The Machine [Open/Accepting]

[lil_lollypop1]

The twins showed him around the new building enthusiastically. Though the main design was theirs, they got a ton of help from artists and professionals. The entire place was like a gothic piece of art, with random machines built in here or there by the twins to help with efficiency. Some of the windows were stain glass and cut in a rose design. The area had a very bold and powerful feel to it. The elevators were given a detailed black frame, and the new lounge looked like something out of a magazine picture. Everything, including Damien's office, was detailed to perfection. "It will take another month or two to get the final touches done..." Vincent said.
"Like we said with carpeting and furnishing and such. After that, everyone can move back here." Valkyrie finished.
"So..." they started together, "What do you think?"  

[Eternal_PrinceOfFire]

"It's definetly different. I think it's more my style than the previous building. I can certainly see the hard work put into it. Alright, it gets my approval. I suppose now I have to pick out the furnishings" Damien said, looking around and then turning to the twins.  

[lil_lollypop1]

"Yeah." They nodded, looking up at him.
"We picked out some magazines and stuff to look through." Vincent started.
"Or if you can tell us your preferences if you already have something in mind." Valkyrie replied.  

[Eternal_PrinceOfFire]

"Ah, I see. Well, let me see those magazines and I'll have a look to see what interests me" Damien said.  

[lil_lollypop1]

"Ok." The twins said together, leading him over to a large table in one of the meeting rooms. It was covered with magazines, and the twins sat at the table, going through all of their different ideas and such with Damien.  

[Eternal_PrinceOfFire]

Damien began going through the magazines and when he came to something he liked, he circled it and wrote it down on a notepad. He also made notes of other things he liked that weren't in the magazines. Some of it resembled the stuff from the old building. He wondered if they would work in the new one.  

[lil_lollypop1]

The twins looked at the list of things Damien noted as well as the stuff in the magazines he circled. "Ok." The twins said, just as he had finished.  

[Eternal_PrinceOfFire]

"Alright. So that's all finished. Now, why don't you tell me what's been going on the last few months with you two" he said.  

[lil_lollypop1]

The twins looked at each other, then at Damien with a slightly warn out expression as if they didn't quite want to go into that topic. "Things have been... not so good." Vincent sighed.
"We've been trying to focus on the rebuilding and our classes..." Valkyrie started.
"since we got things settled with the fortune." Vincent nodded.
"Right now, we're avoiding mom." Valkyrie said, looking away.
"She's the last person we need to get stuck in the grasp of." Vincent explained.
"She's crazy." Valkyrie cut in. "Last time this happened, she locked us in a room and left us there."
"Apparently she's been appearing at our school, trying to get a hold of us." Vincent sighed.
"So we've... occasionally abruptly left classes to prevent meeting her." Valkyrie sighed as well.
"B-but we still have the top grades in the class, so don't worry about that." Vincent said, realizing their father was not one who permitted 'bad behavior'.
"There's also been a few armed men appearing in places they shouldn't." Valkyrie said, turning her head towards the window.
"Some were once rebels wanting revenge, but others were gunmen hired by our aunts and uncles." Vincent agreed also looking out the window. Slowly, they both turned their heads at the same time and looked at Damien.
"It's been... rather tense..." They finished at the same time.  

[Eternal_PrinceOfFire]

"I see" Damien said. He looked to make sure the door to the room they were in was closed and that no one else was in there. "So why exactly were these 'armed guards' appearing?" he asked with suspicion.  

[lil_lollypop1]

"Those hired by our family usually appear from a reasonable distance." Valkyrie said.
"They're usually snipers. Someone who isn't easy to catch or trace" Vincent replied.
"The other day one of them was on that skyscraper" Valkyrie nodded.
"But he must have been stupid. It's hard to measure anything accurately given the wind speed, angle, distance, and a tiny little bullet." Vincent jested, but his light smile quickly turned to a frown.
"There have also been some of each trying to disguise themselves as construction workers, so the soldiers do a search before workers start working. They've caught a few." Valkyrie finished.  

[Eternal_PrinceOfFire]

"Hang on. Hang on" Damien said while waving a finger, "Are you telling me your family members are trying to kill you?"  

[lil_lollypop1]

"Yes." They replied at the same time, slightly surprised Damien didn't know about it.
"They don't like us." Vincent said.
"And we inherited Grandma and Grandpa's fortune." Valkyrie replied.
"It's not like we haven't been kidnapped multiple times before." Vincent shrugged.
"Or given poisoned food." Valkyrie replied. "Once they sent us chocolates filled with arsenic."
"And then one of the girls stole them before we could eat them, and they had to pump them out of her system." Vincent replied.
"There was also that one time at a family reunion where we woke up in a bag and we were thrown into a river." Valkyrie noted.
"It was just a normal trash bag, so we ripped through the plastic and ended up drifting a mile down stream." Vincent finished, with a small waft of his hand as if it wasn't a big deal. "Mom wants to keep her hands on us so she can use the money on herself. You know, using it for the 'benefit of her children'."
"She's already wasted nearly 60,000$ on stupid stuff she won't even let us touch." Valkyrie said with frustration. "And our aunts and uncles are just as greedy."
"Mom had originally abandoned us at Grandpa or Grandma's because we're illegitimate children. Our aunts and uncles rarely visited when they were alive, but when they did, they were always asking to borrow cash. Grandpa and Grandma were always ashamed at how they were, and told us not to be like that." Vincent muttered, his eyes seemed distant as he remembered the past.
"We go out of our way to make sure our room at home and at school is thoroughly booby-trapped. We won't let them splurge all of Grandma and Grandpa's hard work." Valkyrie replied.  

[Eternal_PrinceOfFire]

"I see. Yet, nobody informed me about any of this. How much more school do you have left this year?" Damien asked.  

[lil_lollypop1]

"Sorry. We... we thought you already knew." Vincent told him. "School ends in about a week and a half."
"Yeah, we have finals next week, which is why we asked you to come in today." Valkyrie nodded.