[BACKDATED][CLOSED] little girls don't know how to be sweet girls, momma didn't teach me

[chronomancer]

Characters: Jade!Eridan Ampora & Willow.Rosenberg
Setting: To be decided!
Format: Action tags.
Summary: Eridan keeps his word, even when it's his doomed selves that make the promises. Willow... well, there's something she's been meaning to tell him. BACKDATED.
Warnings: None, hopefully?

[Eridan promised Willow he'd find her as soon as he was done with time shenanigans, but he'd been so tired once the dust settled. He can't keep procrastinating it, though. So after breakfast, he goes on about hunting for Willow. He'd start by her favorite floors except he doesn't know which ones are those. He's a little embarrassed to realize how little he actually knows about her.

Maybe... maybe he should ask her sometime. He knows she's been trying to be friendly and so far he hasn't been a very good friend, all things considered. He should fix that. Feeling a little guilty, he goes up the stairs, on the look-out for her.]

Comments

[guiltapalooza]

[Eridan might want to be careful about what he wished for after this conversation, because he is about to find out more about her.

Right now, though, she has her nose in a rather worn, leather-bound book as she goes down the stairs, a curtain of red hair obscuring her face. She's completely absorbed, and automatically moves to avoid knocking into him without looking up or realizing who it is.]

[chronomancer]

Sorry.

[Eridan sidesteps her as well, shaking his head and going on his way.

Wait.

He turns around, and only barely avoids facepalming at himself.]

Willow!

[guiltapalooza]

[At her name, she starts and stumbles down a stair, hurriedly reaching out to catch herself on the railing. Willow is not exactly the most graceful.

There's a pause as she waits for her heart to stop racing, and then she looks up. When she sees him, she breaks into an apologetic smile.] Whoops? Sorry, I was kidnapped by Byzantines. Their amulet designs are kinda fascinating.

[It's a dorky subject even for her, so a moment later she's backtracked up a step to be more level with him.] What's up?

[chronomancer]

[Eridan winced as she stumbled, eventually smiling wryly at her as he saw she was alright.]

Dunno. You said you had somethin' you wanted to talk to me about.

[He shrugged.]

And the population of jadeblooded Eridans in the tower has come back to a nice, stable one.

[guiltapalooza]

Oh! Yeah, I do. And I'm happy for you on that one. [Her smile turns into a bit of a wince; it really had upset her to think of talking to an Eridan that was fated to die, and apparently he had, already.

The topic she wants to talk to him on isn't going to be happy fun central either, probably. Willow closes her book and clutches it to her chest, biting her lip a little.]

Um. Come sit with me somewhere? Stairs are not a great place for talking.

[chronomancer]

Me too, it was kinda exhausting.

[He shrugs a little, before nodding.]

Sure, anywhere you want is fine.

[guiltapalooza]

It looked it. Really, that whole thing was a mess.

But... yeah, okay, getting this conversation over with. This should be the library right here, we can go get a table.

[She ducks out of the stairwell and glances back automatically to make sure he's following. Though Willow spends a lot of time in the library herself, evidenced by the book she's carrying, it's not exactly a popular hang out spot, so it should be good to give them space to themselves.]

[chronomancer]

Alright.

[Eridan follows after her, docile as usual. Though perhaps a bit nervous. He's not quite sure what she has to tell him that's so important, but she's made emphasis on it several times and his curiosity is piqued.]

[guiltapalooza]

[They settle themselves at a table, book pushed aside and forgotten. Willow shifts in place, and clears her throat. As she immediately launches into babbling and avoiding the actual subject, it's not hard to guess that she's feeling embarrassed.]

It's not anything bad, I wasn't lying about that. I just meant to tell you a lot earlier, but it never happened, and it's rapidly approaching the land of intense awkward that you don't know yet, so I thought I should just do it.

I want you to know that I haven't been intentionally keeping it from you! I didn't want to overwhelm you when you first got here, that's all.

[chronomancer]

[Eridan nodded along, slowly growing a little more nervous the more Willow rambled. He tilted his head to the side.]

It's okay, Willow, I understand that.

[Pause.]

I still don't know what you're talking about, though.

[guiltapalooza]

Right, yeah. Sorry. [An apologetic look, but now that she's gotten all of her babble out she's calmed down a fair amount.]

So... you know how there's a second Eridan wandering around? And he's more my age, and a sea dweller? I'm sorta dating him. Well, no sorta, actually, I'm his matesprit and there's rings and everything.

That's all I wanted to tell you.

[chronomancer]

[Eridan began to nod, then stopped. Then blinked. Then tilted his head to the side. Awkward.]

...oh.

[guiltapalooza]

Yeah. I swear I don't get you confused at all, though. I mean, it's a little novel -- you look like you could be his identical-yet-much-younger brother -- but you're really pretty different.

[chronomancer]

Oh.

[Please excuse Eridan, he's nodding along and trying to get the hang of how exactly he feels about it. Initially, he wouldn't feel anything, but Willow expects him to feel something and now he has to figure out what. Damn.]

[guiltapalooza]

[She doesn't need full details, but she is starting to get tense and nervous.]

Are we good? Please say we're good, or I'll have to grovel. [A pleading look.]

[chronomancer]

[Eridan stares at her a little.]

...why wouldn't we be?

[He then shrugs.]

It's really none 'a my business, Willow.

[guiltapalooza]

It's at least a little your business.

You stared at me for thirty seconds and said "oh" twice. You have something more than sunshine and puppies going on in there.

[chronomancer]

[Eridan looked away.]

It's only my business if the only reason you're my friend is because I look like your matespirit.

[guiltapalooza]

Duh, of course not. Sure, I was curious at first, but that's like the definition of superficial.

I just don't want to make you uncomfortable.

[chronomancer]

I'm not!

[And he wasn't, really. Honest. Well, he was, because of the conversation itself, not because of the topic of the conversation.]

I mean. I'm not him, and he's certainly not me. It'd be weird if you were dating one of my doomed selves or something, but. I mean, he's probably not that much like me at all.

[Mostly because he sounds nice. And people talk about him like he's not a total fuckup.]

[guiltapalooza]

I'm not going to date one of your doomed selves! [Instinctually offended reaction here.] For starters, you're like thirteen, and I know you're all mature cause blah blah trolls grow up fast or whatever, but, thirteen.

And for another thing, you'd be doomed, and I've had enough of doom. Absolutely no more doom.

[Oops, she's rambling and got relatively off topic.] But, uh, no, you aren't too much alike. You do the same thing with your V's and W's, and you're both totally head over heels for Feferi, but otherwise you're pretty different.

[chronomancer]

...I know you wouldn't date one of my doomed selves, Willow. I wouldn't date one of my doomed selves. Even if I were somehow miraculously able to live beyond six, but that's not the point.

[He shrugged.]

I don't understand why I'd have a problem with it.

[guiltapalooza]

I guess I'm just used to who everyone dates being a big d--

[Her mind catches up with her, and she lurches to a verbal halt. There's an instinctual moment of inner panic. Willow's had too many apocalypse level revelations dropped mid-conversation not to take this seriously.] Wait, stop. Wait. What do you mean you won't live past six?

[chronomancer]

[He shrugged.]

It's not a big deal.

[guiltapalooza]

It is a big deal! Don't treat it casually like that. I... [She's seen too many of her friends die to take this lightly, heart jumping to her throat and genuinely upset.]

Explain that to me. Why are you going to die?