fire and the thud

Following anxiously behind his roommate, Tyberius didn't intend to let the boy go back on his promise of snacks. He'd get the snacks and bail back to his dorm room. But Levi had promised anything and Ty took that to mean unlimited snacks. Holding on for his unlimited snacks, Ty suffered the summer heat, feeling less than comfortable in both a social and hot setting. Why couldn't the school be on a mountain? He had decided at last minute to forsake his usual leather, and was suddenly very glad for that decision. Even in a light shirt and pants he was baking. For a second, his usual expression of distaste was forgotten as he allowed himself to sightsee. Many snacks lingered in the depths of this town, and Ty intended to find them all.

His frown quickly snapped back as he looked down to Levi. "No. Hot." Protesting the heat, Ty tried to fold his arms defiantly. It didn't work incredibly well, and his own body heat was uncomfortable when it was added to the day's heat. Slowly relinquishing his unhappy stance, he settled for stuffing his hands in his pockets, his mind focused on getting food and going home. He wasn't happy per se, but he was definitely interested in his surroundings. "Friends are useless. Don't need friends." Ty only wrinkled his nose in response to the smile. He doubted that he even possessed a sunny side, but said nothing.

A vendor was selling soft pretzels outside a small corner park, and his eyebrows inched up and a faintly hopeful face replaced the unpleasantness. On one hand, he was ashamed to have been lured outside with food, but on the other, pretzels. Ice blue eyes flickered down towards Levi, his steps faltering for a minute. "...Pretzel?" In the meekest voice he could muster, Ty kept his face focused towards the vendor.

"Ooh, Pretzels!"

"You want one Dorito?"

Dorito only nodded and charged up to the pretzel stand, Cheeto following along and fussed with her pockets, pulling out a wallet and looking around nervously. There were many people who would still stare, as the only two goblins on the islands were still an oddity. While Cheeto was apprehensive of the mild celebrity status she and her sister had attained, Dorito dove right in, usually using it to help with her primary hobby of boy chasing.

"Snack time!"

"Can we get two pretzels, sir?"

Cheeto pulled out some of her folding money as Dorito almost bounced on the spot excitedly, she loved the sun and she loved grabbing snacks in the sun and she loved going out shopping and having fun in the sun. Cheeto wore a large sun hat that she seemed incapable of not fidgeting with, she was always worried by comparison; worried she'd get a sunburn, worried she'd get trampled or embarrassed... The dichotomy between them was as resounding as how identical they could be physically.

"Thanks! Thanks, Chee."

"No problem Sis, thanks sir!"

"ooh, studs at 8 o'clock. Lets buy them pretzels too!"

"Wai-wha?!"

Dorito had spotted Tyberius and Levi, eyeing them up like a little girl eyes up a puppy in a pet store. She pulled her own money out of her purse and bought two more large pretzels, then ran up to Levi and Ty with a grin on her face. Her outfit was somewhat skimpy, showing a lot of that mottled, earthy skin, giving the disarming grin of the biblical serpent to her two new 'friends' as she held two pretzels up to Levi and Tyberius. Cheeto followed but held back, fussing with the hem of her shirt as her sister began to work her magic.

"Hey there, got some extra pretzels if you wanna grab a bit to eat."

"Siiiis..."

Tyberius squinted at Levi, suspicious of the look he was being given. He didn't worry about it too much, however, because it was gone in the next instant. "Maybe you should keep your mouth shut." He didn't own a single pair of shorts, and was rather ill-fitted for a tropical island.
Bristling at the hand that appeared on his arm, he quickly forgot it seeing that the pretzels were coming closer. His eyes lit up for a moment, and he clutched desperately at the bill that was pressed into his hand. There was one other man in the line ahead of him, and Ty squished the dollar in his fist, excited to have pretzels. Especially with cheese and —

Hearing a voice behind them, it was close enough to assume that it was directed at him and Levi, and Ty turned half-way, interested in the prospect of a free pretzel. He could buy a few pretzels on Levi, as well as swipe one from a stranger. His plan was laid, and Tyberius turned around fully, expecting to see a normal human standing behind him. Sadly mistaken, he hissed violently, bristling fully in confusion. He wasn't sure what those things were, but they looked like those awful, scary dolls one would find in consignment shops. The fist protecting the money drew up to his chest, fully ready to punch one if it came too close to his pretzel money. "What ... Are you?" Looking accusingly at Levi, the knowledge that his roommate was some sort of demon stuck at the forefront of his mind. Demons could spawn, couldn't they? These creatures must be born from him, then. "Demon spawn."

