"Now, now," Nana placated, "all siblings are like that. The best you can do is learn to live with them." Glory grinned. It seemed like Nana would adapt just fine to the thre mermen hanging around the beach. That was good. The little voice in the back of her mind whispered that it would be easier on Nana this way if Glory decided to change, and she immediately squashed it. She didn't even know if she would.

"If he keeps dunking me, he can learn to live with the back of my tailfin and nothing else," Léan replied loftily, grinning and flopping back over onto his back. "He knows I don't partake in much horseplay. And yet he insists on..." he paused, and then ducked underwater quickly.

There was a brief struggle, and a lot of chirping and hissing, before Léan resurfaced with Archie in a...rather playful headlock. It seemed Archie had been planning on dunking him again. "Try it again and I'll take a chunk out of your tail," he drawled, amused, before releasing him.

Archie huffed, shaking his hair out. "You'd never be able to catch me!" he taunted, swimming away again.

This time, Glory couldn't help but giggle.

"It must be nice to have a brother you can wrestle with like that," she said. "Like I said, I'm an only child..."

"Maybe if you loosened up and had fun a bit more, he wouldn't feel the need to bug you so much," Glory pointed out. Nana gently cuffed her upside the head.

"That wasn't polite, Gloriana," she said sternly.

"Nana!" Glory exclaimed.

"He's an absolute stick in the mud," Glory affirmed. "He wouldn't know fun if it bit him."

"That's still no reason to be impolite, Gloriana," Nana said. Glory rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Nana," she said obediently.

"I like being a stick in the mud," Léan taunted offhandedly. "It brings me amusement. Watching is much more fun than participating in fun most of the time. Besides. I'm naturally sarcastic and a natural downer, according to Archie. So I would just ruin a fun situation."

Archie snickered even more, rolling over onto his back, cuddling Damon playfully.

"Then I hope you and I never get into a real argument," Glory shot back, "because we both snap like bullwhips, and it won't be pretty." It was true, too. If they ever really argued, they would probably take jabs at one another until one of them ended up breaking down. At least, that's what happened when Glory snapped at some of the girls at school. One of them ended up crying in the bathroom for an hour.

Léan arched an eyebrow, tilting his head to the side. "Is that a challenge? I warn you--I like to argue," he hummed, swimming in a circle.

Archie, who had been watching them out of the corner of his eye for a while, swam over with Damon once again leeching to him, smiling. "Why don't we all talk about something? Mostly to get party pooper over here--" he nudged Léan, "--to be more social! Let's...let's...ask each other questions! Any question you want to ask."

He pointed at Glory, grinning. "You start!"

Glory blinked, surprised at the sudden suggestion.

"Questions like what?" she asked reflexively. She had no idea what he thought she would ask about... He was probably still trying to match up her and Léan.

Archie faltered. "Um...random questions, I guess. Stuff you'd like to know about someone else here," he suggested, tail swishing back and forth excitedly. "I'm sure you still don't know a lot about Léan and I, or Damon. So ask away!"

Léan was back to brooding, arms folded across his chest and an unamused, flat stare on his face, directed at Archie.

"I think... I'm good for now..." Glory said slowly, not taking the bait. She wasn't about to pry into something potentially painful. She was treading dangerous waters as it was, if one would excuse the pun.

"I think what Gloriana is trying to say," Nana broke in gently, "is that she learns things by watching and listening, rather than asking questions." Glory nearly sighed in relief. Saved by Nana.

"Exactly," she said.

"But, but..." Archie sighed, pouting. "It's fun to bother Léan with questions. If you don't pick at him, he'll never tell you stuff. That'd be fine with Damon and I, but not with...grumpy over there."

Léan raised an eyebrow, slowly. "You are asking people to 'pick' at me? Honestly, Arcturus...please think about what you say before you say it..."

"Of course you think it's fun to keep jabbing, Archie," Glory replied, kicking some water at him. "You're his brother. He can't drown you." She was starting to see why Léan found Archie annoying... Though she still thought it was kind of endearing.

Archie ducked down underwater to avoid the splash, grinning when he popped back up. "Oh, he won't drown you. He may be a brittle ol' grouch, but he's really just a big, cuddly teddy bear!"

Archie was expecting Léan's response, so he fled quickly.

Léan had just barely missed him--he'd reached out to grab him and pull at his ears, irritated. "I am not a 'teddy bear,'" he grumbled, sourly.

"One of these days, Archie, he's going to catch you," Glory said. "And you're not going to like it." It didn't matter that Archie was faster... Glory wasn't nearly as fast as Léan was, and she still managed to catch him, so really it was just a matter of time.

"I know," he admitted sheepishly, scratching his head. "I push my luck all the time. He's my big brother--I kind of have this duty to irritate him."

He swam back over and cuddled against Léan, smiling. "And he loves me anyway. No matter what he says."

Léan stared at Archie like one would stare at a poisonous wasp that just landed on their bare skin. "You're clinging again. Off," he muttered, not bothering to try and pry him off.

Glory grinned at how Léan seemed resigned to his 'fate'.

"Aw, how cute," she cooed, teasing. She knew it would annoy Léan, but she couldn't take his side all the time. Besides, it's not like Archie was trying to rope him into actually having fun or anything.

Archie giggle-snorted, letting Léan go and rolling around in the water a bit.

Léan turned his wasp-stare on her, raising an eyebrow. "I am not cute, and him leeching to me like some kind of deranged lamprey is not cute, either," he protested, voice a low mumble. He wasn't nasty--just...embarrassed?

Glory giggled.

"I think it's adorable," she argued. "You just won't admit it."

Léan grumbled. "I'd rather bash my head in with a rock than admit that was 'adorable,'" he informed her, dryly, going back to floating on his back, slightly relaxed.

Archie giggled, now leeching to Damon. The two of them happily 'leeched' to each other, smiling.

Glory absently brushed a her fingers over the bump on her head when he said that, remembering how she actually did get her head on the rocks a few days earlier.

"Consider it done," she replied dryly, gently rubbing her head.

"Oh no, don't you go blaming that one on me," Glory shot back, grinning. "You're the one who started the mind tricks with me. That was all you."

"Gloriana, what are you talking about?" Nana broke in.

"Nothing, Nana," Glory replied immediately, not wanting her to worry about a little bump on the head. "Don't worry about it."