Knights of Anathaeum Not Far From the Tree

[Arbok]

Arbok stifled a grin as she helped. Of course she did. Her legs held most of her weight as Roki pushed back up.
"Wow, you're stronger than you look!"
She gave as convincing a look as she could muster to Gruki and the others. He was strong certainly and she could feel that strength now even as she helped him.
Then came the twist.
At the apex of Roki's push up she reached up with her own hands and gripped the roof beam as she hooked her legs around his waist and with a bit more effort than she expected she pulled him up with her as she performed a chin up.
"One!"
Her voice echoed Roki's as she began to laugh.
Others joined in too. Just a few at first but once they saw the admittedly absurd sight it got a good hearty laugh.

The Nordenfir had a saying, *If cannot succeed, fail spectacularly.*
Bar Gruki, not a one of them could hope to perform a push up with her sitting full weight on top of them. So the next best thing was to make a show of that.
It satisfied honour and nobody lost, not even Roki. Whom she currently held aloft.
"I'm gonna drop you now okay big guy?"
She did not like the idea of dropping him on the floor when he wasn't ready!

Roki
Gruki
Alouette
Haelyn

 

[Roki]

Roki felt the squeeze about his waist, just below the ribs where everything got squishy and soft. "Hey, woah, hey!" He scrambled as the act fell apart, and he was hoisted up into the air. Jitters turned quick to laughs. "Yeah! Yeah! Put me down!" he fussed. Half between fun and fear.

All scrangly cat caught by a bear.

 

[Haelyn]

Haelyn shrunk back in her seat, watching Roki take on the challenge that Arbok set after taking Haelyn's unwanted seat. With forced boredom on her visage, she gave a half hearted clap of her hands, although she had rather enjoyed watching Arbok lifting Roki for that mere moment.

The way his limbs dangled useless almost brought out a smug smile out of the young squire.

 

[Alouette]

Small claps of delight were shushed by the uproar of laughter and screams. Multiple pairs of shining teeth were wide and bright, eating up a gentle curve of lips. Waving hands slapping shoulders, clutching onto tunics and swaying back and forth commanded attention that a pair of glittering green eyes couldn't handle. Hooting and hollering, the squires needed a force that could quiet even the most rambunctious out of the bunch.

"Okay, okay." Ulrika stood up, waving her lanky arms around in the air, garnering all the attention she could politely before giving up on that. "ALRIGHT! Everybody hush!" She shouted, her voice powerful and carried well despite her slender frame. It always surprised Lou how Ulrika's voice never sounded strained no matter how much she raised it.

There would be a hush that settled over the majority, although the whispering and giggling of two squires far more apparent now that everyone else had quieted. Ulrika's stern gaze found the two and then soon enough silence had been invited into the Knoll. Ulrika's face brightened, now that she had everyone's attention.

"Roki, since you completed your dare, time for you to give a truth and dare to someone else. Let's keep the fun going!" Ulrika returned to her spot besides Lou, eyebrow twitching as whispers and giggles once more erupted.

Roki Gruki Arbok Haelyn

 

[Roki]

Roki squirmed and flailed, until the big Nordenfir let him loose. He feel some feet to the ground, and landed all balls of his feet and finger tips. Popped up straight, with a tuck and swing that got his legs right under him. Shook his arms out, hips, and head out with a sputtery sound from his lips and an excited hoot.

"Right!" he said, and settled back on his heels as he squint his eyes and smiled wide. Leaned back his weight back at the hips. S shaped as he rubbed his chin. A smirk cut quick at the corner of his mouth, and his left tusk seemed to glint. "Gruki," he said, face as warm as melted butter. An just as slippery. "Truth or dare?" he eased out.

Gruki, Arbok Haelyn Alouette

 

[Gruki]

A feat of strength to impress all present. Raising her cup, Gruki cheered along with the rest as Arbok reversed the roles, grabbing a low-hanging beam and hoisting Roki up after her. 'So strong!' She heard Len laugh, clapping. 'Go, go, go!' Sen chorused, laughing herself.

Returning to solid ground, the cheers and chirrups died down at Ulrika took to the table. Her father -Gods rest his soul!- must've been a towncrier, the way she so readily took up the role.

Silence fell as the game continued. Scanning the crowds, Gruki nearly flinched as Roki's gaze aligned on her. 'Uh...' Looking around, Gruki swallowed noisily. Her face felt hot and her legs weak, as if she had been in Arbok's place. 'Truth?'

Roki Arbok Alouette Haelyn

 

[Roki]

A low titter of laughter rolled between his tusks, and his eyes grew all the narrower with focus.

"Where," he said with a point. "Did you find Mr. Hibbidy Plinket!" His hand flung up.

Her champion frog.

