[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

[appraiser]

Chocobos exist in plural. The same with fruit. Horns are... [ That's just you, buddy. ]

Well, there are no other humans with them, I think. But even if the doctors think nothing of it, there's always elective cosmetic surgery for non-life-threatening structural abnormalities.

[alienates]

I guess... [ his frowns deepens at that thought though. he doesn't like the horns. they're kind of terrifying and he doesn't want to deal with all the attention they're going to bring and how his friends might react to them.

yet. yet. just like when he got his sickle in the mail, the horns kind of feel like they belong. it's an odd sensation, but hating something but thinking that they should be yours. it's not something that really hit him until he was given the option of potentially getting rid of them. ]

Would you saw them off? If you had this fuckery sprouting out of your head?

[appraiser]

Would I, personally?

[ Ryoji has to stop and think about it. He has no initial reaction of yes or no to pull him either direction, but rather the thoughts of yes being the natural response, and no being the response he suspects is expected of him, of loving oneself no matter how one looks. ]

...I don't know. [ It's an honest response, but not particularly helpful if Karkat is looking for input on his situation. ] That sort of decision isn't done hastily. I think I would live with them for a while and make my decision once I'm sure.

[alienates]

What if you're not sure if this is the last of it?

[ his fingers tap against the counter idly. while he has spoken to some people about the weird visions he's seen, he hasn't gone into very specific details about them. ]

Like what if you think this is just the tip of the manure filled iceberg and that when global warming properly hits, all of the feces is just going to come flowing out?

[appraiser]

That's some metaphor!

[ There's a surprised burst of laughter, but, ah. Karkat is serious, isn't he? So Ryoji has to reel himself back in and be serious too. ]

I'd ask what you think could be worse, but I'm sure there are many... But if one day you wake up a monster with too much to hide, people noticing isn't bad. Noticing means people care, and caring means they will help. Even something like horns, I think they will.

[alienates]

Noticing might also mean they'll pick up pitchforks and recreate every early 1900s monster movie.

[ well, there's no point in worrying about things that hasn't happened yet.

(karkat is 100% going to worry about that, because it's what he does, but he will at least try not to do it out loud too much.) ]

[appraiser]

Pitchforks aren't very effective. We have firearms now.

But don't worry! [ before Karkat worries!! ] I've watched enough movies to know that the basis of monster movies is to understand the unknown. To talk things out, if you're able.

[alienates]

[ karkat cannot believe he is going to get shot to death by an angry mob!!! ]

Alright but does that shit ever actually happen?

[ he groans, and rests his forehead against the counter. ]

This is stupid. Ryoji, tell me how stupid I look.

[appraiser]

Maybe, and no.

[ Karkat with his head down means that he can't see Ryoji leaning against the counter, arms folded on the surface, and something of a frown working its way onto his face. ]

Saying that won't make anything better. But I could tell you that I will love you no matter how you look.

[ He sort of just went ahead and did it, but whatever. ]

[alienates]

[ he makes a noise that sounds like a groan, but then he very suddenly looks up because the topic of love just reminded him of something. ]

You're dating Yuuko, right?

[ this is horribly off topic but he needs to hear it from ryoji. ]

[appraiser]

Yes...

[ It's not a cheerful yes, it's a cautious yes filled with dread and wariness because every time this gets brought up when he least expects it, Ryoji gets an hour long lecture and why can't somebody just be happy for the two of them?? ]

[alienates]

You're not going to suddenly break up with her for no real reason or make her cry, right?

[ ryoji doesn't seem the type, honestly, but karkat is best friends with anya and he heard about her talk with him. and he's also pretty close to yuuko, so he just had to Make Sure. ]

[appraiser]

No.

[ Said decisively. These yes/no questions are pretty safe, especially when Karkat basically directs him towards a single acceptable answer that doesn't add yet another person to the list of people who will kill Ryoji if he breaks Yuuko's heart. ]

I don't plan to do either of those.

[ Plan, because nobody breaks up for no real reason. Also he'd already almost made her cry, but now's not the time to admit that. ]

[alienates]

[ it's definitely best not to admit that.

karkat just stares at ryoji for another moment, before putting his head back down and gesturing vaguely at his general direction. ]

Alright you get a pass. If you hurt her I'll fight you, blah blah, just trust me that if this was a different day my speech would be much more impressive.

[appraiser]

You'll have to get in line to fight me.

[ It's not really something to laugh about, but Ryoji laughs anyways, delighted by the fact that Yuuko has so many people who would fight for her cause. Karkat especially, who, however vehement he claims otherwise, cares so obviously the Ryoji can't help but smile down at the top of his head... and pat him right there in between the two horns. ]

We'll get this sorted out, then you can give me a proper speech.

[alienates]

[ he makes a sort of squawking sound at the head pat, obviously taken off guard by it. after the events of the day he's not unused to people trying to touch the horns, but this was new. ]

You should feel honored. My speeches are highly regarded to be the best anyone can experience in this city.

[ he... does not really want to return to the previous conversation, since it means acknowledging that the goddamn horns exist again. ]

[appraiser]

I can see that. Your metaphors do get their point across.

[ Vivid and shocking are good tactics, all things considered. Speeches though, are pretty rarely heard nowadays outside of elections and movies. ]

What do you do in school? Student council? Debate? Theater? Nobody would think anything of the horns if you were in theater.

[alienates]

I work on the newspaper. I was banned from the debate club because my tactics were apparently too ruthless and not PG enough for a school function.

[ freshman year was wild ]

I could never do theater.

[appraiser]

[ The debate ban isn't hard to imagine, actually... But he wonders why not theater. When Ryoji's asked other people before, their responses ranged from wavering confidence to an open dislike for performing. ]

No? You seem like you would do well. You're expressive and articulate.

[alienates]

There is too much drama that goes on behind the scenes. I am pretty sure that's why it's called the drama department in the first place? Like no, Fred, I don't give a fuck that Shelly purposely ripped on Marie's costume because she wanted the part of Lady Macbeth, what does that have to do with me?

[ that is... way too specific of an example. ]

[appraiser]

[ Is this a real example or just hypothetical— either way, Ryoji doesn't miss a beat ]

Fred coming to you for help may be a show of trust in your abilities as an arbiter. Or if you're a friend of Shelly's, he approached in hopes that you could talk to her. Or perhaps you can sew? The costume would be the property of the department, after all, not Marie herself, and could still be saved.

[alienates]

[ karkat isn't sure if he is annoyed or not by the fact that ryoji had a response so readily available in order to fix this imaginary problem. it's difficult to be overdramatic when the other person is actually good at going off of it in a reasonable manner. ]

Okay but. [ he's trying to come up with an argument against this logic?? ] Shit.

[appraiser]

What happened to those debate tactics?

[ He laughs, but only teasingly, an amused little grin on his face at the thought of being on opposing podiums as Karkat. If it's something Ryoji practices a lot, it's thinking about others and putting himself into other people's shoes if he can. And of course, optimism to fall back upon. ]

[alienates]

[ karkat flips him off. the action is way too automatic to carry any actual ill intent behind it though. ]

Maybe you should have been on the team. You could friendship them into submission.

[appraiser]

Is that a valid debate technique?

[ Because he will do it, buddying up with the other side and trying to get them to switch opinions based off the merit of friendship alone. It's a cheap win. ]

Oh, but friends disagree all the time. Close friends especially, once they're comfortable enough saying what's on their mind without worry.