[PRP] A Little Distraction [Deimos + Cerpin]

[nepsah]

As he looked over, Dei subconsciously prepared himself to run- just in case he'd misjudged and Cerpin was not as calm as he seemed. He blinked, Cerpin had a point... he didn't exactly like the older boy. He was rather annoying. Did he care? No, not really, he was doing this more for his own curiosity and desire to Do Something with himself than for Cerpin's wellbeing. Still, it wouldn't exactly be smart to declare that, would it? But lying and saying that he did care would not fool anyone. "Maybe not but Perore likes you." It was the best he could come up with. He risked moving a little closer, not anywhere near close enough for Cerpin to get him without giving himself enough time to get away... but closer than the treeline.

"'Sides, I don't gotta like you that much if you're gonna get into space and not require all the stuff the military does. An' you don't even like me, but you came and threatened to break my door down if I didn't let you in." He rolled his eyes, allowing himself a brief moment of casual relief between the tension. Again he brought up being a rebel. He was trying very hard not to treat it like the Big Deal that it was, because if he did he was sure it would make things worse... He'd already decided he was going to talk to Perore about it later. She'd have some sort of idea of what was going on... right?

But if he did that, would he be potentially cutting off a viable lead to getting off the planet? It was a little too much for him to be wading through at the moment. "Can you stop that. I don't wanna think about that right now. That's too much." It was childish, but he didn't care. "All I gotta think about right now is you came bargin' in all upset an' then wrecked some of my hive and now you're out wanderin' in the hunters woods all dumb-like and I know you got at least two friends in common with me so that means I should probably not just let you be stupid." Right- Polair was potentially involved in this. And whoever "Tevini" was- he'd never heard of her before Cerpin's meltdown. "I don't wanna think about other stuff right now."

Yamashii

 

[Yamashii]

"It is too much, that's the problem!" Cerpin let out a huff of frustration as Deimos struggled to handle the topics the purpleblood was wallowing over. He wished he had the luxury of not thinking about it right now. He wished it wasn't a theme that had consumed his entire life. Cerpin started to tug off his boots, ditching them on the grass to the side of him. He started to roll up the ends of his pants.

"If you don't want to talk about it, then why did you follow me? I'm not gonna die out here. I'm strong, you saw that earlier." Deimos had seen first hand the kind of damage the rockstar could unleash if he wanted to. And that was without his weapon of choice. He tested the temperature of the creek with his toes. It wasn't too bad.

"What do you want to talk about?" Cerpin decided to rest both feet in the cool water. It wasn't a strong current and it felt pleasant to a boy that was overheating with feelings. The tealblood was clearly uncomfortable with all the information Cerpin had just unloaded on him. It was a lot to process. Somehow though, the purpleblood felt happy that someone else was squirming under the weight of it all, the way he had been. Keeping it all to himself had been too unbearable to sustain much longer. Sharing the load had helped him even if it didn't help Deimos.

"I'll send over some drones to repair your s**t if that's what this is about." He kind of doubted it was but Cerpin knew he was supposed to offer this as a highblood. Protect and provide for the masses and all that crap.

nepsah

 

[nepsah]

"Whole lotta good bein strong will do when you step in a trap." Deimos actually rolled his eyes. Navigating the woods took more than strength, obviously, or kids like himself wouldn't be able to live there. "An' I just said why I followed. You 'n me got at least two friends in common and I'm pretty sure they'd be mad if they found out you died in the forest and I prolly coulda at least talked you outta it. Maybe." He frowned, slowly realizing that perhaps this really was the stupidest idea he'd ever had. How exactly was he supposed to talk down a moody purpleblood teenager? He was just a kid! A scrawny, not good at talking to other people kid. He pushed that thought aside- it would just... freak him out more if he thought too much about himself.

