The rest of the minutiae were hashed out in a quick and efficient fashion after the talk about all of the Runing shenanigans was completed. We settled for the usual strat of building up and going from there while I moved to ramp up and 'invent' more stuff for us to use. And while I actually had the chance to make some small talk with Grigori, I still haven't managed to tell him about my rather peculiar case of dual-wielding both Essence types. In hindsight, I probably should've just went out with it instead of skirting around the issue using my sister as a smokescreen, but I guess some things were just not meant to be. "Now that everything's in order with our plans, I guess I should continue with my self-pity session." I gave everyone a smirk as a somber atmosphere immediately replaced the serious, thinking session of yester-minute. In a sense, I really shouldn't be doing this

H-huh?! I thought we were over this! "I'm not pushing you away, Livia," I gently reasoned. "I'm doing what's logical to-" "To keep me safe, right?" Fucking shit... I couldn't even deny her claims even if a part of me knew I was in the right. I could only wait patiently as Livia finally let go of my hand. Standing in between me and the campfire, her conflicted gaze almost made me want to throw up as tears built up in her sorrowful eyes. "Right?!" I reluctantly nodded; my own instincts for avoiding conflict kicking in as I mentally prepared myself for the verbal onslaught. My sister probably had all the ammunition she could ever need to rip me apart if she really wanted to. And while I already gave her a chance to vent earlier, I guess it was cut off way too soon if she was still riding a high

How many times do I have to fuck up like this?   Sure, I've once said something in the terms of 'failure being just being more experience,' but if I'm not going to use those experiences to at least better myself, then was I even doing with my life? I mean, I acknowledge that me changing would require such a Herculean effort to the point that it would probably be better to just move on and ignore it, but I still couldn't believe that I was this monumentally stupid in terms of emotional control and illogical insanity.   "You okay, Sis?"   Waking up after almost succumbing to hyperthermia was an experience I thought I'd never go through again. But while the first one was caused entirely by accident, this was.... kind of deliberate now that I was thinking more clearly.   Some things never change...

Ideas. Plans upon plans upon plans. Unlike last time, they all fell in line neatly in my head as I mentally tallied them up to a line of priority and possibility. With our location and available resources, the steam engine was probably the most cost-efficient way to provide a lot of what we were already using to stay alive in this blistering cold. Couple that with a decent building up of the cave and other refurbishments and we'll have a beautiful hideout that's both warm and impenetrable. There was only just one problem. "We're really lacking in manpower, huh..." After Grigori's first attempt at harvesting coal with Ruby, the clear lack of a proper receptacle to put them forced me away from my own projects to build a rush job that could hopefully contain the ridiculous amount of coal this Prime dragged back out of the cave. I would've left it to the others, but with Lace busy