This chapter was originally meant to be much, much longer, but since it's been so fucking long since we've updated, I decided fuck it, we'll just split it in half here and throw the first part up here to let you guys know we're still alive.

I cannot even begin to apologize for the slowness as of late, the only excuse I can find is that I've been really distracted by homework lately (as I mentioned in the tumblr update, I'm trying to get my grades up because they suck shit) and Aussie recently got her schedule changed at work, as well as getting dragged away by her family more often than she used to. So we have had less time to work on the chapters.

-Eren S.

Another few days passed by most of the troll's with little incident, and just like the two weeks prior, Gamzee hardly left Karkat's side. Whenever he did, he made sure that there was someone with the Cancer, or in the very least, watching the dorms. With the male more alert, it had been more difficult to search for the remaining trolls involved in the red blood's culling ceremony, though Valus assured him that she was spending ever bit of her free time searching. She called it good practice for her future career, or something.

Wednesday morning, Gamzee had left rather early to go get Karkat's painting from the arts building. It wasn't quite done yet, but he wanted to bring it over so he could work on it off and on during their free time. Despite the cold chill in the air, he had left the dorm in nothing but a flimsy coat, saying he didn't really feel the differences in weather when he informed the Cancer that he would be returning shortly. Indigo eyes had stayed trained on the floor in front of him as he walked through the dorm, tracing the patterns in the carpet and dodging other students without so much as glancing at them. There was a hum on his lips as he turned and opened the front doors, only to be met with a blinding light.

The Capricorn froze, eyes going wide as pupils contracted and adjusted, to witness an incredible sight.

Twenty minutes passed, and while Gamzee was gone, Karkat had decided to occupy the moment of quiet with some much needed study time. He sat on the couch, skimming over the words of the book in silence, the only sound of movement being the occasional soft foot steps down the hall.

Until what could have been the muffled sounds of someone falling against the wall, and the irritated shouts of students, echoed towards the impromptu combined rooms of seven and eight. Only a few heartbeats more would pass, before the door to eight was struggled open and Gamzee slipped in, eyes wide with excitement and juggling a large canvas, easel, and a bag being held via his mouth, with some extra paint brushes and a small palette among it's contents .

Really, it was rather humorous watching him as he stumbled in, damn near tripping on more than a few of his horns as he made his way to the horn pile, performing a sort of balancing act as he set up the easel, then propped the canvas safely onto the wooden stand. Once his hands were free, the Capricorn took a few careful steps back, making sure the picture stayed still, before he whirled around to face the Cancer, mouth opening to drop the bag and reveal this massive grin, as both arms extended outward in his excitement, "KARKAT! A MOTHERFUCKING MIRACLE IS MAKING LOVE TO THE EARTH!"

Gamzee jumped over the back of the couch, using the seat to brace his feet and leap again, giving a twist so that he was in front of Karkat, all but hopping in place as if all of his excitement was about to burst from his chest. "Man, it's one the most beautiful motherfucking things I've ever seen! And the shit's everywhere! Like, getting hugs and snugs with everything! Honk honk! Bro! You've gotta all see this!"

Karkat just stared at Gamzee as he moved around the room before jumping on the back of the couch, a somewhat blank, bored, and mildly confused expression on his face as he just stared, blinking.

Yeah he had no idea what the fuck Gamzee was talking about, but considering who it was, it was probably fucking stupid. He rolled his eyes, shutting the book after glancing down to memorize the page quickly, and then turned back towards the indigo blood. "What the fuck are you going on about?"

Gamzee rocked on the balls of his feet as he suddenly took off from one side of the room, to the other. Not exactly looking for something, but it more as if he couldn't sit still. He whirled back around to face Karkat, massive grin still in place, "The clouds have all motherfucking fallen from the sky brother! It's the craziest shit I've ever witnessed. Man, I've all heard about the blessing the air gives, but I never got my pan around how fucking lovely it all would be! Are you in the know about this? Mirthful hell, brother, I'm getting hefty vascular pumps all through my motherfucking veins!" And then he went back towards his door propping it open and rocking on his heels with a laugh as he seemed to be staring out the window.

"Man, are you all getting see what I'm seeing, cuz it wouldn't be all the first time my mind got wicked teasers tickling at my vision."

Personally, Karkat had lived in an area where it was cold most of the time, and snowed a lot, it wasn't really that big of a surprise to him, or one at all really. But still, the way Gamzee got all excited over it was just a tad bit infectious. It was kinda interesting though, the idea of this being his first see on snow.

