[ Despite her limited understanding of Ianthe's work and how far her power went. It was easy to find her on the network, though, asking and answering questions, being the go-to to so many people, including Robin. If Ianthe were to disappear, how long would the void-touched last without her? She had such an influential place in the society they'd invaded. Robin was nowhere near ready to take a similar position. ]
I don't think I've heard that name before.
[ It was phrased in a way to give Ianthe two paths: talk about this person or move on to another topic. ]
[ She was silent for a moment after, carefully handling her hair, gently massaging her scalp. Robin hadn't been around or known Ianthe long enough to come close to understanding the full scope of her feelings — that'd be like expecting anyone to understand Robin's experience with her family — but there were links that could be placed down here and there: being overworked when she was surrounded by death. Having those who mattered to her disappear when there was no closure. ]
[Ianthe ran a hand over her face, focusing on the feeling of her hair being worked. It made her more forthcoming than she usually was, something her sister used against her when she really wanted to know something.]
I live here by myself. I'm involved with a couple women - it's complicated. My Lord is here, but he's off making himself a new family that doesn't exactly include me.
It doesn't really matter, Robin. I'm a necromantic genius. I have my research.; that's all I need. It's all I ever need.
[ Pouring water, slow and methodical to entertain Ianthe's senses, Robin thought about her answer. One probably didn't need to be particularly insightful to guess what it was covered in — a facade, some kind of defense mechanism, or even a thread she'd been clinging onto to survive this place. All projections, yes, but Robin didn't have a way of knowing how far from the truth they were.
She wondered who'd been there for her when she was gripped by the Void. Who held her through the madness, if anyone at all? Had she been alone then, too? Had her Lord's abandonment already begun?
(She thought of Ezra; how he'd moved far away and changed his name, doing anything within his power to forget the past and pretend his real family never existed. It didn't bother her most of the time, but Robin's mind wasn't always consistent. There were days when she felt she'd been erased, and it filled her with something too rotten to be grief.) ]
[Ianthe had hid much of her madness from the Void, and when it started slipping her grasp, she'd scared people. So few knew her well enough to know something was deeply wrong, and the only one tried to stop her research got hurt. By then it had been too late, she'd been too far gone. It scared her a lot. She's not supposed to be burying herself in her research anymore because of it, and Void research had been forbidden by her Lord, but that wasn't practical when people would stop her if they understood what her research was for. So many of them were present when the Duchess laid out the task Ianthe was to complete for her. How many of them actually thought about it? Remembered? It wasn't secret knowledge. Just how Ianthe was getting there, what steps she followed and practiced were, save for the few she'd trusted to help her with the yeti aspect.]
That's why I asked you here. I don't even fucking need this trim - I'm a necromancer. I just... wanted this.
[Her hands in her hair, skilled ones that knew exactly what they were doing, belonging to a beautiful blonde. Shallow? Probably, but Ianthe needed... something. She couldn't even define it.]
My sister and I... We'd take care of each other's hair like this, washing, brushing, braiding it. Hers is thick and curly. The pampering was one of the few things better than sex.
[ She would've smiled if Ianthe could see her. Smiling often helped her get something from people, though what that something was couldn't be defined here. Not yet. And while she had no doubts that being intimate with someone in Ianthe's position — sexually or not — was beneficial, it hardly required any effort; Robin did actually like being with her. She wanted to be here with her. Alone. ]
I'm honored.
[ Done washing Ianthe's hair, she lifted her head from the basin, wrapping a towel around it to dry until it stopped dripping. She let it stay wet to proceed with the trim. ]
I'd do the same for my sisters.
[ A lie. Mother would have never allowed her to touch her sisters' hair, much less dictate their appearance or lower herself to having a job, even within their household. That was for the followers — the servants, essentially. Robin could only be in charge of herself. ]
[Opening her eyes, Ianthe lifted a hand up so she could touch some of Robin's hair. Was she dying it or had it been altered permanently through magical means? That was a theorem she was familiar with, one that had shady been used in one of the other void-touched here.]
You'd still look good with dark, but I like the blonde.
[ She waited until Ianthe was satisfied, and finally offered that smile. A shy one. ]
Yes. I used to dye it, but then… [ Pensively running her fingers through the ends of her hair, she shrugged. ] Then I decided I didn't want to do it anymore. I'm happy with my decision. It feels more like me.
[ Maybe one day she'd explain in how many ways she meant that. ]
It's in remarkably good condition for having been dyed. You take good care of it.
[Which was probably expected for those that make a living off of doing hair. No one washed to have someone with a rat's nest in their head doing their hair.]
I would love for you to braid my hair.
[Settling one more to relax, eyes falling closed, ianthe hummed in thought.]
