Dave sighed as he pulled away from the door that the trolls were sleeping in. He rubbed his nose and moved out of the spare apartment to find Rose standing in the hallway, her violet eyes watching him curiously.

"Hey, Rose," he said with a small nod. Rose smiled gently back and peeled herself off of the wall to stand next to him.

"I need a smoke," Dave mumbled, feeling at his coat pockets before groaning softly. He must have left his spare pack in his apartment, and hell knew that Dirk wouldn't let Dave anywhere near them while they were in the same house.

"Those things are bad for your health," Rose murmured, glancing towards the door silently, "Roxy told me that you found a few Trolls outside," she said shortly.

Dave nodded curtly, "they were just sitting in a snow bank, and I'm no hemospectrum professional, but I'm pretty sure that that colour of blood is odd."

Rose hummed, "I would think you are correct," she said, "the lowest colouring of Trolls should be a rust red, but if it is something lighter, it could be a mutation of some sort making the blood an 'unnatural' colour."

Dave snorted a bit, "you paid attention in that class?" He asked. Rose smiled slyly.

"You never know when the knowledge of things such as that would come into play," she said, "after all if we are keeping a family of Trolls here, we should at least try to be more hesitant around them."

Dave shrugged, "maybe Signless, but I really doubt that Karkat or Kankri would be able to do any substantial damage."

Rose hummed again, keeping her mysterious facade up. Dave raised and eyebrow at her curious look.

"If you say so," she said, "although for our own benefit, I do not suggest taking in too many."

Dave stared at her, "are you suggesting that I would make the apartment some sort of 'Hotel for Dogs' ripoff? Just get a few fuckin' Trolls to through into the fray, and then live forever happily in an apartment with like four million Troll families? No thanks."

Rose scoffed a bit, "to think that you would suggest doing such a thing!" She said sarcastically, "we all know that you're soft with Trolls, David," she said, her mysterious smile melting into a much gentler one, one that she shared with her mother and older sister.

Dave shrugged, looking at his phone. It was almost six in the morning, and he had work in eight hours.

"Why are you even up awake this late, Rose?" He asked his half-sister who shrugged a bit, leaning on the wall opposite to Dave. Dave wrinkled his eyebrows a bit, seeing the nearly hidden eyebags under Rose's eyes and the weary glaze that had taken over her eyes for a moment.

"Is it the nightmares?" He asked, seeing Rose's shoulders slouch down and her black coloured lips tilt down in a soft frown, "yes," she said, "they've been getting worse and worse as time goes on."

Dave sighed and patted her shoulder. Everyone in the apartment knew about Rose's night terrors. Horrible dreams of her and her family dying, going into some sort of state that she had named Grimdark, and other scraps of scattered dreams, fleeting kisses, fangs, fire raining down from the skies and a fleeting sence of knowing all, but at the same time, knowing nothing. It was a frightening prospect, and the stitches in her knitting told stories of a sort of game, something that had caused a great destruction and much death.

Dave shook away the thought and nudged Rose's hip with his own, smiling slightly at her, "alright," he said, "let's get you to bed. I know that mum and Roxy will have my head if I don't at least help you get a few hours of sleep."

Rose smiled thankfully at him, "yes, I suppose some sleep is in order at this time," she said, walking back to her apartment and letting out a faint yawn as she realized how truly tired she was. Dave helped her into bed as she started to fall asleep, tucking a purple pillow under her head. The pillow was infused with herbal essence that helped Rose sleep thorugh her nightmares on many occasions, so Dave just had to hope that it would work tonight.

He moved back to his own apartment. It was dark, his brother was already fast asleep on his futon. Dave dodged a few smuppets that dangled in the air by a string as he made his way to his room. As he layed down in his bed, he thought back to the Trolls that he was helping and a sort of concern washed over his body.

Those poor Trolls.. How many of them were left? He didn't want to think about it. And with that, he rolled over and fell asleep.