5Rose LaLonde stumbles down the halls of the meteor, occasionally tripping over the black dress she wore, or the sash tied around it's waistline, which dragged on the floor; miraculously it never got dirty, no matter where she went...it must have been game mechanics.
She eventually finds Karkat's bedroom...or respite block as the trolls called it, wandering in. She didn't really know why she visited him in particular, but then decided she really didn't care. Aside from Kanaya, whom was currently nowhere to be found (surprising, with her glowing and all, the LaLonde had mused) and was the only other one-hundred percent understanding person on this God-forsaken rock. Sure Karkat was somewhat mean, but Rose also knew it was merely a façade- a defense mechanism- and not genuine hostility. "Karkat...are you here?" She asks, quieter than usual.
Rose finds Karkat having a fit, which was normal since they were stuck on a meteor with not to much to do, hes yelling and crying about missing someone and how hes a horrible person. It takes a second before he realised that Rose had wandered into his respite block, he glares at her "What the fuck do you want?" He shouts with obvious difficulty, his voice cracking slightly.
Rose walks over, sitting beside Karkat despite the nearly feral hostility in his becoming-red eyes. She doesn't flinch at his outburst, as she was too moody and down herself to be even remotely bothered by his angry shouting. "Kanaya is missing," she mutters, a thing she never did. "I needed someone to confide in, but it appears you have your own issues to attend to. Perhaps I should leave?"
Karkat growls slightly "Yes, because I'm the only other fucking person on this meteor, and the absolute best person to come to for comfort. Here Rose, come give me a big ass fucking hug and let us do pale actions, pet each other, and be complete fuckasses." He spits out and sarcastically, holding out his arms for a mock hug. He seemed very irritable, not noticing how odd Rose was acting, and if he did he most likely would have not cared anyways.
"Well, it's not necessarily something overwhelming caused by others in my case. The meteor is so dreary and boring. Then there's alcohol; I'm trying exceedingly hard to not turn to it, and on top of that I'm on my period. Not that you know what that is, as far as I know." Maybe that was why Kanaya had disappeared? She was a Rainbow Blood-Drinker, after all. Rose had a feeling Karkat wasn't serious when he held out his arms just now, and refrains despite how tempting it was. "Apologies for turning to you, as certainly many others do as well...I can imagine it puts a lot of stress on you." Rose was genuinely apologetic, as surely the already angry troll was constantly under loads of stress, playing leader day and night...well, whatever time it was whenever, it was hard telling.
"It is, and considering everyone is being a sodding pile of shit and not helping me with a Goddamn thing... it fucking sucks." Karkat sighs before continuing, "Dave's fucking horrible and won't shut the fuck up with his stupid rhyming poetry shit and never mind the fact I have to worry about my ex-Moirail killing everyone, because no one wants to fucking go and try to fing his subjuggulating ass." He hisses and lets his arms drop, curling up into a ball and crying. He works so hard, and nobody tries to help him or not be a complete and utter useless shitbag. "Also, how the fuck can someone be a period? That's punctuation."
Rose feels a wave of emotion wash over herself at the lack of appreciation Karkat got, and how he coped with it. So she throws her emotions out the window for the time being, scooting closer and tugging Karkat over, enveloping him in a firm hug and scratching his scalp gently. She had no idea...and felt bad for it. "Sorry, Karkat...I had no idea," she mumbles. But couldn't help to giggle towards his misunderstanding of a period. "A period is just a developmental process female humans go through. It creates a lot of hormones and gets really painful sometimes." As she says this, Rose begins gently rocking them back and forth, hoping he wouldn't deny her somewhat unintentionally pale affections.
Karkat hisses for a second when she hugs him, trying to struggle and pull away... but his emotions break him down, and Karkat scoots over to embrace the Human female in a strong grasp, sobbing into her chest. He had wanted this type of comfort for some time now, but from the lack of Gamzee and his soberity, never mind nobody could find his ass, it was difficult to get any help or appreciation, supposedly to be expected by a meteor full of mostly trolls. "Humans are fucking weird," he huffs in response to her explanation of the Human 'period'.
