Apparently I fall asleep as the next thing I know I am being woken up but a soft knock at the door. I look up expectantly, but it's just Rose. I try to hide my disappointment, but to her it's probably clear as a neon sign because she murmurs a soft "Sorry."

"Visiting hours at the Strider exhibit again?"

"Only if you are up for it."

"Yea. I have to know how much blood they spilled in vengeance over my unconscious broken body. You know, I never asked how long I was out."

"Two and a half days."

"Sheesh. Everyone got together pretty quick. At least I didn't pull a Rip Van Winkle."

"We are all glad about that." Lalonde reaches into her pocket and pulls out my aviators. Someone must have been let into our apartment. Or they broke in now that I remember that Serket is with them. "I thought you might want these."

Either I must look terrible despite my Strider ability to always look good or Rose is that good of a sister to know when I am at my worst. "Yea, I'll take my security blanket. It's been a rough day." She hands them over and I slip them onto my face.

"Dirk and I thought it would be a good idea to limit the group into pairs. Vriska and Terezi are waiting outside."

"Bring on the legislacerator and her partner." There is really only one person I want to see but these guys had apparently been very enthusiastic about avenging me so might as well indulge them.

Lalonde returns to the door. "As you wish." She opens it and the two trolls walk in.

"Hey there deliciously cherry red cool kid!" Pyrope is grinning ear to ear with too many teeth as she walks in. I swear I can hear the leet speak in her voice. She has her cane but it's safely tucked away and is mostly just for show around people who don't know her. She pauses next to the bed for a moment. "You smell a bit salty though."

"Ooooooooh! You got the niiiiiiiiice stuff." Serket has come up to the other side and is examining my drugs. "I might have to pick some up as we leave."

"You will not do any such thing without proper paperwork, Vriska!"

"And you better not try to nick any of mine. That stuff is liquid gold to me."

"Reeeeeeeealy now?" I hope Egbert hasn't been hanging out with her because I'll have to break him of that nasty habit. Again.

"Yea. You touch it, you die." I turn my head back to Pyrope. "So I hear you headed up the giving the driver who hit me a proper citation."

"Justice was served!" She punches the air in victory. "I made sure that the criminal was justly punished by right and honest hands."

"You found loopholes for the digi team to find him and for the brute squad to extract the cost."

"I object to being called the brute squad," Vriska huffs in response.

"Really? Because I'm pretty sure your dice don't do much here so you probably used blunt force and did English proud with your fisticuffs."

"Heh, guilty as changed. I'm not above getting my hands bloody." She includes a dramatic hair flip at the confession.

"Only in the name of justice, Vriska!"

"Yea, yea, sure." The cerulean troll waves a hand at her partner.

"It's good to see you guys."

"It's good to smell you too, cool kid." She leans over the bed and breathes in deeply. "Though you smell too much like blackberries, mold, and asphalt."

"I'll correct that for next time."

We chat aimlessly for a while until Lalonde returns to swap out the Scourge Sisters for Team Fuckass. Ever since Harley met Vantas, her language has gone to shit. Vantas still gets the award for most creative word spew, but it's still unnerving to see such a cute girl swearing like a sailor.

I ask Lalonde to frisk Serket for any stolen medical paraphernalia while Pyrope gives me her customary goodbye slobber with a secretive whisper of "You are going to be okay."

"Later, bitches!" I call out as they leave. Lalonde gives me a look that reads "Are you still good?" I throw her a thumbs up and brace myself for the next wave.

Bracing was a good idea as Harley comes barreling into the room with all intent and purpose of hugging me until I was better or until I slipped back into the coma from the pain, but bless his blood pusher, Vantas snags her by the back of her collar and stops her mere inches from my bed.

"Karkat, I love you," I whisper as my life flashes before my eyes.

"Wrong quadrant, fuck nuts. Or did the pathetic bag of bile who doesn't know how to operate a four-wheeled automotive device cause serious think-pan damage? Because if he did, I wouldn't mind going back and making it equal."

"Nah, brain's alright. And I still hate you and your little nubby horns," he starts sputtering at that, "but seriously Harley, you were coming at me as if you were gonna finish the job."

