JOHN: whatever jade and dave and karkat were about to talk about, it was so pointless and awkward that three johns randomly apprearing couldn't make it worse.
JOHN: or better.
JOHN: i'm here because it is a safe place to visit my friends!
JOHN: maybe the last safe place.
ROSE: If that's true...
ROSE: Fuck.
ROSE: I don't want to be the one to suggest this, but do you think it's--
JOHN: --time for me to go back to THE END?
ROSE: Yeah.
ROSE: Wait.
ROSE: How did you say "The End" like that?
JOHN: like what? :B
ROSE: Solid. Suffused with an inexorable, metaphysical finality. Sort of, uh... black? No.
ROSE: No, I am not going to let you lighten the mood with stupid tricks I will watch you aquire in the near future.
JOHN: don't you mean... BLACKEN the mood?
ROSE: What did I just fucking say.
JOHN: sorry.
JOHN: i didn't mean to prank you.
JOHN: are you still using the kiddie camper handysash to keep track of your god tier bonus powers?
JOHN: i guess you haven't earned that badge yet.
JOHN: it's hard to keep track of that sort of thing.
ROSE: Then maybe you shouldn't be putting yourself in a position where you'll have to.
JOHN: good point, rose!
JOHN: you are correct.
JOHN: i will follow your advice, and leave right away.
ROSE: Oh my god.
ROSE: Something went wrong, didn't it.
JOHN: of course it did. something going wrong was the plan, remember?
ROSE: Something went wronger than expected.
ROSE: What happened.
JOHN: nothing.
ROSE: Seriously.
ROSE: Aren't we past the evasive bullshit by now?
JOHN: yes, we are.
JOHN: nothing happening IS what went wronger than expected.
JOHN: if i was understanding correctly, the idea was that after all the winning players had left into the new universe, the entire game reality would close up and fade away, like a doomed timeline after the alpha one doesn't need anything from it.
ROSE: Basically.
JOHN: so i waited for that to happen, but it did not.
JOHN: nothing happened instead.
JOHN: i even used my powers to jump as close to the end as i could.
JOHN: but... nothing happened.
ROSE: Maybe you didn't wait long enough?
JOHN: maybe! but i don't think that's it.
JOHN: i think that as long as i am still here, inside the game, it has to keep existing.
JOHN: even though our adventure is over, it can't actually stop until i'm finished with it.
ROSE: But you can't go with us, and you can't reach the point where everything ends around you.
ROSE: You can't visit us anywhere but here, and three Johns is already pushing it.
JOHN: it is all right, i have a plan.
JOHN: i said you don't need to worry!
JOHN: sitting on the victory platform by myself for ever would be basically impossible, considering how long that is.
ROSE: I know.
ROSE: If I had any idea...
ROSE: I would never do that to you, John.
ROSE: I could never have done that.
JOHN: and you didn't! not even by accident!
JOHN: because i could leave.
JOHN: i can go to lots of places in our universe while it wasn't destroyed! or in the trolls' old universe.
JOHN: maybe other places?
JOHN: basically, somewhere with groceries and videogames that don't destroy the planet.
JOHN: and as long as i never contact any of my friends or family, and i never do anything that would affect anyone or anything that matters,
JOHN: or that would affect anyone who would affect anyone who would affect anyone who would affect anyone... well, you get it.
JOHN: i could exist there, instead.
ROSE: That's a reasonable sounding plan.
ROSE: There's only one thing that might get in the way.
ROSE: Do you think you can actually do that?
JOHN: yes.
ROSE: Really.
JOHN: yes!
JOHN: i feel like, back when the earth was still a thing, a lot of people existed that way.
JOHN: probably most people, since they all got blown up by surprise meteor explosions.
JOHN: the only difference would be that i'll know for sure that nothing i did would ever matter to anyone ever again, forever.
JOHN: and i will understand why.
ROSE: I can't agrue the premise.
ROSE: But do you think you can live like that, forever, and not be destroyed by it?
JOHN: hahahaha!
JOHN: now you are just being picky!
JOHN: me getting destroyed was supposed to happen anyway.
ROSE: Not slowly.
ROSE: Not by having your soul crushed inch by inch across eons.
JOHN: see?
JOHN: soooooooo picky!!!
JOHN: besides, wouldn't it be easier that way?
JOHN: if i stop caring.
ROSE: For a while.
ROSE: But for an eternity?
ROSE: Ignoring the possibility that by continuing on indefinitely within this reality, even in a state of ennui-powered suspended animation in a demolished universe, you will destroy the "shape" of our adventure, and retroactively destabilize the foundation of everything we're trying to accomplish right now... And I'm not convinced that we should ignore that...
ROSE: What happens when you STOP not caring?
JOHN: well, um.
JOHN: maybe we will never find out.
JOHN: maybe, in a way, you were right about me not waiting long enough! if i don't do anything interesting, maybe reality will eventually get bored of the delay and stop pretending that i am important.
JOHN: like when a regular game shuts itself off due to lack of player input.
ROSE: That's not how metaphysics...
ROSE: Oh no.
ROSE: John, we are about to have a visitor.
JOHN: yes, i am noticing that too.
JOHN: it looks like we will need to put our human talking conference on hold for a minute.