(no subject)

[fearofpiggies]

It had been a few days of radio silence on Dib's end. His house's AI picked up the IMs he missed with 'Dib's not home, pal. He's off doing that dumb deep research thing he does. If he dies, I'll let you know' and that was the end of it.

And Eddie was right. He was doing that dumb deep research thing he did. In fact, he had been in an abandoned amusement park that had been built on top of an old factory site that had lots of fucked up deaths attributed to both places, and even more fucked up hauntings. It didn't help that some freaky cult of demon worshipers had been using the abandoned haunted house attraction as a meeting place and had been doing rituals there for years, thus inviting in literally every dark presence in the immediate area of the site. It was basically the only time Dib could be talked into going to an amusement park without getting him grousing.

When he returned home after three days of extensive research and recording of phenomena, Dib was exhausted, but satisfied with the results he'd gotten. His first order of business was to take a long shower to wash off the dried ectoplasm that had gotten on him, as well as the three-day stink of someone who slept in his car instead of getting a hotel room. He didn't bother brushing his hair back or shaving, because he'd be going straight to sleep after winding down from an adventurous weekend. Once he stepped out of the bathroom, he made his way out to the living room, sprawling out on his sofa to see what he'd missed on his social networks.

Not much, it seemed. He didn't keep a very long list of contacts; the few that he kept were in alternate dimensions, or in the vague shadow agency of the Swollen Eyeball Network.

Do you never sleep? He wrote to Sollux, having seen him actively online practically every hour of the day, over the course of about a month.
 

Comments

[apocalypticduality]

2leep is something that happens to other people. was the reply he got a few seconds later.

Sollux had gotten used to not sleeping, given a variety of factors including work, insomnia and nightmares. He hadn't really brought up that latter though, preferring to keep Dib's active paranormal investigations to his side of the multiverse after the initial showing off. He was wandering the 3 am darkness of his apartment in a pair of pajama pants, debating on simply stripping down because of the beginning of his tuesday. He was freshly showered and lethargic and just a little prickly with apprehension after reports from some of the others about horrorterror involvement elsewhere. Dying again didn't really rank very high on what he wanted to do with his night.

2o how'd the iinve2tiigatiion go?

[fearofpiggies]

Other people is right. I usually get maybe three hours a night.

Productive as usual, no complaints. Wouldn't recommend the place to the UrbEx crowd, myself, but it was pretty excellent. Lots of activity, none of it good.

Just got back, actually.

He considered inviting Sollux over, or himself over to his friend's, just so the two of them could eat something before he passed out from exhaustion. His fingers hovered over the keyboard of his laptop for a few moments, while he considered the options. Well, he was hungry, and Sollux was awake.

You still got that tortellini I bought? If you bring it over, we can eat something reasonably healthy before Weird or What comes on and I pass out.

[apocalypticduality]

ii like that iidea.
giive me a few to put on actual clothes.

What constituted actual clothes seemed to be a sweater pulled on over his pajama pants and a pair of flipflops. After fetching the pasta and shoving it into the front pocket of the sweater he set up his fenestrated plane and sat down on the edge of it with his feet hanging into the void. He took a breath and pushed off, falling feet-first through the chilly blackness toward the tiny pony of light that was Dib's plane. He dug his mobile out of his sylladex and texted him to let him know that he was most likely going to make a dramatic entrance, then braced himself for the inversion of gravity that would dump him unceremoniously onto Dib's floor. He put it away by the time he broke through, catching the sill at it passed by him and getting yanked around in a not-exactly-graceful maneuver that swung him around like a bullroarer until he planted his feet on the ground and steadied himself on the nearest wall.

"Fuckin' chritht I'm never gonna get uthed to that..."

[fearofpiggies]

In the time that it took Sollux to fling himself through the space between dimensions, Dib had put the laptop down beneath his sofa and went to boil the water. He was wearing something vaguely similar; his clothes were a threadbare black shirt with a cartoonish skull printed on it, and a pair of flannel pajama pants that slung down on his hips. He turned to watch his friend fly through the window. "Remind me to put that thing somewhere less dangerously close to the actual window," he stated. "One of us is going to wind up zigging when we should zag and wind up introducing ourselves to the concrete." He got a slightly tired smile as he turned back to check on the water, before he walked over to his fridge and grabbed a pair of beers, handing one over to Sollux. His arms were covered in superficial scratches, both from weaving around in thick underbrush with his jacket off, and from claws of indefinite horrors that were only solid enough to scratch him when they wanted to be.

"So how's shit going on the other end of the big beyond?"

