94 lines
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94 lines
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<title>The Homestuck Epilogues: Meat - Chapter 24</title>
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<div id='s24'></div>
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<h1>Chapter 24</h1>
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<div class="o-story_text o_epilogue type-rg type-sm line-caption line-copy pad-x-0 pad-x-lg pad-b-lg">
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<p class="no-indent dirk"><span class="opener type-hs-opener-rg type-hs-opener-sm">T</span>he server
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Meenah fled through is a distant speck now. You look back, and
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can’t even see it anymore. In fact, you’re not even sure you’re
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looking in the right direction. You are utterly adrift, continuing
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your lazy orbit around the black hole. The only thing you
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<em>are</em> sure of is the fact that your Ring of Life is freshly
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pilfered from your not-so-fresh-looking hoodie.</p>
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<p class="dirk">It doesn’t really bother you, though. It’s not like
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you had any plans for it. Taking it from Aranea was, like, a bonus
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as far as you were concerned. Extra life ring? Nice, maybe it’ll
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come in handy someday. Scratch that now. The young Condesce has it,
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and is probably hatching bold new plans as we speak. Not that those
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plans will ever have anything to do with you.</p>
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<p class="dirk">Hours and hours slip by. Your eyes starts to hurt,
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and the wound in your chest starts feeling numb. It’s a
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disconcerting combination of sensations.</p>
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<p class="dirk">After a while you think about tending to your
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wound. There must be something in your dad’s wallet that you could
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use to bandage the gash. You eye the wallet and try to imagine what
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could possibly be inside it that would be of any use on a medical
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basis. A straight razor? You’d probably fuck yourself up even more
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if you tried to perform surgery.</p>
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<p class="dirk">You notice you can’t seem to make yourself care
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about healing yourself long enough to continue entertaining ways to
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MacGyver your body back to health using nothing but the contents of
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a wallet belonging to a middle-aged, shaving-obsessed pipe
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enthusiast. You put the wallet back in your pocket.</p>
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<p class="dirk">A glint of red catches your eye, just ahead. Then
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it’s gone. No... there it is again, another glint. It’s flickering
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or sparkling in some way. What it that? You drift toward it without
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urgency, worried that it’s exactly what you think it might be.</p>
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<p class="dirk">You get close enough to confirm. Two small red
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slippers, coated in tiny gemstones.</p>
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<p class="dirk">Jade’s empty shoes are a depressing sight, but you
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feel a sense of duty to retrieve them. Might as well. You secure
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them in the wallet, along with whatever other junk is in there.</p>
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<p class="dirk">Your wound is starting to throb again. You can hear
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your blood in your ears. The rush of your pulse is so loud that it
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almost sounds like the engine of a rocket sputtering to a stop.</p>
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<p class="dirk">Wait. It sounds <em>exactly</em> like the engine of
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a rocket sputtering to a stop.</p>
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<p class="dirk">It can’t be. It’s impossible, you think. But why
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would it be impossible? Isn’t this what you were out here looking
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for, even if you couldn’t admit it to yourself? What’s the point in
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denying it now?</p>
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<p class="dirk">You turn around...</p>
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<p class="dirk">There she is, with her flaming-red rocket wings.
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She hovers in place, looking not a whole lot different from when
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you last saw her years ago. Her arms are crossed over her chest,
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making knifelike angles where her elbows jut out. She is giving you
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a look of absolute disregard. It’s an expression of exasperation so
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performative and habitual, it sends bolts of aching nostalgia and
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fondness through your heart.</p>
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<p class="dirk">Dumbly, you raise your hand and give her a dorky
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little wave. It does not adequately communicate whatever it is
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you’re feeling right now. But then, nothing else would, you
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suppose.</p>
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<p class="dirk">She waves back. But hearing her voice is what makes
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it real.</p>
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<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
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<p class="terezi">TEREZI: H3Y LOS3R</p>
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</div>
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</div>
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</body>
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