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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Vantas. Karkat [He makes double finger pistols.] Vantas.

Edited 2012-01-22 08:11 (UTC)

[ ... Don't laugh at him, he seems so serious and trying to be cool, don't laugh--

A brief giggle escapes before she cuts herself off, hiding her mouth behind her hand.] --Oh hey, wait, everyone kept telling me to ask you about troll romance! [Suddenly she looks eager and not giggly at all.] That's you, right?

[The laugh doesn't seem to bother him. In fact, when she mentions romance, he instantly becomes more alert and adjusts his collar.]

The one and only. [...not really, but whatever.] Lay it on me.

[Adjusting his collar, wow. Willow has a hard time not laughing again, but she manages, instead shooting him an amused look.

But on topic, okay.] First, you have to promise that there will be no mocking or otherwise shaming. I understand that this is ridiculous and I don't need you to tell me! Got it?

[There's a knowing smirk.]

Guess they didn't tell you much about me if you need a disclaimer like that.

But ok, I'll play along.

Mostly they said you like to yell and watch a lot of romcoms, [she says matter-of-factly, starting to wonder if he even has any reason to be this cocky.

Welllll, she'll give this a shot, anyway. Willow takes a breath to collect herself, because gosh, first time admitting this out loud to someone else. She'd danced around the idea with maybe's before, but now she has to actually say it.]

I sorta... um. Very recently started-- dating. A troll. [Wait, quadrants, right. So she clarifies,] As matesprits, not the hate thing. And I got a bunch of advice already, but that was back when I wasn't sure, and now I am sure and I want to make sure I do this the right way.

[She transitions from hesitant to earnest by the end of her explanation, eyes wide and faintly pleading. Willow is nothing if not invested in romance.]

[The smirk doesn't leave at the mention of quadrants, and he offers a little shrug. But then the weight of what she said seems to settle in and he gives her a Look.]

A troll?

[Interspecies sloppy makeouts. He's not sure how he feels about that just yet.]

I know, I know. But I run into so many non-humans at home, it almost seems normal to me. [She doesn't seem defensive anymore, though; just resigned.] Both of my best friends have dated demons, and hey, my first boyfriend was a werewolf.

But this is... different. [The word here is that it almost seems normal to her. It's true that Willow has no trouble whatsoever treating non-humans just as she would any regular human, but she hasn't entirely thought this through yet in terms of dating one.]

Hey, whatever lady, it ain't my place to judge.

So you're matesprits. Sounds like you've already been given that schpeal. What brings you to my doorstep, then?

[Willow's not really sure what to make of how he seems totally cavalier and disinterested, but at the same is willing (and even eager?) to answer her questions.

But she plows ahead determinedly, wanting answers.] Right, I got the basic schpeal of how it works, but no one told me what's actually considered romantic! It can't still be picnics and roses, can it?

[Karkat scoffs at the suggestion.]

Hoo boy. I got a lotta work to do.

[He moves back to the table and kicks a chair over to her, sitting down in his own and folding his hands.]

Its a mating quadrant. They told you that, right? It ain't all that different from your customary tendencies, aside from the way matespritship and what you call "love" [He adds finger quotes for emphasis] are defined.

[...an interested pause.]

Flowers? That's all it takes to entice a human? Talk about shallow. You gotta go a little deeper than that if you want to impress a troll, sugar.

You're kind of insufferable, [she says matter-of-factly, even as she sits.] But okay, I'm listening. Just can it on the speciesism-- flowers work in movies, not so much in real life.

Which is why I'm asking. I know that it's a mating quadrant and the love equivalent, and honestly, he seems... pretty impressed already. But I'm a sweep them off their feet kind of girl. Why settle for mediocre?

[There's an edge of a grin as she says that, and while she does mean it, she can't quite take herself seriously.]

I get that a lot.

[He checks his nails as he listens.]

Well honestly, if you're really going for an Ampora here, its not gonna take much in my experience.

