Stuck at Home: KarAshi [Homestuck/BNHA Crossover]

[automatonSun]

There were things Karkat would never understand.

Timelines, space, the air they breathed. Everything seemed tied together, and at least in that, he understands. As a Knight of Blood, his expertise lied in bonds, after all. But that was just it, there was no one left to be bonded to. He didn’t understand. They were all Godtier, they were powerful and stuck together like glue and still the blood of everyone he’d ever known and loved laid at his feet. John had fallen a good ways away, Jade not far behind. And Dave...

There was no alternate Dave to replace him. He was laying in Karkat’s lap, just a few feet away from the rip in reality they’d managed to create. And for what? Dave wasn’t going to make it, not in the state he was in. If they couldn’t all escape, if it was just Karkat left, then it wasn’t worth the effort at all. Maybe, if he was lucky, the beast that was Jack Noir would turn to him and his death would at least be... just.

“Karkat.” The blond human in his lap called, hand weakly raising to a tear stained, grey cheek. “You have to go, I-“

“Fuck you!” The troll snapped in return, snarl pulling his lips back from over those teeth. Unusually dull for a troll, but sharper than any human. But it hardly seemed threatening after so many years together; even less so with the red-tinted tears and the pain in his rough voice. “Fuck you if you think I’m leaving without you, what’s the point if I’m alone?”

Dave fixed him with a rare, sincere smile and it made Karkat choke on a sob. He always smiled like that when something was about to go horribly wrong. “There’s no point in staying either.” The abomination that was Noir turned his attention to them, and Karkat curled over Dave. “I’m sorry, kitten, but I’m a whole lot more selfish than you...”

Karkat pulled away and looked at his matesprit, taken aback. “What? What does that even mean-“ He couldn’t even finish, because Dave had pushed him away and with one last flash step, sent Karkat through the rip.

The last he saw was Jack rearing back for a final attack, and Dave’s bloody smile as the rip closed.

The next thing he knew, he’d slammed back first into asphalt, wings painfully pinned against the rough ground and his own back. But he didn’t care; it would heal itself just fine. Wherever he was, it was night time. None of that harsh sun his planet had been known for, and no sun like the one the humans always described. “No! No, Dave, you nookwhiffing fuckhead!” All he could do was yell at the sky where that last shimmer of... of him faded. “It was meant to be all of us or none, not just me; what am I meant to do without you, you stupid human!”

Karkat had turned over just to slam his fists into the hard ground. The rest of the world meant nothing to him, but the sound of footsteps gave him pause. Only then did he actually turn his head to look around.

Asphalt, buildings, lights in windows and streetlights shining over him. It looked like Alternia but not. It looked closer to the dream bubbles Dave had walked him through on their dates, but something was off. First, he would address whatever or whoever had decided to approach him, red chains erupting from his wrist while his other hand wiped away at the filth on his face. His wings buzzed behind him, agitation clear in the set of his shoulders. “Who are you?” He snarled in the language he’d learnt from the humans. It had become second nature to speak it, after all the others of his kind had died, he spent sweeps with just the humans. There was no need for his native language after that.

____

Oof... Long week... At least he would have a couple of days of semi-rest. He was already heading back towards the agency as it was almost 9pm anyway only to hear distressing yelling. Why...? Why always at the end of your shift? Well, duty calls, right? He jogged to close some of the distance and when he turned the corner he slowed and looked around. Just a teenager from the look of things... Those clothes though... Was he trying to do vigilante work? He really hoped not, that would be a hell of a headache to deal with. Still, he had to check on him to make sure everything was alright.

His lips parted to call a greeting to him only to hesitate for just a moment as the other suddenly armed himself. Was that blood? Hell of a quirk for a kid... Looked to be a mutant-type quirk centering around blood manipulation maybe? Shouldn't be a problem so long as they didn't shift gears into close-quarters combat. And he was uncomfortably quick to whip it out too. If he was lucky he would be able to talk the teen down before things escalated.

"Whoa, whoa...!" He brought up his hands in a peaceful gesture. "Easy there kid! No need for that! I'm a hero, it's cool, yo! Name's Present Mic!" He shifted his stance then splaying his fingers as he brought his hands down so he was wrist over wrist, a silly posture Karkat would have definitely seen his poor matesprit doing while throwing down wicked rhymes. Well... Most of them rhymed anyway... "You're lucky I came by! Most people in Japan speak English, but aren't too many that can speak it as good as I can! You a tourist or somethin'? Not from around here?" He probed gently.

All the while he smiled his best smile, trying not to look too awkward while doing it. He was wry of the teen with how aggressive he was being so far. He'd really rather not get into a fight if he could help it. "You here by yourself? Need a lift home?" He added, picking and choosing his questions carefully so he'd gather as much information as he could with as few of them as he could manage.

Just Karkat's luck... The first person to approach him was some weird human man-lusus who was too loud and whose hair looked like it was trying to escape. How did he even get it to stay up like that?! and why was he smiling so much?! At the very least he didn't appear to be dangerous or armed. He just seemed sort of... Stupid. Definitely couldn't read the room considering how close he came before he stopped walking. Seemed friendly enough... Sort of like one of those dimwitted consorts on their planets. Helpful, but not very smart...

___

A hero...? When the humans spoke of heroes, they were only ever works of fiction that sounded like a filthy amount of pale porn to Karkat when they spoke about these fictional characters who made it their life’s goal to help people and keep people safe. They spoke of Superman and Wonder Woman. He’d always wondered why their gender needed to be added to their titles like that. It was almost like the stories highblooded wrigglers were told about their ancestors, except most of those had turns out to be true. His skepticism must have been palpable, but seeing the human strike that pose had something stabbing itself through Karkat’s bloodpusher, still so fucking tender after watching his matesprit slip through his fingers, forever.

“What’s with humans and their stupid fucking names?” The troll bit back, just to bite really. Was this person even human? That hair didn’t seem to follow physics. Just because he’d matured over the sweeps spent in the game didn’t mean he didn’t have a habit of opening his big mouth when he shouldn’t. Or didn’t have to, at least. The disarming nature of the human had the chains dropping. The blood slid back into the parted skin of his wrist, healed instantly as though it had never been there to begin with. It wasn’t like anything could kill him if he didn’t do something heroic at the same time, or to deserve it. He clenched his fist and, not for the first time, hated himself for ascending.

Karkat’s ears pressed back to the sides of his head, hidden by fluffy hair. Somehow, the way the human spoke seemed condescending, and he already knew ”kid” to be one of the humans’ ways of saying pupa. He fixed the yellow haired human with a glare, his eyes roving over the street again, “No, I’m not from fucking around here. I’m not human, if you didn’t notice.” The accent he held was odd, chittering almost. His wings fluttered again, agitated but not outright hostile. He just... didn’t have the energy to start a fight.

Despite his flat tone of voice, he had no idea that in this world, there could very well be a human that looked like a troll. Maybe there wasn’t, but it wasn’t exactly impossible either, so his mere appearance and powers would prove nothing. Right then, he just looked like a teen who probably hit his head a little hard, instead of a god from another dimension and alien planet who’d lost everything and everyone they’d ever loved.

