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(TW: BLOOD) JUST AN ORDINARY DINNER TO PLOT SHENANIGANS | CLOSED TO KANAYA & DAVE

Whether it was a misguided course of action or not, Kanaya and Karkat had agreed that they were going to plan a legitimate heist, which may or may not involve literally dressing up in costumes and trying to fool real people. Karkat was alternating between sophisticated focus and utter incredulity.

The two of them had met up at Kanaya's apartment so they could walk together through central park toward a local Outback Steakhouse, where Kanaya could get some red meat to suit her new diet. It was around 6:00 and the sun was starting to sink toward the horizon, casting the sky in a clear lavender-blue. It was still light enough for a number of people to be wandering around the park, kicking soccer balls and chatting. The air felt warm and still, and it was making Karkat regret bringing the dark grey jacket that he was wearing, however thin the material might have been.

As they walked, Karkat was finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with Kanaya's pace. He had never had trouble keeping up before; she probably didn't even realize that she was walking faster than usual. Maybe this was her normal pace now. Or maybe she's just hungry, Karkat thought as his stomach growled. It was getting hard to differentiate which aspects of Karkat's life were monster or magic related and which were completely normal. At least for the moment they could just enjoy a regular old night out, even if the goal of the evening was to discuss yet another crazy and ill-advised plan involving stealing blood to satisfy Kanaya's newly-formed vampire needs. They were mostly talking idly about normal things so far, though. Karkat figured that they would move on to the plan-making part once they had settled down for dinner and their brains weren't addled with hunger.

"How long a walk was it to this place again?" Karkat asked, never having actually been to the restaurant Kanaya had mentioned.

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Blood loss was beginning to take its toll on the massive wolf from the chunks Kanaya had torn out of it. Again.

It was beginning to think revenge might not be worthwhile as it panted for breath.

Out of nowhere the shouty one who the wolf had discounted as not a threat and subsequently mostly ignored landed a blow to the wolf's shoulder. Atop several fresh claw gouges.

The wolf howled, even knowing that its companion was too far away to come to its aid then focused its furious gaze on Karkat.

Its lips pulled back from gleaming predatory fangs as it lunged for him. It managed a raking chomp down on Karkat's right hand as the puncher managed to get his hand out before the jaws crunched down. Teeth smashed together just moments after Karkat pulled his hand out of the way and it snarled in Karkat's face, focused entirely on its latest victim.

Karkat's hand had a number of scrapes and slashes from the sharp teeth plus the possibility of an infection from the animal bite but he managed to avoid broken bones or lost limbs. His hand would be sore and healing for a while, but at least it was just bleeding, it wasn't lost.

Fuck, that hurt. The wolf was damn heavy and he lay there winded for a few moment, gasping as his lungs tried to refill. After a few moments he managed to scramble back to his feet and grab the stick. He felt a little dizzy but he had to keep going. His thigh stung and he could tell it was bleeding quite badly, but he refused to even look at it.

The wolf was eyeing him and Karkat, and the other man was focusing on Kanaya. He nodded to Karkat's orders and focused on trying to stop time but he isn't able to before the wolf is lunging. Part of his mind was panicking, not knowing if the three of them could possibly make it out alive. This animal was huge and vicious and up against three losers with sticks and fists... It wasn't looking good. His training kept him focused, however, and he reaching towards them to try to shove the wolf away.

Instead he feels heat sparking along his arm towards his fingers. Behind his shades his eyes flare with bright red light and it feels like his blood is boiling. Then suddenly there's fire, shooting out from his palm and blasts towards the creature, hitting it right in it's side.

Out of nowhere a blinding light blasted through the growing darkness and the wolf yelped in distress as its coat went up in flames.

It jolted into the air but the fire kept burning, crackling loudly with a smell of burn fur.

With a distressed howl it tore off into the woods, away from the accursed gods with their unnatural abilities, a fading beacon of light.

Soon all that remained of its presence was a lingering reek of burned hair, blood, and a number of injuries.

Karkat stared, eyes wide, as the monster fled, the firelight fading into the distance. Now that the immediate danger seemed to have past, Karkat noticed the sharp stabs of pain coming from his right hand. Wincing, he cradled it against his chest. All of his limbs were still shaking with adrenaline.

Still, he had the presence of mind to be relieved. He turned toward Dave. "Where the fuck did that come from? You can conjure fire?" From the expression on Strider's face, Karkat guessed that he wasn't the only one surprised. Despite himself, Karkat was impressed. That power had likely saved all of their lives. "Thank fuck," Karkat muttered.

