[PRP] Burn (Tevini + Cerpin)

[Yamashii]

red and black
fire and ash

 

[Yamashii]

It had been a long and exhausting festival but Cerpin had thoroughly enjoyed it all. It was about time to make the trek back to Chittentown thought. Civisect was lovely but it just wasn't the same. He'd grown to enjoy the cool night air when he work and the warmth that came as time tipped close to sunrise. Somehow, he had lost sight of Tevini though. Thankfully they'd agreed to regroup at a fountain outside the train station if they got separated.

"Where is she?" He grumbled, checking his watch. She was the one who complained when they got off schedule and now she was the one running late!  

[Doutei]

Taking a deep breath, a slim figure peeked around the corner. Cerpin was waiting for her, looking handsome and bored as ever. Even though he looked annoyed and impatient, she couldn't help but feel a small bit of happiness at the fact that he'd waited for her. It wasn't much, but it made her feel special.

"Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long." The girl had practiced her lines for the past few nights. The entire reason Tevini had gone to that makeover booth and talked with Serima afterwards was going to pay off now. She hoped. She'd had to do something with all of the other swimwear clad trolls around. Dressed up in a chic black dress and wearing makeup for once, Tevini'd done her best to stand out tonight.

"Could we talk over here for a moment before we get on?" Spotting a little area of benches that overlooked the beach, she took his wrist and started leading him over.  

[Yamashii]

He turned and she was... different. Her hair looked glossy and her cheeks were a warm color that caught his attention. Even more unusual, she was wearing a dress by her own volition. One that flattered her body and drew his attention in. Cerpin swallowed, unsure of what was going on. This was Tevini, right?

"Yeah, I mean we're late but if we don't take too long, it's fine." He followed her, taking a seat at the bench that she led him to. The stars felt brighter tonight and he wasn't sure why. What had caused her to do this?

"You look nice in that. It's pretty. You shoulda worn it earlier for the festival, doofus." He cracked a joke, obviously he didn't think she was dumb. But she did struggle with self esteem issues. Why didn't she realize how stunning she was when she put herself out there?

"What's up, Vee?"  

[Doutei]

"I... I didn't want to wear it for the festival." Tevini admitted awkwardly, trying to keep her chin up. It was hard to match her gaze to his. She was incredibly nervous but reminded herself that it would be okay. Cerpin would never seriously hurt her.

"I wore it for you." Swallow. "Just you." Red tinted her cheeks.

"I..." like you. She cursed herself for her cowardice. She lived with this troll. She'd seen his good and bad sides, as well as some sides she hadn't meant to.

"I-I got this for you to wear. For me." The stars swirled around them and she felt dizzy.

((This is what she got him for his horn piercings!))  

[Yamashii]

"Ah, well, it looks great on you. Seriously." His words were sincere, she looked beautiful in it. Why did she wear those stupid grease smeared rags all the time when she could look like this? He'd have to buy another round of wardrobe suggestions for her. Maybe she was starting to warm up to the idea of dressing fashionably after a sweep of constant nagging. She pushed a gift into his hands and he opened it curiously.

"Wow, this is pretty cool!" Immediately, he started taking out the current piercings to put the gifted ones in. "I feel bad, I didn't get you anything. You should've told me we were celebrating something." He laughed but felt somewhat crummy over the unbalance. Hopefully she hadn't been expecting something. She had a tendency to think he could read her mind sometimes and he was constantly disappointing her in this regard.

"I like it. What do you think?" Cocking his head to the side, he flashed her a trademark smirk and pose. He knew he looked good, he just wanted to hear her say it. She always seemed annoyed at having to admit it since he was a breathing living example of the things she didn't like on Alternia.  

[Doutei]

"It looks... wonderful." Tevini nodded, looking at the piercings and then back down to his face. His smile was sly as always, with some hidden thought behind it. She could tell he was thinking something but didn't know what it was. Probably already considering which outfits would match his new gift. Tevini prided herself on being able to guess what Cerpin wanted.

"I like it." She echoed his words.

"I like you." She echoed her words.

She prayed for another echo.  

[Yamashii]

Her words sent a ripple through the world.

"W-what?" His eyes were wide in disbelief, confusion and amazement. "You do?" Cerpin had not anticipated this but it was not unwelcome. He rose from the bench, hands gliding expertly to her waist as they had many other times to many other trolls. Somehow, this time felt different.

"I like you too, Vee."

His talk with Eridia had not made complete sense of his feelings. But the moment was here and now, faster than he'd been ready for but when had the world ever waited until he could handle it? For once, unable to put into words what he was thinking, Cerpin leaned over the girl in front of him, burning quiet but strong like a glowing ember, and claimed her lips with his own.

He'd kissed trolls before but not like this. His nails dug into her sides slightly.

"I always thought it was pure irritation, pure frustration. I never thought you felt the same murky caliginous feelings I was going through." Cerpin chuckled, still shocked by the confession but relieved of the uncertain emotional pressure he'd been under these past few months.  

