Syndicate Scuffle

Leaving Lexie behind you follow quicker to catch up with Zoe and before you know it you're side by side with your dark haired girl. "Hey Zoe!" you say as you reach her side, "You sure you don't want to grab some food first? I'm starving, you've been up all night and it'd be nice to get some food before we do some training."

She looks to her right, looking at your eyes, "Scared Mister?!" she teases briefly poking her tongue out, "Big bad Darien scared to be beat up by a sunrider-less, high commander-less, non-warrior young teenager!" her eyebrows furrow, pretending to look mad.

"Sure!" you shrug, giving her a grin, "I know you'll kick my ass so I'd rather delay that from happening as much as I can, which is why I want some food first." you close your eyes, smile ear to ear and give her a nod.

A grumble from Zoe's stomach is loud enough for you to hear and when you open your eyes you see both her hands cupping her stomach as she gives you a quizzical look, "Umm! Food sounds good!" her eyes go wide, "But only because you're scared of me! Not because I'm actually hungry!" she stomps her foot.

"Yup yup, I got it, Zosters." you acknowledge her saying, "Eat first, get my ass handed to me after, sound good?"

"Yes it does!" she smiles, "Sounds like a perfect plan!"

It was nice to see Zoe acting a little more like her normal self. You could tell just by her body language that she wasn't on Snuff anymore. The little shakes, the over exaggerating, the constant movements. It was weird because she did a lot of those things normally but under the influence of that drug it was about ten fold that amount. You knew she was tired, still having withdrawals and was still extremely upset about not being able to go south to war with you, but she was coping well enough and you knew with Lexie doing everything she could for the little girl, she could make it through.

You eventually go towards the Sicilian Tavern above ground. You figure the place might be a little less crowded so early in the morning then going underground into the mountain and going to the Sicilian Spirits and for the most part you were correct. Most of the tables were still packed full of warriors, Sunriders and civilians as they were enjoying a nice hearty breakfast. Even without your armor on you still got called, talked with and tried to get pulled over to many different tables to eat with other locals. You always felt a little bad denying all these people but you were here with Zoe and truthfully, you were leaving tomorrow so you wanted to spend time with the women in your life you truly care about, not to say you didn't care about the rest of the Syndicate but you'd rather spend your time with the girls you've grown to care for.

Eventually you make it to a table off at the side and a server comes up almost immediately, "S-S-Sir Darien!!" she smiles, "Eggs? Meats? Cheeses? Wine?"

You look up at the girl and give a smile, "Hello Miss, just some food and water would be great. No need for wine this early." you grin. "And Zoe?" you look at her.

"Agreed! Just food and water please." her face still looks so exhausted it almost makes you feel bad. The poor girl just hasn't slept all night as she was most likely up all night with Lexie either talking, crying or having issues with her Snuff problem. Still, you were happy about that, she was making progress and now she wanted to hang out with you again, something that only the other day you weren't sure if it would happen again.

Shortly after eggs, bacon, toast and water was delivered to the table you and Zoe were sitting around talking at.

"Looks delicious! Thank you." you return a friendly smile at the server and she basically swoons at your gaze before turning a bit flush.

"Y-You're welcome, Sir Darien." she replies, almost nervously, "If you need anything else, please just let me know."

It's surprisingly funny how fast Zoe annihilates her meal, shoveling down spoonful after spoonful of eggs and absolutely devouring the bacon. She must not have ate very much either because she was definitely going to town. It caused you to almost stop eating your own meal as you watched this tiny petite girl vacuum down every last morsel of scraps on her plate. "Wow Zoe." you grumble out as you can't take your eyes off her.

Spooning another pile of eggs into her mouth she looks at you as she smacks through her food, "What?!" she gulps down, "I'm hungry, so very very hungry!" she reaches over to her mug of water and swigs it down, bringing that too down into her gullet. "This is soooooo good!" you can almost see her eyes roll to the back of her head.

The rest of breakfast went fairly well and through out the half an hour or so you were at the Sicilian Tavern it continues to get more busy and even more rowdy. You figure this would be the case especially since this was the final day before you march for war so many warriors would be partying all night, getting drunk, doing drugs and making bad decisions and then stuff themselves with a nice hearty breakfast in the morning and do it all again through out the day.

"Whelp, time to get going?" you shrug at Zoe as you down the remaining water in your mug. She nods at you as you start to stand up. You reach in your pocket and throw down more then enough gold coins for your meal as well as a nice tip for your server. This is something that wasn't expected from you as the Leader of the Sunrider's typically gets all meals for free but you were feeling generous.

You make your way out through the Taverns, pushing by more and more Sunrider's and Warriors until you are almost to the exit. With Zoe following closely behind your mind is now set on making it towards the Training Grounds to have a little sparring session with Zoe. That was your game plan anyway, which was going well until as you pass by the final table in the Tavern, an arm reaches out and grabs your wrist, holding you in place, "Darien! Hey, Darien!" a voice says from the table.

Turning to check out the table there are a group of two warriors and two Sunriders, all four of them you didn't know but you could tell they were all pretty messed up, "Enjoying the final day before war?" you grin.

