Prince of Heart- Man, what was that? MORE Pre-scratch Eridan stories unrelated to the main plot? Well, ya twisted my arm, but ya got it folks and folkettes.
Eridan hopped down a short ledge, the final stretch of the several week trek that he and newfound accomplice Vriska had journeyed. The two had easily escaped the prison, killing the several guards that stood in their way, and out into the capital city of Beforus, Ternia city. The two kept low as they traversed the city, avoiding the Sovereigns checkpoints and random searches that were set up soon after the two escaped. For weeks, the two lived off stolen food courtesy of the spider girl using surprisingly sneaky thieving skills, prompting the title, "The Theatrical Thief" from Eridan. He would often watch her make a giant fuss over something so menial, then when the owner went to either give a coupon or get security, she would pocket as much as she could and the two would run off to feast on the gains. He admired her quite a lot actually; the two would pass the free time exchanging stories of thievery and conquer, as well as tales of romance the two had. That was a topic Eridan wasn't well versed in, but hearing Vriska's string along of black and red lovers and noticing her trends was something that interested him. He often found her fawning a little over him, typically describing him and his faux heroics, before snapping back to reality after realizing she had already revealed her flattering crush on him.
The two had travelled far from the city, going as far as the lush countryside on the outskirts of official Ternia territory, where Eridan had his base of operations located sweeps ago. He must've been approaching a couple hundred sweeps now, and the base was set up back when he was just a few dozen, a fresh face on the horizon. With the help of his Jade-blooded friend and a little financial support from another Indigo blooded one, he had set up a fearsome group of mercenaries and taken his first town just nearby by the time he was seventy, a town probably taken back by the Sovereign by now. It almost broke his heart, but most certainly filled him with a murderous rage.
Eridan gestured above him where the Thief was, and she followed him down. Under the cover of the night sky, the two followed the abandoned warehouse formally entitled, "Zahhak's Hoofbeast Stable," and approached a small metal door, rusted and run down. Eridan held a hand up to stop Vriska, and stood up straight, knocking on the door with a loud series of clangs. He glanced up to the side wall, knowing a camera was there to spot intruders, and gave a small wave at the area, much to Vriska's confusion. A few awkward seconds passed, before clicking sounded from behind the door, and it quickly opened, revealing a gruff looking troll with the uniform of Eridan's army adorning him.
"MY LorD," the soldier said, giving a short bow, "WE HavE EagerlY AwaiteD YouR ReturN." The soldier gestured them in, and Eridan led the way for the Cerulean blood. They descended a set of stone stairs and found themselves at the entrance of a large room, brimming with busy trolls from all over the spectrum operating various technologies and participating in several activities. Some sat at tables playing different card games, others sharpened weapons, while others still worked the computers and machines meant for communicating with other bases.
A few of the trolls looked up from their time consumers, quickly standing up and saluting Eridan, before resuming their hobbies. Eridan gave each a rushed wave, searching for one of his co-conspirators in the sea of low and high bloods.
"Eridan!" A lady called out, the clacking of heels jogging on the floor. Eridan barely got to turn around when his tall compadre wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into her tall figure. "Oh My Goodness I Was So Worried About Your Safety."
The lady pulled away, letting Eridan glance his old friend up and down. The Jade blood stood a few inches taller than him, and her skinny figure was covered in a long, flowing green and black dress, with the aforementioned heels seen just below the bottom of her dress. Her Jade green eyes examined him up and down, her thick head of extensively styled hair bouncing up and down as she did, and she gave him a relieved smile, showing her pair of fangs.
"yeah hey kan its been a wwhile," Eridan told her.
"A While? How Could You Let This Happen?"
"I admit, it was quite f001ish to let yourself get captured," another deep voice claimed, pulling himself into view. The male had snuck up to them, finally bringing together the trio of conspirators. He wore the most informal attire of the three in spite of the fact that he was the most official and wealthy of them, his clothes including a black muscle shirt that did little to hide his bulky figure, a pair of dark grey cargo pants, and some black shoes and thigh high socks. His hair was made up in a ponytail, and he hid his Indigo colored eyes behind a pair of broken, rectangular sunglasses.
