Author: I feel as though I have stretched on this whole "Rescue John" thing for too long now, so this chapter ends it. Enjoy.

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After what seems like an eternity, the bleeding mysteriously stops as quickly as it had begun. Jake is left feeling weak. That is to say, he had not yet noticed his blood transforming into some horrible, hideous, frightening creature of the ni—he means a figure that looks oddly—damn it—delightfully like Dirk. Of course, also having knocked the lamp over, effectively breaking it, the room is shrouded in darkness—if only Dirk had heard of curtains rather than blankets to cover the blinds and windows. Oh, those silly Striders.

But back to what was happening. Given the fact that its like, eight in the morning or something and the room is shrouded in darkness for no freakin' reason, Jake cannot see the figure which lies next to him on the bed, or, at least, is forming next to him on the bed. Not bothering to look closer, because, well, would you? Really, if you saw something forming out of your blood, the sensible thing to do is to get a closer look at it. Right? Well, apparently a certain Jake English doesn't think so. The frightened boy quickly grabs Dirk's gold-plated katana off the wall above his bed and hops off, sword in hand and ready to strike if the need arises. He watches as the blood comes together on Dirk's bed, forming the shape and leaving no stains behind. The face solidifies and colorizes itself first. The eyes open and look around; the face as a whole has a look of awe, as if this is the single greatest thing that has ever happened to the figure. Soon, the rest of the blood has transformed into the body of a teenage boy, about Jake's age, and looking quite like Dirk. Jake, however, doesn't care if it looks like freaking God because it's still scary as hell and he wants to stab it. All the while the boy has yet to realize fully the situation he's in. He turns and swings his feet over the side of the bed. He sits for a moment before getting up to exit the room. Exit the room he would have, had he not about ran into the edge of an extremely sharp gold-plated shitty sword. Realization hits him like a brick wall at a hundred miles per hour just before the tip of the blade slices his nose in half. His nose catches only a millimeter of wiggle room and his widened eyes cross to look at the offending object, surprise and a hint of terror showing on his face.

Jake's eyes widen as well. Sure, he's known Dirk for quite some time now. He's "known" Dirk (wionk *wonk wonk). But he has never known him to be made of blood, let alone his own. He looks over his boyfriend a couple times, just to make sure it's actually him. Well, now would be a good time to be impotent, but unfortunately, only the much older incarnation of the green-eyed boy holding the golden katana has achieved that luxury. This is proven by the evident tent that is his boxers. He just couldn't wait until their next camping trip. Him being turned on by all this is not a very good thing, mainly because he's holding a razor-sharp katana just barely a millimeter away from Dirk's nose. And it's so. Fucking. Hot. Ladies and gentlemen, Jake English has a new fetish.

Of course, this situation might have been a little bit better, had Dirk's clothes also turned into blood and came with him. Therefore, as of right now, he's not only standing in harm's way, considering that Jake can't control a sword worth a fuck, as proven by several attempts to teach him how to fight, but he's also nude. It is also evident that unlike Jake, this is not a Dirk Strider fetish.

"So … you gonna put the sword down?" Dirk breaks the silence.

Jake thinks for a few seconds before responding. "Well, it all depends, ole chap. Are you going to attack?"

"Only if you don't let me get far away from you before you put the sword down." Okay, Dirk, that was a bitch move. Jake is self-conscious about his sword handling skills. But it probably would be best for the Strider's own safety if he backed away at least ten feet. This is proven by Jake accidentally allowing the sword to slip out of his hand. The sword falls to the floor and gets a new red paint job as it slices Dirk's right leg and foot open. If everyone wasn't awake already, they are now with Dirk's incredibly-manly-for-a-homo cry of pain. Seconds later, Other Bro busts open the door, still having yet to put a shirt on, a toothbrush hanging out of his mouth, and a katana at the ready. Of course, his heroic façade is broken when he sees the horrible gash in Dirk's leg. Now, Dave, no matter what age, is not one to panic … wait … I think we may have disproven that when we watched him freak out over a certain John Egbert in a coma. But still, if he sees something bad, he's going to do something about it. Unfortunately, that something just so happens to be panicking.

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"I still don't understand why you chose now, of all times, to do this." Bro can't be more annoyed at trolls right now—specifically Cronus. Right now, he stands outside the old motel door, waiting for the sea dwelling troll to gather Karkat's stuff so they can get out of there. They've currently been there for three hours now. It would be a wonder why Bro doesn't just go in there and gather up everything for the troll, but it's completely obvious that Dirk, no matter what age, clothing optional, is just too damn fabulous to do any of that shit. Sometimes he wonders if he should just change his name to "Fabio" and get it done and over with. He gives a somewhat annoyed sight, as if to say that he's bored and that this is taking too long, but he couldn't give a rat's ass right now because he's just that cool.

