178 lines
9.9 KiB
HTML
178 lines
9.9 KiB
HTML
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<head profile='http://dublincore.org/documents/dcmi-terms/'>
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<title>The Homestuck Epilogues: Meat - Postscript</title>
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<meta name='DCTERMS.title' content='The Homestuck Epilogues: Meat'/>
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<body>
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<div id='s44'></div>
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<div>
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<h1>Postscript</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"><span class="opener type-hs-opener-rg type-hs-opener-sm">E</span>lsewhere,
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below the horizon...</p>
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<p>The distant sounds of war travel above the canopy of a forest.
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The artillery fire fades to a series of muted knocks and thuds as
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the sound waves cross beyond a thinning patch of the forest and
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arrive in a clearing of grass and shrubbery. Above, the sky is
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dramatic, colorful, menacing. The way it looks when a storm is
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coming. The clouds are wild, whipped into a sort of spatial frenzy,
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as if they know what’s imminent is no earthly phenomena. Aradia
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stands in the field, her mouth gaping wide. But not at the sky.</p>
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<p>It’s unusual she isn’t grinning, and she slowly corrects this.
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She smiles brightly at the girl crouching on the ground ten paces
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before her. Aradia’s never seen anything like what she just saw
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this girl do.</p>
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<p>Jade was sixteen years old when she showed up, and she doesn’t
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look a day older now, though many hundreds of days have passed.
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There’s a hole piercing the Space symbol on her shirt, but no sign
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of whatever it was that made it. Her legs are covered by the same
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striped tights as usual, but her feet are shoeless. Her knees are
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pressed into the mud of the field, and her hands braced against the
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ground to support her hunched figure. She is covered in blood
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almost from head to toe.</p>
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<p>Fresh blood and viscera surround her in an uneven ring on the
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field. It soaks her clothes, coats her skin, still gleaming and
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wet, running slowly down her limbs and face, dripping from her
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mouth, glasses, and the tip of her nose. Her hair is matted,
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savage-looking, filthy. She looks up. Behind the rim of her
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glasses, her wide eyes are solid black. Her lips are parted,
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revealing her canine fangs. The meat she’s chewing is stubborn,
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raw, full of gristle. Almost supernaturally tough. But she is a
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determined beast of prey. She swallows once, hard. The last bit of
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her meal slides down her throat. The deed is finished.</p>
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<p>She stands up and closes her eyes. An aura of darkness gathers
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around her. The blood begins to dissolve, as if being absorbed into
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her skin. She makes two fists, plants her feet firmly, and releases
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an otherworldly howl. A shock wave emanates from her body, knocking
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Aradia down. It rushes outward, blowing the surrounding trees back
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as if they’re weathering hurricane-force winds. In a moment, calm
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is restored. She opens her perfectly black eyes again.</p>
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<p>Aradia staggers back to her feet and brushes herself off.</p>
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<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
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<p class="aradia">ARADIA: i take it everything went as you
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hoped</p>
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</div>
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<p class="no-indent">Jade looks down at her hands as if they belong
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to an alien. She can feel it now. Abilities have been awakened
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inside her that no being has ever commanded before. She raises her
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hands and looks up at the sky. Above her, an immense vortex opens.
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It swirls many miles upward into blackness, and lightning crackles
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within.</p>
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<p>Jade does nothing for a while. She seems to simply study the
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construct she’s summoned, this great occult trumpet beckoning her
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into its abyss. Her face is expressionless. Her glasses flash white
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as they reflect the lightning that arcs sporadically inside the
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wormhole.</p>
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<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
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<p class="aradia">ARADIA: well?</p>
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<p class="aradia">ARADIA: arent you going in</p>
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<p class="aradia">ARADIA: wasnt that the idea or did i not...</p>
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</div>
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<p class="no-indent">Jade silently holds up a hand, as if telling
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her to wait. Aradia closes her mouth, looking embarrassed.</p>
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<p>Nearby, a red haze gathers in the air. It condenses into
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concentric rings and spheres of ruby light. The luminous shape of a
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man fades into the center of the special effect. When the light
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subsides, Aradia notices the man is made of polished metal. She
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recognizes the gear symbol on his chest, identical to her own. She
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also recognizes the sunglasses the robot is wearing. She knows who
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this is.</p>
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<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
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<p class="aradia">ARADIA: dave?</p>
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<p class="dave">DAVEBOT: sup</p>
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</div>
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<p class="no-indent">He doesn’t look in Aradia’s direction. His
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eyes, glowing bright enough to be visible behind his shades, are
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fixed on Jade. He looks her up and down. She’s still so young. He
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knew this Jade many years ago, but by this point their paths have
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diverged in ways that he couldn’t begin to describe even if he
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wanted to.</p>
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<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
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<p class="dave">DAVEBOT: so we doin this</p>
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</div>
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<p class="no-indent">Jade says nothing, and looks up into the
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wormhole again. She begins to levitate, gradually picking up speed.
