Hello!
I know I'm posting a little early but it looks like Saturdays are going to be my regular update day so I figured I might as well get in the habit early. Plus, Tavros was really easy to write for some reason.
I am still working under the idea that Karkat was in the background during the whole revenge cycle, trying to keep the damage down. Now I know Karkat didn't participate in any FLARP sessions, but technically referees don't play the game so yay for loopholes! Another note is that I still suck at action scenes so while I tried to do one here, be ready for it to suck.
TRIGGER WARNING: Lots of blood in this chapter. Also, some minor character death.
Everything belongs to Hussie.
Enjoy!
Karkat Vantas hiked his way carefully down a cliffside and tried not to think of the different ways he wanted to kill Vriska Serket just because she knew. Vriska fucking knew he was the referee this FLARP game, though he were not actually participating. Karkat's job was to make sure deaths where minimal. Meaning, his job was to make sure no one important (read, higher then teal) was killed. Not that anyone expected him to succeed, only low-bloods died in these games- but he was damn sure going to make sure everyone he knew lived. Unfortunately for him, that included Tavros Nitram.
adiosToreador [TA] began trolling carcinoGeneticist [CG]
TA: aG JUST JUMPED ME OFF A CLIFF,
Oh, fucking hell, of course, she did. That was just Karkat's luck! Well, no that was more on Tavros's luck, but still.
TA: wITH MY BRAIN,
TA: aND, UHH,
TA: mY LEGS, ALSO,
What the hell? Duh?
TA: aND NOW, THEY FEEL,
TA: iNVISABLE
Oh. Now Karkat gets what he was trying to say. Tavros had better be thanking his lucky fairy, or whatever the fuck it is he sees in that wiggler's story, that Karkat and Crabdad are so close to his location.
TA: wOW, I'M SURE THERE WAS A BETTER WAY TO SAY THAT,
TA: aNYWAY,
TA: tHAT'S ALL THERE REALLY IS,
TA: tO REPORT ON THE SUBJECT,
TA: oF ME GETTING HURT,
CG: HEY ASSHOLE, STOP PLAYING GAMES FOR GIRLS
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling adiosToreador [TA]
Karkat knew that sounded a bit cruel, even by his standards, but he had reached the cliffs and needed to focus on climbing. Two hurt assholes were just as useless as one hurt asshole. Besides, Crabdad couldn't come down the cliffs to help if something happened. Karkat looked around for Vriska but couldn't find her. Karkat kept the voice conversation open so in case someone completed whatever the hell the goal was and needed to tell him. He didn't call the game off though, no one would be happy if he made them stop for someone as low as Tavros.
Karkat heard bits and pieces of Aradia yelling something, Vriska being smug, and Terezi talking to both of them, but they weren't talking to him, so he ignored it for now. It didn't sound like they'd won. Minding the rocks and sharper objects made his progress slow but sooner than he thought, but didn't stop him from reaching the beach.
"Hey, um, Karkat," called Tavros and oh god, he sounded bad. "I-I can't move."
"Yeah I can see that moron," Karkat growls at him, then winces. Tavros isn't like his other friends who can see through his front. Besides, he's hurt and might not fully understand that Karkat plans to actually do his job and not cull the weak like most FLARP referees. Karkat tactfully doesn't say anything else as he approaches. Tavros watches with some apprehension through half-closed eyes that don't always stay focused on Karkat as he approaches. Damn it, Tavros has a concussion and can't move. Karkat doesn't have great medical skills but he at least knows he has to keep Tavros awake until someone who can help comes. He probably shouldn't move him either. Karkat sits down on the sand beside him and scans the beach for threats.
"How long was I climbing down that cliff," Karkat asks.
"A-awhile. Not too long though-though," Tavros's stammer has gotten worse.
"Give me an estimate," Karkat orders in his most leaderly/gentle voice while he checks up on the conversation.
"uh, Ten min-minutes? I don-don't know. I wasn't counting."
For the looks of the conversation, the Scourge Sisters had won, but Terezi had broken away and didn't take the reward money after Vriska bragged about hurting Tavros to everyone else. Aradia and Sollux were on their way. Karkat sent them the location and closed all the chat windows. He just needed to keep Tavros talking. Turning back, Tavros's eyes where closed.
Kicking him probably wasn't the best approach to waking up an injured person but Karkat was grouchier than normal. Besides, Tavros shouldn't have been playing this game in the first place. Only powerful Low Bloods could get through this with sort of bullshit with their lives and while Tavros's ability to talk to beast is cool, it wouldn't help him here and didn't help him with Spider-bitch either.
"Hey, nookstain, you need to stay awake," Karkat shouted quietly. The ocean wasn't his favorite place in the world and who knows what was nearby.
"Umm, okay," Tavros answered weakly and looked up at Karkat with the same apprehension from before.
