(no subject)

[bethehugejerk]

Who: Karkat Vantas and whoever!
Where: All across Vatheon.
When: Anytime during the week.
Style: Action please!
Status: Open.

[A curse that makes you say the truth no matter what you want is not exactly Karkat's idea of a fun time. He's not much a liar, no, and his worst secret isn't so secret around Vatheon anymore, but that's not the point. What's the point of being open if it's forced from you? And as outwardly prickly a guy as he is, he doesn't want his squishy inside exposed at will.]

[Unfortunately, as is true for every curse, life doesn't stop just because you're inconvenienced. There are groceries to get, his job at a video store to do, the coral to visit, and his usual sickle practice in the park. He tries to avoid people if he can, oh yes, but there's only so much he can do. Even if he evades them outside the hive, he can't exactly send mental waves to stop them from coming to visit him at home, if that's their prerogative. Ultimately, he's bound to run into more annoyance than he'd like. But what else is new?]

(OOC: This is pretty standard! Pick a place to meet him, and feel free to note a specific day if you have one in mind, though the second probably isn't too necessary. If there's any problem I'll let you know.)

Comments

[fundemetal]

[Another afternoon spent in the park. Leo was on his way back to the house he shares with Annabeth and Percy when he spots Karkat in the plaza.]

[He actually liked the guy and didn't think he was nearly as bad as Percy had made him out to be. But then again, Leo hadn't gotten an eye-glazing lecture on troll romance from him.]

Sup, dude? [He waves and walks over to him.]

[spacecase]

[Funny thing about trying to avoid Jade--

It's impossible.

She's not interested in prying truth out of him, because she knows very well once that got started it would happen to her too, but when she sees him with a load of groceries she does wave.]

Hey! Want some help with carrying those?

[He's still her friend, figured it'd be nice to ask.]

[stayb100ponyboy]

[While cursed himself, Equius hasn't altered his daily routine all that much. He likes to think that he says what he means most of the time anyway, so a truth-speaking curse won't affect him that deeply. Perhaps he will soon find out how very wrong that assumption is.]

[Regardless, he's walking past the Plaza after having visited the Nostalgia Quarter (his chocobo greens garden got ruined by the flood, and it's alarming how many greens two fully grown birds will eat) when he notices Karkat. Being a mature and rational individual, he stops, fights the urge to duck behind a building and avoid him, and watches from across the Plaza.]

greedily hogs all the CR

[onlyasign]

[Sufferer has been spending a lot of time in the park lately, having left his hive in a huff and moved into a hotel after he found out about Dualscar's new quadrant partner. When he sees Karkat practicing with his sickles, he approaches, glad for the distraction and pulling his staff out of his sylladex.]

Mind if I join you?

[bethehugejerk]

[Karkat has just come out of the grocery store, in fact, when Jade happens to spot him. Between her wave and her call he spots her too. He might wave if his hands weren't full, but then again, it's him and he might not. He looks down at his groceries, then back.]

I have a sylladex, Jade.

[He just hadn't captchalogued them yet. He holds out one hand's load.]

But if you insist on doing the manual labor, I wouldn't mind having the excuse to walk with you.

[Cue a cringe a half-second later. He'd meant to finish it with, "then you're free to join me on this errand for idiots," but it has been a while since he's talked with her.]

[bethehugejerk]

[Just you wait, Leo. You'll get a lecture on something sooner or later.]

[Karkat's over by the Lamufao when he spots him, and the words interrupt him from his task. He glances over, eyebrow lifting--oh. That dude from the network.]

I'm touching the coral. [He paps a hand against the glowing structure.]

What are you doing?

[bethehugejerk]

[The thing about being stared at by Equius is that it's a very familiar thing for Karkat. They shared the same team and the time on the meteor, and surely there had to be plenty of creeper stares during their time as kismesises here in Vatheon. It is, in short, a sort of gross sensation he can't really miss by this point, and it's only so long before he finds the crack-shaded cause. He scowls.]

[Abandoning whatever task he was at - he was actually headed to the park as he cut through - he storms his way over to his e%.]

Do you have a pathological condition that forces you to ogle people like a shameless freak, or is it just your favorite funtime hobby?

[stayb100ponyboy]

I stare because social interaction is difficult for me and I don't know what else to do sometimes.

[Whelp. That was painfully honest, and Equius looks flabberghasted for a moment before his expression changes to extreme irritation.]

What about you? Why do you always assume everything others are doing has anything to do with you?

[bethehugejerk]

[Karkat turns at the sound on reflex, sickles in a basic stance, but doesn't attack. Generally there isn't reason to here, but surely there's no harm in training himself to face possible targets. He blinks when he sees who it is.]

Signless? I didn't know you use staffkind.

[That he has a weapon isn't too odd, given the life he lived. Surely he had to defend himself somehow.]

Go ahead. I don't mind you as much as others this week.

[Though that's still a little more than he planned to say.]

[bethehugejerk]

[Woah. Karkat makes a snort of a laugh at that, caught off guard but still amused. Equius's question doesn't even unsettle him.]

Because you were staring at me, dipshit. Who else was it supposed to be about?

[goodnightsweetprince]

[ Gumball was not really a fan of living up on the island but upon reaching this bubble, he realizes that he is probably less a fan of the incredibly moist conditions he is now subjected to. Water water everywhere!

There's also the matter of this pesky truth curse that he appears to be under! Well, this is his first Rodeo of Truth and he has not yet determined a ~hero~ worthy enough to fix the problem so he bravely decides to ride out his fate of ultimate truthiness.

