Of Fins and Feathers

The News

     "What?" Tommy asked in bewilderment.

     "Yes, apparently duchess Sally had to leave early do to an uproar in her pod. Unfortunate news really, I did want to talk to her." His mother spoke in a more serious tone than most of the time.

     "Awww, that's not fair!" Wilbur said, pouting.

    "You're just mad 'cuz she's your girlfriend." Technos gruff voice came out from beside Tommy, they were in their mothers office, duty was apparent.

    "She's not my girlfriend!" Wilbur said, standing over Tommy to yell at Technoblade.

    The Empress had a frown upon her face at her sons antics.

    "We are supposed to be having a serious conversation." Tommy stated, it was cold and calm.

     Theseus is a ball of sunshine, a strong willed fighter, a young boy full of laughter, he's many things, but he's still one of the three crowned princes of the Antarctic Empire, and he knows when to be serious.

    But even so, he normally tries to ease his brothers into the seriousness, most of the time they don't need it, but they're still twins that enjoy teasing eachother, and they tend to get ahead of themselves.

    And luckily for Tommy, his brothers knew to shut up.

    His mother let out a relieved sigh as her sons turned their attention back to her.

    "Yes well, seeing as she was the only mer here that had been here before, the other monarchy are going to need supervision. No, that's not the right term... escorts, yes, escorts. They will need escorts to help them around the palace. Only for a bit though, they plan to leave in a weeks time." She said placing her palms on the table after finishing her words.

    "So you will have to figure it out, your father and I have business in the city, Technoblade, you're in charge." She says, sending Tommy's brother a strong look.

    "Yes ma'am." He said in return.

     Wilbur let out a mumble about how he was the older twin, but it was overuled by their mother standing, all of the brothers stood up in turn, she turned to her right and straightened out a stack of papers, and then turned around towards her bookshelves and grabbed a book, it had a faint symbol on it, an upside down L overtop a right-side up one, two dots separating the gaps between them.

    She usherd them off before Tommy could ask about it.

____

    It had been a while since Tommy had been left alone with both of his brothers, it was albeit, quite awkward nowadays.

    They didn't get a lot of time together, it was odd, because he used to spend all of his time with them, he fears that they are slowly falling apart.

    Techno, being one to read a room, but not pick up on the emotions of his brothers, spoke first to break the awkward tension in the hallway they were walking down.

    "Sooo, nice weather, huh?" He said tilting his head as he glanced down at his brothers, he was just barely tall enough to have to look downwards at his brothers, they all were shockingly tall, they got it from their mother, not their father.

    "Techno, we are inside, what the fuck are you talking about?" Wilbur said, chuckling lightly, they all joined him, their light chuckles not quite loud enough to fill the room, but enough to make a smile rise onto their faces.

   "You suck at small talk big T." Tommy said, nudging his brother with his elbow.

    The castle was extravagant, but in a homely way, there were portraits lining the walls of the brothers smiling and acting stoic alike, the bottom half of the wall was lined with paneling of a deep, dark, oak colour, the upper parts with a gray-blue, to match the colours of the empire.

    The smell was of that of pinecone and fresh peppermint, a constant Christmas aroma filling the air.

    Techno laid his left arm around Tommy's shoulders, pulling him into a side hug and ruffling his hair, his left wing rapping around the younger.

    Tommy froze, the hair on the back of his head standing up, and his arms were covered in goosebumps, but in the back of his mind, there was a voice telling him that his protector was the one holding him, not a random avian.

    He involuntarily let out a quiet huff, and pushed Techno away with all his might, making Techno acknowledge that he wished to be let go, but Techno was in charge as of now, and he wanted to hug his little brother, and so he got what he wanted.

    He basically dragged Tommy to the study, Wilbur happily following along, his feathers ruffling up in excitement, it reminded Tommy of a puppy following his owner with his tail wagging.

    As they walked inside, Techno let go of Tommy and sat down at one of the sofas in the study.

    Tommy couldn't help but be a little sad.

    The study was something their father was quite proud of, it was a grand room, with bookshelves lining the walls top to bottom, with the occasional window seat. There was a second story, that you had to climb a ladder to get to, a book nook was nestled in a balcony like manor, it was a overhang that overlooked the rest of the study, there was a large window to the right with a perfect view of the courtyard that was filled with plants at the moment.

    The study was one of Techno's favorite places to be, understandably so, he was an English major after all.

    There was a silence that fell over them.

    "So, who wants to be the chaperone?" Technoblade asked.

    Tommy and Wilbur looked to eachother, Tommy knew Wilbur was technically the one who does this kind of work, but he somewhat wanted to do the job for his brother, he simply shrugged at Wilbur.

     Wilbur sighed and turned to Techno. "As the oldest brother, I have bouts of paperwork to do at the moment, I could probably fit it in my schedule, but Theseus should probably do it." He said waving his hand to his brother and then putting his elbow on the arm of the chair to prop his chin up with his hand.

    Wilbur was definitely pouting about Techno being in charge, but he was being honest, they all shared paperwork, it's more efficient that way, but Wilbur had a way with words in contracts, so he had most of the writing up of them, even if he had an assistant to help him.

    Techno looked to Tommy, wondering what Tommy thought of that.

    "Sure, I'll do it." And he was honest.