(no subject)

[10thingsihateaboutme]

Who: Karkat & YOU
Where: An ASSORTMENT OF PLACES (see below)
When: Backdated a few in-game days, I think, but pretty much any time between then anddd let's say Valentine's Day
What: getchur Karkat here, assorted
Warnings: almost definitely imaginative swearing

It takes a couple of days after CONDOR agrees that housing Feferi alongside Sollux and Karkat in the West Coast Trailblazers' HQ was the best option – someone with her political value against the Alternian Empire's current regime is definitely best kept where they could see her – for Karkat has finally accept in his heart that yes, he can leave both of them unsupervised for long stretches of time. Feferi might be extremely weird and in need of some ... gentle guidance, when it comes to Earth customs, but she isn't about to go on any kind of weird amnesiac rampage or get horribly lost or accidentally hurt civilians or something, and with her around neither is Sollux.

It is a massive weight off his thorax: Sollux's recovery is no longer his responsibility. While he's not enough of an asshole to just totally leave all of this in Feferi's hands now that she's here to take it, he knows she's way more comfortable taking that kind of role with Sollux than he is. That's not the kind of friendship he and Karkat have – and it's certainly not the kind of friendship he wants them to have. And he hopes with Sollux's matesprit around it won't be so long before they can go back to comfortable bickering and shit flinging, like they used to.

For now, though – and the 'now' here spans a couple of weeks, at least – he is just appreciating the fact that he's more free to do whatever without worrying about whether his best friend is OK without him than he has been for the last couple of months.

He ends up going outside a lot more than he usually would, just because he can, so if you are a member of the public you may spot him slouching down the street, or maybe a park, with as much of a spring in his step as he ever has, as if it's never occurred to him before to explore – or in a shop, perhaps your shop if you work in one (u kno who u r), probably looking kind of disdainful or disapproving about whatever it's selling, as a default, in spite of his mostly good mood.

(He's always in civvies, of course, because he is not allowed to fight crime on his own. He's usually wearing sunglasses when he's outside, though, which isn't wholly uncommon for Alternians in the daytime – Earth's sun is a lot less dangerous than Alternia's, but his species is nocturnal by habit and somewhere as sunny as LA can be a bit much. Honestly Karkat would be pretty OK with it by now, he's had a lot of time to adjust, but the arrival of his old friends has reminded him that he needs to keep his identity secret for a reason, and the sunshine serves as a convenient excuse.)

He certainly isn't spending all of his time outside, but he is in general spending more time out of his room. Fellow Trailblazers may find him sat on the floor by the TV, re-categorising his small but steadily growing collection of Earth movies (almost exclusively romance, of course), practising with his sickles in the gym, or, if they are unlucky, cooking something that smells completely and utterly awful. He seems in a good mood, if perhaps sort of thoughtful. He may even smile at you.

(IF your character would not actually approach Karkat under any circumstances suggested here but you would like a thread, feel free to just throw in a tag of them going about whatever they're goin about, and as long as it takes place either where Karkat lives or somewhere public I will find some reason for him to get up in your business, deliberately or not.)

Comments

[purrsuit]

In light of the fast approaching Valentine's Day, Nessa has been completely buried within her online alterego that she's not been paying much attention to what's been happening with the trolls. With so much fanfiction to draft and write out and so many love films to research to get her in the mood, she's been keeping to herself mostly, often found curled up in the common area with a laptop and notepad covered in scribbles in varying shade of red.

It had felt weird watching movies without Karkat--he's been her movie buddy for pretty much the entire time they'd known each other--but what with another troll and CONDOR getting involved, she figured he'd be busy enough with everything that movies weren't really on the agenda.

She's just come back from an outing into the city to scrounge up some old romance classics as well as some romcom bargain bucket treasures (purely for research of course) and heads to the living room to set up her marathoning session. But there's already a familiar grey figure sitting on the floor beside the TV, looking through his collection, and Nessa has to pause with her bags, head tilting slightly. This is one of the first times she's seen him on his own since Sollux moved in.

"...Hey."

[10thingsihateaboutme]

He looks round, his ears pricking up a little at the sight of his friend. "Oh, hey," he says, but then hesitates a moment. Things have been a little awkward between them since the business with the sinkhole – he was genuinely annoyed that he'd let her persuade him to come along on a mission he technically wasn't allowed to do, leaving Sollux unsupervised, and then what with Sollux subsequently needing calming down and keeping an eye on and then all the stuff with Feferi as well they hadn't really gotten a chance to talk about what had happened. With Sollux no longer his sole responsibility, it's feeling a bit less of a big concern to him, but the fact remains they haven't really talked since it happened.

He scoots round to face her anyway, shifting out of the way so that he's not right in front of the TV, so there's room for her too if that's what she was here for. He kind of hopes they might not need to talk, but he knows that really they probably do.

