Rose & Karkat: Uhtceare (Old English), Lying Awake Before Dawn And Worrying

You are wandering the halls of the meteor, entirely unable to sleep (again), when you come upon Karkat. When you call out a soft, "Hello," he jumps and spins, glaring at you as though it's your fault that he was frightened.

"The fuck are you doing awake?" is all he says.

You shrug, and he falls into step with you as you proceed onward. "Not much, I'm afraid. And you?"

One shoulder twitches, and he gives a vaguely negative grunt. There are a few breaths of silence, and when you turn your head to look at him, he's watching you. "You look like absolute shit."

You honestly can't help laughing. "I see you are a master of tact and diplomacy."

He goes bright, bright red and hunches his shoulders up around his ears. "I'm just saying."

"Lack of sleep can have a rather drastic effect on one's appearance." You shoot him a sideways glance. "As I expect you would know."

He doesn't try to deny anything, just shoves his hands in his pockets and walks on. After a minute, he ventures, "So you come out to stalk the halls of the meteor like a sleep-deprived daywalker?"

"After a while, staring at the ceiling does begin to get old. I thought I'd try for a change of scenery."

This grunt sounds rather like agreement. "My respiteblock felt really suffocating. I thought if I could tire myself out a bit it might shut off my thinkpan and I could actually pass out."

"Worrying?"

That makes him laugh. "What the fuck do you think? What else do I honestly have to think about but the impressive numbers of things that have gone wrong, continue to go wrong, and may go wrong in the future, thanks to my incompetent hand steering this whole goddamn mess?"

"Well, you might be thinking of your moirail, Terezi, the new game we'll be arriving for, any number of things."

"Yeah, worrying about my moirail, Terezi, and the new game. No fear, I've got all that ground and more covered." You're guiltily wondering whether you should tease him further when his head whips around and he fixes you with an intent stare. "And you? What kind of things are keeping you up at this hour of the day?"

You purse your lips and consider lying, but that would be unworthy of you. "Worries, of course. I expect it would be different issues than occupy you, but there do seem to be quite a number of problems available to fixate upon."

His laugh is dry and humorless. The two of you are approaching the kitchen (or, you suppose, the food preparation block), and you can hear faint noises ahead. When you turn into the room, Terezi is already there laying thick slabs of bacon onto a large skillet and Kanaya is sitting at the table, sipping a cup of tea. It must be later than you thought, and if you do the math… yes, nearly three hours of sleep, about the usual. Terezi exclaims at the two early wingbeasts and gleefully teases Karkat while you take a seat next to Kanaya. You lean against her shoulder and let your eyes drift shut. Perhaps tomorrow night will be better.