Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sascha reacted on impulse. There was a knock at his door and he hauled himself off the couch (spilling a number of magazines and throw pillows in the process). He'd made it all the way to the threshold when he heard the voice on the other side.

Sascha stalled. His hand was on the doorknob. His fingers flexed. As soon as Sascha recognized his hesitation, however, disgust forced him to throw open the door. He hadn't thought of a word to say. Anything was better than the limbo he'd found himself in, though. It wasn't just this moment in his filthy entryway. This state had haunted him for weeks. Sweeps, it felt.

The door could only open so far with the boxes piled on the interior side. Sascha filled the gap entirely. He looked tired. He always looked a little angry, but tonight the expression seemed to sit heavy on his face. He was dressed in jeans and a simple t-shirt--black with his symbol like a child would wear. It was... ordinary.

Sascha opened his mouth. He instinctively tried to head off whatever Cerpin was about to say, but realized he had nothing to say. His lips flattened around his fangs and his fingers clenched the edge of the door. He breathed in through his nose and tried to speak again. Carefully.

"Do you want to... come in?" It was spoken less in hesitation more than a legitimate question. Sascha's hive was hardly a hospitable environment, but it was more private than his doorstep. Whether it was worth the effort to excavate space for a second troll depended largely on what Cerpin had to say to him.

Sascha squashed himself behind the door to allow Cerpin room to come in. He followed after, maneuvering through the piles with practiced ease.

The pair stopped at the door frame separating the respiteblock and ablutionsblock from the rest of the hive. It was a well-trafficked enough zone to have minimal junk crowding them. Sascha leaned against the edge of his nutritionblock's counter and crossed his arms. He was used to the tight spaces of his hive. He was comfortable. Safe. It was the atmosphere that felt like it was closing in on him.

There. There was the question. Sascha knew it was coming, but he still winced. The two men mirrored each other for a moment. Bodies tense; folded in on themselves. Contemplating. There'd been far too much of that lately for Sascha. He needed action. This was torture.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say anything to move past this ******** of a situation. No sound came out. Sascha closed his mouth slowly. What was on the other side of this confrontation? There was no precedent. No procedure. No managers or superior officers.

The smart thing to do would be to apprehend Cerpin here and now. He could do it. He could bring the whole hive down on them if he wanted to. Turn what was left into the authorities. He'd earn some major credibility with the military. Depending on Cerpin's standing in the rebellion, Sascha might even receive a seat in the Empress's inner-circle.

And then what?

Sascha's jaw strained with the pressure he was putting on it. The correct answer was sitting right there in front of him. Yet Sascha couldn't bring himself to take action. Sascha reluctantly admitted the reason: Cerpin. Something about him made Sascha stupid. Emotional. Weak. Sascha was cornered in his own hive by this a*****e and his... his... everything! He was smug and capricious and hard-headed and fun and generous and well-intentioned...

Sascha growled and shook his head; hands in his hair. "I hate this!" he blurted out. "I hate this! I hate this! I hate- you." The admission struck Sascha through the chest. His eyes fell to Cerpin's as his thrashing ceased. "Why... Why does it have to be like this? Why do you have to be like this? You could be so much more than what you are. I don't want to turn you in. I want..." Sascha choked back an emotion he couldn't place. "I just want you to succeed, you moron! Why won't you let me help you!?"