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         Zuriik's hand hovered precariously in font of Nepeta's door. He hesitated for a solid minute, instincts telling him to go and heart telling him to stay. With a deep breath, he knocked on her door. After a couple of moments that seemed like an eternity, Nepeta opened the door partially and peaked her head out. "Oh. Hello."

"Yeah, hi." he replied, rubbing the back of his neck with a self-conscious awkward smile.

She stared at him for a moment in silence. "Erm...what exactly do you want? Not to be rude or anything, but you knocked on my door after all."

"Oh, yeah. Right. Sorry. I was just wondering...because, you know, my blood is black and all...if you might want me to help out with your shipping wall? I could help you color in the caliginous ships. If you want."

Nepeta's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "How do you know about my shipping wall?"

Zuriik tapped his right temple, an automatic response to explain his knowledge of things not yet occurred. "I get visions of the future sometimes. Of I did anyway. In one of them, you were telling me about your wall. I didn't actually see it, or understand much, but I get the general idea."

"Oh. Okay then." She smiled, looking somewhat relieved. "I was worried that you were stalking me or something fur a moment."

He chuckled. "Yeah, that would be really awkward. No, I'm not stalking you. So...anyway...is it okay? Me helping out, I mean.

"Well..." Nepeta thought for a moment. "Okay. But you have to purromise that you won't tell anyone about any of the ships."

Zuriik traced an "x" over his heart. "I purromise."

She giggled, playfully rolling her eyes at his echoed inflections of the word. "Just come inside." Nepeta opened the door wide enough for him to come inside.

"Thanks." Zuriik stepped past her lightly, heart beating fast at the realization that she had just invited him inside her room. Awesome. His eyes glanced about, taking in his surroundings. "I like your room."

"Thanks." she replied, closing the door behind him. She crossed over to her shipping wall, staring up in pride at the drawn friend pairings. "Oh, hey. I don't think you've ever told me your name."

His mind instantly flew back to their first meeting, the dream encounter. /She must not remember./ he thought. "Zuriik. Zuriik Taroql." he answered.

"Nepeta Leijon." She replied. "So, Zuriik, do you have any ships of your own? Purrhaps I could add yours to mine."

Oh fuck, yeah he did. Her and him, flushed. But Zuriik couldn't say that. "Well, I'm pretty sure Freddy and I are pale right now. You know Freddy, right?"

Nepeta nodded. "Yeah, I know him." She grabbed a few little containers of paint and started to draw. "Could you touch up a few of the black ships? I'm almost out of ash, so they're getting a little bit messy."

He nodded, heading over to the left side of the wall, over to the Terezi ♠ Vriska ship. Zuriik placed his thumb in his mouth, biting down enough to cause himself to bleed. He pressed the finger against the wall, coloring in the faded spade, eyes wandering around the other ships as he did so. They were fine, he supposed. He wasn't really that invested in anyone's romantic life except for his own and Nepeta's. His gaze fell on one painted pair, in the corner, covered by a few crates. But not hidden. His finger stopped on the wall, his heart stopped in his chest. Nepeta...and Karkat. Flushed. Zuriik felt everything at once, rage towards the Cancer, betrayal towards the Leo, fury at himself, and a deep sadness that finally swamped him in depression. OTP, said the three letters above the ship, the infernal message becoming entirely clear to him. She loved Karkat. No, she was in love with Karkat. Nepeta, the girl that Zuriik loved more than anything, whom he was in total horns-over-heels love with...loved another. He felt his heart break and shatter, dropping down out of his chest and becoming lost. He bit his lip, hard enough to draw blood, and ripped his gaze away from the infernal ship. "I...I'm sorry, but I've got to go. I just...remembered that I have to do...something. I'll see you later though." Zuriik called to Nepeta, turning and leaving as fast as he could. He was back in his own room the next thing he knew, staring at the wall with horror, the painted picture of flushed affections burned into his mind. He wanted to cry again, to sob his fucking black heart out. But he couldn't, he didn't have the ability to do so. He felt numb and broken, hurt so badly that he didn't want to ever feel again. He curled up into a ball in the corner, eyes watering and lip quivering, almost crying but not able to take that last step over the edge. She didn't just pity him. She didn't love him at all. And...she loved another. Nepeta was in love with Karkat. For the second time that day, Zuriik felt like dying. Or maybe he was already dead. And this was some sort of cruel hell. The Ensightened's voice echoed in his head, trying to offer solander and apology, but Zuriik couldn't hear it. He was dead inside, his soul rotting. What did he have left to live for, when his cause had been proven naught? He didn't know. He didn't know and he didn't care. α was grabbed out of his strife specibus, Zuriik holding the blade to his wrist, ready to slash his lifeline to the world. 'You selfish asshole.' A snarling voice sounded in his head. It was his voice, not the Ensightened's, but Zuriik's. 'You love her? Prove it. Let her go.'
'I can't.' he mentally protested. 'I can't, I love her too damn much.'
'Then make her happy. Don't fucking hoard her, she isn't yours. If you truly love her, make her happy. No matter what that means to you. Satisfy her. Make her love complete, whether it's for you or not. Acquire her a fucking matesprit. Get Nepeta and Karkat together. Whatever it takes for her to smile.'
'...' Zuriik let the scythe fall to the ground. 'Okay.'

