#thesolutionist

((Response to this. Buckle up, kids.))

Feel the anger coming, Feel my patience running And it's easy to see you've made me lose my damn mind

How could you let it end up this way Is there really nothing more you can say I'm not taking another fucking dose of your denial today (X)

Parv stared at the note that had randomly washed ashore. He’d only seen the gleam of the sun off the bottle because he’d gone to the beach to return some sea items back to the water. Curiosity had led him to pick up the bottle and carry it back inside to try to get the paper out.

After reading it his gaze lingered on the last line and that stupid smiley. He crumpled up the paper, squeezing until his hand hurt.

“Yeah, well, I hate you too for what I've turned into because of the bullshit YOU pulled first! Don’t blame MY personality for that! It was YOUR brilliant idea to pull my heart out in the first place because YOU couldn’t stand my sobbing over an inanimate object!”

He stomped down to the basement. He threw the note into the nearest furnace before going around to the stray storage chests and then the ME computer, taking out every empty bottle he had.

“Stay there FOREVER for all I care, if you're so happy!”

He took the bottles up to the former sorting system platform. One at a time he flung them down toward the steps of the blood altar. The sound of shattering glass punctuated his words.

“I thought you needed to be RESCUED! I thought something horrible had happened after a failed experiment! But you did this on PURPOSE! And for WHAT? DAMMIT  I HATE you too! Why couldn’t you have just said that to my face FIRST, then gone off and done this? Oh, wait, you must hate me THAT much that it never occurred to you that I might CARE! I’m sorry that being annoying is actually just me being enthusiastic and it’s just how I am!!”

He gripped one bottle so tightly that it nearly broke in his hand. Not wanting to give the satisfaction that he would bleed for Strife he quickly released the bottle to the floor like the others.

“’Don’t hurry on my account’  -- Yeah, I fuckin’ well WON’T then! Like anyone really needs your solutions anyway! Like anyone really needs you! Look, here’s the world, made up of those stupid Lines and right angles or whatever, and it’s just continuing on perfectly fine without you! So fucking high-and-mighty all the time, and people think I have an ego, ha! You and your monster, infallible, know it all, blah blah blah solutions! Well, maybe you were never the solution, YOU were the problem! You’re certainly MY problem!”

He ran out of bottles. He tilted his head back and shouted to the ceiling, “FUCK IT ALL!”

Shut your mouth, cause I just cant take it I'm ready to fight, is it all that you were hoping for Don't say it again, do it again There'll be no coming back this time

How could you let it end up this way

...That stupid smiley…

Finding the little things around the castle, even important things, was insanely difficult at times; and some things were not meant to be put into the ME Computer. That left standalone chests or hidey holes. Parv was checking every single one that he could remember the location of, from bedroom to basement to unused observatory. He really should have furnished that by now.

That was such an idle thought in the sea of attempts at remembering where he had put the one item that he really shouldn’t have lost track of.  He should never have set it aside, really, he should have kept it on him because he was sure it meant something. Maybe it seemed that it hadn’t meant enough to him because he never wore it, even though it maybe meant something to the person who gave it to him.

Parv stumbled back down the stairs into the basement, one hand pressed to the side of his head as if holding his brain cells in place would help him remember. How had he manage to misplace it this badly? Where in the name of Notch could he have tossed it after getting back from the party? Where else would he put something important?

He whirled about to do his customary pacing only for his eyes to fall upon the two wooden signs by the furnaces.

You will be mis

He ran over and practically tore the sign off the wall. He tried not to think too hard about the darkish stains at the back of the small space. It was the small lump of metal near the middle that he was looking for. He wrapped his hand around it. He hesitated, almost letting it go since he had at least confirmed its location. He drew in a breath instead and pulled the small charm, the thin chain that was attached hanging free from the corner of his fist.

“So why doncha just… be happy? Because that’s what I’d want you to be.”

How could I be happy when that felt so wrong – YOU felt so wrong!

Parv sat down on the steps of the platform holding his previous sorting system and stared at the miniature anatomical heart cast in burnished iron, running his thumb over the chain. Strife had given it to him for Christmas. It seemed kind of redundant.

After wrestling with his thoughts during a fitful night’s sleep on through to midmorning, Parv had remembered the necklace and was reconsidering his conclusions for what might be going on. He rolled the charm around on his palm, dexterous fingers handling it like a pair of dice.

Should he gamble on the fact that it might have been gifted for more than the obvious?  He couldn’t remember what Strife had said at the time, if anything beyond an echoed ‘Happy Christmas’ because he wasn’t familiar with the holiday. Parv huffed once in amusement, recalling the businessman’s attempts to rename it to Strifemas.

He released the charm, allowing it to slide down as he kept hold of the chain, holding it up in the light.

“I’ll d✿ anything for you. Anything.”

He shivered at the memory of the tone, of the waxy feel of Strife’s hand. He gripped the chain until his knuckles turned white. He needed to yell, even if there were only empty walls to hear him.

“I don’t want you to do anything for me, Strife!! I just want you HERE!!”

He came very close to flinging the necklace across the room. He stopped himself just before the chain swung free.  With his other hand he sought the clasp and unhooked it, draped the chain around the back of his neck, and closed the clasp. He pulled it around so the charm sat unimpeded against his sternum.

He had no idea what to think of what might be going on. He decided he would wait for Strife’s next move – whether it be a true Strife or a false one. He could try to plan for something, try to anticipate, and… And what?

((Part One))

Sometimes Parv had determination in spades. Sometimes he was just plain lazy. And sometimes he was, truly, a genius.

At least, that was how he felt when he finally broke the cipher.

He was at first confused because the first three words didn’t seem like something Strife would say. But they were actual words, and the rest of the message would become clearer as he pieced together more from the cipher. Switching around letters when something didn’t look right was the way to go. He had to go back a few times to fix things.

The next nine words made his stomach twist, a saddened whimper escaping his lips. He would have uttered Strife’s name in sympathy if not for moving on to the next word which completely changed what he thought it said. Good job, Parv, jumping to conclusions. His brow furrowed as he went along and read more.

Crestfallen was a good way to describe how he felt after the next few lines. This didn’t explain anything about where Strife was or what had happened but it was clearly something big.

He gave pause when he transcribed his own name. Then another sinking feeling – disappointment – washed over him at the last word of the line. Yeah, nevermind me, sure…

He didn’t know how to feel about the lines that followed.

Lucid dreaming. It was something the other Sparkles had mentioned during Parv’s own dream. Had Strife run into that Sparkles as well? Or perhaps Martyn instead, since that Sparkles had said Martyn liked to mess with people? Parv hoped it wasn’t Martyn. Strife would totally tattletale on him about the whole backstabbing thing he’d once planned for the nature lover.

He sat back and stared into the middle distance. This didn’t tell him much at all. Well, other than Strife not wanting to trouble him - okay well anyone - with whatever it was he did.

He didn’t want to think too hard about the cryptic line about his own supposed history.