Lola had been sat at one of the seats near of of the heads of the dining table, textbooks sprawled out ahead of her as she wrote out math equation in a notebook. Math tended to come easily to Lola and the fact her mother had shoved her into after school tutoring most days of the weeks just as a way to keep the girl 'out of her hair'. As if she didn't fuss over her only years ago. Unfortunately, she wasn't powerful enough for her mother's liking and a shift happened in that moment. Instead of just shift her attention to her son, Esme Leighton seemed to take out her frustration on Lola. Initial it started with yelling and blaming but nowadays Lola felt disowned in all but name and dwelling space. For the most part her tended mother ignored her, only talking to her to correct her or to use as a pawn in whatever plan she had for Al.

As she heard footsteps in the loungeroom she looked up briefly, her eyes redirecting back to her homework at the smallest glimpse of her brother. Some part of her instinctively expected her father to walk through that doorway just like he used to every night. He'd try to hide the hollowness of his face cast by the exhaustiveness of his job and gently say Good evening, my little cherry blossom. Although with Al being closer to their father considering Lola was graded not long before the man's death they still had somewhat of a special bond. She'd wonder how much closer they'd be if he was still alive through her mother's shift.

It wasn't until Aloysius threw himself in the chair across from Lola with a dramatic sigh did she look at him properly after giving a roll of the eyes. "And what's got you in a tizzy?" she asks somewhat scornfully. Despite having now pent the majority of her life in America, remnants of a Cambridge British accent still played on her tongue, courtesy of her mother. Her relationship with her brother was far from the best in what it seemed like a competition from their mother for her care that neither of them truly wanted. What always got Lola was that high horse he was always on about her.

At Aloysius' response Lola scoffed and grabbed a spare pen from her little collection next to her book and threw it at the man. "Please," she spits back angrily. "You work at the fixer's desk, it's really not a job to be all high and mighty about,"

Her eyes looked back down at her homework in front if her as she gave a exasperated sigh. It was never bad enough that her mother was acting like she was a dud but if course her dear older brother had to join in, rubbing salt into everyone of her wound left by their mother.

When Aloysius threw the pen back Lola was ready for it. She threw her hand up and caught it, barely even glancing in her brother's direction. "Predictable," she grumbles under her breath, adding the pen to the pile.

At the young man's question the teenager looks up at him, annoyance written on her face. "I don't know if you noticed, Aloysius, but mum tends to have a 'pretend my daughter doesn't exist unless I need someone to blame for something going wrong' approach to parenting me. Why would I just see her? I guess the fact I haven't means she'd fine today, I suppose,"

At Al's response Lola flashed him a dirty look. Maybe he was trying to comfort her but she knew he knew full well that was a lie. "You and I both know that's a lie," she responds dismally, pointing her face toward the table. She could feel her face become hot but blinked back the couple of tears threatening to fall. Her family didn't deserve those.

Silence fell between the pair for a short while before Al redirected the conversation to be about his standing with their mother once more. "And what flavour do you reckon for me? Blaming me for something that went wrong with her day or not even a look my way, hmm?"

Lola swallowed the lump in jer throat. "Don't act like what I'm going through is the same as what you did," she replies simply, her eyes still planted on the table. "Don't pretend she's not more vicious. Or that you have dad and I-" she cuts herself off. She knew if she said she had no one Al would make a whole grand speech about how she had him when she knew for a fact she did not. Sure, he wasn't their mother but he was never truly on her side.

At his offer the teenager snickered. "You act like that's any better," she replied. Perhaps it was but she felt it almost no different.

At Al's initial response Lola shook her head. Her face became hotter with every moment, storing threats of tears. "And who do I have now, hmm?" she snaps back while standing. Her movement pushed the chair back with a loud squeak as it rubbed on the wooden floorboards. "So he loved me too, good. That doesn't change the fact I'm fighting a battle alone that you got to spend with him."

She slammed shut her textbook, looking her brother up and down. What she being childish, maybe, but Al acting like he was God's gift for offering a half-baked solution didn't ammuse his sister. She grabbed her supplies, tightening a fist around her pens. "I don't know if you noticed, Al, but I'm not an adult. I can't just up and get a house. I can't even take money out of the trust fun for another two years. At least here I know I'll be fed," she snaps, looking down at the man in the chair. It seemed no matter what Lola did it was her fault. Anything went wrong with the Leighton family's standing in the Guild? I was how low Lola scored. Was the verbal punching bag of her mother? Her fault for not moving out, even if she was still a minor. Everything seemed to come back to herself so much she was starting to think maybe they had a point.

Lola wanted to respond to her brother, remind him if the many times he'd definitely made her feel like he had ill feelings toward her. All the times he dug deeper into the wounds make by his mother, or creating new ones himself. Or maybe how the small piece of childhood wonder she had left wanted him to be the big brother that stood for her the way their father had for him when she was the apple of her mother's eye. Yet she didn't get time to utter a word of it before Esme Leighton walked into the dining hall.

Her mother didnt waste a moment before going straight for Lola's throat. "Just putting my books away before dinner, mother," Lola mumbles, holding her textbooks tight to her chest. She'd be lying if she said her mother didn't scare her, not in the way ghosts or scary movies did but in a way she knew her mother could still shatter her heart into a million different pieces. "Or do you have a problem with that too, your highness," she follows up sarcastically.

Lola had turned on her heel and started walking off to put her books away when her brother spoke up. Although he was often self-centred in his words and views he wasn't afraid to start up for his sister. Well, once wasn't. Although he'd stand for her on occasion those moments where becoming more and more fleeting and it'd take more harsh words for their mother before he intervened. As a result Lola started pushing back against him, ensiring to distance herself. She couldn't take the heartbreak of losing the care of the last of her family alive to do so, not on anyone or anything but her own terms.

She liked when he stood up for her, it felt like something their father would do. That was when he spoke that last line, Last I checked she scored higher than you did she not? It caused Lola to freeze in place. Her mother has always made a big deal of how badly Lola did, she never thought her mother would have done worse. "I sorry, you what?" she asks, turning back to her mither and brother

Lola pursed her lips as she gripped on tighter to her books. "Well, it's good to know I'm not the stupidest one here, hey mother dear," she replies through gritted teeth as heat ran to her face. It seemed her mother had a way of riling her up. Hearing about how far behind she stood despite classing Lola as useless as soon as she saw less than 5 digits angered her. A lot of things angered her these days it seemed.

At his comments the teenager raised her brow at her brother. She was sure he knew as well as she did that she was nowhere near powerful enough to become a storm mage.

"You act like we care about Salem's score, mother. If you're so obsessed with her why don't you just go adopt her or something instead of bothering us?" Lola snaps before turning on her heel and letting Esme have that verbal attack on her brother. "I'm going to go put my homework away. Is attendance at this family dinner necessary of can I get my dinner in my room?"