thecapitol | i knew you were tribble when you walked in

Who| The Signless and Kankri; The Signless and ANYONE WHO WANTS A TRIBBLE.
What| Signless and his past life are sad together and Signless realizes if everyone had a small soft friend to comfort them things might be marginally less terrible.
Where| D5, D12
When| The thread with Kankri is backdated a little, the tribble giveaway is happening now.
WARNINGS| Nothing; will change if anything comes up.

[For Kankri]

If he's taking Karkat's disappearance hard then he knows Kankri must be too. Whatever their relationship was or was not, Kankri and Karkat were close. With that in mind the Signless makes his way down to District 5, his tribble Friend tucked under his arm. He's had his time to grieve and now he's more than ready to take care of someone else while they grieve -- and even if Kankri isn't as distraught as he thinks he might be, visiting his past self is something he feels he should do more of.

With all that in mind he knocks softly on Kankri's door.

"Kankri? Are you there?"

[For Everyone Who Wants A Tribble]

Within the next few days signs pop up all over the tribute center in all the common areas and inside the elevator. They're all a little different from each other, as though whoever made them either couldn't find a copier or didn't know copiers were a thing. They all look basically the same, though:

The Signless is now in possession of a lot more tribbles than he was just a few days ago. Between Friend, Sekhmet and Tribble Will Smith all having healthy appetites he now has a healthy stock that range from bright white to deep black (and a good deal of colors in between) in plain or stripes or spots. He's gathered them all in the District 12 common room where they cover the couches and chairs and spill onto the floor. The combined cooing isn't so much a gentle murmur of sound as it is a dull roar.

He's set up another hand-written sign by the couch that says TRIBBLES HERE and there is a small stack of cards on the table that he made by tearing up larger pieces of paper. They're each labeled with Tribble Care Instructions and the only thing written on them is DO NOT FEED underlined several times.

It just seems to him that having a small, soft thing to hold when he feels particularly horrible always helps. Logically it follows that it might help other people too, and since tribbles are so easy to multiply there's no reason not to offer. He sits back amongst his herd of puffballs and waits (and desperately hopes someone shows up, because being stuck with this many tribbles is not something he exactly wants).

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"It is, yes. I assume you've never seen one before? Most people haven't." Especially not when 'one' means 'one in a gigantic cooing pile'.

"You could take a closer look if you wanted. They're very docile and enjoy being handled."

Haruto shakes his head, reluctant to approach much further. One fuzzy thing was fine. A handful of them, okay. A giant pile of fuzzy burbling creatures required a certain amount of caution. "How did you end up with so many?"

"When you feed them, they multiply, usually at a great rate. I have three that I keep, but I thought others might like one or two, so I fed the ones I had and made these. I, ah... didn't account for exactly how many I'd be making, but I should be able to find homes for all of them."

He hopes.

"Oh." And then after a moment more of thought and consideration, his eyes widen. "Ohhh..." Because while rapidly reproducing fuzzy things are not precisely his department, the trouble that a bunch of rapidly reproducing fuzzy things could bring down upon other people's heads is. He finally starts forwards, being very careful not to step on any of the tribbles.

"What's going to happen if you can't find somewhere for them to go?" He sounds concerned, but it's with a lift of his eyebrows and a look directed at Signless rather than any of the critters.

That's definitely something he's thought about (with increasing urgency given how many of them there are still even after several people have stopped by to take a few).

"I'm sure there are some Capitolites who might like to own one. If there aren't I could always just keep the ones that are left over." They'd make a comfortable pile. A pile of tribbles. It sounds kind of silly but trolls have made piles out of sillier things before. "I promise they'll all be taken care of one way or another."

"It's not them that I'm the most worried about." Because he's a little worried about a pile of cute, burbling, fuzzy things being carted off to be put down. He's not made of stone. Haruto doesn't elaborate any further, though. Instead he reaches down and carefully picks up a pale one with spots. "So... what do I need to do to take care of one?"

"Very little. They're excellent pets for tributes in my experience because they don't need to eat and as far as I can tell if they need water to drink they can find it on their own. You can leave them alone for long stretches of time and come back to find them perfectly content."

So, a perfect pet for someone who needs to spend weeks and weeks trying desperately to survive in an arena.

"Well. I guess those are advantages." The perfect pet for people that get tossed into a death arena for prolonged periods. Let's not think about that too hard right now. He pets the tribble, gets a positive little burble back, and can't help but smile a little. Just a little.

"I'll take this one, then." And after a brief pause, he continues. "Ah, hey. I didn't catch your name."

Oh, goodness, he'd been so intent on tribble discussion that he hadn't even remembered to introduce himself.

"I'm sorry -- my name is Signless. I've met a lot of new people today, I keep forgetting who I've told and who I haven't."

"Lots of people looking for pets?" Haruto gives a chuckle, looking up from his new tribble. "It's alright. I'm Haruto Soma, and I guess I'm still pretty new. Er..." And now it was time for a slightly awkward pause and maybe a few awkward lead-in noises. "...are there a lot of non-humans here?" Because it is an awkward question, no matter how inoffensive he tries to make it sound.

It's barely awkward at this point. The Signless is so used to new arrivals stumbling through realizing their species isn't the only one in existence that he doesn't have it in him to be bothered by it. Instead he just nods.

"Oh, yes. Many trolls, like me, and several others of other species. It's understandable that it might take some getting used to; I can relate. Coming here for me and being suddenly surrounded by humans was very much a shock."

It must be a question that the guy gets asked a lot. How nice of him to take it with such calm and diplomacy. "Ah." Haruto absently pets his chosen tribble, and gives a brief nod. "I can imagine it must be. They really are bringing us in from everywhere, aren't they?" Which is, he seems to realize, not the greatest possible topic of conversation, so he coughs and takes a step back.

"I'll take good care of, um, him." Was it a boy? It could also be a girl. How do you sex a tribble, anyway? Looking suddenly all the more awkward, he shuffles a little further back. "Thanks."

Signless has no idea how one might go about sexing a tribble. If they all give birth he's inclined to think they're all analogous to female, but they're also mammals and aliens (after a fashion) and it would be rude of him to assume.

"They are. And I think in some ways that's one of the good parts of being here, meeting so many different people and learning about so many different cultures." He lifts a hand, curling his fingers in a half-wave, since Haruto seems to be making motions to leave.

"Enjoy your tribble. If you ever find you want more, or simply to talk, I'm here."

Good parts? There are good parts about being here? He seems about to protest, but upon thinking on it a moment more.... sure. What's the harm of a little optimism in the middle of all this mess? "Maybe we can talk more, sometime. Yeah." Hadn't he been travelling the world? Hadn't he been enjoying what he learned about life in other countries along the way?

He gives a quick bow, then turns to go, less anxiously than before.

i knew you were tribble when you walked in

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