Met in spectacular fasion (meet the roomies,ATTN the twins)

[ShinyThingsGood]

The room was plain, empty of all but the necessities.  Three bunks, little more than cots, in a neat row against the back wall, were the only places to sit.  There was a single washstand, covered in gouges and the stain faded, and obviously older than Davel.  A wardrobe stood opposite the stand, larger than the one he had most recently used, at the Silver Hammer, but Davel still assumed it was small compared to most.  It also looked to have seen many years of hard use.

 

So, this is where I'm going to be spending the next few years of my life.  That thought still came with no small amount of shock.  Only this morning he had watched, with tears in his eyes and a burn of anger in his heart as Thera had carried his sister away from him.  It had been something that had to be done, and he could think of no better caretaker for Lyss than Thera, but it had cut him deeply nonetheless.  And, as he always had, he took that hurt inward, forced it down until there was nothing left but resentment and rage. 

 

Slamming the door behind him with more force than was necessary, Davel tried to wipe the scowl from his face, with little success.  Two of the bunks already had some belongings on them, so Davel claimed the remaining one, sitting down heavily.  It was certainly a hard mattress, but no worse than many he had slept on in the past.  Indeed, it was a vast improvement over sleeping in alleys.  He wondered briefly what kind of room Thera had for Lyss before savagely forcing the thought from his mind. 

 

Finding little point in sitting in his room doing nothing, Davel placed his few belongings in the wardrobe and moved toward the door, not quite stalking.  Maybe spending some time exploring the yard and familiarizing himself with his new surroundings would help to clear his head. 

 

Distracted, he opened the door without taking particular care, and it was that carelessness that caused what happened next.

 

He had time to see two people, a girl and boy roughly his own age, maybe a year or two older, on the other side of the doorway.  Their features with strikingly similar, with identical dark hair and eyes.  Davel judged the girl to be roughly his own size, and the other, who could only be her brother, to be slightly larger.  The dark-haired boy had a smile on his face, presumably at some jest he had made, and his sister regarded him with a loving yet long-suffering expression.  An instant was all the time Davel had to take in this information, and then he ran headlong into the pair, sending all three sprawling.

 

It was all too much.  His sister gone, his old life over, having to be here, being the smallest rooster in the yard and having to take orders from everyone.  And now he had met his new roommates in spectacular fashion, all three lying in the dirt, with scrapes and bruises from the fall.  Davel cursed himself and the two next to him for clumsy fools and scrambled to his feet.

 

“Why don't you two land-kissers watch where you're bloody going?”  He spat through gritted teeth.  His hand reached for a dagger hilt that was no  longer there, and settled for clenching a fist by his waist instead.  He didn't offer to help them up, and didn't take any blame for the accident.  He was in a full rage now, and nothing short of bloodshed seemed likely to quench the fire in his chest.

[Eqwina]

Del clutched Ada’s hand and he held hers just as hard as they faced the wrath of the Mistress of Trainee’s.  They had ended their last night in another tavern listening to a tough tell stories about the feared Mistress of the Tower. By the time they walked through the Tower gates that very morning their eyes were dark and Del was expecting the woman to have no less than three heads. She turned out to be every bit as fierce as they’d been told, but far prettier than she could have wished.

 

True to form and in perfect Adamin fashion her brother had hit on the Mistress of Trainee’s after only moments in her sight. It had earned them both laps and a lecture to boot. They were still being scolded, if slightly less hardly than before, and told the rules of the Tower.

 

None of the rules were onerous, but the woman who enforced them was. By the time they were dismissed Del’s legs were weak from standing, and her death grip on her brother was all that kept her up. She had always been the strong one, but she felt as if she’d been pulled through a key hole backwards.

 

Once the practice yards came into view she forced herself to walk on her own, but she took comfort in her borhter’s closeness. Twice they had to ask directions to the barracks and twice Ada was slapped for having insolent eyes. The women he had flirted with had been Tower Guards, and apparently were too uptight to fall for his charms. After the first woman Del had learned to allow her brother to fight his own fights, at least with the guards. The woman had turned Del over her knee and spanked her for all the yards to see. Still red in the face she opened the door to their room and sighed. It was less grand than the Inn and far less grand than home, but it would do. She saw that there were three beds and she wondered if they would be forced to share. She said a small prayer that if they did have a bunk mate it would be a boy. She could not live the next two years in a room with Ada and some girl he was cuddling. A few nights were bad enough…….

