Merrily We Fall Out of Line, Out of Line (Etta)

[Harper Adeliza Liven]

Harper hummed softly to herself as she tossed a piece of caramel corn that she'd bought from that candy-coffee place in the air and tried to catch it in her mouth. She crossed her eyes to glare at it when it decided to land on her nose instead. Why did this happen so frequently? She hated it. It happened to her mom a lot, too, she remembered. Her dad used to make fun of Eliza for it. She now understood why Eliza had stuck her tongue out at Mikael for it.

She was currently waiting for her sister to show up do that they could have their once-weekly girls' day out. When Harper wasn't playing Mom, she and Etta actually got along very well. Etta usually came to her before she went to their dad, not that Harper could blame her. Their dad had become a real space cadet after he was widowed.

[Marietta Juliet Liven]

Marietta came out to meet up with her sister. As much as she'd avoided her, she still loved her and spent a day a week shopping with her. She looked around to find her, or anyone else she knew really. She had tamed all except her bangs, so her hair was straight and finally worked with her. She spotted her sister and walked up to her. She scratched her head and adjusted her bag.

"Hey Harp-y! You ready for our tell all session?" she joked. She was actually quite jealous of her sister, Harper was beautiful, a trooper, never told a lie, and was never in trouble with their dad when he was feeling a bit better. Etta saw her self more as the girl everyone saw but never cared enough to know. She had an untameable mane most of the time, she wasn't all that pretty, she was short and had no luck like most people thought of the irish. "So where are we going today?"

[Harper Adeliza Liven]

Harper held up a finger to indicate that Etta should wait a moment before flicking the piece of popcorn off of her nose and into the air. She successfully caught it in her mouth this time and punched the air above her head. God knows that she failed at that as often as she succeeded.

"Win!" she announced happily before directing her attention to her younger sister. "'Ello, Etta. I dunno. Where do you wanna go? It's your pick."

Harper noted guiltily that she was rarely in such a good mood. She'd always been busy worrying about everything, from their father's spaciness to Harry's new-found suicidal bravery (he was really becoming far too reckless lately). It had probably had a hand in Etta's insecurities. Harper and Eliza had always been the reckless, daring members of the family. Both girls had very much admired their maverick mother. Incidentally, Etta looked much more like Eliza than Harper. Etta really was pretty, even of she didn't realize it, and much more happy-go-lucky than usually serious Harper. Etta was just, overall, a more free-spirited person.

[Marietta Juliet Liven]

Etta rolled her eyes and took a piece of pop corn. It wasn't all that hard to catch, she'd leared how to do it with shrimp at asian resteraunts. She held up the piece pointed at it. Threw it in their air and, standing in the same spot with her head tilted back slightly, caught the piece on it's way back down.

"You really need to practice more if you don't want it to stick on your nose." she raised her eye brows and shook her head, "I don't really know where I want to go. I was hoping to go to London today, but you said we were meeting up here. You always put it like we don't live in the same appartment."

She scratched her forehead and kept looking at her sister, she would give anything to be like her but no. Her sister refused to teach her anything. She resented that, it was almost as if she were a priceless artifact that everyone was trying to keep off the ground so it wouldn't get broke. She wasn't glass, she wasn't fragile, granted she'd been kidnapped once to get into Harper's head but that was a different story!

[Harper Adeliza Liven]

"Think you're so cool because it doesn't stick to your nose," she grumbled. "And fine, let's go to London. I wanted to talk to you about something first, though."

Having a discussion with a pre-widower Mikael Liven had helped her come to the conclusion that she had to stop treating Etfa like she was a little kid. There was going to be a massive battle soon, and Etta would need all the tools she could possibly have at her diaposal to defend herself. With that in mind, Harper has decided to humor Etta and teach her the thing Etta had been bugging her about for years: the ability to be an Animagus.

[Marietta Juliet Liven]

"Not my fault I'm better at it.." she tittered, "What is it? Wait. Are you pregnant? You've been acting really weird the past few days it's been weirding me out." she asked.

She had her eyebrows raised, it was a serious matter! What if her sister was? How were they going to tell the kid it was born when its mother hadn't even been born yet!? Wait no, that couldn't be it, Harp-y was a good girl and never got in trouble. She wouldn't be that stupid, would she? Wait... It was a boy... that had to be it... It was all because she had a boyfriend....

[Harper Adeliza Liven]

"Was?! Was zum teufel ist los mit dir?! ((What?! What the hell is wrong with you?!))" Harper demanded. "No, I'm not pregnant! What goes on in your head?! I was going to offer to finally teach you how to be an Animagus! Geez, sis, I just got a boyfriend, and now you're asking if I'm pregnant..."

She sometimes seriously wondered if her sister hadn't inherited the more outlandish parts of their mother's personality. There were moments where Etta reminded Harper so much of Eliza...but not always in a good way. She had the same lack of a filter between her mind and mouth, the same stubborn nature...it really made Harper worry.

[Marietta Juliet Liven]

"Well, I just... me mouth works fast than me mind! Give me a break! I haven't slept well..." she crossed her arms then she heard the word animagus. "You're gonna teach me!? AND YOU GOT A WHAT!?" She placed her hands on her hips. "What do you think da will think of that? Who is he?" Inside she was screaming so loud all the windows on the street were broken.

