Chapter 13
Lian sat on the couch, reading a book on the history of Ravnica. The younger kids had been sent to bed but the older ones didn't have to go to bed for another couple of hours. His friends were in the kitchen looking for a snack. He had decided to stay out of that whole mess in case they got in trouble. He could hear Shanniah and Zven bickering in hushed voices about whether the snack needed to be healthy or not.
Hailey plopped down next to him cross-legged, "Shanniah and Zven really need to figure themselves out."
Lian looked at her in confusion, "What?"
Hailey sighed, "They're dating but only kinda. They argue like nobody's business."
Lian was lost but he returned to his book, "Okay then."
Hailey sighed again, "They are dating, it's just nobody believes it because they do nothing but argue."
Lian nodded distractedly.
Hailey watched him in silence for a couple minutes.
They could still hear Zven and Shanniah arguing. Though it didn't even sound like they were fighting about the snacks anymore. Lian listened in for a second.
"No, Zven! You moron! That doesn't go there!"
"Where does it go?" Zven snapped.
Lian looked at Hailey, "They aren't even arguing about the snacks anymore."
Hailey nodded, "The snacks are in the back of the fridge and cabinet. In order to reach them we gotta move stuff."
"Why do you do this if you can get in trouble?" Lian asked.
"Oh no, we won't really get in trouble. Vala will just remind us we're not supposed to have snacks before bed," Hailey assured him.
"But..." Lian glanced towards the kitchen, "I'm confused. That's not being in trouble?"
Hailey shook her head, "Nope." She started nodding, "Trust me, you'll know if Vala is actually mad. I've only ever seen it happen once. She wasn't mad with any of us though. And she's really good about not changing how she treats us or talks to us even when she's angry or upset."
"Really?" He sulked, "My father gets angry with me for everything."
"Like everything everything?" Hailey asked in concern.
Lian shrugged, "Pretty much yeah. But it's not really that bad."
Hailey studied him uncertainly but changed the subject, "I've noticed you seem to be taking a liking to Jexus."
Lian stiffened and his face went red, "I-What-No."
Hailey laughed, "Relax. He's bi you know."
"Bi?"
Hailey nodded, "Yeah. It means he likes boys and girls."
"Really?!" Lian squeaked. His face got redder and he hastily turned back to his book.
Hailey smiled, "You're adorable." She poked his nose.
Lian's face scrunched up and he pulled away from her, "Ah! Hey!"
Hailey motioned to where their friends were walking up, "Go talk to him. Say hi. Ask how he's doing."
Lian shook his head, "No. No. No."
Hailey sighed, "If you insist."
"What're you guys talkin' about?" Jexus asked. He leaned against the armrest next to Lian.
Lian hid his face behind the book and silently prayed that Hailey wouldn't tell him.
"Nothing much. Just talking about you guys," Hailey shrugged.
"Really Hail?" Shanniah sighed in resignation, "We've talked about this."
"What?" Hailey played innocent, "I didn't do anything!"
The boys all looked at each other in confusion.
Shanniah put her hands on her hips and fixed her friend with a stern glare, "You and I both know what you did."
"What did she do, Sister?" Jexus asked.
Hailey pouted. She stuck out her tongue, "I didn't do anything."
"So..." Sammy interrupted awkwardly, "Snacks?"
Zven and Sammy handed out the snacks to everyone. Sammy went upstairs to his room while the others gathered on the couch. Jexus sat down next to Lian. Hailey shifted so there was room between her and the other armrest. Shanniah sat on the armrest next to Hailey and Zven sat on the floor between Lian and Jexus. Sammy came back down with a book full of discs. He sat between Hailey and Shanniah on the couch.
Sammy opened up the book, "What do we wanna watch tonight?"
"We should watch The Sphinx and the Fire," Hailey suggested without hesitating.
"We watched that one last time, Hail," Zven reminded her.
Hailey sighed, "Fine. Somebody else can choose."
"I'm confused," Lian interrupted.
"We're gonna watch a movie," Sammy explained. He held up the book of discs, "My entire movie collection is here."
Lian nodded slowly, "Ooookay."
"They're pretty difficult to explain actually," Shanniah commented.
"Since Lian hasn't seen it yet, we can watch The Sphinx and the Fire," Hailey insisted.
"Uh. No," Zven shook his head, "We watched that one last time."
"Maybe we should let Lian choose," Jexus suggested.
"What's The Sphinx and the Fire?" Lian asked.
"It's a love story," Sammy explained.
"A sphinx gets transformed into a human because of a curse and falls in love with a pyromancer," Hailey explained, "It is the single greatest love story of all time."
"Okay," Lian looked at the book of discs uncertainly, "What else is there?"
"Well, Sammy is the only one that has seen all of these movies," Shanniah explained, "But my favorite so far is Mechanical Angel. It's a fictionalization of Arrester Lavinia's death and subsequent transformation into the first fully functional android that was capable of learning and developing on her own."
"And the first successful transfer of a human consciousness into a mechanical body," Sammy added.
Lian cocked his head to the side, "That one sounds interesting."
"My favorite is Calypso," Zven said, "It is probably the best movie ever made."
Hailey looked at Lian and shook her head.
Lian giggled.
Hailey winked.
"What's it about?" Lian asked.
"This elf goes on a quest to save her family," Zven explained, "and along the way she has to fight monsters and she makes new friends. It's a really great movie."
"It's boring," Hailey insisted.