___


"S-stupid..?!" His smile fell then into something that was dangerously close to a pout. Now look what you did Karkat, you made the idiot man-lusus sad! "That's harsh, yo..." The blond man lightly scratched at his chin as the awkwardness set in. Tough crowd. There was a very important bit of information in that outburst though. Human. People didn't call other people 'human' if they were one so why would this boy? The possibility that he was a quirk-transformed animal was what instantly came to mind, but in his experience, those always looked distinctly like their origin species or at least similar. Nezu being mouse or rat-like for example. This boy didn't fit that mold very well...

At the very least the situation seemed to be settling down as those wicked chains were being put away. Definitely a blood-based quirk. Healing might be involved too, but that may be limited to self-inflicted wounds. If he could heal flesh wounds in general, that would be quite handy as quirks went. Ah, so he wasn't from Japan. He was insisting he wasn't human though... Strange. Oh... Oh no... Was he from one of those places that alienated people with mutant-type quirks? Poor kid... That could certainly be it. Hell, from that angle, his parents may have just abandoned him here and gone back to whatever country they were from. Sounded like American English to him so probably the U.S.

"Hey, now... Just because you look different doesn't make you any less human. Even if you're not human, you're definitely a person and that's what's important here." His tone changed then, softer and several levels less manic. Either this boy was from an incredibly abusive background that made him think he wasn't human or he was very loyal to his original species. That or he was insane, but either way he was clearly upset and the situation called for a gentler touch than he was offering. Generally, he focused on hyping people up in bad situations so they weren't scared, but that was definitely the wrong approach here.

"Listen, why don't you come with me? You look like you've had a rough night... We can talk it out over some food, see if I can't help sort out your situation. You can trust me." He urged gently, closing more of the distance between them. A tummy full of warm food or drink could help calm the nerves at the very least and he felt like it would be best to get this kid off the streets for now. He needed more information before making a proper call.

___

Any doubt that Karkat may have had that Present Mic was human was launched straight out the metaphorical window when he spoke to him like that. It was always a culture shock when the humans would act so pale with each other, and the trolls, calling it ”basic human decency” and ”kindness”. He hadn’t received pale attentions laid on that thickly since the height of his relationship with Gamzee, before he died. That troll had been a huge flirt, a pale troll Casanova. Karkat made a face, entirely uncomfortable even as his wings finally tucked themselves away beneath his cape.

“I’m literally not a human. I don’t know what fucked up universe we’re in, but in mine, I’m an Alternian troll.” The last troll, he should say. And now the last of any of his friends. Fuck. He really needed to cry again. Dave’s smiling face seemed to be etched into his mind, the last smile he’d ever see from him. And he knew the small locket he wore with two of Dave’s ridiculous selfies held inside, of the two of them pressed cheek to cheek together, one with both of them smiling and the other with Karkat annoyed, would become his most precious keepsake. There were other pictures, copied to his communicator, but none would be more precious then the locket.

He pressed his hand over it, spacing out for a moment before he took a deep breath and spat out a quick, “Fine”, walking closer to the human before he paused, abruptly, eyes zoning in on what seemed to be a poster with a very non-human looking person advertising something. Karkat wasn’t that great at reading English, let alone whatever was written on the poster, but it seemed to be about soap. Was it a hyper-realistic drawing of some creature that didn’t exist? Or was it... was it a picture of someone? Was that why the human was quick to reassure that Karkat was still a person?

He furrowed his brow and turned to the human again, “Wait, why did you think I was human? I really don’t fucking look like one.” As if the world wanted to prove his point, as he stepped even closer to the so called Present Mic, the light hit him just right to make the yellow sclera and the red irises of his eyes practically glow in the light. His ear twitched from beneath his hair and, close as they were, Karkat’s horns should have been visible as well.

___


He started to lead the way only to pause for a moment, jade eyes snapping onto the teen through the orange tint of his shades. "You're saying... You're an interdimensional traveler...?" He filed away the species name, though it confused him some. 'Alternian' was clearly linked with where he came from, but 'troll'? That's a mythological creature he'd heard of, even in English. There were internet trolls too, but that was even more ridiculous and obviously didn't apply here. "Well... You're still a person. How did you get here? And what should I call you? And... If you're from a different dimension, how do you know how to speak English?" He asked gently, motioning with a hand to get them moving again. Something wasn't adding up here... Particularly the lack of language barrier. He really, really hoped he hadn't saddled himself with a nutcase...

Good... He'd agreed to come with him so they could get comfortable while they sorted out this mess. At least there were umbrella laws that would protect the kid if he was actually from another universe as he said. Non-human quirk users had gained a lot of ground in terms of equal rights and their wide range of species resulted in nearly all but the oldest laws to be generally phrased as 'non-humans' which would by default include this teenager. This was with the assumption that this was the truth and not some delusion or outlandish lie. The latter was unlikely as he didn't come off as dimwitted so surely he would have thought of something better if he was going to throw a lie out at a hero.

He chuckled softly as information was demanded of him in turn. "A head, a body, two arms, two legs, hair on the top of your hair, mouth, nose, two eyes, teeth, tongue I assume... You're not that far off. From what I can see your skin color, eyes, teeth, and horns are the only big differences. I know of many people that don't look like you're a generic human and am personally friends with several of them. Your appearance is unique, but you're far from alone in looking different. They're a smaller percentage among quirk-having people, but they aren't unusual either. Heck, they're common enough that it's standard for clothing stores to have at least one employee capable of making on-the-spot alterations for clothes so that people with stuff like tails... Or wings..." He added with a sly smile, "...can easily get clothes they like."

True to his word, he didn't seem the slightest bit put off by the grey being walking with him. There was no doubt he didn't know what an Alternian troll was or surely he would have been afraid. The Alternian Empire was a terrifying thing, after all, but he seemed quite comfortable at his side. "From another world, huh...? I suppose you don't know what quirks are then..." A quirk? Like a character quirk? Or a typing or speech quirk? Was this guy stupid? "Quirks are supernatural abilities most people are born with. It's what makes some people look different, but it's also why some people can control fire, spit acid, or fly. If you can think of a power, it's probably out there somewhere. It looks like you have a blood-based quirk." He was still on the fence about the whole alien from another dimension thing, but he figured it wouldn't hurt to explain. Either he needed the explanation or he might get caught in a lie by already understanding the concept.

___

What he was hearing made sense together in a sentence, but not in context. Karkat could hardly comprehend that he, a god damn troll, was closer to human in appearance than some humans on Earth. This Earth seemed odd, and he wondered which dumbass was responsible for making it. Sure, he gave the universe he created cancer, but at least the humans were mildly consistent. He rolled his eyes a little at the question, then in Alternian said “The same way I know what humans are, you soft skinned, fragile boned, peach fuzzed mammal.” Karkat slid his fingers into his own hair and gripped lightly, trying to ground himself since he still, very much, was not okay. The strange human was just... a welcome distraction. A dam to keep the flood of emotion at bay. “Alternate realities are just alternates of each other. Everything might be the same save for a few things. Or everything might be different with very few similarities. The humans in my universe all spoke English, they taught me. Luckily this universe has the same language but everything else seems... different.”

He paused, then added, “Calling me a traveler implies I came here willingly and can go back. My universe was destroyed, along with every universe attached to it, this was a last ditch effort to save the last of us. I’m the only one left.” The monotone he spoke with was nothing like him. Karkat and being emotionless were not things that melded together. But he really couldn’t help it. If he spoke about it any other way, he really would break down and he really didn’t want to show anymore weakness. He was just... tired.

