[open] ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

[alienates]

WHO: karkat and you!
WHERE: various locations, two prompts are at the high school though.
WHEN: forward dated to monday (4/10)
WHAT: guess who has two thumbs and just regained his troll horns? THIS GUY.
WARNINGS: none at the moment except for explicit language from karkat!



a; morning at recollé high

[ if you share a first period 12th grade english class with karkat, you will notice that at one point he gets up to go to the bathroom, leaving his backpack at his desk. you will also, eventually, notice that he just never comes back. it's almost like he just suddenly decided to skip altogether, which is a little weird considering all of his stuff is still at the classroom? he misses the rest of the class. if you have his phone number maybe you text him to see what's up?

likewise, if you enter one of the boys bathroom, you might spot karkat fussing over himself in front of the mirror. when he sees you come in, he will immediately stop what he's doing to rush into one of the bathroom stalls. you might catch what looks like two, small orange shapes on his head?? weird. anyway, karkat has made this bathroom stall his home and he is just camping out in here for whatever reason. ]

b; afternoon at recollé high

[ or it's his home until security kicks him out of the bathroom.

so now you might run into karkat frantically speed walking through the halls. he seems to have acquired a hat, which is fine, except for whenever a teacher makes him take it off in which case karkat goes back to covering his the top of his head with his hands.

whether you spot him while he's wearing the stylish hat or while he is trying to cover his new nubs on his head, he is not going to look very happy. ]

The "what the hell are you looking at?" line is really goddamn cliche, but I swear to god I will unironically use it if you don't stop staring.

c; late afternoon, all around the city

[ while karkat would love to just run home the second school ends, he unfortunately has shit to do today. you might spot him returning books to the library, or maybe at the freshens, buying pet food for his army of cats. maybe you run into him in the streets! no matter where you see him, though, he is going to be nervously tugging down his very fashionable hat and glaring at anyone who looks at him for longer than two seconds.

at one point you can even spot him inside the retrospec building! if you're on the outside, it'll just look like he's talking to himself. if you pop inside, you will discover that he is, in fact, talking to himself! well. he's yelling. at the nonexistent staff. ]

-- and hey, maybe next time you can turn my fucking dick into candy corn too, so that way when you're choking on it it'll be more pleasant, you shady, poor excuse of--

[ maybe you should just shut the door and walk away tbh. ]

d; evening, grub mart

[ finally, late at night, you can find karkat at his job at grub mart, a convenience store in tisse. unfortunately, due to dress code, karkat is not allowed to wear his hat, so his horns are just out there. he keeps trying to hide them like he had been earlier, but at this point he more or less has completely given up on life and is ready for death.

seriously just end him. ]

Comments

c;

[notbunaga]

[She's not sure why she decided to go to the retrospec building after work; if anyone had any luck making progress already she's sure they'd have announced it, but...still, maybe it just never hurts to try. Maybe she'll be the one who stumbles onto something important by pure chance...

Yeah, fat chance. But here she is anyway.

The sound of someone on the inside is fairly promising though. Maybe there's something going on? Nobu opens the front door and--!]

You've got to be kidding me.

[Are they ever going to stop running into each other?]

[alienates]

[ never, they are destined to never rest.

at the sound of the familiar voice, karkat immediately turns around and just... makes a face. he does stop ranting though, so there's that. ]

You are definitely stalking me. There is literally no other explanation for this level of fuckery.

b

[ghostories]

[ Yuuko strides along with him, keeping up with his quick pace along the halls. ]

Hmm, alright. But if there's anything I know about Karkat Vantas, it's that he wouldn't even wear that hat ironically.

[ He's still wearing his stupid hat this point but that will change very soon. Before he can blink, her hand moves as fast as lightning. ]

Yoink!

[ The hat is hers. ]

[alienates]

[ he probably should have seen this coming the second yuuko walked up to him, but he was a fool and let his guard down. what a dumbass.

instead of immediately covering his horns when she yanks the hat off, karkat's hand goes to grab it back from her. she is slightly taller than he is so that might not work very well. ]

Give it back!

c;

[5kotai]

[ Hey there Karkat, Koukichi is also here at the Retrospec building (his aunt is doing some errands in the nearby area, so he's isn't 100% on his own) for an important reason... Only to be hit with disappoint that no one is there to answer his concerns.

