"Karkat what's this?" John asked from the bathroom.
"Whats what?!" The grey skinned troll barked from the bed.
"This. The squishy thing in the bucket."
"YOU'RE EXAMINING MY GENETIC MATERIAL?! GOG DAMN IT! I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE THROWN IT OUT MY SELF!" He growls, getting to his feet and heading into the bath room , a scowl on his face. "GIVE IT HERE FUCKASS!"
"This?" John goes to hand him the aforementioned 'squishy thing' and Karkat recoils from the sodden mess.
"WHY. THE EVERLIVING FUCK IS THAT IN YOUR HANDS EGGBERT?!"
"Well I was dumping it in the toilet and noticed it. It reminds me of a frog egg or a fish egg. DID YOU LAY AN EGG KARKAT?"
"FUCK NO! IT'S A PROTEIN SACK. THEY NOURISH THE GRUBS INSIDE MOTHER GRUB. "
"Oh. Humm. Still looks like one though."
"Just put it in the fuckin' waste receptical and get in bed." He growled. "AND WASH THAT FILTH OFF YOUR HANDS!" He barked, looking at Johns red stained hands from picking it up .
"Fine."
.
.
It was almost two days later when John looked at Karkat over there breakfast. "So you gonna do that again?"
"Do WHAT Eggderp?"
"That protein thingy. I mean that was like our fourth time doing it and I never saw that in the bucket before."
Karkat just groaned. "I DON'T ASK YOU EVERY FILTHY DETAIL OF YOUR REPRODUCTIVE LIFE."
"You can. I wouldn't mind."
"WE DO IT ONCE A MONTH OK FUCKASS. THE GIRLS DO IT MORE, UP TO SIX TIMES A MONTH. ARE YOU HAPPY?!"
"And where does it come out of?" He leaned over , peeking under the table.
"My fuckin' nook!" Karkat's face was a red as possible. He did NOT like this line of conversation.
"And your sure it's not an egg?"
"NO NO IT'S NOT A FUCKIN' EGG!" He gets up , throwing his bowl into the sink, stomping from the room.
.
"Hey Kanaya?"
The rainbow drinker looked up from the book her and Rose where reading."Yes?"
"Um.. Can I ask you something?" He had been hoping to catch her with out Rose over the last few days but it was virtually impossible.
"Sure John." She said, Rose closing the book and just watching with a small smile, waiting to see what on earth her friend would ask now. He sat down cross legged on the ground across from where they where sitting.
"Um... a few days ago me and Karkat where doing stuff um...I mean." He blushed not sure how to ask. "Um the "protein sack" are you sure there not like eggs or something? I mean they look like them look - I printed this online." He pulls a folded picture out of his pocket , obviously been carried around in his attempt to catch them "The only difference is his is red, look, this is eggs from Earth.."
Much to his relief neither of the girls laughed at him at all.
"We actually where wondering about the same thing." Rose said.
"We just had no viable way to test it. Rose can not produce genetic material and even if it WAS an egg I would not be able to fertilize my own offspring."
"Karkat said that girls produce them more often than boys so um.. what if you give me your next one ? Is that.. is that a weird thing to ask?"
Kanaya laughed. "It is but given the circumstances understandable."
"Ok um so... " He's not sure what he'd DO with it at that point. "Than what?"
"Well a mother grub serves as a host to carry it so I assume it would work two ways. We could try setting a terrarium or aquarium or ." Rose looked at him with "You could try to ingest it."
"NO WAY!" John looked horrified.
"I wouldn't recommend it either. If there half as sharp as an adult troll I doubt you'd survive." Kanaya said with a frown, not picking up on the fact Rose was just teasing him.
"I've got a fish tank in my room." John said. "I can just try setting it in there .. maybe behind some plants so Karkat doesn't see."
"Oh?"
"I ... he thought it was weird enough when I touched his, I can't imagine his reaction if I was running around with SOMEONE ELSE'S protein sack in my hand." He laughed.
"Understandable. Alright John, I will make sure you are the receiver of my next protein sack." Kanya said, turning back to her book. He nodded.
"Thanks." He got up heading for the door.
.
"John?"
