Vie sat in the front quad of the sanctum. She was deep in thought for her new defense strategy.
“Scenario 213. A race of superintelligent underground cave dwellers suddenly emerges from the underbelly of the sanctum.” She looked down at her spec sheet and furrowed her brow. “Though blind, they have a prodigious sense of touch and hearing. These so called Carnivorous Humanoid Undergr-"
She was interrupted by the clatter of metal bouncing and skittering off of marble.
“It slipped!” Asmo shouted
“No mulligans!” Lilith cackled.
Vie shook her head and began sketching out a diagram for a sonic wave emitter.
She frowned in its cartoonish proportions. “Okay, I guess I can just talk to Nyx or someone about improving this design… BUT! I’m the older sister here. So I can probably figure something out…”
Vie stared at her crude drawing and sighed. “Okay fine. Let’s just move on for now.” She muttered.
“So if I just-” Vie’s plotting was interrupted by the clattering of glass and steel clashing across marble tiles.
“OY YOU CHEATER!” Lili screamed out. Her voice was scarcely muffled by the rafters of the sanctum. Vie sighed, and returned her glance to her notebook.
“Reconsider-” She continued, interrupted by another flurrying of bouncing crashes, followed by Lili’s gleeful screeching.
As the sounds of hand axes shattering priceless ceramics and windows rang out into the courtyard, Vie felt her rage deepen. Ugh. I can barely hear myself think over that racket.
I’m sure I just need an optimal plan to convince Basil to let me take charge of the expansion projects. Pim can’t be the only good planner around here. I have a lot of plans, this might just be the one that finally works out.
Vie scratched something out of her notebook as she hurriedly began scribing ideas. “Scenario 214. In the case of ghosts-”
An axe crashed through a window and landed between Vie’s feet. She paused to blink. The edge of the blade nicking the seam of her dress.
“OI! ARE YOU DAFT?!?!” She bellowed upwards, her fist cocked defiantly.
Lili yelled distantly, “SOZ, VIE!”
Vie felt the air crackle around her. And the sound of a thunderbolt crackled through the air. “WHAT AM I, LIVESTOCK!?! APOLOGIZE PROPERLY!” She bellowed, shaking the earth.
“Sorrrryyyyy Vieeeeee,” Lili groaned, leaning out the window.
Vie took a deep breath and yanked the axe out of the ground, pulling herself to her feet. She ran her hand along the blade and narrowed her eyes.
“Lilybelle, are you trying to kill someone?” Vie asked, tossing the axe in the air and catching it with her off hand.
“…YEAH! But it wasn’t you!” Lili replied glibly.
Vie could hear Asmo calling out from the second story. “Hey, C’mon she’s your sister. She’s like a foot shorter than you, give her a break!”
“SHUT your MOUTH, DOG BREATH! I, for one, am still calling BIG CHEATS on psionics!” Lilith snapped back, venom coating her lips.
Lili leaned back out the window and shouted at Vie. “... AND DON’T CALL ME LILYBELLE! I’m not five anymore!”
As Lili pulled herself back into the west wing, Vie could hear her shout. “Now let's get back to it then! Nyx is only up by one point?”
“By what metric?!?” Asmo argued.
“The only one that matters.” Lili cackled. “MINE!”
Ugh, how filthy. The savages, obsessed with violence, destruction… Vie realized as she was deep in thought that she was still juggling a hand axe.
No. How am I any different? If I don’t learn to channel my powers, how can I ever hope to defeat-”
“WHAT IN HADES HAVE YOU DONE TO THE FOYER?!?” Liszt’s familiar timbre cut through the summer air, as Vie sighed.
She looked down at her journal dejectedly. Everyone else seemed to be having a merry time, and she was nose deep into a book about how to allegedly correctly shoot a ghost.
Her thoughts were again intruded by Lili’s voice.
“Oh hey, by the way… big sis. Love that you’ve got this whole… thing going on today, but… you mind passing that back?” Lili called out the window at Vie.
Vie sighed and chucked the axe towards Lili, the blade sinking deep into the windowsill with a satisfying chunk.
“Thanks! Love you too!” Lili called out cheerily, as she ripped the axe out of the windowsill, she took a chunk of the keep’s siding with it.
