fire eye'd boy, give em all the slip

[glowsferatu]

WHO: Karkat and Kanaya
WHERE: A burning building
WHEN: Early morning on Monday, April 15th
WARNINGS: Peril
SUMMARY: Young Mr. Vantas faces his baptism by fire with a little help from his not-sister
FORMAT: Prose to start, whatever after

The sunrise was being indecisive. Dawn's rosy fingers tapped thoughtfully on the horizon, and the waiting made Kanaya anxious.

Standing out on the balcony in her pajamas and a dressing gown, a bottle of blood in her hand, this was one of the few quiet moments she'd allow herself each day. An hour to take it easy before the day starts, just her and the sunrise, to soak up enough energy to last her through it. With her date delayed she was only left with herself, and she didn't really care for the company.

The sky had already taken a purple hue as it waited for the sunrise to make up its mind, but was fairly empty aside from the stray airplane passing by, little more than red lights blinking in the distance, soon blotted out behind a column of smoke. But where was that coming from?

She checked her threads and eased out of her dressing gown. A tenement fire. People were in danger and the emergency crews were still a ways off. She not only could help them, but as a distant witness almost felt it would be cruelty not to, but even so she stopped just short of leaping through a portal into the fray. She had another idea. Delaying her action would be risky, if anyone suffered for it then it would be on her head, but if this went the way she hoped, then it might not be anything to worry about. It could all work out for everyone.

She opened a portal in the other direction instead.

Emerging in the kitchen of Ruka's house, she wasted no time in marching right up to Karkat, a hand extended. She let one portal snap shut as she started locating the threads to open the next. "Sorry to barge in, but I don't have time for anything else. We need to go. Now. I need your help."

Comments

[crab]

Karkat slumped over a bowl of cornflakes, pushing the semi-soggy cereal around with his spoon, and struggled to blink away the exhaustion that threatened to glue his eyelids together. The early morning was always the most difficult time of day for him, his self inflicted insomnia. It threw the differences between his world and this world into sharp relief, the way humans would rise to the creeping light of the sun, while it made Karkat long to sink into the cool embrace of sopor slime, the soothing darkness of one's cocoon.

He was alone at the kitchen table when the feeble light of dawn began to filter in, and the house was still, quiet; devoid of distraction -- or at least, it was, until Kanaya fucking Maryam strode out of thin air from behind him, just as Karkat was shoveling another spoonful of cornflakes down his throat. He nearly jammed the entire spoon down there, he jumped so violently, banging his knees on the underside of the table for his trouble, inhaling a good lungful of milk, and overturning his breakfast in the process. Eyes watering, and coughing hard enough that he vaguely wondered if he didn't just have to swallow his own spleen, he scrambled to his feet, whirling to face the intruder.

"Kanaya!" He wheezed, reproachful. "What in the name of hell's blazing sixty-ninth level is your problem, what are you doing, this better be life or death!"

[glowsferatu]

Oh, hell. She should have paid better attention to the direction he was facing, made her entrance a little easier for him to notice. She forgot sometimes how silent her footfalls tended to be, but at least he seemed to have caught his bearings and won't choke on a stray flake.

"It very well may be if we waste too much time!" If he wanted to complain and bicker at her for this, there would be plenty of opportunity later. Right now they had things to do. Pulling in her threads, the portal opened before them, and the heat was already wafting in through it. Despite the sun having finally started its ascent, the sky above was only black, conquered and blotted by the rising smoke. There were some tenants standing outside helplessly, knowing they made their escape but staring in horror at the thought of those who hadn't yet. The sound of sirens was distant.

Kanaya held out her hand to him again, this time more insistently. "They need us."

[crab]

"What?" He didn't reach back for her hand; instead, he took a step back, confusion and apprehension written into his expression, uncomprehending. He was still holding the cereal spoon, now leveled defensively in front of him, a deadly weapon of mass destruction if there ever was one.

"They need us to what, burn to death?"

[glowsferatu]

She turned back to face him, her expression growing a bit desperate, her outstretched hand balling into a determined fist. Time was short, and this close it wasn't hard to pick out just how many threads were imperiled. "We aren't the ones so greatly faced with that risk. Someone needs to save them, and there's no line waiting of volunteers to step in! It has to be us."

Her fist relaxed, but remained in his reach, as her eyebrows softened, furrowed, begged. "Please. I need your help."

[crab]

He hesitated another moment -- not so much because he was afraid of dying, himself, and more because he was afraid his interference would make it worse for the people he would be attempting to save. If experience had taught him anything in this place, it was that in Karkat's case, it was usually better to leave well enough alone. He wasn't afraid of getting hurt. He was afraid of getting other people hurt.

Of failure.

It was the "I" in her final sentence that got him. I need your help. His brow furrowed, and while he didn't look entirely convinced -- he took the hand offered to him.

"I guess. I can take some time out of my busy schedule," he commented; token bravado. The effect was somewhat ruined by the nerves clear in his voice.

[glowsferatu]

She gave him a smile then, genuine and full-fanged, then wrapped her finger firmly before pulling one more thread to snatch a rag from the sink before pulling him through the portal with her.

Now that they're closer, the heat is only more potent, the fire moving from the fifth floor outward. Kanaya waved a hand in the air, five threads shimmering toward the building in the moment her fingers grazed them, all too close to the growing inferno.

"Our targets are centered on the third and sixth floors." She turned to look at him again, shoving the rag in his hands. "You need to breathe, keep your mouth and nose covered. I'll deposit you on the third floor." Her hands both returned to the air, the threads coming into view where each pointed. "There are two there. I'll give you a better idea of their relative placement once we're in."

She reached into the pocket of her pajama bottoms to pull out her phone. "If you can, keep a line open between us. That way we can stay in contact, help each other as needed after we separate. Are you ready?"