Silas watched silently, in shocked amazement, as Ruk and Tops repaired the counters that held alcohol behind the bar. Ruk had taken off his suit jacket, and the red dress shirt he wore had spots of dust all over it. Perhaps he simply hadn't noticed yet, but he didn't seem to be that worried.
In fact, Silas realized, he looked… in his zone. It was very odd. Someone as fancy and obviously wealthy as Ruk… how could they be in their zone doing hard work, covered in dust? It was very odd indeed.
The two had pulled all the alcohol off the counters, taking the chipped pieces of wood off the wall and replacing them with better-quality wood. Silas heard Ruk mutter a few times in bitterness, but Tops never did. He simply hummed or whistled a nice tune while working. Tops – he was really in his place. He was enjoying this.
Silas glanced at Aarav, who seemed to be on the verge of falling asleep. He shook Aarav gently, making the boy jump in surprise. He looked at Silas, confused, being half asleep.
"I feel bad just watching them work," Silas said quietly.
"Then go help," Aarav grunted, shifting to get into a more comfortable position.
"No, I'd just get in the way…," he mumbled. He chewed his lip thoughtfully. Then, he smiled, a smile that made Aarav groaned. He wasn't sure what Silas wanted, but he was certain he wouldn't enjoy it. "Can we go get snacks?"
Aarav looked at Silas quietly. He had almost squealed the words out in excitement. He was tempted to say yes, and go with Silas, simply because he had been so excited at the idea. But then, of course, the logical side in him kicked in.
"With what money? Sure, the piano pays alright, but it doesn't pay snacks-whenever-we-want money, Si."
Silas gave a slight pouting face. "C'mon, Aar! Please? I'll work extra shifts, promise!"
There was a long pause before Aarav let out a sigh. Immediately, Silas stood, taking this as a victory. Aarav rolled his eyes as he followed the other out the door, but he really couldn't deny the small smile that pulled at the corner of his lips.
Ruk gave a small hum, glancing around the now empty bar. "Wonder where they went…."
"Good friends, are they? Never seen good friends escape so fast!" Tops said cheerily, looking at their work in pride. The bar looked nice, especially now that all the alcohol had been placed back. It was a job well done, if he said so himself! "Oh how I envy them."
"Oh, whatever," Ruk muttered. He plopped into a seat, grabbing the cup of alcohol he had poured for himself. He sipped it, glancing at Tops. He had sat in a backwards chair, smiling at Ruk with his chin resting on his arms.
"Nonetheless, I'm glad you're making friends." Ruk snorted, taking another sip. "You were never very good at that as a boy!"
"Ouch, Tops. Words hurt."
Tops giggled. "Anyway… why do you have such a fascination for those two humans? I mean, you haven't really shown the want to be friends with any humans before." He paused, thinking, a sly smile crossing his face. "Or, perhaps more…."
"They intrigue me," Ruk said, ignoring the last comment. "Besides, they're not quite human. At least – one of them isn't."
"Oh?" Tops said, perking up in curiosity. "How do you know?"
"Looks like they share a soul. Which… is pretty odd. I haven't seen that before. Plus, well, there's the fact that one was invisible when I met him. That's pretty damning."
"Really? So he's… magic? Like us?"
Ruk frowned at that, thinking. "Well, I'm not exactly sure he's one of us… I think he might have been human once. He doesn't really seem to have magic – at least, not that I've seen. Though, now, he… he is something else��" he paused again. He still had a small frown on his face, as if he were trying to remember something. "I know I've heard something like this before… probably from Wings, to be honest."
"Why don't you ask him?" Tops offered, tilting his head. Immediately, Ruk shook his head.
"Lords, no. Wings would want to dissect the poor boy. Though, that would be amusing to watch…" he shook his head, a thin smile caressing his lips. "But, no."
"What about the other kid? He's human, you think?" Ruk nodded to Tops' question. "What do you think about him, then?"
Ruk thought about that for a long time, setting his drink down. What did he think of the human boy? Well… he's cute, that's for sure. Especially when scared, or flustered… and… amusing, yes. Very amusing. It was fun to mess with the boy. He'd be able to mess with him more, if that damned mutt ever left his side….
"Hello," Tops said, drawing the word out. "Anyone in there?"
