We were hunting for snakes, but we couldn't find them

As Carina stepped into the sitting room, whatever poise she held quickly dissipated when she saw Aela. To hell with all manners and courtesies, she immediately grinned. "Queen Aela!" she laughed, practically launching the queen into a hug, before taking a step back. "Oh, was that too much? Dad always told me not to do that but you know, we're practically siblings now so..." She had a sheepish look on her face, of course, she was always a bit overly friendly. Boundaries weren't exactly a thing Carina considered.

She immediately took a seat across from Aela, legs crossed and sitting up tall, the excitement visible on her face. The young girl laughed at the question. "Oh you know him," she waved it off with a light roll of her eyes, "he's always so moody all the time, pretty sure he doesn't want his little sister cramping up his style or whatever. You know, he always acts like I'm the one who's ruining his vibe, but I just think he's–" 

She gave Aela a little face, her voice lowering in a faux whisper. "kind of insecure. Boys, they always have some image to uphold, right?"

The young girl immediately took the cup. "I have to ask though, your dress is super cute, and it totally matches your skin tone. Was it handmade? I love to just get things made, they always fit so much better." 

Carina raised a brow. Oh, tea? The smile slowly spread across her face, amusement shining in her eyes as she looked at Aela with a mischievous smirk. "Spirits, what did my brother do now?" she took a sip of her tea, "I thought he'd try to stay out of trouble, but I guess he's always been good at getting himself into sticky situations." 

"Let me guess...did his organizing habits scare you away? He's always been a bit messy, dad used to get annoyed at all the posters and things he had everywhere in his room. Did you know he was really into boy bands at one point?" a cheeky grin was on the girl's face, as she rolled her eyes and waved with a hand, "Kind of embarrassing now, but you know." 

It was always fun to embarrass dear little Cassian, after all, and Carina took pleasure in that. "What did he do?" she really was like a shark, once she had her jaw set on something, she'd never let go, "go through half of your liquor cabinet already? Or I don't know, tried sneaking out? He used to do that at home too. I promise I won't tell anyone...you know, if you need any advice with dealing with him. He's really quite sweet once you get to know him better, you just...need to know the right angle to approach, you know?" 

Carina had that innocent look on her face, the one fitting of the young child she was supposed to be. 

Carina's silly grin was immediately wiped off when Aela started speaking, and her demeanor now held a quiet, thoughtful seriousness to it. Hm...so he had a drinking problem. No surprise there, considering how miserable he must've been when he realized what his life was going to be now. She was always a bit more perceptive than the rest of her family. It made things easier for her. Of course, Cassian had always been a fun target of the other two siblings, but while Cato was...well, good at magic and everything else the Rotherhithe family stood for, he wasn't exactly the cleverest of the bunch. 

Carina, however, had what some may say a talent for playing the long game. 

"Of course," she spoke, almost sympathetically, "it must be difficult for both of you, having met literally the day you got married. I'm sure it's just an adjusting process, you know? It takes a while before you start working like a well-oiled machine....though...."

She seemed to be thoughtful for a moment. "Father did train Cassian in all the ways that should've made him appropriate for this position, you know," she piped up, "he's had plenty of diplomat training, and he's been taking lessons in the other languages and other countries since we were kids. I don't know why he'd be having such a hard time...I mean, you grew up with all the training too and you're doing perfectly fine." 

The young girl frowned. "Do you think maybe it might be something else? I know my brother...whenever my dad's around, he's perfectly fine taking up all of his duties... I don't know what would've changed...is there anything else that's not been working between you two? I mean, he can be difficult, I know." 

It was clear she was implying to some degree that somehow, it must've been the handling of her brother that changed, and perhaps that was why he was acting out. 

Oh, she thought. So she did care about what he thought of her. Interesting. Aela seemed like a capable person, the type who was meant to be a ruler. She would've assumed the young woman would just take the reins and go, and Cassian would just trail along like he always did. She couldn't tell if Aela actually had feelings for her husband or not, but having a heart didn't make this any easier for her. 

"No offense, your majesty, but I just don't think you're going about this the right way." It didn't seem to matter to Carina whether she was being too bold or not. The young girl leaned in, as if telling Aela a secret.

"I learned this pretty early but the trick with Cassian is that he's kind of like a puppy, you know?" her eyes were bright, "you have to train him like a dog. If he knows that you're not the alpha, that you're willing to compromise and that you're not going to stand your ground, he'll just keep challenging you until you back down. You know, like that game...chicken? He'll just keep calling your bluff until you back down." 

She smiled at Aela. "I just think you must be a really nice person and you want to be honest and loving and all of that with him...but he's not really the kind of person who responds to that. It's like....disciplining a kid. They're going to pull out the tears and all that but you're going to eventually have to teach them manners, right? You just gotta show him who's boss." 