[purrsuit]

She overs at the doorway for a few moments, obviously a bit unsure where things with them stood. They hadn't properly had a chance to talk about anything that had happened over the last few days, and as a result, Nessa took to just staying out of his way. Which sucked because he was one of her best friends. Still, she felt guilty over the whole Sollux-escaping debacle and knew he was at least sort of annoyed at her for it. But that was like a week ago.

After he scoots and replies, she moves into the room, looking down at what he'd been organising, placing her bags down between them. She's not nearly as close to him as she used to get though.

"What're you doin'?" she asks, dropping to a crouch, since it was awkward enough without her standing over him.

[justkiding]

Of course, since he'd learned of the yellow troll's location Kid had frequently been scoping out the parts of the city closest to the Trailblazers HQ, looking for any sign of the troll, or his team mates. When, thanks to random chance, he sees another troll, he thinks, even if it isn't someone related to who he's looking for, he still might have a good lead for him. Maybe know a local hang out spot that's popular with trolls?

He bounds over to the nubby horned alien, taking only a moment to think of what to say, before, in very terrible Alternian he attempts a "Hello!"

[10thingsihateaboutme]

Startled, Karkat takes a step backwards, eyes narrowing behind his sunglasses. What the hell kind of human child knows Alternian? Not, he notes, that it's very good Alternian.

"What the hell," he shoots back, also in Alternian. If this is just some weird human loser who thinks aliens are cool...

[justkiding]

It may be some loser who thinks aliens are cool.

"Sorry. I only know Hello." he says, in english this time. He's still smiling. The smile seems to be permanent in fact. It may be a bit unnerving. "You're from Alternia right?"

[hugling]

Teddy doesn't really have a lot of free time between school, heroics, work, and trying to keep up with his mother's bills enough that the government doesn't catch on that she's a space alien in space, but the latest rent money crisis is kind of making his brain explode. He'd had to slip out the fire escape to avoid his landlord, but a nice walk in the park is making Teddy's brain feel way less fried. He could sort out the money later. Cut school a little more often, patrol a little less, pick up a couple extra shifts at work or maybe get a second job. It would all be fine.

The park is full of the usual assortment of joggers and dog walkers and trendy looking young parents, and Karkat sticks out like a sore thumb. Teddy's never met an Alternian before. He's never really met any aliens who weren't trying to kidnap him or take over LA, actually. He knows it's rude to stare, but he just can't help it as the distance between them closes. He should say something. It would be good to talk to aliens, right? They might have stuff in common. He should totally say something.

"Uhhh?"

Not that, though.

[10thingsihateaboutme]

Karkat gives the apparently human boy an unimpressed look, his pointed ears folding back a little. "What," he says. "Do I look like invasion force to you." He spreads his hands out, sarcastically indicating he's unarmed. "Yeah, I'm just hiding the massed armadas of the Alternian Empire inside of my torso garment."

[hugling]

"What?" It takes Teddy a second to parse 'torso garment,' and he quickly raises his own hands in a gesture of denial.

"No it's, I didn't think you were, or anything. You just don't see a whole ton of aliens out for a walk in the park, I guess." Right. If he wants to get alien friends, he has to tell them he's an alien too. Sort of an alien, anyway.

"I mean, that makes two of us, right? It's pretty unlikely, like statistically."

[spitemancer]

Karkat is not the only gray alien out and about in the daylight; Nivata has unexpectedly run out of copper wiring, and she is not in the mood to wait for delivery. She is so close to fixing that stupid golem's balance issues...

Judging from her narrowed eyes, she's having as much difficulty adjusting to the brightness of LA as a troll. Or maybe she's just preemptively glaring at anyone who might look her way.

[10thingsihateaboutme]

Karkat isn't the shortest guy ever, but he's short enough that he's more used to looking up than down, and certainly not as far down as he'd have to be looking to notice Nivata. He walks straight into her, growls in surprise, and, on looking down, immediately does a massive double take. It's not often he encounters anyone weirder looking than himself.

[spitemancer]

Nivata, on the other hand, has been ears-deep in memory, trying to recall golem schematics that she hadn't actually paid attention to at the time. Anyone else on the sidewalk can move around her or face the consequences. The dignified asura flails backwards, almost toppling onto the pavement before pulling herself back upright. The size of her head does her balance no favors, it seems.

She recovers well enough, though, glaring up at Karkat with the air of someone accustomed to such a height difference. Her ears have flipped up, pointing skyward and fanned out aggressively. "Are you enjoying the chance to gawk at someone else instead of being stared at, bookah?" she snaps as Karkat hesitates just a moment too long before groveling.

[celestialmutt]

Ammy is also in the park, taking a break from her patrolling and helpfulness. The grass is nice, squirrels are nice, sparrows are nice, and crows are not nice but here anyway. She's sprawled out in the shade, with a ripped-open bag of birdseed nearby. That would be the attractant for the above-mentioned animals.

Attracted by food or not, even the squirrels are fearless about climbing and perching on the big wolf. And neither does she seem inclined to chase them, with her head on her paws and having a deep conversation with a particularly ragged-looking crow.

