[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

[alienates]

[ the boys bathroom is not a place karkat ever though he would be feeling very strong friendship emotions and yet, here he is. it's happening. he's glad that there's no one else to see this since it's a little embarrassing, but even that gets overshadowed by relief.

he can't be sure about forever, but at least he has someone with him for now. that's more than he would have thought was possible before. ]

What if my heart grows tentacles?

[constellates]

[Oh... She offers a little smile, amused as she leans back and presses one finger to her lips.]

Секрет. We will keep a secret.

[Sort of like... how they need to keep this one? She glances over to the bathroom door that she entered in, then back to Karkat and tilting her head.]

I will ask to borrow a hat? Until I can make hairclips.

[who can say no to anya when she wants something

also yeah she was serious]

[alienates]

[ of course she was serious. he takes a moment to press his hand to his face because it's pretty funny when you think about it. he drops his hand, and his expression just says he has accepted this. ]

If you can? Because otherwise I am living in this bathroom for the rest of my life. Find drapes for my stall.

[constellates]

No, that is not cute at all.

[Karkat's going to have a nice house with a nice spouse that he meets in a romcom situation - not some stinky bathroom in a high school. So that's why Anya is going to take a moment, leaving their items behind and... she probably stops literally the first person she sees.

Are they friends? Well they're apparently friends now as she comes back with the ridiculous hat for Karkat.

Yaaaaaay.]

Here!

[listen you gotta make compromises for swiftness]

[alienates]

[ karkat stares at the hat




then stares some more.

it is a testament to how much he does not want people to see the horns that he takes the hat out of anya's hands. he doesn't put it on right away though, and just looks at it some more, trying to figure out which of his life decisions put him on the path that lead him down this road of destruction.

after another moment, the hat goes on his head. ]

[constellates]

[Despite everything, Anya claps.]

Xорошо! It works.

[ . . . that was the whole point, right.

No fashion statements being made today.]

[alienates]

[ he has to look at himself in the mirror and karkat has to do some mental gymnastics to convince himself that it is worth it to go out like this. ]

Where did you get this anyway?

[ he... wouldn't be surprised if she just had it for some reason? but he has never seen a hat like this in anya's possession before, so ]

[constellates]

Um... I asked?

[like some rando walking by in the hall. to her credit, she did ask if they had lice first. did she just ask for the hat off their head??? did they just give it to her????

it's Anya, so like

probably]

[alienates]

[ thank you for asking about lice, anya. because normally karkat would probably bitch about that, but at the moment he is too caught up in other thoughts to think about what may come out of sharing headwear with another person.

later on, though, he will probably text anya all "LICE???" or something, when he is more calm. ]

... Thanks. How did you know something happened anyway?

[constellates]

[calm is left for another time - for right now, Anya's offering a smile at that even as she's picking up her backpack, moving to let it settle on her back. then she's picking up his backpack and offering it out to him too]

Someone told Anya that you had left your things.

[easy! amazing what you can discover when you've got a decent social network]

That seemed странный.... odd!

[alienates]

[ he accepts his bag, quickly looking through it to make sure none of his classmates raided his shit. he trusts anya but he does not trust them. ]

I wasn't expecting to be gone this long.

[ he just wanted to use the bathroom.... ] When I got in here, the horns were just. There suddenly?

[constellates]

Ah... A bad surprise.

[Though she shakes her head. It's less of a problem now and will hopefully be less of a problem over time. At some point, she started getting less stares over her odd hair. Hopefully it'll be the same in this case.]

Do you want to see a doctor?

[alienates]

This is going to sound really stupid, but I am kind of freaked at the idea of that? What if they try to cut my head open or something.

[ he has no idea how non-retrospec people will react to it, since so far only people who have the app has wandered into the bathroom. ]

[constellates]

Hmm... Anya's auntie is a doctor? And she uses Retrospec. Mama will not understand and be worried even though she is a nurse and I have tried to explain...

But mm - Grell Sutcliffe? She is not that kind of doctor, but -

It is better than not going at all?

[alienates]

Fuck.

[ he goes to run his hand through his hair in frustration, but then stops when he remembers about the hat. his hand goes back to his side. ]

Which auntie? I mean. Aunt. Goddammit Anya.

[constellates]

[there he goes

she giggles faintly and smiles]

Dr. Sutcliffe! Kомпетентный. She is very smart and very understanding. Do you want to meet her?

[alienates]

I actually think I have? On Retrospec, anyway.

[ it's funny how easy it is to meet people you probably would not have without the app. ]

She thought my cats were cute.

[constellates]

That sounds like Auntie! She is very cute too.

[anya don't talk about adults that way]

She gave the offer to help people who needed it. I can let her know about yours if you would like? Or give her contact.

[alienates]

[ karkat would probably chicken out if he was just given her contact info and he knows this. ]

You can let her know if you want.

[constellates]

[At that, Anya nods!]

Okay. I will. Do not worry, she will help.

[alienates]

[ he is still unsure about it, but he does prefer the idea of someone who is familiar with all the weird stuff that's going on to look at him versus someone without the app. the latter might think he's a freak of nature and send him to scientists or something. ]

How many time have I said thank you? [ ... ] Wait, have I said thank you yet?

[ this is a good question because karkat often forgets what manners are. ]

[constellates]

[well no, he hasn't but

she just smiles because Anya doesn't really care to hear thanks or anything - ]

You are welcome, but this is not something to say thank you for. This is понятный.... It is what is natural.

[alienates]

I'm pretty sure a lot of people would have just made jokes or ignored me.

[ karkat's opinion of people is still relatively low and people like anya are the exception, not the rule. ]

[constellates]

[admittedly

that just manages to get her to puff up a little bit]

If anyone does, tell Anya.

[firmly.

A PROTECTIVE FLUFFBALL]

[alienates]

What? Are you going to fight them on my behalf?

[ he knows it's more likely she'll have Words with them instead of a fist fight, but he's touched at the protectiveness and doesn't want to show it. ]