Nine Guesses [Book Club RP Excerpt]

    A bright, flame-red petal from a flowering gulmohar tree drifted in on the breeze, so close that Tris was tempted to snatch it out of the air. It would have been a simple matter as a Sybal, but as it was she preferred not to make a fool of herself—even in such amicable company. Instead she simply nodded towards the tree, which stood outside the courtyard, barely visible through the ornate lattice of pillars.
    “Can you guess how many trees there are in the temple?” she said, quirking one eyebrow at Marron.

    Where Tristine was unable to reach forward for fear of making a fool of herself, Marron had no such qualms. Following her gaze, he stretched out his arm and snatched the petal in his wide palm before holding it out to her with a smirk. Only mildly damaged.
    “That depends,” he replied brightly. “Do I get anything if I guess correctly?”
    What’s my incentive!

    She took the proffered petal, running her thumb over its rippled surface as she thought. “Hmmmm… how about a story?”

    A story? That seemed awfully fitting for a fragrant morning in Shri Panch, waiting for the rest of Darshil's book club to gather.
    Awfully fitting.
    Marron frowned ever so slightly, though the smile lingered on his lips. "S'pose those'll be acceptable terms...do I have to get it on the nose, or is there room for error?"

    Tris tucked the flower petal behind her ear. “It’s quite a specific number, I’m afraid. But I’ll give you nine guesses.” She braced her hand on the cushion, leaned forward, and smiled expectantly.

    Aw, shite. Marron knew he was in trouble, just by the look on her face.
But, this was a game—a game with Tris, no less, and while after two centuries he knew that he so rarely won these, he would never pass one up. There was a reason he had picked her as his Minister, after all.

You can read the whole RP HERE!

Before I get to the RP details, I just want to confess that good lord, this friendship makes me so happeh. Usually it takes a lot more time/effort to chip through Tristine's daytime formality, but Marron presents an exasperating conundrum. A majority of their relationship over the past century or so was cultivated at night, as Sybals. Combined with the fact that they both have pretty similar views on Sybal nature and the truths it reveals about a person, there's an Understanding between them that makes it difficult for Tris to take herself too seriously in his presence. Unfortunately, that also means she's prone to getting legitimately angry with him if she thinks he's abusing that understanding to make her look/act foolish during the day.

Don't push your luck, mon amie...  _{*lookin' at'chu gesture*}

RP Details:

Length:
Medium

Word Count:
11,046 Words

Characters:
Marron (Leunbrund)
Darshil (Turtle-Arts)
Tristine (Art-Zealot)

Summary/RP Tags:
-Marron's scandalous shoe heresy
-The Pomegranate Incident
-The Tale of a Boy and His Trees
-Prank me once, shame on you. Prank me twice, you're getting a book to the face...