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Diamond Hunters	By : Worlds_First_Ghost Category: Web Comics > Homestuck Views: 673 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Homestuck, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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“Eridan, over there!”
Nepeta pointed down at the ocean, her finger soon followed by the point of Ahab’s Crosshairs. They fixated on an unusually choppy patch of the ocean below, which then erupted in a cloud of frothy waves. The lingering curtain of water and mist dissipated to reveal the massive head of a sea serpent, its glossy white eyes rolling about in their sockets before turning upward to meet its pursuers. The skyhorse hovered several yards above the creature, well out of its striking range. On its back sat Eridan, one hand clutching the reins and the other holding his rifle, and Nepeta, whose arms were wrapped around her companion’s midsection. It was a little awkward riding with two people, but it was the only way that Eridan could ensure Nepeta’s safety. Even though he was forced to sit on the very edge of the saddle and she still had to keep a very firm grip to avoid falling off, they barely managed to fit on the lusus’s back. Fortunately, it didn’t seem to mind the extra weight.
Through the rifle’s scope, Eridan stared down his quarry. The serpent met his gaze for a few tense seconds before diving under the safety of the waves. Its monstrous silhouette was scarcely visible as it snaked beneath the water’s surface. It twisted and thrashed in a chaotic, disjointed manner, changing its direction several times over and making it hard for Eridan to keep it in his sights. All it took was one incorrect prediction, a twitch in the wrong direction, for him to lose vision of it completely.
Gritting his serrated teeth, Eridan shifted his eyes towards Nepeta, who had been tracking the creature alongside him. While she had no experience hunting in the ocean, she instinctively saw how this animal used the water in the same way that her usual prey would use the cover of the brush to conceal their movements. She wasn’t so easily fooled by its evasive maneuvers, keeping a steady line of sight a few feet in front of its shadow in order to anticipate any last second turns. As soon as the serpent began to slow down, lured into a false sense of safety, Nepeta successfully pointed it out to Eridan. He grunted and tugged the reins to signal a descent. Although he’d have to admit to her merits as a tracker, he’d be quicker to blame his poor eyesight as a handicap.
The roar of collapsing waves intensified the further they dropped and the cool, salty mist that they sprayed forth coated their skin. Eridan pulled the reins once more and they were now hovering only a couple feet above the ocean. With the serpent’s shimmering shadow now plainly visible, Eridan adjusted his aim accordingly and pressed his finger against the trigger. The Crosshairs responded with a low hum, its luminous tip cutting through the fog. Nepeta squeezed him tightly, but his aim remained undeterred. It would not be too long before their prey would take the bait.
The shadowy form beneath them turned and stared from under its cover. Although Eridan couldn’t see its eyes, he imagined that they were locked in another staring contest beyond the murky barrier between them. The stillness would be shattered once the serpent lunged forth with a torrential splash, opening its gargantuan maw to display its innumerable rows of curved, needle-like teeth. The skyhorse instinctively shot up to dodge, which Eridan anticipated and took as his cue to fire. The electrified bolt shot out with a deafening crack, piercing the creature right under its lower jaw and striking the water behind it. The momentum carried the dying beast through its charge before it crashed back down and was swallowed by the sea. A radiating pool of purple blood rose to the top of the waves, the only fleeting evidence of its existence.
“Wow!” Nepeta cried out. She bounced enthusiastically and her hold on Eridan tightened. “That was incredible! Too bad we didn’t get to eat that though. I wonder what it tastes like.”
“Well, that’s for Fef’s lusus to find out,” Eridan said, returning his smoking rifle back to his sylladex. “And frankly, I think I’ll refrain from eatin’ any more of our kills for the foreseeable future.” A grimace appeared on his face as he recalled the chewy, sinewy meat of the cholerbear. Nepeta had insisted that every part of the animal needed to be used, and she was insistent that they eat the meat raw. After a brief argument, however, he was able to persuade her to let him cook his own portion.
