"Well, it's a lot more memorization than people think." It was easy for Darius to try to write it off. Besides, while he was proud of his accomplishments, there was no need to shove it in other people's faces. "You'd be surprised how far you can get just by parroting stuff back at teachers." Though, her elaboration on her little fantasy caused his smile to widen a bit more. "Boy, that does sure sound nice." When was the last time he let himself get caught up in a daydream like that? It seemed like forever ago at this point.
At the sort of... Vague explanation given, Darius simply nodded. He would have been fine leaving it alone there, but she continued, and he decided that perhaps just taking a sip of his wine and going along for the ride would be best. That was what Ellie had told him after all. Besides, maybe if he took enough small sips of his drink, it'd keep him from being too stupid. Though..... His stupid mouth hadn't really seemed to get him in all that much trouble yet. "Well, those girls need protection, just like anyone else." There wasn't really much else he could really say about it. Ma had taught him not to judge a book by its cover, and besides, a lot of those girls probably really did need the money for some reason or another, and if they could actually make it into one of the gem houses, then... Well, he supposed, they probably weren't all cutting bad deals and doing shady work.
The first memory that came to mind was something both cheer inducing and terribly depressing, sos it was cast aside. "Guess it'd be how proud my Ma looked when I passed my Mage exam." A roll of one of his shoulders was given. "Felt good knowin' I'd be able to take care of her." A brief shrug and another sip of the wine.