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Dumbo octopus

“Wait, Karkat, I... what?” She just stuttered in her confusion, letting him lead her to the parking lot, still confused about this ‘bike’ and what sort of ideas were playing around in that head of his.

And then, she saw it.

‘Okay last class ‘a the day, you got this Peixes’ She thought to herself, slipping into an empty seat next to a guy whos nake she couldn’t quite remember. In her head she called him Star Boy, that was, of course, not his real name, but his name was close enough to some star’s name that she had made the connection hoping to use it as a memory key. Star Boy had clicked. Real name? Not so much. She didn’t fret too miuch about forgetting. it wasn’t like she was going to need it immediately, right?

Wrong.

As the teacher finished the lecture and handed out sheets her urge to head-butt the desk grew exponentially. Ha. Math humour. But, yes, her dread levels climbed as she looked over the sheet. There were a lot of words on this sheet, and very few stand-alone problems. Fuck. 

 He perked up a bit, however, when she asked him a question, somewhat surprised.

2. Find the minimum sample size you should use to assure that your estimate of p will be within the required margin of error around the population p. The margin of error is 0.04, confidence level is 95%, and from a prior study, a  is estimated by 0.13.

She rested her chin on his shoulder, taking a breath before responding. “You need to calm down, this ain’t selfish a’ you. You got deep feelings for the two a’ us girls an’ wanna date us both. Its sweet you’d rather give out double the love than choose between us. Y’know? You ain’t wantin’ to be without Garnet, uh… Jade or me an’ its real nice to feel needed like that. I’ve never been in your situation, but I can still say your decision here ain’t makin’ you a shitty person or nothin’.” She said, giving him a squeeze before pulling back just enough to meet his eyes. 

“I’m really worried ‘boutchu, though. You’re all stressed out an’ we ain’t even official yet. I don’t wanna see you stress yourself to death here. I’m willin’ to give this a shot, like, we can have the dance date be a… tester? Of sorts? If that ain’t to stressful, an’ you can get through it without feelin’ shitty our guilty or crazy for tryin’ this, then I think givin’ a poly relationship would be okay. But, if you can’t handle the dance, then you gotta know a relationship is only gonna be a magnified version a’ that, an’ tryin’ to go for it might not be the best idea an’ we can figure something out from there. I just want you to be happy an’ healthy’ an’ not feelin’ shitty for doin’ somethin’ that’s perfectly okay.” She said, smiling at him.

 It was somewhat forced, really. 

She didn’t want to admit it, but considering everything, she’d probably just back off in things got too stressful for him. Her only other options were 1. letting him stay stressed, which was not something a good girlfriend did, or 2. she or Jade would end up monogamous with him. If she backed off first, Jade would get him. If Jade backed off first, she would get him. She had no idea what sort of relationship she and Karkat shared, maybe they were already boyfriend and girlfriend. She’d broken up couples before, sure. But Karkat wouldn’t even be her friend any more if she did something malicious like that just to be his girlfriend. Not even having him as a friend would be more painful than seeing him around the school with Jade. She could always fight Jade for him, sure, but that ran the risk of being kicked out, and, just as losing him as friend would be more painful than losing him as a boyfriend, being expelled and never seeing him again would be the most painful thing at all. 

It hurt even just thinking about her options. Karkat was the first person she ever felt this way for, she treasured him. He was her treasure, and dammit if she wasn’t selfish and possessive when it came to treasure. But still. Treasure had a price, an’ if that price was worth less than the ornate, priceless treasure chest to get at it, then it was best to leave the chest intact, use it as decoration, or something, rather than destroying to get the gold within Sure, she’d mourn the unreachable treasure, but it was better than way, really. 

It wasn’t at all what she expected. At first she was a mixture of excitement and disappointment. There was someone else who Karkat had his eye on, and he had asked her to the dance, and yet… he also asked her, Meenah, to go with him too. The second part of her reaction was just utter amusement, so much so that she snorted and laughed. 

“Karkat, you are aware that polyandry means a wife takin’ multiple husbands, right? You pretty much just called yourself a girl, an’ me an’ this Ruby… Jade? Yeah, this Jade person, boys right?” She just snickered a moment more before returning to being serious, “I get what you’re sayin’ though, yeah. I mean… I didn’t even know it was possible to BE polygamous, to use a broader term. Time with my dad’s family in India taught me polygamous is a practice, not an orientation, but if poly’s how you is oriented I ain’t gonna kick up a fuss. It ain’t my orientain; I don’t get a say in how yo’ feelings work” She said, pausing to take breath and let her lips relax a bit, that was a lot of English in very little time. 

She rested her chin on his shoulder, taking a breath before responding. “You need to calm down, this ain’t selfish a’ you. You got deep feelings for the two a’ us girls an’ wanna date us both. Its sweet you’d rather give out double the love than choose between us. Y’know? You ain’t wantin’ to be without Garnet, uh... Jade or me an’ its real nice to feel needed like that. I’ve never been in your situation, but I can still say your decision here ain’t makin’ you a shitty person or nothin’.” She said, giving him a squeeze before pulling back just enough to meet his eyes. 

