dear karkat,
jade and i went up to the mountains last weekend to see the meteor showers i told you about a few months ago. she was really excited to see so many shooting stars, and we had a lot of fun! every time she saw a star go across the sky, she would tug on my arm and squeal really loudly, but i didn't mind, because i was doing the exact same thing!
jade even brought an astrology book to try and find all the constellations, but the only one we were actually able to find was the big dipper. i can't be sure, but i think i found your constellation too! hehehe. i guess we're not really cut out to be star-gazers!
i kept wondering where you guys might be in that huge sky of ours, karkat. as the night went on, the sky kept turning around above us, and i just kept looking, hoping that i would somehow be able to find where alternia would be. i bet i was looking in the complete wrong direction!
i told rose and dave about the showers too, and they said they watched it, though they didn't have to go very far away from home. since the lalonde household is in the middle of nowhere, it wasn't like there was a lot of light pollution they had to deal with. i'm so jealous, because rose and dave got to use the super big telescope they have! i have one too, but i don't think mine is anywhere as awesome as theirs. oh well! it was still really nice to be able to see the meteors again.
still, it was my first year watching them without dad, so it felt really strange. somehow, i felt as if he were still there, lying next to me, quietly smoking his pipe and murmuring something about the stars to me. he'll probably always be with me, even if he's not REALLY here. i think that's how you know if you really love someone, huh?
oops, look at me getting all sappy and stuff! i bet you're making faces at me now, but that's okay! i just wanted to let you know. :)
bye karkat!
~john
dear dave,
i just wanted to write to you to talk about the cool weather changes going on here in washington! i know john already told me that the leaves would start changing colors and fall off the branches of the trees, but seeing it in action is something else! everything is soooo pretty, and i didnt think it would actually be THIS nice!
how about in new york? are the trees around you guys changing colors too? but i heard that rose only has coniferous trees around the house, so maybe theyll just stay green all year long. thatd be too bad, but dont worry! i took some pictures of the trees around washington and put it here for you guys. i hope you like them!
its kind of hard getting used to how cold everything is here. johns okay with it, since hes grown up in this type of weather, but its always just been really hot and humid on the island! seeing john walk outside with a short-sleeved shirt and shorts is super weird, especially when i have to have a sweater on! he doesnt tease me or anything, so i guess its alright! maybe ill get used to this eventually.
rose told me that you wouldnt agree to wearing a little more instead of pretending you were okay! is this true dave? you know john and i would be really upset if you accidentally got sick if the cold weakened your immune system! take care of yourself, okay? or else well be really sad and make rose give you really nasty tasting medicines! hehehe. :B
dont be too stubborn!
love,
jade
dear karkat,
rose just sent jade and me two really nice sweaters she knitted! she said that dave and she have one each, so we all have matching sweaters now! dave says they're ugly, but i think they're pretty awesome! rose was even able to knit the designs of our shirts on. it's so cool. they're here just in time for the colder months too. :)
speaking of which, it's almost december. that means it's nearly rose, dave, and jade's birthdays as well as christmas! phew, it's going to take a lot of brainpower to figure out what i should get them all! at least it'll be easier giving jade her gift.
i don't think i've ever told you, but sending her things took MONTHS to get there. it was kind of annoying, to be honest. :(
i guess sending YOU a gift or letter would take even longer! well, i never tried, so i guess i'll never know. i'm not sure what i'm doing with all these letters, actually... :/
~john
dear karkat,
this is going to sound soooo stupid to you, and you're probably going to laugh, but i don't really care right now, because i feel so terrible. :( jade and i have been living together for almost half a year now (gosh, i don't really know if you understand what i mean! i don't even know if you guys have different ways to count time! oh well!), and we've been doing really well with each other, but we finally had our first fight the other day. it was something really, really silly too, but now she won't talk to me! and i guess i'm still a little upset at her...
i can't really remember the last time i was actually MAD at someone (as in, legitimately mad, not just kind of grumpy!), but this time was really bad.
