[ Oh.

Oh.

John's glad he's already sitting, because he's not honestly sure that his legs wouldn't have given out learning that. He's not sure who this girl is who went grimdark... maybe that's the Rose whose name he knows, who he can't remember. He made God Tier, which he knew 'cause Vriska told him, and they--

It doesn't matter. All of the rest of that doesn't matter because his dad is dead. His dad who learned sign language before John was old enough to even know what words were, so that he could teach John as young as possible. His dad who worked his ass off for two years to put him into an expensive boarding school a state away, and then who pulled him out and started homeschooling him when John was miserable not really able to connect with the kids at said expensive boarding school. His dad who is the only person he's ever expressed his frustrations about being deaf to, the only person he's relied on as far as his deafness goes.

He takes a few shaky breaths and pulls his knees up to his chest, trying to process it all, trying not to freak out. He's not crying. Not yet. He's just trying to process it.

It's not working very well. ]