[Its a rib at all the Eridans in the tower, but he doesn't appear to mean it maliciously. He leans forward again to meet Willow's eyes.]

--hang on. Which Eridan are we talking about? Fuck knows there could be 12 of anyone here at any given time. Lowblood, highblood, midblood...give me some details here.

[She's really not surprised that he gets that a lot, but he still has nothing on Anya in terms of sheer ability to annoy her. As far as Willow's concerned, it's totally tolerable.]

The seadweller on the lower end-- the one around my age? [She meets his eyes unflinching, but seems faintly displeased at the comment about it not taking much.] Why, do you have specific-to-Eridan advice?

Not really -- never bothered with mine much. Has less to do with him and more to do with his place on the spectrum. Since you seem to know a little about it, maybe this'll make a little more sense to you.

[He reaches into his pocket and pulls out twelve different colored marbles, spreading them out in a line in order from highest to lowest.]

At a glance, for your convenience. Take a look where your Ampora is.

[He'll wait until she notices before he continues, removing the Jade marble in the process.]

This is the Ampora I'm most familiar with. See the difference? Getting raised on the higher end of the spectrum gives you a lot more privileges. Higher quality of life. Higher standards.

Now flip it, and what do you get? Oppression. Constraints. Slavery. All that nice and juicy stuff. Makes a troll a lot more grateful for what they get, if they get anything at all.

[He puts the marble down and starts fiddling with the cerulean one to keep himself busy.]

You followin' me yet?

[She watches all of this with her eyes getting increasingly more narrow. Willow's been giving him the benefit of the doubt on the hemospectrum thing this entire conversation, but if he's going to start indirectly insulting her boyfriend about it, she just can't keep quiet any longer.

Even if she doesn't think he means to be insulting, she can't just sit around and not defend Eridan!]

If you're trying to tell me that he's desperate and I don't have to do much to make him happy because he's a simplistic lowblood who'd be thrilled if someone tossed him a spare bone, I think you should consider rephrasing it.

[The idea has all sorts of implications that get her hackles up.]

Well, if that's all I was trying to tell you, then I'd just tell you that. Dig deeper.

[He picks up the magenta marble and tosses it a few times before offering it to her.]

By rights, you're at the top of his version of the spectrum, but if I have my cards in order, that's not really at the forefront of his thinkpan, is it?

... Dig deeper? [she says rhetorically, not getting where he's going with this if it isn't insulting. She reaches out and hesitantly takes the marble, looking it over and wondering what she's missing.

She holds it carefully in her palm.] I'm not sure what he thinks about it. We have enough differences as aliens that my blood color hasn't really come up. Mostly we talk about my magic, if anything.

[He props his head up with his hand and waits for her to figure it our, one finger rolling the maroon and teal marbles back and forth under his other hand, leaving the cerulean by itself.]

You came to ask me what to do to romance a troll, right?

[Its an honest question, free of sarcasm. The tone sounds like he's leading her to the answer.]

Yeah, and so far all I'm feeling is fruitless and stupid, [she says in frustration, not getting it.] Fruitlessly stupid, even, which is not the objective.

Could you skip to the big reveal, please?

The point is that you've already done it.

[He sits back up to gesture again, still holding both the aforementioned marbles.]

He pities you for you, not for any special thing you ain't done yet. My point previously being that he ain't as focused on the material pleasure as a highblood like myself might be.

[He offers her a coy little smirk and a wink before leaning forward again, folding both hands around his teal and maroon marbles.]

So unless you're talking to me to advance the purpose of the quadrant--[He moves his eyebrows suggestively]--you ain't doing anything wrong.

... I'm not? [She looks like she's not entirely sure how to process that, taken aback by the idea.] I think I have the purpose down just fine.

But me not doing anything wrong, wow. I don't think I've heard that one in a while. [Although the words are self-pitying, Willow's preoccupation clears a moment later, and she's giving him a slightly wry, lop-sided smile.] Thanks. You are pretty good at this, aren't you?

[Maybe being somewhat intolerable was just part of his character. Like Anya.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only