"The doll reacts to your emotions, your feelings about anything and everything." I explained, as we sat in the newly redecorated and retiled courtyard, starting with her training after a good night's rest.
I had taken an extra day off from Touki training just to get Lavinia started on beginning to control her Longinus, because unlike Dulio, she wasn't a natural at it, especially with the trauma she carried, related to it.
"If you feel bad about yourself, it will react accordingly. That's why it was making you all cold and frosty like that. Because you were feeling down and blaming yourself. That is why the first step to controlling the doll is to remember." I emphasized, "None of this was your fault."
Though whose fault it was… for a snowstorm and landslide to occur coincidentally at the same time, in the exact place where she was… I had my suspicions. I would be a blind fool not to. It was another reason I was taking the day off to train with Lavinia. To see it firsthand. To confirm if my suspicions are true.
I can't simply leave her be to train with my mother without making sure...
"Let's start by thinking happy thoughts." I guided her carefully, "Think about something that makes you happy. Something that makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside. To counteract the cold of the doll."
Lavinia nodded and gave it a moment's thought, before she looked up at me, adorably.
"Yes, you can think of me too." I teased and she blushed lightly, but the smile on her face betrayed her feelings.
I suppose it was too much to ask her to think of her parents and her happy times with them. That part of her life was still mired in tragedy.
"Are you thinking happy thoughts?" I asked her, and she nodded.
"Good." I grabbed her shoulder gently, leaning over it, "Remember, the doll is yours. It is a part of you now. And just like your arm or leg, you can control it as well. All you need to do is reach out to it, the same way you would reach out to pick up a glass of water from the table."
She extended her arm slowly.
"The doll is you. The doll's arm is your arm." I said, painting a picture, "Feel through your connection to it. Like a mirror, let it reflect your actions."
But nothing happened.
"It's okay." I assured her as she looked up at me pitifully, "Try again. This time try thinking of the doll as a puppet, and you pulling its strings."
I conjured a puppet in a facsimile of the doll for her to use, ringing its strings through her fingers. Maybe the haptic feedback, the weight, the physical feeling of its movement, would give her inspiration.
Lavinia looked down at the puppet, fiddling with it to get a hang of its controls and movements for a bit, till she could comfortably lift and move only the arms of the puppet.
Then she tried again. This time she moved her hand up as well as the puppet's arms, her cute little face scrunched up in effort, as if she were carrying home that one last grocery bag, balanced on her pinky finger.
And finally, something happened.
The doll's right arms swayed the faintest bit, its fingers twitching.
"You're doing it." I wrapped my arms around her, and she opened her eyes, only to have the arm fall back in place.
I guess even a genius can only do so much, which for a first timer, is pretty good. I wouldn't have been able to do it as well as her, had I been in her position.
To overcome the burden of her trauma and look that nightmare of ice in its eyes, and command it to move.
"Good job!" I praised her and she looked amazed at the doll, then at me and jumped into my hug in excitement, headbutting my face right on the nose, which really hurt her more than it did me. I was strong enough to tank literally tanks.
Her lips quivered in pain and her eyes watered, as she let out an adorable little whine.
"Aww, its okay." I rubbed her head and planted a kiss on where she had hit herself on me, "Boo boo go away~"
She snorted out in laughter, and stopped tearing up.
"I'm not that small!" She protested with a pout, "I know…"
"Doesn't mean you shouldn't be comforted." I rested my head on hers and said, "Pain is pain, Lavinia. Never downplay yours. When you suffer alone, it hurts not only you, but those that love you."
She was surprised for a second before a warm smile bloomed on her face as she nuzzled into me, happily.
Manipulation is an art, and baby, I'm Leonardo Da Vinci.
Okay maybe not Leo, but I'm good. Maybe not as good as my mom, but still.
My mom is really the one who gets it best. She can manipulate circles around us.
"Shall we try again?" I asked.
"Yes."
She lifted the puppet again, focusing on the doll. She lifted her arm and-
Nothing.
I frowned.
"Try again."
Lavinia did it again, and yet, only elicited the faintest twitch of its fingers.
Something's not right.
I walked over to the doll before asking again.
"Once more please, Lavinia."
Lavinia tried again, focusing even harder, and the arms shook violently, like a loose muffler, before-
Swish!
It's arm swung straight out in front, casting a wave of ice straight towards Lavinia.
I Instantly appeared before her, wings unfurled, hellfire blazing, and clashed against it.
The courtyard exploded with steam and mist, clouding over, as I looked back at the doll.
This bitch!
I knew something was wrong.
All sacred gears, Longinus especially had some consciousness to them, born from the creatures sealed in them. Independent avatar type Longinus even more so.
Regulus fought to avenge its master, Canis Lykaon defended its wielder without asking. Incinerate Anthem could judge its user unworthy and leave on its own.
But even the regular ones weren't any less expressive.
Draig and Albion could chat openly with their wielders and offer them more power at a price. Zenith Tempest whispered to Dulio everything that happened around him, granting him near clairsentience in a wide range around himself.
The only one that did not was the True Longinus, which held the divine authority of Big G- Truth Idea- and I knew why. It was made using the sacrifice of an aspect of himself. It was the only one which didn't talk to its users per se, because, I suspected it was one of Big G's backup plans for reviving himself. He had plans for it. Long running plans. But, of course, that remained to be seen. I will check it out when I get to it.
I had spent ten years cataloguing, researching every sacred gear known, it's origins, powers, possible evolutions. That included the creatures sealed inside the various sacred gears, powering them.
Which is also why I know exactly who is sealed inside this doll.
