Chapter Text
Your finger presses against the trigger of the crossbow as you steady your aim and look down the point of the bolt. Your breath shallows, and your target is in sight. The doe ahead grazes quietly in the overgrowth, and nuzzles the greenery without suspicion. She has no idea that you are watching her.
There is a small window for you to take her down. You have to wait, hold your breath, and be patient enough for her to move just one more step so you catch a side view of her chest. You want her death to be as quick and painless as possible. She gradually takes a few steps forward like you had anticipated, and she is in full view, only a hundred feet away, or so you estimated. You are ready to pull the trigger, when a spotted fawn emerges from behind the foliage to meet her.
You bring the crossbow down, and release your finger from the trigger. You can't bring yourself to harm either of them, for the sake of the baby deer. You sigh tightly so the air pushes out through your nose, and you can feel your head bob with it. You allow yourself to observe the peaceful scene for a minute or two before picking up a rock and throwing it. You have no intention of harming them with the rock, it just rattles off of a tree and frightens the pair off.
You couldn't have made that shot anyway.
Turning on your heel, you wave the crossbow around as if you're a toddler playing with an old doll; a rather heavy old doll. You hate the clunky thing. It is late in the afternoon, and you have to be back at camp before the sun sets. They won't accept anyone back after sundown, not without causing a "time wasting" examination, that for some reason beyond your understanding requires at least a dozen guards. They don't want to waste time or resources on someone that could be hostile, your friends keep telling you. You can't stay out much longer.
You don't want to be out in the wilderness alone, especially when the light starts to fade and the creatures of the night come out from their hideaways. You've been on hunting duty since sunrise with a handful of other people, who all split up to cover more ground. Jade is usually your hunting partner, but she's been in and out of the infirmary the past week, you still don't know why exactly, but you suspect Rose or Dave knows.
The heat of the sun radiates on your back as you navigate your way through a small clearing in the forest. You jump over a log and scan your surroundings. There are trees encircling the scar you've come across, there is nothing but green and brown. It's nice compared to home; you decided long ago that you love nature, compared to the horrid slabs of concrete and sheets of metal you've known for most of your life. The camp is only a few miles away, so it would probably take two hours maximum to make it back. But still; you feel like it's a hundred miles away. You've been on hunting duty twice a week for two months now, ever since your eighteenth birthday. It's different from your regular supply runs with Dave in the city; when you are hunting, you are alone and vulnerable. You have to constantly be on your guard, which you hate. At least Dave kept your mind off of the silence. Everything was so quiet away from camp, and despite how that made it easier to find deer or rabbits or whatever else, it also made you easier to track.
You missed the checkpoint an hour ago, when you were supposed to meet up with the rest of the hunting party and head back home. You only managed to shoot a few bunnies, that you stuffed into your rough old backpack. You are twice as sad because of this; for one thing, they were cute little bunny rabbits, but also, without a decent hunt, your people will go hungry. You can't go back with only a couple of bunnies, not when you're feeding the entire camp; a band of nearly three hundred persons. Sure, there were farmers, but that could only stretch so far throughout camp; red meat was vital to keeping the population fed and healthy. English would double your workload if you appeared to be slacking, or worse, he could kick you out of the camp altogether.
You shudder as you reenter the shadowed thick of the forest. Around you birds chirp and sing, and you can hear the flutter of their wings as they go from tree to tree. You smile as you look up at them, happy that they're too small to waste a bolt on. You switch hands for the crossbow and flick your strained wrist when you hear something crashing through the bushes.
You freeze.
And look around with your eyes.
You can't move, not even to raise your weapon.
It's getting louder. It's heading in your direction. You feel the pain in your chest, the fear pulsing through your body. Everything is telling you to run, but you can't. You've never had to face danger on the outside before, not by yourself. If Dave were here, you would feel more courageous, and both of you would run. Jade would knock some sense into you, and Rose would try and calm you. You never thought about it much, but now, you think of how much you love your friends, and how much you miss your father.
