rotten things left in me ✟ arwen&vervain

a r w e n    m o r t u u s   .

Family is of the utmost importance. At least, that's my belief. 

It's important to stick to your values, even as things change. And change they do; I always knew of Raisa Mortuus's existence, as a child I used to hate her. How foolish that is, to despise someone simply for their absence. She had never done wrong towards me, so how could I dislike her so? In a way, I blamed her for my own mother's death. Maybe if she stuck around, maybe if she helped out, maybe, maybe, maybe...

It doesn't matter, though, for I am grateful for how I've grown in between the cracks in the family tree. For so long, competency was lacking, my aunt Ridley the backbone for a failing business years into its own rot. For as much as I hoped I would be the downfall of Raisa, I must admit, I am grateful for her return. And not just her return, but the arrival of my cousins, four estranged members that hate it here just as much as I do. It's comforting, replacing Ivy so efficiently, and they help out more than she ever had. 

They get in the way even less. What more can I ask for? 

But soon, just like my twin, I will be gone. Not in a material sense, I'll just be lucky enough to escape the hell that is District 12. I have always deserved more, and I won't be denied again. Any actual education, met with a lawful land to keep me in shape. I have gotten messy with my loose ends recently, it's so much easier to kill here where the lives of the poor mean so much less. Part of me wonders if it's a habit I can keep in my travels, but I dare not. 

That would be foolish, I'd surely be caught in a place like 6, the homeland to geniuses such as Flynn Garner. At least, in my operations now I would. 

Speaking of which, I have been tasked with dooming someone with the burden of being my replacement. A truly awful request I have; to be exposed to something so liberating so temporarily. I've chosen Vervain, mostly for her bright red hair. I'd like to see the light in her die a little more, and I don't believe she's one to enjoy the process quite like I or Ridley or Eirlys ever had. I find her outside, in the courtyard, and I greet her with a whistling tune. 

She lives in her own world, I always find that to be a sign of simple mindedness. "Hello there," I say in my tight doctor's wear, a pristine white that radiates in the early afternoon sun. "We don't talk much - I'd like to change that," I lie. She is important to me, as we should always make sure to respect our own blood, but I would hate to make friends with her. I bend over to meet her at eye level, with a forced smile I have been practicing, "would you like to see the work I do in private?" 

An offer I, myself, would never refuse. 

I don't imagine she would either.