Gotta Get Your Bearings {Open}

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

Lorelei took a step back to examine the wall in front of her. Said wall might just have had several pictures that might have looked familiar to certain passersby, seeing as they just happened to portray most of the students here. To be wholly accurate, they mostly portrayed the students that mattered. You know what i'm talking about: the sort that made waves and might have been what some would call "PCs" (why yes, some does include Lorelei in this case). Various bits of string were looped about them, creating an interconnected web. Several of them were also connected above to what appeared to be the parents, most of which were correctly labeled.

"Okay, so pretty sure that's my half-brother through Arthur..." muttered the creator of this mess. Lorelei had tied her hair back into an (extremely) sloppy bun. She wore a very large t-shirt that probably belonged to one of her brothers over a pair of tights and mismatched flats, the whole combination of which pretty much made her look like she lost a fight with a closet. She reached up to tap the photo. "And he's related to my other half-brothers, which are from the liaison with Gaston..." Lorelei smiled. "And they all will probably at least acknowledge my existence, so that's something...' She lightly flicked the strings, before looking at some of others. "I think that one's half-penguin half-mermaid? And that one's part demon... these guys all just sound so cool."

Lorelei was practically vibrating now, bouncing on her heels. She moved to put a new picture at the center, one of her own grinning face. "Now, I've just got to, like," she gestured "figure out how I'm gonna fit into this weird mess..."

[Gaston Jr]

Gaston Jr was off to indulge is other favourite pastime, his other guilty pleasure that if anyone actually found out about perhaps wouldn’t be too bad socially, actually it might help him, but would be awful for him. You see, Gaston Jr loved basketball, he really did. He loved watching it, he loved playing it, he was even pretty good at it. The only thing was that when it came to actually being in a team and playing for real…he panicked. The last time he tried he had dribbled the ball once and then just stopped, letting it get away from him when the reality of the situation sank in.

So he kept all basketball related activities on the down low, nice and quiet, heading to the court after hours when there was likely to be no one there.

Whistling as he walked along with his hands in his pockets he suddenly stopped.

Did he just see what he thought he saw.

He walked back a few steps.

Yup. He definitely did.

“Is that a picture of me? Why is there a picture of me? Why do you have a picture of me?”

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

Lorelei whirled, looked at Gaston Jr.'s face, whirled back to the cork-board, pointed along the lines of string, following one connected to her, found Gaston Jr.'s face, and turned back, pointing. She repeated the turns a few more times, before nodding. "Yes! That is a picture of you! And I have a picture of you because I'm related! To you," Lorelei paused, before twisting. "See, we have the same mom!" She pointed at the picture of Mom, which was at least halfway decent.

"See, Mom had loads of lovers, 'cuz she was crazy hot and royal and stuff," Lorelei fluttered her hand. "So, like, there's like a sixty percent chance that if Mom's your mom, then you're related to like half the people going to the school right now." Lorelei nodded, then turned back. "And do you really need to know where I got the picture? Like, is that really important? In the grand scheme of important things," Lorelei rotated her fingers, extended out to point, a few times. "Bro? Broseph? Brohemiah?"

[Gaston Jr]

Gaston followed the line as the other girl pointed it out, all the way back to…yup…that was definitely a picture of his mum., which was her mum too, and-…

“Oooooooooh, right,” said Gaston Jr, the penny finally dropping, “yes, yes of course we are related. Lorelei, right?”

Now, his mum had a lot of kids, and that was fine by Gaston Jr because somehow Gwen seemed to make time for all of them. There was no denying that Tristian was the favourite, but Gwen had a lot of love to give her children so normally no one felt left out. However, what with most of these kids having different fathers, there were some siblings he did not get to see as often, that sibling was Lorelei. The last time he saw her was a good five years ago, his dad didn’t like him and his siblings spending much time with her for some reason, something to do with his dad, but she had always seemed nice to Gaston Jr.

He laughed when she started making the ‘bro’ mash ups and stepping forward went in to give her a hug, “good to see you again sis, how you been?”

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

Lorelei bobbed her head a few times at the question of relations. After all, that was accurate. If she were reading Gaston Jr's thoughts, they would've run along the same lines: Tristian clearly the favorite (and technically first, right?), Lorelei not getting to mix with the Gaston brood for.... reasons, etc.

"We're hugging now?" Lorelei managed, more than a little surprised. She definitely stepped into the hug, wrapping her arms around her half-brother and giving him a little squeeze. Usually her siblings sort of pretended that Lorelei didn't exist, or treated her like a minor nuisance or something (unless someone else was around, then woe betide the one who didn't acknowledge the outcast daughter of the Summer Country).

