smarter than he let on, and he wanted to see it.

"You guys doin okay?" The redblood asks him, quietly. "On food an such."

Diggy — 01/02/2022 "Yeah we're alright, dont you worry none about that" he murmured back "-'ey toss me a bag." he raised his voice and his hand.

Nova grinned at them as they got into the snacks, waiting for a second before pulling out the heavy assed battery hes been carrying around and patting it. "And thii2- iit2 2alvaged but-" A shy little shrug.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Cerras overhands a bag of peppered cockroaches over to him without even looking, she even warmed them up for him, what a dear- Venure's eyes light up and he takes two steps out of Mag's mane but the battery lifts up into the air and zooms into Kahnan's outstretched arms with such force it scootches him back a little bit. 'Holy shit,' The maroon breathes. 'Where the hell did you get this??' (edited)

Diggy — 01/02/2022 Ter caught it and opened it up to start munching, ears perked and Watching his family, eyes bright at Venure and Kahnan'2 reactions, he was listening intently.

"2hiip yard, II went lookiing for one iin a decommii22iioned puddlehopper after II took a peek out there." he thumbed toward the area where the ship was kept.

He cant fit an entire fucking ship in his backpack but batteries are portable

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Kahnan takes off the diodes for a minute and checks the connection- An achievement that makes a HUGE zapping noise, blows out the nearest lightbulb (A string of christmas lights,) and makes his hair all frizzy. He laughs, though, and drops the battery, rushing to hug Nova around the waist.

'Holy fuckin hell, I sure love you right now!! Ahahaha!!' He is excited and happy, and Cerras stands up and meanders over to the battery, she picks it up and inspects it, but she's glowing gently in the tips of her horns and the gemstones attached to the bottom of her braid, a real good indicator of an uplifted mood. 'Damn, bud. You got this for us?'

Diggy — 01/02/2022 "-Careful" He said, too late to stop the lights from blowing, but he grinned and hugged him back tight at the sudden cling. "II 2ure diid, II cant iimagiine gettiing your hand2 on one would be ea2y, you 2aiid all your 2hiip2 were grounded." Which only left imperial ships.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Kahnan does not hug people. This does not happen. He is the definition of aloof. So now he's hugging Nova, which is great!

'Yeah,' Venure says. 'All our ships are, grounded and carted away to various scrap heaps across the world, melted down and refined into ships for the Empire,' He adds. 'I can't believe you got us just this tiny little piece of one...' He sighs soft, the battery floats from Cerras to him and he makes it do a little flip in the air. He could hold it if he wants- He's spindly but he's got a little strength in his upper body, a little bara to him but not much, he just chooses not to. 'Wanna see me put it in?' He grins at Nova.

Diggy — 01/02/2022 "IIf II could have fiit an entiire 2hiip iin my backpack two 2neak iit over here two you guy2 beliieve me II would have." His ears perked forward and he grinned. "II'd love two 2ee you put iit iin."

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Venure hopped out of Maggus' mane and zoomed across the space of the warehouse, leaving little purple and green twin trailers by his feet as he did so, towards the tarp-covered ship. It was a little one, a six-seater, and definitely a little luxury cruiser, though it had seen better days. It was missing all the glasswork and interior, though some seats had been anchored down, it was missing one side wall... It was shaped... vaguely like a triangle, with concave sides, and big thrusters on the back ends of the triangle.

There was, however, a working control seat, and turrets mounted on those back corners, and an area where there would be two domes- one for the control seat and one for viewing or potentially turret controller visibility, it was very bare bones still, it had been gutted and was beginning to be re-worked.

Venure flew through the dome and opened up one of the sides, gesturing for Nova. 'She's a beaut, right?' He'd grin. 'Stellar-classed, trick is t'get 'er pressurized wih'out, ah, bein able to test 'er.'

Diggy — 01/02/2022 His ears were perked, following behind the excited troll with a smile, wreathed in blue and red to keep up with him and settling down to look over everything. "You could u2e a p2ii fiield two te2t." He offered a little tenatively. "man II bet 2he wa2 pretty when 2he wa2 new."

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Karkat settles next to Termir and begins to tell him about how the last couple weeks have gone, how have you guys been holding up, I'm glad to see you guys, etcetera. Cerras has drifted over to watch them and Maggus is very busy with the snacks. Kahnan... thinks he's being sneaky by watching from the rafters, but he's not.

In any case, Venure thinks over what Nova said for a moment, 'I can, but I dinnae think naught but t'kid knows how t'do a psii field big a'nuff for what w'need, an asides,' He shrugs, 'Where can we put it, then?' He then adds on. Still, he heads to the back of the ship and into the very organized patches of wires to where the battery dock would be.

Diggy — 01/02/2022 "No II mean liike-" psii washed gently over him, touching Everything, applying the lightest touch of pressure, seeping into all the crevises. "thii2? You can fiind piinhole2 and failed 2eal2 2uper ea2y that way." He followed him over, observing the organized wires with approval.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Venure watched him carefully, he crossed his arms and nodded, 'Right, we can find all t'holes thataway, but it's pressure we gotta be worryin' bout, yanno? Cannae mimic space-pressure inna shed, ahahaha.' (edited)

Diggy — 01/02/2022 "- ah, yeah II get you" He nodded, the field evaporating wince it came. "- IIt2 ea2iier two miimiic the pre22ure of deep 2ea 2tuff, than vaccuum, but II know liike-" he rattled off the math for the tensile strength needed to stop decompression in a rate of pounds per inch "-2o II could probably te2t iit liike- iit would be field liike that one but all over the out2iide and liike." he made a motion with his hands. "-you know?" No Nova he doesnt know.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Venure listened, nodding as Nova explained. 'Yesss,' He said, 'But we dinnae need that amount a power floatin 'round, not with eyes 'round the city lookin for power flashins, y'understand? An t'sea aint safe t'test in, even if we could.' He was climbing in fully now, with the battery, lets see, wires go here, and here, and here....

Diggy — 01/02/2022 "Ah" He nodded, rubbing at the back of his neck. "-2orry." his ears perked forward though, watching him work.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Venure chuckled a little bit, he moves back to show Nova the wires he's connecting, he's uncapped one of his fingers and made it into a little psii blowtorch, he's welding together a cradle for the battery to fit into, 'See?' He grins. 'Cannae do this trick?' He asks him, and points to his finger.

Diggy — 01/02/2022 "Holy 2hiit that2 awe2ome, II can 2pot weld but not liike that." he comes in close (but not in the way) to see.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Venure winked at him and displayed his hands- The 'caps' of three fingers on each hand tipped up to reveal mechanical counterparts. A drill head, a torch, a plethora of wires- A strange nozzle, a few other things. He wiggled them in Nova's general direction now. 'Takes some... adjustin to,' He winked at him. 'An only feasible iffin ya lost summat of yer fingers anyhow,' He laughs.

Diggy — 01/02/2022 "That2 fanta2tiic, - II mean not loo2iing your fiinger2 but the cybernetiic2 are amaziing - All II have ii2 a liittle med pump." he rubbed at the back of his neck. "Whiich ii2nt partiicuarly fla2hy"

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 His eyes twinkle with curiousity and he leans forward, looking. His eyes spot the area he thinks the pump is and he gestures. 'Med pump?' He asks. 'Cannae see it? What's summat like that do, other'n pump meds into ya?' He thinks he's funny, he flashes Nova a little smile. 'Whatcha need summat for anyhow?'

Diggy — 01/02/2022 "Well II mean -be2iide2 the port2, but port2 dont count." snort. He didnt ask for the ports. He pulled his shirt up so Venure could see his little skin attached pump with all its little indicators and lights and the vials sitting neatly inside it. "II don't have a piituiitary gland anymore. iit giive2 me my med2 on a tiimed 2chedule and moniitor2 my blood chemii2try for emergency alert2."

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 'No shittin?' The hemoanonymous blooded troll asked, leaning in to look. He scootches closer and peers at the medicated vials. 'No pit gland, hmm... Sounds like summa what they're doin to t'kids. D'all a ya need meds?' He asks him and sits back, curious, psionics working on the coils behind him, organizing, straightening, splicing wires into wires and tying off caps with clearly labeled ends.

Diggy — 01/02/2022 "-Where II'm from the only one2 of u2 who need the2e med2 are tho2e of u2 who were taken a2 wriiggler2 and had that 2urgery. -2omeone II know 2aiid what wa2 done two the kiid2 here can be rever2ed wiith gene therepy, 2o they're liike." vague gesturing. "2ame end re2ult, diifferent method2. miine2 more dangerou2 but iif you're goiing two be helmed and pumped full of 2hiit anyhow.."

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Venure... reached forward, and put a hand on Nova's shoulder. His eyes were kind, and, like Sals, his sclera were dark but his pupils bright. He gave a soft, encouraging smile. 'Traumas...' He trailed off. 'Trauma sucks.' That's it, he dispensed his wise words of wisdom with a little giggle, turning back to the welding of the casing around the battery, he wants to make sure that it stays in place even if they go upside down.

Diggy — 01/02/2022 "Fuck man they 2ure do." he memed at him and watched him work.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Venure gets the battery in there and then, heads back up to the cockpit. He swings himself into the swivel chair and hits some buttons, and Nova can sense the energy building up as the ship turns on. Venure gives it some juice- His psionics match his eyes, the colors arc down the array of wires- And the ship shudders and judders... But the lights are all beginning to turn on!

Diggy — 01/02/2022 He followed him up to look at the control board, and grinned as everything started to turn on. "Oh fuck yeah, look at that."

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 'Oh fuck yeah, look at that,' He mimicked, he is so excited. The ship- Doesn't lift though, it just shudders awake. 'Too bad she ain't got propulsion thrusters yet,' Venure says, sighing gently, gently patting the controls in front of him. 'Jus pretty lights right now.'