Of course, his being fabulously cool whilst standing just outside the door of an old, run down motel would be interrupted by a phone call from a frantic Other Bro. It goes as follows:

B: What do you want?

OB: dude younger you is back and hes bleeding

B: What?

OB: hes bleeding everywhere and i dont know what to do

B: Get that one troll to heal it. I'm sure he can do something. Or, at least I think he has power over blood.

OB: yea youre probably right

B: Is that all you wanted?

OB: uh let me think about that

OB: yes

B: Besides, he probably deserves it. I heard on the radio on the way over here that someone who was describes as looking oddly like him is wanted for murder in Oregon.

OB: what you dont think that little you did do you

B: Well, the suspect's description matches up perfectly with Dirk's looks. I think it's quite possible. Just tell him that I'm disappointed and slap a Band-Aid on the booboo. He'll get over it.

OB: dirk its way more than a booboo! his ENTIRE fucking LEG is ripped open!

B: That's not my problem. It would be my problem if it was my leg, but it isn't. Now can I just get back to what I was doing?

OB: but it is your leg! well technically it is dirks but he is just a younger you so i guess that it is your leg

OB: how can you not be worried

B: Easily, listen. With that, Bro hangs up the phone and gets back to fabulously standing outside the door. Five minutes later, Cronus wheels himself out with a couple suitcases on his lap and tells Bro to get the other four. Bro does as told, though mainly because he has nothing better to do now that Other Bro has wasted his time. Yes, Dave, even without any sort of time powers, can somehow find a way to perfectly waste it. Mainly with his own problems.

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But back to Other Bro's situation …

It appears that the only way for Kankri to heal Dirk's leg is for the latter to be seated next to him and Other Bro to be nowhere near them. Well, it would also help for Dirk to be wearing at least a shirt as well.

"JAKE! HOW COULD YOU LET THE FUCKING SWORD SLIP OUT OF YOUR HAND?! IT'S SOLID FUCKING GOLD!"

"Actually, it's plated with solid fucking gold," Other Bro corrects Dirk. "There is a difference."

"I DON'T FUCKING CARE BECAUSE, AS YOU CAN CLEARLY FUCKING SEE, MY LEG HAS BEEN SLICED COMPLETELY THE FUCK OPEN!" NOW IT IS … WAIT … Sorry, my bad. I left caps lock on. Now it is Dirk's turn to glare at everyone with eyes burning with the hatred of a thousand hells. "JUST SEW MY FUCKING LEG UP!" Okay, make that a million hells.

"But don't you think that will hurt without any anesthetics," Other Bro asks nervously.

"MY RAGE IS MY ANESTHETIC!" Yes, Dirk is just so angry that his voice has literally become red text. Or, at least, can only be represented with this particular color. (Of course, you will have to refer to this chapter on AO3 to see this.) "IT'S THE BUTT FUCKING NOVOCAINE TO MY METAPHORICAL FUCKING ROOT CANAL!" Dirk stands on his left leg as he keeps his injured right leg steady as to not cause any more pain than necessary. This was NOT part of the deal. Godkat is going to fucking pay for this someday. That is, unless something happens to make that not happen.

"Okay, just hold still!" Dirk tries his best to obey the command of his version of Bro, but still squirms some. It isn't his fault that he's scared to death of needles, though, that would give rise to the mystery that is the fact that he used to make his own puppets. No, wait, his fear came about after he pricked his thumb. Never mind. "Ugh, Kankri, get your ass in here and help!"

"Not until you put a shirt on," the troll shouts from the living room.

"Are we seriously going to do this now? For fuck's sake, Vantas, Dirk's bleedin' to death in here!"

"Then you can call an ambulance. But until you put a shirt on, I am not going anywhere near you."

"DON'T CALL A FUCKING AMBULANCE! I DON'T NEED ANY ATTENTION!" Dirk moves ever so slightly, which causes Other Bro to lose his grip and shove the needle into Dirks' femur. He lets out a sharp cry from the pain. You would too if you just had a needle practically shoved into your bone.

"I told you to hold the fuck still," Other Bro scolds, to which Dirk gives an evil glare in response.

