towerofanimus | [OPEN][BACKDATED] Hold out I'll give a little piece of me

Characters: (Jade!)Eridan('s blood) and you!
Setting: Fleeing from the infirmary and up towards the dormitory, so stairways ~~because Eridan's not reasonable when he's freaking out this bad~~.
Format: Action but I'll match your preference.
Summary: BACKDATED to Valentine's day. Eridan managed somehow to escape Dualscar's... "attentions", but not unscathed. So now he's leaving a very obvious jadeblooded trail as he flees towards his dormitory ~~so he can hide under his bed~~.
Warnings: Lots and lots of jade green and it's not grubsauce. Will add more as necessary. Feel free to add chocolate shenanigans too if you want.

[Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

Eridan stumbled as fast as his legs could take him, which didn't seem to be enough. Maybe running after losing an arm, still bleeding from losing an arm, wasn't the brightest of ideas, no. And maybe if he had been thinking straight, he'd have headed for the elevators, rather than the stairs.

But fuck rational thinking, he's going on the sheer terrified certainty that if he stops moving, if he lets Dualscar grab him again, he's going to die.

He might still die, as it is, what with the blood loss that's also painting a very convenient trail behind him, or the cuts on his throat and his face. But the single important thing is that he's not going to die at Dualscar's mercy.

Fuck that. If he's going to die, he's going to find a nice, cozy corner and then ~~kick the bucket~~ die on his own damn terms. Which at the moment seem to be anywhere but here.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

...

[He does allow himself to be pulled around, and does actively look Eridan down; unfortunately, his eyes are wide as saucers, and the general look on his face is akin to a deer in the proverbial headlights. The two remain like this for several moments before, slowly, Equius lowers his gaze.]

...Yes, sir.

Equius. Eq.

[Eridan sighs, but doesn't let go, though he softens the hold a bit. How. Did he ended up being the one doing the comforting here?]

I'm okay. And you're okay. And we're both okay and neither of us is going to die.

[He tries to speak with certainty, which he really doesn't feel, but he's a good liar and good at pretending to be okay. He ducks his head to try and meet Equius eyes again, though the next sentence is emphasized oddly. With a hint of desperation in it.]

And Neither Of Us Is Going Anywwhere Near The Infirmary. Okay? Now, sit down, take a deep breath and calm dowwn.

[If he concentrates on keeping Equius calm and non-panicky, he can ignore the fact his arm is killing him. He can even ignore the fact that the arm that's hurting so much isn't there anymore.]

...W-why? Why don't you want to go to the infirmary?

[Zahhak no comprende.]

[Ampora will use small words. Eridan sighs.]

Remember howw I said this--

[He half shrugged, looking at his. Well. Missing arm.]

--had been a wwrong time at the wwrong place kind a thing?

...Yes...

That's because the infirmary wwas that wwrong place.

[He gives Equius a long look.]

I'm kind a not in a hurry to see if it's still the wwrong time or not. If you knoww wwhat I mean.

...Y-yeah. I do.

[Equius meets it, somehow. Not easily, but somehow. And then he... finally follows the advice Eridan has been babbling for about six or seven tags now, and stops to just. Take a breath.]

I'm sorry. That was... [How do you even find a word for what that was...] ...pathetic. I'm sorry.

[Eridan offers a small smile.]

It's okay. I'm kind a rusty at the wwhole calm-someone-dowwn department.

[There's just this sliver of bitterness there. It's blink and you miss it. The smile remains, though.]

I'm sorry I yelled at you.

...You had no reason not to. You're higher than me and I was acting completely worthy of a culling. There's no need to apologize for merely raising your voice.

[Suddenly, reverse-hemobigotry. We can't have him talking reasonably for too long, after all.]

[Well, without the sunglasses you can actually see Eridan roll his eyes at you, Equius. But he's still smiling. Yeah, you're good, you'll survive.]

You're not cullable material, Eq. And I apologize because I feel like it. So there.

What do you mean? Of course I'm cullable material. I'm practically the most cullable material there is. [Pictured: Equius Zahhak, completely missing the point. As usual.]

[Eridan just gives Equius a long, flat look. Take advantage of the fact he's lost his sunglasses and isn't carrying a replacement. You get to see all those expressions that are usually hidden away.]

[Hello, horrible sinking feeling.]

...What?

[Eridan rolled his eyes again and reached a hand to bump Equius head with a loosely made fist, pretty much just a tap. ~~Where are rolled up newspapers when you need them?~~]

You're not cullable material, Eq. None of us are.

[And Equius actually flinches when Eridan reaches for his head, expecting to get beat up for his trouble -- it's happened before, and it will almost certainly happen again. So he looks a little confused when all he gets is an almost playful bump. And yet... he doesn't actually know how to respond to that last bit -- normally he would go on a long tirade about how culling is necessary to ensure that the Alternian gene pool stays healthy for a long time to come, but considering the fact that it's kind of irrelevant now... yeah, he basically just looks confused.]

[Eridan smiles wryly, shaking his head.]

I should probably go now.

...What? Where are you going?

[He's almost too eager to jump onto a topic that doesn't make his brain implode if he thinks about it too long.]

Up.

[To go hide under his bed for a while, specifically.]

How far up? [He looks to the arm stump again. It doesn't take a lot of mental math to figure out that since Eridan was going up, he was only able to get up at most twelve flights of the staircase...]

Probably all the way back to my room.

[Yeah, that's another thirteen or fourteen floors. They'd have an actual Katamari ball on their hands if Eridan suddenly became woozy or something from his uncovered open bleeding wound-- no. Stop. Not again.]

...Would you mind if I went with you?

[Eridan shrugged.]

But you're busy...

[Why do we have to move on from things that make Equius uncomfortable into stuff that makes Eridan uncomfortable? Can we move on to something that makes no one uncomfortable?

...is that even possible?]

[No. No, it's not possible.]

With what? I'm not busy.

[Damnit.]

You sure?

Yes, sure. [He neglects to mention why exactly he wants to go up there with Eridan, of course; to imply out loud that he couldn't walk the rest by himself would be absolutely unthinkable. Of course, he shouldn't be implying it inside his head either, but...]

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chronomancer - 2012-03-03 00:34 (UTC) - Expand

mutab1e - 2012-03-03 01:17 (UTC) - Expand

chronomancer - 2012-03-03 01:38 (UTC) - Expand