AN:
Uploading a new chapter for you before I go on a trip. I should be sleeping since I need to get up in about 4 hours. Ha, who needs sleep, right? Enjoy. Weird things are happening. -Zade
CHAPTER 4
The scream ricocheted through him. He tried to move, but he couldn't. Couldn't even lift a finger or move a hair. He was trapped, temporally and physically, and all he could do was watch. Jack lifted the flat of the sword another time and WHAP. Slammed the already broken body of his Bro back to the ground, where Davesprite already lay next to him, sliced open, gone. A trail of blood crept out from the newly inflicted welt on Bro's face, joining the many others that marred it. It wouldn't have time to bruise. He'd be dead by then.
Dave rammed his body against the invisible shield again, but it wouldn't go. Fuck this. Fuck this entire thing. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. None of it.
And part of him knew that none of it had gone this way. Not in its original form. But that didn't help him break out of it and it still didn't stop.
He gritted his teeth, leaning against the press of the barrier, staring at the scene helplessly. Fuck, man, Striders didn't cry. They didn't. But his eyes still grew hot and hazy as the beating continued, more blood flecked across the scene, Bro becoming weaker and weaker, unable to flash step because Jack was always a step ahead, unable to stand up because his bones were being ground into the platform, unable to fight back because his sword had been taken away, almost slicing his hand off in the process. And still it continued.
It took so long that Dave started to will it to happen. Die, he encouraged Bro. Just die already. Why the hell aren't you just passing out right now? Do it.
And then Bro's eyes locked on his, shades flung off sometime during the miserable excuse for a fight. And he gave a small smile.
Dave pounded on the barrier again then, but darkness washed over Bro, obscuring the sight. The darkness came closer, a sheath of shadow in the grim air. A hand broke through the barrier, approaching his face, skimming its claws over his jaw, his mouth, his cheeks, his eyes. It ripped.
This time it was his scream that pierced the air.
xXxXxXxXxXx
Dave's eyes shot open with the silent scream locked in his throat. He swallowed, blinking down panic as he tried to remember where he was. Right, he was in his room, no wait, this looked wrong. This wasn't his room. And there was heat at his side. And a hand… FUCK. NO.
He shot up, snatching the hand by the wrist, but it did nothing more than fall limply as its owner continued to sleep. Apparently Terezi was a deep sleeper, or maybe she was just really comfortable with him there, because she didn't even stir.
Now he remembered. After their rap-off they'd gone back to her lair after sneaking back to the kitchen to get more pies and they retreated here to silently lie on a pile together, staring up at the ceiling. He guessed they both fell asleep after that.
Dave looked down at his clothes and grimaced at the suit that was now crumpled. He didn't really care, but there wasn't really an iron here and it'd look stupid to walk around with a wrinkled suit. He'd either need to toss it or turn it into material for more amusing constructions. He captchalogued it, changing into more casual clothes. Then he silently exited, heading for the outdoor platform.
xXxXxXxXxXx
The other Dave let out a short grunt as his air was cut short by current Dave's elbow, pressing into his gut. As Dave moved to swing his sword to the finishing blow the other Dave flash-stepped. Dave felt a pointed blade at the base of his own neck instead, pressing in until drops of blood fell. He scowled.
Latching onto a backup puppet strife specibi he'd installed shortly after arriving here, he tossed a few smuppets Future Dave's way. Naturally, as his worst childhood enemies came alive to haunt him once more, the other Dave faltered, and Dave used the moment against him, butting his head back and grabbing hold of his shirt, flipping him down in front of him. Future Dave banged on the ground, bringing up his sword in a swift parry as Dave attacked. He blocked. The clashing impact slid their swords out of their hands, scattering to opposite ends of the platform. But at this point, he knew they wouldn't need them.
They engaged in a tumbling wrestle match, aiming for each other's dirty spots, and pinning the other down, almost winning only to get bested again. They were almost equally matched. Almost. Except current Dave was determined not to lose. He was tired of losing.
When he got Future Dave into a headlock, he choked him to the point of asphyxiation, and just when the other Dave was getting weak, he let off to pound him. He slammed his jaw into the floor, punching his face until it was on the verge of turning purple and blue, scratched and bit and cut past any actual sense of purpose.