[apocalypticduality]

"It'th going," Sollux shrugged as he took the beer, twisting the cap off and taking a swallow as he eyed the scratches then mentally shrugged them off. Hazard of the job, of course. He handed over the bag of pasta then glanced toward the window. He counted himself fairly lucky that days here seemed to run the same length that those at home did, meaning his schedule wouldn't be thrown off that badly if he were to stay here a while. He yawned and rubbed a hand over his eyes under his glasses, shaking his head some. "Learned about another building thquishy happening on the eatht coatht. Outer godth are getting antthy."

[fearofpiggies]

"Never pleasant," Dib said conversationally, and twisted his own beer's cap off, before taking a swig and ripping open the bag, to toss the pasta into the boiling water. "Any chance of you living through this one? And if not, would you like to try and avoid it by coming here for a couple days while shit gets squishy? You never know. It might pull them off your ass for a while. And by you, I mean global you, not personal you. Huh. Actually, that isn't a bad idea." His head tilted as he thought it through, poking down the pasta with a wooden spoon before stepping away from the stove to lean against the counter, near the sink. "Find some of the guys that they go after specifically, bring them into another reality to divert the horrorterrors' attentions, and then, when they go after them, pull the bubble safely to its final destination and actualize it. If they can't play by the rules, you shouldn't have to, either."

[apocalypticduality]

"That'th really not a bad idea, in theory. But it'th not uth that the terrorth are going after, thpethifically. It'th the entire bubble. They thtarted ramping up their attackth becauthe thome of uth actually thtarted preparing to fight back." Shrugging, Sollux drained half of his beer and leaned against the counter, peeking into the boiling pot then starting to rifle through the cupboards to see what else they could add to it when it was done. Bachelor cupboards rarely yielded much, but a jar of storebought sauce would be just fine with him. "I wouldn't mind crashing here for a couple of dayth though. Bro'th got our end of the country covered more or leth. A lot more capable than me anyway. The only thing I could really contribut'th my pthionicth and even then I have to be careful not to burn out again. I don't feel like dying blind yet again." Rolling his eyes, he put down a jar then wandered back into the living room, flopping down into the couch and glancing around then finally greeting the AI with a "hi Eddie."

[fearofpiggies]

"Just as long as you're not bringing any of the big and spookies with you, I'm all good with you dropping in." He checked the jar's expiration date before assessing that it was all right, before opening it and setting it aside. It wouldn't take long for the pasta to soften and heat up, so he milled around in the kitchen, while Sollux took a seat.

"Hey spaceman, nice to see you," came the amiable, strangely upbeat tenor of the AI's voice from the surround sound. Eddie had a fairly middling opinion of Sollux; he was better than most alien life he'd dealt with, but he was also a prick because he was almost as good as the AI was at hacking into secure data systems. Dib, for his part, thought that Eddie's jealousy was amusing, and stayed out of the middle of it.

Once the pasta was strained, plated, and covered in sauce, he brought it out, handing a plate to Sollux before turning on the TV and sprawling out on half of the sofa, knees bent so he didn't knock into his friend while they ate. "You know, after Mysterious Mysteries ended, I just can't seem to find a replacement thing to watch. That was my staple," he said with a sigh. "Weird or What is okay, I guess, it's on par with the ridiculous bad reenactments, but at least sometimes the things on Mysterious Mysteries were true. And Shatner is a shitty host."

[apocalypticduality]

Sollux sat up with his legs crossed and put the plate in his lap, poking some at the pasta then pushing a forkful into his mouth as he looked back at the tv. "Honethtly there ithn't much on that'th worth watching anymore. There hathn't been in a long time. And thith ith on a planet that'th a long younger than mine tho you all haven't run out of movie titleth yet."

Finishing his midnight snack in short order, Sollux glanced around at the walls to find a clock somewhere, his head tilting some at the time as he pulled a small smirk, looking back at Dib. "What day ith it here," he asked, his fork hanging from his mouth.

[fearofpiggies]

Once Dib was done with his own dinner - a bit faster than Sollux - he set his plate aside on the side table and shrugged, looking at the clock. It had been Monday until about twenty minutes ago, and he looked over at Sollux. "Pretty sure it's your mandatory naked day, as of about twenty minutes ago."

"Dude, if he's getting naked, I'm going into standby. I really don't need to see freaky alien schlong again," Eddie protested.

"Fine," Dib said with a roll of his eyes. "I'll boot you back up when he goes home or when he gets clothes back on, whatever. Big fucking weenie. Seriously, you'd think by now, he'd be a little less of a prude. I mean, he practically lives on the internet."

