Loser say what!? [4/8 - Lunchtime! - The DeLauncey boys - Open!]

[Thelonius Larson DeLauncey]

Thelonius was wandering through the halls for most of the morning, eventually sticking his head in the kitchen around lunchtime, and stole a fair amount of food to make his stomach stop making terrible noises. He had tried to paint but wandering had always been the solution for when his creativity failed and his twin was no where to be found.

He'd gone for a run, he'd counted birds past his window, he'd watched the younger maids scrub the floors ... well not the maids themselves but ... you know. In general he'd done nothing all day long.

Until he'd happened upon his favorite parlor where he and his brother's always plotted mischief or arm wrestled for different reasons. Manly reasons.

[Lucius Kaedon DeLauncey]

Lucius might have felt moody after the conversation with his sister, but he wasn’t going to let that show when spending time with his brothers. After the morning ride, he ended up back in the castle, wandering the halls, looking for something to pass the time. He wasn’t looking forward to packing and preparing for the trip to Forsilvra. But he’d promised Eveline, and Lucius had a hard enough time dealing with her disappointment to break a promise that easy to keep.

But he didn’t feel like packing now. So instead he was wandering, and his wandering led him to the favorite parlor of the DeLauncey boys. They had grown up as the pack, and he still considered them a pack, even if their true leader was no longer with them.

He looked up as his brother entered the room. “Lars,” he greeted Thelonius, using the nickname he’d given his elder so many longer years ago. All the DeLauncey boys had middle names, His own, Kaedon, was a name he almost liked better than Lucius. But his siblings had taken to calling him Luc, and he’d grown into that name more than any other.

He crossed the room and easily embraced his brother. Despite his own personal battle, he’d always looked to the twins to be the ones to tussle with, to get in trouble with, to have fun with. “Tell me this trip to Forsilvra that Ev mentioned isn’t real.”

[Thelonius Larson DeLauncey]

Thelonius shook his head. "Naw we have to head out and dance our asses off." he said nonchalantly as he took a bite of cheese. He glanced out the window before he swallowed what was in his mouth and th elooked back at Lucius.

"Only good thing is, we get to hunt down some ladies, and who can complain about that?" He gave his brother a big hug. "Missed you at dinner, man." He wasn't going to prod just let his brother know that he was being thought of. A man doesn't do certain things for certain reasons and it was none of any other man's business.

[Lucius Kaedon DeLauncey]

“As if I care anything about dancing,” Lucius scoffed. He could dance. And he wouldn’t mind a few good looking ladies, although from his experience most ‘ladies’ snubbed their nose at the scruffy looking DeLauncey boy, at least when they didn’t know who he was.

He reached out and wrapped an arm around Thelonius, returning the embrace. “I’m sure you did. Without me, who would you all spend the meal teasing?” But he was glad his brother had missed him, without accusing him or being disappointed in him the way his others siblings made him feel. Eveline only cares.

“Well, I suppose hunting ladies will be fun, as long as they aren’t they stuffy, stuck up court girls. Maybe some of the looser ones from Ahestere will be fun.” He could go for some summer spice, just for something different. After all, Eveline had told him there was more to the world that just The Hollows.

[Tiberius Lexington DeLauncey]

Tiberius was walking through the halls en route to...well, honestly he'd forgotten where, but it probably should have been to his room to change. He'd been out with his horses again, and he smelled like hay and horse and sun. To him it wasn't bad, but for polite company it might not work so well. Thankfully, the company he stumbled across was nowhere near polite.

The parlor was usually out of the way, but the stairs he usually took from the back door he frequented passes right by it, so he heard the voices before even passing the door. Sounded like Lucius was around, and Lars. He didn't even bother to peek in the door, but he walked right in and put his hands on Luc's shoulders in what passed for a hug for now.

