[Open] Return from canon-update

[stayb100ponyboy]

Characters: Equius Zahhak and you
Location: The fountain in the Plaza
Time: Mid-afternoon
Style: Whatever, I'll match yours
Status: Open

[He landed in the fountain

Comments

[witch_of_life]

[On her way to the ice cream shoooop, glub glub glub, er, wait a second. Equius? It's been a little while since she's seen him last! Which was... odd? Feferi was pretty sued to seeing him pretty much every day by now, especially since they finally decided on that whole... moirail, fishness. Gluub, hopefully that'd work out.]

[And if anything, now was a time for the moirail title to mean something since wow did Equius look pretty out of the water! And not just because he just got out of the fountain, heehee.]

[Feferi makes her way over, keeping on a smile as she moved over to him and sat right next to him on the fountain edge. She turned, facing him, hands on the edge on either side of her and leaned in close.]

How's it gooooing?

[stayb100ponyboy]

[Oh, he knows that voice. Feferi. Except... Feferi's dead, isn't she? Feferi's dead, and Terezi is missing, and there's always that sound of honking in the distance and something tightening around his throat, cutting off his air, and god...]

[Moirail. Moirail, best friend, guardian, soother, help help help help help, he's drowning...]

[Slowly, Equius turns his head, rotating so he's facing her, and then, wordlessly, hides his face in her shoulder, burying himself in her thick, heavy hair, using its dark curls to shut out the light.]

[witch_of_life]

Oh!

Oh...

[She freezes for a moment, before moving to slowly put her arms around him, looking down before closing her eyes. Okay, something...definitely happened. He was gone for a bit after all! Maybe he... went home? Feferi isn't sure. All she knows is she won't push the subject until he wants to talk about it!]

[A hand moves to softly comb through his hair, playing with locks of it as the other hand rubs his back, face digging into the back of his.]

Should we swim off to somewhere more private to glub about this?

[stayb100ponyboy]

[Good moirail, best friend. Eridan has no idea what he lost here.]

[Equius nods into the side of her neck, soothed by the hand in his hair and the gentle circles against his back.]

Your hive?

> Reunite with pitiable matesprit

[faygot]

[The first three days had gone by pretty quickly. Between the (sick) hope that Equius would be right back and the effects of introducing the slime into his system again, those three days had been easiest to bear with. But then the first three had passed and Equius hadn't shown up again. Which was cool. Just meant he needed a little longer. But the fourth and fifth --that was the day Wataru had returned on the first time-- passed equally without Equius' reappearance and it was around then that telling Karkat that he would be back soon --whenever they would talk about it, which was rarely-- became harder. Six days. A week. And Gamzee hadn't give up hope, but it had become harder. Yeah. Harder

==> Get knocked backwards into the fountain

[stayb100ponyboy]

[Equius hears the sound of running feet, of sneakers thwapping against the cobblestones, and he knows who that is, he recognizes that sound, he knows, and in the split second before Gamzee collides with him and knocks him backwards into the fountain all over again... he winces, and draws himself closer around his chest, his hands fluttering up to protect his neck.]

[Then he's underwater again, drifting, held down by another body, a warm, bony, intimately familiar body, one he knows almost as well as he knows his own, one he loves far more than he loves his own, and Equius closes his eyes, going completely limp and floating in the cool depths of the fountain.]

==> Put the pony back into the water

[faygot]

[Gamzee laughs, his arms around Equius' neck, his face pressed to the side of it. And between the water and the way he is rubbing his cheek against Equius' skin, he's leaving large swaths of paint there, mixing and dripping in the water, but it doesn't matter cause Equius is here again, he's really here again.

and he is not going to let him drown.

Gamzee quickly scrambles up, tugging Equius along with him, spitting out some water as he does. And between the run and the sudden fountain bath he is breathless. Breathless and suddenly full of boundless energy, beaming at Equius, stroking his hands over his shoulders, his neck, his face.]

Shit. You're back. You're really--

[And then he shoves in for a kiss.]

==> Suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

[stayb100ponyboy]

[Equius lets Gamzee manipulate him; he's as loose and boneless as a rag doll, limp and unresisting in the other troll's hands. Gamzee, Gamzee... oh fuck, his Gamzee, his matesprit, the troll he pities, the troll he loves, the one troll he can never say no to...]

[honk]

[Equius shudders, the memory of honking echoing through his head, the memories of a cord pulled tight around his neck and the world going dark at the edges, the memory of smiling at Gamzee for the first time...]

[No. No, he's smiled for Gamzee before. He's smiled for him, and shown him his eyes, and held him while he slept and let him wash his hair and played with chocobos with him and given him rides on his back when he was half-horse and seen their future in the fire and and and and and]

[And he's kissing him back now, feverish, desperate, almost like he's trying to suck the air from Gamzee's lungs, like he's trying to steal his essence and use it to make himself real again.]

[stayb100ponyboy]

[Equius can feel someone watching him, and for a long time, he doesn't look up, doesn't respond. What's the point? It doesn't matter. Nothing matters.]

[But eventually, he does glance up, and sees Karkat. His hands, which have been rubbing at his neck, the skin there already blue and raw from his attentions, slow and then stop, and he watches the other troll for a moment. There's no hatred in his gaze, no anger, no nothing... just a bone-deep weariness.]

Why didn't you tell me?

[stayb100ponyboy]

... yeah.

[Equius can't really argue with that, and he lets his own eyes drop, curling over his knees again, his hand once more working over his neck, touching the skin there, feeling his pulse and heartbeat just under the rough, raw flesh.]

Does Gamzee know?

[treasurehunted]

[.... pfffffffhahahaha. Well from one buff guy to another, this one's whistling to catch his attention.]

Man, some bad luck ya got there.

[stayb100ponyboy]

[You have no idea, bro.]

[Equius glances up, shrugs, and then looks away again.]

[treasurehunted]

Huh! Well that's cold of ya.

[here, he's at least getting a towel and offering it to you]

[stayb100ponyboy]

[It's been a hell of a day.]

[Equius does, however, take the towel and start drying his face off.]

Thank you.

[hexywitch]

[Lily's taken to checking the list obsessively, and as soon as she sees Equius' name pop back on there, she apparated to the plaza, right next to the fountain.]

[Unfortunately, her chosen apparating point places her mere inches from Equius; she appears with a loud popping sound and nearly falls over with surprise.]

[stayb100ponyboy]

[The popping sound of apparation, especially when he's not expecting it, sounds a little too much like honking, and Equius violently jerks away from her, terror written all over his face.]

[hexywitch]

[Lily gasps, and takes a few large steps back, hands raised. He'd been gone for a long time. Longer than people were usually gone. Maybe he didn't remember her. Her face fell and her brow furrowed.]

Equius?

[stayb100ponyboy]

[For just a second, the world tilts and shifts away from Equius, and he doesn't recognize this strange pink monster with the hair made of fire standing before him. But then it comes back, all of it, and he relaxes, slumping into a sad little huddle again.]

Lily...

Hey.