[apocalypticduality]

"And he wouldn't know about my bulge if he wathn't actively watching uth fuck," Sollux pointed out with an eyebrow raised at one of Eddie's cameras. He made a show of stripping his sweater off over his head, then looked back at Dib and shrugged with a slight grin. "Feel like participating in mandatory naked day?" After all, it was after midnight and it wasn't like they would be going anywhere or doing much of anything, especially given how exhausted both of them were to begin with.

[fearofpiggies]

"Fuuuuck you, tri-colored space bee," Eddie cheerfully quipped before announcing, "GOING INTO STANDBY" and the fans of the computer behind the sofa powered down.

Dib chuckled with a shake of his head, peeling out of his shirt. "You really shouldn't antagonize him, he's already high-strung as it is." And his pants came off moments later, discarded unceremoniously off the front of the couch before he got more comfortable again. "I've actually been trying to get him to calm down lately, so I can test out these robotic limbs I've been making for him, so he can help around the house. You know, just to do small things like clean and put away groceries, things like that. He complains that I have the worst organizational skills he's ever seen." Which wasn't far from the truth, at least when compared to a computer. He pointed at the long table behind the sofa, which served as his work bench, where there was set one fully completed articulated metal hand, and another that was just in the stages of starting to be built. The finesse and detail that he'd put into them was obvious, and it was also clear that it was just something for him to pass the time. Other projects were on the table, but they were pushed out of the way to make room for the hands.

[apocalypticduality]

Sollux folded his pant and hung them over the couch then turned to look over the hardware on the table, his head at a tilt. "You're probably aware of how thtupid giving AI programth their own mobile platformth actually ith," he said conversationally. "Let a mind build up enough rethentment over a thing it generally doethn't go well. I wath in contact with a guy that figured out how to create emotion-mimicking subroutineth and he ended up with a broken arm and nearly thrown off the top of hith apartment building. All in all, not pretty. But I'm thure Eddie'th harmleth," he added in a teasing tone, grinning toothily even though he knew that the AI was no longer paying attention to them.

[fearofpiggies]

"He's already got mobility, with the floating screens. But giving him hands won't do much damage, especially since I've put pressure actuators in there that can't put out more than the pounds per square inch it takes to hold a can of soup. I could make them stronger, but I don't." He shrugged a shoulder and laid his head back against the plush arm of the sofa. "You really worry about that? Eddie's as harmless as AI gets." He shook his head and sighed with a lopsided smile.

[apocalypticduality]

Sollux shrugged again and sprawled across the couch with his legs stretched out to let his heels rest on the floor, his ankles crossed. He laced his fingers together on top of his stomach, looking over at Dib getting comfortable and deciding he should do so as well with his head back on a couch cushion, legs crossed one knee over the other. "Mothtly I worry about it becauthe anyone with a perthonality hath the capability of becoming a pthycotic athhole like your little alien buddy, just more capable. Then the philothophical quethtionth come up and nobody wantth to deal with that exthept for Karkat." He'd mentioned the others every so often over the time he'd been in contact with Dib and had given him at least some background knowledge of them, just in case they ever decided to drop by while Dib was visiting. Thus far the only thing that had happened was a couple of phone calls.

[fearofpiggies]

"Anybody ever tell you that you read too much Asimov?" Dib said with a smirk as he kept his eyes busy with the TV. "I know some folks in different realities that have that kind of shit happen to their artificial intelligence, but you have to remember this is this reality we're talking about, and by and large, my reality is fucking stupid. When I have to go out scouring different planes of existence to find someone reasonably intelligent to talk to? Yeah. Not exactly what I'd call stellar amounts of terrifying here. I mean sure, shit is deadly, but the last time I ever felt any fear of mortal danger by way of sapient computer intelligence was in third grade." He finished off his beer and looked over to Sollux. "Not to say there isn't a possibility that Eddie would be able to go batshit insane and try to kill me, but I'm more worried that he's going to try and build himself a mouth and eat all of my cheetos."

He looked up at the ceiling and shrugged. "But I mean, from your perspective, I suppose it makes sense that you're taking the pessimistic route. Shit hardly seems to go well for your reality, it's just one set of complicated bullshit after the next." He rubbed his scruffy face and let out a small yawn. "You know what? I still would prefer your far more dangerous world than this place."

[apocalypticduality]

"The likelihood of a non-thtupid death ith higher but at least mine is infinitely more interesting than used napkin food," Sollux agreed, snorting as he finished off his own beer then stretched one leg over to prop his foot up on Dib's knee. "How ith all that working for you by the way? Having an actual diet that conthithtth of food?"