"You have no idea!" one says out, "Us four have been having the times of our lives yesterday, last night and now this morning, going to continue it all today as well!"

"Yeah, fuck all day! Just need some nutrition!" the Sunrider laughs as she bites into some food.

"Well, enjoy the rest of your day, hope it turns out memorable." you give a wink before trying to take another step to leave. His hand though, still holding your arm.

"Darien, you gotta try some of this shit." the guy replies, "Shit's the bomb, makes you feel fucking amazing."

As you turn your head back to look at the group, that's when you see this one warrior fiddling around in his pocket and when his hand finally emerges from it, in the palm of his hand is a little pouch. "Oh fuck me..." you grumble under your breath as you hope to all the Syndicate Suns this isn't what you think it is. Your eyes veer off to Zoe real quick and you can see her throat contract as she too believes she knows exactly what it is.

"Shit makes your body tingle with all sensations and holy shit when you fuck..." he trails off. "It feels fucking amazing!" one of the Sunrider's finishes his sentence.

He then releases your arm and starts to pour the contents of the pouch into the palm of his hand. Exactly what you feared it was was exactly what was pouring out into his grasp. That red dust, that same red dust which Zoe is withdrawing from, the same red dust you don't want to have in the Syndicate. "Put that shit away." you grumble out at the warrior as your eyes narrow.

"W-What Darien?" he grants you a questioning look as he turns his body completely in his chair, looking at you, "Try some man, shit's intense."

"Get rid of that, now." you say again, a little more angry this time.

The warrior stands up, his smaller height but bulky upper body mimics all other Syndicate Warriors and he steps up towards your body, "What's the matter Darien? For fuck sake try some!" he holds his hand out closer to your face.

"Get that shit out of my face." you reply, "I'll have none of that here in the Syndicate."

"Try a bit and maybe you'll change your mind..." he starts to bring his hand closer to your face, bringing that pile of red dust towards your nose.

You reach your hand up to stop his advance, "I said..."

"Just try some!" he breaks your grasp and tries to shove his hand into your face again.

And that's when you lost it. Without a second's hesitation your other hand pulls back, your fingers curl up into a fist and with as much strength as you could you connect your knuckles with the side of his skull. A giant grunt releases from the warriors body as he flies off towards the ground, that red dust spilling all over the ground and his three buddies standing up from the table immediately and taking a step back. "If I see any warrior or Sunrider doing that shit known as Snuff again, there will be consequences." you glare at the warrior on the ground who is now facing you looking slightly confused but also a bit scared.

"Darien, calm down, it's just some fun before war!" one replies, "Yeah, we mean nothing from it! Before war fun!"

"Stay off that fucking drug!" you growl out, pointing your index finger at the four of them. You want to question them some more, see where they end up getting the Snuff from, who sold them the drug, but as your head turns to the left to look at Zoe, she's gone. You do a three sixty, looking around the Tavern and you're unable to find the black haired girl at all. "That drug is off limits in the Syndicate." you order, "If I catch any one of my Sunrider's or Warriors doing it, there will be consequences, don't you dare test me." you tell the four of them, as well as saying it loud enough that the entire Tavern basically heard you.

With that you leave the Tavern, looking around "Zoe!!" you shout, curious where the girl ran off to, "ZOE!!" you scream again, shouting for the girl. You turn the corner to look down the street and right next to the side of the Tavern is Zoe, her hands holding her head, pushing down the sides as she almost dances in place. "Zoe?! Are you okay?"

"Darien, Darien, oh my God...oh my God I want it! I want it so bad!!" she groans out. "Did you seeit, did you see how much fun they were having, did you see how delicious that Snuff looked. So red, so beautiful, sooo...Ahhhh! Why does it make you feel so good! Darien!!" she's pouting to herself.

"Zoe, I'm sorry you had to see that. If I could get rid of Snuff all together here in the Syndicate I would. I'm going to spread my word, any Sunrider caught doing Snuff will be kicked off the forces. I can't allow it here, it's too much of a drug, especially when Shade has so much control over it."

"Everywhere I go, everyplace I walk to! When you are gone what am I going to do?? I'll see people do this drug. I'll think about it. I'll miss it. I'll be all alone. I'm going to need it, Darien. Oh my God I want it now. I hate this! I hate my body wants this so bad! Why does it make me feel so good!" she's rattling off so many words back to back to back.

You step forward and wrap your arms around the girl, holding her in place and doing your best to comfort her, "Zoe..." you whisper into the top of her head, "You've got this, I know you'll hold strong. You can do this..." you whisper out over and over again. You stand there for a few moments, caressing the girl and showing her that you truly do care for her and you will be here as much as you can to help her get through her addiction, which, truthfully with you leaving for war and the potential you won't come back, isn't very long, but still.

"Darien, I'm, I'm, I'm..." she grumbles out, "L-L-Let's go train please..." she pouts into your chest. "That s-should help."

"Ya know what..." you rub your hand up and down on her back, "I have a better idea," you whisper out softly, "I have a place I want to show you and I have a few things I want to tell you, things that I would like you to know." you continue to comfort the girl as she lifts her head off your chest and looks at your eyes, "Come on." you grin, "Follow me."