"wwell it wwasnt exactly my choice."
"It actually was e%actly your choice," the Indigo blood said matter-of-factly. "You chose to fight the Sovereign one on one, an e%tremely f00lish choice first of all, and set yourself up for an ambush, allowing the Sovereign to take out most of your forces without the need of STRENGTH in numbers. Then she took back her land, and now can we barely even hold onto this scrap of vile dirt."
"i get it but im here to get it all back."
"And how e%actly do you plan on that?'
"i havve no idea but im sure a few bottles of wwine could get the thinkpan rollin."
"Not Before You Get These Soldiers On Your Side," the Jade blood said. "Most Of Them Have Given Up Hope Because Of Youre Destruction. Seeing You Walk In Here Has Rallied A Few But You Cant Just Expect To Walk In Here With What I Assume To Be A New Recruit And Expect Them To Be Motivated To Fight."
"i knoww i knoww. but this isnt just a neww recruit this is vvriska serket. she helped me es-"
"I know you," Equius exclaimed, scowling at the spider lady. "You were the b100 b100d that raided my robot factory a few months back."
"Woah, calm down 8ig guy. Equius Zahhak, I think it was? Please, that was a mistake on my part, I'll throw that out there. My 8ad."
"Your bad? Are you kidding me right now? You murdered several of my most e%cellent workers and b100 up my flipping factory. Several million coins, down the darn hole."
"Well if it's any consolation, the guards didn't give me a single piece of food outside of the three full meals, excluding 8runch of course. I mean, I had to actually ask every time I wanted new clothes or a set of make-up. It took every fi8er of my 8eing not to mind control the guards and make them do funny dances or something."
The Indigo blood grunted, "There is no way in heck I'm having this e%cremental filth in this army. She will sell us out as soon as she gets the chance."
"she helped me escape equius. and not only that but shes one of the most charismatic people i havve evver seen. you wwanna get this army together? shes comin in on this as wwell."
"8esides, I don't have my pirate force either. And it's going to get 8oring as fuck sitting around doing nothing while I wait for new recruits, soooooooo why not let 8ygones 8e 8ygones?"
"Yes I Do Believe We Need As Many People As We Can Get. And If Eridan Wants And Trusts This Girl Then Who Are We To Disagree?"
Equius scrunched up his face. "Ah, fine. But if she so much as 100ks at us the wrong way, I'm going to snap her little neck and pull all my funding from this group."
"Oh Equius, if you keep up this 8ehaviour, I'm going to be giving you a lot of wrong looks." She gave him a wink for good measure, prompting a scoff from him in response.
Eridan looked around the room, and put his hands on his hips. "fuck i guess i gotta get up on my soap box and explain to these idiots wwhat the deal is."
"These 'Idiots' Barely Have Any Faith In You Anymore," the Jade blood informed him. "Youre Going To Have To Promise Them A Lot To Get Them Motivated."
Vriska looked around at the various trolls in the room, and chuckled, "Ha! Don't worry yourself honey, I'll take care of these scallywags."
"Uh My Name Is Kanaya And I Am A Troll Not Honey." But the spider girl was already up upon the table beside the four, having used a small chair to get up above.
"Hey, idiots!" she exclaimed, garnering the attention of a few soldiers whilst the rest didn't even give a glance. "HEY!" She yelled higher, a few more now looking, but the majority of the room still more engrossed in their various activities. She sighed, and glanced over to Equius. "8e a sweetheart, and put those muscles to good use?"
Equius glared at her for a few seconds, before sighing, and smashing his fist straight into another table. The table was instantly demolished, finally catching the attention of every soldier in the room, some out of interest and some out of fear. Equius blew on his fist for show, slightly sweating and a little uncomfortable, and nodded at a quite disgusted Vriska.
"Yes, thank you and please go find a towel 8efore you get dehydrated and I throw up from disgust." She glanced back around the room, all eyes now on her. "So, I've 8een told that you ruffians have 8een out of the game for too God damn long, am I wrong about that? I know what that's like, to have your livelihood, your passion, stripped from you and everything you've 8uilt torn to fucking shreds. Three months ago, I ran one of the toughest pir8 groups to ever terrorize the several seas. Now, most of my men lie leagues under the sea, slaughtered after one wrong move, and a tip off from a certain Indigo 8lood."