Karkat’s lip pulled back when quirks were brought up, quick to take offense at the implication that he wouldn’t understand what a typing quirk was of all things, until the human elaborated and he blinked back in surprise. Alright, that definitely took him off guard. “Quirks in my universe were just... writing weird. Caps lock, replacing letters with numbers, using too many commas. That shit. Not... powers. To us those were just powers, and to humans those were fairytales, none of them had special abilities.” Actually, maybe Dave did. Flash stepping didn’t seem like something the others could do at all. “Some trolls had them. Yellowbloods had psionics, and some bluebloods had mind control. That was shit they were hatched with. My powers are my aspect, and I didn’t have them before I ascended. I’m the Knight of Blood, so duh I control blood.” And bonds, relationships. The manipulation of the metaphysical part of his aspect always made him uncomfortable. Only Dave had ever known the full extent of it; he wasn’t about to cough it up to some pale-loose hero.

The thought that Dave would have loved it there made his chest ache. If only that dumb human had come with him. He’d pretty much sealed his fate when he pushed Karkat through. He’d already been dying a heroic death, having been hit while protecting Karkat after Jade went down, but nothing was more heroic than using the last of his strength to save his matesprit. Logically, Karkat knew he wouldn’t have made it if he came with him, his fate was decided the moment he took that blow for him. It still hurt though. He kept playing with what-ifs in his head. “As much as I love playing twenty questions, I’d like to go somewhere that doesn’t remind me I just lost everything and can never have it back. Please.”

___

He was startled by the switch in language, mind racing to identify it. No... It sounded like nothing he'd ever heard before. It definitely involved sounds humans couldn't normally make, almost insectoid in its chittering in places. The boy was either telling the truth or he was a very good liar... He listened on as he got the explanation he'd originally asked for, nodding a little. If it was true, then this did make sense. He was from a reality with humans in it and as such had learned a human language from them.

"There are over 7,000 spoken human languages, not including dialects, but English is the most widespread. Technically Mandarin is spoken more, but that has more to do with that country's population than it being spoken around the world... It may seem different because this is a different country than the humans you met are from. Judging by your English, I assume your friends are from the United States of America. The country we are in is called Japan. We speak Japanese." He explained, starting to seriously consider the possibility that this guy wasn't from their universe. Coming from a world where supernatural abilities existed commonly, including powers like teleportation, the idea wasn't all that outlandish, though he'd never heard of an example quite like this one.

He reached out, about to open a door for them only to freeze, eyes widening. Destroyed...? He moistened his lips with the tip of his tongue. He really hoped this was an extravagant lie. If it was true, at the very least, helping him get back home was out of the question. He was stuck here. "I..." He forced himself to try and move forward, but honestly, the thought of an entire universe being destroyed was incredibly sobering. "Your... Your species had different blood colors...? That happens a little with mutant-type quirks, but it's not particularly common." And then the poor kid ran out of energy. Hard to blame him after a story like that.

"Yeah... Sure, kid. What does your species eat? I'll get us something quick then..." He hesitated, but he just couldn't help giving in. Some heroes were in it for the money, sure, but Hizashi wasn't one of them. "I'm at the end of my shift. I just have to go clock out back at the agency then you can come back to my place with me. A warm meal and a safe place to sleep is the least I can offer. After some rest, I'll help you how I can." He promised, waiting for his food choice before pushing his way into the dinner.

His demeanor changed on the spot gleefully greeting the woman behind the counter in a language that sounded loosely like Eastern Alternian, but definitely wasn't. It was sort of like someone that didn't know how to speak it making it up as they went along and definitely couldn't make all the right sounds it needed. At the very least, the female human understood just fine from the look of things and even turned to Karkat and bowed politely then offered a little wave before focusing on the blond again. More words were exchanged and then he was clearly paying for their meal. The exchange concluded, she left them to go to a whole in the wall with shelves in it, humans bustling around on the other side.

"Just gotta wait for it then we can get going." He assured gently only to smile brightly as the woman returned. "Ah! Arigatougozaimasu, Sasaki-san!" He accepted an opaque cup and a slip of paper from her then ripped the paper on one end only to pull out what Karkat would be able to identify as a straw. This was poked through the lid of the cup before it was offered to the troll. "Here. Some water with ice in it. It's not much, but it's good for you and will give you something to ground yourself a bit."

___

Karkat followed along because there was really nothing else he could do. He’d lost everything, and barely had the will to keep walking at all. The only thing keeping him present was well, Present Mic. Dave would have laughed at that. His bloodpusher squeezed and he sighed. “I’m not getting into the hemospectrum. In my time, there were eleven blood colors. Based on the color was the hierarchy, and certain colors had certain powers. My color was off-spectrum, mutant blood, which was a death sentence on my planet. I just happened to survive long enough to escape the planet before I was culled.” After so long using his blood because of his abilities, Karkat had somewhat gotten over his complex of it. It still felt... wrong to to talk about, but the human was so unflinchingly welcoming, and he was just so numb to everything, that he couldn’t help but keep speaking even if it wasn’t in detail.

Maybe he’d write it down later. As terrible as Alternia was, he still felt like it should be remembered.

He rolled his eyes at being called a kid again, but didn’t dispute it. He looked like one, and after seeing other versions of himself in the bubble, he didn’t change so much after pupation so even if he had matured it wouldn’t be more than sharper claws and teeth. Still, it was annoying. He’d been alive for far too long to be called or treated like a child, but right then he didn’t care enough to argue with the human about it, “Each blood color is technically its own subspecies, we didn’t all eat the same thing. From what I can tell, my diet was similar to humans except I can eat all raw meats.” Dave had explained that some humans ate raw things as well, but it was only specifically prepared ones.

“I can eat cooked, too, doesn’t matter.” It had been too long since Karkat ate anything for any reason other than survival. And after ascending, it was out of habit and to stay strong. He couldn’t die of hunger, but it did weaken him, The taste of cooked meats was a little dry and gross to him, but the humans could have just sucked at cooking it. They were kids when they entered the game, after all.

Hearing the humans speak in what he could only assume was Japanese made Karkat feel a bit better. It would be much easier to learn than English, since it was so similar to an Alternian language. He had never learned Eastern Alternian, but it seemed he wouldn’t need to make his tongue and mouth do things it wasn’t meant to like he did for English. Maybe Present Mic would be willing to teach, since he seemed so eager to act like a pale solicitor. Humans, he snorted to himself.

Karkat blinked at the offered cup before nodding his head in thanks, albeit slowly. He pressed the straw past his lips, taking a sip and letting it cool his sore throat. God, had he really been yelling that much during the battle? Yelling really was what he did best. “By the way, I’m not a kid.” He turned away, already heading out the way they came, maybe a little too confident for someone who had no fucking clue where he was going, “I’m nine and a half sweeps old, which is around twenty human years? I forget.” He muttered that last bit, not wanting to forget anything that Dave had ever told him. They had figured out the calculations together in a bout of boredom. Forgetting felt wrong.

____

Hemospectrum? So eleven colors arranged in a spectrum that ranged from at least yellow to blue. He assumed there was at least green at least, but without knowing more he couldn't confidently say there were more. With the way the colors were simply named 'yellow' or 'blue' it would be very difficult to specify between that many shades of yellow, green and blue so there were probably things like reds, oranges, and purples. It was an educated guess and though he was curious, Karkat had already said he didn't want to get into it. He might ask in the future, but somehow asking about his presumably extinct race seemed less than sensitive at the moment. Just a hunch.

