Never were there such devoted sisters {Lorelei}

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

The mention of trust had Lorelei smiling, smiling and letting a few tears dribble out. Sometimes she felt like her she didn't think enough of her siblings, as if she were forgetting that they all had Summer blood flowing through their veins and what that meant at the end of the day. Plus, most of the Summer brood were good people; even Jenny was, deep down. "I'll get over this," she said, shrugging and wincing as a result.

Where was that tea? Lorelei suddenly wanted some. She very nearly considered looking about for some of her pain killers as well. Something, anything to dull the pain would be pretty dang good about now. Didn't stop her from listening, and again being glad as Vivi saw the benefit of her idea: Mordred should be thinking now; the flowers had proved that. Lorelei did wonder if perhaps she shouldn't try and meet with him... maybe after she talked it over with Meredith?

The subject change was nice though: "Well, I've met with, like, most of the rest of the Brood," said Lorelei, giggling slightly at the term. "I made a few friends and stuff too. Like, I'm tutoring Gwyn Locksley and I kinda had dinner with Costin Dracula. Oh, and I've been writing a lot! Gaston Jr showed me the internet and I've put up some stories and stuff. I think there's one where you show up?" Lorelei smiled at that, almost vibrating with excitement. "I haven't met any boys that I wasn't related to... except Mordred, and there's the thing with Meredith there. I did meet a few girls maybe?" Lorelei shrugged, winced, and then looked up at Vivi. "I don't know if anyone would really be interested in me like that. I'm kinda more the helpful perky friend and the meddling kid than a romantic interest, you know? I'm not like Mom and Dad... at least not that way..."

[Genevieve]

Anticipating Lorelei's need as she saw the wince, Genevieve stood up and shuffled on the desk, finding a pack of painkillers. After turning the kettle back on to boil again, she sat on the bed beside Lorelei and popped two from the blister pack, offering them to Lorelei. "You will. You're strong." She said with a smile, putting her arm around her sister and giving her a quick hug. "You're a Summer."

She laughed at Lorelei's description of the family as 'the Brood'. "You make us sound like chickens." While Lorelei told her about the people she'd met and her writing, Genevieve stood back up and made them both another cup of tea.

"I haven't really figured out this internet thing yet," She said with an embarrassed smile. "It seems very complicated. You'll have to teach me. Especially if you've written stories - I'd love to read them!" She paused as she took in what Lorelei had said. "Wait, I'm in one of them? What do I do?" She wasn't sure why Lorelei would have included her in a story - she was far from an interesting person, or someone you'd want to read a story about. Her brothers, definitely, but Genevieve was just the quiet bookish one, she wasn't worth writing a story about.

She shook her head in disagreement. "Not at all, any boy would be lucky to get to spend time with you. You are definitely romantic interest material - you're one of the most interesting people I know. And that's got to be better than... I don't know, whatever Jenny has to offer? At least you are able to hold an interesting conversation." She grinned conspiratorially at Lorelei. "Unless you want to to talk about shoes, Jenny's not the best conversationalist in the world."

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

Lorelei, strong? She had to doubt that, though it did feel good to hear. As did the next bit, about how she really was a Summer. Lorelei probably wouldn't have ever said it aloud, but she still doubted that from time to time. Okay, yeah, she looked like her mom, a bit (sometimes she thought more than some of her other siblings), but she often felt a bit like the odd duck out.

Which just made her giggle at the mention of chickens. "We'd make for some odd chickens," said Lorelei, considering. "I kinda wonder if we wouldn't be more ducks or something... though Mom does kinda have a Mother hen thing going on..." Lorelei chewed her lip for a few moments, considering.

"Oh, the web is kinda confusing? but it's pretty easy to figure out some of the basics. I can, like, set it up so you can just read stories and stuff." She flashed a toothy smile. "You are totally mentioned in at least one story. I try to make sure that everyone I know at least shows up. It's only fair. Plus there's something cool about seeing yourself as this character that someone would take the time to write about."

She nodded again, pausing to blow some hair out of her eyes. The bit about interesting had her giggling again. "yeah, too interesting," she insisted, adding an eye roll. "I've done the math. like, it's pretty much the Locksley boys, who are avoiding me or something, that one guy who may be my alternate universe brother or something, or the wannabe vampire. I mean, I guess there's Todd..." Lorelei pursed her lips, trying to think if there were any she were forgetting.

