#erirose

day 2- loveable rairpair

ok so i couldnt decide obviouslly!!

thankyou @showerthoughtsofagoldengoose for opening my eyes to erirose

thank you @claybird14 for introducing me to equidave

I have a million sketches of him I haven’t even posted yet. I probably ought to… well now is a better time than any other to post a few🤭

No ship/character negativity! <3

(It’s Eridan)

Oooh wonderful! Let's go through this loser's laundry list of failed romantic prospects one by one.

John: Not even sure how this one would work, mostly because these two are like the least gay Homestuck characters. Yes Eridan has made passes at men on multiple occasions, but he seems more interested in women. And I don't really see John "not a homosexual" Egbert pursuing a relationship with a man, let alone a sociopathic racist alien. I think John should punch him in the face like he did Caliborn. Odd that Eridan is the one evil troll boy who wasn't a component of Lord English, so that means John didn't even get to punch him by proxy. That needs to be rectified.

Rose: Talked about that one. This is probably the closest Eridan will get to filling his pitch quadrant, and even then it's dubious if Rose would ever take it seriously or not. I think it would be enriching for both of them tbh.

Dave: In a way, Eridan is like a twisted mirror of Dave. Eridan fully embraced the expectations society had for him and did his best to emulate his ancestor. Dave idolized his Bro and copied a lot of his mannerisms, yet held onto his own individuality so that he didn't turn into the ruthless warrior Bro tried grooming him to be. Eridan fully embraced being a genocidal maniac because that's what society expected of him. He was too embarrassed to ever be his authentic self around others, instead constantly molding himself into whatever he believed was his chosen destiny. Which is what ultimately destroyed him. Also, both of them are parodies of hipsters.

Interesting parallels aside, I don't see these two ever talking or getting romantically involved. Dave would probably peace out the moment that idiot started talking about genocide.

Jade: It's implied that Eridan has made passes at Jade at one point, which makes sense because she has a similar bubbly personality as Feferi. But by the time they have their one conversation in the comic, Eridan has abandoned all designs he may have had for her. Instead he's more interested in stoking a rivalry between her and Rose so that he may try and antagonize Rose by proxy. Rose is his main romantic interest at this point in the comic. Jade is simply a tool he wants to use to get Rose to reciprocate his pitch feelings. Jade doesn't even like him either, so this ship is doomed.

Aradia: These two never talked, but I imagine if Eridan tried to flirt with her at all, she would've rejected him immediately. She's the lowest blood color on the hemospectrum, so I doubt he'd find her appealing. It's possible he might even be a little intimidated of her because of her psychic powers, so that would also be a valid reason for him to avoid her. He doesn't want a rivalry where the other party can easily turn him into purple paste, he wants to be able to handily dominate them. Another reason could be that she was involved with Equius at the time, so she was "taken" and not worth pursuing. Overall a bad matchup.

Tavros: There's nothing here, man. Tavros is so avoidant and conflict-averse that he'd roll away the second Eridan started unloading his baggage onto him. Or if Eridan forces him to stay, he'd just sit there awkwardly as a captive and unwilling audience. It'd be much like how he acts around Vriska: intimidated but too much of a pushover to put up any real resistance. Unlike Vriska, Eridan has no motive to want to associate with Tavros. He doesn't have that drive to "improve" other people like she does, he's too busy focusing on himself. This is a horrific mismatch of personalities. Eridan wants attention, and Tavros refuses to give it.

Sollux: Look, I can understand the appeal of shipping these two pitch, but it's not a pairing that really interests me. Eridan is never pursuing a pitch relationship with Sollux in the comic. That's why he's constantly asking for someone to auspisticize between them: he wants someone to mediate between them so that they don't fall into the pitch quadrant. Sollux certainly doesn't feel any black romantic feelings towards Eridan either. He sees Eridan as an annoyance, someone who tries to pick fights with him just because he's in a relationship with his ex-moirail. Sollux just wants to be left alone. If more people explored a possible ashen dynamic with these two instead of treating them like a generic bitchy slash couple, maybe I'd be more interested.

