#trigger-me-tim6ers

Family member?  Your fur instantly rises for fear of your position being threatened; this is your home and your person.  Master gives you a few scritches behind your ear and leaves the room (presumably to fetch the brush or treats).

You stare at that bowl and finally see the small creature inside it; it’s a violet goldfish, and it’s staring back at you.  You just know it’s plotting with its slow bubbly glubs and its wispy fins, sizing you up with its bulging purple eyes.

While your person is absent from the room, you hop down and decide to pay a visit to this Cronus.

A few graceful hops and you’ve cleared the chair and sprung onto the desk, plopping your rump down beside Cronus’ home base.

You peer at the glass separating you from the fish who is now floating in front of you.  You just know he is mocking you; that vacant stare does not conceal his sinister intent.

You put a paw on the glass and stare suspiciously, ears folding back against your fuzzy head.

You’re onto him.

Him and his wicked watery ways.

Cronus curiously inspects the little grey pads on the underside of your paw, his mouth constantly moving as if he’s talking.

Is he talking to you?  Perhaps he is and you aren’t aware because you don’t understand glub-speak.

How problematic.

While you’re mulling this over, Cronus lunges your paw through the glass, sealing his mouth over the surface.  It startles you and you flail back, scampering around the bowl once in a wild panic before screeching to a halt right where you started.

You wiggle your nose and kitty-glare at him.  Cronus merely waves his fins weightlessly.

What is he after?

You muster the courage and stretch yourself up to the rim of the bowl, paws balancing on the lip.  Eyes dilating, you peer over and down into the watery cove.

You hate water with a fiery passion yet you just can’t resist.

You want to know more about Cronus, starting with how those fishy fins feel.

You dart a paw in and swipe at him, gently, tentatively.

He jets away from the offending paw just as you jerk it back out and shake it vigorously.

You managed to graze his top fin; it felt slimy and unwelcoming.

Very strange indeed.

You decide you want a closer look though.

Bravely, you lean over the bowl and stick your face in, nose kissing the top of the perturbed water.

Cronus circles slowly, bulb-eyes turned up toward you.

He’s suspicious of your intentions but he too is curious.

Your whiskers are laying against the surface but you don’t mind

You are too caught up in watching.

Your purple housemate circles once more before swimming up-up-up until his mouth reaches your kitten nose.

And doesn’t stop.

He latches onto your nose and you feel suction.

You rear back and nearly take Cronus with you, the shock of it all sending you back on your behind.

He floats back down to be level with you.

You mew in frustration and launch yourself back up, dunking your nose back in.

This time Cronus meets you fish-mouth to cat-nose.

Expecting to be bitten or inhaled, you are pleasantly surprised by the little nuzzle you get instead.

Cronus descends to the gravel bottom, and you think it was just a fluke, but he’s wiggling back up and doing it again.

Is he making peace with you?

You dip in a paw and simply let it rest on the surface.

It takes some time but the violet fish eventually bumps against the paw as if he were like you, wanting to be pet.

When you owner returns you don’t even notice until you hear his hearty laugh.

Kankri had warned him about his version’s Ampora and what he needed to be wary of; strangely enough it was one of the things they could agree on.

Amporas.

Loud, obnoxious, dramatic, conceited Amporas.

They were a royal pain in the ass to deal with, a walking sob story, but they had a certain pitiable charm about them that could not be ignored.

Karkat missed his Ampora sometimes, missed the better days when things were less complicated with him.

Cronus exhibited many Eridan-esque qualities, the worst of them being his persistence.  He cornered Karkat on more than one unlucky occasion to suck up to him while simultaneously trying to wiggle into his pants.

And every time Karkat shot him down more harshly than before.

But here he was again on that log, alone for one glorious moment he couldn’t appreciate.

Karkat was lonely; sure, there were people around, alive and dead literally milling about, but he couldn’t relate to any of them.

His friends were preoccupied, and these new people were nothing more than strangers who vaguely resembled his friends.

Cronus stood a few feet off, helplessly watching Karkat.