"... Holy shit," he breathed, hand still extended. Since when could he do that? He stared after the flaming wolf disappearing into the woods and relief flooded him. Thank fucking god. He hated dogs and this was a thousand times worse.

"I had no idea," he admitted, taking the time to stare at his hand. So maybe all those accidental fires had been him after all, and the heating systems weren't mysteriously broken everywhere, it was just him.

He turned to the others suddenly, remembering how badly Kanaya had been bleeding. If only Jane was here. "Are you guys alright?"

Kanaya had managed to get up and was salivating a bit at Dave's smell. The fire had caused her pause but she continued to stalk towards him, right hand clawed and glow mesmerizing in the dark. She lunged. Her injured arms granted her less purchase than normal, which might've allowed Dave to escape her grasp had he avoided her teeth first. Instead, any resistance he gained against her was only met by a tightening of her jaw in his shoulder and further tearing of his trapezius muscle.

Edited 2016-05-07 03:37 (UTC)

"What the fu--" he started as she fell against him and shouted when he felt sharp teeth puncture the nape of his neck. His hands flew to her shoulders and tried to push her away but her claws and fangs just tore further into him. "Get off!"

His fingers sparked but he stopped himself. This was Kanaya, not an enemy. He remembered she mentioned something like this at the meeting, hadn't she? Either way, he couldn't just light her on fire.

Blood was soaking into his shirt, dripping down from his neck wound and her claws in his shoulder. His head was quickly getting foggy, shock and blood loss making him woozy. Behind his shades he looked to Karkat, a silent plea for help.

Just as Karkat was turning to Kanaya to see if she needed any help, she lunged at Dave unexpectedly and Karkat felt himself freeze. The adrenaline that had just begun to die down immediately surged again in Karkat's veins. Distantly, he noticed the glow returning to the cuts in his hand.

"Kanaya?" Karkat called out to her, voice strained and terrified. But she wasn't stopping. Karkat new he was no match for Kanaya; she had extra strength and speed. There was no helping it though. Karkat couldn't just stand there while she sucked Dave's blood.

And even though he knew from what Kanaya had described that in these situations she completely lost control, and couldn't even remember the events afterward, Karkat just couldn't believe that Kanaya would hurt him.

He ran forward and grabbed Kanaya's shoulder to forcefully pull her off of Dave.

Kanaya resisted for a moment, tearing Dave more at the yank before extracting her fangs and rounding on Karkat, sending the shorter boy tumbling to the ground. She hissed at Karkat, blood stark against her illuminated skin and pupils blown wide. How dare he interrupt her?

He felt flesh tear as she was yanked away and he ground his teeth to keep from screaming, making it a muffled shout instead. Collapsing backwards to the ground, he brought up a hand to try to stem the bleeding on his neck. Fuck, he hoped she hadn't pierced an artery or he'd be dead within a few minutes.

He landed heavily on his backside and sat there for a moment, dizzy and confused. He barely even registered what his attacker was doing now.

Blood pounded in Karkat's ears as he stared up at Kanaya. His left hand clutched at the dirt on the ground and his right hand lay useless at his side, throbbing in pain.

Towering over him, with her skin glowing and blood dripping from her fangs, Kanaya looked like a real vampire. Not one from a romance novel. One from a horror movie. Karkat never thought he would find himself so utterly terrified of his best friend.

"Kanaya?" Karkat could only hope that he could reason with her. If he could only reach the real Kanaya, convince her to stop... "Oh fuck, Kanaya. This isn't you, get a fucking grip. Please."

He should be moving. Running. Thinking of a plan of escape. Every one of his muscles felt paralyzed.

Karkat's words caused a flicker of confusion to cross Kanaya's face. His illuminated face was so terrified. Why...? She moved forward a few steps to rest her hand on his face, unable to articulate her worry but wanting to fix his problems all the same.

The scent of blood wafted up. Her pupils dilated once more and she breathed in heavily, and this time Karkat got to see the primal change in detail. Her grip tightened around his head and she lowered her mouth past his petrified gaze to his neck, fangs sliding their way into his skin like butter. She took one, two sucks, and relished the feeling of blood down her throat, closing her eyes, relaxing into the sensation. She was beginning to feel incredibly drowsy...

Her body gave out and she dimmed, collapsing on Karkat, jaw slack on his neck.

For a moment, Karkat thought it had worked. As she reached out and touched his cheek, he could have sworn that it was the Kanaya he knew looking at him. And then an indescribable, sickening horror filled him as he saw watched her morph back into the monster, right in front of his eyes.

Next thing he knew, there was a horrible pain in his neck and Kanaya was sucking his blood. Karkat shrieked and instinctively tried to push at her, to get away...