When he stood up, the other Dave was lying on the floor behind his foot, shaking, features marred by blood, eyes sweeping towards—
Bro's eyes locked on his as he gave a small smile…
"NO!" Dave spoke his rage aloud, bringing a fist down to Future Dave's eye. "NO." He broke other Dave's nose, then went to work on his face more. Something crunched beneath his knuckles that wasn't supposed to. He now realized long moans of pain were coming from his other self, but he didn't stop. He couldn't stop. And when the other Dave finally stopped moving, stopped jerking, he delivered the final blow, slicing the sword neatly across his neck.
When he stepped back, looking over the scene in front of him, he felt his stomach heave. Shit, this was so… Everything was wrong about this.
He turned to his side and vomited until there was nothing more left, just bile and an emptiness that ran through his stomach into his inner core.
xXxXxXxXxXx
He walked through the hallways without caring about the route. Eventually his feet led him back to his rooms, where he could shower off the blood and vomit. He wondered who would clean up the dead Dave. Maybe Gamzee would take it for his head collection and make out with it or something.
Before he reached his door, he heard voices, getting louder and louder as the seconds passed on. He couldn't quite make out what they were saying. Rather than heading inside, he slid up to the corner and peeked his head around. Nothing. The voices had disappeared, their owners apparently gone.
Weird. Who was having an argument this early in the morning/night/time of sleep that both the trolls and humans had adapted to indulging in since there really was no basis for time in this meteor anymore. The sun never set; it was always just as bright outside during their waking hours as during their sleeping ones. And inside there was no sunlight, simply the shitty breaker lights that kept cutting off randomly. So technically everyone slept whenever they wanted, but more or less they'd developed a schedule that matched with the others' schedules. It made it easier to communicate and interact. Still though, it was strange to see anyone up during this time. It had become sort of an unspoken rule that this was sleeping time and everything else was fair game for whatever.
Dave shrugged it off. He had more important things to worry about than whose teenage issues were popping up. Like the fact that he was starting to stink like week-old fishsticks left under a tanning lamp and his skin was beginning to get caked with dried blood and gore. Time to scrub.
xXxXxXxXxXx
When Dave went to the kitchen to snag a piece of pie for breakfast, he found almost a fourth of the pies missing. Someone must have been starving in their sleep. Good thing he didn't have a hankering for cherry. He took a few slices of grape and slid onto the counter, tapping his fingers to a beat that started in his head. Okay, so the day started off a bit rough, but after the shower and then this piece of pie again, it was turning out to be pretty magnificent again. Last night he found himself writing a new rap to send to John and today he'd probably complete it. No need to worry about anything. Today would probably be a good day after all.
When he left the kitchen, he heard voices. Not arguing mutters this time but a lot of them conversing at once. He headed towards the sound. He found himself poking his head into an open room, where everyone was gathered around in a haphazard circle. Even WV was there, standing at the head of it.
When Dave poked his head in, Rose paused in her current speech, as if she'd been expecting him. She beckoned.
"WH3R3 W3R3 YOU? 1 THOUGHT YOU D1S4PP34R3D ON M3 COOLK1D. 1 COULDNT F1ND YOU."
"Sorry, had some things to do."
He entered the room and sat down. "So what's up?"
Rose turned back to the room. Dave was amused to note that her neck had what looked like two faint puncture marks on it. Interesting.
"Welcome. I was introducing WV to the inhabitants of this meteor and vice versa. I thought that we should all have a formal setting in which we got to know him."
"DO YOU WANT A STANDING OVATION OR SOMETHING? I WAS PERSONALLY FINE NOT KNOWING ANYONE AT ALL."
"Simply because you don't approve of the idea doesn't mean that it still isn't a good one, Karkat."
"KaRkAt," Gamzee spoke, complete lack of intonation in his voice. Karkat turned to glare at him. It lasted a bit too long and looked a bit too virulent. Gamzee narrowed his eyes in return. Come to think of it, why were they on opposite ends of the room? They had been almost inseparable since he arrived there.
Rose continued on, "Is there anything you would like to say, WV?" She turned to the Dersian as he surveyed them all. He still looked rather lost in Dave's opinion, and suspicious of everything. His orb-eyes narrowed when he met Dave's. Dave smiled at him.
