Chapter Text
==> Be the Lonely Djinn
Karkat sits on the window ledge in his bottle, staring out the window at the outside world. He sighs. Not much has changed in 413 years, and yet it seems like so much has. The world outside has shaped around his bottle. A grand old oak tree has grown in the last hundred years, its roots looping and swerving around his prison-like home. He had watched it grow from a tiny acorn, unassuming and unimportant.
Karkat had been trapped in this bottle for years. After a week, he'd started talking to himself. Karkat had tried to stay busy, writing down the story of his very long life. He learned to draw. The worst time was when the water rose in the marsh, because then there was nothing to see. After three days there, the memories had started to appear. He tried to resist, but he was starting to lose control. He completely lost the next ninety-eight years, trapped in memories of his own past, of people and places long forgotten by the outside world, all from the unintended isolation of a few inches of mud.
After the memories finally left him alone, he imagined he was set free from his eternal prison. Over and over, until one day he saw the light of the sun. It poured in through his window and he laughed. Finally, he had a chance of escape! But it never happened. A small acorn landed next to his bottle in the rut where a weaving riverbank once was. And he watched the world change from his vantage point on the forest floor. After the first year on land, he had sucked all the energy out of the grass around him. He had tried to pace himself, letting the grass grow back. He was starving. He grew thinner every day, colder. After what felt like a very long time indeed, the tree was large enough to use, and use it he had. The little acorn had saved him.
Suddenly, there is a hand in front of the window, and Karkat sits up and sees the door open. There is a bright light from the ancient magic and he feels himself being pulled out and through the door. He is outside. He is out at last!
==> Be the Curious Prince
Dave sees a glint of red glass in the roots of the old oak tree. It looks like... A bottle? He reaches in. The bottle is trapped by smaller roots that have curled around it. He draws his sword and chops at the curling roots, careful to avoid hitting the glass with a misplaced blow. He pulls. The bottle comes out with a pop. Sword still in hand, he reaches for the ancient looking cork. It come out with a squeak and a *pop*. Suddenly, there is a flash of white. He instinctually slashes with his sword, certain he's triggered a trap. The pale boy trips backwards, so the slash catches him just across his cheek. Red on white, the contrast sharp and clean and not belonging to the gentle earthen hues of this old, old forest. His eyes widen, and he stares at Dave. Dave stares back.
==> Be the Djinn
This is not how Karkat imagined his first time out of the bottle in 413 years. The boy looks to be around 17. He seems unsure, as if he did not mean to let you out. The cut on your cheek confirms it. You get to your feet, slowly, determined to die standing, at the very least. Your collar slips. Your brand is showing. You quickly cover it up.
==> Be the Confused Prince
Ok, what just happened? One minute, you were opening the bright red glass bottle you found in the tree roots, and the next there is a white boy in front of you. And you've hurt him. And when you say white, you mean white. Everything, from his hair, to his skin, to his clothes, is white. The only thing breaking up the monochrome are his eyes. They're red. The color of blood. It chills you to your core, those eyes. And that mark- this boy is a djinn, enemy of the kingdom. The boy speaks, his voice scratchy from disuse.
"If you're going to kill me, just do it. I've been trapped in that bottle, alone, for over four hundred years."
==> Be Karkat
You close your eyes and brace yourself for the sword you're sure will come. After a bit, you open your eyes. The boy has lowered his sword.
==>
Did this strange boy- djinn, dammit, djinn! - just tell you he was stuck alone in a tiny space for over four hundred years?!?! And now he expects you to kill him. But you can't. You know your father would in an instant. But... You lower your sword. This boy, djinn, whatever he is, is completely vulnerable, helpless and harmless. The boy slowly opens one eye, then the other. He frowns at you, a silent question. "Why?" it seems to ask. You pick up the bottle from where you'd dropped it. "Come on." You turn towards the castle and start walking. You don't know what you're doing, but you'll figure it out once you get there.
==>
Did that boy expect you to follow him? Yes, it seems so. "Do you got a better plan, Karbro?" You shake your head, swipe at the blood on your cheek, and follow the strange boy.