CLEOPATRA IS THE ONLY

It never occurred to her that his family hadn't looked for him. She had always assumed that he had just run away from home, too scared and too weak to uphold the customs he was expected to fall into.

When he says those words, says that they never searched, that he never hid.. it stops Stormy in her tracks. It makes her shut up immediately, her mind racing as she considers this. He could be lying, after all, but why would he? Who would willingly lie about their parents not caring enough about them to go to all lengths to find them?

The next thing he says leaves her without words. She's starting to see the truth of it all, hearing the honesty spilling from his words. There's still distrust in her, an unwillingness to admit that he could be right, that she had no fucking idea what she's talking about. But now, suddenly, she's starting to see reason.

"It hasn't been easy for me, Fernando. Do you think I liked being picked up after my mother abandoned me, to be taken into a family like the Silph's and groomed to be everything that I wasn't born for? I know that I'm a nobody, Fernando. I hoped to find my family with you, with our siblings. I didn't, because... " she trails off suddenly, unsure how to finish that thought.

Why hadn't she fit in? If she was being honest with herself, it's because she wasn't sure she'd wanted to. Being forced to fill in the shoes of a missing Fernando, expected to pose as a Silph, to meet their standards of perfection, it was exhausting.

It's occurred to her now, though, that perhaps Fernando hadn't wanted any of this either.

She brings the conversation back around to what he said earlier, disbelief colouring the emotion in her voice.

"Did they not look for you? They just.. gave up the minute they got tired of looking? That's.."

Fernando's reference to her birth name is like a slap in the face. There's unease in her heart, there's confusion. It's almost as if it's final, as if Fernando has truly made it clear and cut that Stormy is no longer welcome in the Silph family.

She hasn't even whispered her mothers name in years, the sound of it making her blood boil and her stomach clench.

deltra of gangnam style

CLEOPATRA IS THE ONLY

A small part of her can see Fernando in a new light. He's just as broken and damaged as she is, and he seems content with shutting people out.

She can't help but find some sort of agreement in that, some sort of common ground. She knows what that's like, and to some extent, she can understand. Fernando only had himself to take care of him, no one else stepped up. Apparently, no one put in much effort to find him, simply left him out in the wilderness to die.

They probably didn't even care after some time, just accepted that he was lost and never coming home. They moved on quickly, grooming several children to be the next heir.

In a way, that was super fucked up. They had no attachments to their children, no interest at all in maintaining relationships.

Stormy is at a loss for words even despite Fernando trying to talk to her. It's like a light has been turned on and she suddenly sees a little bit more than what she had before. Perhaps her attachment to her 'parents' was pathetic, and Fernando had a point.

"I don't want to keep fighting you, brother. But I also don't plan on letting you decide who I am. I am Stormy Silph, not Bronwen, not Llewelyn. I plan on accomplishing what I set out to do as well, with or without your support. I'm here for the long haul, brother."

deltra of gangnam style