Wandering Dachinst

[Lemon]

And there it was. Sedit had been waiting for it since he learned of the prejudice against elven kind... which was less than an hour ago, but Naius's air of tension upon reentering the town and the disgust displayed by the farmer and his whore had put Sedit on edge and he simply expected something like this to happen. Naius was displaying threat, daring the the drug dealer to either act or call him some other derogatory term. The drug dealer was anxious and desperate to protect his future sales. The reaper's analysis of the situation did not yield favorable results. An incident with the townsfolk on the students' first night, likely after curfew already, would lead to harsh reprimand and possibly even a fictional courtmarshall to appease the citizens--

They BUTCHER the ELVES like CATTLE.

Sedit remained next to his friend. He slid his knife from his sleeve. It was the one his father had left in the wreckage, shaped like a scalpel but with a proper knife handle and a thicker blade capable of blocking. It was sharp. And he was tensed like a spring. He waited for Naius to make a move, any move, toward the man. He waited for the silence to crumble. He waited for the chance to breathe again.

[Nayt]

The con-man looked at Naius as if the young elf was outright stupid. He was pretty sure he'd made his point loud enough for everyone to hear.

"I said," he paused, took a breath, and (vaguely) reiterated: "What's the use of a kid's opinion when he hangs around glorified livesto--"

What had the con-artist stop speaking mid-sentence wasn't a blow or even a verbal interruption. It was the way Naius turned to face him completely. It was the way the young man walked briskly for him. It was the way purpose filled both his stride and his sneer.

"What?" the con-man furrowed his brow. He couldn't think of a thing he did wrong just now.

Naius refused to waste his breath on the man. Instead, he took the con-man by the collar, lifted him, and practically in the same fluid action, drew back his other hand. He let the young man go just as he punched him square in the nose. The con-man yelped, stumbled, and fell onto his rear, holding his face in both hands with the same dramatic flair as someone who just had his nose ripped off his face. Naius had done no such thing, though. He'd merely broken the man's nose. Both of his eyes would be black soon enough. With nothing to say to the con-man, Naius spun on his heels and started away, intending to rejoin Sedit and continue his search for liquor.

Stronger liquor, now. He no longer had any intentions of going to sleep in any state of sobriety.

[Lemon]

Each step of Naius's was mimicked perfectly by Sedit, as if he were the elf's shadow. As Naius stopped and drew the drug dealer up, Sedit rolled past them both without hesitation and fluidly placed himself between the scene and the group of people who had just left the bar. Arms crossed in front of him, tensed for action and trying as hard as he could to exude bloodlust, Sedit gripped his knife tightly and stared down any onlookers who might seek retribution against the elf.

Were he to betray his true feelings, however, he would have dashed off back to the campus long ago. Land-speed records would be broken on his mad rush to catapult himself into the safety of the dorms. He would be quaking, sweating, and near vomiting if his outward guise were anything near to how he felt. But for once in his life, there was a good reason not to run off. There was a good reason to allow his elven comrade to start an incident with civilians. As good a reason as any he could come up with to disobey the rules. And so he stood in defiance to strangers, purposely forcing them to focus their attention on him. He wanted to cry, but in stifling it instead produced a snarl.

When the encounter was over, Sedit remained and surveyed the bar patrons thoroughly to ensure they wouldn't follow the cadets. Once assured of their intent, he rejoined Naius as he walked off.

[Nayt]

Offtopic: This thread is continued [here].