Okay, first a thing for the actual chapter before I babble my randomness at you. First thought reading it: "Crabdad! D: " Second thought: "TINKERBULL! D8 D8 D8 D8 D8 " Don't ask why, that's just where it went.
Probably not what's gonna happen, but this verse is what I think about when I go to sleep and get bored in class and am supposed to be taking the minutes at work meetings, so I come up with stuff a lot.
At first when I thought about Dadbert and Karkat interacting, I imagined it would be weirdly amicable, mostly due to Dadbert wearing a white shirt and no symbol. White being an eye-catching color for trolls, mostly associated with lusii, Karkat would be a little stunned. Add in Dadbert's natural so-normal-it's-strangeness and his and John's bizarrely close adult-adolescent relationship, and Karkat'd generally be weirded out by the guy in general, but in a fascinated, what will he do next kind of way. It would eventually culminate with them baking something together after a few weeks of Karkat just staring at Dadbert every time he's in the room.
And then it hit me!
"Some lusii eat trolls that aren't theirs," Karkat adds, in a much too calm -- no, emotionless -- way. He's gone all restrained, smothered, it looks so very wrong on him. "Even if they don't, they're fairly territorial."
Dadbert is John's lusus. Since he sees Crabdad as his dad and John picked up on that translation, the feeling of "lusus" would come across pretty strongly the other way too. He wears white and no symbol for crying out loud, even the Dolorosa keep their caste signs. So when they're having breakfast one morning and John looks behind them and chirps "Hi Dad!" Karkat goes outwardly tense, makes this uncontrollable "Oh %^&*" face and mentally flips a little. He tries to immediately put a lid on all reactions, but he's still tense as anything, won't say hello (if he's even introduced, John may be smart enough to try to keep his dad out of the dangerous alien shenanigans,) and won't turn his back. It's like what he does with Dave, but worse, because he's actually freaking out over Dadbert, just being really quiet about it.
Climax for this scenario is Dadbert coming to wake John one morning for some reason, Karkat wakes up and sees him in the room and just starts screaming. Doesn't try to attack or anything, because it goes straight to the instincts wigglers have that there's something huge and it can hurt you and you need your lusus to save you because only lusus can fight off other lusus. It's hugely instinctual, and Karkat is just scrambling back huddling in the corner with his arm over his face and screaming. John shoves his dad out as politely as he can and gets the headbands. Gist of the conversation is John gripping his arms and repeatedly saying "He is not. Going. To hurt you" very firmly, edging towards angry because Karkat just does not get it and WHY do aliens have to be so weird about perfectly normal things?! And Karkat is glaring back on the edge of tears of fear and fury because this whole thing is just horrific and John just does not get it, and all he can say is "You don't KNOW that." John is eventually forced to admit that yes, Dadbert would kill for his kids, and they go into a bit of a stalemate there.
...this is what happens between chapters. My brain runs out of plot to analyze and I start going down other avenues.
Random character interaction ideas
Probably not what's gonna happen, but this verse is what I think about when I go to sleep and get bored in class and am supposed to be taking the minutes at work meetings, so I come up with stuff a lot.
At first when I thought about Dadbert and Karkat interacting, I imagined it would be weirdly amicable, mostly due to Dadbert wearing a white shirt and no symbol. White being an eye-catching color for trolls, mostly associated with lusii, Karkat would be a little stunned. Add in Dadbert's natural so-normal-it's-strangeness and his and John's bizarrely close adult-adolescent relationship, and Karkat'd generally be weirded out by the guy in general, but in a fascinated, what will he do next kind of way. It would eventually culminate with them baking something together after a few weeks of Karkat just staring at Dadbert every time he's in the room.
And then it hit me!
"Some lusii eat trolls that aren't theirs," Karkat adds, in a much too calm -- no, emotionless -- way. He's gone all restrained, smothered, it looks so very wrong on him. "Even if they don't, they're fairly territorial."
Dadbert is John's lusus. Since he sees Crabdad as his dad and John picked up on that translation, the feeling of "lusus" would come across pretty strongly the other way too. He wears white and no symbol for crying out loud, even the Dolorosa keep their caste signs. So when they're having breakfast one morning and John looks behind them and chirps "Hi Dad!" Karkat goes outwardly tense, makes this uncontrollable "Oh %^&*" face and mentally flips a little. He tries to immediately put a lid on all reactions, but he's still tense as anything, won't say hello (if he's even introduced, John may be smart enough to try to keep his dad out of the dangerous alien shenanigans,) and won't turn his back. It's like what he does with Dave, but worse, because he's actually freaking out over Dadbert, just being really quiet about it.
Climax for this scenario is Dadbert coming to wake John one morning for some reason, Karkat wakes up and sees him in the room and just starts screaming. Doesn't try to attack or anything, because it goes straight to the instincts wigglers have that there's something huge and it can hurt you and you need your lusus to save you because only lusus can fight off other lusus. It's hugely instinctual, and Karkat is just scrambling back huddling in the corner with his arm over his face and screaming. John shoves his dad out as politely as he can and gets the headbands. Gist of the conversation is John gripping his arms and repeatedly saying "He is not. Going. To hurt you" very firmly, edging towards angry because Karkat just does not get it and WHY do aliens have to be so weird about perfectly normal things?! And Karkat is glaring back on the edge of tears of fear and fury because this whole thing is just horrific and John just does not get it, and all he can say is "You don't KNOW that." John is eventually forced to admit that yes, Dadbert would kill for his kids, and they go into a bit of a stalemate there.
...this is what happens between chapters. My brain runs out of plot to analyze and I start going down other avenues.