• 1 - 25: Pearly Scales x 1 • 26 - 50: Pearly Scales x 3 • 51 - 75: Pearly Scales x 5 • 76 - 90: The creature seems to be clutching to an odd token - a golden, etched coin with a triangular hole in its center. Perhaps the trinket will bring you more fortune than it did the Alvhui? [Item grant: Etched Coin: + 5 INT - a player can only benefit from owning one of these items at once; the bonus does not stack.] • 91 - 100: The creature is wearing nothing but a glimmering pendant that looks like it must have belonged to someone else previously. [Item grant: Ornate Pendant: + 15 INT - a player can only benefit from owning one of these items at once; the bonus does not stack.]
"Wouldn't this just be easier?" Quince's back hit the thick golden fronds of the Serenian grass. With a long, exaggerated sigh, he crossed his arms behind his head and closed his eyes. "To live in the forests and do nothing all day? To just hear wind blowing and birds chirping and leaves rustling." He craned his head back, rubbing against the ground as Rose had seen fekarat pets do in the dirt. Not that the Vayne children would ever be allowed such a pointless creature as a companion. But Quince played the part well enough. "Man, some people have all the luck."
"You'd grow bored before you knew it," Roseryn commented, impatiently staring down at the younger boy who'd seen fit to sprawl in the grass for no apparent reason. Serenia was interesting and new and different from the Plane they were so accustomed to. And their travels brought them a taste of freedom that the brothers were quick to latch on to. If they wanted to run through the trees or flop in the grass or shove each other into the nearby river, then they could. Despite the dung Rose gave to his younger sibling for his antics, the shadow overhead somehow seemed much less now.
Quince hummed thoughtfully. He rolled onto his stomach, propping his elbows beneath him (heedless of the moisture and dirt sapping into his clothes from the grass) to peer up at Rose through half-lidded eyes. "Would I, though?" He questioned. "Plenty of people lead dull, tedious, mundane lives, and they're perfectly content with it. I think I could be too, hm? I could lead a boring, uninteresting life, have boring, uninteresting friends, and do boring, uninteresting work." He huffed softly, deadpanning as he spotted his brother's glower. "And you need something repetitive and drab to occupy your time to detract from your neurotic tendencies and loosen that tightly clenched a** of yours."
If Rose glowered before, he scowled now, brows simultaneously raised and pinched and eyes widened at the uncouth comment that had just escaped his brother's lips. Quince was ten. Ten. And had zero grounds to be uttering such a comment, let alone even knowing that it existed. His first attempt at words came out as a strangled choke of agitation. But after regaining himself, Rose tried again. "That's disgusting. Who did you hear that from? Why would you even say something like that? It's probably the most vile thing that's ever come from your mouth. Did you really even think about what you were saying?" He paused to take a breath, the surface of his slew barely scratched. "I'm not neurotic! I have. A. System! And you should know about neurosis, you-"
"Uuugh!" Quince draped himself back across the grass again, groaning aloud and covering his face with his arms. "Gods, brother, you truly b***h like a mutt."
Stop it. Stop saying those words.
"Quince!"
The younger huffed, dragging his down a fraction to peer through the gap they created and back at Roseryn. "Are you really going to throw a fit?" He grumbled, lips only giving the faintest twitch of movement as he spoke. "There's no one else out here. It's just us. So if I want to talk to you - my own blood - freely, then I should be able to. Of all the places I expect to be free in any regard, the Serenian forests - uncountable miles from home - should be one of the few."
Roseryn sighed, his fingers finding their way up to knot in the thick mass of curls settled between his horns. "You can. I mean, you clearly are, whether you 'can' or not, but that hardly seems to matter." He dusted the backside of his pants before taking up a hesitant perch on the cool grass next to Cici. Somehow this would ward moisture away. "I would like to point out that it does seem strange that you're using your apparent 'freedom' to spit whatever imagined flaws you think I have I have out at me."
"Imagined?" Quince snorted. "Brother, I haven't even scratched the surface."
And so the afternoon went. Roseryn had never realized how much lighter Cici could be until he was engaging in playful (if not mildly upsetting) banter and flicking tiny beetles at him. The younger male was already the more easy-going of the two. He was more adaptable, more interesting, more fun on a level Rose doubted he'd ever reach. But then he was even more so, once they were away from the Plane. For a while, they did this strange thing called 'nothing;' nothing but sit and stare at trees and birds and rodents as they went about their day-to-day lives.