"Amusing," Ruk blurted. "He amuses me."
Tops stared for a long time. His eyes were narrow, and a small smirk was slowly spreading across his face. It was silent for a moment. Finally, Ruk looked straight at him. He raised an eyebrow, confused. "What?"
"Your face," Tops said quietly, "its redder than I've ever seen!"
Quickly, Ruk stood. He looked around. "That door needs fixes," he said, "these tables, too. They're absolutely horrible."
Ruk stood, opening the door. It swung smoothly now, and didn't let out an annoyingly loud creak when it moved. He shut it, hearing it click; it had never fully closed before. Now, he turned, looking for a new project.
Then his eyes caught Silas'. He was back? Bright colors cradled in the arms of Silas caught his attention, and he glanced at them now. There were different, oddly shaped bags and boxes, all of which were quite small.
Silas walked over to a table near them, placing the small bags on the table now. There was a happy, triumphant smile on his face. For a reason unknown to Ruk, he liked that smile.
"Ohh, what's this?" Tops said, quickly appearing by Silas' side. Ruk walked over to the table as well, examining the odd lumps of color.
"Snacks!" Silas said happily. Aarav was currently separating the bags, laying them out flat so they weren't all laying on top of each other.
There was a blue, square bag with the word 'OREO' on it, a slightly bigger bag labeled 'pretzels', and much more. It was quite intriguing to the two magic users; they studied the bags with much interest and curiously. Silas looked at them, slightly confused, but brushed it off.
"Oreo's, pretzels, chips, M and M's… oh! And marshmallows," he said, pointing to each snack as he said the name. The two continued to stare, almost in amazement. Aarav began to open the bags now. "Uhm… do you guys… not have these where you're from?"
"No," Tops said, grabbing a pretzel. "I've never seen any of this!"
Tops began to eat bits of all the treats immediately while Ruk simply stared. He didn't seem exactly disgusted, rather… well, he knew he didn't want to try any of it. It didn't look… natural, for some reason. Especially those things – M and M's? – why were there so many colors?
Ruk tensed a little when Silas' hand appeared in his line of view. There was a small, oddly shaped item in his hand. Truthfully, it looked very unappetizing. "It's a pretzel! Will you try it?"
"I'll uhm… pass," Ruk said slowly. Both Tops and Silas frowned at him.
"Oh, c'mon!" both whined.
"You might like it, Kuruk, really! I think it all tastes great!" Tops said.
"Yea!" Silas added enthusiastically. "It's really good, I promise."
Ruk hesitated again. He really wasn't sure he wanted to try it – but how could he say no to him? Slowly, reluctantly, Ruk reached out. He grabbed the pretzel, placing it in his mouth. He frowned a little. It wasn't horrible, but… "Its�� salty."
Silas giggled a little. "I know! It's supposed to be salty, its covered in salt."
Ruk gave a confused look as he swallowed. "Wh-… why on earth… would you cover hard bread in salt?"
Silas gave a thoughtful look. "Well, I… never really thought of it that way ."
"Because its good," Tops explained, shoving a handful of pretzels in his mouth with a wide smile. Silas giggled again.
"Well, I'm glad someone likes it," he said.
Ruk glanced at a new bag. Marshmallows, was it? He picked one up, studying it a moment. "What's this made out of? Salt?"
"Nope," Aarav's amused voice came. "Horse fat."
Ruk nearly retched at that, covering his mouth. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but he surely didn't expect the small, squishy, innocent-looking snack was made of horse fat. He dropped the marshmallow. "What the hell is wrong with you humans?"
Tops looked at the marshmallow for a moment. Then, he shrugged, picking it up. He plopped it into his mouth, pausing again. Then he smiled, humming. "Not bad! You humans sure are an odd lot, but I think you're on to something!"
Silas giggled again, grabbing a new marshmallow from the bag. "I know, it's pretty weird, but… just try it! You never know you might like it." Ruk stared with disdain at the marshmallow, hesitating a moment.
"No," he said slowly. "I think I'll pass. Stickin' with the… uhm… salty burnt bread."
Silas shrugged, popping the marshmallow into his mouth. He glanced at Aarav, who was studying an M and M closely. "Don't tell me you've never had an M and M?"
Aarav gave him a small smile, shrugging. "I uh… I've heard of it, of course, but now… you know. I haven't had one."
