Estelle frowned, the horde of uncountable undead before her. Their Master, effortlessly slaughtering Her way through the army's ranks like death incarnate, she snorted at the irony of the thought. Really, the undead were more a distraction, barely contributing anything but confusion. Even though they'd count as a strategic weapon on their own by any normal standard. But She was not a normal Master by any metric. Really, the whole thing was gratuitous. She'd already decapitated the leadership as opening strike and this was just pure indulgence. She sighed, sipping her tea, waiting for Her to be done and come over, it was only a matter of time, really.
A good twenty minutes or so later, the undead all collapsed as one. Their master had no more use for them. Sure enough, a pillar of abyssal black spawned nearby, Declaring the Frailty of Life and Demanding the Death of all who Witness it. As the deathgate fades, the Lich stands before her. Clad in a black gothic dress, interlaced with dark purple reliefs and traces of silver. One of her better works, Estelle admitted to herself. Raven hair cascaded down to her butt. Fading purple soulflame revealed glassy purple, dead eyes set in a hauntingly beautiful yet ever scowling face of pallid gray, dead flesh. Her undead state somehow only added to her terrifying, haunted grace. Fading spectral dragon scales clad her form, she could faintly see the remnants of what not long ago were spectral horns, tail and wings. Her movements were unnatural, like she was puppeted by an invisible hand with only minimal regard for how living flesh should move. Strutting towards her with an arrogant smirk and absolute confidence. Typical.
It was an uncanny, nay, downright horrifying sight that Estelle would never truly get used to. Especially because- "Sister," a voice carrying the chill of the grave spoke, echoing whispers of a thousand dead souls accompanied her words. "I have finished them all." the Lich declared imperiously. Estelle took a deep breath, gathering all the courage and especially patience she'd need to stake down Death Herself. With a snap, she closed her fan and without a moment's hesitation, knocked the Lich's pride out of Her with a sudden strike on the head with the fan.
The now hunched corpse's empty eyes slowly turned towards her, forcing her to suppress a shudder, the Lich's arrogant smirk nowhere to be seen. She can easily recognise the silent confusion from her sister's body language, even while undead. Before She can recover Her poise and get angry, Estelle retakes the initiative. "You need to stop killing yourself Every. Single. Time!" She yelled, "just because you can turn yourself undead doesn't mean you should!" Arienna stared at her silently, still and silent like the dead, "and your wanton slaughter of their army is utterly unwarranted! Do you even fathom the political fallout this will bring!?" Estelle continued her tirade.
Arienna scoffs, having recovered her arrogant poise and, Estelle knows, desperately pretending she never lost her composure. "An example must be set! Let all know defiance comes with Consequence." No whispers, Estelle noted. Progress! "Oh, they know. EVERYONE KNOWS! You've never let anyone forget for even a second!" Estelle countered, from the glint of life in her sister's eyes she immediately knew she'd mis-stepped. Impressive how expressive she managed to be, even as a corpse. “Yes, their fear is rather quite the point. So that none may dare threaten us,” she arrogantly declared.
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She felt her brow twitch, "And you never considered that perhaps, it's their fear that drives them to keep trying to kill you?" She bit out. Ari just scoffed, "Death cannot hold me," She dismissed with a casual snort. "Yes, you've made quite the point of proving that by now," she admitted bitterly. Arch-necromancer She may be, one never quite gets used to having to resurrect your own sister's undead corpse. Ari's immense smugness, somehow, managed to intensify. "But!" Estelle cut off before she could start bragging. "You aren't the only one affected! They're targeting me too! How do you plan to come back should they manage to kill me?" She snapped with narrowed eyes. She had the decency to look away in shame at that. "I'd bring you back," she muttered softly, Estelle could see that she was suppressing a pout. "That's…" Estelle broke off the instinctive retort, she really had no good counter argument to that.
She sighed, resisting the urge to palm her head. This line of debate clearly wasn't working. Did she really have to resort to That? She hated using The Contingency, but it was the only reliable way of getting through to Ari she had. She always sulked for days afterwards too, though she would never admit it. With no other recourse to the insufferably stubbornly woman in front of her, she admitted defeat and discreetly signaled Layla, her handmaiden, to bring forth The Contingency. Even as the two of them continued their argument.
Estelle had reached the point of teasing her sister about how she’d accidentally scaroused her now fiancee into sputtering out a marriage proposal at their first meeting when The Contingency arrived. Layla, with professional courtesy and years of experience, ignored the sputtering and embarrassed Lich and put down the plates. Ari’s eyes practically, no, actually lit up with purple light as she saw what Layla brought in. For a moment, Estelle felt a pang of guilt for what she was about to do. But she ruthlessly crushed it, she spoiled Ari way too much as is. The girl was insufferable on a good day.
Arienna held out her arm to Estelle for resurrection. She ignored it even as she grabbed a pastry and made sure to savor it while she still could, the consequences would soon catch up. Ari shook her arm a bit, trying to grab her attention. Estelle just raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Es! Bring me back," she whined, though she did a good job masking it as a demand. The older of the two just silently took a second. Ari's scowl notably intensified, "no, you're not doing this again Es! Don't you dare!" Cold, dead hands grasped her shoulders, small shocks of necrotic energy painfully coursed through her flesh. With great effort she managed to suppress the instinctual shudder that threatened to shake her poise, though she couldn't stop the hair on her neck from raising in alarm. Something deep within screamed at her that she was about to die. She ignored it with the help of endless practice, Ari's tricks had long grown old.
Instead, she tilted her head in faux-confusion, blinking with exaggerated innocence, "don't what?" Arienna glared balefully, purple soulfire blazed within her glassy orbs, the mortal dread intensifying with every second, whispers from the beyond demanded she give in. For a moment they continued their standoff, but Estelle was wise to her tricks, not one to enter a staring contest with a literal corpse, she turned her head back to the food on the table. That was enough to spur the Lich into action, with a huff, She crossed her arms, “come on Es! You know I can't taste as undead!” she huffed, Estelle raised her eyebrow, internally pleased she got her sister to drop the domineering attitude. “Perhaps you should’ve considered that before killing yourself,” she said with a casual sip of her tea to an ignored storm of complaints and clammy, dead pokes and other annoyances courtesy of her sister.
Truly, necromancers make terrible siblings.