Across Any Universe

Kankri hadn't expected Karkat to really put up a fuss over the idea, but he hadn't expected him to agree so readily either. This day had been full of surprises for him, most of them ones he'd rather not have known about. The notion that Karkat could be so desperate for attention and leaving the house to do anything was somewhat distressing to him even now. Kankri would have to start paying more attention to him in the future.

They made sure to lock up as they left, having fallen victim a few times now to theft and petty damage in the past. A good half hour later, they hopped off the public transportation vehicular device and outside of the surprisingly busy aquarium. Several trolls and a good handful of humans were milling around the entrance, smoking foul-smelling cancer sticks and waiting in line for admission. "Well it looks like we have several colleagues also interested in learning more about underwater customs, hmm?" Kankri spoke, trying to make light conversation.

"I wouldn't call them colleagues." Karkat replied. "Considering, you know, that we don't fucking work with them. We just happen to be the same species, and or share a planet with them." He rolled his shoulders, using the action as a guise to take a half step closer to Kankri. "At least the line doesn't look that long."

"But they are our colleagues," Kankri responded, finger raised in the air and mouth set into only the slightest look of condescension, his usual pose for teaching Karkat or anyone else a lesson. "Colleagues in the lifelong school of learning and attempting to better ourselves. Like us, they heard about this exhibit and wished to increase their knowledge on the topic. It's quite commendable to see such a large audience, really." Perhaps it was because it was at an aquarium, and younger trolls and human grubs wished to see the other areas as well. Most events like this Kankri had attended in the past had nowhere near as many bodies joining in.

"The line is short though," He added as a final comment, for they were almost already in and hadn't been standing for more than three or four minutes. In another they had their tickets, and were walking past the fish exhibits and things Kankri had already seen to reach the section on sea dwelling trolls.

Karkat snorted, but didn't say anything else to argue. Once inside however, he trailed behind a bit to try and view the fish. "Kankri, wait up, I still want to look" he called ahead, "the exhibit isn't going to runaway from us because it knows we're here"

"Well of course not, don't be asinine. However if we don't get there soon, we won't have a good spot to see from." This was forever an issue with his height, one Karkat was likely even more accustomed to. Kankri had gotten bad seats one too many times to allow dawdling now. "If you want to stare at colorful fish then that's your prerogative."

"Kan, its not a fucking show, its an exhibit. All the information will be posted for us to see and shit. I'm sure the worst we'll have to deal with is waiting for people to move." Karkat rolled his eyes, pausing to look at a fish that looked like it could swallow their lusus whole, thought its jaws looked like they wouldn't have a problem crushing it either. "Its not like there's tons of people here either."

"There's enough," Kankri responded, eyeing them all distrustfully.  Now that they were in the building and space was a bit tighter, almost all of the trolls and humans near them save the young ones were at least a head above them.  "Either way, I'm going on ahead.  It might not be a show but there will be things to see, and I would like to learn as much as I can."  Sniffing, Kankri didn't give Karkat much of a chance to respond, though he walked slow enough for him to catch up if he wanted.

Though he supposed one could say the aquarium wasn't crowded, there were many more bodies surrounding the seadwellers exhibit than the fish Karkat was so interested in, and Kankri found himself glad he had made the choice of coming here first.  It was a bit hard to see, but it looked like the there two violet bloods actually living in the exhibit to show visitors what their life as like.  How fascinating!  Kankri may have to be here the entire day if he wanted an in-depth look.

The smaller of the two violet bloods wasn't particularly interested in what was going on outside the tank, being much more interested in what looked like a movie playing on a husktop. The device must have been specially sealed for the water, because it didn't look like it was having any problems.

The larger of the two was obviously showing off for the small crowd, swimming up to the glass and waving to everyone. He was courteous enough to go to the glass above everyone's heads so that he was visible to everyone in the crowd.

Their tank was set up to look similar to an underwater hive, with a small portion set aside that wasn't underwater that had Sopor pods in it, likely for the seadwellers to sleep in when they got tired. At the moment, both were in the larger portion that seemed to be the main living area, and a seahorse looking lusus zipped around and between them.

Karkat opted not to follow Kankri right away, instead spending time looking at each tank and reading about the fish in them before moving on to the next.

While most seemed to be paying close attention to the violet bloods, especially the over-excited male whom Kankri had sworn he'd caught winking a few times at visitors. That kind of behavior might pull most of the trolls and humans in, but Kankri was here for a different reason. He moved as close to the glass as he could to inspect the hive, trying to gauge from this distance the difference in structure from a hive like this to one like his own, how the sea-dwellers must use it and the kind of objects they had inside of it. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but Kankri did catch note of several appliances that were completely foreign to him.

The troll on the computer caught sight of his staring and made a face at him, then turned his back so that most of his husktop and himself were covered by the ridiculous cape he happened to be wearing. The action reminded Kankri so strongly of something Karkat would do that he looked around, wondering if the younger troll had followed him. He didn't see him anywhere and so assumed he had gotten distracted by the colored fish and would catch up eventually.

Karkat was honestly in his own little world as he went from tank to tank, looking at all the different fish. He was so small most of the crowd passed right by him without him even being noticed. He vaguely wondered at one point if he should be worried about losing Kankri, but the reminder of the seatroll exhibit kept up his firm belief that he would know exactly where to find Kankri when he needed him.

Kankri found himself similarly absorbed, though in one single exhibit. He circled the exhibit several times, trying to get an image of it in his mind's eye as best he could. He took notes on occasion. The troll in the hive scowled at him several times, actually going so far as to shuffle around to keep his back to Kankri at all times. The sheer effort it must take to keep the act up was somewhat astounding.