"I have nothing to say," WV replied. "It is nice to make your acquaintances. Most of you. I have already made the acquaintance of one and he is not the most pleasant person, though these two ladies seem lovely." He gestured to Rose and Kanaya, who looked flattered.
"Don't pretend that you didn't enjoy our conversation. I found it as enthralling as a four-headed fire-spewing kitten flipping a double-ollie off Mt. Everest, myself."
"That is a silly analogy and I will not address it. Besides, why would a cat play with fire?" WV replied, addressing it anyway.
"Because it's fire-spewing. It spits out flames like it's thirsting for water and never heard of the word no."
WV frowned, trying to map this out in his head.
"IGNORE HIM. HE'S PRACTICED IN BEING THE DUMBEST FUCK OF THE UNIVERSE."
"Sorry. Was only following your example, Karkat," Dave replied. Terezi hid a smirk beside him. Karkat couldn't help but open his mouth again.
"AND YOUR COMPLETE IGNORANT LACK OF UNDERSTANDING CAUSED YOU TO FAIL MISERABLY, AS EXPECTED."
"Or maybe it was just your Mom's undershorts."
"MY WHAT."
Terezi was now snickering. Gamzee stared at them below lowered eyelids.
"I mean your Mom couldn't actually wear panties. Her ass is way too fat. She's like eight times the size of the biggest elephant. I mean you couldn't even get her to fit in this room. She'd have to be sky-lifted in and dropped like a fucking bomb."
"I DONT EVEN HAVE A "MOTHER" YOU NUMBNOOK, WHY DON'T YOU LOOK IN AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ALTERNIA FOR ONCE INSTEAD OF RELYING ON YOUR MINUSCULE THINKPAN. OH WAIT. YOU PROBABLY COULDN'T EVEN RECOGNIZE IT IF YOU HAD IT FOUR NUBS-LENGTH IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE."
"Why? So I could see more trolls who looked like you? No thanks. I see enough of you already."
Terezi couldn't stop laughing. Kanaya was watching the two of them like a ping-pong match. Karkat was getting more riled up, his face turning a slight shade of pink as he opened his mouth to reply. Rose cleared her throat, interrupting. "While all this is fascinating, I suggest that we please get back on subject or I fear that we'll never leave this room."
"They Seem To Be Enjoying Themselves."
"Please don't say that you're going to join in the fickle debate as well."
"I Simply Find It Amusing, Yes."
Karkat gave Kanaya a gruff look. She shot him an affectionate one in return.
"WV is now nearly fully healed. As such he'll be living with and among us. Please make him as welcome as possible and try not to alienate him with jokes of bad taste." She looked at Dave then. Dave made a gesture of tipping the brim of his invisible hat.
"Is That The End Of The Meeting?"
"Yes."
"I Think I Will Return To My Gardening Then. Anyone Is Welcome To Join Me."
She stood and headed out the door. Karkat picked himself up from the floor to follow behind her. Gamzee stared at his moirail as he went. He picked himself up from the floor slowly, heading out a different direction. Rose grabbed hold of his wrist before he left, muttering in his ear. He paused.
WV slipped out the room, probably to explore the meteor more.
"SO 1 GU3SS 1TS JUST US NOW."
"Guess so." He looked back at Terezi's grinning face. "What do you have planned?"
"4 V3RY SP3CT4CUL4R 3V3NT. YOULL 3NJOY 1T."
"Just one moment, Dave. I want to speak with you."
"Sup?"
"In private, if you please." Rose beckoned to him, before leaving the room. He told Terezi that he'd meet up with her afterwards and then followed. He saw Terezi slide over to lick Gamzee's ear before he left. He guessed it was her way of cheering him up.
He exited.
xXxXxXxXxXx
"Are you alright?"
They were sitting on the ledge of one of the long rows of stairs. Dave stared at the drop below. It was ridiculously long. At least they could fly.
"Where'd that train come from?" he replied to her. "Just barreled out from the middle of fuck-knows-where and crashed into some unsuspecting passengers at ninety miles an hour."
"Well you look like shit, pardon the expression, and your demeanor indicates there's something else consuming your thoughts."
"I thought I was perfectly invested in that whole meeting, but thanks for commenting on my listening skills."
"I'm not talking about the meeting, Dave." She paused. "I found the dead Dave. I cleaned it up before the others saw. If I hadn't been absolutely certain that you were still alive for the fact that you continue to exist in the future, I would have thought that I fucked up miserably and someone was killing again."
