When Alcina woke up the next morning, she was surprised to see all of her daughters' doors open. What on earth are they doing awake? Walking downstairs, her question was answered. "BELA, GIVE ME THE BUTTER!" The kitchen was an absolute mess, and so was everyone baking. This was in part because Cassandra had gotten angry and declared a flour fight, which she happened to lose. So not only was everyone covered in flour, but the kitchen was as well. The ridiculousness of this situation made Alcina struggle to keep a level voice as she confronted her daughters. "Girls… What are you doing?" Instantly, Daniela broke under the pressure. "IT WAS CASSANDRA'S IDEA!" Seline turned to her in confusion. "No it wasn't, you told us you wanted to… Oops." Cassandra and Bela burst into laughter, while Daniela looked flustered. "Oh, come on!" Alcina raised an eyebrow. "And why are you destroying my kitchen at 9 in the morning?" Daniela sighed sadly. "We wanted to make you something, but it didn't go well…" That was an understatement, but nobody commented on it. "Well, I appreciate the sentiment. Thank you. Now, you can clean the kitchen after your morning lessons." As per usual, Cassandra issued a loud and over-the-top groan. "Mother, please-" Alcina cut her off before she could even begin. "No. Come along, you all have work to do." However, she realized the state they were in. "You can work after you get yourselves washed off, that is." Bela instantly swarmed away to the bathroom, wanting to get there before anyone else. Daniela and Cassandra's swarms followed, leaving Seline to run behind them. "No faiiiiiiir!" By the time she had caught up to her sisters, they were slamming on the bathroom door, since Bela had locked herself in. "BELA, OPEN THE DOOR OR I WILL MAKE COOKIES AND USE YOUR INSIDES AS DECORATION!" No matter how threatening Cassandra could be, Bela wasn't opening the door. They could even hear her humming to herself, clearly enjoying this. After what felt like an eternity, she opened the door, only for Daniela to beat Cassandra inside. Seline struggled not to laugh, for fear of agitating Cassandra more. You could practically see the anger radiating off of her, and it only got worse when Daniela opened the door, tossed Seline in there, and closed it to ensure that Cassandra was the last one to get the bathroom. "DANIELA!" A muffled laugh came from inside. "Sorry, Cass!" Seline apologized, but she wasn't sorry enough to lose her spot in the bathroom. All of them knew that Cassandra took forever, and if Seline let her go ahead, she would never get a turn. After an ETERNITY, everyone was finally ready for schoolwork, with Cassandra internally cursing, realizing she hadn't tried to stall. Well, there's no use prolonging the inevitable. "Alright, girls! Today, you need to do five pages in your workbooks, before cleaning up the kitchen." Bela and Seline got straight to work, while Cassandra just idly glanced at the problems. Meanwhile, Daniela was doodling, covering yet another page of her book with drawings of flowers, butterflies, and whatever else happened to catch her mind's fancy. Today, the page was mostly dominated by cupcakes, pretty frosted ones that she wished she had been able to deliver to her mother. Oh well. While her daughters worked on their schooling, Alcina did some work of her own. It was incredibly boring, but she was the only one who understood the wine production sheets. So, the Cabernet Sauvignon sold better than the Pinot Noir last month. But before that, the Noir did better. Hmm… "Psst, Bela!" Alcina's concentration was broken as Seline whispered to her sister. "How do you do this problem?" She tried to go back to her work, but Alcina couldn't focus when Bela was helping Seline in the background. She wasn't too bothered, though. If anything, she was grateful for the excuse not to focus. I can always complete this later.
"AAAAAAAAAALL DONE!" Cassandra announced triumphantly, and Seline clapped. "Thank you, thank you, thank you very much!" The two continued to play-act, with Daniela joining in, and Bela laughed. Their dynamic is spectacular. It makes me wish that I didn't have to be the sensible one. "Mother, can we go outside?" Alcina nodded, as the weather was slowly getting warmer. "Wear a coat, please." They all rushed out into the courtyard, but Seline took a little longer since she had to roll up the sleeves five times just so she could use her hands. "What do you all wanna play?" Cassandra jumped up and down. "Let's play Calcify Tag!" Seline looked quite confused as Bela frantically waved for Cassandra to be quiet. She doesn't know about the Cadou and calcifying! "I mean, Freeze Tag! I'll be it!" While they were playing, Alcina gave up on her work and went upstairs, a certain idea swirling in her head. "Hello, Donna?" Her sister was quieter than usual when responding. "Hello…" Alcina instantly jumped into Big Sister Protective Mode. "Are you alright? What's going on? Is there someone there? Do I need to kill someone? Do you remember the safeword? SAY YES IF YOU REMEMBER THE SAFEWORD. Actually, just say the safeword if you're in danger! Are you in danger-" Donna cut her off. "Alcina, relax. I just want to be quiet, since Angie is sleeping." Alcina huffed, and Donna laughed. "You really take the 'overprotective sister' cliche to a whole new level. Anyways, what do you need?" Really hoping this would work, Alcina relayed her idea. "So, Seline has no clothes that fit her. Even my other daughters's smallest clothes are still far too big. And yes, while I could just trim them with my claws, it would destroy the stitching. I was wondering if you could…" Donna understood what she was asking. "Make some for her? Sure!" Alcina sighed in relief, glad she wouldn't have to go down into the village. The looks of hatred had begun to annoy her. "However, I will need her to come over, just so I can take her measurements and learn what she likes." This was to be expected, but Alcina still hesitated. She should get to have some one-on-one time with her aunt, I suppose. "Sure, what day would work for you?" By the silence on the other end, it was obvious that Donna had gone to check her calendar. Early spring was a pretty busy time for her, as a lot of people wanted her to make new dolls for their kids. Eventually, she came back. "How about four days from now?" Alcina quickly ran through the week in her head, but the only appointment she had was yet another wine tasting with a rich out of town family. "That'll work. See you soon." Donna hung up, and Alcina glanced out the window again. "You've GOT to be kidding me." Somehow, Daniela had managed to get herself stuck in a tree, and the girls were trying to shake her down from it. How does this even happen? She can FLY! Ignoring how impossible the situation was, Alcina headed down to the courtyard to rescue her daughter. However, right as Daniela had gotten down, their mother remembered something. "Did you all clean the kitchen?" What resulted was Bela trying to hide behind Seline, Daniela swarming back into the tree, and Cassandra disappearing as fast as she could. "Girls…"
A/N: Finally, we're done with the angst for a bit! Now, it's going to be some nice little fluffy interactions between Seline and each Lord! You finally got your request, didemi! In other news, we're almost at FIFTY story followers and nearly 10,000 views! That's just CRAZY! We definitely should do something special for that, right? What should it be? I've never had a story this popular, so I don't really know what to do. Help me out! Anyways, stay safe, and see you soon!
~Xelly~
