Fuck the Ministry

The world of Mythics was very... mythical. It was filled with a lot of magical things and creature. It was beautiful. But it had it's ugly side too, if you cared to take a deeper look behind its rose-tinted glass.

Although it was a world of wonder, it was a world full of segregation, biases, discrimination and obsessions.

Oh it had many obsessions. It was obsessed with light or dark affiliations and factions. It was obsessed with its pureblood ideology. It was obsessed with patriarchal views, even this was mostly on the tame side. It had an obsession with lifting the strong and abusing the weak. But above that, it had an obsession with its ancient mindset and discrimination against those it viewed as inferior or cursed. Otherwise know as the Armaros, the ones said to be shunned by the Lord and Mother, the ones with no power, the wilting roses.

It is because of that particular obsession that Ari winded up in this situations.

The manager of his 'grandparents' account stared at him with eyes full of ice and Ari wasn't just saying that because we was an ice attributed dark fae. Which left for a hilarious image as his glare completely clashed with his crooked nose and shy head.

"I'm assuming you are" he looked at the document on the table front of him, "#A1367, the one who is due to inherit #C4321 and #C6375 ?"

Ari flashed him a bright smile. "The one and only".

The man rolled his eyes. "Don't be cheeky with me boy" he picked up a paper and scribbled something on it. "You can't inherit the property but we will give you the money".

Ari raised his a brow, "And why is that?", he challenged.

"You just can't", the other party said coldly, sounding done with the present conversation.

"It surely couldn't be that maybe you're trying to discriminate against me because of what I am, right?" Ari glanced at the name plaque on table, "Mr Cameron".

Cameron the account manager, just glowered. "And what would that be?" he spat out.

"An Armaros" Ari said coldly, Mr Cameron slightly recoiling when he heard the name.

"I have no clue what you're talking about. I would never do such a thing" Cameron sniffed.

Ari sat back in his seat, crossing his leg over the other. "That's good then. After all, as of 9 months ago that would be considered a crime punishable by imprisonment or even death", Ari sat forward, smiling kindly. "We wouldn't want that, would we?"

Ari took out his phone and snapped a picture of Mr Cameron. Suddenly the temperature in the room dropped by a long.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Mr Cameron stood up, leaning over the table threateningly making to grab Ari's collar.

Ari promptly took another picture and flashed the angry snow faerie his pearly whites.

"Uh-uh Cameron dear" Ari said wagging his index finger. "Any further and you'll become wanted for a felony".

"You have no proof" he spat out, eyes getting more and more bloodshot by the second. He looked seconds away from maiming Ari as his ears grew longer and sharper and his nails grew.

Ari was no bother though, even with the imminent threat to his life. He calmly turned his phone screen to the ticking time bomb of an ice-cube.

Reflected on the screen was a picture of Mr Cameron leaning over the table in a clearly hostile pose, fingers and nails sharper than they should be and a bit of ice was to be seen hovering on the hand that reached out to grab Ari.

"Truly a beautiful picture, don't you think?" Ari's smile turned vicious. "I bet the papers will think so. I can already see the headline now. 'Respectable Ministry manager attacks poor, powerless Armaros in a fit of anger'. Sounds like a good front-pager right?" Ari winked.

Mr Cameron looked beyond angry at this point but after a breathe he back away and rightened his tie.

"What do you want?" he asked in a low voice after a beat.

Ari flashed him a sweet smile, "Please process my so-called inheritance" he paused, "All of it".

Mr Cameron sat down and wrote some things down on a new piece of paper. He signed it off and placed the papers in an envelope and sealed it with a wax stamp.

Right then, Ari cleared his throat.

Mr Cameron looked up. "Is there anything else I can help you with" he forced through gritted teeth.

Ari hummed, "Oh nothing much, now that the matter of my inheritance has been solved, why don't we discuss the compensation you owe me?"

Mr Cameron's eyes almost pooped out of his head.

"What nonsense are you going on about now?" he asked, clenching his fist.

Ari blinked. "Well of course you owe me compensation for damages".

Mr Cameron took a deep breath, "I did not harm you".

Ari flashed him his teeth again. "But you did harm me though. This experience has traumatised me for life, I'm going to need money for therapy" Ari finished off with a wink.

"WHAT?!-" Mr Cameron went to protest but then stopped when Ari waved his phone in the air.

Mr Cameron gripped the edges of the table tightly and he grinded his teeth. The tips of his fingers turned white from how hard he was gripping and a few spirals of ice appeared where he was gripping the table.

"DAMNIT!" he exclaimed as he banged his fists against the table. "FINE WHATEVER!"