"I'm doing great now!" she said, backing up. "Like, I finally got permission to come here. Like Dad could really protest all that much, since, like, I've been portal jumping forever. But I totally got all this info on everyone," she gestured toward the wall. It did have mostly correct info... and wildly inaccurate theories...

[Gaston Jr]

“Of course we’re hugging, you’re my sis!” said Gaston Jr as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.

He stepped back and turned back to the wall. Wow. She had not been kidding, she really had got a lot of information on everyone. And yet…there was something off about it all as well, some of the threads connecting certain people, well they just seemed a little odd. Of course, he saw the ones linking the family together, there was Tristian, Jenny and the younger Twins, she even had one for Mordred (blerg) and Meredith (sigh).

He pointed a string that was connecting two pictures that just…didn’t seem right, “What…what does this string mean?”

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

"Okay, yeah, you say that now, but, like, our dads kinda want to murder each others faces off. Plus I'm, like, the dark secret child that got raised under the staircase in secret," This was not, strictly speaking true. At least it wasn't true anywhere that wasn't inside Lorelei's overactive imagination. Okay, the bit about the two dads wanting to beat each other senseless? Pretty accurate. Might also make the holidays a mindful for any kid with "Summer" somewhere in their name (and god forbid there was a parent visitation day; Lorelei was five different flavors of screwed if that happened).

"Uh, you're going to have to be more specific," said Lorelei, studying her interconnected strings. "Like, some of these are me trying to figure out where I kinda fit in. And some of the parentage is kinda confusing. Like, I think there are space vampires? Also there's, like, two Lancelots, since somehow my dad is not Luc's dad...' Lorelei pointed at the two pictures, crossing her arms as she tried to show the relationship between those involved.

[Gaston Jr]

She wasn’t wrong. His dad hated her dad with the fiery, fiery passion of a million suns. If the two did come into contact there was nothing that would be able to pull them apart. Gaston Jr thought that his mother secretly wanted that fight to happen, after all that was how the Summer Country Queens of the past chose their consorts. To be honest the two of them might feel better about the whole thing if they just beat each other for a bit.

Also what this about being raised under a staircase, that wasn’t true…was it?

“You’re not a dark secret child...I’m pretty sure you’re a Princess of the Summer Country,” said Gaston with a confused but entertained expression, “and just because our parents don’t get along doesn’t mean that we can’t.”

He turned back to the board and pointed to the string, “This one here that appears to be going from Eddie to me, what does that one mean? Why is it red?”

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

"I definitely agree with half that statement," Lorelei replied, reaching over to pat her brother on the shoulder. The pat kept right on going as she realized where her brother was pointing. Lorelei's gaze followed the string, noting the coloration that she used for her sort of not-so-secret mental shipping thing. There might have been more than a few connecting her brothers (who it seemed Lorelei just sort of assumed would be into dudes for... reasons) to other guys... Which didn't leave many red threads to connect to Lorelei.

"That-" she said pointing at it, "means," she tapped the string, "Freeeeeeeeeinds," she nodded, pursing her lips. "Yep. Friendship. That color means friendship. Like, deep, abiding friendship. You know, like in all those old stories our parents used to tell. Between your dad and LeFou, Arthur and Merlin, you know.... friendship."

[Gaston Jr]

Half that statement?

“Wait, which half? I’m going to assume the second half because…well I’m just going to assume it,” said Gaston Jr, “but seriously Lorelei…did Lance put you under the stairs?”

Gaston Jr smiled as she explained the thread, “Oh I seeeeee, I get it now, it’s a friendship thing, like my dad and lefou and Arthur and…Merlin…”

He gave Lorelei a sidelong glance.

Gaston Jr was pretty sure that every kid of Gwen’s knew how that particular relationship actually was. At private family meals the two men weren’t exactly subtle about it, what with only family present, which included all of them what with being Gwen’s kids. How could Lorelei have missed that…then again maybe she was just indicating that they were friends first, or that they were lovers and friends…

However…he had to be sure…

“Lori, you do know that…well…you do know that his Majesty and Lord Emrys are…well…more that friends…right?”

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

"Only sometimes," Lorelei replied, again pretty much just making up fantasies. Lancelot might have been a fairly strict disciplinarian, but he wasn't that bad. Even if he was, there was no way that Guinevere would've allowed any of her children to end up living under a stair. Even Lorelei.

