towerofanimus | [CLOSED/OPEN] No words can heal a broken heart

Characters: [AU1] Eridan Ampora & [AU1] Equius Zahhak; Eridan Ampora and YOU.
Setting: Meadow floor (closed/backdated to the January event), Floor 64 (open/current)
Format: Starting with action but I'll match you.
Summary: Two logs for the price of one, lmao so I don't flood the comm: closing up aged up shenanigans, Equius is displeased and Eridan is about to learn just how much. Also back in real time, Eridan finds a deliciously tempting slice of home.
Warnings: Violence and swearing for the Equius log. Eridan being actually honest and pathetic and stupid, for the open one.

[Closed: Meadow floor.]

[He wasn't tired so much as he was trying to hibernate. He wasn't entirely sure trolls, undead or otherwise, actually did the whole hibernation shtick, but he could at least try. Save up his energy. Make his last feeding last. He was pretty sure things didn't really work that way but he was lazy and this was a good enough excuse. So there he is, as long as he is, lying on his back and sunbathing in the meadow without a care in the world.

Not that he didn't have cares. He had a lot of them, actually. But if he started thinking about all of them he'd probably implode. Or go on a rampage. Or both. Really, it was for the best of everyone involved, if he just laid there, soaking up sunlight and carefully thinking of nothing in particular.]

[Open: Desert floor.]

[It's so familiar it hurts, really. The heat, the sand, the occasional blast of wind. It's probably a bad idea to head out, and given the last few terrible ideas he's indulged lately, mostly as a result of the experiment last month, Eridan resists the urge to go.

But he wants to, dear god, he wants to so bad.

He's curled up on the sandy floor, barely two steps off the staircase, staring aimlessly at the distance and quietly drowning in nostalgia. He's never really stopped to sit down and miss life before the Game... but now he does and the wave of homesickness is almost entirely too much to handle.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Fuck off, Ampora. I'm not getting physical enough that I will have to change shirts and make another emergency scenario go away. Maybe you're okay with dotting the horizon with little drops of jade, but I'm not okay with mixing in crimson in the process.

[Eridan laughs at that, still half crouching on the sand, utterly unruffled by the heat or the sun or anything.]

There's a point where a troll just sort of stops fighting it, you know? I consider it a personal victory when I don't leave a trail of jade everywhere I fucking go.

[There's a pause.]

Each hour. I don't even try, honest, it just sort of happens.

[ see what Karkat is doing. he still has his hand to his neck. once he makes sure nothing his bleeding, he comes to tip Eridan over. ]

That's not what I meant. Not exactly. You can bleed and never live in fear of what will happen if someone notices the evidence.

It's been like eight lunar cycles and I have nothing to fear. I get that. But I can't get over it. Not yet.

[Eridan's posture shifts at that, less defensive into something overall more neutral.]

...yeah, okay, that sucks.

[He winces a little because... yeah, sometimes, he forgets about blood entirely, which he supposes is a privilege others don't. But then again, blood never really meant all that much to him, and blood politics usually just made his head hurt when he thinks too hard about it.]

I'm sorry. Didn't mean to upset you.

[ he plops down next to Eridan, groaning. ]

It's not so upsetting because I know you don't think of that shit. Really, I should just get over it myself. Honestly, it's hard to override your natural self defense mechanisms. You didn't do anything. Not really.

...natural self defense mechanisms. Yeah, tell me about those.

[His mostly include trying to murder anyone who tries to sneak on him.]

...I wonder if I should worry that biting's such a kneejerk thing for me to do, though.

[That was mostly a joke. Mostly.]

I'm not surprised at all, actually.

[ rainbow drinker genes. they are things. so Karkat can understand that a bit. mostly. ]

So you lived in an area like this, right?

Mmmhmm.

[Eridan smiles fondly, looking at the death trap around them almost affectionately.]

Not as mild, but similar.

[...because this is mild, compared to Alternian heat.]

What's it like?

Hot.

[Eridan chuckles.]

Really hot. Sand melts into glass, shit randomly bursts into flames if you're not careful kind of hot. But the sand is colorful, and there're little corners of greenery here and there, if you know where to look. And the neighbors are shitty as fuck, too, but they give you something to do.

[There's a small pause.]

...and it's really mindblowingly beautiful, sometimes. Usually when it's at its deadliest.

I lived in a regular neighborhood. Lawn ring next to lawn ring.

[Eridan shrugs.]

I always found towns claustrophobic whenever I went to one. Too many people in one place.

I bet you'd hate the communal hivestems then, huh?

...maybe. I don't know, having neighbors that aren't trying to eat the dubious contents of my pan sounds pretty neat, not gonna lie.

I don't know. Pretty sure that some of Captor's neighbors would be more than willing to do just that. Hell, Captor probably would himself after a coding bender.

[Eridan laughs a little.]

Yeah, no. Your average troll still has way more finesse than your average zombie.

[There's a pause.]

Fuck zombies, seriously.

Never been near any, Eridan. I have no opinion on the matter.

[ he stands, brushing the dust off of him and looking around. ]

Where are the stairs..

Lucky bastard.

[But there's no bite to that, only a chuckle. A chuckle that dies pretty quickly as Karkat's question register. Eridan sobers up.]

...oh fuck.

Motherfuck. Okay... Okay.

[ here he is. getting close to a panic attack already. HE DOES NOT WANT TO DIE FROM DEHYDRATION!!! ]

Which way did we fall from? Do you remember?

Don't move.

[Eridan's voice is sharp. Incredibly so. It books no argument at all, as he raises to his feet slowly and measuredly, trying not to change the imprint of his body on the sand.]

[ NOT MOVING! look at all of this fine not moving that Karkat is doing. he is a statue, man. ]

[Good boy. Now let Eridan shift about their dune carefully, studying the slowly fading marks thoughtfully.]

...well, that answers that question.

So we just follow them back, right? No big deal.

No.

[Eridan scowls.]

They're not leading where they should.

[He seems surprisingly non panicky about this.]

...So what do we do from here?

[ he is wringing his hands nervously. they're going to die out here. oh god. just fuck his lyyyyfe. ]

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