[OOC: Writer's block is such a bitch, I've been struggling to write a post for this for days. Hopefully I'll get a little better with time...]
Sapphire half-walked, half-jogged down the unkempt road, her sister tugging her along hard enough to pull her arm out of its socket if she didn’t keep pace, gripping her hand tight enough to cut off the circulation to her fingers. The latter, she was used to: Erika was reluctant to let go of her at any point, she needed that physical contact, as if afraid that Sapphire would either run off or vanish if she let go of her – oh, how I wish that were true sometimes – even for a second. The former, however, was something new, and it was all she could do to think about it as she focused on keeping up with her sister’s ridiculously fast pace.
She almost regretted saying that she was heading to the Shopping District today. Of course her sister would want to come along; they went everywhere together. She had expected Erika to follow, because she had been following Sapphire around for years. What she did not expect, however, was for her to take the lead like this. Erika hadn’t taken the lead since they were in school. But then, Erika had done a lot of things she hadn’t done for a while since she put that hideous, ornamental hairclip on, which was in its now customary place on the back of her head, tying her hair back, the only thing that separated the two of them in terms of appearance. A silly coincidence, perhaps, but there was something decidedly off with the piece of jewellery, besides how utterly disgusting it was. She had only worn it for a few days after it had “mysteriously” turned up in their house.
She had obviously bought it somewhen, although Sapphire could not figure out when she would have had the opportunity, for Erika never went out of the house by herself, and they had no internet connection, so she couldn’t have ordered it online. Why she would have wanted to sleep with the thing was beyond Sapphire’s ability to fathom, as well – waking up with a piece of jewellery digging into your back was not particularly fun, as she had discovered when she had rolled onto it that morning. An ornamental fly, of all things. What on earth possessed her to even buy that thing, much less put it on?
One thing was painfully clear: as soon as she had put the damned thing on, she had begun acting like her old self, in small increments at first, until finally she was back to this stage. This was good in that she had re-acquired something of her old self-confidence, and was no longer deferring to her sister for everything; but bad in that in finding it again, she had also found the part of her that expected her sister to follow her around instead. Sapphire’s days of following her sister’s lead were long over, and she was already getting tired of being pulled along like a favourite doll. No, she corrected herself; dolls tend to get better treatment than this.
“Mind if I ask what the hurry is, Erika?” Sapphire asked, after narrowly avoiding stumbling and probably breaking her arm. She was already beginning to tire – where was all of this newfound energy coming from?
Erika released her grip – sudden agony, as the blood came rushing back into Sapphire’s fingers – and turned, a puzzled, almost fearful expression on her face replacing the look of blind determination that had been there a few moments earlier. A perfect reflection of Sapphire’s own, although she would never be caught with such an expression. It was like looking into a mirror…one that inverted your personality, as well as your appearance.
“Was I going too fast? I’m so sorry!” she wrung her hands together, “I was just excited, that’s all. We haven’t been shopping together in ages! You’re not hurt, are you?” she added, eyeing Sapphire’s hands, one of which was a dark pink from the knuckles up, the other hand massaging it in some attempt to mitigate the throbbing that accompanied the return of feeling.
“I’m fine, Erika.” Sapphire replied shortly, perhaps a little harder than she had intended, for her sister flinched in response, visibly recoiling. But then, even just a “no” in a neutral tone would upset her sister sometimes, so perhaps not. She took her sister’s hand, ignoring the relief that came into her eyes at the gesture – in truth, she didn’t want her hand to be crushed in her sister’s needy iron grip, but if she interpreted it as affection, that was her own problem – and shrugged. “There isn’t any need to hurry. Let’s go.”
Erika nodded, allowing Sapphire to take the lead, falling a single step behind her, keeping pace, her grip on the other now considerably looser. Meek, submissive…and there it went again. She wasn’t even aware that she was reverting back to her old self. She was so very attuned to other people that she was blind to herself…and, it seemed, her sister as well, despite going out of her way to please her in a manner that annoyed Sapphire immensely sometimes…and it was extremely difficult to irritate her. But then, Erika had always lived for other people. Sometimes, she wondered what her twin would do without other people around her.
