...that's not a bad question. And it's probably one we can answer ourselves without having to get a job. We know enough people who're getting packages and stuff, right? We could run another experiment and see if anything goes wrong.
[Because honestly, at this point, he just assumes it will go very wrong.] I'm also betting that's the case since the mail carriers we have now obviously aren't on the network or they'd question this a little more. [A short grin.] You could probably use a new job anyway, Vantas. I have no idea how you're not exhausted all the time.
Don't be ridiculous. I'm just fucking great at acting like I'm not at this point, but just know that I'm only the shadow of what once was a human being. The taint of a man, if you will.
[ he has considered quitting and finding a new job, but doing that when he's in the middle of end of the school year bullshit for a graduating senior seems to be like too much extra work.
he considers the idea though. ]
What do you think the credentials for getting a post office job is?
[Even if Karkat's just being an overdramatic sarcastic tool about it, he's still giving him a fairly pointed look.]
You're too young to be burnt out, so don't give me that shit. I'm just saying...graduation's in a month, isn't it? Think about it. I think there're probably night shifts at a post office since they have to sort everything that comes in after hours? The credentials can't be that hard since it's pretty much knowing how to match addresses to neighborhoods and packages to those neighborhoods and driving one of those stupid trucks.
[ it's said in the familiar "i'm a stubborn teenager" tone, but. karkat does appreciate luke genuinely being concerned about his bad life habits. it's very easy to forget that he does not live his life in a vacuum, sometimes. ]
[He rolls his eyes, but it's a satisfactory answer.]
Cool. In the meantime...pretty sure I made you a promise about a sword and your sickle. Didn't expect to get my own sword out of all of that, but it probably doesn't change anything does it?
I'm not interested in being arrested so I think you're safe. We can head to the back if you want? The entire bar stayed its normal size so it's not like you'd be in the way or risk knocking shit over.
[He will do his best not to stab Karkat Vantas. Probably.]
I feel like there are better things to get arrested for anyway.
[ you can have a lot of neat stories about getting arrested but karkat would prefer if he did not get an extra hole in him in order for those stories to be born.
he'll also follow luke's lead here TAKE US TO THE BACK ]
Do I want to know what your idea of "better" is? Actually yeah, I do. What's your idea of better? [And he'll lead Karkat over to what looks like a string of rubber bands tied together leading down to the floor. He'll jump onto the makeshift rope and cling, staring to climb his way down.]
[ ... well. that sure is a way to get down from high things. karkat waits to see if luke falls down to his death or not, and when it's the latter, he will follow him. ]
Before I moved back here, in my old town there was this pet store that closed down but there were some hermit crabs that never got taken out? So I broke in and brought them home but apparently that was still trespassing so the police got called on me. I didn't actually get arrested for it but it still counts.
[It's once he's at the bottom that he looks up, raising an eyebrow as he listens to this story and despite himself he's actually grinning because it's funny. And sort of cute? Maybe both, actually, and he considers what to say after that.]
So you went on a rescue mission and the cops got mad. [He lifts an eyebrow.] Seems like a stupid reason to get hit with trespassing if the place was shut down anyway but some rules are stupid as it is. Wait, do you still have the crabs? [And once Karkat's on the ground he'll lead onward toward one of the back storage rooms.]
[There's a derisive sort of snort following that.]
It's a valuable life skill, Vantas. Being able to talk your way out of bullshit and knowing when to pick your battles. I don't even know how long hermit crabs live and now you just have cats. Big difference.
[And then, because Luke doesn't know how to shut the fuck up:] I'm pretty sure whatever happened in my old life meant I was on the road too much to even have pets.
[But okay. Here we are and it's a fairly large storage room with walls of liquor and cups and all sorts of supplies and he's taking Backbiter again, giving the sword a few test swings.] So be honest. How much have you actually practiced with the thing so far?
[They can definitely get back to that later. Right now it's swiping and stabbing time.]
So I'm not under threat of decapitation. That's good to know. [He looks up from the sword in his hand before sizing up the sickle again.] I wouldn't care if you broke a lamp, but I appreciate that, too.
[He's easily sliding into a battle stance though, something he's finding to be more and more natural as time goes on.] I know how to defend myself pretty well, so come at me. I want to see what you can do.
