She did not know why she had the misfortune of checking on the youngest.
Earlier, Priscilla had been hunched over her beaker and test tubes for hours filtering out the impurities in her experiment. She had made many a poison to use against their enemies. This had ensured her place in the Veilkerhurst family. She had to face off against her aunt, who was disappointed that her own daughter did not gain her skills in poison making. Getting rid of her and her annoying brat had been a challenge, but not one she could not overcome. It was exhilarating seeing her husband lose his composure at the double funeral for his crone of a bride and brat of a daughter. Getting Vlaus Veilkerhurst's approval made her preen with pride. Being his only daughter would get her nowhere. He had no need to wed her off to gain power as he already had all of it. She had to make sure she was of use to him.
For years, she grew her reputation through the deaths of POWs and disobedient slaves. Her mother would subtlely order her to make poison that created topical reactions amongst the noblewomen who dared to flirt with her husband, hoping to take her place. She had even traded favors with the second eldest son, Brakus, by paralyzing his enemies so that he had more time to play with him. She had tried to gain favor with the eldest son, Reilard. His magic made him a formidable foe who had spells that stole the breath from his enemies lungs before turning them into his undead slaves. He had no need of assistance. Still, she put on a performance to be the flawless sister who would always provide resources for him.
She did this by giving him potions that would create fog so that he had no need to waste a spell. Ropes soaked overnight in tonic that would melt any appendage they wrapped around as he transported their owners to father's study. It did nothing to make him acknowledge her as nothing more than a a body he shared blood with. When he moved to the Mage's Tower he made sure to only come at father's call making sure to not even grace his other siblings with a glance. She knew he had no hatred of them, and had even seen him studying the youngest with a contemplative look. He had no need of hiding hid emotions, but he had no need to let them in.
Everything had begun to feel stagnant a few weeks ago. There was only so many different ways to make a man's skin turn black before the tainted flesh would curl off of his bones like burnt paper. She had the more common poisons in surplus and made a delivery just a few days ago. Now, she was just heading back to the basics, removing some elements while purifying others. She had a few flasks of innocuous liquids placed in a variety of locations in her lab. One was under a windowsill, it properties changing due to its exposure to the sun or moon. Another was hidden under a desk and made sure to make it presence know with vibrations that came in different frequencies.
These were but a slight reprieve from the daily exports of potions and poisons that the family collected in their various inventory. Vlaus Veilkerhurst decided what was necessary when it came to interrogations, manipulations and torture. All she had to do was provide it. This way, the only daughter of the Veilkerhurst family was guaranteed her place. Though Priscilla would be granted the grace of some leniency to deliver the perfect results, there were few and far between for experiments. If one could not provide results daily than they were nothing more than trash wasting the resources of the Veilkerhurst family.
Priscilla felt the familiar trickle under nose. She used the edge of her white coat to wipe it clean. There, where red bloomed through the material, wet and heavy with a coppery scent. She knew that her body was exhausted. It was begging to sleep. She had thought that she had finally disciplined it as its mistress, but obviously she was still weak. She knew that if she did not rest her eyes for at least a few minutes then she would collapse. Which would be much worse as she would not be able to force herself to wake. Priscilla could only scoff at the notion. She was always tired. Her muscles always felt stiff with exhaustion and pain. She does not remember when she has last gotten any sleep. She had no choice but to push herself as one could not afford to relax as long as this stupid competition is still active. Sleep was not an option.
Then her door opened.
Priscilla's head snapped up, her pale gray irises gaining size as her pupils shrunk to pinpricks. Her vision sharpened to quickly take in the details of the intruder. It was mother. The imposing woman walked in, nonchalant, her eyes taking in inventory to see what could be of use for whatever mission took priority.
"I see that you are hard at work as usual my love," her mother, a striking woman with dark hair said her tone not giving anything away. She continued, reaching for one of her test tubes, its content puffing out smoke in billows of grays and blues. "I also see that you have taken to playing around instead of making anything of value." Her tone remains even, but her words a warning, enough to make Priscilla tense her already aching shoulders.. Mother never had to show emotion to make her intention clear. She was not the type to waste ingredients as each herb, bug, crystal and all of her potion materials was accounted for.
"I just wanted to go back to the basics," her voice came out strong, neither a tremor or a crack to be detected. She had trained in private to find the balance of being referential without being weak. In the presence of her mother, her explanation made her feel inadequate and stupid. Her parents expected results, not excuses.
Reina Veilkerhurst raised a brow. "And to what reason did you decide to go on this endeavor?"
Priscilla paused, not to waste mother's time, but to measure out how to express her unusual departure from the norm. "It never hurts to refresh my skills as the basics were what I used to build my talent from."
Mother said nothing. Instead, she walked around her lab taking stock in what she had since produced since her last distribution. There were the red lizard poison that melted the throats those who dared to lie to her husband; the spider silk thread that helped their soldiers sew their wounds when they got hurt on the battlefield; and even some of the stiff yellow slime that expanded when you threw it at a target, locking them in place before they were fed to Vlaus Veilkerhurst's pets. Priscilla was proud of that one, as Reilard would invoke a spell to produce that affect. She would send a batch of the gelatinous solution to the tower, and he would make sure that it would be ready to be picked up by their father's vassals.
