It had all been arranged beforehand, and miraculously nothing went awry. At least, not yet. Lewis and Simone found themselves wandering the flourishing city of Benin with their wonderful set of twins. The rest of the children had their own special days already planned, but today the focus was Janus and Lila. Just the two of them, and their parents. An easy day.

Easy. Day.

“No,” Lewis said as Janus started to reach for an item off the shelf. “You can’t have that.”

“Why!?” Janus asked.

“Because it doesn’t belong to you,” Lewis replied with a smirk. “That would be stealing.

“Buy!” Lila exclaimed, pointing. She was the brains of the operation. Janus was smart, but Lila was on a whole different level, leagues ahead of where she should have been. Janus would have been as well, had he not devoted himself to the art of napping. Still, there was always a gleam in his eyes when it came to certain things, and Lewis figured that Janus was a lot farther along than he showed.

Simone shook her head, “No, Lila. We have some at home.”

“Play!” Janus said as he looked to Lila.

“Play!” Lila shot back with a grin.

Immediately both Simone and Lewis glared at each of the kids, and said “No”, their voices in resonance. At once, the twins pouted, and huffed. They had learned the whole ’huff’ routine from Mia. It was a rather bad habit, but they seemed to enjoy it.

Simone and Lewis finished in the shop, and walked outside. Across the way was a wooden playground, and immediately there was a whine from Janus, who was in Simone’s arms. “Play.”

Lewis crossed his arms. “Is that what we’re doing today? I thought you two wanted to-”

“Play!” Lila replied, pointing.

Lewis looked at Simone, and shrugged. It wasn’t a part of the original plan, but they seemed to want to do it. “Okay…but that means we’re not going to-”

At once, Lewis and Simone fell through a portal and landed hard on the edge of the playground. Janus and Lila were already bounding towards the swings, giggling and laughing.

“Those little tyrants…” Lewis said with a smile. “All right…we’re doing this today, I guess…”

The twins had originally chosen a traveling petting zoo as their go to for today. “You do realize…”

“PLAY!” Lila smiled over to her mother.

“Very well…” Simone gave a smile but she knew they would probably beg later to do the petting zoo… This was their choice after all.

They will probably realize what they did later… Can’t expect much out of toddlers. Give, give, give… That’s all they want.

Simone landed on her butt with an off as they through the portal. “Ah… well… They are our little tyrants. I wouldn’t have it any other way.” She got up with Lewis’s help.

“Help!” Janus looked at his mother.

“The slide?” She tilted her head. “Very well. Daddy can watch us. Can’t you Daddy?” She smiled at Lewis as she got both of the twins and climbed up the slide before going down it.

“WEE!” The twins held their arms up and yelled it as Simone slid down the slide.

“Again!” Lila squealed up to Simone.

“Again?” Janus asked.

Simone's eyes were glued on a beautiful woman talking to him. Love, you missed it.

Lewis smiled and nodded as Simone went over with the kids to the slide. He crossed his arms and waited patiently as they neared the base of the slide. There was a strange noise that came from his left, but it didn’t feel hostile, so he ignored it. This was far more important. Whatever it was, it could-

“Hello, handsome…” A hand waved in front of his vision, and Lewis looked to his side to see a rather curvaceous, blonde woman standing there. She was rather well dressed in a low cut outfit, and it seemed as though she were from out of town. After all, most people left the Terrowins alone. Especially when they had the twins out…

Lewis gave her an eyeroll, and looked back to the twins and Simone, who had gotten to the top of the slide. But the woman seemed not to take kindly to his apathy. She stepped in front of his view right as the kids and Simone went down the slide, and Lewis’ eye twitched.

“Oh c’mon…I’m sure you don’t get to have any fun with her, I mean look at her. She’s nothing like-”

“Lady, I will rip out your tongue if you don’t step out of my way,” Lewis said without skipping a beat.

The woman was stunned into silence. It was as if she were trying to comprehend the answer she was just given, since it was so far off base from what she had expected, even in a rejection.

“Rip out. Tongue. Move.” Lewis repeated. “Now.”

“Daddy?” Lila noticed the lady and the look on her mama’s face.

Saveeee? Janus yelled in her mind.

Ruin play! Lila replied.

“You two couldn’t possibly…” Simone smirked a bit. Of course, they did. Lila hopped off the slide and went over to the lady and gave a light shove on her leg.

“Daddy!” Lila took his hand. “You missing it!”

“You littl–” The words couldn’t leave her lips before she noticed the look on Lila’s face.

“Rude,” the scowl on her lips.

“Very rude,” answered Janus.

The kids creeped her out and she ran off. “Watch!” Lila got excited as she ran back to her mother and Simone once more climbed the slide and went down with them.

“WEE!” The kids once more put their hands up. “Did you see?!” They yelled at Lewis.

Lewis smiled as Janus and Lila came to his ‘rescue’, and once the rude lady had been chased off, Lewis was more than happy to give his full attention to the twins and Simone. Though he had missed the first few slides, it was still the most adorable thing to watch as they raised their hands. Lewis ran over to meet them at the bottom, and as they finished their slide, he scooped each of them into his arms as they asked if he had seen it.

“Of course!” Lewis said as he twirled them around. It wasn’t long before he felt himself get portaled up to the top. “Oh?” It was apparently his turn to slide down with the twins. It was the most fun he had in weeks. The time he spent with his children was irreplaceable, and even something as mundane as coming down a slide was the highlight of his day.