At the very least, he now knew there was a spectrum of blood colors, the color dictated social standing, and his race participated in culling. "Well, no blood hierarchy among humans and there's very few countries in the world that allow culling anymore and even then it's reserved only for the worst of criminals. Japan isn't one of those countries, though technically heroes have the right to put villains down if they deem them impossible or too dangerous to capture. It's not a right we're encouraged to exercise." He offered back, resisting the urge to ask any more about the other's old society.

When he got his answer in terms of food, he nodded and amped up his energy as they entered and placed their order. It wasn't often people got to see the extreme duality his personality could take, but not all situations called for him to amp things up to 11. Situations like this boy's, for example... The diner he'd picked had a focus on American food. He liked coming here as it reminded him of his own stint in the US when he'd first graduated from Yuuei. Though he hadn't exactly followed All Might's footsteps for the sake of following his footsteps specifically, that had been where he'd gotten the idea. American food wasn't the best suited for the diet he was getting the impression of, vague as it was, but he figured better this than having to find some other place and spend more time out.

Once he'd been handed the bag containing their food, he bowed lightly to the woman and thanked her enthusiastically once again. They finally got on their way, though his movement stuttered, startled by the new bit of information. "Y-you're not...?" He trailed off, the other walking off enough to get him moving again. He kindly held the door open for him then started to lead the way towards HQ. "Aw man... I'm sorry about that, I shouldn't have assumed your age. Appearances vary here so mistakes happen like that sometimes. Thanks for letting me know. Heh... I don't think you ever gave me your name..." May as well... "I don't normally give out my name freely while on the job, it's unprofessional, but if your crashing at my place it would be a little awkward for you to keep calling me by my hero name. My name is Hizashi Yamada. Uh... The Japanese usually refer to each other by surname with honorifics attached. Chan for children or to make females feel cute, kun is mostly for teenage boys, and san for adults. So I would be Yamada-san. It's a little more complicated than that, but that's the idea."

He didn't miss the fact time was counted differently where this guy came from. That planet must had an orbit slightly further out than Mars for one orbit to last two and a half-ish years. That or perhaps a bigger sun. He thought better of asking for the moment as he didn't want to remind him of his lost home. Instead, he focused on getting them to HQ then back to his home. He pointed down the block then. "That's the agency I'm part of. It's run by one of my oldest friends. Her hero name is Ms. Midnight."

___

Karkat continues to sip his water, even if the scent of food was more tantalizing than anything he’d had in sweeps. Longer really; even on Alternia he ate nothing but the worst of the worst. A mutant really didn’t get much because, while all juveniles had a minimum they all received, usefulness based on caste and powers gave some extra. Karkat couldn’t prove useful without finding a valuable skill, and blood was drawn at the tests regardless. He’d have been culled immediately. So Karkat survived on the bare minimum and learning how to hunt from his lusus, which didn’t give him much when he didn’t have the luxury of living in more wooded areas like the olive bloods.

Remembering Alternia nearly made his lip curl, especially when he was in a universe where mutations were apparently embraced even though they were a great deal more severe than a simple blood color. Once upon a time, he thought the humans were the ones that didn’t make sense. Now, after so long with only humans and what seemed to be an eternity ahead of him in which he would never interact with another of his kind, Alternia was the one that didn’t make sense anymore. If humans could be both barbaric yet understanding, why couldn’t trolls do that much?

He blinked back into reality, his new reality as he caught sight of a billboard with a winged human. The reminder of Davesprite made him quickly look away. Fuck, he choked back a sound. “It’s fine, who fucking cares? I look like one, I stopped physically aging around two sweeps ago. I don’t remember exactly.” It hadn’t been a happy occasion to remember. His ascension was when everything had gone to hell; because he ascended everything went to hell. No one ever blamed him, but... he knew that was only because they just accepted their fate. They fought like hell anyway, but...

Karkat kept walking, hearing the human ramble on and on about the intricacies of his culture with names and thought back to all the times he called his friends by their last names. It wasn’t like it would be odd for him to do it more often with honorifics. Besides, he vaguely remembered Eastern Alternians having a similar system. That was taught in their school feedings, but it had been sweeps. “Yamada-san,” he was both testing the name and honorific as well as addressing the man. Surprisingly, his pronunciation was nearly spot on, “it’s really not that hard for me. Japanese is really similar to what some Alternians spoke. I only spoke Galactic Alternian but the fact some trolls already had a language similar to yours means my mouth can fit the words better than in English. My voice doesn’t just sound this rough because I’m a shouty fucking nookwhiff, I’m physically not built to speak like this.”

He glanced up at the agency and paused, just to take it in briefly, before he continued on his way. “So heroics is... what? A job here? Heroes in my humans’ world weren’t real, just these picture books for wrigglers with hyper-muscled humans that saved the world because they just- could and felt like they had to.” Karkat had looked Dave straight in the eye after he finished explaining the DC and Marvel ”universes” to him and called each and every character a pale-slut. Not that he had any room to talk. He pretty much was one.

___

"You care or you wouldn't have bothered correcting me." He pointed out with an amused smile, peering up at the billboard curiously. Interesting... Why would an image of Hawks be upsetting. He filed that information away, but didn't bring it up. "But... More importantly, you've stopped aging?" He couldn't help asking that at least as it was a hell of a thing to claim. If his species stopped aging after a certain point, how would their race keep from overpopulating? Was the mortality rate that high? Then again, they did have a culling system in place from the sound of it so that could have something to do with it. He didn't much like the sound of this world, honestly...

"Yeah! That's it!" He praised at the sound of his own name, surprised by how smoothly he could say it. His eyebrows shot up as the other continued to speak, honestly shocked. "There's a language similar to Japanese where you're from? Amazing! Well, that will make it easier to teach you. If you're going to be living here in Japan it would be important for you to learn. Most people can speak some English, but many don't do it well and some not at all. My full-time job is actually being an English teacher which is why mine is so good. I'd be happy to teach you Japanese, if you're willing to learn."

He smiled fondly up at the building with a nod. "That's right! It's illegal to use your quirk, er, powers casually. You won't really get in trouble as long as you're not hurting someone though. Heroes have to get licenses to uses their quirks against other people. Oh, and all quirks are registered in a database regardless so that's something we'll have to walk you through at some point. Heroes work out of agencies to fight crime. Some heroes have their own agencies, but I work out of Midnight's. My best friend too. We're all old school buddies. You'll probably see them. Heroes come in all shapes and sizes though. Generally what sets us all apart are our quirks rather than our bodies. I mean, we all have to be fit for this kind of work, but not all of us are big and muscley. Like me, heh." Indeed, Mic didn't look like he was one of those inhumanly triangular superhumans... He was in good form, that was easy enough to see, but it was doubtful that hand to hand combat was his thing.

"As for the motivation of heroes, well... That's actually a bit of a controversy right now. Some of us do it because it's the right thing to do. Some to prove themselves. Others are in it for the money. The higher ranked you are as a hero, the better paid, you see. Morally speaking, heroes should want to do the work because they want to save and protect those that can't protect themselves. Which is most people. In practice, things tend to be more grey." He once again opened the door this time to let them into the agency building. This time he enthusiastically greeted what appeared to be a very pretty man working at reception. A quick conversation later and he was turning back to Karkat again.

