[IC] Carlily (Basically... an Athalia Academy Fanfic... Sort of.)

[HylianRose]

It was a nice day at the Brightendale/Calandra household. Lily sat in her chair, crocheting something for Rose again. Yet another sweater the poor girl didn't need. Heaven knows what Carmen was up to, probably surfing the web for more clothes she didn't need or practicing with her horn. Soft melodies could be heard from Rose's room as well as loud blaring music from Angel's. Lily sighed and put in her earplugs, hoping drown out some of the noise.

Angel was in her room, studying. Her mom, Carmen, had so many books and she wanted to read some of them. Get a taste of what Carmen went through and how she saw life. It kind of made Angel giggle at some of the things her mother didn't understand. Both of them. They were both so naive.

I was never that naive... Was I?

She looked up from her book and then shook her head.

Nah. Definitely not. Rose, maybe.

A chuckle. Angel put the book down and sat up, throwing her legs over the side of the bed, forgetting about her injured leg. It hit the dresser next to her bed like a lead brick and then various groans and screams could be heard all through the house.

"AHHHVFD! OW, OW, OWWW! DAMNIT!" Angel shouted as she pulled her bandaged leg in to wrap her arms around it.

That's what I get for protecting Rose.

Angel had injured herself attacking the man that had touched her sister. She was sure he'd tried to touch her in an inappropriate way as all men did. She wasn't stupid and neither was he. Still, she'd only gotten one hit on him before he managed to start dodging her and ran away. She hit her leg on several tables trying to hit him after the initial blow. Still, she felt good having socked him a good one in his gut. Should've aimed for the more sensitive area though.

Angel rolled around on the bed, stopping when she heard her door creak open.

"Is everything okay? I heard you scream." Lily said through the opened door, her eyes showing her worry.

"I'm fine, Mom. Just.. forgot about my leg momentarily." Angel explained, shaking her head.

[Driving Park]

Carmen sat in her and Lily's master bedroom with the door closed. She loved Lily and their two children dearly, but she needed peace and quiet sometimes. She got it with Lily and she got it with Rose, but she absolutely didn't get it with Angel. Still, she loved her all the same. She was doing what she often did - playing along with Rose but so quietly that nobody outside of the room would know. Naturally, she was passing the time until something happened or her latest order of clothes arrived - whichever came first. Angel, Lily, and...well, all three of them really...had expressed their desire to be included in these orders and she was only too happy to oblige. Lily did because she had always been interested in the world as viewed by Carmen (and particularly fashion), and the girls did because, well, they had Carmen's genes in them.

Predictably, her serenity was soon shattered by Angel, who had hit her leg by the sound of things...again. Carmen sighed. It didn't mean she was going to check on her daughter, though.

"You really ought to remember it sometime," Carmen sneaked into the conversation between Angel and Lily as she walked through the open door, trumpet in hand. She gently put her arm around Lily, standing next to her and looking at Angel. "We don't want you to get hurt again. Even if it's by yourself."

Her ears perked up at the sound of silence...or, rather, the distinct lack of erhu. She assumed that Rose would be-

"Did something happen?" came the voice of Rose from behind Carmen, who stepped out of the way momentarily to let her in, erhu in hand.

[HylianRose]

Angel let out a frustrated groan as her room filled with people. "I'm fiiiiine!" She whined over the loud music. Lily, unable to hear her own daughter clearly, walked over to the stereo and turned it off.

"Carmen is right. Do we need to tie a red string to your finger or something?" Lily asked, her arms crossed as she walked back over to Carmen, possessively making the woman put her arm back around her, trying not to blush. After all the years, she still got to her sometimes.

"What? What does that even mean?!" Angel shouted, clearly upset at this point. She took in a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. Her foot was still throbbing which made this process all the more difficult. Angel eyed Rose's erhu and smiled. "Practicing?" She asked, standing up to stand next to her sister, who was a bit shorter than her. Made her feel better about herself. Even if she wasn't the oldest. Technically Rose was a few minutes older.

Lily let out another sigh and turned, tugging on Carmen's shirt to follow her. "Come on. She seems fine." She told her wife, smiling softly. "What did you order?" Lily asked her as they went out of Angel's room and walked towards their master bedroom.

[Driving Park]

"It means you're accident prone," Carmen replied matter-of-factly to Angel. Reminds me of a certain shapeshifter I used to know, she thought. The happy memory made her less concerned about Angel, and she looked lazily over at her daughter's desk. "Studying my books again I see. Hope you're enjoying them, dear," she said with a soft smile, and turned to dutifully follow Lily when she was tugged away.

She smiled at her wife's question. "Oh...this and that..." she said cryptically, with a little devious grin on her face as she looked at Lily. Walking into the master bedroom, she put her trumpet down next to the bed and sat down on it, pulling Lily down to sit next to her. "I know you'll like it," she said, smiling, holding Lily's hand in hers.