"NO! No, no, no!" Her hair whips around as she shakes her head. "I'd never do that. I guess I just got a little excited. It's so good to see you awake and okay, Dave!" With a cheeky smile like that, I can't help but forgive her.

"I know I know, but you just gotta be careful with the merchandise."

"Yes sir, hands off of the cool kid!" She gives me a mock salute.

"As nice as it is to see you guys, aren't you a little far from home though? Last time I heard you were out in the middle of southern Asia checking out the monk's temples. I didn't know you cared so much, Karkles."

"I don't, you pretentious insufferable prick. I just happened to be standing too close to Jade when she got the news." I raise an eyebrow at this. Not that anyone can actually see said eyebrow but after years of being around me, they have picked up what that twitch of bangs means. "John called her and upset her so when I reached over to see what was wrong, I was suddenly here. We think that she tapped into her game abilities somehow."

"So both Egbert and Harley get to utilize magic powers in their times of crisis but I couldn't stop time and like casually remove my person from in front of an oncoming car that could have killed me? I think my crisis was a little more dire. Fucking game, screwing with me even now." Both visitors fell silent at my uncharacteristic outburst. Today has been a very bad day.

"Maybe..." Harley began softly, almost apologetically, "maybe you weren't upset enough to call on them."

My jaw drops. Poker face be damned. "I- I wasn't upset enough?"

"What she means is that you aren't scared of dying. You never really have been. That's what made you a great Time player. Like Aradia; though she wasn't scared of death because she was already fucking dead. You were constantly dying for us in the game. You didn't even flinch when you took a regisword or blast or trident for someone. So when the car was going to hit you and John, you just reacted," Vantas finishes with a shrug.

"Oh." That actually makes sense. The bucktooth siblings are very into their emotions while I do tend to hide them to the point of ignoring their existence. And I'm not scared of death. Seen too much I guess. "Well, still fucking sucks."

"I bet. You don't look comfortable." Jade gestured to the casts sticking out under the sheets.

"Two broken legs will do that, even to me."

"Is there anything you can do to make it better?"

Find John and bring him back to me. "Nah, I got plenty of sexy nurses looking after me."

"Didn't know John was a nurse."

"He isn't. But as soon as I get a hold of Maryam he will have the outfit."

Harley bursts out laughing as Vantas goes off on a tirade of how he doesn't need to hear about the shenanigans that Egbert and I do behind closed doors. As soon as he pauses for breath, I inform him that we didn't always closed the door. This spawns another fit of flying spit and hair pulling and threatened eye gouging. Harley is actually rolling on the floor laughing as Vantas gets more and more creative in his name calling. Someone has to stop this. Using a curled finger I beckon him over. With an eye roll he comes over still jabbering away about some perceived insult. I grab him by the front of his shirt and smash his lips to mine. Ow. But hey, it shut him up.

After a moment of shock, he's kissing me back, all vicious sharp edges. I can taste blood by the time he pulls away. Not very far but just enough to break the kiss.

"Haven't gotten a chance to go that in a while."

"Fuck you, Strider."

"I'm a little indisposed at the moment for that activity, but I'm pretty sure Maryam could get you a matching nurse outfit if you want to stick around until I get all better." The exchange sets Jade howling with laughter again. I take the moment to whisper furtively to Vantas. "Find and talk with John for me." His nod is almost imperceptible but I release my grip on his shirt when I see it. "Or maybe a butler getup. Egbert will be my nurse and you'll be my servant. Harley, wouldn't he look good in a tux?"

She nods as she tries to catch her breath. The three of us banter back and forth until Lalonde comes around again. Harley leaves me with a sweet kiss to the forehead and Vantas stalks out of the room with a single finger salute and my laughter following him.

Enter in my siblings' significant others.

Maryam is ever the elegant lady, sweeping in with good taste and poise. Lalonde is one lucky woman. English on the other hand is an adventurer who believes himself a gentleman, but I have no clue what is gentle about him. I still can't understand what Dirk sees in him. Maybe that's the irony of it.

"Dave, my good boy! It's golly good to see you! Though I wish it had been on better terms, but you do not look like the corpse that your brother has been describing you as."

