The Dream-Bubbles

The Trolls rested inside another Dream-Bubble, someone's memory of a jungle. After all this time they were finally all reunited; they'd found Eridan.

But they'd still kept moving regardless. Even with no sign of Lord English they were afraid to stay in one place for too long. Better to stay a moving target than end up dead. They'd had one close encounter, but had managed to stay still and hidden. Or maybe he just hadn't cared about them, no one really knew what his deal was. Tavros suspected that Aradia would have been able to tell them more about the situation if she was still with them; but she was long gone. He often found himself wondering what it was she'd raced off to go and do.

The group of them sat around a fire they'd whipped up. Eridan was off to the side by himself, disassembling and cleaning his laser-rifle. Sollux seemed intent on pretending to sleep, likely wanting to avoid conversation for a little while. Nepeta and Feferi kept alternating between chatting up a storm and challenging each other to feats of strength. Equius sat there quietly, observing. While Tavros himself sat deep in thought, his mind busy.

He faced two major problems as a leader. Eridan's continued distance from the rest of the group was one. But even more frustrating, he still had the Ring of Life to deal with. He still didn't know how he was supposed to get it to Vriska like he'd been instructed. The Orange-Man had seemed confidant he and Vriska would just simply stumble into each other's paths. But Tavros was becoming less and less certain he could rely on that outcome, or even that it would be a good idea to give her something this powerful in the first place. He didn't exactly know what the Orange-Man's intentions had been; they could have been dumb or they could have been sinister.

But if he didn't give it to Vriska… he'd eventually have to tell the others about it. Originally he'd come up with the thought that he could give it to Feferi, bring her back to life and then have her use her Life powers to revive him and the others. But plan would have been a crap-shoot; they had no idea where their bodies were, or even if they still had bodies. So; someone would eventually have to get chosen, and that could push their group right to the breaking point, just when it had settled.

Unbeknownst to Tavros, Equius was studying him out of the corner of his shades. He didn't really do 'normal' interpersonal interaction all that well, but what he did know was stress, angst, and worry. And by his assessment their de facto leader was under quite the mountain of the stuff. And it looked like he was the only one who knew anything needed to be done.

He debated with himself for a full 5 minutes before getting up and walking over to Tavros, no one else really noticing. He didn't really want to do this, but Nepeta had suggested he at least try and be more sociable.

Tavros looked up as the Blue-Blood approached, then grew alarmed at what happened next.

"What's wrong?" Asked Equius.

"Wrong? Nothing's wrong." Tavros responded a little too hurriedly. Eyes darting over to the others to see if they had taken notice of the odd conversation.

"Relax." Said Equius, holding up a hand. "I may not be as in-touch with my Aspect as some of the others are, but I should be able to keep them from noticing our conversation as long as you don't make it into an all-out scene."

That seemed to calm Tavros down, so Equius took it as a sign to take a seat on the log and listen.

Tavros explained the problem. Not about the Ring, hell no, but about the much more immediate issue with Eridan. Even though they'd gone looking for him, no one really liked him. And that was slowly growing into a situation that was just go back to feeding his anti-social tendencies. Namely racism and murder. Things that it would be great to have him walk away from.

Equius listened until he was finished; then nodded, saying "And so if I can handle this for you. Will that give you the breathing room you need to deal with whatever it is that's really bothering you?"

Tavros's eyes grow large in alarm, prompting Equius to make a calming gesture again. "Relax." He repeated. "I don't care what it is. If you don't want to tell anyone, then don't. I'll handle Eridan."

With that he got up and turned towards the gill-faced bastard. Letting out a sigh before making a beeline straight towards him.

The oddity of that behavior was more than he could suppress with his limited control of his powers, so Feferi and Nepeta immediately noticed and stopped talking. Staring at him as he walked away from the encampment and towards Eridan.

Alerted by the sudden hush, Eridan looked up from what he was doing just in time to see the Blue-Blood marching towards him. He did nothing, not wanting to look like a coward but internally freaking out. He pretended to ignore the oncoming beef-slab until he was towering right over him.

They stood like that for a full two minutes. Equius staring at him, waiting for recognition, and Eridan trying not to scream in terror.

Eventually the Blue-Blood decided enough was enough and sat down in the dirt next to him.

Eridan finally looked at him; pointless defiance in his eyes. As if daring him to start something.

Finally he did. "Why are you cleaning the gun?" Asked Equius in a flat tone.

Eridan hadn't expected that to be the opening statement. "What?" He asked in disbelief.

"The gun. It isn't real. It's a memory like us. It doesn't need to be repaired or maintained. I know you know that. So why are you wasting your time fiddling with it?"

Eridan's gaze flickered away. "I find it calming. Not that I have anything to be nervous about." He challenged; before starting the process of reassembling the weapon.

Equius maintained his steely gaze at the sea-dweller though. "Oh, yes. Of course. What could you possibly have to regret and be nervous about. It's not like you got several people killed and spent most of the time leading up to that behaving like a huge ass; exactly like I did."

Stopping what he was doing, Eridan turned his own glare to match Equius's; a slight twitch seeming to develop in his eye.

"You messed up." Said Equius. "So did I. So did everyone here." He swept his hand towards the campsite, where all the others were now boggling at the distant, unheard, conversation.

"Now sure. You did a lot worse than the rest of us put together." Conceded the Blue-Blood. "But the fact remains that everyone's in a forgiving mood right now. If, you'd just take the time to talk to them, make amends, and actually try to do better. You can if I could."

"Like you've gotten any better." Snarked Eridan.

Equius just sat there. Staring at him. He actually had, and Eridan knew it. Just like the gun-thing.

Eridan continued working in silence before responding with his own question. "Do you actually believe that bullfish? That I can actually 'do better'?" He asked, disgusted at himself for even asking.

Equius shrugged. "Really? No, not 100%. But what do you have to lose?"

The last piece of the gun clicked into place as Eridan finished up. "I don't think I can Hope that things will get better for me. I did a pretty thorough job at shredding my reputation and ensuring I'd never be in anyone's good graces again. Believe me, I'm a lost cause."

Standing back up, Equius looked back at the others while still keeping his voice low enough that only Eridan could hear him. "Well luckily you don't have to have Hope. You just have to get up, stop feeling sorry for yourself, and feel sorry for the people you did wrong to. Not that hard. I mean it is hard, take it from me. But it's not that hard."

Letting out a sigh, and letting himself feel the tiniest smidge of Hope that this might work out, Eridan got up. "Fine, I'll try. But only if you stop with the carpy motivational-speech schtick. Over the course of this one conversation you've gotten to be worse than Tavros."

The sea-dweller deposited his gun into his Strife-Deck and then marched past Equius and towards the rest of the group. Wondering the entire way there how he could possibly let them know he was truly sorry.