"Yeah, I guess we kind of are," Rose replies with a breathy chuckle, sighing and holding him close to her form, the consoling intent of the gesture mutual. "You've been denied the attention you have needed for a long time, Karkat...so lets forget about weird human behaviors for now. Do you feel you can share what has been bothering you lately? Venting will make you feel better, and I promise to not use it to pick you apart." She laughs at what she says, but the gleam in her eyes showed Rose had meant every word.
Karkat takes a deep breath and immediately takes up the offer.. "It's mostly Gamzee, you can hear his fucking honks in the vents and it's like he's gonna fucking jump down and shank you at any moment. Fucking everyone's acting weird for their own stupid reason. I keep finding random fucking shit everywhere, like random horns, glass bottles with troll blood in them...just so much fucking shit. I also keep finding these dragon plush things? I don't know what they are, but it's like they're staring into my soul and it's fucking wretched. Also since we keep going through dream bubbles, I've been fucking able to see myself sleep and it's weird as fuck." He stops for a second to get more comfortable against Rose to catch his breath. "Also along the topic of the dream bubbles, I keep fucking finding my dancestor and he won't shut the fuck up. It's just so Goddamn annoying, having to listen to the word vomit spewing out of his mouth. Is he even a fucking Troll? I seriously can't tell. But all of this would be so much fucking easier to deal with if I got even a little bit of support or help, and maybe if even one person would just, I don't know, look over and think, 'hey, I'm not the most important fucking person on this meteor. Oh look, Karkat does fucking everything, maybe I should not be a complete fucking spaz, because that just makes everything worse for him'."
Rose listens to Karkat with patience and utmost undivided attention, scritching gently at the skin on his scalp near his horns. Kanaya had told her that depending on the quadrant the troll feels for the other party is what signal the horns will send through the body. But Rose didn't know if Karkat harbored any particular feelings at all, so mainly steers clear of them for the most part. "Yes, I do get my fair share of the occasional ominous honk, from Gamzee...I'm sorry you get treated with all these problems, and have no-one to vent to...but even if you don't harbor your strange pale quadrant emotions for me, I'll be here for you okay? Because I can consider us friends, and friends help each other. Even if you do not feel the same way back."
He feels a bit uncomfortable since her hands are so close to his horns, but says nothing. "I...guess I could kind of consider you as a friend. You're not horrible, and you usually just stand around in the background, read, get drunk, or hang out with Kanaya. You talk to me without telling me to shut the fuck up or that I'm annoying. John doesn't do that, I guess, but I think he's just used to it or knows that it's just how I talk by now. I don't know much about the pale quadrant, though...maybe or maybe not, I'm not sure...since what happened with Gamzee I don't really want to think about anything pale until we get everything sorted out...if there even is anything to sort out." He frowns and relaxes against her, though seeming upset talking about this. He tears up again, his voice starting to get achy and scratchy once more.
Rose was pleased to see that Karkat was so relaxed for once...if not a bit sad. Though one thing for certain was that she was surprised. He was notorious for being uptight and untrusting. "Well, I'm certainly not going to tell you to shut up...if you need to say something, say it." Another long scratch from the top of his head to the hairline on the back of his head. Then, she moves onto unwinding the knots in the other's shoulders and their blades.
"I mean...I understand if you would wish not to confide in me in the future. We do not have to become moirails if you still feel an attachment to Gamzee...even if the relationship sounds a tad unhealthy and dysfunctional to me, perhaps I do not fully grasp the complexity of your quadratic romance system." Rose had a feeling that she did, as Kanaya had done a fine job in elaborating and making sure that Rose thoroughly understood per request, but she didn't want to strike a nerve with Karkat when he was so vulnerable. At all, really, but now was a particularly bad time to do such.
"I know it's unhealthy and dysfunctional, but I'm still fucking pale for him, and it really sucks..I don't even know if I want to find him at this point, because he might just get culled, which I don't know if I want that to happen or not. It might be better to get a new Moirail; I have a lot of problems and stress, and Gamzee's definitely helping to fucking cause some of it." He lets out a tiny sigh of relief when she stops being close to his horns, then emits a small, rumbly noise that resembled a purr, even smiling just the tiniest bit.
