[SRP] Double Trouble (Amaryllis & Hibiscus Splenden)

[divena]

This is a self rp between Amaryllis Splenden and Hibiscus Splendin

 

[divena]

Amaryllis Splenden floated lazily through the current, carefree for the moment. She had found a rare moment of peaceful solitude, and she was going to enjoy it while it lasted. Any second, her brother would appear and start chattering at her, and the quiet would be gone. Oh, sure, she could probably tell him to leave her be and he would. But she never really wanted to. As much as she enjoyed her own company, after a few moments she knew she would get bored and go seeking out her brother. It was an odd little cycle the twins had going. Both had moments when they were tired of being part of a set and just wanted to be alone, and neither could stand such moments for long. So, rather than seeking out moments of quiet, Amaryllis enjoyed them when they happened upon her. Hibiscus, her brother, wasn’t quite as easy going with such things. When he wanted to be alone, he went off to be alone. When he wanted company, he sought her out again. Come to think of it, Amaryllis realized that her moments of solitude almost always happened when her brother wanted a break. Go figure.

Hibiscus Splenden wasn’t as far from his sister as she thought. He was just out of sight, on the other side of the reefs, digging in the sand. He seemed to remember seeing something sparkle in this particular spot and was determined to dig it up. He knew that his sister wasn’t one for getting her hooves dirty. She wasn’t exactly what he would call prissy, but she had her odd hang ups, and being covered in sand was one of them. He knew she would be floating along, enjoying some solitude, and he left her to it. He also knew that she thought he wanted his own solitude. He wasn’t about to tell her that he didn’t need nearly as many breaks from her as she did from him. He had an uncanny sense for when Amaryllis needed some time alone, and so when such a mood came upon her, he made sure to take off for a bit. Of course, he also knew that those moods rarely lasted long. He was taking advantage of this one to see what had caught his attention earlier. A few minutes of digging revealed what looked to be some kind of odd pendant. He dusted it off with his tail and considered what to do with it.  

[divena]

As the seconds ticked by, Amaryllis felt her calm begin to fade away. That was usually a good sign that she was growing bored. It was also an indication that her brother would be showing up soon. She considered hiding, just to make him work for it, but then decided doing so would be too boring. She did that to him last time. No, she smirked. She’d pretend like he was bothering her.

Yep, Hibiscus decided. It was time to snap Amaryllis out of whatever stupor she was in. He picked up the pendent in his mouth and then looped it around his tail so that it would be hidden in his fins and not immediately visible. With a small grin, he started for his sister, calling out, “Lissy!”  

[divena]

Right on cue, Amaryllis thought. Though she had to roll her eyes at his current nickname for her. The twins often changed up the nicknames they had for one another. Sometimes it was a play on each others’ names, and sometimes it was more descriptive of however they were feeling about one another at the moment. It really depended on their moods. The fact that Hibiscus was calling her Lissy meant that he had something he thought she’d like, but he wasn’t going to just come out and tell her. Or show her as the case may be. It could be anything, really, from a story he heard from a passing fish to an idea for an adventure that had just occurred to him. It could even be a shiny rock or shell that he had found. Usually she did enjoy whatever it was that he had discovered, but she didn’t always let him know. After all, it wouldn’t do to let him get a swelled head. Those curls of his already made it too big. Not that her curls, which were nearly identical to his, were obscenely large. No, hers were perfect and dainty. She closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep, ignoring his call.

Hibiscus darted through the reefs until he reached the spot where he had left his sister. Unsurprisingly, she wasn’t there, but she also wasn’t far. The current that she had been relaxing in was a warm one and had pulled her a small distance away. He dove into the same current and used its momentum to help propel him toward her, calling out her name all the while. Just before he could crash into him, he shifted directions and began swimming rapidly around her, creating his own little current. He used this to help pull her out of the relaxing one so that they wouldn’t drift much further away from their reefs than they already were. It wasn’t exactly safe out there in the wide ocean. While he was all for a good adventure here and there, he also knew the advantages of having a safe haven to go to, just in case. He had heard of land bound soqs who could turn into vicious predators that fed on other soqs. He’d never seen anything like it in the ocean, but who knew, right? All the while he was doing this, he kept up the refrain, “Lissy! Lissy! Lissy! Lissy! Lissy!”  

