His name is Eridan Ampora, and fuck he almost got his cousin killed. He knew it was dangerous to bring him along, considering the tribes beliefs.
Eridan Ampora world famous anthropologist, annoying hipster, and loving cousin. He decided to bring his cousin as an assistant on his next expedition. He didn't need to tell him twice to bring spare colored contacts and to dye his hair extra dark.
Karkat Vantas is albino and the tribe Eridan is going to visit has superstitions about albinos. They believed that an albino was a spirit trapped in a human body for one of three reasons.
1. They were trying to trick humans into doing something that could doom the tribe.
2. Another spirit trapped them to get revenge.
3. The spirit fell in love with a human soul and is now constantly being reborn as a human to be with them.
The only way to free a spirit from the physical realm was to burn the body it was trapped in. It's a very scary ritual when he thinks of all those painted faces bathed in blood, dancing around a flaming corpse. Eridan plans on keeping Karkat in the background, far away from the tribe. They called themselves the high bloods even though a handful of the tribe is actually considered a high blood the rest are either mid-bloods or low bloods. They reside deep within the mysterious southern jungles. They have a lot of rituals and ceremonies that frighten most people away.
"Are you sure about this Karkat?" Eridan asked as they walked through the airport. "This is your last chance to back out, and I really don't want to see you get hurt." "I'll be fine, besides what else am I going to do? There's no one at home who won't hurt me." Karkat replied. A wave of guilt makes Eridan's stomach turn but he doesn't let it show. It's his fault Karkat's parents disowned him. He was the one who told his parents about his sexuality, he was the one who believed they would never hate Karkat and now look at what happened.
Now he can't say no to his favorite cousin. They both clear airport security and board the plane. Eridan's plan was to meet up with Feferi and Sollux in the city closest to the southern jungles. From there they will have a guide lead them to the high bloods. Eridan can't bring more than four people with him otherwise the tribe will feel threaten and attack.
On the plane Eridan explained to Karkat everyone's job. Feferi will be their Medical doctor and botanical expert, she will be studying the rare and exotic sopor plant that the high bloods used in their ceremonies as well as any other plants that have yet to be discovered in the Southern Jungles. Sollux will be their computer expert in charge of all the technical equipment and working the camera. Karat will be a general assistant, helping out where ever he can, mostly holding the camera for Sollux. Other than that Karkat is to remain at the campsite at all times unless noted otherwise.
After the twelve hour flight and the four hour journey into the southern jungles Eridan and his team met up with a tribe member. She appeared to be small teenage girl. She had a cleft in the middle of her lip, her face was painted with olive green whiskers, and she wore horns on her head that were shaped to look like cat ears. The language of the high bloods is mostly sign language and silly faces very rarely do they use words as far as outsiders know. The tribal girl, Nepeta as she introduced herself, showed them where to set up camp and informed them of the direction of the tribe's main village before leaving.
It took them two hours to set up camp. They were all tired and decided to rest for a while. Eridan sat down to read a book, Sollux pulled out an old Pokémon game, Feferi decided to brush her hair, and Karkat chose to take a nap. He handed Eridan his spare contacts just in case. It was a while before Nepeta returned.
"Karkat." Eridan called out as he entered Karkat's tent. "Hmmm…. what?" he replied looking up. "Put your contacts back in right now! Someone from the tribe is here!" Eridan shouted as soon as he saw Karkat's blood red eyes. "Alright, I'm on it." Karkat groaned rubbing sleep from his eyes. "You are going to stay here and keep an eye on everything while Fef, Sol, and I go and introduce ourselves to the tribe." Eridan said. "Got it." Karkat responded with a yawn. Eridan left the tent and headed out with the rest of his team.