CG: SO THIS IS THE FIRST VIDEO POST OF THE BUNCH.
So, ummmmmm.
[ Cue a teenage boy addressing the network! Well, he's sort of like a teenage boy, if teenage boys were grey and had sharp nails and tiny candy corn horns. There are bags under his eyes like he hasn't slept in about, uh, a decade, and he rubs at one of them in irritation, his lips peeling back into a bit of a snarl. ]
What gives? Exactly? I sign up for one thing and get a-fucking-nother? What the everloving turd is up with that? Oh, hey, guys, Karkat's showed up, let's all change the rules and move everything around and really confuse everyone and shit! Haha! Thank you and fuck you very kindly!
[ He pauses a beat, face still screwed up into something irritated - 'tch', he punctuates everything with a glance off to the side and seems to be thinking hard about something. ]
I'm going to look for apple juice. Because I know some asshole and he never shuts the actual bleeding fuck up about apple juice. If I can find anything on this thing!!
[ Cue a teenage boy addressing the network! Well, he's sort of like a teenage boy, if teenage boys were grey and had sharp nails and tiny candy corn horns. There are bags under his eyes like he hasn't slept in about, uh, a decade, and he rubs at one of them in irritation, his lips peeling back into a bit of a snarl. ]
What gives? Exactly? I sign up for one thing and get a-fucking-nother? What the everloving turd is up with that? Oh, hey, guys, Karkat's showed up, let's all change the rules and move everything around and really confuse everyone and shit! Haha! Thank you and fuck you very kindly!
[ He pauses a beat, face still screwed up into something irritated - 'tch', he punctuates everything with a glance off to the side and seems to be thinking hard about something. ]
I'm going to look for apple juice. Because I know some asshole and he never shuts the actual bleeding fuck up about apple juice. If I can find anything on this thing!!
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[ Knight of Blood his fucking ass. And to top everything off, they're sickles. They're fucking scythes. He can't do anything like that with his candy cane bullshit. ]
Innate or learned?
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[Both blades go wide and flat briefly before the blood slips away into his veins, and he places the cuts together, applies pressure. If he doesn't, he'll get weak, and nobody is allowed to see that. (Fuck you Barge and your time limit.)]
Innate to the body.
[This is a clue, once again deliberate, alluding to something only Senji and Junko know about.]
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[ But he already knows that. ]
[ One of his hands itches at his arm, subconsciously, like he can get at the veins underneath those sleeves. That complex isn't going away any time soon. Maybe he's imagining the same shit coming out of his own skin. ]
What's the sustainability on that shit? I mean, it's your fucking blood; how much do you shoot out before you start tripping over your own shoelaces?
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[Flattery will get you absolutely everywhere with this one. Toto brightens, clapping his hands together sharply.]
Good, good, you're asking important questions now! It's retractable. As long as you're careful, you can fight for a very long time.
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[ It's funny, how Karkat can be the one asking the questions all he likes, and yet he feels like he's the one being tested here - not Toto. His other hands moves to rest his chin on that as well, and he tilts his head at Toto with a bit of a narrowing of his eyes. ]
So how many people have you killed, then?
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Another good question. Mm. I don't remember.
Triple digits.
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[ His eyes widen a little, a whole new understanding of what he's dealing with here. But the fact should probably floor him more than it does; he only has half a mind to think so. ]
What the fuck for?
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[Which is true in one of several of Toto's regular mindsets - the one where he's the prince creating a home for a princess.]
Why, what's the right answer to that question? What's a good thing to kill that many people for, in your opinion?
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[ He's blowing hot air mostly, gaining some ground so he can think of an appropriate answer for the question. He folds his arms, nails tapping impatiently against his sleeves. ]
Necessity. Safety. Much as war is a necessary evil, so does murder kind of walk hand in fucking hand with it. I knew a, [ girl? troll? ] friend - [ And he says the word haltingly, like he's not really sure of it either. ] - who killed in droves to keep a custodian from her own murderous rampage. Right, good answer? Not necessarily. "Potentially excusable" is a better definition.
[ He leans in a little, eyebrows slanting carefully downward. ] But you probably think that's a boring answer.
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It's a very human answer. But you're not very human.
[He scoots closer to the screen and wrinkles his nose.]
I didn't tell you the whole truth, before. Sorry. [He doesn't look sorry. At all.] The other reason I did it was because . . . I was bored.
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Okay, wow, so climb into a volcano of fuck you, [ he ticks off on a finger, before his journey continues, ] firstly, but secondly, if you're trying to impress me? Honey, that's not the way it's going to fucking happen. You know, that doesn't even make you special; it just makes you an asshole. So congratulations, goal achieved on that one.
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I'm not trying to impress you. [Except for how he pretty much is :c] You're not important to me, so I don't need you to be impressed.
Why are you still talking to me if I'm such an - asshole?
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[ The latter garners some thought, a careful consideration of how humans are still a study, still something that he cares to figure out without the assured nature that he ever will. ] Because I fucking feel like it! [ Initially, and then: ] Because it's interesting.
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What is interesting?
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[ The latter gets a long consideration, his finger shucking carefully under his chin, but he hasn't told him to shut the hell up about it yet, so that's a stride. He finally admits, plainly, ] I like blood.
[ Which is wholely a lie. He loathes it. ]
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[That, though. That's interesting, that he likes, and whether it's like or hate in the end, it all boils down to the same thing.]
I love it. [This isn't true. It's a tool, but a useful one. Close enough to love.]
What do you want to know?
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[ What DOES he want to know? What is there to know? He regards Toto like a little puzzle, one that he hasn't gathered quite all the right pieces for; there's ones missing, and others that don't fit. ]
Can you manipulate anyone else's blood? Or is it just yours?
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Only mine. But I'm the one who made this possible - so you could say I've manipulated everyone's who's as powerful as I am.
And if it's in my body, I can use anyone's blood.