The dark haired boy was alone in his room , laying on his bed, playing an old video game when the rainbow drinker walked in.
"Here you are." Kanaya said, placing a black opaque zip lock bag in his hands and hurrying out.
He blinked, taking a second to recall what it was, almost a week had passed since their previous conversation. 'Oh yea' He hops up, locking the door and opening the bag to look inside.
There it was. All gooey and sitting in there.
He wasn't sure how to get it out. He sure didn't want Kanaya's stains on his hand and he knew from experience with Karkat his hands would be tinted if he touched the material. Finally he settled on turning the bag upside down, dropping the gelletonus mass into the fish tank. It would be fine there until later tonight right? He frowned. Maybe he should have left it in the bag until he added Karkat's genetics?
Oh well. To late now. He watched it bob around for about 30 seconds before going back to his bed.
.
.
"Kanaya?" John knocked on the door jam, peeking in the open door.
"Hello John. How is everything?"
He stepped in, surprised to find she was alone. "Um I'm fine.. I need another one of the ..you know...apparently my fish found it delicious. When I went to fertilize it later that night they had eaten half of it!"
"Alright." She nodded.
"Where's Rose?" He asked, noticing the jade blood was alone for once.
"She went to grab us some nourishment. How do you propose to keep the protein pack safe from your aquatic pets?"
"Well I have a net for moving stuff around in the tank. I figured I'd just lay it over it so they couldn't get to it."
"That sounds good a plan as any."
He started to move twords the door. "Thank you."
She smiles sweetly "No problem John. It is our race you are trying to help and I would only dispose of it any ways."
He nods heading back to his room.
.
This time it was Rose who delivered the goods, having the audacity to do it in the kitchen with a smirk on her painted lips.
"What's THAT?" Karkat asked, glaring hard at the black bag.
"You know human stuff." He quickly capchaloged it and continued what he was doing, trying his best to look inconspicuous.
.
It wasn't until the next day he was able to put it in the aquarium and he hoped it was ok. He had made sure to put some of both his and Karkat's genetic material in the bag last night , surely there would have been enough time to conjoin or whatever it was going to do , right? He carefully dumped it in the net over the toilet, letting the excess drip off before putting it in his fish tank.
.
"ROSE ! KANAYA! COME QUICK!" He didn't even bother to hide his excitement as he rushed into the common room, not paying any attention to who else was there once he spotted the girls he'd been looking for. He hurried away knowing they'd know where to go.
.
"Whoa."
"Incredible John!"
There unmistakably embedded in the center of the protein sack was a little embryo.
"Isn't it great?" He asked, bucked tooth smile stretching as wide as it could across his face.
"It's wonderful." Kanaya hugged him, Rose joining in.
He sat there watching it as behind him they made plans how to raise it and if they should show the rest of the crew and -
"John! Where will we keep it? We have no trial cave!"
"Um.. what.. wouldn't you take care of it?"
"We don't care for our young like you do." Kanaya frowned, looking back into the glass. "Of course an exception CAN be made. It is the first of our new race after all."
"Well how long will it be like that?"
"I have no idea." Rose looked to Kanaya but the rainbow drinker just shrugged.
"Well I'll just watch it than." John frowned. "AND DON'T TELL KARKAT!"
.
Every day John took every opportunity he could to look in on the growing embryo. He didn't get any more protein sacs from Kanaya and she didn't offer. He was pretty sure she'd want to try to grow her own now, a suspicion confirmed when Rose asked if he'd be able to give her some of Karkat and his genetic material.
He felt weird as he agreed , wondering if this was a bad thing do do. He'd be pretty pissed if someone was making baby's with HIS dna and didn't tell him... Rose and Kanaya both assured him it was ok and a perfectly normal part of troll culture so he agreed, giving them the genetic material the next day.
When Karkat made another sack he did the same thing as with the first only using his genetic material and a dab of material he got Kanaya to put in a bag for him.
.
.
Rose looked up as the door to her room was thrown open in the middle of her and Kanaya's alone time. She opened her mouth to scream at her friend but stopped when she saw the tears in his eyes.
"John?"