"Sit tight, I'll be right back after I get changed." He opened the bag to show the food inside. "Those right there are 'french fries'. You should eat those while you wait. They're nice and crunchy now, but they'll get grows and soggy if you wait too long. I'll be back in a few minutes!" Handing the bag over, he hurried off and left the troll in the lobby. There were several plush chairs and a table he could use, the agency feeling... It's hard to say... Depending on who you asked it either felt cozy or sleazy...

10 minutes later, a blond man came back out of the door the hero had entered, though he looked quite different and wasn't alone. He was flanked by two brunettes, one significantly more exhausted-looking than the other two. As they drew close, the female gasped and broke off, scampering over to Karkat and smiling at him while squealing what sounded like "Kawaiiiiii!" If that weren't enough, she even cupped her own cheeks and gave an excited butt wiggle. She rounded on the blond with a sly smirk and spoke, though it wasn't hard to guess what she may have been suggesting from the way the blond flushed pink, flailed then started with, "Nemuri! No! No, no, no, no, no!!" only to take off in Japanese again. The second brunette, a man, looked as tired as Karkat surely felt. His voice was a smooth and quiet rumble that indeed matched his look. When he started walking off, it was enough for the woman to detach from apparently teasing the blond and instead latch onto the other brunette as they left together.

Hizashi sighed now that it was all over. Holy shit he looked so much more anxious when not dressed in a fancy-ass leather costume... "I'm sorry about her... Those were my friends... I'll introduce you to them later. I'm sure you're ready to just get someplace safe and relax, right?" He ran his fingers through his now silky and limp hair. His shades had also been replaced by normal glasses as well. He might have passed for cool before, but now he just sort of looked dorky. "I don't live too far from here." He announced, motioning towards the door to get them moving again.

___

Karkat wondered if he should reveal the full extent of his abilities. Would they experiment on him the way Dave would tell him humans would do in movies about meeting other intelligent life? Honestly, there wasn’t much these humans could do to keep him somewhere he didn’t want to be. Even if they had ways to control humans with quirks; Karkat wasn’t a human, and his powers weren’t genetic. They were constructs of the game that he earned through sacrificing his own life. One of them, at least. Karkat was a god; he’d never really thought about how serious that title was until just then, when the human seemed to break whatever hold he had on asking questions to ask him about his aging.

He listened to everything Yamada spoke about heroics. A license...? That sounded like a little much. Though maybe not. Trolls never needed licenses for anything until ascension day, where their title would be their license to do their one job for the rest of their lives. It could just be that he’s too alien to human laws to comprehend how something like heroics, as a profession, would need a license. “Thanks, for telling me all that. I’ll explain more later, I guess. Uh.” Was he always this fucking awkward? He’d grown too used to talking to three humans, maximum, for sweeps. A new one was jarring. So far, he’d only told the man his title, avoiding saying his name simply because he didn’t want to hear anyone else say it, not until he committed Dave’s last time saying his name to memory and ensured he never forgot it. He was thankful he had yet to really push for it, but it was only fair. The human was helping him, after all. “I didn’t tell you my name. It’s Karkat Vantas. I don’t care if you use an honorific but I feel like -san would sound weird, so you can use another.”

And then he was sitting, staring at the fries before finally taking a bite. It was good, so incredibly fucking goo, but eating them felt wrong after all that he’d lost. He glanced up as three adult humans appeared again and he looked at them with a blank expression until he caught Yamada’s scent again. He blinked in surprise. The hair was long and silky, odd because none of the humans Karkat had known shared the texture and certainly not the length. It was... nice. He stood to meet them, bag of food folded closed, but the female rushed forward and Karkat barely suppressed a flinch. She was kind of unfairly beautiful, and reminded him of Jade. It hurt to look at her so soon, but she turned around to tease Yamada apparently and he tried to push past the pain and just enjoy how flustered she made the man.

Karkat watched him come closer and nodded, already following the blond hero out. “You asked me about my aging, earlier.” He began, looking at him through his dark fringe. “I need you to promise me all that shit I heard about humans experimenting on aliens and super humans isn’t going to happen to me first.” He could escape, yes. The troll was confident in that much. But he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life alone, running from the humans and their cruelty. He was hoping it was either a work of fiction even in this universe, or a thing of the past.

___

He chuckled softly as the poor troll tripped over his words. He couldn't blame him really. "It's okay. It's a lot to take in and I'm sure our world is very different from yours even if some things line up. Take it in at your own pace." He encouraged with a smile. He knew it wasn't much, but he wanted to offer whatever support he could to the guy. He blinked lightly as a name was finally offered his smile growing much brighter then. He'd been worried he would have to push for a name sometime soon or at least something to call him by. "Sweet name! Heh, I'm afraid most people are gonna say it wrong though. Japanese is structured in paired up sounds. A, E, I, O, U, and N are the only independent sounds. Your name ends with T and S. Hmmm... You're probably going to hear Karukato Vantasu a whole lot. Sorry about that, man..."

A quick change of clothes and a somewhat awkward meeting of his two oldest friends and they were ready to go! That really could have gone better... Strangely, he was thankful for the excuse to not go to the bar with the brunettes. As much as he loved his friends, Nemuri was too fond of alcohol and much to fond of encouraging others to feel the same. While going with Shouta alone was pleasant, she had a tendency to try and force him to drink when she'd had a few too many and on a Friday night, that was almost guaranteed. Instead, they left the agency and he lead the way towards his home.

"Hm? Oh..." He hesitated for a moment "Heh... Ironically, that lovely lady you just met is a teacher at the same school I teach at. She teaches history so she would actually be the better one to get the full downlow on that situation, but I can give you the basics. Quirks have only been around for about three hundred years, give or take. When quirks first came up, few people had them and they were used freely. Discrimination came hard and fast between quirk users and the quirkless. When particularly powerful quirks started cropping up, it escalated into full-on war. It was a long war too... There are people alive that can remember it. Because of that, a lot of quirk legislation is still happening."

"So the part your concerned with as a non-human. There are animals that have quirks too and some of them are extremely intelligent, but because they weren't human, they were being experimented on up till very recently. Like within my lifetime, recently. Because some of these quirk having animals are so intelligent though, they argued in their own defense and many took offense at being called 'animals' if humans didn't like calling themselves that. This is your loophole. Laws, out of respect, are phrased 'non-human'. This means all the laws that protect their rights would also protect yours. It would be illegal for anyone to experiment on you without your consent." He finally finished running his fingers through his silky blond hair. "So yeah... A dark blemish in our history we're still seeing the effects of, but you should be safe. You don't look like a quirked animal so you're not going to have to deal with the discrimination some of them do and your non-human status wouldn't be obvious because of it. I wouldn't go around tellin' people that though, not unless you think they're trustworthy."

As promised, his home wasn't far, the man turning them down the street to a neighborhood of houses. "That one's mine." He pointed out one of the lovely homes. It didn't look as outrageous as his hero persona would have suggested... Letting them in, he stepped inside and toed off his shoes, placing them in a little cubby. "You're supposed to leave your shoes by the door and use slippers inside Japanese ho---"

"...rrrrrRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"

"Oh come on... I'm not that late..." He muttered as some horrible screech filtered through the walls. Jarringly, his hair went from silky and nice to suddenly jumping up into that ridiculous style he had before, all on its own from the look of it. He took a breath then spoke, looking as normal and casual as would be. "MICHI, IT'S TOO LATE TO BE YELLING." Holy shit that was a lot louder than he should have been. It wasn't loud enough to hurt, but it was way louder than the amount of effort he put in should have allowed. Comically, his hair dropped limp again after that. "I should introduce you to her, come on."

