Ténèbres Rose

Blukat’s lip instantly curls to bear his fangs as he feels his patience very rapidly running out. Out of his entire family, Blukat probably has the most gentle of tempers - it takes a hell of a lot to get a rise out of him. But there is one place he has no tolerance, and that’s when it comes to Dar. “You’re right, I’m not your lusus – but I am Dar’s lusus. And as long as you’re in his head, you better dang well believe I get to tell you what to do. If you really think I’m not willing to fry the skin off my hands to protect him from what I deem as a threat, then you better rerun those numbers.”

Knight is beginning to feel a little stressed out, but he clamps down on it. Everyone around him is freaking out, so he needs to stay calm somehow. 

“Oh. Oh no no no, Blukat, sir, you’re feelings are. Completely valid. You have every right to be worried and angry. This is a very stressful situation that was never even mean’t to happen. AR was just. Worried. Because the circuit that fried is important. Not to Dar’s health! I promise. It is nothing that can harm him or cause him any problems. It’s. More of something important to AR and I.” Hal says quickly, the slightest bit of panic in his voice. “We. Are just not very good at conversation. We’ve only ever spoken with our self.”

“They’re a part of his robotic system,” Blukat begins to explain slowly, for Knight and Dar’s sake. He isn’t sure if Dar’s aware of them, he’s fairly sure Knight isn’t, so he’ll try to explain as much as he knows. Which admittedly isn’t a lot, but damn it an attempt will be made. “I’ve only ever interacted with – Hal, is it? A few times before, when Dar’s system malfunctioned and I needed to fix them.”

“Wait. Let’s get one thing straight, Blukat. You’re not my lusus, you’re Dar’s lusus, so you can’t tell me what to do with my mouth – which means you’re not touching my circuitry. If you even try, I’m programmed to fry the skin off your hands,” AR snaps defensively. “Besides, I wasn’t talking to you. I was talking to Hal. Speaking of, Hal, guess what, I can’t fucking fix those circuits. You try. It’s my turn to talk now.”

“I...Apologize so very much for his behavior. And if it helps at all I do turn off our sensors enough that we don’t see anything we shouldn’t. We just. Exist to keep Dar safe.” Hal adds quickly, before going quiet to focus on trying to repair the circuit.

The first thing Blukat does is – freeze. Completely. Every single muscle locks up, pupils dilating and mouth falling open as his brain momentarily short circuits. Instantly there’s a violent explosion of hostile concern, insistent inquiry; it takes him a few dazed, delirious seconds to realize it’s Tar, and he somehow has half a mind to press the other back.

“You wouldn’t have. Hal is a goody two nonexistant shoes,” the voice repeats, obviously irritated. “And it’s about fucking time someone besides you heard me. I was getting tired of your Pavlovian algorithms.”

“AR. Do not speak unless spoken to. Please keep in mind this is new for them and act accordingly. I apologize. To all three of you. I do my very best to stay quiet and unnoticed. It is not my place to speak to any of you unless addressed. I am sure this must be very shocki-...AR I can not repair the communication circuit. Please try yourself. I. Am not far from panic. Anyway. We are H.A.L.A.R. The AI system that protects and repairs Dar’s circuits when possible.”

At Knight’s reassurance Blukat smiles as best he can, feeling a bit guilty that his matesprit had taken note of his distress. It’s stupid and petty and he knows that, and he feels ashamed that Knight is aware of it. So he tries to play it off as best he can, giving a casual shrug and a big grin that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “I know, don’t worry about me Knight, I’m just being a worry wart,” he reassures him as sincerely as he can – and then everything he was thinking of seconds ago is officially flung out the window.

Knight barely has time to react to anything that just happened. “Forge on fire, Hanali!” he shouts, dropping down on one knee next to Dar and Blukat. He let’s Blukat handle Dar, knowing he knows best, and focuses on Hanali for the moment. “Why the fuck were you running?”

He slowly sits up, holding his head as his breath hitches on cries that want to come out. He doesn’t want to bawl though. That might make Blukat and Knight upset...And he definitely doesn’t want that, no matter how bad that hurt. The tears though, he can’t help. They bubble up heavy and warm and roll down his freckled cheeks.

