Across Any Universe

[solarOrigins]

It was just like the door from their own session. It stood tall in front of their group, eight children and three trolls, the knob a glistening spiralgraph sphere. Everyone was nervous, the air tense with the combined anxieties.

"Dave?" Karkat asked in a small voice. "What if... What if we don't come with you?"

The fruit of their labors was staring them smack dab in the face, a trophy of universal proportions presenting itself for their rightful taking. And yet as Karkat's voice registered into words, he found himself wondering the exact same thing. What would happen? Where would they go?

It just made him squeeze Karkat's hand even tighter. "I don't know, Karks." He mumbled quietly. "But even if we're split up, that won't change anything between us. I'll still be red for you." He looked down at him, vermillion hues behind tinted shades looking over his partner. "Don't ever doubt that. If we split up geographically, we'll just find each other."

"But" Karkat's normally boisterous voice was soft now, "But what if I don't get to go?"

"You don't have anywhere else to go, babe. Your planet and mine are gone." He murmured. "Our game sessions intersected. Surely you'll be able to come as well." He hoped, anyway.

"The game's never done us any favors before" Karkat pointed out, ever the pessimist as he gripped Dave's hand tighter than before, afraid to loose him.

Ahead of them, John was reaching for the handle.

"The game is beat, babe. It can't do anything to us anymore." He pulled Karkat's hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to the back of it. "I'll wait for you."

Karkat pressed his lips into a thin line, pushing his panic down. He nodded. "I'll find you, I'll find you or I'll wait for you to find me, I promise"

As John opened the door, everyone was bathed in a blinding light and a shrill noise cut the air.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Karkat woke with a gasp, his lusus jumping off the bed and scuttling out the door with a shriek that would inevitably bring his guardian in to check on him. He ran his hand over his face, trying to compose himself.

"Karkat!"

Karkat cringed as his guardian came into the room.

"Good you're awake!" Kankri smiled. "How about today we go visit Houston? We'll have some fun, see the city"

Karkat sighed. "Whatever, fine" he grumbled "So long as I can dress myself"

Kankri smiled. "Good! I'll make breakfast then!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Dave. Dave. I'm bored." Dirk stated, standing by Dave and prodding him. "Dave, pay attention to me. Dave."

[cacklingMarionette]

Dave, of course, was lost in thought. He had that dream again...and at this point, it was nothing short of complete torture. But it wasn't long before his brother-- was he really older than him?-- was frantically trying to get his attention. He sighed and looked over at him, brows furrowed. "What do you want me to do about it?"

[solarOrigins]

"Go with me to the museum. They're having a student special and I don't have anyone to go with me." Dirk stated, he tossed an arm around Dave's shoulders and leaned in. "I'll treat you to lunch and we can go to the record store afterwards"

[cacklingMarionette]

"Feel like you gotta bribe me? 'S that it?" Dave snorted as he gave his brother a nudge with his elbow, but made no real serious attempt to push him away. "Alright, sounds good. I need to get something off of my mind anyway." But then he looked over at him, brow raised. "What's at the museum that has you so excited, though?"

[solarOrigins]

Dirk removed his arm from Dave's shoulders and looked away sheepishly. "They've got an exhibit on underwater civilizations right now" he mumbled "I really wanted to see it because it kinda reminds me of before"

[cacklingMarionette]

Dave's face solidified for a moment before he nodded. "Alright, bro. Get your wallet and we'll go." He said, grabbing his own wallet along with the keys. "Walking?"

[solarOrigins]

"I've already got my wallet, and I figured we could take the bus since Bro took the car" Dirk stated. "And Big D is never around when we need him, so we're on our own." He made his way towards the front door. "There should be a bus going that way in about ten minutes. More than enough time to get to the bus stop."

[cacklingMarionette]

"True." He said as he checked that he had everything before heading towards the front door. He opened it up for Dirk, allowing him to pass before closing the door behind them, locking it. "Let's hit it." He smirked before he vanished.

[solarOrigins]

"no fair!" Dirk grinned as he vanished after Dave. His flash stepping was still clumsy at best, never having had a mentor to help him perfect it as Dave had. He was still fast, he just had almost none of the grace that the other Striders moved with. Watching Dirk flashstep was like watching a baby giraffe learn to walk.

[cacklingMarionette]

Dave just laughed as he made it outside in record time, waiting for him. When he felt Dirk's presence, he stuck out his foot, effectively tripping the guy, but managing to catch him before he actually fell. "I should probably give you some lessons." he teased.

[solarOrigins]

"Why learn from you when I can learn from Bro?" Dirk teased right back. He brushed himself off. "Is there anywhere good to eat by the museum?" he asked

[cacklingMarionette]

"Oh dude, I'm hurt." He said, slapping a hand over his chest. "I thought we were Bros, dude. And yeah, a couple of places." He said as they started walking again.

[solarOrigins]

"Great, because I'm starving. Want to snag something before going in? Or should I just grab a snack and we eat later?" Dirk asked, sticking his hands in his pockets.

[cacklingMarionette]

"We can eat before we go in, dude. Museum doesn't close for a few hours." Dave stated as he leaned against the bus stop pole. The bus should be arriving in a few minutes.

[solarOrigins]

Dirk nodded "right, okay." He rocked on his heels in silence for a moment. "There's supposed to be a section on Aquatic troll cities too." he stated right before the bus came into view. "...Do you ever... miss them?"

[cacklingMarionette]

Dave glanced down at the ground, expression solidifying a little more. It was still a touchy subject, especially because of the relationship he was forced to leave behind. "...Yeah."

[solarOrigins]

"Do you think,,, You have a chance of ever finding them again?" Dirk asked as the bus hissed to a stop in front of them. He clearly meant Dave's troll, though he was unsure if the one Dave had been so close to before was designated male or female.

[cacklingMarionette]

"I....don't know." He sighed softly as they climbed onto the bus, paying their fare before moving to sit down in their seats. "He and I hoped we could try and meet again, but...nothing seems to have made that possible. Not even a chat client."

[solarOrigins]

"I thought Trollian and Pesterchum were compatable due to the real time translation servers that doubles as a decoder" Dirk stated. "Is his information different?"

[cacklingMarionette]

"I don't know. But I've tried messaging him, and I've gotten nothing. He definitely knows my info, and I haven't changed it, so..." Dave gave a half-hearted shrug. "Can we maybe stop talking about this?"

[solarOrigins]

"Sorry" Dirk mumbled, following Dave to the seats. "Would you like me to help?" he asked

[cacklingMarionette]

"I've tried everything. I doubt you'd be able to help." Dave sighed softly as he glanced out of the window.

[solarOrigins]

"Well, you're not a hacker, so I doubt you thought to cross referenced profiles and typing quirks?" Dirk asked

[cacklingMarionette]

"How would that work?" he asked, not trying to be a negative nancy, but rather, because he was genuinely curious.

[solarOrigins]

"Well, everyone has a typing quirk, and both pesterchum and trollian have servers that store user information and client preferences; for when people have to delete the program from their computers and redownload everything. Theoretically One could hack into the network and run a search through there for a certain phrase or typing quirk. For example, I used to talk to a guy who typed in really shitty Leetspeak. I would type out something in leet that he would be likely to say and run a search. That would pull up logs, which I would be able to pull a list of users from." Dirk explained.

"Once I have a list of users I can narrow it down further by using information off their profiles, male, female, age, lusus, race, blood color, surnames. All stuff like that."

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