"What," Karkat demanded.
"You, uh, are just sit-sit-sitting here," Tavros says like it's obvious. Karkat tried not to be offended by the implications. He has no right to pass judgment od that sort on anyone, but he couldn't tell Tavros that, even if he was helpless at the second.
"Well, obviously," Karkat retorts with a flick of a claw. "I don't know how to fix you and it's my job to make sure you idiots don't kill each other or yourselves during this fucking stupid game so I have no choice but to sit here. What, did you think I was going to leave you here to die or finish what Vriska stared? Don't be ridiculous, Aradia would kill me. Besides, that would put a brown mark on my otherwise clean record."
"Oh," Tavros looks sheepish. "Thanks, for the, help I guess."
"Whatever. You're still a moron. You should have known better than to play with the Scourge Sisters and even a fucking wriggler would know better than to challenge Spider-Bitch alone. Congratulations, you've won the medal for stupidest, most suicidal, troll on the planet."
"I-I guess," He answers quieter than before and Karkat has to try not to feel guilty. Tavros could have been killed. He needs to learn what's safe. Any further remarks are cut off by Tavros's stupidly small Lusus buzzing around Karkat's head.
"ULGH, Tavros, control your Lusus," Karkat squawks, hands swatting at the fairy-bug-bull-thing.
"Umm, Kar-Karkat, he says someone is-is coming from the sea, though."
Karkat stands quickly and Tinkerbull flies over a spot in the ocean nearby. He doesn't even get all that smaller visibly, Karkat can still see the lager details in his wings. He draws his sickles, and steps between Tavros and the water, though he doesn't raise them. Maybe he can handle this peacefully. When too tall, perfectly straight horns break the water, Tinkerbull flies back and hides behind Karkat with Tavros. Karkat squares his shoulders and tries to look bigger. He doesn't succeed.
The sea-dweller is tall, older, smiling, and carrying a scythe. His horns add a good two feet to the older boy's height and the beautiful royal color accenting the formal, yet skin tight, the suit adds to the perfectly elegant appearance. Karkat looks him in is violet-grey swirled eyes, but only just. Karkat gets the feeling Tavros is trying to blend into the sand.
"Sorry, but this beach is closed as part of a FLARP game, sir," Karkat barley adds the 'sir' on in time. Gog damn it, the smile full of perfect fangs grew wider, but the boy doesn't stop coming. Stupid fucking entitled royals.
"It was, my good lad," He says in a way that convinces Karkat that 'good man' is short for "Low-blood" and "Land-dweller". "But it seems that the game is over. I have come to collect the bodies for my Lusus, you know how it is. I'm sure that won't be a problem." The smile grows, and the troll looms. He is still a good distance away but that hardly matters.
"It wouldn't be," Karkat agrees or tries to. "But no one died. I'm the referee for this round. There is no one for you to collect here."
"Oh," he says looking a little putout and a lot more dangerous. "Well, I can just take that injured one behind you. He doesn't look like he'd be of much use to the Empire after… Well after whatever happened to the poor, little, lad." The smile was back as he spoke and straightened his thin tie
"Sorry, sir, but he's not actually fucking dead so I cannot-will not- hand him over. He is still one of my charges," Karkat growls but doesn't drop into a defensive stance. He doesn't want to fight, he might lose or worse, bleed. That doesn't mean he can't add a little bit of a threat though. He isn't a pushover like the idiot he is protecting.
"Ah. I see," He says, looking perfectly thoughtful leaning against the poll of his scythe and scratching his chin. Damn it, he was about to attack. Karkat tensed and waited. "Well, that really is too bad, my good lad. Because I think I'm going to take him anyway." The smile returned, and the sea-dweller leaped using the poll as leverage.
The fight was a lot quicker than Karkat thought it would be. The other troll was overly confident and didn't take Karkat seriously. Plus, Karkat had the advantage of paranoid training on his side, even if the other troll's training was more focused and professional. Clearly, the boy hadn't been paying attention.
Karkat dodged the first attack, hooked both his sickles around the place where the scythe's blade connected to the poll and yanked the thing out of the startled hands of the other troll. Unfortunately, that left Karkat open and the other was now offended. The older troll leaped again, this time pinning one of Karkat's hands down, scratched his chest through his sweater with the other, then froze staring at his claws. Karkat slit his neck open with his remaining sickle while the sea-dweller was still in shock.
The body collapsed on top of Karkat, bleeding out on the sand over Karkat's head. There were a few chocking sounds and convolutions before the body went limp. Karkat pushed him off and stood, trying to feel proud of himself. He had just killed a sea-dweller, why did he feel terrible? And why couldn't he look away for the body? He did it in self-defense and to defend a friend during a FLARP game, he was within his right legally. But, the boy had just been looking for food for his Lusus, like Vriska or Feferi, he had been within his right too. They had both been trying to survive and this was just a natural part of growing up. Why did he feel like crying?
