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“I just don’t get it,” said Arin, as he and Sora walked into the living room with Riyu at their feet.
“Me neither,” Sora said, sitting on the couch, Arin sitting next to her. Riyu jumped on her lap, curling up comfortably.
“Get what?” asked Nya, no longer paying attention to the board game she was beating Kai at.
“Why Lloyd won’t ask us for help around the monastery,” explained Arin.
“He’s obviously overwhelmed. And we’ve even offered to help out multiple times, but he won’t let us.” Sora huffed, petting Riyu’s scales. His pleased rumbles got quieter and quieter, until he fell asleep.
“Yeah, like, why is he so stubborn?” Arin said.
“Oh, that’s Kai’s fault,” Nya replied, her brother’s head snapping up, mouth wide open in offence.
“Is not!”
“Is too! Monkey see, monkey do!” Nya exclaimed.
“Uhhh, what?” Sora asked, still petting Riyu in his sleep. She and Arin sharing a confused glance.
“You guys know how we sort of raised Lloyd?” said Nya. She crossed her arms at her brother. “Well, Lloyd really looked up to Kai and watched him a lot. And Kai ended up teaching him how NOT to ask others for help.”
“I did not! I always made it clear to him he could come to me for anything,” Kai proclaimed fiercely, their board game completely forgotten about.
“Yeah, but then you never asked anyone for help when you needed it!” Nya said. “He totally got that from you. I bet you made him think that’s what being a man is, or something.”
“Hey, you know, I wasn’t the only male role model in his life! Jay’s the one who taught him to bottle up his feelings and pretend like everything’s peachy. And Cole taught him to tough stuff out quietly on his own.”
“Ugh, I know! All of you guys turned him into a stubborn idiot. Even Zane! He gets that whole ‘my duty means I have to try to sacrifice my life every chance I get’ from him.” Nya rolled her eyes.
Kai glared at her. “Us guys? What about you?” he said.
Nya gawked. “I did a stellar job at raising him! I have no issues, so he inherited none of my issues!”
“Hah! How about fear of failure?”
“I do not have a fear of failure! I never fail.”
“Okay, how about how he’ll deny when something’s wrong? Cuz he definitely gets that from you.”
“Did not!”
“You literally just denied your fear of failure!”
“I didn’t deny anything because that’s not true!”
The siblings dissolved into arguing and Arin and Sora looked at one another.
“So, these guys raised Lloyd?” Sora asked.
Arin scratched his head. “I guess so?”
Sora shrugged. “Eh. They did a better job than my parents with me.” Riyu snuggled closer to her stomach in his sleep.
“Not now, Zane! I have plants to water!” they heard Lloyd in the hallway and saw Zane following him like a lost puppy.
They were an interesting family.