“I’m really worried ‘boutchu, though. You’re all stressed out an’ we ain’t even official yet. I don’t wanna see you stress yourself to death here. I’m willin’ to give this a shot, like, we can have the dance date be a... tester? Of sorts? If that ain’t to stressful, an’ you can get through it without feelin’ shitty our guilty or crazy for tryin’ this, then I think givin’ a poly relationship would be okay. But, if you can’t handle the dance, then you gotta know a relationship is only gonna be a magnified version a’ that, an’ tryin’ to go for it might not be the best idea an’ we can figure something out from there. I just want you to be happy an’ healthy’ an’ not feelin’ shitty for doin’ somethin’ that’s perfectly okay.” She said, smiling at him.

 It was somewhat forced, really. 

She didn’t want to admit it, but considering everything, she’d probably just back off in things got too stressful for him. Her only other options were 1. letting him stay stressed, which was not something a good girlfriend did, or 2. she or Jade would end up monogamous with him. If she backed off first, Jade would get him. If Jade backed off first, she would get him. She had no idea what sort of relationship she and Karkat shared, maybe they were already boyfriend and girlfriend. She’d broken up couples before, sure. But Karkat wouldn’t even be her friend any more if she did something malicious like that just to be his girlfriend. Not even having him as a friend would be more painful than seeing him around the school with Jade. She could always fight Jade for him, sure, but that ran the risk of being kicked out, and, just as losing him as friend would be more painful than losing him as a boyfriend, being expelled and never seeing him again would be the most painful thing at all. 

It hurt even just thinking about her options. Karkat was the first person she ever felt this way for, she treasured him. He was her treasure, and dammit if she wasn’t selfish and possessive when it came to treasure. But still. Treasure had a price, an’ if that price was worth less than the ornate, priceless treasure chest to get at it, then it was best to leave the chest intact, use it as decoration, or something, rather than destroying to get the gold within Sure, she’d mourn the unreachable treasure, but it was better than way, really. 

As they spent more time together though, her methods of trying to annoy him grew more and more affectionate, from joking about his name, all the way to kissing at his neck and giggling at him as he trued to concentrate and speak through it. Hanging out with him. her eating didn’t get any better, even watching him eat, didn’t do much for her, but chatting with him did improve her English drastically, she knew multiple words of one meaning, she knew proper conjugations, she wasn’t fluent, and her American accent was still the shoddiest thing in existence, but she was making progress, in vocabulary and speed, she even knew enough Englush to drop the occasional [read: frequent] fish pun. She couldn’t help but show off, especially if it meant she got to embrace something she loved.

So, when Karkat slid into the seat next to her in that nice, Saturday afternoon, and his gravelly voice met her ears, she barely had to translate, she was getting better at thinking in English too. She leaned into his kiss, and reached for his hand, paused, drew her hand back, dried it in the fabric of her shirt, and then finally reached out to take his hand. Evidentially she had not just been looking at the fish but playing with them too, letting them chase her fingers. “Kitty, hey! Shore, I got a seacond.” She grinned, meeting his eyes and giving him her full attention. “What’s this something?” 

It wasn’t at all what she expected. At first she was a mixture of excitement and disappointment. There was someone else who Karkat had his eye on, and he had asked her to the dance, and yet... he also asked her, Meenah, to go with him too. The second part of her reaction was just utter amusement, so much so that she snorted and laughed. 

“Karkat, you are aware that polyandry means a wife takin’ multiple husbands, right? You pretty much just called yourself a girl, an’ me an’ this Ruby... Jade? Yeah, this Jade person, boys right?” She just snickered a moment more before returning to being serious, “I get what you’re sayin’ though, yeah. I mean... I didn’t even know it was possible to BE polygamous, to use a broader term. Time with my dad’s family in India taught me polygamous is a practice, not an orientation, but if poly’s how you is oriented I ain’t gonna kick up a fuss. It ain’t my orientain; I don’t get a say in how yo’ feelings work” She said, pausing to take breath and let her lips relax a bit, that was a lot of English in very little time. 

As they spent more time together though, her methods of trying to annoy him grew more and more affectionate, from joking about his name, all the way to kissing at his neck and giggling at him as he trued to concentrate and speak through it. Hanging out with him. her eating didn’t get any better, even watching him eat, didn’t do much for her, but chatting with him did improve her English drastically, she knew multiple words of one meaning, she knew proper conjugations, she wasn’t fluent, and her American accent was still the shoddiest thing in existence, but she was making progress, in vocabulary and speed, she even knew enough Englush to drop the occasional [read: frequent] fish pun. She couldn’t help but show off, especially if it meant she got to embrace something she loved.

So, when Karkat slid into the seat next to her in that nice, Saturday afternoon, and his gravelly voice met her ears, she barely had to translate, she was getting better at thinking in English too. She leaned into his kiss, and reached for his hand, paused, drew her hand back, dried it in the fabric of her shirt, and then finally reached out to take his hand. Evidentially she had not just been looking at the fish but playing with them too, letting them chase her fingers. “Kitty, hey! Shore, I got a seacond.” She grinned, meeting his eyes and giving him her full attention. “What’s this something?” 

why do they have to speak so fast dammit