BUT IT'S NOT FUCKING GOOD EITHER

Karkat stood in the ablution trap, the warm water running over him and rinsing away the day's grime. This one was much roomier than the one at the multi-block overnight hive stem had been, and was following a much darker color scheme primarily composed of a sleek black. Not that the Cancer even remotely missed that shitty respiteblock he'd had to share with Gamzee; this new dwelling was by far an upgrade. It was just a bit hard to believe how much time had passed since they'd all left it. So much had already happened and changed since then, and now here Karkat was taking an ablution.

And remembering everything that had happened one human month ago.

"… What is this about Rose?"Dave said with an uncharacteristically stern tone.

"I'll just jump right into it then," the Seer replied, meeting the other's shaded eyes. "It might be unrealistic of us to insist upon staying together… We can't be too closed minded about the fact that we might just have to break off and each find our own places to live."

"Wait, like… Split up?" John asked, eyebrows furrowed in concern. "All of us?"

"Well, I suppose there's no reason that the trolls would have to disperse if they'd rather stay together, or for us to divide if we decided to stay together," Rose went on. "But, simply put, adjusting to life in this world would be that much more difficult if we insist that half of us adapt to an entirely new way of life surrounded by none of our own species."

"Man, it's not even that complicated," Dave said, probably rolling his eyes behind those sunglasses.

"Really? So you're saying you'd be content living say, in a troll society with no humans around, no ideas about the social structures or ways of life, and with strangers constantly giving you dirty looks for being human?"

Dave was silent, but he continued to look straight at Rose; though the Seer couldn't see his eyes, she could feel that glare behind his glasses as he failed to come up with a decent response.

"I've been watching how the trolls are received here," she continued, looking over the expressions on their troll friends faces. "And I'm sure the four of you have noticed it too. Nobody wants to feel like an outcast; especially somewhere they're forced to call home."

There was a pause in which the trolls seemed to each be dealing with this matter-of-fact explanation in their own ways. Anger, concern, uncertainty… And staring off into space, clearly not paying any motherfucking attention.

"I by no means wish to bid farewell to any of you either," Rose said, glancing towards Kanaya and then back to her folded up hands on the table. "But this is important enough a matter that it warrants our discussion. It wouldn't be fair of us humans to just expect you four to automatically accept and acclimate to our ways. So I felt it necessary to say that… You are free to make your own decision about this, and we will still try to help in any way we can. Even if your decision is that this is where we part ways."

Karkat turned off the water and stepped out of the ablution trap. Retrieving one of the black towels off of the hang bar, he dried off and unceremoniously wrapped it around his slender hips. He'd only done so out of habit, though; there was no real reason to be so guarded about his nudity.

The door was locked and, of course, he was alone.

The nubby horned troll looked around at the bare, white walls of the respiteblock and then to the piles of bags he'd yet to unpack. Thusly, he had been too lazy to situate everything and had primarily just been digging through the bags every time to find what he needed.

No time like the present, he decided, and so he began to rifle through a bag holding some of the clothes he'd purchased back then under Kanaya's instruction. He pulled out the set of red and black plaid pajamas (he wouldn't be going back out, but didn't quite feel like sleeping yet) and a pair of grey boxers. Tossing his towel to one side of the room, he quickly changed and then set to work with unpacking.

"So what? Is this the part where we're suppose to start sobbing like grubs and bitch about how we don't want to leave you stupid pink monkeys?" Karkat snapped. "Maybe we don't fucking need your help either. Has that ever crossed your think pan? But no, no, thank you so much for your fucking approval to do whatever we gogdamn please. Thank Jegus fuck. Hey, guess what though? I'd already decided to decide for myself so that means I gave me permission. Not you fuckasses. Thank you Karkat! You're very fucking welcome."

"Bluh, bluh, bluh," Terezi said, snickering some when the Cancer flipped her off in response. "Human town isn't that bad... I kind of like it."

Dave's lips pulled into a slight smirk at the blind troll's answer, but he wasn't fooled; he knew Terezi too well to not notice that hint of hesitation in her voice. It would appear that Rose had, once more, accurately hit on something important.

