VIDEO

[heartlessglitch]

[ the robot named danger is unamused. there is what appears to be a golden basketball-shaped thing with wings and a long tail nestled on top of her head in her cable-dreads. judging by the way she folds her arms pointedly over her chest, it doesn't please her. ]

I require assistance.
My database lacks references for proper maintenance of this creature.
His classification is "golem."
I cannot remove him.
And he will not stop putting his mouth on my projects.

[ a pause. ]

Alternatively, you may answer this inquiry:
Where is Cross Marian?

Comments

[crab]

[ the exhale he lets out when she scoops him up is much less pained, although he still doesn't seem overly thrilled by this arrangement. if it were someone else, and if karkat were in better health, he would probably be pitching a giant fit right about now. as things are, he merely fixes her with what is probably the sulkiest look of reproach a person can muster. ]

I could have walked, you know, my legs aren't what's broken. I'm not a whimpering little wriggler who needs to be carried from place to place. I'm hard-core, Danger. I can deal.

[ he pauses. ]

You know when everyone vanished off the face of the universe for a while, at the end of last month?

[heartlessglitch]

I was not suggesting that you are a whimpering little wriggler who requires carrying.
I merely thought it was more efficient than watching you limp.

[ she doesn't say it in a cruel way-- just matter-of-fact. despite that sulky look, she only sets him down once they're in the cool quiet safety of the x-club labs in the basement. it's a mess of cluttered workbenches and half-built machines. timcampy can be heard rooting around somewhere, probably eating up scrap metal. ]

I recall the incident you are referring to, yes.
What is its relevance to your current state?

[crab]

[ karkat is silent for a few beats as he takes it upon himself to sit himself on one of the workbenches, pushing some stray cables aside to make room. once situated, he makes a vague gesture towards himself, his injuries. ]

Putting aside the many other migraine inducing grievances the setting presented me with, one after another, it was basically an unmitigated shower of aggravation boons -- there was one big issue with the setting we were abandoned in, which was the fact that you can't take a quiet walk along the fucking pier without a gigantic mutant shark erupting out of the water and attempting to devour you. [ he raises one shoulder in a half-shrug. ] A gigantic mutant shark that was also actually a Skrull.

[heartlessglitch]

[ she watches him in that considering way of hers. maybe it's just because robots don't need to blink, or her unnatural stillness by virtue of being mechanical, but her attention seems very intent, very focused. she's listening carefully.

at length, she reaches out and briefly ruffles the hair on top of his head, between his horns. it's probably a gesture she'd seen in some media somewhere and filed away under "affectionate" or "comforting." out loud: ]

In my experience, situations involving gigantic mutant sharks are ordinarily inconvenient.
Regardless, the Skrull does not seem to have been able to kill you.
That is what you would call the silver lining, isn't it?

[crab]

[ karkat goes very, very still when she ruffles his hair, blank surprise painting his features. that is not the reaction he expected -- a beat later, he huffs a little and hunches his shoulders, uncertain of how to react. ]

Yeah, it obviously didn't kill me. The whole dimension hopping thing was annoying, but it's not what I came here to tell you about.

[heartlessglitch]

[ having imparting what she interpreted to be a comforting gesture, danger moves to settle at the workbench adjacent to the one occupied by karkat, starting to tinker with some things with her hands while her head continues to show attentive body language: ]

I am listening.
Tell me what you came to tell me, Karkat Vantas.

[crab]

[ he takes a deep, steadying breath. ]

Okay, but first of all, you can't tell anyone about what I'm about to tell you, alright? It's my responsibility, how this gets out.

[ a pause. he brings one hand up to his face, pressing the heel of his palm into one of his eyes. ]

Well, there was some other stuff that happened in February, but that was pretty common knowledge. Everyone went crazy and turned into monsters and I was one of them, the end. The important thing that you have to keep a secret is-- [ another pause, heavy with reluctance. ]

Gamzee's Ported out.

[heartlessglitch]

[ her hands still. she's quiet in response for a long moment, her face unreadable as a robot's might tend to be. the silence draws out.

at length, finally, with a quietness that makes the mechanical hum of her voice more obvious: ]

I am sorry, Karkat.
I will miss him greatly.
And I will keep your secret under all circumstances.

[crab]

Thank you.

[ it's genuine, honest, no hint of irony or sarcasm. it's unclear what he's thanking her for; her condolences, that she'll miss him, her promise -- probably because he's grateful for all three. ]

He might still come back, anyway.

[heartlessglitch]

[ danger watches him intently, like she's trying to read his face, his body language-- she doesn't want to miss anything. grief and similar emotions are easy to misread. she knows they were important to each other. that much she remembers and understands.

another moment passes, then she reaches for something and her hands get back to work, even with her attention lingering on karkat. ]

That possibility will always exist, yes.

[ she approaches finally, pressing something into his hands. it's a small animal of some kind, a goat maybe, though the horns are a bit long-- abstract, made out of carefully twisted wire. a gift, meant to comfort. ]

In the meantime, I am available to you, should you require my friendship.

