fourth carcino ♋ text

[crab]

THERE ARE SOME ISSUES I WOULD LIKE TO ADDRESS.
TO EXPLORE, IF YOU WILL.
EVEN DISCUSS, WHILE WE'RE AT IT.
ALLOW ME TO PRESENT MY GRIEVANCES:
WHAT THE FUCK IS *WRONG* WITH YOU GUYS?
WHAT HAS EVEN BEEN *HAPPENING*?
ARE YOU ALL INSANE? YES, YOU ARE. YOU ARE INSANE. I AM SURROUNDED BY PSYCHOPATHS.
I NEED NEW FRIENDS.
YOU KNOW WHAT? THAT'S THE BEST IDEA I'VE EVER HAD.
FRIENDSHIP POSITIONS OPEN. REQUIREMENTS: NOT BEING A MURDER-HAPPY, REVENGE-OBSESSED PYSCHO WHOSE IDEA OF RESOLVING A SITUATION IS IN ACTUALITY MAKING EVERYTHING A SOLID BILLION TIMES WORSE.

Comments

[dragony]

I was carrying the joke. You know, banter? In an effort to distract you from the shitty situation.

[crab]

Sorry for not being in a particularly humorous mood.

[dragony]

Don't worry about it.

... But if you need someone to talk to that isn't, you know, directly involved, and runs zero risk of perpetuating the murder-revenge cycle, then... I'm all ears.

[crab]

There's not much to talk about. No one else needs to get entrenched in this reeking horseshit.

[dragony]

Shoveling it on your own doesn't seem to be getting you anywhere.

[crab]

I'll deal with it. This is my team. My responsibility.

[dragony]

Then do the responsible thing.

[crab]

What the fuck do you think I'm trying to do?

[dragony]

Right now?

[hhhhh and then private because ugh.]

Right now, I think you're venting your frustration and lashing out at a lot of people who deserve it, but in a way that's probably going to make it more difficult for you to control the situation once you've cooled off.

private.

[crab]

The situation is already out of control. Any control we may have had over it is laying dead at our feet in a congealed puddle of its own vomit.

private.

[dragony]

From what I could see, you seemed to be doing a decent enough job with Gamzee before... that

That's more than I can say for anybody else that's been through here.

private.

[crab]

Before that is the key point here. That has already happened, and I don't even know what the consequences might end up being.

private.

[dragony]

Mmm... Well, I suppose the first question is, when Eridan comes back, what do you want to happen to him?

private.

[crab]

[ oh no why would you ask him that question. that's the worst question.

he is silent for a good five minutes before answering. ]

I want him to pay.

private.

[dragony]

[ because she is someone who GENUINELY LIKES ERIDAN
SOMEHOW, THESE PEOPLE EXIST. ]

But not with death. Then with what? Dismemberment? Imprisonment? Exile?

private.

[crab]

[ what could eridan pay with? there is literally no reason for karkat to want to have any mercy on him. he killed his friends. he killed karkat, left him to die a terrified, painful death all alone. he'd betrayed karkat and their friendship on every conceivable level.

if karkat were to answer completely honestly, his answer would be something like i want to make him feel as shitty as i do.

but... ]

I don't know. Okay? I don't know. Why do you care? What does this have to do with you, what business is any of this of yours? I don't even know you.

private.

[dragony]

Because this isn't contained to just you and the other trolls. It's not even contained to you and the others from your universe. Most of you, you have friends and allies among people not from your universe. As partners in quadrants, or as pseudo-lusus parents, or just, well, friends. When you all fight against one another, it's not in a vacuum. It is a vacuum. It drags everyone else into it, too. And so the conflict and fighting, it just spreads. It keeps growing.

I may not care what happens to me, but I can't stand all this fighting. I'm sick of seeing the people important to me get hurt or killed because of this mess, just as much as as you are.

So maybe I want to help out the guy who might actually stand a chance of stabilizing things.

Is that business enough?

private.