back then, i would get a little angry at dad, but it wasn't like i wouldn't talk to him for days and days! i mean, usually, i would just go back to him and apologize, and he would bake me a cake or something (yuck!)... he has a really weird way of apologizing, now that i think of it! but maybe that's just what he thought was best for me.
umm. and i guess i was kind of angry at you too, when you first started trolling me from my point of view! but i was more irritated and annoyed more than anything.
i actually don't know what to do now! i should probably talk to jade and try to resolve the issue, but i don't really know how to approach her. :/ she keeps huffing and avoiding me, which is kind of awkward, because the house isn't that big... still, it feels super bad, because we used to eat together, and now we just kind of make food for ourselves and eat in separate rooms...
in a way, i just want us to be okay with each other again, so we can talk and laugh again!
no wonder they say that "i'm sorry" is one of the hardest things to say to someone! especially if you really do mean it. (i guess "i love you" is really hard to say too, but "i'm sorry" is definitely among the list of "difficult things to say to someone if you really mean what you are saying"! wow, that sounds exactly like one of your weird movie titles...)
... i'm going to try and talk to her now, karkat. wish me luck!
~john
dear rose,
thanks so much for helping me out the other day! i wasnt sure how to deal with john, but im so glad you were able to help me figure things out! i know ive been angry at people before, but this time was kind of different, since i could actually talk to john face to face. the only other time that i really remember i got angry was when karkat was bugging me, but i guess that kiiiiind of wasnt his fault?
anyway, um, you were right though! i really think the reason why we hadnt gotten in a fight until now was because we were so careful with each other. ummmm, how did you say it? we were still treating each other as guests! but now that weve settled in a little more, things just got kinda bad, huh?
oh well! now that weve talked it over and laid out some ground rules, i think were going to be okay! at least for a little while. its still kind of silly to think back and realize that we had been upset at each other because of... TOOTHBRUSHES! :B hehehehe!
were you able to help me out before because you and dave got into a fight before too? dave doesnt really send john or me any letters (but he totally should! its so fun, and i would love to hear from him! im sure john would too! rose, you HAVE to make him write to us more!), and you dont talk much about the problems you have over at your place either! its like you two are keeping SECRETS from john and me! hehehe! just kidding, of course! i know you two just dont want to make us worry, but still! were all friends, so you have to let us worry about you SOMEtimes! :) promise me that you will, okay, rose?
thanks again, rose! it feels so much better, now that john and i are on talking terms again! being angry takes a looooooot of energy! i dont think i will be angry if i can help it anymore. id rather be happy, because it so much more fun. :DDD
okay, id better go now! write to us more! and dave too!
love,
jade
hey jade
so for the past few weeks rose has been dropping subtle as fucking atomic bombs hints on me and i think shes trying to tell me something. she went as far as rearranging all my shitty swords in the fridge at least seven times alphabetically by size era and metal type. then she bought an entire sword rack to keep them in and got a second fridge for food. if thats not some sort of sign i dont know what is. im just going to make her stop all these shenanigans and write a letter to you. itll probably make her stop for a while.
but hey no offense to you or anything. writing letters just isnt my thing you know? you should feel fucking honored that dave strider is actually taking his time to write on a piece of paper and send it off in a little envelope to you. i even dotted all the is with tiny hearts just for you. shit youd better take notes on this and tuck it under your pillow afterward so you can take it out at night to sniffle and shed a tear over. this shits legit. and when your girfriends are chilling with you can give them a sneak peek and let them swoon and faint over the beautiful writing that is dave striders. sell it on ebay after a few years and rake in all that dough.
anyway you were still asking me about the meteor showers in your last letter so i might as well get back to you on that. they were pretty cool. the stars i mean. rose put all this shit up in the observatory and insisted that we tried to find all the constellations while we were up there. i kept a star journal for the sake of irony. i dont even know how high people had to be to connect six stars and see a fucking set of scales from it. who the shit even thinks of these things?
fuck if i know. hope this letter was good enough for you. i think thats all there really is to say on the matter.
stay cool
dave