"John I'm boooooooored," Vriska proclaimed as she sat back and sighed. She had been alive for over two weeks and it felt like she had already exhausted the new things on earth to a point where they were no longer interesting.
Vriska was lying on the couch in John's living room as John was in the kitchen making himself lunch.
"Well," John replied. "Isn't there anything that you haven't seen? There's Netflix. It's filled with series you can binge-watch to your heart's content."
"Everything on there is booooooooring," Vriska groaned. "Can't you entertain me?"
"No because after I eat lunch I'm walking over to Karkat and Dave's place," John replied as he entered the living room with a sandwich in his hands. He sat down on the recliner next to the couch and faced Vriska as he took a bite. "You can come with me if you want."
"It'll be boring," Vriska groaned.
"You haven't even been to Dave and Karkat's place! And you haven't seen Terezi or Karkat since you came back. And you haven't met the Mayor," John reminded Vriska. "It'll do you good to get off the couch and see something new."
"Alright," Vriska groaned and sat up. "Why do you even have to go to their hive?"
"Because I have to talk to Dave about a job," John replied.
"But I thought you were a human chuckle artist?" Vriska asked.
"It's complicated," John answered. "You know what; maybe if you get a job you won't be bored all the time because you'll be working."
"What person in the right mind would hire a troll?" Vriska asked.
"Karkat and Terezi work on the Police Force," John explained. "And Kanaya owns her own fashion shop, or whatever it's called. The Mayor also has a job, he helps Dave at his Day Care."
"I'll think about it," Vriska replied.
"Good," John got up after finishing his sandwich. "Then with the money you get you can help me pay for the bills."
"Whoa, humans get paid for their jobs?" Vriska asked surprised at this piece of information.
"Yeah, we have to pay the taxes and bills somehow," John answered as he put his plate away.
"Jobs sound 8000 times cooler now," Vriska stated as she got up.
"Well come on," John told Vriska as he got his jacket on. "Let's go to Dave and Karkat's."
"Are we driving?" Vriska asked putting her own jacket on.
"No, we're walking," John answered.
"Why?" Vriska groaned.
"Because they live just around the corner and it's a wonderful spring day. They're probably outside too," John answered opening the door.
"Uhg," Vriska groaned as she followed John out.
John was right; it was a lovely spring day. The trees were a vibrant green and swayed in the wind as a cool breeze cut through the neighborhood. The grass was growing wildly and needed to be cut. The sun was high in the sky providing light to the world. It was just the right temperature outside: not too hot but not too cold. This made the short walk to Dave and Karkat's house pleasant as birds sang their song and the wind backed the up by wipping around in the air.
When they arrived at Dave and Karkat's house, John was proven right again. Dave, Karkat, Terezi and the Mayor were all out enjoying the perfect spring day. They were relaxing in the small backyard squished between the house and a fence lined with tall bushes. The bushes wrapped around from the garage to the opposite side of the house which Kanaya herself arranged. The backyard was open to both the garage and driveway, so it was easy to access. In the back of the yard there was a garden kept by Jade who needed a place to grow food because she could not in her present apartment. Karkat also helped her to keep it tidy because Jade was not available everyday to keep the garden alive. There was a garden shack in between the garden and a small grove of trees. Squished in between the grove of trees and the house was a small patio where there was a table and grill Dave insisted on buying, but only Karkat could use it because Dave didn't know how to cook.
In the Strider-Vantas backyard, Karkat was sitting in one of four lawn chairs pulled out and placed behind the house in the sun. He was watching Dave, Terezi and the Mayor throw a Frisbee around while drinking a glass of apple juice (Dave had gotten him addicted to the fruity juice).
"Yo Egbert!" Dave greeted John as he threw the Frisbee to him.
John caught the Frisbee and shouted back his own greeting, "Hi Dave! Hi Karkat, Terezi and Mayor!"
"Egbert," Karkat gave john a curt nod.
"Vriska!" Terezi greeted the spider troll by running over and providing a bony hug. "No hard feelings over me killing you? It has been twelve years though, right?"
"Right," Vriska agreed. "But I can see why you did it. I had a long time to reflect on it."
"Great," Terezi let go and stood back with a shit eating grin on her face happy by the acceptance of the apology.
