thecapitol | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who| Kankri Vantas & OPEN
What| Settling in, meeting new people
Where| District 5 apartments at first, then generally exploring around the Tributes' area
When| Just after his arrival, some days after Enjolras' crowning
Warnings/Notes| Warning for Kankri being his annoying self, pretty much. Also, his first chronological threads will be with Claudia and the Initiate, but beyond that timing will pretty much be in the order of tagging.

Really, Kankri found the entire concept of this place absolutely deplorable. He would have no part of it. But until he could find some way to escape his captors, it wouldn't hurt to familiarize himself with the layout of the place. And also to find something to eat, he was quite famished at the moment.

He started in the suite of the district he'd been assigned and herded to like cattle, of course, but soon enough he was meandering all through the building, taking note of its occupants and features with various degrees of disapproval. He wasn't entirely sure of how to approach anyone yet, but he supposed it wouldn't hurt to try for the sake of information.

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Cuthbert rubs his face and takes a deep breath, trying to steady himself and get a hold of the situation. He doesn't feel nearly as drunk and happy as he did before. But he's still not quite sober enough to get a grip on things.

"Kankri... but that's what Karkat calls Sai Signless. Must all of you Vantas's make things so complicated? I'm going to give you each a different colored hat or I will never get this right."

He snorts. "And clearly I haven't had enough to drink because this misunderstanding isn't nearly so amusing as it should be. I can tell you about the tiny, angry shoes you've accidentally tried to fill and why so many others here will be mad just at the sight of you."

And then mostly to himself. "And the horns are still so small..."

Kankri covers his horns with his hands self-consciously, blushing a little. "My horns are no concern of yours," he mumbles. "But some explanation would be nice. It's been quite confusing. Is there somewhere we could sit down, perhaps? Have a calming beverage of the non-alcoholic sort?"

"I meant no offense, it just seems to be a family trait. And anyroad, your horns are bigger than mine." Cuthbert leads them both to the common area where they should be able to order drinks and rest. Cuthbert orders soda for himself, but lets Kankri order what he wants, since he's still very unpredictable, for a Vantas.

"Unfortunately, you bear a close resemblance to one Karkat Vantas who has a mouth on him that would make any washed out sailor from my world cry his way home and has a temper to match. He and I have been friends from the very beginning of my time here. But just as the two of us became close quickly, so did he turn away others."

That's the most Cuthbert can really say without getting too personal into his own affairs or Karkat's. But once he sobers up a bit more he will be able to share a little more detail with Kankri.

After a few minutes of deliberation and questioning about what the different kinds of drinks are, Kankri settles on a hot spiced cider. He settles in on a couch, huddling in on himself and sipping at the drink as he listens to Cuthbert.

"You seem like a polite and pleasant sort of person. It's a wonder you managed to befriend someone so...so...casually hostile," he murmurs. "Let alone bear his company long enough to form an, ah, intimate relationship."

Yeah, there was pretty much no way Kankri wasn't going to guess that after their style of introduction.

Cuthbert tries his best not to laugh at being described as 'polite and pleasant' person. It's not that he disagrees, just that there are a lot of other adjectives he would have put in there first.

"I am more hostile than you might know, but I am a gentleman and a killer. I pride myself on being able to know which role to fill at any given time." Cuthbert had no problem telling people what he was, especially not a troll as that seemed to be both normal and acceptable to them.

"He kissed me first, if that helps thee get your mind around it. Apparently my normal activities had flirtatious connotations for trolls, and he had his bulge in a twist for me before I even realized. But since then we have fought side by side and saved one another's lives as well as avenging one another's deaths. I would not know quite what to call us now..."

He trails off at the end, thinking too much about his own relationships to realize he's stopped talking.

Kankri chokes on his cider, spilling it down the front of the oversized sweater Claudia shoved him into.

"How can you be so- so cavalier about what everyone here has been forced into?" he sputters once he's got his vocal faculties back. "I can hardly see how anyone might be proud of murdering innocent people for sport!"

He'd have more to say on that bit about Cuthbert's and Karkat's relationship, but he's too busy being scandalized. Oops. Also, he may be scooting away from Cuthbert a bit now.

This is more amusing than he expected.

"Sai, I am a killer by trade. Not that I make a habit of killing the innocent, but I'm more suited to this place than most and I have no qualms with saying so. It may mean little to thee, but I am a Gunslinger, and there are worlds on which that name brings lesser men to their knees."

Which was a little bit of bluster on Cuthbert's end, but Kankri didn't need to know that. He's only a little offended that Kankri is moving away from him, he'll figure out soon enough that Bert is only dangerous when he wants to be.

Kankri huffs. "Well, fine. I can see the two of you are perfectly suited for each other, being that awful, if you're proud of destroying other people's lives for your own satisfaction."

He sets his cup down with a loud clatter, rising from his seat. "I don't know what these- Alternians-" and he spits the word out like it's a curse, "have led you to expect, but where I am from, we resolve conflicts rather than pummel them into submission. And as I don't particularly want to socialize with someone who will happily murder me for his own gain, I'll say my goodbyes here."

"You're welcome to flee from me now, but when the time comes to kill or be killed you may wish to be more on my side than against it. Karkat knows that well enough, as does Sai Signless."

He won't stop Kankri from leaving, though. He's not that cruel when he can see that he's making the troll uncomfortable.

"And just so we're clear, men of my sort would rather talk than shoot most days. It's just that we're not so naive as to think words will solve all our problems."

"I will never kill anyone," Kankri replies vehemently. "And I hardly think it intelligent to leave my fate in the hands of someone who admits he would kill me for his own gain, for someone's entertainment, and have no problem with it."

"When did I say I would kill you for my own gain? You are reading a great deal into my words. I only meant to offer thee my help in the Arena. Or have they told you about what we'll be forced into?"

He's still fairly amused, but much more and he will definitely take offense.

"You said you were suited to this place. Pardon me if I feel being - being fine with all of this, with looking out for yourself at the expense of others, with this whole wretched thing, is not something to take pride in. Pardon me for considering the implications of being 'suited' to a place like this!"

Despite the fact that he's railing against Cuthbert, Kankri's not really focusing on him. Mostly he's just freaking out. He hasn't gotten to have a really good freakout just yet, it was bound to happen sometime.

"Just because I can kill does not mean I will. I am still a man who can make his own decisions. I suppose it would suit you better if, when the time came, I left thee to die at the hands of someone who would take pleasure in it!"

Cuthbert doesn't like to be judged about his occupation, he happens to take great pride in it, and it's tough to have people telling him not to.

"And how am I to know that you don't take pleasure in it, when you're so pleased with yourself about it!" retorts Kankri. His head is spinning, and he wants to throw up. He hides his face in his hands instead. "I don't want anyone to be hurt. I don't want any of this. This place is awful and so is everyone just, just happily going along with it, as if nothing's wrong."

He looks upset. "I do take some pleasure in my work, I would not have earned my place if I was unsuited for it." Kankri is treading on thin ice, here.

"But just because I can survive here does not mean this is my choice. I was brought here with no warning just as you were, and I'm just as eager to be home again.

"If you would rather stir up trouble and be killed for it, be my guest. But leave me, and Karkat, out of it."

Because at the very least he can protect Karkat from worse consequences.

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