vatheon | 1st clover

Entry tags:

1st clover

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!

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[Why did he have to get her on this topic? His face sinks into the cushion of his free hand, supported further by his elbow propped on the table.]

Does it sound like there's anything horrible out there? If there was a hellbeast I would be out there fighting it instead of sitting here eating ice cream like a careless moron. I'm a troll and a leader, which means I'm a badass and that you aren't going to be eaten, so calm down before your cone melts.

[She actually understands most of those words, and she gets the meaning, but she attaches onto one line in particular to be amazed about.]

You're the leader?

[Not quite what he expected, but it's nothing he can complain about. He takes pride in his position, when he isn't beating himself up for his failings at it.]

Of my team, yes. If I explained the whole thing it would probably sail right over your head, so I'll put it this way: we played a game, we killed monsters, and we created a universe.

A game!

[She smacks her free hand down on the table to emphasize her point.]

I like games! Can I play?

No.

[Sternface.]

One, the game doesn't exist here, so you couldn't even if I'd allow it. Two, it destroys your planet and kills off your species. Three, you would probably die trying to play it.

Now forget about it and eat your ice cream.

[He goes back to his, still looking grumpy, as if to emphasize his point.]

[SADFACE

She will eat her ice cream, because it is starting to melt. But she is still sadfacing while she does so.

It is a morose ice cream eating.]

[And Karkat eats his own with the same stern, narrow-eyed look. He is not budging. You do not know stubbornness like his, Yotsuba.]

[It's probably ridiculous while he licks at his cone.]

[SAD ICE CREAM EATING HOW CAN YOU BE IMMUNE TO-

Oh hey she gets distracted again.]

How come your horns are so tiny?

[Kids. Karkat pulls back from his cone, and for a good moment he holds one solid expression at her: the deepest frown he can muster, and a look of intense disapproval. Of course, the curse means he can't argue that his horns aren't tiny.]

Shut up about my horns. There's nothing wrong with their size, and it's better than not having any, you smooth-headed human freak.

[Yotsuba laughs at the response.]

They look like pieces of candy corn. I like candy corn!

...

Do you have candy corn?

They're not candy corn, and no, I don't have any. You already have ice cream, and that sucker for when you...

[He trails off, and his mouth pulls up at one side as he thinks.]

You're going to need someplace to stay here.

I stay with Daddy.

[She hasn't yet realized that her dad isn't here.]

[This is going to be awful, he just knows it, but he has to ask all the same.]

Is he in this place?

Daddy works at home. I'll show you!

[And she shoves the entire ice cream cone in her mouth and eats it before hopping down from the chair and wandering out the front door.]

[Did she really just--]

[Why is he even wondering, of course she did. Karkat sighs and follows after her, munching at what remains of his own cone as he goes. Either they'll find this dad of hers, or more likely, they'll at least be out of the store when he has to make her face his absence.]

[Well she's going to start crying when she realizes it either way, so Karkat will have to deal with a crying child somewhere.

Yotsuba wanders down a street, looking up at the buildings and down the roads as they pass them. She stops, turns down another street, and keeps going. As she walks along, she grows more unsure of herself, until she ultimately stops all together and just stands there, looking at all the buildings.

She is lost.]

[By the time Yotsuba comes to a stop, Karkat has finished off his cone and licked the last, melted remains of ice cream from his fingers. It hasn't been as enjoyable as it usually is, because each uncertain turn has made the outcome of this venture clearer. A portion of it is spent trying to think what to say to her. He's sure he'll sound like an asshole no matter how he words it.]

[Now he rubs a hand through his mess of a hairdo, then kneels down before her. Something like a starfish crossed with a cellphone - his SFC - is suddenly in his hand.]

I'm going to try something for you. Tell me your earth dad's full name and I'll see if I can find it on this list here.

[He brings up the list of foreigners. He doesn't tell her the "if not".]

It's Koiwai.

[She's going to stand there and watch Karkat curiously now. She actually got one of those SFC things, but she had no idea what it was, so it's just in her pocket right now.

When Karkat looks at the list, the only 'Koiwai' on there is Yotsuba herself, since it's her family name.]

What's that thing?

[Okay, not a full name, but he can deal with it. He's not going to pester her for something she just might not know. He's not sure how the name basis goes with earth children and their parents, much less when she's this young. As he searches, he explains.]

It's a Starfish Communicator. You can use it to talk to other people here, and see what messages they've made on the network. You should have one too if you didn't leave it by the coral.

[Easy thing to say. But the name's not turning up beyond Yotsuba's own, even when he checks a second time, and a third. His eyebrows have drawn in progressively through the course of it; by the end, a deep frown has set onto his face. He rubs the bridge of his nose.]

He's... He's not on here, but look, I'm going to take you to someone. She'll--I hope she'll know what to do. Okay?

[Small children can be oblivious at times, but they pick up on tone and mood pretty easily. So when Karkat speaks, Yotsuba can tell something is up, and she starts to get worried.]

Does she know where Daddy is?

No.

[It's out before he can stop himself, and he knows he couldn't if he tried. There is a whole litany of swears he thinks in the direction of the scientists who thought up this curse. Still, he stands and holds his hand out to her. Hand holding is not really his thing, normally, but he's at a loss for what else to offer.]

But she has to have more clue what to do about this than I do. She--she raised my ancestor, she knows about this stuff, just--come with me, we'll figure shit out.

[He can't even look at her full on. It feels about like telling a wiggler that Twelfth Perigee's Eve is cancelled, forever, and not for purposes of trolling them.]

[Yotsuba is very unsure of all of this. She wants to find her dad and just go home already, the fun has kind of stopped at this point. But she has no idea how to get there, and running away from Karkat won't help because she doesn't know anyone else who could help her right now.

So she nods and grabs a hold of Karkat's hand, so she can be led to this lady Karkat is talking about. She's not sure what an ancestor is, but she knows what 'raised' means, so she's guessing this woman is a mom of some kind. Moms always know what to do.]

[At least she's not crying. Karkat lets out a slow breath, and with her hand in his, starts walking. He doesn't talk, because what's he supposed to say? He at least knows where he's going. Being familiar with Vatheon's layout helps a lot in a case like this.]

[Unless she speaks up, it's going to be a quiet trip.]

[It's perhaps lucky for Karkat that the Dolorosa is currently in her hive and not out wandering the bubble. Things have been.. strange, of late. Difficult, and she's been keeping a little more to herself than usual.

Still, that doesn't mean she isn't pleased to see Karkat when she opens the door to him. She smiles, then looks down to the small human child holding his hand.]

Hello, Karkat! What a pleasure to have you visit. And who might your companion be?

[As adventurous as Yotsuba had been earlier, she suddenly goes shy. The Dolorosa is really tall, and she's an alien too. She doesn't look threatening at all, but Yotsuba is still surprised by the tallness.

She'll move closer to Karkat and hang onto his arm while she waits to see what he has to say.]

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