You hear gunshots, three bullets, one after the other. You don't know who could have fired those shots, because the guns are not supposed to leave camp, by English's order. It's idiotic to use guns out here; too much noise. You turn your head to your left when you hear another two shots, and fall back as something sharp whizzes past your ear. You are dazed, and your heart is thrumming in your ears. You crawl backwards when a feminine scream rips through the trees, and you pull the crossbow to your chest with your free arm.
Your fears are realised when two of them appear from behind the trees where the shots came from. Their skin is as grey as the stories have made them out to be, and the horns on their heads only add to the fright you feel. One of them you can tell is female; she has every physical indication of femininity. She's limping, and holding her arm. A blue liquid dampens her clothing, which sticks to her. Her face is crumpled in pain, and her long black hair sticks across her nose and mouth. The other is male, you think. He looks smaller than the female, and his horns are tiny. There's the same blue fluid on him as there is the female, but he isn't gripping at any injuries. He looks at the female as she falls. He makes a noise, like a cross between a gasp and a shout, and another shot is fired. He jumps back until his back hits a tree, panting desperately as his chest rises and falls.
Your eyes meet, and you are both frozen. His eyes look so white, void of any colour, and his brows are thick and black. His mouth hangs open as he nearly chokes for air, and you can catch a glimpse of a row of sharpened teeth. You gape at the sight. You've never seen a troll before, and you had hoped you never would. A few of the older people at camp talked about them, and your father used to tell you stories when you were a child about the vicious grey creatures that brought an end to global civilization in your great, great grandparents time, and would hunt and kill any human they would catch outside the safety of their camp.
You stare at the troll before you, and can't find your breath. He isn't moving either, he just looks at you with big, wide eyes.
More noise comes from behind him; a familiar clattering of hooves against the soft grass. The male troll drops down and tries to make himself as small as possible, but never takes his eyes off of you. The overgrowth hides him in the shadows, and he would have been invisible if you hadn't already spotted him. You turn your gaze to the rider as he makes his way through the trees and into your line of sight. Stopping in front of the body of the female troll, the rider jumps from his horse and kicks her lazily. She yelps, and moves a little to try and shield herself. The rider looks up from her, and over at you. You recognise him immediately.
"Well, well, well."
You flinch away at his voice.
"You shouldn't be out here, should you?" You can practically hear the sly venom in his English accent. "Hunting party headed back home a while ago."
"I-" you stutter, and look back at the troll who is hiding amidst some fern at the foot of a tree. His teeth are clenched, and he is staring at you with the purest look of fear you had ever seen. "Caliborn," you say, and force yourself to chuckle, "shit, is it really that late...?"
He laughs, and takes something from the saddlebag on his horse. "Don't fuck with me, kid. We all have watches, and even a retarded imp can tell the time." There's rope in his hands when he turns to you. "But between you and me, unlike my father, I don't give a shit what you people get up to."
You swallow. "You call me kid, but we're like, the same age..."
"I'll rephrase so you understand," he reaches down and ties the troll girls hands together, and then moves onto her legs. "I don't give a shit. Period."
"Oh," you say, and look back at the troll who is still hiding. He is no longer staring at you, his darkened face tilts slightly in Caliborn's direction.
"There was another one," Caliborn says as he stands. "Where did it go?"
You swallow, and force a shrug. "I only seen her..." You nod at the female troll.
"Bullshit," he retaliates as he ties the end of his rope to his saddle. "I followed two of them here from this shack about two miles north. The other one didn't just disappear."
"Well, I didn't see it!" You insist, and catch sight of the troll again, who is staring back at you once more. You look back at Caliborn before he notices your attention is fixated elsewhere.
"Fuck. You. I don't even care, I have it's little friend here. That's good enough for me."
"What are you-" you try to ask as he mounts his horse.
"You'll see if you hurry back to camp, won't you?" Fuck, his voice is disgusting. He pulls the reins, and turns his horse as he takes his leave with a trot, while the girl is dragged over the dirt and grass with little more resistance than a weak cry.