Go insane, probably...
Sapphire half-walked, half-jogged down the unkempt road, her sister tugging her along hard enough to pull her arm out of its socket if she didn’t keep pace, gripping her hand tight enough to cut off the circulation to her fingers. The latter, she was used to: Erika was reluctant to let go of her at any point, she needed that physical contact, as if afraid that Sapphire would either run off or vanish if she let go of her – oh, how I wish that were true sometimes – even for a second. The former, however, was something new, and it was all she could do to think about it as she focused on keeping up with her sister’s ridiculously fast pace.
She almost regretted saying that she was heading to the Shopping District today. Of course her sister would want to come along; they went everywhere together. She had expected Erika to follow, because she had been following Sapphire around for years. What she did not expect, however, was for her to take the lead like this. Erika hadn’t taken the lead since they were in school. But then, Erika had done a lot of things she hadn’t done for a while since she put that hideous, ornamental hairclip on, which was in its now customary place on the back of her head, tying her hair back, the only thing that separated the two of them in terms of appearance. A silly coincidence, perhaps, but there was something decidedly off with the piece of jewellery, besides how utterly disgusting it was. She had only worn it for a few days after it had “mysteriously” turned up in their house.
She had obviously bought it somewhen, although Sapphire could not figure out when she would have had the opportunity, for Erika never went out of the house by herself, and they had no internet connection, so she couldn’t have ordered it online. Why she would have wanted to sleep with the thing was beyond Sapphire’s ability to fathom, as well – waking up with a piece of jewellery digging into your back was not particularly fun, as she had discovered when she had rolled onto it that morning. An ornamental fly, of all things. What on earth possessed her to even buy that thing, much less put it on?
One thing was painfully clear: as soon as she had put the damned thing on, she had begun acting like her old self, in small increments at first, until finally she was back to this stage. This was good in that she had re-acquired something of her old self-confidence, and was no longer deferring to her sister for everything; but bad in that in finding it again, she had also found the part of her that expected her sister to follow her around instead. Sapphire’s days of following her sister’s lead were long over, and she was already getting tired of being pulled along like a favourite doll. No, she corrected herself; dolls tend to get better treatment than this.
“Mind if I ask what the hurry is, Erika?” Sapphire asked, after narrowly avoiding stumbling and probably breaking her arm. She was already beginning to tire – where was all of this newfound energy coming from?
Erika released her grip – sudden agony, as the blood came rushing back into Sapphire’s fingers – and turned, a puzzled, almost fearful expression on her face replacing the look of blind determination that had been there a few moments earlier. A perfect reflection of Sapphire’s own, although she would never be caught with such an expression. It was like looking into a mirror…one that inverted your personality, as well as your appearance.
“Was I going too fast? I’m so sorry!” she wrung her hands together, “I was just excited, that’s all. We haven’t been shopping together in ages! You’re not hurt, are you?” she added, eyeing Sapphire’s hands, one of which was a dark pink from the knuckles up, the other hand massaging it in some attempt to mitigate the throbbing that accompanied the return of feeling.
“I’m fine, Erika.” Sapphire replied shortly, perhaps a little harder than she had intended, for her sister flinched in response, visibly recoiling. But then, even just a “no” in a neutral tone would upset her sister sometimes, so perhaps not. She took her sister’s hand, ignoring the relief that came into her eyes at the gesture – in truth, she didn’t want her hand to be crushed in her sister’s needy iron grip, but if she interpreted it as affection, that was her own problem – and shrugged. “There isn’t any need to hurry. Let’s go.”
Erika nodded, allowing Sapphire to take the lead, falling a single step behind her, keeping pace, her grip on the other now considerably looser. Meek, submissive…and there it went again. She wasn’t even aware that she was reverting back to her old self. She was so very attuned to other people that she was blind to herself…and, it seemed, her sister as well, despite going out of her way to please her in a manner that annoyed Sapphire immensely sometimes…and it was extremely difficult to irritate her. But then, Erika had always lived for other people. Sometimes, she wondered what her twin would do without other people around her.
Go insane, probably...
