thecapitol | I'd rather run the other way than stay and see

Entry tags:

I'd rather run the other way than stay and see

Who| Terezi, Disciple, Karkat (but not at the same time)
What| Visitors! Terezi doesn't want them, but she's going to get them anyway. There's people with things to say.
Where| District 3 Suites, Terezi's room
When| Not long after Terezi's return in Week
Warnings/Notes| None so far

After her fight with Fraysong, Terezi hasn't felt much like leaving her room. She's already gone over as much of the broadcasts as she really cares to. Everything has been hashed and rehashed and quite honestly, she's tired of hearing the Capitol voices on the television screen going on and on about how tragic or exciting their lives are. It's enough to make her sick.

Save for her venture to the roof, her only other excursion consisted of a trip to see the Disciple. Or rather, to slip a picture under her door with a note written on the back. There's other places that she would like to visit, but the risk of running into people that she doesn't want to deal with is too high. So she retires to her room to whittle away some hours browsing the network.

It seems that not everyone has been as preoccupied with the arena as she has.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I don't really care what he would have yelled at you about. I have a lot of other reasons to not like him. Your inexplicable favoritism is only one of those." There's still the whole issue with the scratch and also his general association with Karkat. She's not sure why or how him and Karkat got to be moirails, but she probably wouldn't like that, either.

"Did it occur to you that we might have not come back from that sacrificial death?" she asks. The door slides closed just a little bit, enough for her to rest her forehead against the edge of it. "You seemed so worried about him not returning... Did you have the same concern for the rest of us?"

Oh.

Oh fuck.

Just because the plan had meant they'd have control over their own deaths.... it didn't mean they'd have control over their resurrection. One didn't follow the other, he should have been thinking of that, why hadn't he, why was he so stupid?

"I'm sorry," he whispers. "I'm a pan-cracked moron and you're right, I don't deserve anything from you."

She's quiet at that. Maybe he gets it, why she's been so bothered. Maybe he doesn't, and she's just making him feel bad. She doesn't know. But she doesn't know how to explain it any other way.

"I didn't enjoy it," she says after a long silence. Her head is bowed a little against the edge of the door. She frowns miserably at it, like it somehow offended her. "Killing your moirail, I mean. I hated it. But I didn't want him to win."

She should shut up. Just tell him that she won't do it again and leave it at that. But if she doesn't tell him, will he really understand? Not just what she was trying to do, but what he needs to do.

"I was...scared," she says the word quietly and strangely, like she's not used to saying it. "That if he won, if he got into those circles, obliviously saying the things that he says... They would punish him. And he would unwittingly drag you into that by association, one way or another. ...And I don't want them to hurt you."

"Oh," Karkat says. "Oh shit."

And then, quietly, he starts to cry.

Edited 2013-12-11 07:24 (UTC)

The tears aren't...entirely surprising, but Terezi still lifts her head with concern in her expression.

"Hey...Come on. Stop that." She doesn't want him crying on her doorstep. It's equal parts embarrassing and guilt-inducing, even as fragrant as the scent is. She shifts awkwardly at the door, opening it just a fraction further.

"You don't have to stand there and blubber at me... I don't hate you. We're still friends. Just... Keep in mind what I've said. You have to be careful. Everywhere, and with everyone. Okay?"

"Okay," he whispers.

Karkat sniffles, rubs his eyes with his (thankfully dark brown) sweater, and tries to stop crying. It doesn't really work, but if he keeps wiping his eyes maybe she won't smell it.

It occurs to him that if they were back on Alternia he would have had to cull half of District Three by now. Thank fuck the aliens don't care about his mutation.

"I don't deserve to be your friend," he says. "I was an asshole for perigees and you were trying to protect me. Like you always do. Like you did in the arena, like when they sent us out to fight those xenomorph things and you made sure Maximus would lose his leg instead of me losing mine. You don't deserve a shitty friend like me."

Edited 2013-12-11 07:57 (UTC)

"Probably not, but you're stuck with me anyway. So try not to be too much of an embarrassment, okay?" She doesn't mean it, of course. Teasing him for the crying and the self-depreciation is just easier than trying to figure out how to comfort him. It's familiar, and that's comforting enough, isn't it?

There was one part that caught her attention, though. Just an otherwise off-hand remark that shouldn't have bothered her. But she frowns a bit as he says it, and returns to it after her bout of teasing. "...Who told you about the Maximus thing?"

In a weird way, it really is comforting.

Karkat shakes his head. "Nobody told me. I figured out myself later. I'm a moron but I'm not that much of a moron."

"Ah." She nods, a little distractedly. Should she tell him? It's not like he needs to know. It's over and done with, and he understands at least partially what she did. The correction wouldn't change anything. Expect perhaps to emphasize how close he had come to really not being here. And how careful she wants him to be. She really can't emphasize that enough part.

"...You wouldn't have lost your leg. I Saw you die out there. That was the alternative that I was trying to avoid."

Edited 2013-12-11 21:15 (UTC)

"Oh," he says quietly. "Shit."

He rubs his eyes again. "I can talk to Cuthbert and Nepeta," he says, "if you want."

Terezi shakes her head at that.

"No, I can talk to them myself. I don't need you vouching for me." She sounds a little uncomfortable when she says it like that. Like she might be running away from the confrontation, if she lets Karkat talk to them for her. Whether or not that sounds appealing, she doesn't want to let it go that way.

"Okay," Karkat says, worrying his lip between his dull fangs. "But if you change your mind..." He shrugs.

He's stopped crying by now. That's something at least.

"Is there anything I can do to make up this shit for you?" he asks suddenly.

"You can be careful, like I've said." But that probably goes without saying. She shrugs a little, trying to think of something that will make this feel more okay.

"...You could be nicer to the Initiate and Helmsman. If that's out of the question, you could at least leave them alone. I don't want a repeat of what happened in that arena. From either side." If there's one thing that she's learned from her sweeps on Alternia, it's that vengeance cycles never go anywhere good.

Karkat groans. He was hoping she wouldn't ask that. "Fine," he says. "I won't talk to them unless they talk to me. I've said everything I wanted to that whimsical shitprince anyway." He sighs. "And... I guess I can promise not to attack that fucker too, if you want. Since you want me safe and trying to take him down isn't."

There. Never say he didn't go beyond the call of duty for paying your ass back, Terezi.

Whimsical shitprince. Terezi presses her lips together in a line, but she doesn't say anything. She's not in the mood to defend the Initiate anymore than she is to argue with Karkat.

"Thanks, I guess." Her attention shifts away from a moment as she turns her head. When she turns her head back to him, she holds out her hand, palm turned up. She doesn't say anything, just waits.

Karkat doesn't know what she wants with the gesture at first. Then he takes a guess, placing the tribble on her palm. "Yeah. You too."

Terezi takes the Tribble, listening to it squeak and coo as she holds it up close to her face. She sniffs at it. It does smell good. And if she's going to try getting along with Karkat again, she should probably try to accept his gift.

"It's cute," she finally says. "My other one could use a playmate, I guess... If you still want to make a gift of it."

"Yeah," he says, "I do. Even if he weren't a gift for the cessation of hostilities... I kind of owe you even more now, don't I?"

Karkat shifts nervously from one foot to the other. "Maybe we could hang out sometime?"

Terezi frowns a little. She doesn't really want Karkat thinking that he "owes her", but she's not about to fight it. She's really tired of fighting lately.

She gives a shrug at his second question and forces a hint of a smile. "Sure. We can do that."

He nods. "I'll see you around, then."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'd rather run the other way than stay and see

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

annnnd END OF THREAD, hello sweet sweet completion points