"Well...I don't really know what to say, for once. Gamzee is, dare I say a psychopath, and God knows what will happen if you break it off...otherwise I would say it's the best option, still pale or not..." Rose, in matters of Karkat's relationship with Gamzee, for once hadn't the slightest clue on how to assist. She was usually so full of wisdom and had plenty of advice to give out, too. This reminds her of how Rose had wanted to pursue a therapy career, which branches back to a nonexistent Earth...and her posture faulters, negative trains of thought flowing back in, as Karkat's problems had been distracting her from her own up to now. The game had taken her mother away...which led to grimdark...Rose shivers. "Damn...I'm not feeling too good," Rose mumbles then proceeds to rest her head on Karkat's shoulder.
"I'd feel bad for breaking it off with Gamzee...I don't even know if he's still pale for me, and the thought hurts, but ugh." Karkat sighs before finally noticing how Rose is behaving differently. "Are you alright? On that note, what did you want to talk about when you first came in here, in the first place? Since we're talking now, it would probably be okay to talk about stuff now." As Karkat says this, he's still thinking about his own problems, blood-pusher aching and he feels like his eyes are gonna explode from crying so much. He wishes Gamzee had just never existed, or had at least never been his Moirail or anything at all to him. But he also wished that he had just never gotten sober and that shit just never would have happened.
"Well, its not really something to be overly down about honestly. It was almost two years ago...but, well, it comes up sometimes." She huffs, massaging hands stilling to instead clutch at his sweater, curving upright somewhat to latch onto his shoulder from below rather than above. Her other hand remains around his mid-back area. "There were those other problems, but just now my mother came up in my mind. She died thanks to the game, and well...I'm pretty sure you know how I took it at first." She remembered clearly, when the Horrorterrors had lapped at her consciousness, shrouding it and causing her to not act in her usual style of logic. "Silly, really...it happened long ago, so there is not really a reason to get all huffy over it."
He hums enjoying the everything Rose was enjoying "May I ask what a 'mother' is? No-one really ever explained it to me. Either that, or I guess I just never understood. I'm guessing it's someone important to you, though?" Karkat questions, retrieving a blanket and enveloping the both of them within it, but mostly him, considering he's cold and doesnt get the concept of sharing. As one can see, that is not really a common troll behavior.
Rose grabs some of the blanket, spliting it between the two of them and wrapping them both in a warm cocoon, huddled together. "A mother...I believe is like a Lusus? Only not an animal, but a slightly bigger, somewhat different version of yourself...if that makes sense to you." Rose realizes that in this moment, everyone in the game right now was an orphan. All their guardians met their demise in some gruesome way or another. It was depressing, really. None of them ever got the chance to slow down and mourn the losses.
He frowns "I can see why you're upset then...all of our Lusus' died when we started the game. It was really devistating for all of us." Karkat sighs in brief mourning before continuing, "That also sounds kind of like an ancestor rather than a Lusus though, as you described them to 'look like you and is related to you', I guess." Karkat sighs and cuddles up even closer to Rose, resting his head on her chest and resuming his cat-like purring.
"Yeah. You'll have to explain to me some time what an ancestor is in your culture, as we have similar, but I do not believe now is the appropriate time..." Rose oddly doesn't feel weird or aggravated about a boy's face being within such close proximity to her breasts. Perhaps because she through-and-through knew he meant nothing sexual about it? This was a feelings jam, after all. But she lifts her head, resting it on top of his, between his horns. Her hands resume their prior massaging. "Kanaya disappeared, I suspect due to my period...and its just lonely. This place is so gloomy with all the dark metal walls, you know?" All the walls were a dark grey. There was lack of lighting, and everything, along with everyone, were so depressed looking.