"Vriska," Karkat mumbled his greeting not bothering to get out of the chair as Vriska came into the backyard.
"Karkat," Vriska replied with the same tone of voice.
"Well, Egbert and I will leave you guys to get reacquainted as we talk business," Dave informed the group as he began to guide John into the house.
"So what have you been doing since you came back?" Terezi asked as she sat down in one of the lawn chairs. A small carapace wearing a button-up shirt and jeans along with a sash that said MAYOR sat next to Terezi and picked a can of Tab up off the ground.
"Nothing really," Vriska sighed. "John suggested that I should get a job but I don't know anything about human jobs. He said something about the two of you being 'police'."
"Yeah we work at the police department here," Terezi answered. "We're partners. We go around in our car and make sure that people are following the law. And we also go and help people when we get a call."
"That sounds like a job you would want Pyrope," Vriska commented. "Same for you Karkat if it has to do with helping people."
Karkat rolled his eyes but didn't answer. He just continued to sip on his glass of apple juice.
"So do you have any idea what job I should have?" Vriska asked Terezi.
"I don't know," Terezi answered. "I would say that you should join the police force but you have to go to the academy for that. And you don't have the time or the money to go to the academy."
"Dave's hiring," Karkat reminded Terezi. "Maybe you would like it if she was surrounded by snotty germ-infested kids."
"What does Dave do?" Vriska ask.
"He runs a Day Care," Terezi explained. "Which is a place where human parents drop off their grubs while they go to work."
"That doesn't sound like much fun," Vriska answered.
"It's actually pretty nice place," Karkat explained further. "I enjoy visiting from time to time."
"The Mayor works at the Day Care too!" Terezi added.
"Who's the Mayor?" Vriska asked.
"This is the Mayor!" Terezi pointed to the carapace sitting next to her. "He's everyone friends and the Mayor of Can Town!"
"Can Town?" Vriska asked.
"A fictitious nookhumping braindead shitdicking town in our basement made up of food cylinders," Karkat answer. "But even if it is a really stupid place, the Mayor is really awesome."
Vriska was quite confused at Karkat's praise for a simple carapace drinking a horrible human beverage but went along with it.
"So does Day Care pay well?" Vriska asked.
"You would have to ask Dave since he racks in all the money from the job," Karkat answered.
"But he would pay you more than enough to get by," Terezi added.
"Hhm," Vriska thought for a moment.
As the trolls conversed, inside Dave and John were having their own conversations about jobs.
"You sure you want it?" Dave questioned John.
"I need it," John sighed. "And I don't feel like working at a McDonalds."
"Then you've got it," Dave answered.
"That easy?" John questioned.
"Dude, you're my oldest bro. Of course I'd give you a job," Dave informed sitting down at the table after grabbing a bottle of apple juice. "You sure you don't want some apple juice?"
"Naw, I don't prefer piss" John replied inspecting a rodent skull left out on the dinning room table. "Though I do like your new center piece."
"I know," Dave answered taking the small skull out of John's hands. "It's a guinea pig skull."
"Fancy compared to all of your mouse and rat skulls," John sighed.
"Yeah," Dave agreed moving the skull's jaw with his fingers. "And Bob agrees."
"Stop naming all of your skeletons Bob," John sighed. "You could come up with a more creative name."
"What? Like Cupcake?" Dave scoffed. "But enough about my skeleton. You have a job now."
"Hours?" John asked.
"Write this down," Dave stated. John grabbed a notepad left out on the table and pulled a pen out of his pocket. "So, we start at eight, but I expect you at seven-thirty because we need to get things prepared for the day. The day ends at four, but we usually stick around for at least a half-hour to clean up. Five days a week Eggy. Be prepared to face snotty kids because well, they're little. Also, be prepared to play pretend and cleaning up after the most disgusting things. Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, all still exist at Strider's Day Care. No sharp objects or weapons-including your hammers. Nothing you wouldn't give a kid or would want near a kids. And that's about it. I'll tell you anything else you need to know tomorrow."
"Alright, thanks Dave," John thanked Dave. "You're a life-saver."
"It's cool bro," Dave replied. "Oh and no swearing. Parents don't like it when kids run around their house yelling 'fuck'. Karkat accidentally said it once after a kid dropped a heavy rock on his foot. That kid doesn't go to our Day Care anymore."
