Chump Change [OPEN]

[ Ardos & Le-kzen Ta'driz ]

A poke on the bully's shoulder.

"Hey."

He craned his neck to look at him. Ardos gave him about the time he finishes cracking his knuckles to prepare before landing a solid fist to his jaw. The bully reeled sideways and stumbled on a nearby bench, sending everyone sitting there screaming and running. Ardos caught the kid by the waist gently before setting him aside to finish off his attacker.


Le-kzen ran up to the small kid and held him back. She gave him a sheepish smile. "Don't worry, my brother has this."


Really, the guy was so much bigger than he was, by height and girth. But he was a playground bully. He preyed on the weak because they were all he could prey on. He was nothing compared to the monsters that skulked around the Underdark.

"What the hell? Done already?" Ardos lunged himself at the little punk, grabbing him by the shirt and landing a couple more punches to his now bleeding face. He snarled. It was like staring at an angry, rabid doberman. The kid spat out a couple of his teeth. "If I catch you 'round these parts again, shithead, I'll shove your own arms up your asshole so hard you'll be spitting fingernails for weeks. Now scram."

Ardos shoved him aside and the punk, not wanting to piss off the angry drow more (smart), high-tailed it out of there. He walked over to the kid and his sister, wiping the bully's blood from his shirt with his wrist to no avail. He was a lot calmer now, taking on his usual stoic but intimidating disposition. "You get bullied often, kid?"

Ardos grabbed him by the back of his shirt when he stumbled forward and propped him against a nearby column. As he got a better look at his face, Ardos realized that he was... pretty cute, actually.

He felt his face heat up. He took a few steps back, crossing his arms.

"Don't pick fights you can't handle! Do you want to get killed? What do you think would've happened if I didn't step in to save you!?" It was a scolding but the observant would notice there were hints of concern in his voice. Attractive or not, Ardos had always felt sorry for weak people and this kid seemed like he was bait to assholes like the square guy from earlier. A prey animal should curl into a ball or hide. They shouldn't go around biting tigers.

Le-kzen walked over to Ardos' side and latched herself onto Ardos' arm, both to tug at him in warning and also because she liked being at his side. Ardos got the hint and scoffed.

"I'm sorry for my brother. He's kind of an ass." She looked up at him and showed him her tongue. Ardos rolled his eyes. Still, she thought he was always so heroic even if he tried to deny it. It was one of his better qualities. "But he's just concerned. You should've seen him earlier. He jumped over a table just to get to your side."

She pointed at herself. "I'm Le-kzen. Call me Zen." She patted her brother's arm. "This is my brother Ardos. We're pretty new."

Ardos looked at him flatly. "Well, at least you know what's going to happen."

He couldn't believe this kid. What kind of luxurious life did he live that he could joke about dying so casually? He'd only gotten a glimpse of the suburban area in Manta Carlos and it seemed like a place where people could walk at night without feeling like they would get attacked in the dark. Death and pain seemed like far-off things to them. Maybe that was why.

Ardos looked at him again as he defended his stance, looking like a mix of impressed and confused. He can understand fighting for yourself and other people all too well, but again, this kid did not look and act like the fighting type. He should train. Build up muscle. Master a weapon. Nobody should run into a fray unprepared.

"You can't defend other people if you can't defend yourself first. You're not just going to risk yourself. You're going to risk them, too," he said, a little softer this time.

Survival first. That was what drow society taught him. He and Le-kzen got this far because they stacked all their cards to their favor. Stupid heroics or rebellions were luxuries they couldn't afford. This kid couldn't either but he didn't understand that.

If the kid died, then that wasn't their fault. He'd said his peace.

Still, there was something at the back of Ardos' mind that nagged him to protect him. It was the usual thing. He was fascinated with people that operated in a way he couldn't understand, and it was frustrating.

Le-kzen looked up at Ardos again. "Brother?"

Ardos scoffed. "I'm not going to say no to free food, Zen."

Le-kzen grinned. "That's decided, then."

