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If you told a younger Dave that he’d ever go to college, he’d have laughed in your face. Especially if you told a 13-year-old time traveling Dave in a stupid suit that. He didn’t even graduate middle school! Obviously, though, that was a Dave who hadn’t created a new universe. He was like… technically royalty, kind of? What were they gonna do? Keep him from going to school?
He said once, in a time and place that felt crazy far away, that he’d thought about going into paleontology. He said it not believing he’d ever be an adult in a world he could pursue a higher education or whatever the fuck, though. But on Earth C, he actually had the chance to… do that. He was still in school, so it wasn’t like he got to do anything interesting, but he could officially name more types of fossilization than a thirteen year old Dave thought there was. (“If you mutter about the difference between what calcium and magnesium is while I'm trying to sleep ONE MORE TIME, so help me-” Karkat once said, before devolving into a mess of expletives.)
Since he wasn’t an authority on the subject yet, he couldn’t get a job in the field. But that didn’t stop him from volunteering at national parks and stuff. He also worked pretty hands-on with the statues and shit, and the stuff hiding under those was always interesting. He’d have to turn that in to his professors, but every once and a while he’d be in their good graces and they’d let him sneak some smaller stuff home with him.
Karkat hated his bone collection. He made him put it all in the guest room. Which, not to be like that, but the fact that they had a fucking guest room was genuinely baffling. He’d lived in a shithole apartment for the part of his life where he lived anywhere up to that point. So, y’know, suddenly having room to breathe was a change and a half. The holy grail of changes.
Life was honestly good! Quiet, but like… cool. Yeah it made him a little restless to not constantly have his fight or flight response on, but according to Rose: that was a good thing. Bullshit! Scoff, what did she know? Was she the one on track to get a degree? Didn’t think so.
It was on one of the more quiet days when there was a knock at the door. Until that point, Dave had been lounging around watching shitty movies on TV in a t-shirt and pajama pants. Y’know, as one does on a Saturday where they don’t have a quickly upcoming deadline for an essay or lab work or whatever the hell else.
“DAVE.” a shrill shout broke through his bad romcom trance,” DOOR.”
“I know! I heard! Don’t get your shit in a twist, man!”
He stretched, brushing himself off to make himself look a little more presentable, and made his way over to the door. Who could this be, come to think of it? Rose or Kanaya would have texted or called, Jade would have announced herself, June… probably wouldn’t even bother knocking, she’d just barge in unannounced. Those were the only people who ever really visited. He wasn’t sure what to expect. Despite the inward disappointment he felt at it, he couldn’t help but feel his heart speed up a little. Not that he’d portray that physically.
He twisted the knob and pulled the door open swiftly and… huh.
On the other side was Aradia. He was pretty sure it was Aradia, at least? Admittedly, Dave didn’t really know her that well. She and Rose talked about funerals, Sollux or whoever was there, and then she just kind of vanished into the night? And then they were on a meteor for years, then they created a new universe or whatever and. Well, uh. He was pretty sure it was Aradia. Probably.
Anyhow. In her arms was a skull twice the size of her own. How did she even knock carrying that thing? On her face was a smile that took up a good half of it. Look at her, being fractions and shit. What? Nevermind. Her grin only grew wider in seeing him, eyes crinkled into slits. It was… a little eerie.
“I heard you know things about bones.” She said, as if these weren’t the first words she’s said to him in about a decade.
He flicked his eyes between the massive skull and her face a few times before letting his shoulders lose some tension, “Hell yeah I know things about bones.”
“Would you like to talk to me about bones?” Her eyes were sparkling.
Dave bit back a smile “ Hell yes. Hell fucking yes.”
Aradia walked into the house, shutting the door behind her with her hip. Of course, that is the exact moment that Karkat finally entered the fray. He froze, mouth half open, expression somewhere between annoyance and disbelief. Aradia tried to wave, but almost dropped the skull she was holding in the process.
“WHAT.” a beat. “ What.”
“Hi Karkat!! It’s nice to see you again!”
“... What the fuck??”
“We finally made our way back!”
Karkat hesitated for a second, looking between Dave and Aradia and then at the door,” We? Like- does that-”
“Mhm!” she hummed knowingly,” Him too!!”