"Umm, Kar-Karkat, is-is that…" Tavros snapped Karkat out of his swirling thoughts. Karkat turned slightly and looked over at the injured troll. Only, Tavros wasn't looking at Karkat's face, he was looking at Karkat's ruined sweater and cuts. Cuts that were still bleeding over in plain sight.
Karkat's eyes snapped to Tavros's face. Tavros just looked shocked and stared the way the dead sea-troll had. Even though Karkat had the advantage, his knees locked, and his shoulders hunched up. He stopped breathing, hands tight around the handle of this sickle, and stared at Tavros, waiting for …for something.
Tavros kept staring for a moment longer and Karkat could see the moment his thinkpan restarted when Tavros blinked and swallowed. He didn't look sleepy now. Slowly, as if afraid of what he might see, Tavros looking up and into Karkat's eyes. When they got there, a frown tugged at the corner of his lips and his brows furrowed.
"Karkat," Tavros asked. Karkat, noticed vaguely that he wasn't stammering. The paralysis that had taken hold of Karkat broke and he looked away, down at the body of the sea-troll, and took a deep breath. He didn't want to kill again, but what choice did he have? And could he get out of here in time before Aradia and Sollux came?
Slowly, he walked over to Tavros and tried not to feel nervous. It's not like the brown-blood fucking could do anything anyway. Somehow, that thought made Karkat feel worse. Karkat sat on his knees with his legs behind him with his sickles in his hands. He couldn't look Tavros in the eyes. He had just killed to protect him, was Karkat going to go back on that?
"I won't tell," Tavros started, fear lacing the words and keeping the stammer out. Karkat thought that maybe it should be the other way around. "I won't, I swear. Please. What could I do to you like this? Please, Karkat, blood doesn't matter to me, you know that!"
"Shut up," Karkat ordered and hated how his voice sounded so detached. Karkat could hear Tavros's teeth clack together as he stopped mid-plead. Karkat barely stopped from saying he didn't want to do this out loud before he turned his head, eyes staying glued to Tavros's chest and throat. Tavros was breathing so fast, and the small scratches that covered his body made the wet sand look pale. Karkat's arm wasn't his own when it moved the sickle under Tavros's chin and against the flesh of his neck.
"P-please," Tavros whimpered before remembered he had been told to shut up. Tinkerbull flew around in a panic but couldn't come close. Karkat didn't move, and Tavros held his breath as best he could. Neither moved for a what felt like an age through the waves kept track of the seconds. Finally, after a long time, and in hopes of gathering his courage, Karkat lifted his eyes to Tavros's face.
Tavros had his eyes closed and his face pinched up with how tight he was holding them there and, in his effort, not breathing. Out of the corner of his eyes, Karkat could see his hands pinched into fists, though Tavros didn't have the strength to move or defend himself. Tavros couldn't defend himself, not like the other troll. Tavros had also promised not to tell.
Karkat signed and moved the sickle away from Tavros's neck. He looked away, from his face and just sat for a second trying to remember not to cry. His breathing might have betrayed him though. Tavros didn't say anything as he started to breathe again in short, uneven, gasps
"I-I won't tell, Karkat," he promised, a little steadier this time. "No one des-deserves to die just cause their blood is…"
"A mutation," Karkat supplied voice void of anything. The tight ball in his chest hadn't left yet but Tavros didn't need to know that. Neither of them said anything for a moment before Karkat finally felt like he could talk. "I don't want to kill you, but you're a threat to me now."
"You were a threat to me! Yo-…You still are. You didn't kill me when you saw that I wasn't going to recover from this fully. F-fuck, you protected me! Why would I turn a-around and turn you in-in? Th-that would just get me into trouble."
Karkat sat, staring into space for a moment longer, considering. Tavros was fidgety but there wasn't much he could do to get away.
They sat in silence for a moment longer before Karkat stood, flipped through his belongings and found a spare shirt. He moved to an angle where Tavros would have a harder time watching before stripping off the ruined cloth, wiping up most of the blood, being careful over the new scratches, and putting on the new shirt. He then hid the old one in amongst his belongings. He kept his sickles out.
When he returned, he sat so he was facing Tavros's head, resting his head on his knees. Karkat stared at Tavros. Tavros stared back at Karkat. Tavros was still fidgety and nervous, though to his credit he never broke eye contact. Karkat tried his best to keep a straight face.
"You won't tell," Karkat said finally, though it wasn't said like a question.
"Yeah," Tavros agreed regardless, and at last the tension broke. Both looked away from each other and took a deep breath.
They didn't speak again until Aradia and Sollux floated down the cliffs and took Tavros away.