“Tell him you want him to donate the money to the ‘UN program for Elfish education and social development.’ she whispered into his ear. “Don't flip. Don't insult him. Let us just... retreat.”

Reso’s nails dug into the table until they broke, but he forced himself to repeat what Acarni had told him and allowed her to pull him away from the table, when he was done.

Together they left the section and ultimately, the entire casino, rushing back onto the streets. Reso was about to explode, but Acarni did not allow him just yet, dragging him down the fancy square in the centre of the town and into a darker alley. There he let go off the arm which she had used to keep him under control, letting him loose to kick some garbage cans to calm him.

Acarni was already used to this behaviour of him. He probably knew better how to deal with his outbursts of rage, than his parents of anyone else on this planet did. After all, his parents had never taught him self-control, which was a bad combination along with his unwavering faith in fairness and justice.

“FUCK!” Reso screamed, in rage, as he kicked down a garbage can and punched a wall to calm himself. “This idiotic, self-absorbed, shady, ape-assed prick! Fuck!”

“The money went to charity anyway. Don't dwell on it.”; Acarni tried to calm him with kindness.

“It’s not about the money or the charity!” Reso called. “It’s about the act of cheating! How dare he use his employee to steal our money!”

“We still got plenty.” Acarni said with a smile. She could see Reso had sufficiently cooled down, so she could walk over to him and pull him into a firm hug. “Don't dwell on it. People like him just exist. Perhaps it even was meant as a lesson for you to not trust people...”

“Oh so you're taking his side?” Reso responded, clearly offended.

“No...” Acarni sighed. “What he did was an absolute asshole-move. But maybe we can actually both learn from our mistake.”

For a moment the two lovers just stood in that dark alley, away from curious eyes and enjoyed the silence after hours of noise.

“How much money do we have left now?” Acarni finally asked and peeked over Reso’s shoulder onto his backpack. She released him from her embrace, so Reso could kneel down and count the chips inside of his backpack.

“About...70,000... No, 75,400 Dollars.” he said after a bit of counting.

Acarni whistled impressed: “So the evening was a success after all.”

“More or less.” Reso said and kicked the garbage can once again. “We could've had more than 100,000 Dollars now, if now for this cheating asshat.”

Acarni sighed and smiled: “Hey, we still can give it to charity. It's more then enough.”

A loud bus drove past the entrance of their alley, as Reso rolled his eyes as a response. For this reason, they did not hear the steps suddenly coming closer at a rapid pace. The person approached Acarni from behind and she would only realize what was going on when she was already past her. Long, blonde hair was the only brightly visible thing about the thief, who was otherwise completely dressed in black attire, as she reached for the backpack full of chips on the ground.

Acarni left out a scream of warning as she realized what was going on and Reso instantly acted on it and stepped into the girl’s way.

The reaction of the thief was extraordinarily fast, as she simply took a jump to the side at full speed, pushed herself off the wall with her legs and ran on. Reso would've almost missed her, but in the very last second got a grip on the strap. Reso, not ready for the impact, was sent flying onto his back and that girl, despite being a Woodelf and therefore considerably smaller and slimmer then both Reso and Acarni somehow maintained its balance and stood upright. Reso meanwhile saw bright stars blinking in front of his eyes, when the back of his head was sent straight to the ground. Still, his action was at least a partial success, as the content of the backpack was sent raining all over the alley and Acarni had enough time to help him. She reached out for the girl and got a firm grip on her wrist, from which there was no chance of escaping... or was there?

The thief was almost half a meter smaller then her opponent, but suddenly grabbed a hold onto Acarni’s arm and used the young bodyguard’s strength against her, by pulling herself up to an impressive jump-kick against her waist.

Acarni’s yelled like a beaten dog and let go her prey, stumbling back. For a moment, the two opponents stood facing each other, predicting the others movements from a safe distance. Acarni scanned the girl for weapons and surprised noticed a bulge in her pants. She was carrying a gun but had not pulled it already?

After this basic check, her look went up her body and noticed her uncanny similarity to a woman they had already previously met this evening. Purple eyes, blonde hair, beautiful face and an amazing shape? There was no doubt who this girl belonged to, even though she looked physically fitter and a lot younger then the prostitute which had tried to seduce Reso just an hour ago.

“Now if this isn't a coincidence...” Acarni hissed, holding her left side. “You are the daughter of that Liandra-woman aren't you?”

“What do you care?” the girl asked as a response, holding her defensive fighting stance.

Acarni had hoped this would get some reaction out of the other girl, create an opening, which she could abuse to attack the girl and overwhelm her with her superior strength, but nothing like that showed up. Whoever this girl was, she was well disciplined and clearly not high on some drugs, like most of the other workers in this town where.

“I'm just surprised.”, Acarni said, hoping to buy time for Reso to get back up and help her, but the knock on the head seemed to have really stunned him. “Why would her daughter suddenly try to mug us?”

“I'm not mugging.” the girl said. “I'm stealing. Important distinction. And, if you really want to know, you caught my attention when my mum was forced to sit on that boys lap over there.”

“And why are you 'stealing” from us now?” Acarni asked, still waiting for her opponent to reveal the slightest weakness. Slowly she came closer to her.

