At least we aren't named Daenerys (Tomer)

[Lyn & Sansa Mendez]

First, to get the obvious out of the way. Lyn and San Mendez were really named Catelyn and Sansa Mendez. Their mother was a big fantasy reader, and settled on those names after her mother rejected Daenerys. (After all, she didn't want her baby girls to be teased.) But they were named in the 90's, before A Clash of Kings came out. No one at the time knew that their mother's favorite book would eventually get an HBO series made about it.

Lyn and Sansa had twelve good years before everyone knew their names.

"Are you sure, Lyn? Everyone says it's pretty graphic." Sansa fiddled with the DVD case in her hands. Yes, she was looking out for her sister, but also, there was a part of her that didn't want to watch the show. In an act of rebellion, they hadn't read the books that had given the twins their namesakes. They--particularly Lyn, but both of them--gobbled down other fantasy books, but they'd avoided A Song of Ice and Fire. They'd been too young to read them when the TV series first came out, and after that....

"You don't want to because the internet doesn't like Sansa." Lyn replied, and pointed to the DVD player. She'd hauled some blankets down the the Student Lounge and staked out the TV for this. She also knew exactly what her sister was thinking. (She would have known that even if their minds weren't literally connected.)

The other girl made a face and stuck the DVD in the player. "Shut up. Mom says she's awesome."

Then Lyn went  and flopped on the couch, next to her sister who had cocooned herself in blankets. (It was only a few degrees outside.) She pressed play when the menu came up, and the admittedly awesome theme music began.

[Tomer Berelowitz]

Most kids had some sort of naming beef with their parents, Tomer had found, over the years. Either they'd gotten some weird almost-Hollywood thing hung on them that made meeting people a pain, they'd gotten the latest en vogue name like the ten or twenty other kids in their grade named Isabella or Em/ily/ma Jay/Hay/Ka/Aiden, they'd gotten a weird spelling, they'd gotten a weird spelling of a typically opposite gendered name, or, like Tomer, they had something very ethnic. Tomer didn't mind his name; it was short and easy to remember. The only problem he had was when people thought it was pronounced tom-er, like tom, tomer, tomest, instead of toe-mer. Had it been said the other way, given his mother's personality, she probably would've gone with 'Tomest'. So really, he was the last person to say anything about out of the ordinary names.

Tomer had not seen HBO's Game of Thrones. Their family did not have the 'fancy' cable channels, nor would they pay extra for a single show that was still inappropriate for more than half their children. Tomer was cool with that. By the time he was okay to watch it, he figured there'd be more to appreciate. He'd only read part of the first book with his best friend but had quit when Bee said there were way too many characters to keep track of. He'd agreed. Besides, they'd only been twelve at the time, and the part about the guy pushing the kid had been terrible enough by itself to stop them from continuing.

He was in his electric wheelchair. He didn't want to be, but there was no way to manage crutches with his right wrist in a cast. Being in the chair made him feel like a spotlight was on him, and even now, over a week since the accident, his face was still at least pinkish on the edges at all times. The cast was a dark blue, which tended to blend in nicely with his rather somber-colored sweaters. The variety of color choices available had shocked him - there had even been patterns. His little sister Vivy had been disappointed (but not surprised) when he'd sent her a photo of it on his phone.

Homework was frustrating with his writing hand defunct. So, uncharacteristically, he was rolling along to the Student Lounge, a few dollars in his pocket. He thought he deserved a treat. Maybe a can of soda and a candy bar or something. The swelling of the orchestral music caught his attention. As one well-versed in fantasy/sci-fi, he knew that that much heavy percussion meant... yup. Maneuvering his chair over, he saw the girls.

"Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt," he said, his voice much softer since the accident, carrying a hint of embarrassment.

[Lyn & Sansa Mendez]

The Mendez girls knew what it was like to be the center of attention when it wasn't wanted. If Lyn was stimming, or someone without experience with gestalt pairs was surprised by their speaking in stereo, they frequently caught the eye of others. Though Lyn had spent much of elementary school in special education classes, their disability was subtle. Someone who just glanced at the right moment would assume the twins were neurotypical. They were lucky that way.

They were both a little excited as the frankly-epic theme song began. They had seen references to it before, and even though they didn't follow any GoT-specific blogs, the gifset for the opening had showed up more than once on their dash. It was cool, cooler than any story that had given them fantasy names really deserved.

Both the girls heard the quiet whirr of the chair approaching, but they didn't actually react until they heard the boy speak. Lyn poked her head out from the blanket cocoon, and San just looked over before they said together, "You didn't. It's cool."

That would have been enough for Lyn, as the show itself began, but Sansa nudged her with her foot and gave her a look, one of those looks that Lyn knew better than to argue with. (And if Lyn kept watching, Sansa would remember anything she missed anyway.) San sat up a little more and spoke to the boy without her sister chiming in. "Do you need something? Are we in your way?"

[Tomer Berelowitz]

The twins were in luck with Tomer, not only had he been around kids on the autistic spectrum, he was also friendly with a pair of gestalts, which is what he figured they were when they answered in unison. He didn't know if they were more or less synched than the Stewarts, but figured they had a marginally easier time since they were both girls.

The opening was pretty awesome, and it caught Tomer's attention when he should've been watching the girls, as was polite, but he hadn't quite realized it was a conversation.

"Oh! Uh, no, you're fine. I just, I mean, I'm interrupting your show. I'm sorry." Tomer's cheeks turned pink, but he didn't move. Looking over to them (which involved his whole body, so unfair) he asked softly, "Would you mind if I watched with you?" And then quickly added, "I don't have to! I just."

He shut his mouth.