vatheon | 1st clover

[Good job, Yotsuba, you got the gist. Karkat tends to use more words than strictly necessary anyway, because what's a conversation without making it colorful? Speaking of which--]

I speak this way because I actually like to give my sentences some impact. They do not mean I have a lacking vocabulary, they do not mean I can't show respect, and no, I'm not going to stop for you or anyone because this is how I speak under basically every circumstance I encounter. I have sworn since I learned them, and I will swear even when I'm a creaking husk of a troll in his deathcocoon.

[Or whatever the troll equivalent of deathbed is.]

Now get down. Do you seriously want to hurt yourself?

[Nope sorry Yotsuba isn't listening anymore.]

Daddy says people swear because they can't think of any other words to use.

[And nope she's not getting down.]

[Karkat's expression hardens a bit, eyes narrowing further still before he declares:]

Your dad is full of shit.

Which, because I can think of other words to use, I'll put this way: He hasn't spoken long enough with someone who swears regularly to realize that not all of us are bound to using only so-called "bad words" in place of whatever clean, wholesome variety they prefer.

Now am I going to have to get up there to make you move or what?

[He steps closer to the coral, finally touching it as he takes grasp of a branch in case he does need to climb up.]

[LE GASP

YOU JUST INSULTED THE INFALLIBLE FATHER FIGURE

Yeah no Yotsuba is just scowling down at Karkat. She may have been able to be convinced to climb down before, but now she's staying put just to spite him.]

No.

[In fact she'll start climbing further up in the branches of the coral.]

[HE SO DID. HE IS SHAMELESS. He also doesn't really understand the weird human bond with parental units, particularly when he argued at his lusus all the time.]

Goddamnit, you stubborn brat! Stop climbing!

[Thank goodness for Sgrub and all its endless hivebuilding, as Karkat pretty much has no fear of heights anymore. Granted, going up several layers of built structure with stairs and so on wasn't really anything like clambering up a coral. He starts a bit slowly as he tries to figure the best holds for feet and hands, and also how to maneuver himself. He may be a short guy, but he's also the equivalent of a 15-year-old; he doubtlessly has more mass than Yotsuba.]

I swear if you fall and break something, I'm not going to help! You will be left on your own and you don't even know where the clinic is!

[Not that he likes the clinic. The Head Nurse is one messed up lady.]

Edited 2013-05-26 16:30 (UTC)

[Yotsuba has no fear of falling, and she's not old enough to understand just how much danger she is putting herself into, so she has absolutely no problems scrambling up as high as she can go. But she does pause every now and then to see if Karkat is following her, because she just wants to keep distance between herself and the weird grumpy kid.]

You are a bad man! Go away!

[She hasn't noticed that the coral branches get thinner as she goes higher up, and that they might not be stable enough for her to climb.]

I'm trying to stop you from bodily injury, you moron! What part of that makes me a bad person?!

[Why is this child so dumb? He scowls, teeth now baring in plain old frustration. But unlike her, he has noticed the branches up ahead. If they're that thin, surely they'd support him even less than they would her. He's being reckless enough just to climb after her; he wouldn't want to fall, let alone get speared through on a broken branch. He also hasn't missed how she keeps looking back at him.]

[So, he stops.]

--Look, I'm not following you now, alright? If I move back down, will you at least come closer to the ground? Slowly.

[SCOWL SCOWL she is still angry. But it is good that Karkat is a responsible teenager and is taking steps to keep Yotsuba from hurting herself.]

Say you're sorry first.

[He doesn't like kids. Really, he doesn't. But he is someone who looked after 24 hapless grubs despite hating every one of them, and he really doesn't want to see the contents of Yotsuba's skull on the ground.]

[He's also stubborn to a fault.]

Sorry for what?

For saying mean things about Daddy.

[By now she's forgotten exactly what Karkat even said that was so offensive, but she remembers being angry about it and if you make someone angry you're supposed to say you're sorry.]

But he was wrong! And I can't say sorry when I don't feel sorry, because the curse this week makes it literally impossible for me to do so.

[Lousy stupid fucking curse, preventing him from lying to an innocent child for her own good.]

When you're mean you gotta say sorry or you get a time out!

[Poor Karkat, caught between a shitty curse and a tantruming kid. But she's staying put at least, and as long as she doesn't fall out she'll be alright.

Though she might try to put Karkat in a time out.]

[Karkat glowers at her for a good long moment, eyes narrowed, mouth tight.]

[He points out one finger.]

You can't give me a time out while you're up there.

[He starts climbing back down. It's a gamble, but it's the best he can think of.]

[Oh god he's right. She'll have to climb down to give him a time out. But he wants her to climb down so if she climbs down to give him a time out then she's doing what he wants.

She is clearly torn here, going back and forth as she tries to decide exactly what to do. She might even look visibly upset for a moment as she thinks about it, but finally she gives up and starts to climb down.]

[Victory!! It takes a force of will for Karkat to stop himself from giving a laugh of triumph, but he can't hide the self-pleased smirk that curves his mouth. He climbs down the rest of the way in silence, then backs up from the coral a short distance. This way, he thinks, she'll have to leave the structure entirely to come give him the supposed time out.]

[An hour or so from now he'll look back on his actions and hate himself.]

[Oh, she does climb down, but when she turns to face Karkat again she has a look of absolute hatred on her face.

You ruined her fun, Karkat. You are now Yanda.

She points directly at him as she says the next part.]

Time out! For ten minutes!

[ . . . ]

What do I even do for a time out?

[This probably explains some things about him.]

You go think about what you did!

[Yotsuba belatedly realizes that she can use this to her advantage to get ice cream, but when she opens her mouth to say that the words don't come out. It confuses her, and her anger is momentarily forgotten as she tries to make herself lie to Karkat but can't.]

[The conflict is unknown to Karkat, but that works just fine. He raises an eyebrow.]

What, is that it? All I did was tell you your dad was full of shit and make you get down somewhere safe so you wouldn't hurt yourself.

Edited 2013-05-26 17:30 (UTC)

[Oh right, she was disciplining Karkat. Thanks for the reminder, she quickly forgets about the fact that she wasn't able to lie to get ice cream. Instead she crosses her arms in front of her.]

It's not what you say, it's how you say it.

[...Or so her dad always told her.]

If I sit here thinking about how I said it, I'm still not going to change my mind about it.

[Pause.]

What's your name?

[You're missing the point, Karkat.]

Yotsuba Koiwai.

[He doesn't care about the point.]

What if I just refuse to take the timeout entirely?

Then you don't get ice cream after dinner.

[Except she has no way of enforcing that whoops.]

[He frowns a bit, and again missing the point:]

I never said I wanted ice cream today.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

I am loving this thread

haha me too it is so beautiful

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject