Sidescene, not necessarily canon. Prestory. (p1/2)
==> Be ??? You see her at the bar.
How she drinks alternates between refusing to touch so much as a drop of alcohol with disdainful superiority, and drinking like a fish. The number of empty glasses in front of her tell you today is going to be the second.
She glances over as you lean against the bar beside her, her upper lip curled in that condescending sneer she always has around you. "Brother dear."
"Sis." You catch the bartender's eye, and look meaningfully at the beer tap. You'd love something stronger, but you can't afford it.
In more ways than one.
She tilts her glass in a mock-salute. "Still as - charmingly - laconic as ever, I see." The glass is emptied in one swallow. She doesn't so much as blink. "I was hoping you could shed some immu- illumination on a most fascinating rumour."
You wait. Your poker face is near-legendary because of conversations like this, where she does her best to force a response from you.
You did your best to pass it on.
"Apparently there are two albino boys in the same beginning pack." She widens her eyes theatrically. "There's even a rumour that the wolf - Deck, if you can believe it - is partnered to both of them, but they didn't realise at first."
You wait.
"So the first boy was dragged all the way to the pack by his - guardian - and then the poor second had to make his own way there to join them." False sympathy drips from her voice.
You wait. This is the opening volley; dangerous, but easy to guard against. You're worried by what form the later attacks will take.
She sniffs haughtily and orders a triple-shot of some horrifically-named liqueur. (If you didn't know her so well, you might be surprised that the bartender gives her what she ordered.) "Did I tell you that both of my girls have wolfpartners?"
You already know this, though not from her. You also know that she had assumed neither of them would; she raised them to be a pack's wolfless diplomats, to fight with words (to fill the role she had to). Doubtless they both have her sharp tongue and are similarly ruthless in using it.
You are quite grateful you've never met them.
"They aren't in the same pack, though," she continues. The bitterness on her face is shocking - not that she feels it, but showing it so clearly? "Roxy's group can't join Rose's yet - the pack dynanas - dyamics - dynamics would be twisted, and that - queenwolf Nanna wouldn't allow that for her puppies."
You stare at your beer and tell yourself that you're glad for your lil' bros sakes that they have a pack where that's taken seriously. You tell yourself that the furious envy in your gut, that you know matches your sister's, doesn't exist.
You tell yourself a lot of shit, but all you can think of is how it felt all those years ago to head off with your partner to join a bachelor pack because anything had to be better than staying where you were, not daring to bring your sister because they were so rough and you could fight off unwanted attention but she didn't have a partner to guard her back.
That pack hadn't been too bad while it lasted. You tell yourself that, too.
no subject
==> Be ???
You see her at the bar.
How she drinks alternates between refusing to touch so much as a drop of alcohol with disdainful superiority, and drinking like a fish. The number of empty glasses in front of her tell you today is going to be the second.
She glances over as you lean against the bar beside her, her upper lip curled in that condescending sneer she always has around you. "Brother dear."
"Sis." You catch the bartender's eye, and look meaningfully at the beer tap. You'd love something stronger, but you can't afford it.
In more ways than one.
She tilts her glass in a mock-salute. "Still as - charmingly - laconic as ever, I see." The glass is emptied in one swallow. She doesn't so much as blink. "I was hoping you could shed some immu- illumination on a most fascinating rumour."
You wait. Your poker face is near-legendary because of conversations like this, where she does her best to force a response from you.
You did your best to pass it on.
"Apparently there are two albino boys in the same beginning pack." She widens her eyes theatrically. "There's even a rumour that the wolf - Deck, if you can believe it - is partnered to both of them, but they didn't realise at first."
You wait.
"So the first boy was dragged all the way to the pack by his - guardian - and then the poor second had to make his own way there to join them." False sympathy drips from her voice.
You wait. This is the opening volley; dangerous, but easy to guard against. You're worried by what form the later attacks will take.
She sniffs haughtily and orders a triple-shot of some horrifically-named liqueur. (If you didn't know her so well, you might be surprised that the bartender gives her what she ordered.) "Did I tell you that both of my girls have wolfpartners?"
You already know this, though not from her. You also know that she had assumed neither of them would; she raised them to be a pack's wolfless diplomats, to fight with words (to fill the role she had to). Doubtless they both have her sharp tongue and are similarly ruthless in using it.
You are quite grateful you've never met them.
"They aren't in the same pack, though," she continues. The bitterness on her face is shocking - not that she feels it, but showing it so clearly? "Roxy's group can't join Rose's yet - the pack dynanas - dyamics - dynamics would be twisted, and that - queenwolf Nanna wouldn't allow that for her puppies."
You stare at your beer and tell yourself that you're glad for your lil' bros sakes that they have a pack where that's taken seriously. You tell yourself that the furious envy in your gut, that you know matches your sister's, doesn't exist.
You tell yourself a lot of shit, but all you can think of is how it felt all those years ago to head off with your partner to join a bachelor pack because anything had to be better than staying where you were, not daring to bring your sister because they were so rough and you could fight off unwanted attention but she didn't have a partner to guard her back.
That pack hadn't been too bad while it lasted. You tell yourself that, too.