“I'm trying to get out of here.” she said with a determined voice. “I need money to get mum, my sis and myself out of this shithole. And your 80,000 Dollars would've been more than enough.”

Acarni was almost close enough to charge the girl again with a hope of success, but suddenly stopped advancing. What the girl said, resonated with her. She understood why this girl did what she did and why she did it and with this knowledge she could no longer see her as a mere enemy. Suddenly, her wish to solve this without a fight was so strong she could not advance further.

“Hey... I heard you wanted to give this money to charity.” the thief said. “Just... view this as a very specific charity donation. You help a group of 3 Elves to start a new life.”

Acarni grinned bitter: “And who tells me you will not just use this stuff she kill yourself with an overdose?”

Her opponent was quiet again, obviously not really knowing an answer to this. Then, she did something surprising. Without really taking her eyes off Acarni, she kneeled down, scooped up half a dozen chips from the ground and then ran for it. For a second, Acarni had the impulse to run after her, chase her down and take the chips back, but she was too worried about Reso, who seemed to have taken a serious hit and was still fighting for balance, as he got back up.

“Everything alright?” she asked, gently supporting him, ignoring the numb pain in the left side of her waist.

“Yes, dear...” Reso responded, rubbing the backside of his head. “The question is if you are alright... how did she beat you?”

Acarni hissed, clearly annoyed and blushed.

“Acarni?” Reso asked again, looking now genuinely worried into the face of his lover.

“It's an old wound...” she said. “I never told anyone as I feared it could hurt my credentials as bodyguard...”

“What kind of wound?” Reso pressed her.

Acarni rolled her eyes and said: “A bullet... someone shot me like... 4 years ago into the side and the bullet is still stuck there ever since.”

Reso swallowed worriedly and insisted on taking a look at the spot. Indeed, there was a small, round scar in the area, just above Acarni’s hip, where the Elf girl had kicked her.

“I wonder if she knew she could hit you there...” Reso said.

Acarni shook her head angrily: “No one knows about that and no one can read it from my fighting stances either. That bitch was just lucky...”

After they had looked at each other’s injuries and made sure, that none of them was seriously harmed, they began collecting the chips scattered across the ground.

“How much did she actually pick up?” Acarni asked as they had enough together to get an estimate of the money that was stolen.

After a few seconds Reso said: “Fuck... she took the 1000 Dollar chips. What a lucky bitch.”

“How much went taken?” Acarni repeated.

“4000 Dollars.” Reso responded. “She stole 4000 Dollars.”

A moment, both just sat in front of the remaining gambling-money which they earned so luckily and lost so badly then.

“We should go back home...” Acarni said with a depressed tone. “This trip was a bad idea...”

For a moment, Reso was quiet, and then he said: “Oh I enjoyed it.”

Of course, this got a puzzled eyebrow-raise from Acarni as response, so Reso felt the need to explain.

“I mean... we did whatever we wanted.” he said. “And I did it with you. That's good enough for me, I guess.”

Acarni blushed happily. She wasn't remotely as good with words as he was and didn't really know how to respond to this, so she just packed two hands full of chips into the backpack and said: “Thank you... but we should really go home now. Your father isn't going to be happy with you and we should return rather sooner than later...”

Again, silence fell over the two, until Reso spoke up again: “Why should I...? I mean, why should I return home?”

Acarni left out a deep, clearly annoyed sigh: “Reso, please, do not make me discuss this with you. Your father will already be furious as it is now, there is no reason to further enrage him by staying away longer.”

“No... I don't mean, saying away for longer...” Reso said, slowly, cautiously. “I mean... why should I even go back to my father? To my gold-digger of a mum? I care about neither of them. One has given me nothing but pain and anxiety, the other nothing but neglect... I'm done with them.”

He stood up and looked into Acarni’s face, excited about his idea. He picked up the backpack and shook it, so the chips inside made a loud clicking. “We have more than 70,000 American Dollars in this backpack. By Maranurrian standards, we're millionaires.”

Acarni looked down at him, sighing quietly. “Reso... I'm not sure about this... you should seriously consider...”

“I have considered this ever since I turned fucking five...” he said and ran with his hand through his hair. “I have considered it long enough. And what about you, Acarni? Don't tell me, you are happy seeing my father trying to marry me off to another woman, I have seen your face when that Elf woman sat on my lap. Because, that's what returning to my father would result in. To him I am just an asset and you are even below that, you are just a... thing that he uses to control his asset. Do you really want to go back there?”

Acarni was quiet now. She looked down the alley and then back to the exit and the Neotonic district with its shiny facade, hiding this ugly side beneath.

“You have an apartment, don't you?” he asked. “We stay there for a day or two and then we use our money to leave this city forever.”

“And where do we go?” Acarni asked. “Your father will not just allow you to run off. He will send his grunts to hunt you. And me.”

“I don't know.” Reso said with a careless smile on his face. “And I don't care. Maybe we end up in Europe. They accept refugees from this country; I heard.... maybe we stay in this country, but just move into the south, to New Chester or New Swansea... Where my father can't find us as easily.”

For a while the two just looked at each other, and then Reso wrapped his arms around her waist and looked up at her face.

“Acarni... please... I am sure I want to do this.”

She sighed.

It was in this moment that the bodyguard let her guard down and his lover wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Alright.” she whispered. “I'm always with you.”