[He's moving. Thank god he's fucking moving. Too bad that's literally the only positive thing Karkat can say about the situation; Dave doesn't even seem to realize that being soaking wet is a bad thing, much less that Karkat is trying to help. Case in point—]
I'm trying to get you dry.
[Why the fuck else would he want Dave naked? Don't answer that. And he's trying to sound patient, really he is, but with how much effort it's already taking to conceal his worry, be soothing, his voice is getting lower and tighter with every new way Dave reveals how completely not fucking okay he is.
It had taken only one text-based conversation to reduce him to this. Karkat doesn't even want to know what meeting Dirk in person would do.
He follows Dave's gaze after a second or two, spots the towels, and wastes precious time internally berating himself for not thinking of that sooner before going to fetch one for him. Dave is moving sluggishly enough that he doubts he'll be able to dry himself completely, but at least he's mentally "here" enough to draw logical connections that Karkat is obviously too fucking incompetent to even consider.]
Dave? Here, this—you wanted this, right? We still need to get your clothes off, but—look, if you can do this yourself, I'll go and get you new clothes from the respiteblock, but if not, I have to stay and help. We can just take off your shirt and pants and leave your underwear, but we need to dry you off completely before we can get you warmed up. Okay?
action
I'm trying to get you dry.
[Why the fuck else would he want Dave naked? Don't answer that. And he's trying to sound patient, really he is, but with how much effort it's already taking to conceal his worry, be soothing, his voice is getting lower and tighter with every new way Dave reveals how completely not fucking okay he is.
It had taken only one text-based conversation to reduce him to this. Karkat doesn't even want to know what meeting Dirk in person would do.
He follows Dave's gaze after a second or two, spots the towels, and wastes precious time internally berating himself for not thinking of that sooner before going to fetch one for him. Dave is moving sluggishly enough that he doubts he'll be able to dry himself completely, but at least he's mentally "here" enough to draw logical connections that Karkat is obviously too fucking incompetent to even consider.]
Dave? Here, this—you wanted this, right? We still need to get your clothes off, but—look, if you can do this yourself, I'll go and get you new clothes from the respiteblock, but if not, I have to stay and help. We can just take off your shirt and pants and leave your underwear, but we need to dry you off completely before we can get you warmed up. Okay?