Sometimes she did feel like she was losing her mind, but she couldn't be could she? Well it was possible. She had her arms crossed.

"Can't believe you didn't tell me right away." she griped.

[Harper Adeliza Liven]

"You and Mutti have the same problem," Harper grumbled. "Speak and then think. Yes, I'm going to teach you. Pick an animal, and for God's sake, child! I like my eardrums, thanks! I don't care what Dad'll think. He's still in the future, last I heard, and he's a space cadet anyway. I don't even think he'd notice. My boyfriend is Jake Lestrange."

Harper laughed softly and ruffled her sister's hair. Etta really showed her age at times like these. Sometimes, Harper nearly forgot that her sister was only fourteen. She wondered if she'd done a good job taking care of her sister.

"If you really wanted to know, you would've asked," she pointed out.

[Marietta Juliet Liven]

"So it's genetic, whatever! I act on impluse too.." she muttered, "I want to be.... um... I want to be... a lioness! I do have the mane to be a lion." she joked. "Jacob... LESTRANGE!?!? He could kill you in your sleep!" She put her hands to her forehead.

Why would she even think of dating someone like that!? She started pacing. She had something to say too but of course she wasn't going to say it till she was sure her sister wouldn't get mad.

"If I asked you would have told me it was none of my business." she rolled her eyes.

[Harper Adeliza Liven]

Harper opted to laugh at her sister's joke instead of pointing out that lionnesses don't have manes. She needed to preserve her relationship with Etta; her little sister was all that she had. Harper and her father argued a lot when he wasn't spacing out. She wouldn't deny that she resented him; how dare he leave her and Etta to take care of each other when they needed a dad?

Harper sighed and decided to just let Etta rant. She'd expected this much from her little sister. She couldn't blame Etta for reacting like this.

"He's not the horrible person you think he is. He and I have been friends for most of our lives," she retorted in his defense.

[Marietta Juliet Liven]

"So what? What if he's lying to you? How would you react then huh? Would you cry? Would you kill something? Work more? What ever you do, how would that effect me? Da hadn't spoken in a week once we left, and you two had fought just before that.." she ranted. Now was the time to say it, "Since we're on the topic of boyfriends, I'm dating Tom now. We've been going to London for a while with out you."

She had sat down on the ground, they couldn't do this now, she didn't want their bond to be torn like their fathers. The first thing that popped in her head when she thought of bonds was a movie she'd seen a few times and really liked, but the only phrase that stuck in her head was, "Mend the bond." everything after that was a blur.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have said that... I just... I don't know.. I guess I'm just a priss.." she looked at the ground.

[Harper Adeliza Liven]

"Etta, I know Jake. Just trust me, okay?" she asked. "And what dad? We don't have a dad. He might as well have died with Mutti."

She smirked and rose an eyebrow at her little sister when she mentioned a boyfriend. How had Etta expected her to react? It didn't become Harper's business as to whom he'd sister dated until they hurt her. When that happened, they should fully expect to be jinxed all to hell by Harp.

"Tom Clark? Cute. Just be careful," she advised.

Harper sighed when Etta apologized. It was unnecessary. Etta had had every right it say what she did. Harper wouldn't deny that she and Mikael fought a lot, and she knew that it effected Etta. She felt bad for that.

"No...I'm the one that should apologize," she sighed. "I know that I didn't make losing her easy on you, fighting with Mikael like I did. I'm sorry, Et."

[Marietta Juliet Liven]

She shrunk down a little. You'd think she had anger issues the way she acted. Maybe she did, some people say it comes with the hair. An untamed mess, yup that was her. She moved her hair out from behind her ears.

"He's still our dad... Even if he's depressed it means he loves mum and doesn't like living with out her. You'd do the same thing if it were me who'd died. Then you'd get over it and completly forget about me." she wiped her eyes just incase tears started falling.

She rolled her eyes, that was her sister, call out the obvious then be cautious.

"Yes Harpy I'll be careful." she shook her head.

The looked at the sky, her sister? Make something hurt worse? What?

"It didn't help that you fought, no, but that wasn't the only reason. I would've prefered if you hadn't tried to be mum. You're not her. You're my sister, not my mother. I didn't need a mum when she died, I needed a sister to hold me and cry with me and tell me it was okay. Do you know how many times I woke up crying while you tried being mum?" she asked.

[Harper Adeliza Liven]

"Et, you're my sister. If you died, I'd never get over it. I don't...really have anyone besides you and Jake. I'm not the most likable person, Et; I don't really have friends," she reminded her with a sigh. "As for Dad...when he's not spacing out, he pretends that I'm not even there. I would have left home after the funeral if he could cook."

She looked down at her feet. She knew all of that. She knew that Etta resented her trying to step into their mother's role. It was just...Etta hadn't been there when Eliza died. Harper, on the other hand, had sat with Harry and Eliza until the very end. The result being that she just hadn't wanted to deal with losing her mother. She remembered breaking down crying during her next meeting with Jake. She hadn't really cried prior to that; it had sparked her first fight with Mikael.

"I know. I handled it horribly. Et, I...I couldn't that's dealt with losing her if I hadn't tried to push it out of my mind," she admitted. "I was there when she passed...it killed me. I..I did cry, you know. All the time, just privately. You and Dad were so broken up by it, though...if somebody had to keep it together, even if you two resented it, I figured it had to be me."