It was wildly unadventurous. And as much as Rose didn't appreciate stagnancy, he found he didn't mind it in small doses.
When the time came for them to return to their lodging, they did so slowly. Out of some combination of habit and disgust anything that lingered too close to the property was dispatched of. Despite the week they'd spent on Serenia, many of the creatures that had taken up residence on the splodge of land were now too accustomed to people (thanks to the 'security' that was constantly rummaging about) that they didn't even flee when the boys came within spitting distance of them. It probably offended Rose more than anything his brother had uttered to him.
"Don't you find it bothersome," he grumbled as he slid the blade of his rapier free of one of an alvhui's body. He gave the weapon a flick toward the ground, sending droplets of red blood spinning out onto the grass. Alvhui were probably the worst of their problems, in Rose's opinion. No, there weren't as many of them as there were vlidean, but alvhui were disgusting. Creeping from the family's wells and water supply with spindly almost humanoid arms and faces. Rose shuddered just at the sight of them.
Quince shrugged. "I think they're kind of cute."
"Not those!" Rose snapped. His gaze trailed off to where one of their alleged 'security' lingered nearby. The man was clearly of Orderite descent, with a wayward crop of sky-colored hair and reddened eyes that Roseryn found quite off-putting. "There's something weird about them," he grumbled. "Embryl said 'protection,' but there was no one here before us. And, to be frank, I don't want them here. They watch us."
Cici's arm dipped out, catching around Rose's shoulder and drawing him in close as they moved back toward their designated cabin. "I know," he agreed. "But if Embryl knows of it, they must be here on Father's orders. If we don't bother them, they won't bother us. Simple as that."
"Even so, I can't just ignore them. Seeing so many Orderites on our property leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Why does Father want them here. It's strange." He opened the door to their cabin, tugging Quince inside with him. "And if I had my way, they'd be gone in an instant. They darken the place somehow, if that makes sense."
Quince shrugged. "It doesn't really, but whatever you say-"
From the room ahead, there was a crash and a thud that instantaneously drew Rose and Quince's attention. The door beyond burst open, revealing a red-faced Aster moving with all deliberate speed away from their caretaker, Embryl. "How could you do this?" Aster snapped as he shoved his way from the room.
Embryl's hand snapped out, catching the smaller male by the arm before he could advance with too much ill-intent on his siblings. Rose's brows shot up, his lips quirking open, despite not having much to say in his surprise. Quince seemed to have a similar situation. When Roseryn did find words, they came out as a jumbled, "We haven't done anything. We were only out for-"
"You let Father do this. You- you wanted him to! That's why you wanted me to come, isn't it? Isn't it?!"
"Aster!" Embryl's grip tightened on him as the young Ysali lurched forward, arm raised. "Stop it!" He commanded. "Please contain yourself. I told you I would speak to Daemo. This isn't anyone's fault. Stop-!"
Cici's startled yip of, "What's even happening? I don't know what you're going on about!" Went ignored as Soldaster ripped free of Embryl's hold and shoved himself past his two younger siblings. Quite violently actually. Aster was larger than both of them and had enough power in his frustrations to send Roseryn staggering off to the side while Quince stumbled gracelessly down onto one knee. The door slammed shut behind the Ysali, and everything seemed quieter somehow, in the aftermath.
Concerned and inquisitive eyes turned back to Embryl. There was a light tinge of purple sprouting on the Ayralan man's face. And though neither boy could say for sure, Embryl had probably taken a strike at some point within the last few minutes.
"What, ah-?" Quince straightened himself slowly, gaze flicking between the doorway and Embryl. "What... happened, exactly?"
Fingers pinched at the bridge of his nose as Embryl sighed. "You didn't tell me your father sent you along with a letter."
The usual bite Rose felt toward the servant wasn't diminished in the aftereffects of whatever had just happened. "You didn't need to know," he snapped. "If Father had wanted you to deliver it, he wouldn't given it to you. So you best not have gone rummaging through our stuff to find such a thing-"
"Aster found it." While Rose maintained a clipped tone, the patience Embryl had for the red head's antics was dwindling. "And he opened it." The Ayrala's fingers trailed down to his cheek, soothing lightly against the red splodge there. "Daemo disowned him. The letter was instructions for Aster to not bother returning home."
