Two weeks into the trip, it was very easy to see where everyone was standing, and as the former/maybe current leader,you prided yourself in being able to figure out where that was.

First, obviously, Kanaya and Rose were hanging out, having the best time just being psychological with each other and shit. Easy peasy, that’s their thing.

Terezi and Vriska seemed to be inching closer and closer into moiraillegience, which is…fine. It’s not your place to judge, but it is your place to make sure they don’t go full blackrom hatred and start a whole thing. Jegus fucking knows they’ve had enough things.

Gamzee…is your moirail? You don't really know what to do with him. At first, the warm fuzzy feelings of pale love distracted you from how fucking insane Gamzee really is, but after seeing him blatantly put some seriously messed up black moves onto Terezi, he’s just been hiding out somewhere, and it’s honestly hard to even say you like the guy anymore. You probably never did.

That part’s distressing, yeah, but it’s manageable. That’s the shit that all the books and movies and shows talk about. But fucking Strider and Leijon? That’s just out of the whole precedent. It’s like they locked eyes in that sick bay and surgically attached each other at the globes and it’s weird!

Like, you get having friends. Nepeta’s a good friend! But it’s like every time you walk by that doorway you hear the turntables that Strider was somehow able to pull out of the alchemeiter’s nook, and you have to restrain yourself from ruining the ‘sick beat’ session by telling them to turn the volume to a level that the average individual that cares for their eardrums would enjoy. It’s maddening! Just right now, you’re walking down that hallway dreading it and-

NEPETA: :33< *sob*

Oh shit. She’s probably still devastated from the whole Equius thing. Shit, why didn’t you think about that while you were chewing her out like grubsauce!? Fucking shit-

NEPETA: :33< im sorry fur crying so much… im not sure what to do… *sob*

DAVE: …im not sure how it feels to lose someone you loved like that… but if cryings helping im not gonna stop you.

FUCKING STRIDER!? Is he actually attached to her globes or something, she’s obviously upset, and when a trolls upset about a dead moirail, you get the fuck away-

NEPETA: :33< thanks for staying though

NEPETA: :33< i probably would have b33n too scared to comfurrt anyone! thank you

DAVE: its alright man youve been through some shit its like the least i can do you know

DAVE: if you wanna i think rose has a couple hundred books on grief you could borrow from her

DAVE: you dont have to obviously who am i to judge of you just wanna stay all quite like in the shadows like a sick ass beast but you seem pretty in tune with your emotions from where im standing

DAVE: so like,

DAVE: yeah

At that, Nepeta honestly seems cheered up, so that’s alright, you suppose. Dave’s a really shitty moral support, it’s almost laughable how bad that pseudo-feelings jam was! Obviously, it wasn’t, that’d be fucking dumb, Strider is like the complete opposite of Zahhak there’s no way that Nepeta would-

IS HE SHOOSH PAPPING HER!?

Mouth wider than ever before, you can clearly see through the crack of the door, a complete shoosh pap, with hand firmly on shoulder, and supportive whispers a plenty.

It’s not your place, you tell yourself, you shouldn’t be judging, but holy shit, really!?

Holy shit, holy fuck! So much holy everything Jegus is rising again-

:33< oh hi karkat!

Oh gog they're looking at you. Nepeta has her hands up, waving her bandaged hands with glee, and Strider seems to be vaguely alright with you interrupting his time with her. Suddenly everything is really fuzzy, and you can feel a heat in your head.

BANG!

When you'll wake up four hours later, everyone will chalk it up to insomnia, and it honestly probably didn't help, so you let them think that.

But Strider? You're watching him like a hawk. Whatever those are.