"Tell about a time your kalon made a bet with a friend that they lost."
||
Halcyon "Tori" ||
Loraline "Lora" ||
Thalassa ||
"I'll bet you twenty dollars I can make that girl cry."
Tori scarcely looked up from the book he was reading, turned the page with an idle hum. "Too easy."
Lora scoffed. Him and his twin both were waiting for an audience with Queen Clytemnestra, and appeared to still have a great many folk in front of them. The hall was crowded with peasants and nobles alike, and Tori had determinedly sat himself on an empty bench when they'd arrived and took to reading. He had been reading ever since, much to Lora's obvious annoyance.
"You didn't even see her-"
"Too easy," Tori repeated mildly. "Pick someone harder."
Lora made an impolite noise and turned away from him. His eye was caught by Thalassa shortly thereafter, as the tall man forged a path to them. He was broad enough that it wasn't difficult, and when people lingered he simply stuck his elbows out and persuaded them to move. He had two sets of arms and both were impressively thick, and had he been in the mood for it he could have easily lifted those strangers out of his way.
Lora abruptly straightened. "I can make him cry," he said, gesturing once to Thalassa.
Tori finally looked up and barked a surprised laugh. "You cannot," he said firmly. Thalassa had been stopped by a woman halfway across the hallway and was bent to listen to her, nodding sagely. "That man cannot cry."
"Twenty dollars," Lora said delightedly.
Tori closed his book and considered it. Thalassa had set a firm hand on the woman's shoulder and was gently setting her outside, looking at the twins with a vaguely annoyed twist to his mouth.
"Done. Twenty dollars if you can make him cry."
Lora looked thrilled, and waited impatiently as Thalassa finally closed the distance between them. He ran a hand back over his hair as he stopped, upsetting the tight curls that he'd tucked into a braid that morning, and sighed.
"The queen's advisers assured me that we'd see her by two."
"Even with all these people?" Tori asked disbelievingly.
Thalassa shrugged. With the additional arms, it was something of a short, unusual gesture. "I guess. The advisers have been pretty good about-"
"We'll be here for the rest of forever," Lora said sharply. "Forever."
Thalassa lifted an eyebrow. "I mean-"
"Forever," Lora emphasized. "We'll be locked in here with these heathens for the rest of all eternity." When Thalassa only looked blankly at him, Lora leaned closer. "How does that make you feel, Thalassa?"
"Uh." He looked at Tori, who offered him an innocent shrug, and then back to Lora. "Bored, I guess?"
Tori said smugly, "You can pay me over dinner tonight, brother."
Lora sputtered and Thalassa scrutinized the two of them, his brows drawing down over his moody eyes. "Did you make some sort of a bet?" He asked.
"We would
never," Lora said over his shoulder, and then turned to Tori and hissed, "You can pry that twenty from my cold, dead hand."
by steamplonk » Tue Feb 20, 2018 11:39 am 
