Oystercatcher Tide Pools place your bets

When, by the good graces of every deity, Sirimiri and Serein stopped singing, Brontide assumed a melancholy expression and started his own solo, low and slow, his bass-baritone voice pitched to carry. He switched the song to a somber minor key, slowed down the tempo, and allowed his champagne eyes to drift easily from sister to sister as he solemnly sang:

“Where have all the good men gone,
and where are all the gods?
Where’s the streetwise Hercules to fight the rising odds?
Isn’t there a white knight upon a fiery steed?
Late at night, you toss and turn [and kick your long-suffering brother and beloved family friend]
while you dream of what you need — ”

The prolonged pause was dramatic, but it was also necessary after his rapid-fire ad lib.

Ah, sweet, sweet oxygen.

“You need a hero!
You’re holding out for a hero ‘til the end of the night,
only you’re twice as strong
and you’re three times as fast
and you’d bludgeon his ass in a fight.

You need a hero!
You’re holding out for a hero ‘til the morning light,
but you’re harpies for sure
and you sing out of tune
so you chase all the men [and the prey] out of sight!
Out of si — aughgrrrk!”

“Hurrur,” Serein proclaimed through a mouthful of Brontide’s face, her bottom canines hooked in the soft hollow at the juncture of jaw and throat and her upper ones gnawing somewhat ineffectually at his cheek. “Orrur hurrur rrum ur harrur.”

With perfect understanding, “Yeah? Look who’s talking,” Brontide rumbled, tipping his head and dipping his shoulder until she was forced to let go. Utterly unrepentant, he leapt at his littermate in an attempt to wrestle her down and drown her [just a little bit, of course] in one of the tide pools. She slipped easily out of reach, but he recovered neatly — he hadn’t been lying about the whole “three times as fast” bit — and managed to grab one hind leg in his mouth, tripping her. With a wicked grin, Serein latched onto one of his hind legs, and just like that they formed a wolf version of the ouroboros, tumbling harmlessly to the earth.

“Let go!” they growled in unison. “YOU let go!”