"Ohh you have to eat it!" Silas grabbed another, placing it in Ruk's hand. "You, too! Its good, it's just chocolate!"
Now, chocolate was something Ruk did know. But why was it so… small, so unnecessarily small? It was so odd. Then again, he thought, humans were also very odd. So, he ate the small, hard chocolate. He wasn't really expecting the chocolate to be inside the hard shell, though what else he was expecting, he wasn't really sure.
"Well?" Silas asked, a bit impatient, looking between the two. Aarav shrugged a little before nodding.
"It's good," Ruk said. "Small, and… I've had better, but it isn't horrible."
Tops took a few, eating them. He smiled brightly. "It's so good!"
Silas smiled brightly. Now, he grabbed an Oreo. He hummed, opening it, and popping one side onto his mouth. Ruk gave him a baffled look, and even Tops couldn't stop himself from being utterly confused.
"Why do you sandwich it if you're just going to just open it and eat it piece by piece?" Ruk questioned. Silas paused a moment, before shrugging.
"It's just how I like to eat it," he said. Ruk was baffled still, but this seemed to satisfy Tops. Tops reached forward, grabbing his own Oreo, and popping it up. He ate one side, then the other, humming and nodding fervently.
"He's right, Ruk!" he said through a mouthful of food. "It's delicious this way!"
Suck up, Ruk couldn't help but think. He shook his head, slouching into a seat finally. He watched as Silas looked around the room.
"You two did very good," he said, "the bar looks amazing."
Ruk felt a bit of proud in his chest.
"Thanks," Tops said cheerily. Silas nodded to him, smiling back. Ruk was quiet. He glanced down a moment, only now noticing his dirty, wrinkled, expensive clothing. He groaned, trying to wipe some of the dust and wood chips off his shirt.
"I'll never get this out," he grumbled, sighing.
"Oh no," Tops said with a very exaggerated tone. "Did you get your clothes dirty? While working? Oh, whatever shall you do!"
Silas covered his mouth to smother a giggle, but Tops did nothing to hide the obvious grin that was plastered on his face. Ruk shot him a glare, but that didn't make Tops back down at all. He placed his head in his hand, still smiling.
"Well, at least now Ale will know you actually worked."
It was quiet for a moment after that. Silas found a nearby chair, pulling it up to the table and sitting in it. They ate a few things in silence. Tops kicked Ruk lightly under the table. Ruk gave him a confused look, but Tops simply smiled before turning to the other two.
"Well, I'm afraid I haven't gotten your names!"
"I'm Silas," Silas said almost immediately. "This is Aarav."
Ruk frowned. "Oh, right, give this creep your name but now me." Aarav raised his eyebrows.
"He's the creep, is he? Are you sure about that?"
Tops smothered a laughter, though it was mostly failed. "Oh, good friends, good friends!" he said gleefully. He shook his head. "Anyway… don't worry about Ruk. He's just… not good at showing his emotions, y'know?"
Ruk cleared his throat. Silas swore he heard something along the lines of "not the only one" hidden inside the cough. He wondered what that meant, but quickly dismissed it.
"So… you two are friends? How long have you known each other?" he asked.
Tops pursed his lips in thought for a moment. "Oh, years. We grew up together."
A hint of mischief shown in Aarav's eyes. "Oh, did you now? I wouldn't suspect a rich bully like Ruk here to grow up with such a kind hard worker," he said slowly. Tops gave him a confused look, but before he could speak, Ruk stood.
"Tops," he said, a bit sharper than he had intended, "we need to go. There's lots of places for us to be, and we haven't got so much time to chatter, now do we?" He shot a small glare to Aarav, a hint of mischief in his own eyes. "Unless you want to speak of your life, puppy dog?"
Aarav bristled. He knew he had gotten under Ruk's skin – of course he did, that's why Ruk was saying this and wanted to leave. But… but how could be so – so smug, so annoyingly smug when Aarav was clearly supposed to have the upper hand?
"Alright," Tops said, standing now. He seemed to understand there was tension quickly building in the room. "Well, thanks for the snack, Silas. You two, Aarav – it was good to meet you both. I do hope we can meet again," he said, all the while dragging Ruk towards the door.
"Goodbye!"