[Mina] We Are Family

[Brone Van Estra]

Mina's room was the only one with a big window. She had requested it, and so one was built. She did not want the customary small window near the ceiling. Obviously the girl had a death wish. If she opened it during the day, the glass only saved her from so much, too long at a window, if the angle was wrong, it would kill her. She knew that. But Brone did not question her, he too was tempted to see the daytime, but he feared the risk was too large to really look through the glass at midday.

But he was not going to see his sister about her window.

Brone did not actually have much of a reason to visit Mina, expect for the fact that he had not seen her in a while. He was going to avoid the topic of women he was interested in as long as he possibly could. He hoped Mina couldn't read him like a book, or if she did, he prayed she couldn't read it all. Brone knocked out of politeness.

[Mina Van Estra]

Why did she have that bloody mirror in her room? Well, Mina wasn't sure exactly, she just wanted it, and so she got it, though it was built at night and took a little longer than she would have liked it to. Sometimes she would sit in the back of her room and stair at the curtain, the way the light from outside managed to create a light through it, though weak she didn't often venture to close. But she liked being able to look at this for a long time, it made her feel... What, human? That couldn't possibly be it.

Disturbed from her thoughts she heard a knock on her door, and sighed internally. “If your name starts with a J you can just go away, now.” she said, listening ,and heard nothing. She assumed that if it was her twin he wouldn't have been suicidal enough to linger for the amount of time it took her to walk to the door, when she was 'pleasantly' surprised to see her oldest brother, Brone. “And to what do I owe this visit? I don't believe I've committed any crimes, haven't meddled in your weak love life, so I'm sure any lectures aren't needed.” she said, tempting him with a possible entry into her room. “And yet here you are, so I guess you can come in, after all, you went through all that trouble to come speak to me.” Mina said, what was the point of having brothers if not to bother them senselessly at every turn? She took a small step back to let him in.

[Brone Van Estra]

Brone rolled his eyes and walked into her room. Ad he had expected. The curtain was drawn over the window. "I did not come to lecture you." Brone said with a small shake of his head. Did she really think that was all he did? Their father was the one who loved to preach, Brone was silent compared to their father. The prince did not comment on his love life--which was actually anything but weak at the moment. His heart was betraying him, she would know know that. And her had taken Serena as his to claim for now, and the sex with her was anything but weak. Mina would no doubt find that all exciting, but he was not telling her much. Neither of his siblings were really his confidante, not completely. "Do you think it unreasonable for a brother to talk to his sister? The castle is boring at this time of day, and I knew you would be here without much else to do." Brone said. If she found trouble with his tone that was not his problem. But even he could see she had nothing to do.

[Mina Van Estra]

“So I'm here to amuse you then?” Mina said with a scoff, shutting the door, loudly, behind her brother as she took a few short steps over to her vanity mirror [useless old thing anyway]. She threw a look at her brother that said 'as if' quite clearly. She noticed the way his eyes looked at her window, and knew how crazy she must seem to others, it suited her just fine. “No, not at all brother, I do not think it's unreasonable.” she said, glancing away, “However my brother, well that might be just a whole other story.” she drawled on her words. Brone wasn't one much for talking, so she was surprised by him being there, and his tone. “As if I have nothing to do, other than sit alone in my room and wait until night to go out, well if you'd have waited then maybe I could have given you a reason to lecture me.” she said, her tone was quite sharp with him. “What other reasons might a brother have for wanting to come see his sister?” she asked, a little less harsh this time.

[Brone Van Estra]

Brone chuckled softly. "Are you always this moody? Or is it an act?" He asked her lightly. He smiled softly, but avoided her mirror. He had always wanted a reflection, and he hated staring into supposedly reflective surfaces. "I just came to say hello. Don't siblings spend time together? And since my name does not start with a J, I thought maybe you could at least pretend to be happy to see me." Brone was always busy: training, lessons, meetings. Far busier than his other siblings, and he just wished he had better friendships with his siblings, it would make things more interesting.