[Genevieve]

"Jenny would be a peacock." Genevieve laughed, enjoying the images. "And... Tristian would be a cockerel, while Jesse would be..." She thought for a second, "a dodo." She giggled at the thought, enjoying the idea of her siblings as birds. "Maybe you should write a story about all of us as different animals. Mum is definitely a Mother Hen though, you're right there."

"I'd love it if you can show me. Maybe when you've got two hands again, you can come over and show me your stories. It's very cool that you have them on the internet! Has everyone read them?" She smiled at Lorelei's words - the idea of someone thinking enough of you to include them in a story was very cool. "It must be hard to think of ways to include everyone - especially people who aren't as exciting as people like Tristian. I can't imagine what you'd write about me - the character who sits and reads all the books quietly in the library? You must be very clever to make that interesting." She smiled, sipping her fresh cup of tea.

She frowned slightly, shaking her head at her sister. "Interesting is good. Interesting is going to keep people... interested... for a lot longer than looks or clothes. They fade, interesting conversation can last a lifetime. You are right though," she said with a thoughtful look, "there aren't all that many suitable candidates here, are there? Unless you like girls, I suppose. Especially as I think Jenny has her eye on Todd - that's if he has any time for dating. He seems to be everywhere all at once."

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

The images Vivi provided just had Lorelei giggling. It was quite easy to see everyone lining up with their different animals, even if Vivi was sticking mostly to birds. "That's quite a brood to come from one mother Hen," Lorelei pointed out. "Though I guess it makes sense. We're all rather different.' Which sometimes had Lorelei wondering. How was it that their mother had so many different children? Odder still, it almost seemed like most of them were more Merlin's sort than their mothers...

Magic?

"I definitely will show you. And Tristian's pretty easy to get into stories: he's this major authority figure knight type. So whenever I need a party pooper or some sort of grand protector, poof,' she held her good hand out wide, spreading fingers, "there's Tristian. And I know he's read some of them. He sent texts. So did Meredith and there's been a few other people. As for you..." she looked around, eventually locating a stack of notebooks under her desk. She nodded toward them. "There's one in there where you end up taking in this, like, dragon creature and we all have to help you hide it while you nurse it back to life. I wrote that a few years ago."

She flashed Vivi a smile, before wincing and adjusting herself a little. "I don't know who I like, honestly," she finally admitted. "But Todd is kind of intriguing, isn't he? Being everywhere and everything. I kind of wonder..." she tilted her head to the side, eyes narrowing in curiosity."

[Genevieve]

Pleased to see Lorelei laughing, Genevieve couldn't help but join in. "One mother hen but lots of different daddy birds." She said with a raised eyebrow. "It's no wonder we're all so different."

She nodded as Lorelei described Tristian, laughing at her 'party pooper' comment. "You put Tristian in your stories as a party pooper? Oh I bet he loves that." She giggled. "I guess he has to be a bit more sensible, being the heir to the kingdom and everything." Genevieve slipped easily into her role of diplomacy, understanding everyone and seeing the reasons behind their actions. She looked over to the desk where Lorelei was pointing, and her eyes widened. "Are all of those full of your stories? That's amazing!" She smiled, looking back at Lorelei as she described her story. "That sounds like the sort of thing I would do." She agreed. "That sounds nice though, I'd like to read that.

She noticed the wince and glanced around the room, looking for something to help Lorelei get more comfortable. She grabbed a cushion and placed it behind Lorelei. "Why don't you rest back against this. You should be as comfortable as possible."

She gave her sister a questioning look as her sentence tailed off. "What are you thinking? Are you going to write a story about Todd? Or go on some kind of investigation to see how he can do so many jobs?" She asked, with a smile. "No investigating allowed until you are completely healed." She said firmly, sounding uncannily like their mother.

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

The mention of daddy birds had Lorelei giggling. She tried to hold it back slightly, mostly so she didn't end up hurting, but it was all too easy to picture their dads as different birds. Though if Mom was a hen, she must have been one radiant looking bird. There was definitely a story there, and Lorelei almost wished she had something on hand to start writing about it.

