Smiling, Fulgrim did her very best not to panic. She was really doing this. Her, a girl from Chemos, was at the Imperial Academy. And she was a princess! How was that even possible? She'd always just been...her. Phoebe Fulgrim, the orphan girl who didn't have anything going for her but spunk, hard work, and her own charm.
But Horus Lupercal? Everyone knew about her. Fulgrim had a poster of her back in her old room at the factory, along with one of the Empress, of course. Ideals that Fulgrim aspired to be. But now she was sitting at a small table in a perfect room that was fancier than anything in all of Chemos, even Boss Callex's mansion.
Still, she couldn't panic. She had to be perfect, like Horus. She was a princess now, and weren't princesses perfect by definition? So Fulgrim smiled and said, "Why, this looks lovely! Thank you, your Highness!" as she accepted a cup of tea.
Horus sat after giving Ferri a cup of tea, daintily putting in two sugars and a bit of cream before offering the pot to her guests. "Please, we're sisters. Just call me Horus, Phoebe."
"Oh, of course, how silly of me! I just ain't used to being royalty and all," Fulgrim said with a nervous giggle, trying to sit up as straight and tall as Horus did. She was just so much taller than Fulgrim. Normally, Fulgrim was the tallest woman in the room, but now she was the shortest with both Ferri and Horus topping her by quite a bit. That was alright. She'd always thought she was too tall to be really perfect anyway.
Turning to Ferri, Fulgrim found her friend slumping in her seat, looking dejectedly down at her cup.
"What's the matter? Do you prefer coffee? I have a bit of wine as well," Horus offered, smiling brightly at her new sisters.
"...no. Tea's fine," Ferri said, still looking forlornly at her cup, her dark expression reflected back at her.
Guessing what was bothering her sister, Fulgrim took her hand under the table and squeezed. She could feel the problem, and hoped she could somehow communicate how little it mattered to her. She was just so happy to have sisters. The one thing she'd always wanted, but could never have, was a family. A big one, with sisters, and brothers, and real ma and pa and uncles and aunties and grandparents...well, now she had it. And she wasn't letting go.
"It's OK, we're family. We stick together," Fulgrim promised, and Ferri looked up at her.
"..." Fulgrim slowly turned her gaze to Horus, who lowered her own tea cup, looking troubled.
"Are you well, Ferri? I can call for the nurse if you need. Or would you prefer to go to your room to rest?"
"...no. I...I just…" Ferri looked back down at her cup, then sighed. Trembling slightly, she lifted her hands up, showing the heavy work gloves she always wore. Gingerly, she pulled off one finger, then the whole right glove. Her eyes darted first to Fulgrim, who smiled and nodded encouragingly, then to Horus.
Horus, the picture of good manners, smiled and said, "I can take your gloves for you, I can see how they would make drinking tea hard."
"...yeah," Ferri muttered, and hastily tugged off the other glove, shoving them both at Horus, then picking up her cup of tea and taking it to her lips. She slurped as she drank, sucking down the black unsweetened tea in one go. Her silver hands glittered around the tea cup, the metallic joints clicking slightly as Ferri set the cup back down.
Personally, Fulgrim preferred her tea ice cold and so sweet it made your teeth hurt, but she'd never complain and offend her new sister's sense of hospitality. She carefully sipped at her own tea, then nodded to Horus. "Why, it's rather good! What sort of tea is it?"
"Praetorian Black," Horus supplied, setting the gloves by a stand by the door. "My favorite brew. I have others, if you'd like to try them."
"This suits me just fine," Fulgrim said cheerily, reaching for the pot and pouring first for herself, then for Ferri, who was looking down at her empty cup, her hands hidden away on her lap. "I must say, I never thought a gal like me would be at a place like this! Tell me, what's it like, being a princess? I'm afraid I just don't have much experience at the job."
"It is...stimulating," Horus said carefully, gently stirring her own tea with a spoon. "Challenging. I'm afraid it's not all balls and gowns and glitter as the television shows."
"Good," Ferri muttered. "Don't like those."
"That's OK, I'll take enough for the both of us," Fulgrim laughed. Then she turned serious. "But there's got to be responsibilities, right? What are our duties?"
