[closed]

[tis_allgood]

Who| Signless and Cuthbert
What| Advice from the master
Where| At the Crowning Ceremony for Maximus
When| Late into the evening
Warnings/Notes| None


After a not so successful night Cuthbert is feeling terrible and looking for some kind of consolation. He's starting to feel silly in his outfit for the evening but there's not much he can do about it.

After a few drinks and a few really terrible passes at several trolls he decides he might not be an expert at this and he seeks out someone who is. Thankfully Signless hasn't left yet and he can drag him artlessly into a corner to talk.

"Sai Signless I fear I'm in need of help from thee on a few matters."

Comments

[69problems]

He already has a feeling he might know what this is about. Bert, from what he knows of him, is good at most things, but where romance is concerned he's already proven himself completely backwards, especially when trying to make sense of quadrants. He very diplomatically keeps his eyes focused on Bert's face because he's pretty sure if he looks at the rest of him he'll laugh too hard to actually be of any help.

"Ask me about the most important one first, then, and I'll see what I can do."

[tis_allgood]

It's not exactly his first choice of outfit, but he has gotten over it by now

"Karkat is nothing but a puzzle. I thought he desired me, but so far we've done nothing more than kiss."

And one of those was in the arena, which doesn't count so much in Cuthbert's mind. He's frustrated that things haven't gotten any farther, and he's starting to take it as a sign that Karkat doesn't like him as much as he thought.

"What have I done wrong?"

[69problems]

The Signless frowns thoughtfully. He doesn't quite get what the issue is here. "From what you're telling me, you haven't done anything wrong. If he's kissing you, I think that's a clear sign that he's interested."

[tis_allgood]

He's still frustrated and this isn't helping. He starts to pace back and forth a little.

"There has to be more to passing on your species than just kisses."

And actually getting to the root of the problem is way more embarrassing than he expected. Why can't Signless be some kind of psychic mind reading troll?

[69problems]

"Passing on--"

Oh. Oh no, Cuthbert, honey. Signless sighs.

"You think, because he hasn't pailed you, he doesn't want you? Cuthbert, most trolls don't pail unless the drones are in their area and threatening to cull them if they don't. It probably hasn't occurred to him because there aren't drones here to threaten his life. Have you tried asking him about it?"

[tis_allgood]

He hadn't realized that. Did trolls really not do that sort of thing for fun? He may have made a terrible mistake.

"I don't suppose I could convince you to threaten him? Tell him you'll cull him if he won't pail?"

Cuthbert is frustrated and doesn't know what to do with himself. He is, however, well aware of how stupid that statement was.

"Cry pardon, I know I'm speaking out of my ass. I just have no idea how to deal with him. He would be better off with one of his own. Nepeta too."

[69problems]

"No, no no no, I'm not advocating -- Look. I agree that pailing should be something done primarily for pleasure, as an expression of affection, but I understand that that is a very unusual view for trolls and maybe part of why it hasn't come up between you yet. And, yes, it's going to be harder for you two because our species have such a wide gap of understanding when it comes to romance. But I think you could easily work around that if you made an effort to talk to him about these things, instead of just getting frustrated with him for not doing something you never told him you wanted in the first place."

He gives Cuthbert a look.

[tis_allgood]

That gets a pout in return.

"You know Karkat a bit more than I do. If I asked him to pail with me, what odds would you give on him ever speaking to me again? I would say they're very small indeed."

[69problems]

"But you won't know until you ask him. And if he says no, he says no, but that doesn't mean he doesn't want you, it means that he's not ready to want you in that particular way yet. There's a very distinct difference."

[tis_allgood]

"So you think I should risk everything? I would rather break this whole foolish try at love than lose him as a friend. He's been so important to me since I arrived here and I won't give that up. It really would be better for him to not want me. This just makes it easier for me to hurt him, and him to hurt me."

Bert just sort of deflates at that. He's trapped and he misses having the Initiate between them to sort things out. At least then if he got hurt it was entirely his own fault.