And then she had stopped, and collapsed on him. Karkat's breathing was still coming hard and fast, and he was almost too afraid to look and see if she had really stopped. For several seconds he just sat there, frozen in shock. Then slowly, carefully, he nudged Kanaya over and off of him.

A new fear was gripping him now: a fear for his friend. Was she so hurt that she had collapsed? Why did she...

Then he saw the blood on her lips. It was still visibly glowing in the dim twilight. Karkat's blood had been glowing when she drank it. He'd had no idea about what it could mean, or what other properties it might have. What if...

"Kanaya? Kanaya?! KANAYA, ANSWER ME." Fingers shaking, Karkat checked her pulse. Okay, her heart was still beating. She wasn't dead. That didn't mean she wasn't on her way, though. FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK. No, this was no time to panic. It wouldn't help anything. That didn't stop his brain from getting dizzy or his heart from hammering like it was trying to escape.

Karkat slid his arms around her and tried to scoop her up. But from this difficult angle, he wasn't quite strong enough to hold her, so he settled for moving her into a sitting position. Then he remembered Dave.

"Dave! Are you okay?" As much as Karkat was worried about his friend, she wasn't the only one laying on the ground and possibly dying. FUCK.

Still dazed he'd hardly realized what happened until he'd managed to get his shirt off (ripping it mostly since he'd predominantly lost use of his left arm) and pressed it hard against his neck wound. There was no arterial spray so he could relax somewhat. At least he had more time before he'd bleed out. He also thanked his past self for wearing the binder that passed for a regular tank top, though it was a bit torn up in the back too.

He refocused when Karkat called his name. His attention snapped to the other man and he stumbled to his feet. "I-I'm fine," he lied, but it looked like Kanaya was worse for wear. "Is she alright? What about you? Did she get you?"

Edited 2016-05-07 06:15 (UTC)

"I don't know if she's fucking alright my blood FUCKING GLOWS AND SHE DRANK IT AND THEN COLLAPSED. She bit me but--" Karkat rolled his shoulder, testing it. He winced at the aching of the wound, but it didn't feel too bad. She had stopped pretty soon; it definitely could have been worse. "I'm not dying so who the fuck cares we need to get Kanaya to safety. Fuck this stupid armpit-shitting monster and my goddamn asshole blood and fucking vampires and magic and whatever godly fucking anus shitted out all of these heaps of fucking bullshit and FUCK--" Karkat rambled this to himself as he struggled to stand and pull Kanaya's weight with him.

"Can you help me carry her?" Karkat was NOT looking forward to the walk back to Kanaya's apartment. It hadn't seemed far before, but with Kanaya's dead weight and all of their injuries...

As soon as Karkat started to ramble he groaned, rolling his eyes dramatically. Now he knew why people complained when he started going on about inane bullshit. "Okay, just shut up for a second, you're gonna give me a headache."

Experimentally he pulled his bloody shirt away from his neck and saw how the blood began to gush immediately. He shoved it back into place quickly, his face going a little grey. It was nowhere near the first time he'd bled severely but it had been a while.

He hurried to Kanaya's other side, using his good shoulder to support her and lift her up with Karkat's help. It was going to be a tricky trip to wherever the hell they lived. "I got her. You got a good arm you can spare for our bags? Don't really wanna lose all my shit and I imagine she wouldn't want her purse left out in the woods."

Edited 2016-05-07 06:40 (UTC)

Karkat scowled when Dave told him to shut up. He had a goddamn right to be upset in this situation. But at this point he was running on low enough energy that he just wanted Dave's cooperation so that they could get the fuck out of there.

"My hand hurts like fuck but the rest of my arm is mostly okay," Karkat grumbled. "Think you can hold her for a sec?" Karkat helped Dave get a better grip before hurrying to collect the bags. He ran back to grab Kanaya's other side as fast as he could. Dave's wound was not looking good.

"Fuck, are you sure you're okay? That looks seriously fucking nasty."

He could feel himself getting more and more light-headed but he refused to acknowledge it. They couldn't afford to have two people passed out and they needed to get out of there as fast as possible before the wolf returned. They couldn't go to the hospital either; too many questions. "It's fine," he said, deadpan. "Let's get out of here. Quick. We'll deal with me later."

Hoisting Kanaya up more comfortably, he guided them forward towards the edge of the park. It was good that it was late and almost no one was out and about. "Tell me where to go, we'll get there."

