clever as the devil, and twice as pretty.
It is a known fact that when you lie, you do it for a reason - but Nina was lying unhinged and she loved it. she loved the way they left the tip of her tongue. She loved the adrenaline she felt whenever she'...
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树高千丈，落叶归根 WAS THE CHINESE PHRASE, meaninga tree can grow 10 thousand feet tall but its leaves will always fall back to the roots. As children, Illiana explained what it meant - even though a person might live for many years away from home, they would eventually return to their native soil.
They were a family: Illiana, Nina, Valeria, and Samara. Family is not defined by our biological relationships, it is created through love. That's what their mother told them; and for a while, they did feel like a family. Hell, Nina could recall the giddy feeling in her chest when she'd see a beach since it reminded her of all those trips Illiana would drag them to when they were children.
But then Samara got her powers. Then Valeria. Then it was like a fucking switch was flipped. When Nina was seven, it felt more like a Military Camp than a family. Illiana was constantly barking orders, training her to the point where she was crying in her room, unable to move from being too sore from the punches thrown at her.
Nina wasn't sure when it happened or how it happened, but they weren't a family anymore. They were merely four people living under the same roof - but some part of her still clung to the thought that everything would be okay again; she could feel it sometimes. When Illiana talked to her, she'd feel that familiar parental warmth.
Her sisters? Not so much. Sure, Samara was nice, but she was nice to everyone, so it didn't really matter. Valeria, who was once her best friend, her ride or die, was suddenly an asshole who made winning against her a priority.
They were a lost cause, the three of them, and Nina was sure of that. But as she watched her older sister take in a large gasp of breath, arms desperately clawing on Valeria, she felt a twinge of pity erupt in her stomach.
"She's having a panic attack," Valeria informed her as if it was not obvious by the way she acted. "Help her!"
"Shut the fuck up and let me focus!" Nina hissed in response, glancing over towards the wooden door where Illiana spent most of her time. The office had a giant T.V screen projecting all the rooms in the house, which meant that Illiana did see this, but she was doing nothing to help Samara. Her child.
"Nina! Hurry the fuck up!"
The youngest sister slaps Valeria across the face in annoyance. Ready to pounce back, the hothead stops her actions when she sees the familiar milky glow of Nina's eyes that she knew all too well, deciding to shut up instead. For Samara.
"You're calm. You're fine. You're okay," Just to make sure, she repeats it again, but this time, her voice was clearer. "You're calm. You're fine. You're okay."
Samara's mind fractures as it falls into her control and suddenly her body reacts on its own, chest steadying, heart unclenching, brain floating into a bliss of relaxation.
"You good?" Valeria questions after a few minutes with an uncharacteristic softness to her voice. When Samara nods, she continues. "Wanna tell us what happened?"
