He's not sure why he still has to attend Orientation. He's been here... god, somewhere past six months now, he thinks. He's plenty oriented, maybe more than he wants to be sometimes. But the rules are the rules and he does try to toe the line as much as possible, since he's aware there's a lot about his entire situation here that flies in the face of the rules.
He's mostly just keeping his head down, wants to catch up with his housemates, just wants to get home after this waste of a day but there's something about the noises from the alley that makes him look up.
At first, he thinks to keep walking. The man looks like he's outnumbered, but he looks like someone who might know his way around a fight, which is more than Carden can say for himself. He would just get in the way. But when he stands up straighter and spreads his arms, talking to the one thug, Carden sees the line down his neck (a line that he's missing) and suddenly sees with a cruel sort of clarity precisely what the outcome of something like this is going to be.
"Hey, what's going on here?" he raises his voice before he thinks better of it. The smallest of the five men is still bigger than he is, but he can at least pull off a little bit intimidating when he wants to, more like a errant prince than a fighter, though. Maybe it will be enough, here. There are a lot of predators here who'll back off from a Dominant, regardless of their stature.
"You're holding up my dinner companion," his voice comes out cold, haughty, and he beckons at Javert, imperiously, as though he just expects him to walk right through the other men to get to him, "Come on then. I don't have all night."
It doesn't look like the thugs are exactly ready to back down, but they are all looking at one another like they're not entirely sure about this anymore. Preying on a lone Submissive is one thing, preying on what seems to be an established Dominant is another.
God he really hopes this works. He's not at all confident about his ability to brawl with even a single combatant, much less five.
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He's mostly just keeping his head down, wants to catch up with his housemates, just wants to get home after this waste of a day but there's something about the noises from the alley that makes him look up.
At first, he thinks to keep walking. The man looks like he's outnumbered, but he looks like someone who might know his way around a fight, which is more than Carden can say for himself. He would just get in the way. But when he stands up straighter and spreads his arms, talking to the one thug, Carden sees the line down his neck (a line that he's missing) and suddenly sees with a cruel sort of clarity precisely what the outcome of something like this is going to be.
"Hey, what's going on here?" he raises his voice before he thinks better of it. The smallest of the five men is still bigger than he is, but he can at least pull off a little bit intimidating when he wants to, more like a errant prince than a fighter, though. Maybe it will be enough, here. There are a lot of predators here who'll back off from a Dominant, regardless of their stature.
"You're holding up my dinner companion," his voice comes out cold, haughty, and he beckons at Javert, imperiously, as though he just expects him to walk right through the other men to get to him, "Come on then. I don't have all night."
It doesn't look like the thugs are exactly ready to back down, but they are all looking at one another like they're not entirely sure about this anymore. Preying on a lone Submissive is one thing, preying on what seems to be an established Dominant is another.
God he really hopes this works. He's not at all confident about his ability to brawl with even a single combatant, much less five.