Another one of Lexi as a child, but this time as a Nekross! She is so cute and evil.

Using the prompt: 'Use repetition in your writing today. Do it super obviously, like "airplane airplane airplane."

"Varg?"

"Varg...?"

"Vaaarg...?"

"What?!"

"Varg?" the persistent voice asked again, regardless of his icy glare directed at her, his sister's high childlike tones penetrating his eardrums despite his prior valiant efforts to ignore her. She had been following him around most of the morning now, watching and chatting to him as he performed errands for their father.

"What do you want?" Varg enquired, hostility in his voice. Perhaps a little louder than he had intended, actually, because Lexi picked up on his temper change instantly.

"No need to shout, brother," she reprimanded. "I'm only here."

"That's the problem..." Varg sighed.

Lexi fell silent for a treasured few seconds, where Varg took the chance to quickly punch in some commands into one of the practice keyboards on the Flight Deck. They were currently on the prototype version of what was to be their future home: the Starship Zarantulus. Varg had been instructed to get to know it, work on the equipment that they would be using when they went off into space so he was capable of driving the ship if he needed to.

"Nekron's obsessed with magic," Lexi commented somewhat randomly.

"That's because they need it for food," Varg explained shortly, trying to ignore her again.

The young girl contemplated this statement for a moment or two. "Magic magic magic magic magic," she sung suddenly.

Varg cocked his head slightly. "Why are you saying that?"

"That's how obsessed Nekron are with magic," Lexi explained wisely, as if this explanation was all the sense he needed. "Magic magic magic magic magic magic magic. Magic magic magic. That's all they say. More magic. More, more, more magic. Never enough."

"Is that right?" Varg asked sarcastically.

Lexi smiled. "Magic magic magic magic magic magic," she agreed.

"God, you're annoying," Varg grunted irritably.

Lexi smiled so innocently. "Who, me? I'm just helping you! Daddy said I could!"

"Some help you are," Varg retorted. "Running around and singing hardly counts as labour."

"They're not my chores," Lexi said sweetly. "I'm just giving you some incentive. Plus Daddy told me that I should get used to my new home before we move in. Is that right, Varg? Is this our new home?"

"Yup," Varg informed her.

Lexi wrinkled her nose. "I'm not sure I like it."

"Well it's lucky you don't have a choice in the matter, then," Varg said.

"Will we still be able to hunt?" Lexi asked hopefully. "I love doing that with you, Varg."

Varg felt suddenly wistful. By this becoming their new permanent home, they would be leaving behind the lush expanses of Nekron and the rich hunting grounds for - this small dark spaceship. It was hardly a just comparison.

But from the earnest look on his baby sister's face, Varg knew that she didn't have to see that harsh reality yet. So he avoided Lexi's eyes when he answered her, unable to witness the expression of hope in them. "We'll be able to hunt," he lied.

"Yay!"

She'll have forgotten by the time we're actually on the spaceship, Varg told himself.

The six year old jumped up and down a few times restlessly, trying out her new armour and making a face when she realised her usually free movement was restricted by the confines of the stiff interior. All Nekross got their first set of armour when they were six or seven years of age, and Lexi had had hers fitted yesterday. Really, it wasn't surprising that she was bouncing off the walls today, after the long periods of sitting still the previous one.

"I can't move," she complained.

"You'll get used to it," Varg told her bluntly. He wasn't really in the mood for comforting his six year old sister; he had work to do.

"But I want to run, and hunt," Lexi said sadly. "I can't do that in this."

"Every Royal Nekross gets their armour," Varg told her. "You're no exception."

"But I don't like it," Lexi complained petulently.

I don't like it either, Varg wanted to tell her, but it was his job (unfortunately) to try and train his innocent younger sister into the harsh regime of adult Nekross life. That age was getting lower and lower all the time, and Lexi would be expected to perform like an adult at the age of twelve.

"No wonder you look so uncomfortable all the time," Lexi mused. "You're forever stuck in these contraptions."

"You'll get used to it," Varg repeated distractedly, his attention focused on the screen which he was typing commands into. He had been taught when he turned ten how to operate the monitors, as a preparation for when he and his family were sent out into space to find magic for Nekron. The current royal family were in disarray at the moment, Varg knew that. Something about someone killing his own brother and usurping the throne. He had a feeling it was Dad, but it wasn't his place to question him.

The age for leaving Nekron in search of magic, as all the royal families did, was technically supposed to be twelve, but Varg was only eleven and he was fairly sure they would be sent out any day now. Nekron was too weak to sustain itself without supplies for long, and they were the only royal family eligible.

He pitied his sister though. She was only six, and would doubtless be sent out with the rest of them. That wasn't remotely within the regulations, but the High Council wouldn't bat an eyelid. Not when they were slowly starving like the rest of them.

Did anyone deserve that life from such a young age?

"Varg?" His sister's voice repeated again cheekily. When he looked around he saw that the screen he was next to had filled with garbled Nekross language, and he saw that Lexi had punched in some random commands and was grinning wickedly at him.

"Why, you -!" Varg swiped at her; she dodged his blow effortlessly, laughing and running away across the Flight Deck, albeit awkwardly due to her Nekross armour. "Magic magic magic magic magic..." she sung as she fled.

Maybe he didn't pity her that much after all.