Devon's eyes immediately widen in pure terror as he scrambles from the study in a barely controlled exit, pulling the door shut behind him without so much as a parting word.
For a moment, all Alyse can do is stare in complete, unadulterated disbelief, struggling to reconcile the scene that just unfurled before her with the sister she's known for over a millennium. She finally recovers enough to shift her gaze back to Cara, and experiences a strange sort of relief when she finds her sister wearing an expression that appears both remorseful and dumbfounded, as though she can't accept her own actions.
"Cara..." (Alyse)
She calls out to her sister softly, her tone the product of genuine alarm and concern, rather than the deliberate calm she entered the study with.
Cara slowly turns to meet her gaze, eyes still wide in mild horror, tone flustered and remorseful.
"I...I am so sorry, I don't know why...I didn't mean to..." (Cara)
Her sister quickly rises from the couch, practically stumbling towards the study's door, her inebriation on full display. She begins picking up the glass shards, her shaking hands doing nothing to expedite the process. Cara grabs a particular piece of broken glass a little too clumsily, causing her to yank her hand back with a yelp, bright droplets of red pattering the floor beneath her.
"Agh! Dammit!" (Cara)
At her sister's pained cry, Alyse's eyes widen in alarm, and she immediately rushes from the couch to a nearby cabinet where her mother kept basic aid supplies.
"Hold on, Cara! I'll get the bandages!" (Alyse)
She quickly retrieves the strips of clean linen from a nearby basket, rushing to kneel at her sister's side in a mere moment while carefully avoiding the lingering shards of glass around her.
"Here, let me see..." (Alyse)
She reaches out, trying to gently pull Cara's hand into her own so she can inspect the wound. While Cara doesn't respond or meet her gaze, head hung low enough to obscure her face in a curtain or crimson hair, she doesn't fight Alyse either, letting her sister take her hand as she pleases.
Alyse inspects the injury, noting the shallow cut across most of Cara's palm, still welling with blood, albeit slowly. She sighs deeply, and begins gently pressing a folded strip of linen across the cut before wrapping it tightly in another.
"You're lucky, it's not that deep, it's just bleeding a lot because of how large it is. A basic healing potion should easily fix it. Honestly, though, what were you thinking picking up glass like that without even applying a basic reinforcement spell to yourself?" (Alyse)
She lets out another sigh, continuing to wrap Cara's hand with tender care. When she finishes, she looks up at Cara with a conflicted expression, only to notice the pattering of clear drops against her sister's lap.
In a thousand years, she's never seen her sister cry. Not because Cara doesn't, though it is rare, but because even as a child, her sister never wanted others to see her cry. If it ever happened, she'd hurriedly excuse herself to somewhere more private, wearing a forcefully neutral expression and misty eyes. Yet, here's the same Cara, sitting nearly knee-to-knee with her – a sister whose company she hasn't welcomed in centuries – shedding tears freely.
Alyse's heart nearly stops at the observation.
"Cara? Cara, what's going on with you? What's wrong? And don't tell me you're fine this time." (Alyse)
As if summoned by the question, the wet drizzle on Cara's lap intensifies, and her shoulders begin to tremble. She's silent for a moment, making Alyse wonder if she's just going to ignore her again. Then, Cara's voice practically leaks out, soft, pained, and carrying a trace of hysteria.
"I'm sorry, I just...I think I might be a horrible person, Alyse..." (Cara)
Alyse stiffens, her lips pursing in discontent. Then, she pulls Cara into a fierce hug...the first one she remembers them sharing in a long, long time. But she's not reminiscing, nor does her tone remain soft and soothing. Instead, she squeezes Cara tightly, giving her a light kiss on the cheek before whispering in her ear in as firm a tone as she can muster, as though saying it with enough conviction will force her little sister to believe it.
"Cara...you are NOT a bad person. Getting angry does NOT make you a bad person. I've done far worse than throw a wine glass near someone when they refuse to take no for an answer." (Alyse)
Cara shakes her head vehemently, prying herself from Alyse's grip enough for the two to finally look one another in the eyes. When she does, Alyse finally gets her first clear look at Cara's tear-streaked face, her eyes red and puffy, full of pain and self-loathing. Cara responds, her voice insistent and full of self-reproach.
"I'm not talking about Devon, Alyse, or a stupid fit of anger. I...sniffle...I did something vile, or I planned to...sniffle. I...sniffle...I was selfish, and I almost...sniffle...I could have...sniffle..." (Cara)
As her sister trails off, whatever intended explanation devolving into soft sobs, Alyse feels her heart constrict, completely at a loss.
'If it's not the episode with Devon she's worked up about, and she's even trivializing it in comparison...just what the hell happened? What did she do?'
After a little bit of coaxing, she manages to gently pull the still sobbing Cara off the glass-covered floor and back over to couch. She sits closer to her this time, wrapping her arm around her sister's shoulders. She rubs her back soothingly, trying to calm her, until Cara's sobs eventually subside into intermittent, wet sniffles.
Seeing an opportunity, she gently fixes Cara's hair, parting it back behind her ears to reveal her pitiful expression. Wiping her cheeks affectionately, she speaks, her voice soft again.
"Cara...talk to me. What happened? Why do you think you're a bad person?" (Alyse)
Hearing the question, Cara's eyes begin to tear up again, her lower lip trembling. However, she doesn't revert to her sobbing state, but she does reach for the mostly empty wine bottle nearby, spurring Alyse to snatch it out of her reach.