Jake takes this as the time to step into action. If anyone is going to help Other Bro do things around here, it might as well be him since no one else is. Though, beating Dirk in the head with his glass Snoopy bank probably wasn't the best option. Yes, it calmed the young Strider down, but it also shattered a perfectly good Snoopy bank. It would be a safe assumption to make that Other Bro is completely surprised at this new side of Jake. After all, Dirk loved that Snoopy bank. If he didn't have a reason to kill Jake before, he does now. That is, unless somehow they are able to get another one, though they think that may be hard considering they stopped making them, or stopped selling them, anyway. Do you know how expensive it would be to blow glass into the shape of the famous beagle that is Snoopy? Other Bro doesn't, but he thinks it would be rather expensive.

Ain't no one fucks with Dirk's Snoopy bank.

Ain't no one.

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Commence random time jump about fifteen minutes to the time when John wakes up …

You, as the reader, decide to jump ahead about fifteen minutes into the future to witness John awakening from his burn induced coma, healed by the pudding—I mean … sopor slime. Of course, just because he wakes up doesn't mean the burns are going to be healed. They are just going to be healed enough to where he'll be able to not be in the lowest possible state of consciousness.

All around the room, everyone, well, the people that are there, anyway, wait for the new troll to wake up in what they expect to be around three hours or so. Rose, however, can't get the thought of Dave making out with an unconscious John out of her mind. It's a good thing John wasn't actually dead like he originally thought. She sits in a chair beside John's … er … Spades's bed with hatred in her eyes. Kanaya sits next to her, trying to keep her under control.

Slowly, but surely, John opens his eyes. At first, it goes unnoticed by everyone; when he makes small moan, everyone looks up at him, unsure of what to do. They don't want to overwhelm him right after he wakes up—like he wasn't overwhelmed already as it is. Way to go, First Guardian. At first, he is disoriented. As he looks around, he is confused as to why everyone is staring at him, and Rose with a weird anger in her eyes, and Kanaya looking at Rose as to say, "Calm those weird nubs on your swollen pectoral masses."

And then it hits him.

Like two semis colliding head on at a hundred miles per hour.

How could he possibly forget that he has a certain red-eyed mutant teenage human Strider to destroy? Rather easily, apparently. With a sudden push up off the bed, he rises to his feet, suddenly aware of a severe burning sensation between his legs. This is probably a good time for him to rethink Terezi's suggestion to get tested for any STD, though everyone is pretty sure Karkat doesn't have anything. What John is feeling now, however, points toward the contrary. Somewhat fortunately for him, though, it is only severely burned. He should not have slipped and knocked that pot of flaming scotty dog soup on himself.

Nevertheless, his sudden Strider bloodlust is motivation enough for him to ignore the sensation, no matter how painful, and keep moving. Meanwhile, everyone else in the room has no idea whether to applaud for being able to do so much after just waking up from a rather short coma, well, just a coma all together, and with burns somewhat nowhere near being completely healed, or whether to get him to lay his ass back down in bed and wait for them to take him back home. They obviously choose the latter, but not until John unintentionally gave away his intentions. Sometimes when you're mad, you just can't help but to mumble to yourself your intentions, no matter how hard you try to keep it a secret.

Once Jade grabs him to lead him back to the bed he begins to struggle. He fights against her the entire way, well, at least up Roxy and Terezi come over to help. Then he struggles against all three of them. Rose sits out of the struggle because she would much prefer John to do what he was just mumbling, which involves a lot of blood and pain and gore and possibly a death sentence. Kanaya sits out to make sure Rose remains sitting out. Soon after John is taken by the group, the struggle escalates to using claws and whatever means necessary. He even begins cussing everyone out and scratching and even rips a little skin off Roxy's forearm.

Even with three people holding him back, John is incredibly difficult to push back. He signed up for athletic P.E. in school, though he doesn't do any sports. Instead, he did it just to stay in shape. And stay in shape he did, along with build up strength, which never showed itself in any sort of muscular form. But he is strong nevertheless, and he is using it to his own advantage.

After minutes of struggling, the two girls and the troll are unable to hold him and let go, allowing John to rush out of the room and down the hall. He makes his way over to the front door and busts through, not even bothering to make sure it's unlocked—which it wasn't. Just one more thing for Diamonds to fix.

