Tavros's mouth fell open, and his stomach twisted- in something akin to anger, rather than sadness. "He- he what?" Tavros asked, his tone concerned, yet there was a hint of... annoyance, there. Why would Equius do that? To karkat, of all people- well, okay, he knew that Karkat didn't get along with most people. And that Equius... was kind of mean, despite his attempts to tell Equius that he wasn't.

It was enough to make him regret ever wanting to go into the forest with Equius in the first place. He was seriously starting to reconsider even trying to get the elf tears now. Maybe he and Karkat could go together, alone... But, there were other more important things than that, at the moment.

He clenched his fists. "I...I should, talk to him," he murmured, "And by talk, I mean... possibly with magic, as in... a duel, or something, because, I can't just l-let him do that to my... t-to you, I mean." He'd started off sounding pretty courageous, but then the nerve died somewhere along the way and he sounded pretty nervous. He wanted to be able to stick up for his friends, and especially for Karkat, but... Wow, it was really hard in actual practice.