The screeching continued despite what he'd said, growing louder as he turned a corner to the right and then opened a door. Inside the second bedroom was what was clearly an enclosure of some sort. Branches, trees both with and without leaves, ropes, and toys filled the room. In the corner was a large cage and held within was a small, screeching monster. The HELL was that hideous creature and why was he keeping it?! Despite its continued angry screams he approached fearlessly. The thing had a white head and a yellow crest, scraggly white feathers on it's stick-like arms and was a disturbing shade of pink with the exception of grey scaley legs. The little monster thrashed back and forth as it screamed on and on, the man almost lazily opening the cage. He was letting that menace out?! Worse, he was reaching inside and hooking his finger into the creature's large black beak. Was he trying to lose that finger?!

He lifted the mostly naked bird by the beak alone and she finally quieted, allowing herself to be brought out and then promptly cradled on her back. "I forgot to put on your sweater before leaving for work! You must have been so cold! I'm so sorry, Mi-chan..." He cooed to the creature which croaked softly as he leaned down to press affectionate little kisses to her too cold, feather bare tummy. "Mi-chan, we have a new friend staying with us. Say 'hi'. He carried the creature closer and gently lifted her, placing her on a branch near the troll before moving to the closet. "Her name is Michiko, Mi-chan for short."

The pink creature looked at Karkat curiously with those intelligent brown eyes, yellow crest lifting up in her excitement to meet someone new. She even squatted down and spread her somewhat feathered wings and wiggled them. "Hi! Hi!" She greeted, sounding much happier than she had a moment ago.

___

If only Terezi were there. She was the one with the legal know-how, even if it was the Alternian system that she was familiar with and not the human one. Maybe even Rose would take to all the information of their history and arguing personhood over humanity or whatever the fuck. Karkat was sure his thoughts would be like that for a long time. All about how certain things in that universe would remind him of them, or make him sad that they never got to see it. Maybe one day it wouldn’t make him sad anymore. He could continue their memories, mark them down and remember them fondly. Maybe participate in the things they would have enjoyed in their honor. Already he was only there with Yamada because he thought about Dave, John and Jade wanting him to be with someone that could ease him into the new place, instead of trying to figure it all out on his own.

“So, legally speaking, they can’t do shit to me without my say so? Good. Because I’m what they definitely would want to do shit to.” It was a bit of a comfort. They may try to argue that the law only applied to earthbound non-humans, but it would be a weak one. It was still a relief. Karkat was momentarily taken aback by the... niceness of the hive he was lead into. In the dream bubbles, Dave had walked Karkat through his hive, an apartment. It was messy, small and suffocating. It felt horrid, and maybe that was just because of what Dave had gone through in it. He supposed it was ignorance that made him believe all human hives were like that. This one felt... comfortable.

And the loud screeching reminded him so fucking much of coming home to his lusus that a small smile worked its way onto his face. Even the way Yamada yelled back was so reminiscent of coming home just to get in a screeching contest with Crabdad that it made him lift a hand to cover the amused, almost fond twist of his mouth. His ears were sensitive, so it was a great deal more uncomfortable than he assumed it would be for an average human, but he was also used to it because of his upbringing. His ears simply pressed back to defend himself from the onslaught, following along as the human brought him to greet the animal.

It was concerning to look at, but he tried not to stare too long at the featherless featherbeast. It would probably be rude. The troll watched the human place her down and move to the closer, so he turned his attention back on Michiko. He offered her his hand, nervously hovering it above her head. Dave had once told him to only touch featherbeasts on the head, feet and beak and he was glad he’d held onto that seemingly useless information as he delicately let his finger over her head. A small, genuine smile worked its way onto his lips. “Hi, Michiko.” He murmured, letting out a happy, quiet chitter. He turned his eyes away from her, hand dropping from its place on her head, “Are you really this alright with me staying in your hive? It’s fine if you change your mind. I’ll figure some shit out. You may not want me around when you learn more about me.”

___


"Legally speaking. I suggest sharing only with those you can trust though. My job exists for a reason. Villains aren't law-abiding." He warned, though he didn't want to. He didn't want to scare him, but things could go very bad, very quickly if he wasn't careful. Better to know and be safe. The last thing he wanted was to find out that the poor guy was kidnapped and experimented on by villians because he was so loose with telling everyone he was literally from another dimension. He was sure there were villians out there that would be interested in studying him to see if there was anything of worth to him. A grim thought to say the least...

At least once they were inside his home, the loud 'greeting' they got wasn't taken badly. Even better, the troll wasn't put off by his pretty girl in the least. She happily greeted him like the good girl she was and he greeted back. She followed the movements of that grey hand, crest sliding closed, though not flattening. When he stopped so close, she recognized the gesture, happily fluffed up all the feathers on her head then thunked her forehead right up into his palm. She watched him expectantly from under there, waiting for her well-deserved pets. She was a good girl. Good girls deserved good pets.

Soon after, Hizashi returned with thick, soft white cloth in his hands. "Glad you're getting along! Hey, if I wasn't sure, I wouldn't have brought you here. I have a spare room you can use." He took a deep breath then, way deeper than most humans could, then brought the cloth to his mouth and breathed it all out. He did this a few more times before moving towards the bird with the now warmed cloth. "Mi-chan! Look what I have!" He cooed, the plucked bird looking over curiously only to visibly get excited. He very gently eased her head through the center of the wooly cloth then carefully pulled her wings through the holes on the sides. "There... Much better now! I'm sorry I forgot to put your sweater on before work today, sweetheart..." He cooed to her, coaxing her to climb up onto his arm. She chose not to stay there and instead climbed up his sleeve to his shoulder where she burrowed under his hair and tucked up against his neck.

He smiled fondly at his companion's antics then started to lead again. This time he leads to the dining room. Though most of his house has a distinctly Western feel, he couldn't give up having a kotatsu. He'd grown up with one and they were just so nice... As such, Karkat was being treated to a weirdly squat table with a blanket that reached the floor and several cushions to sit on. Sure enough, Yamada sat himself down on one and started to fiddle with the controls to get it to heat up. Michiko would like that he was sure and he had to make up for his mistake, poor thing.

"I've been fighting villians for about as long as you've been alive. If you steal from me, I'll be disappointed. If you damage my house, I'll be pretty mad depending on the damage. If you hurt Mi-chan, we have a problem. I don't think you would do any of those things. Come on, let's eat before the food gets too cold. If it already is, we can heat it up again. If you want to talk while we eat, we can. Or we can watch a movie if you'd rather zone out. Uh... Just... Don't zone out too much, Mi-chan is clever enough to try and steal from your plate, even if it could make her sick. I'm sure she understands the difference between our food and snacks and her food and snacks, I just think she doesn't care, do you, cheeky girl?" He chuckled softly, kissing her feathered cheek. Adorably, she made kissing sounds back.

___


The interactions between Michiko and Hizashi were so heartwarming, Karkat was almost able to keep his mind off of everything he’d been through for the last few sweeps. It would take him a good, long while before that type of easygoing feeling was more the norm than not. Maybe it never worthless be. He hadn’t exactly been dropped in a world of calm and peace. Wherever a force like professional heroes was needed, dubious morality or not, there must have been an opposing force they were meant to fight against. Which, seemed to be villains.

