…inspirer…

“Oh MUUUUUUM-SIIIIIEEEEEEE!”

…expirer…

“I brought your favorite…escargots aux noix...but with a side of creamed onions, obviously.”

…inspirer…

“Mackenzie sends her love…well, she didn’t actually SAY that, but I know she meant it…she had a last-minute meeting she suddenly had to attend at the studio…she truly and utterly wanted to push it aside and come visit you...but I guess that’s the life of a movie producer and director!”

…expirer…

“Baby Lael insisted on coming, of course, though we can’t really keep calling her ‘baby.’ She’s all grown up, now! You know, that might help with convincing Dolly to let me adopt her. Honestly, look how well I did with Lael!”

…inspirer…

“Why is it so dark in here? Honestly, whatis the point of these beautiful shades I installed if you don’t draw them now and again?”

…expirer…

“Oh my, the blueberry fields HAVE blossomed wonderfully. Ax was correct, as usual.”

…inspirer…

“Mumsie, are you even listening to me?”

…expirer…

”Mo-ther!”

The Dragon finally opened her eyes. It hurt to do so, especially with the summer light piercing through her open window, but this was nothing new. She felt old, tired. She felt as haggard as she knew she looked, felt as wrought as she knew the skin pulled tight against her angular face showed. But the pull of that word…spoken with that affective articulation…was enough to draw her from her slumber.

“There you are.”

Mother

Technically, the young woman before her was her step-daughter, but the two had moved beyond that honorific years before. For them, it was but an asterix to their relationship, an unwanted reminder of a past they would rather forget. A past of scheming, of fighting, of betrayal.

“And here I thought you had gone deaf! Now, as I was saying, I-”

The Dragon grimaces slightly as the girl rolls her eyes with a grand extravagance. Just about everything the girl did was with grand extravagance, from her words to her clothes to her plans. She got that from her father, of course. Even the eye roll.

…Il est ressuscité…

The mantra rolled through her head as the girl rattled on about Lord knew what. The Dragon found herself drifting off again, her eyes longing for the darkness which would, at least for a time, bring her back to the warm embrace of her husband.

…Il est ressuscité…

Oh, to be reunited!

Oh, to be at his side with the Father!

Oh, to be-

“-which is how I will fix you, of course.”

The Dragon’s eyes blink several times as a few of the girl’s words filter through. She was moving away from her, probably pacing with her usual measured extravagance which would make her skirts flair with her turns, with her arms moving about with her speech.

“I assume you are going to be easier than Godfather…I don’t think that miserable wretch is happy unless he’s unhappy…but it will still take work. A nice and slow start on Madness will be just the way to dip your toe back in. I promised Vinnie that I would give the world a reason to actually watch that show for once, after all. And Claire will love seeing that you’re her surprise partner. Xim probably won’t like it, but she’s a dumb bitch, anyway, so whatever. Bobby and Max will be less than pleased, of course, and hopefully Molly somehow dies in the process, since I hate her ever so much.”

The Dragon blinks several times again as the girl turns on her heel and paces back to her with the skirt-flaring she had anticipated. She licks her tongue across dry lips, with even that much causing a pain.

“Quelle?”

Her throat hurt with the expression, but the fire in the girl’s eyes, her glasses seeming like fashionable portholes peering into a furnace, pushed away the pain.

“I’m going to fix you, Mumsie. Because the world needs you.”

The Dragon cocks her head to the side and takes in the girl with a refreshed light. She was in her mid-twenties, with a mature face that mixed equal parts severity and mischief, but it was always difficult for her to not think of her as the judgmental 14-year-old vampiric pixie she had met all those years ago.

“I am not…”

The girl looks away as her face dawns a rare visage of humility.

“...a very good evangelist…though I still blame the pandemic for my church in Hollywood never gaining much in the way of membership…and am far more effective showing versus telling.”

She turns back to her.

“But YOU! Well now, we both know you ascribe far more to Daddy’s approach than I. And are possibly more successful at it than any other member of the family. It’s time we get back to doing what we do best.”

The girl pushes aside her unnecessary amount of skirts and sits down next to her. Sitting side-by-side, she holds out her hands and splays perfectly-manicured fingers one by one.

“My sister: Will focus, despite her numerous endeavors, and prove her capabilities as a singles competitor.”

Angelica, the daughter of her husband-

…Il est ressuscité…

-and her sister-wife Mary. Sweet girl, though she wished she wouldn’t put up with the hive of lesbians she found herself in. They were, as always, the worst.

"My brother: Will lose that spare tire and start stretching unsuspecting n00bs again."

Shinjiro, eldest of the Lacklan children. Strong and resolute as his mountain namesake.

“My Godfather: Will put away the widower’s shroud and recover what is left of his dignity.”

She had never met the Writer’s wife, but what little she knew of her was unpleasant. She was pretty sure her daughter’s use of harlot makeup was because of the influence of the salope.

“You: Will get back into the ring, remind both yourself and the world why you are Le Champion du Chaos...and not a corpse in need of dusting who hides in a castle in Maine.”

The Dragon does little to hide her annoyance at that.

“There are others…the world shall quake in fear at the forces I am bringing together…but…well…”

She leans to the side and presses her head into her shoulder. The Dragon softens and allows the girl to crook her head between her chin and shoulder.

“...family first, of course.”

As they sit there, the smell of walnuts and cream and snails find their way to the woman’s nose. A rumble comes from her stomach, a sound and feeling almost foreign to her.

For the first time in what felt like eternity, the Dragon was hungry.