To say that the going was hard would be such a disgusting understatement that Karkat almost wanted to hysterically laugh his ass off over it. It was by far the least pleasant nighttime stroll of his life. He kept wanting to stop every few minutes to check and make sure Kanaya was still alive, but forced himself not to for the sake of getting to her house as fast as possible. Dave was starting to drag his feet and stumble over the sidewalk cracks, blood dripping down his arm. Any minute, Karkat felt like they were going to collapse.

Somehow, after what felt like a lifetime of feverishly dragging themselves toward the place, the three of them reached Kanaya's door. Karkat took a moment to thank every fucking god he could think of that Dave had thought to bring their bags, because Karkat hadn't even considered the the fact that they would need a key to get in.

After juggling Kanaya a bit so Karkat could dig the keycard out of her purse, they finally got the door open and made their way inside. Karkat could almost taste the relief that awaited them at the top of the elevator. He and Dave didn't exchange a word on the ride up; they were both too exhausted.

And then at last, Karkat was opening Kanaya's door and they had made it into the safety of her home.

Edited 2016-05-07 14:35 (UTC)

The trip back was increasingly horrible, the world swaying and twisting around him. He kept tripping up over his own feet and the flat sidewalk. He cursed his heart for racing the way it was, pumping more blood out of his wounds. His shirt, which he was now struggling to hold against his neck, was nearly soaked. There was no salvaging it at this point.

The relief was palpable when they finally made it through the door. They managed to get her to her room and onto her bed, though he felt bad for the sheets that would no doubt need replacing. Her wounds already seemed to be healing themselves though, and he envied her for it. His skin was pallid and sweaty, and he barely made it back out to the living room before he collapsed face first onto the floor, unconscious.

Karkat was still examining Kanaya, trying to convince himself that she was really going to be okay. The wounds were actually healing, and her breathing was even and normal. Really, there were no signs of poison. But just when he thought that maybe he could let himself relax, he heard an ominous thump from the other room.

"Dave?" Karkat scrambled to his feet and pushed through the door, ignoring the stabbing protests of his right hand where he had accidentally used it to turn the nob. His eyes turned to the floor where Dave was lying. "FUCKING SHITTING FUCK," Karkat yelled eloquently. "I fucking knew you weren't okay Strider you fucking asshole-muncher."

Karkat knelt to the ground and slowly pushed at Dave, rolling him over his good shoulder until he was on his back. Karkat's left fist clenched hard at the sight of all of the blood leaking from Dave's shoulder. "Fuck, fuck, fuck..." Karkat muttered this to himself like a mantra as he tore off his own jacket (he never liked it much anyway) and wrapped it tightly around Dave's shoulder. Within seconds it was soaked through with blood.

Gingerly, Karkat slid an arm under Dave's back and slowly lifted his shoulders so his back was propped up on the nearby couch. A little elevation couldn't hurt. Once the bleeding slowed it would need to be cleaned. For the time being, he applied pressure to Dave's shoulder and hoped as hard as he could that the wound wasn't as bad as it looked.

After a few minutes, Karkat lifted the jacket and winced at what he saw. The bleeding had thankfully slowed considerably, but Dave would definitely need stitches. Karkat retied the jacket to keep some pressure on it while he got up (he wobbled and nearly fell over from the remnants of his adrenaline, lingering hunger, and exhaustion from the fight) and made his way to Kanaya's bathroom to look for more supplies. He probably wouldn't be able to wash the cut cleanly with water until Dave woke up, but hopefully Kanaya would have some antibiotic cream and bandages. It didn't take long to locate a first aid kit under her sink, and he hurriedly carried it back out to where he'd left Dave.

Karkat's lips pressed into a thin line. Dave's skin looked ashen, and blood was getting all over the couch and the floor. Karkat shook himself and went back to Dave's side, carefully removing the jacket again and using it to wipe up a bit of the blood before applying the ointment and using the gauze to wrap it up tightly again. It was definitely still bleeding, but Karkat didn't know how to administer stitches so this was the best he could do for now. He wanted to check on Kanaya again, but with her accelerated healing and no evidence of poison, Dave was almost certainly in more danger. So Karkat stayed with him and monitored the wound, changing the bandages when the first ones bled through.

"If you die on me, I'll fucking kill you, Strider," mumbled Karkat, voice exhausted and strained.

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(TW: BLOOD) JUST AN ORDINARY DINNER TO PLOT SHENANIGANS | CLOSED TO KANAYA & DAVE

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Owwwww wtf

NO.

... No ...?

Re: ... No ...?

so much blood

Re: ... No ...?

oh the pain

Re: oh the pain

Re: oh the pain

Re: oh the pain

Re: oh the pain

GODDAMMIT