"Well....." Carina hummed, giving Aela a look over, before biting her lip, as if evaluating her answer. "yeah, I mean you should see his face whenever Dad came home." She stifled a giggle. "Obviously Cato and I were never really troublemakers, but Cass...well let's just say he got in trouble a lot more than we did, and you know what it's like. Dads can be a bit...strict, but he's doing it for his own good, you know? It's not like he'd ever be anyone if he was just left to his own devices." 

It was clear that Carina's account of their parents was different from Cassian's. "I mean, Cass was scared of our dad yeah, but just because he knew that he couldn't get away with slacking off, like he would with mom. He's always been so dramatic about it too, as if getting grounded was the worst thing that could possibly happen." The young girl rolled her eyes.

"I mean, obviously punishing him is one way to get it done but...between you and me, it's better to have a stick and a carrot. You know...keep him guessing and on his toes a bit. Sometimes you reward him for just the littlest things, you know, so he knows that it's good to behave, and sometimes you punish him for the little things too, you know, so you can keep pushing him to be better. If you only ever punish him for the big things like breaking my toys, he'll just get comfortable with being bad but...not bad enough." 

All of this sounded just a little dark for a child to be saying, and Carina knew that. The innocent look was back on her face. "Basically, he broke my toys once and I told him I'd tell dad about it, and he asked me not to, so I didn't, and when he helped me fix it, I helped him lie about his homework the next time...but then he was being annoying one day so I told dad that he was sneaking out at night. I think he's still mad at me for that." 

Carina knew a diversion when she heard one. Still, her eyes brightened. "Oh yes!" she piped up, "we were doing a rendition of The Nutcracker! I was the Sugar Plum Fairy, which was kind of ironic, you know, since it's usually an earth fairy who plays that, but I guess I was just lucky to get the part." 

She smiled, taking a cookie. "We were supposed to head up to Guivre to you know, 'get experience in the snow,' or whatever," the young girl chuckled, "but everyone knows those trips are just so we can chill and have fun and bond or whatever. It got postponed because of the storm up there, so I guess that's gonna happen later on." 

Carina turned to Aela, her eyes bright. "Have you ever been to the ballet, Aela?" she asked, "I was pretty young when I went to my first one but it was sooooo pretty, all the outfits and the water fairies actually make it snow inside! You probably get traveling ballet troupes in Pyxis, right? Do they ever get to perform in the castle? That would be so cool, to perform here!" 

"Do you do any dancing, Aela?" the young girl asked.

Carina gave Aela a bright grin. "You should come see mine," she teased, "it'll be the best you'll ever see." Of course, Carina was joking around, but she was serious on the 'best' part. After all, if she wasn't going to be the best–or eventually be the best–what was the point of it all? Still, she didn't feel the need to brag about it yet. Eventually she'd drag Aela along to one, after all. 

"You know, now that you mention ballroom dancing," she mentioned slyly, "I hear that the royal family hosts balls sometimes. When's the next one? I mean, not one of those stuffy ones with all the grown ups, but...you know, one for the younger kids like us! I'm sure it'll be super fun and a lot of the noble kids know each other....or about each other anyway. Why don't you host one soon? I know Cass would love a good dance; he's into all the partying and stuff, and it'll give him a chance to see his friends from home again." 

While Carina did enjoy tormenting Cassian, she wasn't always cruel, and she could guess how miserable her brother was even without hearing it from Aela. 

"You can even invite some musicians from Vela! I know a few popular ones...it'll be fun!" Her smile turned sly. "–and maybe you two will find something in common...I don't know, maybe it'll help you guys cross your little marriage hurdle." She gave the other girl a wink.

Oh my god, Carina thought as she looked at Aela, this was perfect. Of course Cassian loved dancing. She knew he snuck out to the clubs with his friends all the time, but what Aela didn't know was that most of these clubs were gay clubs. Underground raves. All the stuff that cool kids would go to, and well, Carina didn't want to be mean but Aela, even without being the queen, was definitely not the rave kid type. Frankly, most kids her age would never be caught going to a tea party, and well, positions of authority were never really cool. Being a Queen was almost as bad as being a teacher's pet in these kind of circles, and well, now that Cass was king...

Spirits did she come up with great ideas. 

"That sounds like so much fun!" Carina grinned. Oh hell yes, this was going to be great. She could already see the mortification on her brother's face when he realizes all his friends are here and that he'd have to greet them as a married man. Oh, she could already imagine it. 

"I can help you organize," she mused, "I definitely know who to invite. Should I send out the invites on your behalf? You definitely need to invite Dante, and Linus...oh! Andromeda and Atticus as well! They're the twins, they're basically the coolest kids in the school. You're going to have so much fun meeting all of his friends, I'm sure of it!" 

Carina's grin was wide. Plan A of 'Torment Cassian as King' was already in motion. It was moments like this when Carina was glad that she knew every bit of gossip about everything back home, and that she still remembered every one of Cassian's exes. Oh this was going to be glorious.