Day 66: Game Room (Fourth Shift)

[knightspirit]

The game room, huh... In normal, everyday life, it wouldn't have sounded too terrible, but as things were, it seemed like more of an annoyance. Games were fine, but priorities.... On the other hand, Kyousuke seemed to have hit a block in figuring out the clues to the the illness, and just thinking without getting anywhere wasn't very productive, either. At this point, it may have been best to push it aside and come back to it fresh. He had his reservations about it, especially since the end of the day was rapidly approaching, but... Frustration wasn't going to get him any closer.

He poked around what games were there with resignation, still half wondering what he was even doing and trying not feel guilty for needing a break. After a while he came across an electronic device marked "Game Boy Color" and picked it up out of curiosity. He'd heard of those before... If he was right, this thing was older than he was, by quite a bit. Flicking it on confirmed his suspicions; the sound and graphics from it spoke for themselves.

Shrugging, he took it a random seat, wincing at the pain in his ribs as he sat down. He guessed it wouldn't kill him to mess around with this thing for a little while.

[Lloyd!]

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[thisisyourgod]

Games? Who ever played games like this anymore? This whole building was so technologically challenged it was ridiculous. Unfortunately, Karkat was learning quickly that arguing with the nurses would get him absolutely nowhere.

Not that this would stop him from trying, of course. He had to argue with someone about this mess.

The woman eventually found him something she referred to as a 'gameboy' which bore some resemblance to devices he had in his own world. ...But only on the surface, really. The device was ancient, with graphics that were hardly any more detailed than what he could scratch out himself with the graphite stick he'd been using on the bulletin board earlier.

Sitting by himself was just asking for one of the other patients to come up and mess with him, so he found someone to sit by first instead. He wasn't looking any more thrilled by the situation, so perhaps they at least had that in common.

[longlivetheking]

It was meant to happen sooner or later, with or without the insistence of those irritating nurses. Scar spared a look at the fool he was to put up with for the remainder of this afternoon. Some human boy who was holding a device the king wasn't even going to bother identifying.

Not even a hello, was it? Hnn.

"Why, you look absolutely thrilled to be here as well," he commented dryly, leaving the implications of his own excitement (or lack thereof) unspoken. Though the former lion wasn't particularly enthusiastic about interacting with some boy, he was also quite bored. Certainly, the stranger could serve as entertainment until he was allowed to leave.

[thisisyourgod]

Wow, he hadn't heard an adult male voice in a long time. That was really something. Not enough to alter his mood any, but something nonetheless. He rolled his eyes at the man's comment, recognizing it as human sarcasm. (He'd spent enough time around them by now that it'd be pretty sad if he couldn't recognize something that obvious.)

And no, he hadn't felt like saying hello. That was just inviting conversation. But apparently not saying hello was asking for it as well, so he lost either way.

"Oh yeah. I'm probably about as thrilled as you are. Which is to say not at all, since you look like you're in the middle of trying to wish yourself out of here - just like me! See how much we have in common already? Holy shit, let's go put our human dance shoes on and celebrate." In hindsight, it would probably have been best if Scar hadn't gotten him to speak at all.

[longlivetheking]

Perhaps it was a good thing that the boy hadn't spoken that thought, or Scar would have wondered what other kind of voice one would expect...

The comment that was made earned the boy a subtly raised eyebrow on Scar's part.

"Oh, I'd love to," Scar commented, the tone of his voice implying the contrary. "Such a pity my bad back prevents me to express the appropriate amount of joy." Not that his back was actually bad, but the former lion would only afford those little details some attention if he felt like it.

"Human dance shoes, though? That's an interesting way of putting it..." If only because it carried certain implications of this boy not being human.

[thisisyourgod]

Humans were weird in that they didn't actually put 'human' in front of the names for a lot of things the way trolls did, so doing so more than likely immediately gave him away as not being human. If he'd really wanted to blend in, he would have been careful about what he referred to items as. But he didn't honestly care at this point.

"It's not like I was serious." The little figure on his screen was trying and failing to jump over the current road block in front of it. He'd blame this fail on the poor quality of the viewscreen. "What would you call it, anyway? You humans just aren't descriptive enough. I don't even see how you get by on a daily basis without dying of boredom."

[longlivetheking]

Scar offered a boy a smile that was almost pleasant. "I'm afraid you are missing my point," he remarked, "Then again, I suppose I can't really blame you..."

Not everyone was gifted with functioning braincells, after all.

"I could not care any less what those silly things humans enjoy putting on their feet are called, really," he continued, a slight hint of condescension in his voice. "Let me put it bluntly so you might actually get it: you are not human, are you?"

It was not that difficult to figure out, anyway, especially because the boy had just confirmed earlier implications. "You know, it just so happens I'm not one, either," he admitted, "Oh, goody, it looks like we have even more in common right now..."

Scar's enthusiasm as he spoke the last statement was equivalent to what he had showed earlier in the conversation.

[thisisyourgod]

This guy didn't just drip sarcasm, he leaked it like someone had taken a mallet to the pipe and knocked open a hole that was now spewing sarcasm over the entire room. Hell, if Karkat opened his mouth to speak right now, some of that sarcasm would probably have leaked over into his reply as well.

"Oh my god, I've always wanted to have shit in common with some other patronizing non-human asshole." Yep, there it went. "No seriously, good job on connecting the most obvious dots in the history of that whole ancient game for wigglers. I would applaud you if I gave a fuck."

The screen on the gameboy was flashing 'GAME OVER' and he wasn't even sure how that had happened while he's been distracted. He tossed the item to the side without even bothering to turn it off.

"No, I'm not human. I wouldn't be surprised if no one here was actually human, with the way things have been going."

[longlivetheking]

That was some language the insolent little brat happened to be sprouting. Oh, the boy had no idea! The words were more amusing than actually insulting, and it wasn't like the brat was behaving any better.

"Says the one who failed to catch onto my earlier implications," Scar remarked simply, his lips forming a smug grin as he watched the brat toss the object aside. The bleeping sound still continued where it landed, and the former lion couldn't help but to find it annoying.

"As far as I know, there are actually plenty who are born looking so ridiculous," he answered, "So, pray tell, what were you before finding yourself here?"

[thisisyourgod]

"A troll." It was said matter-of-factly and with a bit of a scowl. "And no, I don't feel like going into detail on what that is. I'm missing some important physical traits is all." Such as his horns. Nubby as they were, they were still better than nothing - no matter how much anyone else might joke otherwise.

"How many sentient species would even be out there for them to pull from?" Hell, this guy could have been from his own planet, for all he knew. Or the medium. The carapaces were rarely this irritating, though. (Of course, he'd made friends with Jack Noir, so perhaps his wasn't the best opinion on the matter.)

[longlivetheking]

A...troll? Scar did not have the slightest idea what that was, but it would seem the insolent brat did not want to elaborate. Well, it was not like he cared that much. "I see," he responded simply.

Toying and sarcasm aside, the amount of sentient species was a subject the former lion had also given some thought, but he realized there would never be an answer to that question. "Who knows," he remarked, "Whenever you think you've heard it all a new one pops up."

[thisisyourgod]

That no one seemed to recognize what a troll was bothered Karkat on many levels. Most importantly, it meant that the chances of one of his friends being here (or even having been here in the past) were greatly lowered. Though if they'd arrived at the same time he had, it was possible that word simply hadn't gone around.

But he knew they would have responded to his bulletin, or he would have seen them in the halls. They could probably recognize him even like this.

"You haven't talked to any others? That's about what I thought."