UGH DANGER YOURE GONNA MAKE HIM CRY

[crab]

[ his expression is one of shock, when she presses the gift into his hands -- he cups it gently, as though afraid it might break if he curls his hands around it. abstract it may be, but those horns, the shape of them...

karkat has to swallow the lump in his throat before he can trust himself to talk. ]

Yeah. [ he looks up from her gift, back at her face. ] Thanks, again. It means a lot to me. You're like, the only one I could tell about this.

k-karkat... ’ ᵔ ’

[heartlessglitch]

[ it's hard to articulate how that makes her feel-- those words, him confiding in her. trusting her. she's going to remember every moment of this. she's going to file it away carefully in her computerized brain under things that make up a friendship.

it might not show in her expression, but a part of her is moved. ]

I will not betray your trust.
And I will not leave you.

[crab]

[ well, it shows on karkat's face, how her friendship moves him. he was never very good at masking his expressions, and he has no reason to try here.

she can't know how much he's needed something like this, since the beginning of february. ruka had helped, but even ruka had her caveats. the solid, simple promise danger gives is what he's been craving; no catch, no fine print. it just is.

the wire goat disappears into his sylladex for safe keeping. ]

I won't, either. Leave you or betray you, I mean. [ the tremor in his voice embarrasses him; he opts to redirect the subject. ] How have things been on your end?

[heartlessglitch]

[ that means something. especially to her. so much of her short life has been spent feeling angry, because of betrayal or abandonment-- her first moments of sentience, of being conscious of herself were spent in festering rage over those things. it's a strange moment, between machine and troll. she feels connected. calm.

it's that feeling that keeps her other, more turbulent emotions at bay whens he responds to his question: ]

I am unsure.
I have been discontent.
Things between Madison and I are not as I expected they would be.

[crab]

Your... [ he tries to remember the word she used for it. ] Emotional asset? Why, what's going on?

[heartlessglitch]

[ there's a pause, like she needs to decide how to word things. and finally, a way that makes it hard to say if she's sounding purposefully detached or if it's just her being a machine: ]

His wife preoccupies him.
I can feel it, across our techno-mental link.

[crab]

[ that raises more questions than it answers. ]

You lost me at "wife". You're going to have to explain this one to me. What do you mean, techno-mental link, don't tell me that's exactly what it sounds like.

[heartlessglitch]

[ there's another pause. but she's nothing if not direct, and there seems no better way to explain things except truthfully. ]

The person I love is married to a human woman.
She has been seeking him out, and he thinks of her often.
I am aware of this because our minds are linked together.
And I can sense the feelings he has for her.

[ her voice influxes very little-- but there's a vague discontent in her face she can't hide. ]

I believe the emotion I feel in these circumstances is "jealousy."
But I unsure.

[crab]

Okay, forgive me if this is astonishingly incorrect assumption, but are you saying this turdburger is two timing you? [ there's the beginnings of a restrained anger in his voice, there. ] "Marriage" is that bizarre human coupling ritual, right? Where they exchange jewelry and make out in front of a bunch of well dressed spectators?

[heartlessglitch]

Your idea of it is more or less correct.
However, the situation is more complicated than it appears.
In our universe, Lillian is dead at the time from which the Porter chose Madison and I.

[ she's explaining it like you might explain any number of academic subjects, but knowing what she's saying is true doesn't help quell the trickle of discontent. she goes on, after a moment: ]

Obviously, she is not dead now.

[crab]

That doesn't give him the right to jerk you around! [ he looks like he wants to leap to his feet in indignation, but the pain of his injuries keeps him sitting on the work bench -- he settles for a few emphatic arm gestures instead. ] So what if the Porter resurrected a prior love interest? If he's your emotional asset now, he should be loyal to you! And if he's not, you should kick his ass so far out of your quadrants that a separate dimension will have to be constructed for the sole purpose of housing his miserable hindquarters, as they obviously don't deserve to occupy so much as the same universe as your red square. You deserve better than that.

[heartlessglitch]

[ she reaches over and calmly puts her hands over karkat's arms, as if she thinks she can calm him down a little by easing those emphatic gestures. she's gentle this time though-- she remembers his injuries. ]

I believe you, and I acknowledge the practical truth of what you are saying.
However, as inclined as I feel towards violence or termination of our relationship as a solution, it is more difficult in practice.
I am very in love with Madison Jeffries.

[crab]

[ it gets him to stop waving his arms around, at least, and lower the volume of his voice just a fraction. ]

Well, I was actually being facetious about the violence thing, but you still shouldn't stand for something like this. You can do better, Danger.

[heartlessglitch]

[ she tilts her head at him a little, considering him. ]

I am unsure if that is a factual statement.
Because I'm a machine, I do not connect well with most humans.
And because I surround myself with humans, I am unfamiliar with my own kind.

[ a brief pause, then something she hasn't really said out loud to anyone so plainly before: ]

I do not wish to be alone again.

[crab]

You aren't alone. [ he says it a little indignantly. ] You don't need someone like him. You shouldn't settle for someone who treats you like trash because you're afraid you won't be able to find someone better. God, have my films taught you nothing?