Three time winner of the Swamp Bottom Circuit.

For all the frogs Roki had ever caught. Which was six, by the way. His hoppers never out jumped Mr. Hibbidy Plinket.

Not that any of the other squires would care for such secrets.

But such was the way of siblings. And it showed, all across Roki's moon sized grin.

Gruki Arbok Haelyn Alouette

 

[Gruki]

Roki's grin was infectious. 'Damn! Should've gone with the dare!' Light-hearted laughter erupted at her words, her squire-friends rolling their eyes and slapping their thighs at how easy Roki had made it for her.

They weren't to know Mr. Hibbidy Plinket, three time winner of the Swamp Bottom Circuit, was as close to her heart as her little brother was. Gruki sighed.

'I found him,' she paused, shook her head sadly, 'I found him just west of the Untold, where the swamp gives way to the trees, and the stone menhirs stand tall and proud amidst groves of ember.' Gruki knew he knew the place, just as he knew she would never forgive him for this... betrayal!

'This doesn't change anything!' She yelled, wine as red as her hair sloshing from her cup to splatter her boot. 'Gru Gru Groxen Free will never out hop him! Never!' There was more laughter. Shrugging her shoulders, Gruki regarded her friends, a fierce smile on her face. 'Alouette! Truth or dare?'

Roki Arbok Alouette Haelyn

 

[Arbok]

As Arbok dropped down to the floor and returned to her seat beside Haelyn she smiled in bemusement at the sibling spat. This was clearly a long disputed thing between them and she was pleased to hear that they were being honest about their passion for winning.
By the time she had sat down and resumed drinking she was waiting patiently but attentively to what Alouette had to say.

 

[Alouette]

Her green gaze darted back and forth between Roki and Gruki, giggling at the names they gave to their frogs. There was youth and whimsy in each name, though Lou couldn't shake the feeling that Roki had named his frog after his big sister. She wondered if the frog was larger than all the others and if it was kind and gentle. What would she have named a frog? How to go about naming something in the first place? She supposed she could start with a color or maybe a trait. Blue hope? No, that didn't feel special. Emerald Bolt for a green and fast frog would be decent, she decided, just as Ulrika jammed an elbow into her side.

"Lou, truth or dare?" Lou looked up from her lap and sputtered an incoherent mumble. Truth? Dare? She felt her face heat up, the unwanted warmth trickling down her chest.

"Um, sorry, ummm...." She wished she had thought about what she would have wanted to try instead of naming an imaginary frog. "Maybe, um... truth?" Did that one have the least risk?

Gruki

 

[Gruki]

'Oh! Okay! Um... let's see!' Tapping the rim of her cup thoughtfully, Gruki asked, 'Who was your first crush? Like ever?' Was that okay to ask? Of course it was. Truth or dare was one of those games where anything went. Well, almost anything.

'Her crush? Isn't she with... um, whatsisface?'

'Kettle?'

'No, no! The other one!'

'Oh, you mean Ketyl! Yeah, I had heard that, though, the way he tells it, one would think he's a free agent.' Talking too loudly for their own good, Len and Lemock put their heads together conspiratorially. If not for the fact the room was completely silent, they might have gotten away with it. As was, it was just awkward.

Alouette Arbok Haelyn Roki '

 

[Alouette]

She pressed a small hand to her stomach, wondering if it was still there or had disappeared with Gruki's question. Her first crush? What constituted a crush? Technically, when she was four, she had a crush on her cousin Soliesse, but that was because she was ten years her senior and never paid her any attention. Soliesse could climb any tree, and her hair was light enough to be dyed in many colors. Was it a crush or just admiration?

She supposed she also had a crush on Lumina at one point in their friendship when their friendship was the closest it had ever been. Then again, Lou only ever felt it when Lumina preferred reading her books instead of playing with her. A crush, or perhaps jealousy that she could read books, could be beside Lou and yet be in an entirely different world without her.

At some point, she had also felt some fluttering butterflies towards Tsoai-talee when he nursed her back to health and taught her about magicks. But Tsoai-talee was a golden god who only ever took the girls to be his bride, and he took them to a place where they could decide their fate. She absently traced a river of gold along her tan skin, feeling it pulse alongside her quickening heartbeat. Once again, there was wonder and whimsy to live beside a god for years, to grow under his tutelage. He never looked at her with a gaze that was anything more than a master to an apprentice. She was human, and he was god, unattainable to even the fairest of them all.

Ketyl. It wasn't the voice in her head that said that name aloud, but Len and Lemock's whispers. Shame made her red because if they knew, others knew, and Ketyl had told her not to tell anyone. She promised she wouldn't, over and over, for a whole month. She said he could trust her, but she had gone and told Ulrika everything-- using the excuse that she needed someone to cover for her when she snuck out from the dorms to meet Ketyl late at night, the only time he ever wanted to see her. Ketyl would be mad at her; she knew it and could feel it in her bones.