He trailed a finger along her dusty bookshelf, reading was not Mina's favorite pass time. Brone, however, had read almost everything on his bookshelf at least once, if not twice. Brone's eyes met Mina's, they were light and laughing. "What, too hard to hold a conversation with your own brother?" he asked teasingly to break the silence.

[Mina Van Estra]

Mina was doubted a lot, the first strike against her was being born a girl, and not the first child. In her own diluted pride she knew she could run the show, if she felt like it. Sometimes she read the books, but they were boring, and repetative, and so came the dust, which would have to be cleaned, after all, according to her brother she had nothing else to do. Smiling slightly she relaxed, so he really wasn't here to lecture her. “Not at all, you came to talk, so lets talk.” she said, she moved over to the corner of her room furthest from the light where there were some chairs. She'd helped plan many social events with her mother there, or discussed things with her friends in these chairs, they were well loved.

Brone looked a little awkward just standing there, so she smiled, offering him to come sit down. “So what's been going on in your life brother? Anything I should know about, perhaps something that doesn't revolve around lessons, or meetings, that I'm never there for.” she said, internally reminding herself to shut up and drop it, she wouldn't be much good for anyone outside of planning social events and gossip. “What's been going on in your life?” she asked.

[Brone Van Estra]

Brone laughed and joined her by sitting in the chair beside her. "You know that I'd rather you went to those meetings." He said. He had told her this before. "You'd knock some sense into those heads, they never admit when they are wrong, its infuriating." Them being the elders, the kings advisors-- all men. Brone silently planned to have a few female advisors. But Brone knew she did not want to hear about it. And of course his secrets were in the forefront of his mind--but he was not sharing those with her, he only had a few that would know.

"My life?" He repeated. He could safely tell her about Serena. "I have taken a lover, she'll be staying in the castle." He said with a light shrug, but he couldn't help but smirk. "General De Lorme's daughter."

[Mina Van Estra]

Suspicion tugged at Mina, but she wasn't about to stir anything up with her family right now, the war and all was all consuming. Besides anything that her brother would do when he took the throne she would trust, he had a good head on his shoulders, and would be able to lead well. “Yes, well I'm sure you can handle the hard heads quite well, if not you can manage to be somewhat intimidating if you choose to be...” she said, was that almost a compliment?

Purely for the sake of theatrics, Mina began to cough, before a wide smirk appeard on her face. “General De Lorme's daughter?” she repeated, checking twice for accuracy. Well, this certainly counted as news. She had met the General a few times more then she cared to, and though he wasn't as bothering as some of the other 'I'm better than you' men, she still didn't click to well with him. “So soon, well, she must be good then.” Mina was pretty blunt with her words. “Is she here now, I'll have to meet her, later. How did you meet her, when, where?” she said, prodding with questions.

[Brone Van Estra]

"Her father is a foul man, who it has been my displeasure to have to meet." Brone said making a face. he could do that in front of Mina, and she would still have faith in him. That was what was so good about her. No matter what Brone said, she still trusted him. "Oh she must be somewhere, since the sun isn't set." He said pointing to her large covered window.

"Well, we met at the lake, maybe a week ago now, late one night," Brone said. He wondered if his tone gave away the rest. They had gone swimming, and of course, gripped by very vampiristic lust and had sex on the bank. Not a difficult think to understand. Brone did well with women, and beside, it was common for vampires to sleep around. It was like blood lust, unavoidable. "Yes, his daughter, Serena DeLorme."

[Mina Van Estra]

Mina frowned, she needed time to think, she wasn't always known for being the kindest princess, but she would make an effort not to send this one running the other way, maybe. It all depended on her mood, how much she liked the fling her brother choose, and so many other things. “I'm sure I will run into her soon enough then.” she said with a small nod.

Thank goodness Brone wasn't one to go into great conversational depths, Mina really didn't feel like knowing all the gritty details. “Do you think this one will last long?” she teased, though not really able to imagine her brother settling on what she presumed was a flues trying to throw themselves on the next best thing. Be nice Mina. she reminded herself. Well, her competitive nature was starting to get at her, so Mina decided that tonight she would have a little fun of her own, maybe actually give her brother a reason to come lecture her this time? Smirking she twirled a lock of her hair around her finger. “Have you spoken to the General, I can't imagine how thrilled her must be about his daughters new... Position.”