After a moment of pondering silence, she spoke again. "Lily...how do you think the others are doing? You know...from the Academy. I wonder how their lives turned out." She smiled at Lily. "I know we turned out alright."

---

Rose smiled at her sister upon her question. "Yeah, as always." She waved goodbye to their parents as they left the room and idly pushed the door mostly closed with her free hand. She looked over at Angel's desk. "What about you? Reading some more of mom's books? She sure does have a lot of them."

[HylianRose]

"I AM NOT!" Angel shouted at Carmen, her brows furrowing. She blinked when Carmen mentioned the books and then turned to look at them sprawled out on her bed. "Well, yeah. I mean..." She stuttered but when she turned her parents were gone and all who remained was Rose.

Angel sighed and looked at her sister with one brow raised. "Yeah. The woman's such an enigma. I figured reading them might help me figure her out. Still not helping." Angel explained. She walked over and picked up a book. "You realize this is a self help book on love, right? All of mom's corny thing she does with mom? From here. It's so weird." She continued and threw the book back down on her bed. "Anyway. Do you want to go out and go shopping? I'm in the mood for a new pair of shoes." She asked, grinning at her sister.

---

Lily's smile dropped when Carmen asked her about Athalia. She sighed, sitting down with her wife. "I... I don't know. I wish some of them would try and contact us. Maybe they're all just so busy with their own lives, you know?" She responded, feeling her chest well up. She pulled her feet up onto the bed and pulled legs into a hug with her arms. "I miss it though. I mean... The old days. Remember when we found out we were roommates for the first time?" Lily asked, looking over at Carmen. "And we talked about what it would be like to go to a normal school without powers? I feel like we're living that kind of life now... It's... It's kind of boring..." She finished, looking down at the floor.

"Maybe that's just mid-life crisis talking. We are almost 40." She added, sad eyes still watching the floor.

[Driving Park]

Rose listened to her sister talk about the books. "I mean...she was born from a star, remember?" she commented. "She had to learn everything from books. No formal schooling. It's kind of amazing actually..." her voice trailed off, pondering it some more. "I still don't understand how a human angel girl and another girl who basically amounts to stardust can have two kids though."

She perked up at her sister's shopping trip offer. "Sure!" She didn't like going shopping to shop, but just to spend some time with her sister, who really enjoyed shopping. Especially for shoes. Carmen had a particular affinity for dresses, and it seemed that gene turned into shoes when Angel was made.

---

"Oh, don't get yourself down, Lily," Carmen consoled her wife, putting her arms around her. "When you're sad, I'm sad. And we should be happy! I know the old days are gone, but look what we have. We have two wonderful daughters (who are wonderful more because of your genes than mine, I suspect)," she continued, giving Lily a friendly squeeze, [b]"and a stable life without having to worry about demons or Hell or...anything else. I mean...isn't that what you wanted?"

She did have to chuckle at the memories Lily brought up though. "How could I ever forget that first time we realized we were roommates? It's a moment that'll be forever etched into my memory. And it really kind of started it all..." her voice trailed off, remembering.

[HylianRose]

"Yeah, yeah. Mom's amazing. I try not to think about how we were conceived though. Best to just accept what Mom tried to tell us once. That she formed us out of stardust." Angel stated matter of factly. Besides, it really did make sense. How else could two females have twins? I mean... Both Angel and Rose came out of Lily's stomach. Kind of amazing, really.

When Rose responded so excitedly to Angel's request, she could only smile. She could always count on her sister. "Come on then. What are we waiting for?! We have to get dressed! Come on." She shouted, pulling Rose to her closet. She pulled out clothes one by one, throwing them behind her where Rose stood. "Let's see... What to wear today..." She mumbled, rummaging through the closet. "OH!" She stopped, pulling out a cute loose black tank, a cat design on the front. "I'm feeling it." She nodded, smiling over at her sister.

Quickly, she turned back and, after rummaging a bit more, pulling a pair of black skinny jeans a grey tank to go under the loose one and a pair of black wedges. She turned to her bed and laid everything out. Turning her head to her sister she muttered, "Feel free to grab anything you want to wear. My closet is your closet." Within a few moments, she was dressed and ready to go. She was eying herself in the mirror, turning from side to side with a smile on her face. "Cute." She whispered, grinning at herself.

---

Lily rolled her eyes and laughed at Carmen, nodding her head. "Of course." She responded as Carmen spoke. She sighed and leaned against Carmen, putting her head on the skylark's shoulder. "I guess...." Lily trailed off, remembering.

After a few moments, the young angel stood up and turned to face her wife. "Enough being silly. Let's get serious." She said, a smirk on her face as she pounced on Carmen, giving her sweet kisses.