The crowd of news reporters and police jump back in shock at the seemingly rabid troll that has just made its way through a locked door. John seems not to notice, and the only calm person there seems to be Diamonds, who, after a couple hours of holding back police and news reporters, has had enough excitement for the rest of his own miserable life, so when the troll finds his way to Ms. Paint's van, he pulls out a revolver. John tries his best to hotwire the vehicle before he can be caught, considering he actually pays attention in auto shop unlike the rest of his class, but Diamonds beats the crowd by a good shot and a half, and John falls to the ground, not necessarily unconscious, but paralyzed, at the very least. Diamonds makes his way though the stunned crowd and drags John by his feet back into the building. He meets the kids and trolls and Ms. Paint in the living room just inside the broken door. "I'll give it back so long as you promise to get rid of it now." He gives the group an annoyed glare.

The kids nod nervously, and take John back from the carapacian. Ms. Paint leads them out through the kitchen, and past a rather annoyed Spades, who just sips on his coffee and does nothing to stop them. He does, however, flips them the bird as they pass. It's just his way of expressing his appreciation. He offers no help when the group of kids and trolls and Ms. Paint try to get John, whose limp body seems heavier for some reason, into Mom's minivan. They thank Ms. Paint for taking relatively good care of John while they were on their way over and drive off, leaving the white carapacian behind with a few tears in her eyes. The moment, however, is ruined when Spades orders her to get the fuck off her ass and clean the genetic material off his bed.

Rose is perfectly happy to be behind the wheel of her mom's minivan. But eyebrows are raised when she drives in the opposite direction of the hospital. "Well, that's his problem," she replies when Kanaya asks her how she expects Dave to get back. She carries a proud smirk on her face as they slip by everything completely unnoticed and make their way back on the interstate toward home, though she had no idea about Jake's encounter with Karkat …

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"So, Karkat, please refresh my memory. It is your lusus-in-legality that is the one who kicked you out, correct?" Kankri attempts to talk to the now human Karkat, who is finally getting dressed after waiting a few hours in the closet. He does, however, have a newfound hatred toward Other Bro. Seriously, who shouts, "Tadaaaa," when someone comes out of the closet? That's just rude.

Karkat emerges a couple minutes later wearing the light blue pants that John had convinced him to buy and his signature black sweatshirt with a grey cancer symbol. "This doesn't look right," he grumbles when he walks out of Dave's bedroom.

"Oh, that's just because you're used to seeing yourself dressed like that as a troll," Kankri scolds him. "You look fine." Karkat won't admit it, or even show it, but he's actually proud of his dancestor for not talking at great lengths like he usually does. They grow up so fast.

But what the human doesn't know is that they all plan on taking him back to John's house. This is the reason Kankri wants to make sure that it was John's dad who did this. That way he knows who to lecture. Karkat, however, is dreading the moment when he and John see each other again, though he has no idea that that is sooner than he thinks. He becomes a little suspicious when he is blindfolded. However, he is told that he's being taken to a very special place that can set him up with clothes that are better suited for humans. His suspicions come from the fact that the special place could be any freaking store that sells clothes, considering trolls are hated in society.

As soon as they arrive, Viceroy runs out the door and proceeds to vomit in the beautiful Zen garden in front of the porch. "Well, I guess we'll be doing some work before John gets back," Other Bro says with a slight grimace.

"I'm terribly sorry," Viceroy begins before vomiting again. "One person can only hold so much alcohol." He dry heaves at the mention of such a horrendous substance. "If you want to know … ," dry heave, "talk—talk to Jane."

"Okay … ," Casey begins. "Is it at least safe for me to go in there?" Viceroy only gives a nod in response, which seems to be too much as he vomits again. The group walks into the house with Karkat still blindfolded. They added earplugs so that he would be completely unaware of the events up until they are ready to unveil to him where he is. Other Bro walks him upstairs into his and John's room where the human is set in a soft chair that only John sat in. Karkat honestly hated that chair and never went anywhere near it, so it was helpful in allowing him to not know where he is. To seal everything, he is handcuffed and footcuffed(?), and Other Bro places a clothespin on his nose so that he won't be able to smell anything. Other Bro takes an earplug out of Karkat's left ear to tell him that he'll be right there in the room with him and to just stay put. He'll find out where he is soon enough. After that is said, the earplug is put back, and Other Bro walks out and locks Karkat in his room. Well, he doesn't actually lock the door so much as wedge coins between the door and doorframe, but oh well. It makes the door damn near impossible to open and that works for him.

