Brotherly Love (Canus and Erinyes) @meerclar

[troylus]

Canus crept into the dark room.  He knew the occupant was out of the house, but he didn't want anyone else, including the servants to know that he'd been in there.  He closed the door quietly behind him and flicked on the light.  Warm lamps lit the pretty room, making pretty pools of light that made him want to curl up and read a book.  It felt comfortable in here; every furnishing and shade designed to be pleasing on the eye.  


He padded around, his bare feet sinking into the thick luxurious carpet.  There has to be something here to give me ammunition, he thought.  He pawed through the neatly arranged items on the desk, and rummaged through each of the drawers.  Nothing of any interest.  He searched the wardrobe next, which was filled with all the latest fashions.  Gotta give Erin her due, she sure as hell knows how to dress.  He trailed his fingers over the racks of expensive dresses and blouses.  There were a few plastic boxes which he looked through, still finding noting of interest.  


The collection of handbags held more promise, and he went through them carefully.  One smelled of tobacco but there was no evidence he could actually use: no drugs or alcohol, or other items that might get her in trouble.

He blushed a little as he searched the underwear; it was all pretty raunchy stuff, lots of lace and satin, but he wasn't sure if that would be sufficient to get her in trouble with their parents.  It certainly looked like she was planning on getting intimate with people but she was eighteen and as long as it didn't bring any shame to the family name, and as long as she didn't get pregnant or something, he doubted his parents would care. Of course, if it were me they found out was having a sexual relationship they would probably freak out no matter how discreet I was.  He sighed.  This whole exercise is pointless; even if I find dirt on my sister, our parents will just get me in trouble somehow, I bet.

He sat on the bed, starting to feel like a complete idiot.  He lay down trying to imagine what it would feel like to be loved the way his sister was and his hand slipped under the pillow, bumping into something hard and leathery.  He pulled out the small book and flipped it open.  A Diary? Erin keeps a diary? He started to read as fast as he could, trying to absorb every word she had written. He was so engrossed in what he was doing that he didn't hear the feminine footsteps up the hall, or even the bedroom door opening.  

[meerclar]

Erinyes pushed open the ornate front door and breathed a sigh of relief as the cool silence of the entry hall greeted her. The door swung silently closed behind her. It didn't lock. There was no need. There ware always servants in the house, if anyone came to call unexpectedly.

She kicked off her shoes, which had become more and more uncomfortable, enjoying the feeling of cold tiles on bare feet. For a moment she just stood there, shoes in hand, centreing herself. Too many people disregarded the importance of maintaining mental calm for outward beauty. And as much as she enjoyed spending time with her friends, sometimes it was nice to not have to worry about everyone watching her and looking to her for advice and leadership. And they did, of course. Even the ugly ones who she didn't deign to speak to.
It was a hard calling, to be as adored as she knew she was, and for so many people to rely on her to know how to dress and what to think about all the gossip and current events. Still, someone had to do it, and she preened slightly as she reflected that she was certainly up to the challenge.

She hummed softly to herself as she climbed the stairs to the bedrooms. Her father didn't permit humming, but she was fairly confident he wasn't home. Her parents rarely were. The light in the hallway hid the tell-tale brightness coming from under her bedroom door and caught her by surprise when she pushed the door open.
It took her a moment to realise that someone was in there. Someone not a servant. Her shock gave way instantly to annoyance at her private sanctum being invaded by her brother.
'Canus? What are you doing in my room?' She didn't give him a chance to respond; her voice became shrill with rage as realised what he held in his hands. She dropped her shoes and leapt at him, trying to snatch the book away from him. 'Is that my DIARY? You little creep!'

[troylus]

   

    Canus snapped the book shut and held it over his head, rolling over the bed to try and keep away from his sister.  He laughed out loud while silently cursing himself for not listening for her return.  Should have taken the diary to my own room and brought it back, she might not have even missed it.  Some of the air was forced from his lungs as she lunged at him, and he struggled to keep the book away from her.
    "You're back earlier than I thought you'd be.  Been on a date?" he said, mocking tone in his voice.  "Guess it didn't go well, huh? If you're already home." He wriggled under her, nearly at the edge of the bed, halting his movement suddenly so he wouldn't be catapulted off it.  Realising there was very little to be gained from this situation, he threw the book across the room, and it landed with a heavy thwack against the wall, making the elegant crystals of the chandelier tinkle.  "Take your stupid diary.  I'm done reading it anyway." He tried to push her off and attempted to look casual, which wasn't very effective as he was all disheveled from their struggle. 
    He lay on his side and rested his head on his palm. He hid his irritation; he hadn't found anything in the diary that would get her in trouble with their parents at all.  And now she was super mad with him and had every right to be.  He'd have been furious with her if she'd even gone in his room at all let alone read his personal diary.  He considered apologising, but couldn't bring himself to do it.  She already got all the approval and acceptance from their parents, she didn't need him to pander to her too.  he felt the lead ball that had been building in his stomach for weeks become heavier and more dense with rejection.  I hate this family. He didn't mean to really hurt her feelings but he unconsciously lashed out at her, the one person in his life he felt he could lash out at, because he loved her and she him.  he knew that now.  he'd just read it in her diary. So it was a fact. 
    "Seriously, dull read.  You really do think you're all that? Like everyone wants to be you? You know they're all just kissing up to you, right, these so called friends of yours?"