You can't look anywhere else until you can no longer hear them. You listen to the sound of your heartbeat, and you breathe slowly. You train your gaze back to the troll still pinned to the root of the tree. He is glaring at you, and you can see his sharp snarl. He makes no move against you, but his demeanour sparks the memory of a wild dog you came across in the city with Dave. You blink, and gradually pick yourself up, and dust off your torn pants.
"... Um... Are you... Okay?" You stand rigid, and keep your crossbow to your side. You make no sudden moves. "I'm just here, not being a threat or anything..." You pray the troll doesn't attack you.
"## # # ### ## # ##!" His voice is raspy and bitter.
You raise your free hand and wave, hoping he understands you mean him no harm. "I don't really know what you just said... But, yeah... I'm not with that guy," you shake your head and point in the direction Caliborn left. "I... That girl... Was she your friend, or..." You hope your voice can calm him down.
He looks at you with a funny expression; his head tilts away a little behind a bush and his brows furrow over his dark face, "# ## # ## ###."
You hum, and hover there, before taking a step towards him. He doesn't seem as scary as you first thought him, or any troll to be. He sounds quieter than before, more wary than anything. Like a trapped animal; you've been hunting long enough to recognise the body language. You hope trolls are similar to other animals you've come across. You've never actually seen a troll before. When he peeks back out from the bush, you get a clearer view of his features. His hair is black, and looks rather scruffy, and his skin sure is grey. His yellow horns are clear to see, as you can observe his head from a higher angle, but they are tiny compared to the female's, and from what you've heard about trolls. He is pretty tiny in general. Maybe he is a child?... Maybe he is actually a girl, and you were mistaken.
"Hi," you say as you inch closer, unable to resist your curiosity.
The troll jumps up, and takes a defensive stance. You can see his fangs, and those are pretty damn impressive compared to his horns.
You stop, and hold back. "It's okay, little guy..." You are afraid again, but you can't help it. He isn't actually attacking you. You want to move closer and check this troll out, but you also don't want to get mauled. You point to yourself, and pull a half smile, "I'm John."
He growls, and glances away quickly before bringing his eyes back to you. His eyes really are white; clouded over where there should be colour. You stare, unblinking, and your mouth opens. "... I'm John..."
"# Jan...? Jon? ## # John # ### ##### ## ##!" He seems to spit at you.
You flinch away a little and drop your hand. You suddenly realise that he could be too cautious to make a run for it, in case you follow him like Caliborn had. "... If you wanna go, you can go... I won't stop you..."
He growls again in a low tone.
You sigh through your overbite, and look down at your crossbow. You can feel his eyes on you as you shake the heavy weapon lightly, and drop it. When you look back up at him, his expression sinks from aggression, even just a little. You shrug, and he stands straighter, less anxious. He's still small, but not as small as before, he might be less than foot smaller than you.
"#?" You can tell it's a question by the way his face contorts.
You smile weakly, and shrug again. "I dunno," you say, "I've never seen a troll before, and I... Don't really want to hurt you? I'm not a threat to you, and I... Really want you to feel the same way about me."
He frowns, and starts to walk around you.
You feel like you're in real shit when you notice he's circling you. You follow him round, unable to turn your back to him. "Hey... What are you doing..." Your voice shakes a little, but you try to hide it with a cough.
"###?... John?" He says roughly, quietly. His fists clench.
You nod, and bite your lip.
"######," he says as he continues to pace around you.
"... Uh, what?" You take a step back as he stops circling, and moves towards you.
He stops, and tucks his hands into the pockets of his worn grey hoodie. "# ## # # ### # # ## ### ## #### # # ###." You blink. "# # # ######."
You blink again.
He groans, and shows off his fangs as he speaks again, more slowly. "Karrktt."
"Huh? Car Kit?... Is that what you're saying?" You ask.
A low gust of air passes out of his short nose. "... Joooohn... Kaarkaat."
You nod with a smile, "ohhhhhhh... Your name is Karkat! I'm John," you point at yourself, and then him, "and you're Karkat!"
He stares at you, but doesn't disagree, so you assume you're right.
"Karkat, Karkat, Karkat," you utter. You are talking to a freaking troll. And it has just sunk in.
