towerofanimus | (no subject)

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Characters: AU Eridan Ampora and OPEN
Setting: Infirmary
Format: Either
Summary: Eridan was injured pretty badly in his nightmare world, and he's the Worst Patient Ever.
Warnings: Swearing and references to grievous injury likely. Otherwise, I'll edit it if necessary.

Someone bandaged his blistered wrists and put some kind of salve on his savaged back. The salves dulled the pain a lot, which was good, but Eridan knew it'd come back. He lay on his side, because lying on his back hurt too much, the blanket pulled up to his chin and his face buried miserably into the soft pillow.

He didn't know why the universe decided to dump all of the problems onto him. Why did he have to be the one sea dweller who was born into poverty, the only one from a world where sea dwellers were reviled instead of revered? Why did he have to be the one clapped in irons and whipped for something he never did? Why did Feferi have to be dead? The one light in his life, and she was gone.

Why did the universe always have to make him miserable?

Life was hard.

So hard.

And clearly no one understood.

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[Something in her warms as they huddle under the blankets. It makes her think of older times with Xander, which is a sure way into her affections.

She feels a weird compulsion to do something like kiss his forehead or run a hand through his hair, but that's such a bizarre, out of place, girl dating thought. A human dating thought, which he wasn't. And also, male, which bears repeating. Bad, bad Willow. She wrenches her thoughts back to reality.

Willow would have strong words if she knew 'friend' meant 'enemy'.] Friend thing definitely working out, [she confirms, dismissing her previous musings entirely.] Now, which story... Goddess, I have so many. Seven years' worth.

This might take a second.

[OOC: Trying to remember if there are any fish-related episodes, hahaha. But if not, there's always the musical episode, which is one of my favourites]

[It's not that friends are enemies, just that they're pretty much the same thing. A troll can't really trust their friends, but they don't necessarily consider having enemies to be a bad thing.

To Eridan, all this cuddling is like a moirailship, and while he feels bad palecheating on Feferi, he clings anyway, because he needs it so badly.]

I'm not goin' anywwhere, so take your time.

[Also the longer she takes to think, the longer he gets to cuddle]

[ooc: There is the one where the swim team turns into water monsters and Xander tries to infiltrate the team... The musical's just bad memories for Willow, unfortunately lol. OH WAIT. OKAY. I will totally ignore your suggestions, but thank you. XD]

[Willow could never turn an almost-friend away for cuddles after the trial he's just been through. She is all about the post-trauma cuddling.]

--Okay, I think I got it. Do you know anything about Halloween?

[OOC: LOL, that's OK!]

[He cocks his head]

Nevver heard of it.

It's a holiday that takes place in fall, and was originally about paying respects to the dead. Now it's more about scary things, and kids dressing up like monsters to go ask for candy from house to house. That's called trick or treating.

When I was seventeen, and back before I was any good at this magic stuff, we all got roped into supervising some kids on their trick or treating expeditions. We being Buffy, Xander and I.

Since this is Sunnydale-- that's my town-- it definitely didn't end up being a normal night.

Any questions so far? [Cause after this she more or less launches into crazy turning-into-their-costumes shenanigans, so she wants to make sure the background set up is comprehensible. Some things that seem really fundamental and basic to her seem to be totally different for trolls, so Willow thinks she should ask.]

[He thinks for a few moments]

Wwhy wwould you pay respect to the dead?

Oh, and wwhat's trick or treating?

Trick or treating is the kids dressing up as monsters and going from house to house, where people give them candy, [she clarifies.]

As for paying respects to the dead... [This is harder to explain than she'd have thought. It was such a basic aspect of human culture.] Humans have a thing where we all want to be remembered, I guess. We want to feel like the generations that come after us will appreciate what we've done and contributed. Traditionally Halloween was about pacifying angry or lost spirits so they don't come back to hurt you for revenge, but today it's more about fun parties and candy.

Oh, that sounds like a kind a interestin wwriggler game, i guess.

[He nods as understanding dawns. He thought she meant something about honouring someone's corpse] Okay, yeah, it's the same wwith trolls, except for that stuff about the dead people comin' back for revvenge, that sounds fake and implausible. But those wwho're alivve wwant to make their impact and be remembered after they're dead, that's just basic.

Oh, good. I was getting worried that we had even more cultural gaps than I thought. And then how would you get my witty references?

It's an absolute imperative for conversation that you get my witty references.

Yeah, bein' wwitty is important, that's somethin' I'vve tried to cultivvate myself. [He grins, though he's also being a bit serious] So wwhat all happened on this Hallowween Evve?

Well, it turns out that this old school buddy of Giles' -- Giles being our librarian and Buffy's Watcher, kind of like a, um, teacher slash guide -- showed up and wanted to cause trouble. He worships the god of chaos, Janus, and pretty much does stuff just to watch people run around like chickens without heads.

This time he set up a costume shop, and because all of us had to go supervise trick or treating kids, we had to get costumes ourselves. I was kinda... To be totally frank, I was a geek with less than zero self-confidence and a tendency to make an embarrassment of myself in social interactions pretty regularly. So I always went as a ghost with a big white sheet over me.