[Brone Van Estra]

"I don't know how long it will last," Brone said. But he was thinking closer to a long time, she was not only there for her attractive nature, but because he needed another female off his mind. "A while."

Brone gave her a look. "Actually, he was going to disown her until I said she was coming to the castle with me, then he seemed to be very glad she was going to make his family famous." he rolled his eyes lightly but realized Mina was probably the last person he should be talking to right now. Brone looked at her but decided to not say anything thing else on the subject. He folded his hands in his lap and looked at her.

"How have you been getting along?" He asked. Mina was known to be very popular with men, a talent for attracting teh opposite sex seemed to have skipped Jonathon though. He had less desire than the rest of the royal family did. Brone just hoped she didn't give him many details. But he was not sure else she did in her free time.

[Mina Van Estra]

“Oh.” Mina said, relatively unmoved by a father wanting to disown their daughter, things happened in life, you just had to learn to deal with it. Besides it didn't really effect her at all, so why should she waste her time with caring? What a dull and pitiful way to waste your time. “Well, I guess I will be meeting her then, if she's staying a while.” Mina said. She glanced over to the window briefly, the curtains flapped a little, hopefully the wind wouldn't become a problem, if the curtains blew all the way open... Well, being a vampire didn't mean an easy life all the time.

Mina smirked at the question, “Ah, I've been getting along quite well actually.” The lust that vampires felt was very strong, and who was she to deny such feelings? “But I'm sure you don't want the full blown details.” she said. Other then that she just shrugged, would he really want to learn that she'd been going into town to meet people, and not sleep with them. That she had a life outside her reputation, somewhat. “And how have you been, besides finding new ways to occupy your time, and lessons, anything a sister should know about?” she said, intrigued by Brone's folded hands in his lap.

[Brone Van Estra]

Brone laughed. "No, not really anything a sister would want to know." he laughed. He only have details about his sex life and his witch secret left, She would know neither thing, so that somewhat dampened the conversation a bit. Mina kept her secrets, he kept his. That was the way it way, simple as that. Their relationship was such a strange balance of understanding and fighting. they never seemed to be able to decide if they were really great friends or not. But when things got rough, he had more faith in Mina than he did in Jon. Jon was simply too soft. Brone had his own fears about his own strength these days though.

Brone stood then, he never was one to sit still for long. "I'm glad you've been getting along." He nodded looking at the window. Behind it was the sky, the sky that he knew must match Aarya's eyes. The sun, deadly and impossible to see, just like his growing love for the witch he was pushing himself away from.

[Mina Van Estra]

Mina smiled laughing softly, “Of course.” And then he just sort of drifted, like he wasn't really paying attention and his mind was off somewhere else. Sighing Mina hated feeling left out, it was part of being a twin, everything was turned into a competition, and being left out was like a slap in the face.

“I'm not a mind reader Brone, if I were this would be a lot easier. I want to know if your okay. You don't need to tell me anything if you do not believe that information is safe with me,” she said with an almost hurt tone, “But I need to know that you are alright. You seem, distant, and unsure. I might not always be the easiest to relate to but I am your sister, and if you are in any sort of trouble you know I would do whatever it is to help.” she said. She wasn't sue what brought forth this strong urge of a protective sibling, maybe it was the way Brone had starred at her window, he'd not done that before. And now the way he seemed to be put off, it just didn't feel... Right.

[Brone Van Estra]

Brone had always been quiet, he had always hid his feelings. But these days, his distress seemed to be more obvious. He'd have to learn to hide it better, that was for sure. But the sudden change in her voice mad him turn to her and smile at her softly. "I would tell you if I could. This is too deep to share. It is uncertainty, and foolishness. I can't ever tell you, hopefully it will end and it wont matter anymore." He said. True it was somewhat cryptic, he did not mean it that way. He just could not possibly tell his sister he was falling for the enemy. No one would understand, besides Serena who had fallen for a witch once. Brone shook his head. There was always something bothering him, she probably knew that. Usually he went to Alex, his childhood friend, but even now he could not be sure that even Alex really understood.