"Um," Lou wiped at her eyes, lips quivering. She just needed to answer, any answer that wasn't Ketyl. She had to protect what they had and prove to him that he could trust her, that she could be patient, and that she could be good enough. She continued rubbing at her eyes. "Sorry, something got in my eye, maybe an eyelash or some dust... sorry." She tried to laugh, but the tempo was dissonant. "My first crush was... umm... my cousin, I guess. When she dyed her hair blue and green? It looked like a Valen Bee Catcher feather. I thought she looked pretty." She held her breath, looked up, and decided the spotlight could no longer be on her.

"Anyways, umm, sorry, Haelyn, truth or dare?"

Haelyn Gruki Arbok Roki

 

[Haelyn]

Haelyn blinked at Lou, straightening up in her seat as all eyes turned to the small squire. Brown eyes met every stare, wondering what they would be thinking she would choose.

Truth or dare?

She could be daring. With enough motivation and headspace to stick to it, she could see herself proving to be daring and surprise them...

But Haelyn was honest. Haelyn was someone that demanded truth. And now, a question was posed to her.

"Truth."

She could not see or hear the Wylds, but she felt it in her pocket. The instruments that Syr Josai gave her to call to it seemed to fill her ears with rustling leaves and a distant, proud roar of a lynx.

 

[Alouette]

“If you could be any animal at all, what would you be?” The question was quick and easy and it was hard to say if it had come so quickly to Lou because it was the first thing that came to her or if it had been something that she had wondered about for a long time.

“That’s not… what I would’ve asked.” Ulrika said gingerly, glancing at Lou and then at Haelyn. “Though I suppose we don’t need another spicy question.” She gave a pointed look to Gruki.

Alouette looked down at her lap, once again tracing her scars. “I think it tells a lot about a person’s inner desires.” She mumbled.

Haelyn

 

[Roki]

Roki clapped. Laughed. "Yeah! What animal, Haelyn?" he beamed a cheesy grin.

 

[Haelyn]

"I want to be a bird." She answered quickly to cut off Roki loudly.

 

[Roki]

Roki's eyes squint, as narrow as new moons. he raised a hand to shield his mouth. "What kind of bird?" he said, throwing his voice in a way he had learned to do helping with play performances and festivals.

Loud and clear to Haelyn. Muted and quiet to the unaware.

 

[Haelyn]

Haelyn frowned, letting it fester into a scowl as she turned to face Roki. But as she spoke, the words were addressing someone else. "Lou. Dare me to punch Roki."

 

[Alouette]

“Umm, I think… you’re supposed to ask someone truth or dare next….”

Haelyn

 

[Haelyn]

Haelyn sighed.

What patience she had in not rolling her eyes, but frowned at Arbok. "Truth or dare?"

 

[Arbok]

"Hmm?"
She was listening, she really was but it didn't stop her from not registering the question asked in the moment. Her big smile faded as the spotlight fell onto her. She was never comfortable in such circumstances.
"Oh, eh dare I guess, but I'm not punching anyone Haelyn so don't ask."
It wouldn't surprise her if she did. Haelyn was a bit overly aggressive sometimes to Arbok's eyes.
Besides, she knew the type of question Haelyn might well ask and Arbok preferred to not invite such speculation on herself.
Taking a sip of her drink she looked down on Haelyn and wondered what she might ask if the situation was reversed.

 

[Haelyn]

Haelyn's cheeks puffed slightly, dropping her gaze to the table she sat at in contemplation. Well now she had to think of something. What if... hm, no.

How about... no, that could be disastrous.

"Arbok. Remember that drinking challenge you took part of? I dare you to mix all the drinks present, even that pitcher of milk over there. Then you are to drink a glass." Harmless. Some good fun.

 

[Arbok]

Arbok's stomach let out a low grumble as the dare was voiced.
"Can I change my mind?"
She muttered to herself mostly as she got up and began the grim task of creating the worst drinks ever part two.
There was ale, whiskey, bourbon, wines, a little water. That was all the expected stuff. Then there was teas and someone had cortosian coffee too.
"Uuuuugh!"
It smelled truly terrible but she was not going to forfeit and as she walked to the bar to get a glass and saw... her salvation.

After disappearing behind the bar for a moment she emerged with a shot glass of the mixture.
It was still going to be horrid but at least she could probably hold this much down.

Probably.
"Skol!"
She proclaimed as she necked the shot.

It tasted like a foot full of acid and her face squirmed as if trying to escape her own skull.
"BLECH!!"