[OPEN]

[sleeplessinalternia]

Who| Karkat + YOU, later Karkat + Signless
What| Karkat isn't dead anymore. He's trying to find Signless to clear up a few things. (Unfortunately, Signless is busy learning about Rome.)
Where| inside the Training Center
When| after Karkat dies during Week Seven
Warnings/Notes| hells of swearing

Karkat... isn't dead anymore. Which was weird, because he quite vividly remembers dying and he doesn't remember anyone resurrection kissing him (not that he knows if that kind of shit would even work outside the Medium.)

The point was, however, that if he isn't dead then neither is the Signless probably and that meant that Karkat actually has the chance to clear up a few important things with the older troll--especially about that unintentional shoosh-pap, but about their shared mutation too.

Unfortunately, Signless evidently isn't part of the same "district" that Karkat had been assigned to, so in order to find him Karkat is going to have to venture out into the Training Center's common area.

Comments

[sleeplessinalternia]

"I can read," Karkat says irritably. "I just can't read Human. It's really stupid, we've got really similar spoken languages, but your human letters don't make any sense at all."

He still has some paint left from the camouflage station, so he finds the nearest flat surface (which happens to be another wall) and starts painting symbols, going from right to left:



"See? That's how my species writes things."

[shambler]

That was some weird looking writing, R staring at it and there isn't a light-bulb moment going on behind his corpse's face. All he gets from it is it looks pointier then the stuff he's seen on faded posters and ads back home, all sharp ends like spears and razor curved edges slicing along the wall. The paint starts to run.

"Oh," R said. Okay, so Karkat really could read and write after all. But - "Still...can't find the...noose...station."

Maybe that's catty. R hadn't been aiming for catty. The groan popped out like that, though, the zombie looking dimly surprised. Guess he's more frustrated than he realized. Being unable to tie his own shoes is a bigger sore point than he thought, R casting about for something more tactful to say.

[sleeplessinalternia]

"Yeah, I know," Karkat says, running his hand through his hair in frustration. It only serves to make his already messy hair messier. "Look, the noose station probably has rope. We'll look for rope."

[shambler]

R shrugs. Sounds like a plan (sadly it's a plan he didn't think of, but hey: zombie).

"How are you...on...nooses?" R asks, figuring maybe he'll work up the courage to ask about shoelaces even if it's a step down and you can't exactly "cull" anyone tying your shoes.

[sleeplessinalternia]

Karkat shrugs. "Okay, I guess. I dunno, I used a garrote in the arena when I was strangling those kids, not a noose. I knew a girl back home though who was really good with them, though." His voice takes on a wistful note upon mentioning the girl.

[shambler]

That doesn't sound like a good way to die. R isn't entirely sure what the difference between a noose and a garrote is - don't they both use knots? - but he'll take Karkat's word that it's effective.

"You...like her?" R asks, deciding he rather talk about girls than who strangled who.

[sleeplessinalternia]

The grey of Karkat's cheeks takes on an almost imperceptibly slight reddish tinge. "Terezi? She's a justice-obsessed, giggling menace!" He looks away from R, at his own feet. "Yeah, maybe a little."

From his expression and tone of voice, it's obvious that he likes her a lot.

[shambler]

They might be two different species, not even going into one's alive and the other's a walking corpse, but the way Karkat says Terezi's name sends something familiar shivering up R's spine. He peers down at the troll, his face fighting its way into a smile behind his muzzle, rigor mortis be damned.

"That's...good. You should...ask her...out...?"

R can add Matchmaker to his list of possible jobs. Maybe he'll be better at it than Stand-Up Comedian or Zombie Apocalypse Survivor.

[sleeplessinalternia]

"Why would I want to do something like that?" Karkat asks defensively. Then he sighs. "I can't anyway. She's not here. I don't even know if she's still alive. Things were pretty crazy when they snatched me up."

[shambler]

The question is why wouldn't R - or that's how R saw it, anyway. Maybe it was a troll thing.

"That...sucks," R says, sympathizing. He resists the urge to slap a cold, heavy hand on Karkat's shoulder and give it a pat. "Maybe...you'll see her again? Then...ask."

R skates by the fact Karkat could be dead in a month, once the next Arena rolls around.

[sleeplessinalternia]

"Yeah," Karkat says. "Maybe." And then he'll be obligated to kill her in the arena. He's not sure if he wants Terezi here--though this whole resurrection thing does make it a little better.

He sighs. "Let's go find your stupid nooses."

Rope, rope, where is the rope?