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Among all the typical Bronya fussing and worrying, Wanshi was spirited away, getting scolded at the same time as she was being looked over for any sign of injury. So quick was the change in mood that almost before Lynera knew it, she and Lanque had been left alone together. The silence was potent and extremely present, like a thick mist that filled the air and tickled the senses by doing so much as breathing.
“Well I suppose this is-”
“I guess we should-”
They both halted mid-sentence, looking at one another with confusion. Neither had expected the other to be the one to speak first, so it was more than a bit surprising for both parties. Lynera, however, was the one who managed to pick up the slack first.
“I guess we should go get your cheek taken care of. So Bronya won't suspect anything,” she said quickly. “I don't want her thinking we got in a fight while getting the brat back.”
“And which 'we' exactly was fighting? I only remember you cowing back like a frightened hopbeast.” Lynera curled her lip in offense, opening her mouth to retort just as Lanque rolled his eyes and started walking. “But whatever. If it will make you happy.”
Lynera's mouth closed with a sharp 'click' as her teeth snapped together, but she followed. Though she still fumed slightly at his flippant attitude about it. Neither of them spoke as they made their way to the one place where they kept most of their medical supplies. As usual, the nursery was filled with several grubs chirping and slithering their way through the tubs of sopor they kept out for them.
Lanque gracefully leaned against the counter while Lynera went for a first aid kit. She glanced over her shoulder while she let her hands slide along inside the cabinet. There he went, trying to look too cool and suave to let anything bother him like always. The bruise on his cheek stood out sharp and dark Jade against his grey skin. Reminded her a lot of the bruise he had when Bronya had dragged him back after... that particular party. He hadn't mentioned how he got it, though he'd avoided looking at either Lynera or Bronya for a while afterward.
Usually the thought of Bronya defending her honor like that, going after someone who had so callously hurt her feelings, would set her heart aflutter with flush feelings and gratitude. But seeing she had slapped him for even what he had done felt... hollowing.
After finally managing to locate the first aid kit through touch alone, she carried it over to where he was and pointed to a chair.
“Sit. I can't reach your face while you're standing.” Lanque quirked an eyebrow at her.
“And what makes you think I'm trusting you anywhere near my handsome face while I know for a fact you have a knife on you?”
“I don't see a mirror in here, do you?” she asked snippily. “Don't be cute, just sit.”
“Don't have to try, though I appreciate you noticing.” Lynera felt grateful that he actually obeyed, feeling a hot flash in her face while he turned to look for the closest chair. He sat back like he was lounging in a throne, one arm leaned against the back of it while he leaned his hips forward with legs spread out haphazardly. Lynera pressed her lips together disapprovingly, but advanced. She leaned over him and took his face in her hands, dabbing on a formula that was supposed to help ease aches and fade out bruises on the more delicate grubs. Something Bronya mixed up herself.
“... I didn't need you to intervene, you know,” she said softly. “I could have handled it on my own.”
“Really? You? The Jade whose two responses to any situation are going mute or pulling a knife?” he asked, even when she jerked his chin forward to shut him up and get a better angle for treatment. “They would have gutted you in a heartbeat.”
“Says the one who decided to shove himself in the middle of a highblood quadrant,” she muttered. Then quieter as she pulled back to dab more salve out of the tub. “Just like every quadrant.”
“See, there you go again,” he sighed dramatically. “And you wondered why I was so aware of how low you thought of me. Just because we live in a cloister doesn't mean that you live in a bubble.”
“Oh, like you act like you're part of the cloister at all!” she snapped. “Everyone knows how much you hate it here. You sneak out so often that it's like you hardly live here at all!”
“Like you're any better?” he snipped back. “You talk a big game about duty and Jade pride and all. But everyone who looks at you for more than five minutes knows that you're only putting on a show for Bronya. Not that you let anyone look at you for five minutes at all with how you always seclude yourself away god knows where in some little hidey hole in the Caverns!”
“I- bwu- well!” She stuttered. “Better than someone who's almost never in the Caverns! You don't even like being here! How would you know anything about Jade pride!?”