I floated over to the doll, bursting with rage, and I could almost feel the smugness coming off of it, all too proud of itself, despite its lack of a face and mouth, a deliberate feature, I see now. Big G really thought it through.
Coming face to face with it, I grabbed it's face with my hands.
"I know who you are, Queen Of Ice." I chose my words carefully, knowing exactly who I was talking to, "I know what you are. So I will be honest with you, this once."
Even before getting to Lavinia, I had always wondered, why in all those years of research, did Glenda never teach Lavinia how to use the Longinus she was born with.
Why waste that much power, that potential? Especially, when it could have been even more useful to her research?
Now I know.
The Longinus itself was uncooperative. It capitalized on any weakness its user showed.
It needed someone strong willed enough to overpower its nature. Someone bold and cold. Cruel enough to dominate the will within it ruthlessly, and to never grant any quarter or inch to it.
It was a strong Longinus, high tier even, but the constant struggle in it's use made it hard to wield, more so for a ten year old traumatized little girl, and the same way, Draig and Albion had an agenda- to make their wielders the strongest and defeat their rival- and something they guided their users to do, so did all other Longinus. Including this one.
Its agenda, however was more simple and yet more complex than any other, at the same time.
It wanted amusement. Revenge. Freedom. A number of conflicting desires as befitting the creature sealed within it.
"Queen Mab. Ruler of the Unseelie Court. Queen Of Winter and Fall." I spoke to her, "How does it feel, being trapped in there, like a rat in a cage? Without a mouth to scream, nor the dignity afforded to even the basest of creatures. Feel good? No? Good." I patted her cheeks condescendingly.
"I know not how Big G trapped you in here, but I can make a guess. He divined your name."
The fae were very particular about names. Knowing the true name of something was the same as owning that thing. Because true names are the crux of an existence, their definition, and the fae had magics specifically made to manipulate them.
There's a reason you should never give your name to a fae.
Of course, it's never easy to figure out the true name of anything, even something as simple as a rock. And the more defined and complicated an existence gets, the more the difficulty increases.
Not to mention, those magics were mostly fae exclusive and difficult for anyone else to learn- not impossible mind- else I would have already tried getting to it.
But, everything in its time.
I had already invented Flame Divination. I had planned to get those eventually too. Everything in my plans connected to everything else, in an unbroken synergy that, when completed would give me exactly what I wanted, from the day I opened my eyes here, in this world.
Everything.
The doll shook, its spiked pauldrons swirling around me, threateningly.
I just poked one of them, lightly, mockingly.
I knew she couldn't move on her own.
While independent avatar type sacred gears had significantly more freedom than their more stalwart counterparts, they still could only move in defense of their wielders or themselves, though how they defended in return was up to them, a loophole which extended a little, to even their usual actions, which is how she launched that ice volley at Lavinia.
She was given an instruction to move, and she piggybacked her attack off of it.
An utter and complete bitch.
But then again, what else can you expect of the fae?
Note to self, give more clear and concise instructions. Never leave any loopholes. No vague-ry.
Which is why I broke contact with it before I said the last part, lest it consider my grip on it an attack.
"I am not strong enough, nor proficient in divination to figure it out." I admitted it, "But that will not be so forever. You are an integral part of the seasons of the world. Your name may be sundered from existence now, but nothing is gone forever, that which once existed. Especially one so crucial to the world, at one time.
A few years more, and I will be strong enough, proficient enough. And once I do figure it out… well, pray I do not.
Because if you do not behave. If you misinterpret her words and actions, her intentions. If you bully my Lavinia ever again. If you try to inflict misery upon her or mould her into what you want, to manipulate her in any way, that is not in her best interest. If I so much as suspect the barest malfeasance… by action or inaction?
I promise you this. I will strip you of all that makes you, you. And what sliver of the shell of you that remains, I will crush and spread to the winds, to suffer the unreality that is the Dimensional Gap, for the rest of eternity." I spat out those last few words, burning with anger, "Just give me a reason. I dare you."
The ice spikes bristled at my words, but I knew a hollow threat when I saw one.
"Am I understood?" I asked with grim finality.
The ice spikes retreated, settling back on the doll's shoulders.
"Glad we could reach an accord." I activated my contract and felt it's power settle upon us.
No way was I trusting this thing to hold it's end of the bargain without threat of actual punishment.
I finally floated back to the ground, my wings disappearing behind me again as I landed by Lavinia's side.
"Once more, from the top." I asked Lavinia, my tone gentler now, "This time, with clearer instructions. Only move the arm, don't use your powers. Okay?"
She nodded, though I notice she was breathing a little heavier, her eyes as starstruck as she looked at me.
What's up with that? I thought she overcame that when she stood up to me…
That's when my mother helpfully chimed in, just as I settled down beside her on the bench.
"Ara ara~ 'My Lavinia' is it?" She teased.
Oh.
I looked at Lavinia turning redder than a tomato and realized what had happened.
I glared at my mother.
That's not how I meant it, and you know it.
She just smirked back at me as if daring me to say it out loud, knowing full well I couldn't.
So, I did the next best thing.
I walked over to her and lifted Lavinia's face by the chin.
"She is my Lavinia, isn't she?" I asked, only for her to freeze up from a mixture of exhaustion and overstimulation, and…
Lavinia.exe has stopped working.
Well shit. Maybe I teased her a bit too much.
I smiled.
I suppose she can have a little rest before we start again.
.......................................................................
Sorry for the delay guys. I was squaring some future plot holes out of the storyline.
Thanks for waiting.
Here's a new chapter. I explore some more worldbuilding in this.
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Bye~