catching up

Venus is woken up by a loud knocking at her door. She rubs her eyes open and looks toward the noise, yawning as she rises and walks over to it to see who has disturbed her slumber. To her surprise, Alistarr is stood there, looking agitated.

"What's wrong?" He looks at Venus, confused and obviously annoyed.

"Why did it take you so long to answer the door? I told you I was coming back to get you." She yawns while answering him, giving him a gargled response.

"I wa aleep. "Alistarr raises an eyebrow at her and lets her continue, her breathy speech now gone.

"I told you I was exhausted. The journey here was absolutely terrible. Also, I didn't know you'd be here so early." She moves back to let Alistarr in, closing and locking the door behind him.

"You were asleep?" Venus nods, still riddled with fatigue. Moving her muscles feels like the stretch of a band rather than the smooth movement they usually should have, like water.

"On the way, I could only afford cheap inns, so it wasn't very comfortable, and I don't think I had one good night's rest. We didn't exactly live like royalty in Ronvary, but the inns on the way here were a step away from poverty." Alistarr sighs and grabs her hand. Caressing the top with his thumb, as he did when he'd wake her up in the mornings.

"Well, you're awake now, c'mon." Venus and Alistarr exit the dormitories as he takes her to the edge of the dense forest lining the school property. The trees are dark and dense. The previous storm, combined with the warmer weather, has painted the forest floor with fog. It gives an ominous look to the otherwise pleasant forest.

"Alistarr, where are we going?" Alistarr smiles down at his little sister.

"Just trust me."

Alistarr had been dragging Venus on for ages, so long that her heels ached from the blisters forming. After thirty minutes more of walking, they hurt so badly she had to be carried. Sometime after that, she yelled to make Alistarr stop. Seeing a small but tall cottage from a distance.

"Alistarr, what is this place?" He looks up at her to the best of his ability and smiles reassuringly.

"This is my close friend's home. All six of us live here; the dormitories became too crowded for us." Venus bites her tongue even though her intuition tells her to question him further; she trusts her brother more than anything or anyone. So, she lets him drag her to the door. He kneels, lets her down, and knocks upon the wooden face carved into the door in an odd pattern— Not your common three consecutive knocks. Soon after, a tall man opens the door. His face is full of nothing but a thought. No real emotion is available to read. Not so much as a smile line nor a frown. He's very pale and obviously from the region, but he's so eerie she questions if she's even seeing him correctly. He seems almost porcelain, like a doll. However, that doll-like look doesn't stop the intimidation radiating off him to touch her. As she gazes at him, she gathers this growing, almost primal, fear. It's so automatic and instinctual; without reason, she can't do much but ignore it as her anxiety rises.

"Let us in already, Anthony, and stop staring at her." The man shows an inkling of annoyance, squinting and showing the first hint of genuine emotion. Before moving, his face smoothes again, and he opens the door.

"Has everyone arrived?" The tall, unemotional man apparently named Anthony nods.

"They're in the dining room, eating. They aren't expecting her, so don't let her loose until she's introduced." Alistarr nods and drags his little sister into the kitchen, his hand tightening on hers. It doesn't strike Venus as odd when her brother treats his friends with a cold shoulder and greets them with a glare. That's how he always was with others, standoffish and brazen. Everyone except her was not safe from his authoritative tone and heart-racing stare.

Once they arrive at the hall, Venus peers into the kitchen to see four very dapper-looking men. For a group eating casually, they're all severely overdressed. During this closer inspection, she realizes that she is acquainted with some of the fancified men.

"Alistarr, you know Zaire?" she whispers to him, her head turned to the side, but her eyes still pinned on the men. He turns toward her completely, a bit confused with a slightly aggravated glint in his eyes.

"You already know, Zaire? I thought I told you not to talk to anyone?" He's not as discrete with his findings as she was, and too much of her horror, the men all turn their heads, looking toward Alistarr and his shy sister.

"Alistarr, welcome—Who's that?" Venus hears someone speak but doesn't know who nor care because her face is now buried in her brother's back out of embarrassment. Her brother sighs; she can hear the intricate movement of his lungs as he does so.

"This is my kid sister. She's a bit shy, but she will warm up to you all. She's going to be staying with us from now on." Venus listens as the room silences and the words process. She hastily darts out in front of her brother, her skirts ballooning then spinning around her ankles like the gypsy girls who dance wildly in the streets during festivals.

"What did you just say? I will not live with you! I have my own flat, and I'm not a child; I don't know how many times I have to tell you! Yes, I came here to see you, but that's it. I plan on continuing school on my own and—" As she grieves, Alistarr rolls his eyes at her dismissively and shoves her head onto his chest, shutting her up.

"Hush, the grown-ups are talking now." She scoffs and hits her brother's chest but doesn't truly resist his grip, knowing there is no use. Her brother, being much more powerful and stubborn, is not one to lose an argument, let alone a fight of strengths. Alistarr re-addresses the men, who don't comment, not even snicker at the embarrassing show.

"You will treat her with as much respect as you do, Anthony. Do all of you understand?" She notices how serious his tone is and pushes herself off of him again; he lets her go.

"Alistarr, what is this all about? You didn't even tell me we were coming here, let alone I'd be staying here with these strangers." He clenches his jaw and looks down at her with pleading eyes. But suddenly, his face becomes devoid of any pleads and just full of happy smiles.

