Karkat's Lessons

Intermission: Part 2

"Karkat, dear, you've barely even payed attention to this film, I assumed this one was your favourite?" Kanaya asked, Fifty First Dates playing in the background. 

"No, yeah Kanaya. I'm fine. Just a little distracted is all." Karkat assured her. It wasn't a complete lie, he was distracted after all, but he wasn't exactly fine. Kanaya pursed her lips and ceased her questioning for now, crossing her legs and returning her attention to his husktop's screen. Adam Sandler was trying up different shenanigans to grasp the attention of the girl who had short term memory loss. 

Kanaya stayed quiet for a moment, it was pretty obvious that Karkat wasn't fine, and she wanted to know what was going on in that peculiar think pan of his. She smoothed out her skirt and turned to him once again, turning on her motherly charm and resting a hand on Karkat's shoulder. 

"Karkat, you know you can come talk to me about anything, right?" Karkat nodded, not really believing that in all honesty. He loved Kanaya, he really did. In many ways their relationship was much like The Dolorosa and The Signless's. She was caring, kind, strong, protective, loving, and well mannered. She fit the description of what  Dave would call a "perfect mom". But there were certain things that Karkat couldn't and wouldn't talk to her about. For one, he'd never in his right mind tell her he's been sneaking around to visit the bloodthirsty clown locked up in a fridge at the bottom of the meteor. She'd never stand for that. She knows that Gamzee was an important part of Karkat's life, but she also knew that Gamzee would probably kill Karkat on sight, and she didn't want that. 

"Well....if you know that...then you should tell me what's bothering you so, I don't necessairly enjoy seeing someone so dear to me not strutting around loudly insulting the others and defending the honor of his most favourite films." 

"I don't strut, Kanaya." The Jade blood smiled warmly and nodded. 

"Yes, of course. How dare I? Of course you don't strut, that is more Dave's thing. You, Karkat, You more scuttle about the meteor. Forgive my mistake." This made Karkat smile, he normally hated those little crab jokes, but they were always enjoyable when Kanaya was the one telling them in effort to help him cheer up. "Ah, yes. There's your very rare smile. So nice to see it once more. You really should smile more often, it's a very nice smile, dear." 

"All the more reason to keep this shit rare. The less I smile, the more special it'll become." Kanaya chuckled and shook her head slightly, patting Karkat's knee.

"I will never understand your logic." 

"You don't have to understand it, just accept it," Kanaya nodded and Karkat looked down at his feet once again. "Listen Kanaya, you don't have to worry about me....I can take care of myself, okay? I'm not some fucking grub left out on some trolls lawnring."

"Yes Karkat, I realise that you aren't a grub, but in many ways you act like one. For one, you tend to get very emotional very quickly and you do tend throw tantrums or how you call them "shit fits".  Besides, you know my kind tend to have Lusus-like personailties. It is only normal that I have grown accustomed to treating you as if you were my grub more often than treating you like one of my best friends."

"Don't get me wrong, I love the special treatment and shit, it's nice, but it takes away from my manly aura. I can't charge into battle and fucking destroy those sons of bitches only to have my mom waltz on over to clean the blood off my cheek and scold me on how sloppy my slashes were." Hearing this made Kanaya smile. She moved closer and wrapped his long thin arms around Karkat, pulling him into a tight hug. Karkat, of course, hugged his mother-figure back.

"Karkat, please tell me what is wrong....if you ever feel comfortable doing so. Perhaps I can guess on what's troubling you?"

"I highly doubt you can but sure, why the fuck not?"

Kanaya pulled away from the hug, and thought for a moment. She tapped her chin with the tip of her finger, perfectly trimmed eyebrows furrowing together in concentration. "Hm...well....are you thinking about our deceased friends again?" Karkat shook his head. He wasn't thinking about them, but he was now. "Right well....has Vriska been bothering you again? Would you like me to interfere?"

"No, Vriska isn't doing shit, okay? No need to meddle in something that doesn't need meddling."  Kanaya nodded and thought some more. 

"Hm....Is there some tension between you and Rose? I know I've been spending an abundant amount of time with her, and you may be feeling a little neglected. And we all know how you get when you start feeling neglected. Like that one time when Eridan was still living, he didn't talk to you for a couple days and you--"

Karkat cut her off, he really didn't want to relive old times, especially not something as embarassing as that. "No! No tension between Rose and I! Everything's fine, i'm not feeling neglected at all." 

"Alright....well....is it Dave? Have you and He gotten anywhere in wondering which quadrant you two are in?" Karkat groaned and shook his head. He had completely forgotten about Dave. 

"No, Dave and I haven't fucking figured out which quadrant we're in....but this isn't about Dave, or quadrants or anyone! This is just....nothing. It's nothing really....like Sollux said, I have a while to figure things out...I don't need to stress myself out now." Kanaya raised an eyebrow and nodded slowly. 

"I'm assuming you conversed with a ghost version of Sollux on the matter?" Karkat nodded. "Alright....well, it is getting late, and you have to keep up with your sleep scheduale. Come now." Kanaya stood and shut off the husktop. Karkat sighed and stood up, yawning a little. Kanaya had given him a "bedtime" since she learned that he got next to no sleep. 

The two walked to the transportilizer, Kanaya pulling her skirt up to her ankles and took a gracious step on, while karkat jumped up and onto the platform. A second later, the two were transported into the computer lab. They walked out the lab and into a hallway. Kanaya said her goodnight and kissed Karkat's cheek, leaving a mark of her jade lipstick before she headed down the hall and into the respiteblock that she and Rose shared.

Karkat stood there in the hallway for a moment, pondering his next move. Should he just go to his block and fall asleep? Should he visit Gamzee once more? Should he stay up and risk getting caught by Kanaya and get scolded? 

He did none of those, instead Karkat walked down the hall, passing his respiteblock and headed straight towards Eridan's old block. Yes, Eridan's block. Eridan had books on their ancestors, both written by them and about them. Maybe he could get some more in-depth details on their ancestors from the books he had. 

Karkat pushed the door open, and stepped in. The smell of sea water was faint, but still there. His bookshelves and treasure chests were all covered in dust. In the center of the room, Ahab's Crosshairs was lying there, broke. As was his wand. Besides those was both his cape and scarf. 

It was kind of depressing being in here, in one of his best friend's block,  he had witnessed Eridan kill Feferi and Kanaya, and knock out Sollux. He'd told the sea dweller that he was dead to him, he even broke off their pact. But in reality, he only blamed himself for not helping the violet blood out of his murderous mood. 

He and Eridan were close, close to the point where he acted like a moirail to him. Close to the point where he'd listen to Eridan's rambles about land dwellers and his plans on their utter destruction, Karkat would even half-heartedly give him pointers!

Karkat coughed  as dust flew infront of his face when he pulled out a heavy book. He wiped some more dust off the cover before plopping down in the corner. This wasn't exactly the most comfortable position or spot to read, but he had to read somewhere. He opened up the book, sighing quietly. 

"Eridan..." Karkat mumbled to himself as he began reading the first page, "I sure as fuck hope that all that shitty gloating about having the most detailed books around wasn't just gloating."