Karkat: This might be Eridan's most important relationship aside from that with Feferi. They both involve the pale quadrant but in different ways. With Feferi, he's stuck in an unfulfilling moirallegiance with her because he doesn't feel that way about her. With Karkat, it's more like they're moirails in every way but name. Eridan vocally dislikes the pale quadrant, both because it's sexless and because he believes himself to be well-adjusted and therefore doesn't need anyone to mollify him. He'd never try and seek anyone out as a moirail, but that doesn't stop him from going to Karkat and essentially chatting with him in the ways moirails would without ever making things official. Confiding with him about his emotional distress, gossiping with him about romance, and coming to him for advice are all things one is expected to do with their pale partner. I imagine Eridan would say shit like "no pale" in the same way straight dudes say "no homo" because while he values Karkat's friendship, his distaste for the pale quadrant would prevent him from taking things further.

That said, Eridan was readily receptive when he believed Karkat was flirting with him in a pitch way. I think, secretly, Eridan wants to be in a quadrant with Karkat, just not pale. He waits for Karkat to make the first move because he doesn't want to compromise their friendship.

I think of how much time they spend together off-screen and I wonder if Karkat "master of romance" Vantas ever picked up on these unspoken pale flirtations from his good bro. Did Karkat at any point feel complicit in committing this emotional affair with Eridan, who was currently in a pale quadrant with someone else? He's very cold around Feferi during the few times they interact, so it's my headcanon that he's been influenced by all the things Eridan may have told him about her and assumes she's a bad person. Or maybe Karkat really is that oblivious and sticks by Eridan because he wants to be a good friend, no matter how stubborn or needy Eridan acts. It's only after Eridan murders their friends that he finally puts his foot down and cuts him out of his life.

Nepeta: Okay hear me out. This is my pet crackship and I think it can be so much fun if handled correctly. Nepeta is compassionate to a fault and can see the good in just about anyone. The two people she's closest to, Equius and Karkat, are two of the most difficult and ill-tempered trolls in the group. She admits she's scared of Vriska, but will still try and roleplay with her even when Vriska repeatedly responds in ways that make her uncomfortable.

Now, she does say that Eridan creeps her out, and this is specifically because he engages with her in a way she perceives as false and insincere. This is just after Feferi broke up with him, so he's desperately searching for a rebound option. Nepeta could tell that he doesn't really respect her and sees her as a last resort, so of course she responds negatively. But I'd like to explore how they'd interact in a different context, one where Nepeta can get him to act more true to himself.

They both roleplay, they both hunt, and they both suffer from unrequited love. They have a lot in common despite their vastly different personalities. If Nepeta has enough patience to deal with Equius and his bigotry, I don't think Eridan's similar attitude would be a deal breaker. The problem is mostly, again, the fact that Eridan holds little interest in Nepeta aside from being a potential rebound. This sort of thing would only work if Nepeta was determined to keep up contact with him so he couldn't brush her off. I think they'd work best in a conciliatory quadrant, most likely with Nepeta as a dedicated auspistice. In an ideal world, I like them pitch where she can beat the shit out of him.

Kanaya: Kanaya seems to be Eridan's only other close friend aside from Karkat. The problem is that it largely seems like a one-sided friendship. Kanaya only ever seems to tolerate Eridan. She barely humors his theatrics and his complaining, and outright calls him an overbearing person to be around. She even pretends to craft him a magic wand so that he would stop bothering her. Eridan misinterprets this as friendly banter, showing just how starved for socialization his is. This isn't to say that Kanaya is being unfair for treating him this way, because she's absolutely in the right to be fed up with him. But yeah, while they have an interesting dynamic, this kinda sucks as a relationship.

Terezi: Talked about that. He saw her as a prospective auspistice, and I think this might be because he knows she and Sollux are friends. This would be much like when he sought Kanaya to mediate between him and Vriska because of Kanaya's "girl crush" on her. Eridan's ashen designs seem to be strategic in that he chooses a mediator based on their closeness with whoever he's currently in a rivalry with.

