<1> "Oh c'mon, Shara, baby! Youse can't mean that! What'll Robbie think?" The dark-skinned, male goblin brushed a few stray wrinkles out of his otherwise-flawless suit. "Robbie suggested it foist, Raz," the female goblin, this one with much more yellow-toned skin, replied coolly. Shara didn't even bother to look up at him from beneath her sunglasses as she adjusted the tri-fold mirror perched over her neck. "And even if he didn't, I ain't lettin' my li'l bro freeze to death in the streets." Raz grumbled a series of unintelligible words under his breath before he raised his voice again. "Well I don't like the thought've sharin' my house with anyone who I didn't marry or didn't come from my own damn nutsack!" An exasperated sigh left her lush lips as one hand slowly reached up to tip her sunglasses down and flash her husband a pair of dazzling, emerald eyes... albeit looking rather perturbed. "I'm so sorry, whose house is this again?" This immediately ripped the wind and bluster from Raz's sails. His short stature seemed to grow even smaller as he frowned in defeat. "Yours, honey." Her lips curled into a smile as she put her sunglasses back into place. "And who should be grateful that the rightful Trade Princess allows her selfish hubby to act in her stead?" Raz's ears drooped all the more. "I should." "That's right," Shara admonished him triumphantly. "So I'll say this one more time so youse ain't gonna forget it: Jax is comin' in an hour and he's bringin' his daughter. They get rooms seven an' eight on the top floor. Youse gonna treat 'em like your own brother-in-law an' niece, which they are. Youse ain't gonna pester 'em to leave, 'cause they ain't until they're back on their feet, and I ain't gonna hear another complaint outta youse about this at all." Her head tilted back a little further as a silent sign that they were done, only to add, "And why the hell youse wearin' a full suit in hundred degree weather? You're nuts!" Raz frowned as he looked down at his own black suit, which, frankly, was nearly soaked through with sweat. All the more, he did look rather foolish standing poolside above his bikini-clad wife under the searing morning sun. "Don't I look distinguished?" Shara tipped her sunglasses to look him up and down once more. Her eyes squinted as she put on a strained smile and added, "Sure, honey... distinguished...." The dark-skinned goblin sighed and sadly shrugged off pieces of his suit as he padded along the pool toward the massive, marble mansion that accompanied it. By the time he'd made it to the sliding glass door he was down to his heart-dotted underpants, and his mood had greatly improved being out of the sweatbox of a suit. As much as he blustered, he did value his wife's opinion, and considering he'd been in the slums before marrying her he didn't have a whole lot of desire to argue. Shara had a lot of connections and a lot of power, and he was simply happy that she'd been willing to share even a little of it with him. Shara, on the other hand, simply clicked her tongue as she watched him make a mess of the poolside. The Trade Princess did have some fondness left for her husband, and his managerial skills weren't all that poor, but she couldn't help despise the fact that she needed him for other cartel members and Trade Princes to take her seriously. Trade Princess Shara was all but a myth, while Trade Prince Razzivicus thrived among their kind. Their marriage had ensured the safety of their built wealth, but it didn't stop Shara's boredom from growing over the years. Only her tolerance for his ridiculousness had grown thinner, even if she did find it somewhat amusing. After a few moments of quiet contemplation, Shara reached to her side table and depressed a red button on a panel filled with various devices. "Robbie, dearie. Woul'ja mind comin' to the pool for a minute? Your pops left his suit by the pool again." A few minutes later and the sliding glass door opened for a slightly shorter, medium-toned goblin with a smattering of dark stubble over his chin and cheeks. He stood casually bare-chested and bare-legged with only a pair of tight, black swim trunks covering his shame. His green eyes immediately dropped in exhaustion toward the fallen garments, and slowly he went about scooping them up and tossing them haphazardly in a hamper near the doors. "When's dad gonna grow up?" Robbie huffed as his gaze focused upon the strikingly beautiful Shara. Most warm days she could be found poolside sunning herself, but the 18-year-old goblin often asked himself if she had to wear that same string bikini every time. The pair of black fabric triangles were hardly enough to even fully cover her emerald-colored areolae, and the third triangle left very little of her trimmed black curls to the imagination. It didn't help that the strings that kept them together looked as if they were strained to capacity over her massive, almost perfectly round breasts above her smooth, slightly-soft belly. "Oh, you know how he is, honey," Shara replied gently and reached out to give Robbie's thigh a soft pat. "He's got a hard job y'know. He's earned the right ta be as fuckin' goofy as he wants." A dark flush rushed to Robbie's cheeks as he looked into her dark sunglasses. "I guess so. He got meetings today?" "Fully booked," she assured him and gently folded her mirrors together. "So I'm gonna need ya to get the door when your uncle and cousin get here, capiche?" Robbie huffed at this and got up from his seat. "We could just get a doorman or something, y'know." His mother let out a snort-filled laugh as she took her sunglasses off as well. "Show me a goblin -hell, anyone- you trust enough not to steal from this place, and sure, I'll hire 'em. Until then, we three can handle it. I'm sure your uncle'll pitch in too, y'know, as thanks an' all." As if on cue, the thunderous echo of an explosion caused the windows of the towering mansion to shake, followed by a second of a slightly lower pitch. "Ah, and that'll be them!" she remarked and softly batted her eyelashes at her son. "Be a dear?"