Today included more of the same for Damocles, judgemental stares and underhanded whispers.
No matter the words he manages to hear from the deafer species' children who were oblivious to the volume of their voices, he stays silent and swallows his out retorts for Cassia. The look of sadness in her eyes when she overhears is all he needs to know he must be strong, for her sake more than his own.
He would do anything for her and go to the end of the universe to protect her. They may be twins, but he's still her bigger brother, still older by eight minutes, and that means he is responsible for her happiness in a way their mom and dad just can't be. It just isn't the same coming from them as it is coming from the connection he and his sister have being twins.
Sighing as he follows his sister, Gelta, and their cousin, Alexia, out of EDI's school and into the yard to wait for Aunt Miranda and Gelta's dad or brother to show, Damocles makes for his usual spot on the large rock overlooking the others. It's up there that he can be alone and truly feel the better of all the children, if only for a few moments. On the rock, Damocles is not the 'freak' or the 'weirdo'.
Up there, he's just… Damocles.
He is about to climb up onto his sun-baked perch when he hears the raucous shouts of the reigning group of interspecies bullies. They're older than Damocles - and bigger thanks to his annoyingly short stature - and the group of tyrants target him and Cassia often, only kept from crossing his line between tolerance his dad drilled into him and a violent response by the krogan Srack. Damocles still remembers when he made the krogan cry to his mother and takes great joy in finally being able to vent his frustration, even if it ended with tiring fight training with his own dad. Having to wake up early to spar was well worth his pride in protecting his sister.
Hearing the sounds of their jeers grow, Damocles jumps down from his rock to see what's the matter. He knows he isn't supposed to 'look for a fight', but he won't just sit by and let the assholes be mean to another kid. Besides, he knows he can beat any of them up without even trying.
'Don't start fights, but always finish them,' his dad always says.
With a glance to make sure his sister and her friends stay out of it and to let him handle it, he sees Cassia flare her mandibles before giving a soft nod. She can fight almost as well as he can, but that doesn't mean he wants her to get involved just in case one of the bullies manages to hit her. He'd feel horrible to see her get hurt - or, worse, cry - because he sees that enough with things he can't make stop.
There is a large crowd of kids gathered to watch, and it makes Damocles even madder that they'd just stand by and not be brave enough to stand up for someone getting hurt. He's already pissed off by the useless kids as he pushes through them to get to the front, not caring if he's more forceful than necessary, but he starts to snarl in anger when he sees who's being bullied. The bullies are like varren gathered around his younger cousin, Aeson Sidonis, and not a single, damn kid is standing up for him.
"You know why your dad is deformed?" One of the turians, seemingly the one who started this because he's the only one circling, growls and smirks in a way that make Damocles' plates itch. He already knows what the kid's talking about, Uncle Lantar's half-missing mandibles, but the boy - Uriet, Damocles vaguely remembers - from a higher grade doesn't have the right to bully Aeson for it.
Not when it's none of his damn business.
"It's because he's a traitor," one of the other turians, a female who brings up the name Floretta in Damocles' mind, shouts out with an evil grin.
"No," Uriet corrects, expression gaining an uncomfortable amount of joy, "A coward." He laughs and turns to the others of his gang. "And I bet," he starts, growling as he turns to Aeson, "he pissed himself just as you're going to."
"Stop it." Aeson, though trilling in distress, balls his fist, but he can't seem to have the courage to lift his eyes to the asshole bullies. Damocles can tell that this insulting started long before he came out into the yard to hear and he pulls his mandibles in tightly for his friend - his family. When the bullies only yell out more insults, their vocals pitched in mean teasing, Aeson lifts his head, eyes closed tightly, and screams, "Stop it!"
All laughs and shouts stop and Uriet stares down to the five year old Aeson. "Or what? You'll cry just like your daddy?"
At the responding keen from his friend, Damocles storms through the ring of Uriet's gang creating a circle around the stupid show. The older boy doesn't even manage to call Aeson and his family by a word even Damocles' mom would find offensive before he's stops and looks to Damocles, mouth open to speak.
He doesn't get that far as Damocles pulls his shoulders and head back, then slams it against Uriet's face, hearing a satisfying crack as his forehead makes contact. Uriet hisses as he reels back and clamps his hands over his nose that now rains blood over his mouth and chin. He snarls, but can't speak before Damocles growls and stands between the older boy and Aeson.
"He told you to stop," Damocles says with a warning rumble, squaring his shoulders.
"You fucking…" Instead of continue in his stuffy voice, Uriet drops his hands and balls them into fists. "You want to fight. I'll show you a fight, you fucking freak."