It's important to feel like yourself. It's expected in the House I'm from, especially among the royalty, to... fix any flaws and be made into works of art. Almost everyone has work done to some extent. I never bothered.
[ Still part of her Mother's insistence that stuck with her, the preoccupation with her appearance was likely something that would never go away. It was more valuable than not. After all, she'd gotten Ianthe's attention, hadn't she? People often paid more attention to what you had to say when there was something pretty to look at.
To be made into works of art was the part that stuck with her. The part that could have been something her Mother demanded of her children, if she didn't have other purposes for them. ]
Body work. We're a House that excels in flesh magic.
[Among other things.]
Boobs, ass, getting rid of unwanted fat, reshaping the face to be more pleasing, altering hair color, texture, length. Anything unwanted physically for whatever a person's purpose was.
We're the pretty people, the House of the Shining Dead. A way to disarm people. They say all sorts of things when they forget that there's a vulture or a viper under that pretty face, depending on whether they're a necro or not.
[The Third House was the Empire's information brokers, its spies. Chameleons. Ianthe had always been good at her job - too good. Even if she'd wanted it, she wouldn't have been allowed to become perfect like her sister. She needed to be overlooked back then, to carry the con off. By Third House standards, Ianthe wasn't considered attractive.]
[ She began, the soft sound of the blades cutting into the hair filling the spaces in between words. Ianthe brought up vultures and vipers, but the word that came to Robin's mind was parasite. ]
That sounds like a lot of pressure, I think.
[ Spoken without judgment or pity, because she understood. Perhaps she would have looked very differently now, if Mother had ever permitted (forced) her children to do that. No— they had to be modeled to perfection through their behavior, their health and her rules. ]
Was it something you enjoyed at the time? Performing your duties?
[A lot of pressure? Robin had no idea the amount of pressure Ianthe had been under growing up to be necromancer enough for both her and her twin sister. It made her laugh - a low, mirthless sound - for a couple seconds before she stopped so as to not jostle Robin's hand with those scissors.]
Sometimes. There was definitely a rush and a sense of accomplishment, but so much of it was just... empty. It was never for me, always for her. It turned me into such a mean bitch.
[Ianthe met her own gaze in the mirror with her stolen eyes.] But it was worth it. Just another price I had to pay. Nothing to shed tears over.
[ She didn't mind the laugh. Robin could almost guess what the sound was made of — the feelings tied up inside like knots, memories that followed like a shadow. She'd be laughing if someone knew the truth about her and said the same.
But so much of it was just... empty. Robin's hands slowed down then, gaze turning dull for a moment. It was, wasn't it? But it didn't seem like it'd made Ianthe hollow. If it had, then Ianthe was an incredible liar, and if she was a liar, they were both in deserving company. ]
I'm glad it was worth it.
[ She continued, standing behind Ianthe now. Looking at her through the mirror. ]
[Ianthe was indeed a liar; she was trained very well to present the face necessary for her goals. But she mostly didn't care anymore. The vast majority of people just weren't worth her notice. Extras in the background of her life...]
Mhmm. Twin sister. No other siblings. My House grav-carries instead of using VAT, and I ruined that for my mother with my birth. Though I suppose since they need a new heir, they'll probably reconsider VAT.
[She paused then, meeting Robin's eyes in the mirror.] I'm a princess.
[ Quietly listening, as always, Robin offered little more than a nod. Immediately understanding and accepting that Ianthe was a princess, even if the terms that had come before were foreign to her. She could be lying about that too, but it wasn't a very meaningful lie. Not here, when even Queen Alicent recognized that she was no longer a queen of anything.
Just like Robin was no longer the heiress of a renewed world to be. ]
Princess Ianthe.
[ Trying it on her tongue. It didn't seem like she intended to keep using it, unless Ianthe asked her to. ]
Could you tell me more about those terms you used? 'VAT'.
Ugh, just Ianthe is fine. I haven't really been Princess of Ida in two years and it's the least of my titles. I only bother pulling them out if someone slaps their title dick down on the table.
[And they didn't matter. Deathwarden meant more here than anything else.]
VAT is an acronym but I don't remember what it stands for. So, in the Nine Houses, when people procreate, they can either grav-carry - which is in utero on a planetary installation with natural gravity - or make use of a VAT womb. That's a technological incubator that gestates a human embryo.
Ah... VAT is used during non-planterary procreation, so those that have good off to war can continue the family line even if they die, or the rich that literally don't want to grav-carry and go through the birthing process. Most VAT births start as grav-carry into the embryo reaches a certain stage and then they are transferred to the VAT to finish gestation.
