nobody said it was easy [inna's babe

[zenith kain eridius]

Zenith… Zenith is breaking. Slowly little bits and pieces are coming loose and slipping away, sliding to the floor like leaves off a tree in fall. What is it now? What is he now? Zenith can’t even see the pretty colors. All he can do is heat his own dinner when the cafeteria food goes cold. You know that ugly brown color that things started to turn when they hung on for a little too long? The Greek man was still trying to keep himself hanging on but everything was wilting. This wasn’t an environment that someone who’s used to being the rock can thrive in.

Everyone here was breaking and you couldn’t save them all. Ze could hardly save himself, and that was becoming too much. All he could do was get out and go. His pack was slung over a shoulder, hanging lazily as his stride through the air. His gaze is gentle as it dances over the ground, trying to find something to focus on. He needed something to draw, he needed something that he could hold on to in this bleak place. It hurt, yeah. This whole damn place hurt.

The young man found himself a tree. It was within the fence, but he couldn’t see that damned garish building. Thank fucking god he couldn’t. All he needed to do was sit and pull a sharpie from his bag. It’s a grey blue… the same color as Lainey’s eyes. Lainey… she was his skeleton in the closet, he guessed. That girl had enough of them. Ze had told himself he could help her, he could save her from those skeletons… no one said it was easy. Without really thinking he grabbed his phone from his pocket and set it to shuffle… all the damn thing was good for now, right? On the page before him he could see the face of a woman that had once taken his breath away take shape.

Nothing was easy and everything hurt.


click for outfit, mkay?

[perseus james rudman]

Perseus had spent the entire day wandering around the hospital, annoying whoever he could. But eventually, someone had called security and told him he had to leave and stop being a pain in the ass. Fat chance. He lived to be a pain. He always had. Especially when it came to his older brother. He was almost glad Deac had a munchkin now. He could rest assured he was being constantly agitated without he himself being around all the time. The kid was cute enough, the spitting image of her mother who Perseus suspected his brother never really loved. Deacon didn't seem the type to love anything. Except maybe Bandit.

He smiled as he passed someone, reaching up to pull his hood over his head. It wasn't very cold out, but even the slightest breeze was enough to agitate the boy. He hated how unpredictable it was. Something that couldn't be calculated couldn't be trusted, right? At least, that was the conclusion he'd come to once they'd started their odd testing on him. He'd been smart even from a young age, able to remember anything he heard or read. He'd never gotten below a B on his report card. And even a B was enough to upset him. But since they'd started prodding him? He felt like he couldn't learn enough. And sometimes, he thought his brain might pop.

He saw a boy sitting under a tree, but being Perseus, the thought of 'he's a cute one' floated through his mind for a split second before he pushed it away. 'People' weren't his thing. They couldn't be trusted either. Or calculated. But regardless of the fact he didn't like interactions with humans, he walked over to the boy, inviting himself onto the spot beside him. "I haven't seen you around." He said with a smile, clicking his tongue ring against his teeth in the annoying manner his older brother despised. "I'm Perseus. Like.. the guy who beheaded Medusa."

[zenith kain eridius]

Ze couldn't tell you that there was anything wrong with him. People had died of a broken heart, but not in a hundred year. This was a young man that would deal with it... He'd get over it. He always would. Keep calm, deal with that shit, and carry on. His music and drawing were swallowing up everything he could possibly feel today. That was what he needed. He needed... to not feel.


The sound of footsteps had been drowned out by the throbbing of the Schindler's List soundtrack, taking him to a land far away. It was too much, this ok ace. It would drive him up the walls.

Still, he didn't let himself get started by the voice. Perseus... he couldn't help but smile. "The hero with the cool head, yeah I know the story." The man nods, smiling softly up at the other man. He's pretty, that much he'll attest to. "Guess I'm the new kid, yeah. Name's Zenith, but Ze works too. " he isn't put off by the other creature making himself at home. He absently turns down the volume of then spooky instrumental, going back to to his drawing. Company was good. Company would keep him sane, he could hope.