"No swearing, got it," John quickly scribbled that note down. "And while I'm thinking about it, Vriska's thinking about getting a job. Do you have any suggestions?"
"I have room for another helper," Dave stated.
"Day Care? I don't think Vriska would want a job at Day Care," John informed Dave.
"Yo Dave you got an open position at your human 'Day Care' thing?" Vriska asked bursting through the side door.
"You wanna take care of kids for nine hours a day?" Dave question Vriska.
"That long?" Vriska groaned.
"We come in early then get off early," Dave explained.
"Oh," Vriska thought.
"So you really want it?" Dave asked.
"I don't know of anything else to do," Vriska shrugged.
"It's yours," Dave gave Vriska the job to the shock of John. "John has the details. I'll explain the rest tomorrow. Wait except for one thing, no violence."
"I promise I won't be violent," Vriska sighed.
"No weapons," Dave added. "Weapons include those dice Terezi and Karkat told me about."
"Fuh-ine," Vriska sighed.
"Cool, let's go back outside," Dave announced walking past Vriska and out the side door with apple juice in hand.
"This is a small house," Vriska stated before stepping back outside. John shrugged, taking one last look at the guinea pig skull, and left the house.
As John exited the house, he saw Jade's car pull up into the drive-way. As Jade parked and stepped out, a reincarnate of Bec jumped out of the passenger's seat. Jade still has her dog ears though; this Bec was just a clone of the other.
"Hey guys!" Jade greeted Dave, Vriska, and John.
"Harley, nice of you to drop by so unexpectedly," Dave greeted Jade,
"Nice to see you too coolkid," Jade said as she gave Dave and light punch in the shoulder. "So John, how are you doing?"
"Dave just gave me and Vriska a job," John explained.
"Well at least you finally got off your lazy ass and finally got around to getting a real job," Jade congratulated her brother.
"Being a comedian was a real job," John argued.
"No it wasn't," Jade replied. "It wasn't a steady job at least. And you also didn't go back into the dream of the joke shop."
"Yeah, it was too hard in reality to manage a joke shop," John agreed stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Too hard for me to go through with too."
Jade and Dave were silent before Jade looked to Vriska, "It's good to finally see you Vriska. Welcome to earth if you haven't gotten that already."
"Actually, I haven't," Vriska informed Jade.
"So who joined the merry band of guest ready to tread their dirty feet across my house?" Karkat asked as he joined everyone on the driveway next the house.
"I smell dog fur, must be Jade!" Terezi declared as she followed Karkat.
The Mayor followed Terezi and was quickly tackled with sloppy kisses from Bec. No one knows why but Bec had become over-attached to the Mayor, getting very excited whenever he was around. The Mayor, however, was not a dog person so as soon as Bec began to lick his face, the Mayor began to run away like a child which inclined Bec to think that he was playing and chased after the carapace.
"Hey guys!" Jade greeted the two trolls who were left behind the house.
"You need to work on the garden?" Karkat asked Jade.
"No," Jade replied. "I actually wanted to ask you two something."
"This doesn't sound good," Terezi sighed.
"Why us?" Karkat asked quickly.
"Because Dave's a bird person, John's a rabbit person, and Rose is a cat person," Jade explained.
"This sounds ever worse than I imagined," Terezi groaned.
"It's nothing big," Jade argued.
"We'll leave you too it," Dave insisted upon. "John and Vriska, you should total see the sound system I hooked the backyard up with."
"Why do you need a sound system?" John asked as Dave began to push the human and troll away from the conversation between Jade, Terezi and Karkat.
"For parties," Dave insisted.
"When are you going to have a party? We have all of our parties at Rose and Kanaya's place. And you live in a small quite neighborhood," John argued with this logic.
"Well maybe sound systems are cool and we have to save the Mayor from Bec," Dave explained glancing at the Mayor running around their yard as he was chase by a white blur before looking overt to the basketball hoop placed to the side of the driveway. "Or we can shoot some hoops."
"Shooting hoops?" Vriska asked. "Wouldn't it be hard to shoot an object that was just a rim without a center? Or is this some stupid human term?"
