The past few days had been extremely interesting affairs for Eridan. For a long time following the merge, the violet blood had mostly been keeping to himself, speaking only on occasion with the majority of the other trolls he’d once been close friends with. While he had occasionally joined memos or sent messages, the snooty seadweller was largely aware of how unwelcome he was, and with how chaotic the periods following the launch of SGRUB had been, he’d decided to embrace that facet of his social status. However, now that things had begun to settle down once more to a state which somewhat resembled normalcy, Eridan had begun to stick his head out of his shell more often. And to his surprise, things had been going remarkably well. Vriska had expressed interest in their old rivalry, Karkat had taken him back in the same way he had before the fusion of worlds, and even some complete strangers seemed to be sympathetic towards him.
It had all shocked Eridan, who had not expected anything of the sort. Though, as you might expect, it had also made him nervous at the prospect of losing the ground he’d tentatively gained. He’d once thought he had Vriska wrapped around his finger, just as engaged in the fierce rivalry they shared as he was, only for her to seem to lose all interest in it shortly before the advent of SGRUB. Eridan was extremely keen on the idea of possibly filling his black quadrant once more, so the last thing he wanted was a repeat of that. Obviously he couldn’t just ask Vriska herself what to do better though. That sort of thing was by far a more red gesture. So if he wanted to do better this time around, he was going to have to get some dirt on the blueblood from other sources.
After a brief period of consideration, Eridan had figured that Terezi would probably be his best bet. She was definitely still alive, given how he’d seen her prowling the memos a short time prior, and probably knew Vriska better then any of them. The two had been FLARP partners at one point after all, twin members of the widely feared and envied Team Scourge, who’s name was fitting for a pair of pirates who were the bane of the rest of the scene’s existence. Eridan had never been a part of a team himself, but he had been in dealings with Scourge before, mainly with its cerulean blooded member though. He did know Terezi of course, but it was more in passing rather than any sort of genuine comradery. Still, though, if anyone could give him the juicy info he needed to step up his blackrom game with Marquise, it would be Neoptyhe Redglare herself.
Traveling to the Alternian forests where he knew Terezi dwelled, Eridan’s personal aircraft would come to a hovering halt a short distance above the treeline. He’d once rode his lusus to get from place to place, but in the chaos of the merge, the violet blood had lost contact with his Skyhorse father. Perhaps the aloof creature had simply abandoned him rather than perishing, which was what the seadweller suspected, but either way Eridan had been forced to find new ways to travel. This had manifested thus far in a shrunken down airship for one, appearing as a tiny version of the massive craft the Alternian empire was known for with a slick coat of violet paint rather than the usual red. It was powered with grubs rather than an actual helmsman, so it wasn’t nearly as fast, but it tended to get the job done.
Pulling himself out of the cockpit, Eridan would leap down onto a nearby branch, landing with a thump. Although he was by no means the most agile troll out there, his sweeps spent FLARPing and fighting off encroaching enemies during the time after the merge had given him rather deft reflexes, oftentimes to the surprise of many who expected him to be a stuck up fool who could not put his money where his protein chute was. Taking a brisk climb downwards, the violet blood would find himself within a short distance from Terezi’s hive. Brushing off some clinging leaves from his traditional outfit as he walked, Eridan would call out to the lounging tealblood as he approached, knowing that she would be unable to see him coming.
“‘EY REZI!” The seadweller barked, cupping his hands so that his voice would reach her from the bottom of the massive tree she lived in. “YA GOT A MINUTE? I WWANTED TO TALK TO YOU!” Eridan would add a moment later, letting out a short breath once he’d finished speaking. Hopefully she’d heard him, otherwise he would have to find another way up to get her attention.
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