Karkat was more than familiar with those.

“I appreciate the warnings but I’m not loose-lipped. I’m tired and you deserve answers for helping me, if only to avoid a surprise down the line. Your universe may be full of powerful individuals and shit, but I’m not like anything here. I’m not even meant to exist in my original universe. There’s things I can do that your people won’t be prepared for, and I’d rather not make enemies of the good guys.” He glanced down at his claws as he followed Hizashi back out of the room and to the dining area, “I’ve lived enough of my life being persecuted by my government, but I’ve lived longer fighting bad guys. Those I can handle. I don’t want to hurt anyone just doing their job and then have your people hunting me down.”

Surprisingly, the odd table was closer to something a troll would be used to than anything the American humans Karkat lived with used. While they had tall desks and chairs for their husktops, everything else in a trolls’s hive was close to the ground. From their recuperacoons to their piles. Sitting beneath the odd table was a little closer to something he’d see in a friend’s hive than anything else. He settled in, and was pleasantly surprised at how warm it was. His ears lowered happily, cuddling into his spot. One ear twitched up at the options, and he pointedly placed the food between them.

“I need to get this information out to you before that. If we watch a romcom I promise you’ll never hear it because I’ll be stuck on the movie.” He pulled out another fry to munch on, content even if the food wasn’t that warm anymore. It wasn’t freezing cold either and that was good enough for Karkat, after a lifetime of eating frankly shit food, this was a blessing. “When I said I stopped aging, I meant I’m conditionally immortal. I can’t die unless two very specific moral conditions are met. Both based purely on my intent and mindset. Someone could try to artificially recreate them but they would fail because it’s purely based on my decisions.” He dug into his actual food, thinking back to that horrid gong sound that would prop up every time someone ”died”. On how it would just... decide, right then, whether it was ”just”, “heroic” or “undetermined”. He thought back on how it decided Gamzee’s was just, and how much it hurt even though he knew it was true.

He sighed. At least the taste of the food spreading over his tongue was a comfort, even though thoughts of feeding Dave the food just to see that goofy smile on his face popped up and invaded his mind. “I can control blood, all blood. Any blood. I can sense it. Right now, if I put my mind to it, I could feel out for every living thing with a pulse in this place.” Karkat set his food down, if only to continue speaking without the distraction of something that good in his hands. “I’m a god. I ascended to godhood in the universe’s last attempt at self preservation. I think I read some shit similar from one of the humans.” He thought back to all the books Rose had thrust at him in her lifetime, claws tapping against the table. “Noah’s ark. That was it. The world floods and so a small portion of the population is chosen to survive. Except we create the universe we’ll live in while on the ark, and become its gods. I fucked up by ascending. It made our timeline branch off from the alpha timeline, and was doomed to fail. We tried one last thing to survive, but by the time we figured it out, only four were left. And only I made it out.” The one who essentially killed them all being the only one to survive. It made him just a little bit sick.

____

He smiled, amused by the assumption. He'd been here for about an hour and already he thought he was stronger than anyone else here. He wondered how close that was to the truth. "Then you should know that you're not legally allowed to use quirks without proper licenses. Self-defense is a grey area, but you'd be taken to court for it, all the same, to determine if it was necessary. Defending anyone else is considered vigilante work and is illegal. If you want to use your powers freely, you would have to get a hero license, and to do that in Japan, you have to go to a hero school like the one I work at."

He blinked lightly at the warning about movie choices only to snicker, covering his mouth. "Gotcha! It's only fair to warn you then, if we watch anything with singing in it, I'm singing with it." He smiled warmly, happy that the other seemed to be relaxing a little more. The situation wasn't good, but considering his first reaction to seeing Hizashi was to wip out his blood powers, this was a significant improvement! He did sober up as his powers got some explaining, however. "Yikes... Well at least you know the conditions. I've heard of a quirk or two that simulates immortality, but never one with conditions like that." He failed to mention how easy it would be to meet those rules, particularly through acts of heroism.

"Blood control and conditional immortality, huh...? When we get you all registered they'll probably try to role your abilities into one. It's very rare for someone to have more than one quirk, though it's possible. Yours would probably be something like vitamancy or something. That's what I would put forward anyway." He laughed as Michiko crawled out from under his hair, fluttering down to the table then standing still as she looked at the food that was laid out. As Hizashi hadn't been 100% sure of the troll's taste, he'd gotten them burgers and chicken tenders. He was of course free to pick what appealed most. Mi-chan peered at the blond to see if he was watching, sure enough he was.

His smile faded as the troll continued however. Poor guy... That sounded unimaginably painful. "Sorry you had to go through all that... Truly. Probably shouldn't tell anyone you're a god though, no one would believe that. Just stick with 'I have powers.'" He hesitated then, looking over at the grey young man. Nowhere to go and his home destroyed even if there were a way to reach it. "Listen, I... OI!" He cut himself off as Michi started to try to steal the tomato out of the burger. "You know better!" He scolded and she clearly did with the way she yanked it free as soon as she was caught and started scampering across the table. He was quick to pluck her up and get the tomato away from her, sighing as she munched up what she already had in her beak triumphantly. "You little menace..." He placed her down on the ground then, lifting part of the blanket. "Go on. Stay out of trouble." He coaxed. There was no need for further encouragement as she happily scuttled under the table as soon as she felt the blessed heat.

He sighed, sobering up again. "Sorry about her..." He placed the partially munched tomato on a napkin to deal with later. "As I was saying, you can stay here for now. You've been through a lot and I never really have guests over anyway... I'm a bit of a workaholic... There's plenty to do to get you set up in our world, but try not to worry about it for tonight. Tomorrow morning, after my morning show, I'll help you get everything sorted. Just think about the kind of life you'd like to live here and I'll help you figure out what you can do to reach your goals. For tonight, just let yourself exist."

[automatonSun]

Karkat didn't assume he was the strongest being on the planet or anything, honestly there were probably hundreds of stronger people than him in the world. But containing him? Controlling him? That would be hell for anyone, and he doubted they'd succeed if they tried. A lot of the time he flip flopped between thinking he was powerful to thinking he was the weakest link amongst his peers. But no matter his personal opinion of himself, no matter the makeup of the universe he was in, the fact of the matter was that Karkat was indeed a god. Even if he wasn't the most powerful or impressive one of his group. There were things he could do that he was sure the humans in that universe wouldn't be prepared for. After all, who would ever expect something that survived the end of the universe? If they tried to kill him by normal means, it would never work.

But in a world of heroes? Well, the possibility of his meeting his end was a lot higher than most would expect.

Even as he told Hizashi that he would tell him everything so there would be no surprises, he kept the true intricacies of his abilities out of it. If just his conditional immortality and his blood manipulation felt like too much, then certainly his ability to affect the mere concept of relationships and feelings towards others would be a lot more than anyone could handle, and then he may pose an actual threat. A hero like Yamada, no matter how kind, may not take well to someone like that roaming free with no way to combat them. Basically the only thing keeping Karkat from causing egregious harm were his own morals. And well, who would trust the morals of someone who didn't even come from their dimension?