Anyway, long story short...there is Karkat! Were they friends now? Their start was not the best and they did not have an official friendship ceremony, much to Gumball's dismay, but perhaps he could present the troll with something else. Something to show that the past was all behind them and that they could be friends without worries or cares, hakuna matataing it up until their hearts exploded! A smile? A nod? Perhaps just a simple wave.

Hopefully this wouldn't be cause for any untimely deaths...

Gumball hesitantly reaches his hand up to greet Karkat, fighting the mental waves that appear to be trying to push him away. ]

Good evening, Karkat the--! { oh my. He said he didn't like that. ] --Karkat!

[fundemetal]

[Haha oh dear.]

Heading home from the park. How often do you touch that thing, anyway?

[bethehugejerk]

[His arms fold. This isn't really a conversation he expected, but it's not a bother the way other topics could be.]

Every couple days or so. It keeps me from getting exhausted from not sleeping, even though I've stayed up like a month unaided before I came here. This makes it easier.

[bethehugejerk]

[Not friends yet, no, but that hardly makes it impossible. Karkat's made friends with worse people than Gumball. Granted, none of them were animate bubblegum beings. Wherever they are in the city - some random street, perhaps, with Karkat out on a walk - it doesn't change his reaction.]

[Gumball, you have the worst luck.]

Oh no. No. Not this week we don't, no, I refuse. I will metaphorically shriek until the heavens fall from the sheer force of my ebullient rage, because I'm physically incapable of bringing such a thing to pass.

[Pause.]

God damnit, and now it's ruining my metaphors!

[fundemetal]

Huh. If I'd had that handy when I was building the Argo II, I might have finished it faster. You got something that important going on that you don't want to sleep, dude?

[bethehugejerk]

Kind of?

[He shifts his feet.]

When I was playing Sgrub I didn't want to let my guard down for anything, and I wanted to keep on top of leader duties, so I figured not sleeping was the best way to accomplish that. That accounts for that month. Then I did pass out because one of my best friends bisected another team member with a chainsaw right in front of me--

[He cringes. He didn't want to give that detail, but this curse really spares nothing. He knows where this is going, too, and his shoulders sink as he continues.]

--and while that happened, my dreamself was killed and I got a front row seat to the sight of the countless squirming horrorterrors that occupy the Furthest Ring. Please don't ask the details of what those are and what Sgrub is or I will be here all damn night.

After that and the others' dreamselves were similarly killed, I forbade everyone from sleeping, but most people ignored me.

Then when I got here I kept it up out of habit more than anything, but repeat occurrences of things invading Vatheon and certain psychopaths messing with me or people I care about mean that I would rather stay awake most days than risk it, even if I know I'm usually safe.

[fundemetal]

[Leo struggles to keep following the conversation. As ADHD as Percy is... Leo is worse. He just nods his head as he listens, grasping a few things here and there.]

Okay, didn't understand half of that, and I'm not going to ask you to explain it better. But I got video games, death and wanting to avoid that, and that it's now habit. [He really hoped he hadn't missed anything important.] Sounds like pretty good reasons to want to stay awake.

[spacecase]

Heh, I missed talking to you too, Karkat. [And she'll take that load happily!]

As if I even need to make that clear! You are my patron troll after all. But I suppose with all of the excitement of John and Dave getting back and moving back into our house properly, I have not been able to keep up with my second favorite troll.

[And with that dump out of the way--]

How have you been doing?

[onlyasign]

Thank you.

[Sufferer politely ignores that little confession, and falls in beside Karkat, running through a few forms with his staff before he speaks again.]

Staffkind works well for me because it makes my reach so much longer. I prefer to push my enemies away and temporarily incapacitate them, so I have time to get away.

[Thrust thrust thwap the staff on the ground.]

Would you like to spar?

[stayb100ponyboy]

[Equius curls his upper lip, although he's more disgusted with himself right now than Karkat.]

Not just now, you fool, but in general.

[bethehugejerk]

[Karkat would bite his lip if not for his mouth opening of its own accord. Truth is pesky like that, and he accordingly glowers through the whole explanation.]

Because I've built up my anger and reactive personality as a defensive outer shell, since it feels safer to attack even false threats than to miss the real ones. Fuck you with the pronged end of a rake, Equius Zahhak.

[bethehugejerk]

Thank you.

[The last thing he wanted was to be stuck here trying to explain the full details of Sgrub. It took long enough to give them to someone who could actually, miraculously pay attention to the entire thing.]

You've got the important part of it, which is all I even wanted to tell you if not for this stupid Curse going on.

What's that Argo II thing you mentioned?

[stayb100ponyboy]

[Once, that truthbomb would have delighted Equius, since it would have opened Karkat up for even more ridicule, but now it just makes his chest twinge a little.]

That's not that much different from why I stare and act the way I do. And no, because you broke up with me and I'm not that kind of troll.

[Pause.]

This curse is awful.

[fundemetal]

Cool. [Leo gives a thumbs up.]

The Argo II? It's a spankin' hot war machine. An Ancient Greek trireme - a warship with a bronze dragon masthead. It can go across the ocean like a normal ship, but it can also fly and land on dry ground. Took my half-siblings and I close to 6 months to finish it. [He looks exceptionally proud about this.] It's what my friends and I were using for transportation on our quest.

[He was glad that he didn't feel the need to word vomit everything about the ship. It wouldn't be cool of him to expect Karkat to listen to him go on an on about how unbelievably awesome the ship was when he had zoned out during Karkat's explanation on video games, death and stuff.]

[bethehugejerk]

I didn't mean it literally and you know it!

[But he can't summon much more ire than that. He sighs, and his shoulders sink down a notch.]

No shit it is. Listen, can we just call a truce or something? At least for as long as this lasts, because otherwise it'll turn into something stupid - more than already is - and there's not even kismesissitude to give it a purpose now.