Well, this was awkward.

John stomped out into the grass, pulling a face as his heels crunched through the grass. This was pretty much the opposite of cool or anything that a boy his age and gender identity should be doing. It was like a page out of his Japanese manga, only it was one of those manga that he so did not intentionally mean to read. For example, the art had looked cool, but inside it was nothing but willowy-limbed angular guys kissing and crying and having glowing censors on their junk. Sometimes in outfits like these!

Well, he did not want to criticize others for their lifestyle choices, but wearing a frilly, poofy girl dress was not his choice.

With a heavy sigh, John did a quick glance around the perimeter of the garden. Nope, no one here yet that he could see. Being alone and dressed like this was kind of a relief, he thought, since no one could see him and start laughing at the probably horrible sight. He immediately thought of a good handful of people he preferred not to see him like this right off the bat.

God, what if Dave was here and saw him in this? It was like all of the tickets to butler island were gone and John was stuck on maid isle, all by himself. Or, something like that. The Heir was pretty sure that he messed up somewhere in there with his metaphor since it was a little too literal for him at the moment. Then there was Rose, who probably would have some sort of detailed psycho-babble about it, even if it was against his choice to wear this. He was not sure he could face Vriska or Jade in clothes like this either. Of course, then there was Karkat.

He already cringed at that thought, not wanting to start that imaginary reaction to his sky blue dress and his yellow strapped shoes. Unfortunately, his mind wandered right into the territory of all-caps screams and a boatload of "WHAT THE FUCK, EGBERT" before he could stop himself.

What if, after being separated, he finally found his Dad again while working here? What if he found him while he was looking like this? What kind of mixed messages would that send? Would it end up like the harlequins all over the house as a result of his drawings. That was probably the only scenario worse than Karkat or Dave making the discovery.

For now, however, John decided that he needed to take care of this huge mess he had found himself in before he started on the road to embarrassing disaster scenarios with his friends and family. First thing was first, though, and that was taking care of all the downed branches and stray leaves that had scattered in the yard.

"Might as well get this over with," John said under his breath. Slowly, he lifted his arms, concentrating on his open palms as he lifted himself upward on the Breeze. He called forth the powers of the Windy Thing as he looked over the garden, directing it toward the overgrowth that had once been a garden. A sudden gust of wind swept along the greenery and started to scatter the leaves to the winds.

Of course, in the process, John's skirt was lifted up into the winds as he floated over unkempt bushes and flowers.


EXP: 568/2 = 289
Total EXP: 3012