The key difference between Octavia and Cersei is that Cersei had grown up… Octavia hadn’t. Though she’d become an adult when she was out there, being a child of the wilds, things were different in her head. There was the mind of a child, a child that had done some important things on her own. Raised by wolves takes on a different meaning when you were interacting with rogues one day, gypsies the next, packs and bands and bachelors and amazons. Cersei, with her boundless grace and beauty and energy, had found herself a boy and managed to take her place among the pack. Though part of Octavia was jealous, she knew it wasn’t the right thing for her.

But she’s proud of her sister, and that’s all she can ask for. Proud of the girl, the one that seemed to have so much of her shit together. Tav is still a mess, still mostly wild, the dark princess of Glorall. The lost princess of Glorall, though not on her own since Maradona had disappeared as well. The lost and come back princess. It still didn’t seem real, and the girl would always be on the wild side. She was a wild thing, the wild things walked here. She had bright eyes and something else that was more than a little electric. That was why she was still here, still breathing, still thriving—that electricity.

“I like to learn, dad… anything that anyone has to teach me, I want it all.” It was the reason that she’d survived. Survived, thrived, grown up and made it to adulthood. Again with that damn word. It was like a shadow, following her around in a way that was… haunting. Hated it. Hated it in the worst way, and it kept freakin’ popping up. Octavia was nearly sick with the idea, but she wouldn’t dare let that on. Not to her father, especially not to her father, no… that would be bad. Dad didn’t need to know.

Tesseract’s words leave her with a little glow… something that says he’s proud of her. That’s probably the best feeling of all, knowing that dad is proud of her. The dark girl’s tail wags, and her eyes move up to sit on his face. Tail wagging, eyes bright, the electricity not stopping as her steps match his. “I’d um… I’d like to pass it on.” She nodded once, ears flickering where they sat on her head. “It’s only right, after all.” What was knowledge without passing it on? To live and to learn… that was what happened to be right.

The question of her sister leaves a heave in her chest, and she pads to the edge of the sand in step with her father. “I wish I could say I had.” The talk has turned serious, as if it wasn’t already. There’s a single slack wag to her tail, and it’s a sort of ache that holds in the rest of her body. It’s something that she doesn’t want to admit, this sort of failure. “I um… well… didn’t mom go with her?” Caligula had gone as well, and that was even more of an ache in the chest of the dark princess. While she had been out having the time of her life, her family had been falling apart.

Was this what guilt felt like?