"## #."
You purse your lips and tilt your head. "Well, what else can I say that you'll actually understand? You're speaking complete jibberish to me."
"## # ## # ## # #...?" He doesn't sound pleased.
You look to your left, then to your right, and then at your feet. "Why aren't you attacking me? I mean, I'm happy you aren't, but, we're supposed to be enemies or something."
He just stares at you blankly.
You bite your lip again, "you're probably thinking the same thing, I guess. I've never seen a troll before, and my first instinct isn't kill, you look kinda scary, but- oh, is it the same for you? Other than Caliborn, I must be the first human you've seen, huh?"
"# ## # # # ##, #####."
You cough a short laugh into your fist, "I could just be the first that's not tried to attack you... And I won't," you shake your hands, "hopefully... You aren't gonna kill me...?"
He looks frustrated, and his thick brow raises, along with one side of his upper lip, which reveals a decent sized incisor or two. "## # ### ##?"
"Karkat," you nod, and scratch your arm.
His head lowers, and he grumbles, "#, #####."
You tilt your head and breathe a long hum, "are you okay?"
He doesn't answer you.
"Uhh... Okay? Or... Hurt?" You exaggerate a toothy smile, "okay," and you flip the smile and pinch your arm "ouch! Hurt? Karkat?"
You studies you, unamused, and bites the side of his lip.
"Okay," you smile a long moment, and then frown while you hold your arm as if you are injured, "hurt. Karkat?"
He waits at least a minute before replying, "o-okeh?"
You nod, and then shake your head, "not hurt?"
He shakes his head, which makes you smile, because you're actually communicating with a troll.
"Good," you nod, "I don't know about your friend, though.." You point you thumb behind you, "if there were anything I could do, I would, you know? But that guy's our leader's son, he'd kill me if I tried to stop him... I hate him, he's a big douche. His sister is nice though, everyone likes her. My friends are good people too, it sucks though, only people in charge are dicks. Dave is cool, he's my best friend, and Rose is-"
Karkat holds up his hand. His eyes are wide.
You snigger nervously. "Sorry..."
"Srreh?" His hand falls, and he appears to inch closer.
"It's sorry, like... Sorry I ate the last mushroom. Or, sorry I borrowed your shirt, or... Shit, sorry I lost your gun!"
You swear you see him smile, just for a second. "Soreh? ## ### ## # ### ######## ## # soreh, ## ### ## ## # ##, John? # ## # # ## ### # #### ## # ## # # ### ## ## ###### ##### ###### #### ## ### # #### hurt # okeh, ###? #### ## # ### ## #! ###! ## ## # ### ## ## ###### ##, # #?" He looks as if he expects you to say something in response.
You lick your lip and glances around.
"## #."
"Ha," you say.
"Ha, ###, ha."
"Hahaha ha ha ha, haha."
"## #..."
You genuinely laugh this time, and take a guess that he was telling you to quit it. "You're okay for a troll, Karkat."
He grumbles, and looks away.
"So you were in a shack?" You ask him. "Can you make your way back home? You seem nice, so I think you should be incognito for a while in case someone else finds you... Not many people are like me, who's stupid enough to start conversations with the creatures we've lived in fear of for generations."
He gives you an empty look, because he doesn't speak freaking English.
"Uh... Right..." You look around and lick at your lip. You have no real way of speaking, but you get an idea pretty quickly. You crouch down and paw at the dirt, and leave some impressions like a smiling face. "Okay, I think I've got this... Could you come here a sec?"
He's still staring at you like you're an idiot, so you motion for him to come over. He doesn't look convinced, so you raise your hands high to show you aren't hiding some weapon from him. There is a decent sized knife in your backpack but you don't think of it as an issue. "I'm not trying to trick you, Karkat. C'mere," you motion again, and hesitantly, he comes closer.
You make sure to be as friendly as possible as he gets near you, and leans down to see what the hell you're doing. "### ##?" He glances down at the dirt, and back up at you.