He was pulled from his inner turmoil at the absolutely heartwarming display between Yamada and Michiko. Karkat's lips twitched into a tiny smile, watching the parrot crawl into her place beneath the odd, blanketed table. Just as quickly as the cute action eased his tensed shoulders, the troll found himself worrying again. What would he do? All professions a troll was built for didn't exactly sound like something the humans would need, or was legal at all in a human world. Though heroics... even if they were the one thing someone like him, with one of two conditions to die being a heroic sacrifice, should avoid at all costs. Karkat couldn't just sit back either. It was the most mutant thing about him, his care for others even when they weren't a part of his group. His clade. Other trolls thought he was a pale slut for it. He couldn't just turn off that feeling that he had to help because of some arbitrary laws the humans threw together. He'd still rather avoid making enemies of the laws and those who reinforced them, so maybe...

He would leave that conversation for another day, when the picture of Dave's smiling face no longer flashed behind his eyelids and painfully reminded him of all he'd lost. Karkat wasn't sure Yamada would take a broken alien claiming to be a god seriously if he started asking about heroics mid-breakdown. "You have no idea how hard that is for me." One does not simply erase a lifetime of self hatred with countless new reasons to hate oneself too easily. He would try not to be a burden though, he'd had enough of that for a lifetime. The troll refused to drag anyone else down with him. "I think there's one last thing you should know. My powers have a drawback. I can never bleed out, because I produce so much blood so rapidly that it's impossible. But, blood has to go somewhere. Either I use it, bleed myself out, or cough it up. So don't act dramatic if I slice myself on purpose. My humans already had panic attacks over that shit. I know that can be serious when it comes to mental health and all trolls are fucked up in the pan, especially me right now, but it has nothing to do with it." He'd grown far too used to it, anyway. If he wanted to hurt himself, that really wouldn't be the way he did it. And anyway, it felt like squandering all Dave, Jade and John had done to save him if he just wallowed in grief and self-hatred in the universe they so desperately wanted to see.

[NicTheDjinn]

And then, the man's expression changed into one that Karkat hadn't seen before. So far he'd been generally happy on some level and awkward at times, even sad, but this was new. Even as the blond smiled, he looked incredibly tired. "Heh... I might have an inkling." While he'd never experienced something as extreme as the destruction of his universe, he'd certainly experienced loss that cut deep, the kind that sticks with you forever. It had helped shape him into the man he was now and continued to influence his actions. He tried far too hard for his own good and worried far too much to be healthy.

And with that, the fleeting change was gone and he hidden away again, switching back to more upbeat and curious. His brows slowly climbed as one of the side effects of the troll's powers was revealed. "Yeah? Pity you're another species, you'd be a killer blood doner if that's the case... There's a sucher kit in my bathroom, I'll move it to the bathroom next to the spare room for you. It has a scalpel handle and replacement blades in it you can use. Just let me know if we run low and I'll stock up." Well then. The man took that strangely well... The fuck kind of universe was this? "Just be kind to yourself when you do? And don't make a mess? Like... Do it while you shower?"

As strange as it sounded, it really brought into perspective the kind of life the blond man actually lived. It wasn't too overly surprising that the man lead a violent life if he was fighting people with powers, but it seemed that this universe had thrown enough at him that even something like this wasn't tripping him up. Was this normal here? The honest answer is 'no', but it was rather difficult to tell based on his behavior alone. Karkat would have to get to know more people to figure out what actually fell under 'normal' in this world.

It was Michiko to the rescue it seemed... Before things could get too tense, her sweet, croaky voice drifted up from under the table. "Nice and warm..."

The blond's smile was back, lifting the blanket draped over his lap to peek under the table at the now comfortable bird under it. "You're nice and warm now, Mi-chan?"

"Nice and warm!" She echoed back happily, bobbing up and down in a happy little dance, though Karkat would only hear the soft fluttering of her feathers unless he peeked at her as well.

[automatonSun]

As strange as the human’s acceptance of him harming himself would be to most, Karkat only really nodded along. The humans he’d known overreacted, had him see Rose when she’d been alive over and over again to make sure it was actually a necessity and not that he was doing it because he hated himself so damn much. But really, the source of his hatred for himself was his blood, so why would he subject himself to seeing it more often? A strange form of self punishment or relief for sure. They’d relaxed after that. But trolls? Trolls were a violent species with high pain tolerances. Hurting oneself wasn’t unheard of, but they were all fucked in the pan somehow, it was none of anyone’s business unless they were in the pale quadrant together. Panicking for a troll they weren’t in pale pity for was unheard of.

Unless the troll panicking was Karkat. He had a lot more... human reactions to things, unless it came to himself.

He could spend his time trying to explain to Yamada that his self inflicted wounds almost instantly healed due to the nature of his abilities. And the fact he could completely control blood down to the last cell made it so it was nearly impossible for him to make a mess; instead, he just nodded and let it be. Karkat was more preoccupied with the sweet little bird hidden under the table, warming up after a long day of being naked and cold.

Bending a bit he peeked under the blanket, catching the tail end of her little happy dance and smiling to himself. It was good, to break the tension and get his mind of things. There was only so long distractions would work before he broke, but Karkat only hoped they’d work long enough for him not to be a bother to Yamada by then.

Actually, he should take precautions to make sure that it didn’t get to that point at all. He eased himself back up and looked at Yamada again, tapping his claws against the table a bit. “I don’t want to be annoying more than I probably already fucking am, but I was wondering if we could watch something or just go to sleep soon.”

[NicTheDjinn]

A nod confirmed that he would be mindful not to make a mess and with that, his concerns were laid to rest. He didn't know enough about the troll's powers to be able to judge well himself so he would have to trust him to be familiar enough with his own powers to take care of himself. If he was proved wrong later, he would handle it, but this was the best he could do for right now.

The tension was broken by the gleeful bird dancing under the table, seeing a shift out of the corner of his eye that confirmed that Karkat was taking a peek under too. It was hard to resist the charm his Mi-chan put out, even for an alien it seemed. When her happy dance came to an end, the sweatered bird paused as she noticed she was being looked at from two angles. Rather than going toward what was familiar, she instead chose to toddle over to Karkat to indulge her curiosity about the new person that didn't even smell human. Such a friendly girl! Right into his lap, she crawled awkwardly before settling into the space between his legs and snuggling up to the warmth of one of his thighs.

With that, they were moving on to choosing between sleep and watching something. "Sure! Do you know how to use a TV remote? Don't wanna insult your intelligence or something, but I also don't want to assume what you have or haven't been exposed to, ya dig?" He then was flopping over and stretching to try and reach the remote that was currently sitting on a couch cushion. Theatrics followed as he stubbornly refused to get up to get the just out-of-reach remote, flailing and grunting till he gave up and resorted to pulling the cushion out of place, snatching up the remote, then shoving the cushion back into place, more or less.

With a huff, he pointed the remote at the TV mounted on the wall and turned it on. When it blinked to light, it revealed a news report of hero achievements for the day. Huh. Woods was really starting to make a name for himself, good for him! Kid had a lot of potential. Crust had helped with a big hostage situation earlier too, nice. The blond pulled his attention away from the screen then and placed the remote in front of Karkat instead, prepared to explain all the buttons if he needed it. "Those are more heroes, way higher ranking than me too. Heh... The top ten are usually the ones making the news. Everyone else comes up on local stuff sometimes though. Since I'm a teacher, I get pretty limited exposure nowadays so you probably won't see me in the news too often."