“So what are we gonna do next?” Nepeta asked. She rocked back and forth on the edge of the saddle, the adrenaline of that successful kill still hot and flowing inside of her.
“Next?” Eridan stroked his scarf and glanced at the blood pool below, which had all but dispersed at this point. “I dunno. Normally after I kill something, I just go back to my hive and read a book or whatever. But if you got anything better in mind, I’m open for suggestions.”
Nepeta’s lips scrunched and curled inward in intense thought. Her brows knitted together and it looked as if her whole face would fold in on itself until the emergence of an open-mouthed grin snapped her features back to their natural state. “Let’s walk on the beach! I’ve never got to explore out here befur. I want to feel the sand under my paws!”
Eridan fought the urge to roll his eyes. The fact that she could be so keen to do something that was otherwise mundane and pointless to him was mystifying. Still, there was a wiggler-like enthusiasm in those saucer-like eyes of hers; the more he stared at them, the harder he found it to bite back with a cynical retort. With a curt huff, he pushed his glasses up his nose and snapped the skyhorse’s reins.
“Fine, whatever. It ain’t like I got anything better planned.”
The dark blue waters of the open ocean thinned into white, foamy surf as the skyhorse sailed towards the shore. They were only a few feet above the ground when Nepeta launched off its back and crashed into the sand. She bounced out of the collapsing crater she had created and started running about on all fours, kicking up tall flurries and leaving deep, swirling tracks in her wake. Eridan dismounted and pulled his cape forward to defend himself from the storm.
“Hey, watch it!” he yelled. The pitter patter of sand pelting against his fabric shield may as well have been a barrage of shrapnel.
Nepeta stopped, but momentum carried her forward and downward until everything up to her elbows and knees were buried. “What’s the big deal? It’s only sand.”
Eridan grumbled. “I don’t like sand. It’s coarse an–” He wheezed as Nepeta collided into his gut, toppling him onto his back. A plume of sand shot up around the impact site of their bodies and subsequently rained down on them. Eridan’s eyes clenched shut and he sputtered as his face was bombarded by tiny granules.
Nepeta, her back against the hailstorm, loomed over her pinned target and giggled. “You’re so uptight! You should try having fun once in a while.”
Eridan’s eyes cracked open to glare at her. Under ordinary circumstances, he would have knocked her off of him, dusted himself off, and left her sprawled out on the ground while he rode back to his hive. Once again, however, these misanthropic urges were dulled the more he looked into those golden, bubbly eyes. The cleft curl of her smile encouraged him to smile back, but he was at least able to resist that. Instead, he listlessly dragged his arms in wide sweeping motions along his side, creating shallow arcs in the sand.
“Well fuck it, you got me dirty enough already,” he said with an embellished sigh. “I might as well get a head start in buryin’ myself here along with the last lingerin’ shreds of my dignity.”
Nepeta snorted and threw her hands over her mouth to contain her laughter. “You’re so silly!” she cried, tumbling off of him and kicking her legs out as stifled snickers escaped through her clasped hands. Her mirth subsided once she grew aware of a series of soft pings emitting from her tablet. Fishing it out of her sylladex, she checked her Trollian only for her face to deflate once she saw who was messaging her.
centaursTesticle [CT] began trolling arsenicCatnip [AC]
CT: D --> Good afternoon Nepeta
CT: D --> An inordinately long time has passed since our last correspondence and I find this to be rather disconcerting
CT: D --> As such I am curious to know what you are currently up to
Nepeta sucked on her lower lip as she slumped down into the sand. It had only now occurred to her that she hadn’t messaged Equius once since she started hanging out with Eridan. Whether it was due to simple forgetfulness or a subconscious action of keeping him ignorant about her new friendship, she couldn’t say for certain. In either case, she knew of his odd, antiquated distaste of the ocean and sea trolls, the latter of which included Eridan in particular. If she told him where she was right now, let alone who she was with, it would probably give him an aneurysm. Even if she tried lying, he’d be able to know if she was truthful or not; he always did.
