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Who: Karkat and Nessa
Where: The Trailblazer dorms
When: After this thread
What: Karkat confirms that actually yes, the uncanny similarity between Nessa and the Disciple is not in fact all in his mind
Warnings: the usual Karkat stuff

Karkat is a little frazzled following his meeting with the Disciple, and with amply good reason. He's got a lot on his mind right now, and the last thing he's thinking about is how familiar his ancestor's quadrantmate looked when he met her.

At least, that is, until he's back at base and runs into Nessa and oh god, no, they have like the exact same face, this is outrageous.

"Holy shit," he exclaims. "No, what, this is fucking ridiculous."

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Nessa had just gotten back from her excursion out in the city and and had brought back a few sweaters she'd found digging around in the discount bin at a goodwill. One, which she was wearing, was covered in a space tiger who was apparently sitting on the moon and the other which was in her hands, was a purple sweater covered in unicorns and sparkles that she'd nabbed for Cynthia.

She had been about to greet Karkat as she entered the room too, but that was before he opened his mouth, and so she only frowns at him before looking down at her sweater and then scowling.

"It's pawsome, shut up."

Edited 2014-04-01 21:31 (UTC)

He ~~pawsed~~ paused for a moment, staring at her, clearly extremely confused. "... What?"

She looks back at him, equally confused.

"Uh, my sweater? That you totally just insulted?"

"What?" he says again.

He looks down at her sweater. There is a pause, then he concedes, "That's fucking atrocious. But that's not what I was even talking about first place, it's..." He hesitates, not sure how to talk about this. "... I met someone who looked the same as you, I guess," he says, weakly.

She visibly bristles at his second insult and draws in a breath to start arguing with him before he speaks again. Her expression softens a little, and she frowns. It's obvious she knows what he's talking about.

"You did? I have a twin somewhere?"

Let's play it cool, Nessa. And pretend you aren't as freaked out by a troll doppleganger as much as you are.

She looks a little more alarmed than he expected, for all that she's trying not to – about as alarmed as he feels, at least. That's weird. But it's certainly not the weirdest thing about this whole situation by a long shot.

"... Not exactly. She was older than you – way the fuck older than you. But..."

So Karkat had met someone who looked like her, but older. Surely it couldn't be a coincidence anymore, now that both she and him had noted the similarities. Even though they transcended species. Part of Nessa was excited and curious--what could this possibly mean in the grand scheme of things? Was she supposed to be someone else? Had she gotten lost? She was a shapeshifter after all, so maybe she'd picked the wrong shape to start--but whenever she let her mind run, she'd feel queasy and unsure. Her mother would have told her if something like that had happened, right? She was a human. She had to be.

Thinking about this was far too confusing.

Nessa shifts uncomfortably and gives a brief nod. "Right," she starts, pushing some of her bangs out of her face. "I think I know who you're talking about."

" – Really?" He looks taken aback. "I ... was it Alternian?"

She only looks a little confused.

"Yeah, she was. She said her name was Magdal."

"... Yeah," says Karkat, and frowns. He's quiet for a moment, thinking. "Did she tell you who she was?"

Nessa gives a small shrug.

"Not really? We kinda just talked about books and fanfiction..." She says trailing off with a frown. "Why? Who is she?"

His ears flick back.

"She's... she's been cryogenically frozen," not exactly a particularly usual turn of phrase, but when all the people you interact with are superheroes you pick things up, "or something, for thousands of years, she was ..." He looks at Nessa sort of nervously. "She knew my ancestor."

You can actually pinpoint the moment that Nessa realises that the woman is actually far more fascinating that previously thought (not that having a doppleganger from another world wasn't already fascinating). Her eyes widen in wonder as he brain went through every plotline of every story she'd read that involved cryogenics before realising she'd gone on a tangent and Karkat had said something else.

She tilts her head and watches him carefully, sensing his nerves, and instinctively shuffles toward him.

"Your ancestor? Did she... recognise you?" she wonders aloud, frowning at her own question. "But how come we..."

Edited 2014-04-22 21:00 (UTC)

He shakes his head. He hasn't got an answer to that question she isn't finishing, and he almost kind of just wants to not think about it at all.

"... Yeah. She did."

Yeah, thinking about that particular question is scary. But she can't seem to get it out of her head.

"Is that a normal thing for trolls? To have identical ancestors?"

"Normally nobody meets their ancestors." He frowns, fussing the hem of his shirt between finger and thumb. "Until I found out about the Sufferer and all that shit, I thought ancestors were fake made up bullshit for smug highbloods."

She blinks at what he said.

"Wait, you met him?"

Edited 2014-04-28 00:02 (UTC)

"– No," Karkat says, "but you don't normally meet people who knew your ancestor, either. I mean so you can't know if they look the same, right."

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