Post by Kypriotha on Jan 4, 2015 20:42:25 GMT 10
Title: Rush Me [the redux]
Rating: G
For: Ryn
Prompt: Thom and Alan being brothers/uncles/sons/friends
Summary: Alan has to hurry Thom up (again – academics, really!)
Notes:
***
Alan walked into Thom’s rooms at the university. “You ready to go?”
Thom jumped and looked up from his pile of books, gazing at Alan like a startled deer. “Go?” he asked blankly. “Go where?”
Alan sighed. He’d been expecting this but still…it wouldn’t hurt Thom to lose the vacant professor persona every once in a while. Their mother was wont to say that he was too much like his grandfather for his own good, then usually had to turn away to hide the look of pain, anger and pride that danced across her very Trebond face.
“To the Copper Isles? You remember – Aly, triplets, brotherly duty and all that?”
Thom’s face continued to look blank as he allowed Alan’s words to slowly seep through the academic research fog into his brain. Then he jumped up and put his hands to his head, in what Alan secretly thought was an overly dramatic manner. “The trip to Isles! I completely forgot!”
“Yes, I noticed that,” Alan drawled, subconsciously imitating his father’s hint of Lower City twang, watching Thom begin to hurriedly pick through his messy belongings and throw things haphazardly into a bag. “Now, do you think you could hurry up? I almost missed her wedding. I hate to think what Aly’d do to me if I missed this trip to see her nestlings.”
“Yes, yes,” Thom muttered distractedly, shoving aside a pile of text books to reveal a wad of clean loincloths. “You know, this would get done faster if you helped.”
“It would be even faster if you’d remembered and had already finished packing,” Alan shot back, always the contrary younger brother, but he dutifully took the messy ball of shirts Thom shoved at him and began folding them neatly, his knight training far outweighing his brother’s academic training in this area.
“I don’t know why she had to choose to settle in the Goddess forsaken Copper Isles anyway,” Thom muttered, before catching the look on Alan’s face. He dropped the pair of hose he was holding and patted Aly’s twin on the shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s not that bad. It’s not a long boat trip, really, and now you’re no longer a Squire, you have more freedom to visit her whenever you want.”
Alan shrugged and turned away from Thom, busying himself folding the last shirts. “I know. It’s fine. She’s happy there and that’s all that matters. She was never going to fit in here, not really, not in noble society and she would never have wanted to shame Mother and Da by breaking too far away from the family. I just miss her.”
He folded the last shirt and placed it in Thom’s bulging bag, before wiping his eyes on the back of his hand. When he turned around, he was smiling again. “And there’s you packed, big brother. Ready to go meet the mayhem that is our sister’s nestlings?”
Thom grinned and clapped Alan awkwardly on the back, in manner that suggested he was trying to imitate their various military acquaintances and failing at it. “You bet I am. How bad can it be?”
Rating: G
For: Ryn
Prompt: Thom and Alan being brothers/uncles/sons/friends
Summary: Alan has to hurry Thom up (again – academics, really!)
Notes:
***
Alan walked into Thom’s rooms at the university. “You ready to go?”
Thom jumped and looked up from his pile of books, gazing at Alan like a startled deer. “Go?” he asked blankly. “Go where?”
Alan sighed. He’d been expecting this but still…it wouldn’t hurt Thom to lose the vacant professor persona every once in a while. Their mother was wont to say that he was too much like his grandfather for his own good, then usually had to turn away to hide the look of pain, anger and pride that danced across her very Trebond face.
“To the Copper Isles? You remember – Aly, triplets, brotherly duty and all that?”
Thom’s face continued to look blank as he allowed Alan’s words to slowly seep through the academic research fog into his brain. Then he jumped up and put his hands to his head, in what Alan secretly thought was an overly dramatic manner. “The trip to Isles! I completely forgot!”
“Yes, I noticed that,” Alan drawled, subconsciously imitating his father’s hint of Lower City twang, watching Thom begin to hurriedly pick through his messy belongings and throw things haphazardly into a bag. “Now, do you think you could hurry up? I almost missed her wedding. I hate to think what Aly’d do to me if I missed this trip to see her nestlings.”
“Yes, yes,” Thom muttered distractedly, shoving aside a pile of text books to reveal a wad of clean loincloths. “You know, this would get done faster if you helped.”
“It would be even faster if you’d remembered and had already finished packing,” Alan shot back, always the contrary younger brother, but he dutifully took the messy ball of shirts Thom shoved at him and began folding them neatly, his knight training far outweighing his brother’s academic training in this area.
“I don’t know why she had to choose to settle in the Goddess forsaken Copper Isles anyway,” Thom muttered, before catching the look on Alan’s face. He dropped the pair of hose he was holding and patted Aly’s twin on the shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s not that bad. It’s not a long boat trip, really, and now you’re no longer a Squire, you have more freedom to visit her whenever you want.”
Alan shrugged and turned away from Thom, busying himself folding the last shirts. “I know. It’s fine. She’s happy there and that’s all that matters. She was never going to fit in here, not really, not in noble society and she would never have wanted to shame Mother and Da by breaking too far away from the family. I just miss her.”
He folded the last shirt and placed it in Thom’s bulging bag, before wiping his eyes on the back of his hand. When he turned around, he was smiling again. “And there’s you packed, big brother. Ready to go meet the mayhem that is our sister’s nestlings?”
Thom grinned and clapped Alan awkwardly on the back, in manner that suggested he was trying to imitate their various military acquaintances and failing at it. “You bet I am. How bad can it be?”