Damocles merely growls, proving he isn't afraid, and nudges Aeson back before lifting his own hands, curling his fingers slightly in order to give himself a shot at changing tactics according to Uriet's attack. He can either claw or punch, and he's more than ready for Uriet to make the mistake.
"Hey, Uriet." Srack steps closer and lays a hand on the leader of the assholes' shoulder. "Just let it go. The freak fights dirty." He scowls towards Damocles and the younger turian flicks his mandibles in a smirk of pride. "And the little bastard has EDI on his side."
Uriet is still for a few, very long moments, as he and Damocles lock eyes and stare each other down, neither of them blinking because it'd only show weakness. Finally, the older turian lets out a long, threatening growl before lowering his hands. "You're lucky, freak of nature." As if to show he isn't afraid - though Damocles knows he is after he broke the boy's nose - Uriet walks forwards, bumps Damocles with his side, and walks away.
Damocles watches the prick and his group of assholes walk away from the school grounds and huffs as he feels his body begin to still from the anticipation. Looking away from his approaching sister and her friends so he doesn't have to hear Cassia telling him he was too rough - even though he knows she agrees with what he did - he turns and runs his eyes over Aeson to check for any sign that the bullies touched him. If they did, then Damocles would have chased Uriet down and done more than break his nose.
"You okay?" he asks the younger boy, trembling slightly from the uncalled for teasing. Aeson, still trembling slightly and chirping in distress, nods and sniffs as if trying to look unaffected to Damocles. Humming, Damocles jerks a thumb over his shoulder towards his rock. "Want to come sit with me while we wait for my sister's friends to go home?"
When the boy's chirping stops and his eyes seem to grow clearer as he smiles, Damocles smiles back with a purr. He tilts his head towards his spot before turning to lead the way, meeting Cassia halfway there.
"You did good," is all she says as she smiles and purrs. Damocles flutters his mandibles at it, always happy when Cassia agrees with him even when they aren't supposed to fight with the other kids. Like always, she understands as she turns her smile to Aeson before she and her friends join in on the walk to Damocles' rock.
The climb is a bit difficult for Aeson because the rock is pretty tall compared to the old one Damocles used to sit on when he was little like other boy, but Damocles helps Aeson up by pushing his butt up. He hears the soft scratches of talons on the rock's surface, but soon the weight on his hands lessens as Aeson manages to finally pull himself up. Once he gets up, Damocles climbs the rock much easier and plops down beside Aeson as he looks out over the school yard and beach beyond.
"Cool, huh?"
Aeson hums in a 'yes' before Damocles sees him glance over. "Thank you," he says, smiling and purring softly.
Damocles shrugs, but grins back. "Don't worry. I have your back. Anyone bothers you, you come to me," he confirms as he points to himself. "No one is allowed to make fun of you just because of what your dad did a long time ago."
"But..." Aeson drops his head. "The scarring-"
"Doesn't mean a damn thing." Damocles growls at the bullies making Aeson so upset. "They're just assholes. My dad has scars too." He points to his own face and the ugly looking scar down his left side. "I have 'em too. See?"
"But they don't mean nothin'." Aeson still looks at Damocles' face before his mandibles flare as if he's thinking to himself. "My daddy's does."
Damocles just shakes his head, rumbling in disgust for the other kids. "What do they know?" He smirks and looks to his friend. "I'll tell you something. Srack? That krogan kid?" When he gets a nod in response, he continues. "I punched him so hard he went crying to his mommy and daddy." Aeson giggles and flutters his mandibles. "And I bet he only hangs out with Uriet and the others because they think being in a group makes them all tough when they're really just scared little bitches." When Aeson gives him a confused look, he explains, "They're scaredy cats."
"Oh!" Aeson grins and laughs, nodding in agreement. "They are!"
Chuckling, Damocles adds, "And they only bully people because they don't want anyone to know it's because they're trying to hide that they're more stupid instead." A thought comes to mind of his own times being bullied and growls. "And they're more ugly than anything and anybody. They're the freaks."
It takes a moment before Damocles snaps out of it and he blinks his eyes to fight away the fuzziness. Aeson doesn't deserve to see him mad, so he hides it away and rumbles to his friend. "If anyone bothers you, you tell me. I'll take care of it."
It might not be much or end up really stopping the others from being assholes, but it makes Damocles feel better when Aeson purrs and nods with a warm smile. After all, if Damocles already looks after his sister and her friends, so why not his fake cousin? He will happily be the protector of the group and fight anyone who tries to hurt his fake family just like his mom and dad would.