[ She slowed down temporarily, more attention on Ianthe's words than her own work, imagining what such a world looked like. Then imagining if Mother had access to such possibilities. Doubtful that she'd take part in any way using her own body, but she certainly wouldn't have had to bother with all the bribery, the corruption, the vulnerabilities that eventually culminated in the raid and her arrest. Her little army of children could have grown even larger, then, and what a terrifying fate that would've been. ]
I see. [ Going back to her steady rhythm, ] Are there adoptions?
Goodness, [ She breathed out, hands pausing for a moment.
The shock wasn't genuine. Robin wasn't an orphan, as far as she was aware, but she'd been taken to another family. And she'd been fighting long before she was that age. If anything, her indoctrination made her inclined to think that those orphaned children were fodder for a cause that'd never be relevant to her, even if the Family had somehow shared the world Ianthe came from.
They probably would've thought the same of the Beckers, unless Mother had found a way to place herself among the families that mattered. ]
[Ianthe didn't see it for being as fucked up at it was. It was just part of life, part of the Empire, and the propaganda was very strong. The only reason Ianthe hadn't served as an officer in the Cohort - as expected being a seat of education along with the practical military service - was because of Corona's con. They had private tutors so no one would learn that Coronabeth had not a single necromantic bone in her body.]
It could get a bit chaotic with so many of us, but — I was happy. It wasn't perfect. [ Something she would have never admitted before. ] I think that's normal with every family.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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[ Despite her limited understanding of Ianthe's work and how far her power went. It was easy to find her on the network, though, asking and answering questions, being the go-to to so many people, including Robin. If Ianthe were to disappear, how long would the void-touched last without her? She had such an influential place in the society they'd invaded. Robin was nowhere near ready to take a similar position. ]
I don't think I've heard that name before.
[ It was phrased in a way to give Ianthe two paths: talk about this person or move on to another topic. ]
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She disappeared without a trace from her a few months back. Like many others. We don't know what happens to them. I don't know what--
And now Viola is missing, leaving me with just Yorik and that should be impossible. I'm just...
[So tense and wound up.] A little stressed.
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Have you been alone here?
[ Her constructs aside. ]
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[Ianthe ran a hand over her face, focusing on the feeling of her hair being worked. It made her more forthcoming than she usually was, something her sister used against her when she really wanted to know something.]
I live here by myself. I'm involved with a couple women - it's complicated. My Lord is here, but he's off making himself a new family that doesn't exactly include me.
It doesn't really matter, Robin. I'm a necromantic genius. I have my research.; that's all I need. It's all I ever need.
[It was the lie she liked to tell herself.]
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She wondered who'd been there for her when she was gripped by the Void. Who held her through the madness, if anyone at all? Had she been alone then, too? Had her Lord's abandonment already begun?
(She thought of Ezra; how he'd moved far away and changed his name, doing anything within his power to forget the past and pretend his real family never existed. It didn't bother her most of the time, but Robin's mind wasn't always consistent. There were days when she felt she'd been erased, and it filled her with something too rotten to be grief.) ]
I don't mind staying. If you want me to.
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That's why I asked you here. I don't even fucking need this trim - I'm a necromancer. I just... wanted this.
[Her hands in her hair, skilled ones that knew exactly what they were doing, belonging to a beautiful blonde. Shallow? Probably, but Ianthe needed... something. She couldn't even define it.]
My sister and I... We'd take care of each other's hair like this, washing, brushing, braiding it. Hers is thick and curly. The pampering was one of the few things better than sex.
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I'm honored.
[ Done washing Ianthe's hair, she lifted her head from the basin, wrapping a towel around it to dry until it stopped dripping. She let it stay wet to proceed with the trim. ]
I'd do the same for my sisters.
[ A lie. Mother would have never allowed her to touch her sisters' hair, much less dictate their appearance or lower herself to having a job, even within their household. That was for the followers — the servants, essentially. Robin could only be in charge of herself. ]
I used to have dark hair.
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[Opening her eyes, Ianthe lifted a hand up so she could touch some of Robin's hair. Was she dying it or had it been altered permanently through magical means? That was a theorem she was familiar with, one that had shady been used in one of the other void-touched here.]
You'd still look good with dark, but I like the blonde.
[She was a little biased.]
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Yes. I used to dye it, but then… [ Pensively running her fingers through the ends of her hair, she shrugged. ] Then I decided I didn't want to do it anymore. I'm happy with my decision. It feels more like me.
[ Maybe one day she'd explain in how many ways she meant that. ]
Thank you.
[ She picked up the scissors to begin. ]
Would you like me to braid your hair after?
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[Which was probably expected for those that make a living off of doing hair. No one washed to have someone with a rat's nest in their head doing their hair.]
I would love for you to braid my hair.
[Settling one more to relax, eyes falling closed, ianthe hummed in thought.]
