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[lady_moon]

Moon moves through the castle, from the battlements and parapets to the upper floors.

Down the winding staircase, past the artwork depicting each family member, her bare feet silent as her scarlet skirt sways.

Over the stone floor, through six archways, and into the main dining hall.

Her brother -- sweet Devil -- sits at the table.

Beside him, a tower of cards.

In front of him, a basic spread.

She comes to stand beside him, staring down at the cards, and runs her fingers lightly through his hair.

"Brother-mine," she murmurs. "I am here."

Comments

[lady_moon]

"The pieces are scattered in the dark."

She strokes a finger down the The Fool.

"The meaning is the same, the positions shifting and morphing, but the forest is swallowed in darkness. Hand over the eyes, peek-a-boo, but not a lantern in sight. A lantern could set ablaze the wood, and then there'd be nothing left."

[tarot_npc]

He laughs; he can't help it.

"Sometimes I think you'd make as much sense if we just sat you down with a couple of sets of magnetic poetry. Who knows; you might make more."

[lady_moon]

She sweetly smacks the back of his head.

"Would you prefer I make more sense for you, Devil? The shit's hit the fan and we're all getting spattered. Better?"

[tarot_npc]

That draws an even heartier laugh from him. He reaches behind him and wraps his arms around her waist, drawing Moon close against the back of his chair. It's the best he can do for a hug without getting up.

"Too fucking right, sweetling."

[lady_moon]

She wraps her arm around his neck.

"But you don't blame our brother. None of you do."

It was a knowledge shared among them.

"The way is dark, but it won't be forever. We're just... growing up."

[tarot_npc]

"No, we don't blame him," he says with a sigh, nuzzling the arm around him. "Confronted with the same circumstances, I dare say any of us would have reacted similarly. He was simply closest and fastest."

He draws his nails lightly across her arm, raising goosebumps on her skin.

"Ah, sister-mine. I have far, far too many teenage suicides stuck in my realm for 'growing up' to ever deserve to be prefaced with 'just'."

[lady_moon]

Moon shifts, sitting across his lap, small in his embrace.

"Change isn't easy. It shouldn't be. Not change like this."

She sighs, resting her head against his shoulder. It was pleasant to be with her siblings. Love like theirs was strange but deep, true, love born of a shared consciousness, shared purpose, and shared isolation.

Family.

"You built a house of cards."

[tarot_npc]

"It seems the cards aren't good for much else right now," he says with a low chuckle.

[lady_moon]

"The multiverse will go on without them."

Her fingers stroke the back of his neck.

"Choices piled atop of choices. Mine. His. My wolf's. None of them happy choices."

[tarot_npc]

"And it just takes one out of place. One choice less than sure, or too early or late."

He reaches out and lightly nudges one of the foundation cards, hardly noticeable from a distance, but it's enough to weaken the entire structure, sending the cards crashing down in a spectacular collapse.

"And it all falls down. Such a fragile thing."

[lady_moon]

She watches the house fall, her fingers tightening ever so slightly on his neck.

"Like butterfly wings," she murmurs.

[tarot_npc]

"And first loves," he adds, just as softly.

[lady_moon]

Moon is quiet for a long time, staring at the fallen house of cards.

"He's not my first love," she finally says.

[tarot_npc]

Devil makes a small impressed noise in the back of his throat.

"So you do remember. We were wondering if you might, in light of recent events."

[lady_moon]

"I didn't at first. It was more like a story that had happened to someone else." Her feet bounce lightly. "But then I told it to Jason, and it... it was more memory. By the end of the telling, it was a memory. I remember her."

Suddenly, a name comes floating to the surface, completing the memory in Moon's mind.

"Michèle," she whispers, leaning back to look into Devil's eyes. "Her name was Michèle."

[tarot_npc]

"And you loved her, though you scarcely understood the concept. You would have torn the world apart with your love to keep her alive, and again with your anger when she died. Only Justice held more power, and we were so few then. We could not have held you back."

He toys with the spilled cards across the table.

"So we took what we believed to be the only path. We bound your emotions, locked them away. Justice agreed to the same bindings, and wears them still. He agreed that the two of you were too powerful to allow emotion to sway you from your duties. In light of what had just happened, it seemed reasonable."

[lady_moon]

"He won't wear them forever. Strength wants to love him... and I think he wants to love Strength."

The pair had been lovers once.

"She was a sweet girl, laughing at the raindrops and teasing the birds. I remember her..." She put her fingers to her lips. "I remember a kiss. It made my heart flutter, my cheeks flush."

It had been innocent love, new and beautiful in the dawning of emotion for the tarot cards. The possibility there. The possibility bound when that love had died.

"Michèle grew old, though."

[tarot_npc]

"Not as old as she might have," he says sadly. "The sickness saw to that. And, oh, how you cried."

[lady_moon]

Moon's eyes shimmer with tears.

"I didn't think I'd ever stop," she whispers. "It felt so black... all of it swallowing the laughter and her dancing and the quiet words she spoke to me. All I knew was she was gone."

[tarot_npc]

"You tried to bring her back. And I think you just might have managed it before we stopped you. That was when Justice made the decision. We thought it was best for you. Turns out it was just best for us."

[lady_moon]

She shakes her head slightly.

"No. I don't regret it. My wolf... I wouldn't have felt what I feel with him if I still had her. I don't want to trade one for the other."

[tarot_npc]

"And so you step out, unencumbered. The bindings -- even for us, it appears -- only hold so long as we choose to allow them."

It was a defining tenet of his card, after all.

[lady_moon]

Moon snuggles against him again.

"Chains can only imprison those who wish to be slaves to themselves. I don't want to be that anymore."

She wants to be herself, free to love and live and laugh as she once did.

"It was a lesson that took me a very long time to learn, brother-mine."

[tarot_npc]

"Head of the class, sweetling," he murmurs, kissing the top of her head.

[lady_moon]

"Mmm," she murmurs, continuing to play with his hair and bop her feet. "We'll see about that."