"Let's all welcome our new student, Azdaja," Galekh said, reading off a piece of paper in a monotone voice.
He gestured towards the front of the room where a troll in a bright yellow coat stood, smiling. He wore what appeared to be a strange eyepiece and was looking around the room, pausing on each person. His gaze landed on Tegiri and stayed there, causing the troll in question to tense up.
He stared back as Galekh continued to speak. "We are all very happy to have you here, now please take a seat so that I may get on with today's lesson."
Azdaja nodded without even a glance at the teacher and walked over to Tegiri. He sat himself down in the empty seat to his left. Although he could have chosen any side of Tegiri as people weren't exactly clamouring to sit next to him.
"Hey, Tegiri right?" He said excitedly.
"Quiet!" Galekh said from the front of the room and Azdaja frowned.
He may have also rolled his eyes although it was hard to tell as he had no pupils.
"How did you know my name?" Tegiri whispered, careful not to be heard.
Azdaja tapped his eyepiece, "It wasn't that hard to figure out. You're all over the internet. Ranting in forums and stuff. A quick scan was all it took to find out something as simple as your name."
"Wait, you can see my internet history? Fuck." Tegiri tried to grab at Azdaja's eyepiece but the gold blood moved back.
Azdaja grinned, "And some of this is pretty interesting, I mean, look at this. Now, hold on that is a good anime." His eyes scanned an invisible screen as he continued to make comments.
Tegiri's eyes widened, "Really?" Suddenly, he felt his face heat up, "Wait, you're just messing with me, aren't you? Like everyone else? If you're going to make fun of me for it, don't bother I've heard it all."
Azdaja shook his head quickly, "No way, anime is awesome, I've never met someone else who liked it before."
"For real?"
"For real! Troll DBZ is my favourite! Why do you think I designed my scanner like this?" Azdaja insisted, tapping the lense.
Tegiri's face lit up, "I thought it looked familiar! That's so cool!" He paused, suddenly hesitant, at last, he spoke again, "My strife specibus is a katana."
Azdaja grinned, "I can use psionics to look like the attacks from DBZ."
"Quiet!" Galekh shouted.
Later that day after school had ended, Azdaja and Tegiri had decided to head over to Tegiri's hive. As they were leaving the school, however, it was quickly apparent that they had attracted some unwanted attention.
"Hey, loser!"
The pair turned their heads and saw three trolls walking up to them. Tegiri groaned, "Cerulean bloods, they're the worst."
Azdaja touched a hand to his scanner, "I can't get any info on them, what the hell?"
Tegiri shook his head, "Don't bother, the guy with too many piercings is Mallek and the girl with the weird eyes is Remele, they both spent a ton of time building up the security on their computers. As for the girl in denim, she's just mysterious. No one knows her first name, she just goes by Elwurd."
By now, the small gang had reached them. "Sup, nerd," Elwurd sneered.
Tegiri looked down, "Hi Elwurd."
Mallek grinned at Azdaja, showing his fangs, "Hey look, the nerd got a friend today. Aren't you the new kid?"
"You really don't want to be caught hanging around Tegiri," Remele chimed in.
Tegiri gritted his teeth but said nothing. Azdaja, on the other hand, was not about to take this lying down, "What's your problem? Quit picking on Tegiri and get out of here before someone gets hurt. And it's not going to be us."
Elwurd laughed, "Aww, look at that Tegiri, is he your new matesprite or something?"
"Are you two going back to your nerd cave to read shitty fanfics?" Mallek asked shoving Azdaja.
"Hey, what's wrong with fanfiction?" Remele started but Elwurd rolled her eyes and interrupted.
"Shut up, Remele," she snapped.
Tegiri suddenly drew his katana, "Don't you three have anything better to do?" He yelled.
Elwurd glanced at the two other cerulean bloods, "Well look at that, the nerd suddenly grew a spine, don't like us making fun of your matesprite?"
"I mean it, leave us alone," Tegiri insisted pointing the blade at Elwurd then moving it slowly towards the other two.
"As if you actually know how to use that thing," Mallek said nonchalantly.
"I do too!" Tegiri said swinging it at Elwurd, who stepped out of the way just in time.
Her eyes narrowed, "Grab his arms."
Moments later, Tegiri had been properly restrained by Remele while Mallek kept Azdaja away. The katana lay on the ground several feet away.
"Let go of him!" Azdaja yelled lunging forward but unfortunately, he lost his footing and Mallek was able to push him to the ground. Mallek put a foot on his chest, pinning him to the ground.
"I'm sorry if I get your jacket dirty," he said leaning over, "Oh wait, no I'm not."
Mallek and Remele cackled at this as Elwurd stalked towards Tegiri. "You ever draw a weapon on me again and I'll make you eat it," she hissed angrily.
"Hey, shithead! Eat this!"
Before anyone could react, Azdaja rolled out from underneath Mallek with a sudden burst of strength and sent a beam of energy flying towards Elwurd.
The psionics hit their mark, sending Elwurd flying through the air. Startled, Remele dropped Tegiri who fell to the ground with a thud.
Azdaja lept to his feet, "Anyone else want a taste?" He asked, pointing towards the remaining two.
Mallek and Remele looked at each other before both bolting at the same time.
Azdaja sighed and lowered his arm. He fixed his jacket as he walked over to Tegiri and held out a hand to help him up, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, but I think those jerks broke my glasses," Tegiri muttered letting Azdaja pull him to his feet.
Tegiri dusted himself off, wincing every time his shoulder moved. After a moment, Azdaja spoke up, "Does this kind of thing happen often?"
"Usually it doesn't get this violent," Tegiri said shrugging.
"But they bother you a lot?"
Tegiri grimaced, "Bullies, right?" He shook his head and examined the cracked lenses of his glasses, "Sorry I was so useless."
Azdaja smiled softly, "Hey, if it had been a fair fight you would have totally had them. Three against one is damn near impossible."
"You did it thought."
"I just scared them that's all. They weren't expecting it from the new kid."
Tegiri laughed, "You can say that again, I had no idea you were that strong."
Azdaja laughed along, "I didn't either to be honest.
"Elwurd will think twice before fighting you again."
"Fighting us, you mean," Azdaja corrected, giving Tegiri a friendly punch on the arm.
"Really?" Tegiri asked, rubbing his arm.
"Yeah, for sure. We're a team now."
Tegiri looked away, "Hey umm, that thing they said, about you being my matesprite."
"What about it?" Azdaja asked confused, "You know they were just being stupid, right?"
"Yeah, yeah I know but. I was thinking, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea?" When Azdaja didn't respond right away, Tegiri blushed and tried to explain himself.
"I mean, if you want of course. After all, you barely know me but like I was thinking we could go on a date or something." He stammered until Azdaja cut him off.
"I'll try anything once."
Tegiri stared at him hopefully,"Really?"
"Yeah, and I think I'll probably want to try going on dates with you way more than once." Azdaja said smiling.
