closed

[sleeplessinalternia]

Who| Karkat and Roland, Karkat and Nepeta, Karkat and Felicity
What| After Hans' discussion gets out of hand, Karkat has people to talk to.
Where| District Four, District Two, elsewhere???
When| the day of Hans' discussion
Warnings/Notes| There'll be three separate threads, which I'll put up in the order they occur. This way I don't have to spam the comm!

It had taken longer than Karkat thought to extricate himself from the discussions Hans had started, even with Bert implying those things he had about Nepeta. But he'd managed to pull himself away from everything in the end and now he was on his way up to D4 to make sure everything was all right and nobody had been infested with anybody's young.

Comments

For Roland

[sleeplessinalternia]

Unfortunately, Nepeta's not in the common area of D4 when Karkat gets there--and if she's in her respite block, she isn't responding to his knock. So instead he's left waiting for her to show up, flopped down on an armchair facing the elevator. "Fucking Cuthbert," he mutters loudly.

[ka_sera_sera]

Roland actually takes a few more steps toward the kitchen before he processes what he's heard. That there's a refrigerator here, and one shared only between so few of them, is just as ridiculous as the rest of this place, but he'd found a drink there earlier that had been almost like the one he'd been given on that beach all that time ago. If he can find another in that refrigerator now, he'll say no word against it.

It takes his mind a moment to change paths. "What's he done now?" The words come easy, said so often in youth. Roland shifts his steps toward the chair from which the voice had come, pace a little more cautious. The chance to learn more about what life his friend's made here isn't one he's going to ignore, even if he's about to meet one of Cuthbert's (likely many) enemies. Maybe especially then.

[sleeplessinalternia]

"Been a braybeast. Possibly Did It with one of my friends." Karkat sits up so he can better see the person--an old human male, evidently--talking to him and so that said human male can see him too. He's a short, solid, grey-skinned boy, with fangs and claw and nubby yellow-orange horns, who looks slightly younger than Bert is.

"You sound like you know him," Karkat says.

[ka_sera_sera]

There's a chair that looks just distant enough to be out of arm's reach of the boy, and Roland leans on it. "I did," he says, crossing his arms. "I do. And you sound as if you've been in his company for more than five seconds. He did 'it'?" Of course Roland knows what 'it' usually means. At least among humans. Here, who knows. If Roland's lucky, it'll have nothing to do with whatever a braybeast is.

[sleeplessinalternia]

"I've been in his company for nearly half-a-sweep," Karkat says grumpily. And then, for the old human's benefit, "About a human year. And yeah. It. Pailing." Yes, he said 'pailing.' "Fucking," he qualifies.

"I mean, I don't know for fucking certain, but we were arguing about human women and Bert was being a huge fucking moron as usual and claiming that human women were, like, super delicate compared to human men--which isn't true, I've met enough by now to see that they aren't--and then me telling him he was full of shit turned into him taunting me about how I haven't gotten any and so I told him he hadn't gotten any either and he implied that he had--and Nepeta's dating him, so it's just fucking logic that if he'd Done It he'd Done It with her--and then when I tried to ask him if he'd Done It with her he just started laughing his ass off at me, so I figured I should go check with her to make sure she was all right and he hadn't implanted her with his young."

He give the old human man a pained look. "He's my best friend here," he explains, "but he's a fucking shithead."

[ka_sera_sera]

Roland's eyebrows rise slowly throughout the explanation, reaching what must surely be their greatest height at 'implanted'. But then that last takes his attention, and he ducks his head a moment to think it over. Hearing someone else - and a stranger on top of that - refer to themselves as Cuthbert's best friend takes a little time to process. His old friend having such close ties that he knows nothing about makes the whole situation feel even less real than it already does.

"That he is," Roland murmurs. "And he ever has been. If it helps, he'd never... 'implanted' someone in all the time I knew him."

"This girl," he adds, suddenly. "Does he care for her?"

[sleeplessinalternia]

"Yeah," Karkat says. "Yeah, he does." He looks at the old human man curiously. The way he's talking really makes it sound like he's known Bert for a long time. Is he someone from Bert's world? "She's one of my friends," he informs the old human. "Like, from before Panem. You know the grey girl with the horns on this floor? About my age? That's her. That's Nepeta. So--are you from where Bert comes from? Are you his human parent thing?"

[ka_sera_sera]

Roland listens closely, matching the name with a face he's already seen and committing the match to memory. He's gotten much better with names than he had been in Cuthbert's day, and once noted he wouldn't have forgotten anyway. But this deserves the extra focus. She's important.

But, of course, then. "His father?" Roland's expression, for a moment, is a perfect picture of shock. The two fingers of his right hand pass slowly over the skin of his face. For the first time in a long time, his age has come as a surprise. "No. Bert remembers the face of his father, I'm sure. Remembers it well. And that face isn't mine. No matter that now I look it."

"Has he told you much about our world? About Gilead?" Perhaps he should answer the boy's question. But a best friend, and now a girl Cuthbert cares for. Deeply or not, Roland doesn't know, but there's a lot there. Quite a lot. Perhaps he should answer, but perhaps he'd rather learn more before he gives anything of himself away.

[sleeplessinalternia]

Karkat shrugs. "Some stuff. Like, basic stuff like paper and glass is really rare and people there have really stupid ideas about things like how only males can fight--which is totally stupid because everyone knows that females are scarier and meaner--and, like, only males can romance females and vice versa. And guns are way fucking important, which is why there's gunslingers like Bert and his friends Alain and Roland. Are you a gunslinger? Oh and there's things called tets and they're led by guys named dinhs and there's this thing called ka that I don't really understand which is way fucking important anyway. And the world moved on, but I'm not sure from what."

