K.J. sat in the rooftop garden, going through her usual early morning meditation ritual. It had become part of her usual routine years ago. Say what you might about her, but she firmly believed that taking the time at the start and end of each day to review one's thoughts and organize one's mind. She heard the automatic doors slide open and she opened one eye.
"K.J." Her oldest brother, Tievel stood over her, hands clasped behind his back, superior expression on his face.
K.J. rolled her shoulders. She and Tievel held an unsteady alliance. She liked him more than her five other brothers, but that didn't mean she trusted him or necessarily enjoyed being in his presence. They were both in a fight for their father, Argo's, favor and future control of the family company. It was nothing personal, just…business.
She looked up at her brother with narrowed eyes, a glare thinly veiled. "Tievel."
He smirked and held out a slender-fingered hand. Pianist's hands, it was a trait they both shared, inherited from their late mother, Agace. "Walk with me."
K.J. stood up, ignoring her brother's proffered courtesy. She believe that social conventions were a ridiculous waste of time. Why throw so much effort kissing up to people when you really didn't care what they thought of you and they didn't care what you thought of them, or, better yet, already knew that you looked down on them and that feeling would never change.
She strolled slowly at Tievel's side around the large area, it was really almost the size of a small park. Below them, the bustling streets of Manhattan, the noises of the lives of people they were so far removed from, they were as good as foreigners, went on, the sound of their passage muted by the height that the siblings found themselves at.
"It's been a while since we talked like this." Tievel's voice was a deep, rich tone. Had he been a singer, he would have ranked an easy baritone.
K.J. looked at him sidelong. "We're not really talking, are we?"
He laughed, but it was, as always, humorless. He, much like K.J., didn't exercise a sense of humor similar to that of everyone else in the world. They were highly functioning sociopaths; the regular emotions of the world were alien ideas to them. She studied her brother. They were both favored their father, long, slim bodies with dark hair, although Argo now went about bald. Same fierce gray-black eyes with all the warmth of an ice field. Same thin-lined, pale mouth against paler skin that barely turned up in a warm-feelinged smile.
"Tell me, sister, what great divinations have you achieved in your morning meditations?"
"Not much, you disturbed me as I thought. I'll have to return to it later."
"I'm sorry to say that you may not have time. Father has called the family together little sister. He wants to discuss monthly planning, or so he says."
"And what do you think is happening?"
"I think he has something big planned. I don't know just what, but something."
K.J. sighed inwardly. Her brother had a very high intelligence, supposedly, but he was nowhere near as smart as she was. She had already determined what her father was planning, had done so within the hour after she had received the announcement this morning when she had woken up, and had passed over the issue. It was nothing important. She wouldn't say that it didn't affect her, as all things that her father did that affected the company in turn affect her, it just didn't really affect her directly. As far as she could determine, it would not change her routine any and life would carry on as it always really had, without terrible consideration of the world that occurred outside of her lab. It was a nice life, the one that K.J. lived in a self-dictated sequester from the immediate going ons around her. Sure, she knew just about everything that happened within the company, but rarely did it call for her immediate concern. People knew perfectly well how to govern themselves; they didn't need her to be strutting the halls like an overgrown peacock, demanding their attention.
Her brother looked at her. "You will be attending, won't you, K.J."
She blinked, slowly, carefully, deliberately, at him. "Of course. What reason would I have to not?"
He smiled a cold, hard smile. "Good, I want you to be there."
So, he was testing the waters, K.J. deducted. He knew exactly what was going on and wanted to know how much she already knew, how much she already anticipated. K.J. knew she and her brother were both openly arrogant in their abilities and achievements, but only Tievel would allow it to get to his head and become vain. He, as with all her other brothers, had fallen into the trap of being a peacock, lured by the idea of having bright, flashy feathers with which to dazzle the plebeians of their world with. K.J. was wiser, she allowed herself to be smaller, an unanticipated power source. People knew of her gifts, but besides when confronted about them, she did not parade herself about within the cloak of their glory. If her brothers were peacocks, then she was a cunning peahen that was bidding it's time to bring them all to their knees before her.
She returned his smile, giving it an equal measure of warmth, and her eyes followed him, observing as a scientist might observe a rat, as he walked away, heading back inside. She rested her palms on the banister of the garden and gazed across the skyline. This was her city, before long, she would hold it in her hands, whether the people knew it or not. The sun had climbed higher in the sky, illuminating the city streets beneath her and the people who rushed on, unaware of the regent-like girl who stood above and watched them with uncaring eyes. Standing there, as she was, she was the very image of the idea, despite her purple hoody, her messy ponytail, and the violet streak in her ebony hair. The stiff pride was still in her back, the greater-than-thou tilt to her chin, the determined set of her mouth, the perfect grace in the curve of her arms. She closed her eyes, breathing in deeply, taking in the rising morning. Yes, this was a good day. A great day, an excellent day. A day where power was taken and dreams dashed, and she, as she always expected, came out on top.