[What's a consequence and can you eat it? Either way, he's keeping an eye on Karkat and he's waiting for him to get close enough before he brings Backbiter up enough to block and knock him backwards, leaping back out of the way.]
[There's a smirk as Karkat works not to bite it, but he does look fairly pleased all the same. He wasn't lying. He apparently has been practicing enough and Luke's happy with that.
He says nothing else and he'll wait before lunging himself with Backbiter, sword swinging to try and deter the sickle. The problem with Luke's style of fighting is that it's rapid and rolled into a ball of slashing and hacking. He has zero intention of hurting Karkat, but it's a defense anyway.]
Surprised they didn't give you memories on fighting with the damn thing. S'what they did for me.
this comment reminded me to fill in the regain form
Maybe it didn't count when I was doing it by myself?
[ it takes him two tries to get that full sentence out, since he starts talking right when luke makes his move. karkat definitely is not skilled enough to properly deflect that, so luke easily stops his attack. ]
Jesus, dude, tha-- [ he's still not used to the sensation of this, being somewhere and then suddenly it's like you're in another place entirely. he did think that this exercise with luke might make something happen, since it didn't make sense for him to get a weapon but no idea how to fight with it when so many others did.
what he did not expect was for that something to involve a place filled with... blood? it looked like blood. and weird... ogre... creatures, and a girl. he doesn't pay too much mind to the girl though, because everything else is too fucking weird.
he completely freezes after receiving the memory, so luke may want to like. stop. ]
[He's about to say "yeah that's possible" or even just commentating on his own skill, but one of the things that makes Luke a good fencing instructor and makes Luke, well, Luke is that he's attentive and always on guard. The moment Karkat freezes he manages to pull back with Backbiter in the air, arced and ready to strike but not quite bringing it down.
That's...not good. He doesn't lower the sword all the way just yet, but he's putting the fight on hold for a moment.]
What's wrong? [He has a good guess, but. Maybe he shouldn't ask? Everyone experiences the hallucinations differently but if there's a risk of Karkat actually getting himself hurt that's not good either.] What are you seeing?
[ he blinks, snapping out of it, and almost drops his sickle to the ground but he grabs onto it again at the last second. seriously, what the fuck was going on there. ]
I was fighting? With some girl, and also the dude who stabbed me was there too.
[ karkat forgot that he never mentioned the stabbing thing to luke before. ]
Whoa, wait, time out. [UH.] We'll go back to the ogres thing in a second, but I think more importantly we need to talk about someone stabbing you? What the fuck. Who stabbed you?
When did you remember something like that? There has to be better context than "some guy stabbed me just because he felt like it." I mean not everything has decent context, like why I got punched by a flying boxing glove, but stabbing's a little more serious than that.
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[Because honestly, at this point, he just assumes it will go very wrong.] I'm also betting that's the case since the mail carriers we have now obviously aren't on the network or they'd question this a little more. [A short grin.] You could probably use a new job anyway, Vantas. I have no idea how you're not exhausted all the time.
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[ he has considered quitting and finding a new job, but doing that when he's in the middle of end of the school year bullshit for a graduating senior seems to be like too much extra work.
he considers the idea though. ]
What do you think the credentials for getting a post office job is?
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You're too young to be burnt out, so don't give me that shit. I'm just saying...graduation's in a month, isn't it? Think about it. I think there're probably night shifts at a post office since they have to sort everything that comes in after hours? The credentials can't be that hard since it's pretty much knowing how to match addresses to neighborhoods and packages to those neighborhoods and driving one of those stupid trucks.
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[ it's said in the familiar "i'm a stubborn teenager" tone, but. karkat does appreciate luke genuinely being concerned about his bad life habits. it's very easy to forget that he does not live his life in a vacuum, sometimes. ]
... I'll see what I can do.
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Cool. In the meantime...pretty sure I made you a promise about a sword and your sickle. Didn't expect to get my own sword out of all of that, but it probably doesn't change anything does it?
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[ and again... karkat trusts luke not to stab him.
purposely, anyway. ]
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[He will do his best not to stab Karkat Vantas. Probably.]
