Rabbit Hole Carvinal: Latern's Oath

Renee winced as glass shattered. “Well at least I already tasted that one.” She sighed, and cleaned up the mess of the floor before continuing.

“Everything alright down here?” Nick asked, as he walked down.

“Yeah I dropped a glass getting a little too focused.” Renee said, rubbing the back of her head. “I kept the mug count down to four to avoid any further mistakes. Sorry, Daddy.”

“I rather you break one or two things, and have fun than you break nothing and put on that fake smile of yours any day of the week.” Nick replied. “So you have something?”

“Almost!” Renee replied. “Here I think this is the best one so far.”

Nick took a swig, and then another. “Onions?”

“How do you do that?” Renee asked. “Yes, and a little bit of change in the mixture. Also where did you put our lemons?.”

“Oh right I did reorganize a bit yesterday. I do it every so often to help keep drinks ingredients together.” Nick said. “And finally cleared an older closet, the one you usually never open. Here, I’ll show you.”

“Wow.” Renee replied. “You can actually walk in here now. What all was in this place anyways?”

“Things it was long past time I forgot.” Nick said. “From way back when it was a civil war to even start this place. A lot of childhood that should’ve been discarded a long time ago.”

“Not all of it, it seems.” Renee said, carefully examining some old toys and decorations. “Lets see so… This one is the lemon box?” She asked, before open the box and pocketing some lemons.

“Yes, well, as I’m sure Inky would say, the past wasn’t all bad.” Nick replied. Dragged a box over, and opened it. “Which is why I haven’t touched this one.”

Renee looked into the box. “They just gave you all of this?”

“Your mother dropped it after our last, and, from what I’m told, final encounter with Mike.” Nick said. “She said something about—”

“Whatever guilt tripping nonsense she told you I don’t wanna hear it.” Renee dug through the box. Eventually throwing a lot of it into a pile. Most of it was old family photos. “Here it is!” Renee held up a box with a combo lock on it, and placed it down. “This is the only thing I wanna keep, if that's okay?”
“I threw out all my old family photos too. Burned them actually.” Nick replied. “Had no use for memories of fake happiness. They actually gave you a private box?”

“No, they just couldn’t stop me from having it. I brought it, kept it in my room, and never let mom look at the books too closely.” Renee replied. “I said they were books about religion, and were helping me find my own beliefs. Which isn’t untrue.” 

“You remember the code?” Nick asked, and watched her open it. “You can’t be serious.”

“You saw it open didn’t you?” Renee asked. “Not my fault my birthday isn’t important enough to be remembered.”

“Prophet of Sin?” Nick asked. “All 5 books, I assume?”

“Mhm.” Renee replied, with a nod. “It’s about a junior nun who is often locked out of her house, and considered a failure to the church. Her name is Lillian, and she ends up learning about the true nature of demons while traveling with a merchant friend named Trox. And ultimately decides to join that side and swears her soul to assist the sin of Lust. A half spider interested in ensuring the more taboo couples of the world get together.”

“Doesn’t exactly sound like religion approved literature. Did your mom just not know?” Nick asked.
“I do remember hearing about it once, but she had completely forgotten the name.” Renee took a book out, and opened it to a seemingly random page. “Funny, I was gonna name that new drink of mine after my favorite quote in the whole series.”

“Oh?” Nick said. “While if it has a name, then I'll add a spot on the menu. At that point it’ll save me some time later.”

“Lantern's Oath.” Renee replied. “Because ‘You can keep your sun, I'll take the lantern. If this is your day, I'll take the night. If this is what it takes, I'll make my own damn light.’”.