"Let's teach Vriska about basketball," Dave ultimately decided upon.
As Dave forced John to help him teach Vriska about basketball, Jade was explaining to Karkat and Terezi about a very touchy subject.
"So what do you need us to do?" Karkat sighed as he leaned against the house.
"A dog came in a couple days ago to the Humane Society," Jade explained. "He's a really good dog, very well-behaved and knows millions of tricks. He was a police dog beforehand."
"So what happened?" Terezi asked.
"He injured his leg," Jade explained. "Badly. He won't ever be able to walk right again. The other workers are afraid he'll never get adopted because of his leg. I know that I can get him a sort of doggy-crutch to help him walk but he'll still need a lot of help moving up and downstairs, getting inside and outside. I would do it but my apartment only allows one large dog or two small dogs, and Bec is one large dog."
"So you want us to adopt this dog?" Karkat derived.
"His name is Gilbert and he's a German Shepard, a real tough dog, very sweet, very well-behaved, a very lovely dog over all. He won't need any training, but he'll need help to get outside to do his business and exercise."
"You know we have jobs all day?" Karkat reminded Jade.
"Yes, and he'll be fine. Just let him out before you leave and when you come home let him out again," Jade explained. "And Dave will help too; I know that even though he isn't big on dogs. And I'll even come over every day to help you get used to having a dog around. So please, if you could just adopt Gilbert."
"Why are you asking me? I'm blind," Terezi asked Jade.
"I know you don't need it but Gilbert is also a registered seeing-eye dog as well as a police dog," Jade explained to Terezi. "So I thought that would make him perfect for you two."
Terezi and Karkat looked at each other before looking back at Jade. Karkat could see that Jade was ready to bust out the kicked puppy look and Terezi could smell the fake tears starting to form.
"Fine," they both sighed at the same time.
"Thank-you guys, a lot," Jade began to thank them. "I think Gilbert will like it here. The yard isn't big but the neighborhood is. And you guys will like Gilbert too, he's such a sweetie."
"As long as he doesn't chase the mayor around like your barkbeast," Karkat pointed out.
"Oh, right," Jade had forgotten about Bec 'playing' with the Mayor. She put her fingers to her mouth and whistled, calling Bec to her. Bec trotted up to her with tongue lopping at the side of his mouth looking like he was quite happy with himself after chasing the Mayor around. The Mayor, on the other hand, looked quite relived to be free of Bec, and sat on the ground to watch Dave, John and Vriska shoot hoops.
"Bec, no chasing people," Jade scolded Bec. His ears dropped for a second but forgot when he saw the stray basketball rolling towards him. He pounced just as Dave was coming over to grab it.
"So what's the verdict?" Dave asked the three of them.
"We're getting a barkbeast," Karkat sighed.
"His name is Gilbert and he has an injured leg," Jade explained to Dave.
"Please don't go repeating an animal cruelty commercial," Dave pleaded.
"No, he was a police dog and he hurt himself in the line of work," Jade explained.
"Oh, okay. That's better than other animal sob stories," Dave replied.
"Dave! Pass the ball back! I still haven't creamed Egbert enough!" Vriska called for the ball.
"You-huh-just-huh-learned-huh-basketball-huh-today-huh," John wheezed. "I need-huh-my inhaler."
"Take five Egberto, I'll avenger you!" Dave informed John passing the ball to Vriska who caught it. "Sorry to leave so soon but I have to get my head in the game."
Jade chuckled but the trolls didn't understand the joke. John probably would have laughed if he wasn't metaphorically dying on the ground next to the Mayor who had gotten up to grab his can of Tab. To try to help, the Mayor poured the can of Tab over John's head to cool him down though the Tab was now room-temperature.
"If you could head over to the humane society tomorrow, that would be great," Jade told Karkat and Terezi. "Any time during my work day would be good."
"Alright," Karkat agreed. "But since you came down here, do you want a bit to eat?"
"Of course, I would never miss a chance to have some of your cuisine," Jade informed Karkat with a small laugh.
"I'm sorry for trying to mix troll and human food together. It was never meant to be," Karkat growled as he opened the door.
"It's okay," Jade answered stepping inside. "We better bring John in so he doesn't die."
