Long winded Debates (Kankri x reader)

Playwriting 101

*Author's note: The reader isn't really in this chapter, but it's setting up a lot of the plot so please bare with me. I have a direction I'm going in and I have a lot of ideas, the next chapter will be lunch with Kankri. Promise :) thanks for reading and feel free to leave comments!*

KANKRI's POV

"She actually wants to continue talking me" you think to yourself. You feel you shouldn't be excited over something as trivial as this. But most people describe you as a complete nuisance, but she seems different in that regard. Like she already cares about you. "Maybe it's because she doesn't know me yet," you shake the thought from your head, you need to stay positive. You have friends, not many that would have stood up for you after knowing you for only 5 minutes though. Setting your things down on the table nearest to the teacher you open up a notebook for notes you expect you will be taking. The class seems small, only 10 people, with only 2 minutes until class begins. The teacher has already written his name on the board. "Mr. Egbert," you read to yourself. You scan the room but you don't see a teacher, he must be in his office.
"Hey, Kankri!" You look up to see another troll with bright red in his hair walking toward you. He sets his things on the desk next to yours and turns to face you.
"Hello, Rufioh. How was your summer?" Rufioh has always been a good friend to you. You've helped him study and he's even attended a few of your debate competitions. Though he'd never sit through a lecture of yours, he will listen to the introduction occasionally, which is more than most people. You snap out of your rather long train of thought to listen to Rufioh's response.
"It was pretty good. I travelled a bit, I went to Spain. I'm still with Horuss, our uh anniversary is next week. 3 years..." He doesn't seem as pleased as he should, 3 years is a long time to be in a relationship, but then you remember something...
"Pardon my intrusion on this... Trigger warnings: possibly incorrect memory, invasion of personal life, and romantic relationships. I thought you told me last quarter you were going to end that relationship?"
"I, I tried but he's pretty persuasive... Anyway how was your summer. Meet anyone special?" You already knew what he meant, but he added a nudge and wink anyway, to emphasize the point.
"No, I didn't meet anyone. As you already know, I am a celibate, I find it slightly triggering that you continue to ask about my personal life in such a manner. And I had a lovely summer, I mostly spent it at home with my brother Karkat, I visited with a few friends locally, mainly Meenah, Latula and Mituna."
"How is Mituna, by the way? I haven't heard from him since-"
"He's not much better." It's been hard on everyone since Mituna's accident, but we mostly avoid talking about it. Rufioh shakes his head.
"It must be hard for Latula. I don't know how you could stay matesprites with-" Rufioh is cut off by a booming voice filling the room. The voice came from the back of the class.
"Welcome to Playwriting:101," he was dressed relatively nice, but he is so young you thought he was a student. "I'm John Egbert, you can call me John or Mr. Egbert, I will not accept 'Mr. E, Eggy, or Johnny Boy. Are we clear?" The class nods in agreement. He shuffles some papers around and passes out the syllabus. As you read over the paper in front of you, it looks like we will be writing two monologues, a short scene and a one act play.
"Kankri, I bet you'll be great at monologues! You speak in them all the time." Rufioh chuckles at his own joke. You smirk, you know you are long winded, and you want to object to this, but somehow monologuing sounds better than lecturing.
"It's better than a soliloquy I suppose." You mumble this a bit, Rufioh doesn't seem to notice. Not that he would understand the humor in that. You see a soliloquy is a monologue delivered to the audience, it breaks the forth wall, whereas a monologue is in character- why am I explaining my own joke to myself? I bet this is why they call me the insufferable. You shake your head again. "Think positive, Kankri," you feel the need to remind yourself of this far too often. But it brings up your mood.
"This quarter, Drama 220 will be performing all of our works. As much as I don't like to limit creativity, we have to work in the perimeters of their class. In just a little bit we will be receiving a roster from their class so we can see how many people we will be working with. Today we will be assigning the people you'll write monologues for." Just as Mr. Egbert begins talking about his grading scale, another student arrives with the Drama 220 roster. Mr. Egbert thanks him and returns to the syllabus.

