Hence Hope Shines Forth

et ieleo spes et inibi, donec mors nos ex parte
hence hope shines forth, until death due us part

December 2013

This is a piece I am extremely proud of. It is a piece for a humanstuck AU I've now ((Nov 5th, 2014)) been doing for 14 months, basically since I started college. 
It is EriSol based, having started from Eridan and Sollux making passionate love on the shore line under the a full moon (like seahorses do XD). Upon the fall from their climax, Eridan asks Sollux to meet his father, Dualscar. Sollux and Eridan had been dating for quite some time, and the Captor had taken it as an understood notion that they just dint talk about Eridan's family. Eridan confesses that Dualscar is struggling with dementia and is slowly dying, left in the care of his Elder brother Cronus; their mother, Mindfang Serket-Ampora, had passed after complications from Eridan's birth and Cronus had basically become the caretaker of the family. Eridan also admits that he still hasn't come out to his father.

As the events pass, Sollux eventually meets Dualscar, and in a moment of clarity for Dualscar, receives his blessing to be with Eridan ((with the threat of his boy was unhappy and not provided for, Dualscar himself would have Sollux's head. And if he couldn't do it, the Cronus would.))
In this time, Cronus had not been fairing well mentally or emotionally. He struggled to watch his father slowly die before his eyes, Dualscar Ampora, a decorated man of the Navy who had risen as high as ranking allowed. Everyone knew what a strong man he was, what a proud father he was, and to watch as he wasted away, bedridden and out of his mind, on top of Eridan's practical abandonment was not easy.
It is also revealed that Sollux's father, Psiioniic Captor, had served under Dualscar in the navy as his right hand man, having earned his rank by loyalty and service to his crew after his transfer to Dualscar's ship.
Eridan's return and help greatly improved Dualscar's health. He ate more, and had more good days, days where he could comprehend what was happening around him and keep actual conversation. When the Captor-Ampora circle came to a head, the Captor family was invited to the Ampora manor.

Psiioniic, with Sollux's twin brother Mituna in tow, arrived at the Ampora household and saw that nothing had changed since he had last been there. It is revealed that Dualscar and Psiioniic were lovers at sea ((Boatback Mountain)). The love they had shared, after all these years, still remained. Dualscar improved even futher, actually able to walk with Cronus' (Or Psiioniic's) aid.
There seems to be a natural attraction between the families, as Cronus and Mituna grew close as well. When Cronus went with the elder twin to carry in their bags, Mituna let Cronus know exactly what he wanted. Essentially the fucked at first sight, at least having the decency to wait until after dinner. Mituna was the face of promiscuity, and Cronus had never been one to give a care what equipment his lover had as long as he was getting some, and he needed and escape from the pain of being trapped in a house with his dying father.

Love was kindled and rekindled, old lovers reunited and new ones made. 
Cronus and Mituna became closer, but it wasn't easy. As their love life (ie bedroom life) got more exploring, Cronus got too rough with Mituna and sent the Captor into a full-fledged mental breakdown. It became clear, as Mit word vomited his confession, that he had been drugged and raped on multiple occasions in highschool by his first boyfriend, Kurloz Makara. Cronus then swore that Mituna would never be hurt like that again, and they became and official couple. 

Time progressed, and Dualscar took a turn for the worse. 
On a particularly good day, he and Psiioniic were catching up in the study. Psiioniic had asked a question, and Dualscar had something to show him. When he rose from his armchair, he slipped and fell, hitting his head on the hardwood floor. He fell into a seizure, and was rushed to the hospital. He was comatose for at least a week before finally waking up, and even in light of this amazing miracle, he knew that he was about to die. Dualscar came to terms with this and spoke to each of his family members separately. 
Cronus and Eridan remained wwith him, Eridan a sobbing wreck pushed into his father's side, and Cronus doing everything in his power not to fly into a fit of rage and curse God for taking Dualscar out like this. Lucid, DS comforted his boys, he gave them words of advice, and helped them cope with his impending passing. 
Psiioniic was next. Dualscar demanded utter privacy, his sailor's mouth riling up the nurse, but he was granted his request. The two lovers held one another and smiled, crying all the while. Psiioniic wanted to pleasure him one last time, and slipped off Dualscar's heart monitor and placed it on himself, and touched his lover for the last time. ((Yes it was cheesy and unlikely BUT IT WAS ROMANTIC *SOB*))
The Captor boys were next, each getting their own words of advice. Dualscar gave Sollux's blessing for Eridan's hand in marriage. 
In time, he passed peacefully in his sleep that night.

Dualscar's ending was a new beginning for all of them. Eridan had resumed contact with his family, Cronus --who had inherited the home-- gave it to Psiioniic, who moved into Dualscar's room. Upon his death, Dualscar had willed Psiioniic all of his medals and his unform, which he found in the closet. It still smelled of Dualscar's deep musk and subtle cologne.
Mituna also moved in, having already lived with Psii, sharing a room with Cronus.

