Stress Liliana hadn’t realized she’d been carrying around for months sloughed off of her in waves. She loved the Academy, and relished every new memory she made, every second of feeling like a normal teenager, every precious laughter filled moment with her friends. She even enjoyed the more stressful moments, to an extent, appreciating the chance to go through normal experiences once barred from her.
However, she could admit the Academy was a trial, and it required more of its students than they could often give in the name of pushing them to be better. The month long break they were afforded was necessary, and getting to spend it with the people she loved was a balm on her tired mind and body. The simple joy the children took in everything, regaling Liliana with likely exaggerated stories of their time apart, Jason’s teasing, Silas’ stoic support. It all helped ground her.
Liliana was resting in the large sitting room on the second floor, one of several in this house that was more maze-like than any house had a right to be, watching as Flint reenacted his first battle against Slimes. By his telling there had been a thousand Slimes bearing down on him, led by a Slime King, and he had barely survived.
“Liliana!” Jason called from the door, his arms full of boxes.
“Yeah?” Liliana asked, turning with the children to watch the older man enter. He dropped the stack of boxes on the table before flopping onto the couch behind it with a huff.
“We stopped by Ariowood on our way here to pick up what you asked for from my parents,” Jason began, nodding at the boxes. Liliana immediately shot out of her seat, going to grab the ornate boxes she now saw were labeled with golden engravings.
“Did you get the extras? For the dorm?” Liliana asked as she held Risk and Clue in her hands, face in a wide, excited grin.
“Yea, I have a storage ring full of the games, so you can bring them back when your vacation is over. These were the ones made for you personally.” Jason said, waving a hand that held several rings on it at her before pulling one with a clear stone off and tossing it her way. Liliana set a box down and swiped the ring from the air, slipping it on her thumb, barely surprised when it resized to fit her perfectly.
“Dad wanted me to ask if you were still sure you didn’t want a portion of the sales,” Jason said as Liliana knelt to pull all the boxes out, opening them and looking over the contents.
“Yea, I don’t want any money. Just to get free games when I ask.” Liliana said with a shrug. She stacked the boxes around the table, leaving Clue out as she tapped on it.
“They’re starting to feel bad about it. These are your ideas, and you deserve something for it.” Jason said with a frown, “my family has made a lot of money off your games, so much they’re opening a second shop in Ravenswood and in a few years they may be able to get one in the capital. You’re turning down a lot of money, Liliana.” Jason continued, as if he thought she had no idea what she was refusing.
Liliana shrugged again, uncomfortable. She didn’t know how to explain that she didn’t feel right taking money for stealing games from Earth. She didn’t mind spreading them through the world. It desperately needed more entertainment, but she didn’t want to make money off of things she hadn’t come up with herself. She wasn’t even making the games herself. It wasn’t for her to make money off of stolen ideas.
“If they really want to repay me, just say your family owes me a favor.” Liliana conceded, still refusing to take the money. Jason sighed and shook his head but didn’t push, reading her stubbornness in her face and deciding it wasn’t his place to force her into something she didn’t want.
“Flint, Clover, can you two find Alistair and Silas? I want all of us to play a game together.” Liliana turned to the children, who had slunk forward to look at the games. At her order, they jumped up and shot out of the room. She could hear Flint’s voice through the house as he shouted for the others.
Liliana opened the box and set out the board, far more ornate and magical than any she’d seen on Earth. Each room was made in miniature, down to the furniture and depressed under the board, rather than over it, so everyone could see down into the rooms. The character pieces were all far more detailed than the basic versions she’d seen, each a perfect representation of their characters. Like the chess pieces she had, these too moved around and seemed to reflect the personality of the characters.
They had kept the spirit of the original pieces names, though as this world didn’t have mustard in the sense her world did he was named General Citrine and as this world’s peacocks were nothing like the ones she knew, nor were they just peacocks because why would they be, Mrs Peacock as such was now Dame Sapphire. They had slightly changed the other names to match the apparent gemstone theme and to fit the world better. Miss Scarlet was now Viscountess Ruby, Reverend Green became Priest Emerald as this world didn’t have reverends and a priest was the closest equivalent, Professor Plum was Professor Amethyst. Mrs. White switched to Mrs. Moonstone.
The weapons had also been slightly changed, and they looked realistic enough that Liliana expected them to grow to full size and be useable if she picked them up. Sadly, or perhaps for the best as children would be playing, they did not enlarge when she set them in place. The candlestick, dagger and rope stayed the same, but they changed the revolver to a crossbow. The lead pipe was now a cane, and the wrench was a hammer. She was fairly certain this world had wrenches, but she thought the change to hammer might be because more people were familiar with it and could recognize it easily as a weapon.
Liliana sorted the cards, marveling for a long moment on how well painted and designed they were before she shuffled them and picked out the three for the box that would hold them until the end of the game. She shuffled the rest of the cards and set them out for everyone to take. She set out the chalkboards included that could mark off rooms, weapons and characters last. Liliana had just finished setting up when the children returned, Alistair and Silas towed behind them.