"Talking about women again, I see?" Moving to stand next to his twin, he scoped out the food that he'd probably stolen from the kitchens and picked up something that looked tasty, popping it in his mouth before Lars could steal it back or smack it out of his hands. Leaning against the table, he crossed his arms. "It'll be interesting to see the girls from the different places at this stupid ball thing, that's for sure. You're looking forward to the ones from Ahestere," he said, casting his gaze at Luc, "but I've heard things about the ones from Arbrecht that I'm curious to see the truth of." Something about strange ways of dancing, of girls who had never left their homes, ones who could fight and who were used to strong men. Women who weren't wilting flowers. Sounded good to Lex, at least.

[Cassius Theodore DeLauncey]

Their voices in one room was what drew Cassius. The brothers always had an intuition to knowing where the others were, even in the grand expanse of the Hollows. They had grown up together, ran together. The DeLauncey boys were a tight knit crew. Well... most of the time. Cassius paused in the doorway a moment, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed, listening to his brothers swap suggestive remarks about what they were really looking forward to in the Capital.

"What, the bull-women of Arbrecht? That's what your looking for, Lex, one with a nice moustache?" Cassius prodded, jumping in the conversation now, a grin tugging at his lips. "Though I've heard some things about those dark-haired sirens from Fyrsbruck. Rumor has it their women fought in the war -- not bad, a woman with some bite." Cassius' eyes moved to where Lucius sat, seemingly avoiding looking at his eldest brother. The Province Lord's features visibly darkened, but instead of reacting as he wanted towards his youngest brother, Cassius moved towards his seated brothers and clapped down a hand roughly on Larson's shoulder.

"But I'm a spoken-for man, boys, so I suppose that is good news -- now that the real competition is off the market," he said with a laugh, his grey eyes sparkling. "But you, Lex, you are next, so get your kicks while you can because this might as well be a trip to market for you, brother."

[Lucius Kaedon DeLauncey]

“The only decent topic of conversation,” Lucius laughed back, enjoying a moment with his older twin brothers. Both Thelonius and Tiberius knew how to have a good time, knew how to relax, knew how to put family first. “Well then, we’ll be good for scoping out completely different territory then. You take those northern beauties and I’ll go for the spicy southern ones.” Lucius couldn't help but laugh...

Until Cassius walked into the room. Lucius looked away from his brother, trying to focus on anything else. He didn’t want to fight with Cass in front of the twins, who had no issues with the lord of their house and eldest brother. At least, not that he knew of, and given how laid back the twins were, so different from Lucius, he couldn’t imagine them looking for fault where as far as they knew, none lay. And Lucius didn’t believe Cassius was horrible or a bad lord. But he could not forgive what lay between them either. So instead he ignored them all, moving to find himself some to drink. Surely the servants had thought to leave a pitcher of something in the parlor.

[Tiberius Lexington DeLauncey]

"You'll have to let me know if the darker ones are much different," he said, throwing his brother a loaded look. "I wouldn't want to be going after the wrong ones, after all. And I'm sure there are enough that you could spare one or two." He laughed, knowing full well his brother's reputation with women. His own was much more modest, but he knew how to admire a beautiful woman.

Cassius's comment made him shake his head. "Aww, I'm sure there's gotta be a few who're of age who don't have facial hair to rival my own!" He ran a hand over his chin, seemingly perpetually covered in stubble. "And besides, I'd do better with a woman with some meat on her bones. These little wisps of femininity....I always rather feel like I'd end up breaking them." He'd let his brothers take that comment however they wanted. The tension that materialized between Cassius and Luc was obvious, and made Lex a little uncomfortable, to be honest, but he ignored it. Drawing attention to their problems would do nothing but make them worse, so he just kept on rolling.

"Trip to the market my ass. Once your lady love gets to you, you'd damn well better get on getting a son or six." Of course he knew he was probably next to get married off, but that didn't mean he had to enjoy getting pinned down. He would be harassing Cassius until his wife managed to pop out a son.

[Thelonius Larson DeLauncey]

Larson was laughing, pretty hard to be honest, his brothers always made him laugh until he got a stitch in the rib. "I think I could save a few for you, but I do shoot for those "wisps of femininity" I do so like to get myself ALL the way around them." He joked.

