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Rule number one: Never reveal your secrets.
Lyney is tired.
He is sick and tired. Oh Lyney, what are you so tired of? Everything.
He is tired of the House of Hearth, he is tired of doing everything himself, and he is tired of taking the blame.
Of course, nobody else can ever know that. He keeps what he really feels hidden under layers of charisma and sparkles and smoke and mirrors. Never let anyone know you’re vulnerable.
Which is exactly why he blew up at Freminet when he confronted Lyney about it.
You don’t have to hide behind that mask all the time.
He doesn’t have to. He chooses to, for everyone’s sake.
Weakness, physical or mental, is frowned upon within the House of Hearth, and maybe it would have been acceptable when he was a child that Father dragged in from the rain, but it’s been years. He’s immune to being emotional now. He should be.
(He isn’t.)
Lyney does not break down and he does not cry; at least, not when there’s another person that could ever possibly know.
Sometimes, he’ll go to Romaritime Harbor and climb up to the roof when he feels the need to wallow in self-pity, but he feels far too guilty. He does not deserve to sulk. And so he begins the journey back almost as soon as he arrives.
Lyney has one focus and one focus only, and it is explicitly and definitively: never, ever be selfish.
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Rule number two: Keep their attention.
Lyney likes to think he follows this rule to a T. He takes great care to create new tricks for every performance. People should want to come back to their shows. Always keep them on their toes.
This tends to apply to life in general as well. People will only keep him around for as long as he can be useful, and if you’re really only good at one thing, you can be replaced without much thought.
So he entertains the kids at the House of Hearth. He organizes missions for the Fatui operatives. Most of the money he makes from his shows goes back to the Fatui as well. When he isn’t sleeping or eating (or supposed to be sleeping) he is always busy.
If someone assigns a task to Lynette, he will always offer to do it for her. She accepts, not because she doesn’t want to do it, but because she knows Lyney has to keep busy to function. He does not like to be alone with his thoughts.
If you were to locate Lyney at any particular time of day, he is almost certainly working. He does not allow his brain a moment to process anything. Boredom doesn’t sit well with him. It makes him dwell on regrets and guilt and hope and a thousand other terrible things.
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Rule number three: Practice.
Lyney is an experienced magician. He is also an experienced liar.
After all, lying is his trade. Magic is as much deception as it is awe and wonder. Lyney lies every time he performs a trick.
Whenever Lynette or Freminet mess up, Lyney takes the fall.
He’s not being bitter about that, mind you; he does everything he can to protect them, and that includes accepting their punishments in their stead, and taking the blame, no matter how misplaced.
Of course, those dishonest tendencies extend beyond the realm of magic. As a member of the Fatui, he has to lie to everyone he meets. Perhaps they don’t ask him directly, but it still feels like a lie to hide his true identity.
Lyney does not like to identify himself with the Fatui. He does not deserve to be written off as another operative. Which is part of why he chose to become a magician.
He wants that persona to be his real self. He wants to bring wonder into people’s lives. He wants to be himself. He wants, wants, wants.
Wanting is dangerous.
At some point, he thinks, he started lying even to himself – that when he is gone, he will have made a difference.
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Rule number four: Leave them wanting more.
Lyney knows that Father wants him to take over the orphanage someday. Whether this is because he is helpful or because of favoritism, he does not know.
He would guess the former. The Knave has never been an affectionate person.
When she told him of her hopes for him, he resigned himself to whatever fate she may have in store for him, however unpleasant. Anything that he does is something that Lynette and Freminet don’t have to.
He doesn’t mind people setting unrealistic expectations for him. He’s never had any trouble meeting them.
Lyney has learned never to expect anything of others. Trust leads inevitably to betrayal, with the exception of Lynette.
He learned never to trust anyone after the noble who separated him and Lynette. Lyney does not trust Father, or any of the operatives he interacts with, or any of the people who watch his magic tricks, or any of the children at the orphanage.
No matter how innocent someone may seem, anyone will turn with the right incentives.
The House of Hearth will never let him go. The people of Fontaine will never remember him for anything other than being the Famous Amazing Magician Lyney. There’s really no point to anything for him.
But every day that he lives is a day that he can take care of his siblings. It really doesn’t matter what Lyney wants.
Everything has always been for them, anyway.