Chapter Text
Simon Fischer was never a sociable boy. Most days on mars he clung to his mother’s dress and spoke quietly when addressed by other adults. Simon liked honey and flowers and all things soft and familiar. That was until the day he was sent to Eden.
“Oh Don’t be like that Simon, you'll love it there.” He remembered his mother whispering quietly in response to his begging not to leave in hushed tones before he boarded the spacecraft. His mother gave him a knife sheath, jet black with silver buckles and a fine looking dagger inside. She told him to be safe with it, and kissed his raven hair before urging him onto the space shuttle.
Simon remembered feeling lost at first, a small 11 year old boy who never spoke in a sea of cultist faces, the keepers of Eden as they called themselves. He wandered through the halls as if lost despite knowing exactly where he needed to go, gnawing on the hem of his shirt, a nervous habit he truly needed to stop he was told. That was when he bumped into him.
“Ow! Watch it brother I almost-” Simon looked up at this new boy who had just spoken, and was immediately taken aback by how striking his appearance was from everyone else. He looked around Simon’s age, and at first Simon thought he was a girl thanks to his blond hair that trailed down to his feet, and was put up in a half ponytail. “Sorry” Simon said quickly, immediately registering that in the golden haired boy’s arms were two bags of fertilizer, and without thinking Simon hoisted one out of his hands. “Let me help.” Simon’s words shocked even himself. He never offered to strangers like this, but when it came to this boy, it came naturally, the words simply fell out of his mouth like he couldn’t stop them. The other boy looked perplexed for a moment, emerald eyes scanning Simon’s face to see if he was tricking him before beginning to walk. “Tree is this way.. try to keep up yeah?” The sun boy answered, leading Simon down hallways and stopping at the large door.
“We can’t go in there yet. I’m a tree keeper in training but I can’t go in without the father.” Carrion explained, setting his bag of fertilizer down and stepping aside to allow Simon to do the same. “What’s your name brother? I haven’t seen you in the grove.” Simon paused for a long time, probably too long of a time and he mentally smacked himself for this but he managed to speak eventually. “S-Simon.” He answered quietly, brown eyes meeting the other boy’s brilliant green ones.
“My name’s Carrion.” The other boy said, flashing a small smile. Simon thought the name didn’t really suit him. This boy was far too pretty to share a title with bloated bloodied bodies in the dirt to be fed on by vultures but he supposed people didn’t usually get to pick their names here on Eden. There was a pause for a moment as the two boys just stared at each other, analysing the other's appearance before Simon spoke awkwardly. “I like your hair.”
Carrion smiled, tilting his head. “Thanks. I never cut it. My mama used to say I should but I like it better when it’s long.” Carrion exclaimed, reaching a hand back to run his fingers through the golden strands absentmindedly. The two boys once again bathed in silence, standing still and looking around. “If you don’t have a bunk you can stay with me. There’s an empty bed in my quarters. My roommate had to feed the grove so we won’t see him again.” Simon didn’t know what that last sentence meant but he decided that it was better to accept this opportunity at his first ever friendship than to question further.
Simon trailed behind Carrion until they got to the other boys’ room and the door slid open. “You can put your stuff in the corner over there.” Carrion gestured, flopping down on the bottom bunk, and Simon couldn’t help but stare for a long couple of seconds at how Carrion’s golden hair flowed around him like a halo as he laid flat, mesmerised before he registered that he should speak. “Oh- I don’t… I don’t have any stuff to put down.” He said, fiddling with his fingers a bit as Carrion glanced over at him. “That’s okay. I don’t either.” The golden haired boy shrugged, sitting up. “So… what station are you from? I haven’t seen you in the grove before so I know you’re not from here.”
Simon managed to respond in a relatively quick frame of time now. “I’m from Mars. I’ve never been on a station before now.” Carrion sat up immediately. “Mars!?” His face seemed to light up and Simon couldn’t help but feel the golden haired boy’s grin sway his nervously quiet persona a bit too. “What’s it like there? Is it hot? I’ve heard it’s really hot. Are there plants or just sand and dirt? Is it like the desert?” Carrion walked around Simon quickly as if examining him for signs of his home planet to which Simon laughed; for the first time since he got here he giggled, shoving Carrion away lightly. “Calm down! Yeah… it’s pretty hot. We have plants in greenhouses.”
Carrion grabbed Simon’s hand and pulled him to sit on the floor. “Tell me about it there.” Simon was never a talker, but he couldn’t help but feel Carrion’s excitement over his relatively boring life and felt it would truly be a crime to disappoint his new accomplice. “Well…”
...
Carrion Wallows was never a sociable boy. He was loud and gangly and had long unkept hair, all of which made him rather unpleasant for the other boys to get along with. He ran with bare feet and wild hair and beat most other Eden children when it came to racing. Most days he walked the station alone and if anyone tried to talk to him the conversation wouldn’t last long.
Carrion was blunt. But he wasn’t mean. Everyone thought he was rude, much to his dismay at first but he learned to handle it. Carrion preferred to be alone. Eden came first after all. He would tend to the tree, feed it its nutrients that he dragged into the large greenhouse room with The Father, cleaning the trail of cherry colored liquid they left behind. Carrion had never seen Cherries. He was only told that’s what he had to think of that substance as. One time when he was eight he remembered dipping a finger into the fluid, smearing it between his thumb and index before licking it. It tasted like the pang of metal he tasted in his mouth when the older boys slammed his head into the tables at dinner. That day Carrion decided he didn’t like cherries.