"Exactly," Lorelei repeated as Gaston Jr. got precisely what she was saying. Or at least, got what she was trying to communicate. She gave another one of the red strings a little twang, pleased that her ploy seemed to have worked. She was mid-pluck when Gaston Jr. started poking holes in her oh-so-clever ruse.

"Whaaaaaat?" she said, dragging the word out and turning slowly. "For real? Wow. I did not know that," all said slowly, and with far too much enunciation. "That is stunning news that I definitely did not know until you told me, right here and now. It will add a whole new level of veracity to my fanfics."

And she offered up a wide, uneasy smile. "Soooo, you wouldn't happen to have any world shattering revelations to provide regarding, like, other people?" Lorelei smiled temptingly, hoping to get the topic off the slash-fics that she probably had stashed away somewhere here.

[Gaston Jr]

Gaston Jr mulled that over for a moment. Lancelot appeared pretty strict sometimes but he really didn’t see him putting Lorelei under the stairs…if mum knew she would be furious…maybe the next time he was speaking to her he would raise it with her, she’d get to the bottom of it. For the moment though he let it pause, there were other things arising that he needed to focus on.

At first he thought she was genuine and he had started to smile in that knowing way, watching the penny drop…but she held it for a little too long…she had known…and-…what?!

“Fanfics?” he said half frowning half laughing, “you…you’re writing fanfics? About Merlin and Arthur?”

His eyes widened, “Are you writing fanfics about me and Eddie?!?!”

He had heard of real people fanfics…he just never expected to potentially be in one!!!

“Well yes I do actually,” said Gaston Jr, still half laughing half frowning, “apparently I have a sister who writes fanfics about me and my best friend, that’s a pretty big revelation!”

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

"I mean, yes? Isn't that, like, normal?" asked Lorelei. "It's just something I've been doing..." with all her time, "in my spare time," and when at lessons, and when at boring parties, and whenever she probably wasn't doing research on anyone else (because that would just be rude, really).

The next question had her freezing, her eyes wide, flicking from side to side. "Whaaaaat? no. I mean, who does that? That's just... that's not something normal people do. Unless, like, they do here. IN which case, yes, all the time. Dozens." Which was actually the truth. Some of them were just sort of, the nice kind, involving, say, Gaston Jr and Eddie being junior detectives solving the puzzle of the missing DVD case (based on real life events!). It wasn't until she got older that the stories got, uh, different.

"I meant, like, revelations I wouldn't know about. Or details about people. See, I'm trying to figure out who I can befriend besides, like, you know, the Summer Brood." Lorelei's eyes went wide. "Oooh, that's an awesome name! We should totally make t-shirts! Though, I mean, you guys might not want me wearing them... and they'd have to be super fashionable to get Jenny to wear them... but maybe..."

[Gaston Jr]

This was tough to process; however on some strange, bizarre level…he guess he understood.

Lorelei didn’t spend as much time with the ‘Summer Brood’ as she was calling it, than the rest of them did, so it would make sense that she might try to figure them out this way, or maybe write stories of what life would be like if she did spend more time with him. He couldn’t talk, he had written the odd fanfic himself, albeit mostly Han Solo and Leia ones but it would have been obvious to anyone reading it as to whom he was imaging those two characters as. Still…Eddie and him? He knew how weird fanfics could get…

“It…well…yes people write fanfics just…not…generally about people they know,” said Gaston Jr looking back at her board.

And there it was, she was looking to see who she could befriend other than her siblings. Well he could sympathise with that. He slung an arm around her shoulders and looked at her board, “Alright…well…let me see if I can help you figure this out. Anything to keep you from writing anymore fanfic about me and Eddie!”

A thought occurred to him and he quickly looked back round at her, “you don’t publish these anywhere right? Like…they’re just for you, right?”

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

Lorelei flushed at the mention of writing the fanfics over people she knew. The color showed all too clearly on her pale skin, making the embarrassment all the worse. Lorelei had actually gotten into awkward spirals with this: her skin darkened; she got embarrassed about it; it darkened further, etc. Gaston Jr's comments regarding his desire to get her to stop didn't help matters either.

"Publish?" Lorelei let out a snorting laugh. "Who would want to press my stuff to print? That would take a lot of effort for something that's just a silly thing I do in my spare time," insisted Lorelei, ""and used to distribute among ladies at the court."

Lorelei rolled her shoulders again, staring at the board. "I mean, it's not like there's this vast sharing network where people can instantly share information with one another and anyone can publish anything they want as long as they can figure it out." Lorelei let out another snorting laugh. "Magic's not that goo--" Lorelei paused, brow furrowing. "Did I just describe that one thing? The, uh, Entering Webs Thing?"