[Aaaaaaand fade to black. -cough-]

[Driving Park]

Rose smiled as her sister went to work picking out clothes for the shopping trip. She herself had inherited an inkling of Carmen's fashion sense, but not much. Staring at the closet of clothes before her, she was both slower and less thorough than Angel had been, merely skimming the options. Eventually she found a cute short navy blue halter dress and pulled it out. "Sure," she remarked simply to herself, and turned around to see Angel dressed. She grinned and gave two thumbs up, before beginning to get dressed herself. Soon she was dressed with matching navy flip-flops and was ready to go. She sort of hoped her fashion-conscious sister would approve of her basic wardrobe choices, but she also didn't much care. She was along to have fun.

"Well, shall we?" she said to Angel, pulling the door open and standing next to it with a little smile and tilt of the head.

[HylianRose]

Once done looking herself over, Angel gave a moment to look her sister over. While she didn't really approve of how plain it was, that didn't both her. What did bother her were the bare shoulders. She blinked once, staring at her sister as she walked over to the door saying, 'Well, shall we?'

"Not... quite." Angel said quietly and then went back to her closet, desperately looking for something. She threw more and more clothes into her room, which was now looking like a tornado came through. Either that or it looked like she'd been robbed. She stopped when she pulled out a cream colored cardigan and took it over to her sister, resting the article of clothing on her shoulders. "Don't ask me why, just wear it or we're not going anywhere." She told her sister, her voice firm.

As she walked past, she eyed Carmen's sunhat on the doorknob of their room and took that as a sign to not announce that they were going out. Hoping Rose was following, Angel led her outside and began to walk to the mall. After all, Carmen Calandra wouldn't dare live to far from the nearest mall. Angel chuckled and slowed down so that her sister could catch up. "So, what sort of thing are you going to look for? Or are you just along for the ride as usual?" Angel asked her sister, looking down at her.

[Driving Park]

Angel's expression did not hide her dissatisfaction with Rose's wardrobe choices. When Angel said "not quite", Rose knew she'd be wearing something else shortly. Fortunately, it was just a cream-colored cardigan and not an entire wardrobe change. "What can I say? You know best," she said, half jokingly. She put the cardigan on, resisting a chuckle at the state of Angel's room, which appeared as if a bomb had gone off in it. Soon, the pair were out the door, passing the presently...occupied master bedroom along the way.

She chuckled at her sister's question. "When have I ever not been along just 'for the ride'?" she asked with a grin. "Who knows...maybe one day you'll get me to buy something." Looking to keep the conversation going, she picked a question bomb that was sure to get Angel talking. "What about you? What kind of shoes are you looking for?"

[HylianRose]

Angel shook her head and smiled at her sister. As if she didn't know. Then again, maybe she didn't. "Well... Today. I was thinking about something more... relaxed. You know? Maybe some cute sneakers? I kind of want to start running in the morning. After all, how else will I fit into these cute clothes?" She explained to Rose as they walked through the mall parking lot. "OH! I should get an entire outfit for working out. Or maybe two.. .or three... We could go on a work out regime, the two of us!" Angel shouted, twirling quite happily. "It'll be fabulous." She said as they got to the doors of the mall.

As they entered, Angel looked around. Tsk Tsk... Why did other people have such horrible tastes in clothing? What was that woman wearing? A purple disaster? It looked like she was being swallowed whole by Barney. Not exactly... chic. Angel tried not to look at her and thus found her eyes settling on another woman. Angel blinked and then turn away again. PJs were never acceptable if one wanted to impress. Now, Angel could understand if the woman was sick or ill or... tired. But still. When going out it was more fun to dress up anyway.

She shook her head and turned to look at her sister. "Come on, let's go check out that athletic wear store. Surely they'd have everything we need." Angel told her, grabbing her hand and pulling her along with her. She ignored the looks they both got from the mall goers, mainly the men. She hated it when guys looked at Rose. It made her sick. In Angel's mind, Rose wasn't going to date until she was like 30. Or when Angel was dead. But that's kind of a morbid thought...

Yeah, I don't really want to die. But I don't want anyone to date Rose either. Sleezeballs.

[Driving Park]

Rose listened with amusement as Angel went on about her fashion exploits. "You seem to be fitting into them just fine right now," she chuckled. "A workout regime?" She pondered. That sounds like a lot of work for something I'm not really interested in...I'd rather be practicing, she thought to herself. "Interesting...!" she said, trying to sound interested but failing. But, she dutifully followed her sister through the mall nonetheless.

Soon they were in the athletic wear store and Rose was looking around every which way, bewildered by the vast array of styles and options for exercise wear and equipment. As far as she could remember, Angel hadn't taken her into an athletic store before. She definitely felt like a fish out of water. "What...is all this?" she asked her sister. "And do you really need it to exercise?" Granted, a lot of the things Angel had she didn't need, but...outfits for exercising? She'd have to ponder this further.