Uh, maybe he's a little glad Aunt Ryo is out and about instead of with him to ask about a thing he found in his home, because wow your mouth buddy. It's... yeah, it's its definitely justified, but...

Here, Karkat, have something white, black, and fluffy foisted into his arms mid-rant. Koukichi knows at least you like felines, and he has this particular fellow with him because the strange-looking exotic kitten is the very reason he came to the Retrospec building in futility. ]

...Feel better?

[ Karkat probably smells a bit like cat food and friend of cats from his earlier shopping trip, which warms up the tiger cub to him rather easily. Enjoy paw pads. ]

[alienates]

[ despite how obviously mad karkat is, he immediately takes the cub because no matter how annoyed he is, he is still a cat dad. ]

Not really. But it's less soothing when there's no one to actually yell at.

[ he actually glances at the tiger now and... squints. ]

What kind of cat is this?

d

[appraiser]

[ Death is here. In the form of Ryoji, who steps through the sliding door near the middle of Karkat's shift with a ready greeting that dies on his lips when he sees... something... on Karkat's head. Shopping list forgotten (probably something trivial like a bottle of water or a pack of gum as an excuse to pay a visit every once in a while), Ryoji bounds up to the counter, rising on his toes to try and get a better look at the top of Karkat's head. Personal space does not exist. ]

Cat- Are those cat ears? For the Black Tie and Tails dance?

[alienates]

They're not cat ears!

[ he says it automatically, slightly offended that someone would assume he would walk around in cat ears?? but as soon as it's out of his mouth karkat realizes that would have been the perfect excuse so he wouldn't have to explain that he has horns now.

goddammit. ]

I don't... think they are...

A

[constellates]

[Anya does not in fact share this class with Karkat - but she knows some people who do. She might've been passing by just to see someone else, but an NPC alerts her on their way out of the classroom that Karkat left all his stuff behind. That's... That's definitely a cause for concern.

So that's why she's wandering back into the classroom to gather his stuff and put it in his backpack so she can put it on top of her own. She shoots him a text:]

class is over
i have your things
where are you ?
everything ok ?

[alienates]

[ karkat does not reply right away for many reasons. the first is that he is still too busy internally screaming about the horns to really do much else properly. the other reasons are more or less is that he has no idea what to even... say? about this??

so, yes. there is a longer delay than usual. eventually he will pull his phone out to tap out a quick reply. ]

Bathroom near my class.
Something uhh
Happened

[ anya is at least already aware of the weirdness of his memory shit, so. there's that. ]

d!

[antagonize]

[Jason won't end him but he will also just. Squint at his head. While holding a basket full of canned soup and microwavable shit, ready to check out. Because he is totally in a position to judge here.

SLOWLY:]

Should I be concerned about the candy corn on your head?

[alienates]

Don't you like my cool cosplay? I'm dressed as someone who has abandoned all shame and has accepted his place as someone who probably still ate glue in seventh grade. It's pretty accurate, isn't it?

[ karkat figures that making jokes about it will distract from the fact that he has two candy cane shaped fucking horns sticking out of his goddamn head. ]

D

[true_noir]

[It had been a long shift. A very long shift in fact, and Chloe had gone to the gym afterwards. She was not really feeling herself when she walked into the convenience store, waved blearily and unseeing at the clerk behind the desk before b-lining straight for the gatorade. She was walking back and putting the bottle down on top of the counter, when she happened to look up...

...at Karkat...

...and stare.]

[alienates]

[ he is surprised to see chloe come in, especially since it's been a few weeks since he's last spoken to her. normally he would have some quick reply, like how her stalking game seems to be slacking since it took her this long to find his job.

alas, he is too concerned about what she's staring at to focus on the stalking joke. ]

Should I scan the drool that's coming out of your open mouth too or what?

c;

[caelestialis]

[ she had been passing by with kara in tow, nearly missing him thanks to the book she was reading and the rush to head back home. if not for the fact kara suddenly stops in her tracks, her doggie ears picking up on the noise and freezing in a second out of fear.

nearly tripping over herself thanks to the halting, she needs a moment to catch herself and that's when she hears the, ah, creativeness that she knows all too well from him. what's going on?

doing her best to keep her dog calm as kara opts to stay behind her, ainsley enters the building because of course she'll get involved in this. but first she should figure out what 'this' is in the first place. ]

-Karkat? What's happening?

[alienates]

-- and then I'm going to shove my foot so far up your rectum that Nike is going to want to sponsor you every single time you take a shit-- oh hey.