Diggy — 01/02/2022 "II don't thiink thru2ter2 wiill fiit iin my backpack." he said sadly. "but hey! 2he liight2 up!" he offered a fist for a fist bump.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Venure totally fist bumped him, and it was solid and nice. 'Sweet. Next step, thrusters. After that s'just cosmetics, right? An a course, cannons. Cannae have pirates with no cannons, aye?'

Diggy — 01/02/2022 "Cannon2 are 2uper iimportant for piiratiing." he grinned. "thii2 ii2 fuckiing briilliiant though."

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 'Absolutely,' He agreed. 'An thank ya. S' all my idea, namely... Whaaallee, was mostly mine. Stole er from a yard, thought t' fix her up. She's our ticket home, yanno.'

Diggy — 01/02/2022 "Yeah II fiigured- you 2aiid you can't te2t her though?" head tilt.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 'Aye, not flight-wise at least. Not wih'out thrusters. I got some lined up, but ain't had time t'go an get em,' He shrugs.

Diggy — 01/02/2022 His ears perked forward. Trusters! Here! Available! "-what do you need two do that?"

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 'Go an get em,' He said, quietly. 'Sneaky sneak like.' He gave Nova a cocky grin. 'Got em sittin in a partyard, bought em off t'dark market from an pal a mine.'

Diggy — 01/02/2022 He grinned back, eyes bright. "Niice, II'm glad II thought two grab you a battery"

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Venure leaned back in the seat, sighing out. 'Aye... Now... Now... Ahm' just impatient, lad.' He chuckled, darkly, his eyes glinting the way Salinx's did when he was feeling mischievious. 'Impatient t'see her fly, ar at th'least, hover. Mebbe this weekend.... I'll go an snag em, an next time y'are over, we'll fly er.'

Diggy — 01/02/2022 He wiggled his eyebrows. "iif we grabbed them twoniight II wouldnt have two waiit for next tiime two 2ee iit"

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Venure was real quiet for a moment. He looked back out, over to the others... then back to him. '... Aye, lad, but are ye sure? This sorta thing takes some plannin, an I dinnae think the little red w'be okay with it.'

Diggy — 01/02/2022 "..Hm." he frowned looking over toward Karkat and ears lowering. "He ii2 pretty protectiive. II probably 2houldn't make any plan2 wiithout talkiing wiith hiim."

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Venure nodded, nice and slow, then made shooing motions with his hands. '--- Well go on then lad, go an ask 'im. He cannae say yes if ye don' ask.' He grins a bit.

Diggy — 01/02/2022 His ears shot back up again and he grinned. Time to climb out of the ship and zip over to Karkat.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Karkat stopped his casual conversation with Termir as he saw Nova coming, he said quietly, before Nova could hear, "--- That's a face that says he wants something, don't you think?" He would ask the bigger troll, with a low, amused look.

Diggy — 01/02/2022 "As sure as I've ever seen one" He agreed

"KK kk." the psion settled onto his feet in front of him and took his cheeks in his hands. "II want two do a thiing, II want two go get 2ome thru2ter2 wiith Venure." His eyes said please say yes.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Karkat gave an outright laugh at the look in Nova's eyes. "You want to do what? First- Where, second, how? I'm assuming these are illegal thrusters?" He snickered gently.

Diggy — 01/02/2022 "He 2aiid we would have two be 2neaky and iit2 a part2 yard and ye2 they're iillegal." Well snickering wasnt a bad sign

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Karkat took a deep, long-suffering breath. He dragged his hands down his face, then held up his paws, four fingers. "One, I'm coming. Right? Non negotiable. Two. I want this plan laid out on paper before we take one step outside. Three, ONLY if you carbload and proteindump beforehand, and last, four..."

He paused here, looking as though he wasn't sure what to say. "... Last, you are going to take absolutely no chances with anything. If we get there and there's a single thing changed about whatever blueprints you draw up, like if we get there and the gate is two feet to the left, we're turning around and going home, okay? No exceptions. It better be all according to plan because we ain't improvising, not around... whatever security would house spaceship parts, IF ONLY because I KNOW Dave would ground me for a year, and he'd be serious about it. Capiche?" (edited)

Diggy — 01/02/2022 He lit up like a Christmas tree and kissed Karkat on the mouth with a trill.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Karkat turned a bright shade of red, his fur and fluff all puffing up, but he grabbed Nova's collar and stared into his eyes with those lava-reds. "Right? You agree? I MEAN it about the last one. NO improv. If we get there and it's not according to plan we're fucking leaving, or at least you are. I'm... as rebellious as the next asshole but I'm not fucking with imperial security if I have to. In and out, no one sees us."

Diggy — 01/02/2022 "Karkat 2triider II wiill 2wear on whatever god2 you choo2e that II love plan2 and want two be caught the lea2t amount and iif anythiing ii2 hiinky II'm out and 2o are you." He more than agreed.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 He gave him a deep sigh, and nodded. "Alright. Deal." He would hug him tightly and behind them, Venure was vibrating just a tiny bit, it was obvious to all that he was excited. 'Right then lads,' He would open his arms. 'I'm thinkin just me an Mags an y'two- Ideally just a three a us, but I know I ain't gon' get you two seperated,' He laughed. 'Keep a low prof wi' a low number, aye?'

Diggy — 01/02/2022 He squeezed him and bonked head to head then released and turned to look at Venure with perked ears and bright eyes "2ound2 iideal, iin and out, riight?"

Termir was fake pouting. "Aw he don't wanna share all the fun-" It was just teasing.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Venure shrugged exaggeratedly, 'I mean, I already ordered th' parts, they be just' sittin an waitin' t'be picked up. ... Under cover of darkness. With no one seein who picks em up. Ain't gon be excitin, especially with Mag's voodoos hidin us from view... Unless you're gonna see iffin y'can fit in his mane, Riot?' Venure teased him back with a wink.

Diggy — 01/02/2022 Termir put a hand on his chin and looked to be sizing Mags up as if considering whether his very large self would fit there. "Hm" He was clearly playing, eyes glittering with laughter.

"not beiing exciitiing ii2 my favoriite kiind." Nova said.

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 Mags stepped up to Termir and leaned down as if also sizing him up, he put a hand on Termir's head and guaged it. 'Hmmm,' He said, 'Mine eyes say no. Les dou'le check, eh?' He put his hands around Termir's waist and picked up gently, he's completely joking, but Kahnan giggles with laughter from above and Venure breaks into giggles, which is the desired result he wanted before he put his friend back down on the ground.

Diggy — 01/02/2022 Termir burst into laughter himself as he was lifted. It was a joy to have Mags play along with his silly joke for a moment. "You make me feel light as a feather, Mags." He grinned at him

EightBitSkunk — 01/02/2022 The purple grinned back and set him up on his head, behind his shoulders, turning to plod along towards the conversation pit. 'Nay any o'er way t'feel, Riot,' He answered him, but then stopped and let him get off if need be. 'Right then laddies, le's draw up a plan, aye?' The big purple called back towards Nova. 'Sure ye' ain't got time t'be wastin,' Venure would add, and he rolled out a big scroll of paper, beginning to ink and draw a layout of a building and a fence.

Diggy — 01/02/2022 The big guy laughed al the way there and slid down easily with an affectionate nudge to Mag's shoulder and a grin, he settled into the pit, to watch the boys lay everything out.

Nova was looking on with so much affection for these soft pirates. He situated himself near the paper and watched Venure draw up the plans. "Wii2h II had a comliink." he murmured.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Venure drew... A big airport-type landscape. There were two landing strips and a helipad, and a row of barrack-like hangar buildings alongside one of them, facing what he drew in big, swooping squiggles, 'Tha's the junk area. We gon be sneakin into there. Nae keep in mind, ain't as illegal as y'think it is. I paid for th'parts with mine own money, just dinnae think is legal yet for these PAWS t'have paid for em with mine own money, y'understand?'

Diggy — 01/03/2022 Nova nodded quickly, eyes scanning the airport lay out and the junk area. "II get you."

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 He nodded, satisfied, and drew pathing around the maze of parts and dilapidated aircraft. '.... Also fair sure ain't legal to sell spacecraft bits, but,' He chuckled for a moment, and Karkat pursed his lips. 'Whaaallee, y'know. Anythins legal for a fair sum, right lads? Only think y'know for sure is these ain't bein stole, they already BEEN stole an hid an erased from t'world, now they in limbo an we just gotta.....' He picked up his pencil, 'Yoink.' And showed it to Nova.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He looked at the pencil, he .. was not sure why he was being shown the pencil actually, but he was watching the path they were ment to take, taking a snapshot in his mind's eye and saving it in a file he could retrieve- he had learned, quickly, and reinforced by too many sweeps at the helm, how to organize his mind like a computer, he had so many files saved, some more useful than others, but it made memory recall faster for important information. "-2o they're hot iitem2, but no one 2hould be lookiing for them?"

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 The pencil is pretending to be the thrusters they're gonna take! 'Exactly,' Venure said. 'They been sittin fer 'bout six moon cycles,' He then added. 'Lettin heat die down. I was told,' And here he put on a thick texan accent, 'We gon drop em off, you pick em up whenabout ya like, but we ain't gon have nothin else to do w'em. If they get taken o'moved by sittin, t'aint our problem, ya hear?'