She could hear Liszt continue to protest through the broken window. “Hey, are you sure you want to-” Liszt bargained, before the familiar sound of carnage resumed.
Hmmm. Vie thought to herself, feeling a strange satisfaction at the damage she created.. Perhaps I’ve been too hard on them. Maybe what I need is some friendly competition to ease my tension. Let off some steam.
She collected her belongings and dusted off her dress, before making her way back into the building and towards the west wing. As she ascended the winding staircase to greet her siblings, she called out to them. “Ahoy hoy! It is I, your beloved elder sister here to-“
“Ahhhhhhhhgggggggggg.” Asmo shrieked out
Vie entered the room with a flourish only to see it torn asunder, with Asmo prone and Liszt bracing his arm into position. Lili and Nyx were each holding onto one of his legs as he flailed wildly.
“YOU NEED TO HOLD STILL!” Liszt bellowed, pinning her brother down.
“I’m trying to hold him steady but he keeps flailing,” Lili yelled back.
“HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO POP YOUR SHOULDER BACK INTO PLACE IF YOU KEEP THRASHING?” Liszt screamed, while trying to get a solid grasp on Asmo’s bad arm.
Vie scanned the obliterated west wing, blinked twice and then turned. “-See myself out.”
Vie exited the room with another flourish, the other four having completely missed her entrance.
“Hold still!” Liszt hollered. “1…2…” As she relocated his shoulder with a loud pop, he screamed in agony and shock.
“YOU NEVER SAID THREE!” He howled.
“It was implied.” Liszt groaned, winded from the ordeal. She reached into her ruck for her medkit, and pulled out a handful of potions, singling out a blue vial. She returned the rest to her medical pouch and handed the blue one to Asmo. “Here, drink this. It’ll help reset the bones.”
Asmo took a swig of the potion and grimaced.“Eww. It tastes like sadness.”
“What did you think bone fixing juice would taste like? Lemongrass and poppy seed?” Liszt muttered while checking over his shoulder blade. “And how on nature's green terra did you manage to dislocate your shoulder while throwing an axe?” Liszt said with a groan.
“I guess I don’t know my own strength?” Asmo replied meekly.
Liszt glanced around the room taking note of the dozens of damaged pieces of pottery and tapestries.
“AND WHY WERE YOU DOING IT INDOORS?!?” Liszt continued, counting off the rule violations.
Nyx raised her hands and replied, “Intentional boundaries and ease of measurement.”
Liszt stared blankly back at her sister. “You wot, mate?” She smacked herself in the forehead in disbelief.
Lili grabbed Nyx by the arm, nodding to Liszt. “Right, indoors where it’s safe. Would you rather us do it outside in the rain?” She batted her eyes and lowered her chin in staged humility.
Liszt could feel one of her eyebrows lifting so high that it was about to leave her face and take off towards the stratosphere. She grabbed the bridge of her nose and sighed. “…It’s bloody early summer. During a particularly dry year.”
Liszt groaned as she looked around the wing. “Ughhh. What a mess. This is going to take ages to clean up. Even with the four of us.”
As Liszt surveyed the damage she glanced around the room. Her eyes darted between her siblings, and she saw the sure sign of Asmo slowly inching towards the exit. She narrowed her eyes. “…Where do you think you’re going, Asmodeus?”
Asmo froze mid-step. “Don’t mind me, I’m gonna go… ice my arm.” Ignoring Liszt’s call to stop, Asmo’s slow walk turned into a full paced sprint as he yelped with each step. His feet dragged as he yipped painfully across the marble tile.
Liszt rolled her eyes before turning to Lili and Nyx, both of which were midway through making their respective exits. “Hey… you two. So you gonna do something about-”
Nyx stared Liszt in the eyes and replied coyly, “Oh look, Mom’s home. I was supposed to help her with that thing.”
Lili began slowly walking backwards towards the stairs. “Oh nice! Anyway, I’m just gonna go-“ before taking off with supernatural speed.
“Wait a second!” Liszt called back at them, realizing what was happening.
“Bye.” Nyx waved at Liszt as she hopped to one of the tapestries and rode it down to the first floor entryway.
The two had split up, and in a blink of an eye were gone. Leaving Liszt alone and dumbfounded.
“SERIOUSLY? AGAIN!?!”
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