not all tears are an evil
The sound of someone crying startled Octavia Goetia from her studious stupor, and if she could hear it through her headphones, through Fuck You Dad’s newest hit single (‘You’re Okay, I Guess’), then it was LOUD crying. Ugly crying.
She yanked out her earphones and scrambled out of her room.
In the palace halls she could hear more clearly…oh fuck, it sounded like her dad. It was her dad. And this was the day after she encouraged him to… fuck, fuck, fuck!
“Dad?!” she called out, taking off in a panic down the corridor, trying to find him.
She flew past the potted carnivorous plants, the portraits on the wall, the kitchen She went swooping around a corner, and nearly crashed straight into –
“WHOA! Loona!”
They barely dodged each other, and went sprawling to the floor in the process.
“Via! Shit!” Loona, looking just as frantic as the owl felt, picked herself up and caught her breath. “You heard it too?”
“My dad crying? Yeah.”
“Yeah-wait, no.” The hellhound’s brow furrowed. “It was my - it’s Blitz crying!”
“No?”
“Well, that’s what I heard!”
Octavia’s feathers bristled. “I know what my father sounds like–”
There was another loud wail, and both Via and Loona’s heads swivelled in its direction. And there was a certain not-Stolas timbre, a harmony, mingling in that wail.
“ – oh fuck, it’s BOTH of them isn’t it?” Via moaned.
“Uh-huh.”
They took off at a sprint, through the dining hall and down the foyer stairs.
“It’s coming from the garden,” Loona panted, paws skidding on the marble floor. “Fuck, that was where I suggested - to Blitz–”
“You suggested HE propose too?!” Via squawked.
“Sorry, I didn’t know we were supposed to coordinate that! I didn’t even know - nevermind.” The hellhound groaned. “How could they have messed this up? I’m gonna kill whoever flubbed -”
“Could’ve been either of them.”
“Or both.”
“Then I’m going to kill myself–”
“Not on my watch.”
Bursting through the doors onto the back patio, they screeched to a stop at the sight before them.
Blitzø and Stolas were staggering up the steps from the garden, their faces were streaked with tears… but they were leaning into each other. Blitzø was practically propping up Stolas by the hip. And they were smiling, wider than Octavia had seen either of them smile.
“Darlings?” Stolas called wetly, and then burst into sobs again. Now Via could hear it clearly; it was a giddy sound, more like laughing.
He buried his face in his hands. There was a ring on his finger.
“S’okay, fiancée, I’ll get this.” Blitzø sniffed, scrubbing tears away on the back of his arm. He waggled his hand at Loona and Via.
There was a ring on his claw too.
“Hey g-girls,” he asked. “How’d you two feel about officially being stepsisters?”