This wasn't part of the plan...

[chronomancer]

Characters: Eridan and YOU.
Setting: Room 1-10; Dormitory Hallways, attmepting to head towards the cafeteria.
Format: Starting with Action tags, but I'll match your preference.
Summary: In which Eridan wakes up and Is Not Dead, followed by a self-pity storm, followed by a bit of exploration. And oatmeal.
Warnings: Ridiculous amounts of self-pity. Additional warnings will be added as necessary.

Room 1-10.

[Eridan was not having a good day. For one thing, he was having a day in the first place. Which wasn't supposed to happen. He knew that much. For another, looking into the trunk at the feet of the bed he'd woken up in - his? - he found his Time Reels. Completely unreeled. So he's trying really hard not to go into meltdown at the whole situation by carefully trying to fix his damn reels back as they should be. Which wasn't really working out all that well.

So there he is, sitting on his own bed, tangled beyond hope in what seems like miles of film, trying to carefully reel it all back in place. And very casually hyperventilating at the fact he was alive. He really wasn't supposed to be, dammit.]

Dormitory Hallways.

[Having given up on fixing his reels - right now - Eridan chose to explore a bit and see what kind of people were around. He walks around the dormitory hallways, with this defensive, "I have no fucking idea where I am" expression on his face, feeling unnerved and lacking in weapons or defenses.

But he's hungry and the letter said he could find food at the cafeteria, which is where he's hoping to go. At some point. When he stops being hopelessly lost and jumpy about every shadow in the corridors.

Hey, he's not the Hero of Space, alright? Cut him some slack. ...please?]

Comments

[chronomancer]

[Aaaaawkward. But he'll decline from comment on Karkat. If you don't say anything, nothing comes back to bite you in the ass. And after such a lovely conversation with David, he's temporarily remembered this lesson.]

A bit. The floors an the monsters an the lack of wways out. Also, this.

[He spoons the oatmeal, clearly not looking forward to actually eating it.]

[verymuchalive]

So the important stuff, at least. Did they explain about how we're all from different timelines, even different time streams in some cases, and that sometimes there's more than one of us here?

[She notes his reluctance and smiles a little]

The good news is, this is the only time you have to eat it. You get a little more freedom after that.

[chronomancer]

Yeah. I'm... kinda familiar with screwwed up time mechanics.

[He gives the Time symbol in her outfit a look. Then sighs. And eats a spoonful, not quite grimacing at it. He swallows, looking still pretty unconvinced about the whole affair.]

...could be wworse, I suppose.

[verymuchalive]

You too, huh?

[She's aware they played SGRUB in his verse, thanks to Kanaya, but they never got into details so she doesn't want to assume here. But with a comment like that...]

At least it's only tasteless. Better than tasting awful.

[chronomancer]

Yeah. Nevver wwas really good at it, though.

[He smiles wryly at the understatement. Then spoons about the oatmeal some more.]

That's true. I guess I can't really complain about it.

[verymuchalive]

What makes you say that?

[She nods at the latter comment]

Sooner you get it over with, the sooner you never have to think about it again.

[chronomancer]

[Eridan snorts, and sullenly drops another spoon of oatmeal into his mouth.]

For starters, I think my shovvel saww more action than my Time Reels. It's not supposed to wwork that wway.

[verymuchalive]

Why not? Just because you have time powers doesn't mean your other powers or weaponkinds stop working.

[chronomancer]

Um.

[Eridan looks... somewhere between embarrassed and sheepish.]

The shovvel is. Kind a complementary for the time powwers. Actually.

[verymuchalive]

Oh, really? How does that work?

[Now she's definitely curious]

[chronomancer]

Wwell, betwween a shovvel and a spoon, I'd pick the shovvel to get doomed selvves and their pilin corpses out a the wway.

[Sullenly eating oatmeal, yes.]

[verymuchalive]

Oh! Well, yes, that's very...practical of you. Lucky I didn't really have to worry about that when we were fighting the Black King.

[chronomancer]

[He shivered visibly.]

...don't remind me.

[verymuchalive]

[She frowns a little]

That bad, huh? I can't say I remember much about our fight...only that there were a lot of Robo-Aradias involved. But then I wasn't exactly at my best then.

[chronomancer]

[He nods, quite familiar with the mechanics of A Fuckload Of Doomed Selves.]

Yeah, those doomed selvves finally wwere good for somethin then. You... that is, the Aradia I knoww helped a lot, you knoww.

[Eridan smiles faintly.]

Probably wwouldn't havve wwon that battle without her.

[verymuchalive]

[She looks a little surprised at that]

Oh? You know, if you don't mind me asking...Kanaya told me a little about the me in your world but you seem to be rather more positive about her than she was.

[chronomancer]

[Eridan stole a few moments to think about that by eating two spoonfuls of oatmeal in a row. Finally, he nodded shallowly.]

...I don't see wwhy not. Wwhat do you wwant to know?

[verymuchalive]

I'm just intrigued to know what she's like, I guess. Kanaya gave me the impression that she's very different to me and I find it interesting to hear how I turn out in other realities.

[chronomancer]

Wwel, you, I mean she's a blueblood.

[Eridan pauses. Trying to figure out how to phrase this...]

An I guess you're pretty different. I don't think I can remember seein her smile. Like. Evver. Vvery serious and vvery... um, determined.

[verymuchalive]

[She nods, seeming remarkably unsurprised by the description of her as a blue]

Well, that makes sense. I seem to remember being like that when I was a robot and I had blue blood then.

[chronomancer]

[Wait, what.]

...howw did that evven happen?

[verymuchalive]

Well...I died. Only, I didn't stay dead. Equius built me a robot body so that once I was in the game I would actually have one again...probably better we don't go into detail about that.

[She glances away. The Equius thing is still awkward to talk about]

[chronomancer]

Sorry.

[He looks away, too. Wow, way to talk without thinking, Eridan. Way to go.]

Anywway, Ar is pretty damn amazin wwhen it comes to science and stuff. But she doesn't like talkin much, wwith anyone.

[verymuchalive]

[She shakes her head]

Don't be sorry. It's not like you could have known.

[She considers a moment as he describes his world's Aradia]

Well, science was never my thing. I was more into archaeology. But I suppose it would be ridiculous to think we'd be exactly the same...even the similarities are more from the time when I was a robot than how I am now.

[chronomancer]

I wwouldn't knoww. There's another... Eridan around, right? An before I got here, there wwere twwo... From wwhat I'vve heard, they're not much like me, either.

[He shrugs, playing with the oatmeal again.]

Maybe it's part a the wwhole alternate univverse, split timeline thing that's goin on here.