He knew better than to approach Karkat with the same old antics; Karkat was not won by a few suave pick-up lines.

He lingered on the sidelines, weighing his options as he considered Karkat’s slumped form.

He lit up his dormant cigarette (in the absence of the very asthmatic Kankri) and wondered if he should be here at all.  It’s obvious Karkat wants nothing to do with him.

But then he heard a sniffle, saw shoulders sag and realized something was amiss when Karkat’s head fell forward.

Cigarette pinched between two fingers, Cronus ambled over and peered around at the young Vantas, confirming that yes his face was in his hands and yes, he was crying.

“‘Ey, ‘ey now chief, no tears…" Karkat sat bolt upright, startled and on the defensive, sheeny red liquid glistening around the rims of his sleepless eyes.

"I wasn’t fucking crying."  He insisted as he smeared the cuff of his sleeve very unconvincingly over his cheeks.

Cronus smiled and knelt in front of him.

He offered him his idly burning tobacco.

"Here, take a load off."

"Fuck no."

"Have you tried it?"

"No.  Smoking is for wannabe hipster jackwagon losers."

"Well, that was specific,"  Cronus replied with a deep chuckle before popping the filter between Karkat’s lips and held it there with thumb and forefinger.

"Just humor me, eh chief?  Take a puff.  It really does take the edge off."

He glared suspiciously at the humankin troll as he slowly inhaled.

"Not too deep.  Just a bit to get a taste of it.  Hold it in, nice an’ easy…"

Karkat did as he was told—or at least he tried—but he sucked in a breath too sharp and ended up coughing fitfully.

Cronus retrieved the cylinder and dashed to Karkat’s side.  He sat with him and clapped his back until Karkat’s lungs resumed proper function.

"Good try, kitten.  The first puff is never graceful."

Cronus wasn’t prepared for the cigarette to be plucked from his mouth and transferred back to Karkat’s.

Frowning in concentration, Karkat pulled another drag, this one much steadier.  He held the smoke as long as he could before releasing it in a slow hiss.

Cronus watched the little Vantas indulge with a brow cocked in amusement.

"See—"

"Don’t you say one more word."

Karkat’s frazzled nerves became nothing more than a bitter memory after draining half the stick.

After getting his fill, he passed it back to its proprietor.

"Sorry."

"For what?"

"I don’t know."

Cronus slunk an arm around Karkat’s shoulders, and the boy didn’t resist.

"You’re doin’ a fine job, Kar.  I can tell.  You’re sure as shit doin’ better than me and my buddies."

Karkat didn’t hear anything after Cronus dropped an all too familiar nickname.

He glanced up at the older troll, and Cronus met his stare.

They were looking for something.

Cronus tried to find Kankri in Karkat.

Karkat tried to find Eridan in Cronus.

It was like looking at an inverted mirror in a fun house.

Suddenly Cronus didn’t seem to sleazy or obnoxious.

"Y’know, you remind me a whole lot of Kan when he was young: feisty and full of conviction.  But you’re not boring or washed out.  Where he runs ice cold, you run hotter than lava, babe."  Cronus sucks in smoke and blows it out in wispy contrails that mesmerize Karkat.

"Was Kankri always so fucking awful?"

"Nah, but he’s always been a visionary."

Cronus contorted his mouth just so and tipped his head back, exhaling a vaporous heart.

"Okay, for a wanna hipster jackwagon loser, you do some cool shit with smoke."

Cronus licked his lips as if he were savoring the nicotine staining his palette and gently tucked Karkat tight under his arm.  He put their foreheads together and murmured inches from Karkat’s downturned mouth.

"Babe, you have no idea all the cool shit I can do."

Karkat groans loudly and nearly slaps Cronus’ face to steal his ciagrette and have another puff.

"That stuff’ll kill ya, chief."

"You wish."  He blew a smoke cloud in Cronus’ face and flicked the cancerstick off-screen.

"Call me Kar again."

Cronus arches a brow, a slow smile curling.