Buffy tried to talk me into going as some kind of sexually aggressive goth girl, but at the last minute I chickened out and threw the ghost sheet over everything so Xander wouldn't see me like that. Talk about embarrassing.

[Wow, he can barely believe she is so awkward. His wind tube closes up a little with the beginnings of pity. She feels outside and awkward in her own world, even though he can't understand why.]

I wwish I could understand wwhy someone wwith so many good qualities wwould have such low self confidence.

[She blushes faintly at the unexpected compliment, and tries to cover hurriedly.] Wh-- hey, this is so not a Willow pity party, this is a cheer up Eridan after his traumatic experience party.

Suffice to say my good qualities weren't exactly at the forefront, given I tended to make vowel sounds whenever a boy even spoke to me. It was a long process to graduate to whole words.

[And now it's time for Eridan to blush] Pity party... ah, no, it's definitely not one a those. This is all about me, yeah, and not about pity at all.

...Wwhy wwere you actin' like that, though? Wwhat wwas it about human boys that intimidated you? You didn't havve the same reaction to females? [He knows she's telling a story and he's sort of getting it off track, but she keeps mentioning things that are confusing and curiosity-inducing.]

[Wait, he's totally reacting like she said something... forward and provocative, almost. Oh well, she won't ask-- she doesn't want to make him more awkward and embarrassed and blush-y. Even if his purple blush is kind of cute in its unexpectedness.]

Most humans are only sexually and romantically attracted to the opposite sex. It's called being heterosexual, or straight-- at the time I was straight, so I was kind of, uh, terrified that no one would be interested in me.

And what do you know, I was pretty much right. Up until I met Oz, anyway. But that's a whole different story involving werewolves and tears and Pez dispensers. [Willow's okay with tangents, but that would be less of a tangent and more driving in the opposite direction.]

Huh? Really? [S T A R E.] But wwhy wwould you differentiate? I mean, I'vve heard a that kind a preference bein' a sort a wweird fetish, but you havve a name for it and evverythin'? Twwo names, in fact?

Uh, well, males and females have different-- parts. And we reproduce with one male and one female, so there's an evolutionary imperative for us to be attracted to the opposite sex. [She hastily adds,] Though not everyone is, of course.

Do trolls not... do it that way? [This is rapidly becoming super awkward conversation ahoy, but Willow is legitimately curious about this, as uncomfortable as it also makes her.]

[Jaw drop.] No, trolls don't do it that wway. It doesn't matter if you're a male or a female, they'vve got the same parts, wwhen it comes to reproduction. Wwe both contribute our genetic material equally wwell to the mother grub to be added to the incestuous slurry and make new grubs. It doesn't matter if you fill your quadrants with a female or a male, at all, it's just a matter a preference, if anythin'.

[Willow's eyes rapidly get wide, mostly at the implications. She's heard of plenty of other species, including sentient ones, that have similar systems-- but she hasn't made friends with any of them.

What does this mean for her being gay, which she's already feeling secretly shaky about in the absence of Tara and even Kennedy? She's been firmly friendzoning Eridan this whole time without hesitation, but if-- no-- okay, no. Still a different species. Get that thought out of your head, Willow.

Thought sufficiently out, she asks,] Why do you still have male and female, then? Isn't that just... one gender?

[Eridan shrugs] Females are smaller an' more vvicious, and havve vvestigal vvenom sacks, like you. [He makes a vague gesture towards her chest]

I'm male, if that wwasn't obvvious. You sayin' you'vve got to take your pants off to decide wwhat gender you are?

We just call these boobs. Also, breasts.

No, well, it is usually pretty obvious. Kind of a... combination of factors. I assumed you were m-- okay, is this conversation getting weird for you or is it just me, cause, I don't want to make things awkward with my extreme awkward-making ability, which I have mentioned earlier and even if you don't believe me on that, trust me, I can babble more. There can be further babble.

[He laughs, blushing a bit] Yeah, it's pretty fuckin' awwkwward... [He had definitely been getting that weird feeling] Let's just set our discussion a alien anatomy aside and get back to the story, okay?

Sounds good. I can get behind this decision.

Okay, so... story. Story that was happening. Oh! Right. Okay, so I was going as a ghost, like I said, and Xander was going as a soldier in the military, and Buffy was going as an old-fashioned noblewoman in this big poofy pink dress.

And then Ethan-- the chaos-worshipping guy-- cast a spell where everyone that'd bought costumes from his shop turned into their costumes. Complete with total memory loss about their real lives, because hey, why make it easy for dead ghost me trying to herd her clueless friends around?

All the kids we were escorting turned into imps and goblins and vampires, it was totally nuts.

Wwoww... He must a been a vvery powwerful wwizard himself, to turn you into a ghost an all that just because a some enchanted costume. Is this really real? You aren't fuckin' wwith me, are you?

No, absolutely no f-- uh, not pulling your leg. A lot of weird, unbelievable things happen in Sunnydale; making things up is not necessary.

Besides, lying is one of those things I don't do to friends. [Not if she can help it, anyway. Willow leans a little more weight against him, meaningfully.] Especially injured, recuperating friends.

any requests on which episode she should recount? XD

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