[RL with Eridan]

[deathfangirl]

Aradia hadn't been to too many worlds, and she wasn't sure Eridan would like the one she chose, but it was the one she was most familiar with, so it was where she took them.

The worldhopper she contacted picked them both up and deposited them at the foodcourt on the orbital elevator in the world where she had met the Tenth Doctor.

She was already waiting there, sitting at a table, when Eridan was delivered. The place bustled with humans, who gave them odd looks before moving on, but she ignored them. Nearby, the curve of the Earth, far below, was visible, along with a sparkle of stars as seen from orbit.

She rose from her chair, wary but trying not to show it. This was the first time that she and Eridan had ever been alone together, that she could recall. And she was wary of highbloods in general. It wasn't that she thought Eridan might hurt her, but she knew he could be both callous and volatile, and that he was emotional right now.

But the last thing he needed was another person who didn't believe in him, so she stepped towards him and held out a hand. "I hope this place is okay. It's the only one I really know that isn't Azula's hotel room, or a secret base."

Comments

[ovversensitivve.livejournal.com]

His eyes stung again when she started talking, and he pushed his knuckles against both eyes, hissing slightly through his teeth because it hurt, but she was right. That had been exactly what he'd been trying to tell Kan when Ar had intervened - he wasn't an outcast because he had a kismesis and a moirail and they cared about him in their own ways, and now he even had an auspistice.

Who was hugging him.

He exhaled another hiss, and let his body relax against hers, and even if it was a cold robot body it was more affection than he'd had in a hell of a long time. It made him tear up so bad he was nearly poking his own eyes out with his rings, but he finally spoke again, quietly and with a really thick rasp to his tone, "Yeah, Ar, I knoww. I'm not gonna, because that'd be upright fuckin' unfair. You lot are the best quadrant fills a troll could havve so you better fuckin' believve I'm grateful."

[deathfangirl]

Aradia smiled at his response. He was still emotional, she knew, and crying. But she felt like she'd gotten through to him, and that meant that hopefully he was going to be okay.

"It'll be okay, Eridan," she said gently. "You're not alone. And that's the big difference between this you, and the you that Kanaya knows. She doesn't know, just how different it is."

[ovversensitivve.livejournal.com]

He exhaled, trying to reconcile the lot of weird feelings he had jumbled up inside, fighting down the tears. He both felt he deserved better because he was a high-blood, because he was so high up that half the people picking on him shouldn't be able to see his flippers and like he was the worst kind of second-class citizen. Maybe that was why two of his quadrant fills were low-bloods and his other one a human. Maybe it was just that only low-bloods could understand because of some kind of ostracism or something complicated he didn't entirely understand.

It was complicated. It was hard, but at least he was sort of starting to feel like someone understood.

"It makes a big difference. Kan wwas nevver alone and nevver left out, she doesn't get howw much it can...fuck wwith a troll's head."

[deathfangirl]

"That may be true," Aradia agreed. Everyone liked Kanaya, though not always in the way she wanted. Aradia was willing to bet that Kanaya felt lonely sometimes, too, or at least unhappy about things. It sometimes seemed as though she was doomed to be the auspitice to everyone, and never the one with romance of her own.

But it probably wouldn't help to point that out, right now.

"But like I said," she said, more cheerfully. "You're not alone and not left out. You might not have everything you ever wanted, but no one does. Try to appreciate what you have."