Sollux followed through with his proposal to Eridan, ushering a whole new cast of characters in the AU. 

_______

Sollux's best friend Karkat Vantas had been living with his now-boyfriend John Egbert, who had taken him in when Karkat's father, Signless Vantas, had thrown him out upon Karkat's confession of being gay after his nasty breakup with Sollux in highschool. John ran a bakery with his father, Drew Egbert, and had attended community college with Karkat. Karkat was studying to be a Spanish translator and worked in a mall petstore, owned by Summoner Nitram. His son, Tavros Nitram, had been one of the nurses on call with Dualscar and was currently dating recovering addict Gamzee Makara. Gamzee had been friends with Karkat in highschool as well, and he and Sollux had never gotten along, especially after Gamzee flew off his rocker and hit Karkat; their friendship crumbled at that point and they hadn't spoken since. 

Karkat eventually contacted his father after a long talk one night with John; it had been almost four years. Signless was so relieved to have his son back and deeply regretted the pain he had put him through. He met John and his family, and ended up starting a relationship with Drew. (Karkat still hasn't wrapped his head around this, but just accepts it. He had already seen Drew as a father anyway, since Mr. Egbert doted on him and treated him as his own. He never judged John for his choices, having raised the boy on his own after his wife, Roxy Lalonde --beta timeline-- left him when John was only a few months old.)

John and Karkat attended Eridan and Sollux's wedding, rekindling old friendships. On Sollux's bachelor party, the Strider brothers were introduced. Dave Strider, John's childhood best frined, and his brother, who simply went by "Bro" owned their own tattoo and piercing parlor, about and hour or so away from the city the Amporas lived in. Karkat and John, along with Cronus and Mituna, took Sollux to have a tattoo done as a wedding present. Sollux got a full color portrait of Eridan looking out at the sea at sunset over his heart, with a script of their decided last-names "Captor-Ampora", done by Bro, who's art talent was so well renowned it now paid all their bills, after a life of working three jobs and struggling to raise Dave on his own. 
Mituna meanwhile snuck off with Dave to get a piercing, starting the rungs of his Jacob's ladder, much to Cronus' excitement; it had started as a way to take Cronus' mind off the possibility that he could have a child. It had started as simply as Cronus running into his ex-girlfriend from highschool, Sandy Palmer. (Yes, Cronus made PLENTY of Grease jokes and references while they were together). She introduced him to her son Danny Palmer, a 18 year old carbon copy of Cronus. Cronus talked with her and was eventually convinced to do a paternity test; the night of the bachelor party, Sandy had called him to tell him that she got the results. They were negative.

All the while leading up to the wedding, Sollux and Eridan had taken a vow of abstinence, which caused Sollux's headaches --on top of the premarital stress-- to return. Mituna, caring for his brother and new found best friend, Eridan, told Sollux to take it all out on him the night before the wedding. He didn't want Sollux to be rough with Eridan, and gave him release.
(The injuries Sollux caused to Mituna would later cause a violent fight between him and Cronus, but the two eventually resolved their differences)

Eventually Eridan and Sollux were married and begun planning to build a house on the adjacent plot to Dualscar's old house, a near carbon copy of their own home that they had scrimped and saved to buy, with one little exception: Room for a family.
The mere mention of staring a family or children was enough to give Eridan an anxiety attack, but Sollux kept his hopes up.
They began to pack up their home, Eridan giving his cat Nepeta to their elderly neighbor, Mr. Zahaak (Equius), who kept her while the two were taking care of Dualscar.

John and Karkat also eventually married, John having proposed to Karkat in public, earning sobs, fuckyous, and a yes.
Before the wedding, Tavros, upon pleading from Gamzee, took him to the doctors to have his meds reevaluated. Gamzee hated that they made him feel like he had two people inside him warring for control, and sobbed for his boyfriend's help.  As Tavros was driving him to his regularly scheduled therapy, they were in a horrible wreck, t-boned by a driver that had ran a red light. The only thing that had kept him alive was Gamzee's arm flying across his chest and holding him back, at the cost of a few broken ribs. He was paralyzed from the waist down.
Summoner got the call while at work with Karkat, leaving Karkat in charge of the store. Karkat called John to come hang out, and eventually convinced John to let them buy a puppy, a pretty German Shepherd they named Cage. ((Karkat didn't realize this was a Nic Cage reference and if you don't think RPing a dog is fun you are sorely mistaken.))
Karkat and John closed shop and went home to prepare dinner for Summoner and his other son, who had gone up to be with Tavros. Summoner was another person who Karkat looked up to as a father figure, and the man treated Karkat like his own. They often spoken in Spanish to one another and watch novelas on slow days at the petshop. 

