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Who: Karkat & Sollux
Where: Chez Trailblazers
When: Shortly after this
What: Various Issues
Warnings: Gross rude troll kids. Gross rude SAD troll kids

Karkat's been kind of quiet lately. He'd been holding off on telling any of the other Trailblazers about the guy who broke into their dorms just due to a bad feeling about all of it, but after finding out what happened to Starbreaker he's decided it might be best not to get them involved in it at all. He's told CONDOR, and security on the base has been increased, but apart from that he hasn't told anybody besides the Disciple, and Sollux, and Feferi. Alternian business, he figures.

He has to admit, he'd feel a bit less concerned about all of this if Feferi was still here. Partially because he's not sure how Sollux is going to deal with her being gone and the idea of the maybe-the-Sufferer on top of everything else, but also because he's fairly sure he could trust her to be able to fight this guy.

Gloomily, Karkat makes his way to Sollux's block, to knock on the door. He really hopes he's actually there. He tells himself it's because he's worried about Sollux but mostly he just doesn't want to be on his own right now, or to have to pretend that everything's okay.

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Karkat hesitates over that one, mostly because reflecting on his experience of actually reading the book for the first time, it's hard to separate that from how it felt to read about someone who was actually like him for the first time in his entire life – and how it felt to know he was expected to follow in this guy's footsteps.

He shrugs uncomfortably.

"... I don't know," he says. "Like, if I had an actual blood caste? I'd probably just think I didn't need that shit or something." There's a certain grim almost-amusement to his tone there – an unspoken I'd be wrong, but...

Sollux nods a little. Like, he kind of gets it. Even if he isn't really disposed the same way to this kind of thing as Karkat. Karkat was just kind of a dumb motherfucker in some ways, and him being at all passionate about something like this still kind of astounds him.

"Which is probably most people, I guess." He pauses again. "...So do you...like this guy then, or whatever? Who the Sufferer is actually supposed to be, I mean. Like besides the clones and death threats, do you like being related to him?"

His ears twitch in irritation. "I don't know," he says again, more annoyed, "it's complicated and dumb – why?"

"I don't know," Sollux shoots back abruptly, "why are you being so pissed off about it?"

Karkat makes an annoyed clicking sound. "Because this is kind of weird and personal? Like sure he was probably great but it's not like I know him right, I mean, like – yeah, I like not being the only douchebag ever hatched with this stupid blood colour, I don't like all these guys thinking I'm going to lead all of trollkind into a new era of peace and happiness because that's probably impossible and I don't know how anybody's actually supposed to do that."

Sollux deflates at that, almost wincing when he thinks of the concept. His gaze falls down to his keyboard.

"Yeah," he says, more quietly. "I don't know how she's supposed to, either."

"... Yeah, well, she's actually supposed to be Empress. She's just got to defeat the Condesce and then she can do whatever the hell she wants." He knows it's not actually that simple and that there needs to be a fuckton of diplomacy involved, but he can't deny that the path Feferi has laid out for her seems a lot more straightforward and traditionally appealing than his own obligations. "Plus she's basically immortal, she can take all the time she wants to fix shit."

"But if she's doing that, doesn't it make your shit easier, too?" It sounds like he's genuinely trying to understand this whole situation. He's more new to it than either of them. "I mean you both want the same stuff."

"Yeah," says Karkat. "We were gonna, you know, try to do it together. Or something." He sighs. "We talked about it, anyway. But she wanted to play a pretty long game, right, obviously – and the Sufferists are sort of in a hurry. Like, in a hurry compared to a fucking seadweller." He scrubs a hand over his face. "I figure at least if we make a big noise with this stuff – I mean, if I make a big noise with this stuff – then it'll be easier for her to change shit up after she wins, like if we can make it seem as if me showing up at the same time as her means her rule is destined to be successful then her shit'll probably go more smoothly, but that's not exactly – you know, fulfilling the fucking prophecy..."

He's quiet again for a bit before he tries again.

"Man everybody's just got all of this shit. You and FF, it's just like..." He trails off. He doesn't even know what to say it's like. Part of him just wants to choke up thinking about how Feferi's gone. Weeks ago, he might have felt like he was left out, or something.

But now he honestly doesn't know whether he wants to be a part of whatever this is.

Karkat looks up, frowning. "Don't fucking tell me you're jealous, dude," he says, "because this whole thing is ... it's bullshit."

"Yeah, I know it's bullshit!" he says, no hesitation at all. "That's what I'm saying, is that it's like everybody I know is swept up in this shit typhoon and I don't even get why. And it doesn't even really matter if I'm a part of it or not."

He shoves his laptop closed and pushes it to the side.

He sits up a little, watching Sollux in faint surprise.

Then he shrugs, helplessly.

"Yeah, well... we can't exactly not."

He hesitates one last time.

"The Disciple said that she knew somebody that looked exactly like me and had my sign. That they were like buddies or whatever."

Karkat stares at him.

He blinks.

He stares at him some more.

"She... what? Seriously? You mean – fuck, the Psiioniic?? I mean – it'd have to be, right?"

Edited 2014-04-13 07:35 (UTC)

"I guess?" he says blandly, though Karkat's immediate recognition of his likely counterpart isn't promising. He folds back his ears. "I didn't ask her anything about it. I didn't really know what to do with it at the time, she kind of sprang it on me like it was her fucking plans for evening rations."

He lets that name sink in for a moment.

"...You mean his title was the fucking 'Psionic'? That is kind of tack as shit."

"He doubled both the 'I's, like an enormous cocoonshitting tool," Karkat says, with a groan. "Fuck – you'd think if he looked the exact fucking same as you, the book would have mentioned, I don't know, the whack eyeballs or the four fucking horns –"

Edited 2014-04-13 07:42 (UTC)

"He seriously doubled the 'I's and you didn't even think about it?" he asks, though his flatness here is definitely belying the fact that he is pretty overwhelmed too.

"Yeah I thought about it," says Karkat, "but I figured it couldn't actually be your guy because the entire thing never said anything about red and blue or an unholy quantity of head ornaments, so I thought it was just a coincidence because how would you not mention that. Shit."

He sits back for a moment, not overly caught up on the eyeball think like Karkat seems to be. Instead he just levels his gaze at his own lap, feeling some mixture of fulfilled and dismayed.

"...So what's his deal," he asks a few moments later.

Karkat hesitates, like he wasn't quite expecting that question.

"... well... He's supposed to be like the most powerful psionic ever but they were probably exaggerating about that to make him sound cool. He joins the Sufferer after he frees him from slavery..."

"Oh, cool," he says, looking at his claws in his lap, and at the scarring all around his fingers. He means it, in a way. But some part of him wishes that his ancestor could have not had anything to do with his own problems.

Karkat's kind of pointedly avoiding bringing up what ended up actually happening to the Psiioniic for exactly that reason.

"... I've read through this shit a few times," he admits; "if you want I can bookmark all the bits where he actually does stuff."

When Sollux looks up to him, his expression is genuinely grateful.

"Cool. Thanks." He tries to give him a smirk but it's a frail one, and more than anything he seems distracted.

It's pretty obvious that he's not going to like how that story ends at all.

Karkat nods, a little surprised at that reaction – but that's why he offered; if it was him, he'd want to know.

There's another pause, and then he adds, guiltily, "Just as a heads up, though, they basically all end up getting horribly punished for their sedition, it's pretty fucking awful..."