"While it's definitely not the most horrible city in the history of paradox space," Kanaya said now, her eyes locked unwaveringly onto the table. "I think that… I do not particularly wish to completely abandon this chance to rejoin troll society."

Karkat's eyebrows rose up in surprise; he was certain that the rainbow drinker would have fought to stay with the humans. Though he hadn't seen any human-troll romcoms, it was incredibly fucking obvious that Kanaya and the Rose human wanted to form some sort of weird matespritship. This fact was ridiculously fucking weird in and of itself, but now it appeared as if the Virgo would prefer to leave her? Karkat logged this fact for later; regardless of what they decided, Kanaya would probably come to him at some point begging for his awesome romance advice.

"Kanaya, you… Want to leave the humans?" Terezi pressed, voicing the same surprise that Karkat held.

"It's not that," she said a little too quickly. "My lusus… When she died she left me with the precious gift of her matriorb to continue on our species. She selected me as her wiggler; she trusted me with the duties expected of jade bloods and relinquished her position as a mother grub to raise me to it. When Eridan destroyed that matriorb… It was more than just a betrayal. It was as if my entire existence was meaningless. To think that I failed the lusus who had given up so much for me was unpardonable. But now, I suppose, I've been given a sort of second chance. She would have wanted me to fulfill my role in the brooding caverns; tending to the mother grub that I had failed to usher in. It is the only way I can even begin to atone for the failure that will haunt me every year on my Wriggling Day. What sort of troll would I be to turn my back on such an obligation?"

Another silence filled the group as Kanaya spoke; she did have a good point, after all. Karkat frowned slightly as she mentioned the hemospectrum, and he remembered a truth pertinent solely to himself; human or troll society, he was still going to be an outcast.

Placing the last of his shirts into one of the dresser drawers, the nubby horned troll gathered up the empty bags and threw them in one corner; he'd throw everything out all at once when he was done.

Clothes were now only some of the things he owned, as this past month had been filled with plenty of purchases. Some were basic hygienic purchases such as a toothbrush, hairbrush, and shampoo. They had already all been placed into the ablution trap bit by bit, stuffed into drawers or thrown on the counter. There were new romcoms and romance novels to add to Karkat's collection, and he'd even gotten a few of the human variety out of curiosity. Big purchases had been made as well, and his new, big and cushy purple recuperacoon sat in one corner of the respiteblock. In addition to this, there was a dresser with a decently sized television sitting atop it, a 'loveseat couch', a desk, and a bookshelf.

Karkat wanted to get to work putting up some of his posters, but being as short as he was meant that it would take a ladder to properly decorate the block. He simply didn't feel like hassling with all of that right now; it could wait until later. A buzz sounded from the dresser, and those candy red eyes jumped over to his cell phone. Retrieving the device, he looked over the text.

- - gamZEE :o) sent - -

hey there
BEST MOTHERFUCKING FRIEND

- - Today 9:21pm - -

Karkat rolled his eyes; what the hell did this fuckass want?

- - You sent - -

WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT FUCKASS?

- - Today 9:23pm - -

- - gamZEE :o) sent - -

i all up and miss you karbro. Do:
HONK
can i slam a wicked visit motherfucker?

- - Today 9:29pm - -

Jegus fuck, he really was that fucking stupid.

- - You sent - -

DID YOU REALLY JUST FUCKING ASK THAT?
FUCK YOU.
NO YOU CAN'T.
YOU CAN'T VISIT EVER BECAUSE YOU ASKED THAT.
FUCKASS CLOWN.

- - Today 9:30pm - -

"Look, let's just slow down a second here on all the depressing heavy shit," Dave said, leaning back in his chair. "Aren't we being a bit quick to decide? I mean damn, we haven't even tried to see if there are troll-human places out there."

"I agree," Jade piped in, Becsprite ears flicking under her hoodie. "Maybe there aren't any in this world, but isn't it worth it to at least check?"

