bones: May I speak with you, Lyris?
acuterobot: yeah eli?
bones: I think something is wrong.
acuterobot: i feel it too :(
The afternoon found Jude idly milling about his dingy little apartment, toking up and shooting the breeze in chat with Esther and Fae. The trio shared a private chat, which JJ was also invited to join at his leisure, but he was often too busy dealing with his devious twinkish business of fucking foxy grandpas and silver foxes. So today, like any other day, it was just Jude and the girls.
juliachildenthusiast: Hey esther
juliachildenthusiast: How is Darius holding up?lesbian_gengar: poor little dude hasnt talked in days
lesbian_gengar: do u think its related to whats going on in your zoo?juliachildenthusiast: I dont know.
juliachildenthusiast: Its been a lot. Like.
juliachildenthusiast: Fuck dude.
juliachildenthusiast: Not even the supervisors know whats going on.
He had just finished grinding up some weed to roll up when he decided to check his phone. Much to his surprise, the battery was nearly dead. His Stand usually kept it charged for him, so he didn't own a charger. Jude blinked and set his phone down on the desk he was sat at, then took another drag of his blunt.
bluntfiend: I think I'm so high I forgot how to use my Stand.
lesbian_gengar: ???
juliachildenthusiast: Thanks for the update jude.
juliachildenthusiast: Anyway i gotta go. Emergency meeting.bluntfiend: No, I'm serious. I usually use my Stand to charge my phone and now it's about to die.
lesbian_gengar: how can u forget how to use ur stand. idiot.
He took another drag of his blunt, which was rapidly turning into a roach, then lumbered forward to put out the jazz cigarette on his ash tray. Jude then picked up his phone again and focused as hard as he could. He tried to summon forth his latent power, but try as he might, it would not come out. A frown spread on his face as he reached for the bag of weed he had bought from the dispensary, turning it over to read the label.
It wasn't an anomalous strain; he didn't have the money for that kind of fun, which left him wondering why this particular smoke sesh had left him so out on his ass. Jude sighed and finished rolling up his new joint, wet the seal, and closed it. Within moments, the blunt was held between his teeth and he was sparking up with a shitty BIC lighter again.
bluntfiend: I don't know. Guess I'll try later, I don't feel like thinking right now.
acuterobot: should we tell everyone?
bones: I don't want to worry them.
acuterobot: but wouldnt it worry them more if we just ghosted them??? :((
bones: Apologies, I am not the best equipped to handle sentimentality.
"How's she doing today?"
Dahlia put her hand on Andressa's shoulder, who leaned in and gave her partner's hand a kiss.
"About the same," Andressa said with a frown. "She played a round of Dr. Mario earlier."
"Oh," Dahlia said, sitting down at the table, staring towards the doorway that led to Heather's bedroom. "Did it make her feel any better?"
"No."
"Did she finally try—"
"Yes, she got the 'Game Over'." Andressa paused, as she looked at the clock on the wall. "Should be back, any second now."
An uncomfortable silence filled their house, a dissonant break from the noises, chimes and chiptunes that gave their space life — there was no movement in Heather's room, nor had there been much, since she crawled into bed weeks ago, needing to 'recharge'.
"She…" Dahlia said, trailing off.
The clock on the wall ticked endlessly, forever marching forward.
"What?" Andressa snapped, glaring at Dahlia. A moment later, her eyes bulged, and in a panicked hurry, she sputtered. "Shit, I'm sorry, baby. I just…"
"Yeah." Dahlia put her hand on Andy's, playing with the ring on her finger. "I get it."
Both women turned to Heather's room, hearing a noise; a quiet beep, a noise Heather made while dreaming, sometimes. They froze, hoping to hear more — but nothing came.
"She's going to be okay, right?" Dahlia said quietly, as if she was afraid to utter it.
"Of course," Andressa reassured them both, in a tone she didn't quite believe herself. "She's just going to respawn, and then it'll all be okay. Just like last time, right?"
"Yeah," Dahlia said, nodding. "Right."
The clock continued to tick, as they stared at Heather's door, waiting for a sign that everything would be okay, a flicker of her face on the monitor, her laughter, the sounds of games and joy.
A moment later, Heather's room was filled with the sound of static, a cacophony of flashing black and white screen-tears blasting them in the darkness.
Neither would ever be able to bring themselves to turn the static off.
bones: I have an admission.
acuterobot: what did you do?? :S
bones: I reread Homestuck. Again.
acuterobot: still confused?
bones: No. I think I understand it now.
acuterobot: what did you think?? still hate cal?
bones: I mulled on this momentarily, but have come to the following conclusion: without a beginning, a paradox should never have been alive — and despite that, it lived.
jockjamsvol6 uploaded jf20fisk2.jpg
jockjamsvol6: does anybody else fucking see that?
lesbian_gengar: ???
bluntfiend: What are we looking at, dude?
jockjamsvol6: the grey! don't you see it??
lesbian_gengar: oh no! not a grey hair!
lesbian_gengar: jj, this isn't a big deal. it's not like ur dyingjockjamsvol6: TWINK DEATH IS LITERAL DEATH
JJ stared in the full-body mirror, examining his carefully sculpted form — smooth, moisturized daily with care, not a hair or freckle out of place. Some called him pretentious, others called him vain, but the fact remained: JJ was just lucky.
It seemed his luck had started to turn.
Shoved up against the mirror, his nude form pressing against itself, he stared at his reflection with obsessive scrutiny. His fingers gently teased through his hair, strand by strand, in search of the offending outlier — it was slow, and painful.
It should have been easier, JJ always got things right the first time. Searching for a needle in a haystack was routine, and quick — or at least, should have been.
"Where the fuck did it go?" JJ muttered, as he compulsively groomed himself, his nakedness drying in the air. "I swear to god, I just saw—"
He froze, fingers deftly wrapping around the root of the thing that did not belong. In a single tug, he pulled it out, holding it before his face.
It was a grey hair.
JJ didn't worry about his appearance, no, he just went about his life, hot, flirting from one DILF to the next, not a worry in his mind. When things just go your way, well — why wouldn't you enjoy being a bit spoiled? And as long as he maintained his slender, sexy look, everything would stay as perfect as it had always been.
JJ did not get grey hairs.
Calm down, JJ thought, breathing in deeply. It's just one grey. It's fine.
His phone buzzed, a custom notification sounding, alerting JJ of the importance — he couldn't remember the name of the silver fox he planned on sleeping with tonight, but he remembered how he felt the morning after.
'Hey, i think the wife is onto me, cant meet anymore. Sorry.'
JJ dropped his phone in disbelief, becoming distracted once more; he closed the gap to the mirror, scrutinizing his scalp once more.
Another grey. And another, and another, and so on. Something terrible had happened to him. Something he thought would never happen so long as he lived.
He had run out of luck.
bones: May I share something with you, Lyris?
acuterobot: of course
bones: I love you. You are like a sister to me.
acuterobot: ily too. :')
acuterobot: i always have.bones: Me too.
SCP-2721 UPDATE
As of 2300 hours last night, SCP-2721 is no longer orbiting the far side of the Moon. Personnel embedded within international space agencies reported a shockwave, presumably caused by the object's impact, against the surface of the Moon. Disinformation campaigns regarding a rogue asteroid originating from the Kuiper Belt have been disseminated in response.
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