"I'm better-huh-now," John sighed sitting up his face sticky with Tab. "Though a shower would be nice."
"The Mayor was just trying to help," Dave argued.
"This feels like high school all over again," John added as he stood up and Dave took a shot at getting a basket. The ball swished into the net like a rainbow forming in the sky.
"Why do you humans even put your young through that obscene torture palace of horrors?" Karkat asked.
"To prepare for our futures," Jade informed Karkat.
"Jade, Karkat and I both went there for one year and we still don't understand why humans make their public school-feeding so hard," Terezi told Jade. Jade just shrugged and went inside. Karkat, Terezi, Bec, John and the Mayor all trickled into the house leaving Dave and Vriska outside.
"Let's go inside and get a bite to eat before I beat you," Dave informed Vriska.
"You can try," Vriska scoffed dropping the basketball.
"That's no way to treat your future employer," Dave informed Vriska. "Also, how are you so good at basketball?"
"We have a sport pretty similar to this back on Alternia," Vriska explained. "Though to get the ball to the hoop you had to hop on rocks over boiling lava."
"Sounds like stupid extreme stuff I would have done when I was younger," Dave replied before a moment of silence. "Who are we kidding; I would do stupid extreme stuff like that right now if I could!"
"Let's just grab a bite to eat," Vriska stated and as they went into the house Vriska exclaimed, "Actually, if you want to learn more about the Alternia sport of human basketball. He used to play."
"What happened?" Dave asked because he hadn't heard this story before.
"Sollux kicked his butt and he got injured so he never played again," Vriska answered before stepping into the house.
The next day at seven-thirty sharp, John Egbert's car rolled up into the parking lot in front of Strider's Day Care with both John and Vriska in the car. There was a parking lot both in front and behind the Day Care, but Dave instructed John to use the back. In the back parking lot there was Dave's car, a rusting car, and an old boat.
John and Vriska had to walk around to the front where the door was actually unlocked. Dave locked the back door for safety reasons. When they entered the clear front door, they came into the long corridor stretching to the back of the building only blocked by the large front desk. In front of the front desk on the right wall was a set of double doors locked open to a cheery room filled with the bright light of the rising sun and a crazy amount of toys that could cure the greediness of a spoiled rich kid. Dave was leaning behind the front desk scribbling down some information as the Mayor spun in the desk chair behind him.
"Wow, you arrived on time," Dave looked up.
"What would you expect, it's our first day!" John replied, every bit of a cheery morning person.
"He dragged me out of bed," Vriska groaned.
"Let me show you around the joint. As you can see through these double doors is the playroom. Cubbies for all the kid's shit is in there along with the entrance to the bathrooms. This is where we spend most of our day."
Dave then began to give the tour of the whole place. Behind the front desk was the door to the break room. Dave explained that he never actually got to use the break room before because he was pretty busy playing with kids and making sure that they didn't kill each other. On the left side of the hallway, were the doors to the infirmary and a storage room filled with extra toys. On the right side of the hallway were doors to the snack room and the kitchen. The snack room was connected to the play room, and the kitchen connected to the snack room.
"Just some quick safety procedures," Dave began to explain as they stood in the snack room, a room filled with small tables that went up to a full-grown adult's knee lined with chairs that looked like they belonged in a dollhouse. "This is where we go if there's a tornado. We also come in here if there's a lock down. Vriska, that means that a bad and crazy guy comes in here trying to kill everyone. If there's a fire we just have to try to get everyone out as fast as he can. You can open all the windows and start getting kids out that way if the fire's in the hallway, but realistically, the fire would end up either being in the kitchen of the break room. Got that?"
"Yeah," John answered. "And if there's a crazy dude that comes in to try and kill us all do we call the police of do we attack him?"
"I'd say call the police but we're all gods and can kick butt," Dave answered. "So in the end, call the police first then kick butt."
"Alright, now what?" Vriska asked because apparently the tour was over.
"Go to the front desk and wait for parents to drop off their kids," Dave announced. He left the snack room, so John and Vriska really had no choice but to follow him.
Dave then stationed himself at the front desk in the spinning chair the Mayor had abandoned for the break room. John and Vriska awkwardly stood around the desk waiting for instruction from Dave but he didn't say anything.