Meanwhile, Eridan crawled to his feet and began furiously slapping his cape to shake the sand off. He was running his fingers through his hair, straining out small showers of sand, when he realized that Nepeta wasn’t laughing anymore. Walking towards her, he observed her silently, taking note of how intently her eyes were glued to her tablet and how her fingers fiercely tapped at its plastic corners.
“Someone trollin’ you, Nep?” He craned his neck to get a better look at her screen.
Nepeta’s entire body stiffened and her head jerked around towards the source of the voice. Her pin-prick pupils stared at Eridan in an almost guilty manner, as if he had just caught her looking at something illicit. Once recognition settled in, her shoulders slacked and her throat let loose its grip on her breath, which all rolled out in one condensed, heavy sigh. “Oh, it’s just Equius. He’s just checking up on me.” She thumped her foot softly against the sand as she laughed awkwardly. “He purrobably won’t be happy to know I’m all the way out here with you.”
“Tell him to fuck off then. It ain’t none of his business anyway.” Eridan crossed his arms and grimaced. Equius’s dislike of him was no secret. The fact that he himself put forth an effort to make it clear that the sentiment was mutual didn’t help with that.
Nepeta’s eyes flitted towards the screen, the cobalt text leering back impatiently. “No, no! I should really answer him.” She pulled out her stylus, which struggled to remain steady within her trembling hand. “It’s no big deal.”
“You’re shakin’ like a fuckin’ leaf, Nep. Looks to me like it’s a very big deal.”
“But he’ll get mad if I don’t!”
Before she could write a single letter, Eridan seized the tablet from her hands. With a flourish of his cape, he twirled around and hurled it down the shoreline once he reached the apex of his rotation. It tumbled through the air before landing a few feet away, jutting from the sand vertically like a shark’s fin. Eridan shifted his gaze back towards Nepeta, his eyes obscured by the glare of his glasses.
“I give a fuck. Show some fuckin’ dignity, Nep. It’s embarrassin’ for me to have to witness.”
Nepeta stared at the discarded tablet, nearly tempted to sprint after it. Her muscles tensed and she leapt forward, but she ended up just flopping belly-first onto the ground. Grains of sand shot up and stuck to her face, but she made no attempt to wipe them off.
“Oh, you’re right!” she groaned. “What kind of meowrail am I if I keep going behind his back like this? I’m really pawful at this, aren’t I?”
Eridan crouched down beside her. He reached out his hand to touch her shoulder, but it froze mid-way through the motion. His arm limply dangled in the air for a moment before he awkwardly pulled it back. Comforting others was not his specialty, and it was a little surreal for him to be on the other side of this scenario for once. It was probably for the best that he stuck to what he knew, rather than make things awkward.
“Hey now,” he said, trying to keep the edge in his voice at a minimum. “I didn’t say anything like that. I didn’t even know you were havin’ issues like that. I always thought you two had a good thing goin’ on together.”
Nepeta puffed out a small breath to blow away a grain that was near her nose. “Well sure, things aren’t usually this bad. I do a lot of shipping you know, and I always thought we were a purrfect match. But… it’s furstrating, you know? He won’t let me do anything fun or hang out with anyone he doesn’t appurrve of.”
“Why bother listenin’ to him at all then?”
“He’ll get mad if I don’t! He can very furocious and dangerous if I’m not around to calm him down. And if something bad were to happen while he’s mad, it’ll be my fault. I’d have failed my duties as a meowrail. I can’t let up for a moment.”
Eridan cupped his forehead in disbelief. “Sounds like that guy needs to ease up once in a while. It ain’t dignified for a moirail to be breathin’ down their charge’s gills at all hours of the night.”
A bitter laugh cut through Nepeta’s closed lips. “You only say that because Fefurry is the one looking out for you.”
“Fuck that, I don’t need nobody to look out for me.” Eridan sneered and turned away from her. “I don’t even need a moirail at all if we’re bein’ honest here.”
“Whaaat? Come on, everyone should have at least one purrson they can rely on for purrtection!”
“A lot of fuckin’ good that does me. I can handle myself just fine.”
