Theus quickly snatched Mono's hand with his left, pulling his right hand away and back inside of his pocket. He then stepped away, letting go of Mono and turning around to look at him with a weary expression, transforming into an annoyed one. He was growing exhausted from the constant social interaction.
"M-mono?! The hell did you come from- no, wait, how do you know about…"
Cutting himself off with his left hand over his mouth, he waited for Mono to reply. The pretty boy was standing there with his doe-like eyes, fear ridden all over them.
"Oh, I-I'm sorry sir. I was watching the entire fight from the, uhm, the side."
Not being able to tell if he was lying or if he was just nervous, Theus grabbed Mono tightly but gently, ensuring he wouldn't disappear like he did last time.
"First off, stop calling me sir. You're older than me, you got that?"
Mono looked at Theus once again, his lips quivering slightly but less than before, his voice shaky.
"B-but, you look older than I do, a-and taller."
Theus formed a scowl on his face as he gritted his teeth. If Theus was the same height as Caylie, it was true he was a little taller than Mono, but hearing Mono say that Theus looked older than him is what really infuriated him.
"Whatever, besides the point. That tentacle you saw? I need you to keep it between us, alright? I'm sure you don't want that fighting to start again just as much as me."
Theus held his breath as he waited for the hazel haired boy's response, admiring his looks while forming a bit of envy in his heart throughout the pause.
"Oh, uhm, yeah I-I'll keep it a secret, Theus."
Theus let out a sigh of relief for a brief moment, which was then cut short by his recollection that he never shared his name with Mono. Brushing it off as something he had heard while he was hidden, Theus focused on changing the subject instead.
"Well, I'm sure you've seen the group, right? Would you like to join-"
Attempting to shake Mono off of following him, he tried to deviate the attention towards the group of Ronan, Caylie, Isaiah, and Irene, yet caught something weird he had never seen before, someone else talking to Caylie and Irene.
"T-Theus, was that girl, uhm, always part of your group?"
Mono timidly turned to look at Theus, who had a bothered look on his face. This wasn't due to the fact that an unknown member had joined the group, however.
He was bothered at having to introduce himself to another person.
*****
Theus and Mono regrouped with the rest of them, with Theus sulking his way over to Caylie, Irene, and the new girl, Mono in tow. The conversation between the three stopped. Irene and the new girl looked at the two boys while Caylie looked away, avoiding Theus' eyes.
Squinting his eyes in suspicion, and sighing after, Theus laid a hand on Mono's shoulder, the latter flinching in shock.
"Hey Mono, get yourself comfortable with these two, alright? I've got something else to do, tell me how it is after."
Turning towards Caylie, Theus nodded his head to the right, motioning for the two of them to go somewhere quiet. She turned back to face Theus, her expression unreadable beneath the pure white veil, she then walked towards the direction Theus nodded to.
Catching up with her and walking by her side, Theus spoke apologetically.
"Look, if it's about my outburst from before, I'm sorry. A lot of shit has happened so far and it just caught up to me-"
Grabbing his left hand roughly with her right, she spoke, her voice cracking slightly.
"Just… don't make me feel like I'm useless at something. Please, Theus."
Shocked at the abnormal sensitive nature of Caylie, he gasped somewhat at the hand-to-hand contact with her. Forcing his thoughts away, he tightened his grip on her hand as well, her skin pristine and smooth.
"I, uh, I promise Caylie. I won't."
Both of them shared a moment of silence, then let go of one another, beginning to walk back to the group.
'I see Mono is getting along well with the girls…'
Irene was ecstatically messing with Mono's hazel hair while the new girl was giggling, doing the same. Meanwhile, Mono was sweating profusely at the excessive amount of human contact.
Breaking them up, be it out of jealousy or care for Mono's condition, Theus cleared his throat and drew their attention.
"Uhm, sorry for not saying anything before, but I'm Theus, and that's Mono."
Looking over at the new girl and finally taking in the details of her appearance, Theus rushed over and began grabbing her face, feeling for her softness.
Until the girl yelped and flew off into the air, her wings sprouting from her back, causing her to almost hit the top of the hull.
"Weirdo! I haven't even said my name and you're already touching me, freak!"
Theus looked up at the girl who was keeping herself balanced within the air. She had jet black hair and eyes similar to Theus, along with appearing similar in age, which is why Theus had run towards her in the first place.
Checking his right hand, which he pulled out of his pocket accidentally to grab the girl's face, he saw the wound from the violet tentacle scabbed over for the most part, being red instead of purple as it was before.
He turned his gaze back up towards the flying girl and, not even offering an apology, he projected his voice to reach her up above.
"Hey! How old are you?! That's all I wanted to know!"
The girl looked down, holding a disgusted look on her face as she screamed back at Theus.
"Much younger than you, perv!"
Remembering how disheveled his appearance was, he scowled at the girl's remark for judging his age. Inhaling deeply, he shouted at the girl once again.
"I'm 16!! I just turned it! Just grew up rough, y'know?"
Something flashed in the girl's eyes when Theus said those words. Gliding down gently, her eyes scanned over Theus. She then sighed out of relief.
"Well, why didn't you say so? You're from here, aren't you?"
Looking at her shirt, Theus saw the numbers 2999 plastered on her, meaning she boarded directly before he did. Theus grinned slightly, happy to find someone else from Deceased Earth.
"Finally, I'm tired of seeing all these models from Mars or whatever. Oh, and you don't look that good either, by the way."
Smirking at his response, Theus felt proud of himself for defending himself. However, the girl was more overjoyed than he was that she found someone aboard the ship similar to herself. She shook his hand, brushing off his comment and instead apologizing for her own brashness.
"I'm Freya. Sorry I freaked out before, but you typically don't lunge at people you don't know."
Curious as to why he had never seen her around the city before, and tired of her careful sass, Theus let go of her handshake and stuffed his hands back in his pockets, slouching slightly due to being at ease now.
"How come I've never seen you around my district? Unless…"
She sighed profusely, silencing Theus' words.
"My entire childhood was spent locked away, both by my parents and that damned factory."
Theus looked down at the calluses spread all across Freya's hands, showing clear evidence of her many years of laborious work. He grimaced at the sight, imagining just how draining the work in the factory that kept the ruined city running truly was.
His gaze returned towards Freya's, who was staring at her own calluses, then looked back at him.
He was curious though.
"Wait, you said your parents locked you away? How??"
Freya's eyes went blank once again, lost in thought.
"You said you grew up rough here. Right, Theus?"
Theus raised an eyebrow in confusion, shifting his weight to one side, leaning on it.
"Uh, yeah, why?"
Freya looked him in the eyes, then looked towards the lever controlling the lasers, with Theus' gaze following. A dead expression was strewn across Freya's face.
"My dad. He forced my mother-"
A sharp metallic clang rang out.
A knife embedded itself in the lever across the room, the laser gates sputtering as they slowly ascended.
Theus turned, wide-eyed. The barrier holding back the horde of scared passengers was lifting. He jumped slightly as he heard someone exclaim excitedly, near the front of the crowd.
"Fuck yeah! All skill, baby!"