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He nodded his understanding. "II hope they're 2tiill there." He said, anxiously.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 'Ooh, they're still there,' Venure said. 'Ain't been touched, ain't been moved.' He would open up one of the seat-ends of what used to be the end of a couch and pulled out a little tablet, playing with it for a second before a camera feed, shaky in the wind and staticy, but there, popped up. Nova could see... Piles of tires, stacked up in rows, old metal, rusted through, wires everywhere, tarps covering some stuff on the ground that might still be salvageable. Tons of boxes... One of these boxes was stamped with a big ol purple pawprint, which would be the one to catch his eye. 'There they are,' He said. 'Deep in th'belly o' the junkheap. So far ain' no one walkin in there, use hovercraft t'go an pick iffin they need.' (edited)

Diggy — 01/03/2022 His eyes lit bright at the camera feeds and perked forward as the box was singled out. "niice. 2hiit II wii2h II had all my 2tuff wiith me, II'd moniitor the camera2 whiile we were out there."

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 He nodded, then looked thoughtful. 'Kinda stuff y'be needin, lad? Connector wires an the like?' Karkat is staring intensely at the camera feed, searching for anything out of place, landmarks, everything he might need to see or know for later.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He fetched his palmhusk out of his backpack, it only took a moment to bring it out. "II'd u2ually u2e my laptop- but thii2 ii2 pretty robu2t, II'd ju2t need an upliink cable two iit. II've been meaniing two get a wiirele22 receiiver that ju2t plug2 iin but they haven't been iinvented yet and iit wa2n't hiigh on my lii2t two iinvent- II gue22 iit ii2 now." he rubbed at the back of his head.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Maggus scoffed gently, 'Mine have tons of uplink cables-' 'And besides,' Venure cut in, wiggling one of his fingers, the one with the cables in it, 'I'm sure we can make do with mine... Invent? Y'invent stuff, lad?' He looks excited, whoops.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 "Oh 2ure" he grinned. "you 2hould 2ee my work iin apiiary networkiing, mo2tly II'm iintwo hackiing and codiing but II work wiith the hardware 2iide of thiing2- e2peciially when what II can get cant keep up wiith what II need iit two do."

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Venure wiggles his tail a bit, steps one foot after the other, just looks generally like an excited puppy. 'That's fuckin cool lad, an y'so young t'be doin it well...!' He grins happily. '--- Right, y'just need an uplink cable t'this here tablet?' He asks, curiously.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 "or two thii2 one,"He wiggled the palmhusk he'd gotten out of his bag."2he ha2 a mulltiiband reciiever iin her and protocol2 for half a dozen planet'2 wifi 2crambler2" he wiggled his ears. "That2 new iit ju2t u2ed two be earth and alterniia frequenciie2, but II've had two go on 2o many fuckiing aliien 2hiip2 lately." he rubbed at the back of his neck. "- but 2he doe2nt have a PAN for my gla22e2 two 2ynch two" he touched his glasses. "my other gear doe2. But! iif iit2 ea2iie2t two u2e your tablet, that2 fiine by me we can get two know each other"

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 He blinked a bit, and reached out to take the palmhusk, sniffing at it. His horns spark up for a moment and he spins it around in mid-air, 'Aye, let's see... Y'right, she's all tricked out,' He grins. 'We'ken use your's, seems t'be the most easiest route, specially if she's got all the tricks t'her.'

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He let him take the palmhusk to look her over. His ears perked forward and he grinned, pleased by the evaluation. "2iince you already have the IP for the camera feed2 iit 2hould be 2uper ea2y two 2et up."

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 'Abs'lutely,' He agreed, and he plugged one of his finger cords into his palmhusk, and another into Novas, and began the transfer of information, using himself as a conduit. His eyes glowed brightly and his hair lifted up a little with the energy he was using, but- Maggus leaned in to whisper, 'Show-off,' to Nova in a voice he didn't think anyone else could hear.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 Nova covered his mouth, giggling with a soft snort. It was cool though! And he got to poke at Nova's tech at the same time, win/win for him.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 When it was done, Venure unplugged and settled back down, eyes bright and grinning. 'Done,' He said. 'Take a look see now, look 'round an see for y'self what the salvage yard be like.'

Which is, well, pretty much exactly as he described it, a fact Karkat will be pleased about. Lots of parts, a maze of tires and stacked dead parts, they might have to be careful with knocking anything over, didn't look like too much of a high security either. There was some security detail patrolling, two trucks with four people each, and they seemed to have some pretty powerful looking weapons... Guns, not laser, bullet-guns. Probably childsplay for Nova. They looked... a little modified though, perhaps their owners had played with them a little bit, probably modified the cartridges to hold more or something like that, that was common.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 With a provided cord he can flip through the camera feed faster than the palm can keep up, displaying a screen split into so many windows, he observed the lay out with perked ears, chewing on his lip as he saw the trucks. Only two of them, they could be careful, and Maggus could be unseen. "-II dont liike the look of tho2e gun2 the2e guy2 are totiing, KK better 2tiick ju2t 2o clo2e." He worried about him, his weren't the kind of psionics that could create a shield.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Karkat nodded, when had his pitch grabbed his hand? He squeezed it now. 'Ne'er learned the sling trick?' Maggus asks Nova, curiously. 'Nae play w'balls on wrigglin' grounds?'

Diggy — 01/03/2022 "II can do that but II dont thiink KK can." he squeezed his hand and tapped the side of his head against Karkat's "II'm ju2t nervou2, II don't know why II'm 2o nervou2, II've done more dangerou2 thiing2."

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Karkat frowned, he returned the tap but gently- He pulled Nova gently. "--- You know what, hold on. Come on with me, Nova," His pitch said, and tugged him away from the others, tugged him off until they were out in the back, standing just outside the back doors.

"Break it down, take a deep breath and break it down. What are you nervous about?" He asked him, in a sort of This Is Honestly Ridiculous and I'm About To Tell You Why tone.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He followed him, letting him pull him along till they were away from them. He took a deep breath and let it out through his nose. "II don't know. At fiir2t II ju2t thought iit wa2 the u2ual nerve2, goiing two 2ee people II really liike. II don't thiink iit2 performance anxiiety, though. II ju2t feel liike 2omethiing2 goiing two go wrong, 2o II want two over plan everythiing. Haven't you ever had liike.. a nebulou2 fear that 2omethiing2 about two cra2h and burn?"

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Karkat nodded, slowly. He sat down and pulled Nova down to sit by him. "Of course I do," He said. "I feel like that every time you come over. I feel like that because- I don't know what will happen. What if this is the time something happens, what if this is the time we're made a move on, what if this is the time someone comes after Cronus, or Lux, or me." He reassured, speaking in a low voice.

"I worry constantly that someone's going to take any chance they can to get back at our family- Cronus particularly, because- Well- Actually, do you know what he does on the side?" Karkat tilted his head, but he didn't wait for an answer. "He steals eggs. He raids millhouses where we're bred and he sets us free and he steals eggs, directly from imperial property. Any day he could be retaliated against. He's not hard to spot, after all. But that's besides the point, the point being, it's not an impossibility of something going wrong, Nova, it's just- An improbability. We just have to be prepared. That's why I've got our chip trackers, that's why Cronus knows where this warehouse is, that's why I make an effort to at least leave SOMEthing behind so they know where I'm going if I sneak out after dark, or make a point to not go after imperial property. With your prophetic bullshit combined with Lux's bad feeling this morning, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if something surprises us, but if we plan, if we keep a level head, we can be ready for it, so we can keep safe."

His voice is low, quiet, but... fervent, and determined. "I know I said we'd turn back if something came up, but- This isn't something coming up, not yet at least. And I'm still serious about that!" He exclaimed, and squeezed Nova's hand. "If we get there and there's like- Three trucks instead of two, if even the number of the guards is off, we're turning back, but... If we don't at least try, take a small risk, nothing will be accomplished. We'll be safe, but these guys won't go home."

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He butted his head at him and took a deep breath and let it out through his nose. "Unle22 II actually have a vii2iion II can never tell what2 prophecy and what2 ju2t.. regular nerve2" he admitted softly. "-but the good new2 ii2 iif II haven't had a vii2iion yet, none of u2 are goiing two diie, that2 how iit work2. IIt2 the only thiing II can offer. and II want two help them get hiive, liike 2o much."

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Karkat nougied his head with a little laugh. "Besides, didn't you like, JUST take out an entire imperial mainframe or something, cmon, sneaking into a junkyard is probably childs play. If anything I should be the one freaking out, right?" Gentle head butts are a-go!

Diggy — 01/03/2022 "Or 2omethiing." he grinned softly. "IIf you're feeliing good about iit, II can feel good about iit. Ju2t. Don't get 2hot okay, Dave would 2kiin me aliive"

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 This caused Karkat to burst into a belly laugh, "Oh, fuck, he'd do more than skin you alive," He laughed. "I think I'd be more worried about what Lux would do to you, jeez, not to mention who we affectionally labeled as 'Katana dad' when we were kids, cmon-"

Diggy — 01/03/2022 "2o don't get 2hot" he shoulder checked him lightly. "Okay?"

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 "Well, let's hope I'm better at evading bullets than I am at fighting you," He teased him with a big, toothy grin, "Better get good quick huh?" He stood up and offered Nova his hand.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 Nova took his hand and came to his feet, one more little headbutt for the road. "You fuckiing better, II'll kiick your a22 iif you dont"

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Karkat met his headbutt with his own, now they are both goats battling for dominance. "Oh yeah? How're you gonna kick it if you get captured, huh? You gonna get good too?" Two boys about to wrestle in the dust, childhood memories.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 "II geu22 II am yeah" butt butt. "We better get back before we 2tart brawliing about iit though"

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Karkat almost pushed him over with the force of his next headbutt, "You guess?" He asked, incredulously. "Well I guess I'm gonna do my best not to get shot then," He said, bright and fierce.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He stumbled a step back. "you fuckiing better." he glared at him

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 He stood back and threw up his arms, "That's not the point," He growled playfully, here he comes. Nova was meant to tell him that of course he would get good, Karkat is trying to amp him up a little bit, charge his spirits.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 "What2 the poiint" he flapped his hands at him." II'll fuckiing get good, they wont take me agaiin." Again?