It's important to feel like yourself. It's expected in the House I'm from, especially among the royalty, to... fix any flaws and be made into works of art. Almost everyone has work done to some extent. I never bothered.
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[ Still part of her Mother's insistence that stuck with her, the preoccupation with her appearance was likely something that would never go away. It was more valuable than not. After all, she'd gotten Ianthe's attention, hadn't she? People often paid more attention to what you had to say when there was something pretty to look at.
To be made into works of art was the part that stuck with her. The part that could have been something her Mother demanded of her children, if she didn't have other purposes for them. ]
What kind of work?
cw: reference to magical plastic surgery
[Among other things.]
Boobs, ass, getting rid of unwanted fat, reshaping the face to be more pleasing, altering hair color, texture, length. Anything unwanted physically for whatever a person's purpose was.
We're the pretty people, the House of the Shining Dead. A way to disarm people. They say all sorts of things when they forget that there's a vulture or a viper under that pretty face, depending on whether they're a necro or not.
[The Third House was the Empire's information brokers, its spies. Chameleons. Ianthe had always been good at her job - too good. Even if she'd wanted it, she wouldn't have been allowed to become perfect like her sister. She needed to be overlooked back then, to carry the con off. By Third House standards, Ianthe wasn't considered attractive.]
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That sounds like a lot of pressure, I think.
[ Spoken without judgment or pity, because she understood. Perhaps she would have looked very differently now, if Mother had ever permitted (forced) her children to do that. No— they had to be modeled to perfection through their behavior, their health and her rules. ]
Was it something you enjoyed at the time? Performing your duties?
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Sometimes. There was definitely a rush and a sense of accomplishment, but so much of it was just... empty. It was never for me, always for her. It turned me into such a mean bitch.
[Ianthe met her own gaze in the mirror with her stolen eyes.] But it was worth it. Just another price I had to pay. Nothing to shed tears over.
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But so much of it was just... empty. Robin's hands slowed down then, gaze turning dull for a moment. It was, wasn't it? But it didn't seem like it'd made Ianthe hollow. If it had, then Ianthe was an incredible liar, and if she was a liar, they were both in deserving company. ]
I'm glad it was worth it.
[ She continued, standing behind Ianthe now. Looking at her through the mirror. ]
So she was your only sibling.
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Mhmm. Twin sister. No other siblings. My House grav-carries instead of using VAT, and I ruined that for my mother with my birth. Though I suppose since they need a new heir, they'll probably reconsider VAT.
[She paused then, meeting Robin's eyes in the mirror.] I'm a princess.
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Just like Robin was no longer the heiress of a renewed world to be. ]
Princess Ianthe.
[ Trying it on her tongue. It didn't seem like she intended to keep using it, unless Ianthe asked her to. ]
Could you tell me more about those terms you used? 'VAT'.
cw: pregnancy/childbirth discussion
Ugh, just Ianthe is fine. I haven't really been Princess of Ida in two years and it's the least of my titles. I only bother pulling them out if someone slaps their title dick down on the table.
[And they didn't matter. Deathwarden meant more here than anything else.]
VAT is an acronym but I don't remember what it stands for. So, in the Nine Houses, when people procreate, they can either grav-carry - which is in utero on a planetary installation with natural gravity - or make use of a VAT womb. That's a technological incubator that gestates a human embryo.
Ah... VAT is used during non-planterary procreation, so those that have good off to war can continue the family line even if they die, or the rich that literally don't want to grav-carry and go through the birthing process. Most VAT births start as grav-carry into the embryo reaches a certain stage and then they are transferred to the VAT to finish gestation.
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I see. [ Going back to her steady rhythm, ] Are there adoptions?
cw: child soldiers
[There was also that people would end up joining the Ninth House if cast from their own for whatever reason, but Ianthe didn't want to bring that up.]
The Cohort - our military - tends to be where most orphans end up. The Junior Cohort will accept applicants as young as eleven.
cw: child soldiers, indoctrination
The shock wasn't genuine. Robin wasn't an orphan, as far as she was aware, but she'd been taken to another family. And she'd been fighting long before she was that age. If anything, her indoctrination made her inclined to think that those orphaned children were fodder for a cause that'd never be relevant to her, even if the Family had somehow shared the world Ianthe came from.
They probably would've thought the same of the Beckers, unless Mother had found a way to place herself among the families that mattered. ]
I was adopted. All of my siblings were, actually.
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Were you happy with them - your adopted family?
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[Ianthe's brow furrowed for a moment.]
Who ended up being the favorite? The oldest?
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Yes. Ezra. [ A beat. After that, with a trace of longing, ] And I was his.
But we haven't spoken in years.
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