As morning broke and Vie began her day, she felt her usual morning routine hampered with feelings of agitation and restlessness.
Her room was stark and bare. Her drapes and bed sheets were simple white linens, and the only other piece of furniture in the small room was an untouched desk. She spent most of her day in the Library or garden, so she made no effort to improve it. She saw her bedroom as little more than a prison cell. She often wondered what compelled her to return to it each night. But it was the bed she’d slept in since the night she had arrived, and it sufficed. To Vie it was, and always would be, a temporary place.
Vie felt herself reach out, listening through the marble, concrete, and wood that formed the foundation of the Sanctum. She traced it down to bedrock and out into the soil. And she sighed, dejected.
Basil had already slipped away without a word.
Vie had grown aware of the times when she was being ignored. Basil was far from the first authority figure in her life to pull this sort of stunt.
She took her well worn broom out of her closet and took to work sweeping the hall in front of her room, attempting to distract herself from nagging thoughts about her mother. Though in truth, it had been a long time since busywork had been enough to keep her distracted.
“How can she go on about peace when we’re just sitting here cooped up!?!” Vie muttered to herself. “The nerve of that woman!” She silently strangled the broom. she felt the hair on her neck raise and the air thicken around her, as her rage and spite manifested around her.
“Oh hi Vie! What are you-” Lilith started with a wave.
The unexpected intrusion jolted Vie briefly back to reality for a moment. And in doing so, Vie snapped the broom in half with her bare hands.
Lili yelped in surprise at the sound of splintering wood.
As Vie’s focus returned to the room she physically occupied, she realized Lili and Asmo were standing nearby, watching as she frantically muttered to herself while sweeping the same spot. In their eyes she had remained in the same square meter of space for the last 15 minutes, wearing down a single patch of tile.
“Oh… Lilith. Good morning. Pay me no mind, dear sister, just contemplating my place in the universe.” As Vie spoke there was a sinister air to her voice. The static around Vie seemed to thicken as her thoughts swirled in her head. The broomstick in her hands ignited as the air seemed to crackle around her.
“Th-the broom-” Lilith squeaked.
With a flick of her wrist, Vie snuffed out the fire. She sighed, lost in her thoughts. “Pity, this was my favorite broom. Oh well. I’ll just have to pull another one out of the back stock.”
Vie cast the broom out of an open window without looking, and curtsied with the flourish of her dress. “You saw nothing.” She muttered with a glare.
Lili and Asmo both nodded, enthusiastically. They’d seen this mood before and were eager to let it pass.
“And for your information, I’m fine, thanks.” Vie flipped her hair and floated off towards the atrium as Lili stared confused.
Lilith turned and whispered to Asmo, “What’s gotten into her this time?”
“She’s just doing Vie stuff,” He replied flatly, staring blankly at Vie’s spiteful cantrips. “The sparks, they’re particularly red this morning. That’s good right? Blue’s the dangerous color for fire right?”
“W-What’s with the sparkles? That’s not normal. I mean. At least not normally this early in the day,” Lilith said, disconcerted by his calmness. “She doesn’t normally look this… calm? When she’s like this.”
Asmo sighed, and tried to defend, or at the very least rationalize Vie’s behavior to Lili. “Look, everyone experiences adolescence differently. Sometimes people dissociate and cast cantrips or other low level spells. It’s pretty common under times of duress. In fact some people in my Clan would even transform due to pain or duress.”
“Right, duress,” Lili said skeptically. “Like, oh no some giant thing is coming to destroy everything you know and love, or oh no I just watched the love of my life get murdered, and I can’t quench the bloodlust and vengeance. THAT I get… But she’s sweeping the atrium. So you’re not the least bit concerned that she can do that? That… indoor lightning stuff. Or the broom fire? I don’t think she’s even aware that she can unconsciously use cantrips.”
“Totally normal part of growing up. Puberty just hits her kind differently,” Asmo said, glancing at his watch. “Soooooo, how long are you going to wait before you try and ask her to join the game?”
“...You highborns are a strange lot,” Lili muttered, with an eyebrow raised.
Asmodeus made no attempt to argue with the statement, replying with a flat “yeap” and a stretch of his shoulder. “10 minutes then?”
Lili rolled her eyes and continued watching Vie’s odd monologue.
Vie stopped at the window overlooking the courtyard, and the valley. “Every moment I spend trapped in this ivory tower is another day that my people are led astray by that foul witch.”
“I know you are out there. And I will kill you. I swear upon my father’s name that I will see you return to dust. False Queen... I will turn you to ash.” She regaled. She smiled, vindicated in her thoughts and willpower.
Vie turned and stared at her siblings. To her, a skybridge separated them. But Vie and Asmo both had the hearing and eyesight afforded to those born of Fey blood. So to them, these rantings and constant monologues were largely commonplace and ignored.
“Perhaps it is time to reveal to them the truth of my nature. Of my birthright.”
“She’s just standing there. Menacingly,” Lili whispered to Asmo.
He replied with a shrug. “She has mom issues, it’s fine. We all have baggage.”
“Yeah, speak for yourself.” Lili sneered. She scoffed at the mere suggestion that she was anything less than completely well adjusted.
No. Vie thought to herself.
That would be an act of cruelty to curse someone with such burdensome knowledge. Such simple minds couldn’t possibly fathom the weight of my destiny.
My poor, sweet Lilith, so young and naive.
Someday you’ll understand the burden of your mortal shackles.
Of your destiny.
Her siblings watched her with a continued mild concern from four meters down the hall.