[ he cuts himself off mid-rant, turning to face her. he does not look at all embarrassed about this outburst, which should not come as a surprise to anyone, really.

he is surprised to see ainsley though. ]

I'm just... checking out the building...

[ sure. ]

c! 1/2

[sharplydressed]

[Did someone say ARMY OF CATS because he is 110% here for it--

Really though, he just happens to be picking up some more food at the store since his entire fridge kind of Went Bad over a week of no use, and he's not about the "I'm hungry at 3am and I have no food" life. Once he catches sight of Karkat on his way past, though, he'll pause because he's a friendly gremlin! Always gotta stop and say hi!]

Hey! Getting things for your—

[sharplydressed]

["Cats", is what he wanted to say, probably followed by "DO YOU HAVE PICTURES CAN I SEE THEM AGAIN", but. He's distracted by that Hat, now that he's close enough to see it in all its truly majestic glory.]

--Oh my god, where did you even get that?

A

[commandertoolbelt]

[ Ooooookay, what’s his problem? You’d think Karkat just saw a ghost in the mirror. ]

Dude, no one cares if you’re doing your makeup or fixing your hair or whatever. You don’t have to hide. You should see that one guy one the football team - he’s got to spend, like, two hours getting his hair just right every morning with all that gel he puts in it.

[alienates]

What is even the point of that? Doesn't the goddamn helmet just ruins it in the end?

[ karkat may be going through a crisis, but he won't let that stop him from shit talking people. he is still in the bathroom stall though after rushing inside. ]

C

[long_live_the_queen]

[This line at the pet store sure was marathon-length. Serves her right for picking up cat litter after work. 'Oh, it won't be so bad!' said her sleep-addled earlier self.

Lucy's currently fatigue-addled gaze wandered significantly more than usual, fixing on the person in front of her instead of some distant corne—what the fuck was he wearing.

...she really had no room to argue, given her fashion sense most mornings. She was still going to ramble, though.]

At least it's not green.

[There was nothing on Lucy's head, except some brownish roots where her dyed hair needed retouching.]

[alienates]

[ every time someone makes any sort of comment about the hat, karkat immediately thinks they're talking about the horns despite the fact that he knows he's wearing the stupid hat. his mind just immediately jumps to the worst conclusion.

(why he didn't just buy a more normal hat while at the store is the real question to be honest. he's dumb.) ]

What? Did you say something?

[ green horns would be stupid yes. ]

A

[covenantal]

[ Yu does share this class with Karkat. So he definitely notices when his friend departs and never returns.

Since it seems like someone is taking care of his things (thanks, Anya), Yu just physically goes to look for him, a certain urgency driving him. It isn't like Karkat at all to just ditch class like that. Still, it's mostly luck that he manages to pick the right bathroom, since he really had no idea where Karkat might've gone.

He gets only the briefest of glimpses before Karkat ducks into a stall, leaving Yu staring for a moment before he crosses the bathroom. ]

Karkat?

[ Gently. ]

It's me. Are you alright?

[ A certain concern threads his voice, faint but there. ]

[alienates]

Let me shit in peace!

[ this is followed by a thud, specifically karkat banging his head against the inside of the stall door. he mumbles something that sounds like, "that was stupid," but he does not get out of the stall yet. when he talks again, his voice is less guarded, but still slightly frantic. ]

Remember when your eyes changed colors and we came up with all those ideas to get around them?

d

[fashionable_yapping]

[She had just stopped in for a quick check for any batteries the store might be selling. And because she had kind of a jonesing for some Slurpee. Just what kind of name for a store is Grub Mart anyways? She finds the batteries she's looking for and goes to the counter and pauses when she looks at him. Is edible horns one of those weird things people were talking about? Like gaining superhero powers and the like?]

Do those horns taste like candy?

[If she cared what he thought of her, she wouldn't have just asked that question. But she doesn't give a shit about a convenience store clerk's opinion of her. Though on reflection maybe she should, he might be one of those people on the network.]

[alienates]

Oh sure, because I definitely go around licking horns all the time. That is pretty high up there on my to-do list, and also I have a freakishly long snake tongue that allows me to be able to do that.

[ he... also probably should not talk to customers like that, but one of the reasons he has a night shift instead of a day one is his habit of arguing with customers, and there's usually less people who step in later at night. ]