Back to You: A TFLC Short

Lysette and Eugene's Flat

London, England

United Kingdom

March 2013

“It’s getting a little wild over here,” Aether admitted. Lysette watched as the other tied her hair up in a bun, taking a sip from her coffee cup right after. “You have no idea, Lys. I’m balancing college work and then training for headquarters. At this point, it doesn’t feel like I have much of a weekend anymore—what more time for myself and time to do things for me.”

“Ask for a break?” Lysette prompted. Aether just sighed and shook her head. “What, can’t they grant you a break even for the summer? They’ve got to let you rest somehow.”

“They do, but…” Aether trailed off. “It’s…the training is really mandatory. I can’t miss it unless within reason, and I don’t want to make them think that I’m not willing to push myself to the limits for this kind of opportunity.”

“You’re already pushing yourself.” Lysette frowned at the screen, pointing a finger at Aether through Skype. “I can see the bruises, Aether—you’ve got a lot of them. Seriously, how much are they pushing you during your training? How much is that Tadashi guy working you? Didn’t you say that you had to go for what, two or three hours a few times a week?” From her screen, Lysette watched as Aether counted the days on her fingers.

“Well…I usually go have training with him when I don’t have too many classes. That’s my Monday and Wednesday, and then I keep training during the weekend,” she explained. “It was hard to adjust to at first, but—I guess I’ve survived so far? I mean, the worst I’ve gotten are horrible bruises.” Aether gave Lysette a smile from where she was—all the way in the United States—as if to reassure the other that she was doing okay. “It’s fine, Lys. Really. I’m just worried about losing time and all of that.”

Storge: A TFLC Playlist

Puppy Love: A TFLC Short

Winchester, England

United Kingdom

July 2010

So you felt something, Lysette thinks. She scans over the letter once, twice before rereading it all, trying to understand the words even though she already does. You…felt something for me but never got to say it out loud. And you’ve felt it for what, two or three years? And you never made a move, not once…

Two weeks after Aether left for the United States, Lysette discovered a neatly-folded letter in the middle of one of the cabinets she used to store her old sketchbooks. She had opened the cabinet once again to look for one of the more recent ones; she had planned to use a sketch she had done months ago as some kind of reference point. But when she pulled it out, she noticed that there was a peculiar paper pressed in between the pages; initially she thought that it was one of her old sketches, but her name written in familiar script caught her attention. 

For Lysette.

That was how she ended up in her current position: seated on the wooden floor with her hair tied up, the letter in her hands. It ran for two, nearly three pages—some words and some phrases were crossed out. It almost made her smile. Aether, after all, was never the wordiest person even when it came to paper. 

After the first read, she had to read again and yet another time. The words remained the same as did the entire letter. The same words were crossed out, Lysette detected traces of Aether’s frustration (most likely at herself) at some areas. The letter’s purpose was clear, definitely—but she couldn’t wrap her head around it. Not at all. 

Commitment: A TFLC Graphic

Homesick: A TFLC Short

Winchester, England

United Kingdom 

December 2005

During the first month of Aether’s stay in the orphanage, she had a tendency to get homesick very quickly. It was normal; she had lost her parents, after all, only a month back. It was hard to get used to the new place—as nice as the people were and as warm as the place seemed, she refused to accept it as home. For Aether, home was half an hour away. Home was their two-storey house with the sprawling backyard and the brightly-colorer flowers her father planted on the weekends; home was listening to her mother play the piano and have her teach Aether slowly and surely until she was sure she could get it right. Home was having her own bedroom and racing down the stairs to eat with her parents every morning, kiss her father on the cheek before he want to work, and spend time with her mother before she was off to school. 

That was home. 

The orphanage? Not quite. It still intimidated her as much as she refused to admit it; there were more floors and more stairs, more to explore but also more to hide from. There was a garden she could stay in but chose not to because of the kids who would stare, a music room she could reside in but didn’t because the piano reminded her of her mother too much. It was a residence by definition, but not a home—not quite. 

She got homesick. The feeling would strike deep in the late nights when she was sure that everyone else was asleep, roommate included. Red-haired Lysette liked to stay up late and usually Aether would wait until the other was snoozing deeply into the night before she would over her face, bury herself underneath the blanket and let her tears out as quietly as she could. While first being a few hiccups, a few tears here and there, it would eventually escalate to something much more painful, far worse than a few twinges in her chest. Aether couldn’t help it—she cried and cried until her tears ran dry, until her cheeks were blotchy, and her green eyes tired, red. 

It happened quite a few times and went unnoticed. Lysette would notice in the morning that Aether looked like that she hadn’t gotten any sleep, but the latter would shrug it off and say that her allergies were acting up.

Moodboards: #LysTher

Russ' Updates #118: LysTher Week

Hi, everybody! 

Judging by the layout, I think you can tell who’s up this week! We’re going to be taking a further look into the relationship of Lysette Cross and Aether Maxwell; if you’ve been here since the DNAU days, then you might recognize that Lysette is pretty much a revamped version of Linda St. Matthews. Just a little fun fact there hehe. 

"A little hard to believe, but that was me."

There isn’t much to say except to expect pretty much the same content that you’ve seen the past week! I hope you guys enjoyed #PeTher week and got to know more about the two and their relationship with one another. :’D Who knows--maybe this time around we'll get to see their interactions in a certain orphanage~

That's all! Check out the prior posts if you'd like, and I'll see you all again tomorrow. 💚