[IC] Family Matters (A Hedgehawk & SouffleGirl123 1x1)

[Hedgehawk]

"She doesn't know. And from my point of view, she doesn't need to know. I am not bringing him back for her. I am doing it for us. If I ever succeed, I don't want her anywhere near him" Aloysius picked up the first slice of his pizza and took a bite, It was good pizza, even if a bit of grease dripped off the side.

"If this works, then we are moving away from mother. Set up a new life in Japan with dad. Away from the Guild or any of this power game stuff"

[SouffleGirl123]

Lola gave her brither a smile at his ambitious claim. She did genuinely want it to be true but she had her doubts. Soul capturing was finicky at best, not to mention only so easy to hide after a particular point but she kept those doubts to herself. ”Only if we get a house in Yoshinoyara so we can go for walks up the mountain whenever we want," Lola replies, pointing her crust at her brother before eating it. ”For dad, of course," she tacks on the end.

[Hedgehawk]

"We can totally do that. I know it is a hard, almost impossible endeavour, but I want to try my best to do so." Aloysius took a slice of his pizza and took another bite. He was starting to think how he was going to explain to Salem and the rest of the Guild about the crystal if anyone caught him with it.

In an attempt to distract himself he would try and innocently change the subject. "So how is school going? Classes and everything going okay?"

[SouffleGirl123]

Lola got the hint, this conversation was over, for now at least. She readjusted in her seat as her brother asks about her school life. She gives a shrug. ”Yeah, it's fine, I guess," she muses, picking at her pizza. ”I feel like it's almost all I do nowadays, class, tutoring, homework then sleep and repeat." Lola was already a high achiever alone so when her mother started sending her to tutoring she didn't need so only kept excelling, though there was one biy who still edged her out in all their shared classes. ”How's the business? Still afloat?"

[Hedgehawk]

"We are doing good. Still making weapons and selling them. Mother has started backing off now and letting me actually run the place. But it is really boring you know." Hearing her talk about High School reminded him of his own days there. The Guild had a secret stake in one of the New York High schools, so generally, high ranking Magi were sent there to be educated. "I remember High school. The gym, me and Salem used to go their after school when it was empty and fight in there. It was our way of honing our powers outside of training classes."

[SouffleGirl123]

”Good for you and Salem," Lola huffs before taking another slice of pizza. Lola knew all too well that Al wasn't over Salem, that their break up wasn't a freeing affair to him but a firbidden love when 'love trumps all' held no weight. Lola had heard way too much about Salem between jer mother's comparisons and Al's lovesick musings. It wasn't that Lola didn't like her, Salem was cool enough, but there were only so many times a person can come up before it becomes near nauseating.

”Sorry," Lola mumbles into her pizza, ”That wasn't mean to sound as rude as it did,"

[Hedgehawk]

Aloysius almost recoiled at the way that Lola reacted. It certainly wasn't the kind of response he was expecting from her. She apologised sure, but it still took him off guard. with a soft sigh he picked at the crust of his pizza.

"No No, it is fine honestly. I shouldn't have bought Salem up. I know that i mention her alot sometimes" Aloysius commented as he tried to disarm the conversation and try to at least put Lola at some ease. it was true that he was lovesick over Salem. He had hoped that she was feeling the same way. The duo had a bond when they were together, and while it was a bit confrontational at times, they did care for eahc other and try their best to make it work. Then politics had to get involved and ruin everything.

[SouffleGirl123]

”Sometimes?" Lola questions with a raise of an eyebrow. She picks at her pizza, it seeming almost unappetising in this moment. She gives a sigh looking up at Al. ”I guess I just can't understand liking someone that intensely you can get over it when it won't work. I don't know," She muses. Lola wasn't sure if she understand how Al felt when it came to Salem, it seemed like a whole different world. Her brother always seemed a planet away in the way of thoughts and actions,"[/color]

[Hedgehawk]

"I don't know. From my point of view, the relationship was working. I think both of us agreed on that. it was doomed thanks to the interference of others outside of the two of us." Aloysius would look back over at Lola. "Maybe I am just a little upset still. Between losing Dad and then losing Salem, it seems I struggle to hold onto anything in my life. If I am being perfectly honest. I don't even know what i want out of life right now"

[SouffleGirl123]

Lola could help but chuckle at his closing sentence. ”You and me both brother. I don't know what I'm achieving with all this studying, or what I want to achieve," Lola responds softly. ”I guess I accepted whatever mum had for me until I was 13 and now I'm just... I don't know, stuck?"