Terezi nodded eagerly, poking Kanaya with her cane and receiving a solemn nod as an answer.

"I'm not saying that we should just up and say goodbye right this second," Rose stated calmly, rubbing her temples. "All I'm implicating is that we should be prepared for the very real possibility that we aren't going to be able to stick together this time. It's something that, if and when it comes time to make that decision, we should each be ready to deal with."

"Honk."

The group turned to look at Gamzee who, after honking, had continued to just sit there and stare off into space. After a few seconds of getting no further input from him, Rose went on.

"… And that is why I brought it up."

"You dumbfucks can do whatever you want," Karkat growled, crossing his arms as he spoke to the other trolls. "But I can't wait to get out of human fuckass town. We don't belong here, it's not fucking natural."

The nubby horned troll clenched his sharp teeth together, trying to appear as unaffected as possible. Though he talked a big game, he really didn't want to be left alone in a new world trying to discretely blend his freak self back into troll society. It was just too gogdamn much.

"… Uh, can this wait for five minutes?" John asked, looking to the others sheepishly.

"What, is this too hard for your stupid human think pan to process?" Karkat scoffed, glaring at the human through Equius' sunglasses.

"No, it's not really that, it's just…"

"Well fucking out with it Egbert!"

"I kind of… Have to pee."

There was such a huge facepalm combo that it may live in infamy.

It wasn't over 9000.

But it was still pretty fucking impressive.

Karkat's phone was taking too long to buzz again, and either way he was tired of talking to his moirail; the Capricorn was just too fucking exhausting. So, the nubby horned troll opened a drawer and wedged the phone between some of his clothes so that it wouldn't make too much noise. It probably would have been easier to just turn the damn thing off, but that thought hadn't really crossed his mind.

The troll was feeling a little bit hungry, but not quite enough to want to venture out of his respiteblock to get food. After a bit of contemplation, he finally decided he'd just get to it later. He instead glanced over to the romance novels on his bookshelf, picking out one of the human stories.

Maybe he could read this to pass the time.

This particular one had two male humans on the front, and the cashier had given him a weird look when he'd bought it. Karkat had returned this look with a glare (albeit an ineffective one seeing as he'd had those broken sunglasses on) and then left. He was a good mile away from the store when he'd finally remembered that humans had some weird thing about 'homosexuality', as John had called it.

Jegus, was Karkat happy he wasn't in that stupid fuckass human city anymore.

The various sounds of different keyboards being pecked away on echoed through the human's hotel room. Karkat wasn't adding to this little symphony as he'd been more interested in raiding the cupboards in the kitchenette.

"Where are the glasses?" he growled.

"In the cupboard next to the fridge," Rose answered before Dave could give some snarky remark.

It was hard enough to do research without those two arguing.

Karkat reached up and grabbed one of the glasses from said cupboard and filled it with ice. He then walked over to the sink for some water and quietly settled on the couch to watch the others work. Jade, John, Rose and Dave were on their laptops to answer once and for all the question plaguing everyone's minds: Were there any cohabitation societies for troll and human alike?

The four trolls ending up in the human hotel without their husktops had kind of been an accident, though.

Following their discussion at the mall, Rose's curiosity just wouldn't stand to wait any longer and she had excused herself to look into it back at the hotel. When an offer was extended to Kanaya to join her, the Virgo hadn't hesitated to come along. One by one after that, the remaining six had ended up joining them; Dave had once more brought up video games and thusly corralled Terezi and John into heading back to the hotel with him while Karkat had decided for himself and Gamzee that the human mall was stupid and ordered Jade to lead them back.

Needless to say, the nubby horned troll was furious when she led them back to the human hotel.

When they'd entered Jade and Rose's room, they were surprised to see Dave and John there helping to research instead of playing video games.

Karkat noted that they were all pretty much in the same fucking position they had been in when he, Jade and Gamzee had arrived; Kanaya and Rose were huddled around one computer, Terezi and Dave around another with John typing away next to them. The only difference now was that Jade had joined them in this little task and presently sat next to Rose and Kanaya.

