blue-jay
a secondary antagonist
lusille of vexira
T
Where was the clamor of the laborers? The smell of cigarettes? The sound of hardy laughter? The clinking and clanking of a clock tower turning its gears to strike eight?
Lusille blinked against the morning light streaming in. As understanding of her whereabouts set in, so did memories of last night—and she started blushing with embarrassment.
So… yes. She had had a moment of uncertainty and ditched the masquerade before the hosts had even arrived. Surely she hadn’t been the only one? The music was slow and, aside from a bit of conflict involving Ren she had witnessed on her way out, nothing particularly exciting had been happening. So it wasn’t a huge deal that she had left, right?
However, Lusille’s attempt to push away all regret failed when she remembered the people she had talked to in her short time at the ball. The mild-mannered Aurichean in lavender. Her knife-throwing, butterfly-clad date. The date she had danced with briefly and then abruptly walked out on. Lusille sat up in bed and chuckled, partially in an attempt to laugh off the dull, sad feeling in her chest. It wasn’t every day that the Inventor Princess got emotional and hurried away from a social event. In fact, it was usually no day at all. The worst part is that she actually had been having fun, even if only a little.
The vicious feeling of not belonging was gone now, but it had felt so real at the time. She wondered (only briefly) if the Aurichean had ever found her way to Ren and if Ren had been an ass to her. She wondered (for just a second—in matters like this, she wasn't usually the wondering type) if her sudden departure had soured her date's impression of her.
Still, she told herself, no big deal. Mirror Isle had her feeling a little out of her element. So what? She was simply adjusting to her environment—adapting herself. The best way to feel more like herself would be to do what she did best: build.
Thus, Lusille spent the entire free day in her room, scheming, tinkering, and testing. Mostly, she worked on schematics she’d drawn up a while ago that hadn’t been completed or fine-tuned yet: long-term projects. But, remembering a thought she’d had at the masquerade, she found herself sketching up a schematic for a new invention.
A mechanism to heat the air… The grip should be comfortable… Yes… I’d need to be precise with the weight… It needs to be unaffected by external conditions… Need to make sure the temperature is controlled and the heat stays trapped.
By the end of the free day, Lusille had made considerable progress on many things. Most notably, a schematic for a floating cup. It’d be just like magic, but better. Floating cups would lead to floating lights would lead to fucking flying ships! Just as she’d planned. Yes—she had certainly planned it all!
Yes, she thought while admiring her own sketch. This was the work of a genius.
…
The next morning, Lusille was trying to let herself sleep in a little when a knock came at the door. She ignored it at first and pulled her covers over her head. Another knock. More ignoring. Lusille’s brow furrowed. Wasn’t it a bit early for any social events?
A small voice came from the other side of the door: “Lady Lusille?”
Annoyance had thoroughly awoken her by this point, so Lusille had no reason to stay in bed. She slid out from under her covers, stepped into slippers to keep her feet from touching the cool ground, and head over to the door in her bronze nightgown.
She opened the door and met the face of a servant. She smiled wryly and said, “Gooood morning, my friend. What brings you to my door at this hour?” She added more quietly: “I’m sure you don’t want to be up right now anymore than I do, so could we try to be quick about this?”
The servant nodded meekly and held forth a small platter with a piece of paper on it. “This is for you,” he said.
Lusille chuckled slightly at the sight of a letter on a fine plate. “Is it my breakfast?” When the servant didn’t laugh or even smile, she shrugged (Tough crowd…) and plucked the letter from the plate. The servant seemed about to say something but stopped when Lusille immediately got to unfolding and reading the letter in front of him.
A beat of silence. The letter… confused her. “What the fuck does Ren have to do with—?” When Lusille looked up, she was no longer standing in the doorway of her room. Rather, she was standing on the edge of a forest by a river. The air was obnoxiously fresh, and it was silent except for the sound of the running water.
“Bloody hell!” She had been stolen from the comfort of her room and delivered to a landscape with a creepy forest and what appeared to be a decrepit church standing—well, barely standing—across the river. The whole situation stunk of magic. For once, Lusille was not very amused.
And when she turned to her left, she saw Renshu standing there. She looked to her right as well, but there was no one. Turning back to him, she let out a quiet sigh, realizing that this must’ve been some sort of game the judges wanted to put on and that she would be playing it with the brother whom she felt like she barely knew at times. The brother who’d been a bit of an enigma ever since she joined the family, with his different last name and tendency to disappear. The brother who seemed so annoyingly cold and aloof to her that it made her feel a way she hated feeling.
She typically tried not to think about him too much, but she’d have plenty of time to now that she’d be stuck with him in the middle of nowhere.
“Morning, Ren.” Lusille looked ahead at the church, and he became a blur in her peripheral vision. “It appears that our hosts want to play a game. You know, they could've just pitched it to us, but I suppose I too would get a kick out of transporting some clueless asses into the wilderness wearing nothing but pajamas.” With a shrug, she added dryly, “Want to check out that very well-maintained, cheery-looking church?”
coded by xayah.ღ