When the tension was obvious between his brothers, almost thick as cheese, Larson decided to break the ice the best way he knew how. He belched just as loud as he could and then shoved Tiberius to the other side of the table. "Arm wrestle me ya tramp!"

"Enough of this crotch monster talk." he mumbled. "Kids scare the shit out of me. Their little nubby fingers ..."

[Lucius Kaedon DeLauncey]

“Spare or share,” Lucius laughed. Like he cared if his brother picked up the same lady as he did. Once he was done, he wasn’t going to want her again anyway. “Big or small. I know what you mean about breaking them, when you’re getting wild between the sheets.” He grinned at Tiberius, still trying to ignore the man that was Cassius on the other side of the room. There were far too many moments when he had to share space with Cassius, and while everyone knew there was tension, at least around others Lucius tried to behave.

Tried.

He made no promises to succeed. As the conversation turned to his brother making sons, Lucius resisted a scowl. Rufus should have been the one to bring the family heirs. Rufus should have still been here. Rufus.

He picked up the pitcher of watered wine and poured himself a glass. “Tib, Thel, you boys want some wine?”

[Tiberius Lexington DeLauncey]

"Nubby little fingers, all grabbing at your hands, leaving you all sticky with whatever it just shoved in its grubby little mouth..." He loved torturing his twin. "And who're you calling a tramp, you trollop!" He assumed the proper position for the demanded arm wrestle, elbow down on the table and game face on.

"Yeah, sure, I'll take some Luc." His eyes didn't leave his twin's, though, as he clasped hands with him and the count began. "Three...two....one!" At the right moment Lex tensed, pushing against his brother's hand, but as always they were pretty much evenly matched. It was now a case of who would get distracted or tired first.

[Cassius Theodore DeLauncey]

"Doesn't matter, Lex, it's just a matter of time till you are making those vows yourself. What do you think this trip to the Capital is, just a party? Nah, brother, it's time to go shop around," Cassius said with a laugh as he continued to jab at his younger brother and heir. Sadly, it was part truth; Cassius never wanted to be the one to push his family in any particular direction, especially considering his own luck in falling for the right girl before he was promised to the wrong one. But his advisers had been harping and he could no longer ignore the facts behind their sentiments. He was still yet to be married himself, and considering the sharp twists of bad fate his family had suffered over the past three years, Cassius needed to make sure that his family had enough connections and progeny to keep the DeLauncey blood strong. They had been quipping a great deal about his only sister's single status as well, but that was something Cassius just could not tolerate.

His eyes flicked back to Lucius as the twins dissolved into an arm wrestle and watched as his youngest brother tried to blatantly make it clear he had no desire for Cassius' company. The Province Lord's jaw clenched tightly. No one knew how to piss Cassius off like Lucius -- and they both fed into those flames.

"I'd love a glass myself, Luc," Cassius said loudly, his face impassive.

[Lucius Kaedon DeLauncey]

Lucius felt his entire being stiffen at his brother’s words. He should have expected Cassius to use the moment to force them to interact. He turned slowly, his eyes moving to bore into his brother’s. “Of course, Lord DeLauncey. We wouldn’t want to leave you out.” The words were as stiff as he was, forced almost, as though the only way he could refer to Cass was by the formality. Using any of his brothers nicknames would have been too much for the youngest brother.

He turned and poured four glasses of the wine and then brought two glasses to the twins first. Returning, he picked up the other two and forced his feet to move to where Cassius sat. Holding out the glass, he stared at his brother with the same intense gaze.

“Perhaps the lord should make a toast. It’s been a long time since we’ve had one.”

[Cassius Theodore DeLauncey]

Cassius' grey eyes locked on his younger brother's face, and he knew Lucius was mocking him. But the eldest brother of the DeLauncey clan had ceased to care, of late -- Lucius was intent to never forgive him, and yet Cassius did not know of what crime he was trying to convict him. His youngest brother's perpetually sour mood more than once impeded into the time the DeLauncey brothers used to spend together, and it was a harrowing feeling.