“What’s going on? Flint grabbed me and didn’t say why,” Alistair started before his eyes locked on the game board and grin broke out.
“We’re playing a game. All of us.” Liliana declared.
Silas frowned but didn’t argue as he helped Liliana move the chairs around so they could all sit by the table. She detailed how the game worked and everyone picked out a character. Liliana took Dame Sapphire, Alistair grabbed Reverend Emerald, Jason took Professor Amethyst, Silas got General Citrine from a unanimous agreement. Clover took Mrs. Moonstone and Flint took Viscountess Ruby.
The game started off slowly; the adults and older teens helping the children understand the rules even if most of the adults barely had an idea how it worked and Silas had commandeered the rulebook. It was easy and fun and Liliana felt herself laughing and smiling more than she had in a long time.
“No, Clover, you have to roll a six to get into the kitchen. You only rolled a four.” Alistair gently informed the small beastman child, who was frowning at her dice, as if they’d personally insulted her.
“Why is my life determined by dice?” Clover asked, voice wearied as if she had lived a life full of gambling instead of simply being denied her choice of action.
“Flint, you can’t just shoot Priest Emerald because he might be the murderer. This is to solve a murder, not to cause one.” Liliana reached out to take the weapon out of Viscountess Ruby’s wooden hands, who seemed quite willing to try Flint’s method of sleuthing.
“Well, it would solve a problem if I did shoot him.” Flint said with a frown as he glared at Alistair.
“Why don’t you want to shoot Lili?” Alistair asked with an exaggerated pout. Liliana frowned at her brother and considered allowing this breaking of the rules.
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“I could never harm Lady Lili.” Flint declared with a huff, earning a smile and ear scratch from Liliana.
“Jason, you can’t make your piece seduce the other pieces.” Silas said with a frown as he re-read the rule book and glared at his subordinate, who had been trying to get his piece to seduce the Viscountess Ruby piece.
“But I can seduce a woman, so why can’t Amethyst?” Jason demanded, finally distracted from his poor piece that looked to be on the verge of an anxiety attack from his player’s orders.
“You’ve never seduced a woman once in your life. Don’t lie, there are children, it’s a bad example to set.” Liliana chided with a frown.
“You wound me greatly, little lady.” Jason grabbed at his chest, falling back in a show of theatrics as if Liliana had dealt him a grievous wound with her words.
“Good. Your ego needs pruning.” Clover said in her no-nonsense tone of voice, setting Liliana and Alistair off in a round of loud guffaws. Jason looked flabbergasted at being told off by a small child, but he stopped trying to get poor Professor Amethyst to seduce the other pieces.
The game continued on, taking a while for everyone to get comfortable with the rules. Jason was the first to make an accusation and get it wrong, taking himself out of the running to win, much to his chagrin. Flint was soon after him, accusing Priest Emerald in the ballroom with the cane and getting eliminated when it was wrong as well. The remaining four players got serious as the others fell out and Liliana was reviewing her notes when Alistair made his suggestion and accusation.
“I accuse Dame Sapphire in the ballroom with the crossbow.” Alistair said confidently, going to check the cards, his face falling immediately.
“Hah, that’s what you get for turning on your sister.” Liliana said, sticking her tongue out at her brother.
“Manners,” Silas said distractedly as he pored over his own notes and the rulebook.
The game continued with the three left, no one willing to make another wrong accusation as they kept suggesting and gathering evidence to win. Clover had a good poker face, her expression never changing when shown cards for her accusations, big doe eyes examining each room and piece as if willing them to tell her their secrets.
“Priest Emerald, in the ballroom with the dagger.” Liliana finally accused, certain after her suggestion of Professor Amethyst, the one she had been second most suspicious of, had revealed a card from Silas with the same character. She was grinning as she opened the box until she saw the proof that her accusation was only partially correct.
“This is my game. How did I lose?” Liliana asked as she flopped back in her seat with a groan.
They all watched on as Silas and Clover played round after round, moving around the board and throwing out the most random combinations of accusations. Silas seemed to take both the game and Clover seriously, which only made the young girl more determined to win. Despite being eliminated, the other four were on the edges of their seat when Clover finally set down her cards with a nod.
“It was Priest Emerald, in the ballroom with a crossbow.” Clover declared and when she opened the box she finally smiled, a full, rare grin from the normally reserved child as she revealed the cards stating she was right. Liliana watched in fascination as the other character pieces converged on Priest Emerald and dragged him off into a newly opened room, the dungeon, for his crimes.
“Good job,” Silas said as he set his cards down, nodding at the little girl, who sat up straighter, pride shining on her face.
“Alistair, how could you?” Liliana turned to her brother with a teasing smile.
“It wasn’t me! It was the priest!” Alistair defended, looking at his own chosen piece with betrayal.
“You picked him.” Jason jumped in, glad to not be the butt of the joke.
“I didn’t think a priest could be a murderer!” Alistair groaned.