[Doutei]

The fireworks she'd lit last night were nothing compared to this. She felt herself soar into the sky and explode up among the stars. He liked her back! Pressing forward nervously but determidedly, she leaned to kiss him.

Then, as all dreams do, it ended.

"What?" Tevini blinked as Cerpin babbled on about irritation and caliginous things. What? Why? She didn't understand. She-

"Wait. What are you saying?" The redblood felt her pumpbiscuit race. She must just be misunderstanding him. His way of talking and doing things was just different than her's and she liked that about him. This must just be one of those times again.  

[Yamashii]

"I thought we were, like, going black together. I mean, you confessed, right? And I felt the same back." He frowned, not sure where the confusion was coming from. Or maybe he had been the one confused. He held on to her waist with uncertainty but wasn't about to let go. This was too important to not discuss and work out. They were too intertwined in each other's lives and goals to part ways.

"Did you... mean something different?" How could she have? They were constantly nagging, annoying and correcting each other, weren't they? Surely she hadn't thought them pale, or worse, flushed.

Had she? His stomach was beginning to sink and he felt a little sick.  

[Doutei]

"I thought we- you-" The look of genuine confusion on his face hurt the most. He really meant it. She tried to take a step back only for his hands to hold on tight. The hot air was suffocating.

"I thought we were flushed." Trembling, she tried again, this time pushing his hands off. The place where his fingers had been burned. She longed for his comfort, he was her closest friend. She hadn't been prepared for it to be Cerpin who hurt her.

"You really feel irritated and frustrated by me?" She shouldn't have been shocked, now that she'd heard it she could think back to times when the signs had been there. Tevini had simply been so wrapped up in her own feelings that she'd failed to notice them at the time. Or perhaps she'd purposefully refused to see it. She'd thought their little arguments and disagreements were just the typical toils of living with someone- with working with them. Everyone fought, didn't they?

"You hate me?" She couldn't believe he was doing this to her. Her eyes filled with tears. Her voice filled with anger. Her heart... with hurt.  

[Yamashii]

"Frustrated and irritated at times, yes. Hatred, no- not exactly- I mean, it's hard!" Cerpin couldn't bear the pained look in her eyes, the tears that were welling up again. He made her cry, he always made her cry. It drove him crazy, the fact that she was always upset with him, always hurt or put off by something he did. It was happening right now, those undefined feelings bubbling up in his chest.

"I mean, you act like you're afraid of me most of the time! Or you think I'm doing something stupid." He tried to explain but this was not really necessary. It wasn't like explaining why he felt a dark quadrant for her was going to make the pain caused by it go away. The purpleblood grit his teeth in annoyance with himself. But ******** it, was she really so blind to see the way she treated him? And the way he responded?

Flickers of red, flickers of flushed feelings were there. But they were complicated by layers and layers of walls built between them. Walls put up by the both of them. Their communication as partners in the race to space was amazing. The communication between them as people was severely lacking.

"I- I don't know! I don't know, Vee, it's hard to tell what a closed door is thinking or feeling!" It was clear to the both of them he didn't just mean a closed off heart. He meant a literal door, the one to her workshop, that he constantly had to drag her outside of.  

[Doutei]

"I have to close it!" Her curls shook as she shouted back. His words hurt because they were true. She did act like she was afraid of people and she did think he did stupid things. She didn't think that meant it was impossible for her to love him! But the door- she- he couldn't see it?

"You're distracting!" Tevini yelled, admitting it. She'd started off hiding in her room because she was scared. She was scared of him and scared of things going wrong and hurting him. Rockets and spaceships weren't exactly safe. Tevini was a self taught engineer, she'd studied the theory and read every book she could find on engineering. She'd made small prototypes and tested things but that never guaranteed a safe lift off. Slowly, her reason had changed. Every move Cerpin made was interesting, his voice enchanting. What if she made a mistake while watching him?

"I locked myself up in that room to protect us! To work on our future! We don't know how much time we have! Sacrifices have to be made!" Her childhood was one to start with. Wiping at her face, the girl bitterly wondered if her heart was next.

There was so much she wanted to say, so much she wanted to make him understand. Yet she couldn't. With each angry word between them, she hated herself. She knew she was smart and she should have seen this for what it really was. She should have realized before they had gotten to this point. Falling silent for a few moments, the girl felt her pulse rage and that horrible dizziness once more.

"... You're right. I... You can't love a door." The engineer spoke quietly, defeated. As he started to react, she stepped away again, avoiding his grasp. If he got her now she'd never be able to leave. He'd find some words to make her stay and she'd try to convince herself that it was okay- this was what she wanted. But it wasn't. She'd wanted something else, something more.

"I'm sorry." She took off running. As she ran, a trashcan rattled and flew into his path as Cerpin chased. A whistle screamed as she dashed onto the nearest train. She glanced behind and watched as he pulled himself up.

And another door closed.