[Silver]

What worse torture could there be?

Kurai let out a light sigh, thinking he'd much rather be home where it was quiet. His desire to get things done was stronger than that thought, luckily. If he didn't buy food, then he and his brother would be hungry. Considering that, this really was the lesser of two evils. Not that he had to like it...

He grabbed a basket and turned to address his brother, only to realize that he wasn't there. Kurai sighed yet again, shaking his head. With a shrug he went on his way, figuring they'd run into each other soon enough. He simply didn't have the energy to do anything else about it. Kyan wasn't a kid any more; he couldn't be responsible for his every move.

[Silver]

Kyan had probably intended to help Kurai, but he was quickly distracted by a sweet smell coming from across the market. He quickly abandoned his plans to help his brother in pursuit of whatever that wonderful smell was. Of course he already knew where the bakery was, and he was going to start there. It was his favorite place in the whole market, and it took him no time at all to get there.

With a huge smile on his face, Kyan traded all of the change in his pocket for a heaping handful of sweet sugar cookies, fresh out of the oven. Some of them were even frosted! Pleased with his new purchase, he wandered back out into the market, wondering where Kurai had gotten to...

[Silver]

Meanwhile, Kurai was invested in which fruits to buy from the fruit stand. He liked grapes, but they weren't in season right now so they were a bit expensive. There were some really nice looking apples, but he didn't like them as much. Mandarins were one of Kara's favorites, and they looked nice. He decided to get some of them as well as some apples. Someone would probably eat them.

Next, he needed some spices. Now, if only he could remember what Kara said she needed. It was something green, like basil. Or maybe it was brown like cinnamon. He was starting to regret not writing it down as he made his way to the spices, not really paying any attention to where he was going.

[Silver]

Since neither of them had gone too far from where they started, it didn't take Kyan very long to find his brother. He was so invested in his cookies that he barely even noticed that Kurai wasn't looking where he was going. With a cookie hanging from his mouth, he let out a muffled, "Oi!" and waved his free hand, but Kurai didn't see him. They were so close together that Kurai bumped right into Kyan, dropping his basket. A lone mandarin rolled unceremoniously along the floor.

"Shit!" Kurai cursed under his breath, stuffing his fruit back where it belonged. "Why don't you watch where you're go..." he began, looking up to see his brother. "Oh, it's just you. Of course," he sighed. Kyan stood there like a deer in the headlights, firmly clutching his cookies. He was so surprised that he didn't even think to help with the cleanup.

[Silver]

"What the hell are you doing?" Kurai hissed, finally standing up.

"Oh, sorry bro," Kyan said, snickering about the situation. It was pretty funny, watching his brother chase fruit around the floor. "I bought you a cookie," he said, holding one out. "Pink frosting, your favorite!"

Kurai pushed his brother's hand away, rejecting the pink cookie he had to offer. He sighed and shook his head, not even able to gather the energy to be mad at him. It's not like he meant to bump into him, after all. Plus, he could have been paying more attention to where he was going in the first place. He was actually pretty lucky that he it was Kyan he bumped into and not someone else.

"Let's just finish this up and go home, okay?"

[Silver]

"Alright," Kyan said, stifling his laughter. "What's next, then?" he asked, peeking into the basket. So far there was only fruit in it, and only two kinds at that. Is that all Kurai managed to do while he was at the bakery? Usually he would have gotten more done by now.

"Spices... Kara wanted something, basil I guess?" he returned with a shrug.

"I think it was rosemary," Kyan corrected. He remembered cooking with Kara when they ran out, so he could only assume that was what she asked him to get.

"Right," Kurai responded flatly. To be honest, he didn't really care about spices. While he was sure they were useful and all, he never was that interested in the details.

[Silver]

They were silent for a moment, except of course for Kyan's crunching through sugar cookies. There were more and more moments of silence between the brothers as they got older. Perhaps they already said everything they had to say, or just had less to say in general.

"Hey," Kyan started suddenly. He reached out his arm and pointed to an object not very far from them on the floor. "Is that one of your oranges?"

"Mandarins."

"Right, whatever, but is that one that you dropped?"

Kurai didn't get a chance to answer that question. A woman who wasn't paying much attention to her surroundings stepped right on the offending fruit. It rolled beneath her foot, causing her to slide and finally fall to the ground. Her arms flapped uselessly on the way down, as though that would help her somehow. Kyan tried his best to hide his oncoming giggles, and Kurai simply sighed.

[Silver]

When Kyan could finally stop laughing long enough to choke out words, he said quickly under his breath, "Hey we should scram before someone finds out that was your orange."

"Mandarin," Kurai corrected yet again. He started a brisk walk in the other direction, trying his best to look like he didn't even see the woman fall. As much as he would like to apologize for unintentionally being the reason she tripped, he really just didn't want to deal with it. Not today.

Kyan was barely holding in his excessive giggling as he followed his brother. Kurai gave him a soft elbow to the gut to get him to shut up. "Oof," he gasped, letting the giggles die down.

"Wait a second," Kurai said, slowing down and turning to look at Kyan. "How did you know that was my mandarin, anyway?"

"I didn't," Kyan responded, bursting out into laughter yet again. This time Kurai gave him a not so soft elbow to the ribs, but that didn't stop him from finding the whole thing hilarious.

[Silver]

"Let's just get the basil," he said, shaking his head at his brother.

"Rosemary," Kyan corrected with a huge smirk. Now it was his turn to be pedantic, which he normally wasn't unless it annoyed his brother.

"Ugh, whatever," Kurai grumbled. Now more than ever, he just wanted to be done with this whole thing. They had just started, and already he was thoroughly annoyed.

Once Kyan's giggling was completely out of his system, they walked for a while without saying anything else. Every now and then one of them would stop to look at the various goods the market had to offer. Soon enough, they had a full basket. It was even mostly food, and not entirely full of candy despite how much Kyan would have liked for it to be. Now there was just one thing left that they could both remember: the basil... rosemary.

[Silver]

"This place has the best spices," Kyan said, waving his hand toward the shop. While he did like baked goods and candy the best, he knew a thing or two about regular cooking, too. Even though he was the younger brother, he was always the better cook of the two. Kurai always took care of him, but he never did get the hang of cooking. They were both lucky that Kyan was naturally pretty good at it.

Kurai read the labels on various jars, trying to find the one they were looking for. Watching Kyan sift through the spices without having to read them made him feel a little inadequate. Maybe one day he would sit down and ask his brother about cooking. Probably not, though.

"Here it is," Kyan said, plucking the fresh rosemary from the pile. "How much?" he asked the shopkeeper with a smile.

"I got it," Kurai responded, brushing Kyan aside to pay for their purchase. There were still some things the older brother should be responsible for, right?