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[ you can have a lot of neat stories about getting arrested but karkat would prefer if he did not get an extra hole in him in order for those stories to be born.
he'll also follow luke's lead here TAKE US TO THE BACK ]
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Before I moved back here, in my old town there was this pet store that closed down but there were some hermit crabs that never got taken out? So I broke in and brought them home but apparently that was still trespassing so the police got called on me. I didn't actually get arrested for it but it still counts.
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So you went on a rescue mission and the cops got mad. [He lifts an eyebrow.] Seems like a stupid reason to get hit with trespassing if the place was shut down anyway but some rules are stupid as it is. Wait, do you still have the crabs? [And once Karkat's on the ground he'll lead onward toward one of the back storage rooms.]
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[ honestly karkat isn't the biggest fan of where he used to live before coming back to recollé for high school, so he's a little biased. ]
I gave them to people who wanted one, and mine died last year. [ rip crabcakes the hermit crab. ]
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It's a valuable life skill, Vantas. Being able to talk your way out of bullshit and knowing when to pick your battles. I don't even know how long hermit crabs live and now you just have cats. Big difference.
[And then, because Luke doesn't know how to shut the fuck up:] I'm pretty sure whatever happened in my old life meant I was on the road too much to even have pets.
[But okay. Here we are and it's a fairly large storage room with walls of liquor and cups and all sorts of supplies and he's taking Backbiter again, giving the sword a few test swings.] So be honest. How much have you actually practiced with the thing so far?
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I can manage to swing it and stuff and both not stab myself and also not accidentally let it go flying through the air and break a lamp?
[ things that have happened: both of those.
he'll go back to luke's previous statement in a bit. he figures he shouldn't distract the conversation here. ]
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So I'm not under threat of decapitation. That's good to know. [He looks up from the sword in his hand before sizing up the sickle again.] I wouldn't care if you broke a lamp, but I appreciate that, too.
[He's easily sliding into a battle stance though, something he's finding to be more and more natural as time goes on.] I know how to defend myself pretty well, so come at me. I want to see what you can do.
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despite that nagging thought, he'll grip his sickle in his right hand, wait a few seconds, before charging??? at luke?? ]
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Try that again.
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he did not. ]
Alright, fine, try to dodge this then.
[ karkat don't talk shit it's just going to make this embarrassing. either way, he'll run at luke again with the sickle. ]
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He says nothing else and he'll wait before lunging himself with Backbiter, sword swinging to try and deter the sickle. The problem with Luke's style of fighting is that it's rapid and rolled into a ball of slashing and hacking. He has zero intention of hurting Karkat, but it's a defense anyway.]
Surprised they didn't give you memories on fighting with the damn thing. S'what they did for me.
this comment reminded me to fill in the regain form
[ it takes him two tries to get that full sentence out, since he starts talking right when luke makes his move. karkat definitely is not skilled enough to properly deflect that, so luke easily stops his attack. ]
Jesus, dude, tha-- [ he's still not used to the sensation of this, being somewhere and then suddenly it's like you're in another place entirely. he did think that this exercise with luke might make something happen, since it didn't make sense for him to get a weapon but no idea how to fight with it when so many others did.
what he did not expect was for that something to involve a place filled with... blood? it looked like blood. and weird... ogre... creatures, and a girl. he doesn't pay too much mind to the girl though, because everything else is too fucking weird.
he completely freezes after receiving the memory, so luke may want to like. stop. ]
I helped :3
That's...not good. He doesn't lower the sword all the way just yet, but he's putting the fight on hold for a moment.]
What's wrong? [He has a good guess, but. Maybe he shouldn't ask? Everyone experiences the hallucinations differently but if there's a risk of Karkat actually getting himself hurt that's not good either.] What are you seeing?
you did <33
[ he blinks, snapping out of it, and almost drops his sickle to the ground but he grabs onto it again at the last second. seriously, what the fuck was going on there. ]
I was fighting? With some girl, and also the dude who stabbed me was there too.
[ karkat forgot that he never mentioned the stabbing thing to luke before. ]
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Whoa, wait, time out. [UH.] We'll go back to the ogres thing in a second, but I think more importantly we need to talk about someone stabbing you? What the fuck. Who stabbed you?
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[ you know, like people tend to do. ]
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When did you remember something like that? There has to be better context than "some guy stabbed me just because he felt like it." I mean not everything has decent context, like why I got punched by a flying boxing glove, but stabbing's a little more serious than that.
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