Aaaaaaaahhh, I love this! (Read it somewhere else - is it on AO3 yet? - but I have been too busy to comment till lately.)
The dreaminess of everything - the lapses where real-life transitions would be (Jade pops in and out rather than walking/moving like a normal person, and Karkat dream-rationalises this as room teleportation), the way half the imagery isn't actually images but that vaguer, generalised knowledge-state that happens in dreams (Karkat 'knows' they have horns and touches them when relevant, but doesn't appear to be seeing them exactly), the emotional turmoil involved (built-up sexual frustration enough to take on half a rugby team, his wistful aside about Dave not ever making faces, the safety he feels with John and the way Dream-John reassures him, the praise that seems as devastating as the pleasure)!
Secretly I love the idea that he and Dirk have this little secret exchange between them, too; it's nice to see Karkat building bridges to humanity that aren't strictly anchored to John, and it gives his "what they have is what I want" realisation more depth, knowing he's seen human culture through a somewhat wider lens than just John's interactions (because John is very sweet and a little naive and it's hard to disbelieve his protestations of human kindness... but I don't think Karkat would base his entire age-class's lives on it.) Plus, just in general, much as I love John and Karkat, a change of pace is nice. :D
I'm dying to know, though: what did he end up doing about the messy pile?
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The dreaminess of everything - the lapses where real-life transitions would be (Jade pops in and out rather than walking/moving like a normal person, and Karkat dream-rationalises this as room teleportation), the way half the imagery isn't actually images but that vaguer, generalised knowledge-state that happens in dreams (Karkat 'knows' they have horns and touches them when relevant, but doesn't appear to be seeing them exactly), the emotional turmoil involved (built-up sexual frustration enough to take on half a rugby team, his wistful aside about Dave not ever making faces, the safety he feels with John and the way Dream-John reassures him, the praise that seems as devastating as the pleasure)!
Secretly I love the idea that he and Dirk have this little secret exchange between them, too; it's nice to see Karkat building bridges to humanity that aren't strictly anchored to John, and it gives his "what they have is what I want" realisation more depth, knowing he's seen human culture through a somewhat wider lens than just John's interactions (because John is very sweet and a little naive and it's hard to disbelieve his protestations of human kindness... but I don't think Karkat would base his entire age-class's lives on it.) Plus, just in general, much as I love John and Karkat, a change of pace is nice. :D
I'm dying to know, though: what did he end up doing about the messy pile?