recolle | [open] ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

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elfen lied: kaede

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

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. ]

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[ ainsley's face can't help but fall a little bit at his reaction. she had gotten used to kara's surprise every time it happened but chalked it up to her shy and still skittish nature.

but karkat's reaction... well. it made her look worried now as she noisily reached over and dragged the waiting chairs to where they were standing. they, of course, will not put them back after their time here. (take that, establishment!) ] Is it really that bad?

I wasn't expecting it so it surprised the shit out of me?

[ he can't say for sure unless it happens again, really. things are always more shocking the first time around, after all, which is why first impressions aren't always the best judge. ]

Ohhhh. That's a good point. Maybe you'll get used to it and it won't be as likely to scare the, um, shoot out of you as much.

[ yes she's still going to try and avoid cursing around him because she's gotta be a good role model somehow. ] To be honest you are one of the more mild reactions to seeing all of this live. You didn't think I was dying, for one thing.

Oh. [ ... ] You're not dying, are you?

[ he assumes? not?? it's been like a week since it started happening and she hasn't died yet, so he doesn't think she is about to drop dead. ]

I don't think I am! [ hopefully. she can't help but look around to see if there's wood to knock on.

but no wait concentrate! ] I mean... There's no illness that has sparkling or sparks as part of its symptoms right? Then again stranger things have happened. All thanks to this awful company.

[ awful! she's making it a point to say those last three words very loudly. ]

[ good for you, ainsley. join the shit talk retrospec campaign!! it's fun, even if nothing comes out of it. ]

What's your theory about all of this, anyway? Like... what do you think is going on here?

[ he has heard a lot of interesting opinions on this the last few months. ]

[ a theory…?

that gets her to stop in her grumbling tracks, surprised to hear the question. something does spring to mind but… ] I do. It's an admittedly silly one. I'm sure the others said something much more seriously like experiments and the like.

Mine is… ridiculous. Could just be the product of all my book reading lately.

Whatever your theory is cannot be more ridiculous and silly than our lives right now.

[ well, it could be, but karkat would be less surprised to hear something like that now versus when all of this originally started happening. ]

[ hmmm... ]

There's this idea that we're actually living in a virtual reality because we're slowly dying and there's nothing that can be done. As a result you're placed under a idyllic version of your life, allowing you to spend your days in peace.

When it begins to shutdown - or, to be more precise, it can no longer sustain the person for one reason or another - the reality around us starts to break down. [ ...

ainsley what the heck are you reading to get an idea like this. ]

[ this is the first time someone has presented this theory to karkat, and he just kind of stares at her because

honestly that is legit the most fucked up theory someone has come up with. AINSLEY. what are you reading indeed?? ]

Okay. We can put that idea on the table, but I would prefer that not to be it, since I'm not a fan of dying.

[ her smile is sheepish at least, acknowledging that what she'd said was, at best, rather disturbing when you really begin to think about the implications... yeah...

look she's been reading a lot of sci-fi and urban fantasies, okay? mythologies and folklores are too dense for her right now and she thought they would give her an idea of what's going on. ]

So what else have you heard from the others? No doubt somebody has got their own theory of what's happening. Do you have one?

The one I'm leaning more towards is parallel universes? Someone I was talking to had this very detailed explanation that involved a lot of science that went right over my head. But the gist of it was that maybe the parallel universes were colliding with each other which is why we're seeing all of this.

[ so it's also ridiculous but also, less depressing. ]

[ it's definitely less depressing so she's more than happy to follow that thread of thought along.

the implications still worry her since it means... things for her but no need to dwell on that. this possibility raises a question she can't help but ask: ] If we're running on the assumption- Does that mean the other version of ourselves sees our memories in return?

[ oh.

he never actually thought about it from the other way around. ]

So somewhere out there, there's a you who is seeing memories of you ordering pizzas for a bunch of kids. [ ... ] Wait, since we're like gaining powers and shit, would that mean they're losing them or something?

I think so. It has to be give-and-take, right? [ there has to be an reaction equal or more than the action itself. just so there was balance otherwise they'll be in big trouble. ] If we glean something about their lives, chances are they also have the chance to see a snapshot of what life is like for us in return.

[ even if it was just her ordering pizza for her excited students. she thinks that's a nice memory to get.

as the for bit about the powers... it did worry her a little bit. give her a second to think about this. ] That would imply we're giving something up in return and, so far, nothing has happened to me. At least from what I can recall.

Well, we... sort of are. Like when people originally had brown eyes, and they turn red or some other anime character, then technically they're giving away their brown eyes? And for powers... maybe you're just losing your normalcy.

[ it seems like a very unfair deal, but when you think about it, if those people live in a place where powers are needed than they are getting royally fucked over by having them taken away. ]

Oof! That's rough. [ this is definitely going to pop back in her mind if anyone ever got something, like, flying or super strength. here's hoping the person in question isn't using their power when it's taken away. ]

So we're replacing things of their world with things from our world. Huh. I guess that means we had our horses switched out with someone else's… Chocobos. [ that name will never stop being weird for her. ] Hmm… It does make me wonder about something…

About what?

[ his immediate though is, "is it something terrible," but he manages not to voice that part out loud.

she might know that's what he means, anyway, just from knowing him. ]

[ it's not terrible.

no per se… depends on how one looks at it… etc etc… ]

Do you think they're also being tormented by their own version of Retrospec? It's the only thing that connects everything that has happened to us together after all. [ ever since it first was downloaded on their phones and devices against their will.

oh to go back to those days and still believe that's the worst the company would do. ]

They probably do. Shit, they can have their own version of Jim... Tim. Fucking Tim.

[ they probably hate tim. karkat feels sorry for these hypothetical other versions of themselves. ]

As a wise man once said: The are only two things certain in life: death and Jims making lives miserable for anyone using Retrospec.

[ because really, this is nuts ]. So- Are you feeling better now that we got to, um, beeyotch out the company?

[ what.

ainsley now. ainsley plEASE. YOU CAN CURSE. YOU ARE ALMOST FORTY-YEARS-YOUNG. ]

Beeyotch.

[ why is she like this. he has seen ten year olds curse more than this woman, and he was one of those ten year olds.

he, at least, doesn't comment on it since it's more or less expected from her at this point. ]

I still feel like shit but slightly less so.

[ karkat please she needs to be a role model for her students even if they're not here.

all the same she smiles at his response, a little relieved. ] That's a bit of an improvement.

How about I treat you out to somewhere then after this? Kara and I were planning to grab something from the sweetshop and you're welcomed to come along. More company is always a plus!

[ for a moment, it seems like he might deny the offer. but... there's not really much he can do here, aside from screaming at an empty building, and his work shift still isn't for a couple of hours anyway.

ah well. ]

As long as Kara is fine with me interrupting your date [ he looks at the dog ] then sure.

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this is so late wow hey there

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