Ari sat back satisfied as Mr Cameron wrote a cheque which he begrudgingly handed over along with the letter he had written.

Ari took the letter and the cheque and stood up with a civil smile.

"Well Mr Cameron, I wish i could say it was a pleasure but it wasn't. I pray we do not cross paths again" with a final mocking wave, Ari left the office.

As soon as the door closed behind him, he heard the sound of things breaking inside as well as mutters of "They think they can do whatever they want now, now that we gave them a bit of freedom! They're still nothing but out slaves at the end of the day".

This did not concern Ari however, he got what he came here for and more. He could live comfortably from now on.

Ari went back to the reception on the fifth floor and showed them the letter.

"What should I do from here?" he asked the older lady at the counter.

She frowned. "Didn't Mr Cameron tell you where to go" she asked sounding concerned. "How rude of him. Well anyway dearie, just go down the hall to the left, you should find a tired looking fellow there, hand him the letter", she said a kind smile gracing her lips.

Ari smiled. "Thank you"

He followed the directions and maid it to what an alcove in the wall. The was a wooden counter in front acting as a barrier and behind the counter was a big cupboard with shelves upon shelves of papers and parchments. In the middle of the shelf was a door that led to somewhere unknow.

Sitting behind the counter was a brunette laying on his arms in silence.

"Uhm, hello?" Ari approached the counter carefully.

The man suddenly sat up, gold eyes taking him in. He really embodied what the lady from the receptionist called him. He looked dead tired, black bags sagged so heavily under his eyes, Ari thought they may actually have some weight and judging by the way the man seemed to sag forward, they actually might. He has a light stubble on his face and his hair seemed to embody the word haggard.

"I wasn't asleep" he suddenly said.

"Sure" Ari muttered.

The man took out a flask of what Ari hoped was coffee and took a gulp, running his hand over huis face and through his hair.

"Fuck" he muttered, groaning slightly.

He turned to Ari, "What can I do for you?"

Ari took out the envelope he received. The man took with a nod. He read the contents of the letter and then flicked his hand, floating the letter to one of the shelves without looking.

"I'll be right back" he said as he turned to go through the door behind. It wasn't even a minute later that he re-emerged with a small velvet box, the size of a ring-box.

Ari raised his brows and the man placed the box on the table and nudged it to him not breaking eye contact the entire time.

"So what do you say?" he said with a smile as he raked his hands through his hair.

...What?

Ari's widened slightly. If he wasn't where he was and hadn't just met the man in front of him, he would have assumed the man was proposing to him...

Ari blinked. "What is this?" he asked hesitantly, almost dreading the answer. He knew he was somewhat charming but he couldn't be that charming. Right?

The cause of all this turmoil winked. "Rest assured, I'm very sincere".

Although Ari could admit that the man was slightly attractive in a haggard, homeless way, he was definitely not his type... on the wrong side of the fence actually!

Ari smiled. "I'm surprisingly flattered but I must reject"

The man looked at him blankly for a minute before breaking into a half chuckle that just ended with him coughing awkwardly.

"Is there something I missed?" Ari asked, cocking his head to the side.

The man sighed. "Damn, that never goes over well", he muttered. "Sorry about that. That was a little joke I like playing. I have to keep myself entertained here somehow" he said nonchalantly.

"Anyway", he took the box and opened it, turning it back to Ari to show him the contents, "These are just your keys. See. The Ministry just likes to flex the money it has with its packaging so..."

Nestled in the box where a bundle of keys. Six to be exact.

The man took the keys out. "These the back door and front door keys and their copies. Any other door should have a locking mechanism on the door according to the information" he said pointing to the two keys.

Ari nod to show he understood and then the man put the keys back into the box, closing it. He leant closer to Ari and with a mischievous smirk and a wink, he slipped the box into his coat.

"See you around then" he said lightly.

Ari raised a brow. "You will?"

The man shrugged, already sitting back down. "I don't know. Maybe I will, maybe I won't" with that final vague comment, the lay back on his arms, clearly dismissing Ari.

Ari shrugged, "Goodbye then".

He turned back and left the building with a skip in his step. Despite the weird interaction with the man, Ari was in a good mood.

He didn't really anticipate suddenly gaining an inheritance from an unknown source but he could feel it. This would be a new beginning for him, a brand new chance to start over. Maybe he could even achieve the ultimate peaceful life he'd been chasing.

To whoever it was who died and gave him this chance. They could rest easy with the knowledge that he would now take charge of their café.

As Ari hailed a taxi to take him to his lodgings where he left his bags, a sudden thought hit Ari.

He'd never run a business before, nor had he ever stepped foot inside a café to even know how it was run...

Nothing was going to go wrong right...?