Karkat stood up on his hide legs so that he could hunt around for something edible in the dumpster he was digging in. There, that was a bit easier. He crinkled his nose in disgust at the stench; mentally cursing his powerful sense of smell. It made finding food so much harder. It wasn't the first time he'd complained about his extra cat senses.
Cat senses?
Yes, you read/heard correctly.
Karkat was technically never born at all. He was more or less mutated into existence. Some genius thought it would be a good idea to cross a troll with one of those weird little pawbeasts that the humans kept as pets, and so thus Karkat was created. Luckily for Karkat, he was sneaky, and managed to escape. That was about a week or two ago; since then, he'd taken to the alleyways and streets of Alternia. It was a cut-throat way of living but he tolerated it.
He growled softly in annoyance and shut the dumpster. Nothing remotely resembling food in there. Oh well. His tail flicked to and fro as he knelt back down into a crouch, ready to slink away to look elsewhere, when his ear twitched at the sound of footsteps. He tensed slightly and quickly turned his head towards the noise.
Towards the end of the alley he was currently living in stood a troll the size of a fucking giant, staring at Karkat curiously with his head tilted slightly. A Faygo was in one of his hands, while a wrapper probably containing some sort of half-eaten food was in the other. Karkat debated running away, but.......whatever he had in his hand smelled pretty good. That was enough to keep him rooted to the spot.
He eyed the troll warily before cautiously taking a few steps forward. His fingernails-slash-claws were ready to slash this dope's eye out if he made any moves. He lashed his tail from side to side as he crawled closer. Once he was right in front of him, he sat down, staring at whatever was in his hand, sniffing, whiskers twitching ever-so-slightly.
The troll(we know him as Gamzee Makara) quickly figured out what he wanted and smiled, lifting his hand and dropping the wrapper in front of him. Karkat wasted no time grabbing it and scooting back quite a ways back into the alley, opening it up to reveal some sort of Alternian fast food that resembled the weird boxed "Chinese take-out" humans would eat. He let out a soft mew of pleasure and reached into it, pulling out a handful of noodle-type-things and eating it all. He was a hybrid, of course, so he had no need for table manners.
While he ate he paid no mind to Gamzee, who'd sat down and was watching him eat with an amused expression. That is one cute little motherfucker. He thought to himself with a soft chuckle. Karkat's ear twitched at the sound, but he showed no other response as he finished his meal. He stopped to wipe the sauce that was dripping from his whiskers and licked his lips. Mmm, delicious!
He nodded once at Gamzee, expressing his gratitude without saying a word. Gamzee smiled back at him and held out his hand. "C'mere, you cutie." Karkat growled softly at the word 'cutie', but hesitantly approached Gamzee's outstretched hand, and lightly nuzzled it. Gamzee ruffled his hair softly. As he did so, Karkat narrowed his eyes, sending the troll a mental warning; touch my horns, fuckface, and I will not hesitate to kill you. Okay, quick thing about Karkat's horns.
He absolutely hated it when someone touched them, reason being that when he was back in the lab the asshat trolls there were constantly sticking needles into him and running tests. Karkat would hiss and scratch wildly at them. The only way to get him to calm down long enough to experiment on him was to touch his horns and turn him into a pile of purring affection. Karkat would be completely helpless while they did what they wanted, and he hated it.
Luckily, Gamzee got the message and scratched him behind the ears instead. Karkat made a soft purring noise in his throat as he did so. Gamzee smiled and then stood up to leave. Karkat let out a squeak and scrambled to sit in front of him, looking up at him with an expression that said, "Hey! Where do you think you're going?" He was still hungry! Gamzee blinked once and looked down at him, slightly confused. "I don't have any more food, little buddy. Sorry."
Karkat gave him a sad look and nudged his leg. He wasn't giving up that easily. Gamzee hesitated before smiling. "I bet I probably have something back at my hive. Come on then." Karkat squeaked happily and stood up to take his hand; letting him lead the way to his hive. He'd never been inside a hive before!