[divena]

Amaryllis felt herself being pulled out the gentle current she had been in and waited until Hibiscus had said her name at least a hundred times before she let out a mock exasperated groan. “What?” she tried to snap, but the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth may have given her away.

“Guess what I found!” Hibiscus said without missing a beat. He was used to Amaryllis’s moods. He also knew, from the smile she was trying hide, that she wasn’t really upset with him. For some reason he would never understand, she thought that he needed to be taken down a peg or two. Well, he was happy to let her think her ploy was working, though it never really did.  

[divena]

Amaryllis considered actually guessing. Sometimes, usually, it was a fun game. But she was supposed to be annoyed with Hibiscus. If she was really annoyed, she’d demand to know what he had. Maybe even threaten him. Not sincerely, of course. She always threatened him when she was cranky, but she never really meant it and would never actually act on any of her threats. He knew that just as well as she did. So, she could grumble and growl until he told her what he had, or she could play his guessing game and see if she knew him better than he thought she did. She stretched as she considered her options. Playing annoyed for too long would only cause him to go off into a sulk without actually telling her what he had found. That was more of a punishment to her than it was to him. So, that settled it. She was going to guess. “Let’s see,” she mused, knowing well how this game went. She eyed him and his large, slightly goofy grin. “You’re bouncing like you just discovered sweet coral… again. So it’s something you think I’ll like. Is it…. Something shiny?”

Hibiscus’ grin grew wider when his sister made a guess. Whatever reason had Amaryllis playing at being surly, her curiosity was a more powerful motivation. That was a good sign. Sometimes she could keep up the surly act for hours, and while he didn’t mind letting her think she was punishing him, he also didn’t like the consequences she usually brought down on herself. Sometimes he got annoyed with her and took off for real, which usually led to an upset sister when he came back. He didn’t like it when Amaryllis was genuinely upset. Having her play their guessing game was far more fun than dealing with a surly Amaryllis, genuine or otherwise. He considered her question. The pendant was both literally and figuratively shiny, so he could safely say, “Yes, it is,” with an impish grin. Now he would see if his sister would waste another question on whether it was physically shiny or just figuratively shiny. There was a difference, after all. One did not necessarily guarantee the other, and without being certain of which, she could guess wrong. Not that it would be the end of the world if she didn’t guess, but he would certainly tease her about it for a couple hours.  

[divena]

Amaryllis nearly kicked herself when she saw her brother’s grin. He thought he had her tricked. It was only then that she realized her first question was too vague. Now she would have to waste another question. There was no choice for it. She had to. If she ultimately guessed wrong, she would have to endure hours of his relentless teasing. “Literally shiny?” she asked, just to clarify.

“Yes,” he confirmed, still grinning. Now, would she ask if it was figuratively shiny or would she assume that it was literally shiny and discard all figurative shinies? If it were him, he wouldn’t waste another question on the shininess of the shiny, and would just discard the figurative shinies that weren’t also literally shiny. That was a lot of shiny…  

[divena]

Amaryllis considered specifying if it was something figuratively shiny as well, but she ultimately decided that there was no point to it. After all, she could safely assume that it was figuratively shiny if he thought it was something that she was going to like. That was the definition of shiny, after all. Well, the figurative definition, anyway. So why waste one of her questions on an answer she already knew, or at least strong suspected. So, something both literally and figuratively shiny. That narrowed things down a bit. There were quite a few things that might catch her attention, but only a fraction of them would actually shine. “Is it smaller than a rock?” she asked, and once again felt like smacking herself. What was with her and these vague questions today? Usually she was much more precise. Perhaps her little moment of meditation was acting against her. Her brain wasn’t quite functioning as quickly as it should be for this. Still, it was too late. The question was out and the rules stated that she couldn’t take it back or change it once she asked it. She would just have to ask another clarifying question.

