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[alienates]

KARKAT VANTAS

I probably do not give a fuck.

VOICE | TEXT | VIDEO | ACTION

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[sharplydressed]

[A gamble that'll pay off... Truly, miracles can happen even in April.

Kashuu does laugh just a little at that, though. Good thing he's pretty excellent at winging drinks on the fly.]

You got it! But at least tell me if you're a big sweets fan or not, first. Oh— I said a free pastry too, yeah? You can pick anything in the case.

[Which is, for a small cafe, pretty dang packed with some delicious treats. It has everything from classic Cafe Muffins™ to more delicate-looking petit fours and truffles.]

[alienates]

Sweet is fine-- holy shit.

[ yeah he just got a good look at the pastries. karkat gets closer to the case so he can give all of it a once over. he can cook, but baking is a skill that is beyond him so this is impressive. even if it tastes like shit, at least it looks delicious. ]

Cinnamon bun.

[sharplydressed]

[It's a top tier cinnamon bun, thanks to their mysterious NPC baker, who he doesn't hesitate to compliment.]

We have pretty much the best pastry chef in town, so I think you'll really like it! Want it warmed up a little?

[With a nod toward their little oven sitting on the back counter.]

[alienates]

Sure. [ ... okay his suspicions are diminishing, even if he is still sort of squinting around the place. you know, just in case. ]

Is this something you do a lot? Your coworkers don't seem surprised.

[ karkat does not invite people to his job often, mostly because his hours are bad and also who wants to hang out at a convenience store??? no one. ]

[sharplydressed]

[It's a very quaint cafe! Not even any stray buckets of water hanging out over doorways, because the employees that arrive for opening shifts are the ones who catch any stray Retrospec pranks, anyway... Most of the tables and chairs are made of a dark wood and the overhead lamps are somewhat dim, allowing for plenty of sun in through the large open windows to steal the lighting show instead. Definitely much cozier than a convenience store, that is True.

He'll slide the cinnamon bun into the oven on a little slip of parchment paper in the meantime, getting a plate and cup out and setting to work on the drink.]

Eh, more or less. What's the point of having a job like this if you can't share the benefits, y'know? Besides, it's not like I'm gonna be using up all the free drinks or whatever that I get. That'd be waaay too many sweets every day.

[alienates]

I am sure there are plenty of people who could drink all of it. Their dentist probably hates them though. [ a pause. ] Or love them, I guess, because they're probably paying all of the office's bills.

[ karkat cannot have too many sweet things or else he will also die from it. way too much sugar. ]

[sharplydressed]

They sound like the kind of office favorite that'd be a real problem in the end, y'know?

[ALL THOSE CAVITIES...

The cinnamon bun doesn't take too long to heat up, though, so it's on a plate and being slid across the counter before the drink is even finished. That follows along pretty soon after, though; it's a simple vanilla-lavender latte to cut out the bitterness of the espresso and balance out the cinnamon.

There's also a cat in the foam.]

[alienates]

[ karkat tries his best to subtly take a picture of the drink. it's not subtle at all because karkat cannot do anything casually, ever. ]

They will probably end up spending their college fund getting their teeth pulled. God I could never be a dentist, I think I'd throw up having to look inside people's mouths all day.

[ don't talk about vomit when you are about to eat?? ]

[sharplydressed]

[At the very least, he won't get called out on his very unsubtle instagraming...

Kiyomitsu also doesn't return back to work right away, which his coworkers are also apparently Used To. Granted, there's no one else in line waiting for drinks for now, so he doesn't feel too guilty (or guilty at all) about slacking off a little as he leans on the bar to chat.

About vomit, apparently. This is fine.]

Right? I mean, more power to 'em, but there's no waaay you could pay me enough to pull out people's teeth or clean week-old lettuce out of there. [Wrinkling his nose NOPE, not gonna do it.] But if dealing with problem cavity patients isn't what you're aiming for, what kind of stuff do you wanna do?

[alienates]

[ karkat wrinkles his noise at the description of dentistry, but his expression falls blank at the next question. ]

I dunno. I'm going to start college next fall, but... [ he has no idea at all what he would like to actually study or do with his life? he assumes this shouldn't be an issue right away, but then again a lot of people his age have some sort of idea of what he wants to study. ]

[sharplydressed]

[Kiyomitsu is definitely one of those people who'd had A Plan from before entering college, but he isn't about to judge anyone who doesn't go in like that, at least. Rather, he just seems happy to be meeting someone else who will soon be college-zombie-shambling his way through the hallways of RU.]

Ooh, really? That's exciting! You planning on sticking around and going to college here? Maybe we'll have some classes together... I'm pretty slow with finishing my cores 'cause they're so boring. Math and science are way important and all, but they're reeeally not for me. [WAVING A HAND as if to wave the numbers and equations that haunt his nightmares away from himself.]