Nepeta wryly smiled. “You mean like with that cholerbear?”
Eridan waved his hand dismissively. “Okay, that was a onetime thing that never would’ve happened if I hadn’t followed your advice.”
Semblances of genuine cheer replaced Nepeta’s sardonic expression. She sat up and finally wiped the sand off her face. “Heehee, okay I apawlogize. But now you’ve purrked my curiosity. You said that you don’t need a moirail, so why are you with Fefurry at all?”
“It’s a necessary means to an end that requires dedication and strategic plannin’. You wouldn’t understand.”
“But it doesn’t sound like you’re purrticularly happy about it.”
“What, no, I’m fine. Like I said, it’s all just a matter of time before my best laid plans can bear me fruit.” Eridan ground against the sand with the toe of his shoe, forming a small, shallow hole. “I just wish we were together in a different way, you know?”
Nepeta cocked her head to the side. “Like… in a different quadrant?”
Eridan’s fins pinned down to his neck. “What!? No, how could you entertain such a fuckin’ appallin’ fantasy like that? What I meant was…” He sucked in air through his teeth as he struggled to think of an explanation. Each second spent in silence made his sinking gut feel a pound heavier.
Nepeta stared quietly for a moment before a huge grin cut across her face. “Oh my god, you have a flushed crush on her! You’re such a bad liar!” She purred as she made a mental note to update her wall as soon as she returned home. “Aww, that’s so cute! I always figured you two would be purrfect together.”
Eridan scowled and pulled his scarf over his mouth to hide the deepening purple tint on his cheeks. “Yeah well, it’s fantastic you think so. Too bad it ain’t your approval I’m seekin’.”
“Well, in my expurrt opinion, if you really want her appurrval, I think you should be more honest! With her and yourself, I mean.”
“What are you implyin’?”
“I can see that you like to purrtend to be an aloof bully all the time, but I’ve got a secret sense when it comes to sniffing out a purrson’s real self. And from what I’ve seen, you’re really sweet on the inside! Maybe if you dropped that furrçade once in a while, you wouldn’t have so much trouble making friends.”
Eridan glanced back to his feet again and shook the sand off of his shoe. He turned back to Nepeta with his eyebrows raised. “Man, you’re pretty good at this advice shit. I should’ve gone to you at the beginnin’ instead of dumpin’ all my problems on Kar.”
Nepeta smiled bashfully. “I’ve just got a lot of expurrience! And really, you shouldn’t be pestering Karkitty about this stuff anyway, that’s what your meowrail is for. If you can’t talk to Fefurry about these feelings, it’s purrobably fur the best that you look elsewhere.”
Eridan’s eyes scanned Nepeta up and down. He couldn’t help but be reminded of Feferi when he looked at her. In addition to other commonalities, they both had an unyielding optimism that, while annoying at times, was rather comforting. Although, one thing that set them apart was that Nepeta treated him like a person, rather than a burden. It was refreshing to be around someone who actively enjoyed his company and was more apt to relate to him than belittle him. Her extensive knowledge of romance was also something that Feferi lacked, and it was a quality that struck him as something a moirail should possess. Eridan rubbed his chin in deep thought as a scheme slowly consumed his tactical mind. If he could somehow convince her to shake off Equius, he could swap her and Feferi around in his quadrants easier than he could castle in chess.
Stiffening his back to his full posture, he tilted his nose upward at Nepeta and clicked his tongue. “Well, that’s pretty hypocritical of you to say,” he said, flipping up the tall collar of his cape so that it outlined his head like a dark, pointed halo. “Funny how you’re the one preachin’ about honesty when you can’t even perform it yourself.”
Nepeta’s smile dropped off her face. She curled her legs close to her chest and rested her chin on her knees. “I mean… you’re purrobably right. But I don’t think it’s that easy.”
“Sure it is. Just do what you said yourself and look elsewhere.”