For a moment, Hibiscus was worried about his sister. That was the second question in a row that could be easily misinterpreted. After all, anything could be smaller than a rock, depending on which rock he used as a comparison. She knew the rules of the game as well as he did. After all, the twins had come up with this game and fine tuned it over the years of their lives. Every rule was one that had been put in place to make the game more fun and to prevent any disputes from happening more than once. A game was supposed to be fun, not start a fight. And Amaryllis was usually much smarter with her questions. Hibiscus was the one that tended to ask before he thought. It didn’t happen often, of course, but he was a little more instinctual than his sister. She liked to use logic and common sense as a strategy in this game. For some reason she didn’t seem to be employing that normal strategy just now. Maybe she already knew what he had. Could she have planted it just to spark this game? He couldn’t figure out why she would do such a thing. “Yes, it’s smaller than a rock,” he answered, figuring that it was pretty small, so the majority of rocks she could use as a comparison would count.  

[divena]

The answer didn’t surprise her one bit. After all, the item could be as big as she was and yet still smaller than the nearest boulder. So, it was time for a clarifying question. Or rather, she could just discard the last question in her calculations. She tried a different, more precise size comparison. “Is it smaller than my hoof?” she asked, realizing that was what she should have asked in the first place.

Now that sounded more like the Amaryllis he knew and loved. He thought about the pendant for a moment before saying, “Nope.” It was the same size as her hoof, not smaller.  

[divena]

Well, that narrowed things down a bit, at least. Whatever it was, it wasn’t tiny. “Is it smaller than me?” she asked, trying to narrow the size down a bit more. She only had a handful of questions left, so she had to be careful with them. Still, if she could pinpoint exactly how big the thing was, then she could eliminate a lot of possibilities. She could also get a lot of answers from the way her brother responded to her questions. For example, the way he smirked when he said the item wasn’t smaller than her hoof indicated that he thought he was being tricky. If the thing wasn’t bigger than she was, her next guess would most likely be that it was the same size as her hoof. After all, one could be very literal with this game. That was part of the fun. The game forced both of them to think. Whoever was doing the guessing had to figure out the right questions to ask, and the one answering had to figure out the best way to respond truthfully without giving away too much. That was why they were only allowed to ask yes or no questions.

Hibiscus tamped down on his relief. His sister was starting to act more like herself. That was a clever question and indicated that she wasn’t taking his responses at face value. Her earlier sluggishness must have been because she wasn’t completely awake yet. It occurred to him that he probably should have given her a bit more time to reorient herself before he pulled her into a game. That would have been the more sporting thing, and definitely the least concerning. Still, she was acting fine now. It had been just a brief moment. So he decided he would just keep an eye on her for a bit. That would be easy enough. The twins spent ninety percent of their time together already. Amaryllis wouldn’t even notice what he was doing. With all these thoughts flitting through his head, he had to half remind himself of what her question was. Had she asked if the item was smaller or bigger than her? The phrasing was important, obviously… Ah, right! “Yes, it’s smaller than you,” he confirmed. At least, he hoped that was what she had said. Keeping an eye on his sister subtly would be much harder if she figured out he wasn’t completely paying attention.  

[divena]

Alright, then. She could assume that the item was the same size as her hoof. That certainly narrowed things down. Still, her brother’s hesitation in answering perked up her sisterly instincts. Something else was going on. “Pause,” she said, indicating a time out on their game. “What’s wrong?” Since the game was paused, her question wouldn’t act against her.

Hibiscus winced before he could stop himself. So much for fooling his sister. Still, he wasn’t going to give up that easily. “What do you mean?” he shot back, rather than admitting he was worried about her. He should have realized that she would confront him directly rather than quietly observe like he was wont to do.  

[divena]

And now her brother was getting defensive, Amaryllis could tell. Most other people might have thought that he was genuinely baffled. But she knew her twin as well as she knew herself. She knew that he had been distracted for a moment, which was unusual for Hibiscus. Normally, during one of their favorite games, he was almost hyper focused on what they were doing. His attention rarely wandered unless he thought they were in some kind of danger. Hibiscus liked to think he was the protector of the two, and when Amaryllis was being honest with herself, she was willing to admit that he was, to a certain degree. She only ever got protective when she had the feeling that Hibiscus was under too much stress. This wasn’t one of those moments, but there was no reason not to head it off before he got that far. Plus, if they were in some kind of danger then she didn’t want to make his job harder for him by being ignorant. She wouldn’t put it past her brother to try and keep her in the dark in order to shield her from any of what he would consider unnecessary worry.

