[Lorcan]

   Snakes are a pretty common thing to be afraid of-- just not when your sister raises them (and you). There's the skin of one wrapped around his wrist, from back when he first got his rank, and Naerileen supplied his first companion. A lot of firsts, back then. First time he'd come out of the caves since his trial. First time family was proud of him.

   Well, they're all fucking dead now, so what they thought doesn't matter. What's left is this room: the stone walls, the skull-sized chunk of quartz it had taken him hours to haul home when he was younger, the golden adornments their parents provided-- he never wears them anymore. A snake pit in one corner, where Naerileen's recent brood rests in a sliver of sunlight that comes through a crack in the pyramid: Flock doesn't get the nice rooms. Lorcan's never claimed his own, either: he doesn't trust any of these fuckers not to steal his shit, so he keeps it scattered in hollows and shallow graves throughout the territory.

   He could have another snake, to replace the one that hellion fuck killed-- Naeri wouldn't mind, offered once or twice. Says he's still broken up about the last one, but in all honestly, he didn't have Tupac long enough to bond.

   "Get anything good outta Itai?" he quips over his shoulder in the dark.

   Lor doesn't even like snakes.

[Naerileen]

She didn't mind living with her brother. After all, it had been at her discretion that he remain in her room, scared of what might become of him if he were to claim rooms far from hers. He didn't seem to care, anyway, content with continuing to share a space with her. He didn't keep many things in the room, much of the space belonging to Naeri as places to keep her moderate amount of possessions. While she did not have many, the room did, at least, look like someone lived in it. That didn't prevent it from appearing almost... lonely.

She looked up at the sound and words of her younger brother, raising her head from her nest of pillows and blankets and scattered feathers. Her eyesight was bleary in the darkness of the room, illuminated only somewhat by a crack in the far wall that allowed sunlight to warm her snakes. Her nest lay in the far corner where the light was faintest, Naeri often laying facing the wall with her back to the light so that it didn't disturb her.

Tiredly, she let her head rest somewhat against the wall as she blinked the bleariness from her dulled purple eyes, finding her brother's figure standing towards the middle of the room looking toward her. Although, she didn't fail to notice his glance at her pit of snakes. She had offered time and time again, expressing that it was not befitting of his rank not to take a companion. Even she had one, although she kept Lola, her lemming, hidden from the eyes of others (except her younger brother). But, time and time again, he refused her, remaining without a companion of any kind.

Each time, she had sighed exasperatedly before resigning herself from starting an argument she never felt like having. It wasn't as if she enjoyed arguing with him. She had ruined her relations with most of the Riverines, ostracizing her and Lorcan from them aggressively. A part of her sometimes regretted it and the repercussions to her status, but she knew it was the best for both of them. They were still Riverines, just not very good ones. She would pay a heftier price if it meant preserving even a sliver of Lorcan's happiness. After all, she had done a lot more for him in the past.

He mentioned Itai and her nose wrinkled. "Just some stones for the upcoming hatchlings. I only got back..." she paused. What time was it? She had returned shortly after her visit with the Roc around late morning, she recalled. How long had she slept? At least an hour or two. "Well, I got back somewhat recently, I suppose," she said simply, shrugging. "And what of you? I thought Aine had assigned you more patrols than normal what with all the newcomers," she commented. She was always sure to keep up with what was going on with her younger brother's life, always there to be a faithful advisor to him if he needed it.

[Lorcan]

   "I don't care about your fuckin' rocks, Naeri," he snipes, quietly. There could be a lot more bite in those words-- she's certainly heard it before. The minimal light catches the white around his shoulders and eyes, disappearing into the sockets. "Y'know, has he sucked any good Crystalline cock lately?" A shrug, to make it seem superficial. "You get a good look at that hole he lives out of?" It's dangerous outside of the pyramid, surrounded by parchment that can be so very flammable... And valuable. Itai's such a slut for Crystalline. Lorcan wonders what else he knows.

   He stretches, and feathers flex. Change of subject. "Besides, Aine can't tell if I'm there when I am-- how's she gonna know if I'm not?" Most of the other Larks are on the ground-- they don't get around as fast as he does. Itai likes to think he knows everything, but Lorcan knows better than to write it down.