"Sis! What are we eating today?"
"Does it matter? Just eat your grub and get a move on."
"Plllpppb." The boy stook out his tongue and made a crude sound. "This is why no guys like you!"
"There you go again talking about stupid stuff. Who cares if any guys like me, here? It's not exactly a place rife with romance." The humid effervescence of iron pervaded into each and every hovel from the goblet innards below. Even those holes that were situated towards the top of the crater. This dwelling being one such abode.
"It isn't like there's anything else to do here. We always have that extra chair, might as well have someone join us for dinner. Probably make things a bit more lively. Maybe even see a smile on your face for once." The young boy sneered playfully at the older girl.
"What the hell's there to smile about? If anything you're the strange one."
"Would crying and complaining be a better use of my time?" The child responded quickly, prepared for the same rebuttal that he was often given by others. These words often shut them down, though his sister wasn't any normal person either... at the very least she was used to her younger brother's antics.
"...You're the only one that thinks that way."
"Then everyone should just copy me!" The boy crossed his arms in amusement, as if he had just discovered the secrets to the universe. Immensely pleased with himself, he wondered when this utopia of people just like him would be achieved, all the while his sister could only sigh deeply.
"And be a bunch of idiots smiling for no reason? Try telling that to one of the families' that just lost someone."
"...That's unfair. What's wrong with trying to be happy, when we're just going to die anyway?"
"..."
"..."
Truly there were no words to make that inevitability sting any less. Dire circumstances caused children to mature quickly, to attempt to build a visage of adult capabilities despite their obvious shortcomings. This brother and sister duo along with many other children that were reared in the Goblet had the same outlook. Those that awaited death almost haphazardly, and those that yearned for the outside for even a moment despite their station. In a way these siblings could not be further apart in ideology, yet that was what was so interesting about family. Strangers in a familiar place, that's what they were.
"Nothing. I said too much. At times you bite off more than you can chew, little brother."
"No! I take proper mouthfuls, look. See!" The young brat showed the insides of his mouth, the particularly dense meal had been chewed to a disgusting mulch that mixed in his open maw.
"Yes, still my little brother alright. Just when I think you might've grown up a bit, back to these antics... Oh, that reminds me, I have a surprise for after dinner. A little treat."
"Alright! What is it? C'mon, you've gotta tell me!"
"Finish your food first. I don't want to see a single crumb leftover."
"Aww, no fair."
"In that case..." The boy started to take ridiculously large spoonfuls of the food before him. Finishing in what might be a record time for the household.
"Hey, that doesn't mean you can just shovel it in your mouth. Hasn't anyone taught you to respect your meals? Seriously, who raised you?"
"You did." He rebutted immediately.
"I thought I did a better job at it. You rascal."
"Never mind all that. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" The boy greedily rubbed his hands together, the action reminiscent of a fly cleaning itself.
"Fine, fine. Here, all right. Don't eat it all at once..." The older girl procured a small package from behind, it was wrapped in linen. Carefully, revealing the thing beneath that wrapping was another thin layer, some kind of mesh that would keep the temperature of the item fairly consistent.
"No way! It's... Actually, what is this, sis?" The boy asked dumbfounded.
"Don't act all surprised if you don't even know what it is, idiot. It's chocolate, a sweet."
"Chocolate? Wait, it's a sweet?! Then that means..." The boy had a greedy look in his eyes. His hands both reaching forwards to it, whilst a slight drool began to form on his lip.
"Yes, it's made with sugar. Among other things."
"Awesome, I've never actually seen this stuff. But... How did you even get it?"
"Don't worry about it."
"You know that just makes people worry even more. My sister is such an idiot." The boy shrugged his shoulders in a display that quickly aggravated the older sibling. She bit her cheek and kept those annoyance to herself. "Is this really safe to eat?"
"Huh? Of course it is, you think I'm going to give you poisoned food or something?" The boy kept the natural rebuttal in his head, to himself.
"No... But I don't want to encourage you. If you got this doing something dangerous..."
"Seriously, you flip like a switch. One moment you berate me and annoy me to no end, then all of a sudden you turn sympathetic. You're seriously weird, you know?"
"Don't try and change the topic with how weird I am. Are you doing something you shouldn't be?" The boy looked at her with an air of suspicion.
"Nothing that serious. The neighbor said he had gotten something recently and asked if I'd help with a few chores for a portion of it."
"That's it?"
"Yes, that's all." The truth was a bit different. Sensing their lives were coming to an end, she made use of the connections and assets she had developed over time. Other people regarded their hovel with superstition, but would quickly treat them with smiles and pleasantries when conversing.
The boy grabbed the treat, it quickly melted thanks to exposure to the heated air in the abode. Nonetheless he snapped and swiped at the treat to make two halves, one slightly bigger than the other. Plopping the melted treat in her open hands. Despite the malformed nature of the sweet, the child took great pleasure in eating and licking the mess from his hands, showing a toothy smile to his sister as he did so.
She regarded the larger, but still small, rapidly melting puddle in her own hands...
Her sensibility knew that things would change soon enough. She had already reached the age of maturity a year ago and her brother wasn't far behind. Little more than half a decade and he'd be the same, no time for a cultivator. They wouldn't mind waiting. Whether she left this place first or they were both taken at the same time, she intended to do everything she could to make this place even slightly more enjoyable. No matter what had to be used or sacrificed in that effort.
She would use anything that allowed his happiness to flourish even a single moment longer.
Because after that, nothing else would matter.