As Amaryllis just stared at him, Hibiscus could practically see the thoughts flitting through her head. She was immediately jumping to the worst case scenario, which wasn’t at all what he had meant to happen. He didn’t want her worrying that they were in physical danger just because he had gotten a little distracted for a moment. And he knew that was where her mind had gone. He could continue to deny, but that would only worry her more, which would worry him more, which would just spiral out of control. He sighed a bit and gave in. “Fine,” he grumbled, trying to downplay the situation before Amaryllis had a chance to get herself worked up. “I was a little worried about you for a minute. That’s all.”

“Me?” Amaryllis repeated, started out of the thought process she had been in the middle of. He was worried about her? Why in the world would he be worried about her? “What did I do?” she asked, trying to think over what she had done over the past day. She was pretty sure she hadn’t done anything too bad to annoy or worry him. Well, beyond the usual.

“I said a little,” Hibiscus reminded his sister. Just like before, he could see the thoughts crossing her face. The fact that she genuinely couldn’t figure out why he would be worried about her helped ease his concern. If there was something actually eating away at her then she would be aware of it. She wouldn’t have been able to fake the kind of bafflement that she was displaying now. All he had to do now was smooth down the concerns he had brought up with his own worry and all would be well. “You seemed a little out of it for a minute, so I was worried. It’s not a big deal, Lyssy,” he assured her. It helped that he was telling the truth. He was reassured that she was fine, and she would be as long as she didn’t start worrying about him.  

[divena]

Amaryllis studied her brother for a moment, trying to determine if he was being honest with her. She wasn’t fully certain why she was bothering. Hibiscus had never really lied to her. Maybe withheld information if he thought knowing would hurt her, but not out and out lied. After a few seconds consideration, she decided that he had been fairly upfront with her. If there was more to the situation than he was saying, he probably had a reason for not saying it. He definitely seemed to be feeling better than he had been a few minutes ago, so she chose to believe that had been all there was to it. “Alright,” she said, letting him know she had accepted his explanation. “Resume?” according to the rules that she and her brother had set up for this game, she didn’t have to ask to resume the game. Still, it was an unspoken courtesy to make sure that the other person was ready before jumping back into a thought intensive game like that. They had learned when they were younger that arguments could sometimes come up regarding cheating if they hadn’t made sure both were ready to begin again.

“Resume,” Hibiscus agreed, more than happy to get away from the previous topic. He knew all to well that Amaryllis could cling to an issue if she thought he was holding back on her. It was often fifty-fifty as to whether or not she’d let something go. This was an annoying trait when he actually was holding back on her, and even more frustrating when he wasn’t. Hours of pestering could go by before she finally accepted that he was being completely upfront with her. Of course, he could also hold out for hours if he was hiding something. Often times, it became a contest to see who was more stubborn. Today, though, he actually wasn’t hiding anything from her… well, except for the shiny pendant. So a contest of wills would have just left him frustrated and her annoyed. He was never sure if she did it intentionally or not, but he couldn’t help but feel that she occasionally did. He couldn’t blame her, of course. He would occasionally provoke her on purpose. He knew exactly what buttons to push to get her riled up… he just hadn’t figured out which ones to avoid pushing yet. Today, though, it seemed that he had said the right words and taken the right steps to avoid that particular confrontation.

Amaryllis did a quick mental rundown of the information she had gathered so far. The item was both figuratively and literally shiny. It was relatively small. At least, it was smaller than she was. She considered her next question carefully before asking, “Is it something I can eat?” It wouldn’t be the first time Hibiscus would bring her some kind of shimmery treat.

Hibiscus thought about that for a moment before shaking his head. “Nope,” he answered. Well, he supposed she could try eating the pendant, but she wouldn’t get far. She would probably end up cracking a tooth or two, and he wasn’t even sure why she’d want to try. It was most definitely not edible.