[perseus james rudman]

Perseus smiled at the comment, shrugging his shoulders. "I wouldn't say a hero. I think as far as the word goes for referring to Gr- Strong. He was strong." He nodded, reaching down to pluck a bug from his shoe. He flailed his hand until it flew away, then ran his hand slowly up the bright green pants he wore. 'Normal' wasn't a word used to describe the boy much. Once again, he'd lost track of what they'd even been talking about, glancing over at the boy as he spoke again.

"Guess we both have a couple of odd names then, don't we?" He asked, reaching down between his legs to pluck at the grass slowly. "It's a word, isn't it? Zenith.." But he couldn't quite put his finger on what exactly it meant. He may be smart, but recalling things on the spot wasn't exactly a strong suit. He squinted, looking up as someone stopped at his feet. "Oh, hey Deac." He said, holding his arms out for the little girl he held. He hugged her close, slowly rubbing her back as his brother walked off. He seemed bothered, but Perseus wasn't going to argue on it. His brother was always bothered by something.

"This is Bandit. Deacon was gonna name her Bandit Athena but out mom told him no cause she already had a Greek- kay, bye." He told the little girl as she got up and ran around the tree, giggling as she went. "What are you doing under a tree anyways?" He asked, realizing his talking was probably bothering the boy. It was just one of many things people seemed to despise about him.

[zenith kain eridius]

Once upon a time he'd had a brother that was fixated on the sorts of things that told stories of lands far away and heroes who fought the gods. Ace had adored those stories, even gone so far as to write his own. Zenith hadn't hated his brother... resented was a better word anyway.

"I suppose I do. Then again, could have wound up with like... Sophocles or something, knowing my parents." He rolls his eyes softly. Big into classical literature they had been. Greeks were big into weird names, anyway. "Means like, the point above something, I guess." He shrugs. The young man hasn't cast his eyes away from the drawing. Words are taking shape in the wild tangles of her hair... letters spelling out I fucking loved you carefully hidden where only trained eyes would know how to find them.

He watches now, though, as the little girl flings herself around the tree. She's cute, he figures he'll draw her one day. "I needed to think... needed somewhere I couldn't see that god be damned building to draw. There's something weird that happens to creative energy in that place... like the building itself eats it all up." The man shrugs, going back to darling Lainey's face... his heart is still breaking.

[perseus james rudman]

Perseus listened to him quietly, playing with the hem on his pants. "I think it's.. not really a direction. It's just up. Not north." He chewed on his lip, thinking for a moment before the boy's speaking brought him out of his thoughts. He nodded, having realized a lot that this placed seemed to be the abyss where everything nice and happy and productive went to die. "It doesn't just eat it. It takes it from you by force.." He watched Bandit round the tree again before she flopped down in his lap, sucking on her fingers.

"At least there's one person here who isn't a soulless mess." He said, running his fingers through her delicate red curls. She smiled up at him, then pointed at the piercing in his lip. He stuck his tongue out at her, pushing her hand away as she reached up to grab his tongue piercing.

Perseus glanced back at the boy, pinching Bandit's nose playfully. "How are they torturing you?" He asked, yelping when the small girl bit his finger. "Stop biting, Bandit! Uncles are friends, not food!" He complained, leaning down to tickle her, then set her on her feet.

[zenith kain eridius]

"You're telling me... fucking sucks." The man leans back., studying the face that had come to life before his eyes. If he was to unlock his phone and pull up the pictures he didn't have the heart to delete, they would be the same... to the T. The same mischief filled glint in the eye, the wildness of the hair, the slight curve that her lips always seem to hold... all of it. She'd been his and he'd brought it upon himself to be the entirely dutiful and devoted boyfriend. He'd done a good job.

Fate just had a way of falling short. Zeke had been left out in the cold.

How very cold it was today. It left the young man shivering back in his thin t-shirt as he listened to the man speak. The child was cute, yeah, and it was with a needle fine bright purple sharpie that he began to sketch on the next page, her face. Yes, he was hurting, and it showed in the melancholy way he went about his artwork. Instead of strokes filled with gusto and a devil may care attitude they seemed to drag on, meandering in lines. "They've decided a kid like me is too cold, I suppose." He holds his hand out, a heat shimmer rising off his palm. "And you, my friend?" Ze finds the words softly, almost afraid to ask. There's too much to fear in this place for his liking.