It wasn’t long before it was all four of them coming down the slide.

“More!” Janus said.

“Play!” Lila exclaimed.

“Fun!” they said together, laughing.

Simone was in Lewis’s lap and the twins were in her lap. They were all laughing as they came down the slide. Simone looked up and she saw the lady pointing at them but Simone waved at the guard. The guard waved back at her and the twins waved at him.

“They were threatening me!” The lady said and the guard put his hand up.

“Mrs. Terrowin was something wrong?”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Simone coughed a bit and the twins looked alarmed as they hugged her. “We were having fun and it was the twins’ first time on the slide.”

“I’m sort of excited to see you having so much fun.”

“You… You aren’t going to help me?”

“Well… It seems like you were harassing Mr. Terrowin.”

“Bad lady~” Lila yelled at her and pointed. “Ruin family day!”

“They talk now!” The guard was all smiles. “You just brought them into town the other day it seems!”

“I know right? I hate it…” Simone kissed their heads.

“I’ll get rid of her for you… I’m sorry she bothered your day off the island…” The guard bowed to them and Simone made a face at the lady as the guard escorted her out.

“Daddy! Play! Island!” Lila was smacking the playground. “Home.”

As the guard left, Lewis ruffled Lila’s hair as she started to yell happily about how much fun she was happening. It wasn’t long before she started to tell Lewis how much she wanted a playground at home.

“Oh? Well, we could have Rex build a playground since he’s doing such a good job building a house,” Lewis joked.

Janus frowned, “Ew. No.”

That got a laugh out of both Lewis and Simone. The poor man was trying his hardest, and finally had broken down to ask for help. Kalina was more than happy to lend a hand, which more often than not meant that Rex was merely bringing her supplies, instead of actually building.

“Yeah, I think we can manage something.” Lewis thought for a moment. “I can go ask and see what it’ll take. You think you can handle the kids for a few minutes?” He looked over to his beautiful wife. “I can rush over if something happens…”

Simone smiled at her husband and nodded. “I think I can handle the two terrorists.”

“Slide!” They looked up at Simone and she gave a long sigh. They teleported her to the top.

“Can’t I at least kiss your daddy?”

“Slide first!” They slid down and Simone and Lewis kissed.

“I’ll be back soon.” Lewis rubbed Janus’s hair.

Now Simone spent her time repeating her actions. The slide was their favorite but by the end, she was in a swing with them on her lap.

“Here, let me help you.” A young noble came over to help them.

“No… Please, I have it.” Simone struggled to push herself.

Lila put her hand up, “No, higher.”

“The little princess gets what she wants,” the man replied.

Lewis, in your earliest convenience your daughter has sold off your spot for being pushed on the swing. "I supposed it's fine. Hold on you two." The twins held her close as they enjoyed being pushed.

It didn’t take Lewis long to arrange the supplies needed as well as their delivery, and when he arrived, it was hard not to immediately jump on the noble. Instead, he calmly walked up, and forced a smile.

“Apologies…my kids can be a bit demanding. You can leave now, though…” Of course, Lewis’ forced smile was quite alarming to most who saw it. But at least he was trying.

Simone smiled, “Oh you’re back dear! Finally!”

The noble looked at Lewis, “Oh, but the lady-”

Lila looked up. “You leave now. Daddy back.”

The noble blinked. “O-oh…” He took one look at Simone, who was smiling at Lewis, and sighed. “I see….” It didn’t take much to see that Simone was only interested in Lewis.

Lewis pushed them for awhile, and then finally announced that it was time to go home.

Janus pouted, and Lila shook her head. “No! Play more!”

“Home,” Lewis replied as he crossed his arms.

“No!” Janus said, pointing. “Slide!”

“Home,” Simone said, standing firm next to Lewis.

“NO!” Lilas snapped back. As it to make a point, Lewis and Simone found themselves portaled to the top of the slide.

“Janus…Lila…” Lewis said with a sigh. “I can’t build you two a playground on the island if we don’t go home.”

“Oh.” Lila looked down. “Kay.”

It didn’t take long for them to appear back on the island. As promised, the supplies had already been delivered. Lewis had paid a hefty sum to have them portaled over.

“All right…shouldn’t be too difficult…right?”

Having a moment where the twins were gone was pleasant. Most of the other kids were busy and the parents were out. This meant she had plenty of time to study in the rarely quiet home. The teenager had cracked upon a purple book labeled Laws and Loyalty. It was a political book that pointed out the difficulties between balancing political allies and balancing restrictive laws meant for the people.

Ironically the Loyalty part was more about how to avoid getting stabbed in the back by allies rather than earning any real trust or loyalty. The information came along with historical references and explanations of previous kings and queens. The teenager was so absorbed into her reading, that she didn't even notice when the servants started hustling about to welcome Simone and Lewis home. It was only when she heard the sounds of the twins, that she realized they were back. Dala placed down the book and went outside to greet them. 

"I'll take it the outing went well?" Dala guessed before looking over to the supplies portaled over, "Whats up with the supplies?" 

Janus and Lila were a handful but they were fun to play with. Dala then noticed a detached slide and realized they were planning to build a playground for the kids. She had no idea how they would be able to do such a thing with the twins hanging on their backs all day. They were adorable twins and Dala would protect them with her life, but they were also little devils who could make any normal grown man cry tears and wish for death.