Otmisre Ryon.
"Dave, isn't this cool?" Terezi grinned excitedly to Dave as they walked about in search of a place selling water.
"Sure, I guess. Meeting our first human, I guess." Dave shrugged.
"Exactly!" Terezi cheered. "Our very first human! How cool is that?"
"Almost as cool as my water better fucking be." Dave said. "Because look- gas station. Jackpot."
"Gas station." Marveled Terezi. "A real life gas station! Jake taught us about these!"
"And look!" Dave said. "A ROAD! Wait wait, shh shh shh...is that a TREE?!"
"Dave, we have trees back home." Terezi stuck out her tongue.
"Cmon, we'd better hurry up then. Karkat's kind of a mess right now." Dave said.
"Yeah, what with his raaaaging jealousy." Terezi groaned. "Pretty cool that Jade shut him up just like that though. He's SUCH a immature kid, though, getting all worked up over shit that doesn't concern him."
"Or even exist." Terezi glanced over at Dave, her heart sinking. Dave went on. "There's no way Tavros could get with a girl like Jade." Terezi breathed a sigh of relief.
"You'd be surprised." She told him, pushing open the door of the store. "Jade goes for the sweet guys." Terezi and Dave stopped to marvel at the store. It's greasy floors, the rows and rows of junk food, and the many clear refrigerators stocked with drink after drink after drink. Dave was practically drooling at the sight of all this nourishing liquid. He stepped forward, Terezi close behind him. With his mouth shut tight he touched the door to the coolers, inside many different types of water chilled ice-cold. He swung open the door and began snatching at waters, grabbing bottle after bottle in his arms. Terezi began fishing out her money. Finally they stepped to the cash register and Dave dumped his waters on the counter. The Indian man looked at him strangely and rung up the price of sixteen Zepher-Hills Waters.
"Seventeen thirty-three." He said calmly. Dave looked at Terezi, expecting her to cough up the money, but she just stared. And stared. And Dave could see the fat teardrops rolling down her cheeks and soon she was crying. In a panic she hurled her stuffed purse at the bewildered cashier and made a mad dash out the door.
"Shit." Dave gritted his teeth. "I'm sorry, man, she's blind." Dave explained. "She's blind and she wants to do things but she panicked and got scared. I'm sorry."
"Oh, I see, I see," the flustered cashier reassured him. "I give you two dollar on the house. You want paper or plastic?"
"Terezi." Dave said hurriedly, setting down the bags of water and kneeling at her side. "Hey, what's up? What was that?" Terezi sobbed into her knees, curled into a ball against the firewood stack by the door. Dave shook her shoulder. "Terezi, come on, talk to me. You can tell me."
"I can't do it, Dave!" Terezi cried. "I can't! I was so confident but then I saw my first real human and I just got so scared. Dave, I can't do it. I can't do this. I want to go home."
"Cut it out." Dave told her. "You can do this, you know you can. You're just scared, and it's ok. It's ok to be scared. Hell, I'm scared. I'm scared shitless, Terezi. I don't know how we're supposed to do this. But we can do this. You and me. We got this shit. We can handle it. We are, like, so on the handle. You and me, we're going to get down on one knee and propose to the handle." Terezi laughed. "We're going to get married." Terezi stopped laughing and looked him dead in the face. "To the handle, Terezi. Don't flip this around on me." Terezi burst out laughing with Dave. "And we're going to have so many babies. with the handle. and grow old together. With the handle. And we're going to get buried side by side. By side with the handle." On the third 'with the handle' Terezi said it with him and laugh so hard her diaphragm hurt. She flung her arms around him and hugged him deep and close. Now, Dave didn't usually hug people. He wasn't as huggy as Jade. But in the case where his best friend had just finished crying he decided to let it slide and hugged her back.
"Oh, Dave," Terezi said, letting go. "We should get Gamzee a faygo. Just in case. Like an emergency faygo."
"Sure, but I told the cashier you were blind."
"What?"
"To explain your freak out. I told him you were blind and that you got scared." Terezi laughed.
"Great explanation, Dave." She rolled her eyes behind her shades. "Now let's go."
"We bring water." Terezi announced, and like a pack of wild dogs everyone rushed forward to get theirs. Soon everyone was either greedily gulping or stingily sipping at their ice-cold hydration machines. Dave handed the faygo to Karkat.
"Just in case." He explained.
"Good." Karkat nodded, putting the sugary drink into his knapsack. "Thanks. And..." He looked over at Jade, who had stopped drinking to fold her arms and wait patiently on Karkat. To his look, she gave a nod, and Karkat turned his full body to Dave. "Sorry for um...you know..."