He took the wine glass from Lucius' grasp, rather roughly, without a smile.

"To all the fair and lovely ladies of the islands," Cassius said lightly, taking a step back from Lucius, trying to shake off the dark cloud that was his brother and smiling lightly. "May they find themselves well-prepared to try and stave off the charms of the DeLauncey men - because they will need all the luck they can get."

[Thelonius Larson DeLauncey]

Larson was a bit irritated that he was unable to distract his other brothers from fighting and he was sure that his twin could feel the waves coming from him. Putting up a fake fight and allowing Lex to win after their requested glasses of wine arrived, he stood with his glass in hand, and turned to his other brothers.

"Next up to wrestle the unbeatable Lex! Either his sticky fingers or his muscle will get you! But you'll never know unless you enter into combat!"

He took a sip of his wine and thanked Lucius for pouring it for him. "I must point out that I have NEVER met a woman would didn't say yes. And then say yes again and again and again." he ended his statement in laughter, drinking more of his wine, why can't his brothers just get along long enough to get wasted and steal snacks?

[Tiberius Lexington DeLauncey]

Lexington could almost seen Larson's agitation, although he was sure that he was more sensitive to it than their brothers would be. The fact that he didn't even actually put up a fight was telling enough, really, but he put on a grin and raised his glass with his brothers. "Unbeatable my arse, you just pussed out, you tosser."

Moving away from the table, Lex flopped down on a sofa, deciding that the world looked better when he was sitting down. There was so much tension at eye-level, it was much easier to ignore from down here. Idly he picked bits of fuzz from an overly-ornate pillow, flicking the bits at his twin as he laughed at the conversation. "Sometimes they say those three letters so emphatically that I've been tempted to go buy you a fancy gag from that shop down on the outskirts of town, so that when we go to court the girls' daddies won't be able to hear you making them scream and come kick your ass."

[Lucius Kaedon DeLauncey]

Lucius was half annoyed that his brother had ignored him. The other half of him had to admit he was relieved. While crossing hairs with Cassius happened anytime they were in the same room, Lucius always felt uncomfortable when his twin brothers were around. He knew Tiberius and Thelonius would rather see them all back to being the small gang they used to be. Even without Rufus, the four of them could have had good times. But every time Lucius looked at his brother, he remembered. And remembering left a sour taste in his mouth.

So he lifted his glass and nodded to the toast and then took a drink. “Lex,” Lucius called out, using his brother’s nickname, “You’d have to buy more than one, because my room will have at least four times the yeses echoing through the doorway. Why stop at one hot woman at a time, when you can have four times the fun with more than one between the sheets.” He forced a laugh, his eyes never leaving Tiberius and Thelonius. As far as the youngest brother was concerned, there were only three people in that room.

[Cassius Theodore DeLauncey]

The conversation continued among his brothers, and Cassius still felt heated -- Lucius would never stop. It was at once disappointing and infuriating, and as much as Eveline begged him to give his youngest brother space on the matter, Lucius' constant affront to his authority was inciting Cassius' temper. But still... the conversation continued, and Cassius couldn't help but laugh, almost shocked at the lewd statements his brothers continued to toss at one another -- but not altogether unexpected.

The twins had always been rambunctious, Tiberius in a more subtle manner than Thelonius, and Lucius the worst of the three. Cassius had always been more reserved -- certainly with an eye for the girls, and an equally returned fervor from the maidens themselves, but Cassius never got up to the antics that his brothers were fond of. Besides, now it was all different. There was only one girl for Cassius, and just thinking of her now brought a smile to his face.

"Now I know this goes without saying -- but I trust you all will use your discretion in the capital. Forsilvra isn't the Hollows, and it is certainly nothing like the Mark. I don't want to dampen your spirits but I can't be dealing with irate fathers within the first twenty-four hours of our arrival," Cassius laughed, half-joking... half-concerned. He knew his brothers. And he knew well enough that when they saw something they wanted, there was usually very little resistance in return.

But bar maids were one matter, and noble daughters of high-born lords were another.