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Without looking back, she rockets into the vortex, vanishing into
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the darkness. Davebot turns to Aradia.</p>
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<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
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<p class="dave">DAVEBOT: how about you</p>
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<p class="dave">DAVEBOT: wanna come along</p>
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<p class="aradia">ARADIA: i guess so?</p>
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<p class="aradia">ARADIA: im really not sure whats going on
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here</p>
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<p class="aradia">ARADIA: to be honest the plan wasnt discussed
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much</p>
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<p class="dave">DAVEBOT: thats what were doing now</p>
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<p class="dave">DAVEBOT: discussin the plan</p>
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<p class="dave">DAVEBOT: what about your boy</p>
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<p class="dave">DAVEBOT: eyepatches</p>
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<p class="aradia">ARADIA: oh sollux is in one of his moods</p>
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<p class="aradia">ARADIA: this was all getting to be a bit much for
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him</p>
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<p class="aradia">ARADIA: if i go ill probably just cut him
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loose</p>
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<p class="dave">DAVEBOT: good move</p>
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</div>
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<p class="no-indent">His gaze remains fixed on her. She blinks and
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looks away, unsure what to say next. He’s standing perfectly still,
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presumably waiting for her to say something. She met him... what
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was it? Once, twice before? She can’t remember. But she knows this
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is a very different Dave. Aside from the metal skin, he seems
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implacably confident. But then, people go through changes. She’s
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been through more than her share. She cocks an eyebrow, recalling
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her own stint with a metal body.</p>
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<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
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<p class="dave">DAVEBOT: hey earth to whats your face</p>
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<p class="aradia">ARADIA: oh</p>
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<p class="aradia">ARADIA: its aradia</p>
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<p class="dave">DAVEBOT: i know</p>
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<p class="aradia">ARADIA: um...</p>
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<p class="dave">DAVEBOT: so thats a yes then</p>
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<p class="aradia">ARADIA: what</p>
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<p class="dave">DAVEBOT: youre coming</p>
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<p class="dave">DAVEBOT: better decide quick i doubt that dank
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fuckin hell funnel is staying open for much longer</p>
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<p class="aradia">ARADIA: yes i suppose so</p>
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<p class="aradia">ARADIA: thats where all the action is right?</p>
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<p class="dave">DAVEBOT: all the action that matters yeah</p>
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<p class="aradia">ARADIA: off we go then :)</p>
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<p class="dave">DAVEBOT: word</p>
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</div>
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<p class="no-indent">He holds out his hand. She looks around, and
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assumes he means for her to take it, so she does. She didn’t know
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someone could fly this fast. He nearly yanks her arm out of its
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socket. She considers reminding him that maybe this isn’t
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necessary, since she can fly too. But she doesn’t want to risk
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saying more embarrassing stuff around this outrageously cool dude.
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Besides, they’re through the wormhole before she can even finish
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the thought. It vanishes the moment they’ve crossed.</p>
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<p>The hole leaves behind an absence in the sky so calm that
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continuing to call it a sky wouldn’t seem to do it justice. It’s a
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perfectly neutral expanse into which anything one can imagine might
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be summoned. And for a while, anything was. But not anymore. Where
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the hole gaped just moments ago, there now exists an imaginary
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line.</p>
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<p>Above this line resides all that matters. Below exists all else.
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Never again the twain shall meet.</p>
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</div>
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</div>
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</body>
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</html> |