"I dunno." Cerpin's question had caught him off guard, and he'd answered without really thinking about it. Perhaps that was more truthful an answer than he would've given if he had thought about it. "I don't care about that. You didn't do that much damage just broke a couplea things... But if you broke any of my stargazing stuff then maybe you should replace that." He huffed, and shifted his weight from foot to foot as he decided if he wanted to move closer or not. Cerpin was... not in a position where he could move very quickly, maybe. And if he did, he had his shoes off, so... running would be easier since the teen would either have to stop to put them back on, or risk damaging his feet to chase him through the forest.

He decided to shuffle closer, still out of arms reach. "Are you a rebel 'cause you're runnin' an illegal way to get off the planet or....... are you like.... a serious kind of rebel." He narrowed his eyes, internally regretting the question as soon as he'd asked it, but... It would help him parse through what he wanted to do. "'Cause if its just space stuff I don't care, I want to go too, so..."

Yamashii

 

[Yamashii]

"It's kind of complicated. I was caught up in a rebel skirmish and after that, I was branded suspicious by the crown. There was no way to return to normal after that. They took me in when they didn't have to. Despite not trusting a highblood." Cerpin kicked at the water, obviously somewhat bitter about the situation he'd gone through. It was not completely by choice that he had joined up with the rebellion. But it was not completely by force that he had chosen to stay with it.

"Tevini and I decided we were going to do whatever we had to so we could get off this miserable planet. She's the engineer, I'm the captain. I supply the money and recruit the team. She builds the ship. That's how it was supposed to go until she ran off." She would have killed him if she had heard him talking about all of this but it wasn't like she got to have her way if she was going to run off and disappear like that. He looked to Deimos.

"What is it you want out there in space? We're trying to find a better life. I don't want to romanticize the reality of what we'll be doing out there. It's going to be a lot of crappy shitty work." He reached and mussed up some of the tealblood's bangs. "If you just wanna study and look at them, it might be safer to do it here where you won't be shot down for flying on an unauthorized space vessel."

He did his best to stay calm, to think about Deimos's safety and future instead of his own. But he couldn't easily squash the small part of him that hoped Deimos would want to come anyways.

nepsah

 

[nepsah]

Deimos found himself having moved closer, though didn't quite realize it until Cerpin mussed up his hair. He shot him a look, then reached up to mess it back into place. Not that it really did anything- his hair was a disaster most of the time anyway. "Sooo..." He began, thinking though everything that Cerpin had told him. "You're not really all that... big into killin' the Queen 'n all that. Y'just got stuck in the middle." He quirked one eyebrow- finding some sort of silver lining in this. If it was true, anyway. Maybe Cerpin was just doing what he had to do to survive. Dei couldn't really blame him for that.

"She ran off." He repeated back, expression returning to careful uncertainty. Why did she run off? But did he want to know? Regardless of whether Cerpin was just along for the sake of survival or if he was really invested in the rebel's ideals... the more he knew about the older boy's personal life, the deeper in s**t he'd be if anyone found out about it. He decided to wave a hand dismissively- he didn't want to know.

"I want to be in it." He blinked, as if it was the most obvious answer. He wanted to be up there. Granted, he hadn't really given it the thought it deserved - terraforming places hadn't really crossed his mind - but surely it'd be worth it. To leave and be able to go where ever he wanted. "If I don't go with you I'll just figure out a different way. That's all I want to do." He paused- almost looking like he was going to continue. He was, but it seemed too... too much like he would be exposing himself if he did.

Then again Cerpin had exposed himself quite a bit already. He chewed at his lip, then looked up at the parted canopy of trees above. "Studying and looking is good, yeah... But I wanna be part of it. I wanna see it an' exp--expeer--ee-ence it. I wanna know if all the stuff in the books is real. There's... everything up there and here is so..." He struggled for the word, scrunching his face up and pointedly fixing his eyes on the sky overhead- he didn't want to look at Cerpin. This was too close to his pumpbiscuit to risk looking at his face before he'd even gotten it all out. "Being here is so... controlled." It wasn't the best word, but it would do. He risked glancing over at the purpleblood, face still pointed toward the sky.

