𝖂𝖍𝖞 𝕹𝖔𝖙 𝕸𝖊?(𝖁𝖎 𝖝 𝕱𝖊𝖒!𝕽𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖗)

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕱𝖎𝖛𝖊

Loud chatter echoed through the room as a tall man poured a drink for someone. The short man with glasses took the cups from him and carefully brought them across the room, avoiding knocking either people or drinks. He ended up bumping into some people, spilling some of the liquids but apologized.

As he reached the table, as two people sat on the other side he sat down. One lady and one man with a bushy beard

"Well, I, uh, suppose that concludes our business, then." The man speaks in a thick accent. He tosses a small bag over to the man with glasses as he takes a sip of the drink he has.

"Mm, I suppose it does." He chuckles as he puts his drink down, opening the bag. "Wait..." He laughs, confused. "Wait a minute. This uh..." He takes one out of the bag, "This... isn't what we agreed on so..."

He glares at the man across from him but he simply plays with the jug. "Well, demand for your wares has dropped since we made our arrangements. This is the new value."

Although the man with the bushy beard knew what he was doing, he could tell the man across from them was getting agitated from the rip off. He threw the bag at them in rage as the gold fell out of the bag, one landing near the lady. As it rolled towards her, she stabbed one of them with a long knife, causing it to stop.

"Make your choice." She spoke in the same accent as she put her knife down, gesturing to either the knife or the gold they offered even if it wasn't what they had promised.

He looked between the two people across from him and the offers. He swallowed in fear as the table became quiet. All that was heard was the background chattering.

"You folks need anything?"

"Leave us." The man spoke harshly.

The same man stood next to the small one. The same one that was behind the bar. "You sure about that? Sounded to me like-"

"Piss off!" The lady cut him off.

The man walked away. The two were about to continue talking but a loud scraping noise stopped them from doing so. He came back, bringing over a chair. He swung his leg over the chair, sitting on it. "I think I know what you need.

He was rising the level of the lady's anger. "You don't seem to listen barman-"

He, this time cut her off, "A bit of advice... don't threaten the guy who pours the drink." He nodded his head towards everyone. The two looked over and noticed everyone had become silent and stared at them in a threatening way.

"So you're Vander?"

Vander put a small flame into a smoking pipe as he listened to the two speak.

"Hound of the underground. I expected something... younger." Anyone could hear the slight disgust in her voice.

Vander put out the flame, taking a breath of the smoke and leaned back into his chair. "We were expecting traders who would honor their word, so I guess we're all disappointed." He silently cursed at himself for letting a specific h/c girl rub off on him, specifically his sarcasm.

"You got us all wrong my friend. We were just... negotiating."

"Now you're speaking my language. How about you just give Huck the rest of what you owe him, and I'll let you walk out of here in one piece?" Vander spoke, as Huck hid his face behind the giant glass.

The two glared at him, specifically the lady.

"Do we uh... have a deal?" He asked, pointing one end of the piper towards the lady to take. She sighed, taking it out of his hands and breathing some in. Once it got to her lungs, she started coughing. "This is vile!"

"You'll learn to love it."

Vander turned his head towards the front once he heard the doors open. He saw five familiar figures walking past everyone. Vi turned to look at Vander, only to quickly turn her head back, gripping Y/n's hand tighter, once she noticed him already looking.

He stood from his spot to follow the teens, but not before getting in the final word.

"Welcome to the Lanes."

word count: 687