"He's the big brother," offered Lorelei, picking up on the bits about Tristian. She added another slight shrug, which of course meant another wince. Fortunately she could cover the wince with a grin. "Yeah, those are mostly just the ones I took from home. I've got like most of a bookshelf filled with them, and some of my notes. I updated some of the best stuff. You should see my corkboard sometime. It tracks all the relationships between everyone currently at Trenale and compares that to our parents and stuff."

Lorelei shifted, obviously ready to get up and start handing books to Vivi, but when Vivi turned back with a cushion, Lorelei almost immediately dropped into position, trying to look as innocent as possible. 'Oh yeah, totally," she agreed, nodding. "I mean, like, Todd is just kinda interesting. Do you know Jenny wants to date him? But, like, I could see a story just about Todd. The man of many faces. He'd be a fun mystery to check out. Oh, like the mystery of R. Lee!" Lorelei almost jumped up to the computer, waving at it. "They publish poetry online anonymously, and it's so good."

[Genevieve]

"Wow." Genevieve wasn't sure if was impressed, intimidated or slightly afraid. "That is a lot of stories. Are they all about people we know?" She wanted to ask how many she was in, but she wasn't actually sure she wanted to know. And then there was the question of this corkboard. "You're... what? You're tracking everyone? Isn't that kind of... well... creepy?" Genevieve didn't want to insult her sister, but this sounded a tad stalkery. "How exactly are you tracking everyone? You're not following people, are you?"

She laughed at Lorelei's comments about Todd. "Yeah, I think Jenny said something about there being no one decent she wasn't related to. Although I don't know how she expects Todd would ever find the time for dating. I do wonder how he does it." Genevieve noticed Lorelei's eagerness at the mention of this new writer, and she almost put a hand on her shoulder to stop her jumping up. "You're definitely going to have to teach me to use the internet, it seems I'm missing out on all sorts of excitement." She said with a smile.

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

The mention of her habits being creepy had Lorelei laughing nervously. "What? Creepy? Pfft," she waved a hand dismissively. "I'm not creepy. Do I look creepy to you? I just interviewed our parents and got information from various journals that I might have stolen a few copies of here and there and then crossreferenced it with various newspapers and old bits of information and gossip collected from people who used to be around Trenale and Tintagel to build a fairly comprehensive listing and diagram charting everything. You know," Lorelei shrugged, winced, and then offered a smile, "normal stuff."

Lorelei bobbed her head for a few more seconds, mentally going over what she'd just blurted out there. Everything seemed to be more or less in order? Like, it all made sense, right? Yeah, it sounded like it made sense, in a sort of weird, Lorelei-esque sort of way. "Yeah, it took me a bit to get to learn it, and there's still some awful stuff about it. 'cuz, like, it lets people like R. Lee be totally anonymous, but it also lets people who are total jerkfaces post stuff too. It's just... kinda cool," Lorelei shrugged, wince,d and looked around for her tea again, suddenly wanting a sip of the sweet stuff. She just couldn't remember where it had ended up.

[Genevieve]

Her tea was halfway to her mouth when Lorelei began explaining how she had gathered all this information on everyone, but Genevieve had pretty much forgotten it was there as she stared. "That... is..." Genevieve did not know how to word her thoughts about what that was. "Thorough." She finally decided on, with a slow nod, still staring slightly. "And, erm... is there any particular reason why you felt you needed to know all this stuff? You couldn't just have, I don't know, met people and found out the things they wanted you to know?"

She noticed Lorelei looking around and wincing, and she reached over and grabbed her mug from behind another stack of books and handed it to her. "It's going to be basically impossible to get you to sit still long enough to heal, isn't it?" She asked with a sigh and a shake of her head. "So, this R. Lee is anonymous? Even you don't know who it is?" She gave Lorelei a teasing smile. "I thought you'd figured out everything about everyone?"

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

Lorelei just grinned at the thorough, though the expression fell off almost immediately as Vivi kept going. "Um, I just... got excited?" she offered. "It's like, this place is so amazing and all the people in it are so much fun that I just... got wrapped up in it. And I started imagining all the adventures I could have with everyone and what it would be like to get out of the castle and be here and..." She shrugged, winced, then sort of gestured toward the room around her. By now Lorelei's imagination had spun out so much that there was no tracking it, well, beyond the bits where she had literally tracked it.