“Look, I think we might need to talk about this as a family, because I'm more than a little concerned that she might set off the fire alarms…” Lili said with a growing urgency to her voice.
“Vie is a grown woman, and she’s had these powers her whole life. I’m sure she’s just under a lot of pressure right now,” Asmo replied calmly.
“What pressure? She does gardening, tea ceremony, and macrame. Those are designed to be not high pressure,” Lili argued.
The two stared out blankly at the atrium. They watched the sun cut through stained glass. The images of Terran warlords and mythological characters of their history stood proudly in lead glass.
Asmo had the name and lineage of each of them memorized, defending each as flawed figures, while Lilith just saw them as arrogant colonizers. Though Lili would admit that a few of them made for sufficiently entertaining bedtime story material.
As Vie ranted, Asmo and Lili gazed out and watched birds pass over the barrier, occasionally skimming off the top of it.
“No, this is my destiny and burden to carry. I must not let weakness show.” Vie whispered.
“H-hey, Vie do you wanna-” Lili started, waving frantically at Vie.
“I must retreat to my sanctuary. Fare thee well,” Vie shouted, conjuring a massive gust of wind to pick up her coat dramatically.
“WAIT- arghhhhhhhh!” Lili shouted after her in frustration, as her hair whipped around. The wind was deafening and overwhelmed her words.
Vie skulked away with a flourish. Her bedroom was directly above the staircase leading up from the main entryway and atrium, which allowed her to easily perform dramatic entrances and exits.
“W-what sanctuary?!? And who exactly was she even talking to?!?” Lilith groaned.
“Probably some fictional version of you that exists in her imagination,” Asmo replied airily.
“… WHAT?” Lili replied, floored. “What is up with you two?”
“I mean…” Asmo started. “Isn’t that what everyone does? You have an idea of a person in your head, right? So you project your feelings, and what you perceive to be their feelings, into this sort of simulacra of that person. This conduit for everything you think that person is. And that person lives rent free in your head because you let them. And you expect them to do the same for you, right?”
“I… think I’m following you?” Lili said with a nod.
“But that person isn’t you.” Asmo continued. “And the version of that person in your head isn’t them. And none of these fears or anxieties, or perceived insults that happen in your brain are like… real? Technically.”
“... Are you okay?” Lili asked him, narrowing her eyes.
“Let’s say you’re afraid you’re going to disappoint someone, or hurt their feelings. You don’t know for sure, so you don’t tell them how you actually feel, because you don’t want conflict. But by doing so, you’re conditioning yourself to assume that an action you perform might result in undesirable effects… or you know, that they’re just as likely to think you’re insane.” Asmo rambled on.
“I… wait… So my feelings about Vie don’t matter, but how she processes what she thinks my feelings are…” Lili rattled, trying to grasp Asmo's unexpected monologue.
“I’m sorry but… What?” She concluded.
“I mean, they’re valid thoughts in your head. Vie probably imagines you a certain way and is just frustrated at being… less than efficient at communicating with you, because she’s too busy thinking about how that version of you feels about something, instead of just talking to you about it. Or something.” He conjectured.
Asmo was aware that Lili’s eyes had long since glazed over, and he sighed, resigned to his constant awkward inability to openly communicate with his sisters. “Never mind, us highborns are probably just strange.”
“Yeah, you can say that again,” Lili responded, still only half sure of the lesson that Asmo was trying to teach.
“Us highborns are probably just strange.” She repeated to herself.
Lili walked over to Asmo and punched him on the shoulder and sighed.
“H-hey!” He choked out.
“Anyway, as annoying as you are… when you put whatever it is you’re going on about that way, I feel kinda bad for myself. Or at least the me living in Vie’s head. I mean, you’re going on about some philosophical nonsense… sorry, if it had a point, I checked out ages ago.” Lili muttered.
“None offense taken.” Asmo assured her.
“And meanwhile I'm sitting here bored outta my mind.” Lili lamented. ”Look, Vie’s got a whole thing going on over there... And on top of all that she has ancient Fey magic going for her. Must be nice.” Lili muttered with an eye roll.
“Welp, anywho.” Lilith said, bouncing back. “She was the fourth for Kettlers of Stan, what’re we playing now?”
“It’s for two or more players,” Asmo said, with an air of surprise. “Wasn’t Nyx supposed to join us?”
“Yeah, but if there’s only three of us, there won’t be enough players to stop you from bogarting all the wool or… metagaming the whole thing.”
“A navy lives and dies by its sheep,” Asmo conceded. “Anyway… are we SURE we can’t get Liszt?” He said, his voice almost pleading.
“You know what tomorrow is right?” Lili answered flatly.
“Yeah. Right. Hmm.” Asmo contemplated for a moment before snapping his fingers. “We could break out the Ouija board?”
The color drained from Lili’s face. “Eww. No. Just no. Not after last time.”
“Oh right…” Asmo replied sheepishly. “Yeahhhh... Okay then, Gin Rummy?” He offered.
“Sounds crummy.” Lilith replied unblinkingly.
“So… Go?” Asmo continued.
“How about NO? Besides, there’s THREE of us, remember?” Lili crossed her arms and stared her brother down impatiently. “Come on now.”
Asmo rolled his eyes and groaned. “Okay fine... We can do axe throwing, just let me have a handicap.”
“DEAL!” Lili reached her hand out for a shake.
Asmo reached his hand out, and Lili grabbed it tightly with both of her hands. “Why does it always feel like a faustian bargain just to have a family game night?” Asmo whined as Lili dragged him away by his arm.
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