Brummen
It was part of Brummen's duty as an older brother to torment his younger, smaller siblings from time to time. They could usually hold their own okay, despite the fact that he was definitely the largest of their parents cubs, and would likely grow larger than his own da when he reached his full size, which was probably why he never seemed to get in much trouble for his shenanigans, or offering up the admittedly lame excuse that "they were asking for it."Seqineq was, however, asking for it. At least a little. She was betrothed for goodness sake. Brummen wasn't even sure she knew what that word meant. He, himself, only knew because he'd asked their father to explain it to him when he'd overheard his parents talking about the possibility of a betrothal for their eldest daughter. Brummen had been made to promise he wouldn't say anything about the betrothal to anyone outside of the family, but that didn't mean he couldn't say anything to people within the family.
Like, say, his betrothed sister.
Seqineq
Seqineq had a knack for knowing when she ought to relocate before something regrettable happened. It wasn't like a seer's foresight or anything so reliable. She was just good at looking at people and discerning whether or not it would be a good idea to be around them. When she saw Brummen strolling toward her in that almost-strut he had been practicing for a few days now, she knew she ought to clear out.Of course, she reached her conclusion a little too late and her brother was already calling out in that overly loud voice of his for her to wait up, at which point she was presented with two options: wait and get it over with, whatever it was, or walk away and be chased down, which would probably include a bit of roughhousing on principle.
Since she wasn't in the mood to be rolled around by her larger brother, Seqi sighed deeply and waited for her brother to reach her. It didn't take long.
Brummen
Finding people was something of a talent of Brummen's, thanks to spending each morning hunting down his littlest sister, Reka, but he still felt smug whenever he was able to discover someone he was looking for quickly. Finding Seqi as he had proved no exception, even though he could tell from her body language that she was giving serious thought to walking away before he had the chance to tease her, and that was just unacceptable, hence the calling out to her.When his sister didn't continue her half-hearted attempt to avoid him, Brummen wasn't sure whether or not he was disappointed. He would've enjoyed running her down, sure, but he might've gotten distracted from his main goal, which was to tease out of her as much information on this whole betrothal thing as he possibly could, and then make her suffer endlessly for having the gall not to share it with him sooner.
"You're looking pretty as a picture, Sis. That guy you're betrothed to sure is a lucky fellow."
Seqineq
When Brummen opened with a compliment, Seqi's eyes narrowed suspiciously. In her experience, he only did that when he wanted something or had done something she wasn't going to like. By the time he finished his salutation, however, her eyes were as wide as saucers. He knew."Thanks," she said quietly, hoping that if she didn't say anything about the betrothal, he would drop it, but knowing with a sinking feeling that he had sought her out specifically because of the betrothal, and so she would not be so lucky as to avoid discussing it.
As a last-ditch attempt to distract him that she doubted would succeed, Seqi added, "Have you heard anything from that friend of yours who was going to try to get his captain to take you viking next time they go out?"
Brummen
Brummen wrinkled his nose, momentarily distracted by his sister's lure of conversation about his future as a reaver, but then he reminded himself of his purpose and kept his answer brief:"Not yet. But soon, probably." With a sly smirk he added. "Sooner than your wedding anyway."
He waited, leaning in close to his sister as if his physical nearness would apply additional pressure to cause her to respond to him. He was just about to see whether or not he'd have more luck if he actually sat on her when Seqi shot him a withering glare he had learned to recognize as an indicator that she was about to go along with him, even though she didn't want to.
He tried not to gloat too obviously.
Seqineq
"Unless I kill you here and now," Seqi threatened her brother with a glare she hoped would shrivel his balls. It hadn't worked yet, but there was always the faint possibility it was one of those cumulative effect type of things."Look, Brummen, I really don't want to talk about it, okay? It's kind of..." Embarrassing. Awkward. Personal. "I don't even know if it's going to happen. Mum and Da had one talk with me about it, right after I met Raskogr, and they haven't mentioned it to me since, okay?"
Of course, the fact that her brother was talking to her about it now indicated he had either just found out or been told. If he'd known for a while, Seqi was certain he would have been teasing her about it for a lot longer than this. She wondered if it was possible to convince him not to tease her for it. It wasn't like the betrothal was any of her doing, after all.
Brummen
So! The fellow's name was Raskogr! Already Brummen was learning things he hadn't known before. If he wasn't going to be a famous reaver, Brummen was quickly becoming convinced that he could have a future ahead of him as a famous interrogator. It made sense, really. Finding facts wasn't much different to finding people, and he was demonstrably great at the latter, and apparently great at the former, too."So are you looking forward to marrying him?" he pressed her, doing his best not to sound like he was teasing her now that he'd decided he was actually here to interrogate her, not torment her. Tormenting could come later, after all, when he had more facts to work with.
Practicing interrogation techniques or not, Brummen couldn't resist batting his eyelashes and asking, "Is he dreamy?"
Seqineq
"He's brown," was all Seqi volunteered. Her voice was very flat. She was not amused by Brummen's impression of her.In truth, she didn't really remember a great deal more than that about him. When they'd met, she'd definitely been too young to think of anyone as dreamy, and now that she was old enough to do so, she didn't really have enough to work with to decide whether or not her future husband could be considered dreamy.
"As far as looking forward to marrying him...I honestly don't know. I don't really know him. Mostly I don't think about it. I mean, if we even get married, it won't be for a long time. A lot could happen between now and then." Part of that was a lie. She actually wondered and worried a good deal about her betrothal, but there was no way she'd admit to it.
Brummen
"Brown is a good color," Brummen replied with an egotistical grin. "But just so you know, if he hurts you, he's going to be red. With blood. All of it his. He might also be dead, although I will leave that up to you, should the need arise."With an unexpected show of maturity, Brummen resisted the urge to tease Seqi further about what parts of marriage she was looking forward to. He recognized from her demeanor that she was answering him fairly seriously, and that deserved at least a measure of seriousness from him in return.
"You should talk to him. Get to know him," he suggested. "I mean, if he turns out to be awful, wouldn't you like to know now? That way you can still break things off and have it be your idea. You don't want him beating you to the punch, you know?"
Seqineq
Seqi considered Brummen's advice, which was completely unexpected. The whole direction of this conversation had caught her by surprise, really. She was really expecting her brother to tease her mercilessly, but instead he was actually offering to murder he betrothed, if need be, which was sweet."Thanks," she said. "Brummen? Could you maybe not talk to anyone about me being betrothed? At least until I have the chance to talk to Raskogr and see if this is something I want to go through with, anyway."
It was probably asking too much, and making herself too vulnerable to his teasing, but Seqi hoped she'd caught him in the right mood and was gratified when he agreed to her request, though he warned her that he intended to tell their other brother, at least, and that they'd both be keeping an eye on her betrothed. For her own good. Rather than try to dissuade him, Seqi agreed to his terms and made a quick retreat before things could go south.