((Skipping with permission.)) Asuka was calm now. Really. She'd hit her peak, and now that the throbbing of blood was fading, she didn't really care about any of the shit Jerry was spewing now. They were just words, now. And everyone knows that words never hurt anyone, right? Right. Asuka shook her ...

Nope. Asuka was on the verge of tears. Not at Jerry's words, though. She'd heard that line too many times to let it get to her. Really. Don't let the tears make you think otherwise. They're tears of rage. Asuka hated that. She hated how every time she got juuuust pissed off enough to unleash a bruta...

"It wasn't even supposed to be a joke, it just...ah. Forget it." Lunatics. In the asylum. And they're making fun of Asuka for having a--well, does it really count as a bad joke if she didn't realize it sounded like one until after the fact? Well. Asuka couldn't really blame them. Their cla...

Asuka froze. She was trying to move, to do or say something, but all that happened was the same phrase, looped over and over in head: Oh, shit, here we go again , and then she went and said it out loud. Stupid. Because that was a really big fucking pile of meat and muscle yelling at her to knock nex...

((Asuka continued from A World of Sadness )) And to the surprise of everyone and no one, a couple universes had already been obliterated. See, Penelope? You gotta go with the forms of rebellion that don't depend on other people, that you know you can pull off yourself. You gotta be pragmatic. Asuka ...

And...she's gone. Motherfucker. Get back here, dammit. Show some sense of priorities. You're gonna die anyways. Why shouldn't your death be memorable and grandiose? Did he not impress her enough? Heh. Yeah. Even he can't take his own thoughts seriously. Way to go, Alan. You set out to be all operati...

And then Alan was on his back. It'll take him a second to get his bearings. He swung the pipe around wildly, bringing it down on his own leg. Stupid of him. Epic fail. Heh. Epic flail. Alan was good at thinking on his feet, but apparently this didn't translate very well to, like, a real fight. What ...

So...what you're supposed to do here is clobber the one in front of you, torture her until her screams draw the other one in and...fuck, he didn't have time to think this through. For now it's simple. Boot plus butt, or whatever. Right? Alan didn't really have any kind of fighting style worked out. ...

"Mmm. But this all looks so very interesting." The words didn't come naturally, though they were easy enough to come up with. It wasn't easy to make them good, mind. Alan was a work in progress on that front. But, well. Saying stuff that terrified the shit out of them regardless of how lam...

((Alan Banks continued from Elapsam Semel Occasionem Non Ipse Potest Iuppiter Reprehendere)) Alan's shadow looked ominous on the wall, the silhouette of a metal pipe swinging back and forth in his hands. Oh my well would you just look at the time. For those not in on the joke, it was lunchtime. Gedd...

"Um. Okay." But were they really on the same page? It'd be kinda anticlimactic if they were, if they had really understood each other so easily, because in what world could you figure out where somebody was coming from if you didn't know, like, really know, the person? Only really happened...

"I mean, I guess I get it, but...uh..." Silly of her to worry about it, but Asuka wasn't sure she actually got the joke. Was misanthropy the punchline? Or was it reverse-misanthropy? For long seconds, she stared at Audrey's shoes. "Huzzah for us for being fucked up, I guess?" Asu...

Random bits of advice crossed Asuka's mind, useless for anything but making her feel helpful. When someone is in shock, have them lie down in the shade and raise their feet about a twelve inches off the ground. Like she would've done anything even if she did have something legitimate to offer. Philo...

The rhetoric of reality. Oh, Scout was really doing it. Time to grow up and face reality. That's what this was all about, right? Time for you to learn what a harsh, cruel world you live in, time to learn that if you're not harsh and cruel right back you'll be a victim. Asuka clenched her fists. How ...

"...that's what I think." Of all things, that line was what gave Asuka pause. A couple lifetimes or days or maybe it was hours ago, Asuka had been riding the bus back from school, surrounded by freshman--it was times like those that made her wish she'd had the motivation to go and get her ...