"Yeah I can see it, looks like it snowed a fucking lot"

In a way it made sense. Gamzee's hive was basically located on the beach, where the weather was practically always warm and the sea salt wind kept most of the more severe cold from reaching him. So what little snow he had seen in his life, consisted mostly of just a small flurry that never stuck to the ground, and may as well have been a light mist. Gamzee gave a small, excited laugh at Karkat's confirmation that this wasn't in his head. "Shit, I want to get some introductions going! Try some of the wicked activities I've seen on the flicker box! Karkat, will you all tag-a-long with me brother? I don't wanna experience these blessings without my best motherfucker there!"

Karkat frowned, chewing on his lower lip as he thought about it. "I don't know, I have a lot of this stupid shit to catch up on..."

Gamzee began to do this odd sort of, small bouncing shake where he stood, as if he was holding himself back from taking off right then and there, "Shit, come on brother! Just for all of a couple ticks and tocks! Then we can motherfucking come back, and I'll be all, fucking shhhh, only quiet times now so Karbrother can study."

He thought about it for a moment, frowning, before rolling his eyes, and scoffing. "Fine, I'll go out in the fucking snow with you" He stated simply, but then eyed the clothing that covered Gamzee, "but both of us are wearing WINTER clothes rather than this shit"

Only a brief flash of disappointment crossed the male's face, but it quickly vanished, because even though he had to change, Karkat was still going to come with him, "Alright brother, we got ourselves a motherfucking compromise!" Gamzee jogged over to his dresser, not taking his time as he shuffled through his clothes, looking for something that would be considered winter wear. After a moment of searching, he managed to find that white, long sleeved sweater of his with the three indigo stripes at the bottom. The on Karkat had worn some time ago. A few more minutes of hunting around, gave him a thick-clothed black hoodie, with indigo insides and a particular looking picture on the back and his sign on the front. The picture, nearly looked like that of a face twisted in rage, though it was somewhat difficult to tell with the curling designs. If you were to ask the Capricorn, he would tell you he 'all thought it looked like a flutter bug'.

Anyway, after finding the hoodie, he also pulled out a spotted scarf next, and satisfied, slipped off the flimsy jacket he had on, followed by the T-shirt. He would just keep his jeans on and change into his bike boots instead of sneakers. So it was at that he slipped his clothes on rather quickly, fumbling with the sweater a little as he caught it on the tip of one of his horns.

And while Gamzee was off doing whatever, hopefully getting fucking dressed because Karkat went into his own room and... well... he was already wearing a long sleeved shirt and pants, so all he really had to go was slip on some socks, boots, and a grey winter coat with red and black designs on the back. He also made sure to grab a pair of thin gloves to keep his hands somewhat safe from the cold, and pulled a hat on while he was at it, not having any of the issues Gamzee was having. Since his own horns were a lot shorter and close to his head, he just slipped the hat on right over them.

He walked over towards the door then, not even bothering to try and get through the hole in the wall with this fucking coat and boots on, and waiting for the highblood.

As if on a thought, Gamzee appeared then, hopping through the hole and struggling only for a few moments to regain his balance, before coming up to Karkat's side with that same massive smile. He hopped from one foot to the other. He didn't have any gloves on, but the male didn't really have a pair... or at least, he didn't think he did. Every time he would buy that particular article of clothing, they would always find a way to disappear again. So after a while he simply stopped getting them.

"Alright brother, got on some warm bringing duds. Honk"

Karkat, once again, rolled his charcoal colored eyes, before motioning for Gamzee to follow him as he headed down the hallway. "Just make sure that you don't get yourself totally fucking soaked. The last thing we need is for you to get a fever from the fucking cold"

"Honk honk!"

The taller male fell into step beside Karkat, eyes flickering out the window as they walked, a slight shine coming from the layers of pristine white that covered the Earth, from the brief parting of clouds and the streaks of sunlight just breaking through. For the short walk, Gamzee stayed quiet, those his eyes kept flickering around and he would occasionally give this seemingly rand flinch as if he was thinking of moving but suddenly thought better of it. However, as soon as the doors parted and the chilled air whipped upwards in greeting, Gamzee was gone. He didn't go far, only going over to a waist high snow drift, running bare fingers testing through the cold and almost fluffy substance. Then, with a grin, he fell face first into the pile, and practically vanished amongst the top layer of fresh powder.

Karkat just stared as the moron jumped into a fucking waist highsnow drift (Jesus that would almost reach up to his own chest, it must have been a fucking blizzard last night or something). His expression never wavering, he walked over to where the snow drift started, letting his boots sink a few inches into the snow before leaning down and scooping up a handful of the fluffy substance. It wasn't good snow for packing together, too fluffy and not slushy enough, but he managed.