Swallowing hard around the tightness in his throat and the tightness in his chest Blukat just nods, squeezing Knight’s hand maybe a bit tighter then he would normally. It’s the only thing that betrays the distress in his mind, which he continues to force back as they exit the room. That and his unusual silence, probably, but he realizes that’s a problem soon enough and quickly tries to compensate for it.

Knight shoots Blukat a worried look, squeezing his hand a little tighter. He herds Dar in front of the both of them so they can watch him carefully as he walks. He turns his head slightly, running the bridge of his nose along Blukat’s jaw, humming softly.

Dar is in his own little world. A part of him just feels...so so horrid for forgetting where this flute came from. His fingers brush over the inscription, a soft sigh escaping his lips. Karkat Vantas. It had been so long since he’d been addressed by that name...It didn’t even feel like his anymore. And honestly, he was okay with that.

The unease is stronger now, that small anxious part of him flickering into life. This is clearly something from Dar’s timeline - something important. Important things from Dar’s timeline doesn’t usually end well for him. Memories of Gamzee stings at the back of his eyelids. And maybe there’s a small part of him that admits there’s some petty fear there, that fear of – new things. Old things. Important things, more important then him. 

Knight nods quickly, his expression growing more worried by the moment. He holds out his arms and gently scoops Dar up, twirling him around a bit in an attempt to somehow shake off the unease that has so tightly gripped him. He sets him down by the door and hums softly, reaching back to lace his fingers with Blukat’s and dragging him forward. 

When the flute is back in his hands he clutches it. Tight and close to his chest. He. Almost would swear he heard that robotic voice in his head say something like...’Finally.’ or something of the like but. No. No that isn’t possible. That voice only ever spoke when running diagnostics on his systems or scanning an area. He must have been hearing things.

Instantly Blukat tenses, because suddenly there’s an alarming amount of feelings crashing over the mind link. And most of them are very, very bad, even if there’s some confused underlying good, and he doesn’t like it. He doesn’t like it at all. Swallowing hard he hesitates, inhales.

Knight looks at Dar worriedly, reaching out to touch his arm gently, giving it a reassuring squeeze. He lets his gaze trail over to Blukat and the flute. He reaches out to run his finger along the crest of it.

His eyes immediately dart up to follow the flute, hands almost reaching back out to nab at it. But he doesn’t. The reassurance warming through the link is another to stop him from snatching at it. Though...He doesn’t tear his gaze from it. He feels as if he can’t. Like...it’s been missing all this time. And he shouldn’t let it from his sight again.

There’s a really inappropriate joke lingering on the tip of Blukat’s tongue before he realizes he was just about to make a sex joke involving his ward and the words just kind of fizzle out. Instead he busies himself with hanging up the dresses, humming a tune to keep his mouth otherwise occupied.

Knight frowns softly, looking over at the two of them from where he’s putting knives in the box. He hesitates a moment, then hurriedly finishes stocking the box and latching it. He moves over to Dar and leans closer to inspect the flute.

He doesn’t speak in reply to either of their words. In fact, he doesn’t even look away from the flute. He slowly turns it over in his fingers, brows furrowed deeply as his fingertips brush along its length. It makes him feel...a sense of loss. Deep in his gut. But...also a warmth bubbling up in his chest.

“That sounds good to me Knight~!” Blukat chirps as he instantly hops up to bound over to the closet, retrieving a bunch of coat hooks to start hanging the dresses on. Some of them are a little wrinkled, and he makes a mental note to take an iron to them at some point. Get them all smoothed out and looking perfect for his ward. “Just make sure the box has a very secure latch – wouldn’t want it falling open and dropping knives everywhere.”

Knight rolls his eyes and grins, stepping over to the tub and carefully mounting the box on the wall. He props it up with his shoulder, carefully, and dislodges a hammer and a few nails. He sets to work securing the box to the wall.

