vatheon | (no subject)

Who: Karkat and Eridan.
Where: A hotel.
When: July 7.
Style: Action
Status: Closed
Warning: Possible triggers for violence, discussion of dissection and related trauma, etc etc.

[July 7th may not have been the day Professor Stein's dissection of Eridan started, but it was the day that Lea had stumbled across him in the basement and called Karkat, and the day that the whole thing had ended. It's the day that stuck in memory most, perhaps - definitely so for Karkat, who had no clue until then - and in any case the most important one of the ordeal that they shared together. He can't forget the horror of just being told what was being done, of seeing the stitches that held the long, long incision shut, of knowing just so easily that his organs could be outside his body. It had evoked his pity fiercely - pale at the time, but no less valid for it - along with his guilt, that he had neither known nor been able to do anything against his captor.]

[But all that is nothing next to what Eridan went through. That's why his concern lies not on his own past failures, but the state of his no longer moirail, but matesprit. Eridan asked him before to do this, to spend a day together, and something like this is important enough that even the current situation isn't going to stop them. It's just necessitated an alteration of plans.]

[That's why, instead of staying at home and moping there - which the two left days ago to hide away at Maka's - they've taken up a hotel room. Karkat told her earlier of the plan, and with a promise to check in every so often she had agreed. A watchful-eyed trip to follow brought the two from the apartment complex to the nearest hotel. This way they would still be somewhere different than the first place someone would be likely to look, their hive, but they would also have the privacy they had wanted in the first place.]

[Now at their room, Karkat unlocks and opens the door, then motions for Eridan to head in first.]

Here, go ahead.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[It definitely is a heavy time for them, but especially so for Eridan. For all Karkat may have to cope with his failures, Eridan has to cope with the trauma that event instilled in him. Luckily, he was drugged up for most of it, so while he was fading in and out of consciousness during the actual dissection, unable to recall everything that happened, there are parts more clear than others, and those memories come back to him every so often, and especially now. He's glad that they could rent this hotel room, get away from the drama that's been happening and really have alone time with the troll that honestly means the most to him. But not only is it an escape from the Grand Highblood problems, but also the problems being caused by that unknown person.]

[But that's neither here nor there, now. So with the door open, and the motion from Karkat, he does indeed go in. Looking around the room that's going to act as their little safe haven as they both mutually brood and share pity between themselves. He goes straight to the bed, turning on his heel and plotting his ass down on it as he looks to Karkat, his fins normally somewhat perked, alert and neutral, but not now, they are at half mast, angled in a way that, by now, Karkat should recognize as dejection and somberness. His expression fits it well, his over all body language too, arms resting on knees as he somewhat is slumped over, hands working to cover his face now, and run through his hair as his head hangs. He's glad he's here--with Karkat, but even still, this time isn't an easy one. Even half a sweep later, it still feels so fresh at this time, and he might even be feeling phantom pains down his torso where that light purple scar leaves its disfigurement. He waits to speak till Karkat is fully inside, and when he does, his voice is almost detached sounding.]

Hard to beliewe it was so fuckin' long ago--I mean, not as long ago as I'd like, but half a sweep has gone by already.

Edited 2012-07-09 04:39 (UTC)

[Karkat follows in after, then turns to close and lock the door behind, finally captchaloguing the key to keep it safe. The sight of Eridan when he turns, though, is striking. By now he can well read the various quirks of his fins, but it's the whole of it that delivers the full impact. No overdramatics here: this is the real pain of it. How he sits, how he speaks, how his face looks from what he can glimpse beyond his hands. It feels almost like a pang running through him.]

The longer ago that fiasco is, the better.

[He says it emphatically, then crosses the room to go take a seat beside him. His arm slips across his back that he may rest his hand on his shoulder.]

Some asshole once set out and said time heals all wounds, which is a bullshit way of saying things are going to suck for a long time before you can get over it. But for all this situation keeps trying to pretend it's a cleaning appliance with how much it does now, and for all I--should have been there sooner, and done something, and not been stopped so easily--

[He swallows.]

--I'm here until we get to that point in time. We were in that mess together then, and we'll end it together still.

[Eridan hates hearing Karkat talk like that, as if everything that happened that day was his own fault--when it wasn't. Sure, maybe there was a time during it all that Eridan had hateful thoughts towards Karkat, towards their relationship, but that was through his own misery and trying to, mentally, lash out at everything, to hate everything, a petty attempt to try and himself comfort with his own self pity. It was not a feeling that lasted, it was irrational and he realized that, plus the fact Karkat came for him at all proved that temporary resentment false. He doesn't even honestly remember those feelings all too well, with the mix of mind numbing pain and drugs used to make him more... cooperative. All of that being said, Eridan see Karkat just as much a victim as himself, even if Karkat didn't get cut open like a frog on dissection day.]

[He leans against Karkat though, with his arm around his back, it's all too inviting, too comforting, and he feels himself sink against him.]

Stop. Look, as much as what happened, happened, don't go blamin' yourself. There's a lot a things all of us coulda done differently, but in the end it's all that lunatic's fault, end of story.

[And he's going to turn to face Karkat now, looking him in the eye.]

You're right though, we surwiwed it and we continue to do that wery thing, together. As much as we're bloody lamentin' ower it all, we don't need to stack needless guilt on ourselwes ower it. You need to remember, had it not been for you--and Lea...

[His voice hits a sad note at that, he's noticed how the redhead has been missing, name no longer in the list, but he hasn't made a big deal out of it. Maybe he should though, Lea was, after all, his first and best friend in Vatheon that wasn't from his universe.]

I woulda been dead. Ewen if you couldn't take him on or anythin', I really feel like you interwenin' is what sawed me. And I'm forewer grateful for that.

[With that last bit said, he leans towards Karkat a bit, placing a kiss on the side of his jaw.]

Edited 2012-07-11 02:40 (UTC)

[Karkat hmms under his breath, noncommittal, as he takes in that first admonishment against his self-blame. It's not even something as selfish as thinking himself the greater victim - far from it. If anything it's the full, cutting weight of what Eridan went through that makes him hold himself in a harsher light for his shortcomings, for what maybe could have been prevented if things had gone another way.]

[As Eridan turns to look at him directly, he's made to listen closer. Time has passed enough to see things a bit more clearly, even if his own gaze is still clouded. It is a good point. And what would have happened if he had hurt Stein? For all he may have deserved it, he was also the doctor in that situation, who put everything back in its rightful place and stitched him back up.]

[Not that he knew he would at the time.]

I never did figure out why he went and changed what he was doing after Lea found you and I showed up. If he was willing to go that far with you, he probably could have killed him and me both. From what I was told later, he attacked my actual soul.

[Still, he takes the kiss to his jaw, and turns closer to Eridan.]

I'm glad I could intervene and do anything at all, but I'm still pissed off at the whole thing.

[A grumble. His hand strokes over the back of his shoulder.]

I wish I knew why he did any of that shit. Who just abducts someone and does that to them? It's been a whole year, almost half a sweep, and I still don't understand a single part of anything he did the whole time.

[Then his arm settles, giving him a gentle squeeze, like a one-armed hug.]

You didn't deserve any of that.