"Exploding?" Terezi suggested.
"Sure, that." Karkat huffed. "Sorry for that." And he looked back at Jade, who gave the notion of her hand to keep going. "And while I can't say that it won't happen again, I can say that it's none of my business what you do with Terezi and-"
"Alright, alright, I got it." Dave said. "I don't need the monologue."
"I really hope you forgive me because," he lowered his voice and clenched his teeth. "She will not get off my back until you do."
"Sure, I'll forgive you." Dave grinned. "But not until you apologize to Equius, Nepeta and Tavros, too."
"Gah, seriously?!" Karkat snapped. Jade cleared her throat. Karkat huffed a sigh. "Fine. Just- fine. Here I go." He went up to Tavros first. "I am formally fucking sorry for saying a bunch of stupid bullshit."
"Oh, Karkat, you didn't need to, honestly, I wasn't hurt-" Tavros attempted reassurance, but Karkat wasn't having it.
"Yeah, yeah, thanks. Nepeta!" He barked. Nepeta bounced up to his side.
"Yes Karkitty!" She purred.
"I am formally sorry for saying a bunch of stupid bullshit." Karkat repeated.
"Apurrlogy accepted!" Nepeta nodded.
"As is mine." Equius added. "Nepeta, do you have any requests?" Karkat looked at him with a pleading look.
"Hmmm!" Nepeta said. "Karkat should stand up and declare his undying jealousy of Dave and Tavros!"
"This should be good." Vriska grinned, taking Kanaya's hand and standing up with her.
"You've got to be kidding me." Karkat practically wheezed. "You're not honestly making me do this, are you?" Nepeta nodded in amusement. Karkat waited before sucking in a huge breath and belting out,
"Hear me universe!" He shouted. "I am, and will forever be, insanely jealous of Tavros and Dave! I am so ridiculously jealous, I am near drowning in my own jealously! I am losing my mind in this jealousy! My tiny pebble of a brain simply cannot fathom the idea that there is even the smallest chance that Tavros and Dave have better chances with women than I do because I am, and will forever be, the stupidest, most self absorbed mother FUCKER who ever walked this planet earth! Do you hear me, universe? Are you satisfied?!"
There was silence as Karkat took a breath and held his face in his hands "ohmygod." He muttered. "Ohmygod." And then there was a round of applause. Nepeta cheered his cold-blooded honestly. Vriska and Kanaya laughed so hard they nearly cried. The only one who wasn't absolutely losing it over this earsplitting confession was John, who was just so sweet and caring that he was honestly worried if Karkat was okay. He tried to call Karkat's name, but he was inaudible over the cheering. Dave and Terezi swept forward to high-five him, Jade to hug him, and Nepeta to declare her acceptance of his apology. John struggled foreward, tugging Karkat aside to straighten him out.
"Karkat, are you okay?" He asked worriedly.
"Fine. Absolutely peachy." Karkat panted.
"Really, are you alright? You're not going to lose it?" He added again.
"John, I'm good." Karkat said.
"Do you need a bro hug?" John said, and before Karkat could respond negatively John locked him into his second warm embrace that day, but this one was much shorter and good hearted. John gave him a smile and a pat on the shoulder before going about his business.
"Okay guys, no more shenanigans, we have to get to work." Karkat said, stepping back into the mass of teenagers before him, "we have one more day here before we get on the greyhound and get to Atlanta. My gut says that there's another clue here, and I don't think Eridan's just going to trip over it this time. So?"
"Where are we supposed to find a clue?" Tavros asked.
"I'm asking you all." Karkat rolled his eyes. "Kanaya?"
"Well, I would assume that it would be near where the greyhound will arrive, but we'll look a bit suspicious poking around the sidewalk on Main Street." Kanaya said.
"Wait." Gamzee piped up. "Do we still got that wicked cool mother fuckin' license plate?"
"Yes, we do." Jade nodded.
"Who's handwriting?"
"Um," Jade inspected the plate. "Jane's. Why?"
"Isn't Jane always gettin her mother-fucking code on? Try reading in code."
"Jane's particular coding style is the second letter of every sentence. It must be why she likes you so much, Gamzee." Jade said. "Now let's see. North Main Street. Greyhound. That'd be... Otmisre, Ryon."
"Otmithre Ryon?" Sollux repeated.
"Otmisre, idiot. With an 's'." Eridan snuffed.
"Hey! Not glubbin' cool." Fef hissed.
"I think it's pronounced OAT-mizer, instead of OUGHT-mizer." Rose said. "Otmisre was a poet. Ryan was his first name."
"So what?" Karkat said.
"So," Rose grinned. "I think this authorizes a trip to our very first library."