What kinda stuff are you interested in, then? Not necessarily like, "this is my major" stuff, but hobbies or whatever?

[alienates]

I don't see the point in going to a school somewhere else if I don't know what I'm doing yet. [ as in, that is expensive and karkat is very mindful of money manners because he is broke. ]

Uh... movies, I guess? I'm on the newspaper staff at school.

[ although lately that has been more of an annoyance than anything. ] I wanted to throw my opinions at everyone but then I realized no one even reads the goddamn thing.

[sharplydressed]

Makes sense, makes sense.

[A little nod! He probably wouldn't have come here himself if he wasn't given an offer, considering he'd been in Japan at the time.

And then, a sympathetic look.]

Yeah, physical papers are kinda dying out, aren't they? Have you thought about taking up something like blogging instead? That sorta stuff can be pretty solid, and you'll probably get a waaay bigger audience.

[alienates]

I'm going to stick to the newspaper just so I can have it on my college application.

[ he looks slightly amused at the mention of blogging. karkat used to spend a very large amount of time throwing his opinion around on the internet, without having an actual blog himself. he doesn't do it as much as he used to, mostly because he doesn't have as much free time anymore, but listen.

if you look at enough youtube comment sections you'll probably find him. ]

Help me think of a blog name.

[sharplydressed]

[You can take the kid out of the internet but you can't take the internet out of the kid...]

Smart. Those guys love it when people can cram their hobbies and skills sections full of stuff. [A little wise old mountain sage nod, as if he's been in college for 1000 years and not just one.

He's so invested in this already though, okay, LOOK... Look, he loves blogging. Lifestyle blogs are a great phone accessory and he's addicted to instagram like a true millennial so he's entirely here for this conversation.]

What kinda stuff would you write about? Or would it just be like, a general opinions blog or daily blog or something?

[alienates]

General opinions, maybe... Although then it's the factor of why should people want to see out my opinions instead of anyone else's?

[ he takes a sip of his drink, and is momentarily distracted by the fact that it is actually good. he takes another sip. ]

Besides the fact that my opinions are obviously right.

[sharplydressed]

You'll just have to find your niche! Put a good spin on it and you'll get bites even if you're doing the same thing tons of other people are.

[He's seen the numbers to totally back this very fact-based statement up, okay.

Though he notes the pause, and his expression brightens a little.]

How is it? Good match for the bun?

[alienates]

[ it's funny because karkat knows what his niche is, and he knows it'll get a lot of views because people on the internet enjoy trainwrecks, and karkat's rants are the very definition of a trainwreck. ]

Yeah it's good. [ ... ] Is shit like this hard to make?

[sharplydressed]

[Let it be known that he will be there to up the view count on any rant blog Karkat decides to come out with since he too enjoys both 1) trainwrecks and 2) supporting good people which Karkat clearly is since he's a cat mom.]

Good, good. I think it's like most other things, though. It's not really hard to get the basics down, but it takes practice and time to really get good at it. You have to have a good sense for flavor-matching, too.

[alienates]

[ the amount of people who decided that karkat is a good person because of his cats is hilarious and karkat has decided not to correct them. ]

Can you make other things in the foam? [ CAN HE MAKE DOGS

karkat isn't going to flat out ask for the dogs because that is too embarrassing but. dogs? ]

[sharplydressed]

[Just play to the hopes of the crowd, always the best course of action...]

Sure! You can make pretty much anything you can think of. Birds, monkeys, dragons, dogs... [DOGS, KARKAT! But also one of these things sure isn't like the others, lord.] I just like cats the best and they usually get a good reception with the customers.

[Except for the weirdos who don't like cats, but their opinion is immediately Wrong.]

[alienates]

[ karkat obviously agrees with that sentiment.

but also, ONE OF THOSE THINGS WASN'T LIKE THE OTHERS? ]

Okay well first of all you have to show me how to make a dragon.

[sharplydressed]

Sure, sure! People really like that one too. [It's like making balloon animals but more elegant! The fan favorites are always easy to pick out.] Come over here real quick so you can get a better look, okay?

[He'll grab a pitcher of milk to steam up and one of their smallest cups! The prepwork is the same as usual, but it's when he starts pouring the milk that the coffee witchcraft happens, with the end result looking something like this.]

Ta-dah!

[alienates]

[ in a sort of hushed, awe whisper, that is somehow still pretty loud despite being a whisper, ] What the fuck.

[ obviously there is a trick to this that is easy to learn with practice, but karkat is far from artistic so it just looks like goddamn magic to him. ]

[sharplydressed]

[That's the exact kind of reaction that this nerd lives for, so he's just sparkling over here.]

Pretty neat, right? Here, you can take this one too, if you want.

[Nudging the hot chocolate forward... Karkat's just going to walk out of here with an armful of free stuff today, apparently.]

You can make pretty much any design you want that way and it's a little less hard than the foam that makes actual shapes.