[10thingsihateaboutme]

Karkat's eloquent mental observation on this scene is what the hell – he thinks this is probably unusual, but then he also knows that Earth beasts are known to interact with each other without slaughter and gory mastication entering into the equation. For all he knows this is normal here.

Weird as fuck, though.

He edges closer. But not too close. That barkbeast looks like someone's lusus or something.

[celestialmutt]

Feeling someone's gaze on her, Ammy looks up from her conversation with the crow. Such as it was, anyway; most of it had been along the lines of 'why are you so mean, Sun Mother, nobody would miss just one baby squirrel' and similar complaints. Such a greedy creature!

Relieved at the interruption, she wags her tail in greeting, not hiding her pleasure at his approach. The disgruntled crow caws at her, rustling its wings to try and redirect her attention.

[sick_heartbeats]

Dirk had been wandering around for almost an hour, going into every public building that looked even mildly interesting. There was so much here in the city that it's sort of hard to pick one thing to focus on. But then he came across an electronics shop, and that was a good enough place to stay for a while. He's currently examining everything they have for sale, trying to think of something fun to build. He doesn't actually have any money, but if he gets an idea here then he's sure Jake's grandma will let him fuck around in her lab some.

[10thingsihateaboutme]

Karkat, for his part, is there looking for cheap shit to pick up for Sollux – he's glad he doesn't have to babysit him any more but he doesn't trust either him or Feferi to go into a human store unsupervised, so he figured he may as well just do it for him.

Unfortunately this douchebag who's wearing shades indoors (Karkat is also wearing shades indoors, but this does not stop him from judging) is standing right in front of the shit he's trying to look at.

"Hey asshole," he snaps, "you're not the only chump who needs to ogle this junk, move over."

[sick_heartbeats]

Dirk jumps a little, startled. It takes him a moment to process the words, partially because he was pushed out of his deep thoughts and partially because this other guy is a troll. He hasn't seen many trolls yet, and he hasn't met any at all. Why is that? Maybe he should make an effort to-

Oh. He should probably do something. He glares at the troll, trying not to feel embarrassed. He's still not used to the social courtesies everyone else seems to have no problem with. Still, he's pretty sure this interruption qualifies as "rude".

"There are nicer ways to ask that, you know."

[mockingjaded]

If Karkat and Katniss's mood patterns were made into a chart, as his measure of general contentedness tentatively rose, Katniss's is steadily falling. She's nothing near to a crying wreck, at least in her own way, but her discomfort with life has other ways of manifesting. Mostly in terms of her avoiding others in favor of shooting arrows at more things than is strictly necessary.

Normally when Karkat appears in the training center around the same time as her, she'll take a break to offer to work together or something like that - or at least say hi before continuing. This time, she seems more intent on shooting arrow after arrow into the exact same spot on one of the targets, to the point that it looks like it it's going to crack even it's superhero level durable exterior in half.

What exactly she's imagining she's shooting at is unclear.

[10thingsihateaboutme]

Karkat blinks, watching her archery the living daylights out of the target for a little while in faint surprise. After about the fourth arrow since he walked in, he lowers his sickle and calls over, "Holy shit, Everdeen, what are you trying to murder?"

[mockingjaded]

She freezes mid-pull, her aim wavering from her mark, the arrow still half cocked in the bow. Still staring ahead, she gradually loosens the string, lowering the weapon completely, as if slowly allowing a muscle to relax after tensing. She glances in Karkat's direction silently, then slips the glowing arrow back into her quiver.

"Hey," she says flatly, subdued in a way that makes it clear she is holding something back.

[halfa_hero]

Danny, like most teenage boys, has a practically bottomless stomach.

Entering the kitchen, however, almost immediately puts him off his appetite.

"Augh! It smells like a skunk died in here."

[10thingsihateaboutme]

Karkat, apparently not bothered by the smells emanating from his culinary disaster zone, gives Danny a supremely unconcerned look and says, "Hey, not my fault if all I have to do cooking with is shitty Earth ingredients."

He does seem to be attempting to fry mayonnaise, though. There isn't really any excuse for that.

[bombsheltered]

Milly's working a shift at the bakery/cafe, but really, she'd rather be anywhere else. Shifts without Teddy are just plain boring -- wouldn't it be way more fun for them to be patrolling together, anyway? But Milly is actually invested in keeping this job, so she's not about to blow off work.

She looks up when the bell on the door chimes, her standard customer greeting halfway out of her mouth when she realizes it's one of those aliens you see around L.A. from time to time -- and more than that, she's met this one before. Granted, it was while she was in costume, but still! What are the odds? She straightens up, recalling vaguely that his English wasn't too great the last time she ran into him. Not as bad as that other alien guy, but still...

"Hi! Can I get you anything?" Do trolls even eat human food? Well, she supposes they'd have to. What even is troll food??

[10thingsihateaboutme]

Karkat looks at her as if he's offended and irritated to be addressed by someone as soon as he walks into a shop, despite the fact that he has more than gathered by now that this is normal.

Still, if she's asking...

"What food do you have," he demands.