The Twims are about 18/19 in this story


Small talk. It was always small talk. Because of his twin and his cursed accelerated perception of timing, they always ended up early to these Elemental Masters' meetings. Which meant that Krux had to spend far more time than he liked standing around in the Monastery's courtyard with practical strangers who seemed to have no trouble at all just making conversation with one another. Meanwhile he stood to the outside, hanging tight against the inner walls of the monastery and just did his best to grin and bear it, hoping none of the other elemental users could catch on to how truly unmoored and uncomfortable he felt. He and his brother prided themselves on being the strongest of the elementals. If the others knew it took something as small as this to unnerve him they would be undone.

"Master of the Past," he finally realized the deep voice of the Master of Ice was addressing him, and looked over at him, not quite catching the elder master's eyes.

Looking gruffly satisfied that he finally had the young man's attention, Ice noted dryly, "I have been attempting to get your attention for some time."

He had? Krux honestly hadn't noticed. Outwardly, he simply scoffed, retorting just as dryly, "Apologies if you are not important enough to claim all of my attention. I'd rather focus on business than pointless small talk," he defended.

There was a certain satisfaction from having the Master of Ice's expression turn to annoyance at his intentional smartassery. Good. Better to appear disdainful of the proceedings rather than the unsure that he actually felt. With any luck the smart remark would get the Master of Ice to stop talking to him.

Regrettably, the man's eyes narrowed, and he commented with the scolding air of a disappointed school teacher, "This is precisely what I was wanting to speak with you about."

Krux stiffened defensively, mouth pulling into a sharp scowl.

Ice frowned right back, lecturing, "You - and your brother but I'll talk with him at a later date - could attempt to be less rude to your fellow masters. The both of you act like you are so much superior, avoiding people's eyes, behaving as though you're too good to speak with the rest of us, or if you do, taking over the entire conversation."

Krux grit his teeth at the elder man's string of complaints, and sharply looked away. He knew of the issues that the Master of Ice spoke of. He never could get through a conversation right. He knew his flaws. But he did not need to be hearing this from the Master of Ice. He was not Krux's teacher, he was not Krux's father .

"Krux," spoke Ice again, his voice now far less stern. Krux hazarded to look back up at him again as the man said his actual name rather than his title. The older man's scolding expression had faded, and was instead staring at the young time elemental with a strong sympathy, "I only say this because I don't want you - or your brother- to become disliked. We are a team, here. We are stronger if we are all unified. Avoiding your fellow Elemental Masters, or shutting them down before they can so much as say a word, will only serve to isolate you two."

Krux chewed on his thumbnail, looking to the monastery wall instead of the ice elemental and desperately wishing for this conversation to end. He had no idea how to respond to that. With no other ways to reply at hand, he ripped his hand away to cross his arms, and simply hoped that Ice would take his silence as more disdain.

He became a painful squirming mixture of relieved and ashamed when the Master of Ice heaved a heavy disappointed sigh, and turned away. Good riddance he thought, at the same time feeling pointendly how much of a failure he had been just then. As powerful and smart as he knew he was, it always burned when he came to a complete blank on what to say to someone.

Oblivious of his state, the rest of the room carried on with its casual air. The Master of Ice had drifted over to converse with the Master of Lightning, the two going through an effortless back and forth and laughing. Krux's eyes bored onto the scene with envy, especially when the Master of Gravity joined the group with ease. The Masters looked over at him with unsubtle stares, and in that moment, he hated them. Hated how they, inferior elements that they were, did with ease what he himself struggled with regularly. Hated how they dared to judge him for whether he talked with them or not. Hated their stares that all-too-easily labelled him 'other'. He hated the whole enterprise and felt like leaving right then and there.

It was while he was silently fuming in these thoughts that his brother sidled next to his spot on the wall from where he had been more than happily blathering about anything and everything to his elemental allies. His default smile turned crooked as he observed his brother's attitude. "Oh no. someone's mad," he said snarkily, going to lean on the wall beside his seething older twin, settling into a crossed arm stance as well.

Krux just grunted angrily in reply, still staring venomously at the other elementals.

Rolling his eyes and tilting his head against his shoulders, his brother asked with an exaggerated sympathy, "Alright, brother. What happened?"

"The Master of Ice felt the need to bestow some helpful advice," he explained bitterly.

"Ah, ole' icy heart and cold consul himself. I'm sure that was a very fun conversation," joked the master of future time, having been on the receiving end of Ice's scoldings quite a few times himself.

"'Fun conversation' sounds rather like an oxymoron," mused Krux dryly, tapping a finger against the crook of his elbow, golden eyes watching intensely as the crowds and conversations shifted and flowed to a rhythm he could not step in time to. "I despise all of this useless chatter. Small talk is pointless," he complained tersely.

Acronix frowned, a split second away from telling his brother he was being a stick-in-the-mud, but was paused by one of those twin feelings that said this was more than Krux being a grump. Shrugging, he instead suggested, "Well, then, we can simply leave. All of these meetings are boring, anyway," while he personally enjoyed the pre-meeting niceties, he had had his fun and was more than alright with skipping another one of Wu's inane lectures.

To his disappointment, the other hand of time shook his head. "We still need to attend the meeting, brother. There is a war going on, and we would do well to stay informed. It's just all of this wasting time before the meeting that I despise."

Acronix thought on that, he grinned fiercely and held up a green glowing fist, quipping, "Well, I could just, as they say, 'skip the formalities'. Or rather, 'skip to the formalities', in this case," he amended with a lopsided smirk.

The older hand of time considered the suggestion, looking between his brother's glowing fist and the groups of chatting elementals. Setting his jaw determinedly, he nodded sharply, saying, "Do it."

The future twin grabbed his brother's hand, and with a green flash of his power, the two were transported to the center of the monastery grounds, the crowds breaking up around them at a rapid pace. When time resumed its normal paces once again, Wu and his brother were standing to the front of the crowd, calling for silence. Rather than the friendly groups of before, every elemental was standing to attention, focusing on the displayed maps and plans laid out by the masters of creation and destruction.

From where he stood next to his brother, both twins still set a little apart from the rest of the elementals, Krux subtly sighed. He was more than content to listen to the presentation. At least then he wouldn't be expected to contribute, following along to rules he couldn't comprehend. The rules of a presentation were simple. Be quiet and be spoken to. He could handle that.

His brother, on the other hand…

Krux gave Acronix a side-eyed look, where he could tell he was already bored with the proceedings. All the more reason for him to pay attention, he decided, taking mental notes for when he would inevitably have to re-explain all of this to Acronix. That was alright, though. It made him feel useful. (It was also the least he could do for his twin in return for his assistance.)


Canon: "Krux and Acronix betrayed the alliance because they were arrogant and power-hungry."

My brain: "But what if they actually did it because they had poor social skills and were treated differently by the other Elemental Masters?"

This got a little more intense than I originally pictured, but I like it anyway.