whenshewasnice | Room 227, Sunday Morning

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Room 227, Sunday Morning

Natalie thought she was holding everything together remarkably well, really. With her four daughters. And she supposed she should be glad they weren't younger, because all four being teenagers meant that they were independent and didn't need her to look after them, because that would've driven her close to insanity. But of course, they were also a group of pretty intelligent teenagers. And that could bring on some stress of its own kind as well.

But she was holding it together.

Lilith and Rosalind were elsewhere for the moment, and Cassidy and Ada (who were getting along surprisingly well) were getting ready to go grab some breakfast (and multiversal gossip, Natalie imagined) in town before their respective co-parents were bound to show up on the island. And wasn't that going to be marvelous?

And Natalie was just watching them and listening to them chatter away, ready for a quiet moment she could have for herself.

She doubted she'd actually get one.

[ooc: Open door/post, duh.]

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After having the same conversation about this with her father roughly four times - because Peter just couldn't let these things go - Lilith had simply left the room while he was still asleep and come here all by herself.

Which really was not such an accomplishment, Peter.

She knocked idly on the door and waited. It wasn't as if she wasn't used to whiny narrative.

Ada's narrative wasn't whiny, thank you very much.

Because that was who got to the door first, seeing as she (as well as Cassidy, right behind her) was just on her way out the door in a moment, anyway.

She raised one appraising eyebrow at the newcomer. "And you are?"

"Lilith," Lilith replied evenly. "Your latest in a line of potential half-sisters."

"Oh. We've met." Though that was ten years ago for Ada, so she couldn't say she exactly remembered. "You're late. Mom was expecting you when I showed up yesterday."

Which, yes, meant Ada had taken her time showing up here, too. But whaever.

"My dad decided I needed an impromptu civics lesson," Lilith said, glancing over Ada's shoulder to see if she could spot her mom. "I didn't."

Just Cassidy – who looked like Natalie, except with red hair – shoving Ada lightly forward and whining about being hungry. They were kind of crowding the door now.

Ada rolled her eyes at Cassidy, drawled "Your dad sounds like a nice man" to Lilith in a way that suggested no, he didn't, and then nudged the door further open so she could step into the hallway. "Okay, we're going to get breakfast. She's all yours."

'She' naturally being Natalie, seated on the edge of her bed and not interfering with any of this because no.

Cassidy offered Lilith a quick "hi, bye" as she came out.

Lilith's eyes had started rolling gently after Ada's comment - because there was a world of complexity behind that particular issue. Otherwise she ignored it, and stepped inside when the way had been cleared.

"Hi Mom," she said lightly.

"Hey, Lilith," Natalie replied equally lightly, standing up and trying to look like she hadn't just been rubbing her temple because this whole week was... Well. Something. "Finally escaped Peter's clutches?"

"He's asleep," Lilith replied, and sat down on the other end of the bed. "He'll probably wake up any minute and show up here to bug you, but I think we've got some time."

Natalie padded to her desk to grab a bottle of water, which was actually one from Peter's room, refilled. Because recycling.

"So," she said after a second or two just to glance the girl over, "how are you?"

"Good," Lilith said, after a moment of deliberation about how much information she should share (none). "You're crowded this year."

No particular judgment in that.

"I'm tempted to pit all of you against each other in a death match," Natalie deadpanned after a sip of water. "There's one more in addition to the pair you just saw."

She had not expected to be this multiversally fertile, no.

"I'm surprised the other three haven't gotten into a death match already," Lilith said. If she had more time here, she might have even been tempted to see what happened if she gave the situation a little poke. "Though I suppose some personality quirks match up well."

"Well, Ada and Cass seem to get along," Natalie hazarded, as she came back over to the bed. "But I can't let Ada and Rosalind near each other because... that just won't work."

A necromancer and a Shadowhunter? Ahaha no.

Having sat down, she added, with a glance, "Please don't poke at them."

She didn't need to read narrative for that. Lilith was a Wiggin. And descended from Peter. (And Envy, who certainly played a part, but Natalie didn't know that.)

Lilith placed her elbow on her leg and her chin on the palm of her hand. "Mhm."

Sorry, Natalie, but that just made it seem like a more interesting activity.

"So I know whose Ada is," she said conversationally. "Who are Cass and Rosalind?"

Natalie gave her a look for that 'mhm', and sighed at the rest.

"Well, Cassidy is a failed science experiment from when Topher was trying to run tests on me and a girl who used to go here who looks just like me." Oh, Topher. "And Rosalind belongs to me and my school assigned brother Jace."

"As only makes sense," Lilith said casually. "Keeping a list of people you interact with would probably make it easier to plan ahead for these happenings, you know. Not that that matters now."

It being the year it was, and all that.

"Don't cryptic at me, Lilith," Natalie replied, but mildly. "And to be fair, I could've predicted all of you except Cass."

Because she hadn't accounted for Topher.

"I suppose I forgot the island likes to play with people."

"I'm not being cryptic," Lilith replied. "You're graduating. Dad won't make it to his own graduation."

A pause. "Well, I suppose that one is cryptic."

"He was yanked to Haiti after his sophomore year and only came back because he was almost assassinated," Natalie pointed out, although she'd still raised an eyebrow. "It's not so much cryptic as expected."

"Maybe," she said, with a cheerful chirp that was most definitely on purpose. "So how have you been, mom?"

"I've had a long week, and a long few months," Natalie replied, because lying was pointless, wasn't it? It seemed almost rude to lie here. "But I'm fine."

That wasn't a lie. It was just a complicated truth.

Lilith's parents were full of complicated truths. She accepted it for what it was, but watched Natalie's face for crucial context.

"I think they call that senioritis."

"I think I'd call it falling prey to thinking you're smarter than you actually are," Natalie retorted. Her face didn't offer much extra. Just mildness. "But, same difference, eh?"

Lilith shrugged. It was a gesture almost expressive in its blandness. "I don't have enough expertise to judge."

That was one familiar looking shrug.

Natalie half smiled at her. "No, I don't suppose you do." She took another sip of water, thinkig something over. "So, I guess you already ran through the 'no spoilers' thing very thoroughly with your dad?"

"It annoyed him," she agreed, "Which was to be expected."

"Well, he has a lot at stake." Moreso than Natalie, who still thought she'd probably make a career for herself at a university somewhere. "And I did the same with Rosalind, so I guess I'll spare you the pointless questions."

"For what it's worth," Lilith said, lifting her chin up, "if I thought it would help, I might have said something. But the order of the events involved is very delicate."

She wasn't just talking about Peter, but she wasn't about to specify.

Because that would've just ruined the whole thing.

"They usually are." Well, Natalie had had a year to think about why the kids couldn't and shouldn't really tell them things. She had a pretty good handle on it now.

Of course it helped that Ada had made her worry with what little she'd said, last year. Made her a little more cautious with what she even wanted to know. "I'd rather just live through whatever happens, anyway. No previews."

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Room 227, Sunday Morning

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