> BLUEKAT: 8E THE CRIPPLE

[romcomedian.livejournal.com]

Characters: Karkat Vantas (AU) and YOU.
Setting: Infirmary
Format: I'm gonna go brackets, because I'm lazy.
Summary: Karkat's still healing from Vriska's attack, and now he's feeling even more paranoid than usual.
Warnings: Karkat's paranoia is also pretty crippling, give him a minute to calm down

[Being in the infirmary for a week has really done a number on Karkat's psyche. Truthfully, sitting still for this long is really starting to get old, but considering the hospital staff won't talk to him, he's unbelievably afraid of getting up and walking around. So he simply stays, staring like a zombie at the ceiling, pupils slightly shrunken into their sockets.

He has to get out of here. What if Vriska snaps again? Or worse, what if Terezi snaps? WHAT IF THE WHOLE TOWER WANTS HIM DEAD, WHY THE FUCK IS HE STILL HERE.......

Pull it together, Karkat, you're being a nooksucking idiot. Keep calm and lay still.]

Comments

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

[Her own smile is relieved.] Oh! Good. I think we met over the network - my name is Naminé...?

[romcomedian.livejournal.com]

Naminé. Nice to have a face to the name.

I promise, mine usually looks much better.

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

[Good, he does remember. She nods her agreement at the first statement; it IS nice, although it would probably be even nicer if he wasn't injured.]

I figured. [Her expression is sympathetic even as she tries to say that lightly.] What happened?

[romcomedian.livejournal.com]

Picked a fight I shouldn't have and lost, mostly.

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

Oh. I'm sorry. [She takes a moment to regard him and what of his injuries are still visible, then, hesitantly,] Why? [She well remembers that there were things he didn't want to talk about before, which caused her hesitation and the next bit.] --I mean, you don't have to tell me, if you don't want to.

[romcomedian.livejournal.com]

One of my friends killed another friend and I let my anger get the better of me.

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

[She presses a hand over her mouth to stifle a gasp, brow immediately knitting in a simultaneously distressed and sympathetic look.] I'm so sorry...!

[After a moment to recover, she shakes her head.] Anyone would have been angry. [Apparently this is her attempt and helping him feel better about 'picking a fight he shouldn't have.] I can see why you fought them. [Not that she's encouraging that, exactly.]

[romcomedian.livejournal.com]

Don't be. Its a lifestyle for trolls. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tired of it though.

[Because of his ribs, he's afraid to sigh, so his eyelids lower as his expression sobers.]

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

Really? It's always... like that? [Her expression was already pretty sober, but that frown gets bigger.]

That's so--....

[romcomedian.livejournal.com]

Yeah. We're not like humans. Violence is a pretty typical thing.

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

[Her hands tighten around each other.] I knew it was different for trolls, but I never realized it was like that. That sounds like such a horrible way to live.

--I-I'm sorry, that was rude.

[romcomedian.livejournal.com]

It probably is. Never really known anything else, I guess.

Don't worry about it. I don't care.

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

Oh. Good.

...It's not all like that, here. I mean-- of course things like that still happen, but... not everyone here acts that way. [Is this an attempt to find some kind of bright side to look at? You bet.] And-- your friend will come back, right?

[romcomedian.livejournal.com]

I don't know. Us being here probably adds to the problem. I heard talk of the Empress wandering around too. So its not bound to stop anytime soon.

Yeah, she did.

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

[She lets out the tiniest sigh. So the resurrection thing continues to be consistent.]

Empress? [She tilts her head slightly. A troll empress.... Well, she's heard of one apparently very high-up female troll - what are the chances that there's more than one who's here?] ...Is she called 'Her Imperial Condescension'?

[romcomedian.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's her. I'd stay away if I were you.

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

[She nods, a little sharply.] I was planning to. She... hurt some-- people I know.

[romcomedian.livejournal.com]

Doesn't surprise me. Its how she operates. Pain, fear, death and brainwashing.

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

[Her frown is very pronounced.] That's awful. There are people like that where I come from, too, but... they weren't rulers. [Not that they would have turned down the job.]

[romcomedian.livejournal.com]

No? What, then?

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

A few of them wanted to be rulers, but they weren't - they just... had other kinds of power. There... was one group in particular who did things that way. They were incomplete people who wished to be whole. They were from many different ways of life, and not all of them were bad people, but some of them-- [She cuts herself off, then just shakes her head, her eyes trailing down to her hands which tighten around each other. This appears to be something personal to her.] ...they didn't care who they hurt.

[romcomedian.livejournal.com]

[He motions toward the chair next to his bed, expression sobering just a bit.]

Sounds shitty. How'd you get stuck with that kind of crowd?

[lethechained.livejournal.com]

[She hesitates briefly, then sits down and places her hands together on her lap.]

It's... complicated. [And there are parts of it she's still not willing to let anyone know, but... it seems wrong not to tell people at least part of it, so at least they know what they're getting into when they try to be kind to her.] ...Do you remember what I told you before? About people like me who are created from other people?