Drabble:178

Rose, as a member of Lissa's Royal Guard had to go with her everywhere, from Lehigh to council meetings, to society events. Including banquets.

And Christian of course, as Lissa's consort, also had to attend said banquets and balls, despite how much he hated the public events. Dressing up in penguin suits, and actually putting some effort into looking decent didn't rank that high on Christian's list of things he enjoyed doing, either.

Rose, too, hated these banquets, mostly because she had to stand on guard, looking stoic for the entire duration of these events, generally standing in an alcove or by a wall, and unable to make – what Lissa termed – heart-eyes at Dimitri, who Christian would insist to sit with him. (There also was the matter of how she had to wait for the event to be over before she could avail of the –often cold and pigeon-portioned – food.)

Rose had a theory that their close and developing friendship wasn't the only reason Christian wanted to keep Dimitri nearby; it was for keeping sycophants and bootlickers away, as most people, especially those amongst the higher ranks of the Moroi, still hesitated to come so close to a former-Strigoi, especially one who had incapacitated half the Royal Guards only a couple of months ago.

So, no. Rose did not enjoy these banquets. In fact the only times Rose actually came close to enjoying the functions would be when she'd be off-duty and Lissa would drag her in as a special guest. She'd have to get dolled up, which wasn't much fun, but the time she got to spend with Lissa while getting made-over by Lissa's beauty team would be worth it.

But that wasn't what Rose enjoyed most.

The chance to sit beside Dimitri, and do couple-y things with him was great, but that wasn't the reason either. Even though, Rose had to admit that sticking the metaphorical middle finger up to their naysayers was a perk Rose immensely enjoyed.

But, believe it or not, the best part of attending the Court banquets as a guest was getting to sit beside Christian. And before you ask, no; they hadn't stopped their sibling-like bickering, and insult-offs. The best part about sitting between Dimitri and Christian (as Rose did most times) was playing her favorite party game with Christian; and eating full-portioned still-hot food, and slipping dinner-rolls to the wall-sentries between bathroom breaks.

This game, devised by Rose and Christian, was a guessing game, their own private invention, which they liked to call 'Snake or Monkey'.
The method was simple. Of the people who'd come visit the high table –where they all sat – to have a word with Lissa, Christian and Rose took turns guessing whether the visitor was a Snake, as in someone who'd just as easily backstab Lissa as feed her saccharine lies; or, if the person was a Monkey aka someone who'd follow Lissa blindly and gladly do her every bidding.

Rose and Christian would record their choices on their smartphones, or in dire situations on pieces of paper, and observe their quarries over the next couple of weeks. For every Snake or Monkey answer they guessed right, they'd get a point, and the person with the least points at the end of 3 months would have to do something the winner would decide as penalty.

Rose and Christian continued enjoying playing their game, in secret for many years, and as the years went by, they were gladdened to find that the Monkeys started outnumbering the Snakes by quite some margin.

Firstly, hello again lovelies! How are you all doing? What's new in your lives, and what are you currently reading?
Secondly, if you find any typos in the text-and you probably will-sorry about that.
Thirdly, thank you for welcoming me back with open arms. Hope you like this drabble too, even though it went a bit…random. See you again soon!
Cheers!

A/N: Thank you shilo1364 for pointing out the first (and massive) error I'd made.