"You think anyone could've killed me but me, really?"
"There's that too. What happened?"
"I sometimes practice with my blade in the mornings. I guess I got a little enthusiastic."
"A little enthusiastic would describe a man that wants to buy a piece of meat at the market buying an entire cow. You went ahead and slaughtered that cow, its entire herd and all embryonic calves along with it."
"I don't want to talk about it, Rose."
"I think you need to."
"Just lay off, alright?"
"I don't want to see any more dead brothers, Dave. Even if I knew it wasn't true, it was still… difficult to see that. I thought I had lost another member of my family, yet again."
Shit. Sometimes Dave forgot that his actions impacted others too. He stared down at the abyss below their feet again. "Yeah, well you won't, okay?"
"I think you need to tell someone. If not me, then why not Terezi? You two seem close."
"I'm fine, alright. I'm handling this like two flaming saucers in the middle of a tightrope. I know all the moves, dips, dives and tricks to uphold it. Don't worry. Speaking of Terezi, I need to find her before she thinks I abandoned her again." He stood up.
"I sincerely hope that you can keep carrying those saucers, because one false step will bring them down and we'll all be showered in the flames, Dave."
"I never take false steps, Lalonde. But if I do, I'll serve as fire extinguisher and blast out all my wicked flames before they even singe. I promise."
"You'd better. If I find more dead versions of you or some other equally destructive habit, I will come and alleviate the problem myself, understand?"
"Understood like an S.O.S. I hear you loud and clear." He stood up. "Oh yeah, and watch out for that clown kid. He was off-kilter today. I think he and his moirail had an argument or something."
"That's why I suggested that we bake more pies after this. I'm not entirely behind on matters."
"Someone ate like half of em. So you're gonna need to bake a lot more."
"Thanks for the tip. Now run off to your friend."
"Thanks for the talk. Later."
xXxXxXxXxXx
The very spectacular event he walked into was a very spectacular event indeed. A movie night. Made even better by the fact that it wasn't Con-Air for the 272-billionth time or another one of Nic Cage's indisputably legendary films that made Dave's skin itch from staring at his sweaty, hairy chest for 2 entire hours.
This was a heartwarming Alternian tale about two kids who get caught up on the wrong side of the tracks and using their wits, brawn and several well-placed sticky maneuvers, push their way out again, finding self-respect and love along the way. No seriously, that was the title.
They watched it on Terezi's computer, complete with the smears from her licks that gave her a better impression of the film. They jumped at sudden impacts and explosions that seemed a bit too close to home, laughed (or in his case, smirked) at the humor, grew appropriately solemn at the darker parts. At one point, he noticed Terezi's head turned more towards him than the film, her nose pointed in the air, taking in his scent more than the movie's, if she ever really was at all.
He flipped his eyes back to the screen and pretended not to notice.
xXxXxXxXxXx
The next few days went by like a sluggish turtle in a race for a piece of cheese. Right after they were let out from the gates, the turtles ran and crashed into each other. They smelled the treat but couldn't quite dig their way out from their shells long enough to crawl to it. Then there were the few turtles who just seemed like the brightest of them all, making a straight dash for it. And there were hands that hovered above them, masterminds, rubbing their fingers together as bets were cast and flung around like daggers, not even caring who got in their way.
Dave wished he could say that he was one of the bright turtles in the race, but so far he was turning out to be a sluggish one. There was a haze in his head everywhere he moved and he just went along with the flow. Rose seemed to just float above it. She'd straight up be the hand in the scenario, just watching and waiting as all of them crashed around like fucking idiots. And Terezi wasn't far behind her. Nothing seemed to faze the troll. She seemed even happier, actually.
As far as the days' events, Rose and Gamzee were starting to cook together regularly. And they needed to, as the pies disappeared pretty shortly after they were put out. Dave was responsible for some of them, but there were still a large amount that was unaccounted for with only 7 people on the rock. The two started baking pretty much after they woke up until midday, and then Rose sat back to write in her journals again and Gamzee painted or rapped or did whatever clowns did when they weren't stoned out of their minds anymore and needed something other than murdering to kill the time. He actually wasn't as creepy with her. In fact he downright avoided Dave these days—turning his eyes away whenever he looked at him, ignoring him when they were in the same room together. Dave didn't get what that was about. It was as strange as the way he and Karkat were acting around each other.