Another shrug. "It's probably just as well you're not his human parent. I don't know if Bert likes his very much."

For Nepeta

[sleeplessinalternia]

Once he finally catches sight of Nepeta, Karkat grabs her arm and attempts to drag her off into a corner. "Look," he says under his breath, "I need to know. Has Bert tried to pail you? Human pail you?"

[whoseesbynight]

Nepeta is coming back from what is either Important Cat Duties or seeing if there's any interesting new people to talk to when Karkat finally catches up to her. Still, she doesn't really protest being dragged off into a corner, for all that she's understandably confused by the state of affairs.

"No," she answers, with a blink. "Why?"

[sleeplessinalternia]

"Because he was claiming he'd pailed someone," Karkat says. "And I knew it hadn't been with me and that you two are sort of matesprits, so I wanted to make sure he hadn't implanted you with his parasitic young."

It's kind of sad how seriously Karkat can say those kinds of things.

"But, since he hasn't and he was just being an overwhelming fucktard as usual..." He shrugs. "How've you been lately?"

He feels pretty fucking awkward now, but at the same time he wants to hang out or something with Nepeta if he can, he's only too aware of how she's dead because of him in the normal timeline.

[whoseesbynight]

Maybe a little, but Nepeta isn't really terribly interested in experiencing a more mammalian way of reproducing. Besides, the whole situation is strange. Enough so that they've all had to adjust to things they might never have had to deal with elsewhere, even after a game that had all but destroyed their home planet and had been more than a little weird besides.

"Well enough," she answers with a shrug. "I wish we didn't have to keep dying, though."

[sleeplessinalternia]

Karkat winces. "Yeah," he says. "Me too." Say something, Karkat. Think, Karkat, think! "I mean, I think you can petition out of this shit--that Howard guy from my district is, he's the really scrawny guy with the crazy ex-girlfriend from the planet France, he likes to fill his block with garbage and stink up the whole floor--anyway, I think he's gonna try it, I saw him with the paperwork. But you probably have to swear a bunch of loyalty oaths and shit, I don't know."

[whoseesbynight]

The idea of petitioning out of it almost tempting. Enough to get her to consider it, but when you get right down to it she does sort of like the fighting. Just not the actual dying part. That and the idea of loyalty oaths doesn't sit too well with her.

"Purrobably. It would be just like them, anyway."

[sleeplessinalternia]

"Yeah," Karkat says. "Oh hey, I've been meaning to ask, have you tried teaching yourself how to read Human yet? Me and Signless have, but I think Terezi already knew from being from the future and hanging out with humans. Bert hasn't, even though its his species' language, but evidently they use different letters wherever the fuck Gilead is."

Another stunning conversational gambit. He can totally keep this up.

[whoseesbynight]

"I already know some," Nepeta answers. "Meowstly from talking to them a little before coming here, but I suppawse I could be spending more time on it?"

But she knows all she really needs to know to tell what most of things she's seen written mean, and that's good enough for her. Especially when there's not much that tends to be any sort of complex writing in the Arenas themselves.

For Felicity

[sleeplessinalternia]

Once his business on D4 is sorted out and all that bullshit's been taken care of, Karkat heads down to D2. "Hey!" he calls out once he steps off the elevator. "Is the human female around? The one whose males doesn't think she's a person?"

Unfortunately, he never did get Felicity's actual name.

orz

[iphigeneia]

Felicity heard him bellowing from her chosen spot in the main living area; a corner of the room in which she had draped blankets and pillows together in order to form a fort of sorts. She referred to it as her salon, and at present Some was the only one she had invited inside. She liked to sit inside and read in silence, though occasionally she would eat or simply lounge around. On this particular day she was sketching the view of the rest of the room from her vantage point in the corner.

"I'm the only female on this entire floor," she answered, not bothering to leave her hiding spot or even look up from her drawing. "Fate has conspired to surround me with men. Now, how may I help you?"

Re: orz

[sleeplessinalternia]

Karkat makes his way to said salon area. "Yeah, and some of them are giant fuckshits too," he says, thinking of Sherlock and the Helmsman in particular. "I, uh, just wanted to talk with you in person. We'd been talking before about how humans suck and how, like, it's a fucking crime they don't teach the females to fight and shit. Can I come in?"

[iphigeneia]

"Certainly," she said, shifting on the floor to allow him entry. "I was beginning to wonder if you would seek me out." Her drawing was set aside then, and she looked up at him curiously. "You really are a troll. I'd no idea. I thought it was only a figure of speech."

[sleeplessinalternia]

"I had to check on Bert's girlfriend first," Karkat says, stepping into her little bower. "Make sure she hadn't been infected. And yeah, yeah I'm a troll. It's what our species is called." And then, because he forgot to earlier, "Karkat. My name is Karkat Vantas."

[iphigeneia]

"Felicity Worthington," Fee answered, extending a hand to him, face wrought with concern. "Is there some sort of infection going around? You're not ill, are you?"

[sleeplessinalternia]

"What? Fuck no," Karkat says. "It was because of what we were talking about before. Nepeta's dating Cuthbert--my friend, you were arguing with him on the communicator because he's kind of a dick--so I wanted to make sure he hadn't infected her with his young."

[iphigeneia]

The girl looked utterly disgusted. "How on Earth did that terrible person ever manage to seduce anyone, let alone a decent friend of yours?"