(no subject)

[caliginous]

Characters: Karkat Vantas (AU) and YOU
Setting: Across the tower! Mark in the subject line, please!
Format: Action to start, but I'll follow.
Summary: Karkat has been awfully quiet lately, and hasn't quiet been seeking out others. How unusual.
Warnings: TBA

[Karkat has just had too many things on his mind. Staying out of trouble, trying not to make more people furious with him, dodging mealtimes to instead feed Spidermom. The attack on the tower had sated her slightly, but it hadn't helped his psyche any. The visions of Imperial Drones on top of more copies of Spidermom were a little too much for him.

He was still sick to his nutrition sack over the whole thing. If those drones had been real, then he would have been leaving Kanaya to them. What kind of shitty friend was he?

Oh wait. That kind of answered the question. So wherever he happens to be, Karkat will be propped against a wall, staring down at his shoes with an everpresent frown of thought.]

Comments

[scalemate]

[And Terezi has made a point of deliberately avoiding Karkat. Sure, he'd apologized, but she was still upset with him. She's wandering the spring room, not really paying attention until her cane hits something.

Oh. Hello Karkat. This is awkward.]

[caliginous]

[Karkat was just going to pretend that he didn't see her, but considering she just...well, nearly ran into him, he can't exactly ignore her anymore.

So he straightens himself and pointedly glances in another direction like a cagey idiot.]

Looking for fresh air or something?

[scalemate]

[She makes a face. There's no way to escape from this quickly.]

If I wanted fresh air I would be on the twentieth floor.

[She just barely resists the urge to call him stupid.]

[caliginous]

Air out there looks pretty grungy to me. Just saying.

[Its a flippant answer. He's not stupid -- he knows exactly what she was going to say. So he just pushes himself off the wall and puts some distance between the two of them.

Sure, he wanted to be friends again, but hell if he was going to beg for it like a pathetic wiggler.]

[scalemate]

[She crosses her arms.]

What are you doing here?

how does floor 14 sound

[gloomyapoplectic]

[Fuck the infirmary. Injured or not -- and seriously, she is pretty damn injured -- Kanaya is sick of being there. She actually appears to be limping, because she is a stubborn freak of nature, and she's even still wearing her hospital gown (and bandages, in the most futile effort to still hide her mutation).

But, limp or no, as soon as she sees Karkat, she hurries to him as fast as her battered legs can carry her.

Shitty friend or no, she'd been worried sick about him ever since the tower went haywire, and she doesn't bother to hide it as she approaches him.] Karkat. You're unharmed?

works for meee

[caliginous]

[Karkat doesn't notice Kanaya right away. He's actually absorbed into staring at the TV because he's fucking certain he saw something.

That is, until Kanaya actually speaks, with snaps his attention a little quicker than he'd like to admit. But suddenly that doesn't matter, because not only is Kanaya hurt...

But she's bleeding. Or she was rather recently. When she's in range, he doesn't even think -- he just snaps his hands around her shoulders and bares his teeth at her.]

What the fuck do you even think you're doing right now?!

[gloomyapoplectic]

[holy shit she was not expecting that, and the suddenness of his aggression has her recoiling and baring her own fangs as per her violent troll instinct. She even raises her hands and curls her fingers in reflex, but she doesn't actually attack him.

Kanaya mental state is clearly still in strife mode from all that combat.]

Checking to see if you are alright! I didn't see you at all when the Tower was under attack, how was I supposed to know what had happened to you?! [Anger. Healthiest cover-up for worry.]

[caliginous]

You are a limping, bleeding mess of indecency dragging your way up a flight of stairs, you have got to be kidding me right now.

[Karkat doesn't even acknowledge the concern for him. Instead, he forces her to about face and attempts to steer her back down the stairs.]

Everyone is going to see you. What the fuck is going through your 'pan?

Floor 4 if that's okay /o/

[lethechained]

[Naminé's spent a lot of time in her room since she... started actually having a room again. Finally being able to go where she pleases (within the tower, of course) is something she relishes, since it was denied her during so much of her life, but after spending all that time surrounded by monsters and with nowhere to hide, she couldn't help craving a little bit of time in a space where nothing could sneak up on her. Today, however, she's finally had her fill of that, and, with the intention of taking a walk - and hopefully making herself feel a bit better about the safety of the tower in general - has found herself passing through the lounge.]

[She takes a long glance around as she steps onto the floor from the set of stairs, and it's because of that glance that she spots Karkat and slows to a temporary stop. She'd had a lot of people to worry about during that whole monster-infestated nightmare, and he was one of them. The relief she feels to find him in one piece is obvious in the surprised smile that spreads across her mouth and then quickly fades. He doesn't look like he's in such a good mood. She can't blame him; a lot of unpleasant things have been going on. She's worse for wear, herself, and it's not just the lingering bruises and healing scratches that came from spending all that time on the run from monsters - that incident, like many of the other things the tower liked to inflict upon its occupants, had unsettled her greatly. If nothing else, at least the tower had always managed to maintain some kind of integrity as far as the arrangement of the rooms before that. The girl begins to walk forward again without a word, only this time, she heads for Karkat.]

yes :D

[caliginous]

[Karkat doesn't acknowledge Naminé's steps. Or perhaps he was just too lost in thought to hear her approach. He's staring pointedly out the glass window and up at the gloomy gray sky, as if he's expecting something. He had never quite been the same since the nightmare realm had dragged him inside of it.

