Tangled and Twisted

back to present day.

Everyone at the hospital packing up to go home since they were kicked out at the closing hours of the hospital. Dean stopping Damara outside. "I uh can your car here for you. Would it be alright if I camped out at your place on the couch? I got my own place but if we're gonna be tracking down Makara I do want to waste the gas or power to keep hopping back and forth, not to mention we're safer in bigger numbers." Damara had to think about it for a minute before she glanced to Karkat getting into his own vehicle. "As long as you don't make things tough, Dave has a habit of fucking with Karkat and Derrick doesn't know how to keep his hands to himself."
Dean almost seemed surprised that she would think he was like his siblings. "Wouldn't dream of doin' anything like that, poor guy has lost a lot an' you. Well you seem like you could gut me an' not give a damn. Not to mention mom raised me up better than that."

Their conversation ended and a few minutes and her car was taking up an empty parking space, obviously his mother had taught him more than just how to treat a girl. But before she took off home she went back to Karkat's car to let him and Kankri know that she had her car back and would be letting Dean stay with them until the issue of Gamzee was resolved. Making sure that that was alright with Karkat before she went back to her car and started it, reminding herself that she'd have to fix it up now that it wasn't just for grocery runs anymore. Pulling of she questioned Dean about his mother, she had rarely heard of the other Strider speak a word about her and it became clear why. A hunter and witch with the nastiest divorce left them split with Derrick being raised by his hunter father and Dean by his witch mother. And the vendetta he had towards Gamzee? Well his mother was no more because of that family.

Getting home Cronus was right by the door, panicked when he saw the state of everyone as they filed in, fussing over Kankri the most of course.

#1

KARKAT: Karkat agreed to Dean staying with them. Begrudgingly of course, but he didn't have the energy to argue about mostly anything. He and Kankri stopped back by their dad's to clean it up before they locked the door and headed back to the apartment. Karkat immediately going into the room he and Damara shared and standing for a moment. His face was blank, his shoulders and back hunched. Somehow looking more miserable than he has ever managed before. He takes a deep breath and goes over to his other jacket. He grabs his pack of cigarattes and an ash tray he had set around. Letting Damara know he was going to sit outside he sits outside of the apartment building, plays music quietly from his phone and lights a cigarette, smoking it away while he leaned on the wall.

#2

:Kankri had to profusely tell Cronus that he was fine but it wasn't ending. Damara sighing and watching the two that still seemed so lightheart, Dean doing the same with a smile he wasn't too good relationships, meaning the people he got with usually would wind up dead. Leaving the three in the apartment she went to go sit with Karkat. Just silently plopping down next to him.

#1

KARKAT: He exhales a cloud of smoke and watches her sit down before looking up at the sky again. He was silent for a long time before he says. "I still remember her smile."

#2

:"Your mom's? She always sounded like a wonderful woman from the stories." In the running tragedies that took parents before they could truly see their kids grow up Damara was lucky enough to keep her mother, aunt, and grandmother. Though her father was a different story, he simply up and left one day. But what was there to expect from a demon?

#1

KARKAT: He simply nods and takes another drag from his cigarette. "I was ten...I didn't really get a chance to think about her any other way..." He turns his music down a little bit. "You want to know something I've never even told Kankri? It's something our dad told me while we were hunting the eldest Makara."