Yamashii

 

[Yamashii]

"Then it's settled. You're on the team." He caught the other boy's glance with his own, a relaxed and genuine smile forming on his lips. No bravado or clever smirk this time. It felt raw and vulnerable to have told someone so much about his secrets and goals but it was also liberating and cleansing. He didn't have to hide things from this person anymore. The thought of that lifted incredible weights from his shoulders.

"I'll get you up there to those stars somehow. You, me, Vee and Pol. Once I get Tevini back, we'll be back on schedule." He'd keep an eye out for more recruits but it was starting to feel like an actual team now. It wasn't as far out of reach anymore. He reached and wrapped an arm around the tealblood's shoulders, tugging him closer until they were resting comfortably together looking up at the sky in unison.

"I'm sorry for my meltdown earlier. It's been a stressful time. I thought Tevini and I felt the same way about each other but I hurt her feelings and she ran off. So it's been lonely losing a roommate." Deimos probably didn't care about this explanation but it helped Cerpin to share it. The other guy was more interested in stars and space rather than relationships but he would have to shut up and deal with it for now. That was part of belonging to a team.

"Guess I'll have to bother you some more until she comes home. After I fix your place I suppose." It would be easy to buy new kitchenware. Maybe he ought to buy Deimos some kind of nice equipment too as an extra apology. Though it had looked like he mostly had everything he needed already.

nepsah

 

[nepsah]

Relief washed over him. His shoulders fell- he hadn't realized he'd gotten so tense until Cerpin spoke. He'd been expecting a laugh, not affirmation that it was okay. Finally he looked back to the other boy, unsure of how he felt about that expression. It seemed... alien on Cerpin. Too sincere for Deimos's current image of the purpleblood. He looked away, chewing at his lip a little. He wanted to ask if Perore was coming but-- then he realized he'd have to not tell her about this either. It felt bad, but... it was his dream, wasn't it? Ultimately he had to look out for himself.

"It's fine, just don't do that again. You're really lucky Thypion isn't home or he woulda ripped you in half." He snorted, tone taking on its usual snark. It.. was interesting that Cerpin and this "Tevini" person were roommates and.. probably together? Or were going to be? He'd meet her eventually, he was sure of it. He just... hoped she wasn't exactly like Cerpin, he wasn't sure he could handle two of him in one spaceship.

"Uuuugh. I guess you can stay the day if you have to. And yes, after you clean up your mess." He rolled his eyes, though he didn't really seem all that upset over it. "...Perore doesn't know about the space stuff does she. 'Cause it's illegal 'n all that." He hadn't mentioned it to her yet, since Cerpin had said not to... but he wanted to make sure. "Not that I said anythin' to her, it's just easier knowin' who knows what 'n stuff, s'pecially since she's s'posed to like..." He trailed off, motioning with one hand as he spoke. "Y'know... hunt rebels."

Yamashii

 

[Yamashii]

There were a lot of things to tell him but several that he could not. Cerpin thought over Deimos's concern with a thoughtful frown before shrugging and rising to his feet.

"Let me worry about Perore. You focus on your studying and training." Grabbing the tealblood underneath his shoulders, the purpleblood hoisted him up to sit on his own shoulders for a comfortable ride. Deimos wasn't a wriggler but he was lightweight and short enough to do this easily enough. The two of them began the trek back to the hive. It was a lot more pleasant with the heavy weights on his biscuit off his chest.

"And yeah, you don't need to tell her about this." She already knew but... yeah Deimos wasn't supposed to know that. He didn't know that Perore didn't actually exist. Cerpin still wasn't sure what was going on there. Why lie to Deimos in a way that might've actively pushed him into premature military service? They needed him to join their cause, not hunt it. But those were questions for another time.

The door came into view and he nudged it open lazily with his foot, ducking inside just barely low enough to avoid smashing Deimos's face into the door frame. Cerpin made a bee-line to the couch, tossing Deimos onto half of it before crashing down on the other side himself. It was clear that he was worn out physically and mentally.

"Wake me up when the food's done, okay?"

nepsah

anddddddd fin! i'll bother you about a batt later!