She took the offered mug and gave her sister a rueful smile. "Probably," she admitted, taking a sip of the tea. Despite herself, it did feel pretty relaxing. PRobably because Mom's idea of healing was to offer her children tea and sit down with them. The thought of Mom brought a warmth to Lorelei's stomach, shot through with just enough fear to make her edgy.

"Well, I mean, I don't know everything," admitted Lorelei, looking around. "Some of it is conjecture. And, like I said, he's anonymous. I'm pretty sure it's a he though. Because the writing is so wounded guy based. And really cool. And stuff," Lorelei had turned pink by this point, taking a sip of her tea and looking away.

[Genevieve]

"I can understand that, it is exciting to get out of the castle and meet all these different people." She smiled, although the smiled quickly faltered. "Although... I guess I haven't actually met that many people. I found the library and that was it." She smiled again at Lorelei. "What's that phrase - a leopard doesn't change it's spots?" She wondered if she should make more effort, try and be a little more like Lorelei and get out of her comfort zone a little. With her nose always stuck in a book, she knew she wasn't very approachable.

She noticed the blush and nudged Lorelei gently with her elbow. "Don't tell me you're developing a crush on some anonymous internet persona who you only know through a few poems?" She teased. "You'll have to find out who he is. What's the plan then? Perhaps I can help."

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

Lorelei's head bobbed, and she outright giggled as Vivi confessed to not going far. 'You shouldn't have to change your spots," she insisted. "Especially if your coat's as pretty as yours,' she gave another nod. "There are people hanging out in the libraries and stuff. Oh, have you met Leela? She reminded me a lot of you. I bet you two would get along famously."

Lorelei nodded another confident nod, tempted to keep up with that. It would be much better than trying to work through the mindfield which was her opinion of a certain poet.

"What?" she said, turning pinker. At least the nudge didn't make her wince. "No, I definitely wouldn't fall for someone who writes darkly sexy poetry that shows imagination and depth of character and is totally appealing and definitely not the sort of thing I'd totally fall for or anything. That is very out of character for me. Plus, everyone knows I'm too goofy and weird for anyone to like like that. I'm better off just writing fanfiction about people," she flushed, looking down at her lap again, seeing the scrawny, battered girl. Actually, she was going to have a scar on her belly now, wasn't she? somehow she hadn't thought of that before now, and the sudden realization made water gather in her eyes.

[Genevieve]

Blushing slightly, Genevieve latched on to the next thing Lorelei said, nodding. "Yes, I met Leela the other day. Strange to think she was in Camelot all that time, but we barely even knew she was there. Especially when Mordred was so... very present." She said diplomatically. "She seems lovely though - a fellow bookworm." She had a sip of tea. "Unsurprising really I suppose, given who her Dad is."

She started to laugh at Lorelei's protestations. "Darkly sexy poetry?" She almost choked on her tea. "Wow, Lorelei, that's... well, doesn't sound like you at all." She teased. "And you never know, if you don't know who this person is, then maybe they are equally goofy and you two are meant to be. You should definitely try and find out who it is. And then see what happens - let Fate decide." She grinned.

Her grin faltered as she saw Lorelei's eyes dampen again, and she was immediately concerned, her hand going out to touch Lorelei's arm. "Rory? What's wrong?"

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

Strange that Lorelei of all people hadn't quite considered that maybe Leela took after her dad a bit more. She'd actually studied under Cazaril for a while and all, and she genuinely liked the man (arguably part of her thought he'd be a better dad than Lance, though she definitely wasn't going to say so...). Still, she was mostly just on the pro!Leela train: the more friends Leela had, the better. And really, Vivi and leela were an excellent match, definitely friend material.

Oh, darkly sexy poetry and Fate, that had Lorelei blushing. She probably would've started in on it, but, well, tears. Not helped by the touch of the arm. "I'm...I'm...I don't look like Mom, and..." said Lorelei, feeling the tears coming now. "It's stupid. It's really stupid. I was just... I was thinking about how now I'm gonna have a scar,' she touched her stomach, "like, right there, and it'll be there and... I guess I just hadn't really thought of it and stuff."

She sniffed, wiping at her eyes with her good hand. "Really stupid, right? Like, I get stabbed and stuff, and I'm sitting here crying about scars. Really stupid. I'm sorry, you're being great, and I love talking about all the other people and stuff," she sniffed again, wiping at her face. "But I'm already super goofy, and now I'm all messed up..."