A Sweater Means A Lot a Porrim and Kankri story

A Beforus Short Story

Disclaimer: I don't own Homestuck or any of it's characters, those all belong to Hussie. All I own would be the story I guess, so enjoy. Also, this was a commision from a friend of mine!

The sound of voices echoed along a beach side, the way both parties were speaking revealed neither were quite happy. This was Beforus, a land now inhabited by ghosts. These trolls were actually quite deceased but lived together in this land enveloped and created solely on dream bubbles. Although they lived together and had been for quite some time now, that doesn't mean that most of them had to get along. Which now brings us to our current situation. On this beach line now reside some of those trolls, though this mix wasn't the most successful ones.

More shouting and even more raucous ranting continued to increase in volume along this line and the ones within the argument were really going at it. The frequent and increasingly louder ranting came from a certain candy blooded celibate. And the yelling and even louder threats came from a certain fuschia blooded empress. "UUUUGGGGHHHH! yur gonna make ma glubbin ears bleed" Meenah shouted at the candy blooded troll who quickly responded with flame ridden eyes and bared sharp teeth. "Y9UR N9T LISTENING T9 ME AT ALL!" Kankri began to shout, losing all calm. "I'M 9NLY TRYING T9 GET THIS ASSEM6LAGE T9 W9RK AND ALL Y9UR D9ING IS TRIGGERING N9T 9NLY ME BUT EVERY 9THER TR9LL ON 6F9RUS!" He growled and focused his flaming eyes directly on the young empress. Meenah groaned and contemplated "pokin some holes in em" before realizing that she in fact had better things to do than to argue with a deceased troll that she couldn't really do any real damage to. "ya you keep blowin bubbles imma split before i lose any more glubbin royal blood" She sniped before turning heal around and absconding as fast as possible, leaving Kankri to try and cope with his anger... alone.

"WHY MUST THE CASTE 9F THE HEM9SPECTRUM ALWAYS 6E S9 FRUSTRATING!!" He shouted, running low on words. His anger slowly dissipated to sudden and now prolonged sadness that had been running a muck throughout his collapsing and expanding bladder based aquatic vascular system (heart). Kankri looked down, his white reflective eyes giving off an odd shimmer like appearance and a tint of red began to appear around the bottoms of his eyes. "Why w9n't they listen?" He asked no one, as to the fact that he was now alone on this barren and (lame) beach. He let out a soft whimper like noise that had gone unheard by every other troll as he collapsed down beside the water and let the red transparent liquid flow from his eyes and drop down into the water.

No one had ever seen him like this. Everyone's outlook on him was of a rebellious "teenager" and a long-winded rude troll. But he had taken a serious hit when he had failed to be a leader and the scratch had occurred. He felt as though it was partly his fault for the entire predicament of them being dead (although it clearly is Aranea's). His heart began flopping from anger to sadness as he tried to blame the others of not listening to his (rants) advice and getting stuck in this position in the first place. But then it would flop back to the fact that no one had listened to him in the first place. He growled and held his head, trying to get it back together when he heard a soft voice behind him. "Kankri, what's wro+ng?" A familiar jade blooded troll spoke from behind him.

Instantly, Kankri his the fact that he was crying returned to his normal status of social justice. "I find it quite triggering when y9u listen in 9n 9ne's meanderings with 9neself Maryam." He quickly blurted, trying to cover the hitches in his voice. His eyes had returned to their dull white. "N9w, what is it that y9u needed t9 intrude *hic* up9n me f9r?" He asked again, this time a hiccup interrupting his sentence and revealing the fact that he had been crying. Porrim looked at the crouching puffy eyed Kankri and a soft warm feeling of pity ran through her heart. She stood near him, causing Kankri to develop a look of slight disgust and confusion on his face at her proximity. "I als9 find y9ur pr9ximity quite triggering as y9u sh9uld kn9w. I d9 h9pe that y9u are aware 9f my 9ther trigger warnings as t9 n9t to make this situati9n even more unc9mf9rta6le." He snapped and turned his head away from Porrim. She sighed and rolled her eyes (though you pretty much wouldn't be able to tell). "Well anyway, I was ho+ping to+ find yo+u. I've go+t so+mething fo+r yo+u." She said and looked down at the box she was holding. Kankri looked up at the box and made a face at it that clearly screamed he didn't want it. "I'm n9t y9ur m9rail, I d9n't need y9ur pity gifts to enlighten my m99d." He said and once again, turned his head away from her. Porrim was not amused, nor was she going to take no for an answer. "It's no+t a pity gift and I kno+w fully well yo+u aren't as well o+iled as I am in the revo+lving do+o+rs o+f the quadrants." She said as she rustled around with the box and opened it, pulling something out. Kankri tried to will himself not to look, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of his attention, but curiosity got the better of him in the end.

In her hands, Porrim held a bright candy red turtle neck sweater. She seemed to have made it herself. Kankri opened his mouth to speak but was instantly cut off by Porrim. "Befo+re yo+u begin a lecture abo+ut ho+w yo+ur clo+thing is sufficient eno+ugh and ho+w yo+u do+n't need it, just co+nsider the slight po+sibility that so+meo+ne actually cares abo+ut yo+u." She said and held the sweater out to him. Kankri's mouth opened and he had to think about what to say. "I find that sweater t9 6e very caste selective and thencef9rth unaccepta6le." He said and held his head up, his eyes closing to form his famous uncaring pose. "Yo+u kno+w fully well that if it were any o+ther co+lo+r it'd be just as unacceptable and yo+u wo+uld turn it do+wn even mo+re vigo+ro+usly. So+, ho+w abo+ut yo+u sto+p wo+rrying abo+ut caste o+r quadrants just this o+nce and accept the sweater." She said and held it out further to him.

Kankri looked up and frowned at the sweater and contemplated whether or not he should accept the gift or turn it down. But for what? He had no real reason to deny the gift in the first place. So, with as much unwillingness as he could muster, Kankri took the sweater. "Anyway, I no+ticed ho+w yo+u always lo+o+k co+ld what with yo+u o+nly wearing pants." Porrim smiled sweetly at him. Kankri looked up at her and, with a small spark of warmth, smiled.