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 He plowed into him and tackled him to the ground, welp. "You better be prepared, because I swear to you personally," He is sitting on his lap now, unless Nova can throw him off, "I swear, if you make me worry, if I have to come try and attempt some grand rescue cause you didn't, I'm not gonna be happy about it and..." His eyes glimmer, "And I'll be the strongest one out of the two of us," He grins, he's absolutely teasing and trying to rile him up at the same time.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He made an undignified noise as he topped to the ground. He growled at him and rolled them over to pin him down. "Well II'm not goiing two need re2cued, II'm not getting captured, and you are not gettiing 2hot fuck you."

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Karkat leaned up to mash his lips together with Novas, it wasn't that he minded being pinned, it was that it was a surprise tactic, after about two seconds of smooching he tried to roll them back over, "Tell ya what, I promise not to get shot if you promise not to do something stupid, how bout that?"

Diggy — 01/03/2022 "II promii2e." he kissed him back with a little light biting, letting him roll them back over. "Nothiing 2tupiid."

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Once rolled over, he let himself get a little softer with his next kiss, taking his time, making sure that Nova knew he was loved.

--- And then he's up, offering a hand to pull Nova up. "Shall we, then? We've got the plans, we shouldn't wait any longer or we won't be back by sundown..."

Diggy — 01/03/2022 "II fuckiing 2aiid that a miinute ago." He took the hand and up to his feet. He wouldnt be surprised if they had an audiance.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 They very well might, peering out of windows above or casually peeking out of the door... Karkat turned, they would head inside now and Maggus would greet them with a mock-bow. 'Welcome back, lads, ready off an rarin' t'go?' He asked them. Venure waved at them from his position in-mane, 'We can discuss entry points along th'way, got a fair bit a flight ahead.'

Diggy — 01/03/2022 "Yeah, we're ready." His eyes were bright and his ears were perked up. "2ound2 liike a plan iif iit2 goiing two take a hot miinute two get there."

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Maggus would sit down, lower his head to him. 'Settle on up, then,' Venure said. He glanced to Termir, gave him a wave. 'We're gon head off, Ter, gon plan on bein' back an hour t'sundown, right?'

Diggy — 01/03/2022 Termir gave him a lazy salute. "I'll keep an ear an eye out" And come looking if they aren't back at sunset. Up goes Nova climbing on Maggus to situate himself for flying whereever the two of them want him at.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Exactly. Karkat climbed up to join them, sitting in hair wasn't necessarily something he wanted to do, but Venure seemed to have made the mess of his matesprits mane work for him, somehow. 'Right, then,' The hemoanonymous troll grinned at them, and rolled out the map he'd drawn up. The plan was extremely simple. They would hide in Maggus' mane while they flew over the fence, his voodoos would blind anyone explicitly looking at them from seeing them and Venure's own psions would shield them from showing up on camera for that moment at least. Once they were inside, it was time to pick a time to sneak past the trucks and get into the maze of junk. ... That, Venure said, was where it got tricky. There were sometimes patrols near the outer edges, motion sensors to detect thieves, it would be up to them to sneaky sneak past everything, and he didn't know exactly where the thrusters would be. This, he said, was where Nova would come in, since Nova was really smart with tech. Could he get a bead on the thrusters, he would ask?

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He just needs to place where the camera is on the grid, which should be really quick to do and he can work on that now, and put a star on the map as he flickers through the data and triangulates all the images and the network map for the cameras.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Venure would seem satisfied with that answer, and the two would probably spend... the majority of the trip plotting out where the thrusters would be at, which angle to go in at... and trying to make sense of the maze via whatever camera they got to look at it. Sure the junkyard guys probably had charts and inventory slips and labeling forms, it might be organized to them...

Karkat would watch their plans carefully, eying everything they talked about.

Eventually, as the sun reached the highest point in the sky, Maggus would begin to dip down, his body shimmering with purple drips of energy from his voodoos. He'd needed a break about halfway through, to replenish his food, and they had stopped at a Fazolis where Karkat had boughten them all something to eat. Lots of pasta and meat to go around... But now, now it was time to Sneaky Sneak time.

The big troll made a trilling noise for everyone to hear, and Venure would tug the two down into the bigger trolls mane. Time to hide.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 Nova settled in tight where Venure tugged him, ears perked, listening and tense. He was glad for the food on his stomach even with the nerves, he might need the calories and it was always better to be prepared than not. His hand found Karkats and squeezed it.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Ahead of them, the partsyard loomed. The spires of tires and the piles of parts beckoned, waiting. It was... pretty quiet, all things considered. There were just the two trucks, driving around the airstrip and the perimeter of the fence... Nova could feel Mag's field get stronger as they approached the fence, wrapping around them in cool purple bubbles, covered in his psionic, voodoos laced field. This was the diciest part of the whole thing- The broad daylight drop. Venure had explained that even with voodoos, sometimes more perceptive humans, or guard-trolls, would notice, but their cameras hadn't suggested they had anyone like that on their team. Run of the mill, security-for-hire, guardsmen.

Karkat and Venure both held their breath as the big purple troll aimed to land where they wanted to land, right alongside the inner perimeter of the junkyard maze-like wall.

and......... Done, Mag's feet touched the ground, and everyone let out a breath. No alarms sounded, no anything sounded to signal they'd been seen. There weren't any motion sensors in this area, and Venure had chosen a path that would round-about-ly take them through areas without them, they were only placed along high-priority parts.

Nova could now see that there were some spacey parts nearby, damaged control panels and hull walls, but... There didn't seem to be many alternian parts, if any. In fact, it just seemed like human aircraft bits and pieces hanging around. This definitely wasn't an imperial shipyard, not fully anyway.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 Nova let out his breath in a long slow silent heavy sigh as they set down and no alarm sounded. He eyed the human space tech thoughtfuly, thankfully noting the lack of Her insignia on anything.

Not that he didnt trust them that this wasn't imperial property but it was nice to see it.

He breathed in the scent of jet fuel and moter oil and rust. ..Takes him back to bits of his wrigglerhood.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Karkat was quiet, no one hopped out of the mane just yet. 'Keep y'ears open,' Venure whispered. 'Right-o, Mags... head on. Watch y'tail, love,' Venure would pat his matesprit and Mags would nod and begin to walk, slowly. Carefully, making sure he didn't touch anything, following what path they could clean.

Karkat was quiet, watching Nova... He was anxious, but this really was going pretty well, so far. And it wasn't like their plan called for conflict. Sneak in, pick up the box, sneak out. With Maggus' voodoos, it was almost too easy. He didn't see why Nova had wanted to come, but of course... That was the fun, right? And it was just humans. He knew this group had faced more than a few of those before.

'Y'checkin the feeds?' Venure whispered, to Nova. The trucks hadn't moved in their predetermined paths, no one had even sneezed in their direction. The guard watching the security feeds had even gotten up, gone to get coffee.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He nodded, the feeds up in his mind's eye, he could hold all of these at once, childs play next to controlling an entire ship and all its video feeds at once, he prioritized the ones where the trucks were or where any movement happened. "Yeah II've got them." He breathed softly. "No movement toward u2, the guard2 are on a coffee break at the maiin buiildiing, they're not watchiing."

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 'Good,' Venure whispered back. Maggus was picking his way through the stacks, carefully... After a few minutes he stopped, paused, and then continued again... As if juuust checking. Overhead, there's a little... tiny whizzing noise, something electronic turning on? Can Nova check what's turning on by being in their feeds and feeling for the electronic signatures?

Diggy — 01/03/2022 His ears perked and he looked up, flipping through their feeds and feeling out with his mind for the signature of whatever had just turned on, practically vibrating. "heard 2omethiing-checkiing." he breathed the whisper.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Maggus stopped- The thing that's turning on and beginning to hum with energy is some sort of sonar or pulse. It was programmed to turn on at ten minute intervals and send out a pulse of energy, which could be any energy. It could be a dampener, it could be sonar, it could be something that picks up working energy sources, it was unclear what it would do, but it probably wasn't good...

Venure and Karkat both watched him, Venure closing his eyes to feel for things with his own psionics. (edited)

Diggy — 01/03/2022 "..come2 on every ten miinute2 wiith an energy pul2e, II don't know what iit2 tryiing two detect. " 2oft tight voice.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 "Probably us," Karkat whispered back. 'It's ramping up,' Venure whispered in kind. 'Mags is too big, he can't... Nova, where is it at?' Venure asked him. 'Relative to us.' It's dead center of the fence, towards the way they came, about... fifty feet up, on some sort of tower. It's shaped like a siren, and spinning rapidly as it gains energy.

'We got two options,' Venure says, 'An 'bout thirty seconds afore I think it'll reach max power, an things chargin up is ne'er fuckin good, so quick decision time. Aye? Aye. Two ways fer it.' He held up two fingers, putting each down as he spoke.

'One; we break fer th' booty box an let it pulse us, assumin but NOT f'sure that they'll see us, fer all we know it's harmless... or two, I go up an knock it loose, which starts the ten minute timer to which they'll definitely know somethin's here.'

Diggy — 01/03/2022 "Center of the fence fifty feet up, the tower, iit2 2piinniing." He was super tense. "Let2 make a break for the box- " he ..swallowed his power, his eyes became yellow on orange, he held it in tight, masking down. I'm not here you cant see me.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Venure watched him, and nodded- He did the same, but- His eyes were still purple and green on yellow, he has actual heterochromia! Maggus would too, though they couldn't see it- And begin to move faster, running down the corridor of parts. Left turn, right turn, straight-

The thing pulses them after about a minute, Nova can feel the energy pulse washing over them, Karkat seems to be able to feel it too, he cringes- But- Nothing happens. Maggus slows down as it passes, and Venure whispers-

'--- That it?'

