THE ADVENTURES OF A BUNCH OF BRAVE TROLLS AND SOME OTHER GUYS

[symmetrophile]

Who: Death the Kid, Lysunder (The Summoner), Kankri Vantas, Karkat Vantas, Roxy Lalonde, Shiro Fujimoto, Rand Al'Thor, and Dhaos. Also featuring a bonus Dirk Strider.
When: At various times during the curse.
Where: Various locations!
Style: No preference.
Status: Closed.

Comments

[shippingmath]

[One of the first things he'd heard about during this curse was some shady guy around the casino. As a new rogue, of course Dirk had gone to check it out. The benefits of that had been impressive, to say the least. The ability to turn invisible, even for a short while, was an incredible benefit, and Dirk had been careful to not use it recklessly, in case it would be useful later on.

He's not been sure what to use it for, but when he sees Kid at the quest board, the opportunity is too good to pass up. After making sure that Kid hasn't noticed him, he goes invisible, and sneaks up, tapping him three times on the left shoulder before quickly and quietly backing away.]

[symmetrophile]

[Kid had been staring intently at a few promising prospective recruits under the pretense of scouring the quest board for more leads, so when a tap rouses him from his thoughts he turns his head casually to greet an assumed friend--

--confusion sets in as he finds no one there. He looks over the other shoulder, and finds only a milling crowd of unfamiliar faces.]

Hm...

[A shake of his head -- Kid, focus -- and he goes back to what he was doing.]

[shippingmath]

[Kid's not escaping it that easily. A moment later, there's two more taps, this time on his right shoulder. Imbalanced, of course, because why pass up the opportunity to irritate him on top of confusing him?

This time, Dirk makes sure to step back quickly. Kid might brush it off the first time, but he isn't likely to do so again.]

[symmetrophile]

[Concentration broken a second time, and by a gesture that (ever so maddeningly) falls short of equality with the first, Kid whirls around, offense punctuating his frown.]

Rrgh...

[Another wild search ends up fruitless, but the grim reaper isn't so willing to turn his back a third time.]

Who did that?!

[Only a young woman in white robes notices him, and receives his outrage with a confused arch of her eyebrows. He ignores her.]

...Damn it...

[shippingmath]

[There's no physical contact, this time. Instead, Dirk backs off to send a message from his SFC.]

You ought to pay better attention to your surroundings.

[That ought to make everything obvious.]

[symmetrophile]

[Only a second later, there's a haunting chime of a funerary bell.

It repeats, in a manner that suggests, as Kid tears his searching eyes from the crowd to fish around in his pockets for his SFC, that it's a kind of ring tone. His head remains bowed as he reads the text.

The SFC held in his grip shakes a little.

At last, Kid rears up his head, his normally pale face just a little less sallow with humiliated fury.]

STRIDER! Show yourself!!

[Kid, stop, you're getting stared at like you're crazy.]

[shippingmath]

['Show himself.' Kind of difficult to do when he's got this invisibility going. But who is he to deny a request like that?

The only thing to do is make it even worse, of course. Which is why he'll go for a kick to sweep Kid's legs out from under him.]

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[Before Kid could even react, he was spilling over backwards on the ground, gritting his teeth after his head bounced off the pavement.

Ow.

Sitting up and clutching his head, he protests:]

That's dirty! Exactly what I'd expect from the likes of you!

[UGH HE'S PROBABLY A ROGUE, TO BOOT.]

[shippingmath]

I told you to be aware of your surroundings.

[This time, Dirk actually speaks up, though he moves as soon as he stops talking, every time.]

C'mon, aren't you going to fight back?

[symmetrophile]

[Kid's trying to follow his voice, trying to figure out where he is at any given time, but whenever he thinks he's pinpointed where the Prince stands, he's speaking from a different position again.

It's not long before he's literally grinding his teeth, putting his hands on the wood-paneled grips of a magun holstered under each arm.

Ugh, that moment when you realize all your spells effect an area at a time.]

In a crowd? You're disgusting!

[shippingmath]

Name a place, then.

[Hopefully one nearby, because Dirk wants to get as much out of this invisibility as possible.]

[symmetrophile]

I don't have time to play with you. Go address the matter of your boredom with something else!

[Huff, Dirk. Huff.

He's got a very important mission he needs to embark on, once he finds the right people to finish up the team, and you are wasting his time!]

[shippingmath]

Like you didn't have time to waste last time we fought, I'm sure.

[Nope, not giving up on this. Don't make him take another shot, Kid, he doesn't have much time left before the invisibility is gone.]

1/3

[symmetrophile]

That was an entirely different situation.

[He's going to ignore you now, Dirk.

REALLY.

Because he's a very important grim reaper mage with very important things to do, and none of them involve indulging the both of them in another heart-pounding feat of rivalry.]

2/3

[symmetrophile]

[Kid lasts only seven short seconds before he realizes this is a truly Herculean effort. What is his deal anyway? It's not like trying to turn his back on something necessary, like making sure every pictureframe in the house is aligned just so, or that the pantry's contents have been properly organized.

It isn't like he's harboring the horrible knowledge that he has left something out of place, and inevitably everyone Kid meets will look at him and somehow know his awful secret, that he's garbage that can't even keep his own villa looking neat and tidy.

It's just.

Dirk is so.

AWFUL.]

...

3/3

[symmetrophile]

[God, he just. Needs to.

See how far he's come, whether the curse has made something new and fascinating and entirely maddening of the Prince of Heart-- STOP OBSESSING ABOUT HIM RIGHT THIS INSTANT.]

Fine!

[A person to either side of Kid at the precise moment of his frustrated outburst nearly jump out of their own skins, but the mage ignores them in favor of turning around.]

You have eight minutes exactly!

[shippingmath]

[There's no immediate answer. One might think that Dirk left after Kid claimed not to be interested.

One might think that, except Kid is getting a flick to the forehead in the next second.]