"Woahhhh, no, no, no...not happening. You are officially cut off from anymore alcohol tonight."
Cara hangs her head pitifully, averting her gaze back towards the fire. Several moments of tense silence pass before she speaks, her tone blunt, dejected.
"I'm in love with Mizuki, and I think it's going to drive me insane." (Cara)
Whatever Alyse may have been expecting...it wasn't that. She stares back at the listless Cara, her expression dumbfounded.
"You're telling me all this drama, it's just...boy trouble?" (Alyse)
The question elicits a scathing, hateful glare from Cara, causing her to raise her palms defensively.
"Okay! Okay! My bad...so you like Mizuki. How does this make you a bad person, exactly?" (Alyse)
'Honestly, if pining after someone, even someone married, makes you a bad person, then I'm the embodiment of sin itself. Gods, just the things I did in my youth alone, under the eyes of my Queen Elira painting...'
She cringes at the old memories, trying to push them from her mind before she reddens with embarrassment. Unfortunately, her question only seems to sadden her sister's expression more.
"Liking him, even loving him, isn't the problem. It's...how I planned to make him love me..." (Cara)
Tentatively at first, then freely, and eventually in a practical word vomit, Cara confesses everything to her. How her feelings for Mizuki developed from casual interest to something harder to ignore, all the passes she made at him, how the Princess practically threatened her when they found out about one another, how she tried to push him from her mind as a result, and finally, what she decided when she failed to do so.
How she schemed. Her plans to slowly escalate her intimacy with Mizuki, gaslighting him into writing it off as harmless, something appropriate for friends. How she planned to tow that line, pushing his boundaries right up until the point she could get him to falter, just for a moment. Just enough to make him unfaithful to Ilina, to take advantage of his conscience so he'd accept some responsibility for her feelings.
Finally, she shared how she'd been putting that plan in motion today. All the little white lies, the stolen moments of intimacy. But also, ultimately, how she'd finally lost her nerve when Mizuki hugged her and made that unexpected declaration to always be there for her, whenever she needed. And, how that made her realize how little she really deserved that loyalty, sending her into the state her sister found her in.
When her sister finishes speaking, Alyse just stares at her for several moments, flabbergasted, before she finally gathers enough wherewithal to utter her most basic sentiments.
"Sis...holy fuck..." (Alyse)
Cara winces, her head lowering slightly as she gazes steadfastly at the fireplace. Alyse stares at her for a moment longer in disbelief before quietly turning to stare into the fire as well, her mind slowly digesting the enormity of Cara's confession. Eventually, she manages to wrap her head around it enough, leaving one, primary question in her mind.
She glances at Cara.
"But like...why though?" (Alyse)
Cara rolls her eyes slightly, not bothering to look away from the crackling flames.
"I told you...I love him." (Cara)
She waves her hands, her tone deliberately non-confrontational.
"No, no, I got that. You like the guy, love him, whatever. What I mean is...this whole would-be villain arc of yours is not some half-baked crush, Cara. Why are you so hung up on him? Cause, no offense, he's nice and all, and the guy's not lacking in the looks department, but the number of nice, handsome elves I've seen you turn down in a single month is enough to nauseate me. Don't tell me this is over something as shallow as his abilities?" (Alyse)
That's the part that she's really hung up on. She understands liking Mizuki, she does. More than she ever thought she would. The more time she spends around him, the more she can feel this silent, indescribable charm of his that seems to effortlessly put people at ease around him. And while it doesn't personally move her heart a single hair's breadth, she can recognize that he's significantly more handsome than she gave him credit for at first sight, even by elven standards.
Also, despite some of his prior actions and how nervous he makes her, he seems like a genuinely decent person. It's really the idea of his power itself that terrifies her. In fact, if he was stripped of all his abilities and them granted to a random elf instead, she wouldn't even be able to sleep at night.
But, none of these things are something she can imagine Cara loving him so vehemently for. Maybe if she was a young maiden, but not now. Not when she's been through a millennium of life and her fair share of romantic entanglements.
Cara's brow furrows, seemingly considering her question deeply. After a moment, her sister simply gives her a helpless look.
"I don't know how to justify it to you, Alyse, and I don't care to dissect it all until I can. There's how he makes me feel, and how others have made me feel, and they're different. I know that I don't want to lose that feeling. Everything else is...semantics." (Cara)
Alyse remains quiet for a moment, recognizing that there's not really much she can say to rationalize away matters of the heart if that's how her sister feels. It would, in fact, be the peak of irony on her part, considering the number of stuffy old elves she had try and philosophize her into being straight in her youth.
She sighs, feeling equally helpless, and gives her sister an inquisitive look.
"Fair enough, but...if you've come to feel this way once, you can come to feel this way again. Maybe...with someone else? I'm just saying, before you go scorched earth on trying to force a relationship with someone, consider the possibility that, at least in terms of moving your heart, they're not irreplaceable. You could meet someone you feel the same way about a short ten years from now." (Alyse)
In return, Cara just gives her a scornful look, her tone exasperated.
"If he's so replaceable, if it's so easy to find someone who makes me feel this way, then why have I had to wait a millennium for it, Alyse? Why am I so...alone?" (Cara)