It seems to be! Maybe it IS harmless, maybe it's just something for the airspace, or something to keep rodents or pests away, like an ultrasonic beeper annoying to the right frequencies.

Maggus stops, 'Cannae check cams again, lil bud?' He asks towards Nova.

There's nothing strange happening on the cams, business as usual. The guard has come back with coffee, and a box of donuts. Another guard has come out to meet a semi-truck hauling a wing of a small airplane at the gate. That could prove somewhat annoying, if they try to haul it back, but it'll probably take a while to process it and get it loaded onto a crane.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 "that wa2 iit..no alert2, everyone2 chiill." He breathed. "-look2 liike they ju2t got a 2hiipment iin, there2 a 2emii that ju2t pulled iin wiith 2ome junk on iit. Wing." He held his power tight and close though.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Everyone breathes for a moment. 'Right, then.' Mags whispers, and continues on. 'Box should be ahead.' And he keeps on, until finally, they're there... The box with the paw on it is visible, carefully tucked into a corner of a small dead-end packed full of other junk. There it is.

Mags stops when he sees it, 'Aye, it's there,' He says, and takes a careful step over to it, he knows not to let down his guard at the last second. Even good plans are foiled by someone tripping over something and causing noise, and now that they're deep in the maze of parts, there are parts littered around. Hubcaps and giant metal bolts, plane window rings and rivets the size of your first... Venure waits until he's within a few feet and then hops down, motions to Nova. 'Cmon,' He says. 'Let y'get the first look.'

There is nothing out of the ordinary here, everything is old, there might be a rat or two around but nothing else.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He kept an Eye on the feeds, watching for weird movement, but slid down so carefully, and over to the box, moving carefully as he balanced his tasks.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Venure was whispering softly, 'Dare I say it, but-' Karkat threw his pencil at him, to shut him up. "Do NOT." He hissed. "Just check the box and let's get the fuck out of there, that pulse thing felt terrible and it's hinky enough that I'm worried," Karkat said, worriedly and anxiously.

Time to check the box! Venure leans in to touch it gently, sniffs, one of his fingers opens up and touches the wood and turns into a tiny spinning disk, he begins to cut a hole in the side of the wooden box. 'Ne'er,' He says to Nova, matter of factly. 'Ne'er open a booty box from th'way it's meant t'be opened. 'Specially if yer checkin' it the same place yer takin it from.'

The circle of wood falls off to the side as the hole is completed, and Venure switches his fingers to a tube-camera.

That's when Maggus moves. He has no time for words, but he shouts 'BOMB!!' as he does, trying to make the danger apparent. Karkat is thrown from his mane, torn out by big troll paws, and tossed back the way they came, he gets one exclamation of surprise as he lands on his ass and tumbles head over heels, one exclamation of "What the actual fuck--" before Maggus plows into the box and carries it through a wall of tires and metal.

It's about ten seconds later, just enough time for the rubble to settle, that the box explodes in a blast of fire and shrapnel, leaving Nova's ears ringing and briefly deafening him.... and leaving a heavy, dull tone settling itself around Nova's mind and psionics, a dull aching buzzing that could only be a strong psionic dampener. The world is ringing and swaying in all sorts of- Wait, no, it's only the walls around them swaying, the blast has made the nice, stable piles unstable and it's about to come down around them. (edited)

Diggy — 01/03/2022 "Fuckiing 2hiit" he put his hands on his head over his ears as they rang. A dampener! A bomb! A trap.- Fuck everything was going to fall! Did he have time to grab Karkat and pull him away? Where was Venure, shitshit shit where was Maggus? Was he okay???- things were happening to fast all of a sudden.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Karkat was- Karkat was back where they'd come, but the way was blocked off now by toppled rubble, Maggus may have saved his life by throwing him away actually, they're surrounded by fallen and burning rubble and there is very little room for manuevering...

Actually, Maggus- where- Maggus is the other direction, slowly getting to his feet, he coughs and spits out a tooth and a mouthful of blood, he looks extremely dizzy and a part of his mane is burned away.

Venure is... There he is, he's laying on the ground a few feet away and half-buried under pieces of metal. He looks stunned, shell-shocked, there's a piece of rebar sticking out of his arm but it looks to be one of the spots where there are cybernetics, so- maybe he's okay? There's no blood to be seen from the wound, at least... Think, think, what are you going to do Nova, rally your companions, someone is bound to be coming.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He grabbed Venure, hauling him out from the metal the only one he could reach, rebar and all, pulling him up in his arms, for all that Nova was much smaller than him, and bolted away from the swaying stacks. “IIt2 comiing down!” He hoped the other two could hear him after that explosion.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Venure's lighter than one might think, as Nova grabs him he shakes his head, his ears are twitching... Right, sound, sound, pawfoot trolls are sensitive to sound, everyone was probably deafened or at least stunned, was that the point? Nova could already hear noise coming back to him, the sounds of- Sirens, the sounds of sirens okay that's not a good sound. He can't sense anything, either, no tech, no nothing... Wait. Wait, that... smell, that's the sound of paint, that's the smell of paint being sprayed that meant Karkat was nearby somewhere, and awake and alive and trying to draw the others close- It's fading away, Karkat is behind them, but now something... something whooshes overhead. Something too fast to be a plane, or a helicopter, and the sunlight glints off matte black sides and bright imperial red in the shape of a spoon on the side.

A trap, but laid for who. Would Nova realize that this was uniquely laid out for Venure, for Mags, for the rest of that group? That someone had pegged, accurately, that the only reason someone would need a nice pair of thrusters was to get off this planet, who couldn't do so already? They're not after Karkat, or Nova, or Lux or Cronus, they're after the rebels.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 Shit he was moving further away from Karkat. His eyes drew up to the hovercraft and he tried to duck under something with Venure to get out of visual range. Could Ven stand? Nova's head felt like cotton and all of his senses were dulled down. He fucking hated dampeners. This is why he was supposed to learn to fight, this was why Fex didn't fight with psionics and had a sword instead. But he didn't. He didn't have a sword.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Venure was groaning now, he could hear it, he held his head, said something that came out in Alternian, 'The fuck...'

They could definitely hide, there were so many things to hide in, all around, he just had to hope Karkat was having the same ideas... Maggus- Would probably be fine, he was Awake at least and with his voodoos he could hide, the dampener probably didn't work on those...

The hovercraft moved quickly over them and landed down on the ground beyond his vision, but this place would be seething with soldiers in a moment, where could he go, they'd find him, right, and take him and leave and.

Wait.

Beside him, Venure is pushing himself up fully, trying to stand. "Aye, I can't hear," He says, mumbles, and rubs his head. "Static... In my pan, fuck, I hate... fuzzin... Oof. Nova...?" His eyes catch on Nova and he brightens a little. He's bleeding now, a stream of bright, vibrant blue running down his forehead from his wild mane of singed hair, and his cybernetic arm hangs limply at his side.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 Nova put a finger to his lips and shook his head quickly. His sign language is crude, but he knew the sign for enemies near, hopefully Venure knows it. He peeked out from the hidey hole they'd ducked under, then checking the cameras, he didnt need psi to check the cameras, he'd be sparking if he could spark.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Venure's eyes widen, he nods, he hunkers down a little. He can hear exactly nothing, so it's up to Nova to listen. There's that humming sound from the hovercraft, and- A crackling from nearby, that fire from the blast has found some source of fuel and is growing, he can smell the smoke. If they don't move soon, they'll be driven out... his palmhusk chimes! It vibrates at his waist.

CG: FOUND MAGS. WE'RE HIDING. I'VE GOT A BUSTED WRIST BUT THINK THAT'S ALL. I REALLY FUCKING HOPE THIS NOTIFICATION DOESN'T KILL YOU BUT I NEED TO KNOW YOU'RE OKAY, ALL I CAN SAY IS WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK AND FUCK AND FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK. YOU CAN DERIVE MY EMOTIONS FROM THAT I HOPE.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 Hes plugged into the palmhusk! the message pops up in his vision. TA: We're hiidiing, get out a2 quiick a2 you can iif the voodoo can take you there2 a hover2hiip lookiing for u2 TA: II'm not iinjured, Venure ii2, we're twogether. TA: We'll fiind a way out TA: My trackiing chiip wavelength ii2 [information] got that?

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 CG: GOT IT. VENURE'S... NOT BADLY INJURED, IS HE?

CG: MAGS IS... HE'S PRETTY FUCKED UP. I DON'T THINK HE CAN GET ME HOME, I.

CG: YOU KNOW HOW THERE'S THOSE MOMENTS IN MOVIES WHERE THE PROTAG REALIZES HE'S WAY IN OVER HIS HEAD AND CALLS HIS FRIENDS OR PARENTS? I THINK IF THE SUN GOES DOWN AND I DON'T SEE YOU THAT'S WHERE I'LL BE AT.

CG: REMEMBER WHERE WE ATE? I'LL GET MAGS THERE AND WE'LL WAIT.

The innuendo is clear- Karkat is going to take Mags and go back to the Fazoli's they ate at, and if he doesn't see Nova by sundown, he's going to call Dave, Dirk, or Cronus.

