Theia chatted across the sofa with Niva, their mouth moving in a rhythmic trance. Niva himself barely spoke, opting to just listen to her. And she spoke, she really spoke. Hundreds—no, thousands—of words, all of them were about Luna.
Her laughter echoed through the room. Sometimes her blush intensified whenever she spoke about Luna in a personal way, but mostly she herself could not stop it from appearing.
What a peculiar child. I didn't know the details about her, but… she really seems to love Luna. Well, it's obvious how she acts around her, but… I think that Luna's action that day… might push her love far past what it intended to be… Niva thought.
It's not like it's a problem.
Niva looked at the ceiling as Theia's words passed him like a dim hum of an ocean. When she noticed him not paying attention, she snapped sharply at him, "Are you listening?"
"Yes, yes. I am."
"Then, last time, with Luna, we were playing in a lake; she was splashing me with water, eager to make me completely wet, but I was a bit swifter than her, and she slipped, getting herself wet. Haha! It was so funny to see, we laughed and spent such a good time together. I wonder… If this peace would last forever, would it be Niva?"
"I wonder too… I hope it does," Niva muttered.
Theia blushed as she glanced at the doors leading into Luna's room; a low grumble escaped from its frame.
Theia stood up immediately, making her way there. "Luna…"
She jumped into the room and saw her slowly rising from her lying position. Her eyes were sleepy and drowsy; obviously, she rubbed them with her arm. "T-Theia?"
Luna turned her head towards Theia; for a while she watched her before realizing it indeed was Theia. A smile spread across her face, a warm, beautiful smile.
Theia noticed it immediately, her heart fluttering at the sight of it; she was barely able to swallow her saliva as blush spread from ear to ear, engulfing the entirety of her face.
"Y-yes—it's me, Luna," Theia muttered while staring at the floor, not even daring to look up at her.
"Could you… bring it to me?"
"What?" Theia asked, tilting her head.
"That drink from yesterday… Can you get it for me? The drink that made me feel better. Could you… bring it to me? Pretty please?"
Theia rushed through her memory, searching for the thing that Luna drank; within a second, she found it and visualized it in her head: alcohol!
"B-but… it's not good for you…" Theia said in a low, shy voice.
Luna groaned, clutching her temple, her eyebrows furrowed upwards, searching for a solution. Then she found a perfect one that surely Theia could not resist. "Then—could you bring me the amount, just large enough, to make me feel good, without it harming me?"
Theia pondered over it, furrowing her eyebrows and thinking deeply. A slight smile, covered by her blush, showed itself. "Y-yes, I'll bring it s-soon."
Luna smiled, saying, "Thank you."
That's all Theia needed, she rushed out of the room, making a loud thumping sound, not even caring for El, who almost invisibly rolled under the bed. Startled by the noise, she jerked upwards—smacking her head across the wooden bed frame. She squealed in pain, "Agh! It hurts!" She tightly grabbed her head, rubbing it to rub the pain away.
Luna chuckled, "Come here, I'll make the pain go away," she said and extended her arms forward.
El gently crawled onto Luna's lap and laid face down into Luna's thighs.
She puffed onto the bleeding, throbbing area of her head and rubbed it while saying, "Pain, pain go away!" while chuckling to herself.
And just outside the doors was Theia, who stared at El; her eyes, if they could, would cave in that head of El's, killing her instantly.
Her eyes, with all the intensity and malice they could muster, stared at her while thinking, Why... why does she get all that, and I can't? Why?
I don't understand. Why am I being left out? Why, whenever anyone other than me comes to Luna, do they get all the attention? and never me? I understand her siblings, but… why El? Why Aisha? Why not me?
Theia gripped the frame and walked away and went to fetch the alcohol Luna wanted.
***
Theia sat on the brown sofa with a knife in hand, a simple wooden handle with a sharp blade. She grabbed one of the apples from the basket and started carving small rabbits out of it.
She sliced into one side of the apple, then the other, removing a piece. From that slice, she carved again, shaping ears; just like that, a rabbit was made.
And so she repeated it, dozens of times, until the basket was empty and the wooden plate filled with those carved rabbits. The leftover scraps she placed back into the basket.
Theia sat in silence, her expression blank, completely oblivious to the fact that Niva was missing, as if he had disappeared out of existence. She didn't care, not really. All she wanted was to make El disappear, but she couldn't; she couldn't do the same thing she did to Aisha. She couldn't bring herself to see that fear in Luna's eyes again.
Theia still regrets what she did, not really. She regrets Luna seeing it and regrets making Luna feel that pain, but not Aisha. She could care less.
She stood up and walked towards the kitchen, and within the kitchen to the right was a door, a door to Mytri's room. She walked in and pushed it open. A sharp sound of bottles hitting themselves echoed from inside.
The room was pitch black, and on the floor, countless alcohol bottles were scattered across it. The bed, the desks, and even plants were filled with bottles. Trash piled up in corners; Theia saw it and felt sad for Mytri. She grabbed a bottle that was halfway full, and she closed the door behind.
She took out a wooden cup from the kitchen's cabinet and, with her fingertip, measured 200 milliliters of alcohol; she poured it in and felt proud, a smile reaching her eyes.
According to Mytri, the alcohol she grabbed was weak enough that for a normal person, 200 milliliters of it would make one feel warm and happy without making them overly drunk. Theia trusted Mytri's wise words; she could trust him. By the looks of his room, he was an expert at it.
She placed the bottle down, then took the wooden cup and walked into the living room. She picked up the wooden plate with apple rabbits, and with a grin across her face, she made her way toward Luna's room.