Upon hearing the surprised... fearful? No, surprised request as to what she was, Dorito grinned broadly and beamed with pride. Something about people's first introductions to goblins made Dorito giddy when she met new people. Cheeto never seemed to share Dorito's openness regarding their race, but she was keeping quiet and keeping back until Dorito proved it was safe for her to approach.

"Well I'm a goblin, silly!"

Then came the demon spawn crack and Dorito visibly withered, her ears drooping and her arms slumping down, almost letting go of her pretzel as she seemed to slouch a bit. She stared up at Ty like a whipped puppy as her eyes started to water. Cheeto was watching this and her own ears stuck straight out to the sides as she marched up to Ty and threw her pretzel at his face, pointing aggressively at him. She was so pissed, so insensed that her power had started to manifest and strands of light extended from her body, weaving through the air like a pair of wings and a glowing aura around her head.

"Look here you... you butt! Just because we look a little different you think you can throw around some... some stupid nerdy insults like demon spawns? Someone offers you a gift and you throw around some duneons and dragons insults! You apologize to my sister right now or I'll.. I'll.. You apologize or things will be bad for you!"

Cheeto turned long enough to hug onto her sister, her expression changing to a far more worried, sympathetic stare as she craddles Dorito's head to her shoulder and stroked her shoulders softly. She shot a threatening, snarling glare back at Ty and Levi, fangs bared and eyes narrowed, before returning to the all important task of comforting Dorito, still waiting for the apology.

Jerking backwards at the pretzel that bounced off his forehead, a gravelly growl began deep in his throat. Tyberius stared down, unimpressed at the tiny demon spawn. He still wasn't convinced that these things weren't something that Levi had summoned, and the muscle in his jaw jumped as he fought to contain himself. He seemed to grow in size, and his world grew a little darker. How dare the demon spawn threaten him? He was caught off guard by the hiss at his side, staring over at Levi in time to catch the echoing snarl down at the two girls. A little proud of his roommate for the display, Tyberius crooked a nasty smile. He didn't need the man's blessing to take action, but it felt nice to have a partner in crime nonetheless.

Striding forward, it didn't take him more than a couple steps to reach the girls. "Apologise?" They were huddled together, seemingly comforting each other. His hand extended forward, his fingers roughly grasping the neck of the thing that threatened him. Ripping her off of her sibling, Tyberius hoisted her up easily with one arm. In a dangerously quiet voice, Ty continued, "You'll what? You'll fight me? Tiny thing like you, I'll smash you like a bug. Don't try me, girl." Holding her a little higher, Ty was hit by Dorito's mental command to drop her sister, forcing him to release his grasp, letting Cheeto fall to the ground.

<div align=center>PUT

HER

DOWN</div>

Three words filled every aspect, every crevice, every facet of Tyberius' mind. Cheeto squirmed and coughed, held up by her neck, windpipe restrained and arteries held half-closed. However a force like none other in a voice totally alien but completely unrelenting and inescapable had permeated Tyberius' mind and filled his every cell with the compulsion to to return the girl to her footing. Dorito's teary eyes burned up at the bully who had insulted her and now was threatening her sister, her twin, her second half. She felt blood in her palms, squeezing her fists so hard her nails had pierced her skin as her power worked like a whip on the man's exposed brain tissue. The full force of her power flooded outwards and into him as Cheeto looked at Dorito with a worried glance. Never before had she seen such hatred in her sister, she could be unhappy, she could get grumpy or pouty but this... This was a whole new level.

Even as Cheeto's legs kicked uselessly n the air, as her arms strained against Tyberius's to alleviate the weight of her body pulling down against her head, straining her neck, she was compelled herself, reaching out protectively, wanting to comfort and keep Dorito safe from that spite and the targets of it, but Dorito had done it, she'd let out her power full force like a psychic hurricane within Tyberius. There was no refusal of this as she kept staring up at Ty. Levi didn't even seem to register, his own threats forgotten at the sight of what woke Dorito in a cold sweat more nights than she'd care to admit: Someone trying to take her sister from her.