Equius shuffled uncomfortably, discarding his recently acquired towel.
"8UT, that is not where stories end. You think tough times ever stopped the legends of history? Remem8er the previous matriarch? How dreamy she was, how we yearned her back after the new Sovereign appeared. After she took away our traditions; fighting, robbing, terrorising, now everyone's pampered and spoiled. We had to fight to survive, but now every 8lood type is made to take care of the ones 8elow it? We were tough, and kids these days won't ever understand that. Tell me, why did you guys even join this fight?"
One Mustard blooded lady spoke up, "whEn thE sOvcErEIgn cAmE IntO pOwEr, shE fOrcEd mE tO stOp prActIcIng AgE Old trAdItIOns pErfOrmEd by my AncEstOrs. thOUsAnds Of swEEps Of cUltUrE, gOnE! All bEcAUsE thEy wErEnt dEEmEd sAfE EnOUgh! ErIdAn prOmIsEd tO rEstOrE my AgEs Old trAdItIOns!"
Another Denim Blue blooded man rose up from his chair. "1 h4d my h0me t4k3n fr0m m3 t0 s3rv3 4s 4 l0w b100ds h0m3l3ss sh3lt3r. 4nd h0w d1d th3 s0v3r31n d0 th1s 1n th3 f1rst pl4c3? by thr0w1ng my 4ss 0ut 0n th3 curb! sh3 t00k my h0us3 4nd l3ft m3 w1th N0TH1NG! 4nd n0 0n3 b4tt3d 4 fuck1ng 3y3 unt1l 3r1d4n c4m3 4l0ng 4nd g4v3 m3 4 pl4c3 t0 st4y 4nd 4 c4us3 to f1ght f0r!"
A Phlox Purple sea dweller bashed her fist on the table. "1 was 1 of the wealth1est trolls on the planet a few dozen sweeps ago now 1 l1ve 1n the ghettos because her majesty thought my money would be better spent help1ng some land dweller out 1n the m1ddle of nook-fuck nowhere! She completely forgot about me and left me to starve but then Er1dan gave me a gun and a l1ttle b1t of hope 1n th1s fuck1ng world!"
An excited uproar was heard amongst the crowd, and Vriska harnessed this energy. "That's right! What is the common piece between your stories?"
"ERIDAN!" The crowd chanted. Vriska gestured Eridan up with a hand outstretched, which Eridan took and joined her up on the table, still with Vriska's hand tightly intertwined with his.
"The Sovereign has taken our way of life from us, and we're going to lie down and take whatever cultural raping she has in store for us?"
"HELL NO!" The crowd shouted back.
"im gonna take my land back one wway or a fuckin nother. then wwhen i got evvery piece of land i had stolen wwell march on their precious utopia palontine!"
"And after that, may I ask Eridan?" Vriska egged him on.
"then? then wwe take the capital city of beforus and put the sovvereigns head on a spike!"
Another roar of agreement from the crowd, most of them out of their seats, and Vriska let out a hearty laugh. "They won't ever know what hit them, will they ladies and gentlemen? So let's get the fuck out there, and slaughter our way to victory!"
The entire crowd seemed to jump with enthusiasm as Vriska raised hers and Eridans' hands up in the air, and a loud ruckus was heard around the room. "holy fuck youre wway too good at this. its kinda scary."
Vriska leaned her head to the side, closer to Eridan. "I kind of have to 8e if we're going to 8e the power couple of the millennium."
"the wwhat noww?" Eridan asked, turning into a deep, red feeling kiss from the taller Vriska, as she wrapped her arms around his neck and he grabbed her by the torso. Eridan blocked every other sound out, the roughhousing no longer mattering, and he felt like he could come back. Like everything could go his way, and nothing could stop him. Like he had more hope than he knew what to do with.
Vriska pulled away, stared him straight in the eyes, and told him, "Now let's go fuck shit up and kill a matriarch."