Little Greymoores
I totally imagine 7 yr old Tiberius sitting at a desk practicing his calligraphy, looking over worried because a 5 yr old Sasha is pulling a chair to the bookcase to climb up it and get the little dragon kite mom said she could play with after their lessons, like, "Sasha, mommy said no!" and Sasha just smiling, reaching up.
Then their dad comes over and picks up little Sasha and gives her the kite, and is like "I think you kids could use a break, come on Ti!" and he picks up little Tiberius with his other arm even though he's older and takes them outside to play with the kite and mom just shakes her head.
Little Lillianne colors alone on the floor while Sasha and Tiberius fight with wooden swords and armor they made from parchment.
From around age 5 until around age 7, Sasha would wait patiently for her parent/caregiver to leave the room after being tucked in at night. After their footsteps receded, she would quietly get out of her bed and sneak out to the backyard, where she would “explore” and “hunt” insects. She has always thought she was getting away with it, but her parents discovered this behavior early on and would take turns watching her from a distance.
Sasha’s little sister Lillianne would design “plate armor” out of pieces of parchment for her siblings, taking care to add details in the joints and “jewels” in Sasha’s favorite colors, blue, purple, and red. Lillianne would also make clothes for her siblings out of pieces of fabric or old clothes that no longer fit, since she was 8.
Little Sasha was constantly on time outs, for up to an hour at one point. Things she would get in trouble for most often included breaking rules about waiting, i.e., waiting to finish her lessons before playing, waiting to finish dinner before dessert, waiting for the rain to stop before going outside. The worst was when she was caught stealing copper coins from her parents, which she was secretly giving to her and Tiberius’ little friends from the streets who they used to play with until they were around 11 and 13 respectively, when their friends suddenly stopped coming around the neighborhood. When their parents asked, Sasha lied and said she was saving it to buy a gold bracelet. Tiberius knew she was lying and later told their parents, also informing them that she lied because she was afraid their friends would get in trouble. Aside from the hour time out, she was made to write “I will not steal again,” 1000 times in calligraphy.
