Atropos → george weasley

ii. an undercover god

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two

an undercover god

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Each day, for the next couple of weeks, Ottilie tried not to linger around her parents more than necessary. It made her ill to imagine discussing that night, about the terrified little boy and the television screen she'd momentarily darkened (well, she knew she had done this—she was hoping her parents were still blaming the landlord).

Thankfully, her father seemed to feel the same way. He behaved formally and slightly detached around her. Kanna, caught in the middle, appeared to be making some effort to treat Ottilie normally, but her movements were too brisk and the sweetness of her voice rang superficial.

Until winter holiday, Ottilie felt profoundly alone.

She went to school and kept to herself, which wasn't difficult because her whole school cowered from her. After spending lessons in silence, her mother would pick her up from school. She would get home and sit alone in her room, wondering if her parents still loved her.

She tried her best not to scare them again, but she wasn't always successful in suppressing her emotions. There was an occasional flickering light at dinner, and the radio in the kitchen would sometimes get staticky if she stood too close.

Things didn't begin to feel normal again until Ottilie's little sister was finally born.

After a particularly cold Christmas, on the thirtieth of December, Ottilie's parents dropped her off at her grandmother's house before they went to the hospital.

Nana Chiyo was Ottilie's favorite grandmother, no contest. Her other one was never particularly warm to her. (This most likely had something to do with disapproving of her son's decision to start a family with Kanna before they were married.)

On the other hand, Nana Chiyo doted on the girl. She was an elderly Japanese widow who lived in a home brimming with stuffed animals and books for Ottilie. Each time she visited her grandmother, Nana Chiyo had a special gift waiting for her.

On that day, she surprised Ottilie with a new book on Ice Age humans. She was always eager to nurture the young girl's offbeat fascination with the prehistoric world.

The sadness lingering in Ottilie's blood dissolved as she wrapped herself in blankets to read her new book before a roaring fire. Nana Chiyo gave her a bowl of rice seasoned with furikake and they ate their snack together as Nana Chiyo did crosswords in her chair.

The next day, Nana Chiyo and Ottilie traveled to town together to see the new baby. Ottilie was nervous in the large hospital with its bright lights and hectic atmosphere, and she was especially nervous when her father gently placed tiny Adelaide in her arms. But, as she held her new sister, she noticed her parents finally gazing lovingly at her again. The nerves turned into euphoria.

With her newborn sister in the house, perhaps Ottilie's parents would be too busy to remember that they feared her. Maybe they would no longer notice when her emotions leaked from her palms and disrupted their sensible reality.

And, as it turned out, Adelaide became a distraction more effectual than Ottilie had hoped. However, not in the way that she would have ever wished.

For six months, things were normal—as normal as they could be with a brand new person living in the home, that is. Ottilie did her best to keep her strange abilities under control around her family and was mostly successful. Thankfully, small instances of the supernatural were overlooked by her frazzled, sleep-deprived mother and father.