"You guys can go wait in the play room," Dave announced. "I'll sit here and sign everyone in. You two just have to make sure that the kids don't get into fights and if they need help or if they want you to play with them you go ahead and do that."
"Alright," Vriska answered so she and John walked into the play room.
The play room was a large colorful room filled with light and small furniture. The room was neatly sectioned off to fit the needs of the kids: an area of tables near the back for crafts, a part of the room that had a small plastic playscape for the kids to play on, a large chest filled with costumes for dress-up, a corner of the room filled with books for reading, and shelves filled with bins filled with toys.
"I didn't know Dave could be neat," John exclaimed as he was looking through the labeled colorful bins on one of the walls.
"There are too many large blocks," Vriska looked through a bin of colorful cardboard blocks with a brick pattern on them.
"This kinda looks like fun," John stated as he looked around the room. "It'll be like kindergarten all over again!"
"Kindergarten? That sounds kinda dangerous," Vriska replied looking through the dress-up bin. "Oo! Pirates!"
"Wow, that is actually a lot of cool stuff," John noted as he came over to check on the dress-up bin. "Noodle swords!"
"Yo!" Dave called from the other room. "Don't mess with my noodle swords!"
John put the blue noodle sword he picked up down and continued to walk around the room. He walked around and finally found a large cabinet filled with old VHS's like Blue's Clues and Bear in the Big Blue House.
"What's this black box thing?" Vriska asked pulling out one of the VHS's.
"Ancient form of media distribution," John replied. "But why does Dave have so many?"
"I play them so the kids can calm down and learn shit," Dave declared poking his head into the room. "Don't touch them. All vintage, very valuable, only I can touch them," Dave paused to turn his head towards the door. "Oh, someone's coming in. Places people!"
"What are we supposed to do?" John called back.
"Act natural!" Dave shouted back as he sat down in the front desk. "They can smell fear!"
John rolled his eyes while Vriska asked, "Can human spawn actually smell fear?"
"No," John answered as the door opened and a ball rang to accompany it. "Thought I wish Dave would have told us what acting natural was."
A few seconds later a small boy with black hair was followed by a large boy with auburn hair ran into the room laughing and with large smiles on their faces. To them, Day Care was a magical place filled with toys they hadn't seen before. The two boys didn't seem to notice john and Vriska, but the two adults were put into an awkward position because they did not know the boys' names.
"Yo, John, Vriska," Dave poked his head into the playroom again. "This is Peter and Ty. Peter, Ty, this is John and Vriska, my new helpers. John's the human and Vriska's the troll. Are we all cool? Alright."
Dave disappeared as the black-haired boy ran up to John and Vriska.
"So you're a troll like Officer Vantas?" the black-haired boy asked Vriska.
"Yes," Vriska replied. "And you are?"
"Peter," the small boy replied before running off to play with his friend or brother Ty. They were already digging into the toys because they probably knew the room like the back of their hand. The two of them had pulled out the superhero action figures and started to play.
"I guess we just have to wait for everyone else to come along before we have to do anything," John told Vriska as the doorbell rang. One by one, kids began to come in and spread out to play with toys. Dave poked his head and introduced each one: Jacob, Thea, Nick, Lion, Oliver, Franklin, Hazel, Grant, Rena, Linus, Piper, and dozens of others. Some came with warnings like Jacob who always seemed to get hit in the head with some type of object everyday, Grant who tried to eat the paper plates and other objects, or Oliver who always caused problems. Others were just introduced with names and sometimes the kid would come up and say hello to John and Vriska who were just sitting back for the moment and watching the room slowly becoming a mess.
"Annie's the last one," Dave announced as he walked into the room as the Mayor followed behind him. The Mayor abandoned Dave as he was called over to build a fort out of the cardboard bricks with some of the kids.
"So this is Day Care," John sighed. "What are we supposed to do exactly? We don't need to do anything."
"Hey Vriska!" Peter came up to Vriska. "You wanna play pirates with us!"
"You read my mind," Vriska replied. "Of course!"
"Awesome!" Peter ran back to his friends surrounding the dress-up bin with his arms in the air. He stumbled on the way back but he didn't seem to care.
Vriska began to head over towards the dress-up bin but Dave stopped her, "Nothing to hard. Keep it kid-friendly and just go along with the story."
