Nepeta soon had Equius totally calm again, although not without almost losing her temper herself. She talked to him for a long while about his actions and the past, and he soon came around. Nepeta seemed to have a way, if not with words, with him, knowing what to say and when to say it to calm him down again, no matter how angered he seemed to be. The large man was quiet thoughout much of her speech, nodding quietly or making small noises of assent before it was over and he was quietly apologising, although not to Karkat.

Speaking of, the grouch was sitting in the storeroom. He may have been on shift, but the manager, his older brother in fact, was often, almost always, away on what he liked to call business, and which consisted of finding schools around the state that hadn't heard of him and giving lectures to wayward students about the dangers of essentially everything. It would have been funny had it not been quite so strange.

Ragardless, he had messages to respond to. Sollux had fled the store, but there was still a lot of catching up to do between the two. They may have been friends, but their friendship may have been stranger than nepeta and Equius'. They didn't miraculously become happier people around each other, in fact, they seemed to rub each other the wrong way, only making each other angrier, and louder, and yet it was like they attracted each other because of it. Their banter was like swordplay, bouncing and clashing off each others words. They talked and talked, losing track of the time. Customers might have come and gone, but it was up to Nepeta to deal with that, something she only did because Karkat knew he'd have to do every clean up chore on the list.

Nearing the end of the day, customer activity sped up a little once more, as usual. Anyone who works in a retail store can tell you that business flows and ebbs with the times, with people coming and going to work, home, and everything in between. Still, the store at peak rarely sore a high flow of customers. Equius had said his goodbyes and left, although he was residing in the town now. Terezi avoided the store, and Sollux was making himself busy.

The sun began to sink low in the sky, bathing the pale blue in brilliant orange, yellow and gold, as though the heavens were ablaze. Oftentimes Karkat would cease work for a little while just to gaze upwards. The moon was visible despite the light, a white crescent resplendant in what little blue was left in the sky. Unfortunately, he had no time for such things tonight- His messaging antics meant he was cleaning up after everyone. He grumbled all the way through sweeping, and through mopping, and dishwashing, and all the other chores. Earlier on, Nepeta had said her goodbyes and left, leaving Karkat totally alone in the store.

Much later he was done, and by this point, the sun had almost totally set in the sky. Few cars were passing through, briefly illimunating the path as he locked up the door behind him and walked towards his home, which was about 20 minutes on foot. He reasoned that it was worth the exercise, and cars were too expensive right now anyway. Close to the shop was a tall, lanky young man who, while close to Karkats age, seemed to be a totally difference species from all he encountered.

Yes, Gamzee Makara was definitely a strange one, although looking at him gave that away pretty fast. Juggalo facepaint on constantly, and if one looked close, the traces of scars from his left eye to his nose. Nobody knew quite how he'd gotten those scars, and nobody cared enough to ask. Gamzee whiled away his days "busking" which usually meant sitting around and lazily strumming his guitar, stringing a few chords together and humming along if he felt it was worth it. Despite his apparent total lack of skill in any fields musically inclined, he had become something of a staple in the day of many who passed him by, much like the coffee they were going to get.

Karkat tossed a few coins into the old, battered leather guitar case and sat down beside Gamzee. He didn't have any deep-seated affection for the music, but the man himself seemed to be wiser than his appearance would suggest. He was always happy to "get his greet on to a motherfucker" as he so eloquently put it, and would happily set aside his music to listen to someone, or offer whatever advice he wasn't too out of it to offer.

"Yo, my closest friend! You look a bit more tired than usual, anything got you in a motherfuckin' twist?"

"Wow, you always know exactly what to say to make me want to roll my eyes so hard they swivel out of their sockets. Of COURSE I'm tired, I just did ALL the cleanup chores. Also, Terezi, Also, Nepeta's old friend Equius came out of nowhere and insulted me and the restaurant and fucking near tore the place apart."

"Shit man, that don't sound nearly good. I met that Equius guy, though. Definitely walks like he's got a golden stick up his ass, although he wasn't in much of an appreciatin' mood when I told him that. Almost thought I'd have to change my location permanent-like, but he spotted your assistant in the shop and immediately forgot all about me. Miracles, brother. I tell you."

"Oh god, you would have had to move. Do you even have it in you to move? I'd be surprised if you don't actually live here, holy shit. You're right about that golden stick though, I've never seen anyone so uptight. The stupid bastard told us he drank cat shit coffee though, so he kind of lost the nobility points there."

Gamzee, Karkat noted, was almost impervious to insults. No matter who yelled, cussed at, cursed or directly insulted him, he would respond with a customary smile and an attempt to help them, before turning right back to his guitar and strumming away. Karkat found it slightly infuriating, the way he never could get mad. Then again, a lot of things pissed Karkat off.

He picked himself up from the ground and continued on his way, feeling something jangle in his pocket. Cheking, he was surprised to discover the change he'd tossed to Gamzee had surreptitiously found it's way back into his pocket. He hadn't even felt Gamzee do that! Was he some kind of money-returning ninja? He shook his head, moving on towards home. There was a lot he didn't know about many people, and it didn't do well for him to bode on it.

Finally getting home, the rest of his day became a blur. Find spare clothes, prepare dinner, shower, eat dinner, grab blanket, make tea, curl up on couch, watch romcom. The moon was hanging high in the sky by now, and the only lumination in the house came from Karkats television as he caught up on his favourite shows, feeling his eyelids become heavy soon enough. Finally, he was in bed, alarm set, ready for the next day.

The next day, Karkat got into the coffee store first, which was hardly a surprise. Nepeta was often five or ten minutes later than him, owing to her "need" to stop by the pet store, or stores, on the way, aned individually greet each animal in the store. It was a strange trait of hers that would have been endearing, if it didn't mean she was late.

Fifteen minutes later, she still wasn't around. Karkat began to shift uneasily. She was never quite this late. Maybe she'd slept in?