[OPEN] How much of it's genetics? How much of it is fate?

[chronomancer]

Characters: jade!Eridan & YOU! 
Setting: Workshop
Format: Starting with action, but I'll match you.
Summary: Eridan emerges from his self-imposed exile for a while to clean his rifles.
Warnings: Eridan's deadpan. Potential violence if he gets pissed; lots and lots of rifles. Gamzee. Gory, ironic death via Gamzee. Goddammit, Gamzee.

[He started off with one. And then he doomed himself a few times. And well. It wasn't like he could just let them go to waste, when they started piling up.

Laser rifles need a different type of maintenance than the usual kind, but it's still maintenance in the end.

So there's a sullen troll, half hidden behind a pile of guns, carefully cleaning one by one. It's a methodical and repetitive process, but it's not like Eridan seems to mind too terribly. He's just minding his business, but hey. Maybe if you ask very nicely, he'll give you one.

Maybe.]

Comments

[chronomancer]

[That did not make a whole lot of sense, just for the record. But he's not sure if he should ask more, so he shrugs.]

You're doing pretty well so far. At least I think so.

[heavenscorpse]

Thank you. I'm trying, but some things are really complicated to explain. What do they say, um, 'you had to be there'.

[chronomancer]

Heh, don't worry, you're talking to someone who gets that very well.

[He shrugs.]

[heavenscorpse]

But, can I still make friends in this tower despite that?

[chronomancer]

Of course you can.

[Eridan snorts.]

If you can't explain something, or you just don't feel like talking about it, just don't. Being friends doesn't give people the right to poke their nose into your business and try to squeeze every last secret out of you.

[A small pause.]

Plus, you're pretty nice, I don't see why someone wouldn't want to be your friend.

[heavenscorpse]

Thank you, Eridan. I like you too - will you be my friend?

[chronomancer]

Sure.

[He smiles at her, keeping flippant about it but just barely.]

Who wouldn't want to be friends with you?

[HE JUST LIKES HAVING FRIENDS OKAY. Also, he hasn't done this in a while. It's nice.]

[heavenscorpse]

Well, some people. One person threw me out the window. A few times.

[chronomancer]

[Stare.]

...what.

[heavenscorpse]

It's okay. I have wings, so I didn't get hurt or anything.

[chronomancer]

[Staring.]

But throwing people out of a window. What the hell.

[heavenscorpse]

He was kind of a grumpy person.

[chronomancer]

...That's kinda an understatement...

[Srsly.]

[heavenscorpse]

But it's okay, he warmed up to me eventually. So don't worry.

[chronomancer]

If you're sure.

[He frowns a little.]

Promise I won't throw you out a window.

[heavenscorpse]

Thank you. I think that would end up worse here anyway.

I promise I won't hurt you at all. I don't like hurting people.

[chronomancer]

[Eridan smiles, expression softening a tad.]

It's okay. I don't really like hurting people either, so it works out, right?

[heavenscorpse]

Uh-huh! Thank you, you're really nice.

[chronomancer]

Ah.

[AWKWARD. He shakes his head.]

It's no big deal, really.

[heavenscorpse]

Okay. If you're sure then I won't say anything more about it.

[chronomancer]

...thanks.

[He takes another rifle, pulling it apart deftly.]

So. You fought a war then? An eight-people war?

[Getting back on topic here.]

[heavenscorpse]

Uh-huh. See, after Earth died, humans weren't supposed to outlive it, but they did. So the rest of the solar system sent their strongest beings to wipe out humanity.

That makes it Type-Mercury, Type-Venus, Type-Mars, Type-Jupiter, et cetera versus human species. I was Type-Venus.

[chronomancer]

Ooh.

[He nods along.]

That sounds kinda like the Scream in my world, actually.

[heavenscorpse]

What's the Scream?

[chronomancer]

Well, one of my friend's lusus... that's like a human parent, except not at all, it's complicated. Anyway, one of my friend's lusus lived in the bottom of the ocean with her, and she had to keep her quiet because if she screamed then all trolls would die.

[Eridan shrugged.]

So when my world ended she Screamed and it was this psychic type thing that just sort of makes your pan explode between your ears. It killed pretty much all trolls in the galaxy except my friends and I, but that's only because we weren't in the same universe anymore.