[Hedgehawk]

"I am stuck, and I have mother pushing me into things. I can't beleive she actually thinks I would be capable of being able to remove the De Silvas and take over the Guild for us. Does she not understand what a massive undertaking that would be" Aloysius finished off his pizza and slowly finished off his drink after that. "We could always just move away, Give mother the company and just let her be a bitch to others."

[SouffleGirl123]

Lola shrugs. ”You do what you want, just be careful of mum, she knows her way around people. If we run away what's the chances she'll get you caught for kidnapping? Just to drag you back into her clutches?" Lola muses, mainly thinking out loud to herself. ”I still have school, and technically no money to myself until I'm 18. Running away is a lot harder for me than you,"

[Hedgehawk]

"Well that is true. She is a petty person. But then again, so long as she feels like she is in control you can sway her to your way of thinking." Aloysius would keep eating at his pizza as Lola kept talking. "Hang on... 18? That isn't right. Access to the trust fund was to be allowed at 16. Who told you 18? Mother?" He had always wandered why Lola had always said she was broke, even though she should have had access to the fund. Now it made perfect sense. "I am guessing she also told you that she was the only one who could open the fund for you as well"

[SouffleGirl123]

At his words Lola shrugged. ”This isn't England anymore. I have the account but all I can really do is put money in and look at it until I'm 18," she replies, taking her last slice of pizza. ”I think part of me is waiting for mum to figure out some excuse to get her hands on it."

[Hedgehawk]

Aloysius gave off a small smile. "Mother really did pull the wool over your eyes. So when dad passed, the trust was created. Both myself and mother were signatories on it and we could release the money to you when you were 16, provided that we were okay being custodians and authorised any big purchases. finishing bus last peice of pizza, Aloysius carried on. "Did you ever check the accounts? I have been putting $500,000 in that trust fund every six months since taking over the company"

[SouffleGirl123]

At Al's words Lola huffed. She should have expected this honestly. She didn't like the soujd of her mother still having some control as custodian but she couldn’t blanme her father, how was he to know she would switch her tune so fast? At Al's response her face softened. ”You didn't have to do that," she says softly

[Hedgehawk]

"Of course I do. Dad always taught me to look out for you. Plus it meant mother couldn't have any of the profits if the company kept only operating at break even." Aloysius spoke with a soft smirk. The company had technically only ever broke even ever since Aloysius took over, which conveniently meant that there was no need to give Esme any of that money. Al had been fumbling the finances for years to get her out, not that anyone in the company seemed to mind. "We can take a look at getting you access if you like?"

[SouffleGirl123]

Like 3 months later or something

”You can just put that over there," Lola directs Aloysius softly, nodding at a collection of boxes in the corner of the living room of her new place. Getting emancipation was easier than she had thought it'd be, at least it was was easier for her mum to just give her up than she thought it'd be. With no one actively working against her and with a good some of money to her name it was an oddly quick process. She wasn't sure if the speed her mother agreed to sign the papers made Lola feel good or smaller than ever. After she starting accessing the funds, with her brother's help, whatever dregs of a relationship there was between Lola and her mother was bust.

Since Al was also a signatory she got him to sign off on her first big purchase, a little two bedroom town house with a large garage. While she technically could have afford something grander with the money her father had left behind she didn't want to go too overboard and drop all her money into a house alone, she didn't need anything impressive at the moment. She placed the box in her own arms next to Aloysius'. ”Thanks for your help, Al. Couldn't have done all this without you."

[Hedgehawk]

The past three or so months had been a whirlwind for Aloysius. His mother had blamed him for everything that was happening to Lola. She was convinced it was some kind of conspiracy against her. It was interesting that she started taking a slight interest at the moment that Lola started to leave. He knew he was going to be in the shit for even helping Lola move in. But he would simply tune his mother out later and let her rant about how ungrateful Lola was to her mother.

"It was honestly nothing. I am just glad that I have been able to do something if use and help you escape mothers clutches." Aloysius put the box down and looked around the room. It was a nice modest place.

[SouffleGirl123]

Lola gave her brother a small smile, watching him survey the house. ”And what about you? Are you gonna get out soon?" she asks, throwing herself onto the couch against the living room wall. In all honesty she was a little worried with her brother staying behind. She knew he'd be getting some flack for helping Lola move out and likely more now that their mother's human punching bag was no longer in reach. She'd be lying if she said Aloysius didn't get special treatment that came with being the favourite child but that didn't spare him completely from their mother's antics.