Le-kzen sidled up next to the guy and Ardos trailed awkwardly behind them, glaring daggers at anybody that still looked in awe at the scene and the blood on his shirt. Luckily, nobody wanted to mess with him so they went about their normal business.

"We just arrived a week ago so we don't have a lot of friends here yet," Zen said, smiling at the kid. "Can we be friends? There are a lot of perks in being our friend, you know. You get a personal bodyguard."

Zen tilted her head at Ardos. Ardos looked at her flatly. "Har har."

Le-kzen practically jumped in excitement, clapping her hands happily. "Yay! Our first friend! Hear that, brother? Amphy is our friend now so you can't hurt him."

Ardos humphed. "Wasn't planning on it, Zen."

She knew he wasn't. She was just teasing. He reacted with violence to situations he perceived were dangerous, ones he couldn't control or understand. When he was around Le-kzen, she noticed he was considerably tamer because he relied on her to decide if he should fight or not, except in rare times such as these when the threat was obvious. She didn't have much of a say because he would always leap to action.

When Amphios handed him the trays, Ardos looked momentarily panicked — he didn't want to owe someone this much — before realizing surface food was a lot cheaper than drow food. He and Le-kzen have a school allowance that would afford them this kind of food. Chill.

Le-kzen looked over to the window. It did have a nice view but why did everything have to be so bright up here. If she had her way, she would just close all the curtains and turn off all the lights, but she had a feeling people would react badly to that.

"That works!" She led the three of them to the window table. Ardos outright squinted muttering 'bright' before following and setting the food on the table. It was a four-person table, so Zen slipped into the inner chair while Ardos stayed vigilant near the edge.

Zen ate her food like a civilized person with a knife and a fork, but Ardos literally just raised the plate up and picked the food up with his fingers because anybody who had a problem with that could suck his dick.

Shit.

Surface food was amazing.

He started shoveling handfuls into his mouth, only pausing to chew.

Le-kzen immediately noticed from Amphios' body language that he was disgusted at her brother's eating. She was so embarrassed for the both of them. She didn't want to scare off their new friend because of her brother! This always happened. She would meet someone nice and then Ardos would end up ruining it somehow because he was about as likable as an angry rottweiler.

She elbowed him in the side, snapping him out from his eating — shoveling, really — to warn him about his behavior.

Ardos couldn't give two fucks about it but he didn't want to argue with Zen either. Stupid Matron sister trying to turn him into a civilized person. Ardos looked at Zen sharply, wiping his hands off with a tissue and picking up a fork. This method of eating was inefficient but he guessed """manners""" were more important.

"We're from a drow city underground. Eryndlyn," Zen said, nodding. "We came up here to get a better life. I don't want to talk too badly about drow society but, well, we were from a lower class. It wasn't exactly easy to get a good life because of our economic status."

"What she means is that she's sick of selling my sword out to any chump with cheap change so we'd be able to afford rats for dinner."

"I..." Le-kzen looked at Ardos with a guilty expression and he immediately regretted what he said.

Truth be told, he didn't care that he would get injured every other week because of the job. Ardos liked fighting and he liked being able to support his sister. But their arrangement was driving her mad thinking she was taking advantage of him which was ridiculous. Ardos was the one that offered. He liked that she was fond of him enough that she would consider his feelings but... He was fine with the old arrangement. Really.

Ardos rubbed the back of his neck. That wasn't their reality anymore. They were starting anew, and he supposed he was being difficult about it all because he was terrified of change even if that change was for the better. He was going to try and give this whole thing a shot.

He looked at Amphios. "So that's our story. We're trying to adjust to the place. It's so different. My sister's studying Politics and I don't know what I'm taking yet. I've never really been good at anything but fighting."

She noticed the immediate change in his demeanor and smiled. "You're good at cooking, though."

He blushed, crossing his arms and staring at the ceiling. He was so thankful he had dark skin. "I... wouldn't want to take it as a course."

She giggled. "What about you, Amphy? What are you taking?"