"He's dead." John sniffled , uncapchaloging a soggy , waterlogged and obviously dead grub. "He.. I guess he hatched and couldn't get out of the net and ." He sniffled trying not to cry. Death wasn't new to him but this... the little worm growing in his fishtank had meant so much .
"Hey hey it is ok." Kanaya sat up , hugging him, ignoring the fact that she was naked and sweaty "We culled wrigglers by the thousand on Alternia- why thats what all Nepita's paint is made of, culled wrigglers. One dead wriggler's not a big deal, truly. You still have Karkat's protein sack, right?"
He shook his head no. "It was destroyed .. I guess from this little guy thrashing around." Despite her assurance the tears where still threatening to fall.
"When you get another one we just have to re-think it, alright?" Rose reached out, taking the dead one from his hand. "We knew this wouldn't be perfect John. We're trying to create life in a way their species seems to have forgotten. That'll take some trial and error. "
"Where are yours?" He asked the two girls.
Rose smiled. "Kanaya's ablution trap. We filled it with enough water to cover them but after your discovery we will make sure to put some rocks in there so they can climb out of the water if they hatch. "
"Now John." Kanaya looked at him. "Would you mind leaving? I was only moments away from a perfectly good orgasm and- justified as your interruption was- I would like to get back to what me and Rose where doing."
.
"There we go little guy." John set the protein sack in the fishtank , in the net but this time it was securely duck taped so it was just far enough below the surface to cover it , a large piece of scrap metal in the fish tank and hanging over so it could crawl out.
"please let this work." He thought.
This one was from Kanaya again. If the embryo didn't turn out red he would give it back, he promised.
That didn't seem likely from what he could tell. It seems the zygote takes the color of the surrounding protein sack, or that's the way it worked so far.
He had just finished getting it set up when there was a knock at the door.
"Come in." He said after throwing a sheet over it. He just wanted one healthy red grub to show to the troll's leader before revealing what was going on, was that too much to ask?
It was Rose and Kanaya, Kanaya was holding something and glowing brighter than he'd ever saw her.
"Hey guys."
Rose grinned , taking the blanket from her Matesprit and setting it on the bed. Out crawled a little wriggler with Kanaya's blood color but distinctly Karkat's horns. John cooed gently picking it up. "It worked! " He smiled sweetly.
The girls nodded in unison.
"Wow." he tickled the little grub , delighting in the growling laughter that sprung from it. "Are you gonna show Karkat?"
"I thought you wanted one for Karkat first?" Kanaya frowned.
"I did- do but you can't leave this lil guy alone and it's not like it wont be suspicious to carry him around. " He was just guessing at the gender. He didn't even know if grubs HAD genders.
"John our young don't HAVE to be watched like yours." Kanaya reminds, gently pulling the grub back to disengage the blanket it was chewing on. "It will be perfectly fine in the Abolition room."
"And we will watch it when we can." Rose added. "If we don't have a trial cave it will have to be trained."
"You're not gonna cull the weak ones are you?!" He asked in horror, stomach dropping.
"Trained." Rose echoes. "Not culled."
"There's one other thing. One of the wrigglers- the one that SHOULD hatch next week if it follows the same pattern as the last two, seems to be picking up some color." Kanaya said.
"You mean Red?" He asks excitedly.
She nods. "Want to come see?"
He nods, scooping up the grub eagerly. He squeaks as the little thing bites down on his hand hard.
"OW. Shit!"
"Hehe sorry, he's probably hungry ." Kanaya took it. "Guess one of us needs to run to the kitchen."
"I can watch him if you two wanna go." John offered.
"Perfect." The rainbow drinker handed him to him. "Watch out for that mouth."
"I will." He lays down letting the little grub crawl all over the bed, happy and content as he watches it. It crawls down the side of the bed and he follows. He is in the middle of the floor, upside down, watching it crawl on the underside of the bed spring when the door opens.
"Sounds like Kanayas back~" He coos, grabbing it and shimmying out, doing his best to keep those hungry teeth away from him. He looks up with a buck toothed grin shocked to see. "KARKAT!"
"Where the fuck did that come from?" It obviously wasn't a paradox clone of anyone here.
"Me and Kanaya made him- well we-"
"WHAT!?"
