rosetotheoccasion | Second Petal [video]

Second Petal [video]

[Well this is... new. For those who know Ruby, they're probably used to see her as a bouncing ball of energy and excitement. Which isn't a bad thing - Ruby's a pretty upbeat kid who just wants to keep making sure her friends always feel that way too!

But now... now she looks a bit withdrawn. Not outright upset, but she most certainly has the look of someone that's really being bugged by something.]

... Hey, guys.

[Geez, even the way she talks is a bit deflated.]

I kinda have a question. People have been talking about their friends disappearing, and it kinda got me wondering...

When someone returns home, what if they... knew things. About stuff that happened that they didn't experience yet, 'cause someone knows what happened to them in the future, and told them about it.

[... Ah. The picture is becoming clearer now...]

Do you think... could what happened to them later on change, then?

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[... okay, so he'd been trying to avoid talking to Ruby for reasons starting with "Y," but.]

IF YOU COULD MANAGE TO STOP IT FROM HAPPENING, THEY WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN ABLE TO TELL YOU IT HAPPENED
OR YOU WOULD CREATE A DOOMED TIMELINE, BUT I DON'T THINK YOU HAVE THOSE WHERE YOU COME FROM.

... Doomed timeline?

[Well that sounds... ominous.]

But there has to be some way!
like
if you told them, and they went back, maybe things after that will just. change.
and the only reason I know it hasn't changed is because it hasn't happened yet!

TIME TRAVEL DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT. IF YOU CHANGE HOW EVENTS UNFOLD FOR YOU, THEY DON'T AUTOMATICALLY UNFOLD THAT WAY FOR EVERYONE ELSE.
A DOOMED TIMELINE IS CREATED WHENEVER SOMEONE MAKES A DECISION THEY "SHOULDN'T HAVE" ACCORDING TO SOME INSCRUTABLE BULLSHIT PLAN SET FORTH BY PARADOX SPACE. TRYING TO CHANGE THE WAY THINGS ARE "MEANT" TO OCCUR IS A SUREFIRE WAY TO SPAWN ONE.

[... fucking hell. He makes a mental note to deposit some money in the swear jar YOUR SISTER SUCKS, RUBY okay back to exposition.]

AGAIN, I'M NOT SURE IF YOUR UNIVERSE OR WHATEVER THE F [GODDAMMIT] FUDGE YOU WANT TO CALL IT FOLLOWS THE SAME RULES, BUT IF IT DOES, YOUR INFLUENCING EVENTS WHEN YOU RETURN WOULD EITHER DOOM YOUR TIMELINE OR MEAN THAT EVERYONE YOU'D MET WHILE HERE WHO EXPERIENCED THINGS DIFFERENTLY WERE ACTUALLY FROM A DOOMED TIMELINE.

[Don't worry, Karkat. Ruby won't rat you out with the cursing! She can tell he's just trying to help, so this time it's much easier to ignore how he talks. Types. Whatever.]

But what if I didn't wanna change super important stuff
what if I just wanted to stop someone from dying?
Someone who didn't deserve to die
That wouldn't doom anyone. It's just helping them!

HATE TO BREAK IT TO YOU, RUBY, BUT SAVING SOMEONE COUNTS AS A DECISION AND A PRETTY MAJOR ONE, AS DECISIONS GO.
AND YOU'RE STILL CREATING A PARADOX. WHATEVER ITERATION OF YOUR UNIVERSE YOU LIVE IN IS GOING TO ACCOUNT FOR THAT, AND THERE'S NO GUARANTEE YOU'RE GOING TO WIND UP ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THAT EQUATION. OR THAT YOUR FRIENDS ARE.

[... ngh, fuck, he doesn't want to create any false hope here, but then at the same time—]

LOOK, LIKE I SAID, IT MIGHT WORK DIFFERENTLY WHERE YOU COME FROM, BUT IN MY EXPERIENCE, THIS SHIT PANS OUT HOWEVER THE FUCK IT WANTS AND THERE'S NOT MUCH WE CAN DO ABOUT IT.

... Okay, yeah, you have a point.
But
That wouldn't be a bad change.
I can understand stuff getting messed up if I tried to get the person who did it arrested a long time before it happened
or you know, really messing with them and their people before they revealed themselves as bad people
but if I just warned her that something bad would happen to her at this specific time
would that be not as bad?

[LKASMFLEHGRFSHKLN]

ARE YOU NOT READING A FUCKING WORD I JUST WROTE? ARE THE WORDS SLIPPING PAST THE YAWNING CHASM MASQUERADING AS YOUR THINK PAN AND INTO THE STARLESS VOID BEYOND? I SAID EVERY FUCKING DECISION. EVERY. **FUCKING**. DECISION. ALL OF THEM CREATE TIMELINE OFFSHOOTS AND THERE IS ONLY ONE GODDAMN ALPHA. ******ONE.****** THAT'S WHY IS THE ALPHA!
I SWEAR IF I DIDN'T KNOW BETTER I'D SAY YOU WERE DELIBERATELY MISUNDERSTANDING ALL THIS SHIT JUST TO FUCK WITH ME, BUT NO! YOU ARE ACTUALLY THAT STUPID! OR THAT MOTHERFUCKING ENTRENCHED IN DENIAL, AND FRANKLY I CAN'T TELL WHICH IS WORSE.
YOU CAN'T SAVE YOUR FRIEND, ALRIGHT? END OF FUCKING STORY.

[this is just the way he types don't take it too personally this is just the way he types don't take it too personally it doesn't--

but that

last line

that hits her like a boarbatusk charge straight to the face

because she tried so hard to make it past mercury. she knew something was wrong, she tried stopping it but she couldn't and--

between the chaos that followed and her time here, she never really addressed that. But being smacked in the face with that fact so bluntly

something in her chest twists so painfully that she can't even look at those words and the means she has to stop now before things get worse]

ok
i get it
i'm sorry

[... Because even during her bad times, Ruby just. Can't leave things hanging like that.]

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Second Petal [video]

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