You are perplexed by his eyes, and fascinated. Is he blind? He can't be... He's staring at you so surely. You quickly look down when he starts to get an impatient look about him, and you start to draw sideways so you both can see the image. You draw a house, and name it, "home" you tap the picture.
He looks at it, squints and looks back at you with the same face as before. Confusion.
You try again, "home."
"Homn?" He struggles to say.
"Ho-me," you say in a slower voice.
"Ho-m."
"Eh... Good enough. Now, watch." You tap the ground again, and draw out four shitty looking stick figures. You tap the first, and then point at yourself. "John, that's me."
He nods once and keeps his eyes on the picture.
You tap out the other three individuals and identify each one after the other. "This is Dave, Dave."
He makes a small sound that nearly sounds like a growl, but you couldn't feel any fear or worry, despite it. "Def."
"Yeah, he's my best buddy," you move onto the next figure in the dirt, "and this is Jade. She and Dave have been dating for years. Jade," you tap again.
He hums, and pulls his hands up, and you flinch just a bit. To your surprise, he is making a heart shape with his hands. "Def ## Jed # # # ### ###?"
You gasp and smile with your mouth wide open. "Yeah! Exactly!" You nod for good measure.
He drops his hands and nods, all with a thoughtful look of his face.
"Okay... Last is Rose. Rose," you tap the final figure.
"Roz," he repeats with little enthusiasm.
"Uhuh, that's right. Well, it's close enough," you move your hand above the entire picture; house and figures. "Home. John, Dave, Jade and Rose," you tap the house again, "home."
He frowns, but still nods. "# ## #, ##."
You set to wiping the four figures out, and drawing a new one with horns. You tap it, "you, Karkat, okay?"
He definitely growls unhappily this time.
"Home?" You ask.
He looks at you as if you grew a second head. "John... Hom?"
You slap your head and giggle just a little, "no, no... Not my home. Your home, Karkat." You draw a bubble around the figure to isolate him, and tap the figure and the house. "Karkat's home?"
He scowls this time and shakes his head.
"... You don't wanna tell me, huh? It's not like I'm gonna come over with an army and do some sweet ninja shit or whatever..." You smirk. "I just want to know if you'll make it back safe."
"# ## ## #..." He says in the calmest voice you've heard so far.
"Huh?" You lull your head to the side.
"Uhh..." He groans thoughtfully. "Hom..." He shakes his head, and goes to cross out he house you drew. He points at the stick figure of himself, "### #### ## ### ##."
"No home?" You fear to say.
"Karkat." He says simply, and brings his hands back.
You feel terrible. "Shit..." You say quietly, and look down at the dirt you drew on. "Then who was that girl you were with?"
He still doesn't understand, so you draw another figure and try to mimic the horns you seen on the girl; both curved up gently, while one horn had a half moon at the tip whereas the other had a hook. You point at her, and you see him wince.
"Sorry..." You say.
"# ### ## ##, # ## ##### #### ###." He shakes his head.
You draw a line between the drawing of the girl and him, and see a look of disgust. "So...?"
Karkat immediately rubs away the connecting line and crosses out the picture of the girl. It takes you a moment to process how little he feels for the girl, especially when he can guess her fate. You bite your lip and stare at the drawing, and wipe it all out into the meaningless dirt it once was. He is watching you when you take a glance over at him. You avert your gaze to the sky, but see no sun or clouds. The canopy of the forest darkens the area where you and the troll sit opposite. You suppose that's why he seems so relaxed (ish). You know that strong light burns their skin, and they avoid it. It's why you and your people go out of the camp when it's daylight.
"John," he brings you out of your thoughts with his frustrated and grainy tone. He is staring at you, likely wondering, as you still are, why you haven't left yet.
You give a half smile and lift yourself to your feet with a bounce that makes your new acquaintance fall back. "Welp. This was... Fun," you offer your hand down to him, but he just looks at it and swipes it away. Once he lifts himself, in a less enthusiastic way than you had risen. You reach into your backpack and stick out your tongue, "I have something for you, actually... Cause I'd feel like a real dick if I didn't do this."
