ROXY: (yoo troll grouch... john is so nice agh its fuckin me up) TEREZI: (1 KNOW) TEREZI: (1T'S D1SGUST1NG) JANE: Excuse me, Callie? JANE: What happened after I woke up? JANE: We were all following that mysterious path... JANE: Did you and Jade discover where that led? CALLIOPE: yes. CALLIOPE: i met my other self. ROXY: o so you found her then?? CALLIOPE: indeed. CALLIOPE: or more likely, the timing in the fUrthest ring was right. CALLIOPE: perhaps she sensed me in some way, and Untangled a path throUgh the darkness. CALLIOPE: in other words, it feels more as thoUgh i was sUmmoned, rather than being the one to find her. CALLIOPE: she seems tremendoUsly powerfUl. CALLIOPE: she is also... CALLIOPE: qUite frightening. ROXY: frightening???? CALLIOPE: not that i think she is dangeroUs or has ill intent. CALLIOPE: my impression was very mUch to the contrary. CALLIOPE: still, while speaking to her... CALLIOPE: i can't remember ever feeling so nervoUs. CALLIOPE: not even my brother made me feel that way. CALLIOPE: her demeanor was so severe and chilling, and so Unlike mine, i think. JOHN: maybe that's why you felt weird? JOHN: seeing a version of you that wasn't like you at all? CALLIOPE: maybe. ROSE: So what happened? CALLIOPE: not mUch. CALLIOPE: my presence there essentially freed her from that place, according to a pact she made with echidna. CALLIOPE: she and jade then left. to do what, i do not know. CALLIOPE: that is when roxy foUnd me. ^u^ ROSE: So, you were only there to release her? ROSE: Are you sure there isn't something important for you to do, now that you're alive and with us? CALLIOPE: i doUbt it. CALLIOPE: for one thing, i have virtUally no UsefUl abilities. u_u ROSE: I don't mean to badger you. I'm just wondering how you fit into all this. ROSE: Getting to wear a one-of-a-kind ring, and returning to join a group about to wage a pivotal battle, ROSE: That strikes me as the profile of someone meant to do something important. ROSE: What do you think you'll do? JOHN: maybe it doesn't have to work that way though? JOHN: what if those are just some facts about her, which let her come back to life, but they don't have to mean anything other than that. JOHN: like anything about having to do some huge fancy thing. ROSE: I guess so. ROSE: First Dave tells me human beings don't have "arcs", and now you're telling me the culmination of an epic doesn't require a messianic archetype to return from the dead, thereby providing the key to everyone's salvation? ROSE: I wonder what sturdy and time-tested narrative construct Jade is going to debunk whenever she wakes up. Maybe she will lay waste to the notion of endgame ships? ROSE: Karkat won't be happy about that. JOHN: huh?? JOHN: ok, i don't know what stuff you're going on about there, but i just don't think she should feel like she has to do anything she doesn't want to. CALLIOPE: i think the trUth is, i won't be doing mUch of anything. CALLIOPE: my other self told me as mUch. CALLIOPE: her advice was to jUst live, and... CALLIOPE: exist as the version of Us for whom that is an actUal possibility. CALLIOPE: she's the one who will be doing important things. ROSE: How so? CALLIOPE: she didn't say. ROSE: Isn't that just how it always is with alt-selves. ROSE: So cryptic. ROXY: hey guys its been cool having yall meet callie and such but ROXY: do you think she and i could have a moment alone? ROXY: got some stuff i wanna talk about!