Downstairs in the dining room, Jane is trying to nurse a severe hangover. She really thought she was done with those after Trickster Mode. Casey, trying to get back on Jane's good side, has gotten the latter a glass of water. She really doesn't need this. Her blood-alcohol concentration had to be at least 1, or at least that's what she figures. Viceroy must be a veteran drinker if he can stand this much alcohol in one night. She should've known better, considering she can't even withstand a tiny little lick of a lollipop without going batshit crazy and suffering from severe dehydration. Well, at least alcohol-drunkenness isn't contagious.

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Back at Chez Strider/Pyrope, Bro sews Dirk's leg and foot back up, but refuses to clean up the mess left behind, leaving a severely weakened Dirk to clean up his own blood. Though Dirk never was before, he feels as though he is now a hemophobe.

"You are pathetic, you know that," an all-too-familiar voice startles Dirk, who turns to find the Knight of Blood sitting on his bed. "But I do not, in any form of the word, pity you. You are despicable and disgusting. And I hate you in a completely platonic way." Dirk just flips him off because he feels to weak to talk. "Ooh, I'm so intimidated," the Knight mocks. "Now, listen. John will be here in less than ten hours, and you are by no means in good enough shape to kill him. He is a full troll now and has strength to rival that of the adult incarnation of you. In other words, he could crush you with one hand. Now, I'm going to heal your leg and return your blood to you, but don't think you can get out of this deal by slicing it open again!" With that said, the Knight snaps his fingers and Dirk's blood soaks through his skin and back into his veins. The sewed up gash on his leg heals, leaving only a scar behind, and in minutes, he's feeling stronger again.

He raises his head to say "Thank you" to the Knight, but the latter beats him to speaking. "Just so you know, Jake didn't actually cheat on you. Jane wouldn't allow him to be distracted from the goal of tormenting poor little Casey." This visibly settles Dirk. He even feels stupid for ever doubting the weird, Australian-accented boy. "But, just for motivation, John wants to kill him. Have fun." The Knight gives a crooked smile and disappears, leaving Dirk alone to train for the next several hours.

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Skipping ahead a few hours, John wakes up in the minivan. He fell asleep because there was simply nothing better for his paralyzed body to do. Well, at least his burns are healed completely, save for the one on his naughty parts. But fortunately, Ms. Paint slipped a small bucket of that earwax-sopor slime into the back of the van, so he just applies some to the area of burn and enjoys its cooling sensation. Only a few more hours and he'll be home, and healed. He looks over and sees that no one has noticed he isn't paralyzed anymore. Perhaps Dave is already back home. If not, there's always Jake to take care of first.

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Skipping ahead a few more hours, back at Chez Crocker/now Vantas, Other Bro goes upstairs to check on Karkat, only to find that the human has fallen asleep. Other Bro has told everyone to be quiet until he returns downstairs, so it is safe to pull out the earplugs, which is what he does first. This wakes Karkat up, and the human wonders what's going on. "Shh, it's alright. I'm just going to undo everything here, and you'll see where you are." Other Bro takes off the clothespin next, which gives sweet release to the pain that Karkat had not even noticed. Next off are the handcuffs on both his wrists and ankles, and finally the blindfold. The sudden rush of light blinds him and he snaps his eyes shut for a couple minutes before he's able to open them and get a good look around. The look on his face is nothing short of stunned, especially when he realizes that he's been sitting his this stupid chair that he hates so much for the past nine and a half hours. The thought disgusts him. "Oh, and, by the way, Rose and the others are going to be here with John in about twenty minutes." Other Bro gives a slight smile and pats Karkat's left arm a couple times before the human fully realizes what has just been said. When the realization hits him like an anvil falling on an egg, he shoves Other Bro out the door and locks himself in his room. There is no way to unlock the door from the outside, so only he can unlock it. There is no way he is about to let John see him like this. "Aw, Karkitten," Other Bro tries to coax Karkat out.

"Go the fuck away," Karkat shouts back through the door.

"But you haven't told me what's wrong," Other Bro complains.

"There is no fucking way John is going to see me like this, you understand that?" Karkat crawls up on the bed and hides himself under the covers. A single tear slips from his eye.

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"Yeah, we probably shouldn't have told him that John was going to be here," Other Bro says as he walks down the stairs into the kitchen.

"Why," Casey asks.

"Well, he won't come out. I don't know why, but he won't." Other Bro sits in the chair that Jane has long since given up to go lie down. Viceroy, though not having a hangover, agrees that's probably a good idea, considering that his stomach isn't the calmest thing ever at this point in time. Take that as a lesson, kids—even if you do posses the powers of the Horrorterrors, it isn't a good idea to consume several gallons of alcohol.