"I got it. Keep it for wrigglers," Vriska replied and joined the kids over at the dress-up bin. Peter handed Vriska a pirate hat and a noodle sword and the adventure began.
"That is what we do at Day Care," Dave explained turning to John. "We keep the kids entertained and happy. We also teach them shit from time to time. Like colors, numbers, letter, easy things. But the main point is to keep them happy."
"Ah, okay," John replied.
"Why don't you go and color with the kids," Dave instructed John pointing over to the tables filled with pieces of printer paper, crayons, and coloring books.
"Is there a superhero coloring book?" John questioned.
"I got like twenty of them," Dave replied.
"Alright," John agreed and went to go and color with a group of kids. He had to kneel at the tables though because he didn't fit in the chairs.
The day seemed to progress quickly as Vriska and John were pulled back into the world of little kids. There were things to be colored, games to play, and messes to be cleaned. It wasn't until about snack time when they finally got a break.
"How do you do this?" John asked Dave as they stood back in the snack room and watched the kids eat their graham crackers and apple juices.
"You get used to it," Dave answered. "And a good night's sleep."
"Right," Vriska took note and leaned back. "But for the record, I don't think I have ever had so much fun in my life."
"True," John agreed. "It's nice to be like a kid again."
Dave grunted in agreement at that statement.
As the kids were eating the snack, a police car was pulling into the back of the Day Care.
"It looks like Vriska hasn't burned the place down yet," Karkat grunted as he parked the car in the back.
"Put more trust in Vriska," Terezi replied. "Death has changed her. I can smell it on her."
"When I will believe that Vriska's changed when I see with my own two eyes Vriska riding a unicorn on a rainbow while it rains candy and flowers," Karkat growled. "And there will also be a flying pig there just to follow the human saying that is similar to this one."
"I don't think I have ever heard anyone say that Karkat," Terezi disagreed.
"Well, who cares?" Karkat replied. "I should just go in to check on Dave like I was doing in the first place."
"And drop off his lunch," Terezi reminded him shoving the McDonalds bag in his face.
"Right, that too," Karkat agreed.
"But before you go in," Terezi began. "What would you think if I said that I should become a masked vigilante like Dare Devil?"
"I would say that you were and ass-shitting footfucking incredible grubfisting dickprincess," Karkat answered.
"I want to become a masked vigilante," Terezi informed Karkat.
"You're an ass-shitting footfucking incredible grubfisting dickprincess," Karkat replied and tried to get out of the car before the insanity could continue.
"No but think about it," Terezi stopped Karkat by grabbing onto his wrist. "I would have a really cool costume and I would patrol the night for evil-doers and bring justice to them. When I was needed they would light a Libra signal up into the sky. And you can even be my partner!"
Karkat just glared at Terezi, wriggled his hand out of her hold, and got out of the car. He began to walk away but came back a few seconds later.
"I forgot Dave's lunch," Karkat announced snatching the McDonalds bag off his seat. "Don't do anything stupid."
"What? I would never do anything foolish or childish Karkat," Terezi replied modestly.
"The last time I left you in the car alone to go in and talk to Dave you drove the car into a tree," Karkat sighed.
"You must be mistaken I have never done that," Terezi answered pretending to be taken aback by Karkat's statement.
"That was last week Terezi," Karkat sighed. "You can't drive!"
"If I believe enough I can," Terezi replied. "Or if I stick my head out of the side window and let my tongue wave in the wind."
Karkat glared at Terezi again and slammed the door shut. He walked all the way to the front of the building and entered. The bell on the door rang as he came in. further down the hallway a door opened and John came out.
"Hi Karkat!" John cheerily greeted Karkat running down the hallway to greet his buddy. "What are you doing here?"
"Dave wanted me to bring him lunch," Karkat stated dropping the McDonalds bag onto the front desk.
"I'll tell him that you're here," John replied but Dave was right behind him so John crashed into his friend and boss.
"I know he's here Eggy," Dave replied. "No one else comes in during the middle of the day."
"Okay," John took in the new information.
"I've released the kids back into the play room," Dave announced. "Some kids want you to play dinosaurs with them."