"Yeah it's dark as well as gloomy, and just reminds you that you're on a rock in space with barely anything to do. It leaves you alone to your thoughts, too. I was talking with Terezi yesterday and they suggested painting the walls to give them a less horrible, lonely, and cold feeling. But I don't know, it seems to fit with everything that's going on. But since we're going to be here for awhile, it would be nice to escape from everything and not be afraid of the interior." He sighs and slowly hugs her back, he's obviously avoiding her rumble-spheres since this wasnt a sexual situation and it would be rude to do so anyways. "Yeah since you're on a meteor with a lot of trolls it would probably be smart to learn about our culture and all that." Karkat was uncharacteristically relaxed. This conversation had been turning out much better than originally anticipated.
"Yeah, painting the walls does sound nice. But my guess is that Dave would graffiti it, perhaps with SBAHJ or resume last year's Penis Ouija." She chuckles at the memory, Vantas and Strider pressing against each other. One trying to do something important, and the other attempt to sate the utter boredom. She starts humming a tune, making it up as she went, slowly rocking back and forth. Her prior negative thoughts slowly melt away.
"Fucking Dave, ruins everything," He said more annoyed and sounding much less upset, but that fades away quickly and he relaxes once again enjoying the comfort of having someone else with him, he probably starts copying the humming and lightly nuzzling her and rubbing her back "We should do this more," Karkat says, at about regular volume if not a bit quieter, but only because of the fact it still cracked from his break-down.
"Yeah, this is nice," Rose replies, breaking her humming to say this before slowly getting back into it. "Though you simply need to ignore Dave...he does what he does mainly because he finds it super amusing to get a reaction out of you." Rose wondered, somewhat idly...what did this mean to her? To Karkat?
"It'd be fucking hilarious to see how he'd react to me not saying anything in response, the fucking bulgelicker." He hisses and growls before snuggling down into the blanket until he was lying on Rose's stomach, completely submerged in the blanket, purring and nuzzling her, and acting like a complete grub. He's not very mad anymore, it seems, since he vented to Rose quite a lot, earlier.
Rose pets Karkat as he flops down in her lap, giggling in amusement, but stifling it with her free hand. "Yes, that would be an amusing sight. I have to wonder if that would break his stoic cool-kid facade or not." The thought was one that Rose would have to be present to such a situation in order to entertain, and she made a mental note to do that some time while they were here. Any bit of entertainment here was a blessing.
"Probably not. He's Dave for fucks sake, he didn't even lose his 'cool' when his Bro died." Despite the negative speaking towards one douche-y Strider, Karkat merely hums and curls up a bit more into Rose's form, if possible. He'd appeared quite tired, and started yawning every so often. So then he closes his eyes and shifts to get in a more comfortable position.
"I'm sure he felt a lot of inner turmoil when his Bro died...even if he didn't show it," Rose replies with a hum. "Then again, I haven't a clue the true depth of their relation, so perhaps he isn't as mourning as one would think? Hm...I should look into that." Despite the relaxing situation, a devious smirk crosses her features.
"Yeah maybe.." He said sleepily not noticing her smirking, he tries to steal the blanket and wrap it completely around himself and snuggle into her lap
"Share," she totally doesn't whine, laying down with him, the two of them curling up in a fluffy coil of blanket. She was hesitant at first, but slowly leans in and pecks his nose before pressing their foreheads together, closing her eyes.
He smiles a bit when she does that, he seems okay with the pale-affection he wraps his arms around her and closes his eyes falling asleep into a peaceful ball of paleness
Rose was glad that Karkat was not offended by her affections, eventually dosing off as well...however, there was one person, none too pleased by the sight.
A honk from the vents...
- span class="gamzee"terminallyCapricious [TC]/span has begun trolling span class="rose"tentacleTherapist [TT]/span at UNKNOWN TIME-
span class="gamzee" TC: I'm CoMiN fOr YoU, mOtHeRfUcKeR.../span
span class="gamzee"TC: BE READY!/span
span class="gamzee"TC: honk. :o(/span
- span class="gamzee"terminallyCapricious [TC]/span has ceased trolling span class="rose"tentacleTherapist [TT]/span at UNKNOWN TIME-