1st clover

[fourleafed]

Who: Yotsuba and anyone
Where: The Plaza
When: The 25th, middle of the day
Status: open
Style: starting post is action, but I'll match you

[Just after lunchtime, a small child can be found in the middle of the plaza. She is soaking wet, but she doesn't seem to care, since she's found something to amuse herself.

Namely, she's siting on a high-up branch of the coral, swinging her legs and laughing happily. She seems completely unaware of any danger she could possibly be in, too.]

It's so high up! I can see everything!

Comments

[bethehugejerk]

[ . . . ]

What do I even do for a time out?

[This probably explains some things about him.]

[fourleafed]

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.]

[bethehugejerk]

[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.

[fourleafed]

[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.]

[bethehugejerk]

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?

[fourleafed]

[You're missing the point, Karkat.]

Yotsuba Koiwai.

[bethehugejerk]

[He doesn't care about the point.]

What if I just refuse to take the timeout entirely?

[fourleafed]

Then you don't get ice cream after dinner.

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

[bethehugejerk]

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

I never said I wanted ice cream today.

[fourleafed]

Can I eat your ice cream?

[If he doesn't want it anyway, then he might as well give it to someone who does.]

(1/3)

[bethehugejerk]

[It's now that Karkat finally realizes what a stupid conversation he's having. He's arguing with what looks like a two-sweep-old (he hasn't mapped visual ages to human years, despite knowing the equivalence), and not just over anything, but about time outs and ice cream and swearing.]

[With a two-sweep-old.]

[A two-sweep-old.]

(2/3)

[bethehugejerk]

(3/3)

[bethehugejerk]

[His hand leaves his face.]

No, you can't have my ice cream. And you know what? I'm going to take that time out after all, because I'm an idiot and I need to consider exactly what led me to this situation.

[fourleafed]

[It's kind of sad that there's no ice cream to be had here, but this is okay, time outs are good.]

Okay.

[Yotsuba will reach up to grab Karkat's hand and drag him over to the side of the plaza for his time out, but she stops as soon as she touches him. And instead she will stare down at the exposed skin on Karkat's hand.

That's not paint.]

[bethehugejerk]

[What. What's happening? Why is she touching him? He looks down at where her hand has taken hold of his doubtlessly larger and rougher one. Though his nails are short, there is a sharpness to them, and they're also very orange in a way that has nothing to do with nail polish.]

[Karkat would throw a tantrum if someone forced him to wear nail polish.]

[After a second or two, he says with his mouth full of fangs, grey tongue, and black lips:]

Is hand-holding some part of the time out you failed to explain to me? Or are you trying to make sure I don't run off on you?

[Nevermind he could just pull his hand out of her grasp and run, if he wanted to.]

[fourleafed]

[Karkat speaking gets Yotsuba to look up at him, and she notices the sharp teeth and the strange alien face.

Yep, Karkat sure isn't human!

Yotsuba isn't saying anything, but she's starting to shiver a bit and look like she might start crying. Claws and teeth are scary, okay?]

[bethehugejerk]

[Oh geeze. Kids. He knew this was a bad idea, and here he's paying the price. His face scrunches up, and he looks from her face to their hands again, then around the plaza like maybe it's part of the problem. When he finds nothing, his shoulders sink.]

Kid--Yotsuba--what did I even do? I didn't even swear or insult your dad or anything that time, so what's the look for? Is this part of it? Are you trying to guilt me into feeling sorry or something? It's not going to work, but just--don't cry, alright? I haven't got the faintest clue how I'm supposed to deal with a crying earth child.

[fourleafed]

[She shakes her head at everything Karkat has to say, because none of it is right. But she's having trouble expressing herself because of the shaking and the being afraid.]

You...teeth...

[Then all of a sudden she shrieks it all out at once.]

You're an alien!

[bethehugejerk]

[Karkat's mouth opens, closes, then opens again.]

You just figured that out?

[fourleafed]

[She just nods several times in a row. She didn't notice the whole alien thing until just now oops.]

[bethehugejerk]

[He breathes a small sigh. Obviously she's new, with as wet as she is and where she was. He crouches down to be more on her level, and holds up the hand she's not grasping, palm out an open in the universal gesture for 'unarmed'. Even if he could have a sickle in its grasp in a second, thanks to the wonders of strife deck technology.]

I'm from a planet called Alternia, which is in a universe separate from yours. Our Empress invaded and conquered an Earth different from yours, but I'm not going to do anything like that, alright? I made you get down from the coral so you wouldn't hurt yourself, and agreed to let you put me in a timeout even though I could have resisted at any time. Even if humans are largely a bunch of idiots, I have enough of you as friends that I don't want to hurt you. Understand?

[fourleafed]

[Yeah no she doesn't really get most of that. Even the parts she does understand go in one ear and out the other, because Karkat is talking for a long time and he kind of loses her attention.

Plus she's more interested in looking at Karkat's hand, which has yellow claw-nail-things but otherwise looks like a human hand. She lets go of Karkat's other hand and holds hers up, placing it against his to compare the sizes.

She does seem more curious than scared now, though. Karkat's calm voice did help in that respect.]

...a good alien.

[She nods decisively after she says that.]

[bethehugejerk]

[Never let it be said Karkat has no patience. He lets Yotsuba do what she will with his hand and hers. There is a roughness to his hand built from using it. It's not a huge one, either, with a squarish palm and sturdy (but not quite stubby) fingers, but it's sure to be bigger than hers. It's definitely warm, too, but not enough to be unpleasant.]

Yes, that's the point I'm making.

[He'll count it as satisfactory if she gets that much. He's just not good at keeping things concise.]

[This is still really weird.]

Do you still want to put me in time out or no?

[fourleafed]

[Yotsuba shakes her head, and she lets go of Karkat.]

No, you're okay.

[And she immediately forgets that she had just been scared of Karkat.]

Let's get ice cream!

[bethehugejerk]

[Karkat is never going to get used to children. He looks at her, and he weighs the pros and cons. It looks something like this:]

    PROS            CONS      
- ice cream | - lead a human
            |   child around
            |   and look like
            |   a weirdo

[He decides the ice cream is worth it.]

Okay, fine. Follow me, I know a place.