Rose walked into the common room searching for her brother, but instead found Kanaya. That was a nice surprise, but it was her ironic brother Dave Strider that she was looking for.

"Kanaya dear," Rose got the attention of her Matesprit who was sitting on the couch reading. "Have you seen Dave?"

"No," Kanaya replied. "But while we are on the subject, have you seen Karkat or Terezi?"

"No," Rose answered plopping down on the couch next to Kanaya. "I've checked Can Town, their rooms, the bathrooms, the kitchen, ever possible place I could think of. On a side note, Karkat's room is filled with blankets, pillows and chairs, which is quite strange, even for him. But back on the subject, they don't seem to be anywhere."

"They must be up to something," Kanaya replied setting her book down and draping her arm around Rose's shoulders.

"Exactly what I was thinking," Rose agreed. "We must conduct a more thorough investigation upon the matter. I was thinking we start with interrogating the Mayor on this matter."

"Then let us travel to Can Town," Kanaya agreed standing upon before holding her hand out to Rose. Rose took it and Kanaya pulled her upon.

The two classy lesbians headed to Can Town where the Mayor was building a new section of the city. He seemed pretty happy, but the room was barren of Dave or Terezi.

"Mayor?" Rose called out for the Mayor. He looked up and seemed happy with his company of Kanaya and Rose. He waved to them before turning back to his work.

"Mayor," Kanaya grabbed the Mayor's attention again. "We have some serious business to attend to. If you would be so kind as to pay attention."

The Mayor nodded and walked over to a desk in the corner of the room. He hopped up on a stool and motioned for the troll and human to come and sit down in the two stools in front of the desk.

Kanaya and Rose obliged and sat across from the Mayor at his desk. He had his own name plate with 'THE MAYOR' engraved in the golden metal. Next to his name plate he had a firefly encased in amber-mostly likely a gift from Dave-and a rusty piece of metal attached to the ruler displayed proudly. He also had a pile of printer paper to one side and a box of chalk to the other. He looked very professional and motioned with his hand for Rose and Kanaya to start talking.

"Kanaya and I have noticed the disappearance of Dave, Terezi and Karkat, we were wondering if you know of their whereabouts?" Rose cut to the chased and straight up asked the Mayor where their friends are.

The Mayor nodded a yes and then got off his stool. He started to walk over to the other side of the room but stopped half-way to motion for Rose and Kanaya to join him. They followed him again over to a drawing of what looked like a bunch of circles divided into sections. The Mayor got down on his knees and pointed ton a section outlined in green on the top layer of the circles.

"What does this mean?" Rose asked not understanding what she was seeing.

"I believe that drawing the Mayor is showing us is a map of Meteor," Kanaya answered. She began to point to the different outlined sections with her foot as she narrated Rose through the map, "There are four layers to the Meteor, along with the cavern in the middle. Each layer is divided into four different sections. We've mainly stayed in the red section because we don't know what else is on this Meteor. From what the Mayor is showing us, I can only guess that Dave, Terezi and Karkat have gone off to explore the green section of the Meteor."

"Hhm," Rose thought for a minute. "I'm surprised you managed to derive that from a half-assed scribbling."

"Now Mayor," Kanaya turned back to the Mayor. "Do you know which way they went?"

The Mayor nodded his head and began to lead the girls out of Can Town. He took them to a hallway with dim lights and a long piece of string stretching out into the darkness. There was also a long line of red chalk drawn on the wall going the same distance as the string. The Mayor pointed in the direction both the string and the chalk line was going.

"Why is there chalk on the wall and string on the floor?" Kanaya asked. This time, Rose was able to answer.

"Ariadne's String," Rose said quickly deriving the meaning of the string. "Clever David, clever."

"Ariadne's String?" Kanaya asked.

"In the Greek Myth of Theseus," Rose began the story. "Theseus had to travel into the Labyrinth to kill the Minotaur, the beast that was half-man and half-bull. The princess Ariadne, a clever girl, helped Theseus in return for marrying her and taking her away from her father's kingdom. She helped Theseus by tying a ball of string to a pole and telling him to unroll it so when he was done, he could find his way back."

"Then what happened?" Kanaya asked.

"Theseus was successful with his mission," Rose replied. "He took Ariadne back to his kingdom but during the journey back they stopped at an island. Ariadne got off and fell asleep in the sand. Theseus and his crew forgot about her and she was heart-broken.
The god of wine, Dionysus, came down and comforted her before marrying her."

"So Theseus was a jerk?" Kanaya questioned.

"Yes," Rose replied. "But Dave was quick to pick this trick up before heading off into the unknown. I am glad he did not use the method used in Hansel and Gretel."

"And what's that?" Kanaya asked.

"Ah, fairy tales are a whole different world Kanaya," Rose sighed placing a hand on Kanaya's arm. "It will take ages to explain them. So many tragic ends misinterpreted by Disney to make them kid-friendly."

"Sounds like an interesting genera," Kanaya commented. "But what shall we do about our disappearing friends?"

"Oh," Rose pulled out her phone. "I will give Dave a call and see what he is doing. We can spoil their fun when they come back."

"I like that idea," Kanaya agreed. "So what are you going to ask him?"

"Hhm," Rose thought as she began to pester Dave.

tentacleTherapist [TT] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG]

TT: Hello Dave. I was just wondering where you where since I have not seen you around in the past few days. If you could tell me your current location that would be swell.

TG: sorry rose cant talk now

TG: little timmy fell down an elevator shaft

TG: and i have to go all lassie and save him

TG: bye

TT: Dave, who is Little Timmy?

turntechGodhead [TG] is now an idle chum!

"What answers did you get?" Kanaya asked though Rose was silent as she put her phone away.

After pondering the short conversation for a minute or two, Rose announced, "I fear that Karkat may have fallen down an elevator shaft."