A few minutes later, Dad walks through the front door. After like, two days of being trapped in the bakery, he is wore out and promptly collapses on the couch. You know there's something wrong when the first thing Dad does when he gets back from the bakery is anything but grabbing his pipe and lighting it. Casey runs into the living room to give him a hug after not seeing him for a while, but he just pushes her off and tells her to wait until he isn't as tired. This makes the ten-year-old sad, but she understands. She doesn't really know why he's so wore out, but whatever. She'll wait to attack.

Several more minutes pass, but not twenty. Excuse Rose for being ever so slightly off on her calculations. It's difficult to tell how traffic is going to be. But anyway, she pulls into the now Crocker/Egbert/Vantas household. The slamming of the driver and passenger doors is heard by everyone, and everyone except for Dad, Karkat, Jane, and Viceroy go out to see Rose, Roxy, Kanaya, and Terezi picking a seemingly limp John up by all four of his limbs and carrying him toward the house. His gray skin has gotten a few shades darker since he was captured, and not because of the burns. His messy hair has gotten thicker and fuller. His horns have gotten wider and slightly longer, and his claws have gotten noticeably longer and razor sharp, as dictated by the bandage on Roxy's arm. Jake is just now finishing up with the Zen garden because, you know, it's kind of hard to make a mistake look like it never happened without having to fix the entire freaking thing. As he looks at John as the troll is carried onto the porch and into the house, he can see John staring back at him with a certain hatred in his eyes that can't even be matched by Lord English. This makes him rather nervous, and he isn't sure whether to tell the others or just pass it off as his imagination. He decides to tell the others.

"Yeah, we know," Rose replies when he tells. "He was sedated before we brought him back. We don't know how much longer it will last, but it would probably be a good idea for you to go away for a little while—just to let him cool off." Jake nods and starts walking out of the front door. "And make sure you go somewhere where you know you're safe. He is quite stong!" As soon as Jake steps off the porch he takes off, beelining to Chez Strider/Pyrope. Too bad Sollux is nowhere to be found at the current moment.

Dad has no idea what all that was about, and he doesn't want to know, so he just falls asleep on the couch before he can see John. John, on the other hand, snaps out of the charade and dashes through the kitchen and up the stairs. He's had enough of exposing himself. Jake will have to wait until he gets dressed. But when he gets to his door, it won't open. He pounds on it and does whatever he can, but it doesn't open. "Alright, who the fuck locked the door?!" When no one answers him, he becomes even more irritated and pounds on the door some more. Then he tries something he hadn't thought of. He takes his claw and carefully shoves it in between the door and doorframe, dragging it along until it finds the latch. He carefully maneuvers his claw in front of the latch until he can push it back in the door. It takes him a couple tries, but he finally accomplishes it. He pushes the door open and slips inside, closing it behind him and making sure that it locks. He doesn't want anyone to walk in on him, though he has absolutely no part of his body to hide at this point. He makes his way around the bed and to the dresser, unaware of the human hidden beneath the covers. Under said covers, Karkat shifts the blankets slightly to hide his face more. He bites his lower lip as more tears come out of his eyes. He knows how well a troll's sense of smell is, and he hopes that this troll doesn't smell him, or, at the very least, can't.

For a moment, it seems as though Karkat will go by completely unnoticed. That is, until John looks over and notices that the blankets are all together on the bed in a pile, which is weird because he and Karkat have separate blankets. They never share blankets for any reason, except for … well, you know. He reaches down and pulls his blankets—the top six blankets—off the pile, but when he looks back, he notices that Karkat's eight blankets are in a pile that couldn't possibly exist with how much they're spread out. He slowly reaches his right hand down and quickly removes the blankets, revealing the intruder lying on the bed.

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"So … ," Kankri begins, handing the new arrivals a few cups of coffee, "What happened to John?"

"It's a long story," Jade says. "If you want to know why he's so violent all of a sudden, ask him. It could simply just be a side effect of this, but I don't know."

"Yes, he seems to be hostile only toward Dave and Jake. We don't know why," Rose continues from where Jade left off. "Well, I might know the reason for his hostility toward Dave, but I'm not quite sure." She sips on her coffee.

"Would that reason happen to be the same as what you are pissed about," Jade asks.

"Yes."

"Okay, I don't mean to meddle, but what would this reason be," Kankri asks. Rose hesitates for a minute before telling the triggerTracker. Kankri's eyes go wide at the explanation. He thinks he may have another person to lecture.