“But he needs me, and if I just left him with no one to watch him…”
“There are plenty of sentimental dirt lickers out there who’ll pity a nutcase like him, he’ll be fine. But life ain’t worth livin’ if you keep sacrificin’ your well-bein’ for others.”
Nepeta squeezed her kneecaps. “But Equius is the only quadrant I have. If I leave him, who am I left with?”
Eridan slowly lowered himself down to his knees and leaned towards her. The reflection of her confused eyes overlaid his own within the frames of his glasses. “Me.”
Nepeta planted her hands on the ground to stop herself from reeling over backwards. “You!?”
“I’m only followin’ your advice. I need to look for a new moirail if I’m gonna be honest with Fef. The way I see it, you’re the only troll I know that’s qualified for that position. Logically, this works out for the both of us.”
Nepeta quizzically examined Eridan, her expression still coated with fresh shock. Did he really need her more than Equius? They both had the potential for violence; that initial encounter with Eridan in the woods still lingered in her mind. She also knew about the bad reputation he had with other trolls; Equius in particular would bestow colorful monikers on him like “egotistical sociopath.” Admittedly, she agreed that Eridan was a little overblown and dramatic, but he mostly came across as confused. Whatever arrangement he and Feferi had was clearly ineffective at curing his mountain of issues; he needed a proper moirail to mold him into a more respectable troll. It also didn’t hurt that he was a lot more fun to hang around than Equius. She turned towards the ocean, gazing up at the twin moons suspended just over the foggy horizon. She could have lived her entire life without having seen this if it weren’t for Eridan. But, in all fairness, could she really base the merits of moirallegiance on what sorts of experiences her partner could provide her with?
“Wow,” Nepeta mumbled, her face now a deep olive. She cleared her throat with a nervous giggle. “Sorry, it’s just that I’m not used to being purrposed to like that.”
Eridan puffed some air out of his nostrils derisively, all while trying to ignore the increasing dryness in his mouth. As much as his stoic expression would like to convince her otherwise, laying his true emotions in the open like this was much more nerve wracking than getting pinned by another cholerbear. “All you need to say is yes or no. Although obviously I’m urgin’ you to pick the former since, as previously mentioned, it would be advantageous for us both.”
Nepeta ran her fingers through her hair, her nails lightly dragging along her skin. Her pupils constantly darted downward, in spite of her best efforts to maintain eye contact with him. “I dunno… I feel like I’m under a lot of purressure right now. It’s an impurrtant life choice, after all. I can’t really answer right away.”
Eridan sighed and leaned backwards a few inches. “Fine, I’ll ease the burden then. In fact, it’s probably more beneficial to you that you don’t listen to what I’m sayin’ and make the choice yourself.” He took off his glasses, his stern eyes now unobscured. “Prove to me that you ain’t a gutless land dweller and can make a decision for yourself.”
Nepeta placed both her hands on the sides of her head, pressing down until dull pain pooled under her palms. Although Eridan’s tone was harsh and his words were more accusatory than encouraging, she was still able to detect the underlying sentiments. Tough love was no mystery to her; she got plenty of that from Equius. The values of such lessons like how to act in polite society or how to elevate herself above her caste always went over her head, but Eridan’s messages of self-assurance were concrete and digestible in comparison. If it meant that she could become a stronger troll, maybe keeping him around to dispense such wisdoms would be useful. Even if they came out lined with barbs, she could deal with whatever he dished out; the creatures she hunted were equipped with much sharper things, in any case.
“Okay,” she said at last. Pulling off her hat, she extended her arm towards Eridan. The limb remained fixed, untouched by the tremors of reservations or self-doubt. Her docile eyes, now brimming with confidence, stared into his expectant glare in an almost defiant gesture. “I pick you.”
In one instant, Eridan went from being as rigid as a statue to eagerly clutching Nepeta’s hand. She didn’t even see him move his arm, but she squeezed it tightly. Her lips parted in a broad, toothy smile, growing wider once she saw Eridan mimic her expression. There was no shame in his smile this time around. In all honesty, he was glad to not have to hide it.
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Diamond Hunters