I can't help it, I gotta know, how DO people react at the royal event seeing the twins together?
@internutter/challenge-02929-h006-the-trouble-with-tails -- DaniAndShali
Viceroy Jubilation Araveth Falsworth Merrimine could always tell when the rest of the room spotted his brother, Apprehension. It was not quite a universal gasp, but there was a definite chorus of indrawn breaths. Usually from the gallery of those waiting to see who was whom as they arrived. Then the musicians would stutter to a halt as they saw him and all the conversations in the room would stumble to a halt.
The other Viceroy and Jubilation's twin brother, Apprehension Marveline Merrimine, was a Tiefling. Precisely, everyone's stock idea of a Tiefling. A cartoon Tiefling, if you will. He named himself Loyalty and, during their shared adventures, they had been through much. If the twin Viceroys had not been born holding hands, Loyalty may have had a very different fate. A shorter one, for example.
Jubilation preferred the longer fate, despite all the trouble they shared. He'd rather have a brother than not. Especially with their shared sensations. For instance, right now, he could feel the echo of Loyalty's trepidation as they waited to be announced. Loyalty leaned over and murmured, "You'd think I forgot to shine my hooves..."
"Or polish your nails," Jubilation murmured in return. "I know for a fact that there are no mortifying holes in your pants."
Arms joined, one helping the other stand tall. Both of them staring down the finely-dressed multitude in open defiance. The ladies hid their gaping mouths behind their fans. The gentlemen clenched their teeth and tightened their buttocks.
It was quite a sound to hear one hundred and fifty derrieres clench at once. Why they all felt compelled to fortify their collective rears was a mystery to the twins. They descended the stairs as lords, in public, for the first time in their lives. The herald quavered his way through their introduction, flinching as Loyalty passed a little too close.
They both challenged the entire staring ballroom as they reached the bottom of the stairs. The bit about blood in the night time and their father attempting to murder the both of them was going to erupt in a mere handful of seconds, so this was Jubilation's only chance to make things known.
"I will soon be crowned Marquis of Merrimine, and I share a soul's connection with my twin brother. I will know if you act to harm him. Instantly. Know now that I look very unkindly on such choices. Get to know my brother for the man he is, not the demon he appears to be."
Silence echoed around the room for all of five seconds before the susurus of whispering fountained forth. There was a definite chorus of, "killed their father in battle," and, "just as foretold."
"Remember, you're looking after me," said Loyalty. "Anyone looking to marry a Marquis should come and dance with me."
"I consider that a decent filter regarding any potential brides," said Jubilation. "Anyone wanting to marry a Marquis needs to at least like you as a brother."
Loyalty was scanning the room. "We already have a gaggle of five maidens elbowing each other behind the tiered cheese platter. East north-east."
"What do you think," offered Jubilation, "Have you met my brother, or, Would you like to dance... with him?"
It was very hard for Loyalty to hide his pointy teeth. "Oh please do the second one. At least once. I'll walk a pace behind."
Jubilation always did have the more winning smile. The ladies never knew what was coming. Well, all but one of them.
Of the five potential fiancees, only one of them stared at Loyalty in naked awe. She was, as most terrible people would put it, the mandatory ugly friend. The one that the rest as an excuse to bail out of socialising with unwelcome company.
Loyalty, the epitome of unwelcome company, met her eye to eye and started falling. It was a slow, gentle, and very long fall indeed. He bowed to her and to her alone as Jubilation went through the script. All four of the others claimed that their friend Rennette was hoping to sit a while in the parlour to cool her heels and they couldn't possibly leave their best friend there on her own.
"I changed my mind," said Rennette, visibly appreciating Loyalty. "I think I do want to dance."
Loyalty offered his hand, which Rennette took eagerly.
People would make fun of it later, but not for long. Clear and doting adoration between two people rarely submits to the slings and arrows of public mockery. Jubilation knew it was a done deal then and there; months before Loyalty would admit the slightest mote of soft feeling.
"So..." said the one of the four who had said the least about objecting. "What is the reason why you still admit to being brothers with that?"
"Him," corrected Jubilation, more inclined than ever to cool his heels instead of associating with any of these women. "My twin brother is not a thing to be prized or disposed of on a whim. We were born holding hands, and he..." He assessed the glittering veneer of this woman. "You don't actually care. I shall go find someone who does. I wish you a good evening."
Jubilation indulged in some of the fruit punch, and hoped the insistent hammering of Loyalty's heart wouldn't unduly influence his own. What one brother felt, the other shared. That included an abundance of butterflies in the stomach.
Loyalty had suffered a lot, in their shared lifetime[1]. It was only fair that he got to enjoy himself for a change. He could look wistfully on from the sidelines and nurse a fruit punch and perhaps nibble on a canape or two.
He found himself shoulder-to-shoulder with an entirely different woman. Not trying to outshine too many of the other fillies on the field. Just... present... in all of herself. She wasn't very bothered by Jubilation's presence and, thanks to the view, he didn't notice her until she spoke.
"Which one do you think will admit it first?" she asked. "Shy little Rennette Basingforth... or your brother?"
Jubilation smirked. "We may have to conspire to shove them into a church together, miss...?"
"Mrs," she corrected. "Aarincourt. Have you met my sister? She's about your age."
Standing a pace behind her, perhaps trying to glitter a little too much, was another Tiefling. She wore saffron and wore it well against skin so dark a blue it was almost black. She had her hair net bedecked with little gemstone flowers and her eyes... Her eyes were a softly-shining emerald green.
He was dumbstruck and staring as Mrs Aarincourt introduced Radiance Juniper Daffodil Palmire.
"Breathe," suggested Mrs Aarincourt, just as Jubilation was viewing Radiance through a greying tunnel.
He did, and saw more of Miss Palmire's light. Capital suggestion. He should remember that advice for the rest of the night. "Enchanted," he finally said. "Shall we dance?" He wouldn't feel the blisters from dancing with her until the servants peeled his hose out of them.
All four of them would have to be shoved into a church, but that was another story.
[1] Plus or minus twenty minutes, depending on which twin you ask at the time.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / sgame]
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