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Ben. That’s right, that’s right. The guy’s name was Ben. He kept forgetting it now and then, but at least it sounded familiar to him.

He remembered Sangue repeatedly saying his name. And now that he thought about it…

Yup. She said it so many times to the point where it sounded like Ben was responsible for one-thirds of the good things that happened to her in her school life (the other one-thirds respectively going to her other teammates), and somehow, [i]Apophis fucking forgot his name.[/i]

[color=ed1c24][i]I deserve every single thing I suffered for.[/i][/color]

And the team [i]used[/i] to be Bastion, but was now Bastille. People being weeded out due to circumstances wasn’t unheard of, but it still made Apophis wonder just what were the exact requirements needed to attend Beacon. Back in his day, all he did was cleave things with any object around him and it got him to places.

If anything, the news of Sangue being [i]useful[/i] was more of a surprise in itself. Sure, he sparred with her so that she wouldn’t be steamrolled by common dangers around herself, but he never really thought of how useful it’d be. Considering that the only way Sangue could be useful was by cutting things down, it at least showed that she put the few skills she had in hand to decent use.

He didn’t give a shit about it, but it did admittedly give him a dose of nostalgia. Some people liked his strengths, and those were back when his life was simpler.

Maybe even similar to some of those attending the academy.

The hand extended to him and the smile that went with it, however, dispelled any emotional aura surrounding Apophis. It felt odd. He had to remember that it was a student wanting to shake his filthy, burnt hand. Before meeting Sangue, getting people to shake his hand was- without a doubt- him wanting to tear his target’s arm right off its socket. He realized how out of touch he was with society, and while he didn’t regret abandoning morality, it caught him off guard for a split moment.

At least he had some gloves on. He wouldn’t want Ben shaking a hand that looked like it came straight out of that one trapdoor nobody ever opened. It was clear that Apophis was very reluctant to do so, but he did end up accepting the handshake. And he shook back, almost with a lifeless strength.

A hollow smile entered the crooked man’s face, the stitches on the corners of his lips preventing the smile from widening too much.

[color=ed1c24]“Yeah,”[/color] he said, his words forced to sound civilized. [color=ed1c24]“You seem alright.”[/color]

Letting go of Ben’s hand first, Apophis wondered how he should explain what he exactly was to Sangue.

[color=ed1c24]“I’m neither a parent nor a real guardian to Sangue,”[/color] he explained shortly. [color=ed1c24]“I’m just… someone she gets along with. She’s nothing like me, and I guess that’s a good thing.”[/color]

The left corner of his lips twitched as he glanced between Sangue’s other teammates and Ben. If he recalled correctly, the dark-skinned one was… [color=bc8dbf]Maurice Benghazi[/color]. And the redhead with the collar was… [color=E52B50]Baby Nazario[/color].

[i][color=ed1c24]…But for some reason, I’m getting a gut feeling I’m dead wrong, so I’m just going to let them do the talking.[/color][/i]

He knew he had to cut the alcohol and listen to Sangue while he was sober sometimes.

Apophis stood on the thin line between being hungry enough to just bust out the bread he brought and being curious enough to at least know more about them and confirm what their actual names were.

[hr]

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Sangue remained silent as Ben and Apep talked to each other. It was fine if nobody knew that she really wanted to have Apep meet her friends. But it happened, so she was happy for that much.

It was hard for her to call Apep a “friend” or a “guardian” because of how they interacted with each other, so she never really referred to him as anything aside from "Apep."

Apep was Apep.

As she stood still, she felt the warmth of Ben’s hand envelop around her shoulder. A few moments after he placed the hand on her shoulder, the snake slowly closed her eyes,  enjoying the fuzzy sensation with her idle expression. Her eyes promptly opened after he let go, and she went on to walk and stand next to Amy without a word.

[@Krayzikk][@Plank Sinatra][@Kaithas]