The other troll was continuing to wave and pander to the crowds, but as the hours passed Kankri noticed more and more often it seemed the violet blood was pandering to him, shooting winks and grins that had previously been directed toward humans exceeding typical standards of beauty. This disturbed Kankri more than anything else that had gone on during the day.

Karkat eventually made his way thought all the exhibits between the entrance and the seatroll exhibit. He was content to watch Kankri be weird for a bit until he caught sight of the movie the younger violet troll was watching. He moved closer and craned his neck trying to see.

As troll and human alike circled the vast stroll exhibit, the younger of the two violet bloods contented himself with the movies on his husktop, occasionally shuffling in his hive to keep his back to the singular weirdo who had not yet left the exhibit like all the others. When he again felt eyes on him, he assumed it was the same troll from before. Yet when he glared over his shoulder he found a newcomer now staring at him, trying to figure out what it was that he was watching, or so it seemed. The violet blood sneered and gathered his cape higher around his shoulders.

Karkat gave the sneering violet blood a nervous smile and pointed at the computer. 'what are you watching?' he mouthed, trying to be friendly 'It looks interesting'

The troll outside of the exhibit didn't look like one of the types to insult his choices in movie genre, but then not all bulgemunchers looked as repulsive as they often sounded. "Nothin' some landdwwellin' scumblood like you'd be interested in, so why don't you just leavve me alone?"

Karkat frowned. He couldn't quite make out what the other troll was saying between the water and the glass, but the posture came across as a little aggressive. He held up a finger and fumbled for his phone,a cheap piece of plastic with a large screen.

He quickly typed out what he wanted to say and held it up to the glass for the violet blood to see. 'SORRY, I CAN'T HEAR YOU VERY WELL. AND I'M SORRY FOR BOTHERING YOU, BUT YOUR MOVIE LOOKS VERY GOOD. I THINK I SAW MATTHEW MACANAHEY? I WAS CURIOUS ABOUT WHAT IT WAS.'

The violet blood gave the other troll a cursory glance, ready to find somewhere he could finally watch his film in peace without anyone to bother him when the name of one of his favorite human actors caught his eye.  The troll's gaze narrowed suspiciously, but he read the tiny lettering on the phone anyways.  Pulling his own phone from his pocket, he thought for a second before typing out 'Mattheww McConaughey's a fuckin' god among mortals.  You agree?  Or am I just wwastin' my time tryin' to talk taste to someone wwho has none?'

Karkat grinned as his eyes scrolled the other troll's text. He nodded at him before deleting his own text and starting again. 'OH FOR SURE. ONE OF MY FAVORITE ACTORS BY FAR. DEFINITELY ONE OF MY FAVORITE ROMCOM ACTORS. MY NAME IS KARKAT, WHAT'S YOURS?'

'Karkat huh? WWeird name.' He was a short, stumpy angry looking troll, but he seemed honest enough and not just some nook sniffer off the street looking to poke fun at his movie choices. 'Mine's Eridan. An the movvie's 'The WWeddin' Planner', one a my favvorite. Jennifer Lopez isn't bad either.'

Karkat nodded again. 'JENNIFER LOPEZ IS DEFINITELY AN ACTRESS THAT DOES BEST WITH STRONG MALE LEADS. THE STRONGER HER LEAD PARTNER IS, THE BETTER SHE IS. HAVE YOU SEEN MAID IN MANHATTAN? THAT IS ONE OF MY FAVORITES WITH HER IN IT'

Eridan returned Karat's nod with an enthusiastic one of his own as he read the message. 'i saww it for the first time not long ago actually cant believve i missed it wwhen it first came out' He pulled the phone away when Karkat had read it and started typing hurriedly again, until he realized his own eagerness in continuing the conversation and a frown came to his lips. 'so you like romcoms huh' He looked at Karkat with distrust, some part of him still not believing the other troll's excitement.

Karkat looked a little sheepish under Eridan's scrutiny. 'YES.' He typed out. 'I DON'T HAVE VERY MANY FRIENDS, SO I SPEND A LOT OF TIME ALONE IN MY RESPITE BLOCK WATCHING MOVIES. MY SPECTRUM-MATE SPENDS MOST OF HIS TIME ON HIS HUSKTOP, SO I DON'T GET OUT MUCH'

Eridan nodded as he read the message on the phone, glancing for a moment in the direction of the other troll he shared his living space with. 'i can respect that i got issues wwith my spectrum-mate too theyre supposed to help us devvelop and groww or wwatevver but mines just a tacky loser' He showed the message to Karkat, then hurriedly typed up another. 'you got some kind of handle i can use to talk to you i dont get out much either believve it or not'

Karkat fingered the keyboard on his phone nervously for a moment before hurriedly typing his trollian handle. He double checked the spelling before showing the phone to the seadweller. 'I HAD TO DEACTIVATE MY OLD HANDLE RECENTLY BECAUSE I WAS DOXXED AND HARASSED, BUT MY NEW HANDLE IS KARCINOGENESIST IF YOU REALLY DON'T MIND TALKING TO ME.' He looked so pathetically hopeful about the possibility of having someone to talk to that might possibly become his friend.

'cool' Eridan typed briefly, pulling his phone away from the tank glass to enter Karkat's information. 'sent you a request the handles caligulasaquarium'. While the other troll did the same with his information, Eridan quickly typed up another message, curiosity eating away at him. 'so wwhat did you do to piss off the internet or it a bunch of assholes doin what they do best'