He freezes as you pull out one of your dead bunnies and offer it to him. It flops there before the troll by it's long ears, very much dead. Karkat stares at it as if he has never seen a dead rabbit before, and then pokes at it's red stained tummy.
"## # ## ## ##?"
"Are you hungry?" You ask, and rub your belly.
He cocks a brow at you and grabs the rabbit by the neck.
"It's food...? A rabbit... Um..." Oh. "Do you even eat this?... Can you eat this? Oh shit... I'm sorry if you can't, but I just assumed you would eat something like this 'cause you have sharp teeth and stuff, and you know, you look close to human..."
"### ##." He pulls the rabbit to his hip. "###... # ##..."
You smile widely, and your eyes close as you do so. He sounds humbler now, so you guess he is grateful to some degree, well, maybe not grateful, perhaps just surprisingly appreciative and no more. You would be too if a troll gave you a rabbit instead of a shiv in the neck.
You take this moment to check at your watch, the same watch everyone got when they went out. You groan as you see the worn little hands point at an unsavoury LATE; about twenty to seven. It was only five, the last you checked. You won't make it home before dark now, and you realise the horror of this. Maybe if you made a run for it? No, it's still too far and difficult to navigate without taking your time. You look up at your acquaintance with a frown, and shake your head to walk over to your crossbow. "This really sucks..." You reach down and grab the weighty object and test it in your grip. "Uh... I should probably mention that I'm not about to kill you?" You look around and see him reach behind him.
You look between his eyes and his arms, and turn when he pulls out a rather colourfully decorated sickle. You jump back and stand rigid. "Dude, dude!" You raise your free hand and wave it frantically. "I need to pick up my stupid crossbow, it's not even mine! This piece of crap is just awful and clunky and sucky. I'm shit with it to boot!"
He snarls, and his knuckles go white as he grips his sickle tighter.
You sigh heavily as you lift your chin high, and slump. "Come on! You're nice! I'm nice too, I don't go around shooting trolls, if I was gonna do anything, I would run away, okay?" You lower you gaze and frown at him, yet he remains undeterred. He wants you to drop your weapon, but you can't, you need to take it back with you. Today is going down in the books as the second worst day of your life. "Alright, fine, the stupid crossbow goes down," you practically throw it away from you, and fold your arms. "See?"
He stares at it, and then at you. You grow nervous as he appears to analyse you, before throwing the rabbit at you, which hits against your face. "## # ## ##."
You feel insulted as your rub at your face to get the dead rabbit filth off of your skin. There isn't anything on your face, but you feel obliged to wipe it anyway. Your eyes move onto the ground, where the rabbit lies motionless, black eyes staring away into the distance. You find yourself looking back up at Karkat, who eyes you suspiciously, sickle still in hand. "Look, Karkat. You aren't going to hurt me..." You really hope he isn't. "I won't hurt you, either... It's getting late, and I... I can't go home now... I've stayed out too long. My people won't let me back in if the sun goes down, they're terrified of anything that moves in the dark. Even if I shout, they'll just ignore me... We're not supposed to shout outside... Because of you guys. I know how bad it is, once some guy came home after dark and kept on calling out for us to open the gates. Nobody opened them, nobody even lit their torch to check who it was." You fingers twitch, so you scratch at your right palm to calm yourself. "Then we heard him scream, and that was the last thing we heard... Nobody even talked about it, the guy was dead anyway, or so they encourage us to believe. I can't go back... I don't want to die like that..." You plead with your eyes, and bite at your lip. "Just until dawn, I just need to avoid trouble until dawn..."
He squints at you, attempting to figure out what you must be saying. You realise he doesn't understand, but you need to speak, you can't not say what you want to say. He has to believe you, he has to feel some sort of sympathy or empathy. "##?"
"Karkat," you say as you begin to tug at your sleeve, "please, could I just, hang around you tonight? I feel like you're less likely to kill me than another of your kind..."
"Jon? ## # ### ## # ## ###?" He shakes his head away from you, and appears puzzled, and frustrated. "# ## ### ## # ## #### ## # ## ## ###. ## ##? # ## ### ## Jon!" He is glaring at you, and grinding his teeth with a growl.