Vriska: These two are so silly and I wish we got to see more of them when they were dating. Vriska and Eridan really are similar characters with how conceited and competitive both of them are, so it makes sense that they had a fierce rivalry. I think Vriska may have gotten bored of the relationship when it became clear that Eridan wasn't exactly like Dualscar, and that he was an insecure and emotionally needy little dork. I think it's nice that they're on rather cordial terms after breaking up, but it's so clear that Eridan is still holding a torch for her even after she had moved on.

I still maintain that there's powerful significance in the fact that Vriska was Eridan's next target to kill after he dealt with Feferi and Kanaya. It's clear that her rejection left a big impact on him and he wasn't going to go on his suicide mission without tying off that loose end, just like how he did with the other women who rebuffed him.

Equius: Yes it's funny how Eridan was able to unnerve even the biggest creep in the group by flirting with him. But this doesn't seem like a relationship that would pan out anywhere. Ages ago, I was in a group roleplay where this pairing happened. It essentially came about because Eridan ordered Equius to be in a relationship with him and Equius couldn't bring himself to say no. This was before the rivalry between land and sea dwellers was mentioned in the comic, but I still doubt that a hardcore submissive like Equius would refuse Eridan if he was being really insistent about it. So, okay, maybe they could be in a relationship, but it sure doesn't sound pleasant.

Gamzee: I have conflicting thoughts on this one. Largely I'm indifferent because I don't think these two have personalities that would mesh. Then sometimes I think about Gamzee being possessive over Karkat and how he would react to Eridan taking so much of his best friend's time, encroaching on his pale quadrant while being deceptive about his true motives. And I think that maybe, just maybe, it might be fun to see Gamzee dominate Eridan in a pitch setting. We've seen with their ancestors and dancestors that Makaras destroy Amporas, so it could be interesting to see that play out with them. Hmm...

Feferi: Oh poor doomed romance... No matter how much Eridan schemed and tried to manipulate that girl into falling into a different quadrant with him, it just was never going to be. It's tragic that Feferi genuinely wanted to connect with him as a moirail, but he snubbed her at every turn while never once being honest about his true feelings. Then after she was drained and finally thought she found an opportunity to break out of a relationship that wasn't fulfilling for either of them, it still blew up in her face and she had to die for it. No I don't think they could ever be healthy, but I sure like thinking about them a lot.

Jane: Guh, what is there to say here? Maybe Eridan thinks it's cool that she's being groomed to be the Condese's heiress? If he missed his shot with one heiress, he could try again with this one. She's also a Life player like Feferi, so that's another similarity they have. I just don't think Jane would like this guy at all though. She's just a girl in the world and he's an unpleasant, selfish incel. We saw how she broke down when subjected to Caliborn's bullshit, so unless you want a repeat of that I don't see a reason to pair these two.

Roxy: Oh my god this ship is utter dogshit. I have no idea why it's as popular as it is. This might be hypocritical of me as an EriNep shipper, but the difference is that Nepeta has no qualms about associating with nasty people. She's quick to forgive and give others the benefit of the doubt (e.g. offering to roleplay with Vriska multiple times despite knowing she'll be difficult and "mean" about it). Roxy doesn't like mean people. She wants nothing to do with that. Why saddle her with this dickhead who will only treat her like shit?

Most importantly, Roxy was raised under the Condesce's regime. She has experienced Alternia's oppressive, systematic method of subjugation and hates it. She and Eridan have fundamentally incompatible worldviews. You can't bridge a gap like that just because they both happen to like wizards.

Dirk: I don't think this would work for similar reasons as why wouldn't work with Roxy. Dirk isn't a fan of Alternian hemospectrum either, so it's not like he and Eridan have much to bond over. They both might be Princes, but there isn't much else connecting them. At best, I see Dirk toying with Eridan the same way he does with Caliborn. He thinks this dude sucks, but it would be funny to troll him just to see what kind of batshit, racist things he'd say next. This is another case of a funny interaction, but not something I'd ever consider romantic.

Probs gonna get some hate for this.