[meerclar]

Erin ignored him trying to bait her and used her fists to  pummelled him with a ferocity that would have shocked the boys she flirted with at school. She wasn't actually that effective, but decided not to scratch his face and hands with her nails. Not because he didn't deserve it. He totally did. But she didn't want to break a nail when she'd just had the colour redone. And listening to Canus whining about his face for the next month would have been unbearable.
When he hurled the book away she scrambled off the bed, aware that it lacked dignity, and snatched it up, holding it close and she turned to glare at him.
He was lying on her dishevelled bed, looking smug and self-satisfied. It made me want to throw something at him, but everything within reach was breakable and she didn't want to smash her own possessions over him.

When all else fails, be superior.

'At least I HAVE friends, Canus. People who want to spend time with me. What do you have? You're so pathetic that you're sneaking around reading my diary?' She smirked at him, feeling more confident having regained her composure. 
As she spoke she sashayed to the bed, sitting down close to him and lowering her voice, 'Dear brother, remember that time you were so scared in the first grade musical that you wet yourself on stage? That was SO funny, wasn't it? I bet you'd hate for someone to remind people about that...' She leaned closer to him, watching his face closely to gauge his reaction, and her voice was the barest whisper. She knew he heard her though. Her lips were millimeters from his ear, 'If you EVER breathe a word of what you read, to ANYONE, then I promise that everyone we know will know that story about you too.'

[troylus]

Canus tried to disguise his concern that Erin might follow through with her threat.  That had been the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to him.  He'd begged his parents to move him to a new school for months but they had ignored his pleas.  He only really escaped the event by going to high school and managing to get in with the popular crowd of kids.  None of them had gone to his Primary school, and the few children who came with Canus were not in the popular group.  He joined in with his classmates in turning it around and teasing children like that, in order to make sure any bullying was directed well away from himself.


He pointed at the diary tucked safely in her arms. "Might rather interfere with your plans to ride on my coat tails all the way to fame and glory, if you make a mockery of me."  Before she could retort he quickly added, "But I won't tell anyone, and I'm sorry.  I shouldn't have read it. Forgive me?" He gave her puppy dog eyes that usually didn't work on her, but he figured there was no harm trying.

    

[meerclar]

Erinyes rolled her eyes at her younger brother's painfully obvious attempt to charm her. She was always careful not to give in to Canus's charm, while not ever actually discouraging him from making the effort. An eyeroll was carefully calculated to remind him that he was beneath her notice, but also showed that she HAD noticed him.

His comment about her riding his coat tails to fame had hit very close to home, and she wished she hadn't written it down in her diary. Now that he'd read it, it was going to be so much harder to get her way with him. He could certainly be insufferable when he wanted to
'Apology accepted, conditionally,' she told him slowly. I don't need you to make me famous, I just think we'd both be more famous if we're together. A family label. I'm doing you a kindness, if you think about it. Who do you think is going to get the support if it turns out that you and I are competing against each other? And you know our parents are never going to let you put the family name on something if it's yours. But if I'm involved...'
She let the implication hang in the air with a smirk and flopped onto the bed contently, her eyes on his face.

[troylus]

His face showed amusement and interest at the idea. "I don't see how there's any competition, exactly. I have all the talent, you see. But I think we can work together." He paused, wondering if he should tell her why he'd been snooping in her room. The comments of love for him in her diary, and her willingness to forgive him so easily swayed him into talking. Besides, there was pretty much no one else in the world he dared share something like this with.

"Pat sent me to a psychiatrist today. I didn't know about it, but he wrote the doctor this letter saying I was a troublemaker and he wanted me fixed. The doctor wrote this incredibly awesome report for me, saying I, and I quote am 'a clever well-behaved, misunderstood boy, who has his life planned out for himself.' He called Father dearest 'paranoid' and diagnosed me with over-protective parent's syndrome. For real. And then he wished me all the best and that was that. So I get a clean bill of health. And it was from that doctor from the commercials, you know, Better talk to Chandler!" He made a noise somewhere between a nervous whimper and an excited giggle, "Pat's going to flip when he reads it. Right?"

[meerclar]

Erinyes gave an unladylike snort of laughter, 'You're actually going to show it to him? Is that because you hate the doctor? Or you just actually enjoy getting in trouble from Father?' She poked him teasingly with her manicured nail, 'I bet it's the second. I've seen how hard you work to aggravate him. If that's not a mental disorder, then I don't know what is. Why not just ENJOY the fact that he doesn't care about you, and pays you no attention at all? It's not like you have any love to lose by disobeying him, really. So just tell him that therapy is going well, and you're going to take a really long time to fix.'
She rolled onto her front and propped her chin on her hands, batting her long eyelashes at him. The eyelash extensions were a pain, but well worth the effort. 'Although, if you do tell him, then let me know. I have a few things I want to ask for that he won't want to give me. But if you've just given him that letter, then I can play the 'good child' card and get whatever I like'.