 

Claiming the middle bunk she start to store her stuff in what little space there was, leaving her cloak flung across her bed. Should another roommate arrive she wanted him to know that her bed was taken. With two slightly shocked stares she and her brother headed back out into the yards to try and find some food.

 

As if the two Tower guards had taught him nothing Ada hit on every other girl, not in a uniform, and not wearing a ring. Some fell for it, and others not, but no one else slapped him. Carrying back a snack for later Del was lecturing her brother on proper behavior as they entered their room. “I swear Ada you have got to calm down! You’re going to hit on the wrong woman and she will use The Power to tie you in knots; and when she does I will ask her to take a few licks at you.” Rolling her eyes she opening the door to their room and was sent sprawling.

 

Rubbing her bum, and staring longingly at the ruined honey cakes she started to offer an apology when the cause of their fall starting flinging insults. Looking from his fists to the boys enraged face, Del allowed her brother to pull her to her feet and they stood shoulder to shoulder to staring at the man. Her pretty face was sent in a frown and she fondled her dagger, while Ada’s face was his half smirk half glare he used he was intending to cause mischief.

 

“I am not sure I know what land-kisser is, and lucky for you I don’t, or I would have to take offence.” Her stare turned haughty and she arched her eyebrow.  It was the same look Del had used on the men who’d tried to pinch her without asking. That look usually accompanied thrown punches, and she and Ada making a quick break. But they couldn’t leave this place, not yet, so she made an attempt to moderate her tone. It failed, but she had tried. “So why don’t you put your little fists down and play nice. That way no one has to get hurt.” Over the year she and her brother had beaten and out witted larger and smarter men than this. She was not worried, except of getting in trouble for fighting on their first day.

 

[Kura]

Adamin had learned his lesson early on. He wasn't going to flirt with the Mistress of Trainees any longer, but he knew he couldn't stop himself from tossing out a couple of jokes every now and then. The physical conditioning would do them both good anyways. "A few licks wouldn't be too bad, I'm sure the rugged look would help find someone to kiss them all better." He laughed openly at the look his sister gave him. It was a familiar one by now.

 

Immediately he found himself sprawled out, mirroring his sister’s look at the honey cakes... They had been so good. Still, he supposed he'd have to apologize to the man... That was until he started flinging insults at the pair. Adamin put on his sly grin, but in truth, he was being thrown into a slowly boiling rage. Insult him all day, he could banter with the best of them, but never insult Del. Especially not with this one's attitude...

 

"My sister is right, no one needs to be hurt." He stressed the word slightly, showing with very little doubt that he was open to the idea. "But it appears that you are either some sort of thief, or maybe a pirate with your sea legs, or our new room mate. Personally, I'm hoping for the first, however unlikely." His nimble hands were held in what appeared to be a relaxed position, but he was ready to be attacked. "But in the unfortunate case that it is the latter, why don't we introduce ourselves? My name is Adamin, and this is my loving sister Adela."

 

Ada added a bit of malice to his grin, "Now tell me my fine pirate friend, do you have a name?" He'd owe his sister big time for this, but quite frankly he didn't like the man's tone... Not for his sister at least.

 

[ShinyThingsGood]

Davel felt himself go cold as the siblings stood, shoulder to shoulder, obviously ready to fight.  It was not the cold of fear, but rather the numb detachment he had always felt in the Rahad before he had entered into a physical struggle for survival.  The girl, Adela, regarded him arrogantly, as if she were a queen regarding a particularly filthy swine, and Adamin appeared relaxed, with a malicious grin on his face.  They were both obviously ready to fight, and Davel wasn't about to back down, not now, even though he knew he had started the conflict.  He had faced taller odds than this and lived to tell of it, and so the next words he said, while perhaps full of petty anger, lacked nothing in confidence.