Your lips tighten, and you keep looking down at the sickle he is still holding. You will him to put it away. "Karkat..."
He glances down at the weapon in his hand, and holds it up in front of him. "# ## ### ## # John." He speaks with a rasp and bitter tone, before the sickle goes behind his back, and you assume sheathed into some form of holster.
You nod, and try to smile, but you struggle with the gesture. "... Thank you, Karkat."
He continues to glare as his hands settle by his side.
"Okay..." You try to figure a way of asking him your previous question again. You can't survive outside camp overnight, not on your own. You could try, but you have no lamp, no torch. You are unprepared to survive without light, at the mercy of trolls who you know to be nocturnal and fierce. If you could get Karkat to stay with you, or show you somewhere safe to stay until morning, you may make it home to your friends. "Karkat? I need you to hear me out," you point at him, and then push your black hair back a little to point at your ear.
He nods with a growl.
You point up, "it's getting dark." Your hand falls, and you make a praying gesture while you tilt your head into the back of one of your palms, to indicate sleeping. "Night," you say, and return to normal. You point at yourself, "John," you say and point away, "home." You shake your head. You point up again, and speak as you continue to shake your head, "night, no home."
His head pulls back as he tries to understand, and his brows furrow as you can see the wheels turning in his head. He slowly nods. "John... #... Hom?" He shakes his head as he says the word home.
"Yeah, I think you get it... But, um," you lick your lip and point at him, and yourself, "John, and Karkat?" You use both of your hands to gesture two people walking, you lift one hand, "John," and then the other, "Karkat."
He snorts, and you know he understands, to some extent at least. He isn't too impressed with your proposal. "## ## # ### ## ## ##."
"No, no, no!" You wave both hand hands in front of you to try and make light of the situation the troll must be imagining. "Not forever, or anything. Just for tonight."
His arms fold, and he stares at you rather bitterly.
"Please, Karkat..." You persist, and lift a single finger, "one night."
You can see him nearly bite his bottom lip with those sharp teeth of his, and are surprised that they don't immediately break the skin. "# ## #### ## # ### ### ## # ## # ## ## ## ### #### ######## ##### # # ### ## ### ### ## ## # ### ## #### ### # # ## #### ## #### ## ## ## ### # ### ### ##!"
"..." You are blankly, and roll your eyes in an awkward fashion. "Uhh..."
"#," he points at you, and then back at himself, "#. Jon, Karkat, ##."
You stick out your tongue a little, to try and make him a little less difficult to communicate with.
His mood does not lift from grumpy, but fortunately, it is only grumpy.
Your tongue retreats back into your mouth, and you try to speak again, but the troll cuts you off by lifting his hand.
"Jon # ## # ## ### ## # ##," he says, but then sighs when he notices that you don't understand. He points off to your left, and when you follow, you see your crossbow lying there in the grass. He points at you, "## ## #."
Your brow perks, and you glances between Karkat, and the crossbow. Hesitantly, you move towards it. He doesn't seem hostile in retaliation to you moving closer to your weapon, but he does watch you intently. You reach down, pick it up with both hands, and stand back up.
He nods, and gestures with his head for you to come closer.
You stare at him, and frown, "uh..."
"John ## ##," he uses his hand this time to ask you to come closer.
You nod once, and take small steps towards him.
"## ## ## ### ## ###," he sounds impatient, and a little like he's mocking you, similar to Dave's self proclaimed ironic taunts.
"Heh heh..." You half smile, and make your way closer at a slightly quicker pace until you are stood a metre from him.
He inhales visibly, and looks you over, before turning and walking away.
"Hey," you call to him, and begin to walk after him.
He looks back at you for a moment, and then back ahead. His pace doesn't falter as he passes by a few trees.
"Ohh..." You say, and smile again. He is leading you through the forest. He doesn't mind your company. You think so, anyway, because you are walking by his side as quickly as you come to this realisation, and he gives you nothing more than a glance every now and again as the forest darkens around you, and the night looms over the two of you.