“Can we play again?” Flint asked eagerly, and Liliana nodded, grabbing the cards to set it up again and freeing the poor priest from his imprisonment. Once everything was once more set up, everyone jumped back in, with a far better understanding of how to play the game and only a few instances of rules being broken.
They played the game for hours, Clover and Silas winning most of the games, with Liliana and Alistair both winning once. Jason and Flint didn’t win any, but the beastman child seemed to just enjoy playing rather than winning. Jason seemed to take his defeats personally and rejoined each new game with a vigor until he inevitably made a wrong accusation. Liliana had wanted to try out a few other games, but time flew by. It wasn’t until Alistair’s stomach growled, setting off a chain reaction around the room, that they all realized it was past dinnertime.
“Clover, could you ask the cook to make us something to eat?” Liliana asked the girl.
“But we want to keep playing!” Flint said with a frown, face reddening, when his stomach let out a long, loud growl that had the entire room chuckling at the noise.
“We can play again tomorrow,” Liliana told him. “Perhaps we can even try out some of the other games?” Liliana offered, nodding at the others. Flint perked up, mollified by this overture, and let Liliana put the game away for now.
Clover disappeared from the room to ask the cook to make them dinner. There was only a bare bones staff for the city house, two maids to keep it clean, and a cook. Since it would be used mostly by Silas and Jason, her father hadn’t seen a reason to pay more staff than what was strictly necessary to upkeep it.
Liliana couldn’t help but think it was his version of a punishment as well, knowing Liliana and Alistair would be staying there instead of returning home. If he thought less staff would make Liliana wish to return home, he truly had no grasp on who she was. She enjoyed the smaller staff. It meant fewer spying, judging eyes to watch her.
Silas left to finish the paperwork he had abandoned for the game and Jason wandered off to do... Well, Liliana wasn’t sure what, and she didn’t really want to. Probably try to ‘seduce’ the maids. More than likely, he would be rebuffed in his advances and nurse his wounded pride for a few hours. Flint left to get cleaned up. Somehow, he had managed to get dirt and something sticky on him during the process of the game. It left Liliana and Alistair alone in the room as she sat back on the floor to look over the games again.
“This was… nice.” Alistair said, as Liliana was pulling out Battleship to see how it differed to match this world.
“To just be a normal family?” Liliana asked with a soft, slightly melancholy smile at her brother.
“Is this what a normal family is like?” Alistair asked, voice unsure. Liliana paused, her smile falling as she looked at her brother before redirecting her gaze back to the game pieces in her hands.
“Yeah. Yeah, it is Ali.” Liliana said softly.
Not that she was an expert, but she remembered old memories, before this world, before the hospital, sitting at a dining room table, a game board spread before her. Two parents who filled a room with love and laughter as they played games together, disregarding rulebooks in favor of simply having fun. She remembered movies, shows, books, where characters had days like this often with their families. Days full of silliness, smiles, laughter, and love.
“Thank you,” Alistair finally said, sliding off his seat to sit beside her, leaning his shoulder into hers as he picked up one of the hyper realistic ships she was holding and turning it over.
“Why?” Liliana asked as she laid her head on his shoulder, enjoying the new closeness they had shared since they had revealed so much to each other. Touch starved was a term she’d read about, in her last life, that she thought might describe the two of them well. With how eagerly they both sought out physical affection and the comfort of someone to lean against.
“You gave me this, Lili. A family.” Alistair said softly, “You gave me something I didn’t even realize I had yearned for, not until you gave it to me and I saw what I had missed.” He finished, reaching out his free hand to grip hers, squeezing lightly.
“You gave me a family too, Ali.” Liliana told him with a smile, feeling her chest fill with warmth, love. A sense of being home.
Alistair was home, Silas, Jason, Flint, and Clover were home. A home that was starting to slowly feel more complete with each day that passed, with each new, happy memory she made with them. A family built painstakingly, bound together by love, not just blood. It was more than she’d ever dared to hope for, but something she’d dreamed of for longer than she could remember.
Thank you, Vita, for giving me this chance to have a family. To have a home. Even with everything else you put on me, it’s worth it. For this, for these moments. Liliana sent the thanks off into the ether, hoping the goddess would hear it, and understand her gratitude. She might still have mixed feelings for the goddess and the fate she’d forced on her, but she could be grateful for the good that came with the bad.
“We should go out shopping tomorrow. We need to get the kids’ presents for their birthdays, since we finally know what day it is, even if we missed it.” Alistair said after several long minutes spent staring at wooden ships, leaning into each other and enjoying this peaceful moment.
“They’re going to be so spoiled.” Liliana said with a grin.
“They deserve it.” Alistair said, and Liliana felt a pang in her heart.
She and Alistair had deserved to be spoiled, to have good childhoods. They might have not gotten the chance, but they could ensure these two children got everything they didn’t. They could break the cycle and ensure Flint and Clover didn’t have to grow up wondering what it was like to be loved, to be safe, what a normal family was like. It wouldn't make up for everything they hadn’t gotten, but perhaps in giving Flint and Clover what they didn’t have, they could heal some of the wounds still sitting in their chests.