"Owww! Dani, that hurts!" Daniela was helping Seline get ready for the upcoming party at House Beneviento. "Seline, it'll go faster if you stop wiggling." At the moment, she was trying to braid the child's hair, but it was proving to be quite a challenge. But honestly, that was to be expected. You try brushing a silly 7-year-old's hair and making her sit still long enough to braid it. Luckily, getting her into the dress was easy enough, since Seline thought it looked "soooo pretty!". It happened to be one of Daniela's old party dresses, so she knew the way to wiggle the stubborn buttons into their holes. "There, we're finally all done. Go look in the mirror and tell me what you think." Daniela took a moment to put sparkly pins in her own hair, as Seline twirled in front of the mirror. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" The two sisters stepped out into the hallway, where everyone else was waiting. "Mama, Mama, look!" Seline spun around, loving the way her dress swirled with her. "It's so pretty!" Alcina nodded, satisfied with everyone's outfits. Cassandra was still struggling to tell the difference between herself and Seline, even though the only real similarity was brown hair. At this point, it was just kind of ridiculous how she had trouble with this, considering that she was two feet taller than Seline. But then again, Cassandra was known for being ridiculous. "I can't wait to see Uncle Salvatore, I want to discuss a book with him." Bela said, and Cassandra nodded. "And I want to play with Angie!" Daniela said excitedly, and Seline agreed. "Yeah, it's going to be so fun! Mama, when is Uncle Karl getting here?" Alcina smiled at her daughters. "He should be here any moment now." Seline ran to the nearest window and looked out of it, wanting to let everyone know when he arrived. Cassandra joined her, and eventually the watching turned into playing, as the two took turns making faces at each other. So, it was Bela who called out "Uncle Karl's here!", and Bela who greeted him. "Hey, there's my favorite fly girl!" Daniela whacked Karl with the handle of her sickle. "What about me?" Rubbing his side, Karl patted her on the head. "You're also my favorite, doof." Both Seline and Cassandra turned around at the same time. "What about me?" Alcina bit back a laugh as Karl reassured both of them. "You ALL are my favorites." Then, Alcina looked down on him. "What about me?" Karl darted to the side. "Absolutely not, super-sized bit- woman!" Seline's eyes lit up. "I know that word! You were gonna say b*tch!" The rest of the Dimitrescus roared with laughter as Karl looked shocked. "Heisenberg, this is the one time I've ever seen you speechless!" He was about to fire back a retort, but seeing everybody laughing so hard, he couldn't help but laugh as well. "C'mon, you jokesters. Let's go."
Seline's face was practically glued to the window. "What does Auntie Donna's house look like? I bet it's sooooo pretty! But not as pretty as Castle Dimitrescu!" Karl grumbled under his breath. "My factory is pretty too…" Noticing Karl looked a bit put off, Seline finally looked away from the window and sat back down next to him. "I bet it's really pretty too!" Alcina sighed. Now Heisenberg's going to talk about his factory for the rest of the ride. And that appeared to be true, but Seline wasn't too bothered. She really was interested in hearing more about the other Lords. "…And there's a room where you can use a mold to make anything you want! The liquid metal just pours right in, and when it's cooled, it comes out looking perfectly!" Karl was more than happy to talk about his factory to someone who appreciated it. "And what do you do with all the stuff you make?" Karl's eyes darted away for a second. I throw the experiments away. I take them, give them life, and then treat them like they're nothing. But instead, he answered "Well, I sell them to The Duke.", which was technically true. Seline didn't catch his hesitation, but Alcina did. She gave him a look, and both of them understood the meaning. Don't worry about what we're all really doing. She doesn't need to know. The Four Lords had been around each other long enough to the point where they could transmit large messages with simple glances. There was the "shut up and listen", the "SHUSH", and of course, the "has Moreau been eating too much cheese?" look. (They had to use that one a lot more frequently than you might think.) "Isn't Duke super nice? He used to sell my flower bouquets, and he always sold every single one of them every day! It was so amazing!" Karl laughed suddenly as something occurred to him. "Y'know, it's pretty funny how your last name means flower, and you really like flowers." Seline looked confused for a second. "Wait, Floarea means flower?" Karl nodded, and Seline looked shocked. "That's so awesome!" Cassandra turned to her mother. "What does Dimitrescu mean?" Alcina thought for a moment. "I believe it means follower of Demeter. Not very interesting." Karl scoffed. "At least your name actually means something at all. Heisenberg is just the last name of a scientist or something. BO-RING!" Everyone laughed, and eventually they got back to chatting. Surprisingly, Alcina and Karl were (mostly) able to talk without teasing each other. Bela relayed the story of Cassandra's 'Romanian' lesson, and Karl taught Seline a few more curse words. Daniela tested the curses as well, preparing a retort for when Bela would inevitably be the 'reasonable and responsible' sister. I hate being reasonable and responsible! It's so laaaaaame! "Everyone, we'll be at House Beneviento quite soon, so remember to be on your best behavior." Alcina said, and Karl pouted. "I don't have to listen to your lecture!" Everyone discreetly gave them a few inches of space, aware a fight was about to break out. "You're the one who needs to be on your best behavior the most, since you act like a child!" Luckily, the actual child in the carriage wasn't offended, but Karl very much was. "I act like a child? You can barely go five minutes without talking about how great you are! If that isn't childish, I don't know what is!" As the two dissolved into bickering, Bela quickly distracted Seline with a question. "Umm, what's your favorite color?" Strangely enough, Seline had a very serious expression on her face. "Hmm… Green is really pretty, but yellow is nice and bright, and blue is the color of the sky…" Cassandra decided to chime in. "My favorite color is red, because it's the color of blo- um, roses!" Daniela wanted to say her favorite color too. "I like orange, because a lot of people don't like it and I think it deserves love." Seline still hadn't decided on a favorite color, so Bela said hers. "Personally, I like purple." Eventually, Seline made up her mind. "My favorite color is all of them! They're all so pretty!" That was exactly what they all thought she would say. Either that, or pink. The four sisters talked among themselves for a few more minutes, until Alcina and Karl finished their argument. It was obvious how much the two cared for each other by the way they could go from fighting to normal in just a few moments. The carriage was nice and quiet for about 30 seconds, until Seline pressed her face to the window again. "Wooooooah, is that House Beneviento?" Alcina quickly glanced out the window to make sure, and it was. "Yes, which means we're about to be there. Are you excited for the party?" Of course, the answer was a loud "YES!".
A/N: Sorry I haven't updated since Monday! The reason? It's my birthday week! So, that means my grandparents are in town, and I want to spend a lot of time with them. Luckily, I'm really good at sneaking my phone under the table and typing in Google Docs. But anyways, if there's ever a long break between updates, that's because A) I have family stuff going on, or B) I don't have anything written. You wouldn't BELIEVE how hard it is to actually sit down and type for a long stretch of time. It was easier when I was in school, because I could just type during class or after homework. But now that it's summer, I'm forced to actually interact with friends (I love my friends), so I don't have as much time to write. A lot of the time, the second I finish typing a chapter, I post it. So yeah, fanfiction is a lot harder than you'd might think. But I love this story, so I'm not giving it up! Promise!
~Xelly~