[crab]

[ ok

yeah.

there aren't many ways for him to argue with that and not come out of it as a filthy hypocrite. ]

Then you're talking to the wrong person. I'm not stabilizing anything, it's because of me that this clusterfuck started in the first place.

private.

[dragony]

[ out-stubborning the resistant for the sake of moving the plot is one of her few unique skills. good luck, karkat. ]

Because of you, because you died?

private.

[crab]

I wouldn't have if I'd used my head and listened to the warnings I'd been having shoved down my auricular tracts for quite literally months on end. But, no, past Karkat has an undying penchant for making the worst possible decisions and inciting the worst possible outcomes in all timelines, in all realities.

private.

[dragony]

Unless you told them to kill Eridan, or forced him to kill you, then forget all that for now. Nobody can know when Eridan will get back, and I don't think either of us want him to get murdered the moment he does as, I don't know, a preventative measure to make sure he doesn't go after who killed him.

Or have I misjudged you?

private.

[crab]

I might as well have. This was completely within my power to prevent, and like with many other things, I completely shat the cocoon and now we all have to lie in it and marinate in the stinking juices of aromatic failure. But fine. What do you suggest we do, since you're so knowledgeable and involved?

private.

[dragony]

That's what I'm still trying to figure out. [a sigh.] Be sarcastic all you want, you're not going to make stop caring.

A lot of the conflict, from what I've seen, centers on Eridan and Gamzee, individually. But that doesn't necessarily mean that they're entirely to blame for it, either. Accidents happen. And provocation makes it worse. The back-and-forth "justified aggression" is even more ridiculous.

[tired, and with a sigh:] Honestly, sometimes it seems like the "easiest" way to prevent more bloodshed is to just separate you all and prevent any cross-communication. Out of sight, out of mind, you know? But that's just wishful thinking.

private.

[crab]

[ there's a short pause on his end. ]

Our species is naturally bloodthirsty. Killing is encouraged in our society, even rewarded. If you don't grow up to be ruthless and a murderer, you'll end up killed yourself. That's how it works for us. That's just the way things are. But there are boundaries, even on Alternia. It can't just be a constant, unfettered bloodbath. We'd wipe ourselves out in a week. That's what the conciliatory quadrants are for. Moirallegiance and auspisticism. Moirallegiance is the pacification of a violent, dangerous, or self destructive partner. I'm Gamzee's moirail. I can keep him from murdering people left and right- if I'm alive. Eridan's moirail, on the other hand... [ he grits his teeth a little. ] It's an insult to the quadrant. I've witnessed nothing between them even remotely pale. It's like they're moirails in name alone- though Eridan is moronically invested in their "relationship". If his moirail actually behaved like one, he might be less of a threat.

Then there's auspistice... Auspistice is when one party mediates between two others to stabilize and calm a feud in order to keep them from tearing each other's throats out.

There are constructs in place that can keep us in check. There are ways to stabilize what's going on. The issue is that moirallegiance and auspisticism are romances- you can't force them on someone who doesn't accept or want them. It has to be a mutual, balanced thing.

private.

[dragony]

[ An affirmative hum in response. ]

Yeah, that's about what I've heard about the quadrants.

As far as Edward Nygma's concerned... for one thing, he wouldn't let any of you witness it; that isn't the kind of person he is. He doesn't show his heart near the surface in public like that. Just because you can't see him pacifying Eridan in a big show over the Network doesn't mean it doesn't happen. ... Or vice versa. Aside from that, it's not even just a moirallegiance they have, either, but a human parent-child relationship as well. I'm pretty sure you don't have that on Alternia, so it's possible that the behavior you find "insulting" is meant for the other half of what they are.

It may seem a sham to you, but he does care about Eridan. It's mutual. And considering what's hiding in his heart... I think Eridan's keeping him from self-destruction. It's not as simple as you think.

And Eridan'd be a lot less defensive if they stopped focusing on and attacking Edward. So you know.

But getting back to the topic, it sounds like it's the auspisticism that's lacking on most fronts here.