Venure tugs gently on Nova's arm. He crosses his wrists together and points, he'd seen something... It's the hovercraft. They're slowly sweeping an area a few hundred feet off, they'd just come over a pile of toppled over fuselages. They've got a scanner beam pointed on the ground. Time to move, he points to a direction away from the smoke and the fire.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 TA: He hiit hii2 head and hii2 cyberarm ii2 fucked TA: Got iit TA: II love you

He looks up and nods at the gesture, looking at the beam sweeping the ground. Okay, moving out.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Venure will take the first few steps, he's careful and quiet and Nova can tell he'd be on all fours if he could, but with one arm fucked, he's not. He steps through the rubble, sniffing the air and working on guiding Nova somewhere he smells. "Fresh air," He would eventually whisper to him. The hovercraft is doing grid-sweeps, the farther they get from it the easier it'll be to evade, but it will eventually find them if they don't get out of the junkyard... And the only real way out is past those trucks, and there are way more of them now probably. Not that Nova can see that beyond the walls of toppled airplane wreckage, but...

CG: LOVE YOU TOO. CG: JUST. CG: STAY SAFE.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He nodded, walking carefully and at Venure's pace, staying right with him. He did a check of the cameras, can he see anything useful on them with everything toppled all over the place and obscuring them.

TA: You too

No quirk so he knows hes serious.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Anything useful would include the fact that there are Many Trucks waiting now, a line of them heading to the rubble. A fuschia-uniformed human is talking to one of the guardsmen in a big tank truck, the delivery man with the plane wing is gone, and the sirens are fire-trucks pulling into the lot and hooking up to spray everything down.

There are two more hovercraft coming now, beginning grid sweeps from other corners. He could see one of them was heading for the plume of fire that was presumably the explosion, those scanners hopefully couldn't see through things, and their psionics were all deadened, so there was hopefully nothing to pick up...

Venure suddenly stops him, tugs on his arm and points. There, a break in the rubble, an open path to the fence- And a sudden Doom Feeling about it. Don't go over there. If you go over there, something bad will happen.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He shook his head quickly and pulls him back away, eyes widening. "-trapped" he whispered. Can he hear him yet? Can they get under anything, anything at all so those scanners cant find them. (edited)

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Venure's ears perk and he hisses in a breath. "Trapped?" He echoes, so he can hear! "If we run..." They have options!

Three options, in fact, option one is the fuselage of a plane that has been dislodged and partially taken apart, there are spaces to hide but its large and someone might think to search it when they get ground patrols.

The second option is a bunch of sheets of metal torn from hulls, piled on the ground, if they angle some of them they might be able to get underneath, but they won't be able to see anything from the knees up...

The third option is the undercarriage of some massive tractor, there is a wheel-well they can hide in, this provides complete shelter from above but nothing from the side, if they get ground patrols they might get spotted unless they hide up in the wheel-well, along where the axle might be.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He shook his head. "-feel2 bad, feel2 2o bad, 2omeone miight diie iif we go that way." whispered urgently. "-here?" he pointed at the fuselage.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Venure's eyes widen and he nods, Thesus probably had similiar things happen. Venure glanced at the fuselage and then back to Nova, he looked conflicted for just a moment. Big and open, but- Space to fight if they needed... He nodded, and headed that way, leaping up the side and offering his hand to help pull Nova up into the doorway of it. The hum of a hovercraft is getting closer.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He took the hand and scrambled in as quickly as he could to get away from the Hovercraft and down into the the fuselage, trying to ignore the way panic was trying to claw him from the inside.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Venure goes with him and together... together they hunker down.

The blueblood squeezes his hand and looks at him, then back the way they came. "... If... iffin we go back," He says, softly, "Find th'box, can break th'dampener... Might give em time to get out," His voice is low and even. "... Take a breath, lad. Only e'er bad decisions made on panicked pushers."

Diggy — 01/03/2022 "KK 2ay2 they're twogether, and Mag2 ii2 rough." he said and tried to breath slower through his nose. "-the box, the box, break the dampener." he chewed his lip. "-II can fiight a whole a22ed army iif we can break the dampener."

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Venure nodded, but Nova could see the worry in his eyes. "Fuckin Mags," He said, soft and gentle and belaying the anger and worried anxious panic in his heart. "E's got precog. Little, 'nuff to givem the tip' o'a fight... a'nuff to know bombs gon go off, fuckin." He takes a deep, shuddery breath. "Saw it in th'box. Little thing. ... Ranged," He adds. "Short ranged. Mebbe na'even the whole a this place."

He looks around. The hum of that hovercraft is getting closer, and- There's a sound now. Venure looks up a few seconds before Nova can hear it, sensitive ears. "... Got ground squads," He whispers in a lower voice. "Ain' lookin good."

Diggy — 01/03/2022 "II do two, II've felt anxiiou2 all day but-"He rakes his hand down his face. "-okay 2o.. be2t bet ii2 a break for that dampener- II'm the only one of u2 not iinjured, II'll draw their attention and make for iit, and get iit 2ma2hed, then we have a better chance."

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Venure gives him a Doubting look. "What, wih'out me?" He asks. "No fuckin way. We break fer it together or we ain' goin at all." He snickers, how can you find this funny, "KK would have my ass," He adds gently. "Sides, cannae smash it on yer own?"

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He looked at him with big uncertain eyes. "-you're hurt. II'm 2ure II can fiind 2omethiing two 2ma2h iit wiith."

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 "You trust Mags t'get KK out, dontcha, an 'parrently he's worse off, so y'can trust me to help mine friend t'get out, too, right?" He gave him a little smile and a wiggle of his eyebrows, in this exact moment that is meant to remind Nova of Sal. ... Fuck he even has Sals hair, almost, a little more wavy, but... AND the prosthetic cybernetic!

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He raked his hair out of his face and behind a double tipped ear. "- 2hiit. Okay! Okay let2 do iit. We need two do iit now or we won't have a chance."

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Venure nodded, took his hand, and squeezed it again. "--- First, take a breath, aye?" He breathed in, exaggeratedly, trying to get Nova to breath with him.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He squeezed back and took a deep breath in, and let it out through his nose slowly.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Venure tugged him out, time to run. The blueblood is fast, let's hope Nova can keep up. It's easy to know where they're heading- There's a smoke plume coming from where they were. run, run, hop over a tire, don't step on that sharp thing, don't slip in the puddle of oil, oh that gas smells horrible, run run and leap and hop and- HIDE, fuck, quick, they're so close to the place they were except there's a hovercraft sitting where they had once stood, doors open, there are three ground crewmen with efficient looking guns searching the area, peeking in boxes and in tires and hide holes.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 If he doesnt have to go far, if he only has to sprint, he can do it, hes on his heels, he can feel the burn in his body but he ignores it. He ducked down with him, watching with narrowed eyes.

..His mind was fiilled with a memory of watching Eridan tear someone's throat out, but he didn't know if he could do that. And he knew if he did one of the others would kill him right there. He made a circling motion with his hand, can they go around and come at it from the other side where it had been blown out to?

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Venure watches too, carefully, he looks... pained, he looks pained. Something is hurting him, was his chest that bloody before? He looks back, then to Nova, holds up four fingers. One finger, he points to a man, two finger, another, three, a woman, four- There's nothing where he's pointing, but he shakes his head, and tugs on one of his ears, points to his tail. There's another pawfoot there. Hiding, or shielded.

He makes the circling motion with his own hand and shakes his head, they don't know what's on the other side, it could be more men. ... Nova now, though, can see through where Mags had taken the crate, he can even see where it had blown... The dull ache of psionic dampening was loud now, it was definitely ranged... But it wasn't... right in front of them. It was... off to the side? ... The explosion, the explosion had thrown it to the side somewhere, amidst the rubble.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He nodded. Another pawfoot. A tracker? Working with them? His head turned back and for a little as he got a feel for where the dampening was coming from and pointed off to the side where he thought it was.

He was so worried about Venure, about the amount of blood on him and the look on his face.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Venure nodded, he made a move, then- winced, and stopped moving. He couldn't go further, nova could see it. Running may have ached Nova but it had hurt Venure more, and his breath comes shaky. He needs to hide, he can't fight like this, but... Where. How.

One of the humans is meandering this way, his head in a tablet that has a tiny scanner beam coming from it. ... Is it X-Ray? Can he see with it? The other two humans are moving through the hole Mags made with his body- There's the pawfoot, a seadweller, with sharp teeth, looking... well-built. Small, about his height, but built like Cronus in that he had a powerful tail and walked on two feet. He's scanning the area as they go... Of course. Sharks could smell blood from miles away, it made sense to have a shark-like pawfoot smelling for them... They're... For them to be going the other way, they must be smelling Mags.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 Shit Split second decision time. He darted out, he was going to be seen, he was going to make some fucking noise, lets go for ramming someone with four super sharp horns at stomach level

He was small. And not as strong as some of the others. But he could fight

He took out a number of the psii hunters who caught him last time and he was only a kid then.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Venure looks absolutely panicked as he runs out, there's yelling and- He manages to stab the human who had been distracted on the tablet, in the chest, they're immediately down, his horns are a nice cherry red now, but their yells draw the others. Here comes the pawfoot, vaulting over the rubble, shark-teeth wide to bite, he goes to try to latch onto Nova and bite at his shoulder, the other two humans are trying to use the distraction to drag their nearly disembowled colleague into the hovercraft, but the third human, the female, is holding a gun, aimed at him and waiting for the right moment. It's- A big gun, with a huge muzzle, it's defnitely not a bullet or laser gun, it's probably a net gun.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 Hello you fucker yes come running this way so Nova can twist away from your teeth an bite down hard on your face. If he can grab hold of his arm and tail his spinning and slinging him into the lady with the net gun.

Venure please do something about that dampener while hes drawing attention? Hopefully, maybe?

