After a nice long rest Alix started her next day with renewed passion. Today was the day that she was going to push everything else to the side. She was going to focus on finding Trouler and Nuka. She's been letting her worries grow and grow without any regulation and she has had enough of it!
She climbed out of bed first thing in the morning and didn't go on her run. Instead she marched straight over to Kent's room and banged on the door.
"Wake up, Tyrant! I need to have a word with you."
'Seems like you had a nice rest yesterday, Lexi!" Mo said from within the room as Alix had left him behind.
'That is correct, Mo! Meaning now I am ready to take on any and all of the challenges that will come my way as I search for Trouler and Nuka." Alix spoke with confidence though she was still feeling a bit on edge. Yesterday's incident had thoroughly shaken her and, had it not been for Mo, she may have dug herself even further into a hole.
Which is why today she is trying her best to take control right from the starting with talking to Kent. Seeing as the boy had not come out of his room yet Alix decided to knock once again.
"Tyrant! I will give you one more chance to open this door before I change my methods!" Alix's words left an ominous feeling in the air. She waited for a minute longer before she decided that she had waited long enough.
With her patience having been tested Alix slowly lifted her leg, placed it against the door, focused her Lis into the leg and then swiftly extended it.
"Crash!"
"What the hell!?" Kent jolted up from his bed as his door slammed open. His heart was about to run out of his chest as Alix slowly walked into the room and stared him down.
"I see, so you were still asleep." Her words held an air of indifference as she looked around the the room. Honestly it was far less messy than Alix assumed that it would be. Everything was arranged neatly, the floor was rather spotless, and there were even scented candles lit making the room smell like cinnamon.
"Not bad for a slob."
"Alix, what the hell!" Kent couldn't believe that this girl just kicked open his door, judged his room and called him a slob. "Why are you in here?" Alix pulled the chair from Kent's desk and slid it next to the foot of the bed so she had somewhere to sit.
"Do you not remember? I told you that I had something that I wished to ask you." Kent thought back to the previous day and did remember her saying something along those lines.
"Okay? That still doesn't explain why you just kicked open my door!" Alix shrugged before speaking.
"You didn't answer the door. I honestly assumed that you were out or just ignoring me. So I chose the only logical way to determine the answer."
"So the only way ya had to verify my being here was to kick down my door?" Alix nodded showing no signs of regret. Kent stared at her for a bit before bursting into laughter.
"Hahaha! Oh man, that's gotta be the funniest thing I've ever heard you say." He climbed out of his bed and started to put a shirt on giving Alix a full view of his torso and arms. Specifically the extra tattoos that she didn't notice that he had.
There was a long, squiggly one going down his left side. There was a pair of wings on his chest. And there was also the same mark on his arm that Alix had already seen but this one was bigger and on his back.
"So are you just gonna keep admiring my physique or will you actually ask me what you want to ask?" Alix hadn't noticed that Kent saw her analyzing his body though she didn't fully care to be honest.
"Do you remember me asking you to look for some no name criminals a few nights ago?"
"You mean when you asked me to go into the sewers?"
"That is correct, glad to see you remember it." The genuine appreciation in Alix's words made Kent feel like she was looking down on him but he didn't let it bother him.
"So, you wanna know if I've gone yet?"
"Oh, I know you haven't gone yet." Kent stopped applying moisturizer to his face and turned to look at the girl.
"Oh really? And how do you know that?"
"Simple deduction really. Hedgie complains about you a lot so I feel like she would tell me if you came back smelling like a sewer." Kent froze for a second before going back to his morning preparations.
"That sounds about right. And no, I didn't go into the sewers yet." Alix nodded.
"I know, which is why we are going to go today!" Kent sat on his bed and started to put on his boots.
"What do mean we? You have school today and I have friends that I plan to meet up with." Alix shook her head.
"Not anymore. Both of us are going to go into the sewer to look for the Djinns." Alix crossed her legs as she spoke with authority.
"I don't think that you get to decide what I do with my day, kid. You're not my mother."
"And I don't need to be! I just know that I am not going into a sewer alone so you are coming with me whether you want to or not." Kent couldn't stop a smirk from coming to his face when he heard Alix's threat.
"Are you saying that you think you can make me go with you?" Alix shook her head.
"The only theories I work with are related to spellcasting. I know that I can make you come with me. And I do not even need Hedgie's help to do it." Kent mocked an impressed look by placing a hand on his chest and widening his eyes.
"Oh really? How would it be that you make me come with you then?" Alix smirked and stood from the chair.
"You and me shall duel. When I win, you come with me but if you manage to scrouge up a victory then I will talk Hedgie into giving me all of your shifts for the rest of the month." Kent's eyes lit up.
"Wait, so you're saying that all I have to do is beat you and I get a full month off of work?" Alix nodded.
"I will even still give you the money that you would have earned." Kent began to laugh hard.
"That's crazy! This deal is so lop-sided in my favor that it would be a crime not to take it! In fact, why don't we up the ante?" Alix shook her head.
"We do not need to." Kent shook his head back.
"I insist. I'm a pirate after all. I don't take things because it's easy I take them because it's fun. So here's my offer, if you beat me I'll actually treat you like my mother. Meaning if you tell me to do something I'll do it. If you need me to accompany you somewhere then I can't refuse. Hell, if you want me to make you breakfast then I'll cook you a five star meal no questions asked!" Alix frowned.
"Why did you specify me as a mother?" Kent tilted his head.
"Why you don't like it?" Alix shrugged.
"I honestly don't care but you are the third person that I know to refer to me in a maternal nature. First, mama, then mom, and now mother." Kent made and interested face.
"That is weird. I just said it because I'd brought it up earlier so it was fresh on my mind but now that I know it's a thing that people are doing. If you win I will also call you mother." Alix sighed in resignation.
"Add all you want the deal still stands." Kent nodded.
"I'm all in just give me a few minutes and we can do it over at the Feud Pin." Alix raised an eyebrow.
"What's the Feud Pin?"
"It's just the premium establishment that pirates go to see and participate in duels on the Port of Filth."
"But I am no pirate." Alix refused to be called one of those ruffians but Kent shook his head.
"You stay on the port then you are one of the filth. That's the motto here."
Alix wanted to refute this childish claim that she was, "One of the filth" but she also didn't care enough to do it.
'It is just another name that means nothing to me. At least, he agreed to the duel.' With that Kent and Alix made their deal and prepared for their big duel.
A duel that had much higher stakes than Alix originally planned. All she wanted was for Kent to help her find the Djinns in the sewer but now he might essentially become her son.
Honestly, she was starting to question her life. Why does she keep getting children like it's just something to do? Is this some sort of sick gag?