It was hard knowing that you were destined to die and fulfill no greater purpose. Kanaya had told him when she had arrived, but it still hadn't prepared him for the horribly gruesome death he had encountered.]

:D /o/

[lethechained]

[Naminé slows to a stop nearby. He seems really distracted, and, now that she's had a moment to think about it, she questions whether or not she should disturb him. Curiously, she leans a bit to try to see what, exactly, he's looking at, but when she sees nothing, she straightens again. Huh.]

[She might not have chosen to interrupt his thoughts had she not gotten the feeling that they weren't particularly nice ones. There have been so many unpleasant things going on in this tower that it's easy to find oneself hopeless, which is a feeling she's been thoroughly familiarized with, thanks to a certain event, and that thought is what finally tips her decision in the direction of speaking up. She's gentle about it, at least, in the hopes of not startling him TOO badly.]

Karkat?

[caliginous]

[Perhaps if it had been anyone else, Karkat would've jumped and snapped angrily at whoever was disturbing him. He's gotten used to the sound of Naminé's voice and her tendency to find him when he was wandering around, and so the reaction is considerably calmer than what might be expected.

He turns to regard her with his seven pupiled eye, pulling one hand out of his pocket to let it hang. The smirk is soft, and a bit forced, but its spread enough to allow one spider fang to poke out.]

Sup.

level 3 - the library!

[guiltapalooza]

[Willow hangs out in the library a lot, doing aimless reading and/or typically fruitless research. It feels weird to have so much free time, and she wished she could be back at school. This had to do as a substitute.

But occasionally she does like interruptions, and gets up to take a walk through the stacks. Social person that she is, she stops when she sees Karkat, and gives him a look of faint, if open, concern.] Hey-- you okay?

[caliginous]

[Karkat's reading material was never something he openly advertised. It was easy enough to discern his interests if one was familiar with him, but seeing as he's never spoken to Willow before, the book he's reading is snapped shut rather sharply, the title covered.

If Willow is quick, she might notice that he's reading a romance novel. But only if she notices before he slides it under his arm defensively as he folds them.]

What--yeah, I'm fine.

[guiltapalooza]

[Too distracted by focusing on Karkat himself, Willow doesn't notice what he was reading, and instead merely raises her eyebrows at his defensiveness.]

Just asking. You seem kinda gloomy, and also, probably more interesting than a treatise on seventeenth century witch finding. [She holds up the book in her hand demonstratively. It's a slim, brown leather bound volume, the pages worn and weathered. She'd meant to put it back, but it makes a good prop here.]

[caliginous]

[Witch finding? That just makes him raise his eyebrow skeptically. What would be so special about finding a witch?

Whatever, she had tried to call him on his mood, and that was more important.]

There's nothing to be particularly cheerful or exciting about in this pitfall of a dimension.

Keepin' it simple with Floor 1/the Cafeteria

[metawoof]

[Mostly she was just there to eat. But there was a sad thing on the wall that looked suspiciously like a troll and reminded her of Karl. Logic should say it was Karkat, but her looked much different than her original impression of him.

Well whatever. More importantly, he looked sad. So Echidna ran back into the cafeteria, grabbed some pudding and offered it to the sad troll when she returned with a smile.]

o7

[caliginous]

[Echidna looks an awful lot like an embarrassing not-so-cool kid that he had yet to see here in the Tower. But then, he had seen a few Jades come and go, and he imagined that this was one of them.

She looked a little taller than he remembered. The pudding is regarded evenly. He wasn't really hungry, but something compels him to reach out and take it anyway.

There's a beat of silence before he looks up to meet her eyes, a light furrow in his brow. He's not quite used to these gestures of kindness.]

Do I know you?

[metawoof]

[Well she was happy that he at least took the pudding! She had no idea what trolls usually ate to be honest, but she was pretty sure chocolate at least wasn't poisonous unless they turned out to be part dog.]

Nope! I guess you might know Jade? But there are lots of different versions of people here it seems. [She was slowly getting used to it. Kind of.]

[caliginous]

[He places it on the table and eyes it carefully. He was never one for sweets, but chocolate...

...he could do chocolate. But first, he had to address Jade. Or whoever this was. Karkat stood to regard her.]

I know a couple of them, no thanks to this place.

So I guess you already know me.

Floor 4

[myblueskies]

Romeo was cold, he knew he should just go up to the meadow where it was warmer but that involved going through a lot of scary floors, and he didn't use the magical moving box anymore since he was afraid he would be taken down again to where the bad doctors lived.

He saw the troll that he had met before, the one whose arm was broken. "Hello!" He smiled despite the cold.

[caliginous]

Karkat was regarding the gloomy outdoors without a lot of focus, but even still, its hard to ignore Romeo's voice when he makes his appearance. He remembered him well enough, considering how rare it had once been that anyone had stuck their neck out for him other than Kanaya.

"Hey," he grunted, turning around to face him, one hand in his pants pocket.

[myblueskies]

Romeo smiled at him, "Are you alright, you look sad. Are you sad? Did someone hurt you again?" He frowned, Karkat was one of the people he had promised to protect, and he hoped he hadn't been hurt.

[caliginous]

"Nah. I'm always like this. Its kind of my default," he answers smoothly, eyelids drawing a bit. It was a lie, but he wasn't interested in reliving any of it.