"Ven, I'll explain later. For now, eat and converse with the boys. If they do anything that makes you the slightest bit uncomfortable, come get the other man you saw at the door, right away, or me." The thought of trying to converse with Anthony was like walking into a dark hall. You know nothing dangerous is there, but your speeding heart and goosebumps tell you otherwise.

She sighs, looking away and nodding, finding no pleasure in this unwanted surprise.

"Fine, okay." Alistarr leaves with Anthony, the strange man that greeted them both at the door. Venus sits at the table, placing herself at its head. To her right is Zaire, and the left, vacant. The glamorous oval dining table fits the men and their ornate looks. She, gazing at them, suddenly feels horribly underdressed.

"Well, introduce yourselves, heathens. My name is Luca." He reaches out a hand, and she takes it, soon realizing that he, too, looks familiar.

"You're the man I bumped into today!" He smiles and nods, them both drawing back from the handshake.

"I'm surprised you remembered from the hurry you were in." She laughs, looking down at her now folded hands, embarrassed, remembering the gawking she did.

"Sorry about that, again." He chuckles at her apology, amused.

"Why are you sorry? You're the one that fell." She looks back up from her hands.

"Still, I'm sorry. I should've watched where I was going."

He shakes his head, his sharp eyes adopting a warm curve as he smiles.

"You're too kind. Thank you-" someone speaks up, interrupting their conversation.

"Okay, if you two are done, can we continue? I'm Kai." She looks and smiles awkwardly at Kai, taken aback by his unpleasant forwardness.

"Hello, Kai, I'm Venus." He's also a foreign-looking man. He has round, monolid eyes and dark skin. It, his skin, is a middle ground between the pale white men she grew up with and Luca's of whom she just met. However, instead of tan, dark skin, it's oddly greyer than the average person's. He's got rounded cheeks but mostly slender features.

When Venus looks to her right, the conversation suddenly stops there. The crass man, not bothering to follow it up with anything else. The man next to Kai smiles impatiently at her and begins.

"I'm Vincent." He belts out his greeting like a giddy child; Venus smiles and is about to say something but is cut off by Alistarr, who runs into the room. He throws his arm over his sister's shoulder, slamming his torso into her side and almost knocking her and the chair off-kilter.

"My god Alistarr, what is it?!" He laughs as he holds up a small butterfly encased in resin in front of her face.

"Ven, look what I found!" Her eyes light up at the necklace as she snatches it out of his hand.

"You still have it?" She feels tears pool in her eyes, but she holds back from crying.

"What a stupid question. I would never lose it! Awe, don't cry!" Alistarr hugs her, and she pushes him off, not wanting to be babied.

"I was not crying, do not belittle me." Venus looks away from her brother, examining the black butterfly encased in the yellow resin.

"Do you even know why I gave you this?" He looks at her red, irritated eyes with questionable ones.

"No, why?" She smiles, looking up at him from the butterfly.

"Did you know that a black butterfly supposedly signifies death? It's a myth, of course. But you know I've always believed in that sort of thing. So, I thought if death came for you, the butterfly would scare them away." He looks at her, surprised, a very genuine smile etched into his features. It's warm and much more believable to those around him than the show he put on earlier.

"Aren't you just the purest!" Soon, however, Alistarr forces back on his exaggerated smile. He pulls her back into a hug and shakes her about. Treating her like the stuffed animal of a toddler.

"Alistarr!" He stops shaking her. Realizing his error,

"Sorry, what you said is so thoughtful and adorable. I just had to embrace you." She sighs, extremely bothered by Alistarr's coddling behavior.

"I did it a long time ago. I'm not fourteen anymore, and I'm not a child. So please, stop." Her tone is uncomfortably serious, and Alistarr doesn't take it the least bit seriously. He boops her nose and grabs her hand, attempting to pull her out of the chair and ignoring her monolog

"Alistarr! You can't just— AHH!"

Venus trips over her long skirt when her feet hit the ground, She begins to fall, and in a last-ditch attempt to save herself, she flails her hands in front of her and squeezes her eyes shut in terror of what may come. However, someone behind her catches her by the stomach, hooking her up like a basket. She pushes the person off soon after, standing back up, and hurriedly turns around. She bows, thanking whoever helped her before she can even see who did it.

"Thank you." She looks up to see Luca.

"No problem, princess, I'd hate to see you fall again." She feels as though her heart skips a beat. Just looking at him is an adrenaline rush. Something selfishly superficial makes her love it, and at the same time, embarrassed to be aware of it.

She hurriedly turns back around. She stares into her brother's soul, who is too busy glaring at Luca to be bothered with her anger toward him.

"Alistarr, you need to stop throwing me around as if I'm a doll!" He gets pulled out of his glare by Venus's shout. He looks at his sister with shock.

"I'm sorry, I was just trying to get you to follow me." She sighs, defeated emotionally by his puppy dog eyes.

"It's fine; lead the way." She follows him into the living room area, with the men following behind her. She sits next to her brother on a rather large chaise lounge. The conversation starts to feel like an interrogation as the men encompass her in the surrounding chairs.

"Now that you've got me here, what is the purpose?" Alistarr leans over, grabbing Venus's hands and caressing the tops with his thumbs.

"You are going to want to calm yourself because I'm going to tell you about our family. However, I'm going to do it in the form of a longwinded story because it's simply easier that way." She looks at him, fairly confused.

"Really? And why now, and here? You never wanted to talk about them before." Alistarr smiles sympathetically at his sister, squeezing her hands in the wake of his unease.

"Well, it's time. Don't you think?"