History In The Making (Hetalia/Homestuck)
Author: Ashynarr
Summary: History has always fascinated Aradia, and Earth has such a plethora of it that she'd felt no harm in moving there to help uncover it. Was it surprising, then, that she was the one to find those beings who embodied it?
Disclaimer: Homestuck's not mine. Hetalia's Not Mine.
Warning: X-over obv, maybe spoilers depending on how far into Homestuck you are
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Perhaps it was just a quirk of the mismatched universe they'd all made together, five sessions condensed into one ultimate, untouchable prize (theoretically, anyways). It could have been the end result of a passing comment, a small memory of her own passions from before she'd known of SGRUB shared with the one being whose will could take it and make it reality in the oddest and most interesting of fashions.
Aradia found she didn't really mind either way, because she'd always had a soft spot for history, and to know there were now special beings who embodied it?
(All of them - eight humans, twenty-four trolls, and a cherub - were not quite the same thing, since they hadn't really been born here and existed somewhat outside the normal evolution of this universe. The Game still lingered in their bones and pulses, dulled power coursing through them even as they blended in with those they'd indirectly created.)
Beforus had had countries of a sort, each managed by a purple or violet-blooded troll while the empress oversaw things as a whole. Alternia had had Her Imperious Condescension in charge for so long that nearly all records otherwise had disappeared into the annals of time. The two histories had mixed together on their new homeworld, creating a slow buildup to unification that was not quite as complete as Meenah would have hoped.
Earth, in all of its variations, had hundreds of countries, mixing and bristling and bringing forth so many new cultures and languages and mythologies that she hadn't even had to think when the trolls and humans of this universe had finally met in the flesh; she'd simply moved on in, taking to this world as easily as she had to godhood and not minding the stares she'd sometimes get from the humans she'd interact with on her wanderings.
(She'd taken a few years to go through a human school in order to get a proper degree, just for the experience. She hadn't realized it was such serious business back when she was young, and found a greater appreciation for the job through it.)
To their credit, Aradia hadn't actually found out about them for several years, only meeting two by coincidence in the middle of a dig in Egypt. More accurately, they'd found her, the two coming to a stop nearby while she was in the middle of carefully dusting around old pottery shards.
"Hey, what're you working on there?"
The troll looked up from her work, blinking in the friendly afternoon sunlight of both world's new homestar at the two humans who'd approached her. One of them is a face she'd seen a few times around the digsite, working as hard as her but still giving the sense that he was keeping an eye on her.
(Not that that was surprising - she finds that humans, like trolls, love novel things more than almost anything, and being one of the first trolls to move to Earth semi-permanently certainly counts as such.)
The second man is one she can't recall ever seeing, but he's grinning and gives off an air of importance that she would be hard pressed to miss even without her psychic abilities as he introduces himself.
"Alfred F. Jones, and it's really cool to meet you at last, Ms. Megido."
He doesn't flinch at all when she smiles back, to his credit. "It's nice to meet you too, Mr. Jones."
Her attention drifts fractionally to the left, where she can just see the stirrings of what seem to be spirits behind them both, churning quietly, nearly invisible even to her eyes. It's hard to distinguish features, almost like there's hundreds trying to shove their way into one spot right beside them-
Interesting.
"I've been wanting to meet you for a really long time, ever since I heard you were going through uni to study archaeology of all things. And I mean I'm sure you've got a lot of people wanting to ask you questions and stuff but, well, is it cool if we chat while you work? Unless that'll distract you too much, cause I know it sucks getting interrupted when you're working on fragile stuff and you end up cracking something old and valuable-"
"It's fine," She promises with a laugh, seeing his friend ready to leave and return to his work. "But only if I get to ask a few in return."
"Oh, that's cool, and hey, thanks for helping out a bro, Herc."
"No problem," The Greek man nods, waving a lazy farewell before turning and wandering back to the rest of the small crew.
Aradia waves farewell to him as well, glancing back to Alfred before turning back to her project of the day. He takes it as an invitation and settles down beside her, glancing over to the small pit. "What d'ya have there?"
"A vase," She replies, gesturing to the shards that she's carefully put to the side, though she remembers where each one was easily. "I'd need to put it back together before I could tell you what it looks like, though. What brings you out here?"
"Huh?" Alfred blinks before recognizing the question. "Oh, I had some free time and I figured, since you seemed to like archaeology too, it wouldn't be quite as weird if I came up to you and started chatting while maybe helping out around here afterwards. Why Earth, though?"
"I like studying old cultures, and my homeworld doesn't place as much emphasis on it as you do, and you all have such varied histories! If we ever did, it was too long ago for anyone to remember." Aradia set another two shards to the side. "Is this a hobby for you, then?"
"Yeah, actually, though I do have a degree and stuff," Alfred shrugs with a smile. "Mostly I do annoying paperpusher stuff, occasionally deal with meetings, so a chance to get out and about is always nice. Any particular culture you like more?"
"Mmm, I haven't decided yet. I want to see more of them first, since I've only just gotten started. What about you?"
"Same, really, though I've been looking a bit more into Native American stuff since that's closer to home." Alfred mulls over his next question for a bit. "You guys don't have as many countries, then?"
"Not really," Aradia laments, because though unity is good for peace, the push and pull between countries also has its benefits that could help keep the troll empire from collapsing on itself if only the fuschia-blooded empresses would see them. "Their last remnants are being absorbed into the Empire."
"That sounds lonely…" He mumbles quietly, glancing up and frowning as if he could peer at this world's closest planetary neighbor.
"I suppose it might seem that way," She pauses in her work to look at him. "Although I don't know if lonely is the best term…"
"Huh?" Alfred replies, blinking at her as he returns from where his thoughts wandered to. "Oh, I guess not, but like, it's hard to imagine a world that really only has one big culture instead of a lot of smaller ones."
"That would be odd to humans, wouldn't it?" She smiles in understanding, having known her humans friends to be the same whenever Alternia had come up in discussions. "I thought some of your science fiction shows had worlds like that, though."
"That's different - if you're gonna have a lot of different species, it's hard to build them all up without giving up plot and stuff, and there are good shows which only have a few they can build up really well."
"I guess so," She replied placatingly, amused at his fast defense of the genre that reminded her somewhat of Karkat and his romcoms. "I suppose it helps the people who write those shows to at least be sure of how one alien culture works."
Alfred looks ready to correct her, but instead replies after an extra beat, "It does, doesn't it? I think almost every last scifi flick has you guys in it; is it the same with you guys?"
"I believe so," Aradia thought back to the planet she hadn't spent too much time on in the grand scheme of things. "I'm more a fan of action, though, which doesn't have as many of you in it, no offence."
"None taken," He grinned and shrugged. "Sorta the same with ours, since this whole first meeting in person thing is still new and stuff. I actually have a lot of action movies and stuff at my place if, well- uh-"
She held back her laugh at his backtracking, figuring that for a human he was very odd and very interesting, and hardly dangerous to someone immortal like herself. "I could have my friend send some of our movies over and we could compare them, if you like. I've been told by other humans that a cultural exchange through movies is a good bonding experience, and I feel I would learn more about your world through what you enjoy in your free time."
"Really?" He coughed, regaining his confidence and grin. "I mean, sweet! Call me up next time you're in the states and I'll pick you up, if you're still up for it by then, anyways."
"I'm looking forward to it," Aradia promised, feeling that if nothing else, her time here would certainly not be boring.
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AN: ...ahahaha, yeah, whoops. Was trying to write other things but nothing was really sitting well with me so I decided to try this out instead. I'll try not to do it too often but sometimes I just need characters I can actually write involved to smooth out the process.