*small time skip brought to you by boring syllabus' everywhere*

"Before you leave we will be assigning your actors for monologues. They all indicated which genre they would prefer. Let's start with Adam..." He proceeds to tell Adam who his assignment is. Rufioh turns to you.
"I hope I get someone who likes comedy, I really like making people laugh. Don't you?"
"I am actually hoping for dramatic monologues, I find capturing emotion is easier than making a well-timed joke. I'm no Oscar Wilde."
"Rufioh? You'll be writing for Mister Karkat Vantas, who would prefer comedy and Miss (f/n l/n) who would prefer dramatic." Rufioh writes down the assignment quickly and closes his notebook. You didn't take (f/n) as a dramatic person. You suppose there is much more than meets the eye.
"Thank you." He turns to you, "I didn't know Karkat was going here too. You know Tarvos just started here this quarter, it's crazy how that happens."
"Ah yes, it's not enough to live with them, you also have to go to school with them. I didn't realize he would be in a drama class though." Karkat has only one emotion, anger. How that will translate to comedy is beyond you.
"Kankri? You have Miss Terezi Pyrope for Comedy and Mister Eridan Ampora for Dramatic." You jot this down. These are both friends of Karkat, however you know Miss Pyrope a little better. You may not be a fan of comedy writing but she can make anything funny. Her sister, Latula, is a friend of yours. Two more people get their assignments. Mr. Egbert tells us we need to have them both done by Friday at the latest, "they need to last about one minute, have a clear plot, character and beginning, middle and end. Please have two clear concepts ready for class tomorrow. You are dismissed." Grabbing your bag, you begin to head out the door, but are stopped by a familiar hand.
"Kankri, did you want to get lunch? There's a diner just off campus we can head to."
"Rufioh, I have told you before I do not like being touched. And while normally I would love to, I already made plans to have lunch with a girl I met today. I'm meeting her outside her class." He cocks his head at you, and looks a little confused.
"I thought you said you hadn't met anyone? Kankri, is this your first date? Do you need advice?" You do want advice. How do you make sure someone doesn't become annoyed with you 5 minutes into a conversation? How do I know when to stop talking? How will I know if she is interested in what I am saying? You decide against asking these questions even though they are beating you in the back of your mind.
"It's not a date, she's just new to town and I'm being friendly. But thank you for the offer of advice, if I ever do seek out a matespritship you will be the first person I turn to on the subject, as I find you to be quite knowledgable in that quadrant."
"Are you suggesting we be moilrails? I'm flattered but-"
"No." You needed to stop this downward spiral. "I admire you as a friend, but I have sworn off all quadrants, I was speaking hypothetically before."
"Oh, uh okay then Kankri. I'll probably just go find Horuss then. I'll see you tomorrow." He goes off in the opposite direction and you begin to walk back toward the theater. It occurs to you that could have invited Rufioh to come with, as (f/n) probably would have liked to get to know more people. It just didn't sit right with you. It could be triggering to invite a stranger to lunch without giving a warning to your companion. You stop a bench outside the theater, you still have 30 minutes to wait for (f/n).
You could either begin to write your monologues or work on a speech for debate. You decide to tackle the latter, you have no clue what you'll write for the monologues, perhaps you'll ask Karkat's opinion, he is a fan of romance so he would probably have a movie or two to recommend for inspiration. As that is the main subject in most monologues. Which would be helpful since you have little experience in quadrants.
Miss Lalonde put in the syllabus calendar that 3 prompts that we are passionate about are due by Wednesday. That begs the question "what am I passionate about?" The first one is easy. Free speech. But what about the next one's? Your life revolves around social justice, but is there a way to put two of those topics above the rest? You become so lost in thought that you don't hear (f/n) calling your name.
"Kankri? Kankri are you okay?" She grabs your shoulder to get your attention. Before you can lecture her on the triggers associated with invading someone's personal space, she takes your hand and pulls you to your feet. This is triggering, but in a good way, a pleasant way.