towerofanimus | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

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.]

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[Unfortunately, Karkat's general cagey demeanor makes it difficult for him to be forward with his own feelings, despite being intimate with everyone else's (whether he wants to be or not). So when she asks her question, he offers a careless shrug.]

Alive. You know how it goes around here. Alive ain't always the best thing to be.

[He scoffs.]

[Her head tilts slightly. She's no stranger to the prideful and those who'd rather keep their thoughts to themselves, but that's a bit of a... flippant way to be about such a subject, even if, in the tower, death is transient, and perhaps in some cases even preferable.] ... I know what you mean. [It's still a concerning thing to say, and she watches him a bit more closely for it.]

[He notes that she's caught his act, and so his grin fades a little, eyes drifting shut.]

What about you? Staying out of trouble?

[It seems like being correct is rarely a good thing, in her life. She exhales quietly, but keeps some remnants of that smile around, more for his sake than hers.]

More or less. It's not easy when trouble comes to you. [And she doesn't sound upset about that. It doesn't quite sound humorous, either, but it's closer to that than distress; it's more of a quiet acceptance of unpleasant facts without bitterness attached.] But I've been doing my best.

Edited 2012-01-17 18:54 (UTC)

[There's no hiding feelings from Karkat, more often than not, but he rarely feels the need to call others on it. And of course, she's hardly someone on his radar in terms of being malicious in their heart, so he has no reason to demand that she drop the act.]

Did you get a shitty arrival from home or something?

[There's no malice there, indeed - assuming she's got a heart at all.]

No. Just the opposite, actually. [The edges of her mouth edge upward briefly before relaxing again, and when they come to a stop, they're a bit lower than before.] I'm... not much of a fighter, so when those monsters appeared in the tower, I couldn't do much. [And those were plenty of trouble.] I had to rely on others, and I-- caused some problems myself. [Nevermind what assistance she actually did manage to provide.]

I don't know if I'd believe that. You causing problems, I mean.

[His comment makes her blink at him, looking surprised. Her mouth works itself into a sheepish smile with a touch of wryness, and she half-shrugs. The smile fades away quickly.] It's true. Everyone had to help me. One of the people from my world even had to push me out of the way so that I wouldn't get hurt. He was hit instead. [Clearly, she has therefore caused trouble.]

You made it sound like you slid in there trying to trip people. [He shrugs.] If people want to stick their neck out for you, that's not causing trouble. That's other people being virtuous idiots and martyrs.

Or friends. Whatever you wanna call it, I guess.

-- Well, no. I didn't mean it that way. [That's certainly an interesting way of describing such people.] It's just that if I hadn't been there, it wouldn't have happened. [So it's still her fault, see?]

... Mm. That's one way to put it. [She seems a bit tentative to herself, though.]

What about you? Were you okay during-- all of that?

I got knocked out somewhere along the line, so I guess. I didn't wake up with that paralysis, so I have to imagine that I didn't die.

[That's certainly peculiar, but she can't say it's not a relief. She tilts her head slightly, thinking it over.]

Maybe someone was looking after you.

Probably.

[He doesn't sound particularly thrilled about the possibility.]

[Well, it'd probably be embarrassing to need assistance, for someone from a culture as violent as the trolls', she imagines. His lack of enthusiasm makes her own expression a bit sympathetic.]

Any guesses? [Because she's kind of hoping he has some good friends around, for his sake.]

At least two, but whatever. It doesn't matter.

[Her smile grows ever so slightly. Good news, then.]

Well, I'm glad you got through it okay. [No matter how it happened.]

Yeah. [Pause. He's so not good when it comes to his own feelings.] You too.

[She's happy to encourage him with a nod and an even larger smile. No ridicule, here.]

Thank you...!

[Its one of the reasons he's gotten fond of her. Its rare that someone isn't ridiculing him for his thoughts on emotion and various other things.

So the show of gratitude pulls a genuine smile from him.]

So who was keeping an eye on you?

[He'd be extremely hard pressed to manage to earn her scorn; she's been on the receiving end of entirely too much harassment to inflict it on someone else. She just doesn't have it in her. ~~Even if she was, he probably wouldn't get it - she's fond of him, too.~~]

[His smile obviously both pleases and slightly surprises her, but she takes it in stride quickly enough.]

A lot of different people. [That part, though, makes her look a tiny bit sheepish. Way to mooch, Naminé.] Most of them were from my world. [Although,] There was a woman I hadn't met before then [except that was more of an assist than a looking after] and two trolls, too. [That does make her pause for a second, because she's not sure whether said trolls are from his universe, or the other Karkat's, or possibly another one entirely, and she's pretty sure she shouldn't assume he'd know them.]

Edited 2012-01-23 21:52 (UTC)

[An eyebrow is raised in interest at the mention of trolls. He's a gossip monger.]

Any idea which two trolls?

Oh, yes. I knew both of them. [Her hesitation is not caused by the eyebrow raise, but it is present.] Their names are Signless and Summoner. [Er-- well, that's what she calls them, anyway.]

[There's a light crease in his brow.]

Never heard of the second guy. I know the Signless, though.

[She doesn't miss that crease, but there's little change about her own face save for it to grow a little more curious.]

Really...? How?

Met him when I was wandering around. [He looks a little annoyed.] He's the other Karkat's Ancestor.

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lethechained - 2012-01-31 18:11 (UTC) - Expand

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