         Elix was typing furiously into his computer. His hands were shaking as he attempted to connect with Keni.
"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon." He made a connection, barely in time before a very large Ogre-bear bursted through his bedroom door.
"Now that i am FALCON FINISHED with that for the moment, you are going to get FALCON PUMMELED whateverthehellyouare." He charged it, his Axyouaquestion Guntlets, complete with axes on his hands, shining by the 20-hour daylight of his land. He threw an uppercut at the ogre, and watched it fly out of his room, over the railing, and land in the living room. He dived over said railing, and sliced off it's head, revelling in the grist and other materials that were produced from the fresh kill.

After stepped outside, and was welcomed with even more enemies, this time Imps. He dodged, cathcing one in the stomach to let it burst with grist. He smiled, as it poured out. Sweet, sweet grist. A few started attacking him all at once, and he weaved through them, cracking them all over the skull. IT was getting boring though, so he opted to just punch his way to safety, so that he could meet an unidentified flying... Player? Interesting.

"FALCON GREETINGS"

         Zuriik watched Danavel go, the Ensightened still monologuing in his head. "...and although your session never lasted long enough to beget such beings, I thought you might want to know about them."

"Just...shut up." the troll groaned, putting his hand to his head. "Why the fuck can't you just leave me alone for an hour? Fuck."

"Sorry, but I needed to know what you saw in your visions."

"So you interrupted my conversation with my friend to ask me about something I made it clear I didn't want to talk about?"

"Yes."

"Fuck you."

"So what did you see?"

"Nothing." Zuriik muttered. "Nothing important or recognizable. Just a bunch of Doom and gloom and death. The fucking usual."

"I...see. Very well."

"What?"

"Oh, it's nothing. Just need to think for a while."

Zuriik laughed. "Oh, so now you're the one running away from this conversation without telling me anything. Freaking hypocrite."

"I heard that."

"You were supposed to."

The Ensightened fell silent, Zuriik shakily rising to his feet. Even more than the visions, even more than the pain, what lingered with him was the faces of his friends. The pity they expressed towards him. It was about time that he tried to undo a bit of that pity. Got them to accept him as a troll and not just treat him like a delicate animal. Perhaps...

Zuriik pulled something out of his inventory, the medallion given to him by his sprite. Maybe it would work here. He concentrated, the necklace glowing, but no sprite appearing. He tried again, desperately desiring to talk to his feline friend that was most likely stuck inside a black hole. He wanted to ask the creature if it could recite to him the love letter he wrote, that became part of it. He had written it to Nepeta, perhaps it would impress her. But no, nothing. The words he had placed onto the precious piece of paper were lost forever, he could not recall them on his own. Zuriik cried out in frustration, chucking the thing at the wall, where it bounced off and skidded to the floor. He would not give up, he decided. No matter if he had to make it up on the spot, he would tell her how he felt. Another night could not go by with disappointment and self-hate. It was now or never. Zuriik crossed the room, opening the door and staring out into the hallway. A tentative step, closing the door behind him. It was time to test his luck at the cruel game known as romance. Zuriik prayed for whatever god of love or luck that might exist to aid him, and he set off toward Nepeta's room.