caughtinanetwork | [video] in before eeveelution jokes

[It's late. Or too damn early. Somewhere in that ambiguous area, like 3:00 in the morning, just fine for certain parts of the alien population and a god-awful time for the rest. But here Kid is, addressing the network from the confines of a room in the island-side village.

One can just make out a few figures (Maka Albarn and Rin Okumura) behind him, sound asleep in their bed.]

I have a very important announcement to make, one that simply cannot wait until morning!

[The grim reaper, looking more lively than he has since... well, since the bubble cracked, stoops out of sight of the SFC, and reappears with an Umbreon in his arms. Beaming with the pride perhaps only a father might have for their child, he declares:]

This is Pip, and he's become even more beautiful than ever!

[It is indeed Pip, recently evolved, and he is still fat. He is also a she, but Kid never investigated that closely. Promptly forgetting about the SFC in his eagerness, Kid retreats with Pip in his arms to bend over Maka.]

Maka, Maka! Wake up! I don't want you to miss this!

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[Something Karkat just said has prompted the vaguest of upward curves at the corners of his mouth.]

Is that so? Does this mean we're on the same level as teammates?

[Is this an admission of friendship. Is it.]

No.

[No hesitation, even. But--!]

You're not part of my team, dingus. If something comes up that I think you could help with, I'll call you and ask, but you're no more a teammate than Maka is and she's the best friend I've made here. Besides, a lot of my team is dipshits and assholes, and you are usually more intelligent than that.

[This is, in fact, an admission of friendship. Karkat-style.]

[He's allowed to tease, right. Teasing is a thing friends do.]

Maka is often utterly unaware of the profoundly positive impact she has on people, and once reminded, she quickly forgets. I think acknowledging her own importance is difficult for her.

[And he can see why: she's put down for a whole slew of imagined wrongs, for not being pretty enough by other's standards, for instance. That she's praised for her intellect at all is issued like it's a consolation prize. A dreadful shame.]

I'll repay your kindness one way or another, Karkat.

[He lifts an eyebrow.]

It's not about her not acknowledging herself. She's not a teammate because she didn't go through the game with the twelve of us. That's who's on my team. This does not mean that valuing you guys and your efforts isn't taking place here.

[Now he leans back, reaches a hand over, scratches his shoulder.]

I don't see what needs repaying. All I did was give some advice, which, as said, is not even that rare for me to do.

I understand what you meant, and I am not offended. Rather, I'm flattered.

[He was speaking of a slightly unrelated matter -- that of Maka's tendency to overlook the positive impact she has on others.]

Kindness and consideration should be appreciated no matter the form it takes. Just as those opportunities of struggle should be appreciated for their value in what they teach us. Everything is balanced.

[But before he can go on another of his ridiculous symmetry rants, he summarizes:]

I mean that even though it hardly seems like anything special, it is to me.

[Karkat gives Kid a skeptical sort of look for the balance comments, but says nothing. Of course he'd say something like that; it's him. But as for the main topic?]

Fine. Then you're welcome, repay it if you want, since you apparently intend to anyway.

[It's not such a bad thing.]

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