Kanaya wasn't around as much either, not in the kitchens anyway. There'd been a mini-incident the day after WV's introduction, when she came back and found a third of her garden eaten and nearly had another chainsaw fit. She simmered down after Rose did some shoosh-papping of her own and discovered that the matriorb was safe and untouched. But now she spent more of her time monitoring her garden and WV by consequence, since he seemed entranced by it.
Karkat seemed to lurk around her as well. Though every time that Dave happened to pass his way now, his eyes caught on Dave's like they'd lit fire. Maybe something had awakened in him in that meeting. Dave somehow felt satisfied by it.
As for himself, he didn't have much time to spare either. Between sleeping, eating, working on a few rhymes and then getting dragged off by Terezi to go exploring or roleplaying—okay so yes she'd gotten him to roleplay a few times and it wasn't as bad as he thought but he'd never admit that except under ironic pretense—he really didn't have much time. Sleeping was still mostly nightmares. Tonight he'd had a dream about the same hand from before.
It slashed and slashed, ripping him to pieces and just when he regenerated, it did it again. It wasn't even a good sword, just the shitty 2D sword he'd alchemized forever ago and it swung again and again and he couldn't even avoid it. Pathetic. What was even more pathetic, perhaps, was that the black hand that used to be Noir's molded into a human one, and then turned into his Bro. And suddenly he and his Bro were strifing again, not the haha-youre-toast-and-you-need-to-learn-to-fight-better-or-have-your-ass-whooped puppet attacks of his youth, but something more vehement, that just blamed him for everything. For fucking up everything. The orange irises of his Bro looked dead as he continued to attack. Dave aimed for his heart; it was time to put him out of his misery for good—but then his sword just passed through him and he caught hold of Dave's neck, choking him, strangling him. Then he slashed through his jugular again.
Over and over again it went on until Dave woke up, sheets strangling him as he struggled to kick out of them, body drenched in sweat.
This was getting stupid.
xXxXxXxXxXx
Dave padded once past Rose's door and then turned around and did it again. He kept pacing. What the fuck are you doing? he chided himself. Just man the fuck up and get your ass back in bed. You know that shit isn't real anyway.
But it felt… he shivered as he remembered the feeling of that hand on him, and his Bro's fingers as they choked his neck. Yeah, it didn't matter if it was fake or not. It felt real as hell.
He knocked on Rose's door—and it opened immediately as Kanaya came striding out. She looked as shocked as Dave did upon seeing her, though he quickly threw on his poker face. No time to be unrattled here.
But instead of saying anything she simply brushed past him, striding down the hall. What happened? He peeked inside Rose's room, where she sat on the bed, looking up at him. She looked tired, frustrated. And it wasn't simply from bad dreams or no sleep.
"Yes?"
"Didn't know if you were awake or not."
"Well I am. You don't have to stand out in the hallway. You can enter."
Dave entered and sat on the bed next to her. They were silent for a few moments. "So, written anything I can read yet?"
She smirked. "I thought you didn't like my gay wizard slash?"
"Well I mean in usual cases it's not my reading of choice, but with no cyberblogs out here or ironic comics to choose from, it's the most quality thing going. We're all itching to read it, Rose."
"Maybe I'll show you an excerpt."
"Sweet deal."
"What about you? Are your rhymes finally flowing?"
"Got them worked out like cherry sauce. Me and Terezi spent all night just playing around with it."
"That's wonderful."
"Yeah."
They were silent again. Dave stared at the walls, looking around the room. It was really the first time he'd seen her room since he'd been there. It was decked out pretty nice. Not too different from her old bedroom, actually. She'd knitted a bunch of stuff as decorations. And there was another tentacle-monster—sorry he meant a squid princess (when did she make that thing again?)—on her bed.
Rose kicked her feet in front of her. "Was there something you wanted specifically?"
"Nah, I just… wanted to stop by." Obviously a lie. Who the fuck stops by in the middle of their sleeping period? But what else was he gonna say, Yeah, I was haunted by some nightmares of my Bro and I scared the shit out of myself so I came to you for your psychoanalysis thing. And what the fuck just happened between you and the vamp-girl? Trouble in cupid-land? And speaking of that, something's going on with Terezi and I don't really know what it is. If you could help me settle that, that'd be all and good right now.