And with that, he tossed the poorly made snowball about where he saw Gamzee's head dissappear. "You dipshit I said not to get too covered in snow you don't even have gloves on!"

"Honk!"

From the snow drift, Gamzee's head appeared. Well, to be more literal, his horns appeared first, then his head. He just sort, of popped back up, all smiles with flecks snow clinging to his hair and what little of his scarf and coat could be seen. With a particular large dusting of snow perched on the top of his head. For a moment, the Capricorn just sort of stared at the Cancer, and one might wonder if he had even heard the male. Then a blink, he dissapeared into the snow drift again... except he really didn't. Because underneath the powder like layer of snow, you could see a slow mound moving, and sticking out of the white substance, two tall orange and gold horns.

Whenever he was close enough to Karkat's general location, he popped out again with that same grin, giving his head a shake to free the white fluff from his hair. Only then did he give a slight shiver, as a few drop of snow, slid down his horns to the sensitive base.

"Sorry brother, it was just all, getting whispering callings to me, you know? And I thought, shit, why not slam some introductions with white brethren." the indigo blood smiled at that, "Besides, I don't got not need for hand covers. Those motherfuckers are all... designated to keep warmth in right? Don't got no feel for cold bro, in my grabbers." He suddenly stood up then, doing a hopping dance out of the snow drift and laughing whenever the substance stuck to him, falling as he jumped around in a light flurry before he came to a stop beside Karkat. "Now I'm situated in curiousity about recent happenings. How did you bunch up white substance and all get some cannon launching going?"

"I don't think it's a good thing your hands are numb" Karkat pointed out after watching those horns swim through the snow for a few seconds, and then suddenly pop out, and it was a miracle that he didn't get fucking covered in snow. Honestly he was surprised the cold didn't even bother Gamzee when the snow covered his horns, he knew he couldn't personally stand the feeling. And not because it hurt, it just felt weird as all hell.

"What, you mean a snowball?" He asked, raising one eyebrow before leaning down, and scooping up another handful of snow. "You just pack it into a ball, granted this snow kinda fucking sucks, too fluffy for good snowballs"

Gamzee gave a nod, simply brushing off the comment about it probably not being a good thing his hands were numb. The Capricorn had stopped worrying about such things a long time ago, after all, there were other nerve tinglers in his body that didn't function quite right. Like, for instance, the fact he could rarely feel physical pain anymore.

The highblood tilted his head to one side, attentive as Karkat scooped up a handful of snow, and after only a momentary pause, mimicked the action. Despite the snow being 'too fluffy', the male tried his best to pack it in, curling his fingers around the substance. He couldn't feel the cold, but he could register the substance mushing together slightly, could feel it's presence in his hand as it just barely compacted. He brought his other hand up to try and form it, "Ooooh, I all get it bro. It's like, rolling some motherfucking slime circles... except," he parted his hands, having managed to condense that handfull of fluff, into a rather tiny ball, "These fluffy brothers like to liquidate in against a fuckers outer layer." he gave a laugh at that, tossing his little ball into the snow dirft with a grin.

"What kind of sky descendant makes for good balls of snow?"

"Mostly slushy snow, it's easier to pack together, fluffy snow just kinda falls apart unless you pack it in real good" Karkat explained simply. He picked up some more snow with his second hand, packing both handfuls into a tight ball, going back down often for more until he had a decently sized sphere of snow in his hands. "Like this"

The indigo blood was oddly attentive as he watched Karkat pack the snow ball together. It was like he was studying some incredibly complex thing and only when the Cancer was finished, did he try again. Crouching down and just scooping up the snow as he went, packing it together as Karkat's had, until a good sized ball sat in his hands. "Man, that's motherfucking crazy how it all, clings together just by giving tight squeezes!" Gamzee gave a honk as he rolled the white sphere between his hands, angling it so the sparkling white specs caught the sunlight just right.

It was as he was doing this, that movement caught the corner of his gaze, and he glanced up. To see a certain circulatory troll making his way away from them, back turned. His usual white coat, was replaced by a thick winter one, with fur at the collar and a beanie slipped over his head and under his horns. "Heh, looks like a motherfucker is directing himself for strife practices."

Karkat followed Gamzee's gaze, spotting Jarren, and before he could even help himself, a wicked grin actually grew across his face.

It was like one of those stupid things you did on impulse that you never really thought about, but one second, Karkat had the damn snowball in his hand, the next, it was flying through the air, sailing towards the back of the circulatory troll's head.