Carrion Wallows never expected to run into a new boy from the red planet, Simon as he said his name was. The boy looked mangy and shy, and Carrion's first thought was that he bore a striking resemblance to a puppy with his dark brown eyes. Carrion found himself quickly fascinated by this boy. Finally, someone he could call a friend who didn’t make him angry, who didn’t touch his hair without asking or abandon him as soon as they saw the older Eden children coming with fists clenched and the unclamped clips of their knife sheaths flopping against the hilt of the blade.
Carrion had never had a friend. Now he did. It was strange, but in a good way; having a boy follow him around and a boy to race with and talk to late at night when they were supposed to be asleep. Even though Simon chewed on his sweater collars until they were stretched out and hung off of his shoulders, even though he was quiet at first, Carrion found he was fun when he opened up. Which happened rather quickly once they both got over their original apprehension and lack of social skills. Carrion appreciated Simon, and he hoped Simon felt the same, even though it was quite obvious in the other boy’s smiles and soft eyes and little head tilts he did as he listened to Carrion’s stories he wove about Eden and the grove and his world. The two children were already seen together almost all of the time, and Simon couldn’t stand the thought of being alone in this new place if even for all just for a day.
It was a day in Eden where the halls were relatively empty where they were walking to the gardening supply room to get another bag of fertilizer, where Carrion would hear familiar teenagers behind them, grabbing Simon’s hand and stopping him as a voice spoke. “Well if it isn’t little Romeo and Juliet! Find a little scrawny friend just like you roadkill?” Carrion felt Simon take a step back and squeezed his hand as if urging him to stand his ground too. He prayed Simon wouldn’t run. He didn’t. “His name is Carrion.” Simon said, and it was the firmest that Carrion had ever heard him speak as he stepped forward.
“Ohh and it talks too! Didn’t think a little stray dog like you could make any noises besides nodding your head along to what this little girl says.” The older boy remarked to which his friends huffed out laughter. “Simon let’s go.” Carrion said, tugging Simon’s arm and shooting a look rather venomous for an 11 year old back at the older Eden brothers.
“Oh well, have fun then! Go on and buy him a leash and a collar too Carrion, that way you can drag him along easier.” One of the other boys remarked before walking away with his own friends, laughing and shoving each other. Carrion tugged Simon’s hand as they walked towards the supply closet again. “C’mon. Let’s just get this done so we can get food.” He grumbled, to which Simon nodded and followed him wordlessly. “Sorry about them. The older brothers are always mean.” Carrion spoke after a while of walking, to which Simon shrugged. “It’s fine…” Carrion could tell Simon wanted to say more, probably a question like ‘Why do they pick on you so much?’ Or ‘Why’re you so angry?’, but instead when Simon spoke again it was much less nerve wracking.
“What’s roadkill?” Simon asked as they walked, to which Carrion shrugged. “I dunno. It’s what they call me though. No idea what a road is let alone how it would kill someone.” Carrion pulled Simon along by his hand towards the supply closet, opening it and doing their usual routine of Carrion picking up the supplies and handing them to Simon before picking up his own bag of soil and carrying it with his accomplice to the tree room, dropping them at the door and waiting for the gardener to arrive to help them spread the rich brown soil into the ground
Eventually they did, a gardener named Styx, the one that usually helped the two boys. Their hair was cut short and often up in a half way bun, and their overalls were always stained with dirt and sometimes the cherry juice liquid Carrion tried when he was eight. “Greetings children of the tree.” Styx said flatly, taking their blade and cutting open the bags soil Carrion and Simon had brought. Rich brown powder spilled out onto the concrete floor as Styx flayed the bags open so their contents could feed the tree.
Carrion and Simon set to work, grabbing their gardening gloves and beginning to spread the fresh soil into the pots of plants that provided oxygen to Eden along the walls of the great tree’s room. Carrion and Simon worked well together when it came to most things, but especially gardening. Carrion always loved seeing the soft look in Simon’s eyes as he gently padded soil around the tops of sprouts and pushed seeds beneath the rich brown substance. Styx walked over and handed them more bags of dirt to use, always ever so quiet and monotone which neither of the boys truly minded. Styx was like a sibling. The closest to a caretaker either of them had.
“Once you boys are done with that you can leave early.” Styx spoke as they adjusted their wavy brown hair. “The father is quite busy today and isn’t present for tree work like he needs to be. You two can have some time to yourselves.”
Carrion and Simon nodded as Styx gathered their tools and walked out the door. Though Styx technically wasn’t supposed to leave the boys alone, they knew Simon and Carrion could be trusted with the plants. It wasn’t like either of the children were nearly as irresponsible as they normally were once they were doing their duties to Eden.
Carrion smiled softly as he listened to Simon hum softly as they worked, it sounded like something similar to a song Carrion had heard his mother sing. Carrion wished he had known his mother for longer. Then again, it wasn’t like she cared about him too much. Neither did his father for that matter. Carrion couldn’t blame them though. Most Edenite parents had children for the good of the station and nothing more. To Carrion’s parents, he was nothing but another worker bee. He didn’t mind. Eden was the pride of space anyways. It was an honor to be born here, and a lack of parents was a price worth paying for this glory.