"I'm not a child, I'm Mike Aruba, and I'm not raceless either." Delas said. Astien came into the carriage a moment later and sat at the table.
"Everything's paid up. We're good to go."
Cormac nodded and hopped up on the bench and got the carriage going once everybody was inside. Marius sat at the table with Astien. "Not too much longer now."
"Not much longer. Then I can finally get back on track." He smiled. "Last night was wonderful. Like a fairytale."
Marius nodded. "It was a nice night. We should do it again soon."
Delas spoke up. "You know, it was my idea you two go out and see that play and get dinner and stuff."
"Then I thank you for your suggestion, Delas." Astien said.
"I'm not Delas, I'm Mike Aruba. Elf, not raceless."
"I guess that explains the mustache too, then."
Marius just nodded. Delas was an odd one, to put it simply, and he sometimes just went along with what the boy had going on.
Delas scowled. "Don't look at me like that! If you were raceless, you'd want to be somebody else too!" He cried.
Marius began cooking a simple breakfast for him and Astien.
Delas ripped off his mustache and threw it at Marius. He hopped onto his bunk and covered himself with a blanket. "Suck a million dicks, Marius."
"Delas!" Astien chided.
"Already have, Delas," Marius said flatly with a sigh.
"Then suck a million dicks and choke on one too!" Delas cried, his voice cracking, obviously becoming more upset.
"Delas!" Astien was clearly losing his patience.
"Kid, I get you had a hard life, but I'm gettin' really tired of you pointing you that you're raceless an' sometimes you're just plain weird." Marius huffed. "You're with us and barely anybody has given you any grief about being raceless to since you've joined us. Cormac told me you ran away from home, so whatever crap you've been through you've brought on yourself. You could have stayed home, but you ran off like some punk ass brat."
Delas was quiet. He didn't say anything.
"Marius, that was awful! Delas, he didn't mean that. Isn't that right, Marius?" Astien's voice was low, threatening.
Marius huffed and went back to preparing breakfast for him and Astien. Once it was done he ate in silence.
Astien ignored his food an walked over to Delas. He peered at him in the top bunk. "Delas, Marius didn't mean that. But you were being rude to him too. Everything's fine, okay? So what do you say you just come on down, eat some breakfast, and take a few nice, deep breaths, okay?"
Delas didn't respond, and didn't move from beneath the blankets.
"Quit your mooping and come eat," Marius huffed.
"Marius, you're not helping!" Astien snapped. He turned back to Delas. "Just ignore him. You're allowed to feel however you want. But please, do come and eat something."
Marius went back to eating his meal.
"Delas, please." Astien begged. Eventually, he managed to coax him out from under his blanket and to the table, but his face was red the whole time as he cried silently. Astien reached over and wiped away his tears with a napkin.
Marius kept to himself once he finished his meal.