[troylus]

"While I appreciate the advice I have to give it to him.  He wrote to Dr Reiss and demanded a report, so I imagine the doctor will send him one too." Canus grimaced, "You don't think it'll make him back off? I thought it'd be like a victory for me?" He felt miserable all of a sudden, and the jump from feeling elated and like he finally had a solution to his parent's cold indifference through to vile dislike of him had evaporated in an instant.

He looked at his sister with a mix of love and fear in his eyes.  "Maybe I should go to that horrendous camp thing Artus keeps telling me I should do." Canus suspected his brother just wanted him out of the house and miserable in the countryside being eaten by bugs and in mud.  But it seemed a better option than being here and dealing with his parents being absolutely livid with him.  "But why should I have to run? The doctor wrote it, not me, and I didn't say much about our darling parents.  He surmised it from the letter Pat wrote."

[meerclar]

Reminding herself that the little worm had broken into her room and stolen and read her private diary, Erinyes nodded to her brother with the most sympathetic face she could muster.
'It's alright, Canus. I'm sure Father will understand that it's all from the letter, and you didn't say anything against him to the doctor. I don't think he'll pull you out of school and send you to that horrible academy like he's been threatening to do.' She didn't look at her brother; she wasn't sure she could maintain a straight face if he was looking as stricken as she imagined he was.
'Perhaps he'll send you to a different doctor instead. Although-' she let the word hand cruelly in the air, pretending to be deep in thought, 'Although that doesn't seem to be how it usually works out, does it?' She rolled over to lay on consoling hand on his chest, enjoying the feeling of his heart racing.
'Poor Canus. Father never believes you, does he? It will be dreadful if he does send you to that Academy. I hear they have enforced sport every afternoon. I suppose if you're lucky, he might just get you a very strict private tutor and let you keep living here while you're still in school.' The words tumbled from her mouth and she didn't bother to hide her own entertainment any more.
'Oh, maybe he'll take away your instruments.' She knew that would be the worst thing Canus could think of, but sometimes he could be very unimaginative. She could help with that. 'Don't worry. It would be too much of a disgrace for him to actually disown you. If he thinks you're too much of a disgrace to the family he'll take your instruments away, and get you a nice career with him. You could be a politician too. Or at least an aide to Father. Just think of that, then you'd get to see him as much as you liked, and he'd be there all day, every day, to keep an eye on you.'

[troylus]

Canus started to hyperventilate, his chest heaving in and out under his sister's hand.  The images she created tumbled through his mind, each competing for the most horror he could conceive of.  Just as he thought it couldn't get any worse she'd say something else and he'd feel his chest tighten a little more. He started to feel a little dizzy and like he might throw up.  Foolishly he breathed faster to compensate, and felt more and more out of control.  


After a few minutes of utter panic, in which he couldn't be sure if Erin had spoken, he pressed his face into the pillow subconsciously restricting the flow of air.  That helped and he was able to groan something partially audible through the silk and feathers of his sisters' fine bedding. "Gotta go back to the doctor, stop him sending the report! Help me, Erin please???"

[meerclar]

'Of course I'll help you, Canus. You're my little brother.' The words were almost a purr out of Erin's mouth and tasted like victory. 'You don't want to risk being sent away, do you? Or having all your instruments taken away. That would probably be worse than death for you' She laughed sweetly and moved her hand to his head to tousle his hair, then thought the better of it. Canus spent a long time on his hair and he might freak out if she messed it up any more than it already was. She stoked his cheek instead. 'Imagine, you having to go to work with Father every day and not even being allowed music when you're at home.'
'You're going to have to call the doctor and make an emergency appointment, or if you can't do that, just show up at his office and refuse to go away unless he sees you.' She snorted delicately, 'I'm not sure what sort of doctor he is though, saying he doesn't need to see you anymore. You clearly do have problems, even if you're not actually insane. You just had a near breakdown. That can't be normal. If nothing else he should be treating you for the stress of being hated by your own parents.'
She paused, wondering if that last had been a little too harsh. Still, he HAD read her diary, and was generally an attention-seeking little pain. A bit of therapy would do him good.
'We'll just go to see this therapist, and explain what our parents are like, and say that you need therapy for that, obviously, and no letter from him saying that things are all their fault is going to do you any good at all. You're his patient, after all. He should be looking out for your needs.'

[troylus]

Canus nodded meekly and put his head in Erin's lap.  He hadn't done that for years and it felt nice.  He looked up into her face adoringly, "Thanks sis.  And I really am sorry I read your diary." He snuggled his head in, not caring that his spikes were utterly crushed, but enjoying the warmth and comfort she gave him.  No one else in the world did that for him and even as the panic subsided he felt a loneliness like a hole in his chest, and filled it with his sister's love. He was aware that somewhere beneath her words and affection was probably spite and attempts to rile him up but he didn't care.  "I love you. Lots."