“Then where IS he??”
“Oh! He’s in our hotel room sulking because he hissed at a child!”
“FUCKING. Sure, yeah, okay, that might as well be true. I guess!” He glanced at the massive skull again, wrinkling his nose in distaste, “Dave go to your fucking- bone room with that shit, don’t stand in the entryway with ANOTHER goddamn skull.”
“Bone room, eh?” Dave raised an eyebrow, teasing.
Karkat sputtered, throwing his hands up as his cheeks flushed, “ FUCK YOU, STRIDER. I’ll kick you out! Put you on the streets, dump you AND your ass there!!”
“I’ll go stay with Rose, then. Or Jade. Or June, her house is weird and empty a lot of the time. I could crash.”
“FUCK OFF.”
“Also, threatening to dump me while guests are over? Low blow, even for you.”
“I’M! Going back to the room!” He spared another glance at Aradia, softening just a bit,” It’s good to see you again.”
“Likewise!” She replied, looking wholly unaffected by everything that just happened. “Now! Lead the way to the bones!”
So Dave did! Not that it was a very long walk. The house really wasn’t that big. Small compared to a wholeass meteor, large compared to a shitty garbage apartment. Just right, like Goldilocks or some noise. He’d already. Uh. Bones! He had a bunch of those. In the guest room! That he also sometimes studied in!
“Did you know that if you lick bones, they stick to your tongue?” Dave said, as if that was a reasonable conversation starter. But hey: bone room. “At least the one’s here do. Can’t vouch for Alternia’s fossils.”
“You could lick this one, then!” Aradia hummed cheerfully, “Or I could, at least.”
Dave blinked. Once, and then again. Was that- oh shit for real? He didn’t usually use his shitty god powers for things like that (unless it was objectively funny), but he might try to fact check that later. Being able to tell how old something is could be a little out of his wheelhouse, though. He moved through time, time didn’t do shit for him.
He tuned back into the conversation, realizing vaguely that he’d kinda just been staring, “So, shit, that means that’s-”
“A skull of a species of Alternian Megafauna, yes!”
“Man! There’s like… lususes… lusii on ‘C but nothin’ quite like that.”
“Oh, yes! This particular species went extinct long before I got my hands on this skull!”
Dave let out a low whistle, impressed. She’d have to have had that thing captchalogued for god only knows how long for it to make the journey all the way to Earth-C from Alternia. Time shenanigans notwithstanding, that was like… 15 years or something? Tack on a couple thousand with time shit.
“It’d be hella cool to compare notes about how Alternian species have changed with someone who’s all up and familiar with their bones and shit if you ever feel up for somethin’ like that,” he said, trying to sound casual because man he could probably get some extra credit hours off that shit, “My current primary source is Karkat. Who is… Karkat.”
Aradia giggled in a way that looked kind of unnatural but Dave had come to accept that that was probably just kind of the way her face was. “He certainly is Karkat! He seems to be doing well.”
“Heh, yeah. Crazy what not having his life at risk literally always does to him. He’s still kind of an ass, but, y’know,” typically, that’d end with ‘but he’s my ass’, but to be honest Dave didn’t know Aradia crazy well and didn’t want to spill his and Karkat’s business to her.
“I’m glad he has someone there for him now,” she hummed, cheerful, “I think you might lose him to mine for a while here soon, though! I’m sure Sollux and Karkat have a lot to shout at each other about!”
Ah, yes. Sollux, whom Karkat had spent many long-winded rants complaining about in a way that made it really obvious how much he missed him. At first, that kinda shit made Dave a little jealous. But nah, he’d learned pretty quick that Karkat’s “blood pusher” was just too big for his tiny body. Also, as little as he understood quadrants sometimes, and as little as Karkat really did them, he didn’t really think he had much to worry about there.
“If you ever need to get away from their shit-fits while that’s happening, I’m always down to talk bones. Uh- as long as I’m not in class.”
“Oh! Wonderful news!”
“Anyhow,” Dave sat on the guest bed, beckoning Aradia and her massive skull to follow,” Tell me everything you know about that guy.”