Tavros eventually recuperated and the Nitrams were invited as guests to the wedding. Signless agreed to marry John and Karkat, being an ordained priest of the Catholic church ((do you smell that taboo hipocrisy?)) and Karkat had two best men, his brother Kankri and Sollux. At the reception --a dinner that they held at their home and cooked together, since John was an aspiring chef-- , the boys received many nice gifts. Tavros, who couldn't make it to the wedding because of his physical therapy appointment, arrived at the wedding with his boyfriend in tow. 
Karkat had know they were a couple; he ran into Gamzee while visiting Summoner and Tavros in the hospital. The encounter had sent him reeling and left him shaking, leaving him broken down in John's arms and coming clean about what had happened back in highschool. John, like Sollux, had come to hate Gamzee.
Sollux saw him arrive and about came unglued, Karkat having to step out with them to do damage control. On top of that, Mituna, a guest at the wedding as well, was sent into a panic attack. Cronus escorted him out and questioned him; Mituna told him that HE was Kurloz's brother and had watched all the horrible things that the elder Makara had done to him. Sollux finds out that his brother had been raped, something Karkat had kept from Sollux after Mituna begged him not to tell. (backstory: Prom night, highschool, Karkat lost his viginity to Sollux. When he got up to use the restroom and get water, he caught Mituna sneaking in. He was bloody and limping, but begged Karkat not to tell Sollux. Karkat honored his wishes.)
Gamzee and Sollux got into a physical fight, Sollux starting it. Drew and SIgnless came out to help Karkat break it up, and Gamzee apologetically left with Tavros.
On a lighter note, after the party had resumed, Sollux and Eridan met Porrim Maryam --a family friend through the Vantas'-- and spoke extensively on In Vitro fertilization and surrogacy...

After some time, while Eridan and Sollux were on honeymoon, Mituna and Cronus helped Psiioniic pack up their old house. Mituna was eager to show off his old skateboarding skills to Cronus, and ended up breaking his leg. Cronus rushed him to the hospital. In that moment Cronus changed his mind about the whole idea of marriage. He wanted Mituna to legally marry him, he wanted to make sure that he could keep Mituna insured and well provided for even after his death. Cronus and Mituna realized that they had the same gap in age that Dualscar and Psiioniic had shared...
Mituna was not keen on it at first, he didn't like the connotations that came with the words. He eventually conceded and when he could walk again --in a rocker cast-- Mituna and Cronus went to the courthouse and signed their marriage certificate.
Sollux found out when he and Eridan returned from the honeymoon, checking the mail and finding Mituna's insurance cards that came under the name "MITUNA AMPORA."
It was a nasty spat, but they moved on after explanation.

((I've been writing this for three hours at this point))

Eventually Cronus offers Danny a job at his body shop, the boy having a natural talent with cars, just like Cronus. He and Mituna become increasingly attached to Danny, in a parental manner. Cronus sits down with Danny and talks about his mother and his history with her, and asks to take a second paternity test. Danny is nervous, desperately wanting a father in his life. They went to the clinic, Cronus was tested for the second time, and the results revealed that Cronus WAS the father. ((CUE MAURY))
Cronus and Mituna started seeing a therapist, Rose Lalonde, who Sollux had recommended to them. He himself had used to go to to cope with his anger issues and bipolar disorder. Rose herself eventually bought Eridan and Sollux's old house at a reduced price in exchange for free therapy for Mituna and Cronus. (She wanted to move closer so that she could visit her young lover, Kanaya Maryam, who, along with her sister Porrim, was practically raised with Karkat and Kankri, being members of the same congregation.)

As more time passed and everyone stably went about married life, Danny had a hiccup with his girlfriend Alison and ended up getting her pregnant. It was taxing for all of the Amporas, and just as Danny had come to accept it --after a very stern talk from Cronus-- he found out that the child hadn't even been his and Alison had terminated the pregnancy. ((yeah that part we went a little off the deep end. Danny at least got to go to Disney World for his graduation present.))


And that said, this RP is still going. We've broke to have a meaningful BroDave arc, gone back to when Dualscar and Psiioniic were young lovers, and most recently Sollux and Karkat rekindling feelings that never died, and facing having to tell their husbands. 
I get laughed at a lot for this RP, that a "domestic RP" is boring. But at the end of the day, I've put a lot of hard work into it. I've built careful backstories and tied in every character together some how. ((Signless has a fucking cat named Meulin after his late wife and Nana Egbert is a homophobic hussie.)) It's kind of become a challenge --a or a joke really-- to include as many characters as possible. 

And believe me. Everyone has boned.
((eridan and sollux, cronus and mituna, sollux and mituna, eridan and cronus, cronu and danny, cronus and mituna, cronus and danny and mintua, EriSol and CroTuna, John and Karkat, Sollux and Karkat, Bro and Dave, JohnKat and Dave, Karkat and John record themselves XD, Drew and Signless, Cronus and Kankri, Mituna and Kankri, CroTuna and Kankri, DUDE I COULD GO ON.))