 

“My name is Davel,” he said harshly, not bothering to tamp down the heat in his tone.  “And better a pirate than a pair of clumsy fools too pretty for their own good.  And by the way,” he turned his attention the the girl, a startling pretty specimen even with her haughty stare.  “A land-kisser is a particularly noxious type of scavenger gull.  It's too dumb to survive any distance from shore, and is known for occasionally falling from the sky when it gets over-excited over an especially rotten piece of garbage.”  Davel glanced at the honey-cakes lying in the dirt a few feet away, then back at the two before him, allowing the comparison to go unspoken. 

 

He took a step closer to the two of them, jaw thrust forward pugnaciously.  The distance between them now measured less than an arm's length.  To outward appearance, he was relaxed, but every muscle was tense, and he was ready to react instantly to any move made by either one.  The girl, he dismissed as nonthreatening, despite her apparent willingness to fight.  She was smaller than him, and more importantly, female.  The girls he had met since leaving the sea had not exactly inspired confidence in the physical capabilities of the fairer sex.  So he focused the majority of his attention an Adamin.  He was slightly larger than Davel, and seemed as if he had seen a fight or two in his day.  Davel wasn't worried.

 

“Well?”  He invested as much scorn as he was able into that word.  Prepared for anything, Davel waited for one of them to make the next move.

[Eqwina]

Adela’s eyebrow climbed until it was in danger of leaving her face and her confident stare grew more sinister. She could abide any number of insults to her own person, but speaking of her brother in a disparaging manner was the quick route to a black eye. She was by far the better fighter in the pair, having whipped her brother more than once, but oddly the boy…Davel..seemed to dismiss her out of hand.

 

Other than the obvious comparison between her and this “land-kisser” he seemed to hate so dearly that is. “Listen…Dabel was it? I personally have no qualms with beating you to a pulp, because I can leave it at that. My brother here, well he does not like me who insult me and he may not stop at just beating the daylights out of you.” Smiling at him rather wryly she reached out to pat his shoulder, giving her brother a small wink at the same time. In one quick move she had his fist doubled up and held between his shoulder blades and her brother had his other wrist held firm. “I will give you one last chance friend?” In typical fashion Ada could not stop the taunts and made some comment about Davel having his head smashed in by a girl.

 

That cooked the goose. Somehow the apparent pirate managed to wiggle away from them and once again the triad was in a standoff. The obvious advantage was to her and Ada, but there glorious roommate had death in his eyes and she didn’t think smart quips and fast feet would work this time. Taking one eye off the psycho long enough she looked at her brother and gave the slightest shrug. Rarely had they been in a fix that either their looks or wit couldn’t get them out of. “It’s up to you Ada…I got nothing. This kid is obviously crazed, maybe he needs an Aes Sedai or just a good swift kick in the head?” The first part meant nothing but the last was a code they’d used many times. She knew that Ada would know her plan.

 

Adela

The Cute Twin

[Kura]

Adamin's smile only grew as the man spoke. The man seemed to be a pompous ass with a mean streak, but Ada held a grudging respect. He did commit to his actions. He had to hold himself back from laughter as he continued to undermined Del as a threat... Oh, if only he knew... "Too pretty for my own good?" Adamin looked astounded, shocked, "I always thought I was pretty for your mother's enjoyment, not mine..." He let the land-kisser thing go. His sister could retort it.

 

Ada was then given his cue to act by his sterner half. It was a rather simple cue, with her remark on kicking him in the head translating to a cheap shot. No, he didn't target anything soft or reproductive in nature. Ada's long legs whipped out in an arc, aimed for the back of the knee. With the whip-like nature of his legs, it was going to hurt.

 

That however, wasn't its real purpose. Ada didn't withdraw his leg immediately, remaining obviously off balance. His leg however, acted as a fulcrum in a great lever of embarrassment. The trick here was his sister who would follow through with the two-part attack. The goal was to have him knocked over and pinned by the beautiful form of his sister, and to then work from there.

 

It was true, this could be considered an underhanded tactic, capitalizing on the fact that there were two of them. More than that though, it had proven effective, and always both comical and fun. The way the twins chose to live their lives. Well, one of them anyways...