"For now, your main responsibility will be to get as thorough an education as the Imperial Academy can provide," Horus explained. "Well, and represent our family and mother to the best of your abilities."
That made a fresh knot of tension form in Fulgrim's belly. Represent the Empress? How could she ever live up to the example of the immortal leader of the human world? Well, the civilized human world, anyway.
She had to be perfect. She had to be flawless. Failure was not an option.
"Well, I guess I'll just have to do my best!" Fulgrim said cheerily. "I know Ferri and me will do humanity proud!" She smiled over at her new friend and sister, who looked up, nonplussed. She smiled, resting a hand on Ferri's shoulder and leaning in close to her, putting her other hand beside her mouth and saying in a conspirtorial whisper, "Now, I'm just gonna brag on her for a moment, but Ferri's just, an amazing artist!"
"...not very good at painting," Ferri muttered, blushing and looking away.
"I'm not talking about that! You should see what she can make with metal! I bet she'd be a smash hit as a sculptor, but she's an incredible smith! Why, the sword she made for me, Fireblade, is amazing!"
"...I liked Forgebreaker better," Ferri said, turning back and smiling. "It's a good hammer."
"Oh, that old thing? It suits you, but it just doesn't have the craftsmanship that Fireblade does." Fulgrim did not admit that she'd nearly thrown Forgebreaker away, as she'd intended it as a gift for her newly found Imperial Progenitor. But when Ferri had found her crying in the workshop, giving up in hopeless despair that she'd never be good enough…
Well, Forgebreaker wasn't perfect. But it was the best Fulgrim could do right now, and if it made Ferri happy, then it was good enough. She'd just have to do better next time.
Just then, the door opened, and a smiling dark haired girl hurried in.
"I made fresh cookies, just for all of you!" she said excitedly, rushing forward. She let out a sudden cry, tripping over her own feet in her haste, and the platter of cookies when flying, ending up scattered all over the room. One even fell in Fulgrim's lap.
Looking at the disaster, Fulgrim's right eye twitched slightly. This wasn't perfect. This girl had just ruined EVERYTHING! It was a mess, a disaster, a-
They're just cookies, honey, and she's trying her best. It's not like we can't fix this in a jiffy.
Taking a quick calming break, Fulgrim smiled, even as the girl looked up, horrified. She picked the cookie offer he lap and took a big bite. It was actually rather good; butterscotch and chocolate chips and still warm and chewy. "My my, this is delicious! Come on, if we hurry, we can claim ten second rule!"
She absolutely hated the ten second rule, as there would be germs on the cookies, and they'd be all messy and misshaped, far from perfect. But it was more important to build up people that it was to break them down. How else could you build an empire if you didn't start with the little people? It's how she'd become a floor supervisor by the time she was 16, after all. Two years later, and she'd been set to become factory manager. But she'd become a princess instead, and that was better.
"I-I'm so sorry, y-your highnesses," the girl blubbered, scrambling around to pick up the fallen cookies.
"It's alright, Ezekyle. Let's just get this picked up," Horus said gently.
Fulgrim knelt and helped to clean up as well. If you wanted something perfect, you had to show others how to do it. It wasn't their fault they couldn't see what Fulgrim could, a perfect world, neat, and most importantly, beautiful. She'd make this room as beautiful as it had been before, and then smile and tell everyone good job, so that they could see how to be as beautiful as she was.
But never say out loud that she was the beautiful one. That would just make everyone else sad, and couldn't they be beautiful in their own way? Fulgrim had been born beautiful; she hadn't earned it. It was her burden to spread that perfect beauty to everyone, and as a princess, she could do that better than ever.
Ferri got down and helped clean up as well, after she'd retrieved her gloves and tugged them on. She was looking nervously at Ezekyle, obviously worried the other girl had seen her metallic hands. Fulgrim would have to help her sister get over that. What was important was being as beautiful as you could be, not comparing yourself to others. After all, Fulgrim would never be as good a smith as Ferri, and she shouldn't try. She just needed to be her own self, and be prefect in that way.
Even if it really bothered her she wasn't as good at something as someone else.
After seeing her sisters get down to clean up, Horus carefully knelt and picked up a few cookies as well. That was odd. But then, Horus was a princess. She was probably used to other people doing the little things for her. Fulgrim would have to try doing that. Normally, it drove her crazy when people did the little things, but not as perfectly as she could. But the more you were in charge of, the more you had to let go. Or at least, try to let go. Fulgrim wasn't very good at letting go.
