ab initio

[occasio]

Who| Phi and anyone on the Capitol side!
What| Phi arrives in the Capitol and has a look around.
Where| D4 floor, and around the Capitol.
When| Present time.
Warnings/Notes| None presently



[A: D4 Commons or D4 Rooms]
Phi arrives at her room with the typical Peacekeeper escort. She's half expecting the door to be locked when they leave, but she tries the knob and finds it free to turn. There won't be any damsel in distress in this tower. She can be her own knight.

With that much confirmed, she leaves the door open and turns back to the room. Her first order of business is to check every nook and cranny for something that might be useful. Unfortunately, the room is as barren of any useful tools as a prison cell, though much more luxuriously furnished.

Venturing out into the common rooms, Phi takes inventory of the kitchen and the living space. She gets the impression of being in some kind of high-class hotel suite--and there's a familiarity to it as well. There's a memory sitting in the back of her mind of a space like this, though the furnishings were much different. Likewise, she remembers Sigma being there, but that isn't the case right now.

There are other doors in the hallway that she came from, but those ones don't belong to her. She wonders if anyone is home, or if she might take a peek while the owner is unaware. Pressing an ear to the door, Phi listens close for any movement inside the room.


[B: The Capitol, anywhere]
The world outside is dazzling. After spending several cumulative days in the confines of a lunar base with only eight other people to speak of, the sheer numbers of buildings and people are overwhelming. There's a kaleidoscope of color walking the sidewalks, and it's all that Phi can do not to stare at the people. They look ridiculous, but at least that much is uniform.

She wanders as far as her feet will take her, provided she's not stopped from entering any restricted areas. She's not aware of where those are, but her ability to pick up on the behavior of others is pretty keen. She pauses at various shops, inspecting the window displays with internal curiosity, but not venturing inside. As far as anyone can tell by her expression, she looks bored with virtually everything she sees.

Comments

[occasio]

Now might be the point in time where a weaker-willed person would admit that they were new and didn't know what the hell this guy was talking about. And to be honest, if she wasn't already in such a hostile confrontation, Phi might have given that bit of information pause. She doesn't know what a troll is. She doesn't know what he means by Victor. She knows what an ancestor is, but why that is at all relevant, who knows?

But this is already a fight, and she's conditioned not to admit to weakness.

"I don't give a shit what you are." She tosses the words out forceful and angry with an edge of disdain. If he doesn't step back, she'll have to find some other way to disengage without losing face. This fight is drawing more attention than she really wants on her first day in this city.

"You could be the goddamn King of England, and the number of fucks I give would still be negative. So Back. Off. I don't have time for your inane bullshit."

[crabmunicator]

Oh, is that how she's going to play it? Karkat's lip curls, exposing his overbite more than it already is, making the lines surrounding it uglier yet.

"I don't know what an England is," he spits back, and from the sound of it he couldn't care less. "But I'm the closest thing to a factual god one universe had, and the amount of anything you fail to give in my direction is the last thing that's going to back my husk off!"

He steps forward, 5'2" of frothing teenage ire, and growls like a lap dog that thinks it's a great dane. Before he might have left with no more than a little invective. But here she's challenged him, and why should he back down to this know-nothing prick?

[occasio]

This creature has about three inches on her, but if Phi considers that to be threatening, it certainly doesn't show. She's taken down guys bigger than this before. She expects more shouts and insults to be hurled her way.

Instead, she gets a declaration that he's supposed to be a god of some kind.

"What?" No, seriously. What? For a moment, confusion mingles with her expression and the angry kid gets an intense look of incredulity. She is starting to understand a very fundamental truth about this confrontation: This kids is fucking nuts.

Her expression changes to something closer to disgust, and she decides now is a good time to just leave. "Whatever. Look, I'm not interested in the posturing of the mentally handicapped, so go back to your book shop."

And with that, she's going to shoulder past him and try to make her way out of the crowd that's gathered.

[crabmunicator]

If things were different, he might grab her to keep her from leaving, but he's learned enough of the attention physical confrontation can bring from his first month here. Here's learned worse of what happens once the Peacekeepers actually take you into custody.

Still, it doesn't stop him from turning to stalk after her, glowering still.

"Fine, just brush off anything that your benighted little mind can't comprehend as the ravings of the terminally stupid. That's going to get you far in a place full like this. It's not real if you don't understand, right? Just ignore the alien telling you relevant facts about his life, just insult the information I've so graciously doled out, and never once are you going to be the one with bitten glutes."

Normally he wouldn't even care to defend the whole god thing. It's a technicality if anything, particularly when he never hit god tier, let alone got to enter the universe they made. And he only helped Kanaya in her duty, and that he fucked up big time. But it's the principal of the matter, namely that Phi's annoying him and he wants to win, because he's mature.

[occasio]

Great. This kid is never going to leave her alone.

Phi continues to walk, trying to ignore the prattling of the grey child behind her. Funny enough, realizing that he's completely out of his mind has cooled her temper considerably. She's still not happy to have him following her, but she's now demoted him to the annoyance level of a very persistent gnat.

Too bad she doesn't have any bug spray.

"Do you have an off button, or should I start praying for a miracle in the form of an oncoming vehicle?"

[crabmunicator]

Too bad, indeed: the bug spray would actually work.

As it stands, Karkat rolls his eyes broadly, even if she's continuing on in her path. "Miracles aren't real, dipshit. You are stuck with me, a cosmic investment sunk into your black hole pit of a personality. Any hope of an off switch has since been rendered null and void by your own gravitational pull, sucked into the singularity and gone."

He's getting off-topic.