"I wanted to surprise you with one your colors but he's not ready yet." The grub is squirming and Jon lets go letting it crawl twords the older troll.
"My COLORS!?"
"Yea! There all made by mixing my genetic material, your genetic material and Kanaya's protein sack. Well I was hoping to make one with your protein sack too when you make a new one."
"We should cull them all right now." He growls leaning down and snatching up the grub by it's hair.
It cried out flailing and knashing it's little teeth.
"STOP IT!" John screamed getting up and trying to snatch it back. "Your hurting him , STOP." He stomped, screaming the last word , stomping, the air in the room rustling.
The little grub was still screaming , tiny jade tears falling as it wailed.
"You gonna fight me over a fucking grub?!"
"Y-yea." His voice wavered, not from lack of resolve but because he did not wanna have to do this with his matesprit. "Please Karkat. Just hand him to me."
Karkat tossed it John's way and John caught it, hugging it close. The grub sobbed, making a big green stain on his shirt as it clung to him, little arms clinging painfully to his chest through the shirt.
"John..."
"Get out Karkat. Get the FUCK out of my room." He said, voice low.
.
.
"John..?" Rose frowned, knocking on the door. The door was locked and it sounded like the grub was crying.
No answer.
"John." Kanaya knocked harder. They heard foot steps and John opened the door, holding the grub and looking miserable.
"What's wrong?"
"Karkat found out.. he threatened to cull them all and snatched him... I yelled at him and threw him out of my room. " He sniffled, feeling like he wanted to cry but not wanting to in front of the girls. "We've never had a fight before."
"That dosn't sound like him. Why do you think he was so upset?" Rose asked, holing out some lettuce to the grub.
"I don't know." John sat down on the bed, watching it munch it with little growls.
"Maybe it is because we are mixing them with his 'mutant' genetics?" Kanaya suggested.
"I don't know. Maybe. Or maybe because we didn't tell him and started using his stuff to make babies." He petted the little grubs fluffy black hair. "You said it was ok. You said he wouldn't mind us using it."
"He should not have. Genetic material is collected up and used for re population all the time on Alternia. " Kanaya set down a chunk of ham as it finished it's lettuce.
"I don't know." He flopped back on the bed.
""Well we'll leave you alone." Rose said, gathering up the grub and it's food.
.
"John." Karkat knocked on the door, poking his head in.
"What?"
"Can I come in?"
"I guess."
He comes in sitting on the bed next to John."I'm sorry."
"Me too.. for not telling you - not for yelling." He rolled over to look at him. "You wouldn't have really done it would you Karkat?"
"Done what- culled him? No." He shook his head laying down next to John. He'd never kill another troll for no reason. "I was just mad... you where just taking my stuff and using it with out saying anything and lieing to me about it! "
"I didn't lie." He said indignantly.
"You said you where disposing of it - that was a lie."
"Well.. sorry.. I only kept a little bit." He scooted closer to him. "I didn't mean to lie to you though. I just wanted to surprise you with a little grub your blood color. I thought it would make you happy."
He smiled. "Thanks."
"There's one on the way you know. It seems like most of the time they take on the color of the mother but Kanaya says one has started taking on your color."
"How many do you have?" He asked, eyebrows raised.
"Well only one hatched but I have one embryo and I'm not sure how many she has. " He smiled slightly. "Did you um.. wanna see?"
"Sure."
John hopped up going over to his covered fish tank, sliding the sheet off of it, a happy smile on his face. "See?" He pointed at the little sack - um I just put it in here today so you can't tell but in a few days you'll be able to see the little grub in it. He smiled at him.
"So.. your not mad anymore, right?" John peeked at him.
"No John. I probably shouldn't have been mad in the first place. Where is your grub? I didn't meant to hurt him."
"Oh um he's with Kanaya. I was just watching him. "He scooted closer again, snuggling into Karkat. "She says the one thats turnung red should be ready next week. We'll be daddys. " He grinded up at him."You wanna be a daddy, right Karkat ?"
He just laughed. "I can give it a shot." He said. "I'm not wearing a hat like your "dad" did."
(authors note: yea that's pretty much it. - just estabishing my head head cannon on how they can have grubs still even with out a mother grub)