And what delicious venom it is. It drinks in the vitriol like water in summer, using it to hold itself in place. Karkat is trying to push back against the symbiote, but in doing so is giving it its first full meal since it got here.

But it worries. It can't survive on scraps and stolen tantrums, it needs to manage its potential hosts. The pressure lifts from his mind, and the voice reaches out again, sounding like it comes from nowhere, as opposed to from the back of his skull.

It intruded too far. It is grown used to willing minds.