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[sunmon]

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alina starkov, 20

ABOUT_YOU

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[princess_of_ida]

[That would be a no then. She should've known better than to ask.]

Alright. I hope it doesn't.

[sunmon]

Thank you.
For looking out for me.
I wish I'd been able to do the same for you.

[princess_of_ida]

Always. If I'm able.

You're here for me now. That's important. Closest I've ever felt to this was when I lost my arm. Fucking nightmares took me there over and over and over.

[sunmon]

How did you lose it?
If it's not too painful to talk about.
I realize this may not be the best distraction.

[princess_of_ida]

No actually I think it will as that's a clear safe place to send this nasty violent urge, cause fuck that bitch.

Cytherea Loveday - my elder lyctoral 'sister'. She infiltrated Canaan House pretending to be the Scion of the Seventh House and sabotaged our collective attempts to achieve Lyctorhood, trying to draw God back home. Killed most of us before I ascended, taking out those she thought to be threats to her plan.

After I ascended, I immediately knew I wasn't the worst thing in that fucking place. And then the remaining idiots poked the ancient lyctor and started a fight with her. A necromancer, even a House Scion, against a lyctor is laughable. They all knew that after watching me wipe the floor with the Eighth and yet...

They were getting their asses kicked and I realized that the bitch couldn't detect me. So I jumped into the fight with the element of surprise. Told her to pick on someone her own size.

I was a little power drunk and riding high on thanergy.

[sunmon]

You lost your arm to save them?

[ ianthe ... you softie ... ]

[princess_of_ida]

[Shut up.]

I lost my arm because I bit off more than I could chew. I was riding high on power. Gave her a hell of a fucking fight but blew my load too soon. She'd been a lyctor for ten thousand years. I'd been one for like twenty minutes.

She pinned me down, cut my swordarm off, and siphoned a large amount of my thalergy. For all our power, we can't regenerate severed limbs. Promised me she'd be back after killing the others to cut off the rest of my limbs and use me as a battery. That's the part I had nightmares about.

[sunmon]

She's still out there?

[princess_of_ida]

No, thank fuck. Harrow ascended to lyctorhood under duress and finished her off while she was still recovering from the fight with me.

I had to attend her fucking funeral, Alina. I had to live on the space station where she was buried and honored. Traitorous fucking bitch.

[sunmon]

Why would they honor a traitor?

[princess_of_ida]

Because she served faithfully for a myriad, and it was never confirmed she was working with Blood of Eden.

But mostly because John sucks and couldn't fathom any of his precious lyctors betraying him. As if he hadn't lied to them their entire lives. He had this whole divine family dynamic going on with them. It's fucked up, and that's something coming from me. Tried to pull me and Harrow into it, but I already have a disappointing father.

Shit, don't let him or anyone know I told you this. I'd like to not get exploded.

[sunmon]

The more you tell me about him, the more insane all of this sounds.
The more I wonder why you aren't opposing him too.
I won't tell him. Saints, of course I won't say anything. I just ...
Maybe the rebels — the Blood of Eden? — are right.

[princess_of_ida]

What makes you think I'm not?

Necromantic genocide and lacking scope of reality aside, they're not exactly wrong.

[sunmon]

Because.
Well, because this is the first I'm hearing about it.

[princess_of_ida]

Good to know I'm making the dots hard to connect.

The Houses are broken, Alina. They have been for a very long time, and God doesn't care. Someone has to. I didn't become a lyctor to serve God; I became one to serve the Empire.

[sunmon]

But you're not working with them?
The rebel faction.

[princess_of_ida]

Absolutely not. They'd burn me at the stake if they could. Fuck them. There's a much bigger threat anyway. Blood of Eden is nothing more than a tick trying to feed on something that barely notices it's existence. If not for fucking Mercymorn's help, they'd be barely a blip on our radar. The fact that BoE thinks they're the ones we're fighting against at Antioch is fucking ridiculous.

My sister and I have a plan. We're currently not getting along, but that's just because Corona doesn't have the framework for things yet, and she's angry with me.

[sunmon]

You know, there might also be things they know that you don't. A perspective you haven't considered.
Like that it's a poor idea to continue serving a leader that you don't believe in.

[princess_of_ida]

Preparation + opportunity = success. The vast majority of the Empire adores John. They worship him. They die for him. It's not time yet. I will not make the same mistakes the others made. There's a lot of moving pieces and layers of politics I can't even begin to go into. Also, my sister is working the BoE angle. We'll eventually make up and consolidate our information.

I hear you. I do. And I hate some of the things I have to do, have to say to him, present to others, but shame is a privilege. It's one I don't have right now. Everything has a cost, and right now, I still need John. I need him to clean up his fucking mess with the Resurrection Beasts cause I will die if I'm standing alone against them.

Also, he can't die, and I can't have him die. It's kind of a problem. I'm doing what I can here.

[sunmon]

That's an exaggeration, isn't it?
I mean that other lyctor, Cynthia or whatever her name is, she died.
John can die too.

[princess_of_ida]

I watched him get peeled like an onion before my very eyes until he was a puddle of bones and goo on the floor by one of the oldest lyctors that had been preparing for decades to kill him. He reformed in mere minutes and exploded her with a touch. I picked pieces of her out of my hair.

As of right now, he can't, but I'm working on an alternative involving his source of power. He can be banished to Hell, but that's not a viable option at this time.

[sunmon]

What is it?
The source of his power.
Is it here?

[princess_of_ida]

No. It's not.
It's the soul of the Earth, Alina.

[sunmon]

The planet???

[princess_of_ida]

Yeah. Planets have souls. It took me a bit to grasp that; it's lyctoral level shit and I'm not sure I can explain it well. All the microorganisms in a planet's biomes are so numerous and greater when combined, make planets living beings that have a soul. They're alive. In their own way.