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 He probably can't get a bite down on his face but he can definitely get a mouthful of fin and shoulder or neck, he can definitely throw him though if he can get his grip around that thick tail.... Down he goes with the net lady, the hum of other hovercraft is coming, Venure is running again, towards where he thought the dampener was but- He stops, sees the hovercraft, and ducks down underneath any scrap he can find. "Hide!" He shouts at Nova, Nova you do not want to be facing a whole hovercraft, that's a gun turret on the bottom swiveling around and begging to find something to shoot with plasma, the doom sense is suddenly loud and ringing and foreboding, but what is it, why is it going, what's causing it?

Meanwhile the pawfoot is getting back up and hissing at him, and- helping the woman up?

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He made a break for an entirely different direction from Venure, looking for something to duck under and into, still trying to draw attention away from the other troll.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 The pawfoots eyes follow him but he lets him go, he looks. ... He fought him but now the seadweller looked confused. Why didn't this troll have... fur? Was he naked? Diseased? Gross. And it bit him.

He helps the other woman up and into the hovercraft and then stands guard by the door as two more come down. Someone shouts, where did they go? Another responds, they're around here somewhere. Now there are eight humans with net guns and two humans with laser rifles, filing out and beginning to search. The doom sense is fading the farther he gets from... Not Venure, it seems to be coming from... The seadweller. ... Is it focused on the seadweller? The humans are wandering his way now, away from Venure, who has decided to try for finding the dampener, where is it, where...

Nova can probably find a pretty easy place to hide, he may even be able to smell Karkat, this is a big bunch of tires that have fallen over, it's easy to slip inside the pile if he finds the right route, Karkat had used this before and Nova can take comfort in his smell.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 Why is the seadweller so scary? Why does he feel like death, when the rest are just scary. He slides inside the pile that Karkat had hidden in and breathed in his scent and tried to get his breathing under control again.

Please search in this direction and not toward Venure, Please- He prayed, and felt Her hand on his shoulder, and looked up at Aradia, touching the ghost's cheek. "- can you knock over that 2tack of tiire2 over there?" he whispered soft and hoarse. She looked up and in that direction and frowned, looking uncertain, then nodded, zipping off, one stack of tires, one act of poltergeisting, this was going to take so much out of her. Typing was one thing but tires- but she tried for him.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 The seadweller has a venomous bite, so he feels like death because it is so easy to die if Nova is careless. ... What nova didn't know was that the seadweller was thinking the same thing about the bite Nova had given him, gently patting at it and looking Concerned as he was given a treat by the humans he had, in their eyes, saved.

The humans look at the tires and watch them topple and they all rush in that direction. Some of them even load up in the hovercraft and fly off, perhaps hoping to head off any potential runners. Now... Now it's quiet. It's quiet, and his head hurts from the dampening, and- It's. Wait.

Wait the dampening is fading, the buzzing of his bones is slowing (But not stopping, not yet), did Venure get to it- Oh.

Oh, fuck. A shadow has just blotted out the light, and around the same time a message appears in his vision too.

CG: NOVA, I THINK I'M FUCKED.

An Imperial battlecruiser has just moved overtop of the junkyard, it's massive and covers a significant section above him, but that's not important. The important thing is that, where it's hovering, the ends of it are shimmering, and a light barrier blips into place in the shape of the cruiser's sides, slowly dropping onto the junkyard like a giant glass cup over an ant.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 TA: 2hiit what2 happeniing

No, no fuck his plan has been working AA drew them off the dampening field was coming down. Fuck you you stupid battle cruiser.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 CG: WE'RE BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE, WE COULD MAKE IT UNDER THE BARRIER, IT'S LIKE- RIGHT OVER US- BUT WE'VE GOT A HOVERCRAFT OVERHEAD, SO WE CAN'T EXACTLY MOVE. MAGGUS SAYS THEIR SWEEPERS CAN STILL SEE HIM IF HE GETS CAUGHT IN THE BEAM, HENCE, I THINK WE'RE FUCKED.

CG: ARE YOU AT LEAST OUT? YOU KNOW WHERE MY TRACKER IS, YOU CAN FIND US, I JUST.

CG: TELL ME YOU'RE SAFE.

The dampening field buzzes weakly in his brain and then stops and fizzles out, leaving cold, beautiful silence, the sort of silence between headaches, between the dampening but just before the voices started up.

It's gone, he could use his psionics now, and as long as he didn't go towards Venure, which was easy to tell where he was now, that was where the dampener had been...

Diggy — 01/03/2022 TA: bolt, the dampeners down, go II'm gettiing their attentiion.

He took off from the pile of tires in a bolt of blue psionics. Hello there mister hover craft, would you like to be slung into one of your friends like a toy? He was drawing them away from Venure's position too, flying fast.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 CG: ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY, DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE

CG: NOVA IM SERIOUS

The replies come rat a tat tat one after the other.

CG: NO- NO FUCK YOU DON'T- FUCK!! NOVA NO, NO

He can almost hear Karkat shouting, no you idiot shut up- It cuts off quickly as if a hand covered his mouth, thanks Maggus.

The hovercraft he slung explodes into the other one, that's two down, the third is after him like a bullet out of a gun, but- Now there's a noise, a noise like the revving of an engine, a charging-

The belly-cannon of the cruiser has just let loose its own blast, a blast that feels wrong as it arcs through the air, it's aimed right for him and it's too big to miss, lined up too well...

Something plows into him and it's not the blast, it's another troll- It's Venure, curling around him, but he's too late to change Nova's trajectory- The wrong feeling blast hits them both and leaves stinging and involuntary twitching and loss of control in its wake, it's a dampening blast on its own, but Venure took the brunt. (edited)

Diggy — 01/03/2022 His heart raced as he lost control, panic welling up inside him while his consciousness clawed at his body to try to force it to work and get his psionics going right again, they were falling out of the air, tangled up with each other.

He reminded himself that he didn't see his own death in his dreams today.

.. but that might not be the worst thing that could happen to him.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Venure is startlingly limp ontop of him, as they fall he breaks away, he's definitely unconscious. They're both suddenly bathed in a bright blue light, their descent slowing and then halting... They're in a tractor beam from the only remaining hovercraft, and heading upwards... but with Nova looking down, he can see it. He can see an area of the fence, beyond anyone elses vision, suddenly burst apart, a barrel shoved aside as something Big plows through it, a dust cloud from something skidding, and then nothing as whatever it was hit the pavement.

Maggus was safe, then, and he had Karkat.

Up, up they go, into the belly of the ship. A human, a platoon of humans, is waiting for them as the ship closes below them, and now, guns are drawn and aimed at them. There's a lurch as the ship moves- hurtles upward- And none of the humans lose their balance, the soles of their boots glowing. Mag-boots, luckily enough Nova and Venure are still in the tractorbeam from the parked hovercraft so they don't get jostled, but, they can't exactly move, or fight... And with all those guns pointed at them, Nova's doom sense is going to be screaming at him to Be Careful. One wrong move gets them killed.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 Thank fuck, this was horrible enough without imagining them getting their hands on Mags and Karkat, at least two of them had gotten away.

He wished it had been three. Venure.. gods.

He .. will be good. He watches them, but doesn't speak, doesn't struggle. Not now surrounded by guns, with bright red blood drying on his horns.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 One of the humans speaks- Speaks... a few languages? He says something in french, then english, then spanish, then Alternian. Alternian. ... That's a weird fucking language to come out of a humans mouth.

'Lay down on the ground,' The human orders, and gestures with his gun. 'Hands behind your back, if you can still control them.'

Diggy — 01/03/2022 If he could move, he would follow directions. He knew he needed to be careful right here and now, his head ached with it. They could probably see he was twitching from the after affects of the shot.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 Venure too, he's twitching as well, even unconscious like he is... The human nods, gestures, and two of the humans step in to grab a leg each and seperate Venure from him. They stick him onto a stretcher, a gurney, no- And begin to wheel him off.

'Now, can you speak? ... Are you ill?' The human asks him. 'Is what you have contagious?' He's- Not attacking him, not darting him or making him sleep, they're seeing if he can obey orders first. Trying to save resources.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 "Ye2" he lisped softly. "No, and No."

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 The human gestured with the gun, up. 'Good.' He motions another human to get close- They come in with shackles, and ta-da, his wrists are shackled behind his back. The human pulls him up to his feet and begins to pat him down, jerking up his shirt when they feel his medpump.

'What's that?' The human patting him down asks, and the one who seemed to be in charge says, 'Looks like an insulin pump. I'd leave it alone, we'll get a tech to look at it. Do you have a name, pet?' Pet?

'Can you walk, or do you need to be carried out?' The human says, but is interupted by the other one. 'It's got harvest-tech,' they say. This brings the first human to blink. '... It does?' The man says, incredulously. '... Bring it to first aid, let's get it checked out.' He turns and Nova is getting tugged up to sit on a gurney of his own. They won't force him to lay down or anything, so far they're assuming he'll obey their words, if that's the case breaking out of here will be easy.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 "Nova" soft again, his voice was rough, like he'd been smoking a pack a day since he was a kid- or had screamed until his vocal chords were damaged. He went coorperatively, laying down as they directed him, playing obediant for them.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 The human nodded. 'Right, Nova then. We're going to take you to get checked out in our first aid station, make sure you're not too banged up. Sorry about the rough accommodations,' The man said, 'But as long as you can take orders, you'll be treated nicely.' Same ol same old.

Time to move, he's being wheeled down a hall and through many doors and turns, into an elevator that opens up into a medical bay. Remember that scene in wall-e where the robots are all sectioned off with light barriers? That's what this looks like. It opens up to an area with sectioned off cubicles, some of which are occupied by other pawfoots.

His gurney stops at the door, and a robotic arm comes down to clamp a collar on his neck. It's lightweight, but metal, and Nova can feel that unpleasant buzzing building back up in his bones. ... Dampened.

