AUTHOR: ZeeCatfish CAST: Eridan/Dave; Bro, Cronus, Jane, Vriska RATING: T WORD COUNT: 34767 ADDITIONAL TAGS: complete, illustrated, space opera AU, created for rarepair swap SUMMARY: After years spent mastering his job-hopping skills on the interplanetary level, a combination of chance and fortunate family ties lands one Dave Strider a job as a personal bodyguard to Eridan Ampora, prince and heir to an almost unparalleled fiscal empire. He assumes it’ll be just another job he’ll be able to leave behind when the time comes, another story to tell on slow nights where the man with the most tales is the king of the universe, but as all things in life, nothing is ever quite that simple. EXCERPT: Dawn on the planet Nunki filters through the half-open blinds into your shitty rented one-bedroom apartment in the form of eerie blue light and the roars and whistles of the local birdlife. You’re not one-hundred percent sure if you could even call it ‘birdlife’, because even after almost a decade spent as veteran space-nomad for hire your definition of what a bird is still does not involve fang-like protrusions on the beak or four extra arms in possession of claws, but your planet guide tells you these charming fliers are considered an avian species, so birdlife it is. The air around you feels heavy and stale, rolling over you like an invasive, uninvited blanket. Apparently the locals thrive in the hot, humid, windless summers on this planet. Your earth-mammal human physiology, however, is inclined to disagree with their preferences. rec'd by liasangria