GreyDrake

Had his worries been for nothing? It seemed so; while Madam Muroid had yet to say a truly pleasant word to him, likewise was she ever cruel. As for the Lady Megido, Equius had failed to catch more than a handful of glimpses of her. If one went by his experience of the past two nights alone and set aside their first meeting, one might have been tempted to suspect she lived only in the space between the front aperture of her hive and the room Vallia had designated as the lady's "study," though what an obviously grown woman had left to study was beyond Equius' understanding. She had found his ignorance amusing, and his embarrassment over it even

The world below was lit up with over a million lights, each shining steady through the cold, clear air, and Jane Egbert sailed above it all on a band of light.  How many times had her dear friends tried to interest her in a swifter conveyance, only to receive a polite refusal? Too many times to count; the four of them had been visiting the Grid for many years now. They had built this world nearly from scratch; what once was just a handful of hive-ships and a few hundred frightened, starving people, was now a realm to rival any of Earth's greatest cities. How could she strap herself into a light-cycle or airship, or worse, hide herself away in

Equius' head was still spinning as the Lady Megido led him out of the auction house, their respective lusii in tow. He still couldn't entirely believe what had just happened. He'd stood before the auction block, and been bidden upon by a wealthy psionic – that much had been clear from the beginning. But then she'd had him brought to her for a private interview – and here was the part he could scarcely credit – she'd apparently refused to take official ownership of him until after she'd spoken to him in person and satisfied herself as to his ability to meet her needs. Stranger yet, the employees of the house – the greenbloo

Equius was ten sweeps old, and felt very cold and alone. The former sensation, at least, was almost certainly an illusion, brought on by what he felt to be an uncomfortably conspicuous lack of a shirt and the appraising looks green-blooded, maroon-vested employees of the house were giving him as they moved to and fro across the wide room that lay just behind the stage. He had already been questioned, vetted, and thoroughly tested by both the house's professional appraiser and two inspectors from rival houses, but he fancied he could still feel their eyes on him, mentally calculating their share of his worth. The other slaves and lusii that f

It feels as though you have always pitied Eridan Ampora – and now, at last, you have the chance to prove it. Captor had caught you completely off-guard, knocking you unconscious before you had the chance to get your wits together and even try to resist him – and when you'd woken up, a message from Eridan had been waiting, with a file and a set of instructions. Hours would pass before anyone put the pieces together and realized that all four of you had been played; yourself, Aradia, Vriska – and Eridan. Vriska had been the one who found the ancient frog temple, and took pictures of the runes she discovered inside, but Captor wa

It turned out there was a great deal he could do to you. Sollux had spoken a great deal on the subject of Eridan's faults; his mutation, his cowardice, the laughable ease with which Sollux could seize control of his mind – but, as your thoughts hearkened back to those hundreds of infuriating, one-sided conversations, you suddenly realized that for a man so intensely proud of his coding and hacking abilities, Sollux had spoken very little on the subject of Eridan's own skills in those fields. You should have noticed such negligence, juxtaposed as it was with Sollux's pride and fierce denials that Eridan could ever be even remotely consid