They had all been at this for two fucking hours with no results.

Karkat's stomach suddenly let out a loud rumble, effectively tearing his thoughts away from the novel that he'd only gotten ten pages into. The Cancer angrily slammed the book shut and threw it to the other end of the couch. His nutrition sack clearly was going to whine like a newly hatched grub until he ate something. It was kind of inevitable, though, he supposed.

He was going to have to deal with those other fuckasses eventually.

The nubby horned troll walked out of the respiteblock and instantly felt two long arms embrace and pick him up into a hug.

"Honk! Best motherfucking friend!" Gamzee exclaimed hugging him tightly. "I all up and missed you! It's been so long."

"It hasn't even been an hour fuckass!" the troll snapped, trying to wriggle out of his grasp. "Fucking put me down!"

The Capricorn did as he was told and released Karkat from his arms. Rose covered her mouth with her hand, trying to hide a giggle as best she could at the kitchenette bar.

"Well how else would you expect him to react?" she asked. "You forced him out of your room and told him not to come back."

"Jegus fuck! I just wanted to take a gogdamn ablution in fucking peace and quiet," Karkat growled, rummaging through the thermal hull. "Is that so much to ask? I'm allowed some fucking privacy here in this human-troll clusterfuck!"

"Holy shit, do you ever stop yelling?" came the smooth voice of Dave from the living room as he ran his Princess Peach kart past Terezi's Mario and John's Toad. "Seriously, if we're all going to live in this apartment you need to learn to keep that obnoxious midget mouth of yours closed sometime."

"This is never going to fucking work," Karkat grumbled, ignoring Strider's comments. "It's been one fucking day and I already can't stand any of you fuckasses."

It had taken a whole lot of research and digging around, but the group had eventually managed to find a city where they could all stay together. It was an experimental sort of human government funded project, and Rose had explained that it was supposed to try and lessen the gap between the two species. Unfortunately, being a new, one of a kind city meant that it was their only option.

Though it was experimental and against the general status quo of the world, the city was absolutely beautiful and was a big, pulsing, thriving metropolis that outsiders were dying to get in to. Being made for both species, the city was a flourishing environment night or day with amusement parks open around the clock, restaurants that never closed, and other such 24/7 setups everywhere. Trolls and humans alike did live there, but the 'experimental' part of the city still had a lot of problems. From what Rose had told them, human on troll and troll on human violence were the most common types of crimes, and laws in general were constantly being tweaked and argued over to try and meet both cultures halfway. In short; humans and trolls both wanted to live in this fantastic city.

But neither of the groups wanted to live alongside the other.

It came as no surprise, then, when the only places that were open for them to live in had been 'apartment-stems' which were specifically designed for humans and trolls wishing to reside under one roof. These particular units always seemed to have open rooms and were even set at much cheaper rates to try and encourage the two species to get on together.

So here they all had ended up; a four room/respiteblock, two bath/ablution trap in an apartment-stem.

Just as it was advertised on that sketchy website that Rose had found.

Karkat had honestly gotten a bit lucky when it came to the rooming situation. And by 'lucky', he meant fucking stubborn in refusing to give up the only respiteblock with its own ablution trap. The only downside was that the living arrangements had held fast for everyone upon moving in; Dave roomed with John, Terezi blocked with Kanaya, Rose roomed with Jade.

And Karkat was, once more, stuck with the fucking clown.

Who was still sober.

The nubby horned troll sat on one of the stools at the bar top, munching on a piece of celebratory cake that Jade had bought earlier that day. Warily, he glanced over to his moirail as if he could figure out where his mind was with just a simple look. The Capricorn caught him staring, though, and merely widened that lazy grin of his; indigo eyes locked onto Karkat's own candy red ones. Raising an eyebrow in silent questioning, the Cancer looked away and went back to enjoying the sweet and surprisingly delicious confection.

Gamzee was an unpredictable blockmate, and living with the rest of these fuckasses would probably be like a sickle up the bone bulge slowly driving Karkat out of his think pan.

All things considered, though… He supposed it wasn't all that bad.