Mother was purposeful when she deposited the different potions into her storage bag, the bottle barely making a clink before they disappeared into the space. She was not distracted though, No, everything with her was always deliberate. Her eyes remained on the ground as she walked up to her daughter, her jaunt still nonchalant as she came face to face with her only daughter. When she raised her eyes, Priscilla had to keep from taking a step back. Her mother was not angry. She was disappointed in her daughter's endeavor.
"Would any of these mixtures benefit the Veilkerhurst Family in any way?" He mother intoned.
Priscilla did not know. She had ran into a brick wall that prevented her from brainstorming something new and was vainly hoping that she would stumble upon something unique.
Knowing that she should back down, she could not help but remain insistent. "This is how my thinking process is like mother. It will lead me to a breakthrough just as my past testing has done, I know it." Priscilla watched as her mother's eyes went from still indifference to dull disappointment. She was aware that her daughter was just floundering. What could this child be struggling with, she did not know. But she needed to know that she was walking on thin ice.
"Seeing as you have taken it upon yourself to spurn your father's patience, then it is only fitting that you utilize that time for something of equal value."
With that, mother did an about-face and stalked out of the door, her heeled boots making sharp clicks on the stone floor. "Go wake up the youngest." Her order floated over her should as she left her daughter's lab.
"But--" Priscilla tries to implore her mother, hoping to convince her to allow her to do anything else. But mother was already gone. Priscilla could not help but feel her nerves become rankled at the order. It was beneath her. It was even beneath their servants. She had no choice. She had to obey mother.
Now she was on her way to the furthest branch of the Veilkerhurst mansion. An added addition for their youngest to have his own place. Though many knew that it had been to really keep him as far from the rest as the family as possible. The servants were the ones who went to collect him only when they were ordered to do so by the head of Veilkerhurst family or when they bothered to even remember him. And mother was making her, the most prominent poison maker from the most prestigious family go and wake the most disappointing and unwanted member of the Veilkerhurst family? She could not fathom such humiliation. Even if she was supposedly wasting time with her potion making, that was more valuable than having their day ruined by the presence of this imp.
Without any prompting, she wrenched the door to the youngest's door open. She glared at the young boy who was just stupidly staring into a random point in the air. Priscilla figured that just meant that his brain was still addled by sleep. Or this was just more evidence of his slow intellect. She closed her eyes, refraining from giving into the temptation to roll them and breathed through her nose. She felt her face flushed as it made a wet nose due to the congealed blood. Subtle she checked to make sure nothing escaped. Imperceptivity, she looked at the youngest to see if he noticed. He did not react. Instead of feeling relief she felt her irritation grow.
"Get. Up!" She commanded, her patience already wearing thin from the lack of sleep, being admonished by mother and having to deal with her despised brother.
Illeuid did not respond to her only continuing to stare into space. Which was strange as he was usually prompt in jumping to attention with the cry of "Yes, sister" spilling from his lips in his haste to comply. Instead, his eyes only flickered to her before he went back to staring at the same space. His expression was marred by confusion. He had his arms crossed as he had his legs folded under him.
He still did not move.
His disobedience made Priscilla feel incensed. The anger flared from her chest like heartburn and burned through her extremities. It made its presence known as she stalked up towards the youngest brat. Before she could lash out in words or action, she felt her vision swim. At first, she thought that the youngest somehow managed to surprise her with a spell. He surprised Brakus with that stupid stunt with a squeaky rubber. In retaliation he had broken the youngest's arm. But it was impossible for him to outsmart her as he was the most inept member in all of the Veilkerhurst family. Then she remembered that it had been days since she had last slept.
Priscilla gritted her teeth. She was not going to pass out in front of this one. Even if he could not harm her, the humiliation would be enough to kill her. But it was to no avail as her vision went black. She did not collapse, however, Instead, she felt something pricking her consciousness, a sharp tinny sound that stabbed at her eardrums. Then a sharp crackle as a word bounced behind her eyes. What the heck was a system. When she woke up, she was laying in the youngest lap. He was staring down at her, studying her face. His eyes were drawn to the middle of her forehead. He bent down, ignoring her protest as he pressed his own forehead to her own. Immediately, the sounds that sounded like sharp buzzing stopped. In the distance, she heard that a sound that sounded like glass scraping glass. She was positive that she caught the word was complete.
Priscilla shot up, pushing herself away from the youngest. She glared at him with such abject hatred that he scrambled away from her. Yet when she took a step towards him, the weird sensations repeated themselves. Perturbed, she backed away from them. The two siblings stared at each other, uncertain of what the other would do.
"What did you do?" She hissed at him, getting in his face in her anger. Usually she could be composed, refraining from showing any unnecessary emotions. She did not wait for him to respond.
Illeuid watched in shock as his sister fled his room. She didn't even bother to slam his door. She was just gone.
She must be more exhausted than she thought. She rushed back to her lab knowing that she had plenty of stimulants to keep her awake. As she made her way back she could not help and wonder if she actually did see what she thought she saw. The way the air shimmered in the imitation of a heat wave. The strange mini light square that rippled momentarily across the distorted space. The tiny faded image of the woman that she was certain was of her. The random distorted voice that jabbed itself into her ears, the random pitches that garbles over each trying vying for her attention. The jarring silence that followed behind, putting her on high alert.
She would get to the bottom of the youngest's intent. He may be weak for now, but it seems like he may be more clever than she gave him credit for.