[Hopetoun] Family Ties

[Vega]

7th Trial of Ashan during Arc 721

Vega and Lily, her cousin by marriage, were sitting together on a rise, looking over the sea. Lily was helping her with her sewing. Vega wanted to like Lily, she really did - and she did like her. But the two women were so incredibly different that Vega found it hard to find any common ground with her. They both liked Reese, Vega figured, but equally Vega didn't understand how anyone could actually voluntarily marry Reese.

Still, Vega was pregnant and Lily would be aunt to this child. She would be part of the life of the child which grew inside her and, when she thought that, Vega began to see how she might like Lily. Vega was hopeful, always. Optimistic, determined. She brought hope, she spoke truth. But Lily saw no bad in the world - none. No matter what was going on, no matter how bad things were, Lily didn't see any negative. To Vega it was as stupid and as self-absorbed as someone who saw nothing but negative. Lily cried when she was sad, and she screamed when she was afraid. But she never - never - did anything about it.

It drove Vega mad.

Lily felt her emotions - all of them - she wore them on her sleeve. Vega was not at all like that; she didn't do sharing or hugging or any of that kind of emotional nonsense and Lily? Lily was the exact polar opposite. "What do you want to make, Vega?" Lily asked and Vega looked down at the fabric in her hand. "I'm makin' a scarf for Sir Chip," she said. Lily blinked and giggled. "Sir Chip? That's a cute name," she said. Vega nodded. "It's a scarf, an' I'm usin' an ability Daia granted me." She focused on an even and careful seam around it, making sure that her stitches were even. Lifting her hand to her head, Vega pulled a single, silver shimmering hair from her head. "I need to put an emotion in this. An' I'm goin' to put hope."

Threading the needle was the trickiest bit and Vega had to try a couple of times. Once it was threaded, though, she started to sew. A small stitch, held close to each other and she made sure to keep the tension in her stitches. "He's my friend, an' I don't have a lot of friends. Almost none, in fact." She focused on her work and looking at the way the stitches laid together - it was as important that the fabric didn't pucker. "I'm your friend," Lily said and Vega lifted her head. "No, you're not," she said. Lily looked horrified and tears sprang to her eyes. "Don't you like me?"

Vega sighed. "Oh, by the Immortals, Lily, you don't get it. An' you don't get me." She shook her head. "I don't like you. But I also don't dislike you any more. I used to." Vega shook her head. "Oh, for the sake of Faldrun's farts, Lily, shurrup cryin', will you? Everyone doesn't have to be your friend. I'm your family, an' you're no longer considered a complete waste of skin."

Lily lifted her eyes to Vega, tear-stained cheeks flushed red. "Reese says that you like me."

Vega had a million thoughts, a hundred million feelings and yet, she simply smiled. "It's jus' what I'm like Lily. I like you well enough." Lily started to move and Vega looked at her and raised her hand. "Gerroff me, Lily. I don't hug."

[Vega]

7th Trial of Ashan during Arc 721

Working with the scarf, Vega focused on optimism and hope. That emotion which, largely, defined her life. She would have liked to be able to make the scarf more fancy, but she did the very best job she could and she dedicated the scarf to Daia, for Sir Chip who was her friend. She'd gotten some green fabric which transitioned in shades of dark green and she thought that Sir Chip would like it a lot. Because the thread she used would become the colour of the fabric, thanks to the ability she used, Vega concentrated on the emotion and on uniformity of the stitch.

When she'd finished, with a prayer of thanks to Daia, to Xiur, to Qylios and Ilaren - Vega handed the small scarf over. "What do you think?" Lily looked at it, and smiled. "It's really pretty." Vega grinned. "An' do you see how the hair turned into a proper thread, an' everythin'. That's thanks to Daia that is." Lily listened and nodded. "It must be so exciting meeting Immortals, and to be so blessed by them. If I met them, I'd tell everyone, all the time. " Vega chuckled, slightly. "No point to that. They'll jus' make a fuss an' I don't want fusses. Don't like them." Lily smiled "I love it when people like me,"

Vega turned a serious gaze to her cousin's wife. "Why?" Vega asked. She was aware that she often sounded quite harsh, so she explained. "I mean. I don't get it, Lily, I really don't. I'm not bein' difficult, I'm jus' tryin' to understand." Lily frowned with thought and was quiet for a moment, then she spoke, her words all tumbling out. "It's easy for you," she said. "You're so confident, and you know who you are. I feel like I'm always behind, always being judged. I'm not good enough, not for Reese, not for your family. Not for you." Vega's eyebrow raised, but she said nothing as Lily obviously wasn't finished. "And I want to be, so much. I'll change myself any way, any way again, because you're all so lovely and wonderful and Reese is just the perfect man," Lily didn't know Vega was pregnant and so, Vega thought, she couldn't be blamed for adding to her nausea at this point. But ew.