"Okay," John began to head back into the play room that was full of kids. "Bye Karkat!"
John disappeared and Dave and Karkat where left alone in the hallway.
"Thanks for the lunch babe," Dave thanked Karkat as he rummaged through the bag.
"You're welcome," Karkat replied. "How's Vriska doing?"
"Wonderful," Dave answered. "She was playing pirates with some of the kids earlier."
"How many casualties?" Karkat then asked.
"None," Dave replied. "She's actually pretty good with the kids."
Karkat just grunted in reply before Dave took his hand.
"Where are you off to next?" Dave asked as he used his free hand to stuff a Big Mac in his mouth.
"First off, don't talk with your mouth open," Karkat informed Dave.
"Never happening," Dave answered in the midst of chewing.
"And second off, we're headed to the Humane Society to pick up the dog Jade wanted us to adopt," Karkat explained.
"Ah so Terezi's in the car," Dave figured out after swallowing the bite of Big Mac he was chewing.
"Yes," Karkat answered.
They were silent for a moment as Dave chewed his food but then Dave stated after swallowing, "Have I ever told you how cute you look in your police uniform?"
"Everyday," Karkat answered blushing a bit even though he heard that from Dave ever time he put his work clothes on.
"Good," Dave replied. "So I bet you need to get going."
"Yeah, I don't want to leave Terezi in the car too long," Karkat answered. Dave leaned in for a quick goodbye kiss then pulled away.
"Have fun with the new dog," Dave stated letting go of Karkat's hand.
"Alright, bye," Karkat said goodbye with a small smile on his face.
"Bye," Dave replied as Karkat left. Dave finished his lunch and went back into the playroom to continued playing.
The day dragged on for another three hours or so until all of the kids were picked up. Peter and Ty were the last to be picked up and then it was time to clean up. The clean up process went quick with four people and the day was soon over.
"So, how was the first day?" Dave asked as they all got their coats on to leave.
"Fun," Vriska summed up in one word.
"I actually can't wait to come back to work tomorrow," John answered. "Which is something I never thought would happen."
"Good," Dave laughed. "See you two tomorrow, same time."
"Alright, bye Dave!" John bid goodbye to Dave as he and Vriska left the building.
Dave locked up and left with the Mayor. When he arrived home, Jade's car was in the drive-way and everyone was outside. Dave went into the backyard to find a German Shepard with a crooked hind-leg that also had a wheel on it.
"So this is Gilbert," Dave said as he made his presence known. Gilbert walked up to Dave with his little wheeling leg to smell Dave and lick his hand.
"Yep," Jade answered. "So what do you think Dave?"
"He's pretty nice," Dave squatted so he could get a better look at Gilbert. Instead, he got a wet tongue on his face.
Karkat and Jade laughed as Gilbert walked away from Dave no longer interested in his wet face but walked over to Karkat.
"For some reason the bark beast has taken an interest in Karkat," Terezi stated walking over to help Dave off the ground.
"So do you have everything for him? Like a leash and food and all that stuff?" Dave asked.
"Yeah, we stopped at Pet Smart and I made sure that they had everything," Jade answered while Karkat picked up a ball off the ground and threw it across the yard for Gilbert. Gilbert couldn't exactly run with the wheel but he did his best to get to the ball fast enough.
"So will Gilbert have that wheel forever?" Dave asked.
"No, I'm planning on actually making a new leg for him," Jade answered. "But that means that we'll have to amputate his broken one."
"Ouch. How expensive?" Dave then asked.
"I would pay for it," Jade replied.
"Cool," Dave stated and watched as Terezi and Karkat took turns throwing the ball for Gilbert. "Gilbert seems to like Karkat and Terezi."
"Yeah, he's a dog. He knows good people when he sees them," Jade explained.
"What am I not a good person?" Dave asked pretending to be shocked.
"He licked your face. That counts," Jade laughed. "Well I have to go home and feed Bec."
"You don't want to stay for dinner?" Dave asked.
"Next time," Jade promised. "But yeah, how were John and Vriska at Day Care?"
"They did great," Dave answered.
"From what I heard about Vriska from everyone I would have thought that someone would have been hurt," Jade expressed her thoughts.
"Well it seems not," Dave explained. "It may just be a day for new beginnings."