His gurney now moves towards a circle of showers, and a new human- He's red-haired and freckled, with black glasses and a well-to-do manner about him, gestures with a pen. 'Right,' He says. 'Shower off that blood so we can get a look at you, Unit... Nova. Says here that you've been in service before. When?' He taps the clipboard with his pen.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 Ugh he hated dampening collars, same old same old. At least this one was light, and probably not rated for him, he'd figure it out. "A decade ago." He lisped softly. He wondered if he was going to get his clothes back, had they already unplugged him from his tablet and taken it? Presumably. Time to wash.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 They had indeed taken his tablet but they had not taken off his clothing, that was left to him, but they do take off his shackles as he gets situated.

'A decade ago?' The human writes that down. 'Did you have a designation number?' The human asks him, the water turns on, it's lukewarm, which is probably a safe bet for any troll on the spectrum.

'Wash up and then wait here.' The human says, and leaves him to do his washing. ... So far, security is extremely lax. Probably the only thing stopping Nova from busting this place apart right now is the fact he has no idea where they've taken Venure, because it sure isn't here.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He .. hesitates, anxious, he didnt want to take his clothes off, he gets down to his boxers and makes a low whining anxious sound, glancing toward where the human dissapeared to. 'II don't remember iit' had been the answer about his number.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 The human is not too far, just petting another pawfoot who looked scared and... small, scared and small maybe half Nova's size? They glance back to him though and call out, 'Don't worry about that, unless you've got metal bits down there too. We just want to map out where your energy ports are.' Oop they're coming close, stopping when they... see his tattoos.

Nova can see... confliction in their face. '... These are... very pretty,' The human finally manages to stammer out. 'How... And why did someone decide to tattoo you?' Implying it wasn't his decision. Nova needs to tap into the human-thinking-about-pawfoot mindset. No bodily autonomy. Pet.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He relaxed at the reassurance and got the blood out of his hair and off his horns, pushing it out of his eyes. "-I wanted them, another troll diid them." He told him softly, and non confrontationally. Also truthfully.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 'Really.' The human says. '... You wanted them? Why would you want to inflict pain on yourself?' The human is writing everything he says, but their tone is... gentle. And confused.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 "II wanted two be pretty." He shrugged his shoulders gently. He was .. covered in scars, and hairless, look at those big eyes.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 The human's face flushes with red and they look genuinely taken aback. '... Are you?' They asked him, and somehow the question had weight.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He smiled, careful not to flash his fangs. "Yeah."

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 The human smiled too, gentle, leaning down to put his hands on Nova's shoulders just like Cronus had done. '... I think so too,' The human said. 'You're unique, aren't you? One of a kind... That much is obvious from looking at you.' His eyes searched Novas for a moment, curious, wandering, and- Without malice or infantilization in them.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 "II haven't met 2omeone liike me here." he admitted softly. Oh man, this guy was super soft. Its a good thing he stopped caring about how he was touched a long time ago, though, theres no flinch reaction to interfere with him trying to make nice with the tech.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 The human straightened up and gave him a warm little smile. 'You weren't hatched here?' The human asks, curiously. 'Did you come in on a ship, I wonder...' He writes something else down but then pauses, looks at Nova... He motions, and someone brings the gurney back over. There's a grey jumpsuit on it if he wants to wear them. The human won't make him wear clothing, he's a pet, he doesn't need clothes.

'-- Anyway. We've got your accommodations set up. Are you in pain?' He motioned something over- A robot arm comes over and it holds a white pack of something, like- an ice pack? The human picks it up and pops something inside and hands it to him. 'I think your knees are a little swollen, this might help that. I'll have someone by your cell shortly with some painkiller, and then someone will be by after that to get your rating, okay, Unit Nova?'

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He put the clothes on anyhow, he likes clothes- he took the pack and his ears perked as he felt the warmth of it, he nodded quickly. "Okay"

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 'Good boy.' The human pet his head and gave him a horn scratch at the base of his horns, and now he was being gently led to his own cell, a light barrier cubby. For now he'll be left alone, no one to bother him. His accommodations turn out to be a blanket and a big... dog bed in the corner of the cubby, it's better than nothing. He has no neighbors, he just has to... figure out his plan from here. Someone DOES come by with a pill for him, they slip it to him with a couple of bread rolls and a small capri-sun-like pouch of water.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He examined his new ..dogbed, and curled up in it with his blanket, pressing the heating bag to his achey knees and leaning his head against the wall, letting the tiredness in his bones show. Fuck he was tired.

His ears perked at the offerings and he chirped a thank you to them, and ..the rolls and water are being consumed, and he sniffs at the pill to see if he can recognize it.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 The rolls are light and fluffy, the water is not drugged, the pill seems to be tylenol, everything checks out. They have no reason not to trust him, well, except for all the destruction...

The human comes back with another human who opens his cell door with a tap of her badge and asks him to come out. This one is a female. She touches Nova, touches his knees and writes something down and moves away, now the first, nice human, is offering him... A device? It's a strange device, a long, thin... It's almost like a carpentry level, with little lightbulbs running along the inside of it. A couple of wires come out from one end, the human looks... Well... He's holding it, he's looking at Nova and then back at the rater, and purses his lips.

'Can you- Turn around? And close your eyes, this might feel uncomfortable.' The human said. (edited)

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He was cooperative, getting to his feet painfully when summoned and letting her examine him. The weird device came out and he bit his lip, and slowly turned around as asked, gently sweeping his hair forward over his shoulders so they can see all the ports. Time to close his eyes, and hope he didn't explode the device by accident.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 The human... balks. Is he really going to do this? To a child? ... A human-ish child? It's one thing when they look like animals, but this one... This one looked like that one a while back that was all over the news, that Serket girl. His daughter had been glued to the television, clutching her own pawfoot troll, when the jury decided the cerulean would die.

She'd cried, he remembered.

He took a deep breath and resolved to buy the family pawfoot something nice when he got home from this tour, and plugged the device into Nova's back.

It takes a whole bunch of readings and sends them to a mainframe somewhere, and the lightbulbs- One by one begin to blow out, poppopopopop, shattering glass inside their protective walls, until it reaches the second to last one, which is glowing a bright, hot yellow... It glows, and glows, and... then fades.

'... Shit,' The human says, wide-eyed. 'You're galaxy class, huh?'

Diggy — 01/03/2022 "ye22iir" He said softly. Thanking fuck he hadn't blown out the whole thing with what little control he could muster under the circumstances. He hadn't been able to hide that hes a ship class psion but even if they underestimate him a little, it helps.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 'But it's been a while since you were rigged. I'm assuming you served your tour and were sent down to earth as a pet, right?' The human reaches here, reaches for straws. He does not want to send this... this child back into service, and maybe Nova can understand that.

The human takes a breath and waits for the answer. Don't say no. He's staring pointedly at his clipboard, and not at the troll currently tugging at his heartstrings. Why oh why did he sign up for the EAC. It's easy money, they told him, the tours are short, they told him, you'll barely have any work to do, they told him. They didn't tell him it was picking up strays like this. Fuck.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 "yessir, ten year2 iin 2erviice." he turned his head to look back at him, hair half obscuring his face like a moody preteen.

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 The human frowned a bit, but he overall seemed to brighten. He reached down and untied his own hair from its little messy bun- And tied up Nova's in his own messy bun. '... You look like my daughter,' He said softly. 'I'm glad you've already served your tour, you seem to have... healed up nicely. I'm...'

He coughed a bit and straightened, the door had opened and another human- Tall, wearing a pink uniform, hair tied up, business woman like, Nova immediately should not like the look of her, had come in.

'-- Anyway.' He held out a wand now, waving it over him, 'What can you tell us about the blueblood you came in with?'

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He rubbed at his arm "-met hiim pretty recent, d'nt even know he wa2 a blue. He wa2 real niice to me though, 2hared hii2 food with me."

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 'Ah,' The human says. 'Do you know his name or class?' The human says. Thank god, this was probably just some silly retired veterans pet or something - Why did the war vets always seem to want the helmed pets, he wondered, anyway - This guy was probably some war vets pet caught up in the commotion of an escaped rogue or something. '... Were you living in the junkyard?' The human asks him, here comes pink lady, her heels click on the floor.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 "Hes called Venure." he said soft and tenative. "No22iir. Ven just said we were gonna get a package, n it '2ploded "

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 'He did, did he?' The woman speaks coldly now. 'Good, that's as good a confession as we need. Barnaby, what are you doing still talking to it. Get up, get working on the blue, we need your hands to figure it out.' She pulls the human to standing by his collar and he gives Nova a Be Careful look as the woman now bends over to look at him... as... Barnaby....? Heads to the elevator.

'My, but you're a mangy little thing, aren't you?' She scoffs a little bit. 'No fur, no paws, not even an ounce of cuteness. Definitely not for the adoptable market... Though, with your ports... I bet we could find SOME poor war veteran who wants you.' She implies what Barnaby had thought- War vets want helmed pets.

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He flushed gold and looked down, examining the floor and not looking at the Mean Woman. "2orry ma'am"

EightBitSkunk — 01/03/2022 She gives him a little, cruel smile, and scoffs through her nose. 'Good pet,' She says, and- Keeps on walking. Barnaby, watching from the elevator, gives him a thumbs up and then he's gone, plummeting downwards.

... Now it's time for him to wait, kick back, and relax until the next thing happened, how would he pass his time? Would he watch everything that happened, or would he sleep?

Diggy — 01/03/2022 He wants to stay up and watch everything that happens, but hes dead tired, and this thing is making his head cottony and his bones vibrate, so he is going to take the time to nap, because either he slept or he was Gonna sleep.

#paragraph RP #eightbitskunk #objectification #pettroll AU #bomb #maiming #death #kidnapping #guns #trauma #blood #helming #collars #subjugation

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