Yeah. Nevermind, no. He wasn't gonna go there.
"You can sleep here tonight if you want. No need to go all the way back to your room." His room was like four feet away and they both knew it. But he appreciated the offer.
"Guess I'll crash on your floor then and set up a shitty pile of puppets."
Rose smiled at him. "You're welcome to. Goodnight then."
"Night."
xXxXxXxXxXx
His sleep was restless and dreamless and when he snuck out of Rose's room that morning, he knew that she probably didn't get much more sleep last night than him. But he pretended that he believed she was asleep anyway and crept out the room without sound.
He skipped the swordfighting this morning, heading straight for the shower. And when he came out he sipped some apple juice while composing some beats. He didn't know what the trolls listened to around here, but whatever it was it couldn't be as good as what he put out. And they really needed some good background music. So he was making a few tracks to pass around. Then he left and went for some breakfast pie. But when he entered the kitchen he found a catastrophe.
Pie was splattered across the walls, crust stuck to corners, multi-colored filling bleeding down the walls. Slops of pie spilled across the floor, hands had spread it across the tabletops, it dangled from the ceiling on fishhooks. The first thought that popped into Dave's brain was: So that was where all the pie went. And second: What a waste of good pie.
Pinned to the middle of the table, with a knitting needle stuck in it like a dagger, was a note. "MEETING. NOW. CIRCLE ROOM."
Seems like Rose was pissed.
xXxXxXxXxXx
The Circle Room turned out to be the same place where the meeting was held last time, and it was quite aptly Dave now saw, in a circle. Good for meetings.
This meeting wasn't the mostly cheery, laidback one of before. Rose stood at the head of it, watching them with hawk-like eyes as they entered, gesturing toward chairs around the circle, silently indicating that they had no choice in the matter. Gamzee stood by her side, but he didn't seem overly distressed by the pies. He seemed more tired than anything, like he pretty much wanted to sneak off and take another nap. Kanaya was the last to sit.
"I'm certain that by now you've all seen that most unfortunate display of debauchery in the kitchen. Of course, at least one of you didn't have to see it, because you were the purveyor of it. I suggest that you turn yourself in now and I might consider leniency."
Silence. A few people fidgeted.
"Is tHaT ReAlLy aLl uP AnD NeCeSsArY? iT WaS A ReAlLy hArMlEsS MoThErFuCkInG JoKe."
"I don't appreciate being played with. Especially not with my own creations."
"And Harmless Jokes Or Other Such Intentions Can Be Inciting Events, Don't You Agree?" Kanaya added, looking straight at Rose.
Rose didn't respond. She turned away to survey the rest of the circle. No one was budging. Terezi looked excited. Karkat, a mixture of boredom and irritation. WV looked confused. He was probably wondering why anyone would massacre a bunch of good pies. Good question, man, good question.
Rose dug into her pocket, pulling out a white ball. "I wanted to give you an opportunity to turn yourself over, but I suppose we'll have to do this the hard way. This ball tells nothing but the absolute truth of any question I ask of it. All I have to do is see." She raised it up to eye-level, narrowing her eyes as she started to look in.
Terezi's cane banged on the floor rather loudly as she stood up. The eyes of the room flocked to her like magnets. She crossed the room and swiftly placed a hand over the ball, blocking Rose's view.
"NO. 1 H4V3 4 PROPOS1T1ON."
"Go on."
"L3TS DO TH1S TH3 OLD F4SH1ON3D W4Y. THOROUGH 1NV3ST1G4T1ON 4ND QU3ST1ON1NG 4ND PUN1SHM3NT 3X4CT3D BY M4RT14L L4W. 1TLL B3 4 LOT MOR3 FUN."
Rose frowned at her. Terezi grinned back.
"This way is much quicker."
"BUT F4R L3SS 3NT3RT41N1NG. 4ND W3 H4V3 THR33 Y34RS TOG3TH3R, 4 LOT OF T1M3. W3 SHOULD H4V3 SOM3 3NT3RT4INM3NT."
Rose looked at her for a bit longer. She nodded. "Alright. Fine. To the entertainment." She slipped the ball back into her pocket.
