♋ PCG 7

[crusthatecean]

[Phone]

[It's probably been awhile since you're heard this particular grumpy voice over the phone lines. Ever since his truth babble, he's been avoiding this particular form of communication. Karkat's still been out and about in town, but this is the first time since then that he's made any sort of public phone contact.]Morning, everyone! It's me

Comments

[worstvikingever]

...wait. [He has to sort through that whole tirade. There was a question in there, right?] You're asking about droning? It's... kind of random, I think. For the most part, anyway. I think it's definitely used as punishment if you do stuff the town doesn't like, though. Like miss school or work, that sort of thing. But people get droned a lot just... randomly, and you can never really tell how long it'll be for.

[crusthatecean]

...Wow. I don't know whether to find it funny or just sad that someone actually earnestly tried to answer my question.

[worstvikingever]

Are you trying to tell me you didn't want it answered? Why even bother asking, then?

[crusthatecean]

No, I'm...

Look, sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I asked a pointless fucking question and realized halfway through that I knew the pointless fucking answer already. I wasn't trying to be an asshole about it.

[frogst]

[ Not!Sister out of nowhere! ]

You did sound a little whiny!

[ She laughs a little, but her expression turns serious. She has a feeling she knows exactly who he's talking about. ]

But I think I know what you mean. [ See: the Dave drone she has been pointedly avoiding ever since she found out such a thing existed. ] It really fucking sucks.

[crusthatecean]

Thanks, that was what I was going for. The people have developed expectations for my public exclamations and I don't want to disappoint. Why else bother asking a question you already know the answer to?

[frogst]

[ She rolls her eyes, offering something of a sympathetic smile. ]

I wish I knew more about this... [ She hesitates, not sure which word to use for it. ] panscrubbing. Do you think there's a way to learn more about it? Maybe there's a way to fix it!

[crusthatecean]

I doubt there is.

Well, okay, there probably is a way to fix it, it's just completely beyond our means and instead entirely at the whim of an existence that hates us. But yeah, that has to be the plan. There's nothing else productive to do.

[sanctusdei]

There's no pattern to droning that I've noticed. It can happen at any time. Sometimes it's "permanent", which is a bad name for it, since people can still come back at any time. They might not even remember being here. But to know if they're going to be gone for a good long while, if the shit they got back is gone, then you'll know.

[crusthatecean]

Yeah, that's a good thing to keep in mind.

Too bad all of the drones I'm watching are never here long enough to accumulate much shit.

[sanctusdei]

Then the next best thing, if they're the male head of household, is watch the name on the mailbox. If they disappear, it'll switch to someone else in the house. Those are the the only things I've noticed, anyway. sometimes if you wait long enough, people'll come back. They don't usually remember being here though.

[crusthatecean]

Not that I've ever understood why a mature male would be considered the head of a human household, but I don't give a fuck about anybody in that category.

I know they come back. My...someone I know is going to be on her twenty second time soon enough.

[grand_theft_moe]

You can tell if a droning is long term by wether the droned individual's been removed from the family portraits.

"Pan scrubbing" sounds like you were having a problem with washing dishes though!

[crusthatecean]

Droning sounds like you're being culled.

Okay, maybe it's a cultural thing, but I get sick of humans insisting on using hoighty toighty expressions for the most basic shit.

[bullsit]

Uh, sometimes the pan scrubbing, only lasts a really short time, and then they come back, and are okay.

[crusthatecean]

...I know.

And sometimes it doesn't but forget it. This is stupid. This is the definition of slack-jawed drooling stupidity.