Friends

Veronica bounded for the door with curiosity. She never met any Unbroken other than Michael and Billie, but she did hear stories about Cory and Gerald.

Using Michael's words... "They are assholes you can count on."

She didn't quite understand what he meant by that, but as she opened the door and saw the brothers, their demeanor spoke volumes of them.

One was taller and more muscular. His hair was blond and his irises pure white. He was smiling brightly as Veronica opened the door, and she could tell that he didn't expect her to be the one to answer it.

"Well, hello Miss! Are the extracurricular activities in the room finished? Me and my little brother would also like to use it." Veronica still wasn't sure which were which, but Michael said that the more talkative one was Gerald, so she judged the taller to be him.

Gerald's brother –Cory– was half a head smaller, and a bit less muscular, but not at all skinny. His hair and eyes were the same color, but each had a bit of light blue tinge to them.

His face was mostly reserved, but Veronica did spot tiny laughing lines near his mouth, meaning he laughed and smiled quite a lot, but probably not with strangers.

"Sure we already finished, and I totally accept a relationship between brothers. So progressive!" She said with a grin and giggle, causing both brothers to look at each other confused.

"What do you mean?" Asked Gerald, his curiosity mirrored on his brother's face.

As they made the same face Veronica instantly saw the resemblance. They were only one or two years apart, and about the same age as her. But behind the facade she did see the underlying tiredness of working a dangerous job.

She giggled again as she spoke... "What? I thought you were lovers! You asked for the two of you to use the room as well! Weren't you going to have sex? I don't judge homosexuals, but maybe you should keep it a secret until people become more acceptable, especially because of the brothers part."

She whispered the last part causing Cory to turn away with a blush. Behind her Michael appeared with an embarrassed expression. He did expect this to happen, and he knew that Veronica meeting Gerald would be a bad combination.

Gerald stared at her for a few seconds in pure silence, then his eyes snapped to Michael and with a deathly serious expression he said... "You got to marry her! If you won't I will."

And with that he began dying of laughter, while everyone else just kind of stood there awkwardly.

...

After a few minutes of Gerald trying to control himself, they eventually entered the room.

The brothers instantly looked at the couch, which was quite disturbed. Michael was about to say something about it, but in that moment Veronica began talking about something vastly different.

It confused him quite a bit. It was like she purposefully didn't deny the accusations of them having sex. He didn't understand why, but since she was fine with it, he went along as well.

Currently Veronica was animatedly explaining how ugly of a dress Michael gifted to her. For some reason nobody denied this statement.

"...First present in our relationship, and he managed to choose colors that doesn't match with anything! And he didn't even bring me shoes! My toes are freezing!" She lifted her feet and wiggled her toes a bit for emphasis.

Both Gerald and Cory looked away embarrassed. It was very unlady-like what she had done. In the Free Cities society it equated to showing off your stomach to a random stranger, and it was nearly as bad as showing cleavage.

Michael only glanced at it for a moment, but his mind was on something utterly different...

"Since when are we in a relationship?" He asked while looking at Veronica, who just smiled in response.

"We don't have to be... If you don't want to." She spoke in a seductress voice, that Michael didn't even know she had.

His face burned with a deep blush. It was like after she told him her past, their whole dynamic changed and somehow they became a couple. It was really weird, but also kind of attracting. He did like bossy woman after all.

"No, its fine. We can be in a relationship." His voice sounded a bit meek.

"That's what I thought." She said with a bright smile, then reached forward and touched his nose with one finger, while saying "Boop". He had no idea what this action meant, but it caused Gerald to start laughing again, even Cory smiled a bit.

After this strange interaction Veronica turned back to the brothers.

"So, what do you do in your free time, when there is no work?" The brothers looked at each other, then Cory pulled out a deck of cards.

...

An hour or two later they finally stopped playing poker. Or at least that's what Veronica called it since the rules were the same. Even the cards were a bit similar, with a few changes.

The number cards only went up until 8, and they were a clear reference to the ascension orders. Then came the six god cards. Their strength and which order they came after one another depended purely on the player.

Since they were members of the Unbroken they placed their own Goddess as the highest value card. The lowest was the Church of War's God for some reason. These two were the ones the three of them cared about, the others were valued randomly.

They played poker with actual money, and after the very beginning a quick realization settled in Veronica. With her Dancer path's perception and acting ability she could very easily win.

She could see every little facial move, which caused the game to be kind of pointless since nobody could bluff.

After an hour Gerald became so frustrated that they changed to another game. This one was unfamiliar to Veronica, but it was simple and she quickly got the hang of it.

"So, Veronica. When are you planning on leaving?" Asked Gerald while placing down a 3 over her 5.

It was kind of confusing at first. On Earth the cards went from 2 to 10 and each increase was stronger, but here they went from 8 to 1 and each decrease was stronger. It took her a bit to remember that since it was kind of unnatural.

"Do you want me to leave so badly?" She asked with a small smile. Next was Cory who placed down a two, which caused Michael to grunt and pick up the whole pile.

"Not at all, but I suggest you leave before Ted comes back. He's kind of strict when it comes to bringing in guests." He said thoughtfully while Veronica put down an 8 card beginning a new pile.

"He was pissed at you because you brought a whore here!" Said Michael with a chuckle. Veronica looked at Gerald incredulously while his brother just shook his head in self-deprecation.

"No... You did not..." Said Veronica in disbelief. Unlike what she expected Gerald didn't seem ashamed at all, he even puffed out his chest a bit as he answered.

"We had a bit of fun in here actually, and we even done it in the walk-in closet a few times!" He said proudly, causing Veronica to giggle.

"Don't forget to mention how Billie screamed, when she found you and the whore passed out in the middle of a pile of our clothes. The closet had to be closed down for a week to clean up all of their disgusting fluids." Said Cory with a cunning smile.

"UGH!... That's sickening!" Said Veronica while making a revolted face.

"It wasn't all bad. After that incident he had to work on different shifts than Carol for months. Every time he met her, Carol would start yelling and chasing him." Said Michael causing everyone to laugh except Veronica.

She only understood the joke after they explained Carol's unhealthy obsession of her stuff not getting touched. Especially her dresses.

"...So you should probably not show her what you are wearing." Said Gerald with a grin.

They talked and played a while longer, but eventually Veronica realized that it was time to go.

She said a quick goodbye to the brothers and then Michael led her to the walk-in closet. Here she found a pair of shoe that was kind of okay for her feet.

With that done they went outside using a side entrance. This way they avoided both Ted and Carol, plus they didn't have to walk by the basement door, which Veronica had no interest in approaching.

The headquarters was located at the edge of the Dirt District, close to the Father Martin's church. It was about a forty minutes walk away from the inn.

They didn't get on a public carriage, but instead opted to walk to the inn. It was a bit far away, but they would at least have a bit of time to talk before arriving back home.