"You only think that because it doesn't have a love story in it," Zven responded.
"Stop it," Shanniah threw the crumbs of her muffin at the two of them.
Hailey squeaked.
Zven threw a small chunk of his doughnut back at her.
Shanniah caught it with one hand, "Thank you." She ate it.
Zven stared at her with his mouth hanging open. "You are so mean," he whined.
Lian looked at Hailey, "Are they really dating?"
Hailey nodded, "Yeah."
"Jexus, Sammy. What are your guys' favorite movies?" Shanniah asked.
Jexus shrugged, "I like all the ones we've seen so far. I don't really care what we watch."
Hailey reached around Lian to poke Jexus in his arm, "You, Sir, are not helpful."
Jexus smirked and shrugged, "I know."
All of them looked to Sammy. Sammy shrugged, "Well...my favorite isn't one you guys have seen yet. But it's really out of order. It's like closer to the back..."
"So you don't want to watch it yet?" Shanniah concluded.
Sammy nodded.
Lian thought for a moment, "Maybe...we could watch Mechanical Angel?"
"Sure, Dude," Sammy set up the movie.
"It's your life, or all of theirs. Make your choice, Arrester."
"Get it over with."
Lavinia was grabbed by her hair and lifted to her feet. She grimaced but kept silent. She noticed Ral moving through the crowd toward her, his intentions clear on his face. Their eyes met and she subtly shook her head. Her expression was a stern singular "No."
Ral stopped. He looked torn now. After a moment he disappeared back into the crowd.
Lavinia relaxed a little. This time, just this once, he actually listened to her. And for that, she was relieved.
Ral snuck through some side alleys and around behind the stage Lavinia stood on. He quickly attached a small pancake shaped device onto her foot. He then disappeared back into the alleys. He hovered just around a corner and activated a separate box shaped device. Most of the device was a screen. There were two buttons on the bottom of it.
Lavinia's jaw tightened as an odd pins and needles sensation spread through her whole body. She sighed. Maybe he hadn't listened and had just decided to go about his plans differently.
Ral watched as a bar filled green at the top of the screen. He tapped at the back of the device with his fingers anxiously. The bar was almost full. Only a couple more seconds-
In a bright flash of light Lavinia's body disintegrated. What was left was a pile of washed out white ash.
Ral's jaw tightened. The process was incomplete. He'd only needed a few more seconds. He disappeared into the alleys and made his way to his workshop. He had to find out what was lost.
Lian swallowed uncomfortably as the camera panned up to show a frighteningly accurate recreation of his father, standing next to the ash that had been Lavinia's body. But he didn't say anything. He was the one that had decided on the movie. He would sit through all of it without complaint.
The movie backtracked to show the events that had led up to Lavinia's death.
Lavinia stood calmly next to Iris. The two of them were looking over plans, proposed by the Izzet for a magically powered temporary replacement for the sun that had refused to rise. Ravnica had been trapped in eternal night for five years thus far.
Lady Iris gave her approval for the project. The Izzet began immediately. Ral admitted to Lavinia that the Izzet had been developing the idea without approval for the past five years. Since the sun didn't rise.
Lian kind of wanted to skip to the part where her android body is being made. The beginning so far was boring him. It was cool that the Izzet were building a mechanical sun but the movie wasn't showing him how they were doing it. It was mentioned and then the movie continued to focus on Lavinia. "Not that she's not interesting. It's just boring," he muttered under his breath. He returned to his book, glancing up at the movie occasionally to make sure he didn't miss the part he wanted to see.
Lian paused, "Wait."
"Hm?" Sammy paused the movie.
Lian glanced out the window, "I thought they were working on a mechanical sun? But there's a fragmented moon outside."
Shanniah nodded, "Yeah. The movie covers that. Don't worry."
Lian pouted a little bit, "Oh. Okay." He returned to his book while his friends continued to watch the movie. He picked absentmindedly at a muffin as well.
About halfway through the movie Jexus nudged Lian, "This is the part."
Lian looked up and watched as Lavinia turned to ash again. The Seth'ius in the movie then destroyed most of what progress they had made on the mechanical sun. It plummeted to the ground in dangerously large chunks. Thankfully the movie showed all the destruction from a distance.
Lian watched the rest of the movie from there. It showed the Izzet working to rebuild the mechanical sun. They never did manage to get it back to where it had been but did create the moon that hung in the sky today. And Ral also worked on his own to create a body for Lavinia. He couldn't restore the small portion of memories she had lost but still helped her to the best of his ability.
Lian cocked his head to the side, "Has Ral always worked by himself?"
Hailey shrugged, "We don't know. He is a member of the Izzet guild but we don't really know what he does when he's not hanging out here with us."
"Oh," Lian said. He yawned.
"We still got about half an hour," Shanniah said, "before we have to go to bed." The clock near the kitchen said it was eleven thirty at night.
"What do we wanna do?" Hailey asked.
Lian was already nodding off but he didn't want to spoil his friends' fun. He fell fully asleep a couple of minutes later though.
Hailey noticed first and gently shoved Lian towards Jexus so that he was leaning up against him.
"Is he asleep?" Jexus asked.
Hailey played innocent, "It looks like it."
"Hailey!" Shanniah whisper yelled.
"What?" Hailey gave Shanniah puppy eyes.
Shanniah shook her head.
"I'll go ask Vala if we can stay up until he wakes up," Sammy slipped silently away.