“Well apparently I know how to deal with wrigglers better than you, for all my lack of 'pride' in my work!”
“Just because you and that little troublemaker-!”
“Don't you act like you're so-!”
A loud 'squish' and a startled cry made them both turn their heads. All that was there, though, was a single grub, Bronze by the look of it, which had landed on its back outside the pool of slime. Apparently having climbed up the side and fallen out clumsily. It whimpered and squirmed uncomfortably as it remained trapped on its back and sore from the short fall.
Lynera was forced to take a step back when Lanque stood up. He walked over and knelt beside the grub, picking it up from the ground and holding it in both hands. The grub whimpered softly, but a few strokes from his thumb over the sore spot on its back made it quiet down. Until eventually it was chirping again. The argument somewhat diffused by the interruption, Lynera watched the interaction with some fascination. Once the grub seemed chipper again, Lanque set it back down in the slime, shaking the rest off his hands as he watched it shimmy around in the comfortingly familiar translucent green goop.
The bruise, only partially covered by ointment, caught Lynera's eye again, and held her focus as Lanque continued to sit there. Watching the grubs roll around and greet each other in whatever manner they did. Heaving a sigh, she made her way over to where he sat and knelt beside him, long skirt pooling around her as her knees lowered to the cool tile floor.
“Turn your head a bit,” she said quietly, trying not to let her voice take on too much of any particular tone. He grunted, but did as she directed, letting her smear the substance onto his cheek. They were both quiet a while, the only sounds filling the room the squishy wet sounds of grubs slopping around in the sopor. Until, surprisingly, Lynera was the one to speak up. “I don't come in here too often, to tell the truth,” she admitted. “Bronya spends a lot of time in here, and I didn't want to impose. And I'm not that great with grubs... How is it you're actually good at this?” she asked, soft but genuinely curious. “How are you so good with wrigglers and grubs, but you treat people in your quadrants so awful?”
“You were never in any of my quadrants, that was all your idea,” he pointed out. But then he sighed. “I don't hate it, wrigglers and grubs. They're not that hard. But the caverns are so strict, and once we hit adulthood you don't have any more chances to go out and have fun... I wouldn't mind so much, I guess, if I had any choice in it. Grubs in the night, party in the day. Is there anything wrong with wanting to have fun?”
“There's not, I guess,” Lynera murmured. “I was trying to have fun. I was excited, a little, about the party. But-”
“But then I called you out on being a bitch and you bolted,” he replied. “I know. Bronya chewed me out on the whole thing while she was dragging me back by the ear, the hypocrite. How was I supposed to know you were going to react so bad to a black pass?... Even if I did come on a little strong, I guess. I don't know.” He sighed heavily, letting a hand dip forward over the edge of the tub of sopor and gliding the tip of his painted claw along the moist surface. “Maybe I only thought I was flirting. Maybe I was just blowing off steam at you... And maybe I shouldn't have.” He retracted his finger from the slime, curling it back in towards his palm.
Lynera, having finished treating his cheek a while ago, sat back, watching him contemplate the pool of slime.
“The Caverns kind of fucking suck, don't they?” he chuckled as he looked her way.
“... Maybe a little,” Lynera shrugged. “... But you suck a little too.”
“Finally, the snake shows her fangs to my face,” Lanque chuckled. “Took you long enough.”
“I could easily slap you right on your bruise.”
“You won't.”
They leveled their gazes at each other, but in a different way than the icy chill of previously. Lanque leaned back against the pool of sopor, breaking eye contact to watch over the squirming grubs.
“I will say one thing, Lynera.”
“What's that?” she asked, now openly curious.
“If you have anything to say to me, I'd prefer you say it to my face.” He shot her a sly look from the corner of his eye. “I'd rather be able to insult you back if you say anything nasty, makes it more fun.”
“Are you sure you wouldn't rather try to shut me up?” He gave her a surprised look, even Lynera seemed shocked at her own boldness at the suggestion, blushing something furious when she realized what she just accidentally implied. In the end, though, Lanque, face colored slightly Jade in a way not only from the bruise, only chuckled, and shot her a wink.
“We'll just have to see how that goes, won't we?”