"I wish I was good enough," Lily said, and - of course - started to cry. Vega wanted to punch her, shake her, or shout at her. But, instead, Vega breathed in and practiced the 'art of being still' which her father had talked to her about. Then, Vega spoke quietly. "Lily, you an' I are very different," she said. "But I don't want to change you. You are who you are, an' I'm hopeful that the more we get to know each other, the more we'll find some common ground. But that takes time, an' it takes work." Vega smiled then, slightly. "An' if you change who you are to please me, then you'll always fail, because I'll be well grumpy if you're fake."

Lily looked like she was going to say something, but Vega carried on. "An' for the record, if you think it's easy for me, or for anyone, then you're deludin' yerself. An' that's the issue. When you're flappin' about an' screechin' or wailin', it's like you're makin' the most noise an' so you're the one that needs lookin' out for. But the people who aren't screechin' or wailin', they've got feelin's too, an' you need to jus' get over yourself." Lily looked at Vega all wide-eyed and nodded. "It seems like you're never afraid. Always confident."

The laugh which exited from Vega wasn't one bit amused. "That's because, Lily, you're not lookin'. I know when you're afraid because you scream the place down an' no one is in any doubt. It's indulgent an' it's selfish." The look on Lily's face told Vega just how much those words surprised the woman, so the explained. "Storm's Edge. What would you have done if you were there?" Lily shook her head. "I couldn't be! Oh, I couldn't have managed! Oh, no."

Vega nodded. "You'd have been terrified. So terrified that you couldn't sleep. So terrified that it seemed like it was always dark an' like every minute all you could do was be grateful that wasn't the one where you died." Lily nodded. "Exactly. I couldn't have. No one could function like that." Vega smiled, sadly. "They can Lily. They do. I did. Not because I'm braver than you, or stronger than you. But because when faced with the choice of gettin' on with it or screechin' like a cat what's been dismembered, I get on with it."


Lily looked at her. "You feel as afraid as I do?" Vega nodded. Then shrugged. "Not always. Not when I see a spider. Then, I jus' see a spider an' you see eight legged many-eyed death skitterin' towards you." Lily looked at her and smiled. "I don't like spiders," she said quietly and Vega guffawed and commented, drily, "You don't say?"

As she started to gather up her things, Vega looked at Lily. "I tell you what. I feel like we understand each other better, jus' for spendin' time together actually talkin'. How about we try an' do that more?" Lily beamed in delight. "I'd like that, I really would." Vega smiled. "Right. Me too. Sort of. Come on, there's thing to do." Lily nodded and stood and Vega considered that, when the time came, all things considered and despite all the ways that Lily irritated her, she'd be glad that this woman was in her child's life.

[Doran]

Vega:

Knowledge:
Needlecraft: Sewing small garments
Needlecraft: Making sewing stitches even
Needlecraft: Keeping tension even in the fabric
Needlecraft: Keep stitches neat
Needlecraft: Small stitches have small gaps between them
Psychology: How people perceive themselves is often very different to how you perceive them.

Loot: +1 tunawa sized scarf imbued with optimism
Lost: -
Wealth: -
Injuries: -
Renown: -
Magic XP: -
Skill Review: Appropriate to level.
Points: 10

- - -

Comments: I found myself quite interested in Lily in a previous thread, so I’m glad that she made another appearance in this one. I can see that Lily’s behaviour and her wearing her heart on her sleeve drives Vega mad.

They are two very different people!

It makes for an entertaining thread though, and what more, what you wrote here, gave us an insight into both Vega and Lily and how differently they approach similar situations or deal with their fears.

I had the same impression that Vega had when I finished reading the thread. It does indeed seem as if Vega and Lily understand each other much better after this conversation!

As someone who plays a Blessed of Daia as well, I was rather curious about Vega’s work in this thread, I have to admit. Putting hope into a scarf sounds like a wonderful idea in my opinion. I appreciate that you occasionally had Vega struggle with her needlework. That being said, I hope that Sir Chip will like his new scarf, and I look forward to another conversation between Vega and Lily!

Enjoy your rewards!