[fearofpiggies]

"My body is still getting used to processing it, I think," Dib said honestly as he raised his eyebrow to Sollux's foot, idly examining the build of it and how it differed from human feet. "I'm still wary of actual meat. That didn't work out as well as I would have hoped. It tastes amazing, but I'm pretty sure I'll have to stay away from it if I want to live." He wrinkled his nose and then shook his head. "I'll probably be all right after a year or so."

After a couple minutes, he shook his head, having started to drift off. "All right, unless you're planning on sleeping on the couch, I think it's time we head back there." He turned off the TV and sat up, stretching his arms over his head before standing. "C'mon, the bed's comfier anyway."

[apocalypticduality]

"Ath long ath you don't have an alarm clock thet to go off in the morning for any reathon, I would love to join you," Sollux yawned and stood, following after Dib and leaning heavily against his back. "Jutht acclimate yourthelf. A ham thandwich a day or thomething," he murmured then stepped around Dib to crawl into his bed, sprawling facedown on top of the blankets. He would be out in minutes, as he would have been had he stayed on the couch.

[fearofpiggies]

"Ahahaha, no," Dib laughed, sounding a little flat, "I don't even have a clock in there, except for my phone most of the time." He sprawled out under the covers and took off his glasses, putting them on the bedside table before falling straight to sleep.

The heavy, dark drapes kept the sun from coming in, although the north-facing apartment helped that, as well. Waking up was a slow process for Dib, when it wasn't out of being startled awake by the sound of Eddie's panic alarm going off or the sound of an onslaught to his defense systems by a certain green nuisance. He blearily opened his eyes to see Sollux beside him, and then drifted back off for a few minutes. Once he was more mentally coherent, he finally sat up and rubbed his face, looking a little amused by the thin, tall form of his friend sprawled out over more than half of the mattress, before he got up and started his morning routine. One which started somewhere in the mid-afternoon, and apparently didn't have shaving in its plans this time around. He made his coffee, ate a bowl of breakfast, and poked around at the things on his work bench, before he went off to get dressed.

[apocalypticduality]

Sollux barely moved between Dib getting up and him coming back to get dressed, his face pressed just a little deeper into the mattress as he slept. He cracked one faintly glowing eye open and watched Dib move around the room, sucking in a deeper breath as he sat up and rubbed a hand into his eyes. He leaned back against the wall with his legs crossed, hands in his lap. He didn't have to ask what time it is; he really didn't care. The only reason he felt he would be going home in the next day or so would be to retrieve something edible, provided Dib didn't still have any real food left from his last shopping trip. He didn't bother asking about clothes either, knowing that very little of Dib's stuff would actually fit him. And it was still tuesday. Eddie could just eat his ass.

"Planth or jutht dicking around the houthe?" he yawned as he climbed out of bed and fished around for his glasses, slipping them up the bridge of his nose then vigorously scratching through his hair with both hands.

[fearofpiggies]

"Hm? Oh, no plans, at least none yet," Dib said with a murmur, pulling on his black jeans. "I can't seem to wake up enough to really focus on anything," he continued as he smiled, nodding to Sollux's clothes that he brought in with him from the living room on his return trip to get dressed. "Coffee's made, there's cereal in the cupboard." He pulled out a shirt at random and tugged it on. It clearly didn't matter which shirt he was going to wear, they were all variations on the same theme of black sleeveless t-shirt with either some monosyllabic word in white, or a simplistic memento mori design.

"If you need anything, let me know, I've probably got it around."

[apocalypticduality]

"My needth don't really get much more complicated than jutht thomething to do that doethn't make me want to cave my pan in on the nearetht wall," Sollux shrugged then pulled on his pajama pants, leaving his sweater for when a shirt might become necessary, which didn't seem like it would in the near future. He knew better than to walk outside this house when he was here, and Dib rarely seemed to get visitors besides a single shouty green guy that he'd already encountered and come out singularly unimpressed. As soon as Dib was dressed he leaned over him, putting his chin against the top of his head and leaning against his back mostly to invade his space. His fingers hooked into the back loops of Dib's jeans, pulling him back with a vague smirk.

[fearofpiggies]

With the pull backwards, Dib huffed a chuckle, and crossed his arms, tapping his fingers on his elbow. "I guess there's a couple things I could think of doing for right now, but I wouldn't call them full-blown plans." He squirmed away just to get into Sollux's space instead, looking up at him with a dark little grin. "How good are you at holding reeeeally still? I've got another project that I need some help with, and I'm pretty sure nobody else will volunteer."

[apocalypticduality]

"I could make a statue weep in envy," Sollux replied with a quiet, brief purr and leaned forward against Dib, dipping briefly to catch his lips then standing back up straight, or at least as straight as he ever did before his natural slouch kicked back in. "What's the project then?"