"But if you want me to maybe take my distance," he continues, "then you could start with an apology for your flagrant disregard for proper manners. You know, not staring at a stranger like a headlight-struck antlerbeast, actually acknowledging the pertinent personal details I volunteered for informational purposes, and let's not even get into the inept deluge of insults you've tried to fling at me. I can keep going all day if you're going to keep this up." And indeed, he shows no sign of stopping his steps.

[occasio]

An apology? "Yeah. Not happening."

There was no way that she was going to apologize to this twerp. As far as she was concerned, she hadn't done anything wrong. She certainly hadn't done anything to warrant the world's most annoying leech. But she's been around the block a few times. She knows more than one way to lose a stalker.

"Look. You can keep following me, but you're not going to like where it leads. Last chance. Get lost."

[crabmunicator]

Stalker? He would resent that remark if she'd but spoken it aloud.

Instead, Karkat flings his hands up, fingers twiddling in mock horror. "Oh no, I'm in for it now! Your mysterious 'where this leads' is sure to have me wetting my pants like a courage-bereft wiggler. My frond stubs are quivering already," he says, rolling his eyes so hard his head turns with it.

"Listen up, because I have dealt with enough flighty broads and their horseshit that you will not scare me off with vague threats of what might come. The wells of my patience may be quick to run dry when something fails to merit my time, but when I purposely focus it, its depths are nigh inexhaustible. If you want to test it, its only your own inevitable demise by stubborn pride that awaits you, and I will be there to point the finger and say I fucking told you so." If she were to look, she may spot his focused glare, but he gives it just the same if it's only the back of her head it gets delivered to. He's following, just as stubborn, and damn the consequences.

[occasio]

"Fine. Suit yourself."

He can rant all he likes about the wells of his patience and her inevitable demise. She knows there's places that even the most determined creep won't follow her. Not in broad daylight, anyway.

Phi heads off, letting him follow without even the barest glance behind her. She walks quickly and with purpose down sidewalks and through alleys, sometimes circling buildings before heading off in a new direction. If there's a specific place she's heading for, she's talking her sweet time in getting there.

Finally, she ducks into a boutique. Phi hasn't been around long enough to be aware of trends or styles, but that doesn't matter so much. She looks around for a minute or two before grabbing something off the rack. Heading towards the back of the store, she taps on the "Women" sign as she heads into the fitting area.

"Train stop here, creep."

[crabmunicator]

What a pain in the ass. Karkat follows along, but his demeanor turns from actively pissed off to frustrated but too stubborn to stop. This way and that, next turn, down an alley, spitting off aggravated oh come on! complaints whenever she drives him in another circle. On into a store is where she takes him finally, and he can't muster up more than a brief, cockeyed glance at the clothes on offer.

But the changing rooms...

"Nice presumption, ass factory!" Like a pot on simmer, it jumps back to a boil with more fuel. "Unlike some I do in fact have a sense of propriety. I am perfectly capable of waiting. You understand that? I'm not going to barge in like a braindead tool and get my ass kicked out over being a supposed pervert when my purposes here have not the least to do with something like that. You know you could have ended this whole honkfowl chase you led me on at any point if you would have just turned around and said sorry for staring, right?"

[occasio]

Phi fights back a smile--or any reaction at all--when he starts ranting about her presumptions. True, she was hoping he'd be stupid enough to get himself forcefully evicted. That would have been more satisfying, but this works, too.

"I'm not going to apologize for something that I didn't do just to sate your ego," she shoots back at him from obscured portion of the dressing area, just to keep him blowing steam for a little longer. The interior is more lavish than really necessary, but that's about what she expected from Rich People. Everything had to be of the utmost comfort. Which meant...

There it was. A window, frosted for privacy sake, but still retaining the ability to be opened. Even state-of-the-art vents could only do so much; sometimes the need for a little fresh air was too dire. That was the whole reason she had been circling so many buildings, taking note of any stores with an outer wall access and the location of any private areas. It took longer than she had anticipated, honestly.

Tossing the clothing aside, Phi carefully opens the window and leans out. It lead to an alley about a story up from the ground. She eyes the distance. Nine feet? Maybe Ten? Her knees would be sore, but she could handle that if she was careful. She's jumped from higher before. She can hear people in the main streets, but there's no one down here for the moment.

The clothing that she picked up is dropped on a chair for the staff to put away later. She doesn't need to be fingered for shoplifting on her first day. Climbing up onto the sil, she carefully angles herself into a kneeling position with her knees against the frame. Slowly, she lowers herself down to hanging by her hands--and then lets go, dropping to the ground. The landing is rough, but she sticks it with minimal complaints. She gives the window one last smug look before heading towards the busy street--the opposite one from the storefront she just left.

[crabmunicator]

"You did too do it!" he snaps, but that's the end of it. She's busy trying things on, he figures, and he pushes it from mind with a huff. He can wait. He will wait. And he does, to his... not exactly credit, in this scenario.

The trouble is, as time stretches, so does the thread of his patience. It's already been worn thin by being hauled back and forth, back and forth, around in circles, then back and forth some more. He taps his foot, takes to counting ceiling tiles, to... getting bored of that pretty quickly, really.

Karkat ends up craning one ear towards the changing rooms, stubbornly not looking in case she's waiting on him to do just that, but he doesn't even hear her anymore. There was shuffling earlier, muffled, but now?

In the end, he ends up bugging a female store attendant to check for him, spinning some bullshit about how it's been like 10 minutes (not really, but it feels like it) and what if she fainted or something. She comes back a moment later only to tell him no one was there, and was he sure she went in there?

The long and short of it is an indignant squawk and some indignant squawking, and an (also indignant) what are you looking at?! at the first person to glance his way once he's out of the store. Fuck this, he's going back to the tower.