Terezi's spun on the room. Her grin turned murderous. "4R3 YOU R34DY, MOTH3RFUCK3RS?"
Dave loved her then.
xXxXxXxXxXx
Terezi questioned everyone as far as their stories during the sleep period. Of course every one of them had alibis. She even questioned Rose and Gamzee, though they were the piemakers themselves, just to collect facts. And then she ran back to the "crime scene" as she was now calling it, to get evidence. Everyone else pretty much peeled out of the room. Gamzee looked like he was going off to find a place to take a good nap.
Dave crossed the room to Rose. "Any plans on where you're gonna write now?"
"Probably in Kanaya's garden. It's a quiet place, for the most part."
"Not with WV there."
"I might have ways of kicking him out." She was trying to sound like her calm, rational self, but her anger was slipping out from under the edges.
"You know Terezi's going to have a field day with this. This is exactly her thing."
"I know. That's why I think she'd be good at it."
"Judgment Day's gonna come up swift and hard on this guy. Or girl. Like a pony that just reared up and didn't just buck its rider off and stomp on their legs, it bit their fucking neck off."
Rose gave a small grin. "Sounds like a suitable punishment, crossed with a special Lalonde serving of whooping a-la-mode."
A shadow hovered over them. Dave looked up. Karkat stood above them, glowering as usual with crossed arms.
"I know I smell hella awesome and everything, but you don't have to lean so close to get a whiff. There's a thing called personal space."
Karkat glared at him. He turned away, facing Rose. "I'VE BEEN THINKING."
"This is a first."
"SHUT UP DAVE."
"About what, Karkat?" Rose replied, eyes roaming over him in a way that sized him up from head to toe.
"I'M NOT YOUR PIE MASSACRIST, ROSE, SO YOU CAN STOP STARING." He took a breath. "I THINK I WANT TO BE LEADER AGAIN."
Dave snickered, eliciting another glare from Karkat. Rose cocked her head. "Great, I'm glad to hear it. But leader was never a thing that was revoked from you, Karkat. You can resume your role at any time."
"Think you can handle the pressure, grey man?" Dave added.
"I WAS BORN HANDLING THE PRESSURE LONG BEFORE YOU EVEN CAME INTO EXISTENCE AND FELL INTO YOUR WORLD ON THAT SILLY PINK HOOFBEAST, STRIDER. THE PRESSURE IS MY EGG AND I'M THE WINGED FEATHER BEAST WHO COMMANDS IT. IT CAN'T EVEN HATCH WITHOUT MY GO. SO YES. IN ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION. I CAN WITHOUT DOUBT AND YOU CAN RECORD THIS FOR ALL THE UNIVERSE TO KNOW IF YOU WANT, THAT I, KARKAT VANTAS, CAN HANDLE. THE FUCKING. PRESSURE."
"Glad to know you're back," Dave replied. There was no bite to his words. Karkat seemed slightly taken aback by it, but then recovered, replying in turn.
"AS IF I COULD'VE STAYED AWAY."
Rose stood up. "I'm going to disappear now and possibly find a certain blind investigating troll along the way. Bye, boys. Don't eat each other alive."
"Is that even a thing that's possible."
"Here I thought you made the impossible possible." Rose smiled and left.
Karkat turned to him. "SO. YOU'RE GOING TO EAT YOUR WORDS, COOLKID."
"Which ones. I say a lot all the time, dude."
"THAT I'M PATHETIC."
"Did I hurt your feelings?"
"JUST KNOW."
"I'm excited. I feel tingles in my waist."
"WRONG PLACE TO FEEL TINGLES, SHITSACK . IT SHOULD BE IN THE MIDDLE OF YOUR PAN, BECAUSE THAT'S WHERE I'M INSPIRING FEAR RIGHT NOW."
"Oh was that fear? I thought it was just a warm wash of a joke."
Karkat's finger shot forward and pressed itself hard into Dave's forehead. Dave fingers fell onto his sword in turn. They stared off for a second, before Karkat drew back.
"LATER, ASSWIPE."
"Bring it. You might wanna pack a spare pair of panties for when you get your ass served. Cold and hard."
One last glare and Karkat absconded. Dave stood for a few seconds more, looking at the empty space before him, and turned to find his own exit to his room.
And then something knocked him abruptly unconscious.