thecapitol | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who| Cuthbert and Open
What| Extremely mature pouting and moping
Where| District 3 Suites, mostly
When| After his death and return to the Capitol
Warnings/Notes| none so far

Cuthbert Allgood is not taking his latest death well. It doesn't help that his fight with Sherlock is making the rounds in the highlight reel, and he's taking it harder than he has in the past. He hasn't talked to anyone so far, not even the avoxes who he will carry on half conversations with most of the time.

For someone who spends a lot of his time training normally he hasn't been further out of the District 3 Suites than to ride the elevator down to District 1 and back up. He hasn't even been able to get off the elevator to see someone he really wants to see.

Most people will find him wrapped up under a blanket from his room in the main District 3 eating area watching and (surprisingly) not commenting on their activities. All of this is abnormal behavior for him, not that he would notice or care at this point.

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It's Signless' room, not Karkat's, but they shared it so that's close enough. Karkat picks up one of the excess fuzzbeasts that are lying on the resting platform--they'd shown up after he'd fed the first one, it was really fucking weird--and hands it to Cuthbert.

It coos at him.

"Yeah, well, I hate you too, shithead."

He doesn't really sound like he hates Cuthbert, though.

Edited 2013-12-05 00:59 (UTC)

Cuthbert takes the little fuzzy thing and frowns at it. No tiny things have the right to be happy when Bert is trying to be this miserable. He pokes it with a finger, not really to hurt it, just because he doesn't know what else to do with it.

"That's why you killed Sherlock." He says, deadpan and quiet. "Because you hate me."

Trolls are confusing and Bert is starting to regret befriending them. This whole situation is out of his control. His new animal friend doesn't stop purring even when Cuthbert flips it over, trying to figure out which end of it is the top.

Karkat shrugs. He could tell Cuthbert that of course that's why, you don't actually want your kismesis dead, not if you don't want to have to find another really fucking quickly before the drones come. And that would sort of be the truth, but not really all of it.

"I killed him because you're my best friend," Karkat says.

He tips the tribble on its side and watches it flop over again. This is a weird but fun game.

"Better than Signless?"

He's hurt, because he had always thought there was something, well, MORE to his relationship with Karkat than Karkat had with other trolls. At least romantically speaking. Especially after how Karkat was acting in the last arena.

"Different," Karkat says. He frowns, because trying to figure out how he feels about Cuthbert is hard and confusing. "Sometimes I hate you so much I want to grab you by your hair and make you kiss me and sometimes I pity you so much I want to pap your face and pull you into a pile so we can talk about our problems and sometimes I don't know how I feel."

"You sound... human. When you put that way, I mean."

He smiles a little but it's weak. He's mostly just relieved to find out he's still wanted. That takes a little of the sting out of his complaints.

"You could always pull me into a pile and kiss me. Just not right now, I probably taste bad."

Karkat makes a face at the insult.

"It means I'm a flaky loser who has trouble keeping it in one quadrant," he says.

The smile vanishes from Cuthbert's face then as well.

"Cry pardon, I never meant it that way."

He pushes the fuzzbeast further away from himself so he can hide in his blanket again without risking squishing it while he can't see.

Oh shit. He didn't mean to make Bert try to fake cocoon himself again. He kneels down in front of him and slips a hand in to pap him. He ends up getting Bert's nose instead of his cheek because the blanket make it hard to find his face. "Yeah, I know. Look, it's fine. I think I get what you meant."

Or anyway it's easy to infer that because Cuthbert's human he thinks being like a human is a compliment.

He lets up a little and peeks his eyes out from over the top of his 'cocoon'.

"We're surrounded by humans who aren't my people either. Sometimes you have to fit in to survive." He pauses then to get a hold on his spinning thoughts.

"And anyroad, if we were home I would be punished for even suggesting you kiss me. Mayhap it's best if neither of us are humans for a while."

"Yeah," Karkat says. "Maybe. I still don't get why it would be such a big deal, though, except that I'm a mutant."

"It just isn't done. Which doesn't make it right, but there are many things about your world that aren't right but must be followed all the same."

He is a little defensive about his own home because he's the only piece of it here, Susannah doesn't really count. He won't tolerate trash talk about a place he loves, warts and all.

Karkat opens his mouth, wanting to argue the point, then closes it. "Yeah," he says finally. "I guess there are."

Like the fact that back home what Initiate did to him would have been totally fine according to imperial law and actually probably considered justified.

He wiggles a little in his blankets.

"There might be room for someone else in here."

That's the closest to comfort that Cuthbert is going to give at the moment. It seems like they could both use it.

Karkat will take it. "Then move over, so I can get some thermal retention fabric."

He shifts over enough that Karkat can join him, but he's not inviting the tribble to this cuddle romp. It's by invitation only.

The whole thing is a tight fit, but Cuthbert pretty much glues himself to Karkat's side so they have that much more room.

"Did your lusus ever tell you bedtime stories when you were small?"

He almost says "smaller" but he's not in much of a teasing mood right now.

Karkat lets him.

"Of course not," he says, surprised at the question. "He was a giant crab monster."

What a weird question. Everyone knows that most lusus species don't talk. Almost none of his friends had been able to talk to their parents before they became gamesprites.

Bert hadn't really considered that before. But it makes perfect sense.

"Of course he was. So much about you suddenly became very clear." He takes any of the sting out of his words by taking Karkat's hand under the blankets.

"So if he couldn't tell you bedtime stories, how did he get you to sleep when you were being fussy and difficult as a wiggler? And don't tell me you were never a difficult caterpillar, no one who has ever met you would believe that."

"Well, he was pretty fucking huge," Karkat said, "even after I moulted a couple times. So he'd just pick me up and stick me in my recoupercoon and trust that I'd tired myself up enough during the day that once I was in the sopor it would take care of the rest."

He squeezes Cuthbert's hand. "Now that I think about it, though, it was kind of weird that I had him. Signless never had a proper one, he says, just this Jadeblood lady who went rogue. There weren't any his color. Your lusus shares the same blood color as you. It's done according to caste. So... how the fuck was there a mutant one just waiting for me?"

Cuthbert smiles to himself. "I will have to try that the next time you're too much to handle. You're probably still small enough that I could pick you up and drop you off somewhere to stew in your own anger for a bit."

It was very comforting to have Karkat with him.

"And if that's true, then it means you're very special. There was someone waiting just for you."

"Shut up," Karkat growls. "I'll be taller someday. You'll see." He doesn't mention that even when he is he'll still be short, at least if Signless is any indication.

"I never thought about it that way," he says after a moment. "Just... why? How did Crabdad know I'd be there?"

It actually makes Cuthbert smile to get Karkat's goat. However small that goat may be.

"How do any of your kind get picked up? Seems to me, without a clear mother and father it's all sorts of difficult."

He shifts enough to give Karkat a kiss on the cheek. "You turned out well enough, I'd say."

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