He snorts, looking himself over and patting himself down a bit. “...Yeah. Yeah I like me unstabbed too. I don’t think I’d enjoy being swish cheese. Swish-Dar? Bleh. I don’t like the sounds of that.” he huffs softly, shaking his head.  He then blinks, glancing around the room for a moment thoughtfully. “I got it! I think I know where a few more are actually!” he calls out, pecking Blukat’s cheek before nabbing the knifes and gently handing them one by one to Knight. Once he’s handed all of those over he moves to another pile of things on the other side of the room.

Blukat instantly sidles over to start helping Dar fold the clothes, separating them into different types of clothes as he goes. Snorting at Knight’s question he raises his eyebrows a little, smiling in amusement at both of them. “Dar maybe you should have like – a case for those? Keeping daggers just laying around isn’t a good idea. Add that to the list of things we need to do, get Dar a knife case.”

Knight laughs at Dar’s response, then begins slowly picking clothes out of the dresser to throw in a pile by Blukat and Dar.

“Mmm! You’re probably right. I feel like I was going to get one at some point...But I...forgot...I’m bad about that. Heh.” he laughs lightly, a bit of an embarrassed flush on his cheeks. It’s true. He forgets things far too easily. Which. Should probably annoy him. And it probably WOULD annoy him. If he could remember to be annoyed. Ah the cycle.

It takes some time for Blukat to convince himself to let go of the two bundles of joy he has in his arms but he eventually manages, because they did come here for a purpose right? Yes. Cleaning is the purpose, even if he kind of just wants to bundle up both of them in the tub and take a nice nap. He gets stupid and giddy around the people he loves, it’s a curse.

Knight nods, looking around the room thoughtfully. “Alright, hey. You guys pick up all the clothes, and I’ll start going through the dresser.” He stretches, then walks over to the dresser and opens it. 

“Sounds like a plan to me~!” he sings aloud to them both, skipping over to the pile and beginning to shift through it. Any clothes he finds he folds gently and places down next to him to pile.

“Nooo. I am not handsome at all, I am beautiful,” Blukat refuses Dar’s negotiation attempts with a small, playful huff. He manages to catch his face with a few more kisses before Knight’s voice intervenes and his ward is dancing away to answer the door. Chuckling in amusement he follows behind him, leaving a quick kiss against Knight’s lips as soon as he gets the opportunity.

Knight smiles, trying to contain his bubbly boyfriend in his arms as best he can. Nuzzling his face gently against Dar’s cheek, he leaves a few kisses on his lips and nose before pulling back slightly, giving Blukat room to kiss him. He hums gently against his lips, grinning wide. Yes, good. This is his favorite place.

He chrrs softly, peppering Knight’s cheek in kisses before shifting and wiggling in his grasp. His gaze sweeps across the messy room for a moment, systems beeping and scanning and trying to calculate which part of the room would be best to start with.

“Okay but I’m not handsome, I’m beautiful,” Blukat dismisses easily, grinning as he gently boops the tip of Dar’s nose. “You and Knight can keep all the handsome,” he adds, eyes sparkling with amusement. Then he laughs, seeing the sheepish look on his wigglers face.

“You can be both though! A lovely mix of handsome AND beautiful!” he laughs softly, purring at the suggestion in thought. True. He had never really thought of storing them in something like that. He’d always just. Tried to pile it as neatly as he could out of his way. But. That system definitely didn’t work when you just kept getting more and more stuff.

“Hello little love~!” Blukat purrs in delight as he wastes no time hooking his arms around Dar’s waist, using his grip to hoist Dar off his feet. Not a lot, just enough that they aren’t touch the ground, so he can spin the two of them around without accidentally tripping his wiggler. 

He squeals in delight, an ecstatic flush covering his cheeks at the praise and compliments. He loves getting complimented by his lusus and his mate. Those two could praise him all day long in his opinion. Because nothing feels better than being called such sweet things from your favorite people.

ALL THREE 0F US WERE PLAY WRESTLING AND THINGS G0T A BIT 0UT 0F HAND….

Dar simply laughs at his lusus’ explanation, shaking his head fondly before setting his phone on his dresser. For a brief second he stares at all his stuff, huffing quietly. How did it even get so messy? He almost asks himself that question. but honestly the answer is pretty obvious. Gifts were a thing he received quite often from many people.