38But before we get completely out of dodge, there’s one more trifling matter I’d better take care of.
It’s a big day, but not one my dear brotherson and his irascible boywife seem to be relishing. There, you got to say “boywife” out loud, are you happy? I’m sure hearing it yet again will satisfy you even more. Why Juniper, the way you provide weight to my existence with your voice is simply exquisite.
Are you done stroking your own ego? Enough with the power trip, I’m the one in control here. Obviously I can tell this isn’t your first trip through here. Well, I’ve been holding this fucking speaker to my ear for a while now, and I have some notes. Listen up, Commbo. You guys are big on mistakes, aren't you? Typos, grammar, the like. “Virksa”, how humorous, considering it sounds like an approximation of both mine and Vriska’s names morphed into one ungodly attention hog. That’s what you’re thinking, isn’t it? And I also noticed “MORE enough” had you questioning if what you were reading had even been proofread. I was able to make these observations because you're all a bunch of idiots. You're just broadcasting all of this? Surely you knew I'd see it eventually, right? We don't have time to get into the specifics of what I've seen, but before we get moving, let’s give Hadron another line. It’s been a while since we heard from him.
JOHN: is she going to be okay?
See? Isn’t it nice to know you’ll still play an active part in our little production? I’m sure you don’t mind getting on the ride that you’ve been graciously watching from the sidelines throughout this trek of what you all seem to consider “cursed tomes”. To be fair, I can’t accurately gague for certain that all of you share this opinion of what you’ve been reading here, but I have a pretty fucking good feeling I know what I’m talking about here.
You’ve read this page, so you already know what happened here. I don’t need to repeat it all for you, like I did the last chapter. Let’s just assume I did those things already, because I did. This is a different chapter now, and that’s all there really is to say on the matter.
JOHN: jade is here? yeah, i’ll go visit her before i leave.
JOHN: just please let me know when vriska wakes up, at least.
JOHN: wait, why is JADE here?
Oh, right. We should probably check up on him. What’s this douchebag’s deal anyway?
While we were busy with that, John has been busy with admitting Vriska Serket to the hospital. She’s gotten a room now, but she’s too weak to even speak, and definitely too weak to reclaim the center stage. After she ate shit earlier, I could have sworn we’d never hear from her again. But Vriska always crawls back to relevance, doesn’t she? Well, not right now, because John is leaving her to go find Jade’s room.
He just can’t imagine how she could have ended up here, considering she’s been living a relatively safe life with Dave as far as he knows. Feels like just yesterday they were all celebrating their marriage and hiding away from Jane. But... that feels like all he can remember. There are decades that now feel like a blur when he attempts to recall them. And is it just him, or does he feel a bit younger? Almost the same age as he was the day Rose gave him that weird speech about fighting Lord English. He tries to recount the things he does remember while only half-listening to the receptionist telling him where to find Jade.
JOHN: (gamzee was there… i married roxy…)
JOHN: (oh! harry anderson! how could i forget him…)
The receptionist stops talking, catching on to the fact that he isn’t paying attention.
JOHN: (i divorced roxy too. damn darn.)
Sorry for cutting back your vocabulary, John, but your VA isn’t too pleased when any of those impure words of the fucking devil come spilling out of those loose lips of yours. Back to the topic at hand, you settle on what you can and can’t remember, and that includes the fact that you were in the middle of something very important while you started thinking about this. You ask the receptionist to repeat their directions, and they begrudgingly oblige.
JOHN: (huh? they didn’t seem to mind repeating to me…)
Stop talking to yourself, you look ridiculous.
You start your way towards Jade’s room, and another train of thought rudely and abruptly pulls into your station. On your way in, you had to squeeze between a human and a troll having a conversation. That seems innocent enough, but when you think back, those faces looked a bit familiar, didn’t they? You immediately open your wallet and take a look at the folded up photograph to compare it to the brief glance you’re holding on to in your mind. Yeah, you think, that was definitely Terezi. You guess she didn’t die after all, and on top of that, managed to make it back to Earth C. But what about the human? Those pink shades and blue jacket didn’t ring any bells, but something about that person’s face...
Before you have time to put the pieces together, you open the door to Jade’s room, and see Roxy for the first time in years.