TWs: Arguing, feelings of rage, anxiousness, denial of feelings. Ceres doesn't know what personal space is. Stay safe :)
"You can't just say things like that!"
Triton came to a stop, frowning as he eyed the duo before him, "What are you guys doing?"
Io stepped away from Callisto, stuttering as he shielded himself with asteroids, "H-Hey, Triton! D-Do you m-mind, uh- calming your girlfriend down?"
"We're not dating!"
"She's not my girlfriend!"
Io squinted his eyes, his gaze looking between them, "Uh-huh... a-anyway, I didn't m-mean it, Callisto! It was j-just a j-joke, y'know?"
The darker moon glared at him before she sighed, crossed her arms, and looked the other way, "Fine."
Io let out a breath of relief, only to tense as Callisto whispered something to him. He nodded fearfully, shifting away from the other.
Triton glanced between them, 'They're acting weird... but oh well, it's not my problem.'
"Wow, what a great friend you are," Wei spoke.
'I will throw you into the void if you don't shut up.'
"You're bluffing."
'Am I?'
Wei didn't respond.
Triton huffed, "We should find Neptune, tell him what we found."
"What? We didn't find anything." Callisto raised an eyebrow, "Unless you had an adventure of your own...?"
"You could say that," Pulling out the NovaStar, Triton held it out, "I found this by the edge of the Heliosphere. It's not the one Neptune is looking for, but perhaps it knows something."
"Excuse me...? Are you calling me an 'it?'" The moon could feel the anger pulsing out of the object, "I'll have you know I go by he/they!"
Triton ignored the NovaStar, "And it won't stop talking, so we should hurry before I gain a headache."
Wei scoffed, yet didn't say anything.
« × »
Orcus shifted the asteroids out of his way, inching forward to keep his eyes on the group of dwarf planets a few units away from him.
'There they are...' He thought, 'Okay, Orcus, you can do this- just go up to them and introduce yourself!'
Taking a small step forward, Orcus slowly made his way over. His nerves were on fire, and the frost along his body ignited. He held himself tightly, appearing smaller than he usually was.
Envious eyes glazed over, watching the group laugh over something they were playing. Orcus had never experienced something like that nor did he have someone who genuinely cared about what he said.
Averting his eyes, Orcus returned to hiding, 'I can't do it... I'll just ruin everything.'
Turning around, the small dwarf planet let out a sigh as he opted to give up on his endeavor.
"Orcus." He came sphere-to-sphere with Salacia, meeting the other's disconcerted glare, "Where have you been? I've been trying to find you for at least three hours now!"
Orcus flushed, not used to someone giving him full attention, "I was just- uh... t-taking in the view?"
Salacia quirked an eyebrow, not believing it for a second, "What's so great about the Kuiper belt? I bet you can get the same view in the asteroid belt." Orcus looked away, his gaze averting toward where the other dwarf planets were. Salacia noticed, brushing past him and following his stare. She hummed, "The other dwarf planets...?"
Orcus nodded, his lip quivering as he fought over what to say and how to say it. The smaller dwarf planet turned her eyes toward Orcus. She knew what Orcus wanted, and was reluctant in deciding what to do.
Salacia didn't care what the others said about her, and she most certainly couldn't care less about them.
Then why was she doing this?
The red-faded dwarf planet inwardly sighed before speaking, "Come on, let's go over to them."
"Wh-What?" Orcus stuttered, his eyes widening.
"You want to talk to them, right? Let's go before I change my mind." Salacia snapped, yet it had no bite to it like before.
"O-Okay...!" Orcus nodded.
They flew over to the group of dwarf planets, Orcus hiding behind Salacia despite him being bigger.
Salacia cleared her throat, hearing as the noise subsided and all eyes were on them. She frowned, feeling a tingling sensation set in her core. Whatever it was, it didn't feel pleasant.
"Well, howdy!" Pluto smiled.
"Ooh, are you guys also dwarf planets!?" Makemake exclaimed, his eyes sparkling with excitement.
"Hey, you guys were with Planet X, right?" Charon asked.
"It's Nine, and yes... we were with him." Salacia gritted through her teeth.
"What brings you guys here?" Pluto tried to catch Orcus' eyes, yet the smaller turned away.
"My, uh..." Salacia hesitated. She didn't think of anyone as her 'friend,' but she also didn't want to say 'acquaintance' since that was too formal for her, "Friend wanted to meet you."
