Caspian and he had always been friends, it felt like. The first day they happened upon each other in the band and warded off a couple of in-band bullies with just them flank to reverse-flank, defending the others blindside haunch. They had made their own two-man phalanx against attack with such natural panache and had never been parted since. Whatever trouble one drummed up, the other was destined (read: doomed) to follow them into. Caspian out of boredom and an itch for adventure, Achilles out of what seemed like utterly disastrous luck and totally unquenchable yearning to achieve what his self-worth told him he was owed. Like Respect.
Apollo had had none, had had less than none, and Achilles had taught him that he was not lesser for his being half the other’s age. Not in the least.
"What do I suppose? I suppose they all take you for a fool, Lees." Achilles snorts when he snaps his eyes over and realizes the sly smirk on his friends face. A taunt, but it was due. He was getting too philosophical for such an early hour and with utterly nothing to complain about other than a lack of drama or trouble befalling them lately. "But what do they matter? If I were to agree with them, and I’m not saying I don’t, you’d be the greatest fool they’ve ever endured, and still you left them in the dust."
He lunges himself to his feet at that, a nip at his shoulder making him squeal and shoot a lazy kick out at his friend, knowing it’d miss when he made the faux rebuttal. "And you? Why do you suppose I followed you?" his friend asks, opening the floor for a similarly sassy response. "Well, you were born the embodiment of malcontentment and cannot abide when the biggest troublemaker is not your bosom friend. Apollo wouldn’t have you, so you leeched onto the next best… and well, we know who just beat that big oaf, ey? So here you are."
He shakes as he lets off a gaping yawn with a couple sharp flicks of his tail. "I just hope I stay enough trouble that you’ll still call me friend once you run off with some filly whose father simply will not have you take her." He snorts, big nostrils blowing wide. His thick body is growing more and more restless with the rising of the sun and the settling of the mists of morning. "If you forget me, I will have to take your lady just to remind you who your best mate is.".