Kankri and the Beast

Bored to Death

This was not at all how he planned his day to go, and yet, there he was. It had started off so plain and ordinary, just as he himself was. He woke, helped Karkat construct his basket, ate his porridge, and chose a good novel to get lost in.

Just as he had the day before. And the day before that. And the day before...

The peace was nice, for a while. For a few weeks, maybe even a month or two, he had enjoyed all of these new free time immensely. Not having to get up in the early morn, though he still did out of habit, and don the red cloak and basket with the intent of wandering through the woods until evening had almost seemed like a blessing. He was more than happy to pass his old duties down to his little brother, who, he must admit, was much better at dealing with the resident "wolfbro" than he, but now he found his days to be tedious and without purpose. All of his books had been read, thrice, and none of his friends could spare such great amounts of time to entertain him, seeing as they had their own duties to uphold.

He wondered briefly what Karkat had done all those years, waiting for him to return from the forest and relieve him of his boredom. He supposed that someone like Karkat didn't need to be entertained much, for he seemed to greatly enjoy being by himself anyway. Kankri barely remembered when Karkat stopped waiting on the doorstep for him to return home and tell him about his day. That was a time when the boy had barely come up to his hip and would scowl at the magical cloak whenever the thought of him one day wearing it came up.

Now he was of age and taking over for him, wrapping the cloak tightly to keep the morning chill out. Karkat still hated the red color of it, and even more so the "little red" name that came with it, so he would try in vain to change the color. Every week or so, the boy would dip the magical wears into a pool of grey dye down at Kanaya's, hiding the bright red for a while. Unfortunately for him, however, the magic always brought the color right back, forcing him to either accept it, as if that would ever happen, or continue this pattern until he does. No matter what Kanaya or Porrim, the maker of the cloak, said, Karkat's mind could not be swayed.

Many a day did Kankri ponder the idea of coming with Karkat, in an attempt to kill the boredom and feel a bit more like he used to, but that idea was always shot down by both himself and Karkat, who did not want his talkative brother hanging over his shoulder all day. Kankri didn't want to impose anyway. Karkat needed to do this on his own, for Kankri will not always be around to hold his hand for him, not that he ever has had the need to do so since Karkat had been a small thing.

Either way, Kankri had been bored out of his mind. It took him much longer, that fateful day, to decide on which book to read, for now the fourth time. For, every time he made the decision, he lost interest in that particular title at the remembrance of having recently read it compared to others. Once one had been chosen, the decision solid in his mind, he had the thought that perhaps a change of location would aid him in his endeavor.

So he had set out on a brisk walk, traveling through lesser known paths through the trees, least he run into Karkat and trigger him, making him think he was spying on the younger Vantas. With book held tightly in his arms, Kankri allowed his hands to run through the greenery as he passed, plucking petite flowers and gracing his dark locks with them every now and then. The fresh air did him some good.

What came next, however, did not.

A low growl came from behind him, causing his steps to falter and his back to straighten further. Another growl joined the first, then another, then another. Kankri did not need to look to know what was stalking him, for it was not the first time they met, and hopefully not the last.

The wolves of the forest tended to leave him alone. Then again, that was when he was Little Red and had been in closer proximity to the Big Bad Wolf or his brother. They feared and respected the pair, in their own way, and would not dare to hurt either Vantas so long as they were under the protection of the Makaras.

However, Kankri had not been around either of the wolf brothers in quite some time and these wolves were on the verge of forgetting what human flesh even tasted like, so they were willing to take their chances. Besides, he was so far away from either of the Makaras, or the regular paths of anyone, that no one would even find his body until it was much too late. They would pick every inch of meat off of his wry form and then pull apart the bones and scatter them throughout the grounds. They wouldn't be caught. Not this time.

Besides, no one would miss the ex-little red.