"I'm not dead yet," I deadpan, ironically calling forth a movie that I am sure that he has seen, but in totally the wrong accent so he doesn't get it, bringing it up another level of irony.

"That is not what he means, Dave," Maryam tries to diffuse.

"I know. I'm more concerned with the fact that Dirk is spreading lies that I don't look perfect one hundred percent of the time. That must be the reason that the hospital isn't swarmed with my loyal fans. They can't believe such lies as that and therefore don't believe that I'm in the hospital at all."

"Yes, that must be what it is," Maryam plays along with my utter bullshit, while English chimes in with "What fans?"

I ignore him and look to the jade troll, "Maryam, seamstress extraordinaire, I have a couple projects for you."

"Projects? I am intrigued." She pulls out a sketchbook from the satchel at her side and primly sits in the chair by my side.

"Three to be exact. The first two are timely, but not exactly necessary," she waves at a hand for me to get on with it, "One is a sexy nurse outfit for Egbert since he'll have to take care of me while this mess heals and I'd like to have some fun with it." She nods with a small knowing smile. English is in the background sputtering a little and pulling on his collar. "The second is a butler tux for the nubby one that just left. That one is to be appreciated by myself and Harley. Because honestly who doesn't want their own personal midget server. Maybe Harley and I will rent him out to the rest of the group." That garners a laugh out of Maryam as she opens the notebook to write the requests down.

"And the third request?"

"Have you heard of steampunk?"

Maryam's answer of "Vaguely," is almost drowned out by English's loud response of "Yes! Proper fellows in that genre. Very posh and proper indeed. I have several volumes and movies detailing several adventures in that vein."

"Well, you can either ask English to temporarily part with those gems of doubtful quality, or you could just go a quick internet search into it, but in a brief synopsis, it's a large thought experiment into a certain what-if about using steam power instead of electricity which somehow locks everyone into the Victorian era where they decorate everything with copper or bronze metal pieces. Anyways, I'd like an outfit for myself in that style."

"Any particular reason."

"Can't I just want cool duds?"

"Right. I will ask John to elaborate what he wants."

"It's for a Halloween party," I blurt out quickly.

"Halloween isn't for months..." English tries to puzzle out. His face scrunches down in an eerily familiar manner.

"I will keep it a secret then." That's what I love about this girl. She gets subtle nuances. Probably why she and Lalonde get along. Actually she works well with any of the Strider/Lalonde brand. "Though once you have internet access, feel free to send me samples of designs that you like." She finishes taking notes and tucks her stuff away.

"Sure thing." I shrug nonchalantly and almost manage to hide the wince at the pain caused by the movement.

"You really shouldn't do such foolhardy things like jump in front of cars, Dave," English chides, catching my brief lapse in my poker face. I stare incredulously up at him as I try to process his words. He's calling me foolhardy.

"Yea, 'cause I totally did that on purpose," I deadpan back at him.

"Dave!" he starts before Maryam tells him that of course I didn't mean to and didn't actually want to be hit by a car. Jegus, how does Dirk stand him let alone date him if he's always this literal that he can't even pick up on the most obvious sarcasm.

"English," I interrupt, "I hear you have a recording."

"I'm uh... not supposed to according to Terezi... but I accidently did record it as I streamed it to Dirk."

"What the legislacerator doesn't know, she can't prosecute. Send me a copy when you get a chance. It will cheer me up a bit about not being able to walk around for a while."

"Uh, yea. I can do that."

"About your legs, Dave. I have made some pants that will be easy to wear around your casts. I have done similar designs for Tavros."

"Thanks. That's really awesome. I haven't even gotten around to thinking about that."

"You are quite welcomed." The chimes that signals the end of visiting hours interrupts. English cheerily waves goodbye and ducks out. Maryam rises out of the chair, leans over the edge of the bed, and places a tender kiss on my forehead. "Get well soon, Dave."

"I'll work on it."

Then she leaves to find my sister, leaving me alone in the room. I wait for fifteen minutes, staring at the door like a hopeless fool. But it doesn't open.

I can feel the edges of fatigue at the base of my skull. Putting up a front for all of my friends is harder than one would think. Plus all of the healing I'm supposed to be doing on top of that. I take off the shades and wait for a nap.