IT’S A LOT to take in, and Pista’s normally already cluttered mind just feels even more messy now with the addition of all this new, and frankly terrifying information. It’s wild, considering how much hope there is to be found in this if it all succeeds, but it’s so scary how easily things could go wrong too. A single slip-up, one tiny misstep, someone stays out too late or is, god forbid, taken even before they can make it to the safe place and… Pista shakes his head, and immediately starts to speak out loud as if to talk over his own thoughts. “Okay… Okay, I’ll tell Harquin,” he says, practically pants out, every single part of him somehow feeling simultaneously frozen and yet also panicked, with all this energy and franticness that he doesn’t quite know what to do with. “Maybe I can find you again, tell Bandi with you, and…” He’d heard it a moment back, but it only hits him now, and he interrupts his own words. “Shit, man, Coco, though… Damn…” Too much to take in all at once, and he tries to force himself to calm down.
For the most part, it works, and he’s able to tell DeeZee what he knows he has to tell him before they part ways and do what it is they’ve got to. “Look, I… It would make me feel so much better if we could go there together. Maybe you, me, and Aldera could meet up again if we haven’t gone yet, and…” It hits him, of course, how improbable that sounds, considering they could all be anywhere in the tower at any given point, and there’s no real direct way to communicate. Just people fumbling about, trying to discreetly find one another in this fucking tower so they can all head to safety. He pinches the bridge of his nose for a moment, shutting his eyes, before putting a hand out between them. “Just. You have to get there. Okay? Before us, after us, at the same time… You gotta be there. I’ll fucking… stall the escape if you’re not there yet.”
He watches as Pista takes it in, nods along with his words, although he doesn’t really have a whole lot of hope that they’ll manage to meet up again after they part ways here. It’s not that he doesn’t want to––hell, he wishes to any higher power that might be listening that they didn’t have to do this on their own, that they could do it together, so at least he would know Pista is safe, could guarantee that they both make it out together, because he doesn’t know if he can do any of it without his best friend––but he knows how dangerous sticking together will be through this, and how impossible it’ll be to coordinate enough to meet up again discreetly before going to the spot, when they all have so much to do, and there are a thousand unknown factors. They can’t really afford to focus too hard on the panic that comes with having to split up right now, though, so instead DeeZee focuses on the other part of Pista’s words. “Yeah, Coco’s apart of it, apparently, thank fuck. She’ll help make sure we’re safe, I know she will,” he nods.
It makes his chest feel tight, the way Pista says it would make him feel better if they could go together, because he feels the same, but he knows how impossible it is. For some reason, it makes his eyes sting, maybe the adrenaline of it all, and the panic of not knowing when he’ll see Pista next after this. He pushes it down by taking a long drag of his cigarette, holding onto Pista’s arm tighter, as it seems Pista also realizes how unlikely that is. “You know I wish it was possible, too... But even if you can’t find me after you’ve tried for sponsorships again, find Aldera, and you two get out of here together. I’ll meet you there, okay?” he says emphatically, looking Pista in the eye, trying to make it clear how real his promise is. “I will, Pista, I promise. I’ll get there. I just gotta take care of some shit first, but I’m gonna be careful. I’m not gonna let you live through the embarrassment of trying to stall a whole ass escape plan by yourself. I’ll be there.”