Orcus let out a humming sound at the word choice.
'He better not ask about it later, I swear to-' Salacia turned to the other, nudging him before her.
Orcus squeaked, stuttering over his words as he introduced himself to the group, "H-Hello, I-I'm, uh... I'm O-Orcus, nice to m-meet you."
Salacia couldn't help but snicker under her breath, 'He's such an idiot... how cut-' She stopped, shaking herself as she pushed that thought to the deepest part of her mind, 'No! Agh, what am I thinking!? He's just an idiot, and that's all he'll ever be!'
Charon smiled empathetically, "Well, aren't you sweet? My name's Charon, Pluto's moon and partner."
"Charon..." Pluto blushed, "I'm Pluto, former planet, now dwarf planet- it's nice to meet ya!"
"My name's Makemake! A pleasure to make your acquaintance!"
"Eris."
"M-My name's Haumea, it's nice to meet you..."
"And this is-" Charon moved aside to let her feral friend through, eyes wide as Ceres flew up to Orcus and started inspecting him.
"Ah-! Uhm..." Orcus froze, unsure what to do, "Wh-What's he doing...?"
"Trying to figure you out. Don't worry, Ceres does this all the time." Charon assured.
Salacia scowled as Ceres came close to her, "Not too close lest you want to become smaller than Mars' pebbles."
Ceres understood the sentiment, keeping his distance as he analyzed the smaller. He frowned upon noticing another body hovering near her.
"This is Actaea." She spoke, tucking the sleeping moon closer.
Ceres looked at Orcus, his eyes scanning the dwarf planet's atmosphere, "M-Moon...?"
Orcus blinked, "A-Are you asking if I have a moon...?" Ceres nodded, a grin appearing on his face, "H-He's around... he likes to p-play hide and seek."
"Ah-hahahahahhhahah!" Ceres flew circles around Orcus before returning to the group of dwarf planets.
Orcus nearly stumbled into Salacia, who steadied him with her gravity. She huffed, muttering a word of annoyance under her breath.
"Well, I assume we're done here?" The smaller spoke, "Time to go before the others start to wonder where we are."
"Awe, you're not going to play Dungeons & Dwarf Planets with us?" Makemake frowned.
"Dungeons and... what?" Salacia squinted her eyes in confusion.
"Dungeons & Dwarf Planets! The most epic fantasy adventure roleplaying game?" Makemake raised an eyebrow, "Have you never heard of it?"
"Nope." Salacia shook her sphere, "Sounds boring anyway."
"Wha-!?" Makemake gasped in disbelief.
"Come on, Orcus, let's go." Just by looking into his eyes, Salacia could tell Orcus wanted to stay. His eyebrows were knitted, he was biting his lip, and he couldn't meet anyone's eyes, "Orcus."
Steadily, Orcus nodded, despite every inch of him wanting to stay, "Fine."
Salacia led the way to where Neptune said to meet.
It was quiet, not once was there sound.
Orcus stayed quiet for most of the trip, his eyes glancing toward Salacia occasionally. His nerves told him not to say a word, yet he opened his mouth anyway.
"You shouldn't have been so harsh."
Salacia's eyebrows perked up. She had never heard Orcus without him stuttering over his words. It surprised her, and so was the fact that he was confronting her about it.
"I- Wh- I'm sorry?" Instead, she found herself stumbling through her words. She glared at the other, trying to make him feel small.
"Th-They were only being nice..." Orcus averted his gaze, noticing how close they were to their destination; Gonggong and Quaoar talked to each other as if nothing mattered.
Salacia scoffed, stopping to face him, "Being nice doesn't get you far in this universe."
"R-Right, 'cause I'm sure you know all about being nice," Orcus uttered, furrowing his eyebrows before brushing past her and meeting the others a few units away.
Salacia made a few sounds of indignation, circling a few times as she collected her thoughts, 'That little- how dare- I'll- ugh!'
She raised an asteroid, throwing it against another.
POW! Thwip-ip-ip...
The bits of the asteroid scattered everywhere.
Salacia heaved, her breathing hard and unsteady. She took a beat to calm herself, her eyes glazing over as her gaze lowered to the void below.
"Salacia...?" Actaea whispered, having seen everything from the moment Orcus left.
"Actaea..." Salacia muttered, her voice cracking, "What am I doing wrong, my dear Actaea?"
« NOTE »
*Sips tea*
Well... that happened.
Comments are appreciated 3