Another girl poked her head in, this one a blond with her face hidden behind long bangs. She muttered something, but Fulgrim couldn't understand her.
"Ah, are you here to clean up?" Horus said, smiling at the girl. "Just grab a vacuum, would you? And some stain remover. There's some chocolate in my carpet now."
The girl hastily nodded and vanished, then came back just as all the cookies were picked up, carrying a hand vac and a spray bottle of stain remover.
"I'll do it!" Ezekyle gasped, grabbing the vacuum and stain remover. "I would be honored to clean Lady Horus's carpet for her! Even if I have to lick it clean!"
Ferri suddenly snorted and looked away, a smile curving her lips. Horus's lips firmed into a thin line for a moment, but she recovered and smiled. "Of course, thank you, Ezekyle. Normally I wouldn't ask that someone of your station do such a menial task, but-"
"But I made the mess, I won't fail you again, Lady Horus!" Ezekyle said, and bent to her task with a will.
Fulgrim approved of that. If you messed up, just try again, and keep trying until you got it perfect. Even if your fingernails broke and bled, you keep going until the job was done right.
Though she wasn't sure what had made Ferri laugh and Horus upset. It was a very nice carpet. Fulgrim would have done whatever was needed to get it pristine herself.
The shy girl was still standing in the doorway, and Fulgrim didn't want to be around for Ezkye's cleaning. Her hands were already twitching to do it herself, so she yawked. "Well, I'm all tuckered out! Don't suppose there's a place for us to catch a few winks, is there?'
"Ah yes, your room is just down the hall. This is the royal wing, so only the highest ranked individuals have private rooms here," Horus explained. She led them out the door, and Fulgrim smiled at the shy blonde who was still standing there.
"Thanks for your help! What was your name again? I'm Phoebe Fulgrim."
"Oh, nice to meet you. I'm not sure, I'd have to ask her," the girl muttered looking down.
That didn't make any sense to Fulgrim, so she smiled and said, "Oh, that's nice. Well, see you around!"
Horus led them to a pair of rooms a few doors down. "This is your room, Phoebe."
Fulgrim froze, looking at the door, her right eye twitching slightly. Eleven. Eleven was a TERRIBLE number. First of all, it was prime, but it wasn't one of the nice prime numbers. Like five, or three, the ones that were easy to to divide into things and could be broken up in to nice, symmetrical shapes easily. Eleven was impossible to divide easily, didn't multiply well, and had no easy rule for checking division.
"I-it's fine, it looks lovely," Fulgrim managed, forcing a smile on her face.
Ferri stepped closer to Horus and whispered. "She has a thing about numbers. What about three? She likes the number three."
"Oh, no, it's fine, really, it looks like a lovely room, and I'm sure I'll learn to like the number 11 too!" Fulgrim said, forcing a smile back onto her face.
"We've plenty of rooms. There are supposed to be twenty of us, after all," Horus said with a shrug. "You can have three."
"Oh, well, if you're sure it won't be any bother…" Fulgrim breathed a sigh of relief. Three was the perfect number. Dividing by three made things nice, and neat, and you just had to add the numbers up to see if they were divisible! Plus, there was so many things the followed the rule of three! It really was a good number.
"Of course. It's just a little further down," Horus led them in that direction, and Horus smiled when she saw the numerals on her door.
"Thank you, I'm a bit worn out, so I'll just rest a spell. What time should I be up for supper?" Fulgrim asked.
"Dinner is between 1700 and 1900 hours. If you'd like, I can come get you. Your things will be brought to your room shortly," Horus offered.
"Oh, thank you kindly! I'd love to eat with both of you. And, ah, Russ. I'm sure I'll like to get to know her too," Fulgrim added.
Horus's nose wrinkled. "She is...an experience. But one doesn't get to choose one's family."
Fulgrim stepped into her room, looking around. It was just as she feared. Things were not perfect. She'd have to move them around to get them that way. But that was OK. With hard work, she could make this place just as perfect as she'd made the factory back home in Chemos.
She rolled up her sleeves and got to work.